The Absolute Game

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The Absolute Game

Studio album by The Skids
Released	September 1980
Recorded	The Manor and Audio International Spring 1980
Genre	Punk rock; New Wave
Length	??:??
Label	Virgin
Producer(s)	Mick Glossop
All Music Guide (3/5) link
The Skids chronology
Days in Europa (1979)	The Absolute Game (1980)	Joy (1981)

The Absolute Game was The Skids' 1980 third album (not counting the previous two releases of 1979's Days in Europa) and was produced by Mick Glossop.

[edit] Controversy

Initial copies came with a second disc entitled Strength through Joy. Richard Jobson, the Skids' lead singer, later stated that this title had been taken from Dirk Bogarde's autobiography and was not based on the Nazi slogan Kraft durch Freude. However it continued the controversial theme of the first release of Days in Europa, which had been withdrawn.

[edit] General information

The album continues the Skids' progression from a punky sound into a more mellow one - paralleled by many bands of the period. As an album it has a great deal in common with Days in Europa, but not much with Joy its successor. Adamson left the Skids to found Big Country just after this album, and a great deal of the future band's sound and style can be heard in this album, particularly on Hurry On Boys, which features bagpipe and didgeridoo simulations.

The band was driven by internal rifts and disagreements in this period, leading to various members coming and going. In particular, because Joy didn't feature Adamson, and has a completely different sound, some fans consider The Absolute Game to be the last "canonical" Skids' album.

Captain Oi! Records in cooperation with EMI, are planning on re-releasing this album (including the tracks from the bonus disc 'Strength Through Joy') in 2007.