Tiny Dynamine – number one for one week on w/e 7th December 1985
Echoes – number one for seven weeks from w/e 14th December 1985
Tiny Dynamine – number one again for one week from w/e 1st February 1986
Echoes – number one again for one week from w/e 8th February 1986
Sometimes flippant comments made by people who aren’t invested in a band or genre reveal truths, and indeed, the Cocteaus were an utterly unshiftable force in alternative music in 1985. Unlike the Morrisseys, McCullochs and (Robert) Smiths of that world, though, their presence was often only felt through mentions in the music press, plays on evening radio, and their largely unintentional farming of the indie listings. Their records frequently slowly drifted around both the singles and album charts, gumming up the works and leaving long, murky pastel trails.
The absolute peak of this phenomenon occurred at the end of 1985, when 4AD saw fit to release two of their EPs in quick succession. Both “Tiny Dynamine” and “Echoes In A Shallow Bay” were recorded in short order as the group tested the facilities of their new recording studio, producing results they felt were good enough for public consumption in the process. The two records were not particularly stylistically distinct and could easily have been mashed together to create a mini-LP without losing any coherence, and history doesn’t record why the EP approach was taken instead.
Even if you didn’t already know that the songs featured here began life in a laboratory-like, testing environment, it becomes clear that something fresh is afoot almost immediately. Whereas previous Cocteaus singles had a sense of openness and vastness, particularly their previous release “Aikea-Guinea”, with both these records you feel – or at least I feel (never assume!) - as if a glass dome is being pulled over the group. The production begins to take on a radiated indoor warmth as thick basslines meet airy but artificial sounding washes. It’s hardly Dire Straits, but there’s a precision and slickness to the sound which causes you to imagine wandering around an empty shopping mall where only brief glimpses of natural light are seen through occasional tiny windows on the edges. The rest is strip lights, potted plants and tasteful muted colours.
You can hear this particularly strongly on tracks like “Pale Clouded White” on “Echoes”, where the ambient whine of treated guitars constantly linger in the background like the gentle echo of unoiled machinery, or on “Great Spangled Fritillary” where the background instruments approximate creaks, clicks, groans and distant foghorn blasts rather than providing any traditional anchor. In a sense, this is industrial music, but it sounds nothing like Foetus. Instead, it cuddles up to the machinery, accepting it as a tool which can be something other than a weapon.
It’s not as if “Tiny Dynamine” offers anything vastly different. The epitome of the phenomenon can possibly be found on there first, the instrumental “Ribbed and Veined” offering artificial cricket clicks alongside hazy muzak hums, occasional touches of wow and flutter, and a steady, unchallenging backbeat. If anything, this track almost sounds close to the modern idea of Vaporwave, where relaxing, smooth melodies meet cavernous echoes and badly recalled memories of the wonders of the eighties indoor shopping centre; it’s just that while those songs generally veer towards the bright and even groovy, “Ribbed and Veined” is closer to the music you hear in a jammed elevator just as the place is due to close for the evening; a gentle, unobtrusive thing wobbling its way towards the unintentionally nightmarish. Nor is the Cocteau’s music ever as straightforward as some dork pushing a few Garageband effects buttons over a loop of an instrumental break from some dinner party soul album.
The past, present and future is therefore present across both these EPs. The past can be heard in Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kate Bush, the present in eighties Wire, the future in the concept (though not quite the sound) of Boards of Canada. All admirable, except there’s nothing across these two records that really lifts me or takes me anywhere truly joyous, moving or uncomfortable. Both EPs feel far too close to their origins to me – laboratory experiments released into the wild for the usual people to wow over.
Others, though, will inevitably disagree. There are plenty of comments from people online who regard these two records as being a creative high watermark for the group, who talk of being moved to tears by the bright lights and close sounds. If you’re one of these, I’m sorry.
For such studio boffins, the group were also very cagey about their methods, not (I suspect) because they feared thievery, but because their activities were instinctive and playful rather than methodical. In an interview with “Electronic Soundmaker and Computer Music” that year, the group’s patience with a journalist grows wafer thin until eventually Guthrie snaps “We just do it… There’s nothing to it if you know what all the buttons do.” It’s hard to imagine an interview with Art of Noise, who were also studio nerds (albeit of a different style) being summarised with a quote as snappy as that.
