Congratulations to those of you who tolerated the chart offerings from July 1984 via the post from a couple of weeks back. Surely those 45s issued via the indie labels and who distribution methods/lack of daytime airplay were the biggest factors in them not hitting the Top 75 would prove to be a bit more palatable. Surely……..
In June 1983, Lawrence Hayward (aka Felt) had released Penelope Tree, a gloriously catchy piece of indie-pop which, if the world was a fair and just place, would have been a huge hit. The opening lines of Penelope Tree were:-
I didn’t want the world to know
That sunlight bathed the golden glow
Just over a year later, the new single from Felt opened with these lines:-
You’re trying to fool somebody
But you end up fooling yourself
Methinks Lawrence was, despite his claims of never really wanting to be a pop star, was getting a tad frustrated:-
mp3: Felt – Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
Moving along quickly to another song which takes me back to that particular summer
mp3: The Go-Betweens – Part Company
Having, the previous year, come to the attention of the UK indie cognoscenti via Rough Trade Records, our wizards from Oz were signed by Sire Records and thanks to the snippets of news via the music papers, we learned they had headed off to France to record what would be their third studio album, Spring Hill Fair, from which Part Company was the lead single. It’s one on which Robert Forster takes the lead vocal, and musically there is a hint of the slower numbers that Johnny Marr was writing for The Smiths. Another that should’ve been a hit, but like every other 45 released by the band, it failed to trouble the charts.
mp3: The Jazz Butcher – Roadrunner
I’ll confess not to knowing that this rather frantic and fabulous cover version had been released in July 1984….it was many many many years later (via a blog in the 21st century) did I learn that Pat Fish et al. had taken Jonathan Richman‘s signature tune and made into something that sounded like one of their own.
mp3: Shriekback – Hand On My Heart
The mid 80s was a time when white-boy funk was a bit of a ‘thing’ (and Glasgow had more than its fair share of would-be bands). Shriekback had formed in 1982, with Barry Andrews (ex XTC) and Dave Allen (ex Gang of Four) being joined on vocals by Carl Marsh. By 1984, they were signed to a major label – Arista Records – and given a bit of a makeover with the addition of female backing vocals in an attempt to create a really radio-friendly sound. Debut single for the label, Hand on My Heart flopped. As indeed would the subsequent singles and two albums, Mercy Dash (Sep 84) and Oil and Gold (June 85).
It wasn’t just white-boy funk, mind you:-
mp3: Sunset Gun – Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
As mentioned previously on the blog, Sunset Gun were a Glasgow trio, made of up sisters Dee and Louise Rutkowski, and Ross Campbell. The Rutkowski sisters were a huge part of the Glasgow music scene in the early 80s, having been part of Jazzateers, the group that would in due course evolve into Bourgie Bourgie.
The demos recorded by Sunset Gun created a bit of a buzz, with a number of labels looking to sign the group, and in the end it was CBS that won the bidding war. The trio went into a studio with Alan Rankine (ex Associates) in the producer’s chair, and the debut single was a cover of the 1974 hit written and recorded by William DeVaughn, a song later covered by Massive Attack and included on their subsequent debut album in 1991.
Continuing with the theme of debut singles…..
mp3: The Woodentops – Plenty
A band who would influence and delight many in subsequent years without ever getting the sort of commercial success that their fans in the media believed should have been theirs. I’ve always associated The Woodentops with Rough Trade Records, but this particular 45 was released on the then very new Food Records that had been set up by Dave Balfe, formerly of the Teardrop Explodes. What a glorious and enduring debut!!!!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
‘Part Company’ is such a beauty. It took me almost 30 years and this post today to finally understand it. Shame on me. The songs by Felt and the Woodentops are great too. Enough to counterbalance Part 1.
Great song selection- GBs, Felt, Woodentops, Jazz Butcher, Shriekback- spoilt for choice
Think Part Company could be my favourite Go-Bs song. Maybe.
Those early Woodentops singles are brilliant but presumably Food have retained the rights to Plenty as it rarely makes an appearance on Woodentops collections. But an album which collected the first four singles and their far more experimental Bs would be a classic. Straight Eight Bush-Waker was the closest to that – in its most expanded version it does include the 3 RT singles but not Plenty.
Wait… you’re telling me that the almighty “Oil + Gold” was a flop??! (Checks) hmmm. “Jam Science” mustered one week at 85 and that’s all she wrote for Shriekback in the album charts! I stand corrected. Obviously, perception has naught to do with reality! To my American ears, “Oil + Gold” was a towering colossus of song!!
In America we got “Batchelor Kisses” as the lead single from “Spring Hill Fair.” It clued me into the wonder of the Go-Betweens at the time but as there was no CD in the shops, I had to wait for “Liberty Belle And The Blsck Diamond Express” before I took the plunge. And the waters were more than fine!
Part Company was Robert’s masterpiece, as Cattle and Cane was Grant’s . Some band, to have two songwriters capable of such genius. Now just hoping Mr Forster will play it at the Union Chapel in October.