During the 80s there was a huge and thriving melting pot of musical styles and flavours consisting of many types of bands who played music influenced from the past yet interpreting it in their own way to make a truly (for the times) modern sound and statement, as was the case similarly during the 70s Punk explosion a decade before, the 80s underground music scene was full to the brim with a whole host of ecclectic bands who had one-off 7" singles released on small record labels, many of these bands are virtually unknown beyond a small fan-base around the particular genre or scene and remain to a lesser or greater degree 'hidden gems'.
The Springfields were an American jangle-pop group with obvious influences from the 'Paisley Underground' scene which came five or six years before, their 7" single of which I am going to review and share - 'Sunflower' was released in the summer of 1988 on cult British 'Indie' label 'Sarah Records' and is one such musical 'hidden gem', I feel this is one of the most beautiful releases during the late-80s.
Packaged in a alluring hand-folded sleeve with dazzling and wonderfully designed labels, the record not only sounds the part, it also looks the part too.
Paulie Chastain - Bass, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals
Eric Petersen - Acoustic & Electric Guitars
The Springfields mainly revolved around the talents of the band's leader Rik Menck.
Below I have added two songs from the 7", the A-side 'Sunflower' which is a wonderfully rich sounding recording with Byrds-like jangle and textured harmonies, it's a really great song and I feel a really interesting piece of song writing especially for the late 80s.
The second track is one of the two B-sides, the song of which I am including on this post is a cover version of The Hollies track 'Clown', The Springfields version sounds very much like it could have been a B-side on a 60s garage band 45.
East Kilbride a dreary post-modernist industrial wasteland located south-east of Glasgow in Scotland, mostly known for being the home of noise purveyors 'The Jesus and Mary Chain' also sprung from it's womb and spewed out into the world another bunch of leather clad feedback drenched hipsters who went by the name of 'Meat Whiplash'.
'Meat Whiplash' took their name from the b-side on post-punk band's The Fire Engines 1981 released Candy Skin 7" single (I will write about this at a later date).
Following on from the success that 'The Jesus and Mary Chain' displayed with their iconic debut single 'Upside Down', Creation Records owner Alan McGhee signed this bunch of misfits and released their lone release; the genius two-sided single Don't Slip Up b/w Here It Comes.
It was released 6 days before my birth and thank god it was released cos it was a well needed shot into the arm of a totally Squaresville Conservative-raped United Kingdom, records like this gave hope that things were going to get much better, much cooler and much more noisier.
The 7" single came in a cool picture sleeve featuring the image of actor Robert Vaughn and was printed by Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.
The Band were -
Paul McDermott - Vocals
Stephen McLean - Guitar
Edward Connelly - Bass
Michael Kerr - Drums
Although Meat Whiplash's career as a band was short-lived their legacy continues, not only cos they released a killer single of high indie esteem, but also because they were responsible for inciting a riot at one of the most infamous gigs of the last 30 years.
On March 15th 1985 at North London Polytechnic, The Jesus and Mary Chain plus Meat Whiplash and The Jasmine Minks were meant to play music to a bunch of students and what in turn happened was World War 3 - a legend was created. According to historical account just before Meat Whiplash's set was meant to begin one of the band members slung a wine bottle into the audience creating a mad rage amongst the totally un-hip losers in the audience and whilst the band started to play their set, idiots from the crowd flocked upon the stage and physically beat the band up as they tried playing their music, by the time the group finished and got off stage it was time for the 'Mary Chain' to play, which of course they couldn't because by this point the squares in the crowd were in full-metal riot mode and unleashing all hell and fury on everything around them, including the members of the bands themselves and their equiptmen; This gig has gone down in Rock 'n' Roll history as being a legendary gig.
In 1987 Shop Assistants singer Alex Taylor joined the band and they changed their name to 'The Motorcycle Boy'.
And so we must end this post with the music from Meat Whiplash's sole release.... Enjoy
The British musical landscape during the mid to late 80s was somewhat a sparse desolate mass of decay and bile, it was terrible, the so-called 'popular music' of the time was at best mediocre, the only real music which saved the small minority of the UK's music lovers at this time was the very anoraked world of Indie music (this was during a time when Indie music was still in essence D.I.Y and still held true to some Punk ethic and credentials, unlike today where the term 'Indie' is somewhat thought of as mainstream and something cool to be associated with).
