Volume Eleven Side Three - Charlatans, Teenage Fanclub, Pale Saints, Welfare Heroine, The Shamen

1. The Charlatans - Then (Dead Dead Good/ Situation Two)

"Excellent follow-up to their hit earlier in the year. Outstanding, a massive hit that should establish Northwich's finest as a major band".

It wouldn't have been illogical to expect another juddering piece of catchy organ-driven indie as a follow-up to the hugely successful "The Only One I Know", but "Then" took people by surprise in 1990. While it was still a bit of a smash by indie standards - number 12 in the national charts isn't really to be sniffed at - it has a despairing dream-like quality to it, sounding like the soundtrack to someone's slow-motion meltdown.

It is beautiful for all that, though, and the misty, blurry sound to this showed that there was far more to The Charlatans than foot-tapping retro pop. In "Then", they had also managed to create a piece of atmospheric indie which, while not being overly similar to the likes of Ride, Lush or Slowdive, certainly had a similar tripped-out, steadily building ethereal nature at its roots.

Frustratingly, despite the fact that it was a reasonably big seller at the time by indie standards, "Then" is very infrequently heard on the radio now, with programmers tending to skim past all the post-"Only One I Know" singles until they get closer to their more upbeat Britpop revival material ("Weirdo" occasionally excepted). This does the group a disservice, as they're much more versatile than they've generally been given credit for. Three singles down the line, and they'd already managed to show us three very unique sides to their personalities.



2. Teenage Fanclub - God Knows It's True (Paperhouse)

"Jack Black - it's good for singing, guitaring, and playing the drums." - Don Flemming

This remains one of my favourite Teenage Fanclub tracks. It sounds amazing from the first second - starting off with that buzzing guitar riff, then steadily building to a clattering, pissed off anthem of betrayal, it's the halfway house where the moody melodies of "April Skies" era Mary Chain meet with American underground rock and Big Star. From the sulking chorus right up to the basic but marvellous guitar outro, it feels oddly effortless and yet wonderfully constructed. If anyone had dismissed Teenage Fanclub as being a scratchy indie band, this was the point at which they would be proven wrong - and things would get better and more powerful over the coming years.

The group were about to up sticks and sign to Creation in the UK and Geffen in the US, and while they never quite achieved the commercial wonders many predicted (it's often forgotten that circa "Bandwagonesque", they really were regarded as possible future stars) a string of acclaimed albums and moderate hits would ensure that their legacy would be the envy of many of their peers. Staying respected and relevant twenty-five years down the line is arguably preferable to stadium success followed by rapid burn-out.



3. Pale Saints - Half Life Remembered (4AD)

"Gustav Holst is the horse's mouth in whose saliva we take our baths".

If "Sight Of You" had been maudlin, "Half Life Remembered" is disorientating and slightly frightening, from its strange video featuring dated psychedelic effects and an overload of custard, pasta and beans and dentistry related nightmares, to the track itself - airy vocals meeting a vaguely threatening and malevolent melody. "It's eating you away, and some will never know its taste" we're informed, while ambitious drum patterns smash around and angelic female vocals coo along.

To all intents and purposes, "Half Life Remembered" really is Pale Saint's equivalent of "White Rabbit", and is so obviously about hallucinogenic matters that it would have been banned in a less enlightened age. While psychedelic ideas were incredibly prevalent in this period through the noises of both the so-called Madchester bands and the shoegazing stars, this really was unbelievably explicit. When they're not twanging away in an early sixties style, even the guitar riffs veer close towards sitar-mimicking scales in places. Far out, man.

But it's unbelievably good. It could make the mistake of spanning ten minutes and repeating its best ideas endlessly, but instead, for four and a half minutes, it's an interesting and ever-evolving piece of wonky pop that explores every possible melodic nook and cranny.

The Pale Saints always were one of the more interesting and inventive groups in the so-called shoegazing movement, which makes it strange that they appear to be less raved about during the present revival.



4. Welfare Heroine - Cry - Blood (Dub) (Non-Fiction)

"It's hopelessly sad, hopelessly lonely, probing, while always attempting optimism... but already I can feel tears pricking my eyelids, more of an emotion than a song".

A real oddity of the period, "Cry - Blood" mixed Gregorian monk chanting with a post-punk dub sensibility. While it was released slightly before Enigma's "Sadeness" which unexpectedly rose to Number One in the early part of 1991, its subsequent credibility has nonetheless probably been slightly damaged by the obvious similarities.

Nonetheless, it's an incredibly uncommercial slice of minimalism which finds its groove early on and remains firmly locked into it. The shuffling rhythm is pure 1990, it's only the deep dub basslines and faintly jazzy riffs which make it sound outside of anything else being produced at this point.

Welfare Heroine consisted of NME journalist Dele Fadele - so the fact the track earned an NME single of the week is slightly suspect, to be frank - Dave Egan and Ian Jones. Like their labelmates The Honey Smugglers, they were very quickly dropped from Fiction's slightly half-arsed Non-Fiction subsidiary label after a couple of singles and left to fend for themselves.



5. The Shamen - Oxygen Restriction (One Little Indian)

"A sub bass collision with techno pop minimalism... but Teutonic it ain't"

The Shamen's unbroken run of tracks on the "Indie Top 20" series starts at Volume Three and ends right here, and it's been possible to track their evolution right through that period, from politically outspoken psychedelic guitar noiseniks to disco biscuit spiritualists. Seldom has one band changed their style so much and so recognisably in such a short space of time.

By this point, the group were poised to take on the world. "Oxygen Restriction" was a track on their LP "Entact" and was not actually released as a single, so it's hard to hear the commercial chops they had developed; but if you were in any doubt, "Ebeneezer Goode" wasn't terribly far around the corner.

As for "Oxygen Restriction", it is indeed a stripped back and bare piece of techno which judders by at a mid-tempo without leaving an enormous impression. It seems to have been dropped on to "Volume Eleven" of this LP to take advantage of The Shamen's rapidly growing reputation at this point. And perhaps, of course, it would have been a horrible pity to have left them off the tracklisting, since they had been such mainstays until this point.

By Volume Twelve, however, we will find ourselves doing without them.

d

Indie Top 20 Vol 10 - Side One - The Farm, The Shamen, Paris Angels, KLF, Renegade Soundwave

Year of Release: 1990
Formats: Double Vinyl/ Long Play Cassette/ CD

The trials and tribulations of Beechwood Music continued unabated throughout 1990. The launch of Volume 9 of the Indie Top 20 series had, as we've discussed before, been disrupted by distribution issues. And the launch of Volume 10 saw an unexpected rival emerge in the form of the as-seen-on-TV mass-marketed compilation experts Telstar Records. They rushed out the freaky-dancing flavoured LP "Rave" at almost exactly the same time as "Indie Top 20 Volume 10", and was there a lot of crossover between the two tracklistings? Why yes, there was.

In direct response, a peculiar act of sabotage happened at Telstar's headquarters. Staff emerged one morning to find that their office had been plunged into semi-darkness by the appearance of fly-posters for "Indie Top 20 Volume 10" glued all over the windows. Beechwood Music denied responsibility and put the blame squarely on "fans of their series" - highly dedicated fans who also had access to quality printing machines, the graphic design masterplates of the latest Indie Top 20 sleeve and lots of glue, I'll bet. Telstar chose not to get the police involved and put the activity down to Christmas hi-jinks that had got out of hand, adding that "it's good to have a bit of competition over the period". The free publicity certainly can't have hurt either party...

