A week and a half ago Jennifer wrote me about some bands and tracks from a mix CD she got years ago. It included bands like Small Factory, Gangway and Dislocation Dance. But there were three songs that I didn’t have much of a clue. One of them was Zeitgeist’s “Freight Train Rain”. Until… I got to listen the track.

“I have heard this one before!”. The question was, “where?”. After a bit of searching, I found this same song, the exact same song, but this time being credited to The Reivers. Yeah, the fantastic jangle pop band from Austin, Texas. So what had happened? Why did two bands released the same song? A quick search showed me that it was again fault of the nonsense of major labels and careerist bands, that want to brand a name…

“As Zeitgeist, the quartet had built up a good following through an indie album and touring, but on the eve of releasing their first major label album, Capitol Records did a name search and found that the German word had already been trademarked by a New Age ensemble. Front man John Croslin recalls that the crystal-wearers “weren’t flexible at all” and so the band ended up with the new name, leaving their fan base baffled. “We could’ve changed it to `Zeitghost’ or something, but we didn’t,” says Croslin.

Who has ever heard about this Zeigeist new age band? no one! Why were they such suckers with their names? Aren’t New Age people generous, sharing and peaceful? And they can’t share a name? Huh! New Age is pure stupidity. That’s what it is. The power of crystals and all that neo-pagan nonsense, the universal truth, their spiritual bonding and so on, does that help our society? No. It’s a non-challenging way of life, it’s not reactionary, it’s not rebellious. It severely damages your brain. It’s going back to medieval times, to the alchemy, to faeries and even extraterrestrials. But let’s get back to our Zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist, originated in Austin, TX with a lineup that included: John Croslin- main songwriter, vocalist, guitars; Kim Longacre- vocals, guitars; Kelly Bell- bass; and Joey Shuffield- drums. Shuffield left the band during rehearsals and was replaced by Garrett Williams. By the time their first self-titled E.P. was released on db Records in 1984, Cindy Toth had replaced Bell as bass player. This new lineup would remain consistent throughout the remainder of the Reivers’ existence. Releasing the full-length album “Translate Slowly” the next year, they began to build a sizeable audience.

That little bio appears on The Reivers website which I recommend checking out. That same “Translate Slowly” is the one album I’ve heard from them. What has happened was that the CD version came out in 1987 when the band had already changed the name. Right! So that’s what created all these misunderstandings.

About the “Freight Train Rain” song. It was released as a 7″ single, not only in the US, but also in UK! In the US it appeared on the DB label from Atlanta, the same one that released The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” (?!) and many Pylon records. On the UK it appeared on Stiff Records, Kirsty McColl fans know this one. The B Side was “Hill Country Theme” (which appears in the album too). This 7″ appeared in 1985. But, let’s rewind a year, and we find out that Zeitgeist released the Zeitgeist EP, a 12″ record that included “Freight Train Rain”, “Wherehaus Jam” and “Electra”.

During 1985 they put out a couple more records. A 12″ including “Araby”, “Freight Train Rain” and “Things Don’t Change” was released. All of the songs were alternate versions. Also they contributed to a couple of local Austin compilations. Their biggest surprise that year was the fabulous Translate Slowly album. A great jangly pop album that includes many standout tracks like my favourite “Blue Eyes” and old favourites “Araby” and “Freight Train Rain”! This song is everywhere you’d say! But it’s a brilliant one, so why not have it all over the place? How does it sound? Jennifer told me: “The song I have is called ‘Freight Train Rain’ and has a really cool combination of guy and girl vocals. The guy sounds a lot like him from Even As We Speak. Someone is really pounding on an acoustic guitar making it sound really percussive. A girl is wailing in the background while the guy sort of sing-speaks. It sounds odd written down but it’s a fab song!” Don’t think there’s a better description than that!

1986 would see their last release under the Zeitgeist name, the 12″ promo-only single “Atlantic City”, which was released by Rhino. A cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. And then the name change happened. The Reivers kept releasing records and even appeared on nationwide TV. But that’s another story.

