"For some fans, Health And Efficiency is This Heat's peak achievement – their most concentrated blast of visceral intensity and wayward experimentalism. Featuring two long pieces, the EP came out in September 1980. It was released on Piano, the imprint founded by David Cunningham of Flying Lizards, and distributed by Rough Trade, home of the burgeoning post-punk movement and fellow travelers like The Raincoats, Scritti Politti, Cabaret Voltaire and The Red Crayola.
"Lead track 'Health And Efficiency' combines fierce angular rock that fully lives up to Cunningham's belief that This Heat could become a post-punk King Crimson, with a multi-part babble of vocals, clattering percussive timbres and found sounds. In a large outdoor space, one of the group played with sounds 'a bit like children,’ drummer Charles Hayward told one interviewer. 'Milk bottles, melodicas, woodblocks, little shouts. And just outside across the wall was an infant and junior school. So we put a microphone by the wall and recorded the kids at playtime.'
"Flipside 'Graphic/Varispeed' is more subdued and hypnotic: a wavering tonescape whose duration depends on whether you play it at 45 RPM or 33 1/3. This reissue reproduces the original release's striking cover image of a human figure painted in blue by Pete Cobb, along with the cryptic flipside of text in many different languages.
"The EP title Health And Efficiency sounds like it's mocking bureaucratic language or the jargon of self-optimization. Some reckon it's a sly nod to Health & Efficiency, the long-running British magazine about nudism and wholesome living first published in the Edwardian era as Health & Vim. In fact, the title is a totally earnest statement from This Heat about the importance of looking after yourself, in line with the Latin maxim mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body). The title track's lyric 'here's a song about the sunshine / dedicated to the sunshine' is the giveaway.
"'Around the time we did the EP, we got really into bicycles, physical exercise, eating well,' Hayward says. 'The music became clearer and the work became more joyful. That became part of our trip: to keep ourselves together so that we could push the music even further.' Part of this new self-discipline was dressing smart to reflect the trio's seriousness and commitment. This Heat started wearing suits and ties they picked up at church jumble sales. 'The music bred a sort of pride. It wasn't an image, though, it was more like: this is what it looks like to make this music.'
"A few months after Health And Efficiency's release, This Heat toured the Netherlands. Hayward has spoken about a gig in Amsterdam as a peak experience where everything – the telepathic musical bond between the group, the receptiveness and energy of the audience – came together. 'There was one moment during 'Health And Efficiency' where I just thought – this is it! The whole thing was totally alive.' Hayward could feel their next record Deceit building. 'We just had to make it now.'"
– Simon Reynolds
