Band of Brothers

It must have seemed a good idea at the time, it was the seventies and theatricality was all the rage but did it put the punters off? I'm referring to Split Enz bizarre appearance, very original and a good laugh for all concerned but did it distract attention from two great songwriters, Neil and Tim Finn.

Split Enz- My Mistake



'My Mistake' really makes me smile, the twists and turns of the arrangement, the fairground ooompah of the rhythms and dissonances, you can tell somebody clever is at work here. At the same time it's recognisably pop music. Once Neil Finn had joined, Split Enz got more 'Noo Wave', 'I Got You' is a pop classic but to me their high point is 'Six Months In A Leaky Boat'

Split Enz- Six Months In A Leaky Boat



This caused great controversy as it was accused of being a sarcastic reference to the Falklands War, it was recorded in January '82, before the war but if the cap fits...To me this song finds Split Enz using the sounds from their homeland, New Zealand. It's a great singalong but it has a lovely widescreen sweep to it. The Finn Brothers have never been cool but their collective scrapbook of songs should impress even the most cynical and jaded.

Split Enz Fansite

The Finn Brothers

Buy The Best of Split Enz

--

stevedomino
marc-o, you're mental - thanks for these, never heard 'em before.

'my mistake' = the "chorlton and the wheelies" theme tune
'six months...' = "johnny and mary" as played by Grandaddy

you know i have a soft spot for the Finn's on the QT... yes, they're clever (and, let's be honest, a bit "Driving With Dad") but they're overriding pop-nous stops their best songs from being strictly academic ventures, or the results of a Paul McCartney fan-club songwriting workshop...

i'll get mi coat... 

marc-o
Spot on with the Grandaddy bit...arpeggiators set to stun.

Anonymous
Nothing wrong with Split Enz. "I got you. That's all I want.''

'E's got the hump

It is not false modesty when I admit I'm no great musician, I'm a bit of musical Utility Player, a bit of guitar here, a bit of bass there, even a maraca or two. Inevitably it is the instrument I have least theoretical knowledge of that I play in Johnny Domino, the keyboard. I take solace that I share non-musician status with Brian Eno. I have always loved synths, the older and more gnarly the better. They don't gnarlier than Eno's VCS 3 on the first two Roxy Music album. All the musicians in Roxy were quirky and individualistic but only Eno could unleash the mayhem on 'Editions of You'

Roxy Music- Editions of You



I don't know an awful lot about his later career but any man involved with Devo and Talking Heads can be forgiven U2.

Brian Eno- The Paw-Paw Negro Blowtorch



Buy Roxy Music- For Your Pleasure

Buy Brian Eno- Here Come The Warm Jets

Visit EnoWeb

A Touch of Brass

It seems a little dumb posting some trumpet inflected pop tunes in the midst of Steve posting Miles Davis but I love a bit of trumpet I do. The trumpet can be a little one-dimensional, all brash and blaring but it can do a lot to lift a song and can be used in lots of ways in pop even if it lacks the subtlety of a Miles or Chet Baker. The June Brides typify the way trumpet is used in a ramshackle Indie band, the trumpet here is homely and friendly, a simplistic hook to hang a song on.

The June Brides- Every Conversation



The trumpet can also make a song sound majestic, 'Lazarus' by The Boo Radleys springs to mind but 'Fanfare' by Eric Matthews really hits the maximum grandiosity button helped by the trumpet.

Eric Matthews- Fanfare



For an ambitious songwriter like XTC's Andy Partridge a bit of trumpet will take the song to the Planet Jazz, in this case it's a Midi Trumpet played by Mark Isham. Partridge is a jazz fan and the angular chord structures combine well with his pop sensibility.

XTC- Miniature Sun



I could have picked some Pale Fountains, Dexys, Teardrops or David Sylvian for this post as they all do the trumpet thing in a variety of ways. Hats off to the trumpet.