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Zeitgeist – Freight Train Rain

Sunday is almost over for me. It’s been a long day, one where I woke up late, had fever all afternoon and now I’m just feeling a bit better after a Nyquil induced nap. It was still a productive day. I got to finish reading Ali Smith’s “Boy Meets Girl” that Emma recommended me. I’m still confused by it, is Imogen a girl or a boy or a girlboy? Also I finished sorting all Hari and Aino 7″ sleeves with inserts and polybags, 500 of those. If you want to order before the release date (February 15th) you can do it now. On top of that, after some pizza, got to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’ve seen many Miyazaki movies and this one was no disappointment. And maybe the best news today was winning Honeytraps’ “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Be Beaten” flexi for 1.99 GBP.

The afternoon soundtrack, while I was in bed, was The Jasmine Minks, who’s “The Revenge of…” has been on the CD player for many days. And the night ‘track, while working on some freelance, has been the three songs I know from the Liverpudlian band I-Lands. Right now I’ve stopped working to watch the highlights of the Portsmouth – Liverpool game. Liverpool has won 3-2 thanks to a goal from “el niño” on the 91st minute. I wondered if the ex-members of I-Lands were footie followers.

The main person in the band was Andy Warren (who isn’t the Monochrome Set’s Andy Warren, 99% sure). He had been in some post punk bands in the early 80s like Systems (where Jem Kelly from Lotus Eaters played!) and Change of Image. In 1981 Change of Image decides it’s time for literally, changing the image, getting into a more pop sound and they decide to call themselves Islands of Dance. The band was formed by Stuart McBain on bass, Howard Lacey on drums, Mike Saunders on guitars, Ruth Evison on keyboards and the day’s hero Andy Warren. It seems no recordings were made. Fast forward two years to 1984. Now they do record some songs, a single, but it was under a new name: I-Lands. Why did they change names? Well, the band had lost many members in 1983 and some other came on board. Lacey, Saunders, Evison left and Joanne Griffith (vocals), Darren Bell (guitars), Bernie Mulcahey (keyboards), and Warrens old band-mate in the Systems Tony Elson (drums) joined. Tony Elson didn’t last long and, on springtime, Mark Coleridge joined to play drums. With him in the band, the name change was official, they were the I-Lands and in October, that same year, the first and only single “In the Rain” is released.  The A side, “In the Rain”, is fantastic!, and it makes me wish that one day I’ll find it for a reasonable price on eBay, never seen it listed though. The sound reminds me of The Wild Swans of course, it was that time of the eighties you know. Breezing keyboard and a bouncy bassline, some epic-ness thrown in there, and that elegant English-ness that indiepop bands would have later in C86 times. That was what I-Lands produced. The B side, “Velvet Glove” is even greater! It’s such a top tune, can listen to it all the time, and, it even has at the end, this beautiful flute solo. Brilliant boy/girl choruses and a bass to die for. The simple guitars, the dreamy keyboards… should I keep going? Maybe I’m having some feverish delusions? Impossible!

Last track they recorded was “Back before the Pain” (another amazing track!) which appeared on a compilation called “Jobs for the Boys”. This was released in January 1985 on Natalie Records. A legendary compilation LP that included names as This Final Frame and Politburo, the best of Merseysides’ underground. After this release I guess the band broke up but I haven’t been able to find information. What is known is that Coleridge, the drummer, left and joined Afraid of Mice. Maybe that last lineup change made Andy call it a day? Even if that was true, this doesn’t solve our mystery! Did he ever get into recording more pop songs after that? Were this 3 tracks the only recordings of I-Lands? Maybe there are demos or some sessions? Perhaps someone has some long lost improbable Islands of Dance recordings? Or maybe from his other bands? I would really like to know more from this band, three perfect songs just as the three goals Liverpool scored today.

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I-Lands – Back Before the Pain

Stolen Picassos in Dallas, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Prague, New York. All of them millions of dollars worth. Most of them are drawings and paintings. Every year, somehow, pieces from the Spanish artist are stolen from different museums. It’s surprising as museums invest in the latest security systems, la creme de la creme of video cameras and laser alarms. At least that’s what movies have made me believe.

