Category: Wild Swans

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (31)
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2008

Now look, its my chart and I’ll have obscure 45s in it if I want to.

The Wild Swans were one of the key bands in the Liverpool Scene that also produced Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and Pete Wylie/Wah! As a band, they were in and out of existence from 1980 to 1986, during which time they recorded a number of BBC sessions but released just one single (released in 1982) and no LP. Then, in 1988, they reformed and finally recorded an album which was disowned almost immediately by all concerned and thus received a limited release…

Talk about perverse…..

Somehow a further album was recorded in 1989 (despite the departure of half of the band), but again to little acclaim. The Wild Swans called it a day shortly afterwards and retreated into cult obscurity.

Revolutionary Spirit/God Forbid was the last single to be released on the legendary label Zoo Records which was run by the equally legendary Bill Drummond. As I mentioned above, it came out in 1982. It was produced by the late Pete De Freitas who also drums on the record.

I remember hearing both sides of the single on Radio 1 – it was most likely on the John Peel show but I can’t be certain – and then trying to track it down in shops in the coming days. It proved an impossible task. One of my mates did however know someone who had a copy (I think it was a cousin in Liverpool) and he sent us up cassettes of the record.

In those days, maybe it was the sheer obscurity of the songs that helped make it all so special but in all truth they both perfectly capture so much of what was great about the sound of new young Liverpool. It took me until 1990 to finally got a hold of my own copy of the songs thanks to the purchase of a Zoo compilation which brought together every single the label had released between 1978 and 1982. It was so good to finally get ‘clean’ copies to listen to.

Lead singer Paul Simpson enjoyed more cult success with his next band, Care, alongside Ian Broudie who would then find fame and fortune with The Lightning Seeds. Much of the distinctive sound of The Wild Swans was down to guitarist Jeremy Kelly and he became part of Lotus Eaters who were one-hit wonders with The First Picture Of You in 1983.

As mentioned above, The Wild Swans did reform in 1988 to release a debut album, and while they still had a hardcore following of fans, their time had come and gone. The music they were now making was part of a different era, and certainly to the ears of this listener, was a disappointment, being nowhere near the class of the debut single, nor have the consistency of the releases by Care. I have however, since re-assessed things somewhat over the past few decades and have a fair bit of time for much of the later material. But they never quite matched the majesty of the Zoo single.

Oh and despite the wonders of e-bay and my rekindled interest in vinyl, I have still not yet been able to pick up a reasonably-priced vinyl copy of the single, originally released in February 1982**:-

mp3 : The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit
mp3 : The Wid Swans – God Forbid

** that was back in 2008. I now have a copy in the collection, albeit it’s not in all great condition.

PS : If you’re wondering about the photo that now accompanies this post, its of the fantastically entertaining Dirk from Germany who runs a superb blog called Sexy Loser.

By ‘sheer coincidence’, he also posted Revolutionary Spirit on the day of this original posting and and he couldn’t resist showing off that he has long had a mint vinyl copy of the single……

I’m determined to meet the handsome devil in the flesh one day…..***

PPS : ***regular readers will know the dream became reality in May 2017. Click here for a reminder of part 1 and here for part 2.

I’ve got to get myself to Germany in 2019……..

JC

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2008

Now look, its my chart and I’ll have obscure 45s in it if I want to.

The Wild Swans were one of the key bands in the Liverpool Scene that also produced Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and Pete Wylie/Wah! As a band, they were in and out of existence from 1980 to 1986, during which time they recorded a number of BBC sessions but released just one single (released in 1982) and no LP. Then, in 1988, they reformed and finally recorded an album which was disowned almost immediately by all concerned and thus received a limited release…

Talk about perverse…..

Somehow a further album was recorded in 1989 (despite the departure of half of the band), but again to little acclaim. The Wild Swans called it a day shortly afterwards and retreated into cult obscurity.

Revolutionary Spirit/God Forbid was the last single to be released on the legendary label Zoo Records which was run by the equally legendary Bill Drummond. As I mentioned above, it came out in 1982. It was produced by the late Pete De Freitas  who also drums on the record.

I remember hearing both sides of the single on Radio 1 – it was most likely on the John Peel show but I can’t be certain – and then trying to track it down in shops in the coming days. It proved an impossible task. One of my mates did however know someone who had a copy (I think it was a cousin in Liverpool) and he sent us up cassettes of the record.

