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

[daf]

Intastella – Point Hope

Watching that video now - I think I may have just found a new kink to add to my palette - women in Y-fronts!

[jamiefairlie]

Elastica - Stutter

https://youtu.be/0ie4x8hWYYE



Formed in London In mid-1992, by ex-Suede band members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. By the autumn of that year, bassist Annie Holland and guitarist Donna Matthews were added. This is their debut single and it reached number 38 in the Festive Fifty.

[jamiefairlie]

Northern Picture Library - Catholic Easter Colours

https://youtu.be/0z2y7CphB7M



Bobby Wratten, Anne Mari Davies and Mark Dobson had all been in the Field Mice and The Yesterday Sky before forming Northern Picture Library in 1993. This is from their debut album, "Alaska".

[Hundhoon]

Time To Find Me (Come Inside) - Seefeel Released on Too Pure in 1993.





Providing glacial succour in my pokey bedsit. I'd go back there in a minute!

Seefeel are a British electronic and post-rock band formed in the early 1990s by Mark Clifford (guitar, programming), Daren Seymour (bass), Justin Fletcher (drums, programming), and Sarah Peacock (vocals, guitar). Bridging the guitar-based shoegaze sound with the production techniques of ambient techno and electronica, they gained recognition for their 1993 debut EP More Like Space and first album Quique, both on the British independent label Too Pure. The band signed with electronic label Warp Records in 1994 and released an album on Rephlex in 1996.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enanUvbi8HA

Quique is one of my favourite albums ever,  they had this really repetitive, hypnotic vibe about them,  I've never got from another band, really makes you feel like your coming up , Robin Guthrie from legendery Cocteau Twins was so obsessed by them Mark Clifford joined the band.
Aphex Twin used to rave about them loads too

[Astronaut Omens]

.
Aphex Twin used to rave about them loads too

And here is one of two remixes he did of the above track:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-R5nKFnptOY

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

BMX Bandits - Serious Drugs



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InsCwbZKO2A

Their most celebrated song, this heartfelt meditation on depression is a warm, tender hug set to music. It was written by indefatigable band-leader Duglas T. Stewart alongside his pals Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Joe McAlinden (Superstar). Blake, not Stewart, is the vocalist here.

Such a beautiful song. A Scottish pop classic? Hell yeah.

[daf]

Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians ‎– The Yip Song



Opening track from the album 'Respect' - released in February 1993

'Respect' was the tenth studio album by Robyn Hitchcock and his sixth and final album with backing band The Egyptians. The album was written and recorded in the period following the death of Hitchcock's father, and several songs reflect this explicitly, particularly the opening track, 'The Yip Song'.



The album was recorded on a mobile recording unit at Hitchcock's then home in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. The band rehearsed at the house over the summer and then when it came time to record, the group and their respective wives, family and friends all stayed at the house while production took place. Most of the recording was done in the living room, where the furniture had been removed and carpets pulled up. The kitchen was chosen for the vocals because of its good acoustics.

Robyn Hitchcock : "I've never really cared much for going in and recording in the studio, so it seemed like the easiest solution was to have the studio come to record with us."

The album has a Hitchcock oil painting on its front cover entitled "Red Lemon Days", which was the original title for the album. The release includes a Hitchcock written short story, "Moose Mark and the Prince of Cones", in its inlay.



Hitchcock has said that he does not like the record. Although he thinks the songs are good he was not happy with the end result. He partly blames this on how unsettled his life was at that time. The extended time it took to record the album meant that he lost focus and since then has made a point of making records in short two- or three-day bursts.

Robyn Hitchcock : "I was ... at a bit of a fault line in my life. I was going back and forth across the Atlantic all the time, and wasn't really properly focused on how it came out."