But what about these Stolen Picassos from Perth, Australia? Were they complices with the Picasso Twins? Do you know their whereabouts? Maybe it’s time to paste some reward posters, a la old desperado fashion, throughout the western Aussie city. Every electric post with it’s own “Most Wanted” photocopied white paper. Maybe this way we’ll find them. What’s the ransom you ask? One gorgeous 12″ on Kim and Dom’s Easter Records. Framed, it will look as good as a Picasso. Trust me. Martin Gambie on guitars and vocals, Graham Hope on bass, Brad Bolton on guitars, Sandra Morgan on keyboards and vocals, and Duncan McMillan on drums, where are they hiding?

My favourite Picassos have always been those from his Blue Period output. The sadness, the dreamy shades of blue  (I think it’s pretty obvious I like blue), the ethereal and unsmiling figures, have always gave me some sense of comfort compared to his later eye popping cubism. That same comfort comes up to me everytime I listen to the Stolen Picassos. Their intimate and homey sound, the boy/girl vocals whispering to me, it feels like if they were just playing here in my bedroom while I’m drinking this lager before going to bed.

I have only heard two songs, the 12″ is a bit out of my reach, in Musicstack it’s going for 112 dollars. Tough! Tonight I’m playing the songs I have: The Little Words and Save a Little Piece. I’ve seen a short post about them some days ago on the Fire Escape Talking blog. There are some interesting facts there about the band like that of Richard Bolton forming later the brilliant The Rainyard, and that of a single scheduled for 1989 on the Bus Stop Label. Mind you, the 12″ was recorded (in Shelter Studios) and released on 1987. It included four songs, “Everything Will Turn”, “Save a Little Piece”, “The Little Words” and “Time Will Tell”. Wonder if one day I’ll get to listen to the other two. What about that single for Bus Stop? Was it recorded? If so, where are those tracks?!

Any help or information about the whereabouts of these indiepop bandits would be great! Time for interrogation!

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Stolen Picassos – Save a Little Piece

I’ve been missing those Sundays where I stay at home listening to 7″s. Today, at last, I’m having one of them. It feels good. I may order for delivery some late lunch and in the meantime I’ll finish cutting the 1000 inserts for the next 2 Cloudberry 7″s. I’ve cut so far around 350 I’d say. Some minutes ago I was rumaging through my record collection, wondering what to play, and this record was the one that struck me, the sole A Thousand Miles of Sunshine single.

“A Thousand Miles of Sunshine” this winter. It’s quite cold in Miami, colder than we are used to. These are the first weeks were I have the AC off. And let me say I’m not missing the sun, I enjoy cold weather. So I find it funny that this record was the one I craved playing. I’m wondering what’s a 1000 miles from here, I believe the distance to New York is around those numbers. I’ll be there in May during the Popfest, still have to figure out where to stay, but I can’t miss the third year of this great festival. Another please 1000 miles from here is San Juan, Puerto Rico. Not a place that I would go crazy to visit though the Fort of San Cristóbal looks great for a postcard. Houston, Texas, is another place separated by a thousand miles of sunshine, the gulf coast and the Caribbean sea. I’ve been there once and I didn’t like it much, a big prefab town with not much personality. I was impressed by the amount of mansions though! Oil money galore!

The needle starts playing these two songs on the 7″. The A side is “Jimmy Highlife” and the B side is “Try Again”. Both tunes are as cheerful as they can be. Catchy, not really indiepop, but great guitar pop. Hooks here, hooks there. Not very introspective, but more of a festive sound. Of course, this is sunshine music! A joyful breeze that comes with boy/girl vocals, the youthful excitement of having a band, and the sun dawning while dancing in the beach, maybe Brighton?  maybe Bournemouth? Who knows. There is no information about the whereabouts of the band on the sleeve and even less info on the web. What is sure is that, when playing these tracks, your whole room will light up! Oh! it’s sunshine!

