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An Alternative History of "Pop" Music: Part 2, 1982 -

Started by jamiefairlie, January 20, 2021, 05:43:47 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: daf on April 21, 2021, 08:13:26 PM
The Shamen ‎– Human Energy + Omega Amigo (Radio 1 session version)



Recorded live in session on 28 January 1990 and broadcast on Richard Skinner's Radio 1 show.

I hate this expression but fuggit, CHOOOOON!!

Brundle-Fly

Bedspring Kiss - Jellyfish. Released on Charisma in 1990.



One of my favourite acts of the 90s. Shame, they only managed to give the world two albums but my, they were a stupendous two albums. What I pay, to see them reform and perform a show today. Actually, to see any fucker play live would be nice today.

Jellyfish was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1989. Led by songwriters Andy Sturmer (drums, vocals) and Roger Manning (keyboards, vocals), the group was known for their blend of 1970s classic rock and XTC-style power pop.[4] They released two albums, Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993), that proved highly influential to artists in a similar vein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwoPQxOmVYM&t=1s

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Saint Etienne - Kiss and Make Up



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3QUjqKME7M

QuoteSaint Etienne are an English band from London, formed in 1990. The band consists of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They became associated with the UK's indie dance scene in the 1990s, beginning with the release of their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991. Their work has been described as uniting 1990s club culture with 1960s pop and other disparate influences

Kiss and Make Up is a song by The Field Mice from their 1989 album Snowball. It is better known in the form of Saint Etienne's 1990 cover version. Saint Etienne were "drinking buddies" with Michael Hiscock from The Field Mice. The group recorded two demos of this song in their first studio session in January 1990, with Moira Lambert on lead vocals. Notably, they would go on to record with her what would become their first hit single, a cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, in that same session.

A re-recorded version of Kiss And Make Up, with New Zealand singer Donna Savage of Dead Famous People on vocals, was released in 1990 by Heavenly Records as the band's follow-up single to Only Love Can Break Your Heart. This version can be found on several compilation albums. Kiss and Make Up does not feature on the original UK version of Foxbase Alpha, but does feature on the US release. The US release contains a fourth version of the song, re-recorded with Sarah Cracknell on vocals. Cracknell had recently joined Saint Etienne as the group's full-time vocalist.

gilbertharding

Five Thirty (or is it 5:30?) were a three-piece rock band from London, England, briefly popular in the early 1990s [citation needed].

Tara Milton started the band in the mid 80s, with various lineups, but by the time they hit, with the 12" single Abstain, they were Paul Bassett on guitar and vocals, Phil Hopper on traps, and Tara Milton on bass, singing and looking good.

Their sound was energetic psychedelic mod, anticipating 'Britpop' by several years - in a good way (a friend of mine, who didn't believe in them said 'so eclectic it might as well have been cover versions').

They released four or five brilliant 12" singles between 1990 and 1991 - but their album, 'Bed', didn't really add much. They split up shortly after.

Airconditioned Nightmare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhnQMB5K6bc was one of a number of songs by them named after books (see also: Coming up for Air https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRNRvldqYw and Catcher in the Rye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Rr1Pyje_U)




jamiefairlie

The Blue Aeroplanes - Careful Boy

https://youtu.be/OIG4MMBAObk



Taken from their fourth album, "Swagger'. they were getting a lot of media exposure around this time but they never really broke through to mainstream success.

jamiefairlie

The Boo Radleys - Catweazle

https://youtu.be/dIJeNwtpSA4



Formed in Wallasey in 1988, by Rob Harrison on drums, singer/guitarist Simon "Sice" Rowbottom, guitarist/songwriter Martin Carr, and bassist Timothy Brown.

This is from their debut album, "Ichabod and I".

They'd go onto release another five albums with more chart-friendly sounds bringing them a degree of mainstream success before splitting up in 1999.

daf

Suzanne Vega – Book of Dreams



Released as a single in May 1990 - reached #66 in the UK chart.

QuoteIn April 1990 Suzanne Vega released her long-awaited third album, Days Of Open Hand.

Suzanne Vega : "Some of the songs are still mysterious to me. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is with them. I went to London, where I had no commitments, family or friends to talk to, I found it really helpful to lock myself in a room, because it forced me to put something down on paper. We think 'Book of Dreams' as our XTC song. We had all been listening to Oranges and Lemons, which I think is a masterpiece."

 

Though not a groundbreaking event on the level of Solitude Standing, it was still well received by the critics, but failed to match the sales of her previous albums.

