Was thinking about doing a thread like this a couple of days back before Mrbellows neglected singer-songwriters thread beat me to the punch and pushed me into it.
Reason why I was considering such a thread was that after years of never having given the band a second thought I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to hear Be Bop Deluxe doing Panic in the World and Life in the Air Age.
Remember my 20-year old self being well impressed when I saw them live (certainly enthused enough to buy Live in The Air Age anyway). Unfortunately for Mr Nelson and his bandmates, they were one of those acts who never really seemed to transform critical kudos into any kind of real commercial traction. Same seems to have applied to Bill Nelson’s subsequent post-BBD career in first Red Noise and then solo.
A two CD best-of being the most affordable option on discogs, I finally scratched my Bill Nelson itch and found about eight killer tracks out of the approx 40 spread over the two discs.
retropath2 says
If not fulfilling any sense of forgotten ness on this site: I know of lots of fans, I had never got to grips with the enigma of Lawrence. Sure, I had heard the odd track by Felt and even put the last GoKart Mozart on a then forgotten list to investigate, but had never listened hard. And then, about a week ago, I heard the song below, and was transfixed. Since then I have been trying to hoover up more. Trying is however the operative. The 2 Felt retrospectives seem well nigh impossible to get hold of except for silly money and to buy all ten of the originals sillier still. Even the Eel shops are short. But as a work in progress I am enjoying the tunes and the extraordinary stories.
fentonsteve says
Forever Breathes the Lonely Word is, by a long chalk, my fave. I went off them after that.
I can ‘help’ with your search for the elusive catalogue, PM me.
The whole lot were re-released a couple of years ago as expensive CD + 7″ sets, I didn’t bother.
Paul Wad says
Took me a while to collect all Lawrence’s CDs and, as you say, they weren’t cheap. The Felt ones were all reissued a few years ago in boxed sets that were signed and included 7” singles, etc. I only bought one of them, Ignite the Seven Cannons, because it was remixed and sounded quite different. I would have loved them all, but having just finished collecting the previous reissues I couldn’t really justify the cost. I’m just glad ai managed to get a copy of his film on DVD as soon as it came out, because that’s been selling for upwards of £100.
Hawkfall says
As soon as I saw the thread title, I thought of Be Bop Deluxe. For me they are the perfect example of a band that were successful in one time period, but for some reason have not been discovered or adopted by future generations.
Another 70s example would be Grand Funk Railroad. For the 60s, I always think of the Pretty Things, while for the 80s it would be Echo & the Bunnymen or The Sisters of Mercy. Fan of the Sisters? I bet you are aged between 48 and 52. Fan of Be Bop Deluxe? 58 and 62.
salwarpe says
Spooky – I am in that Sisters demographic, in fact at the upper end of it. But it can’t be right.
When I first got into them, (17/18), the first line up, which had been playing live for several years had already folded.
The FB group dedicated to that first version of the band up until the first album is full of fans who had seen them. Unless the audiences were full of 12-16 year olds, you are excluding the cohorts of James Blast, surely?
moseleymoles says
And slightly older than the TSOM spread but only by 3 years
Kid Dynamite says
I’m at the lower end (just!), but you’re right – there are a lot of Sisters diehards who must be approaching or past 60 by now.
paulwright says
I’m 58 and used to live round the corner from the Sisters. Between 48 and 62 I’d say.
Be Bop Deluxe add a few years on. They were just about before my time.60 to 64?
Barry Blue says
House Of Love are/were my pick for this. Covers of all the music papers when it still just about mattered, and a number one eel Festive Fifty (Destroy The Heart), but now forgotten.
moseleymoles says
I am not sure how forgotten the Sisters are: Temple of Love has 10 million plays on Spotify, BBD have less than 3/4 million on their most popular, HOL 3 million.
The 80s acts I think are a case of ‘catalogue reduction’ – the Sisters now being the Temple of Love hitmakes, HOL Shine On, etc.
Hoops McCann says
Come on then Jaygee don’t be coy, what are the eight killer tracks?
