2023 – The Story So Far – Part – #5

Welcome to the last day of June.  On a Monday a new series starts that is going to be just beastly…

Here are five more of the best tracks that I have heard this year.  These are tracks are from bands I have caught live, heard on the radio, been sent by friends or checked out and liked after a recommendation from various media sources, some will be from brand new bands and some will be brilliant new tracks from old favourites.  Talking of which here’s a track from the first Leftfield album is seven years.

Rapture 16 – Leftfield (2022, Virgin Music, Taken from ‘This is What we Do’)

‘Rapture 16’ is amazing full of bleeps, deep beats, earwormy synth and a dubby vocal.  I’m going to say it, it’s the greatest thing they’ve done since ‘Phat Planet’ and it might even be better than that .

I spoke yesterday of some the quality new music that can be found on BBC Sounds by simply picking one of the many BBC Introducing shows and giving it a listen.  As long as you can stand the frankly infuriating DJs who sound like they are on work experience there is some brilliant music to be found.  ‘Flesh’ by Belfast band Wynona Bleach was buried about halfway through the BBC Cumbria Introducing show from about three months ago and its all sorts of excellent.

Wynona Bleach who sound like all the best bits of bands like Wolf Alice, Estrons and the Joy Formidable rolled into one big bundle of fun.  They are really really good, signed to Fierce Panda and their singer has green hair, frankly what’s not to love.

Flesh – Wynona Bleach (2022, Fierce Panda Records, Taken from ‘Moonsoake’)

Next up a band who insist on writing their name in capitals and that automatically means that No Badger Required is contractually obliged to declare that they are brilliant and the greatest band in the world (since the last new band who emerged with their name stamped in capitals across the page).  THUS LOVE are from Vermont in the USA and were so bored during Covid that they decided to write a brilliant album.  They sound like what Simple Minds would have sounded like in 1985 if they appointed the singer from Future Islands instead of wobbly old Jim Kerr, in other words, they sound great.

Repetitioner – THUS LOVE (2022, Captured Tracks Records, Taken from ‘Memorial’)

Next up some waif like brilliance that has its eyes firmly fixed on their shoes as the windows of the sonic cathedral shatter around them.  deary are a dreampop duo from London and in contrast to THUS LOVE they insist on the use of small case, which sort of fits with their musical stylings.  They play a kind of music that sits nicely in the bracket reserved for Slowdive and the Cocteau Twins although I think there is a sort of Portishead vibe floating around them.  Its amazing regardless.

Fairground – deary (2023, Sonic Cathedral Records, Single)

Finally for today some good old fashioned psychedelic rock from Wales from a band who aren’t really a band.  It is used to be fairly common years ago for bands to appear who claimed not to be bands but things like musical projects or collectives.  This was because they claimed not to be just about the music but about performance, art and visuals as well as the music.  Most of these bands were short lived, but occasionally something very good would slip the net.  Which brings us nicely to CVC, a psyche rock collective from Cardiff, and their track ‘Music Stuff’ which might just be the best thing posted anywhere today.

Music Stuff – CVC (2022, CVC Recordings, Taken from ‘Get Real’)

2023 – The Story So Far – Part -#4

We find ourselves with two days to fill at the end of July before our July series starts, so I thought I would carry on with a round up of some of the best tracks that I have heard this year.  These are tracks are from bands I have caught live, heard on the radio, been sent by friends or checked out and liked after a recommendation from various media sources.

We are going to start with a band called Autobahn who with a name like that should sound like Kraftwerk and should be releasing albums full of anthemic songs about pocket calculators but instead are from Leeds and make gloomy post punk with a slightly industrious edge and sound like what Joy Division would sound like if they were fronted by Andrew Eldrich, which as it happens, is strangely brilliant.

