Hudson-Styrene, A Monster and the Devil (side A)

While the Styrenes released their first single in 1975 ("Drano in Your Veins") and a collection of their early singles in 1982 (Girl Crazy), it took them 14 years to make an album that was not a singles compilation.  1989's A Monster and the Devil marks, in many ways, a departure from their earlier work.  Vocalist Mike Hudson of the Pagans is a new collaborator in the group's shifting line-up, and he receives equal billing to the rest of the band.  The songs are built around his deadpan narrative style, with his storytelling placed in the foreground.  Side A contains a series of short songs, while side B is filled with one long tale, "Jetsam".  Hudson wrote all of the lyrics that he recites except in "Opus 12", where he and the group rework an old Styrenes tune from Girl Crazy.  His voice is equalized drastically, and the timbre hints at the sound of an old phone.  His stories are equally drastic, full of dark, somber events and personalities — many seem to have roots in his personal experience.  The group here combines electric and acoustic instrumentation, with founder Paul Marotta's piano (which sounds like an electric) prominently placed in the foreground.  The line drawings on the cover, by John Morton of the Electric Eels, fit nicely with the dark and brooding content of Hudson's tales.  These songs were also reissued with similar material on the CD All the Wrong People are Dying in 1998.