Every Conversation- The Story of the June Brides

Eric Matthews- It's Heavy In Here

The essential Oranges and Lemons by XTC

--

Francis
Ah! The June Brides - superb band - your Athlete-based faux-pas is forgiven! It was a great honour for me that Phil Wilson came to the last Hibbett gig we did in Brixton. A lovely bloke who was genuinely embarassed by my fawning! 

Anonymous
Eric Mathews Fanfare - very well done & ta to Mark Radcliffe for playing it in 95/96 as well. Ed The Falling Leaves.

stevedomino
crikey - from the sublime to the ridiculous in one post. Eric Matthews' "Fanfare" is one of the rare occasions where a song from back in the day that you have fond memories of actually IS as good as you thought. fantastic stuff.

but i know you only put that MIDI trumpet monstrosity on here just to wind me up. good lord, that am a dreadful thing. can't hear that track without my ears crying.

you made my ears cry, marc-o.

why would you do that?

why?

sounds like a chase-sequence from "Eldorado" or "Triangle". or "Ceefax" music.

I detect the dread hand of Ronnie Hazelhurst.

Anonymous
That XTC song is utter tosh.

Utter tosh I tell you.

Tosh.

Graeme 

All you need is......

Love's 'Forever Changes' is one of those Mojo approved essentials in any collection of 60's classics. It sits alongside Revolver, Pet Sounds and Younger than Yesterday with very good reason. By turns beautiful and sinister it sounds like no other album from its era and reflects the uneasy atmosphere of the West Coast in the late 60's. It also reflects the dysfunctional genius of the people involved in its making, especially the mercurial Arthur Lee, who died very recently. Love tracks have appeared all over Blogland recently so I thought I would post two tracks that name-check Arthur and a reverential cover by Liverpool's biggest Love(rs), the mighty Shack.

Shack- Byrds Turn To Stone



Lloyd Cole And The Commotions- Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken



Shack- A House Is Not A Motel



Every home should have Love

Find out more about Shack

A collection without Rattlesnakes is like a kitchen without tea

Cellarful of Noise

Despite the blatant McCartneyite revisionism The Beatles- Anthology DVD boxed set is an essntial purchase for anyone who is not in Beatle denial. One of the best bits of footage is The Beatles in the Cavern in 1962 still breaking Ringo in, playing 'Some Other Guy'.

The Beatles- Some Other Guy

What hits me about this performance is the famous backbeat, the energy and the idea that any Liverpudlian working stiff on a lunchbreak could see The Beatles, The Big Three or The Searchers stomping their winklepickers during a mid-day session....can you imagine being able to do that now?

The closest I've ever been to that is seeing The Kaisers at Sam Fays in Nottingham years ago. The Kaisers were not a tribute band but their time capsule sound was that of a pre-commercialisation Beat group c 1961/62, leather waistcoats, quiffs, Selmer amps and Burns guitars. They were a brilliant live band and I still hold one of their albums hostage from Steve.

The Kaisers- She's Gonna Two Time

The Kaisers- She's Only Doggin' Round

There's nothing vaguely original going on here but the authenticity is spot on, more importantly the raw dynamism of a good beat combo is irresistible. Are The Kaisers still out there?

Buy The Beatles Anthology DVD here
Buy The Beatles- Live at the BBC here
The Kaisers stuff is mostly unavailable but a dredge around the net might pay off
If you are forming a Beat group of your own you must have a Burns Guitar

--
stevedomino
so that's where my Kaisers CD went... these tracks sound great.

Kaisers CDs can be bought here. Hey! there's even a Kaisers DVD.

There's a good discography here and an interview here.

By the way, an import copy of "Beat It Up!" (where these tracks are from) is going on Amazon for £214...

can I have my CD back, please?! 