Post History – Autobahn (2023, Tough Love Records, Taken from ‘Ecstasy of Rain’)

Next up a band who up until the release of their (exceptional) debut album ‘Tracy Denim’ were wrapped in a bubble shaped mystery.  They make a minimalist sounding version of post punk, think a just about plugged in XX and you are somewhere close.  Their instruments sound like they are at times barely plugged in and even when they are they could be turned up a notch or two but its supposed to sound like that.  The vocals are raw and sound under produced but it works, its brilliant and the air of experimentalism that follows this band around simply adds to their appeal.  Their debut album ‘Tracy Denim’ has just been released and the Guardian are already saying its one of the best records of the year.

Nurse! – Bar Italia (2023, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Tracy Denim’)

Next up something from a band called Feral Five, the joke (one assumes) being that there are only two of them. They make music that those in the know are calling disco electropunk.  The band themselves say that their music is what would have happened if Debbie Harry featured in the 1927 Fritz Laing film ‘Metropolis’. 

Its very hard to ignore that type of description to be honest.  Feral Five are excellent and for those who are wondering what that Debbie Harry cross over might sound like, it is a sound that bridges the gap between T Rex and Le Tigre.  They are very good indeed.

Truth is the New Gold – Feral Five (2023, Reckless Yes Records, Taken from ‘Truth is the New Gold’)

Next up today a band from named after a communist safe house from Stalin era Moscow.  A band who you would perhaps expect to be an edgy punk band who make epic songs about socking it to the Man full of chorus’ which somehow rhyme Comrade with Bomb Raid.  Well you’d be wrong, this lot make addictive indie rock and come from South London via Portsmouth but are, you know, pretty bloody good.

Points of View – Hotel Lux (2023, The State 51 Records, taken from ‘Hands Across the Creek)’

Finally for today a track I first heard by randomly picking one of the ‘BBC Introducing…’ shows on local radio that are available on BBC Sounds.  This ladies and gents is the amazing ‘Serious Dance Music’ by North Yorkshire noiseniks Avalanche Party and it will be serious rock your lunchtime because it appears that there ain’t no party like an avalanche party

Serious Dance Music – Avalanche Party (2023, Juno Records, Single)

A Creation Records Countdown – #1 – Primal Scream

Velocity Possessed

Points 260

Highest Rank 1^st (Five times)

Lowest Scoring Rank 11^th

Velocity Girl – Primal Scream (1986, Creation Records, Single)

Dear Reader,

You may have read recently in the papers or the Internet the words of Louie Duffy, the son of Marin Duffy, the late keyboard player in Primal Scream.  Words that Louie made in a statement released after an inquest into Martin Duffy;s death.  It is a difficult read and one that has found me soul searching a little a bit.  I’m well documented in stating my love for ‘Screamadelica’ and for Primal Scream but right now that album and that band feels a little tainted and Primal Scream’s victory in this rundown – although clearly it means absolutely nothing to anyone really, feels slightly sullied because what I have read.  I have a feeling that some members of the jury would have perhaps voted differently had this story broke earlier.  I could be wrong I could just be swept up in the emotional fragility of it all.

Louie Duffy states that the band left his father out in the cold financially and professionally and he also accuses them of contributing to his isolation before his early death in December 2022 (a death that the coroner states was because of alcohol intoxication and multiple skull fractures after a fall. The inquest also heard that Duffy had been diagnosed with prostate cancer during lockdown).

He said that his dad was broke, living month to month whilst the band reaped the rewards of touring ‘Screamadelica’ an album that Duffy was such an integral part of.  He claims that the band paid Duffy sessions fees to perform it and then when he made mistakes they forced him off the tour.   Louie told the inquest how his dad had fallen into debt following the pandemic and this debt had lead to Duffy’s alcohol addiction spiralling out of control. Duffy says that the band should have helped him.

I think he is probably right, although I can understand a band not wanting one of their band members to be making mistakes on stage due to being drunk.

Now I’m sure that Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes are devastated by the loss of Duffy, I don’t think there can be any real denial of that – they called him a ‘beautiful soul’ when he died and publicly stated that he was the most talented member of the band.   Those close to the band say that they told Duffy he could return to the band once he had stopped drinking.  Which is probably a sensible thing, but surely, they could have helped him overcome that and if the cancer side of things is correct as well, then if what Louie says is true, it’s just awful. But we just don’t know.

