Volume 6 Side 4 - Bradford, Sandie Shaw, Parachute Men, Colorblind James Experience

1. Bradford - Dodging Around In Cars (Village)

"...lazy bastard fumbles funk concerning itself with one afternoon of a misspent youth".

Not really too sure of the point behind including this track on the series. "Skin Storm" had been featured on the CD88 compilation, and "Dodging Around In Cars" was merely the third track on that single, the "extra twelve inch single B-side". And it sounds like it, too... full credit for giving Bradford a tiny bit of extra exposure, but this, a piece of meandering funkiness about teenage driving hi-jinks (a slow and smouldering rethink of the concept behind Madness's "Driving In My Car", if you will) is unremarkable and probably did them few favours.

Nice wah-wah work, though. We'd be hearing more and more of that particular pedal over the next few years.



2. Sandie Shaw - Nothing Less Than Brilliant (Rough Trade)

"the new Sandie Shaw single; succulent, tantilising, rich, beguiling, a bargain at the price and very highly accomplished. A sweeping loop of a record which lies somewhere in between The Cocteau Twins, The Smiths and Raymonde but sounds refreshingly GORGEOUS for all that. Mature pop, vintage wine, send me a kiss and I'll make you my own. Single of the Season". Melody Maker, Everett True.

Ah God, now we're in business! While I'd usually be inclined to take Everett True's hype with a lorry-load of salt - he's been known to rave about both genuinely worthy contenders and barely fleshed out crayon doodles of pop songs - in this case, he was absolutely on the money. "Nothing Less Than Brilliant" involved Shaw hopping back into the recording studio with her old songwriting buddy Chris Andrews, and the pair emerged with one of the finest singles either would produce. Sounding unbelievably 1988 and indiefied from a pair whose career peaks actually occurred in the sixties, it really should have been an enormous comeback single. As it turned out, it wasn't. And it wasn't again when Virgin reissued it to promote a "Best Of" CD in 1994, even though the fair sixties-favouring winds of Britpop should have been behind her at that point.

That's appallingly unjust. "Brilliant" is one of the finest examples of passionate, jagged guitar pop of the era, far better than her Morrissey and Jesus and Mary Chain penned tracks from the same period. Fizzing over with verve, defiance and a towering chorus, the track is pushed further towards genius by Shaw's performance. She throws in some Morrissey styled hiccups and howls as a nod to the new generation, but there's a force of character in her performance which shows this was far from the young, insouciant Sandie delivering a sulky rehearsal of "Long Live Love" for Top of the Pops. She sounds alive and demanding to be noticed, and the lyrics back those feelings up. This is the kind of performance age and experience make possible.

It's unfortunate that Sandie Shaw's comeback LP "Hello Angel" was riddled with song contributions from the press darlings of the time. This proves that she (and Chris Andrews) really didn't need them, and "Brilliant" should have been the lead comeback single.

And what of Chris Andrews, you may ask? What else had he been doing around this time? Well, amongst other things, penning the theme and incidental pieces of music for "The Chart Show" on Channel 4, as a matter of fact.

(Late edit to allow for one more additional fact - it's Chrissie Hynde playing harmonica on this as well). 



3. The Parachute Men - Sometimes In Vain (Fire)

"Flying jackets and bootlace ties. Sunglasses, sideburns, buttondown shirts. Stripes, shades, scarves, loud guitars. A floatdown, a freefall. From Leeds, The Parachute Men brandish an intuitive talent for non-nonsense passionate guitar rock underwired with acoustic country threads".

It's an unfortunate consequence of the track sequencing that the fuzzy, emotional performance of The Parachute Men immedately follows Sandie Shaw. Unfortunate because it's also a bit blooming good too, but is somewhat overshadowed.

No matter. I've never been able to make up my mind whether the production of "Sometimes In Vain" is blurry and muddy sounding to deliberately convey the confused anguish of the track's subject matter, or just because they were in a low-cost studio and that's all they could manage. It does work well, though, whether by accident or design - chiming guitar licks almost smother Fiona Gregg's vocals so she sounds appropriately lost, and the track has a very peculiar, almost Bronte-esque melodrama to it which is unbelievably effective. This is sixties styled pop laced with an eighties darkness; as soon as the organ kicks in towards the end, you know you're not dealing with a standard piece of tossed off indie-pop. "Sometimes In Vain" is ambitious and atmospheric as well as having the kind of hooks Shaw would have deemed solid in 1966.