In those days, maybe it was the sheer obscurity of the songs that helped make it all so special but in all truth they both perfectly capture so much of what was great about the sound of new young Liverpool.  It took me until 1990 to finally got a hold of my own copy of the songs thanks to the purchase of a Zoo compilation which brought together every single the label had released between 1978 and 1982.  It was so good to finally get ‘clean’ copies to listen to.

Lead singer Paul Simpson enjoyed more cult success with his next band, Care, alongside Ian Broudie who would then find fame and fortune with The Lightning Seeds. Much of the distinctive sound of The Wild Swans was down to guitarist Jeremy Kelly and he became part of Lotus Eaters who were one-hit wonders with The First Picture Of You in 1983.

As mentioned above, The Wild Swans did reform in 1988 to release a debut album, and while they still had a hardcore following of fans, their time had come and gone. The music they were now making was part of a different era, and certainly to the ears of this listener, was a disappointment, being nowhere near the class of the debut single, nor have the consistency of the releases by Care.  I have however, since re-assessed things somewhat over the past few decades and have a fair bit of time for much of the later material.  But they never quite matched the majesty of the Zoo single.

Oh and despite the wonders of e-bay and my rekindled interest in vinyl, I have still not yet been able to pick up a reasonably-priced vinyl copy of the single, originally released in February 1982**:-

mp3 : The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit
mp3 : The Wid Swans – God Forbid

** that was back in 2008. I now have a copy in the collection, albeit it’s not in all great condition.

PS : If you’re wondering about the photo that now accompanies this post, its of the fantastically entertaining Dirk from Germany who runs a superb blog called Sexy Loser.

By ‘sheer coincidence’, he also posted Revolutionary Spirit on the day of this original posting and and he couldn’t resist showing off that he has long had a mint vinyl copy of the single……

I’m determined to meet the handsome devil in the flesh one day…..

Another start to what might turn into a regular series….but that will depend on you dear readers!

I want to invite contributions on your favourite cult single(s). I’ll leave the definition as wise as possible  but ideally it should be a 45  that was released on an indie-label, from a band or singer who never enjoyed mainstream success and is a piece of music that in a parallel universe would have been a smash hit and made a fortune for the composer and/or performer(s).

All you have to do is put together a few paras and if possible, a link to where I can get a hold of the song to make it available to listen to on T(n)VV just in case it is one that I don’t have in my vinyl/CD collection.  You can put your name to the contribution or you can make it anonymous.  I am hoping this will capture enough of your imaginations to get the ball rolling on a lengthy series of postings that I would aim to feature on Sundays, the one day a week that I currently don’t have any postings.  The e-mail details are on the right hand side of the blog.

I want to get things rolling with a single from 1982.  It came out on the short lived Zoo Records which had been established in Liverpool principally as a vehicle for Bill Drummond to release songs by his band Big In Japan.  Revolutionary Spirit b/w God Forbid was the final 45 released on Zoo and came with the catalogue number Cage 009. It was released on 12″ vinyl only

The Wild Swans were based around the talents of Paul Simpson (vocals) ,  Jeremy Kelly (guitar),  Ged Quinn (keyboards), James Weston (bass) and Justin Stavely (drums).  One of Paul’s mates was  Pete de Freitas of Echo & the Bunnymen who was so taken by the band that he paid for the recording of this single.  He also, under the alias of Louis Vincent (which were his middle names) ended up producing the record and drumming on it after the original drummer left the band (as did the original bass player).

It’s an incredible piece of music, packed with all sorts of sounds and influences that dominated indie music in the early 80s with a production that owes something to the wall of sound associated with Phil Spector.  Despite Zoo Records folding not long after the single was issued (which in all likelihood contributed to the near-impossibility of finding it in any record shop outside of Merseyside), the band were asked to do sessions for different DJs on Radio 1.

Artistic differences soon led to a split – Kelly and Quinn would find a small amount of success with The Lotus Eaters who hit the Top 20 with The First Picture Of You while Simpson would team up with the then relatively unknown Ian Broudie to form Care, a band that released three fantastic but flop singles (all of which are candidates for inclusion in any series on cult singles) before calling it a day.

Kelly, Quinn and Simpson would later reform as a MkII version of The Wild Swans in the second half of the 80s, again to some critical acclaim but little commercial success, although the band members have since said the production was disappointing and more what the record label wanted than they did as musicians.  But then again when you’ve recorded something as majestic and memorable as this, everything else is bound to be a bit of a letdown:-

mp3 : The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit

mp3 : The Wild Swans – God Forbid

So….if any of you want to share your thoughts and memories of a cult single (and no, that doesn’t mean I want a piece on She Sells Sanctuary), then feel free to drop me a line.