Someone to drag me round Chelsea Girl

Recently a student from my old University rang me in the hope of getting a donation, instead the poor young woman was treated to the thoughts of Chairman Marc-o. I ranted about state funded education and the scab behaviour of students during the recent lecturers strike (since when was getting a dissertation marked more important than somebody’s livelihood, Thatcher’s children or what?) Anyway, before I’m off on one again this all set me thinking about the days when Student’s Unions would put bands on which you would drunkenly appreciate on subsidised beer. The next day you’d be off to the record shop to buy what was then my favoured format, the 4 track 12 inch EP. A nice big cover, 4 songs and cheap, I have lots of them but these tracks are some of my favourites from this period. None of these bands set the world alight musically but they provided me with fun nights out and tunes that have stayed with me.

Bob- Kirsty

Mighty Mighty- Is there anyone out there



Mighty Mighty- Built like a Car



The Jack Rubies- Lobster

It seems that the University circuit is all but gone today (forgive me if I'm wrong) and a large number of brand new Mini Coopers screech out of my local University these days...Ho Hum. You can keep your credit cards and the house bought by your Mum and Dad and give me a bottle of Newcastle Brown in each hand, a sticky dancefloor and some daft pop songs anyday.

Bob and The Jack Rubies are long deleted, try Ebay

Mighty Mighty can be found at Vinyl Japan

--

[Comments}

Mike
Thank you so much for posting these. I had my Mighty Mighty records (12inch records, 4 tunes, 79p, Hurrah!) pinched - well drukenly lent to someone, can't remember who, never returned, it's as good as pinched. I do remember watching the likes of Bob, The Brilliant Corners, The Soup Dragons, Mighty Mighty etc. for not much clutching a bottle of Double Maxim, dancing at the back of the bar at Newcastle Poly. Oh and you are so right about the state of studentdom. I went to see The Go Team at Newcastle Uni this year and even though my student days are 15 plus years ago I did not feel like an elder statesman at all. It was more lecturers than students. They were all out waxing their cars - either that or doing 3 jobs to try and pay off their debt.
 

pucka choons

Okay I'll admit that when I first heard 'Vehicles and Animals' by Athlete I thought it would be the perfect soundtrack to a Jamie Oliver barbecue, all those diamond geezers and geezer birds 'high fiving' and congratulating each other in mockney accents. However when the sun comes out, as it did when I bought this album about 3 years ago, such cynical thoughts vanish. You only have to listen to where Athlete are at these days to realise what an interesting album it is. They've become another 'rent-an-anthem' band competing with Coldplay and Keane, was this at the instigation of their label, ironic when 'El Salvador' is all about the silly games that major labels play with bands.

Athlete- El Salvador



The other thing that interested me at the time was the evident influence of the mighty Steely Dan. In the 80's, bands like Danny Wilson, Deacon Blue and Prefab Sprout messed with that template but along with the High Llamas, Athlete are one of the few recent bands to take on board the jazz-influenced chord changes and mellow funk of the Dan and filter them through British street culture as in 'You Got The Style'. No idea whether this was concious but it works for me.

Athlete- You got the Style



Basically the strength of Athlete on this album was that they were a British guitar band who cast their net a little wider than most when it came to looking for role models, this is a good thing, yes?

Buy 'Vehicles and Animals' by Athlete

Visit Athlete here

[poor Marc-o - this was bizarrely one of the most controversial posts we ever did - he really took a kicking in the comments - see below. stevedomino, 14/5/14]

Francis
unsubscribe!

stevedomino
hmmm.... hard to hear these without hearing the miserable, earnestly-emoting, furrowed-browed jockers that they became.

I can kind-of see a Steely Dan influence, but marc-o, you keep skirting around The Dan - when will you do a proper post???

go on - for me?!

and Francis - stay with us, our kid!

Pete2ndBest
Great songs, both of these!
I was really into Athlete when I first heard You Got The Style. It really was something different at the time.

But now, like you said, they've become another sub-standard Coldplay clone, very boring but selling more copies. 

The Arch
I'm with Frankie on this one. Clearly the heat has got to Marc.

marc-o
I knew this would be controversial with some of our chippier viewers....which was part of the fun. Dan soon Steve, picking the tracks is difficult.

dickvandyke
Reminds me of the time pus trickled into my root canal.