We have only heard one side of the story.  A side which until Primal Scream break their silence on the matter, is very convincing.

Bobby Gillespie has himself overcome addiction and it may be that he and his band thought this was the right way (the ‘tough love’ that Louie Duffy speaks of) and there is no guarantee that Duffy would have used any financial assistance to overcome his addiction.  Addiction doesn’t work like that – money helps solve it, but it also makes it easier to fuel it.

Either way, this kind of feels like a hollow victory and other than the song at the top there will be no Primal Scream links today and for a while.  I’ll probably change my mind in the future.

I’m sorry that the Creation Records Countdown has ended on such a disappointing note.  I was really pleased when Primal Scream won because despite them topping my own personal chart, I fully expected the Mary Chain to walk this but then the story referred to above broke and I’ve been scratching my head ever since

I am, as ever, indebted to the Musical Jury Members, your assistance as ever, is appreciated, and as long as none of you mind I will continue to pepper your inboxes with inane questions and pleas for help.  I’ll also every now and again send you some music or links to music as a thank you. You know where I am if you want to join the musical jury.

SWC

June 2023

A Creation Records Countdown – #2 – Jesus and Mary Chain

I heard a ringing sound

Points 245

Highest Rank 1^st (Four times)

Lowest Scoring Rank 14^th (twice)

Upside Down – Jesus and Mary Chain (1985, Creation Records, Single)

With three hours until the voting door slammed shut, the Jesus and Mary Chain sat eight points clear at the top of the table.  The statements of several jury members all seemed to be coming true. Because, it was obvious apparently that ; –

“The Mary Chain will win this” and

“Inevitably Jesus and Mary Chain winning this is a foregone conclusion” or even

“There are sure fire bets and then there is this is’”

They had been top from the start (apart from a brief period where My Bloody Valentine sat at the top thanks to top marks from JM2 and JM3) and had sat there up until three hours before the voting door slammed shut and then they proceeded to Arsenal/Dortmund (delete according to your favourite bottlers) it all up and to keep the sporting analogy going, the Jesus and Mary Chain it seems right now at least, are the Jimmy White of indie rock.

They should have won it because despite what JM22 says below they were one of the most influential bands ever to appear on the label even if they (at first) only released one record on the label. 

“The Jesus and Mary Chain were only on Creation (the first time around) for like ten minutes – but what a ten minutes it was – ‘Upside Down’ influenced pretty much everything good that followed it.  If they never recorded a single note after that, they’d still be one the greatest bands that have ever existed….”

The Jesus and Mary Chain were the only band to feature in every single set of results that were returned, even if as one Jury Member put it

“the Mary Chain, won’t need my points, but I’ll give them some anyway”

And they still didn’t win it.

Never Understand – Jesus and Mary Chain (1985, Blanco Y Negro Records, Taken from Psychocandy’)

Something’s Wrong – Jesus and Mary Chain (1985, Blanco Y Negro Records, Taken from ‘Psychocandy’)

Of course they came back to Creation in 1998 when they released ‘Munki’ as JM11 is happy to point out – but this is where the cracks had started to appear in the inevitable result

“You see the Mary Chain should have twenty points, but they get relegated a couple of places because they did what no band ever should.  They came back and very nearly destroyed their legacy with a hoary old album about being frustrated and grumpy”

He’s talking about ‘Munki’ – the album the bands released on Creation in 1998, which proved to be something of a catalyst for them splitting up.  It isn’t that old and hoary, its just a bit all over the place.

Cracking Up – Jesus and Mary Chain (1998, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Munki’)

With three hours left until closing time, a bunch of stragglers votes came in.  They all voted for the Reid brothers of course they did, but they also voted for another band, a band they all ranked higher.  A band who then leapfrogged over the Reids and walked off with the crown.

I Hate Rock N Roll – Jesus and Mary Chain (1995, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Munki’)

But who were that band?  A band so comfortable with seemingly stealing things away from other bands, from people who might have been considered their friends, a band that seem not to have any loyalty….