4. The Colorblind James Experience - Considering A Move To Memphis (Fundamental)

"The Colorblind James Experience is a six member rock and roll band whose diverse instrumentation allow the group to sound like anything from a traditional country band to a demented small town orchestra".

There's plenty of silliness in pop's history books, of course - The Firm's "Star Trekkin" would be a prime example of that, funny for one listen, not worthy of your attention much after that. Then there's epic, ambitious silliness, which "Memphis" is. Nearly seven minutes of clearly ironic spoken word musings on Memphis by the singer "Colorblind" James Charles Cuminale. He dreams, somewhat pathetically, of a low-rent relocation ("It worked for Elvis Presley/ Why can't it work for me?") and his ramblings are combined with jazzy arrangements which, according to what segment of the song you're listening to, can sound like morning hotel breakfast bar muzak or flamboyant mod jazz (with vibes, of course). Or on occasion, both at once.

Like the work of other Americans with one eyebrow ironically raised, such as They Might Be Giants or Ween, this is definitely an acquired taste and will irritate as many people as it thrills. But the lyrics are effortless dreamy optimism (they even make getting a job washing up in a restaurant sound amazing) and the band are totally swept along by the merriness and ludicrousness of the idea. I swear at some moments you can even hear suppressed laughter.

The Colorblind James Experience were from Rochester, New York, but found greater success in the UK following John Peel exposure here. Somewhere in their work, you can sense a mentality that may have struck a strong chord with long-standing listeners of his. The sophisticated but daft humour behind "Memphis" doesn't exactly owe a direct debt to the Bonzo Dog Band, but it's in the same underpopulated pop parish of humorous songs with meat on their bones. You can return to this often, and it doesn't stop putting a smile on your face nor become melodically tedious.

Indie Top 20 Volume 6 - Side 3 - The Shamen, Front 242, A Guy Called Gerald, Screaming Trees, James Taylor Quartet

1. The Shamen Vs Bam Bam - Transcendental (Desire)

"...one of those intriguing fusions of differing musical styles that resulted in a classic dance track. Bam Bam; one of the first major innovators of the Chicago House scene, and The Shamen; a burgeoning UK indie band, collaborated on one of Desire Records' first and most successful recordings. You may never hear the like again!"

Or actually, we most certainly would. I remember creating a retrospective C90 compilation cassette of Baggy/ Madchester music for someone while I was at university, and I put "Transcendental" very close to the start of side one, feeling that while it's seldom acknowledged as such, it's actually a pivotal release. You can sense from the gushing liner notes above that it was seen as a significant moment for some people at Beechwood Music too, and indeed others beyond - suddenly, dance music remixes of indie tracks were no longer 12" single space fillers, with the drum breaks and instrumental sections puffed out to extend the run time. Suddenly, they could be huge and relevant records in their own right.

This is a tricky case to argue, though. For every one person who argues that "Transcendental" broke the mould, another might state the case for some of the Happy Mondays early recordings, or even some of the odder Balearic records (such as those by unlikely candidates The Woodentops). As always with movements in popular culture, it's very difficult to pin the change on some precise moment or tipping point.

Nonetheless, "Transcendental" is a fabulous early Shamen record, and one which is scarcely given any consideration these days. The original track, from the LP "In Gorbachev We Trust", was pleasing in a subdued, acidic (in squelchiness and grooviness rather than bitterness) way, but never sounded like a single. Bam Bam's remix of it pumps it up harder than a freshly inflated Spacehopper, slamming rhythms all over the place and sounding positively euphoric. Rather than sounding like a remix, it feels like what it was always supposed to become, with the original album version sounding like a mere demo in comparison.

I still prefer it to a lot of their later output, and it really needs to be reconsidered not just as an important and game-changing release for The Shamen, but also arguably one of the key moments when suddenly the club dancefloor and the indie chart could meet without a disaster occurring. From this point on, nothing much would be the same - until the early nineties, anyway.

