Category: Paris Angels

 

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#070: Paris Angels – ‘Perfume’ (Sheer Joy Records’90)

Hello friends,

if you are not yet fully awake, get yourself a strong coffee, because today it’s gonna get complicated … hopefully not too complicated for myself, so in case I mess it all up, don’t tell your friends, okay?

Paris Angels were a seven-piece from Manchester, frequent Hacienda visitors at the time, and thus they were right there when Madchester really got going. More or less all of the seven members listened to different music, which might or might not be the reason why the Paris Angels were so good:

Lead singer Rikki Turner, guitarist Paul Wagstaff and bassist Scott Carey were the group’s original members, writing songs in the style of Echo & the Bunnymen, but later additions to the band brought other influences, including backing singer Jayne Gill, who was a fan of the Velvet Underground, and Steven Tajti, who was interested in Moog synthesizers, and his addition to the band contributed to what Carey described as “that Donna Summer/Kraftwerk (in our minds) edge.”

As the group performed Velvet Underground and Bunnymen covers, they began listening to electro and early house music. Madchester caused the band to change direction and they began fusing acid house with indie music. Carey later said: “At first we listened to Television, 13th Floor Elevators, Doors, Magazine, Bunnymen etc. and we just copied that, but we also loved P-funk and it was seeing the Mondays that really had a big influence on us, they showed us you could be anyone and do twisted funk, when Wags got a wah-wah pedal that changed us, then all the Chicago house stuff at the Hacienda, at first we kind of shunned it, but it was Acid House with the synths that we ‘got’ and then it was like a new dawn happen and old dirty mac Manchester, lost the industrial edge and became more Day-Glo.”

So, in 1990, Paris Angels released their debut single, ‘Perfume’ – and this is where the trouble starts! I mean, it starts for me, not did it start for them – because ‘Perfume’ was a huge success: it was a Top Ten hit (in the indie charts), it was just loved by the music papers, and it’s still being considered as one of the greatest Madchester singles, with its melancholic/psychedelic combination of whooshing synths, glistening guitars and the vocals of Jayne Gill and Turner. So, what’s wrong with it then? Well, the band released more versions of the bloody tune than I can handle, that’s what’s wrong with it!!

In 1990 and 1991 there were 7” singles, 12” singles, CDs and cassette singles of:

‘Perfume’

‘Perfume (All On You)’

‘All On You (Perfume)’

‘Perfume’ (Version)

‘Perfume’ (Summer Version)

‘Perfume (Loaded Up)’

…. plus probably a dozen more, unbeknownst to me (thank God)!

If memory serves correctly, the third one is the one I first heard, to my best knowledge it was released on 12” only – and as these things go, the first version you hear sticks with you forever, you automatically compare it to versions you hear later. But somehow, secretly, it’ll always be superior – but perhaps that’s just me, who knows?

But either way, 7” singles it is in this series, so we go for this one, from June 1990 on Sheer Joy Records, not a version too shabby either, I would like to think. In fact it really grew on me, to be honest:

mp3: Paris Angels – Perfume

Sheer joy indeed, I trust you agree! Speaking of Sheer Joy, the label: the two follow-up singles were hugely successful as well, but apparently Sheer Joy put the money from them into the label, rather than sharing it with the band. So, mainly for financial reasons, they signed a six-album-deal with Virgin, and the first album, ‘Sundew’ was received very well. But then Virgin was bought by EMI and Paris Angels were quickly dropped by the new owners, so they had to stop the work on their second album, again because there was no money to proceed – and not very much later they disbanded. Recently the second album was made available via bandcamp though, should you be interested.

Lots of information, I hope I didn’t bore you too much. If so, just listen to the tune again (it’s worth it) …. and enjoy,

Dirk

Last time out in this series, I brought you a single that I bought from the merch stall at a gig in Manchester.  This time around, it’s a 12″ single that is associated fully with that wonderful city.  Wiki actually tells the tale in a good way.

Paris Angels were an English seven-piece band whose music fused indie guitars with electronic dance music. They were regulars of the Boardwalk and Haçienda clubs in Manchester, and as such were heavily influenced by acid house and the nascent Madchester scene of the late 1980s.

