This Heat- Health And Efficiency

Label: Superior Viaduct

Reissued 10/23/2026, Originally released 1980

"For some fans, Health And Efficiency is This Heat's peak achievement – their most concentrated blast of visceral intensity and wayward experimentalism. Featuring two long pieces, the EP came out in September 1980. It was released on Piano, the imprint founded by David Cunningham of Flying Lizards, and distributed by Rough Trade, home of the burgeoning post-punk movement and fellow travelers like The Raincoats, Scritti Politti, Cabaret Voltaire and The Red Crayola. "Lead track 'Health And Efficiency' combines fierce angular rock that fully lives up to Cunningham's belief that This Heat could become a post-punk King Crimson, with a multi-part babble of vocals, clattering percussive timbres and found sounds. In a large outdoor space, one of the group played with sounds 'a bit like children,’ drummer Charles Hayward told one interviewer. 'Milk bottles, melodicas, woodblocks, little shouts. And just outside across the wall was an infant and junior school. So we put a microphone by the wall and recorded the kids at playtime.' "Flipside 'Graphic/Varispeed' is more subdued and hypnotic: a wavering tonescape whose duration depends on whether you play it at 45 RPM or 33 1/3. This reissue reproduces the original release's striking cover image of a human figure painted in blue by Pete Cobb, along with the cryptic flipside of text in many different languages.

Track listing:

1. Health and Efficiency
2. Graphic/Varispeed (45 rpm)