Category: 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

 

I’m willing to be corrected, as I know there’s a few of you out there who know far more about the band than I ever will, but here’s my stab at a bio for The Darling Buds, drawn and compiled from a few sources.

They formed in South Wales in 1986 – in Caerleon to be precise, a fact I’m well aware of as I was previously advised by a Welsh friend that Caerleon is most certainly distinct from Newport.   Consisting of the 19-year-old Andrea Lewis, billed simply as “Andrea”, guitarist Geraint Farr, billed as “Harley”, and a bassist known simply as Simon, the drumming was originally performed by a machine, which may indeed have been manufactured by Eko, but I can’t say for certain.

The group’s debut single, “If I Said”, was self-released in February 1987 and was well-received. The group moved to Native Records, during which time the line-up was re-organised, with Andrea and Harley being joined by new bassist Chris McDonagh and drummer Richard Gray (billed as “Bloss”) and two singles were released.

Signing with Epic Records (part of the Sony Group) in 1988, they cracked the charts with Burst (#50) and Hit The Ground (#27) in advance of a Top 30 debut LP, Pop Said in January 1989.  Two further singles from the album – Let’s Go Round There (#49) and You’ve Got To Choose (#45) were minor hits, much to the disappointment of the label who really had high hopes, probably much of them pinned on the looks of the young, blonde singer.

In advance of the follow-up album, drummer Bloss left the band and was replaced by Jimmy Hughes from Black. Released in September 1990, Crawdaddy, proved to be a flop, as did the singles lifted from it.  Undaunted, and still with Epic, the band released a third album, Erotica, in September 1992,  just a matter of weeks before Madonna‘s album of the same name.

One of the tracks from the album, Long Day in the Universe, which was featured on the soundtrack for the Mike Myers film, So I Married an Axe Murderer which helped give some additional exposure in the USA in particular.  The band toured the States in support of the album but, like many others, grew increasingly frustrated by their lack of commercial success and disbanded before the year was out.

Fast-forward to July 2010. The band came together for a one-off tribute concert in their native Newport in memory of John Sicolo, the owner of the music venue TJ’s who died earlier in the year; only Andrea of the original members was part of the reunion. Four years later, reacting to calls from fans, a London show was arranged after which there were appearances at various festivals, including Indietracks in 2015, an occasion when my good mate and sidekick Aldo would likely have seen them. This would later lead to the recording of an EP, Evergreen, issued by Oddbox Records in April 2017, and the first new material by The Darling Buds in 25 years.

The band is still on the go, with an active Facebook page, which advises that, if restrictions are lifted, they are scheduled to play a show in Newport on 15 May 2021.

Here’s a handful of tracks, all from the earliest days, from a greatly underrated band:-

mp3: The Darling Buds – If I Said
mp3: The Darling Buds – Burst
mp3: The Darling Buds – Shame On You

And from a compilation album featuring the bands that appeared at Indietracks 2015:-

mp3: The Darling Buds – Sure Thing

This was originally released on Erotica back in 1995.

JC

Last week’s posting on Talulah Gosh made reference to them helping pave the way for the chart success for The Darling Buds, another of the bands to feature on CD 86.

This lot formed in 1986 in Caerleon a village not far from the Welsh town of Newport. They were fronted by a young, ballsy, peroxide blonde named Andrea Lewis with Geraint Farley (guitar), Chris McDonagh (bass) and Richard Gray (drums) being the three blokes few people paid attention to.

They released their a self-financed debut single in February 1987 before shifting to the Sheffield-based Native Records and almost from the word go were branded as a cross between The Beatles and Blondie…proof, if any was needed, that lazy journalism isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. From the outset, this was a band that always had a chance of making it big for the simple fact that they made music that would sound good on daytime radio. Oh and it also helped that their singer has the sort of looks that made picture editors hearts go all-a-flutter.

It was no real surprise that they signed to Epic Records whose marketing and promotional campaigns took the single Hit The Ground into the charts and got the band onto Top of The Pops where all the watching dads went ‘wow’. The debut LP Pop Said also did well, critically and commercially, reaching #23, aided by it spawning five singles, all of which were played regularly on daytime radio.

Things began to go awry with the band became afflicted with the notorious ‘difficult second album syndrome’.

Crawdaddy was a less poppy affair altogether which had the double whammy of disappointing the label bosses yet failing to attract a broader fan base. The hit singles dried up and so too did the marketing money and promotional opportunities.  However, unlike many others in a similar situation The Darling Buds weren’t dropped and a third album was released in October 1992. To the bemusement and indeed amusement of many, the band had called the album Erotica and had released it within a week of Madonna releasing her allegedly notorious album of the same name. Someone, somewhere taking the piss.

By now the band were determined to crack the American market and spent much of 1993 trying to do so through touring relentlessly. This took its toll on all concerned and by the end of the year they had disbanded.

Like many others, they have since reformed. The first time was in July 2010 for a one-off concert and then again in 2013 to play at indie festivals and shows. Such was the interest in the band from old and new fans alike that they have continued to perform on a reasonably regular basis ever since.

CD86 featured their rather splendid buzzsaw guitar debut single which was limited to a run of just 2000 copies:-

mp3 : The Darling Buds – If I Said

and here’s yer more than decent b-side which reminds me a lot of Shop Assistants:-

mp3 : The Darling Buds – Just To Be Seen

The single was re-recorded and put on the b-side of a later single and then again many years later on a de-luxe re-siisue debut album.  It’s good but not in the class of the original.

mp3 : The Darling Buds – If I Said (later version)

Enjoy.

** and thanks to The Robster for correcting the two inaccuracies in the original post. (see comments for clarification!!)