El Salvador eh. Bit like when Simple Minds sang of the 'Belfast Child'. Had they gone on about a 'Scunthorpe Child' or the like, I would've respected them a bit more.

Having said that, many thanks for continuing to do your stuff. 

Short and Sweet

The Lemonheads- 'It's A Shame About Ray' doesn't hang around, it's said everything it needs to say within about 30 minutes but it made a big impression on me when it was released in 1992. For a start it was one of the first albums I bought on CD, it was a rare purchase of music by a US alt-rock band and it really made an impact on the way I wrote songs at the time.

My band-mates in Johnny Domino wholeheartedly embraced the US hardcore and alternative music scene (hope this isn't insultingly simplistic chaps), I found it more difficult, I own nothing on the Sub-Pop label and see elsewhere for my opinion on Sonic Youth. The instant accessibility of Evan Dando's songwriting combined with the unfussy production made it an instant hit round my way. Obviously he lost his way and became a crack poster boy but he has a good-sized satchel full of classic pop songs (Outdoor Life from the patchy 'Car, Button, Cloth' is a real gem).

This was US indie with stabilisers on and helped me start to understand the more gnarly stuff. If I record an overdriven guitar I usually put an acoustic underneath, pure 'Its a Shame About Ray'

The Lemonheads- 'It's A Shame About Ray'



The Lemonheads- 'Alison's Starting To Happen'



Buy The Lemonheads- 'It's A Shame About Ray' here

electronically yours

Before they became the synth-pop Abba, The Human League were a bunch of sci-fi electronics geeks from Sheffield. Their live shows were accompanied with slide shows and ex-Hospital porter Phil Oakey would swing his magnificent fringe to the steam hammer thump of drums programmed on their Roland System 100, the first two albums contain no drum machines or 'real' instruments at all. In spite of being name-checked in The Undertones 'My Perfect Cousin' as the archetypal late 70's art school band the 'League were magnificently and grumpily Northern. 'The Path of Least Resistance' captures them brilliantly in this phase, welcome to the future ladies and gentlemen, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

The Human League- The Path of Least Resistance



Visit The Human League

Buy 'Reproduction' by The Human League

the sincerest form of flattery

'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' by Belle and Sebastian has slyly crept up to become one of my favourite albums. I resisted Belle and Sebastian for a long time, all too hushed, bookish and a bit samey (not usually things that put me off but for some reason I just couldn't get on with them). A lot of their long time fans were a bit troubled by the idea of their favourite Scottish intellectuals being produced by the King of 80's thunderous synth bass, Trevor Horn. I think it worked a treat, with Horn bringing out their melodic sense while staying true to their low key sound. 'I'm a Cuckoo' is a joy with its lyrical and musical references to the great Thin Lizzy.

I'm a Cuckoo- Belle and Sebastian



I love the idea of this uber-Indie band playing with the harmony guitars and ringing chords that typify a Lizzy song while staying recognisably Belle and Sebastian, it's playful but reverential, as the mighty Phil Lynott deserves. I think he might have winked if he heard it.

Don't Believe a Word- Thin Lizzy



Most B and S fans are obsessed with the band, I think in the future they will occupy similar territory to The Beautiful South bringing knowing, clever music to 'nice' people. Feel free to disagree. Check out YouTube for their video for 'Step into my office, baby' which is a great tribute to Robin Askwith movies....phwoar!

Visit Belle and Sebastian

Buy 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' by Belle and Sebastian

Buy 'Greatest Hits'- Thin Lizzy

I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?

