BONUS SERIES : THE ICA WORLD CUP : ROUND 4 (Part 4)

May as well deal with the formalities of last week’s embarrassingly one-sided ties :-.

Echo & The Bunnymen 23 Butcher Boy 4
The Jam 23 The Jesus and Mary Chain 4

Here’s the final two ties of this round after which it gets really serious.  After this, you’ll only have one tie per week to consider and vote on….all the way through to the final in late July.

Match 7

The Wedding Present v Pulp

Two northern powerhouses go toe-to-toe.  Gedge v Cocker is worthy of the final itself and it will be very interesting to see what you all make of it, especially as the two songs coming up today come from albums which have been known to divide fans as they deviated somewhat from the tried, tested and trusted.

Here’s the facts thus far.

The Wedding Present strolled through the first round with Always The Quiet One ensuring a comprehensive hammering of Deacon Blue, following which  they have arguably had the ties of the past two rounds against Magazine (Kennedy v Shot By Both Sides) and Orange Juice….indeed the latter had to go to a replay as Edwyn & co had fielded an ineligible songs and TWP made the most of the reprieve.  My Favourite Dress (live) had been soundly beaten by Felicity, but the studio version of the former romped home against Falling and Laughing.

Pulp had a tough assignment in the first round but Pink Glove proved to be resilient enough to see off Kathleen by Tindersticks – my own thoughts being in that instance that many voted for the band rather than the song.  Next time out, Common People was aired leading to a ritual slaughtering of Lambchop.  The Fear was aired last time out and proved to strike that emotion into the heart of Pavement who ended up lying dazed and confused by the side of the road.

Dalliance (from Seamonsters, 1991) v This Is Hardcore (from This Is Hardcore, 1998)

From ICA #7….

A stunning and unexpected wall of sound that took the band to a whole new level in terms of fanbase and out of the realms of mere indie-pop. David Gedge doesn’t write 3 minute pop or rock songs; instead we often get mini soap-operas set to magical tunes. This is a real tear-jerker. Listen to it drunk and think about someone who once broke your heart. I dare you not to think of them and then say you weren’t fighting back the tears, whether of anger or sadness.

From ICA #32…courtesy of Tim Badger….

Clocking in at over six minutes, this is a sordid tale of secrets buried in PVC raincoats. Its sounds indescribably sinister. It s adopts a late night vibe and a raft of distorted guitar riffs that eventually gives way to strings and sounds so utterly dejected. One of the saddest Pulp songs around and probably the closest thing that geeks have to ‘Sexual Healing’.

Match 8

Lightning Seeds v Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

Two masters of the three-minute pop singles go toe-to-toe.  And, as it turns out, songs which were released as 45s are being fielded – one got to #15 at the second time of asking in 1995 while the other had reached #19 a decade previously

Here’s the facts thus far.

Lightning Seeds have avoided all the big guns to this stage, with Gemma Ray, Big Audio Dynamite and Saint Etienne all being seen off, albeit the winning margins have been gradually decreasing.  The original ICA was packed with singles and thus far You Showed Me, Pure and The Life of Riley have been aired.  Will this round be too big a step up?

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions have had a similar type of run early on with The Pipettes and Arab Strap being seen off but last time out there was a tough looking tie against Edwyn Collins but the result proved to be fairly decisive.  Forest Fire, Mister Malcontent and Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken have already been used, so it will be a test of the depth of the squad as we get to these latter stages.

Lucky You (single and from Jollification, 1995) v Brand New Friend (long version) (single and from Easy Pieces, 1985)

I penned both ICAs. This was #11:-

There were many who ridiculed Lloyd for the amount of aforementioned name dropping on the debut album and I’m convinced that the introduction of Jesus into the opening line of the first track off the second LP was him thumbing his nose or flicking the Vs at said critics. This is such a wonderful piece of pop music and it has aged as beautifully and smoothly as a classic malt whisky. This version is taken from the 12″ single release.

And from #135

Ian Broudie had enjoyed working with Terry Hall over an extended period of time, going back to producing The Colourfield as far back as 1984. In the early 90s, they co-wrote a number of songs for the Sense LP, including the title track, that was purloined for Home, the first solo album Terry Hall released under his own name in 1994. An album that was produced by…..yup…..Ian Broudie and which featured songs co-written with the likes of Craig Gannon, Andy Partridge, Nick Heyward and Damon Albarn.

And while they were in the studio making this solo LP, Broudie and Hall found time to compose this classic Lightning Seeds single, the one that would be the first lifted from Jollification that took the band back into the Top 20 for the first time since the debut single. (editor’s note…..not quite true as it had only reached #43 on first release….)

Happy deliberating.  Votes must be in by Friday 1 June at 10pm.

JC