What I do know about this single is that there is also a 12″ version which includes these two tracks plus an instumental version of “Jimmy Highlife”. It was released the same year I was born, 1984 on the Go! Discs label (later home of The Housemartins or The Trash Can Sinatras).  This should be an easy single to track down and shouldn’t be that expensive as it was backed up by Chrysalis. The only name that appears on the single is that of Arthur Kennedy, credited to writing “Try Again”. Wonder if there’s a way to know more about them. If they had more songs recorded and if they played in any other bands after. Sunshine shouldn’t last that little.

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Listen
A Thousand Miles of Sunshine – Try Again

The Friday Club 7″ sold for almost 100 GBP. Let’s see for how much this one goes for, as it is quite rare too, and was listed for a price I can’t match: 45 dollars to start. The great “Lupe Velez” 12″ is going for 45, plus 12 dollars for postage, quite a deal, huh? Not for me sadly. So far, playing the lottery every weekend, hasn’t really worked. I dream of having a huge record collection with all the songs I like. Is that much to ask? Well… I would love to buy an island too, sometime in the near future. Why not? An indiepop island, can you imagine? It’s a bit unrealistic, I know, but there is a word called wishes and another called dreams. So why not dream and wish? Let’s start by dreaming today about this brilliant Aussie band. Suddenly I have their only release on my hand. The Lupe Velez 12″ purple cover invites me to know more… so who is this lady that shares name with the pop godess (Marianthi dixit!) from Pipas?

Tempestuous Mexican actress Lupe Velez parlayed her voluptuous figure and tireless energy into a south-of-the-border musical comedy career before she was 20. In 1926, Velez moved to Hollywood, where she secured a role in The Music Box Revue and was featured in a handful of Hal Roach two-reelers. Her first major role in a feature film was as Douglas Fairbanks’ fiery vis-à-vis in The Gaucho (1928); she made her talkie debut in D.W. Griffith’s Lady of the Pavements. In 1933, she married Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller, a union distinguished by loud, headline-grabbing public spats; they were divorced in 1938. The following year, with her career in the doldrums, Velez starred in an RKO programmer called The Girl From Mexico; this led to the popular Mexican Spitfire series, in which the irrepressible Velez was teamed with rubber-legged character comedian Leon Errol. She returned to Mexico in 1944 to star in Nana, which was not the success she hoped it would be. In December of that year, Lupe Velez killed herself with an overdose of sleeping pills.

Right! So the band took their name from her as well! Interesting, even though I’m still impressed about her being Tarzan’s wife! But let’s turn the page, it’s not about the king of the jungle and the monkeys. It’s about the Mexican Spitfires. But it seems most people don’t know them or care little as I’m not aware of any blog that have written about this eighties Sydney band. But the surprise comes when you do find that there is a whole Wikipedia entry. Here are some interesting bits and pieces.

The Mexican Spitfires were a Sydney, Australia based indie rock/indie pop band formed in suburban Strathfield in the Strathfield Municipality in the mid 1980s.The band formed in 1986 and the original line up consisted of Tim O’Reilly on bass and vocals, Michael Quinlan on rhythm guitar and vocals, Stephen McCowage on lead guitar, Price Conlan on drums; however, O’Reilly, Quinlan and McCowage had previously played together in the psychedelic 1960s styled indie-pop band Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers.

In July 1986, The Mexican Spitfires played their first gig to a packed audience at the Lismore Hotel, located on Pitt Street in Sydney. They were discovered by Red Eye Records that same night and were subsequently signed to a record deal by that label. The band’s debut 6-track 12-inch EP Lupe Velez was released in 1988. The EP was produced by Jon Schofield of the Coloured Girls, engineered by Phil Punch, and featured the extraordinary keyboard talents of Russell Parkhouse (ex-The Riptides). The first EP was an immediate success on the independent charts, moving straight into the top 5 in Sydney and scoring the band significant airplay on 2JJ (now 2JJJ), particularly for the songs Sydney Town, You Can’t Run and Town Hall Steps. Lupe Velez received favourable reviews in English musicmagazine NME and in the Australian music press.

After the success of their debut, The Mexican Spitfires returned to the Electric Avenue Studio of Phil Punch to record their second 6-track 12-inch EP Elephant during 1989 and 1990. Unfortunately, that EP has not been released in any format.