[Brundle-Fly]

Young and Lovely - Blur Released on Food in 1993





We've covered Blur before on AAHOPMP2, but I think this throwaway B- side is quite possibly my favourite ever composition by the band. Needed a trim though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBOZTz51V8

[daf]

Blur – Blue Jeans



Featured on the album "Modern Life Is Rubbish" - released in May 1993

Following the scrapped session with Andy Partridge, work resumed on their second album with Stephen Street, who had previously worked with the band on their 1991 single "There's No Other Way". With Street now producing the album, Blur recorded a mix of material spanning both the period immediately after the release of Leisure and their 1992 tour.



While the band members were pleased with the recording session results, Food records boss Dave Balfe, after hearing the songs, told the band they were committing artistic suicide. Although dejected by his response, Blur gave Food the completed album in December 1992. The label rejected the album and instructed the band to record more potential singles. Albarn complied, and on Christmas Day wrote the song "For Tomorrow". 



Although "For Tomorrow" sated Food's concerns, Blur's American label SBK voiced discontent upon hearing the finished tapes of the album. To appease SBK the band recorded "Chemical World", which Blur thought would increase Rubbish's American appeal, but refused SBK's demand of re-recording the album with American grunge producer Butch Vig.



The first version of 'Chemical World' shown to SBK was a demo produced by the band. It was then re-recorded in a version produced by Stephen Street. This version was used for the UK version of the album but SBK preferred the demo which was 'reworked' by producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and used for the US album.



"Chemical World" was released on 28 June 1993 as the second single from that album, peaking at number 28 in the UK Singles Charts. In the United States, the song reached number 27 on the 'Modern Rock Tracks' chart, becoming the only single from 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' to chart there.

As with many of the B-sides for the 1993 singles, 'Young and Lovely', featured on the 12" of "Chemical World', had been of the songs originally intended for the rejected version of 'Modern Life Is Rubbish'. Abarn later admitted it should probably have been on the album - preferably replacing 'Turn it Up'.



Despite the tinkering, the album fared poorly in America, where it sold only 19,000 copies and failed to chart on the Billboard 200.

(as you might guess from the text ^, I originally had 'Young and Lovely' pencilled in for this spot!)

[jamiefairlie]

Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost

https://youtu.be/ZfW4-nP2G1Q



Launching a parallel solo career alongside her Throwing Muses work, this is the first single taken from her debut solo studio album "Hips and Makers". I saw her live in an old Glasgow church around this time and she was utterly mesmerising, that figure 8 sway she does with her head was hypnotic.

[jamiefairlie]

Mark Burgess and the Sons of God - Happy New Life

https://youtu.be/fNtPLD-Ge2E




After the demise of The Chameleons, singer/bass player Mark Burgess and drummer John Lever formed The Sun and The Moon who released one album before splitting in 1988. Burgess then took some time out before returning with the album "Zima Junction", from which this track is taken. This was their only release.

[daf]

William Orbit ‎– Water From A Vine Leaf



Reached #59 in the UK charts in June 1993

Following his first two Strange Cargo albums, William Orbit formed Bassomatic which also featured vocalist Sharon Musgrave and rapper MC Inna Onestep amongst others. For their second album, singer Sindy Finn replaced Sharon Musgrave on vocals. Bassomatic's biggest hit single was "Fascinating Rhythm" in 1990, which reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart. Returning to solo work, in 1993 he released Strange Cargo III - which he performed, produced and mixed at Guerilla Studios, London. The single 'Water From A Vine Leaf' featured the vocals of Beth Orton.

 

Elizabeth Caroline Orton was born in East Dereham, Norfolk, but moved to Dalston, East London, at age 14. Her mother died from cancer in 1989, when Beth was aged 19, which led to her travelling to Thailand for a short period, living with Buddhist nuns. On returning to London, Orton worked at jobs such as a waitress at Pizza Hut, and she even briefly owned her own catering company. Orton was an actress before becoming a musician, initially enrolling at the Anna Scher Theatre School. She toured in an experimental stage adaptation of Une Saison en Enfer with a theatre company touring throughout the UK, Russia and Ukraine, playing Rimbaud's lover.