As for the baggy compilation cassette I pulled together, the woman I made it for lost interest in me and never got hold of it. Oh well. I'm sure there's an idea for a Sarah Records song in there somewhere.



2. Front 242 - Headhunter (Play It Again Sam)

"Front 242 are now. They're Euro and they're in your face! It's time to make up your mind. You're either for them or trampled under foot.
"The Studos Brosos melo makos". 

Some interesting track sequencing here - from forward thinking Indie House hybrids to industrial. Front 242, like their PIAS labelmates The Young Gods (on Side 2) were a huge deal throughout most of Europe already at this point, but were only just beginning to make inroads into the British charts.

"Headhunter" is a very cold and threatening little single, which does have a certain nagging dancefloor action going on, but in a very rigid, staccato way, typical of the entire genre. The snarled lyrics and the sheer minimalism of the arrangement mean you're either going to respond to this with excessive enthusiasm or be left slightly cold - to me, this always felt like it wanted to be a poppier track than it actually became. The chorus almost melts into something altogether warmer and radio-friendly, before they realise how close they've come and descend into harshness again. It beckons you forward only to push you away again. It's compelling but never once feels welcoming.

Their influence on the popularity of industrial music in the UK and USA really cannot be understated, however, and Front 242 felt like a key gateway band. "Headhunter" is just the start of that process.



3. A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (Rham)

"One of the hottest tracks in the New York clubs - mixes by Derrick May & Frankie Knuckles; emerging from America. Gerald's influences range from Sun Ra to Edward Barton. Rham's most successful record to date. Gerald is from Manchester.
"Keep it abstract" - Gerald, March '89

It would probably have made more sense to follow "Transcendental" with this track, but no matter. "Voodoo Ray" was another huge, important release (for as much as you can place "importance" on anything in music). Hanging around the Dance Music chart, Indie Chart and the National Charts seemingly for the best part of an entire year, it's persuasive hypnotism charmed even the shyest of feet on to the dancefloor, and it remains a respected disc of its era even now.

Making a lot out of very little, it twitters and jiggles its way along, adding occasional flourishes and absurdly throwing Derek and Clive samples into the mix for no clear reason. And no, I'm not spouting nonsense here - the "Voodoo Ray" element stems from the "Bo Dudley" sketch from "Derek and Clive Live", as does the shout of "Later!" (The proof is here if you need it). It's lucky for everyone that Gerald didn't opt to sample them screaming expletives instead...

The relevance of "Voodoo Ray" to the post-House "Indie Top 20" series might be debated further, were it not for the fact that shortly around this time, it was becoming not uncommon to hear this kind of music in the more forward-thinking clubs. As I've already hinted, the times they were a-slowly changin'...



4. The Screaming Trees - Tangiers (Native)

"This incredible dance dream that takes you somewhere nice to do it - so do it!"

No, no, not THAT Screaming Trees! This lot had absolutely nothing to do with the American grunge band at all, despite what other websites might claim; although establishing firm facts about this band is enormously challenging and tricky - much more than most of the bands to appear on Indie Top 20, they appear to have fallen off the radar in incredible style.

"Tangiers" was their very last single for Native Records before they opted to rename themselves Count Zero, and straddles the genres of Industrial and Dance and Synth-pop in quite a daring way. This single sounded huge enough to cross over in a big way, but once "The Chart Show" had screened the video, that seemed to be the end of its mainstream exposure. A shame, because "Tangiers" sounds like a possible future being explored - one where the new Ibiza-influenced rhythms of New Order, the aggression of Front 242 and the nagging melodic hooks of Depeche Mode all combined to huge effect.

To this day, I have a huge soft spot for the track, and feel enormous regret that something so potent seems to become completely commercially unavailable. For five minutes, this sounded like a wonderful and very 1988 pop moment.



5. The James Taylor Quartet - Blow Up (Re-Elect The President)

"Inspired by the organ jazz of Jimmy Smith, former Prisoner James Taylor experimented at revitalising a series of old sixties TV and film theme tunes. Blow Up was the first - raw, aggressive and sparkling, it captured Peel's attention. Sessions followed, as well as an appearance in his Festive Fifty". 