Wow! Another unreleased gem in indiepop along the lines of Candlestick Park or Two People’s LPs Will we ever have the chance to see these tracks on a proper release? I think that a CD compiling both EPs would be fantastic! It would have a total of 11 songs including, from the first 12″, Sydney Town, You Can’t Run Forever, Ivy Street, Town Hall Steps, Rookwood; and from the second, Roy, Fallen Down, Long Time, She, Desperate Ways, Just Like Any Man. And tell me, wouldn’t this be a sweet, sweet dream?

If you have any info on the the band or their whereabouts, please share!

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Listen
The Mexican Spitfires – You Can’t Run (Forever)

Bush is out of the White House. I wish he was kicked out as a dog, but well, this is a civilized country. But I do believe he won’t be singing as it has been one of the worst governments, if not the worst, in this country’s history. In the other hand, we are happy about him leaving office, so why not listen to a bush that does sing? Alright! So let’s listen to The Singing Bush! This was a short lived project of Mary Wyer of Even as We Speak during the mid-nineties, just in between the Sarah band and Her Name in Lights. As far as I know, there are only two songs recorded under this name: “Do What He Says (Richard, Richard)” and “Anita’s Son”.

“Do What He Says” appeared on the first Drive-In Records release, the Season 7″, a 4 way split that included songs by the Cat’s Miaow, Madison Electric, and the Shapiros. This same track would later appear on the Library Records & Drive-In compilation “Indie Aid Abroad: A Little Help for East Timor.” Not many times we see labels supporting such good political causes like this one, helping East Timor after the attacks by the Indonesian army in 1999, when they were reclaiming independence for the 2nd time. If I was one of the bands contributing in this CD I would surely be proud about it. This song seems to be about Richard Kingsmill, a DJ at the, Australian government funded, Triple J radio station. Maybe he helped Mary and her bands at his show? Furthermore, there’s even a great video for this song here. By watching the video, noticing the typical Mexican costumes, it’s not that crazy to think that the name of the band comes from the movie Three Amigos. Yeah, the one where Steve Martin and co. are looking for the ’singing bush’! Their second song was “Anita’s Son” which appeared on the Whirl-Wheels compilation on Shelflife. Could it be about Anita Raynor from Even as We Speak? And that was it. All their discography were two songs, both released in 1996 and in compilation releases.

Perhaps there were more recordings by Mary under this name? If you know anything else please share with us!

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Do What he Says (Richard, Richard)

Five more days to bid and it’s going for £70+ on eBay. I’m not going to buy it as it’s way away of my budget, but if I was earning much more at work I’d give it a shot. I wouldn’t care much if the B side was an instrumental version of A side “Window Shopping”. Mind you, I’m not a big fan of instrumentals. But it’s all for that sweet first side, for the Window Shopping trumpet driven pop feast! But, if you are skint, you can always find this track on the “Too Much Two Tone” compilation released by EMI some years ago. That you can find used for around 5 bucks. Not a bad deal at all.

It must be that the high price has to do with the label where it was released: 2 Tone Records. This label was founded by Jerry Dammers, from The Specials, and it has been closely identified to ska and reggae influenced music. They released some big names such as Madness, The Specials, The Higsons and, even Elvis Costello. I guess by the time The Friday Club was signed, they were broadening their tastes as this is P!O!P! and quite different from their past offerings. Makes a lot of sense! as this single was the penultimate of the catalog. Nevertheless it was Jerry Dammers who produced this soul-inflicted pop gem. And he did a brilliant job! So who knows!

I love the surprises that foraging on eBay can give to you, like the exorbitant sums people pay for records and then asking yourself, would I pay that? What is also surprising is that 2 Tone did not have small runs, I believe most of their releases surpassed the 10,000 copies, so how rare are these items really? And hey, The Friday Club record was also released on 12″ format where the A side was an extended version of ‘Window Shopping’.  So, on the surface, there should be lots of copies of this record, but maybe not.