From around 1983 through to 1989 following on and rising forth out of Punk and New Wave, many bands all throughout the UK formed and recorded music which was often put-out on tiny independent record labels, some of these groups even self-funded and released records themselves.
The crux of it however was that not a great deal of money was made during these times for either band or label alike, however a tremendous wealth of stunning 7" singles, EP's and albums were released under the 'Indie' moniker.
One such band who were of great importance during this malaise in UK music from between 85-91 were Dublin's My Bloody Valentine.
My Bloody Valentine were -
Kevin Shields - Guitar, Vocals
Colm O Coisiog - Drums
Belinda Butcher - Guitar and Vocals (Joined in 1987)
Debbie Googe - Bass
Dave Conway - vocals up until 1987 (To give Conway credit he did record on MBV's classic Sunny Sundae Smile EP)
My Bloody Valentine put in the leg-work having toured as a band since forming in 1983 and had a handful of releases on small labels, unfortunately the band never really took off in their early days, by 1987 shortly after the departure of singer Dave Conway, the band really came into their own and began to get noticed by a wider audience.
During 1987 My Bloody Valentine released their dreamy noise-pop in the form of two releases on Lazy Records, these were the mini album 'Ecstasy' and EP 'Strawberry Wine', these two records were compiled into one and released in 1989 as 'Ecstasy Wine'.
This period of MBV see's the beginning of what would make the group the cult band that they became.
What I enjoy about these 'earlier' recordings before the band went into interstellar overdrive and headed spacewards in developing their signature shoegaze noise experimentalism, was that the birth of that sound was in its embryonic stages on these two 1987 releases and also on these records were a great pop song structure and I feel the songs on these releases are fantastic pieces of dream laden pop music.
During my school years, from the ages of 12 till 15 I was obsessed with 80s indie music and still love to revisit it from time to time. The bands that did it for me were Spacemen 3, Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, I even tried to mimic these groups with a dodgy pudding bowl hair style, I grew my hair to such a state and managed to pull-off a bowl-cut for about a week until the natural curl in my hair took over, regardless I looked mentally ill.
The thing with a great deal of the 'indie' bands of the 80s UK music scene were that these bands are what got me into the rarer 60s music and elements of that 60s groups sound and mentality can be heard in a lot of the records these types of bands produced.
Being a kid listening to this sorta thing particularly in the area I grew up, instantly made me an outcast, my peers were all listening to the horrible sounds from dodgy dance based music which came under the aforementioned headings 'House and Garage' and 'Two-Step' and here I was in my own dreamy oblivion searching out the most obscure 60s, punk, old blues, krautrock and indie music I could find and get my hands on. I wanted to be different and found music which aligned perfectly with this train of thought and what a pleasure it is and has been. I'd say I was pretty fortunate when I was younger in having this love of music , cos although I got a huge amount of stick for being me at least I wasn't one of "them" y'know??
I aim to write more about this 'lost' decade of cool music, in order to spread the word a little, because there are many pieces of absolute genius which were released during this time that not a great deal of people (even those who dig this stuff know about) and for that reason I feel these deserve to be known, heard and talked about.
Below are a few songs from Ecstasy and Wine which I really dig and I hope you do too.
Strawberry Wine
Never Say Goodbye
She Loves You No Less
Clair
(Please) Lose Yourself In Me
If you enjoyed the sounds above, please search out the record or cd and buy it, the original 7" EP and Mini-LP of the tracks on this LP are pretty hard to come by these days and often cost a pretty penny, likewise the Ecstasy and Wine LP itself can go for up to £50. My own copy cost me around the £20 mark... so you just have to search and you'll find it affordably, it's worth having because it's the birth of a band which later on changed the rules in music and become a pretty important group.
One of the my favourite albums ever released is the one above, The Television Personalities seminal debut album 'And Don't The Kid's Just Love It' released in 1981. The Television Personalities is the brain child of one of the punk generations most important voices; Dan Treacy.
Dan Treacy started the Television Personalities in 1978 and they self-released and produced a couple of classic punk singles until their debut long-player was released in 1981. In terms of Indie Music, Dan Treacy and The Television Personalities could be now pretty much seen to have founded the genre we all now know as 'Indie' or 'Britpop, however back then it was just considered punk rock and it probably didn't even really get noticed by a lot of people other than those in the know or those who listened to John Peel.
Fusing elements of 60s psychedelia, Jangle Pop, Mod and Punk attitude not to mention the DIY belief and determination many of the youngsters in bands had back in the late 70s, the Television Personalities have gone down in history as being a cult band and In my mind are also one of the more interesting groups to have been around during the late 70s till now in the present day.
