After the split of the Young Marble Giants, Alison Statton dreamed herself as Helen Merill and ended up to be the most convincing Astrud Gilberto impersonator of the eighties. A view from her room begins as a bossa and ends in a blast of percussions.
One of the true masterpiece of the first half of this decade ans it's a shame that it is not currently available.
13 Jul 02 ·delicado: By coincidence, I bought this record on Monday in a charity shop in England. I like it very much. Alison Statton and Spike toured England about 6 years ago and were excellent.
Early Serge Gainsbourg masterpiece with an "exotica" feel. The backing track is a far-east melody while the lyrics are simply beautiful. Gainsbourg used the characteristics of the anthracite to describe his feelings about a girl. It's a kind of first step into what was to be the apex of his first period, the "Gainsbourg percussions" LP of 1964.
from N�2 (Philips) available on CD - Couleur caf� (Mercury/Philips)
04 Jan 04 ·whoops: sorry, in place of "far east" please read "middle east" in the recommendation above.
During the summer of 1985 Microdisney had already lost all illusions about their potential commercially speaking. This second album was not what people would called a long awaited one. Recorded in a chaotic way (the drum part was the last thing to be put on the tape), this is a true masterpiece from track 1 to track 10 and "Are you happy ?" is its epicenter.
Cathal Coughlan (who at the time renamed himself Blah Blah and claimed to play keyboards and plastic pubis)is now a solo artist and still one of the most beautiful voice in england. Sean O'Hagan have finally achieved success through the High Llamas and Stereolab.
from The clock comes down the stairs (Virgin), available on CD (Rev-Ola)
04 Jun 04 ·felonius: I have to agree. This is one of the most poignant, plaintive tracks I have ever heard, O'Hagan's soaring Telecaster solo launching it into orbit far above the mire of other 80's indie rock. (I think it might have been influenced by Stephen Stills' solo on 'Bound to Lose' from the Manassas album - another guitar solo to make you weep).