The Bachelor Pad, a five-piece band from Glasgow, released six singles/EPs and one album during the years they recorded music between 1987 and 1991.
They first came to notice via a flexidisc that was given away with two fanzines which led to an offer to sign to what was to be a brand-new indie label, as yet unnamed! The band happened to sign on the day Andy Warhol died, and in tribute the founder and owner, Mike Stout, then and there decided the label should be called Warholasound. The Bachelor Pad’s debut, The Albums Of Jack, was released in 7″ and 12″ version in the spring of 1987:-
mp3: Jack and Julian – The Bachelor Pad
Track 17, Disc 2 of CD86.
This was on the b-side of the 7″ and one of five songs on the 12″. Before the year was over, there would be two further singles for Warholasound after which they switched to Glasgow-based Egg Records for whom there would be three singles, while Imaginary Records, based in north-west England, would be responsible for issuing Tales of Hoffman, their sole album, released in early 1990.
The June Brides, from London, were initially active between 1983 and 1996, before reforming in 2012. They’ve long been a favourite of mine, and I’ve always been a bit bemused that they are associated with the C86 movement, given that they had broken up in advance of the genre becoming a thing.
The band’s first two singles (one of which will come up later in this alphabetical series) were issued by The Pink Label, as was the mini-album There Are Eight Million Stories, which went to #1 in the Indie Charts just after its release in September 1985. Shortly afterwards, they switched to In Tape Records on which two singles would appear in November 1985 and May 1986. The June Brides were seemingly asked to contribute a track to C86 but turned the request down. Before the year was out, the band split and frontman Phil Wilson embarked on a solo career after being snapped up by Creation Records.
In 2012, the band reformed for some live gigs followed afterwards by two new singles on Slumberland Records.
mp3: Just The Same – The June Brides
Track 1, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
One of the three tracks on the This Town EP, released on In Tape in May 1986.
A second and much-welcomed (by me at least) appearance from Close Lobsters in this series.
mp3: Just Too Bloody Stupid – Close Lobsters
Track 11, Disc 2 of CD86.
Just Too Bloody Stupid was recorded and included on their 1987 debut album, Foxheads Stalk This Land. But the version on CD86 was a bit different. I posted both versions on the blog back in 2015 at which point our dear friend Brian, all the way from Seattle via his old blog Linear Track Lives provided a wonderful and perfect explanation:-
The cd86 version is a demo that came out as a 7″ on Caff Records in 1989. Makes sense since that was Bob Stanley’s label, and he was the one that assembled the CD86 comp. That 7″ goes for $60-$70 now. Like you, I prefer the more polished version, but it’s nice to have both. Stanley didn’t agree with us. He called the studio take the “bastardised” version. So it’s no wonder he used the demo on cd86.
Cheers Brian…you truly are a walking, talking encyclopaedia.
A second and much-welcomed (by me at least) appearance from Mighty Mighty in this series.
As mentioned last time out, the band’s first two singles were on their own Girlie Records before they made the switch to Chapter 22. I didn’t mention last time out, as I didn’t want to spoil this particular posting, that they also contributed to the original C86 cassette:-
mp3: Law – Mighty Mighty
Track 6 on side 1 of the C86 cassette; Track 6, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
The band would re-record Law in 1987 as the b-side to One Way, their third and final single for Chapter 22. That’s the picture sleeve above.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 