And why wasn't this track sequenced next to Inspiral Carpets "Butterfly" on Side One? Questions, questions... so many questions.

This is an evergreen cover of the Herbie Hancock penned film theme which was only very recently reissued as an Acid Jazz single due to public demand, and remains popular at various retro and Acid Jazz leaning club nights. Groovy in a very 1967 way, and exquisitely delivered, it seems to have usurped the original theme completely as the version of choice - a huge accomplishment for a cover. The original, however, is far more laidback, jazzy and smooth than this, so from a club perspective perhaps it's not surprising.

The track is both behind and ahead of its time on this LP. The Prisoners were an eighties approximation of a garage/ mod band whose moment in the underground spotlight seemed to have faded slightly by this point, as the public turned their heads to the future and not the past. However, the shuffle and swagger and the electric organ grooves here also pointed very definitely towards a certain strand of Baggy/ Madchester acts who also slowly morphed out of the Paisley patterned underground - The Charlatans being a prime example (whose lead singer Tim Burgess was originally in a band called The Electric Crayons, themselves named after the sixties Rubble compilation LP "The Electric Crayon Set") and The Inspirals being a significant other. There were many elements just waiting to add their particular shade to the sonic palette we were about to experience... but we'll have to wait awhile to see the full effects on this blog.

Volume 6 Side 2 - Christian Death, Young Gods, Spacemen 3, Rapeman

1. Christian Death - This Is Not Blasphemy (Prophet/ Jungle)

"This track is taken from the single 'What's The Verdict/ Blasphemy' which does not appear on any album"
'If you get the feeling you're living in the last days and are drawn by the charms of darkness and the macabre, perhaps it's time for Christian Death' - Chris Levevski, Propaganda Magazine.

When I started the blog "Left and to the Back", I quickly realised that I didn't actually get any thrills whatsoever from either listening to music I found awful, or writing about its usually obvious failings. I get the feeling that some music writers genuinely do love lambasting the drab and the dire and leap towards every opportunity, but I'd rather not spend too much time thinking about why something is shit. There's far too much unrecognised greatness out there, and that's really where I usually want my energy to be focused towards (there are exceptions, though - bad novelty records are always fun to write about).

We last encountered Christian Death on Volume 5, and I spent a long time talking about why their music doesn't work for me. This track is, in my opinion, even worse than the last one - nearly five full minutes of bluesy histrionics, howling and chest-beating backed with doomy guitars. More than that, I really can't be bothered to say. Sorry.

Fortunately, I won't have the job of analysing the output of this band again, since this was their last appearance on the series.



2. The Young Gods - Pas Mal (Play It Again Sam)

"European Sonic Architects are building songs of love and desire with instant fusion of heavy guitars and chrome. Future? - Present!"

The contributions made by the Swiss to the European music scene are really rather slight, but The Young Gods managed to reach far beyond their home country's borders. Almost amazingly, when David Bowie was asked about which groups influenced his "Outside" LP in 1995, he named them immediately.

"Outside" is one of Bowie's finest LPs, often overlooked by non-fans due to its mid-nineties release date. "Pas Mal", sadly, offers little hints of the complexity of the ideas found on that album, though it does easily display a similar kind of eerie menace. Sharp, choppy and metallic, it makes its point and goes, leaving a very large mark on the way. The silence between this track and the next feels almost threatening.



3. Spacemen 3 - Revolution (Fire)

"Sweetly, simply put, Spacemen 3 are the only English band that I'd walk the sea to piss on" - Byron Coley, Forced Exposure.

"Revolution" is altogether less brief. Spacemen 3's music later became much more psychedelic, but this is harsh and heavy garage stuff, opening with the pared back guitar riff which dominates the entire track, then a long, ranting political diatribe. "Well, I'm through with people/ who can't get up their ass/ to help themselves/ change this government" they roar. "I suggest to you/ That it takes just five seconds.../ to realize/ that the time is right/ to start thinkin' about/ a litt-le.... REVOLUTION".