In the end, "Rave" easily won out in the sales wars, and that's not surprising. It was a cheaply, sloppily produced piece of vinyl with the tightest microgrooves known to man meaning you had to crank the volume right up to get anything much out of it, but it was cheap. And for all that, it did actually contain some odd surprises. The Blue Aeroplanes, for example, and Ocean Colour Scene (in their baggy incarnation) and The Wicked Things, who released records on their own label and hardly anybody had ever heard of. In fact, they're not even on YouTube to this day.

As you can tell, I abstained from this great Indie Compilation War and bought copies of both albums like any good diplomat would. Telstar's effort is far poppier and features a bigger hit single quota, but "Indie Top 20 Volume 10" feels better overall. As we'll now see.

1. The Farm - Groovy Train (Terry Farley Mix) (Produce)

"Forget the music. These boys have got the most practical clothes I've ever seen" Harry Cross.

(You can, if you want, read some of the below entry in the voice of Alan Partridge).

Not long after I started attending sixth form college, I got myself involved in the college radio station.  I briefly ran a very naive and ramshackle little show with a friend of mine, and to try and drum up some interest in it, we decided to run an end-of-year Festive Fifty styled poll of the student's favourite groups and solo acts. We approached people in the common room and during breaks to get them to give us their top three artists of 1990.

This exercise taught us a lot about teenage music tastes in South East Essex at this time (and also that walking around with a pen and notepad asking people their favourite bands made you seem like a dork at best or a sex pest at worst, but hey, most of us on college radio were definitely dorks). Firstly, more young people appreciated Phil Collins in 1990 than any NME, Melody Maker or even Smash Hits poll would ever have told you. He finished at around number twelve picking up lots of nods from deadly serious, usually faintly unfashionable youths who couldn't have given a shit that they weren't supposed to like him (if it had been an anonymous poll, I'd have been interested to see if his standing improved further still). Paul Simon managed to nudge in at number twenty by the skin of his teeth. And The Farm? They won overall. Aced it. They were the college's favourite band of 1990.

We were flabbergasted at the time, but looking back there were other factors afoot. We were asking people not long after the hugely appreciated "All Together Now" had been released, a record both my friend and I actually fancied taking a bet on being that year's Christmas Number One (especially after we added up the poll results). Also, The Farm were proving to be one of indie's great crossover bands. Most indie groups and their fans, even at this point, seemed aloof, judgemental and ever so slightly weird to the Henry and Wendy Normals of Britain, who didn't like loud guitars or skinny kids with floppy fringes on drugs. The Farm, on the other hand,  were happy-go-lucky football supporting Scousers with cheeky grins on their chops and ordinary clothes and haircuts who also happened to be making some very voguish noises. Not only would they gain appreciation in my little corner of the world, but Smash Hits readers would award them "Best Indie Group" at their Poll Winners Party as well.

"Groovy Train" was, of course, their big breakthrough moment, making number six in the National Charts. Featuring a nagging and squeaky guitar riff, shuffling beats, and faintly pissed off lyrics about a haughty lady, it does sound unbelievably of its moment. When an indie-dance crack into the mainstream emerged in 1990, they rushed through it with gusto and threw everything they had at the wall, seeming like a family-friendly version of the Happy Mondays who probably wouldn't try to sell you drugs if they bumped into you at a nightclub. Even the chorus here is gloriously, piss-takingly cynical. "She says: Get on get on get on get on get on/ the groovy train" indeed, although from this distance it does seem as if Hooton was trying to get a rise out of baggy's biggest fashion victims.

In the end, though, The Farm are one of many groups throughout history to prove that when you're the mainstream pop flavour of a fleeting indie/ alternative zeitgeist, history tends to forget you and classic pop stations just don't play you all that much. For all its success at the time, "Groovy Train" is very seldom heard these days, whereas "Step On" and "Kinky Afro" remain inescapable by comparison.

It would have been good to get further chances to discuss The Farm again purely to get under the skin of why their demise throughout 1991 was so incredibly swift, despite releasing one of their finest singles in "Love See No Colour" - but they don't feature on "Indie Top 20" again after this.



2. The Shamen - Make It Mine (One Little Indian)

"Continually slotted in the same genre as The Happy Mondays, The Beloved, The Stone Roses and other indie-dance crossovers - The Shamen, like they did with "Pro-Gen", take it one step further with "Make It Mine"". 

The Shamen really were entering an effervescent period of their careers at this point. "Pro-Gen" was all brassy melodies and excessive lyrical positivity, and "Make It Mine" ups the ante, taking neon Housey keyboard riffs and loud, distorted guitars and managing not to make them sound mismatched. "Jesus Loves Amerika" this isn't.

"Make It Mine" is one of those peculiar singles which sounded way more punchy and almost dangerous in 1990 than it does now. At the time, this seemed like a unique proposition, whereas after the likes of EMF and Jesus Jones poked into the pop charts, it began to feel somewhat sterile. It's important to try to remember that The Shamen did a lot of this stuff first, though, and were incredibly quick to pack the guitars away into their cases and lock them away in storage before the sound became outmoded.



3. Paris Angels - All On You (Perfume) (Sheer Joy)

(No sleeve notes were provided for this track).

It's been suggested by people far wiser than me that the early nineties indie-dance phase is ripe for a carefully compiled "Nuggets" styled compilation or box set. The theory goes that there was an explosion of creativity, energy and passion during the brief period which owed a debt to, but also acted as a progression beyond, the late sixties psychedelic era.

And it's indeed odd the way the "baggy era" has been condensed in rock history to the obvious names (Roses, Mondays, Charlatans, Inspirals) when so many other groups released astonishing pieces of work outside of the Top 40. The careers of the also-ran bands, much like their sixties cousins, may mostly have been confined to one or two dynamite 45s and one very patchy LP, but those sticks of nitroglycerin created some of the happiest nights of my life.

"Perfume", whether you like it or not, was absolutely huge among a certain crowd at the time. Big enough that there were a couple of instances of Paris Angels graffiti at my sixth form college (probably inked by the same person, to be fair) and that it was a constant alternative club staple. But unlike so many 1990 singles, it still sounds unbelievable. From that cheeky "What Time Is Love" inspired loop to the jangling guitars and the epic, soaring, choral female backing vocals it absolutely soars. It's the sound of young kids with access to huge record collections digging through the debris to cherry-pick the finest noises and finally come up with something that sounds utterly contemporary - the Ian Curtis styled drone of the male lead vocals balances brilliantly with the angelic backing of Jayne Gill to create something really bittersweet, something which is every bit as much "indie" as it is "dance".

Even the video manages to present the band as a bunch of garage-based urchins who just happened to have stumbled on a magic formula - smirks and grins all over their faces as the track builds and explodes into dancefloor bliss. Sadly, they never would sound this fantastic again, and a subsequent LP for Virgin Records - released just as the sunset emerged for the whole indie-dance genre - failed to completely live up to expectations. But for "Perfume", I'm completely happy to give the group a lifetime pass. It may have happened by accident rather than design, but it's a staggering, towering piece of work, and one I still return to a great deal.



4. The KLF - What Time Is Love? (Echo & The Bunnymen Mix) (KLF Communications)

"The KLF first released the original version of this track in November 1988 when it was virtually ignored. In March 1990 they played three dates with the new look Echo & The Bunnymen after which The Bunnymen went into the studio to rework the track for posterity".

Ah yes, the "new look" Echo & The Bunnymen. That would be the McCullochless incarnation absolutely everyone has ever forgotten existed, as McCulloch sodded off to form Electrafixion, another band whose impact on popular culture was somewhat negligible.

