the fates: furia

Originally scheduled for release on Halloween 1985 (but delayed until Feburary '86), this privately pressed post-punk/broken-folk collective concept LP features personnel pulled from the ashes of The Fall's original lineup and Blue Orchids, the Manchester post-punk band that backed Nico during her live performances in the early '80s. Led by Manchester punk icon Una Baines, The Fates released Furia in 1985 and then disappeared into the annals of UK punk purgatory. With all the DIY traits and snarling attitudes of Manchester's smart-assed punk retaliation, the band delivered a record of haunting, mechanical folk and pastoral drones. This virtually unknown LP, with a backstory that unites sleeve artist Linder Sterling (Ludus), Spider King, Martin Hannett, Tony Baines, Martin Bramah, and John Cooper Clarke with the 16th century Pendle witches, is a vital missing piece in Manchester's self-help anti-pop industry. Lost in the ether, lauded by collectors, and likened by Mark E. Smith to the Third Ear Band, this unclassifiable arty-fact renders tags like "pagan punk" utterly inadequate. File under-ground.