Well, here is a lyrical clue….

Splendour in silver dress

A Creation Records Countdown – #3 – Teenage Fanclub

Forget About the Rest

Points 211

Highest Rank 1^st (Twice)

Lowest Scoring Rank 19^th

The Cabbage – Teenage Fanclub (1993, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Thirteen’)

“Teenage Fanclub will be in the Top Three, guaranteed”.

That is JM9 folks, and he has been wonderfully prophetic but before all that, I think I’ll start with a leftfield memory

I once went to a fancy dress party in the coastal town of Dartmouth dressed as a member of Teenage Fanclub, (probably Norman Blake, but it could have been anyone of them really) I was supposed to go as something else but the costumer didn’t arrive in time so I grabbed a red and black stripey jumper, some blacks jeans and wore my hair down long.  I thought it was an inspired choice.  Everyone else thought that I’d gone as Kurt Cobain, so it was probably rubbish.  Just for the record, my wife went as a disco diva (her outfit included a snazzy tshirt which had Bruce Forsyth’s face on it and some blue hair), My brother in law went as a trainspotter and actually looked more like one of Blur and our mate went as an old lady with beer filled breasts, which we all thrilled in sucking on throughout the night. 

Anyway

Teenage Fanclub released at least four albums on Creation Records that were all nothing short of excellent or as JM13 puts it

“Almost all of their output on Creation bordered on perfection”.  

Well nearly….

These albums were ‘Bandwagonesque’ which (with a nod of the head in the general direction of their Paperhouse Record released ‘A Catholic Education’) underlined their huge potential and won them a whole region of new fans.

‘Starsign – Teenage Fanclub (1991, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Bandwagonesque’)

That was followed by ‘Thirteen’ which saw the band trying and largely failing to build on that new fanbase with a slightly more radio friendly approach.  The result was probably the weakest of these fab four albums.  ‘Thirteen’ was followed by the immense ‘Grand Prix’ which is for me the bands greatest album.  Which according to JM20 is a “An album full to bursting of perfect indie pop gems”, like this one in fact

Mellow Doubt – Teenage Fanclub (1995, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Grand Prix’)

‘Grand Prix’ remains critically adored by the music press and if ever a record should have led a band to being megastars it was that one but again for some reason the public didn’t quite go for it (it did go Top Ten in the album charts, but it is generally felt that it should have done better and outside the UK it largely sank). Teenage Fanclub were, thankfully, not put off by this relative lack of commercial success and in 1997 they released the fourth of their wonderful Creation releases, ‘Songs from Northern Britain’ – an album which poked fun at the bands supposed inclusion on the Britpop bandwagon, which ironically was more successful than anything that the band actually released in that Britpop era.  .  JM7 also wants to chip in here,

 “Songs from Northern Britain is the best record ever released on Creation Records”

Well nearly….

Ain’t This Enough – Teenage Fanclub (1997, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Songs from Northern Britain’)

Despite their third placed finishing position Teenage Fanclub were never in danger of winning this thing, they were like the Super Furries before them late starters.  Then two sets of dangerously similar votes from two members of the Jury came in on the same day, which both placed them at the top of the tree and rocketed them up the table.  From there they never looked back and were comfortable in the Top Five for the rest of the counting process before pulling away towards them to finish 25 points ahead of the Super Furries back in fourth. 

What You Do To Me – Teenage Fanclub (1991 Creation Records, Taken from ‘Bandwagonesque)

By the way, collusion and subterfuge in order to fix the results of a Musical Jury Poll is actively encouraged….in fact I awarded Teenage Fanclub five bonus points, just in case.

Here is tomorrows lyrical teaser….which might come as a surprise to some of you.

“And when I hit the ground”

The Future is No Words – #8 – The Longcut

It’s Sunday and therefore words remain overrated to the point of irrelevance.  Here are once hotly tipped Mancunians The Longcut to explain to why, with the help of a stolen New Order bassline, a cowbell borrowed from The Rapture and some drone-y guitars straight out of Mogwai’s cupboard.  The Longcut when they started out had a vocalist, but they found lyrics so cumbersome and unexciting that they ditched him in favour of simply not having one.