Still, this reimagining of "What Time Is Love" proved that the band's darkest days did at least produce one source of light. Filled to the brim with backwards guitars, sitar loops, tabla rattling and mystical samples, WTIL was given an unexpectedly old-school psychedelic reworking. Even if the nature of the track becomes trance-like in an old school 1967 way rather than a modern capital "t" Trance way, it acted as a perfectly valid gateway between the droning pop of the sixties and modern Acidic sounds, showing that there was a common lineage whether anyone (apart from Steve Hillage) wanted to acknowledge it or not. They even threw in the goose noises from Pink Floyd's "Bike" at the end to really labour the point.

Ultimately though, would I rather listen to the original? Definitely. In fact, there are even better remixes of "WTIL" out there than this, the Hendrix-riddled "Techno Gate" mix of the track on the original track's B-side being  but only one example. The Echo & The Bunnymen mix of this is a curiosity rather than a superior version, but that didn't stop Telstar from also giving this version a place on their "Rave" LP as well. After all, I suppose - why try to grab sales from fans of one band when you could earn sales from two?



5. Renegade Soundwave - Biting My Nails (Bassnumb Chapter) (Mute)

"A pulse-quickener of a beat, weird dub particles and stray radiation waves from dying satellites, all collide in an effect like a sharp intake of crystal meth."

I'm not sure who those sleeve-notes came from, but Renegade Soundwave sometimes did have a faint whiff of Super Hans about them... so odds-on it was one of the group.

That aside, "Biting My Nails" is a minimal and bass-heavy, robotic and almost threatening sound. It would later be souped up for use in the Nintendo console adverts, showing that while the single itself remained relatively underground, it had a slick modernity about it which loaned itself well to "the kids". It still sounds bossy and threatening even now, but all without losing any appeal - while The Shamen et al may have been punching their fists in the air, Renegade Soundwave were still a bit sinister and devilish in comparison.

Volume 9 Side 2 - The Shamen, New Order, McCarthy, Finitribe, Nitzer Ebb

1. The Shamen - Pro Gen (One Little Indian)

"Play this loud in a very dark room and little green men will come and beat you on the side of your head with silver hammers shrieking 'Let us in, let us in, we have some good sounds for you'. Fast, furious and sometimes a mite frightening, "Pro Gen" makes all the right moves in the right places." Record Mirror

Also known as "Move Any Mountain", "Pro Gen" tickled the belly of the Top 75 in 1990 before becoming a huge Top Five hit on its re-release in 1991. Really, it's the song that moved the group away from the cultish fringes and into the big league, containing Mr C a-waggin' his finger as he rapped twenty-to-the-dozen, lots of pristine, fanfaring synths, and killer beats.

Opinion will inevitably be divided on which period of the group's work stands up the best, their early neo-psychedelia, their mid-period Hacienda-flavoured Indie Dance, or the well fed years. I would argue somewhat cautiously that all those periods had something to offer, but that "Pro Gen" seems ever so slightly unexciting in retrospect. The repetitious chorus of "I can move, move, move any mountain" wanes very quickly, and the rest rings out confidently but lacks depth, edge, wit or bite.

Still, at the time this certainly felt like a bold and significant single, and many predicted a hit for The Shamen. They were right - it just wouldn't break through in 1990, that's all.



2. New Order - Round and Round (Club Mix) (Factory)

(In an interesting move, Beechwood Music provided no sleeve notes at all for this track)

By the time "Indie Top 20 Volume 9" came out, "Round and Round" was already old hat - a 1989 release by New Order which charted lower than anticipated (Number 21) and was promoted by a somewhat rubbish video of lots of female models pulling seductive, amused or innocent faces, the kind of idea even George Michael would have considered for three seconds, then rejected. It's untimely appearance here is probably for two reasons; the fact that the Club Mix fits the baggy mood of the 1990 era, and also to pull in punters with a big indie name. Well, at least it wasn't with an old Peel Session track this time.

"Round and Round" is a curiously understated pop track on an otherwise magnificent album. Always sounding faintly underpowered and underwritten, it sits on "Technique" like a faintly catchy afterthought amidst a sea of mournful ballads and blissed out Ibiza infused indie. Either "Vanishing Point" or "Mr. Disco" would have been better second singles, and even if "Run" had been shunted up the release schedules to occupy an earlier space it might have made more sense.

Still, we can't sit here all day rewriting history, and this was launched into a faintly indifferent world in 1989. Even a "quite good" New Order single from this period is good enough, obviously, and "Round and Round" is mellow, twittery and funky, and manages to slowly charm its way into your heart and cause your feet to tap. But that's all I can find to say about it...



3. McCarthy - Get A Knife Between Your Teeth (Midnight Music)

"The title comes from a cover of an Anti-Bolschevik pamphlet of the 1920s. It showed a crazed and hairy savage with a knife between his teeth who was presumably preparing to stab a respectable citizen to death. He represented what reactionaries believed a revolutionary communist to look like".

When my grandchildren come round on a Sunday and ask me the question "Tell me pops - when was Peak Baggy? And how did we know it had happened?", I usually pop a Werther's Original buttered candy sweet in their mouths and tell them "Why, it was when McCarthy, an underground Marxist indie band from Barking who had been on the C86 compilation, added wah-wah pedals and dancefloor friendly beats to their final single".

Because it happened! It did! And the fact that I don't have any children, never mind grandchildren, doesn't make the rest of what I've told you any less true. Somewhat strangely, they got away with it without a single cry of "Bandwagon Jumpers", though that's largely aided by the fact that "Get A Knife Between Your Teeth" is a fine little single. For all the wah-wah action and pumping rhythms, it's still melodically and lyrically a typical McCarthy record, and there's not an obligatory rapper in sight. Tim Gane sounds as rattled but sweetly voiced as ever, and the chorus punctuates everything with a determined message.

There's no question it was one of 1990's more unusual releases, however, and while nothing was ever said, one wonders if it might be a factor in the group's split and Gane's subsequent Stereolab experiments (more on which much later on). "Knife" swaggers in a way that his music never really did before or since this point, and if he felt uncomfortable, nobody would have been surprised.

He certainly wasn't technically proficient enough to handle it at this point. Apparently another studio helper had to operate the wah-wah pedal for him while he played, as he had no clue how to do it. For shame.



4. Finitribe - Monster In The House (One Little Indian)

"If you've seen the Finitribe live, you start to understand what their records are all about. Being almost cabaret in a housey sort of way, they come on stage dressed in bowler hats, looking like something out of A Clockwork Orange." Rave Magazine

Indeed, there were people who seriously thought Finitribe were The Future in 1990. Taking the traditional format of a group and putting on image-consious live shows to promote their Dance sounds, they knew the power of making their presence felt before The Prodigy came along.

On the great timeline of Indie-Dance (and certainly Dance music in general) they are but a blip, but around the point of "Monster" a seismic rumbling of promise could be felt. The track is an eerie, menacing piece of work, taking a similar semi-ambient tack to The Shamen's "Omega Amigo" but adding gothic drama to the mix. It's like a bad mid-summer dream, or a slightly ropey high in the middle of a derelict warehouse. The vocals alternately whisper, mock and fearfully announce "A thing like this could warp his mind!" then loop around the circuit again as the keyboards gently play a sinister and simplistic melody.

I still really like this track, actually, and possibly appreciate it more now in 2016 than I did at the time. Its slow, ambient pace and cool mean it hasn't dated much at all, unlike many of the uptempo barnstormers of the day, and it utilises a very simple idea exquisitely well.

Finitribe are often famed for featuring Chris Connelly in their early line-up, who left the group in 1988 to join Ministry. Later Finitribe tracks did have an industrial edge to them too, but "Monster" is an uneasy kind of bliss in comparison.



5. Nitzer Ebb - Lightning Man (Mute) - Vinyl and Cassette Only

"...It's thoroughly menacing, schizophrenic and possibly the only genuinely confusing record of the week. Quite marvellous, all things considered". Caren Myers, Melody Maker.