Suzanne Vega : "We worked for a whole year on that album. In the end I wasn't really happy with it and there was this palpable sense of disappointment that we'd only sold a million copies. Now that seems really ridiculous. It felt like a crime that we didn't sell three million!"

The Culture Bunker

I thought I couldn't think of more reasons to love Suzanne Vega, then I find out she digs XTC.

jamiefairlie

The Heart Throbs - I Wonder Why

https://youtu.be/_EgCNRPPyco



Formed in 1986 in Reading by by Rose Carlotti, Rachel DeFreitas (both sisters of The Bunnymen's Pete DeFreitas) Stephen Ward   and Mark Side. This is their sixth single and they'd release three albums before splitting in 1993.

jamiefairlie

Ultra Vivid Scene - Lightning

https://youtu.be/c-Rum76d7fw



Their background has been covered already in our list. This is from the second of three albums, "Joy 1967–1990". Their final release was in 1993.

Brundle-Fly

Redhills Road - Candyflip  Released on Debut in 1990.





Candyflip flop follow-up. Try saying that after root canal surgery. I suppose this was their 'Penny Lane' but managing to sound more dated today than the 1967 Fabs single. But for all that and the weediness, I was secretly rather fond of their rave Herman's Hermits vibe.

Candyflip were a British electronic music duo from Stoke on Trent, who were associated with the indie dance music scene in the early 1990s (a scene more commonly known as Madchester or baggy). They are best remembered for their cover version of The Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", which was a No. 3 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1990.
They were named after "candyflipping", the slang term for the practice of taking ecstasy and LSD at the same time. The band was formed in 1990 by Danny Spencer (vocals, keyboards) and Ric Peet (keyboards)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zjvefNhpqQ

DJ Mink - Hey! Hey! Can U Relate?
Single released on Warp Records



Debut single from Sheffield's DJ Mink (Naylor) originally released on FON in 1989 and then re-released by Warp in 1990. Not much to be discovered about him online other than a couple of collaborative follow up singles. 'Hey! Hey!' still holds up pretty well, I think, and earned a slot on the Warp 10 compilations (original and remix by Luke Vibert). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W77t_vVZRU


KMD- Peachfuzz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mHBiu_JOOw

KMD were a hip-hop group founded brothers Daniel Dumile aka Zev Love X (who would later be known as MF DOOM) and Dingilizwe Dumile aka DJ Subroc.
This track is about being teased for not being able to grow a proper beard! Note that in the video, wheras other acts of this time such as X-Clan and Poor Righteous Teachers were espousing different kinds of new religious movements broadly Islamic in style, this video shows the group effectively bunking off from street preaching to chat up girls.

daf

The Lilac Time ‎– The Laundry



Released as a single in 1990 - did not chart

QuoteFeatured on the album '& Love For All' released in August 1990. Initial pressings of the album came with a bonus 8 track "Greatest Hits" album [containing precisely zero actual hits!] housed in a black die-cut card sleeve.

   

Stephen Duffy : "I never really understood how music lived on magnetic tape, it was magical but you did stuff and it was all down to listening. You had to trust your ears. Now people can see it and they adjust it by looking — you were never meant to see music like that, you were meant to paint magical psychedelic pictures. Not see them."

Yes, it's another Partridge production. A-ha!

Brundle-Fly

People - The Nutty Boys. Released on Streetlink in 1990.





El Thommo and Chrissy Boy from Madness AKA Crunch! admirably keeping the home fires burning until the 1992 rebirth. They knew how to press the buttons until then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aceNWrhF2iY

jamiefairlie

Ok, time to bring 1990 to a close so get your last tunes in soon, we'll start 1991 later on Saturday.

daf

Deee-Lite – World Clique



Title track of the album 'World Clique' released in August 1990

QuoteDeee-Lite began in 1986 as a duo in New York City with Lady Miss Kier (born Kierin Magenta Kirby) primarily on vocals and Supa DJ Dmitry (born in Ukraine as Dmitry Brill)

Initially, Kier and Dmitry performed their songs monthly in numerous downtown NYC nightclubs from 1986 onwards. In 1987, Kier bought the Akai sampler, which influenced their sound tremendously, hence the name of their production company: "Sampladelic". From the band's inception, Kier designed the posters and club invites and was also the graphic designer for all three albums and 12" singles. Part of the band's appeal was its inclusiveness, as noted by Mademoiselle magazine "as a group, they're a festival of individuality; as a band, they're a party anyone can attend".