 

Orton began working with William Orbit on an LP together as Spill. "Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil" was the first track on the album, 'Superpinkymandy, that ended up being released in just Orton's name. The album was named after a rag doll which she bought at a jumble sale at the age of six. With the exception of the John Martyn cover, all the songs on the album were co-written by Orton and Orbit, and some tracks were later recycled, in very different versions. "She Cries Your Name" later appeared on Orbit's 1995 'Hinterland' album, and Orton's solo album 'Trailer Park' in 1996.

   

[Hooverbag Sherlocks]

Capricorn - 20Hz
Single released on Global Cuts



Dutch musician/producer/engineer Hans Weekhout. I first heard this, very much worse for wear, when Andrew Weatherall played it at a club night I'd ended up at. It proved to be the only salvageable memory of the evening. Took me years to identify it with a considerable amount of time spent trying to describe 'a recurring barrage of military marching percussion' to disinterested record shop employees/anyone who would listen. '20Hz' eventually grazed the outer rim of the charts, reaching number 79 in 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=segpz8I8Nhs

[Hooverbag Sherlocks]

Swirlies  - Pancake
From the album Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, released on the Taang! label

Swirlies is an American indie rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. Since their first records in the early 1990s, the band has released studio and home recordings that blend shoegaze and twee pop with electronica and lo-fi music. Swirlies released five studio albums between 1993 and 2003. The band have since assembled to tour occasionally with a roster of musicians led by founding guitarist/songwriter Damon Tutunjian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls3imCyjuyE

[jobotic]

K-Tel wet Dream - Sissy Bar



A "cover" of Born To Be Wild by god knows who. From a 10" put together by some underground San Francisco guy called Jon Moritsugo. I heard it on John Peel and immediately bought it and you can hear what I heard live here. He's right that it's a treat. So is the song by Benjamin Kitestring.

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

[Hooverbag Sherlocks]

Little Axe - Hammerhead



The inevitable mellowing of On-U Sound's mid-80s trademark 'demolition dancefloor' didn't work out well for Tackhead who drifted into the arena of vapid funk-rock, on record at least. It did, however, suit guitarist/vocalist Skip McDonald (AKA Bernard Alexander) and his hallucinogenic dub blues side-hustle, Little Axe. 'Hammerhead' only ever appeared on a white label release called 'The Adventures Of Blind Willy Drug Pig', subsequently re-compiled and re-christened (a great shame, if you ask me) to form their official debut album in 1994. Two years later, Moby borrowed a CD box set of old blues field recordings and embarked on a journey of discovery that would eventually lead to the omnipresent 'Play'. Coincidence? No. Well, OK, probably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BZKloJm0GM

[Brundle-Fly]

Brian Wilson Said - Tears For Fears. Released on Mercury in 1993.



Done these TFF before. Solo Rolo. Lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBQHYAIB6tI&t

[jamiefairlie]

Red House Painters - Grace Cathedral Park

https://youtu.be/fiiXxfHo-Aw



Opening track of their second album "Red House Painters", often known as "Rollercoaster" due to its cover image and the fact that the next album was also called "Red House Painters".

[jamiefairlie]

Tindersticks - Marbles

https://youtu.be/fKRfWcRZpYM



Their second single, it reached number 30 in the Festive Fifty. Another bunch I saw live around this time, very impressive they were too.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Tiger Trap - Puzzle Pieces

Tiger Trap were an American twee-pop foursome composed of high school friends Angela Loy and Rose Melberg, with Heather Dunn and Jen Braun. The group recorded for K Records. The name Tiger Trap comes from the very first Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Along with Beat Happening, Lois, Tullycraft, and Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the American twee pop movement. Melberg went on to become a solo artist as well as playing with the bands The Softies, Go Sailor, and Gaze. Dunn went on to play drums with Lois, the reformed Raincoats, and Dub Narcotic Sound System.

[Greg Torso]

Flying Saucer Attack - Soaring High



David Pearce formed Flying Saucer Attack in Bristol in 1992 with his then-girlfriend Rachel Brook (Movietone). The recorded at home, smothered everything in washes of effects with the drums and vocals barely a whisper under the fuzz, a sound they termed 'rural psychedelia'. In the days before you could just go on the internet and find everything about any band, Flying Saucer Attack were a complete mystery, a beguiling, gorgeous mystery, and a sound (in their early days anyway) that just seemed to connect with certain people in indefinable ways.