Nitzer Ebb really were rather industrial, on the other hand, and recently reformed in 2007 to continue their unfinished business.

"Lighting Man" combines brassy razzle-dazzle fanfares with gritted teeth vocals, snarled threats and squelching synthesiser lines, and is a very irate and confusing piece of noise indeed. What it's so agitated about is anyone's guess, but this is what the harsher end of electronic music sounded like in 1990 - jabbing and taunting rather than blissed out and grooving.

Nitzer Ebb built a large following for themselves throughout the early nineties and almost had a reputation as being the "other" band hardcore Depeche Mode fans liked. They have a loyal cult following to this day.

Volume 8 Side 2 - James, A Guy Called Gerald, KLF, Alien Sex Fiend, The Shamen

1. James - Come Home (Rough Trade)

"Strengthened for the future. The nineties might see James pissing on the likes of Stone Roses and The House of Love, freaking out the Happy Mondays and filling the gap left by The Smiths. Don't let the new James pass you by" - Mix Mag, December 1989.

Mix Mag? Mix Mag?! But yes indeed, "Come Home" was James in their most loose-fitting clothes, flirting with piano bashing House riffs, frantic rhythms and angst-ridden lyrics. There was a whiff of desperation about all of this - "If 'Sit Down' can't be a hit", seemed to be the logic, "then we really have to keep up with the times and release a truly current sounding single".

Unlike a good many releases of this ilk, though, "Come Home" sounds fantastic to this day. Whether the band were chancing it or not becomes an irrelevant question next to the sheer force of the track. Tim Booth's vocals kick in immediately with the none-less-party-friendly line "It's that time again when I lose my friends/ go walkabout - I've got the bends from PRESSURE". Once again, for the second release in a row, the group prove themselves to be masterful at producing singles with tremendously conflicting emotions. The strength of the overheated drumming and busy guitarwork on "Come Home" powers through the doubt and angst and creates something fidgety, desperate to shake off its angst through dancefloor activity.

Once again, it was not a "proper" hit, but they'd sod off to a major label very shortly afterwards and return revitalised and actually quite massive. By the time their next LP fell on to the release schedules, Baggy was almost a memory and they had reinvented themselves as an adventurous bunch of stadium rockers. Nothing wrong with that per se, but I still wouldn't have minded hearing what a Rough Trade produced album would have sounded like in early 1990. Like its predecessor "Sit Down", the re-released version of "Come Home" just didn't cut it in quite the same way.



2. A Guy Called Gerald - Hot Lemonade (Rham)

"Rham Records follow up to 'Voodoo Ray'. Hot Lemonade is the title track of Gerald's LP - Remixed by Youth".

"Voodoo Ray" was such an almighty TUNE during this period that any follow-up A Guy Called Gerald released was going to be living in its shadow, and that unfortunately proved to be the case. While his previous release continued to be played in clubs and bought in record shops, "Hot Lemonade" was greeted with a baffled reception and is largely forgotten today.

Of all the follow-up singles to HUGE TUNES I can think of, it is perhaps one of the most confusing. To a series of euphoric dance rhythms, clarion calls and atmospheric, chilled synth twiddling, a man and a woman with Italian accents talk endlessly and deliriously about the delights of a beverage known as Hot Lemonade. "I just love... de bubbles... and the shhhhhhhhhhhhh!" they explain, imitating the fizzing sound of a drink being poured. "I..... I neeed Hot Lemon-aaade!" Of course, many people pointed out that "Hot Lemonade" is also slang for urine, and the sexual undercurrent behind the track may be about water sports.

Where you stand on this depends entirely on your general temperament for absurd monologues occurring over the top of club tunes. Personally, it's one of those tracks I've never quite bored of. There's an unreal, almost disturbing atmosphere throughout the whole thing, and if you heard this at your local warehouse party while ripped to your very tits on a pill, it might cause you to doubt your sanity. At home, however, it's a delightful and fascinating mix of ideas which shows more daft adventure than "Voodoo Ray" ever did. And at the very least, the spirit of Derek and Clive could be said to be running between the two very comfortably.



3. The KLF - Kylie Said To Jason (KLF Communications)

"We wore our Pet Shop Boys infatuations brazenly on our sleeves while we recorded this track and we are proud of it. As for Kylie & Jason, the lyrics are not some attempt at a clever critique on our current soap idols".

"Kylie Said To Jason" was the KLF's follow-up single to "Doctorin' The Tardis", a track the pair would claim was carefully crafted to be a number one shortly after it reached the top in the UK (although this sounds a piece of fanciful retrospective thinking). It too was supposed to follow the single into the charts and provide them with some more money to finish their long-awaited film "The White Room" and rescue them from 'the jaws of bankruptcy', but in the end it failed to even get into the Top 100. 

Shortly after its failure, however, a series of limited edition Trance records cut by the pair began to pick up play at clubs and at numerous free parties and 'raves' around the country. After capitalising on this credibility by remixing and reproducing some of the tracks with the aim of getting them to chart, their careers skyrocketed into the major league, and platinum discs, Brit Awards and critical acclaim followed. Unfortunately for the poor, maligned "Kylie Said To Jason", however, it was a mere piece of Pet Shop Boys aping pop which would have been poorly received by the underground groovers and shakers at the time, and as a net result it never appeared on "The White Room" album (despite having a place in the early rough tracklistings) and was never re-issued anywhere officially. 

This is all rather sad, as "Kylie Said To Jason" probably is one of the finest records the KLF shoved out. It is as sarcastic in its tones as it is surreal, reeling off lists of Antipodean stereotypes whilst keeping a bouncing Europop beat running behind. That it didn't catch on and ride the zeitgeist of all things "Neighbours" that dominated at the time may have been due to the fact that the whole affair didn't make much sense to anybody apart from KLF fans. There are no repetitive catchphrases to be had, no obvious jokes, and no use of whacky samples. It's even subtly catchy rather than poleaxing listeners with its reference points, and has a sudden diversion during the outro which is both thoughtful and pleasing. It breaks more or less every single rule for novelty success, then, where "Doctorin' The Tardis" could not be seen to fail.

Despite - or more likely because of - the above, it's been one of the KLF singles I've returned to most frequently. The Pet Shop Boys would have killed to have turned out something like this, and while it  may stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of the rest of their catalogue, it's sodding great, and really should be heard by everyone, not just fans of the KLF.

As for the "White Room" film, it was never properly finished, though rushes exist online of the "exterior" elements of the script. In places, it feels like a truly beautiful long-form music video, so we're not necessarily worse off than we might have been.



4. Alien Sex Fiend - Haunted House (Anagram)

"A classic fiendish dance thrash especially remixed by Youth from Brilliant and scratched over by DJ Cesare from Gee Street Records".

Goth Dance? Whatever next? In fairness, there was always a dance element to Alien Sex Fiend's Gothic rock, with them happily indulging in dub remixes, samples and uptempo and camp doom and gloom. Therefore, a remix by Youth wasn't such a ridiculous step into the unknown.

"Haunted House" was a slightly hollow and dated sounding track for 1989, though, sounding like a bedroom-produced Art of Noise rip-off. There's nothing here worthy of greater praise or analysis than that.

Alien Sex Fiend, of course, enjoyed a long history on both the Goth scene, the National Top 100 and the indie charts, being a cult band with a seriously dedicated following. In a reduced state with only a couple of the original members left, they remain a going concern.



5. The Shamen - Omega Amigo (One Little Indian)

"This single became a club classic from The Shamen. Their musical style has progressed from psychedelic high energy guitar rock to an edgy pop with far more rhythmic feel inspired by the House, Hip Hop and EDM sounds they have absorbed since moving down south a year ago. They continue to move Phorward".

