Rema-Rema

Wheel In Small Doses Extended Version is the name of a full album by the post-punk band Rema-Rema, released in 2020 by Le Coq Musique. It is not a single song but a collection of nine previously unreleased demo and rehearsal tracks from 1978-1979.

Now remastered, with 2 more unreleased songs added, this vinyl release comes in an edition of 150 copies with Sunjit's printed insert

Ranging from rawer early versions of later RR live staples or previously unheard gems such as ‘Lawrence Harvey’, this near-even split between 1978-9 Halligan’s rehearsals and a 1979 Portobello Road 4-track marathon documents endless practice time spent honing an unearthly mass of improvised jams and disparate songwriting into the weird, wonderful and unclassifiable setlist the band later transported to a mere dozen London venues during their truncated existence.

Aside from the more familiar such as a stripped-down drum/bass-heavy ‘Rema-Rema’ accentuating the brutalist Velvets-style backbeat that was to be the bands' signature, the instrumental version of "Gallery/ (Oh) Rock'n'Roll" (preferred by some band members to the vocal version) and the squally Dub fractiousness of an early take on ‘Feedback Song’, heard for the first time here are the bleak, angular ‘Robots Don't Like Jelly’, plus the unearthing of ‘Message To Sweetheart’, a previously forgotten track from the bands’ formative days that may even predate the arrival of drummer Max. Beginning with a melancholic drone that segues into cutting guitar and builds into “thunderous, therapeutic charm...[that] entices with innocent sentiments of some simplistic idyll”, though this track hinted at one direction the band may have taken, internal politics led to it’s rapid disappearance. ‘Lawrence Harvey’ was one of the few constants in an ever-changing setlist, but somehow defied previous attempts to find a salvageable recording. Lyrics by Max that group together a random collection of band ‘likes’ in 4’s (“Laurence Harvey, Earth Dies Screaming, Sherbet Fountains, Fokker biplanes’, ‘Walkie Talkies, Jamboree bags, Desert Sands, Willie Wiles” – GA: ....now you’re thinking who the fuck is Willie Wiles? he was Mick's sisters’ boyfriend & I always thought his name was funny), the background to an almost catchy bass/drum duet is a menacing synth/ guitar feedback wail, here in rehearsal form but caught best in a live setting. Like so many during the punk and postpunk eras, Rema-Rema burned brightly but briefly.....