Three's a Crowd Pleaser

Well, at least that's what I want to tell myself.

It doesn't really matter since I inadvertently end up being somewhat of a contrarian in the long run and I make a last minute decision that goes against the last thing I had said.

SO, yes, I still have a lot of 90s/early 00s indiepop to come.

This is not quite it.

But then again, it doesn't really fall too far outside of the realm, just a bit more on the weirder side of it. A tad more experimental or something.
I don't know.
It's still rock and roll to me.

And here's a trio of releases by Famous Boyfriend.

I Can't See My Way Out of This (1996)

So what do you need to know about this....

Famous Boyfriend is the brainchild of  Andrew Johnson and Craig Tattersall who were together in a band that somebody out there in the world may as yet still remember called Hood.
Local favorite Stewart Anderson of Boyracer fame also played with Hood at one point so it's not far fetched that Famous Boyfriend should have a couple of releases on his 555 Recordings label.

This particular one however is on the French Orgasm label just to be thoroughly confusing.

No One Will Give You Anything (1997)

A bit of weird experimentation and some melancholic pop songs buried in between the static.

That's kind of the order of the day.

This one is on 555 and it makes perfect sense that it is.

At Least We're Trying (1998)

It's so odd to me when I type dates like 1998 to realize that this was over a twenty years ago by now when it still feels like a recent time to me mentally.
But time accelerates with age as every year becomes a smaller fraction of the time you've lived. (eg. at 10 a year is 1/10th of your life, 1/20th at 20, 1/40th at 40 etc...)

Which is deep as fuck if you want to think about it.
I don't really. I want another cup of coffee and perhaps some of the leftover okonomyaki I made last night.

That's how I'm rolling these days.

Mopping Up

Blah Blah Blah
Scritti Politti again

The Sweetest Girl (1981)

Ok, the politics is gone. We're making pop songs about girls now. 

Who cares when it's as lovely at this.

Especially one that has a contribution by Robert Wyatt in the recording.

This concludes the lesson on Scritti Politti as far as I will currently go.

You're welcome.

My Cherry is in Sherry (1980)

Ludus were from  Manchester and this 3rd single was released on the label that the Buzzcocks manager's label New Hormones.

I can never resist a good song about sex.

They're All A-sides to Me

We continue with yet more early Scritti Politti

Work in Progress: 2nd Peel Session (1979)

The released product of their 2nd Peel Session in June of 1979.

More of the same.

A lot more political bent on this one.

"Messthetics" 

Yes. 

4 A-Sides (1979)

A lifetime ago in my first band the bass player who was a few years older than the rest of us wanted to do a cover of "Confidence" from this. Never quite got that or the band off the ground, but I had possession of this for a brief period.

Listened to it a lot, but it was a few years before I could locate my own copy.

It would take a lot to pry it from my hands now.

Every song a gem. 

Posting this makes me happy because I have an excuse to play it a few extra times while I type about it.

Wait, Is It Supposed to Sound Like That?

This is one of two posts.

It's the initial recorded output of Scritti Politti.

Shut up.

You're dead fucking wrong.

No, really.

First Peel Session (1978)

For the general public Scritti Politti was a mid-80s synth-pop/dance group that had a couple of top ten hits with "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" and "Perfect Way" which are as perfect an encapsulation of terrible 80s production as you could ever find.

It's the sound of pastel colors, baggy tshirt and an ozone depleting amount of hairspray.

This is about as far from that as you can get.

This is a boot of their first Peel Session from May 12,1978.

It's a very disjointed sound. It's the sound of Art School kids living in squats. 

For me that's a big "Fuck Yeah!"

It's like they're all playing different songs at the same time.

(This is also not my rip or anything like that. A well connected friend passed it on to me. I return the favor and pay it forward as it should be.)

Skank Bloc Bologna (1978)

Their first proper seven inch. 

A lot more coherent than the Peel Session and something that I can listen to over and over again and have over many years.

 

(It's unfortunate that I don't seem to have done my own scans for these. When I ripped them a while back I didn't have a scanner. Perhaps if I feel like it in the next few months, I'll fix that.)

The cheaply printed sleeves have a very strict accounting for all the money spent in order to make the record like the good Leftists they were.

 

It's on their own St. Pancras label and a precious 2500 were all that were pressed.

I couldn't really say which song I love more. "Skank Bloc Bologna" or "Is & Ought the Western World" though the third track is less essential being some instrumental music over a bit of BBC Radio.

This is absolutely my jam.

Rounding Out the Month with a Full Length

I'm getting a bit hungry.

I think okonomyaki is on the docket for today, but that won't be until much later.
Which means I have to see what's available to tide me over until then.

After this, I suppose.

Horselaugh on my Ex (2000)

For fuck's sake, this one is almost twenty fucking years old. Where does the time go.

It's our good buddy, Stewart Anderson of Boyracer fame doing his solo thing as he did before moving to the States. This one is lots and lots of noisy staticky distorted lo-fi fuckery of the highest order. It's the lovely sound of gleefully not giving a fuck once the record button is pressed.

Let it lull you into a stupor.

And when you come to, go and give Stewart some of your money so we can have more.

Maybe another Tricia Yates Fanclub lp. That one is bomb, as the kids used to say.

Nearly Done

In which we continue with what was started years ago and continued a few days ago...

285 Clock Cake (1993)

No seriously, this is nearly the end. It's a single sided flexi with one song. A new version of a previously released song (see previous post).

These two objects represent the final bits of straight up Boyracer releases from the original run of the band 1992-97 with the exception of a handful of scattered compilation tracks scattered across the world that I'm still tracking down.

From Purity to Purgatory (1993)

The last one I got. The second Sarah records ep which I somehow got ridiculously cheap from an Amazon seller. I'm not complaining. It was worth it.

Now as far as I currently know, there are still four compilations that I need to get to complete this Boyracer '92-'97 discography (barring another handful of cassette only compilations that I don't even want to get into because I'm an obsessive collector, but I have to draw a line somewhere...)

So be forewarned there's still more to dribble out. 

(and I'm not ruling out redoing all the rips over again since I've changed my process since then and kind of want to bring them up to current snuff....)

No Seriously, There's Still More...

It's the usual business.
I woke up this afternoon pretty recently. I'm drinking a coffee. I'm trying to get ahead of myself by queuing up a few posts for months in advance because I can and have a vague plan of getting myself a year out and then using the time to go through my own archive of shitty home recordings and bringing them into the digital age for my own sake.

Right now, I'm about seven months out.
You're welcome.

Railway (1992)

What may also seem familiar is that I'm making yet another fucking Boyracer post.
Fuckin' hell.

Here's the third release on Fluf.

West Riding House (1995)

Here's the special 5" single from their time on Zero Hour.
"Boyfriends" was exclusive to this one. 

I like Boyracer and I'm a completist.
Deal with it.