The Friday Club was a big seven piece outfit, formed in 1984 in Scarborough. The lucky seven were Andrew Brooks (Composer, Vocals, Guitar), Michael Hodges (Lyricist, Vocals, Congas), Adele Winter (Vocals and Vibes), Terry Bateman (Vocals and Sax), Eddie Eve (Keyboards), Graham Whitby (Bass Guitar) and Anton Hilton (Drums). That same year they all decided to move to London looking for better opportunities for their music. Quite a risk to take, I mean, the seven of them collectively moving to the big capital and it’s not like Scarborough is around the corner. Luckily they found a record deal quite immediately. Andrew Brooks tells the story:

“We managed to find out where Jerry Dammers lived, which at that time was a squat in Stockwell. On the way to rehearsal one evening we dropped a tape and a flyer for a gig in his letterbox. The next day our manager got a phone call from Jerry to say he liked the tape and he was coming to the gig. The gig was in a pub Brixton near where he lived, and sure enough Jerry came along, I think him and his mate and the bar man we’re the only people there (laughs). He came up to me after the gig and said he’d enjoyed it and thought the songs we’re really strong – but he’d “never heard a band so out of tune in his life” and laughed. Next day he called to say he wanted to record one of our songs, he would produce and this would be released on Two Tone.”

The band went on tour supporting Madness as the single was released. Sadly the record didn’t do that great on the charts, it did get airplay though and found itself reaching the top 100. But that was it. To make things worst, not too long after, 2 Tone folded. I wonder what happened to The Friday Club then. It can’t be that they were just a one-hit wonder. Did they still kept playing? Did they form any new band? What about that demo they left at Jerry’s? There must be more tracks there than the fantastic ‘Window Shopping’. What about any other demos? Will these tapes still be in someone’s attic? Or on some boxes left in the garage after many house moves? Who knows. But if you have anything else to add, please leave me a comment, I would love to know more!

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The Friday Club – Window Shopping

After dreaming that it would be so great if that compilation of obscure 80s/early 90s Australian guitar pop bands materialized, I was wondering from which other country you could you do such compilations. I can only think Germany and Sweden. Maybe those are the two only other countries were little bands, that lived in the depths of obscurity and housed by small label releases, have that quality that is required for such a project. I think we could do large lists and figure out which bands and which songs could go in. If we had the money we would press the CDs and make lovely inserts with the story and photo of each band. Dreaming and dreaming.

Now I’d like to start recommending one with for the Sweden compilation: Saturday Kids. I’ve only stumbled with this band lately, thanks to my friend Takashi (arigato!) and his myspace about Obscure Indie Pop! And immediately, when this song, “West Against the Rest”, played for the first time on his player, I was hooked. Totally hooked! The jangly guitars and the youthful vocals, especially that continuous “ooooooh”, made me play this song fervently time and time again. Now it’s time for me to see if there’s any way to track their releases. Will be a difficult adventure!

The Saturday Kids were from Norrköping, the so called Sweden’s Manchester, and formed in 1987. The band lasted till around 1993 and revolved around the talent of Roger Källs, the only member that was in the band for the whole time. With the first lineup, Björn Brunnberg (bass), Jan Malmberg (drums), Johan Skaneby (guitar, vocals) and Roger Källs (vocals, guitar, harmonica, tambourine) they recorded the song “Your Dream” that appeared on the 1987 LP compilation ‘Ceilidh 005′ on the Ceilidh label. By 1990, the lineup had changed drastically: Jonas Karlsson (bass), Andreas Möller (guitar, vocals – same name as German football star!), Robert Svensson (drums) and Roger Källs. This could be considered the classic lineup as they released the “Four Beautiful Songs in D’d” on the SND label (1990). This label, based in the same city as the band, also put out a LP compilation called “SND Records Vol. 1″ where “West Against the Rest” and “Go?” were included.

Also it’s good to mention that Saturday Kids contributed “Your Dreams” to the Pet Sounds Vol.1 (1988) and “West Against the Rest” on Pet Sounds Vol.3 (1990). These were cassette compilations that came along the Pet Sounds fanzine. These tapes contain so many pop gems, most of them totally forgotten now!

