The second installment of this short series begins with a song that took the charts by storm 40 years ago. Jangly guitars, a great melody, and the whistling at the end of the song made this one of the best pop songs of the year.
For those who don't know, Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish singer/songwriter who had several hits in the early 70s. Among them is Claire, which begins with whistling. Some might say that it's light music, but I liked his voice even back then.
Finally, a one-hit wonder from 1967. Whistling Jack Smith was a singer and trumpeter from Liverpool who enjoyed brief success with his whistled song, but never achieved it again.
Last week, a series that had been running for over a year came to an end here. I thought about what could come next and couldn't come up with anything for a long time, until I came across The Auteurs' debut album again last weekend. What could be more obvious than to start a series dealing with debut albums?
In the early 90s, the Britpop phenomenon emerged, a genre that marked a return to guitar-based pop. Much of it was pleasant to listen to, but only a little of it was truly great. One of these bands was The Auteurs, although strictly speaking they should be classified in this genre, as elements of glam and country also appear in their songs.
Luke Haines founded The Auteurs in 1992 and released a milestone album, New Wave, a year later. Rarely has a debut album featured so many melodic songs in different styles, covering everything from rock to melancholy that was popular at the time. Unfortunately, The Auteurs did not achieve the same status as Oasis, for example.
After the band broke up, Haines returned a few years later with the art pop band Black Box Recorder to give us more great songs. After that, success eluded him and his subsequent releases, such as his collaboration with Peter Buck, unfortunately went unnoticed by the public.
Over the past weekend, I listened more closely to some bands that inspired me last year. One of them was Deeply Armed, a new band from Dublin. They recorded a song called The Healing, which is now available in several remixes. The original is a mixture of relaxed music that could have been released 40 years ago. Psychedelic and Krautrock that could have been produced by Conny Plank.
The other band that really impressed me was Thought Leadership, a band from the greater Manchester area that has released several albums. What they all had in common was a reduction to echoing guitar sounds in the tradition of Durutti Column and David Gilmour. With III of Pentacles, they have created an album that enchants with its blend of ambient, Cocteau Twins, and Johnny Marr.
In 2003 The Decline Of British Sea Power was released as the band's debut album. This album was rightly celebrated by critics. Their glam-punk-pop was something completely new at the time. Bowie-esque songwriting meets wailing guitars and dark lyrics to create an unmistakable sound. With Lately, they have created their own monument on this album. A song that starts slowly ends in an angry, distorted guitar orgy that couldn't be better. A masterpiece that should definitely be listened to again.
Lindsey Jordan aka Snail Mail an American guitarist and singer/songwriter released her first song of her upcoming album Dead End. A couple of years ago she released a remarkable album that featured 90's indie-rock, some heavy guitars and her unique voice. Now it seems she reduced the speed and present another song about the end of a relationship where it is unclear whether it is a friendship or actually a relationship. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, because she draws a positive conclusion. Ultimately, it's a song that captures moods and impresses with a long-forgotten retro sound.
Records released by Bristol Archive Records is always worth to give them a listen. Mostly they dive deep into Bristol's music scene from former times and they bring forgotten musical treasures to light. This was also the case this time, when they released a record by Fear Of Darkness that provides an overview of the band's work from 1986 to 1988.
FOD were a band whose appearance alone showed their affiliation with gothic and dark wave. Sometimes they sound like a mixture of The Alarm and The Clash with their distorted guitar sound, other times like the little brother of the Sisters Of Mercy. Which is basically not a bad thing. An album by an unjustly forgotten band that could have been big with the right promotion.
This series has been running for a year now, and future posts will be repetitive. Since nothing is worse than repetition, this series will be discontinued shortly. In the coming weeks, I will once again present songs that were not included a year ago, as I kept the selection small. Thank you for your interest and feedback on the respective editions.
