Inner City Unit
The group were established by ex-Hawkwind saxophonist Nik Turner, joined by bassist and keyboardist Phil Reeves (known as Dead Fred).
Andy Anderson (drums) and Michael Vickerage (known as Mo Vicarage) (keyboards) played live and recorded with the group in the early days.
Barry Downes (known as Baz Magneto), GP Wayne (known as Little Bit), Dave Anderson and Nazar Alikhan had stints with the group playing bass.
In 1977, after Nik Turner had been dismissed from Hawkwind, he traveled to Egypt and made some portable recordings playing flute in the King's Chamber of Great Pyramid of Giza.
With producer Steve Hillage he worked these recordings into the album Xitintoday (exit into day) with contributions from members of Gong, Harry Williamson and Andy Anderson.
On this session he met keyboardist Michael Vickerage (known as Mo Vicarage) and drummer Ermano Ghisio-Erba (known as Dino Ferari), both of whom would be pulled into Turner's band.
[6] The group recorded four tracks at Foel Studios in April, with "Solitary Ashtray" (originally titled "Solitary Astrid") issued as a single on their own Riddle Records imprint, backed with a dub version titled "So__t_ry As__id"; the remaining three tracks ("Watching the Grass Grow", "Cars Eat With Auto Face" and "Alright On The Flight") would later be included on the Punkadelic compilation.
They cut demos of "Space Invaders" and "Polyethylene" for Polydor Records in December, but no deal was forth-coming - these tracks would also be included on the Punkadelic album.
[14][15] This line-up also contributed the tracks "Raj Neesh" and "Human Beings" to the various artists compilation album Hawkwind, Friends and Relations.
had a promotional video recorded for it, included on the Pirates of the Panasoniks (Jettisoundz) various artists compilation VHS tape, but the song was not issued as a single.
Stupp would leave, and the remaining two were joined by Cason to act as a backing band for Calvert at his Queen Elizabeth Hall appearance on 1 October 1986, followed by a tour of Britain.
"[9] The group's support slot for The Psychedelic Furs on 21 September 1980 at Lyceum Ballroom was reviewed by Dante Bonutto for Record Mirror as "a real hoot, a five piece plus two strong girlie chorus who thankfully didn't take themselves too seriously.
"[24][nb 7] Malcolm Dome in Record Mirror thought The Maximum Effect a "pure music hall eccentricity laced with modern rock idioms... a cross between the Goons, Max Miller, early Stranglers fury and Hawkwind style phrasing...
He highlights "Bones of Elvis" and "Beer, Baccy, Bingo and Benidorm" which "hidden in with the humour is a decided strain of desperation that hits home very solidly indeed...
"[25] AllMusic retrospectively acknowledges "The faithful declare Maximum Effect to be Inner City Unit's finest hour - and... it's impossible to disagree... only the group's growing penchant for "obvious" humo[u]r detracting from some excellent performances.
"[7] Andy Ross in Sounds assessed New Anatomy poorly as "While ICU score full marks for variety... the overall standard of composition is average, the production limp, and the singing anaemic.
"[27] AllMusic's retrospective assessment is also critical, declaring "they turned in one of the most disappointing records in the entire Hawkwind family tree, a disheveled, featureless, and melody-less gaggle of half-songs highlighted by two numbers ("Birdland" and "Forbidden Planet") but so hamstrung by the other eight that, even today, it's difficult to discern quite what they were trying to do.