Lady Miss Kier : "I've always been a club dancer. I used to go out dancing in the clubs like four or five days a week. I didn't come from the most stable home, so going out to the clubs was my escape. I was doing that for years and then some drag queens said, "Why don't you come dance in our club?" So I used to dance in the drag bars. I started vogue dancing in a bunch of different clubs. I'm kind of an enthusiastic dancer."



In these early years, their live shows garnered a steady following and attracted Jungle DJ Towa Tei as a fan (Japanese-born Dong-hwa Chung). Although Towa did not play any instruments, he was an avid record collector and added a slickness to their process by adding in samples. They invited him to join the group in 1988 and together the three produced their first album. Kier wrote all the lyrics and melodies, Dmitry played guitar, keyboard, and bass, and Towa gathered samples for fill-ins and grooves.

Lady Miss Kier : "I write lyrics just kind of a stream of consciousness. And then I write music on its own without thinking of the lyrics. But then, once I have a melody that I like, then I'll try to look to my lyrics and find the more meaningful ones and then I'll try and fit those lyrics to the melody. So, they're both happening simultaneously, but some lyrics I'm like, "This lyric is good, I've got to fit it in" and then I make sure I find a melody for it. So, they're both equally important. For a long time I used to spend a lot of time on the lyrics, but when I met the band, I spent a lot of more time trying to write the music."



World Clique was released in 1990. The album's first single, "Groove Is in the Heart", was a top-five success on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart as well as a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. Guest artists on the album include Bootsy Collins, Q-Tip, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker.

 

The album's initial success occurred in the UK, where it peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart in September 1990.  Simultaneously, the album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 180 for the week of September 15 in the US. Fueled by the success of "Groove Is in the Heart", World Clique continued to climb the chart for several weeks, peaking at No. 20 for the week of November 24.

daf

Frank Sidebottom – Football Is Really Fantastic



Featured on "Franks Free Fantasic Footy Flexi", released in 1990 - yes it was, it really was . . .

. . . Thankyou!

daf

Nick Lowe ‎– All Men Are Liars



Released in August 1990 - did not chart

Quote'All Men Are Liars' features an amusing pop at 'Never Gonna Give You Up' hit-maker Rick Astley : "Do you remember Rick Astley? / He had a big fat hit that was ghastly. / He said I'm never gonna give you up or let you down. / Well I'm here to tell ya that dick's a clown."



Nick Lowe : "You know I don't think that Rick ever heard my song, or if he did I doubt he cares about it. But, who knows? At the time I wrote the song, that's all you heard, that song, at the time "never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down" was everywhere. That tune got on my nerves, so I wrote the song. I do still play that song occasionally, and you can sense the audience just waiting for it. Then they start rolling around in the aisles when I do it. I can't believe that people still find it so incredibly funny. But I feel sort of sorry for Rick now. I don't have any negative feeling or ill-will towards him anymore."

Brundle-Fly

The girls in that Nick Lowe video have discombobulated me today. I forgot all about my eighties bumpkin chic kink.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You in the End



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma7lyfYzIw8

Just so beautiful.

QuoteDaniel Johnston was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in the outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities.

Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston's 1983 cassette album Hi, How Are You.


daf

Ultra Vivid Scene ‎– Kind Of A Drag



Non-album track released in November 1990 as the B-side to 'Special One' - did not chart

Kev Hopper - The Sound Of Gyroscopes
Single released on the Ghetto Recording Company label



First (and only) solo single from the ex-Stump bassist, multi-instrumentalist and artist which concerned itself with engineer Sandy Kidd's false hopes for his gravity-defying gyroscope machine. Quite Eno-esque, really, in scope and sound (in a good way). It generated a small amount of heat on The ITV Chart Show but unfortunately proved a little too quirky to trouble a hit parade where New Kids On The Block held sway. Hopper has continued making sporadic 'odd-prog-crypto-funk' under various guises ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWoG--ygRl8

daf

The Sundays – My Finest Hour



Featured on the debut album 'Reading, Writing and Arithmetic', released in January 1990

QuoteVocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin met as students at Bristol University in the mid-1980s. Wheeler was from Reading, the daughter of an architect and a teacher, and studied English literature. Gavurin was from Wembley and actively pursued a degree in the Romance languages, particularly French and Spanish. The two fell in love [aw!] and began living together. Following graduation they wrote music in their free time while collecting unemployment benefits.

David Gavurin : "It was something I'd always wanted to do, although I never wanted to be in a band when I was younger, like many kids do. It just dawned on me gradually."

