Blackest Ever Black are quick to note that Dead Unique is not a reissue. Rather, it's an album recorded in 1995 that just never got released. How it ended up that way—well, nobody really remembers. (How's that for self-mythologizing?) But let's back up a bit: what the hell is Officer!, you ask? It was the baby of Londoner Mick Hobbs, a quirky rocker who had his start in the RIO scene—that's Rock in Opposition, a UK movement started in the late '70s to promote progressive and non-commercial bands in the wake of both punk and corporate rock—with stints in groups like the Work and Half Japanese, among others. By no means a solo project, Officer! was a revolving-door band that centered around Hobbs' uniquely zany persona, a little bit psychedelic and very English.