 Spires – The Longcut (2006, Deltasonic Records, Taken from ‘A Call and Response’)

You Can Always Have More – The Longcut (2009, Melodic Records, Taken from ‘Open Hearts’)

Holy Funk –  The Longcut (2006, Deltasonic Records, Taken from A Call and Response’)

Nearly Perfect Albums – #66

Raise – Swervedriver (1991, Creation Records)

Back in 1991, when ‘Raise’ was released, Swervedriver were lumped into the shoegaze scene, which was perhaps understandable given the amount of pedals they used (early press reviews said they were shoegaze but only because they were looking at the floor in case they tripped over the seventy plus pedals littering the stage), but Swervedriver always seemed slightly different to your typical shoegaze bands like Ride and Chapterhouse. 

Bands like Ride and Chapterhouse wrote songs about the sky, the colour blue and constantly rhymed ‘fly with high’ and whilst we still loved them, there was something slightly weedy about them.  Swervedriver on the other hand were altogether more mechanical, and their songs were more likely to be about rockets and cars and the noise they made was unlike anything else heard on a shoegaze record. 

Swervedriver despite their gazing at the floor and their seventy three effects pedals sounded like a proper balls out rock band (most of the time).  Swervedriver sounded like they were playing about a thousand guitars all at the same time.  Swervedriver had riffs that crunched and basslines that rumbled and growled.  Swervedriver had drums that punched you in the face and then did it again in case the first one wasn’t hard enough.  Swervedriver seemed to have muscles and in ‘Raise’ they made one of the greatest debut records of the nineties, an album that very few people actually bought at the time (me included).  An album that some thirty years after its release still sounds brilliant today.  An album that today, is as important to the shoegaze world as ‘Nowhere’ or ‘Loveless’ are, although it is not as good as either of these.

Here is an example of those rumbling basslines, crunching riffs and punchy drums.

Son of Mustang Ford – Swervedriver (1991, Creation Records)

I love ‘Son of Mustang Ford’.  It’s a great four minutes of music full of guitar onslaughts, shouty vocals and drums that tear the place up.  The opening riff sounds more like something on a Smashing Pumpkins record than it does a shoegaze record.  Swervedriver seemingly invented Britrock a few years before the likes of Creation stablemates 3 Colours Red apparently did.

But it’s not an album of just huge rock riffs and thumping drums, ‘Rave Down’ perhaps add some weight to the whole shoving them in the shoegaze bracket, with its swirly guitars that are eerily reminiscent of early Ride records, yet even that its not quite happy with its sound, because after about three minutes of effects laden guitars it veers in a total different direction.  Its ace all the same though

Rave Down – Swervedriver (1991, Creation Records)

If you do want shoegaze then it is perhaps the track ‘Sunset’ that you should turn to.  In that the vocals are less shouty, and (whisper it) much more like the Pale Saints, all dreamy and echoey.  The guitars are more spaced out and much more reliant on a fuzz pedal than elsewhere on the record. The drumming on this track, by the way, is outstanding, and perhaps takes centre stage.  It’s a great track, possibly Swervedriver’s finest five minutes. 

Sunset – Swervedriver (1991, Creation Records)

A Creation Records Countdown – #4 – Super Furry Animals

She feels the tingle of a quiet rage

Points 186

Highest Rank 1^st (Twice)

Lowest Scoring Rank 20^th

Ice Hockey Hair – Super Furry Animals (1998, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Ice Hockey Hair EP’)

After five sets of votes had been counted and verified, Super Furry Animals had 17 points.  In comparison, Ride in 5^th place had 67, Sugar in 6^th had 51 and the Bodines, a group that finished in 26^th place had 23.  Super Furry Animals were behind The Telescopes, they were behind Swervedriver, they were behind The Jasmine Minks and the BMX Bandits.  It looked bad for them.  Which begged the question how on earth did the Super Furries finish so high?

