Microdisney documentary on BBC4

[Jockice]

Anyone watch this last night? Now I was very fond of Microdisney (although I just don't hold with the theory that they were great pop subversives.*) but I'm just wondering why it was broadcast now.

They split up in 1988, their reunion shows were in 2018 and 9 (i nearly went to one) and Cathal Coughlan died in 2022. It isn't even an anniversary or anything, although it was shown after an Irish rock documentary with the 'it's almost St Patrick's Day' tag.)

I mean it was okay if you know a bit about Microdisney - and it was a joy seeing Cathal performing on a stool while wearing a yellow cardigan on the Tom O'Connor show - but I can't imagine it inspiring people to check out this great lost band. Weird. I greatly preferred Fatima Mansions anyway. The High Llamas don't do much for me though.

(*Andrew Mueller, one of the interviewees, has previously espoused this theory, while also saying The Beautiful South were a crap version of them. But the BS had loads of huge hits while Microdisney never even got into the top 40. To me they're more like Aztec Camera, an above average indie band who got the chance to expand their sound with major label backing. But then AC had genuine hits and also quite subversive lyrics on some of them. I'm not doing Microdisney down - I was a fan and just having chart success doesn't necessarily mean you're good - but it just doesn't fit right with me).

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Well no, you can't really be a great pop subversive if you aren't very popular. Good band though obviously. (I also prefer Fatima Mansions)

[kngen]

I do remember seeing a Microdisney interview/feature on Satuday morning kids TV and thinking 'this seems ... a little out of place', particularly Cathal's wry, gnomic responses. But it wasn't exactly the Pistols with Bill Grundy. Might watch the doc though, as I've been thinking about revisiting them to see how they hold up.  Another vote for Fatima Mansions as the better band.

[Jockice]

"The Beautiful South were a crap version of them."

I don't know who wrote it but I distinctly remember a review in which it was pointed out that the uneducated masses who bought BS records apparently without understanding irony may actually 'get it' too. But then this thread isn't about them.

(Incidentally, I fell asleep after the documentary and had a dream in which I was challenged by two aggressive Microdisney songs to name my favourite song by them. It's probably United Colours.)

[tolecnal]

I love The High Llamas and really like both Fatima Mansions & Microdisney. The lyrics really escalate when you get to Fatima Mansions. Angels Delight! Cathal's last couple albums including Telefis are really very good. I also love that opening track with Cathal on Sean's last solo album.

I assume they finished production on the documentary recently. They seem like a pretty obscure band unless you were listening to John Peel in the '80s. I rarely see them come up. I discovered both Microdisney and Fatima Mansions through High Llamas. Microdisney has a pretty devoted, though small,  fan base.

[tolecnal]

I read a story many years ago on another forum - the writer was enjoying a drink in Budapest and the cabaret singer that night was performing a variety of Microdisney covers, though she apparently had no idea they were Microdisney songs

. Maybe they were popular in Eastern Europe? Must've been a little bizarre.

[Egyptian Feast]

I contributed to the crowdfunder for this at least five years ago, but the director had lots of trouble finishing it, mainly due to the cost of music clearance. It was originally intended to have a DVD release, with one of the reunion shows (IIRC the 2019 Barbican show I attended) as an extra, but she had to drop the final track from the show (a fantastic version of Frankie Valli's 'The Night') as she couldn't afford to clear it, then she couldn't clear the concert etc. and finally cancelled the DVD as the agreement she made with the BBC to finish it precluded a physical release. Ahh well, I'm glad she was finally able to finish it. I haven't watched yet, but looking forward to catching it.

[Jockice]

I did hear one of their songs (Herr Direktor) on what appeared to be a mainstream radio station in Spain in the late 80s but I didn't know anything about them being popular in Europe. The documentary certainly didn't mention it

As for the small but fanatical fan group I do know a couple of people who think they're one of the greatest bands of all time. They attended almost all (if not all) of the reunion gigs. I though the band were decent but I wouldn't rate them anywhere nearly as highly, Would  have gone to one of the gigs if I'd got my act together, But only one.

On the other hand I once gave a couple of (admittedly vey pissed) friends a lift home from the pub when I had a CD compilation on in the car and got told they were 'shit' and 'sound like Hall And Oates.' They're not, they don't and there's nothing wrong with Hall And Oates anyway.

One of them sneeringly asked me 'do you actually like this?' a question that was obviously intended to make me shrivel up with self-hatred. I couldn't even be arsed thinking up a smart reply and just said; "Yes, I do." Because knowing some of the wank they like I felt quite superior that they hated Microdisney so much.

[Jockice]

I contributed to the crowdfunder for this at least five years ago, but the director had lots of trouble finishing it, mainly due to the cost of music clearance. It was originally intended to have a DVD release, with one of the reunion shows (IIRC the 2019 Barbican show I attended) as an extra, but she had to drop the final track from the show (a fantastic version of Frankie Valli's 'The Night') as she couldn't afford to clear it, then she couldn't clear the concert etc. and finally cancelled the DVD as the agreement she made with the BBC to finish it precluded a physical release. Ahh well, I'm glad she was finally able to finish it. I haven't watched yet, but looking forward to catching it.

Ah thanks for this. Must admit I was totally puzzled to see it suddenly appear in the schedules seemingly for no particular reason but that would explain it,

[studpuppet]

Ah thanks for this. Must admit I was totally puzzled to see it suddenly appear in the schedules seemingly for no particular reason but that would explain it,

I thought it was something that I'd missed the first time that BBC4 had shown, and they were throwing out any old vaguely Irish programme for St Patrick's Day. I also thought BBC4 was a channel of repeats these days - didn't realise they were still showing new things as well?

