Category: Clouds

Clouds, Mighty Mighty

THE SHA LA LA FLEXI DISCS (001)

R-1391541-1296298449

R-1391541-1296298470

R-1391541-1296298461

Two recent Saturdays in the extremely long-running Scottish Songs series ( which is now up to 418 and counting!!!) saw mention of a flexi disc issued in 1987 by Sha La La Records. I thought it would be worthwhile to try and pull together a short series on all eight of said flexi discs, albeit I’ll miss out #3 as the songs by Baby Lemonade and The Bachelor Party featured very recently.

The first of them was named ‘The Bring Back Throwaway Pop EP’. The flexi disc was given away with three different fanzines – Baby Honey (issue #3), Simply Thrilled (issue #2) and Are You Scared to Get Happy? (Issue #3). It featured a band from Glasgow and a band from Birmingham. Neither band are strangers to this blog.  Cut’n’paste alerts!!

mp3: The Clouds – Jenny Nowhere

The Clouds were formed in Glasgow in 1986 by brothers John and Bill Charnley. The response to the song on the flexi disc led, in due course, to them signing up to The Subway Organisation whom they recorded a one-off single, Tranquil,  in January 1988 before seemingly quitting the music scene for good.

mp3: Mighty Mighty – Throwaway

Mighty Mighty consisted of Hugh Harkin (vocals), Mick Geoghegan (guitar), Peter Geoghegan (keys), Russell Burton (bass, vocals) and David Hennessey (drums),  making their debut with two 45s that came out on their own Girlie label in March 1986. Before long, they were on the established indie outfit Chapter 22, for whom they recorded and released a handful of singles and an LP called Sharks which was issued in February 1988. Fame and fortune eluded the boys, with Top 10 placings in the indie charts being the height of it. Less than nine months after their LP hit the shops, the band had disbanded.

They reformed briefly in 2009/10 to play at Indietracks in the UK and at Popfest in Berlin. In 2012, Cherry Red Records issued a compilation double CD which captured everything they had recorded, including material that had been intended for a sophomore album.

I’m sorry to say that the version of Throwaway might not be the same as was on the flexi. What I have is the 7″ single version that had been released the previous year by Chapter 22. I hope it’ll make do. I think it’s rather splendid…..

JC

Clouds

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #57 : THE CLOUDS

Straight lift (but with new photo) from a posting in August 2015. With a bonus P.S.

Today’s lot were near impossible to get information on.

What I can tell you is that The Clouds were formed in Glasgow in 1986 by brothers John and Bill Charnley. A song of theirs was featured as a flexidisc on a locally based fanzine which led, in due course, to them signing up to The Subway Organisation for who they recorded a one-off single in January 1988 before seemingly quitting the music scene for good.

I only heard of the band as a result of one of their songs featuring on a Rough Trade compilation CD back in 2002; the same song would subsequently feature on CD86:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Get Out Of My Dream

It was the b-side of their Subway single and it’s a decent enough bit of music without transcending into the memorable or totally special; it also says a lot that it seems to be more fondly thought of than the a-side, but I have managed to track a copy down for inclusion today. It is a sound not too dissimilar from what could be described as a rough version of Teenage Fanclub:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Tranquil

Turns out that at some point I’ve also picked up a copy of the song that came with the fanzine. I can only assume that I downloaded it from another blog at some point in time or had it sent to me by a reader as being something of interest but I haven’t kept any record of how the mp3 came to be on the hard drive:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Jenny Nowhere

It is a bit lo-fi as you’d expect from a flexidisc. And very much of its time.

Enjoy

PS

The sole single also came out in 12″ format and had this additional song:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Village Green

Expect to pay upwards of £15-£20 for a decent copy of either version of the single. This is partly to do with the fact that Norman Blake was a member of the band…he played guitar and did backing vocals.  My previous suggestion of Tranquil sounding like a rough Teenage Fanclub wasn’t far off the mark………….

Clouds

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 29 of 48)

R-1346630-1384288076-6869.jpeg

Today’s lot were near impossible to get information on.

What I can tell you is that The Clouds were formed in Glasgow in 1986 by brothers John and Bill Charnley. A song of theirs was featured as a flexidisc on a locally based fanzine which led, in due course, to them signing up to The Subway Organisation for who they recorded a one-off single in January 1988 before seemingly quitting the music scene for good.

I only heard of the band as a result of one of their songs featuring on a Rough Trade compilation CD back in 2002;  the same song would subsequently feature on CD86:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Get Out Of My Dream

It was the b-side of their Subway single and it’s a decent enough bit of music without transcending into the memorable or totally special; it also says a lot that it seems to be more fondly thought of than the a-side, but I have managed to track a copy down for inclusion today. It is a sound not too dissimilar from what could be described as a rough version of Teenage Fanclub:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Tranquil

Turns out that at some point I’ve also picked up a copy of the song that came with the fanzine. I can only assume that I downloaded it from another blog at some point in time or had it sent to me by a reader as being something of interest but I haven’t kept any record of how the mp3 came to be on the hard drive:-

mp3 : The Clouds – Jenny Nowhere

It is a bit lo-fi as you’d expect from a flexidisc.  And very much of its time.

Enjoy