Needless to say, this sounded absolutely incendiary and amazing to me as a fifteen year old, whereas now I find myself thinking "What revolution should we have, Kember and Pierce, and how should we do it? What are we protesting about, the right for you to have fun, or for a fairer society, or is it about something specific like exiting the EU? Or all three? Specifics are very important before I start filling various milk bottles with petrol. And who will lead us after the revolution? Will it be you, Kember, or you, Pierce? I don't know if I'm interested in allowing you to negotiate trade deals or things like that, you see, because you were daft enough to sign to Fire Records, so that is a point of concern".

But really, "Revolution" is a very traditional rock and roll howl of rage whose vague targets feel typical of psychedelia and garage rock, and the riff that sandwiches the rant at either end of the track does feel like standing in front of a jeering crowd, or a roaring jet engine. A deep, deep shame about those horribly weedy drum sounds, though, which could have added more aggression and beef to the track if they'd been produced more effectively.

Do I sense a Suicide influence creeping through yet again, incidentally? Certainly though, the main riff itself could be attributed to The MC5's "Black to Comm".



4. Rapeman - Bud(d) (Blast First) (Included on vinyl versions of "Indie Top 20" only)

"Bud(d) is a sad song about two old men, one named Bud and one named Budd, hence the brackets. Budd was a filthy politician who blew his brains out at a press conference, an act that was at once poetic, noble and greedy. Bud was a pleasant, modest man whose life was as beautiful and sad as any man's. He left a touching physical legacy, a legacy that some people disregard or trample over in a search for transient flashiness.
Rapeman existed 10/13/87 - 1/25/89 we hope you liked what we did".
Quote from Steve Albini - March '89

To begin by stating the obvious, the group name Rapeman caused Albini endless grief, most notably in the UK where he was greeted with placards and picket lines at gig venues from angry feminists. The name itself was derived from Japanese comic books with graphic rape scenes in them, but many politically inclined people felt, despite Albini's right-on punk credentials, that it was an insensitive and inflammatory name for a band. (My wife would like me to talk more about this, as I'm sure would some other readers. Let's just say I don't approve of the band's name and leave it at that, because there's really nothing new to add to the argument). 

Many years later, of course, the song "Rape Me" by Nirvana emerged and a similar debate swelled up all over again.

Pushing all that to one side, "Bud(d) "is a complete one chord-wonder of a track which steadily builds up doom and menace. Taking quotes from the politician's final speech and scattering them liberally throughout the record, it's always felt like a soundtrack to Budd Dwyer blowing his brains out in front of assembled journalists, the thudding monotony of his initial dreary and rambling speech giving way to something darker and more disturbed, dramatic and panicked.

Unlikely as it seems, this track climbed to number 2 in the UK indie chart. Albini would eventually go on to become a very heavily in-demand producer and performer in Shellac, whereas Sims went on to join The Jesus Lizard.

At nearly seven-and-a-half minutes long, for reasons of space this track was left off the CD version of "Indie Top 20" and only made it on to the LP and cassette.

Volume Six - Wedding Present, Snapdragons, Rose of Avalanche, Wolfhounds, Inspiral Carpets, Suicide, Loop

Format: Double LP/ Cassette/ CD
Year of Release: 1989

If Volume 5 was a strange and occasionally rather drab buffet of art-rock and indiepop, you can hear the stirrings of something different emerging in Volume 6 if you strain your ears...

It's not that this LP deviates much from the course we've been on so far, but there are mavericks pulling ever so slightly at the steering wheel - The Shamen emerge almost completely transformed as an indie-pop-House hybrid, The Inspiral Carpets stick their heads over the wall for the first time, and A Guy Called Gerald drops by to entertain us with a seriously huge crossover track.

All these things were indicative of what indieland would become, whereas many of the other artists on this LP represent the last puff of smoke of the old guard. While The Wedding Present would be too good to be deathless and would move on to greater success on RCA, a lot of the other acts from their particular C86 era would cease to be relevant in the mainstream media very shortly.

