Humanoid – Sunshine & Brick

Released on:
Global

Runtime: 5:28

‘Sunshine & Brick’ is the one track on Global that’s really notable. Originally recorded for the Twitch album Bacteria From a Baboon’s Stomach in 1987, the song is the earliest known collaboration between Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain. Why Morgan Khan chose it for inclusion on the final bastardised version Global is quite baffling, as it’s a long way from the commercial house approach he wanted to take Humanoid in. Perhaps it’s the presence of vocals that led to its inclusion over acid tracks like ‘Jet Stream Toyko’.

However it happened, ‘Sunshine & Brick’ was released in 1989. Ironically, the song gained more traction than the bulk of the watered down material on the album, being used as the theme tune for a BBC youth programme. That edited version was then licensed to the Deep Heat compilation series under the name Homeboy, without Dougans’s knowledge, yet another example the tactics that led to Westside being taken to court and ultimately losing rights to the Humanoid catalogue.

The song itself is pretty sinister, with Cobain’s vocals uttered in a semi-sung, semi-whispered manner that falls closer to some of the more gothic ends of ’80s industrial music. Lyrics for the first verse ended up, seven years later, in the Dead Cities CD art: “Sunshine and brick / Self-tamed and slapstick / You can walk along the lines under me eyeballs / Things ’round here are getting fucked up / Things ’round here are getting messed up / Don’t push him too hard / He’s got lines along his forehead / Lines under his eyes”.

Overall, it’s a fun track that retains some of the experimentation and darkness that Dougans and Cobain would become known for, and, with the reissue of ‘Stakker Humanoid‘ and ‘Cry Baby‘ on later Humanoid compilations, is the only real saving grace of Global. It’s not dated enormously well, and some may find it over the top and theatrical, but either way, the song is a fascinating insight into the band’s origins.

Credits
Written by Brian Dougans.
Produced by Brian Dougans.
Co-produced by John Laker.
Vocals by Gaz Cobain.
Executive producer Morgan Khan.
Mixed by Brian Dougans and John Laker.