Harriet Wheeler : "There was never a time I wanted to be incredibly famous, or in a pop group. It just seemed a great thing to do to spend time working on something that's your own."

After the couple completed several songs – and migrated to London – they enlisted the support of bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan, who had also attended Bristol University. Demo tapes were sent out to several London clubs after the group felt energized by their efforts, and an employee at Vertigo Club offered the band an opening slot for an upcoming show in August 1988.

Harriet Wheeler : "By chance there were three reviewers from the top music papers there. They were supposed to review the main band, but instead they wrote about us."



The group performed three songs : 'I Won', 'My Finest Hour' and 'Skin And Bones', in a March 1989 session for John Peel and scored a Festive Fifty number one in 1989 with their first single 'Can't Be Sure'. These songs would later turn up on their debut album, 'Reading, Writing and Arithmetic', which the group worked on for over a year.

David Gavurin : "A lot of bands who get signed, who have been playing the circuit for years, have 30 songs for the first album, but we didn't have enough for our first album, let alone our second. We can't write to deadline. You can't force a whole load of songs out quickly."

 

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: daf on April 24, 2021, 02:18:29 PM
Nick Lowe ‎– All Men Are Liars



Released in August 1990 - did not chart

The worst of Rick Ashley's B sides are better than this smug tosser's dreck.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Hooverbag Sherlocks on April 24, 2021, 04:15:49 PM
Kev Hopper - The Sound Of Gyroscopes
Single released on the Ghetto Recording Company label



First (and only) solo single from the ex-Stump bassist, multi-instrumentalist and artist which concerned itself with engineer Sandy Kidd's false hopes for his gravity-defying gyroscope machine. Quite Eno-esque, really, in scope and sound (in a good way). It generated a small amount of heat on The ITV Chart Show but unfortunately proved a little too quirky to trouble a hit parade where New Kids On The Block held sway. Hopper has continued making sporadic 'odd-prog-crypto-funk' under various guises ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWoG--ygRl8

The album is superb too. Good call!

daf

Jess - your Afal [The Apple]



Featured on the album 'Hyfryd I Fod Yn Fyw' - released in 1990

QuoteJess were formed in 1987 in Cardigan, Wales by singer and rhythm guitarist Brychan Llyr [son of the legendary poet Dic Jones], lead guitaist Chris Lewis, lanky bass-player Emyr Davies, and Rhodri Bowen on drums - who was replaced by Owen Thomas after Rhodri left to study at Oxford University. [there's posh!]

They originally sang in English, but following the advice of Ail Symudiad bass player Wyn Jones, and co-owner of Fflach Records, they switched to singing in Welsh to gain TV and radio exposure - on S4C [Sianel Pedwar Cymru] and Radio Cymru.



Named after Postman Pat's black and white cat, Jess, the group's first release - a self titled six track cassette - appeared in August 1988 and bagged them an invitation to tour Czechoslovakia, where their particular style attracted large audiences [it says here!]. It was during this tour that Jess shot their first live videos courtesy of the S4C music show Fideo 9, at venues in Prague and other cities.

 

Other tours followed in Wales and Ireland, and as demand for live appearances grew, the band turned professional in 1989 releasing their second mini-album, 'Y Gath' [The Cat], featuring eight songs. At the end of 1989 Jess' considerable momentum was boosted when they were voted 'Best Group', 'Best Cassette Release' and 'Best Singer' awards at a ceremony in Wales.

   

1990 began auspiciously for Jess when they were asked to support The Alarm at a series of concerts, and released the single Julia Guitar - which gained heavy rotation on Radio Cymru. Their first full-length album 'Hyfryd I Fod Yn Fyw' [It's Delightful to be Alive'] featured lovely bloke Mike Peters from The Alarm providing backing vocals on the closing track 'Glaw 91' - which was a remake of the opening track from their first cassette.


(You may need to bung a towel over your speakers to tame the ear-bleeding treble on this : I'm convinced the engineers at Fflach accidentally left the Dolby 'on' the CD version - as they normally just released tapes, and this was one of the the first CD's they issued.)

Johnny Yesno

The Cramps - The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTCwyiXZVOo

From their fourth studio album Stay Sick!, which was produced by guitarist Poison Ivy Rorschach and the last to feature the original drummer Nick Knox. The first single Bikini Girls with Machine Guns was the band's only UK Top 40 single, reaching No. 35 in 1990, which makes that song A HIT! Therefore, I have chosen The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon instead, which I think failed to chart.


Johnny Yesno