And really, this is the point the band truly arrived. "Omega Amigo" wasn't a proper hit single, but is an almost impossibly blissed piece of electronic dance music, like finding an oasis of calm amidst a seething mass of frantic activity. The central chorus, if it could be called that, is really just a continually stretching, reaching and watery keyboard riff, while Colin Angus assures the listener "Omega Amigo for you, I will always have time". A pulsing, plucking, gentle and busy riff dominates the rest of the track.

Like "Pacific State" by 808 State from around the same period, "Omega Amigo" is a gently stroking hand on the brow amidst a sea of hedonism, an oasis of calm amidst the delirium. I still think it's one of the finest singles the band ever released.

Volume 7 Side 3 - Dinosaur Jr, Wolfgang Press, The Shamen, Ultra Vivid Scene, Perfect Disaster

1. Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene (Blast First)

"Err... Yeah, Umm well no I suppose".

Sharp, jagged, and with feedback leaking from its every orifice, "Freak Scene" was an utterly amazing racket to land in the UK indie charts in 1988. Unlike many previous releases by Sonic Youth or Swans or Big Black, this wasn't just a pure adrenalin rush of noise, though - rather, this had some cunning pop craftsmanship in its bones.

Rather like Pixies, Dinosaur Jr clearly had diverse pre-punk record collections, and "Freak Scene" is all the better for it. From that fantastic distorted guitar solo to the key lyric of "Don't let me fuck up will you/ cos when I need a friend it's still you", it's pure goodness, and caused a number of snotty and punk-influenced British bands to quiver in fright at what might now expected of them.

In truth, though, Dinosaur Jr never really did release a better single than this, so their audience never rose much beyond cult level. Had they managed to sustain the sheer head-rush of "Freak Scene" (and actually get along with each other) there's every possibility they'd have been as big as The Pixies.



2. The Wolfgang Press - Kansas (4AD)

"The previously unavailable video mix. A version of Kansas appears on their new LP 'Birdwood Cage'. Surely the best video of the year/ decade".

Well, so far as the video is concerned, at least we now know where Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer got the idea for Action Image Exchange from...

The Wolfgang Press had been active since 1983, and "Kansas" still has fat wobbly streaks of post-punk running through its core, from the staccato Talking Heads styled delivery of the vocals right down to the fat and fruity bassline. Given the way that such musical trends had fallen out of fashion by 1989 only to be forcefully resuscitated halfway through the last decade, elements of the track actually sound surprisingly current.

Despite the fact that "Kansas" is rather unexpectedly and agreeably funky, there's nothing happening here you would feel the urge to phone your friends about. It's nice enough, but that really is it.



3. The Shamen - You Me & Everything (Moksha)

"Adrian Mole on acid".

The last time we bumped into The Shamen, they were breaking new ground with Bam Bam's remix of "Transcendental" on Volume 6. "You Me & Everything" isn't quite a step back, but there's something incredibly treble-heavy about the production and the Acid House squelches feel somewhat tacked on. Whereas "Transcendental" sounded utterly perfect in its remixed form, this feels like a catchy indie chorus in desperate search of some decent House beats which never properly arrive. The guitars in the mix sound very smothered and gratuitous as well, only there to prove that the track definitely had its feet in both the Indie and Dance camps.

I tend to think of "You Me & Everything" as being the last uncertain moment in The Shamen's canon before their output became unbelievably confident and, as we probably said at the time, banging.



4. Ultra Vivid Scene - Mercy Seat (4AD)

"Edited version of the remix! Never before on record. A version of The Mercy Seat appears on their eponymous LP. Ultra Vivid Scene currently undertaking some dates in the US".

Blissed out, fuzzy Velvet Underground and psychedelic influences permeated through Ultra Vivid Scene's records - not unlike a rather more slickly produced Pastels, actually - but "Mercy Seat" is probably one of their most gothic and despondent sounding singles. From the clanging bell of doom which recurs throughout the track like a constant motif, to the lyrics which seem to suggest that death by the electric chair might be one way "to bring a new day", it's not a cheery proposition.

Nonetheless, the track can't help but pull through some beautiful, blissful psych noises out of the bag, and these rescue it from its otherwise faintly pretentious doominess. The ahhing female backing vocals (on the remix), chiming bells and seductive chorus allow it to rise above its unpromising beginnings, and become the usual Ultra Vivid Scene slice of slightly scuzzy prettiness.

The video for the bonafide 7" version even managed to pick up ITV "Chart Show" airplay at the time.



5. The Perfect Disaster - Time To Kill (Fire)

"The Perfect Disaster's album Up includes this single. "Up" is a musical see-saw of emotions. Lyrically, it's a deceptively simple new draft of the existentialist's handbook but rhythmically it's a filthy, swarming slab of rock 'n' roll fury. Raw power".

Indeed, with its distorted and twangy riffs, angry buzzing basslines, and drawled vocals, this is Rock and Roll in the very traditional sense of the word. A garage production and ballsy, bluesy feel predominates here, and unlike a great many other artists producing work of this nature at the time, this slouches along in an assured yet slow and lazy way.

Perfect Disaster had been around on the indie scene since 1984, and rather like The Wolfgang Press were generally regarded as being stalwarts at around this point. Their last LP "Heaven Scent" was only one year away, so by the time the Indie Top 20 series got around to covering them, they were near the end of the road.

Indie Top 20 Volume 6 - Side 3 - The Shamen, Front 242, A Guy Called Gerald, Screaming Trees, James Taylor Quartet

1. The Shamen Vs Bam Bam - Transcendental (Desire)

"...one of those intriguing fusions of differing musical styles that resulted in a classic dance track. Bam Bam; one of the first major innovators of the Chicago House scene, and The Shamen; a burgeoning UK indie band, collaborated on one of Desire Records' first and most successful recordings. You may never hear the like again!"

Or actually, we most certainly would. I remember creating a retrospective C90 compilation cassette of Baggy/ Madchester music for someone while I was at university, and I put "Transcendental" very close to the start of side one, feeling that while it's seldom acknowledged as such, it's actually a pivotal release. You can sense from the gushing liner notes above that it was seen as a significant moment for some people at Beechwood Music too, and indeed others beyond - suddenly, dance music remixes of indie tracks were no longer 12" single space fillers, with the drum breaks and instrumental sections puffed out to extend the run time. Suddenly, they could be huge and relevant records in their own right.

This is a tricky case to argue, though. For every one person who argues that "Transcendental" broke the mould, another might state the case for some of the Happy Mondays early recordings, or even some of the odder Balearic records (such as those by unlikely candidates The Woodentops). As always with movements in popular culture, it's very difficult to pin the change on some precise moment or tipping point.

Nonetheless, "Transcendental" is a fabulous early Shamen record, and one which is scarcely given any consideration these days. The original track, from the LP "In Gorbachev We Trust", was pleasing in a subdued, acidic (in squelchiness and grooviness rather than bitterness) way, but never sounded like a single. Bam Bam's remix of it pumps it up harder than a freshly inflated Spacehopper, slamming rhythms all over the place and sounding positively euphoric. Rather than sounding like a remix, it feels like what it was always supposed to become, with the original album version sounding like a mere demo in comparison.

I still prefer it to a lot of their later output, and it really needs to be reconsidered not just as an important and game-changing release for The Shamen, but also arguably one of the key moments when suddenly the club dancefloor and the indie chart could meet without a disaster occurring. From this point on, nothing much would be the same - until the early nineties, anyway.

As for the baggy compilation cassette I pulled together, the woman I made it for lost interest in me and never got hold of it. Oh well. I'm sure there's an idea for a Sarah Records song in there somewhere.