Christmas 1980 and all the way from Canada Santa brings me 'Permanent Waves' by Rush. Imagine my parents joy as the cosy festivities are accompanied by interminable slices of techno rock and Geddy Lee's truly bizarre voice. By 1980 metal and prog bands were feeling the backlash of Punk and New Wave. Many decided to weather the storm by paying it no heed, a few rolled with the punches. Rush didn't compromise their awesome chops and ability to take us on a (long) musical journey. They did incorporate the sleek modern sounds of those new fangled synths to complement their double necked guitars. Geddy Lee resembled a tap dancing octopus as he dealt with vocals, bass, synths and Moog Taurus footpedals. Freewill is typical of 'Permanent Waves', I love it, the earnest 'We've read some philosophy' lyrics, the high energy riffing, Neil Peart's falling down the stairs drumfills and best of all at 3.04 Geddy's bass solo followed by an Alex Lifeson solo that'll have yer eyes out. In a nutshell that's the great thing about this music, it brings the easily impressed 12 year old out in you. It's not big or clever but then neither are most 12 year olds....hurrah.

Rush- Freewill



Visit Rush apparently they are lovely chaps

Buy Permanent Waves here

part company

It seems ironic to use a Robert Forster title for this post but it seemed apt. On Saturday 6th May 2006, Australian singer-songwriter and member of The Go-Betweens Grant McLennan died in his sleep at his home in Brisbane. Adored for their literate and thoughtful pop music The Go-Betweens have gone from strength to strength since their reformation. My brother introduced me to the world of The Go-Betweens and I have loved their subtle music ever since. Grant wrote some of their most memorable songs, I could have picked dozens but these, I feel are some of his best.

The Go-Betweens- Cattle and Cane

The Go-Betweens- Bye, Bye Pride



The Go-Betweens- Apology Accepted



Visit The Go-Betweens

Buy 'Bellavista Terrace'- The Best of The Go-Betweens

power pop masterclass vol. 1

What is Power pop? The Beatles translated through a transatlantic accent? Pop music but a bit more raucous? I don't really know without consulting Wiki but to me most artists tarred with the Power pop brush combine the melody and structure of Pop with the urgency of Rock. Whatever it is, I like it and Yanks seem to do it best. Let's Active's 'Every word means no' starts with a crisp guitar riff, two snare beats and you're in, Mitch Easter gives us the chorus within 30 seconds, textbook!

Let's Active- Every word means no



Jason Falkner turns up on loads of other people's records, including Fab Maccas. He is a powerpop wunderkind and multi-instrumentalist. 'Follow Me' is fuzz-toned pop majesty in action.

Jason Falkner- Follow Me



One artist that Jason Falkner has worked with a lot is Jack White's current sidekick in The Raconteurs, Brendan Benson. His second album 'Lapalco' is a real treat for anyone who grins daftly when their chorus and middle eight come when they most expect it.

Brendan Benson- Folk Singer



Whether this stuff can really fill The Beatle's boots is debatable....alright it doesn't but they seem to be having fun trying.

Buy 'Cypress/Afoot' by Let's Active

Buy 'Lapalco' by Brendan Benson

Buy 'Author Unknown' by Jason Falkner

Visit Brendan Benson and Jason Falkner

the stalin of pop

Here in Domino-land we are generally at ease with our musical past, I'm sure there are things we rather were heard than others but generally it's all out there, hence 'The Shithouse Masters'.

Bobby Gillespie is obviously a little less comfortable with his recording history. In the recent Primal Scream 'Best Of' there was no evidence that the 'Scream had once been a Byrds and Love fixated band of sixties freaks. Their early singles and that 'difficult' first album 'Sonic Flower Groove' are usually dismissed as too fey but their behaviour and intentions at that time were anything but. Sugar-coated, sure but poisonous in intent. Perhaps Gillespie took the criticism to heart... a shame when you have a Rickenbacker 12 played as well as on this....

Primal Scream- Sonic Sister Love



The band just didn't have the chops to realise the sound they were after so several producers including Stephen Street and Langer and Winstanley had a go at cooking a decent 60's influenced guitar record out of them. Stolen master tapes and multiple band member sackings all probably made it a miserable experience for all concerned, maybe this is the reason why Gillespie has purged it. The Stone Roses took the template and made it a cohesive reality on their debut album. I have a big soft spot for 'Sonic Flower Groove', it doesn't hang together, side two is weak and the vocals are very hit and miss but for me 'Imperial' really flies, it has a real celtic lilt and the fade out rocks.