Well because as JM13 puts it

“The Super Furry Animals are by the proverbial country mile, easily the most consistently enjoyable and entertaining band on the Creation roster.  They are also responsible for the best sweary record of all time”.

He’s backed up by JM8 as well

“The Super Furry Animals have a tank and they said fuck a lot – and they had Paul McCartney playing celery – what’s not to love?”

They are talking about this song I suspect

The Man Don’t Give A Fuck – Super Furry Animals (1997, Creation Records, Single)

Rather than this – which might be saying rude things in Welsh for all I know.

Blerwytirhwng – Super Furry Animals (1998, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Out Spaced’)

JM9 also had clicked the little hand button on the Zoom screen, so I’ll just open up his mic.

“Super Furry Animals being top of this list is the only true result, as they are one of the best acts to ever grace any record label ever.”

And just prove it, here is a track that the band released after they left Creation Records

Juxtaposed with U – Super Furry Animals (2001, Epic Records, Taken from ‘Rings Around the World’)

Which sort of explains how Super Furry Animals clawed their way back up the countdown chart. By the time ten sets of votes had been counted and verified Super Furry Animals had 99 points, Sugar had 96, My Bloody Valentine had 98, Oasis had 90.  They are great and people genuinely love them.

But I’ll leave the last word to JM17 who tells me this

“Reading 1996, the Super Furry Animals turn up and park their tank just to the left of the Melody Maker Stage and proceed to pump out techno from it for the next ten hours.  Within about an hour people are standing on the tank dancing, and it almost becomes a stage of its own.  No other band of that generation, with the possible exception of the Radiohead, has shown such imagination and innovation in respect of music.  If that isn’t convincing enough, then, and I know it wasn’t released on Creation Records, I’ll just leave the track ‘Slow Life’ for you to just play over and over again because it is just wonderful.”

Slow Life – Super Furry Animals (2004, Placid Casual Records, Taken from ‘Phantom Power’)

Here is Mondays lyrical teaser “Open the window”

A Creation Records Countdown – #5 – Ride

If I stay around I’ll just remember I’m alone

Points 180

Highest Rank 2^nd (twice)

Lowest Scoring Rank 12^th

Chelsea Girl – Ride (1990, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Ride EP’)

The fact that Ride finished higher than My Bloody Valentine in this rundown speaks is very interesting because whilst My Bloody Valentine’s influence on the shoegaze scene is cemented in history, it appears to be Ride, that are now considered to be the seminal shoegaze act.  I really expected it to be the other way around but now I think that I have perhaps overestimated the impact records like ‘Loveless’ had on the world.

Ride of course were more comfortable with making records where the melody wasn’t necessarily hidden behind a wall of effects pedals that made your ears hurt.  Their guitars had hooks which were laced with the two pronged vocals of Andy Bell and Mark Gardner and that was part of what made them so special when they first burst on to the scene.

Dreams Burn Down – Ride (1990, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Fall EP’)

By the time ‘Nowhere’ arrived in the late part of 1990, Ride were already becoming a huge thing – largely based on the release of their first three Eps.  ‘Nowhere’ blew my mind.  It was incredible and for a record that is now more than thirty years old, it still sounds incredible and fresh and in ‘Vapour Trail’, Ride have one of the most immense sounding tracks of all time. 

Vapour Trail – Ride (1990, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Nowhere’)

(Incidentally this cover version of ‘Vapour Trail’ is worth a listen)

After ‘Nowhere’ Ride became one of the biggest bands around.  Their follow up EP ‘Today Forever‘ was met with feverish anticipation and propelled the band into the top Twenty for the first time.  A guitar heavy track called ‘Unfamiliar’ was the lead track on that EP but it was the more gentler, slower, poppier tracks like ‘Sennen’ and ‘Today’ that stood out.  It also highlighted the fact that Ride knew how to write a melody.  ‘Sennen’ remains the greatest song written about a Cornish beach that there is (and there is a series waiting to be written.  Great Beaches in Rock)

Sennen – Ride (1991, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Today Forever’)

Today – Ride (1991, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Today Forever’)

After ‘Today Forever’ a second album ‘Going Blank Again’ arrived about a year later, which was preceded by an eight minute single called ‘Leave Them All Behind’.  A song that for a few years was lifted into indie legend thanks to a poll about sex that was conducted by Select Magazine in 1993.  In that poll, ‘Leave Them All Behind’ was voted the greatest songs to have sex to, and to anyone who claims to have voted for that who just happens to be reading….