2. Front 242 - Headhunter (Play It Again Sam)

"Front 242 are now. They're Euro and they're in your face! It's time to make up your mind. You're either for them or trampled under foot.
"The Studos Brosos melo makos". 

Some interesting track sequencing here - from forward thinking Indie House hybrids to industrial. Front 242, like their PIAS labelmates The Young Gods (on Side 2) were a huge deal throughout most of Europe already at this point, but were only just beginning to make inroads into the British charts.

"Headhunter" is a very cold and threatening little single, which does have a certain nagging dancefloor action going on, but in a very rigid, staccato way, typical of the entire genre. The snarled lyrics and the sheer minimalism of the arrangement mean you're either going to respond to this with excessive enthusiasm or be left slightly cold - to me, this always felt like it wanted to be a poppier track than it actually became. The chorus almost melts into something altogether warmer and radio-friendly, before they realise how close they've come and descend into harshness again. It beckons you forward only to push you away again. It's compelling but never once feels welcoming.

Their influence on the popularity of industrial music in the UK and USA really cannot be understated, however, and Front 242 felt like a key gateway band. "Headhunter" is just the start of that process.



3. A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (Rham)

"One of the hottest tracks in the New York clubs - mixes by Derrick May & Frankie Knuckles; emerging from America. Gerald's influences range from Sun Ra to Edward Barton. Rham's most successful record to date. Gerald is from Manchester.
"Keep it abstract" - Gerald, March '89

It would probably have made more sense to follow "Transcendental" with this track, but no matter. "Voodoo Ray" was another huge, important release (for as much as you can place "importance" on anything in music). Hanging around the Dance Music chart, Indie Chart and the National Charts seemingly for the best part of an entire year, it's persuasive hypnotism charmed even the shyest of feet on to the dancefloor, and it remains a respected disc of its era even now.

Making a lot out of very little, it twitters and jiggles its way along, adding occasional flourishes and absurdly throwing Derek and Clive samples into the mix for no clear reason. And no, I'm not spouting nonsense here - the "Voodoo Ray" element stems from the "Bo Dudley" sketch from "Derek and Clive Live", as does the shout of "Later!" (The proof is here if you need it). It's lucky for everyone that Gerald didn't opt to sample them screaming expletives instead...

The relevance of "Voodoo Ray" to the post-House "Indie Top 20" series might be debated further, were it not for the fact that shortly around this time, it was becoming not uncommon to hear this kind of music in the more forward-thinking clubs. As I've already hinted, the times they were a-slowly changin'...



4. The Screaming Trees - Tangiers (Native)

"This incredible dance dream that takes you somewhere nice to do it - so do it!"

No, no, not THAT Screaming Trees! This lot had absolutely nothing to do with the American grunge band at all, despite what other websites might claim; although establishing firm facts about this band is enormously challenging and tricky - much more than most of the bands to appear on Indie Top 20, they appear to have fallen off the radar in incredible style.

"Tangiers" was their very last single for Native Records before they opted to rename themselves Count Zero, and straddles the genres of Industrial and Dance and Synth-pop in quite a daring way. This single sounded huge enough to cross over in a big way, but once "The Chart Show" had screened the video, that seemed to be the end of its mainstream exposure. A shame, because "Tangiers" sounds like a possible future being explored - one where the new Ibiza-influenced rhythms of New Order, the aggression of Front 242 and the nagging melodic hooks of Depeche Mode all combined to huge effect.

To this day, I have a huge soft spot for the track, and feel enormous regret that something so potent seems to become completely commercially unavailable. For five minutes, this sounded like a wonderful and very 1988 pop moment.



5. The James Taylor Quartet - Blow Up (Re-Elect The President)

"Inspired by the organ jazz of Jimmy Smith, former Prisoner James Taylor experimented at revitalising a series of old sixties TV and film theme tunes. Blow Up was the first - raw, aggressive and sparkling, it captured Peel's attention. Sessions followed, as well as an appearance in his Festive Fifty". 

And why wasn't this track sequenced next to Inspiral Carpets "Butterfly" on Side One? Questions, questions... so many questions.

This is an evergreen cover of the Herbie Hancock penned film theme which was only very recently reissued as an Acid Jazz single due to public demand, and remains popular at various retro and Acid Jazz leaning club nights. Groovy in a very 1967 way, and exquisitely delivered, it seems to have usurped the original theme completely as the version of choice - a huge accomplishment for a cover. The original, however, is far more laidback, jazzy and smooth than this, so from a club perspective perhaps it's not surprising.

The track is both behind and ahead of its time on this LP. The Prisoners were an eighties approximation of a garage/ mod band whose moment in the underground spotlight seemed to have faded slightly by this point, as the public turned their heads to the future and not the past. However, the shuffle and swagger and the electric organ grooves here also pointed very definitely towards a certain strand of Baggy/ Madchester acts who also slowly morphed out of the Paisley patterned underground - The Charlatans being a prime example (whose lead singer Tim Burgess was originally in a band called The Electric Crayons, themselves named after the sixties Rubble compilation LP "The Electric Crayon Set") and The Inspirals being a significant other. There were many elements just waiting to add their particular shade to the sonic palette we were about to experience... but we'll have to wait awhile to see the full effects on this blog.

Indie Top 20 Vol 5 Side 3 - Pop Will Eat Itself, The Shamen, Wolfhounds, Sea Urchins, The Vaselines

1. Pop Will Eat Itself - Def Con One (Chapter 22)

We've been through five Indie Top 20 albums so far, and Pop Will Eat Itself have featured on every single one. This does perhaps underline how prolific the band were at this point, but also highlights how much of a big deal they were too, featuring all over the music press and radio waves. Never universally critically acclaimed - they were truly despised by some critics, in fact - they nonetheless tapped into a strange demand for loud, sample-heavy, hip-hop inspired indie-rock.

This feels strange looking back. "There Is No Love Between Us Anymore" aside, none of these tracks feel vital or exciting today, and most seem rather too clunky for their own good. "Def Con One" is neat enough with its Twilight Zone samples and Motown drum breaks, and perhaps not as clumsy as some of their output, but there's nothing in it that screams "great hopes of the Midlands".

The chorus of "Big Mac fries to go/ gimme Big Mac and fries to go" apparently originated from a nightmare a band member had about the group doing an advert for McDonalds for some spare cash, thereby costing them their credibility. It's a cheeky hook making light of a ridiculous (and unlikely) scenario, a neat try at beating the devil to the punch, and the track as a whole is entertaining - but never anything more than that. There's a goofiness about early PWEI which is often endearing, but sonically they were always lagging slightly behind many of their compatriots. It's worth noting that at this point The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, aka the KLF, had already released "Who Killed The Jams" and were about to explore Trance and Ambient House, and The Shamen were also about to take to Dance Music like ducks to water. PWEI were instead dancing around to the Twilight Zone theme and chanting about Big Macs.

My mother turned out to be the best critic for "Def Con One", sticking her head through my bedroom door in 1988 to ask incredulously: "Are you listening to Adam & The Ants these days?!" And it did sometimes feel as if PWEI had based their entire early careers on the widely derided "Ant Rap", so full points to her there. She should have had her own column in the NME.



2. The Shamen - Jesus Loves Amerika (Moksha)

"Jesus Loves Amerika" is an angry, irritated stab at American television evangelists and US culture and society in general. "Jesus loves Amerika!" they tell us "But I don't love neither!"

The group were highly politicised at this point, entitling their latest (actually pretty good) album "In Gorbachev We Trust", but there's still not much excuse for this attempt at soapbox ranting. "Yeah, these are the men who put the right in righteous/ Such hypocrisy, stupidity is truly out of sight, yes" they inform us, which does rather undermine any sensible point they're trying to make through forced rhyme. Really chaps... even Duran Duran are blushing in the corner.