I also wonder if the close release of both these records and their subsequent dominance of the Indie Singles chart led to 4AD’s baffling decision to release Lush’s “Desire Lines” and “Hypocrite” on the same day in 1994, resulting in both singles splitting the public’s attention and ultimately flopping. If they expected the same results, they inevitably found out that this kind of strange brew couldn’t be bottled twice.
New Entries Elsewhere In The Chart
Week One
11. The June Brides - No Place Called Home (Pink)
Peak position: 3
Spartan, hastily plucked indiepop with a faintly Freddie and The Dreamers styled tinge around the instrumental breaks, “No Place Like Home” is a fragile single which seems to wish that 1963 and 1976 were both happening at the same time. To those who love that sort of thing, it will be catnip.
15. Marc Riley With The Creepers - 4 A's From Maida Vale (In Tape)
Peak position: 15
22. Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire (Come and Get It) (Situation Two)
Peak position: 4
A more muscular sound for the Genes here – there’s even a vocal explanation of “Heurgh!” before the single properly begins, and the drums are riddled with reverb (and have a cowbell on top). Anybody would think they had Billy Idol’s career in their sights.
The FM production is mostly a problem, though, reducing the group from something which could be inventive and occasionally striking and turning them into the aural equivalent of a slightly sulky Californian freeway journey. And no, it never feels as if we’re “nearly there yet”, it’s just more and more of the same straight road and passing street lights until the song fades.
23. The Three Johns - Brainbox (He's A Brainbox) (Abstract)
Peak position: 5
25. A Witness – Loudhailer Songs EP (Ron Johnson)
Peak position: 16
Fully lives up to its title by delivering four distorted, grimy, disjointed songs which sound like commanding announcements but confuse, criticise and obfuscate with their lyrical imagery rather than issuing clear instructions. Not the most out-there record on the incredibly radical Ron Johnson label, but still more absurd than just about anything else in the indie charts this week.
Week Two
17. Peter and The Test Tube Babies - Wimpeez (Trapper)
Peak position: 15
It’s an interesting to note that most of the punk bands who are still tearing up the indie charts by late 1985 are the Punk Pathetique crowd for whom, when all is said and done, everything’s a bit of a laugh and no harm is really done.
The key difference between Peter & The Test Tube Babies and their close rivals The Toy Dolls is that they do actually feel as if they have a genuine bite. Where the Dolls squeak and skip, this lot grit their teeth and get stuck in. “Wimpeez” is, seemingly, a slightly joky but mostly serious diatribe against Britain’s second favourite fast food establishment (at the time) where the group urge us to recognise that they’re “shit” so “don’t buy a burger – meat means murder”. Why they got stuck into the awfulness of Wimpy’s rather than McDonalds is an interesting question, but its probable that the outlet fronted by the big American clown was a less grimy, less obviously English target. Or maybe they just got food poisoning on tour from that outlet.
22. The Passmore Sisters – Three Love Songs EP (Sharp)
Peak position: 18
Weeks Three and Four (a combined Christmas period chart)
20. Death In June - Come Before Christ And Murder Love (NER)
Peak position: 15
23. The Anti Group - Zulu (Sweatbox)
Peak position: 18
The Anti Group were pretentious art funksters – and I’m sorry, but any group who refer to their “multi-dimensional research and development project active in many related areas” can’t possibly be seen any other way (though Dave Stewart’s ears were probably twitching).
That doesn’t mean they couldn’t produce impressive work, though, and Zulu is an ever-shifting but skeletal groove which is very hard to dismiss.
24. Rote Kapelle – The Big Smell Dinosaur EP (Big Smell Dinosaur)
Peak position: 22
Week Five (first chart of 1986)
14. The Mighty Lemon Drops - Like An Angel (Dreamworld)
Peak position: 6
The sole indie release for the Drops, who having issued this on Dan Treacy’s Dreamworld label were ushered away to the Chrysalis affiliated Blue Guitar label (and eventually Sire).
“Like An Angel” is a rough and ready, bass heavy din which manages to gel the naive doodles of indiepop with the darker edges of post-punk, resulting in something which doubtless got the pie chart pointing boys and girls in A&R land excited. A band which could appeal to both listeners of The Cure and those of The Smiths? Why not sign here boys.