Primal Scream- Imperial



What were they thinking with that cover photo?

Buy 'Sonic Flower Groove' here

Visit Primal Scream

reach for the lasers

I am probably not the best person to ask about the Acid House summer of 1988. I was much too busy mourning the death of The Smiths, worshipping any band with semi-acoustic guitars and training my quiff. I was loved up but not in the acid sense of the word. I guess it's like the cliche about the '60's, if you CAN remember it, you weren't really there. Lancaster University wasn't exactly the hub of the new Dance culture but Manchester is just down the road and once the guitar bands like The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays and co started playing at the Sugarhouse the fringes got floppier and trousers got wider and everyone found a hitherto untapped dance element in their youth culture.

Inner City- Good Life



So why 'Good Life'? Well this tune (Chhhooooooonnnn) crossed over for me, a regular dancefloor filler that united all the people (except Goths) and sounds great when you play it loud. Analogue and Digital, it's machine music with soul. Nice one.

Buy Good Life- The Best of Inner City here

the strangest manifestation

Orange Juice have received a fair bit of press recently. Edwyn seems to be recovering from his life threatening illness and their was the interest created by Franz Ferdinand's debt to their Scottish forefathers and the subsequent Postcard retrospective 'The Glasgow School'. I'm here to stick up for Orange Juice in their Polydor era, less hip than the 'Sound of Young Scotland' years but equally nourshing.

Orange Juice- Falling and Laughing


What drew me to Edwyn Collins' songwriting and still keeps me coming back for more is the combination of romanticism, humour and wordplay....the same things I get when I read PG Wodehouse. This version of 'Falling and Laughing' is more polished than the Postcard version and the line 'only my dreams satisfy the real needs of my heart' is one of those great lovelorn teenager lines that POP music is all about.

Orange Juice- Craziest Feeling


Craziest Feeling is from the 'Texas Fever' mini album. Here Edwyn does his 'soul' voiceover. Orange Juice helped to launch a thousand spindly white boy guitar bands who usually missed the point that the 'Juice were trying to synthesise the soul and funk that they loved through their untutored Glaswegian technique. It reminds me of the teenage Steve Marriott trying to be Otis or Solomon Burke, the fact they don't quite get there makes it all the more appealing.

Orange Juice- What Presence?!


If I had to pick a favourite OJ song it would have to be 'What Presence?', those clanging guitars and that easy flow of rhymes sung in that odd fruity voice....love it! Love 'em!

Buy Orange Juice- The Glasgow School here

This is his career as Edwyn sees it

Cheer Edwyn on here

space blues

The story of Felt is your typical tale of missed opportunity and glorious failure. The central character is Lawrence Hayward, Felt's wayward lead singer and pop obsessive. The world of indie is littered with stories about his eccentricity, his mania for cleanliness, sacking a bass player for having curly hair and seemingly deliberate hamstringing of his own career. You can read about this in David Cavanagh's excellent book 'My magpie eyes are hungry for the prize'. All good gossip I'm sure but what stands out for me is the unique music of Felt.

Felt- Crystal Ball


Crystal Ball always moves me. The standard Indie Velvets/NYC influences are obvious but there is a very English melancholy here. Lawrence sounds old before his time, resigned to his fate while Maurice Deebank's guitar scribbles across the song in constant flowing lines, it's a distinctly un-rock way of playing guitar. As far as I'm concerned this is their finest moment.

Felt- Fortune


Fortune again shows the doomed beauty that is typical of their music for Cherry Red. When they moved to Creation things got a little more gutsy especially when Martin Duffy brought his virtuoso Hammond playing to the band and Maurice Deebank had left under a cloud. Felt deserve your attention.