There probably are a decent set of lyrics to be written about TV evangelists, but they're not to be found here, and nor can they be found in Phil Collins' "Jesus He Knows Me". For what it's worth, The Shamen just about dodge the Christian Death Adolescent Silliness award by having a half-decent tune beneath their bile, which contains the usual shimmering guitars, sledgehammer beatbox rhythms, and some actually very effective and sickening samples. The Shamen didn't need to highlight the bigotry and smug piousness of these men when their own words speak for themselves, and actually act as some of the most effective inclusions on the single.
By the time we next meet The Shamen, though, their metamorphosis will be complete, and if "Jesus Loves Amerika" sounds like the last gasp of a group due to head off in an entirely new direction, it's because it is.



3. The Wolfhounds - Son Of Nothing (September)

While they were featured on the C86 compilation, Romford's The Wolfhounds were among the more abrasive acts on the cassette who weren't really common-or-garden indiepop. "Son of Nothing" is evidence of that, containing one of the few examples I can think of a furious sounding wah-wah pedal.

Heavily politicised and often somewhat marginalised as a result of their ferocity, The Wolfhounds nonetheless issued a brace of punchy indie singles throughout the eighties, any one of which is worth tracking down. Unlike many bands of their ilk, their work retained an underground punk ethic whilst also containing interesting and mature songwriting. While their travelling companions thrashed and bashed their way through the issues of the day, The Wolfhounds surprised with their often dextrous way with a melody.



4. The Sea Urchins - Solace (Sarah)

It's somewhat peculiar how all the releases on Sarah Records get lumped in with the "twee" tag when in reality, the output of the label was quite diverse. "Solace" by The Sea Urchins is proof of that - this is really under-produced and slightly underheated garage psychedelia. The vocals wail and harmonise like The Gibb Brothers on "Have You Heard The Word", overloaded guitar solos buzz around the room like aggravated wasps, and the whole thing sounds like a sixties demo or outtake.

I can't be alone in thinking that the budget production and distorted elements get in the way of the song breaking through in places, though - I've always had the impression that if "Solace" had actually been given a more sympathetic studio treatment, it could be close to early Primal Scream. But it's also the needles-into-the-red garden shed sound to this single that sets it apart. Very few other bands aping this sound at the time were quite so rough and ready, or so aggressively dreamy.

"Solace" is still very highly regarded as a Sarah Records release today, proof that it was much more than flavour of the month at the point of Volume 5's release.



5. The Vaselines - Dying For It (53rd and 3rd)

The Vaselines couldn't be talked about at a later date without being tagged as "one of Kurt Cobain's favourite bands". "Dying For It" was the single which clearly locked the band close to his heart, as nestling on the flip side were two tracks, "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam", which would later be covered by Nirvana.

In a sense, Beechwood missed a trick by not including either of those songs on the compilation and instead opting for the obvious A-side, but who could ever have known the significance of either at the time? "Dying For It" is certainly the most full-on of all the choices available, being distorted and throttling as opposed to twee indie-pop. Once again, it's proof that whatever C86 did or didn't do, it certainly can't be blamed for encouraging a sea of jangly bands to emerge over the hills - the harder, rougher edges of it actually inspired emerging grunge bands too.

Eugene Kelly has gone on record as saying that he's "never made any money except for Nirvana royalties" which have allowed him to obtain a mortgage. It does seem to me as if more successful groups should also cover the work of the underground people they admire.

Indie Top 20 Volume 4 Part 1 Side Two - Wedding Present, Flatmates, Primitives, The Shamen, World Domination Enterprises, Pop Will Eat Itself

1. The Wedding Present - Nobody's Twisting Your Arm (Reception)

Well, this is it. This is the sound of a band with a style which was largely uncommercial at the time rising right up from the underground, and with an unbelievably good single. The yearning, lovelorn buzz and jangle of The Wedding Present's previous 7" efforts had been good, but nothing before really hinted at this - "Nobody's Twisting Your Arm" is just brilliant Pop. Pop with an abrasive edge, and pop that wasn't going to get played on Steve Wright In The Afternoon, obviously, but nonetheless, David Gedge was obviously on unbelievable form at this point.

Always known for taking common everyday sayings or phrases and trying to create hooks out of them, "Nobody's Twisting Your Arm" ups the commercial ante further by adding arrangement flourishes too, like that chiming piano, the female backing vocals, and not to mention one of the best choruses of their career. The opening lines "And when I called your house/ And your sister thought that I was somebody else" could have been given to a sulking, moping Jason Donovan for his latest hit if it weren't for the wobbly scansion in the second line. Try imagining "Nobody's Twisting Your Arm" performed in a synth-pop style. It isn't hard to do, as John Lennon never sang.

The track only just missed out on a proper national Top 40 place as a result, settling at the final position of number 46. It wasn't an Indie chart Number one either, resting somewhat unfortunately behind Kylie Minogue's "I Should Be So Lucky" on PWL, but perhaps that's only appropriate.

Things would change hugely for the band after this point. We'll meet them one more time before they sign to RCA, but there might be those who argue that this was actually their career pinnacle. I'm not too sure where I stand on that myself.



2. The Flatmates - Shimmer (Subway)

And this is probably my favourite Flatmates single as well, as the band suddenly throw feedback and jagged, harsher guitar sounds into the mix.  The lyrics are extra spiteful and biting as well, with spat out lines like "God knows what you've put me through" displaying a different facet to the band which just wasn't apparent on "Happy All The Time".

Sadly, it was also the beginning of the end for the group. One Janice Long Session EP would follow, and a final "proper" single in "Heaven Knows" in October 1988, before the game was up. They would reform in 2013 and release one more single, but are one of those frustrating indiepop acts never to have treated the world to a proper LP. Across seven inches, though, they were always a marvellous proposition.



3. The Primitives - Stop Killing Me (Lazy)

The Primitives are, you could argue, everything The Flatmates could have ended up becoming, and perhaps that's what they were trying to avoid. "Stop Killing Me" was released only a year before their RCA single "Crash", a top five smash which became the staple of school discos, with lots of caffeine-buzzing teens screeching "Shut! Shut your mo-outh!" in time with Tracy Tracy. Often regarded as one-hit wonders, they in fact managed a couple of years of moderate hit singles afterwards - no mean feat for a group of their ilk.

"Stop Killing Me" is an admirable and gutsy blast of three minute sixties pop with teeth, but in retrospect it's not worth getting overly exercised about. What's on display here could easily be found in countless other places being performed with a bit more of an edge and bigger hooks, but obviously it isn't their finest or most representative moment.



4. The Shamen - Knature of a Girl (Moksha)

"Christopher Mayhew Says" on Volume 3 was a fantastic psychedelic cacophony, but by the point of "Knature of a Girl" things had calmed down a little. The sledgehammer beatbox rhythms are still in place, and the shimmering effects (this time with added sitar styled noises) add a kaleidoscopic feel, but poppiness is beginning to rear it's head.

"Knature of a Girl" is still a long, long way from "Ebeneezer Goode" - so far it's almost mind-boggling, in fact - but the chorus here sounds close to the soon-to-be-born Jesus Jones, and you're left with the impression that the emerging wave of faintly rebellious but nonetheless commercial alt-pop groups probably owed The Shamen a debt. A debt, obviously, that neither side was keen to acknowledge by the time The Shamen were Boss Drummed up to the hilt.



5. World Domination Enterprises - I Can't Live Without My Radio (Product Inc)

Don't worry, readers, this one was an absurd release even at the time; a cover of LL Cool J's single with discordant, squawking guitar noises taking the place of any scratch mixing or indeed grooves. Apart from the fact that this version propels along with a bit more urgency, it's hard to understand why you'd need to own it instead of the original... nonetheless, it climbed to Number 8 in the indie chart, acting as World Domination Enterprises' biggest single ever.