'Soaring High' was their first single and released in the same year as their self-titled debut album (pictured), which featured a delightfully reverb-damaged cover of Suede's 'The Drowners'. They don't make them like this anymore.

Flying Saucer Attack were an English experimental space rock band formed in Bristol in 1992, led by songwriter David Pearce. Rachel Brook (now Rachel Coe) of Movietone was a member during the band's early incarnation; other musicians contributing to the group's recordings and live performances included Rocker (ex-the Flatmates), Matt Elliott (aka the Third Eye Foundation) and Sam Jones (of Crescent).

Drawing on krautrock, folk and dream pop, the group referred to their DIY sound as "rural psychedelia" and were associated with bands of the contemporary post-rock and shoegazing scenes. The band was able to create a small but enthusiastic fanbase, and were notable for recording most of their output at home, avoiding recording studios.

[Greg Torso]

Sam And Joe - Save The Children



'Fear Of Smell' was just one of many punk compilations that flooded out the early 90s (I have loads of these things, some are decent, lots are bad), but it features this amazing piece of spoken word / piss-taking rant / looped insanity from Sam McPheeters (Mens Recovery Project, Wrangler Brutes, Vermiform records) and Joe Martin (Hell No) on the state of this sick so-cie-oh-tee. Hilarious and yet still relevent in this constantly ridiculous world.

Pretty good compilation actually, also featuring Nation Of Ulysses, Man Is The Bastard, Moss Icon, Rorschach and Heroin. This is the stand-out though.

[daf]

Credit To The Nation – Call It What You Want ‎



Reached #57 in the UK chart in May 1993

Credit to the Nation were formed in the early 1990s by Matthew David Hanson with his friends Tyrone and Kelvin while all three were still teenagers. Under the name of MC Fusion, Hanson became the group's frontman and main creative force, while Tyrone and Kelvin took on the role of dancers and occasional vocalists under the names of T-Swing and Mista-G.



The band had developed their own brand of conscious hip hop drawing on British life and experience and espousing a strong opposition to sexism and homophobia. Their political leanings brought them into contact with the veteran British agit-pop band Chumbawamba, with whom they toured on the eight-date "Fuck Me Jesus" tour. Hanson would later cite Chumbawamba's iconoclastic attitude and fervent disrespect for authority as being inspirational for his own band's development and confidence. The two bands would maintain a close relationship, with Credit to the Nation releasing their first single ("Pay the Price") through Chumbawamba's Agit Prop record label in September 1991.



In 1992 Credit to the Nation recorded what would become their best-known song, "Call It What You Want", which sampled the iconic opening guitar riff from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The band released the single via Rugger Bugger, a London punk label, pressing an initial run of 1000 7" singles. The single came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who played it on Radio 1. Within a week, the band had a three-album deal with One Little Indian promptly bought the rights to and re-released the single. "Call It What You Want" eventually charted outside the Top 40, but brought Credit to the Nation closer to the attention of the British indie-rock music press.



In 1993 they toured with Chumbawamba, and recorded the joint single "Enough Is Enough". Listed at number 1 in John Peel's Festive Fifty list for the year, the song was a strident anti-fascist anthem which received attention for its suggestion of meeting violence with violence: the pay-off line, delivered by Hanson, was "give the fascist man a gunshot." Both bands maintained a strong anti-fascist stance which in turn drew attention and threats from British neo-Nazi groups.

[jamiefairlie]

The Other Two - Selfish

https://youtu.be/qmrqfdLf8xw



The two non-irritating members of New Order, husband and wife Steve Morris and Gillian Gilbert, got dumped when the other other two went off to do Electronic and Revenge/Monaco. To pass the time they released some tracks they'd been working on and it turned out to be the album "The Other Two and You". This is the first single taken from the album. Gillian's vocals makes me wonder if later New Order would have been less crap if she'd sang rather than Sumner.