That does make Volume 6 one of the more compelling and varied listens, though, as all kinds of sounds emerge out of the chaos, from clattering industrial noises to indiefied synth-pop, to 60s garage throwbacks... there's a clear sense here that nobody truly understood which way the wind was blowing yet. Or at least, Chet and Bee didn't.

Once again, I've included the liner notes for reference.

1. Le Cadeau De Mariage/ The Wedding Present - Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonable? (Reception)

"The ferret goes from strength to strength" - David Gedge, March '89

"Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?" was the Wedding Present's last single on Reception records before they signed to RCA records and became regular Top of the Pops fixtures.

Driven by an almost folk-rock rhythm - those dabblings with Ukrainian folk music make more sense when you think of their earlier records in that context - "Reasonable" is a solid record, but lacks the aggressive drive and the emotional impact of their earliest singles. Moreover, the need for a French language version of the track (sang by Gedge in rather questionable French with definite Yorkshire vowels) has never been fully explained - were the group going nova across the Channel, I wonder, or was it just an experiment?

The more popular English language version reveals that this is a song about a lover's tiff, and while the lyrical snapshots of the argument are well observed ("No-one can change that much in three days!" "It's not yours to take back!") it's a bitter, biting sulk of a track, and as such feels like neither one thing nor the other. There's a certain lack of drama here, and it's probably because Gedge is, for once, the person wearing the boot. The lyrics are clearly informing us that he's refusing to get back together with the lady, rather than vice versa - and as such, it's hard to get too emotionally involved with the sentiments expressed. They wrote better choruses than this one as well.

Still, none of this stopped the record from climbing as high as Number 42. RCA would take over and push them over the line and into the world of early evening television. This felt like an odd victory at the time, even if each TOTP appearance probably did little to convert any New Kids On The Block fans who might have been watching.



2. The Snapdragons - The Things You Want (Native)

"...against abuse to women, anti-anti-feminism. James' pouting/ plaintive vocals seduce your ears with tastefully thrashed and plucked guitar and an imaginative and grooving rhythm".

With a stomp and a twang, Leeds' The Snapdragons arrive on Indie Top 20 and then completely disappear again. Relative latecomers to the indiepop party, they were rather big news for five minutes in late 1988 before the tide very obviously turned.

"The Things You Want" is actually a confident and punchy single with plenty to offer, and got regular bedroom spins from me at the time. It packs a lot into two-and-a-half minutes, from the thudding and driving hook, to the Blue Aeroplanes-esque trumpet lines at the tail end. Truthfully, though, it does feel as if it could have been released three years before, and it's impossible not to wonder what the group could have achieved if they hadn't been so late to the party.

Interesting indie fact - the drummer Pel Riccardi went on to join Utah Saints.



3. The Rose of Avalanche - The World Is Ours (Avalantic) 

"If you like Bros - you'll love these lads!"

The Rose Of Avalanche emerge on the series for the second and last time, and actually manage to get to the point this time around. Unlike "Velveteen", which yearned and yawned and sprawled itself across twelve inches like a woebegone actress having a bad night's rest, "The World Is Ours" is a surprisingly concise and moody strut of a record. The guitars twang, the chorus is subtle and grows in stature with subsequent listens, and while it was never going to lead them on to greatness, "The World Is Ours" did prove that they weren't simply a "goth rock" band.

The group would continue on their own Avalantic record label until 1990, never quite scaling their mid-eighties peaks again, but certainly managing to please a loyal fanbase.



4. The Wolfhounds - Rent Act (Midnight Music)

"There are thousands of homeless people in this country, particularly in and around the Capital. This government persistently passes laws to keep it that way".

Plus ca change. The UK has never really managed to grasp the issue of homelessness since the eighties, and rising rent and property prices are only making the issue worse - so The Wolfhounds howl of protest here was really only indicative of what would become a much bigger problem (and we would have struggled to believe it could get worse at the time).

"Rent Act" is an incredibly good single as well, starting with some psychedelic atmospherics (possibly a studio tape being rewound and put through an echo effect) and gradually building and building into a righteous piece of fury. While many bands of their ilk contented themselves with thrashing out a general message of protest, The Wolfhounds were actually capable of considered songcrafting beneath the noise - "Rent Act" has so many pleasing elements, from the chugging verses, to the soaring guitar beneath the chorus and the panoramic middle eight. All ensure that the song starts off as a pissy protest and grows into something quite majestic and emotive. There's nothing slick or smooth about "Rent Act", but it's also about as far from Crass as you can get.