By 1993 more changes in the band, Andreas leaves and Magdalena Johansson joins the band to take care of the vocal duties. They release what would be their last proper release: “Things Do Happen”. This was released as as CD-single on the Ceilidh label, and included three songs: “Don’t Know Why”, “Cotton Fields” and “In Bet With…” And then the band silently disappeared, leaving no traces behind.

In 1997, Ceilidh would re-release “Don’t Know Why” as a compilation track on the “Singles & Vinyls” retrospective CD. And that must have been the last news of the band.

If you have more info on them please share!

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Saturday Kids – West Against the Rest

The Catherine wheel (also Catharine wheel, pinwheel) is a type of firework consisting of a powder-filled spiral tube, or an angled rocket mounted with a pin through its centre. When ignited, it rotates quickly, producing a display of sparks and coloured flame. The firework is named for the wheel on which St. Catherine was martyred.

Don’t confuse them with the same name band from UK. These Catherine Wheel were from Sydney, Australia, and they weren’t press darlings at all like their British counterparts. Their lifespan was quite short, just two years, from 1989 to 1991. During this time they released 10 songs, all of them little pop gems that history has forgot. I can’t believe there’s no single blog post about these wonderful band in the whole internet! But then, in a way, it’s nice that bloggers are not getting their mouth full giving all their discography for free on rapidshare. I’ll make some justice today.

Catherine Wheel were Andrea Croft, Grant Shanahan, Brett ‘Bert’ Thompson and ‘Biff’ Smith. The band came to life after The Honeys disbanded. It was then when ex-Honeys Andrea, Grant and Bert came together as Catherine Wheel releasing their first single that included Almost Blind, Sunny Sunday and Look At Her. It was released on the That’s Bizarre label. I still have to get around this one. But I bet it’s a cracker. I found a review online on the KVD Records page that says:

The band have managed that rare trick of making smooth and pretty pop music but keeping the edges that make it have a life. “Almost Blind” and “Sunny Sunday” are the sort of pop people made in the sixties without embarrassment or guilt, but few even try now, and fewer succeed. Really good female/male vocal harmonies make this stuff a real treat for the ears. “Look At Her” goes too far in the folk direction and doesn’t make it through a full play, but the other two are plenty good for lots of listens. Let’s Active fans probably should be thinking in terms of purchasing multiple copies.

I do have and enjoy quite a lot the brilliant Blue Avenue / Last Explanation single. This, their second 7″, again released on the That’s Bizarre label in 1990, has the band’s best two tracks. Blue Avenue counts with a saxophone and it’s the only track (besides ‘Blackest World’) I know where Grant is the main singer as the vocal duties were usually exclusively Andrea’s. Still she does backing vocals on the catchy choruses of this wonderful song. What a timeless tune! Then you flip the 7″, and you get such a rewarding tune: Last Explanation. I wonder how this track is not a classic down under. It has that same magic The Hummingbirds used to pull out, that same bittersweet vocals of the antipodean Look Blue Go Purple, and the charm of Even as We Speak. How did they do it? I think I should dedicate some time having a listen to the whole oeuvre of The Honeys, but also to the later bands they were involved with. Andrea Croft’s Polyanna and The Snow Leopards and Grant and Brett’s Eva Trout. And mind you, The Honeys are back together gigging around.

Their last release was the “Self-Portraits” 5 track CD-EP on their usual label, That’s Bizarre. This time it got the Shock Australia distribution and it was quite easy to track down for me. On this release Biff Smith is replaced by Matt Handley on guitar. This EP opens with Reach, which is one of my favourite songs by them, it’s the star of this release. A lovely jangle pop tune, nice arpeggios and sweet vocals like a speed-up The Carousel. The third song, ‘Blackest World’ is another great tune, that, under a Chills-like guitar assault and a saxophone (again!), Grant croons till Andrea joins for an epic melody. The remaining three songs (’Wilsons Beach’, ‘Mama’ and ‘Self-Portraits’), are quite good as well but they are more calm, less bouncy, reminding me to the early 90s British band The Heart Throbs.

I believe Jim at Egg Records announced he was going to do a CD with obscure Australian pop gems from that period. If he does it, this band should be included. Lovely.