Some close shaves with near American success eventually followed – basic research reveals the usual Modern Rock Chart high entries which mean something and nothing all at the same time - but The Mighty Lemon Drops eventually became one of the more infrequently recalled groups of the C86 era, cast to one side on era defining compilation CDs in favour of more fragile melodies. A shame because “Like An Angel” showed that they had a distinct noise to offer.
21. Pigbros – The Blubberhouses (Vinyl Drip)
Peak position: 19
22. Gary Clail – Half Cut For Confidence (On-U Sound)
Peak position: 20
26. Tackhead - What's My Mission Now? (On-U Sound)
Peak position: 19
Two entries for Clail and Tackhead in the space of one week. “Half Cut For Confidence” is held together with a sticky back plastic beatbox loop, dub effects and Clail talking (rather than rapping) about the life of a lag in a prison cell. It sounds unavoidably dated now despite its best intentions.
“What’s My Mission Now” is just plain awash with more ideas, twittering samples, airy synth lines and agitated bass lines creeping in here, there and everywhere. Minimalism or maximum dubby outer exploration? If you were a Clail fan, clearly you got to pick and choose this week. For me, the latter outscores the former.
Week Six
27. Hawkwind - Needlegun (Flicknife)
Peak position: 15
The persistence of Hawkwind and their continued place in underground culture in 1985 is quite cheering in its own way. “Needlegun” still has that peculiar whooshing sound in the background, but the song itself sounds uncannily like The Cult in places. Maybe things hadn’t moved on quite as much as we’d thought.
30. The Business - Drinking And Driving (Diamond)
Peak position: 25
Oi! bands have been absent from the indie charts for some time at this point, but The Business manage to emerge with a not entirely serious song about the joys of drinking and driving. “Knock it back/ ‘ave another one/ drinking and driving is so much fun!” they bark, making it sound like a command rather than a recommendation.
The Business were, by this point, just as much of a throwback as Hawkwind, but their back-to-basics punk approach sounds even weirder and more out-of-place than the hippies by the mid-eighties. In an age of big production values, Hawkwind obviously had their friends, whereas The Business sound tinny and threadbare.
Week Seven
14. Sonic Youth - Flower (Blast First)
Peak position: 9
Whereas Sonic Youth sound somehow like the two ideologies and styles in conflict with each other here. “Flower” is provocative and threatening but also bizarrely minimal, droning away in a manner that never truly resolves itself. It sounds like a feminist statement rather than a record, and not a million miles off one of Crass’s one-off releases from three or four years before.
27. The Godfathers – Capo Di Tutti Capi EP (Corporate Image)
Peak position: 27
Swaggering bluesy rocker from The Godfathers who finally begin to sound as if their studio work is capturing their live majesty here. “Lonely Man” stretches all the way back to the best sixties mod and R&B sounds and despite its repetition never once gets dull.
28. The Bomb Party - Life's A Bitch (Abstract)
Peak position: 28
Week Eight
17. In Two a Circle - Rise... (Arcadia)
Peak position: 14
In Two A Circle (or Into A Circle as they later became known) were a duo who consistently stormed the indie charts in the mid-to-late eighties, but never quite managed to step inside the mainstream. Member Barry Jepson had previously been the bassist for Southern Death Cult, and while the group’s sound has a similar gothic agitation, there are also sprigs of acoustic folkiness and punkish rhythms in the mix, making comparisons between the two groups a little futile.
“Rise…” was their debut single and manages to be both strident and hypnotic – an interesting trick to pull off.
22. Liberty - Our Voice is Tomorrow's Hope EP (Mortarhate)
Peak position: 22
28. Princess Tinymeat - A Bun In The Oven (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 23
Princess Tinymeat were a group formed by Daniel Figgis of The Virgin Prunes rather than a singular artist, and “A Bun In The Oven” is a curious, droning two-minute racket which gets more uneasy as it progresses, despite never delivering a truly shocking pay-off; still, sometimes the threat is more disturbing than the impact.
Despite all this, their appearance on the Gay Byrne Show to promote this single is a peculiar culture-clash moments to treasure.
Peak position: 28
Week Eight
17. In Two a Circle - Rise... (Arcadia)
Peak position: 14
In Two A Circle (or Into A Circle as they later became known) were a duo who consistently stormed the indie charts in the mid-to-late eighties, but never quite managed to step inside the mainstream. Member Barry Jepson had previously been the bassist for Southern Death Cult, and while the group’s sound has a similar gothic agitation, there are also sprigs of acoustic folkiness and punkish rhythms in the mix, making comparisons between the two groups a little futile.
