aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#050: Little Fish – ‘Darling Dear’ (Custard/Universal Motown Records ’09)
Hello friends,
yes, again I know what you are thinking about me right now: ‘all it needs for this old pervert to make a tune a good tune is a stunning chick not even half his age’.
Well, although you have a point there, you’re not entirely right. As cute as Mrs Heslop (or ‘Juju’, as we call her here in my house) might be, there is more to Oxford’s Little Fish – and especially to today’s single of choice – than this, way more in fact, one thing being that the song uses nothing but the same two chords throughout, but boy, still – or because of this, either way – what a rollercoaster of a song it is, to be sure … there is nothing I’d wish to be added to it – it’s just perfect the way it is, despite its simplicity!
Then again, speaking of simplicity, if you listen closely from the beginning on, doesn’t the start sound familiar to you? Right, Velvet Underground‘s ‘Heroin’, of course – and it even starts off with that same lethargic “I” that Lou Reed used to launch his propulsive ode to nodding off. I can’t make my mind up whether it was bravery or stupidity which lead Little Fish to do this: after all, there’s easier ways to get a hit than copping from a decidedly non-commercial 40+ year old song … or am I wrong?
Well, of course I am (‘cos I usually am, let’s be honest): first, today’s single is by now featured as downloadable content in ‘Rock Band, the game, which is not too shabby in the first place, but apart from that Little Fish went on to support Supergrass on their European tour, plus supports for Eagles of Death Metal, Juliette Lewis and Alice In Chains.
In 2010, they played a show with Hole at the O2 in London as well as their own headlining tour in March. This was followed by supporting Them Crooked Vultures at the Royal Albert Hall – and after this they rounded it off by first playing a fourteen date tour supporting Blondie and then with an appearance @ Knebworth.
You see, all the big names and the big venues … well-deserved for Juju and the boys, if you ask me. And also, it vindicates the age-old theory we have in our company: “he who shouts loudest gets served first”
(only it’s a ‘she’ this time, at around 3:30 minutes into the song, to be precise):
mp3: Little Fish – Darling Dear
Enjoy, friends – and take care,
Dirk
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Tune!!
They sound pretty earnest for a song with only two chords!
What I like best is the creature, which could be Chrissie Hynde, Steven Tyler or their son or daughter.
But to be fair: I once found the song on the excellent compilation Here come the Girls and saved it on my HD, where it still is.
[sk]