Its eight minutes long guys, no one believes you.

Leave Them All Behind – Ride (1992, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Going Blank Again’)

Ride’s music didn’t change the world but they were very good at making songs that start with a jangly melody before they descend into a swirl of guitars and feedback and crashing drums before slowly down and heading back to the original melody.  Very few bands did that better than Ride between 1990 and 1994.

Drive Blind – Ride (1990, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Ride EP’)

Here is tomorrows lyrical teaser

“And when the puck hits the back of the cage.”

A Creation Records Countdown – #6 – Sugar

Right between two states of mind

Points 179

Highest Rank 2^nd (twice)

Lowest Scoring Rank 15^th

Hoover Dam – Sugar (1992, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Copper Blue’)

We start rather predictably with a wistful story from a Jury Member about a boy looking wistfully at a pretty girl.

“I was at college when I first encountered Sugar, so this would have been 1992 or 1993, I can’t really remember if it was my first year or my second year.  I was sitting on the grass outside the canteen and a girl who I had never seen before was sat across the path from me and my buddies.  She was sitting with some of the cool indie kids, guys who played guitars, had the ability to grow a decent beard and not look dorky, guys who were in bands.  She was out of my league, and for the sake of a long story, she stayed that way.  She stood up and she was wearing a Sugar Tshirt, Sugar were a band that I’d heard of – or rather read about – but never heard – but if this girl liked them then I’d decided there and then that I also liked them.  In a stupid kind of way I’d decided that it might be something I could use to strike up a conversation with her.  I used my wages from the local supermarket and went and bought ‘Copper Blue’ at the weekend and it is a wonderful record, but I never ever spoke to that girl, not even to say thanks for introducing me in a weird kind of way to wonders of ‘Copper Blue’”.

A Good Idea – Sugar (1992, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Copper Blue’)

There is a lot of love for Sugar and Bob Mould.  JM7 and JM9 for instance have been waiting patiently why JM21 recalled the story above.  I should have let them go first because they are much more succinct.

Here’s JM7

“If Sugar aren’t in the Top Ten of this countdown, I will have a strop”

Well that’s a relief, we don’t have to place you on the naughty step for some ‘time out’. 

And here’s JM9

“’Copper Blue’ is one of the best albums of all time”

JM15 agrees with him

“’Copper Blue’ is the best US alt-rock album of the early/mid 90s”

They are both right of course.  ‘Copper Blue’ is remarkable.  A record I found on vinyl in the bargain bin of the Longplayer Record Shop in Maidstone and one that was then passed around nearly all my mates for about three months.   One of those albums that has stood the test of time and one that should be coming to a Neary Perfect Album Series sometime soon but until then here’s another track from it. 

The Slim – Sugar (1992, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Copper Blue’)

JM13 also wants to share his love and pushes the envelope that little bit further.

“Sugar’s back catalogue isn’t substantial, but what a run it was from ‘Copper Blue’ to ‘File Under Easy Listening via the ‘Beaster EP’.  A band I’m sadly very guilty of overlooking all too often until prompted by rundowns like this.”

Talking of ‘Beaster’, that was an EP that was recorded at the same time as ‘Copper Blue’ but released about a year later.  It is a heavier bunch of tracks than ‘Copper Blue’ much more reminiscent of the songs that Bob Mould recorded with Husker Du. The finest track on it, is JC Auto, which might just be the finest five minutes that Bob Mould has ever recorded.

JC Auto – Sugar (1993, Creation Records, Taken from ‘Beaster’)

Here is tomorrow’s lyrical teaser – which might just be the easiest one yet

“Take me for a ride away from the places we have known”.