aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#034– Helen Love – ”Girl About Town (Damaged Goods ’96)
Dear friends,
to Swansea, Wales we go today, although – let’s face facts – the Welsh are a strange bunch, aren’t they? I mean, the language is pathetic, and their humor, well, it takes getting used to, let’s put it this way. But once you have achieved this, you’re up for a treat. Quite some time ago I bought myself a double album ‘Dial M For Merthyr’, which was – and still is, I suppose – a compilation of Welsh Indie bands from 1997 on Fierce Panda. The music is okay by and large, as it so often is with compilations: killers and fillers, you know what I mean. But it still blows me away each time I look at / listen to it, because:
a) the cover reads: “record hir cymraeg gorau yn byd erioed… mwy na thebyg”, which might or might not translate as “the Scots are going to come and turn our fishing village into a top secret radar establishment!”
b) all over the front cover is Johnny Owen, Welsh bantamweight boxer, in all his glory, jogging near Merthyr bridge. Now, if this weren’t a Welsh compilation, but a Jamaican one, you probably would have seen Usain Bolt on the cover and bloody Beckham if it were UK bands. Why? Because sex sells, we all know this! Now, Johnny Owen, well – and I am trying to remain polite here, I really do – is nothing like that! But I’m sure his mother loved him anyway:
And also: c) track one, side one is by Teen Anthems and it’s called “Welsh Bands Suck”. And if this weren’t funny enough, the lyrics are: ”oh no, it can’t be true/everybody’s saying Welsh bands are cool/oh no, that can’t be right/ apart from Helen Love they’re a load of shite/oh no, they sing in Welsh: chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck chrck” …. which is just priceless, I always thought!!!
Yes, I might have digressed a little bit, but to have singled out Helen Love as being not shite really offers a useful segue: Helen Love have been around forever, haven’t they (30 years definitely is ‘forever’ in my books)? From scratch on they provided us with a brilliant mix of lo-fi punk rock and bubblegum pop, which never got boring. They always only had one God, and that was Joey Ramone. This ended up in Helen working with Joey and vice versa. Not on this song though, which, regardless of that, is their finest moment in my humble opinion:
mp3: Helen Love – Girl About Town
When they go “she had her picture in Rolling Stone/she was third from the left behind Joey Ramone/you couldn’t see her face/but I’m sure she looked great anyway”, I nearly wet myself each and every time I hear it.
Years ago I read something somewhere, and I don’t feel ashamed to steal it for using it here, because it pretty much sums up everything you need to know about Helen Love: “Helen Love: sticky as a chewing-gum on the sole of a Converse!”.
Whoever thought of this, he – or she – couldn’t have been more right!
One more thought to leave you with. Some applause should be given to Mr Paul Weller for listening to this song with what must have been a smile on his face and taking the decision not to ask for a co-writing credit. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I should ask that you give a listen to Boy About Town as recorded by The Jam for the 1980 album, Sound Affects.
Enjoy,
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Helen Love is a much under-rated and under-valued band.
Many years ago I purchased the Astral Angora ep – I would, Pink Kross were on it and Lung Leg too! It was purchased directly from Pink Kross, at one of the gigs to promote the ep.
I hadn’t ever heard of this ‘Helen Love’. I got home, late. The following day, after work I played the ep. Wow! The bands I knew well (see above, excelled) and the bands I had heard of were good, but – cover your eyes those of you with a delicate disposition – fuck me, Helen Love was just a much-needed dose of lo-fi, harmonious, bubblegum fun. Girl About Town was infectious. It become one of my favourite singles of 1996. It remains one of my favourite singles. It appeared on numerous compilation tapes I made for myself – always leaving a little room for Girl About Town..
All these years later I remain a fan of Helen Love. They make wonderful pop music that just brings a smile to my face. They are significant to me because while they are and have been with labels they also DIY release. Often full LPs that comically are said to be from’ under the bed’. Many songs, I think, are pop gold but Girl About Town will always hold a special place.
Helen Love is a serious band with its tongue placed firmly in its cheek. Helen Love is a gang that wants you to join but has no membership rules. Helen Love is… It just is!
Thank you, Dirk for adding this today. You’ve made me rather happy. Really happy, actually.
Flimflamfan
Snide comment about Johnny Owen, a man still revered in Wales. I’m sure his mother would have loved to have had the opportunity to gaze upon his face for longer than 24 short years.
Absolutely baffled by why you put “he — or she –” when you could have just left those words out of what would otherwise have been a great piece.
Some pretty ignorant comments in this post; I always thought the Scots had a bit more class. Cymru Am Byth.
I”m getting the sense that some who have read this piece do not realise it has been written with humour by someone who’s first language is German. Dirk would never wish to offend anyone. Any suggestion that he would do so intentionally is wide of the mark.
Flimflamfan
To bring it full circle, I have Teen Anthems’ “Welsh Bands Suck” single and on the B-side is a track called “Paul Weller – Anti-Christ”. Though it’s an instrumental so a bit disappointing.
Léon Macduff
I would like to write something funny. But I can’t figure out where Dirk made the faux pas (“I only understand train station”). Good song anyway.
[silly kisser]
I don’t have much Helen Love but what I do have I really like. This is a good one.
I better have my tuppence worth on this.
As has already been said, Dirk’s first language is German and maybe some of the humour hasn’t travelled well….he’s one of nicest blokes you can ever hope to meet and wouldn’t dream of causing offence to anyone.
I would imagine that he has no idea, other than from the fact his picture adorned an indie-pop compilation, who Johnny Owen is, or should I more accurately say, was.
The blame for any offence caused lies with me given that I’m the one who actually puts Dirk’s e-mails into an actual post. I read it and thought nothing of it. But then again, I was not aware that Johnny Owen had died as a result of injuries sustained in his final fight. If I had been, then I’d have gone back to Dirk and suggested that the entire reference be removed and I know that he would have.
Apologies to all concerned.
Sincere apologies to those of you who could not cope with parts of the above; as FFF and JC assumed, it never was my intention to slag off The Welsh or hurt anyone in particular, especially not Johnny Owens fans and family,
Blame it on my sick humour, if you like, or on missing knowledge of Owen’s background or on my limited knowledge of the English language. Either way: I’m sorry, I really am!!
And to the person (may I say “person”? Or does it have to be “to him”? Or “to her”? I’m confused …) who seems to have a problem with a bit of gendering: see, I don’t like it all too much either, frankly. But unlike you I can live with it being used once in a while without having too much of a problem.
The age-old question remains though: why is it that those who are so very easily offended, always prefer to remain anonymous … ?
Dirk
I left the reply about Johnny Owen, I am far from easily offended and I’ll provide my real name and address if it will make you feel better?
A very quick google of Johnny Owen would have provided all the information you needed, surprised you didn’t even feel curious enough to do that.
You refer to Johnny in the past tense…
You wouldn’t even need to Google Johnny Owen – it’s in the sleeve notes of the album “The cover image of this here album features Johnny Owen, Welsh bantamweight boxing champion who died in the ring. In this picture he is alive, well and jogging near Merthyr Bridge.”
Some people didn’t know of or don’t remember Johnny Owen. Some of us do.
winterinmaypark
i enjoyed that,thank you x