Category: Bodines

If you click on ‘Bodines’ on the index part of this blog over on the right-hand side, you will find there have been three postings, all of which have featured debut single Therese.

Understandably so, as it is one of the great 45s of the C86 era – as I mentioned previously, it is a song that feels as if Julian Cope is fronting an energetic and lively Orange Juice which, and I won’t have any arguments, is a recipe for unadulterated magnificence.

The follow-up single was always likely going to be a bit of a letdown in comparison, which sadly proved to be the case:-

mp3 : The Bodines – Heard It All

It’s a decent enough song but there’s nothing to make it stand out from the crowd, although listening again it does seem that my Julian Cope observation for Therese was misplaced as lead singer Mike Ryan seems to be channelling someone else from that era and scene….and indeed if you flip the 45 over to the b-side, you’ll get to hear the whole band paying tribute to Echo & The Bunnymen with a tune that wouldn’t have been out-of-place on the Crocodile-era material.

mp3 : The Bodines – Clear

Bloody good innit???

JC

There’s a few folk who would make a case for this being the best song of the 48 which appear on CD 86:-

mp3 : The Bodines – Therese

I for one wouldn’t argue as it sounds as if Julian Cope is fronting an energetic and lively Orange Juice which is a recipe for unadulterated magnificence.

The Bodines were from Glossop in the north-west of England not all that far from Manchester.  Featuring Mike Ryan on vocals, Paul Brotherston on guitar, Tim Burtonwood on bass with Paul Lilley on drums (only for the debut single before he was replaced by John Rowland), they were very quickly snapped up by Creation Records for whom they released three singles, the second of which was Therese, with these as the b-sides:-

mp3 : The Bodines – I Feel
mp3 : The Bodines – Scar Tissue

The song was also part of the original C86 tape.

They signed to Magnet Records at the beginning of 1987 which is where and when things badly unravelled. A new mix of Therese flopped as did a follow-up single and their debut album despite the continued support from many supporters in the music press with next to no play for their songs o mainstream radio. And before the year was out, their label had lost faith with the band and so it was no surprise that they split up.

A very brief reformation came in 1989 for a one-off single on a small Manchester-based label and that was that until 2010 when Cherry Red Records re-released the long out-of-print debut album, Played,with a few bonus tracks thrown in. It’s a record that come highly recommended by your humble scribe.

Here’s a bonus of the re-released version of Therese with b-sides from a 2 x 7″ bundle thrown in:-

mp3 : The Bodines – Therese (new mix)
mp3 : The Bodines – Heard It All
mp3 : The Bodines – Clear (live)
mp3 : The Bodines – God Bless (live)
mp3 : The Bodines – I Feel (live)
mp3 : The Bodines – William Shatner (live)

And finally, an extended mix made available on the Cherry Red reissue:-

mp3 : The Bodines – Therese (extended mix)

Enjoy

The Bodines are no more than a small footnote in musical history, but they did write and record one of the best indie-pop singles of the 80s.

They were a four-piece band from Glossop, a town fairly close to Manchester and given they emerged in 1985, it is probably fair to say that The Smiths were amongst their inspirations.

Alan McGhee took a shine to them and signed them to Creation for whom they released three singles on a 12-month period before they then rather bizarrely signed to Magnet Records, a UK label which was best known for middle-of-the road chart pop acts – although it should be said that Magnet were making an effort to find an indie act with the capability to cross over as The Bodines were one of a number who signed to the label in the mid-80s.

Whatever hopes the band and the label might have had were quickly dashed as two singles and one LP sold in miserably low amounts leading to the inevitable parting of the ways by late 1987. They reformed two years later (no doubt inspired by the fact that a number of their C86 contemporaries were enjoying a modicum of success) but one single on a local Manchester label later it was all over yet again.

I suppose it must have been difficult when you write something as majestic as this and nothing else comes close to matching it:-

mp3 : The Bodines – Therese

Enjoy