“Rise…” was their debut single and manages to be both strident and hypnotic – an interesting trick to pull off.
22. Liberty - Our Voice is Tomorrow's Hope EP (Mortarhate)
Peak position: 22
28. Princess Tinymeat - A Bun In The Oven (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 23
Princess Tinymeat were a group formed by Daniel Figgis of The Virgin Prunes rather than a singular artist, and “A Bun In The Oven” is a curious, droning two-minute racket which gets more uneasy as it progresses, despite never delivering a truly shocking pay-off; still, sometimes the threat is more disturbing than the impact.
Despite all this, their appearance on the Gay Byrne Show to promote this single is a peculiar culture-clash moments to treasure.
29. The Stars of Heaven - Clothes of Pride (Hotwire)
Peak position: 29
Dublin country rockers who were much loved by Peel but never really worked their way into the British consciousness. “Clothes Of Pride” may be incredibly unproduced, but it’s also astonishingly authentic sounding, seeming like the work of another band from a whole ten years before. While material like this was always deeply unlikely to find anything other than a niche audience, Rough Trade jumped in on the back of this single and signed them for two albums.
Peak position: 29
Dublin country rockers who were much loved by Peel but never really worked their way into the British consciousness. “Clothes Of Pride” may be incredibly unproduced, but it’s also astonishingly authentic sounding, seeming like the work of another band from a whole ten years before. While material like this was always deeply unlikely to find anything other than a niche audience, Rough Trade jumped in on the back of this single and signed them for two albums.
Week Nine
21. Tackhead - Mind At The End Of The Tether (On-U Sound)
Peak position: 21
23. Age Of Chance – Bible Of The Beats (Riot Bible)
Peak position: 7
Age Of Chance would soon go on to release a scuzzed up version of Prince’s “Kiss” which resulted in enormous press attention and evening radio play – more on that in due course – but here at the starting line, they sound like nothing more or less than one of those odd, angular acts who found a home on Ron Jonson Records. There’s a simplicity and repetition here you couldn’t imagine A Witness settling for, though; a clattering metronomic beat meets whining guitars and a staccato vocal, and at this point they sound like the least probable group in the charts this week for which the phrase “crossover potential” would eventually be applied.
29. Rowland S. Howard and Lydia Lunch - Some Velvet Morning (4AD) (re-entry)
Peak position: 18
Week Ten
15. New Model Army - Bittersweet (Quiet)
Peak position: 6
Not actually a new single by the Army, who had long since packed their bags and set up camp at EMI, but their debut single from 1983 making its presence felt in the indie listings for the first time. The group are clearly still finding their feet at this point and the recording is threadbare – this sounds more like a demo than a fully fledged single – but it’s possible to hear the early unfolding of promise here.
18. Antisect - Out from the Void (Endangered)
Peak position: 10
19. The Wedding Present - Once More (Reception)
Peak position: 3
In which one of Sir Keir Starmer’s favourite bands stop gouging shreds out of their instruments and discover both a delicate jangle (in places at least) and a powerful chorus. In fact, “Once More” is so weighed down with hooks that there are moments where it doesn’t feel clear whether there are at least two choruses battling it out with each other, while the group sprint and rattle through all the competing ideas.
If “Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy!” was a compelling record, “Once More” sounds like the first Wedding Present single to have something reaching beyond a marginal appeal.
25. The Styng Rites - Baby's Got a Brand New Brain (Snaffle)
Peak position: 25
Psychobilly boys who were perhaps some of the most under-recorded of their set, issuing one measly cassette and two singles in their lifetime. “Baby’s Got A Brand New Brain” certainly doesn’t set itself apart from the pack much, but certainly offers an immediacy and dynamism that some of the more successful acts occasionally shied away from.
Number Ones In The Official Charts
Wham! - "I'm Your Man" (Epic)
Whitney Houston - "Saving All My Love For You" (Arista)
Shakin' Stevens - "Merry Christmas Everyone" (Epic)
Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls" (Parlophone)
A-ha - "The Sun Always Shines on TV" (Warner Bros.)
Billy Ocean - "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going" (Jive)
Thereby ends the 23Daves equivalent of "War And Peace". What a labour of love. Well done, sir!
ReplyDelete