[Brundle-Fly]

Modern Pleasure - Drugstore Released on Rough Trade in 1993



Jangle-tastic!

Drugstore were an English dream pop band led by Brazilian singer-songwriter and bassist Isabel Monteiro, founded in 1993.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckHzZGefsrA&t

[daf]

The Divine Comedy – Bernice Bobs Her Hair



Featured on the album 'Liberation' - released in August 1993

Edward Neil Anthony Hannon was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, the son of Brian Hannon, a Church of Ireland minister in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe and later Bishop of Clogher. He spent some of his youth in Fivemiletown before moving with his family to Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, in 1982. Hannon enjoyed synthesizer-based music as a youngster, particularly The Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. In the late 1980s he developed a fondness of the electric guitar, becoming an "indie kid", forming his first band, 'October', while still at school.

Joined by John McCullagh and Kevin Traynor, The Divine Comedy were founded in 1989. They moved to England and signed to Setanta, their first album, 'Fanfare for the Comic Muse', enjoyed a minor success.



A couple of EPs followed – Timewatch in 1991 and Europop in 1992, with newly recruited member John Allen handling lead vocals on some tracks. After the commercial failure of the Europop EP, McCullagh and Traynor returned to Ireland to study, while Hannon set out writing songs on his own.

Neil Hannon : "I was only really living in my own head and I don't think I was existing in the real world for quite a few years. I was in atticland and that's where the music came from."



He initially planned to record the next album with producer Ian Broudie, but the project was delayed for months, allowing Hannon the time to write the songs for his third album, Promenade, before the second had even been recorded. Having given up on Broudie, Hannon entered the studio in March 1993, teaming up with co-producer/drummer Darren Allison, for the recording of his second album, 'Liberation'.

Neil Hannon : "Rapidly I understood I didn't need somebody else's advice. I had a very strong personal opinion, linked to the music I recorded."



The record is characterised by a plethora of literary references: 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' recalls a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; 'Three Sisters' draws upon the play by Anton Chekhov; and 'Lucy' is essentially three William Wordsworth poems abridged to music. "Death of a Supernaturalist" is preceded by a quote from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster, sampled from the Merchant-Ivory film. More playfully, "Festive Road" is a tribute to the children's television programme Mr Benn.

Unleash the Harpsichord!

[Brundle-Fly]

Towers Of Dub (live) - The Orb  Released on Island in 1993





Attended this gig. Poppers. I stank like a pair of tramp socks that night.

The Orb are a long-running UK electronic group, originally formed by Jimmy Cauty (of The KLF) and Alex Paterson in 1988, that grew out of a love of ambient music and dub, soundscapes and science fiction. Due to the early work in this style, The Orb became pioneers of the early-90's-born "ambient house" genre.

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

[daf]

Squeeze – Some Fantastic Place



Released in August 1993 - reached #73 in the UK charts

A&M Records had dropped Squeeze following the commercial disappointment of Frank (1989), and they subsequently signed to Reprise Records for the release of Play (1991). However the album was another sales failure and the band were then dropped again and subsequently resigned to A&M for 'Some Fantastic Place'. 



Around this period, drummer Gilson Lavis, who had played on all of Squeeze's albums up until this point, left the band.

Glenn Tilbrook : "He just got tired of being in the band, and it was time for him to move on. It's bound to be emotional when you've worked with somebody for that long, but I think it was the right decision for Gil to make, and it's not tempered with any bitterness."

Lavis later disputed this, claiming he was fired from the band -

Gilson Lavis : "I was kicked out after an American tour. I'd just separated from my wife and I was in a bit of a state. I'd been sober for seven years and I decided that having a drink would be a good idea. So on this tour I was a bit of a mess, and very depressed. When we got back there was a band meeting and I was told I wasn't needed any more."

