The Bodines were from Glossop, a market town in Derbyshire, but just 15 miles outside of Manchester (the geography of England sometime really throws me!). There were seven singles and one album between 1985 and 1989, and while it does comprise a fine body of work, I don’t think anyone would argue that this was easily their finest, definitive and most enduring three minutes of music:-
Track 5, Side 1 of the C86 cassette and Track 5, Disc one of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
They were already signed to Creation Records when C86 came out, and the debut single, the double-A sided God Bless/Paradise had got to #8 on the indie chart. Therese was the next single, and it was followed by Heard It All, both of which reached #4 on the indie chart.
They were being courted by some major labels, and by the end of the year, they had signed to Magnet Records, whose roster of bands didn’t exactly suggest they knew much about those who came from an indie background; but then again they did promise The Bodines that they would have their own imprint which was delivered in the shape of Pop.
Therese was given a re-release in the expectation of a big hit. It didn’t make the Top 75 in March 1987. The next single, Skankin Queens A Thousand Times, was released in July 1987. It didn’t make the Top 75.
Debut album Played was released in August 1987. It proved to be a case of ‘blink, and you’ll miss it’ as it spent one week in the charts at #94. This wasn’t what the band or label had dreamed of. After the release of Slip Side, a third single on Pop, the band decided to split up.
They reformed with a slightly different line-up in 1989, and released a new single on the Manchester-based label, Play Hard, but when this failed to set any heather on fir, they again called it a day, this time for good.
They came, they saw, but they didn’t conquer. But we’ll always have Therese, whose 7″ cover on Creation is an absolute classic. I’m sure we all knew someone who looked like that, dressed like that, and had that particular attitude.
I don’t think the C86 cassette could possibly have been called complete without it including a song by The Wedding Present:-
mp3: This Boy Can Wait (A Bit Longer!!!) – The Wedding Present
Track 11, Side 2 of the C86 cassette; Track 22, Disc one of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition AND Track 1, Disc 2 of CD86.
The cassette was released in May 1986. A couple of months later, The Wedding Present released This Boy Can Wait as their third single on their own Reception Records, and it reached #4 on the Indie Chart. I don’t think there’s much more I can say….other than it was one of just two songs that made it onto both the 2006 and 2014 compilation CDs that have provided most of the content for this series, and that’s why the band will only feature once.
It was as recently as Part 94 when I mentioned the tale of how this came to be included on C86:-
mp3: Transparent – The Servants
Track 5, Side 2 of the C86 cassette and Track 16, Disc one of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
The Servants debut single She’s Always Hiding had been the first single released by a new label, Head Records. The label bosses were asked if the song could be included on C86. They were keen….the band less so. The compromise? The much less commercial sounding b-side was offered and accepted.
mp3: Tune In! Turn Off! Trip Out – Paul Groovy & The Pop Art Experience
Track 24, Disc two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
I’ve mentioned previously how some of the acts on the C86 Deluxe Edition appear to have come from deep in the memory banks of compiler Neil Taylor, or perhaps were mentioned by him in dispatches back in the day when he was writing for the NME.
Discogs provided the following info.
Paul Groovy & The Pop Art Experience are a garage-rock band, formed in the early ‘80s. From Portsmouth, England.
And that’s about all there is out there. It does have six listings for them.
1986: Let’s Crash The Blue Bus!; a cassette album released on the Portsmouth-based Bite Back! Records
1987: Andy Watch Out! : a 7″ single released on Bite Back! Records
2019: You’re The Best Thing : a limited edition CD EP on Harbour Records
2019: Screaming Monkey/99th Floor : a limited edition CD EP on Mouthy Records
2020: He’s A Liar: 7″ single on Spinout Nuggets
2021: The Blue Bus Appreciation Society : 10″ mini-album on Detour Records
Tune In! Turn Off! Trip Out was on the 1986 cassette. It is also on the 2021 mini-album. My guess is that Paul Groovy & The Pop Art Experience had been long gone and forgotten till the 2014 release of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition, but this provided encouragement for some sort of comeback.
JC