Jaygee says
The aforementioned
Life in the Air Age
Panic in this World
followed by
Crying to the Sky
Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
Blazing Apostles
plus the inevitable “hits”
Maid in Heaven
Ships in the Night
Fair Exchange
Kjwilly says
It must have been the review in this month’s Uncut as I also found myself exploring Bill Nelson’s back catalogue. I preferred his solo stuff
Do You Dream In Colour
Acceleration
The whole of the Chimera album.
Jaygee says
No, wasn’t Uncut – not read the rag since Mojo ran an “Uncut”s 50-top Beatles covers” feature about five years back.
Reason why I thought of Bill N and BBD was that I remembered seeing this terrific live version of Panic in the World on some Granada live in the studio show I saw about seven or eight years ago. Happily, the clip (and several others from the same concert) are up on You Tube:
Other shows in the same series included Peter Hammill, Roy Harper (great version of Cricketer) and BJH. Sure there must have been one or two more
Mike_H says
The full concert is available as a DVD and also as a 2-CD album.
https://www.discogs.com/Bill-Nelson-And-The-Gentlemen-Rocketeers-Recorded-Live-In-Concert-At-Metropolis-Studios-London/release/4138687
Not cheap, last time I looked.
Junior Wells says
Cracking version @Jaygee
count jim moriarty says
Check Bill’s website. He’s released about 150 albums since Chimera!
Mike_H says
He’s probably the most prolific recording artist around.
There’s an excellent 6-CD set called “Noise Candy (A Creamy Centre In Every Bite!)” on Spotify and other streaming services. Highly recommended.
It consists mostly of unreleased material from 1990-2000, recorded before he changed his studio from analogue to 100% digital.
The physical article looks amazing, a long box with positively sumptuous artwork, illustrated 50-page booklet etc. but it was expensive (limited edition 2000 copies) and those original copies sold out quickly. A second edition from 2015 also seems to now be out of print.
Should you want to own a copy of the reissue, it will set you back at least £90 for a second hand copy.
count jim moriarty says
A Bill Nelson pedant writes: Panic In THE World.
Jaygee says
Another youthful illusion shattered
eddie g says
I always rather liked this lot.
I think I was the only one.
fentonsteve says
That makes two of us. One of the acts I own everything by, not that it is very difficult with only two albums.
Nick L says
Nope, another BazFrogMarkandStan fan here. Loved the early singles, Whatever Is He Like and More Than A Dream especially. I even liked the album by The Avons, the band formed by Baz and Mark afterwards.
KDH says
I loved this from Peel – couldn’t get it from my local stores in Derry so was delighted when I picked it up on a trip to see my Grandmother in Sunderland. I think I had a (very) brief moment of appearing cool by owning this in 1982 – this seems to be the least crackly of the 3 versions I can see on Youtube:
fentonsteve says
My fave was Funky Combine, John – the b-side to Muck It Out! Should have been a double-A side single.
Nick L says
Yes, a great song! The A side is an odd one though… I always preferred the demo version which was on the For You 7″ double pack.
This is niche…is there anywhere else on the web where you can discuss Farmer’s Boys B sides?
fentonsteve says
I occasionally still ‘drop’ this in a DJ set.
In the early/mid-90s, I attended a BBQ at BazFrogMarkOrStan’s house with my pal who worked at Backs Records in Norwich. I was briefly star-struck.
eddie g says
I liked Milk Kan too.
A rather small and exclusive fan club.
eddie g says
From Liverpool. They made one great record. This was it.
yorkio says
I remember them as one-“hit” wonders too – but with an entirely different song which got a lot of play on John Peel and which I always assumed was also called One Thousand Violins, as the only bit of it that I can remember is the end of line that says that something or another was like “one thousand violins”. I’ve just had a quick skeg through their discography and can’t see anything by that name though.
salwarpe says
One of the big number bands, along with 400 Blows and 10,000 Maniacs, who I knew about from the NME, but never heard.
Barry Blue says
It’ll be this….
yorkio says
That’s the one!
Nick L says
Didn’t the singer form early nineties baggy types The Dylans?
KDH says
He did – I used to work with him in HMV sometime after the Dylans – really good bloke.
eddie g says
Saw them support the Smiths and was overwhelmed. Interviewed Rolo a few years later in a truck in Glastonbury for the BBC but wound the tape (old technology) round the wrong way and it was unusable. Shame. He told me they were kicked off the Smiths tour for overtaking their tour bus and waving at Morrissey.
eddie g says
They slept on my floor once. The lead singer is a fully qualified doctor.