[TheAssassin]

I will look out the documentary as Andrew Mueller is a contributor. 

In the mid/late 90s, Melody Maker gave away a small book of albums reviews, and Mueller was very determined about Fatima Mansions "Lost in the Former West".  As a result of that review I found this album and was just amazed by it.  I used to scrawl FATIMA MANSIONS on my college books, and an Irish tutor looked at me quizzically and wondered why I had the name of a Dublin housing estate scrawled on my books. 

But recently, Mueller wrote another piece on that album which made me get it on my Spotify list.  Billy Sloan over Christmas had a show on his Radio Clyde shift about guilty pleasures, and a couple of songs he played I put on my playlist.  One was the original version of Nite Flights by The Walker Brothers, and that album is now on my playlist.  So I had to re-listen to the Fatima Mansions version again.

Strange how life goes in figures of eight, but I just can't get into Microdisney musically.

[Jockice]

I will look out the documentary as Andrew Mueller is a contributor. 

In the mid/late 90s, Melody Maker gave away a small book of albums reviews, and Mueller was very determined about Fatima Mansions "Lost in the Former West".  As a result of that review I found this album and was just amazed by it.  I used to scrawl FATIMA MANSIONS on my college books, and an Irish tutor looked at me quizzically and wondered why I had the name of a Dublin housing estate scrawled on my books. 

But recently, Mueller wrote another piece on that album which made me get it on my Spotify list.  Billy Sloan over Christmas had a show on his Radio Clyde shift about guilty pleasures, and a couple of songs he played I put on my playlist.  One was the original version of Nite Flights by The Walker Brothers, and that album is now on my playlist.  So I had to re-listen to the Fatima Mansions version again.

Strange how life goes in figures of eight, but I just can't get into Microdisney musically.

That's right. I think it was called Unknown Pleasures and was about underrated/overlooked albums.

Mueller mentioned LITFW and Microdisney's final LP, 39 Minutes. Both fab albums as far as I'm concerned, although I don't think it's the best Fatimas one. That's Viva Dead Ponies, although as far as I'm concerned they're one of the few bands never to have put out a duff collection.

I think that MM booklet piece may also be the origin of the hearing their songs in eastern Europe story mentioned above and he actually went on to work with Cathal and Luke Haines as Dead Sea Scrolls.

[this creature]

*North Sea Scrolls

You're right about the other stuff though.

[Jockice]

*North Sea Scrolls

You're right about the other stuff though.

Ah yes. I'm in the pub at the moment, so I've had to interrupt my internet scrolling (see what I did there, eh?) to talk to people.

[The Culture Bunker]

I enjoyed the documentary - Microdisney I sort of get why they weren't huge. They had great tunes, and while I think Cathal Coughlan is an amazing singer, he has this abrasive edge that I bet put off many Radio One DJ's of the time, especially with his lyrical style. Richard Boon made a comparison with the Go-Betweens, but I think their lack of commercial success was way more baffling (at least the Grant McLennan songs).

I don't know when the interviews with Cathal and Sean were recorded, and how ill the former was at the time, but you could really sense the warmth and love between them.

[Pauline Walnuts]

So is there anyone who dosn't prefer The Fatima Mansions to Microdisney then?

[tolecnal]

I rate them both as bands I like, but I prefer Microdisney. Fatima Mansions are terribly underrated. Cathal in general. Like I said up thread he was still releasing great music up to his death.

[Egyptian Feast]

I rate them both as bands I like, but I prefer Microdisney. Fatima Mansions are terribly underrated. Cathal in general. Like I said up thread he was still releasing great music up to his death.

Agree with all of this.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Their version of The Night is worth posting in here because it's pretty great

[lazyhour]

Hugely prefer Microdisney, and the High Llamas. Microdisney works because of the contrast of Sean's lightness and Cathal's darkness. For me, the Fatima Mansions is all scratchy darkness with no light. The production is also far from my cup of tea - too grebo-industrial for my tastes, which I appreciate was also a symptom of the times.

Really loved the documentary. Cathal's obituary noted that he passed away after "a long illness", so I wonder when he found out he was ill? Would the Microdisney reunion - and Cathal's brilliant contributions to Sean's last album - have happened without Cathal's illness? Could it have been a 'now or never' thing? Either way, I'm grateful for both. I went to the Microdisney show at the Barbican and it was truly special. I also saw Cathal play a solo show - just him and a piano - in a tiny Brighton club in about 2000. It was one of the most intense gigs I've ever been to, and it was fantastic.

[Jockice]

Bunonique anybody?

[tolecnal]

Hugely prefer Microdisney, and the High Llamas. Microdisney works because of the contrast of Sean's lightness and Cathal's darkness. For me, the Fatima Mansions is all scratchy darkness with no light. The production is also far from my cup of tea - too grebo-industrial for my tastes, which I appreciate was also a symptom of the times.

Really loved the documentary. Cathal's obituary noted that he passed away after "a long illness", so I wonder when he found out he was ill? Would the Microdisney reunion - and Cathal's brilliant contributions to Sean's last album - have happened without Cathal's illness? Could it have been a 'now or never' thing? Either way, I'm grateful for both. I went to the Microdisney show at the Barbican and it was truly special. I also saw Cathal play a solo show - just him and a piano - in a tiny Brighton club in about 2000. It was one of the most intense gigs I've ever been to, and it was fantastic.

"St Wellbeing Axe" off Song of Co-Aklan feels pretty different after his death.

[spaghetamine]

I only really know Birthday Girl but that's an absolute cracker of a song, those lyrics are a proper punch in the gut