The final song in the most recent part of this series was an abomination. Let’s quickly get things back on track with an excellent song:-
mp3: I Could Be In Heaven – The Flatmates
Track 14, Disc 2 of CD86.
The Flatmates are from Bristol, and were initially active between 1985 and 1989 before reforming in 2013. During that first spell, they recorded five singles, all of which were released on The Subway Organisation, which is no real surprise given that the band’s guitarist and main songwriter, Martin Whitehead, had founded that particular record label. I Could Be In Heaven was the debut single, in October 1986, and the sixth overall to have been issued by the label. It reached #17 on the Indie Singles chart.
The band reformed primarily to play live, but would then record new singles for small indie labels in 2013 and 2015, before, in 2020, their eponymous debut album came out on The Subway Organisation, the label’s first new release in thirty years.
Here’s another lot with almost no info out there on t’internet
mp3: I Don’t Need You – The Enormous Room
Track 25, Disc Three of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
This is actually the final track on the third and last disc of the boxset. The Enormous Room appear to have come from Watford, and were a four-piece band who released two singles in 1986, the first being on the Peterborough-based Sharp Records and the second, of which this song is the a-side, on Medium Cool, home to a number of bands associated with C86 and all it entailed.
The Dentists were from Chatham, a town in Kent in the south of England, and were active between 1984 and 1995, during which time they released ten singles/EPs and four albums. The initial releases were on their own Spruck Records:-
mp3: I Had An Excellent Dream – The Dentists
Track 12, Disc 1 of CD86.
It was originally recorded for the debut album Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It’s All Over, which came out in 1985. In later years, they recorded for a number of different indie labels, all the while building up a cult following, particularly in the USA, and in 1991, they played the highly-regarded and often influential College Music Journal (CMJ) festival. Shortly afterwards, the Dentists were signed by an American label Homestead Records, which released the compilation Dressed (1992) and the album Powdered Lobster Fiasco (1993), the latter of which attracted the attention of a major label, and the band signed to Eastwest Records in 1993.
Their first album for Eastwest, Behind the Door I Keep the Universe, reached Number 8 on the CMJ College Radio charts and was followed by a six-week tour of the U.S. supporting Shonen Knife. A second album, Deep Six was recorded in early 1995 but when it failed to sell, and they parted company with Eastwest. A final gig took place at the 1995 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, after which the band broke up.
It was Half Man Half Biscuit who opened up this series with All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit. Their second appearance comes courtesy of this
mp3: I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart) – Half Man Half Biscuit
Track 4 on side 2 of the C86 cassette; Track 15, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
By the time it was included on the C86 cassette, the song was already well-known among fans of the band as it had appeared on the 1985 debut album Back In The D.H.S.S. which had come out on Probe Records in late 1985. For anyone wondering about the identity of Nerys Hughes…..click here. I’m guessing Nigel Blackwell wasn’t a fan of the long-running sitcom The Liver Birds.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 