2nd Cut

“…he strikes for vengeance, then he’s gone without a trace…”

Like the If Heaven is Hell single, 2nd Cut was swung by Blade Records, then and now unknowns in label heaven, as the second and final part of Genghis Khan’s ’83 ep Double Dealin to be reinvented under Tokyo Blade’s new brand name sheen. Furthermore, it helps “Midnight Rendezvous”, both song and title, continue its Khan-established course for ruthless ‘title’ domination (with confusing aftermath) of no less than three releases in various formats born only a year in the future.

Before on its road to dictatorship, however, “Midnight Rendezvous” back then was known (or at least would’ve been known if anyone’d heard it) as the most melodic of the ep’s four soldiers - a medic, so to speak, and with such an occupation it can also be seen as the weakest, yet with its oddly-stepped half-gallop and commercially catchy chorus it earns a mediator’s desk among its mouth-foamed bunker mates.

“Mean Streak” shows an acoustic-like frailty while reluctantly inching from its cave despite a clean aroma of airily-hanging keys, however underestimating it here means missing its sudden scamper across the song’s drum bridge where it attacks anything a beast could be soothed by. Chances this aggression stems from hatred of its newly split name is slim, for it was already known as Meanstreak the Ornery in Khan’s militia. It’s oftentimes stretched rhythmically across taut power chords, subsequently launching this mutha through the faster metabolism shared by siblings “Death on Main Street” and “Highway Passion”.

Though the lightest single of the ’83 three naturally due in no part to anything missed in “Mean Streak”’s feed tray, what’s here continues the band’s preferred stock singles. Less hushed is the destiny, however officially unconfirmed, of “Midnight Rendezvous” to become longevity’s personal Tokyo Blade champion.