The group were probably much more respected at the time for their cult single "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" which loaned its title to a later slice of Carter USM lyricism, and indeed had a cult following which ensured they were big news on the national gig circuit for awhile. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" is a baffling misfire, though, which only seemed radical at the time for the novelty of being a Hip-Hop track being retooled and reappropriated by English noiseniks. We were easily pleased by such things in those days.



6. Pop Will Eat Itself - There Is No Love Between Us Anymore (Chapter 22)

"There Is No Love Between Us Anymore" really is largely an instrumental track propelled along with scratch noises, interjecting samples and the occasional anguished cry of the title from Clint Mansell. That should have made it an utterly inappropriate single and something best left to the closing moments of the "Box Frenzy" LP, but in fact it showed that there was slightly more to the Brummie boys than leery, beery rapping and loud guitars. There's a neat patchwork quilt of ideas going on here, and a distinct dark mood, which showed that a creative and modern songwriting approach was apparent in their ranks - a point that probably needed to be made after two cover versions in a row.

Oddly, this does creatively sit somewhere between Public Image Limited and Big Audio Dynamite, the follow-up projects of two crucial punk figures, and the moody black and white video of two knackered parents loans it a sympathetic and considered edge the larks of the "Beaver Patrol" promo definitely didn't. ("It's restricted from playback on certain sites", say Sony. How dare I attempt to plug a bit of their adopted back catalogue on my blog, eh?)

Whatever the influences or the purpose behind the release of this, it did their prospects no harm and acted as their first ever official UK Top 75 chart entry, climbing to number 66. Far bigger success would also follow.

Indie Top 20 Volume 3 Side 2 - Fields Of The Nephilim, The Shamen, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Happy Mondays, Brilliant Corners

1. Fields Of The Nephilim: Preacher Man (Situation Two)

Fields of the Nephilim emerged out of Stevenage like some post-apocalyptical newtown cowboys, and while such an opening sentence may sound very pretentious, that is largely the image they seemed to want to portray. Covered in dust (or flour, actually) with milky eyes, and a doomy gothic sound combined with some beautiful twangy Morricone inspired riffs, they were frequently dismissed as a daft concept, but on form they could actually create some beguiling sounding records. Elements of "Moonchild", for instance, sound like a lot of the post-rock inspired bands emerging today, with as much Joy Division in the mix as Sisters of Mercy.

Preacher Man was their second single, and while it was a key breakthrough moment for the group, compared to what came later it does sound a little less ambitious and dependent on some rather weighty riffs and repetition of doom-mongering lyrics about "contamination" and "radiation". When acting as the soundtrack to the video, it seems slightly more appealing, which makes me wonder which idea came first.



2. The Shamen: Christopher Mayhew Says (Moksha)

The Shamen may have found success as commercial purveyors of Dance Music, but way back when, they were actually a neo-psychedelic rock band who gradually introduced beatbox loops and samples into their particularly suspicious brand of mushroom soup. However, their debut LP "Drop" was quite straightforward compared to the post-LP release "Christopher Mayhew Says", which incorporates samples of the Labour/ Liberal MP Mayhew taking a mescaline trip while a film crew recorded him (which can be heard in its original form here).

The Syd Barrett inspired interstellar guitar screeching was certainly trad psychedelia, the hammering beatbox and thrashing guitars were not. Listen to this while on LSD, and your trip might not necessarily be a happy one. It's a collision of two worlds, the old and the new, which works in a unique way and acts a signpost to the future.

Of course, it wasn't completely without precendent. Gaye Bykers on Acid's "Nosedive Karma" from the previous year had a similar mix of psychedelia, samples and thrashed guitars. All these tracks signified the rise of left-field rock music melding with the ideas in Hip Hop and Dance music, albeit in a faintly clodhopping way... and The Shamen shifted direction with greater ease than most. Fewer groups could more easily claim "There's always been a dance element to our music" further down the line and genuinely mean it.

"Christopher Mayhew Says" sounded astonishing at the time too, certainly to this young listener. Heard for the first time on "The Chart Show", it sounded like an adrenalin packed cocktail of The Beatles, early Floyd, Grebo, the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Sonic Youth, and God knows what else. Whether it sounds tamer now or not - and I'd guess that it almost certainly does - in 1987, it felt simultaneously confusing and exhilarating. The psychedelic pop revival was in full swing in London in small clubs in the mid to late eighties, but little of it sounded quite like this.

For his part, Mayhew continually insisted that he had enjoyed long, heavenly experiences outside our standard concepts of time while under the influence of mescaline. He passed away in 1997.



3. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry: Open Up (Situation Two)

More Goths, though they denied it until they were blue in the face, insisting they were more interested in art-punk and garage rock. Still, those growling vocals and incessant pounding rhythms would have made this a natural second track after the Nephilim (which makes me wonder why it wasn't placed there - did a bribe exchange hands?) Unlike that group, though, this is claustrophobic and minimal, locked in a wardrobe in a derelict house rather than wandering around in the American desert looking for mutants to dictate to.

Leeds' Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (briefly known as The Lorries for a time) were cult figures for what seemed like an endless amount of time, emerging in 1981 and continuing for ten years. Whether they saw themselves as Goths or not, they certainly attracted the right crowd, and it saw them through other changing fads and fashions. By the nineties, though, they had been dropped by Beggars Banquet (parent label of Situation Two) and it was all over.

Still, "Open Up" was single of the week in the usually rather goth-phobic NME, showing that certain critics favoured them.



4. Happy Mondays: 24 Hour Party People (Factory)

Now considered something of a classic in the band's catalogue, and loaning itself to the title of the film of the same name, "24 Hour Party People" pushed the Mondays outside of their usual audience in 1987 by appearing on "The Chart Show". Still though, its bow-legged, jagged funk rhythms and Ryder's stream-of-consciousness lyrics felt slightly like a hangover from post-punk at the time. It's easy to point at the track in retrospect and consider it the dawn of a brave new indie era, but back then nobody seriously thought Shaun Ryder was a future tabloid pop star. If anything, the Mondays were more commonly regarded as being a second division version of The Fall.

Still, "24 Hour Party People" is a confident and staggering single, and showed the group moving beyond their likeably ramshackle beginnings and into records with much more mainstream structures.  Ryder later claimed that the only reason the group didn't deal with strong choruses early in their career is "we didn't know how to write them". It certainly shows they'd moved on a long way from that point, if his claims are true. "Party People" is so laden with hooks it's hard to know where to point, though crucially none of them seem like chartbound sounds - certainly not by 1987's standards. The track has far too many sharp points and angles to easily slide into the Top 40, and only a slight sanding down of the group's sound and a gradual easing of tolerance to alternative ideas in the mainstream would begin to generate results.



5. The Brilliant Corners: Delilah Sands (SS20)

The Brilliant Corners actually took a slightly peculiar turn themselves on "Delilah Sands", although only relatively speaking. While most of their singles were chiming, brassy indiepop, "Delilah Sands" utilised surreal and faintly icky imagery ("I'd bite you if I had the teeth") and was altogether less strident.

When this was finally shown on "The Chart Show", my mother was moved to comment: "Who is this? Roxy Music? Whoever it is, I don't like it". A piss-poor guess on her part, really, but even a Radio Two listener of the 80s wouldn't have made the same mistake with "Brian Rix". None of this hurt The Brilliant Corners' "career" any, as "Delilah Sands" reached the Indie Top 10 with ease, but they'd be back to business as usual for future single releases.