Their initial recording contract was with locally-based Sheer Joy Records.  An early single, All On You (Perfume)  was really well received and sold enough copies to get itself into the lower end of the charts at #91 in July 1990.    In due course, they were signed by Virgin Records and a different version of the song, this time called Perfume (All On You), was issued as a single, and thanks to the might and oomph of the bigger record label’s promo folk, this one reached #55 in July 1991 despite being, certainly to my ears, a lesser version.

It was Jacques the Kipper who brought the song to my attention, courtesy of him including it on a homemade compilation cassette back in the day.  More than a decade later, I picked up a copy of the Sheer Joy release for £1 in a second-hand shop.

mp3: Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume)
mp3: Paris Angels – Muffin 2
mp3: Paris Angels – Perfume (version)

Muffin 2 sounds exactly as I’ve always imagined the early nights at the Hacienda to sound like in the era when nobody went along but those who did, would be able to thoroughly enjoy music that you’d not normally hear in clubs.

Perfume (version) has an early New Order feel to it, certainly via the guitars, although I would have imagined Hooky would have demanded much more bass in the mix.

All in all, an absolute belter of a 12″.

JC

PS :

A reminder that I’m currently running a competition to win a copy of Chorus of Doubt, the new album from Broken Chanter – the official release date is today.

I stupidly had a rogue space in the email address for entries, so my apologies if anyone  got a strange bounce back.  SORRY!!!!!!!!!

So….I’ll try again.

Q: ‘On which well-known Scottish record label has Chorus of Doubt been released?’

(hint, if needed, – it’s a label closely associated with the album’s producer, Paul Savage)

All entries should be sent to thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk

Please also include your full name and address so that I can work out postage costs should you be lucky. (Once again, I promise that all the emails will be deleted afterwards so that I don’t keep any of your personal info).

The closing date is Saturday 13 April. Good luck etc.

Paris Angels were a seven-piece band, formed in 1989, who set about trying to blend indie guitar music with the fresh explosion in electronica dance and acid house music.  You won’t be surprised to hear that they were from Manchester and were known to frequent the Hacienda and other nightclubs across the city.

They were picked up by the locally based Sheer Joy Records and this was the first single to be issued by the label, recorded in Peter Hook‘s Suite 16 Studio, previously known as Cargo Studios, Rochdale, where Joy Division recorded much of their early material:-

mp3: Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume)

It’s an absolute classic but was, however, more of a success in the clubs than on the radio, failing to crack the Top 75 despite being named as single of the week by the NME on 3 June 1990.   John Peel took a shine to it, or at least his listeners did, voting it in at #6 in the Festive 50 of 1990, with only The Fall, My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Sonic Youth having entries above Paris Angels (Ride had two songs in the Top 4).

Here’s the two tracks to be found on the b-side of the 12″ version of the single:-

mp3: Paris Angels – Muffin 2
mp3: Paris Angels – Perfume (version)

The former, to my ears, is very reminiscent of the dance music from other Manchester bands on Factory such as A Certain Ratio and 52nd Street. The latter has a real Brotherhood-era New Order influence about it.

The buzz around the band led to Virgin Records dangling a contract in front of them in early 1991 and so, after just three singles for Sheer Joy, they signed to the bigger label and went into the studio to make an album.   Virgin, knowing a good thing when they hear it, reissued All On You and second time around it proved to be a minor hit, reaching #55 in July 1991

The following year saw Virgin Records sold in its entirety to EMI, the outcome of which saw something of a cull across many of its singers and bands.  Paris Angels were one of those who didn’t receive the call-up to the major leagues, and they called it a day shortly afterwards, despite the fact a second album had already been recorded. One of the band’s members, Paul Wagstaff, would find a bit of fame as a member of Black Grape before becoming part of the reformed and touring Happy Mondays.

The afore-mentioned second album is out there for free, if you want it. It turns out that in 2013 the band reformed to play live, and signed a deal  to finally issue that second album. The deal, however, fell through, and they decided instead to make the record available as a free download on Bandcamp. Click here if you’re interested.

JC