The Creepers - Sleeper - A Retrospective (1989)

The Creepers were an English rock music group, formed in Manchester in 1982, originally as Marc Riley and the Creepers. After being dismissed from The Fall by Mark E. Smith, Marc Riley formed his own record label (In-Tape) with Jim Khambatta, and his own band. The first single "Favourite Sister" (which featured his former bandmates Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon and Paul Hanley) was followed up with "Jumper Clown", which poked fun at his previous band's singer. A Peel Session was the source of the next release in 1984, with a compilation of these early releases, Cull, following the same year. First album proper, Gross Out, appeared in June 1984. 1985 saw the release of the second album Fancy Meeting God as well as a swansong live album Warts 'n' All towards the end of the year.

Riley then recruited ex-Membranes Mark Tilton and Phil Roberts of Shrubs, and carried on as simply "The Creepers". With a more sophisticated sound, the first release under this name was a cover of Brian Eno's "Baby's on Fire", with the album Miserable Sinners following later the same year. After signing to Red Rhino, a further single, "Brute" and album Rock 'n' Roll Liquorice Flavour appeared in 1987 and 1988 respectively. Sleeper: A Retrospective followed in 1989.

The band briefly became 'The Lost Soul Crusaders' before splitting up

This compilation is representative of The Creepers best work, with one or another moment below the top, namely a couple of tracks taken from earlier albums. There are outstanding songs as Jumper Clown, Gross, Another Song About Motorbikes, The Adventures of Brian Glider, Chocolate Box, Old Man’s Treat and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Liquorice Flavour tracks.