SteveT says
For me have to say City Boy. They nearly made it but fell at the last hurdle. 3 or 4 excellent albums and then the sheen seemed to fade. ‘I first got my chance at the oddballs dance’ remains a great lyric line for me.
I guess they were a poor mans 10cc.
Franco says
Well I never. I just remember that 5.7.0.5. single. I honestly thought that was all they ever did. To their eternal credit though I once worked with a lad in a meat factory who stated that 5.7.0.5. was the only record he had ever bought.
deramdaze says
… and what about songs that have vanished?
I was pondering this when reading an article in RC about Mungo Jerry recently.
The shift from DJs playing 45s to CDs probably did for them.
It’s inconceivable that from 1970 to about 1988 you wouldn’t hear “In The Summertime” on national radio once or twice a year. And yet, until it got a play on Five Live Drivetime the other week, I honestly don’t think I’d heard it for 30 years.
Others in this bracket … “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes),” “Knock Three Times,” “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree.”
All is not lost though. “Sweet Caroline” would have been exhibit no. 1 about 10 years ago, and now you can’t go in a Charity Shop or attend a one-day cricket match without hearing it.
Franco says
Can I mention Wakefield Ridings FM radio station. Thunderclap Newman, Pilot, The Fortunes and Honeybus all staples of its pre recorded playlists. Even Oh Babe What would You Say by Hurricane Smith.Very enjoyable actually. I’m sure the station only owns one CD, some budget 70s comp they bought from a market stall. Sadly Ridings FM shut down last month.
Twang says
I rebought “Axe Victim” a couple of years ago and still play it regularly – it’s flawed, but in places quite brilliant. I saw them on the “Sunburst Finish” tour when it was all white jackets and poppy singles and the magic had gone.
count jim moriarty says
Axe Victim was really early fumblings. The band got better as it went on.
Black Celebration says
This is a strange but beguiling song – you will definitely recall the chorus, I’m sure. I can imagine Bowie singing it.
fentonsteve says
I’m pretty sure I have that on 12″, bought in a bargain bin. I doubt I’ve played it since 1987. Produced by Pete Waterman, as were The Farmer’s Boys mentioned above.
Slug says
I don’t recall that at all, but it’s…not bad. The vocal is very Siouxsie meets Chrissie Hynde.
myoldman says
That’s Maggie DeMonde and a bloke (can’t remember his name) who had a couple of minor hits a few years earlier as Swansway
Rigid Digit says
No danger of a Mojo cover story for this lot.
There was a moment in the late 80s/early 90s when British Heavy Rock bands had suddenly discovered Faces, Bad Company and Rolling Stones. They may not have had massive success, but they now appear as a footnote in history
Dogs D’Amour
Quireboys
Thunder
Well, I liked ’em
(although Quireboys are still touring, and Thunder did try a reformation a couple of years ago)
bobness says
Don’t know much about the Quireboys, but the Dogs were decent for a year or two, albeit a messy year or two.
Thunder, though, are a solid British rock institution. Love them. I love a band who quite rightly look like they’re having a proper good time on stage. Some killer tunes too. Their Rock City Christmas shows were a fine gig to be at.
Lemonhope says
Over the years I have bought a lot of singles that I thought were excellent at the time, a lot of them haven’t aged well. This one is an exception – they had a couple of other decent singles and even the b-sides were pretty good, but the album never materialised [as far as I know]
Two People – Rescue Me
fentonsteve says
Something of The Blue Nile about them. 4 singles and dropped, I think. My fave was this one:
myoldman says
I had This Is The Shirt on 7”, it got a lot of airplay on Janice Long’s show but never got near the charts. Great single
ip33 says
I was in the Bill Nelson fan club back in the day. You got a rather lovely box of singles and a semi regular newsletter with an occasional single thrown in as well. And ‘exclusive’ albums on offer as well, if you sent off your postal order.
Bogart says
Sparklehorse……
“Imagine a record as a galaxy, and all the songs as sort of little planets.
And some of them are messed up and spinning off-axis.”
~ Mark Linkous – describing his music.
