Friday and I can’t wait for the weekend. Especially as there is Copa America going on now, and as you know I support Peru, who will be playing Brazil tomorrow. That is overly complicated. A tie wouldn’t be bad. But we’ll see. Aside from that do remember that I am flying on July 4th to Spain, so if you are in Spain, in Asturias, or Madrid, and you want some records, let me know, I’ll happily bring them with me!
Mighty Mighty: so it seems the classic Birmingham band will be back with an album on Firestation Records pretty soon. That is terribly exciting! This news was announced when they shared this video for their song “Where Would I Be?” and one couldn’t help but notice that the band hasn’t lost it!
The Proctors: our other friends from Birmingham also have a new song and it is called “Silhouettes”. Not sure what will be the future of this song, if it will be released as a single or perhaps as part of an album. In any case I hope it gets released in some bona fide format because it deserves so!
Mind Wanders: this song and band I just discovered through Pierre from the Facebook group Twee Lovers Club. Mind Wavers hail from Thailand and they have a very sweet sound. “Time is Running Out” seems to be their latest digital single. It is pretty nice.
Orange & Lemons: I remember this band from the Philippines from many years ago. It seems they continue making music and they have a new song called “Pag-big Sa Tabing Dagat” on the Lilystars Records soundcloud. It is an interesting sound as it feels a bit of a mix of bossa nova and indiepop and also it mentions that it is influenced by “kundiman”, a traditional Filipino love song. Interesting!
Ocean Chimes: lastly a track from 3 months ago on the superb Indonesian label Shiny Happy Records. The song is called “Adios Amigos” and it seems it will be included in a new EP coming out sometime soon on this label! Good stuff.
—————————————————————–
One of my favourite 7″s in my collection is the Collapsible Deckchairs’ “William Shakespeare” that was released in 1985 by the Mordent label. As I know very little about it why don’t you join me in finding out more about them?
The Mordent Music label. Who were they? It seems they released three singles in 1985 and that’s it. Aside from the Collapsible Deckchairs they released Baz Higgins and A to Z + the Girl Guides. But their first ever release was the Collapsible Deckchairs (dMOR1). This label was based in Cookridge, Leeds.
This 7″ with a portrait of Mr. Shakespeare on the cover art had the title song on the A side while “Ford Cortina” appears on the B side. This is quite interesting I must say, the Ford Cortina was a car that was built by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom’s best-selling car of the 1970s.
I don’t think I need to say who William Shakespeare was, right? What about Stuart Skinner? Okay, he appears on the sleeve because he produced both songs. Skinner also produced another classic indiepop record, The Darling Buds’ “Shame on You”. Both songs were recorded at Vibrasound in Sheffield.
The back of the sleeve gives us a little more information. We know that “William Shakespeare” was written by Higgins and Morrison while “Ford Cortina” by Morrison and Higgins. Then on “William Shakespeare” there are some guest musicians, Paddy Hogan sang, Paul Stinchcombe played sax and Oonagh Stephenson the violin.
On the From a Northern Place blog there is a scan where it mentions the names of the band members, from left to right, as there was also a photo included in the record. It says they were Paddy, Baz and Simon Masters. Then I find that Mordent was run by Baz Higgins, which makes me guess that Paddy was Patrick Morrison. This also of course means that the second release on Mordent Music was Baz’s. And of course Baz was also part of A to Z + the Girl Guides!
Lastly, the only other thing I could find was a Spin magazine issue from September 1985 where there is a small review of the single. Incredible really as this was a US magazine.
Now, I hope someone can help me find out any more information about them!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
3 Responses to “:: Collapsible Deckchairs”
Yeh, omg, i can’t believe i found this. Even more that you was interested on here, call that persistence and dedication, i dunno. Well, the CDs were an absolutely GREAT live band. From those days (before the single), weekly (?) Sorry, vague on that one) gigs, k, let’s say a load of gigs eg RTHS, Packhorse, Fenton?? Haddon Hall ( maybe?). Paddy, a songwriter before your time par excellence, “Do the Deck” coulda bin a hit etc et al, deffo now “Smokin can, smoking can, smoking can, …damage your …health… and wealth… or both!” Loved you all to bits, then and still now, Paddy, you and your Golden Virginia roll-ups, Simon and your (later) Bag o Crisps… lol
Thanks for the comments. We made this single 40 years ago. Well remembered Johnny T…yes we played at all those venues. Band members were Paddy Morrison (Guitar/vocals), Simon Masters (drums/vocals) and me (Bass/vocals), although me and Paddy sometimes switched the guitar and bass roles. We got a friend, Paddy Hogan, to sing on “Shakespeare” cos he was a much better vocalist than me. Paddy Morrison sang on Ford Cortina.
Hehe blast from the past packet of crisps.the deckchairs collapse be there or be square 50p entry as I remember great days.btw I’ve got that cassette from Bradford somewhere in this house n it still sounds great my son Billy who’s in his own band called fake loves all the traaacks