‘Cutting Edge 4’ by The Cutting Edge Band (Delirious?)

And so, with volume 4, the Cutting Edge era came to a close. It seems bizarre, listening back to this, that the band were still churning out releases without a proper name at this stage. However, with Jon Thatcher added to the line-up as bassist, this album can stake a claim to being the first proper Delirious? album.

More similar to volume 3 than volume 3 had been to volumes 1 and 2, ‘Cutting Edge 4’ offers a collection of songs largely tailored to performance. There’s no mistaking their Christian message, but the majority of these songs wouldn’t have worked as worship songs even at the Soul Survivors of the world. Some are too too personal, written to closely to the experiences of an individual. Others are just a little too polished. ‘Louder Than The Radio’ and ‘You Split The Earth’ are too polished – carefully arranged and produced, dependant too heavily on Stuart Garrard’s guitar parts and backing vocals to be copied elsewhere. His guitar in particular has taken a leading role in the band’s sound by now. That said, ‘When All Around Has Fallen’ is all bass and piano. And beauty, especially in retrospect. A song that sounded a touch dirge-like a decade and a half ago now sounds very moving (perhaps that’s just me). It would set a template for future songs like ‘Hands of Kindness’ and ‘Summer of Love’, but it also stands apart on it’s own. ‘I’ve Searched For Gold’ is the traditional ‘Martin Smith on his own’ song in the middle. It’s perfectly adequate, but slightly unnecessary – a throwback to a simpler time.

‘Shout To The North’ opens the second half, and is a curious beast. In many ways, it stands at odds with the rest of the album as the only song which would work in a church context (we used to do it all the time). It’s simple enough, catchy enough, and very easy to sing, but it doesn’t really fit, and the presence of the children’s choir doesn’t help much. In retrospect, it may have been better left until ‘Glo’, but I guess that would have required an unprecedented level of foresight. ‘All I Want Is You’ is this albums ‘I’m Not Ashamed’, a straightforward rock track with a personal lyric of commitment. I remember the line ‘can I be free from the chains of my religion’ sounded quite daring at the time, but I guess that’s what you get for being fifteen years old. ‘Obsession’ is the epic finale to the album (and a staple of the live set for a years afterwards), built round a ponderous bassline, and decorated with many lashings of e-bow.

I remember buying this on cassette at Spring Harvest soon after its release and being slightly unsure of it. It sounded good – and it still does, truth be told – but something about it just didn’t quite work. In retrospect, I think this was a sign that the band were outgrowing their context. A short album each year of half a dozen tracks just wasn’t enough any more for them to express what they were aiming for. There was no real indication at the time of the direction they were about to hurtle off into, but all the signs are there.