AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #406 : THE DARLING BUDS

A guest posting by The Robster

Stop Press! Hold The Front Page! The Darling Buds are releasing a new album, their first in – wait for it – THIRTY FOUR YEARS! Who’d’ve thunk it, eh?

Indeed, it’s kind of hard to believe how a band, seemingly so long out of the picture, could suddenly make a comeback years after they sadly faded away when early promise turned to the brink of fame followed by the inevitable frustration and disillusionment that the music industry all-too-commonly thrusts upon its artists. Yet it’s true, the Darling Buds – the darlings of the Newport music scene years before the term Cool Cymru was coined – are back. But do they still have ‘it’?

Well, Newport has really raised the bar in terms of live music events in Wales of late. Sure, mid-Wales has the now more-loved-than-Glastonbury Green Man Festival every year, and Cardiff has its multi-venue bash Sŵn each autumn, but my adopted hometown has recently mounted a challenge to regain its title of music capital of Wales with a series of free – yes, that’s FREE – gigs across its multiple venues. Why, only this month I caught our beloved Bug Club (supported by the brilliant Family Battenberg) at the Corn Exchange for the princely sum of nowt. The following night, at the CE’s sister venue Le Pub directly opposite, 100 people crammed into the tiny space to see once lauded local indie heroes of more than a generation ago play a set comprising a lot of new songs and a fair smattering of old faves. And again, it cost nothing for the privilege.

They were, of course, brilliant. OK, so only Andrea Lewis Jarvis now remains from the original line-up, though the two guitarists Matt and Chaz were official members toward the end of their original incarnation before the band split in 1993. But let’s face it – if I asked any of you to name any members of the Darling Buds, you’d have struggled after saying “Andrea”, wouldn’t you, so it hardly matters who the guys are, right?!

I reckoned it was a good time to remind ourselves why we loved the Darling Buds so much by compiling an ICA. Being me, of course, it’s not going to be a greatest hits or anything of the sort. You’re getting some album cuts, a b-side or two and a couple of little surprises, but don’t worry – such is the quality of material on offer, you’ll not be disappointed about not hearing Shame On You or Burst (although the crowd at Le Pub did go particularly barmy when those two were played at the end of the set…)

One Thing Leads To Another: A Darling Buds ICA for the (new) vinyl villain

SIDE ONE

It Makes No Difference (from ‘Crawdaddy’, 1990)

I’m kicking things off with a song that sounds like a natural opener. It Makes No Difference was the first track on the Darling Buds’ second album ‘Crawdaddy’, and it marked a real shift in direction from everything that preceded it. Longer songs, a bigger sound and less poppy – ‘Crawdaddy’ turned a lot of early fans off the band as it wasn’t just more of the same. But I love that record and played it a lot back in the day. This song’s inclusion in the set at Le Pub was something of a pleasant surprise, and it went down an absolute storm with the crowd, so I guess I’m not alone in my love for it.

Valentine [Peel Session] (from second Peel Session, BBC Radio One, 1987)

Although not a part of the C86 “scene”, the Buds’ early singles were very much in keeping with that movement – inexpensive production, fuzzy guitars, and melodies you could catch out of thin air. Valentine appeared on the flip to the band’s second single Shame On You in 1988, but the previous year it was aired as part of their second John Peel session on Radio One.

The Other Night (from ‘Pop Said…’, 1988)

A somewhat surprise inclusion in the set at Le Pub was this deep cut from ‘Pop Said…’ Maybe more of a surprise that it was played, while Let’s Go Round There wasn’t. I love Let’s Go Round There. A lot! Not going to complain though, it sounded really good.

Off My Mind (from ‘Erotica’, 1992)

The band’s third album was kind of an attempt to break the American market, and while they did pick up some radio play, along with a track also appearing on a popular movie soundtrack, it didn’t quite work out as planned. Within a year, the Darling Buds had called it a day. A shame, really, as I think ‘Erotica’ is a really good album. It doesn’t sound like ‘Crawdaddy’, nor ‘Pop Said…’, it’s altogether more mature, taking in some of the alt-rock leanings that was ‘in’ at the time, as Off My Mind clearly demonstrates.

Low (from A Carnival Of Sorts: An R.E.M. Covers Compilation’, 2021)

Now, here’s a nice surprise for you. This is the most recent recording released by The Darling Buds, featuring their current line-up. It features on a tribute album compiled by the Welsh e-zine God Is In The TV, along with contributions from the likes of Hadda Be, Quivers, Taffy, Mark Morriss (he of the Bluetones) and a host of others. The Buds’ version of Low sounds like nothing else they’ve done to date. It starts off sounding like Every Breath You Take, but actually gets more interesting. It also has keyboards, which you won’t find on many other Darling Buds tracks. To be fair, if I didn’t know who it was, I wouldn’t have guessed this was the Darling Buds at all.

SIDE TWO

One Thing Leads To Another (from ‘Erotica’, 1992)

The opening track from Erotica is one I would put on a lot of mixtapes back in the day, and after hearing it again while compiling this ICA, I’m going to slip it into my Ever-Evolving Random Playlist folder for a future airing.

Spin (from ‘Pop Said…’, 1988)

The debut album ‘Pop Said…’ is pure bubblegum pop, and no track sums this up more than Spin. Not even the Primitives sounded as sugar-coated.

That’s The Reason (from ‘It’s All Up To You’ 12”, 1987)

The 12” of the third Darling Buds single featured this gem on it’s b-side, and was perhaps an early example of the psychedelic leanings they would explore a couple years later. That feedback-drenched coda is reminiscent of the Velvet Underground in their wig-out jam moments, and it sounds eerily close to the bands who would emerge under the press-adopted banner of Shoegaze over the next couple of years.

Complicated (from ‘Evergreen’ EP, 2017)

There hasn’t been a lot of new material from the Darling Buds since their reformation in 2013, but a four-track EP called Evergreen was put out in 2017, featuring four new songs. It showcased another new sound for the band, but their knack of gifting us good tunes certainly hadn’t dimninished. This was another song aired at Le Pub the other week, and that chorus sounded even bigger live. Evergreen was the last record featuring original bassist Chris McDonagh who left the band shortly after.

The End Of The Beginning (from ‘Crawdaddy’, 1990)

A fitting finale. We began with a track from ‘Crawdaddy’ so we’re ending with one too. This was always one of my three favourites from this album and was always going to make this ICA.

I’m interested to hear what direction the band will take with the new album, but whatever it sounds like, I’m pretty sure it’ll be great. There’s also a lot of live dates planned around the UK throughout the Spring. Don’t think they’ll be free, though – sorry for rubbing it in…

 

The Robster