exceptional song about love and life in smalltown northern england. A fabulousopening line 'I know she has a boyfriend and I guess we both take turns,he gets hot meals his washing done,I get carpet burns' All the things you loved about the Smiths, a quiet piano led intro bashed into submission by noisy guitars and drums and then back to the quiet bit. Wonderful, buy it.
from the single My Life As A Carcrash (Action) available on CD - My Life As A Carcrash (Action)
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, 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).
First of all the whole album is a mess, this track alone stands as a diamond on a pile of crap. Reminiscent of what Pigbag played earlier in the eighties, this samba oriented track is a pretty good one. Joao Bosco is credited playing pandero and agogo.
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.
Come closer and listen carefully, this is the best kept secret of the so called music industry.
The Monochrome Set have changed my life and the ones of thousands (Well..maybe hundreds..ok, maybe 5 or 10). They came out of nowhere in the late seventies with a serie of singles on Rough Trade and were signed by Virgin in 1980 for 2 albums then by Cherry Red for a third one (Eligible bachelors) and by Warner for the last one (The lost week end). It is not an easy task to describe their music, it is always unpredictable, brilliant, clever and funny.
To finish, this is a quote from the cover of their second album :
"Once this record is in the house two's company and four is a party, roll back the carpet, switch out the light and dance in the glow of the firelight as the Monochrome Set provide your very own music far from the maddening crowd of the dancehalls"
Oh by the way, Apocalypso is an exquisite little song with a marimba and percussion break.