Squeeze, at the time consisting of songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook and bassist Keith Wilkinson, originally intended to record Some Fantastic Place as a trio, but after asking ex-Squeeze singer and keyboard player Paul Carrack to open live for them, Difford suggested Carrack re-join the band. The band line-up was completed by drummer Pete Thomas, previously of Elvis Costello's backing band The Attractions.

Glenn Tilbrook : "He gave the album a very different rhythmical approach to other Squeeze albums. Pete is a song-orientated drummer. He listens to the song and decides what's needed from him -- which is great for us, as we're also song-orientated."



'Some Fantastic Place' marked another change for the band, in that Difford and Tilbrook, who typically wrote separately (with Difford usually giving Tilbook completed lyrics to write the music for), went for a relatively simplistic approach, sitting down together and writing the majority of the album as a team.

Glenn Tilbrook : "It was like discovering a new partnership, because suddenly we were able to bounce ideas back and forth off each other."

Tilbrook had recently built a recording studio near his London home, so the band visited the studio everyday, both rehearsing and recording the record there. The writing took approximately two months.

Chris Difford : "For two or three of the songs, we sat in the same room with each other. Glenn created an environment, and to leave our homes and go and work together was something new. It was good to sit in the same room and be inventive. It makes things simpler; you don't have to wait for the results. It's quite inspirational."



"Some Fantastic Place" was described by Tilbrook as "one of those songs that wrote itself; it was done straight off in about 10 minutes." Both songwriters have stated multiple times that it is their favorite Squeeze song. The song shares some unusual chord changes with Roxy Music's mid-1970s hit, "Both Ends Burning". Tilbrook incorporated a guitar solo in the song that he wrote when he and Difford met in 1973 which was inspired by Jimi Hendrix.

The song was written as a tribute to Maxine Barker, who had been responsible for first introducing Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford in the early 1970s after she urged Tilbrook to respond to a 'guitarist wanted' ad placed by Difford in a sweetshop window.

Chris Difford : "Maxine, Glenn's girlfriend, talked him into calling the number on the ad. At home my mum had a phone table by the front door, and when the phone rang she would take her time perching on the velvet chair next to it before lifting the large green plastic receiver. It was like she was pretending to be royal.  'Christopher' she called. 'It's for you.' I raced downstairs and spoke for the first time to Maxine --Glenn was too shy -- the only person to call in two weeks of the ad being in the window. I was thrilled."



Jools Holland : "Glenn spent most of his time at Max's house in Kent, and I began to spend a bit of time there too. Her parents were very easy going, her father, Felix Barker, was a theatre critic and charming and very funny. And her mother had been involved in the theatre too. Max herself was very perceptive, brought us a different angle and made us a bit less like young thick blokes, which we basically were at that time. Not only would she keep us away from those tendencies but she would also introduce different influences and ideas. She, Glenn and their friends had already thought up all sorts of hippy names for themselves, which seemed rather exotic to me, and it was they who abbreviated my name to Jools."

Sadly, Maxine died of leukemia in 1992.

Chris Difford : "Then there was a phone call from the box under the stairs. It was John Lay , calling from the States to tell me that Maxine had passed away. I walked into the front room and cried like a baby. My roommate, Simon, gave me a cup of tea, and to this day I can still taste it on my lips....My counsellor  let me go to the funeral at the church in Benenden, and there were all her friends and family. It was a service full of love, as befitted her. Jools played the piano.... I got in the car and was driven back to PROMIS, where I dedicated my sobriety to her -- and still do. Because without her in my life, there'd have been no songs about people who live in Clapham. Of course I placed the ad in the shop window, which was how we found each other, but she made the connection -- no one else did."

[jamiefairlie]

James - Five-O

https://youtu.be/2EuEAx-abe4



Returning to our chart after a long absence of of eight years since their 1985 debut. This is taken from fifth album, "Laid", which was a welcome return to a more organic feel after the 'stadium indie' excess of their last two albums "Gold Mother" and "Seven".

[jamiefairlie]

Stereolab - U.H.F. - MFP

https://youtu.be/fI-5CJaW-Ao



Taken from their EP/Mini-album "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music". Perhaps the quintessential early Stereolab song.