THE Epic Years is not a comment on the snap, crackle and pop career of Glasgow's Altered Images, who burned brightly but briefly across three albums.

Formed in 1979 but fizzling out by 1983, they still pop up on Eighties' nostalgia gatherings, or rather singer Clare Grogan does, be it at York Racecourse or the Grand Opera House.

Grogan was the pin-up du jour, her popularity bolstered by her appearance in a beret in Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl, the heart-stealing Kristin Scott Thomas to Dee Hepburn's Andie MacDowell. John Peel was hooked, singing like a puppy on the awful Song Sung Blue on 1982's E-number frenzied Pinky Blue.

Altered Images began like a spindly, indie Siouxsie And The Banshees on the single Dead Pop Stars (added here to 1981's Happy Birthday), before leaving Insects, Real Toys and Leave Me Alone behind after Happy Birthday's effervescent pop success, but the bubble burst on Pinky Blue. 1983's Bite restored some bite, giving Grogan an altered image as Audrey Hepburn cutting a disco groove that suited the 12-inch versions on the otherwise dispensable extra disc.