A beguiling mixture of introspection, strangeness, sheer rock n roll, invention and down right weridness.
Black Celebration says
I get them mixed up with NZ’s Goldenhorse. This is a cracker from the early 2000s. One of those songs that is played a lot here – but I’m not sure if it went “global”
Mike_H says
A couple of fairly obscure tracks I like from the ’80s
Kardomah Café – The Cherry Boys
Wearing Your Jumper – A Craze
Barry Blue says
What a great song Kardomah Cafe is. I remember visiting the branch of the coffee bar in Liverpool which, presumably what with them being Merseysiders, it relates to. And the internet now tells me that their guitarist played lead on There She Goes. So there you go.
Moose the Mooche says
It’s on one of those great Cherry Red compos, Scared to Be Happy I think.
Barry Blue says
I just checked the track listing for that Cherry Red comp. So many winsome indie one-off classics.
Mike_H says
And then there are The Comsat Angels.
This is very, very ’80s but quite a banger, I think.
.
“Can’t stand up and I can’t sit down
There’a a great big problem stopped me in my tracks
Can’t relax cause I haven’t done a thing
And I haven’t done a thing cause I can’t relax.”
KDH says
Kermode regularly bangs on about the Comsats on his film show/podcast. I think we all probably have bands we were obsessed about who never quite made it big (mine was The Associates, who did have a brief flirtation with the charts).
If I’d heard this when it came out I think I’d have liked it, but the song (their best known I think) bypassed me at the time, though like our correspondent above they were a band I was familiar with by name but don’t recall actually hearing.
Rigid Digit says
Yachts are another of Mark Kermodes big-ups. He wrote the line notes for their recent box set
paulwright says
Microdisney and the Go-Betweens for me.
Jaygee says
Microdisney were wonderful. Saw them do most of Clock Comes Down the Stairs and Crooked Mile when they briefly reunited in Feb 19
Freddy Steady says
@mike_h and @kdh
Big fan of the Comsats. A bit too good to be popular.
Moose the Mooche says
My memory of them is that Independence Day was nailed to Kid Jensen’s turntable for about two years. I think there was even a jingle based on it, along the lines of the Kane Gang’s famous “Ooo Gary Davis” (which had the unique distinction of being more famous than any of their actual records)
Freddy Steady says
I didn’t know that!
Barry Blue says
Hardly known at the time, but another 80s cracker that shoulda woulda coulda but didn’t…
salwarpe says
This thread reminded me of a band who I saw at the Leeds Festival in the 90s – the Brönte Brothers – from Leeds, they had a great acoustic guitar sound – almost African in its lightness and joy and excitement. I never heard of them again,but remember they had one album “The Way Through The Woods”, which I’ve now ordered through Discogs (courting this site as the way i found my way there).
I’ll post more when it arrives and I’ve heard it.
Uncle Wheaty says
The Faith Brothers.
Truly great under discovered band from the 1980s.
Nick L says
Oh yes, terrific live too. I recall seeing them support at quite a few mid eighties London gigs. Really enjoyed seeing those clips.
fentonsteve says
Curve. They never quite made it. A couple of years later, Garbage copied their sound and went ballistic. Singer Toni became an estate agent.
Moose the Mooche says
I suggest that Homes Under the Hammer replace their Funky Estate Agents theme with Split Into Fractions.
Nick L says
Curve’s failure was baffling. They kind of fell between the cracks of major and indie though didn’t they? The fact that one of them had been in the touring version of Eurythmics seemed to put off some of the more po faced indie kids. Toni was a great front person though, good voice and charismatic too.
Moose the Mooche says
My theory: too many one-word band names around in those days.
TH was a great singer and, it has to be said, an absolute honey. She should have been a megastar.
fentonsteve says
A tale I’m sure I’ve bored you all with before… I won tickets to their Cambridge Junction gig on the local radio station’s evening Indie show. I’d have paid to have gone anyway. Me and my chum met the band after soundcheck and consumed some of the rider. Toni turned me a wobbly-kneed, stuttering, bumbling wreck. After the gig, there was an Indie Disco in the venue. Bassist Dean, guitarist Debbie (she who was also in Echobelly with the fragrant Sonia) and I had a dance.
