Oil & Gold

Oil & Gold, the third full-length Shriekback album, is widely considered the band's highest moment. Released in 1985 on Arista Records in UK and Europe, Australia and New Zealand and on Island Records in the United States, after the failure of 1984's Jam Science on Arista Records, Oil & Gold saw the band metamorphose from contemplative to rocking. The addition of Martyn Barker on drums and Lu Edmonds on guitar gives many of the songs an almost punk rock feeling.

In many ways, Oil & Gold is the bridge between the old trio of Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh, and Dave Allen, and the new vehicle for Andrews alone. Longtime singer Marsh left the band halfway through the recording, leaving Andrews to take over the vocals. Still, the album's highlights, including the three opening songs, sung by Marsh, and the minor hit, "Nemesis", became the band's signature sound.

The two songs "This Big Hush" and "Coelocanth" were featured in Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter and "Faded Flowers" was featured in Band of the Hand. The song "Everything That Rises Must Converge" refers to the short story of that name by Flannery O'Connor. The song "Nemesis" is apparently about the hypothetical star orbiting the Sun, a theory published the year before the album's release, although the video features the 2000 AD character Nemesis the Warlock.