5. Inspiral Carpets - Butterfly (Cow)

"A Peel favourite, their latest single, taken from the Trainsurfing EP, available on Cow Records".

Hello Madchester. Except perhaps, not really. While The Inspiral Carpets played fellow horsemen of the baggyocalypse along with the Roses, Mondays and Charlatans, at this stage nobody really had them pegged as being part of any dominant movement as such (though to be fair, most journalists were taking The Stone Roses even less seriously at this point). While Manchester bands were beginning to attract stronger press attention, the Inspirals were still being talked about in terms of being a garage rock revival act. To my ears, they also sounded faintly like early Barry Andrews era XTC at this point.

"Butterfly" confirms that. There's nothing funky or dancey here. It's really all faintly quirky mid-sixties melodies, a squeaky organ and rude, distorted guitar lines. They also don't have Tom Hingley on lead vocals at this point, instead utilising the vocal powers of Stephen Holt, who would very shortly depart to form The Rainkings (one wonders whether he regrets that decision now...)

Still, it isn't that much of a leap from this to the material on their debut "Life" album, and only the rough edges give the game away. "Butterfly" also shows that they could pen a powerful chorus along with the best of their travelling companions... even if nobody expected them to become an act who would go on to shift hundreds of thousands of records. I mean, come on, they were hardly The House of Love or The Darling Buds, were they?



6. Suicide - Rain of Ruin (Chapter 22)

"Back after what seems like an eternity but is actually only ten years. Suicide prove that absence makes the heart grow fonder, whilst at the same time showing numerous young pretenders how to do it!"

What young pretenders could they have been referring to, I wonder? And is one of them coming up shortly?

Suicide were a group who barely need any introduction, but whose harsh minimalism alienated swathes of the public in their heyday. Talked about almost as the seventies equivalent to The Velvet Underground, Alan Vega and Martin Rev arguably invented the idea of the electronic music duo, and possibly planted the seeds of some of the ideas later to be found in industrial rock and goth rock to boot, not to mention proving to be an influence on acts as diverse as The Jesus and Mary Chain and MIA. Absolutely critically slated in their day, Suicide's popularity rose enough for them to reform in the late eighties and be given a hero's welcome, and their stature has only grown since (this is an over-simplification of the facts, of course, as Suicide did gain some critical and commercial ground in the early eighties - The Quietus' tribute to Alan Vega following his death helps to fill in some of the blanks).

"Rain of Ruin" isn't much talked about now, but felt like a significant event of a single at the time, being given even more press inches and raves than Wire's comeback received a couple of years previously. It also showed that Suicide weren't really interested in going anywhere especially new. "Rain of Ruin" is much more sparse, bare and hypnotic than any of their influences managed to be, holding your attention through the sheer drone of persistence and Vega's hiccuping sub-Elvis vocals. Whatever ideas they may have given other musicians, in the end there were very few other groups out there who sounded exactly like Suicide - they were entirely their own deal.



7. Loop - Black Sun (Chapter 22)

"From the LP 'Fade Out', Loop take the blow torch and petrol cans to music and deliver their most powerful single yet".

It would be tempting to compare "Black Sun" to Suicide's output, but honestly, you can hear the difference. Loop don't really sit still, and while the foundations for "Black Sun" are a near-perfect doomy bassline, the band constantly pile new ideas on top of it across five minutes - a shimmering psychedelic guitar effect here, a wailing solo there, a rattling drumbeat elsewhere... so this feels more like a slowed down, doped up take on krautrock than an out-and-out Vega tribute.

It's also their finest single to my ears, feeling delightfully hazy and foggy and incredibly addictive. As soon as those riffs and drones slowly disappear into a tunnel at the track's end, you feel instantly compelled to return the stylus to the start of the track again. Five minutes of this never feels like quite enough, and while it might seem like an unlikely Indie chart number one now, this made serious sense at the time.