This Heat: Health And Efficiency (12"EP) [SUPERIOR VIADUCT]

Why you'll love it

Superior Viaduct's 45rpm reissue of This Heat's 1980 12-inch, one long piece on each side. The title track is the closest the London trio ever came to a pop song, and the flip, "Graphic / Varispeed", is anything but.

This edition

• 12-inch EP at 45rpm
• One piece per side: "Health And Efficiency" and "Graphic / Varispeed"

About the album

This Heat were three Londoners (Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen and Gareth Williams) who spent the late 70s in a converted cold-storage room in Brixton making music that still sounds like it arrived from somewhere else. Health And Efficiency, from 1980, sits between their two albums and catches them at their most open-hearted: a bright, chiming guitar figure, Hayward's drums rolling underneath and a sing-along chorus that suddenly dissolves into a long, glowing drone.

Side two, "Graphic / Varispeed", goes the other way, a slowly shifting tape piece built for patient listening. The band only lasted a few years, but post-punk, noise and plenty of experimental rock since have been taking notes. Name a record after a naturist magazine and people may expect something racier; they get something far more interesting.

Tracklist

Listen

Out October 2, 2026 on Superior Viaduct (cat# SV220), a reissue of the 1980 12-inch.