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Catherine Wheel – Last Explanation

Wikipedia: Ammonites are an extinct group of marine animals of the subclass Ammonoidea in the class Cephalopoda, phylum Mollusca. They are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

Our own indiepop history: The Ammonites are also an extinct group of guitar pop enthusiasts. They were Rich (guitars/vocals), Robbe (bass), Shane (guitar) and Robyn (drums). Robyn had changed his name from “Robin” in honour of his hero, Robyn Hitchcock. It was a band that only had one proper release and by google indexing standards they are only linked to… well, nothing aside one blog entry by my good friend Alex from Spain. Their time period is easy task. They were around the late eighties early nineties, like most of the bands I like. What else? Rock layers? not quite, this is pretty much P!O!P! with a youthful punk-ish attitude that bursts joy. Class? guitar driven pop. Phylum? They were part of the Rutland family. Does that cover it all? Not really. Indiepop is much more than encyclopeadiac terms.

I’ve been glued to Youtube watching their video for You, Me and the Sun. How old were they? They seem as if they were 16 when they recorded this funny backyard video. I wonder about this track. Maybe it was released on any of those cassette demos? Maybe on The Ammonites tape? Or in the Doncaster EP? Perhaps on the FunLovePopFish one? Could be on the In Their Element? Or on that compilation tape? I can’t tell. I’ve never seen one of these cassettes.  Maybe somebody out there knows?

All of these tapes were released by Rutland Records, home of PO!, The Originals, The Waiting List, and more; in summary, many of the best bands from Leicestershire. So it was no surprise that the wonder kids of Leicester released here their Head Full of Strange 7″. A rush of guitar juvenilia expressed in three songs: A side “Coming Down” and B sides “Stupid” and “Teenage Pop-Kid Dreamin’”. A brilliant debut especially thanks to the nervy Teenage Pop-Kid Dreamin’, with it’s witty tongue-in-cheek lyrics and Ramones’ guitar blazes. This is the last notice there was from the band. It was 1991.

They did contribute to a couple of compilations and split flexis:

// All We Had – on the Mind the Gap compilation. This tape was released by Peter Twee.net, when he used to run this German mailorder. “All We Had” is actually really good, this time The Ammonites go berserk with fuzzy guitars!

// Stupid – same track from the 7″ on a tape compilation that came with the third issue of the Big Muff fanzine. The compilation is not that great and it’s quite long. There are some hits, like The Emotionals or The Love Buttons, and misses, like Sofahead or Scott Bond. There’s a live Amelia Fletcher song though, always interesting for all her fans.

// Missing You – on the first Waterbomb fanzine flexi. A lovely Brigitte Bardot on the picture sleeve maybe missing us? On the credits Robin is still Robin with an I. They share the flexi with Paintbox.

// Jennifer – a lovely track, one of The Ammonite’s best. I do hope my friend Jennifer knows about. I think I forgot to show it to her! It was released on 1990 on The Boshi Label which later became Sugarfrost Records. This was Akiko’s original Japanese label. She used to write the 5000 Miles From George Square fanzine. I really enjoy that her catalog numbering nods to Roddy Frame. This is a split flexi shared with The Philips. This is RODDY 007.

// Stupid – again the 7″ track, this time on another compilation called “And they Call it Pop” on Fragrant Records. I don’t know much about this one.

// It Hurts Inside – maybe my least favourite song by them. Perhaps because it’s the least pop of them all? It appeared on the Everlasting Happiness tape, which is really good overall. This tape was made by another good friend, Andreas Hering from Germany, who now is half of Adventure Playground, bringing some great bands to Hamburg!

// Stupid – again and again! this time on the Just Another… Compilation cassette. The label is Flippin Ace Recording Co. No idea about this compilation. Nada.

They wanted to release an album. I wonder what happened. They totally disappeared. Robyn went to join Ruth’s Refrigerator, The Calender Dream, a mod band called Immediate and Ambrose Tompkins. But that’s all I can tell. Maybe somebody there knows a bit more? Maybe it’s time to unearth these gems and release that long overdue album? I think it is!

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The Ammonites -You, Me and the Sun