The band are still together and playing shows today, the line-up is changeable however Dan Treacy is still writing songs and being the legend that he is.
I had the good fortune of meeting Dan Treacy last year at a Spacemen 3 related event in London, It was kinda cool to say hello and have met a guy who's song I am influenced by and whose music I have been listening to since I was a teenager.
Some folks have said that my own music reminds them of Dan Treacy a little, I personally can't hear the similarities, but I am influenced by his style of songwriting and I do love how personal and honest some of his songs are to him and I guess that is an influence to me as I try and be honest and true too, I guess I also relate to him in that in both our songs there is themes of sadness, being an outcast and also kind of hating the world around us.
Television Personalities circa 1980 (from Left to Right - Joe Foster, Empire & Dan Treacy)
The line-up as mentioned for the TVP's was interchangeable with only Treacy being the permanent feature, the members who recorded 'And Don't The Kids Just Love it' were Dan Treacy alongside Ed Ball and Mark Sheppard. The album is a cult classic and set the template for the emerging Indie music scene that was happening in the UK during the 80s.
The album is really important to me and I do consider it to be in my top 10 albums ever list, purely because every time I listen to it, it reminds me of my youth. I purchased 'And Don't the Kids....' and 'The Painted Word' LP's when I was around 15 or 16 years old and they both really played an important soundtrack to my life growing up in West London Suburbia, In fact I'd say both these albums are the best albums to express the anger, the boredom and isolation a person suffers in such a place like suburbia. I related to these albums and they made sense to me, that's why I love them I guess?
Later on we moved to Sussex and at the age of 19 I got a job working for The Electricity Board and around the age of 22 I was working on my own in a van all day for almost a year, I liked working on my own because it meant I could listen to my own music. During one very hot summer, I remember taking 'And Don't The Kids Just Love It' out in the van with me, I must have played that album everyday purely because I was working in South London, I was working in area's like Merton, Norwood, Croydon,Mitcham, Thornton Heath, Tooting etc I think I got as far north as Battersea during that Summer. The album was a perfect accompaniment to working in that area, the post-war council estates, the lonely parks, the concrete jungle, the sad forelorn faces from the past to the present, many different creeds and colours... The music and lyrics of Dan Treacy made all this make a great deal of sense to me, the music is totally London through and through.
(Above) Dan Treacy
The album is a psychedelic-pop punk masterpiece and a real delight and I feel anyone who seriously loves music, should seriously love this album.... I can't sing it's praises high enough.
Please find below a few of my favourite songs from the album, however I do feel that the whole album is good.
This Angry Silence - I totally love this song, it reminds me of my youth getting the N207 night bus from Shepherd's Bush back home to Uxbridge after spending the day and night roaming around London, the bus usually was full of gangs, drunks and heroin addicts. Not to mention the suburbia which I called home, had the same fate as included in the song's lyrics... I had alot of 'Angry Silence' inside of me and I guess I still do..... I like the lyric "I spend the days on my own, writing silly poetry, writing poems for the girl I love, but she doesn't love me".... total teenage genius!
The Glittering Prizes - The Lyrics of this song, I used to tell myself the same things back when I was a kid.... I still am telling myself the same things... I guess if you have a brain and come from a shit and rough area you do ask yourself these things?
Diary of a Young Man - I think this song is my favourite on the album, purely because I have had many moments in my own life which unintentionally mirrored the song.... I think I am currently going through a phase similar to the song.
Geoffrey Ingram - I guess I love this because it is whimsical English humour in music form, it reminds me of when I was a kid and me and a mate always used to hang around London, we'd go and hang around Hammersmith Broadway a great deal and I guess, I must of in my head felt I was Geoffrey Ingram.
La Grande Illusion - I totally love this song, it's a fabulous psychedelic moment from the 80s, I think it's a great song, simple as that a great piece of psychedelic pop.
During the 80s there was a huge and thriving melting pot of musical styles and flavours consisting of many types of bands who played music influenced from the past yet interpreting it in their own way to make a truly (for the times) modern sound and statement, as was the case similarly during the 70s Punk explosion a decade before, the 80s underground music scene was full to the brim with a whole host of ecclectic bands who had one-off 7" singles released on small record labels, many of these bands are virtually unknown beyond a small fan-base around the particular genre or scene and remain to a lesser or greater degree 'hidden gems'.