Years later, Debbie was working in Notting Hill Music & Video Exchange. When I got to the counter, she remembered me and we had a chinwag. My bargain-CD buying pal was very impressed. For about 10 minutes, anyway.
Moose the Mooche says
Sonia from Echobelly. We didn’t know we were born.
yorkio says
Curve. Ride. Lush. Not just one word bands, but one syllable bands. And I don’t think I can recall now a single tune by any one of them.
I loved that track Toni Halliday did with Leftfield though.
Pessoa says
The Hollow Men, “Tales of the Riverbank” ( LP, Dead Man’s Curve Records, 1986). Like a bridge between Echo and the Bunnymen and The House of Love: never included on those 80s indie compilations, even as the likes of Yeah Yeah Noh or The Rosehips get a look in.
Nick L says
Ah, The Hollow Men…doomed to flog round the university circuit throughout the late eighties. Along with The Sound, another similar sounding band, they do seem to have been written out of history. I could be wrong but didn’t The Hollow Men end up on a major? It always seemed back then that when bands struggled on an indie they could still maintain a little glory, or at least what we used to call “cred.” Fail on a major, and you were just forgotten, a write off. Odd how these prejudices used to work.
Pessoa says
Yes, apparently they did sign to a major. I was also thinking of The Mighty Lemon Drops who did a cool single ( “ Like an Angel”) but then plodded along for a bit with a big label.
Nick L says
Indeed, The Drops were a really good, angular, promising band when they started. For me they became just a little too smoothly polished once on a major, although Inside Out was still a good track.
Freddy Steady says
The Blue Aeroplanes? Had their time in the sun with Swagger and Beat Songs. Still going, still decent live but doesn’t appear to be much of a market for spoken vocal jangle.
fentonsteve says
Supported REM. Should have been huge. Were not.
I recently came to the conclusion that Ensign is/was my favourite record label. There’s an idea for a thread…
Rigid Digit says
Cheery Red my favourite label at the moment. The amount I’ve spent with them in the past couple of years, I think I might own part of the company.
Moose the Mooche says
Cherry Red and Soul Jazz. I see no reason for any other labels to exist.
minibreakfast says
Did you get the recent Soul Jazz, er, jazz comp Kaleidoscope? Bloody hell it’s good.
Moose the Mooche says
Theirs is one of the many websites I’ve had to stop looking at.
minibreakfast says
It’s so good. All new UK jazz artists. Bloody talented youngsters!
Moose the Mooche says
Oh, and Ace Records of course. Bob Stanley has been at it again, the irresponsible bastard.
Nick L says
Soul Jazz’s ability to find the best in all genres is incredible. Brilliantly packaged and superbly annotated too. If a label can be described as educational then this is it.
Nick L says
Great band, the Aeros. Gerard apparently teaches songwriting now. I’d love to see some of his students faces when he plays them some of his more outre stuff.
And far from being the proto Bez he was often described as, Wotjek was a genuinely breathtaking dancer. Or so my dance teacher mate used to say…
Pessoa says
On the subject of indie music, even I had forgotten about Stump, the quirky, Beefheart-imitators of Festive Fifty fame ( “Tupperware Stripper” etc). They played a lot of gigs 86-88, made the front covers of the weeklies, and were hyped enough to do an album on Chrysalis. Nevertheless, Bob Stanley refused to include them on his ‘C86’ anthology as he hated them. Many years ago, the guitarist had a blog where he seemed rather bitter at their lack of success, which he sadly blamed on acid house. Coincidentally, I was at their gig at the Astoria in 88 where the much bigger crowd were queuing outside to go to The Trip club night, so he may have a point..
Moose the Mooche says
It’s at this point that a middle-aged man can be seen staring misty-eyed into the middle-distance, with but one question on his lips:
“How much is the fish?”
salwarpe says
Does the fish have chip?
This seems as good a place as any to wonder if the Scooter song was influenced by hearing Buffalo, which was on the C86 compilation (I don’t understand the Bob Stanley reference).
fentonsteve says
Similarly, when trying to ascertain the location of my knitwear, I often find myself muttering “Wait a minute! Where’s me jumper?” to complete bemusement from all in earshot.
Moose the Mooche says
“In blubbery blueberry Burberry” is a very satisfying phrase.