Buy 'My Magpie eyes are hungry for the prize' here

The best compilation of the Cherry Red period Felt that I have focused on here is 'Absolute Classic Masterpieces'

These songs are for everybody out there but especially for our friend Tim who has just returned from his overseas adventures, these are for you mate, just don't expect any Cure!

Dogger, Fisher, German Bight

Along with many other Brits I have a thing for the Shipping Forecast. I love that feeling of driving late at night with that strange mantra of shipping areas and weather warnings and feeling heartily glad that I'm not one of the poor sods in peril on the sea. Thomas Dolby must have knowingly tuned into this feeling when he put an excerpt of the Shipping Forecast read by John 'Boggy' Marsh at the end of Windpower.

Thomas Dolby- Windpower


Dolby was sold to 80's audiences as a 'Mad Professor' figure probably because he played synths, was kind of clever and ...oh...he wore glasses! I first became aware of him on a BBC 1 talent show fronted by David Essex, obviously. His first album 'The Golden Age of Wireless' is full of clever songs, he was a brilliant synth programmer but it never sounds cold or technical like many albums of its era....in fact it sounds very elemental. Is it just me or does 'One of our Submarines' nick the Six Million Dollar Man theme tune?

Thomas Dolby- One of our Submarines


Thomas Dolby went on to produce Prefab Sprout producing strange and lovely atmospheres for Paddy MacAloon's songs. His second album 'The Flat Earth' has its moments but as is often the case, the first one is the one to get.

Buy 'The Golden Age of Wireless' by Thomas Dolby

--

from the comments to the original post

stevedomino - "my fiancee's response to marc-o's latest post:

"thomas dolby?? that's not a name i thought i'd hear again..."

not too sure about that, 'windpower' was a track i really liked at the time (which album has "hyperactive"?? did magnus pike appear in the video?)

marc-o. have you bought any albums since "max headroom" was cancelled?!

coming next: howard jones' 'the 12" album'!!!"

I was Lord Kitcheners Valet

Andy Partridge of XTC sums it all up very nicely in the book 'Song Stories' by Neville Farmer... 'I loved British psychedelic music from 1967/68....For England it was garden parties and Edward Lear and school uniforms on boating lakes which turned to jelly.' So inspired were XTC by this period of music that they formed their own spoof band, 'Dukes of Stratosphear'....the joke backfired when the Dukes albums outsold the contemporary XTC ones.

Dukes of Stratosphear- Vanishing Girl


Vanishing Girl is probably the least 'far out' of all the Dukes songs but it has the harmonies and poppiness of The Hollies who dutifully 'went psychedelic' in 1967. Ultimately it was a bit of a gesture which sent Graham Nash packing for California for more like minded company and left The Hollies on the northern club circuit. 'King Midas in Reverse is a classic though.

The Hollies- King Midas in Reverse


The Move and Tomorrow really sum up the fuzzed up, manic glory of British psychedelia. 'I Can Hear the Grass Grow' has recently been covered by The Fall who really capture its dynamism.

The Move- I Can Hear the Grass Grow

Tomorrow played the same underground circuit as Pink Floyd but never broke big. Guitarist Steve Howe went on to join other space cadets in Yes.

Tomorrow- My White Bicycle


I love the daftness of all of these tunes but most of all I dig their lack of cynicism....more Laughing Gnomes if you please...more tea Vicar?

I've already linked 'Dukes of Stratosphear' elsewhere but here it is again.

bella bella

My contribution for the most depressing day of the year is this winsome ditty of lost love by winsome ditty specialist Nick Heyward. This is from his debut solo album 'North of a Miracle' which is chock full of similarly winsome ditties.

Nick Heyward- Blue Hat For a Blue Day


Why the 'Gregory's Girl' photo and reference? I think Nick Heyward/Haircut 100 would have written the perfect soundtrack for the film. They somehow go together in my mind.

Buy 'North of a Miracle' here