While vacationing in Detroit recently, I found a used-CD copy of Associates’ Fourth Drawer Down, a collection of singles by the Scottish group led by Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine. They flourished in the ’80s and were mightily lauded by the UK music press (which I read religiously in that decade), but remained obscure in the US.

Reacquainting myself with Fourth Drawer Down—which I’d lost in that move last year—reminded me of the stunning uniqueness of “Message Oblique Speech,” with which I’ve become obsessed all over again, some 28 years after first falling in love with it. (You can hear it here.)

In a catalog studded with dazzlingly original songs, “Message Oblique Speech” stands above all others. What the hell is this? Operatic prog funk with delusions of Bowie? Talking Heads’ “Slippery People” played by Eno-era Roxy Music? Van der Graaf Generator fronted by an angst-ridden Freddie Mercury? A Tartan Sparks? I dunno. There’s never been anything like “Message Oblique Speech,” really—those crazily see-sawing/rubber-necking chord progressions, this flamboyant Mackenzie vocal performance, that porpoise-squawk guitar, those mad lyrics. We’re talking once-in-a-lifetime-level genius here.

Even more so than Fire Engines, Associates were the most outré Scottish post-punk group. They deserve much wider and more slavish recognition, but maybe they’re just too strange to appeal to more than a tiny cult and too bloody difficult to inspire a lot of young bands. It would take way too much effort to emulate Associates. Plus, nobody in rock can really sing like Billy Mackenzie these days; “Message Oblique Speech” represents just a fraction of his very odd and brilliant repertoire of vocal mannerisms.

So, yeah, I’m obsessed with this tune until further notice.