Category: Sea Urchins

One of the most sought-after artefacts in the history of indie-pop is the debut single by The Sea Urchins, released in August 1987.

Not only is Pristine Christine a ridiculously good piece of music, it is also the single with which Sarah Records was launched. I said a bit more when I featured the single back in 2014 pointing out at the time that the sole copy up for sale had an asking price of more than £300. The growing market in vinyl over recent years has increased the asking price – there are currently four available on Discogs as I type this and the going rate is now £450. That’s the sort of price that Falling and Laughing, the very rare first single on Postcard Records was going for a few years ago – you can now expect to pay as much as £700.

You could always look to pick up The Sea Urchins second single, the eighth 45 to be released on Sarah.

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Solace

The six members of the band were hardly prolific. It was a full ten months after Pristine Christine before Solace reached the shops. And listening to it nowadays, it hardly seems worth bothering about. It’s distinctly average fayre and doesn’t come close to matching the majesty of the debut….indeed it’s the sort of indistinct near-tuneless effort that dogged a lot of now thankfully forgotten bands who emerged out of the C86 scene. Although I will conceded there’s a decent guitar solo of about 25 seconds length some two-thirds of the way through the song.

The b-side isn’t anything to write home about either; the annoying sound of twee:-

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Please Rain Fall

Will still cost you upwards of £40 for a copy mind you.

JC

A repeat post from exactly one year ago today:-

If you own a mint copy of today’s single, then make sure you continue to look after it lovingly. And maybe think about adding it to an insurance policy.

The first ever single release on Sarah Records was by The Sea Urchins. From wiki:-

The initial line-up of The Sea Urchins was James Roberts (vocals), Simon Woodcock (guitar), Robert Cooksey (guitar), Mark Bevin (bass), Bridget Duffy (tambourine, organ), and Patrick Roberts (drums).  Their first two releases were flexi discs given away with fanzines in 1987.  Bevin soon left, to be replaced by Darren Martin.

Their “Pristine Christine” single was the first Sarah Records release, and is highly coveted among vinyl record collectors. With the following year’s double-A-side “Solace”/”Please Rain Fall” they began to show more mod-rock influences. Both singles were successful in indie terms, but Sarah Records were unwilling to commit to an album, and Duffy and Martin left.

Woodcock took over on bass, with James Roberts adding guitar. The band released one more single for Sarah (“A Morning Oddyssey” in 1990), but disagreements about the next single saw them move on to Cheree Records, who issued “Please Don’t Cry” in 1991. The band split up in summer 1991.  Two albums were subsequently released; Sarah Records issued a compilation of the band’s material for the label, including the flexi-disc tracks, as Stardust in 1992, while Fierce Recordings issued a live album in 1994.

James Roberts, Cooksey, and Woodcock later formed the band Delta.  James Roberts, Patrick Roberts, and Robert Cooksey also formed The Low Scene.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the record is ‘highly coveted’ with the copies copy on Discogs having an asking price of over £250.  I don’t own a copy, and while it would be nice to, I’m happy enough that I have the song via one of the many CD86 style compilation CDs that have been released over the years:-

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Pristine Christine

On thing to note is just how young all the band members were at the time this single was released – all of them were with just 17 or 18 years of age.  When I look around today at similarly aged kids of a number of friends, I find it a scary thought that such fresh and innocent faces would be  capable of such works of class.

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And here’s the two completely gorgeous b-sides to said precious single:-

mp3 : Sea Urchins – Sullen Eyes
mp3 : Sea Urchins – Everglades

All in all, a fabulous three tracks with which to introduce yourselves to the world.  Deserved to be a mainstream pop success.

Enjoy

If you own a mint copy of today’s single, then make sure you continue to look after it lovingly. And maybe think about adding it to an insurance policy.

The first ever single release on Sarah Records was by The Sea Urchins. From wiki:-

The initial line-up of The Sea Urchins was James Roberts (vocals), Simon Woodcock (guitar), Robert Cooksey (guitar), Mark Bevin (bass), Bridget Duffy (tambourine, organ), and Patrick Roberts (drums).  Their first two releases were flexi discs given away with fanzines in 1987.  Bevin soon left, to be replaced by Darren Martin.

Their “Pristine Christine” single was the first Sarah Records release, and is highly coveted among vinyl record collectors. With the following year’s double-A-side “Solace”/”Please Rain Fall” they began to show more mod-rock influences. Both singles were successful in indie terms, but Sarah Records were unwilling to commit to an album, and Duffy and Martin left.

Woodcock took over on bass, with James Roberts adding guitar. The band released one more single for Sarah (“A Morning Oddyssey” in 1990), but disagreements about the next single saw them move on to Cheree Records, who issued “Please Don’t Cry” in 1991. The band split up in summer 1991.  Two albums were subsequently released; Sarah Records issued a compilation of the band’s material for the label, including the flexi-disc tracks, as Stardust in 1992, while Fierce Recordings issued a live album in 1994.

James Roberts, Cooksey, and Woodcock later formed the band Delta.  James Roberts, Patrick Roberts, and Robert Cooksey also formed The Low Scene.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the record is ‘highly coveted’ with the only available copy on Discogs having an asking price of over £300.  I don’t own a copy, and while it would be nice to, I’m happy enough that I have the song via one of the many CD86 style compilation CDs that have been released over the years:-

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Pristine Christine

On thing to note is just how young all the band members were at the time this single was released – all of them were with just 17 or 18 years of age.  When I look around today at similarly aged kids of a number of friends, I find it a scary thought that such fresh and innocent faces would be  capable of such works of class.

Enjoy