Acid house my arse. The idea that Stump really ought to have been duking it out in the charts with Go West and Mel & Kim is a bit risible.
PS. Bob Stanley put together CD-86, a double compo of C86-type material featuring some but not all of the artistes on the NME tape. Released, I think, in 2006. Very good it is.
salwarpe says
Cd-86? Thanks, that’s cleared up one little mystery. Only a few to go now.
Moose the Mooche says
Sadly I can’t help you with who put the ram in the ramalama-dingdong.
The bomp was put in the bomp-de-bomp-de-bomp by a chap called Trevor from Hounslow.
Pessoa says
Thanks Moose: yes, I meant the CD86 anniversary compilation and not the famous cassette, which I never had.
Nick L says
I remember being at a very busy Town & Country Club and seeing the crowd singing along to the “how much is the fish” lyric. The guitarist probably did have a point though. Acid House blew a lot of stuff away over a period of just a few months and it was hastened by writers like Bob Stanley. Shame.
There’s a doc about a brief Stump reunion on youtube somewhere. Unfortunately I believe the singer, Mick Lynch, died shortly afterwards.
Carl says
The Kane Gang – they produced two albums.
The magnificent debut The Bad And Lowdown World Of… and the good but not great Miracle
This is from the debut and I think It’s gorgeous.
Moose the Mooche says
I liked Miracle. The opening song Motortown was about the false dawn of Nissan coming to the north-east. Quite poignant.
count jim moriarty says
The debut is a quite magnificent album. Unfortunately they are probably best remembered/cursed for being the source of the ‘Woo Gary Davies’ jingle, it being a slight lyrical rewrite of their song Smalltown Creed.
Vincent says
I think the principle by which these bands suddenly disappear is interesting. No obvious splits. I assume that the record company withdraws support, or it was never there to support them, and reality demands they call it a day, one of them carrying on to mostly diminishing returns. its a bit like people who start PhDs, who are mostly quite bright, but have to have a mix of good ideas, something people want, a supportive environment, the right character, and the lucky opportunities. So the best are not always the most successful, or have the most to say, but they make the best of their circumstances and talent.
Arthur Cowslip says
Wise words!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Moose the Mooche says
Chappo’s personality made him a brilliant frontman, and it also made him a liability, especially on their forays into the US.
I am probably the only person under 60 who likes Family.
fitterstoke says
Not the only one, not as long as I also remain under 60, Moose-san…
I missed this thread completely when it was first published: michty me, there’s some fine, fine bands here…
Pessoa says
Have an up.It’s an excuse to post this from 1967!
Mike_H says
Pessoa says
Before this thread disappears, I will add, if I may, Throwing Muses: fantastically inventive and prolific, with two great songwriters in the ranks, but not it seems an influence on younger musicians at all, and whose albums are now increasingly hard to find. Even this storming live clip has only a few thousand views after a decade online.
KDH says
@Pessoa – saw this article in today’s Grauniad which may be of interest…
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/09/throwing-muses-cult-band-interview-kristin-hersh
mikethep says
Before this thread disappears redux: not so much a band that time forgot but a band that time never noticed. I give you Gin House, a noisy proggy trio from Newcastle. They won some Battle of the Bands thing in Newcastle which got them a recording session at Abbey Road – the resulting self-titled album came out in 1971 on the B&C label alongside labelmates Atomic Rooster. And then…zilch. (I have just discovered that B&C stands for Beat and Commercial.)
I only know about them because a flat mate was a mate of theirs, and they stayed with us during their brief studio time. There were some amusing misunderstandings with soft southern Jessies like me (imagine heavy Geordie accent): ‘Any post?’ ‘No, but there’s bread if you want to make yourself some.’ ‘No, letters, man, letters.’ ‘Have a look in the bottom of the fridge, there might be some.’ Etc.
There’s only the whole album on YouTube. I used to like their rocked-up version of And I Love Her, but it seems a bit gauche now. But have a listen to the first couple of tracks – loud, lots of stop-start, tempo changes, occasional random flute passages, sudden diversions into remote keys – all very 1971. Trippy + heavy = great fun, as some bloke says on YT.
Billybob Dylan says
from their debut album, which still gets (semi) regular plays at Dylan Towers.