Jody And The Creams – "A Big Dog.n" (Cordelia Records Ericat 028) 1990

 

That's NOT Dennis Nilsen bottom right by the way!

Yet another LP with ever widening Deep Freeze Mice connectivity, featuring Ruth (Po!) without her refrigerator on singy duties, another appearance of Blodwyn P. Teabag, (She's the one who looks like Green in his squatting days but as a Lady) and a debut for Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie; the latter two wrote nearly all the tchoons.

Don't be afraid, the Dennis Nilsen-a-like is the prolific Alan Jenkins(Deep Freeze Mouse number one) himself, if you've never seen him before? Here pictured in the Producer's role.I suppose this was intended as a 'Girl Group' project?

It all starts off with a bang,with the best anti-monarchy song I've probably ever heard.It alone, is the best reason why the Monarchy should remain exactly as it is or we would have one less thing to moan about,and no more anti-monarchy songs as clever as this.....Monarchy for the UK.

There are a few more charmingly witty indie pop numbers,or to paraphrase blodwyn or Ariadne.... 'lo-fi vintage english agit-pop'.There's also a side long sound collage like a more listenable but twee-er version of the side of Tago Mago no-one plays called "N.",or 'Lumpy Gravy', and there's another inevitable Frank Zappa homage with a couple of Suzy Creamcheese moments as if the GTO's came from an English suburb.....in Shropshire(?).

"Margery is Dead" reveals a possible Joe Meek obsession by someone in the room, like the theme to an unmade Gerry Anderson pilot from 1961.....can't go wrong there methinks.

Absolutely one of the better releases on Cordelia Records by a yard or two, in Imperial measurements.Don't ask me what that is in Metric!

That's something you can thank the Royals for,that and Lsd ?!.....For those born after decimalisation,that stands for Pounds Shillings and Pence,the single most absurd money system ever thought up by one of God's relatives on Earth.

Tracklisting:

1 The Queen #1 1:34
2 Margery Is Dead 1:27
3 Moulted Fur From A Labrador 2:27
4 Tree Rings 4:38
5 Appleseed Alley
Written-By – Ruth* 3:07
6 Hi Felicity 1:40
7 Shropshire 4:18
8 N. 31:35
9 The Queen #2 1:41
10 Blue Moon 2:04

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Po! – "Bedroom Tapes vol.1" - (self-released) 1989

Ruth, last seen as the 'Ruth' from Ruth's Refrigerator , otherwise known as Ruth Miller of Indie Twee Pop Leicester legends PO! Had her own label called Rutland Records. Named after the disputed part of Leicestershire that regained its independence sometime in the naughties I think , and better known as the fictional home of The Rutles,but absolutely NOT The Ruts. 

One never ,wittingly saw PO!...the more mischievous amongst us would misspell it as POO!... live,who seemed to be in the Leicester Mercury  entertainment section every friday night during 1989 and beyond. Oh No,I thought, not more of that bloody student indie-pop nonsense. Not brutal or aggressive enough for me at the time...of course. I now know better don't I?

There are lots of PO! albums on Bandcamp, but this is a bunch of demo's recorded in Ruth's Bedroom I guess?There are three more volumes i am assured.

Its a kind of poundshop Tracy Thorn's "A Distant Shore";she being the Godmother's second cousin twice removed's best friends sister of "Twee".

Ruth is sufficiently Twee enough on these intimate recordings to qualify as The Indie Oberleutnant for a good part of the East Midlands.

PO! weren't eccentric enough to adequately fill the void left by the demise of Yeah Yeah Noh! in the local scene,but Ruth was indeed a prolific writer of charming pop tunes,of which we have a few examples on this cassette.

Ruth in fact turned up in the Guardian last week,promoting her Older Womens Punk Collective called the Unglamorous Music project. I suppose another Ruth's Refrigerator LP is out of the question? 

Tracklist:

1 Danny's Girl
2 Fay
3 These Days
4 The Ice Cream Dream (Tina)
5 She Lies In State
6 Every Night
7 Look For The Holes
8 Sunday Never Comes Around

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Ruth's Refrigerator – "Suddenly A Disfigured Head Parachuted" (Cordelia Records – CD072) 1990

Ruth and her Refigerator...note the standard indie bowl-cuts extreme left and right.

Escaping the the Twee-Dream pop minority of Leeds to the civilised end of the M1 motorway;leaving behind the last vestiges of the "North", lies the naturally Twee city of Leicester.....which,as if you didn't know, is my home town.Akin to an empty rugby players bath,it has nothing in the center ans a ring of scum around the outside.

No, it wasn't quite that empty in the center,it wasn't Coventry after all;but i did grow up amongst the ring of scum,of which i am proudly one.One has very hazy memories of seeing lots of these Twee Dream pop Shoegazer groups at the various venues on offer, a case of if you remember the earl 90's you weren't there,unlike Britpop,which if you remember that you definitely were there and trying to forget it.

of course, the leicster had our own Twee Pop combo's,the most celebrated of which being peel fav, Yeah Yeah Noh!

A Sense of humour certainly required The rather zany Ruth's Refrigerator,being a fine example.

Including various members DIY legends Deep Freeze Mice and, Po! and other indie hangers-on.

The lyrics are of the too clever by 'arf variety as preferred by such tiresome smart arses as Morrissy and Cocker, but as i have mellowed in the past decade i'll say, what's wrong with that? I fact they are pretty funny.Like the opening couplet of Dear Prudence re-write "Red Queen" for example:

"There Was A Girl,

She Was a Raving Psychopathic Killer.......in my eyes."

Of course you had to be there,but you get the gist.

As top Deep Freeze Mouse Alan Jenkins is in the group, you're gonna get mad cap song titles and surreal university life sentence humour in droves,all backed up with jangly twee indie psych Wimsey.

I have been less than kind to the voice of Me Jenkins during my angry years;bracketing him with such of the likes of Steve Solomar of Spherical Objects......i now know this to be plain wrong,as do I the Deep Freeze Mice, whom I have reassessed as rather good,and i even like Alan's voice too now.....but not as much as Ruth's.

So my previous reviews of DFM albums are but a window of time in which i was obviously very pissed off.....Ruth-less....haha..see what i did? (Smart arse!) 

Tracklist:

1 She Lies In State 2:16
2 Your Dog Is Rich And Your Cat Is Good Looking 2:40
3 Alan's Refrigerator 2:12
4 He Needs A Dog 2:19
5 Picasso's Problem 1:56
6 The Red Queen 2:49
7 Mind The Paprica, Joe
8 Gro Harlem Brundtland Wants Some Fish 1:57
9 On A Western Shore 2:58
10 Innocent Boy 2:26
11 Hello Anne Of Green Poplars 3:47
12 Examine The Insects And Hit Them 1:02
13 Hi Felicity 1:42
14 Fish In The Air / Birds In The Sea 7:31
15 Spot The Bear Theme 1:01
16 Hello Anne (With A Better Guitar Solo) 3:13
17 The Red Queen (With Robyn Singing) 3:12
18 I Am Big Chief Radio Luxembourg 5:15
19 She's Not There 2:02

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