It’s only rock n roll but I like it, especially if it’s rock n roll on the warmest day of the year so far, on Cheltenham racecourse surrounded by people old enough to know better wearing pink panther onesies and a sexual health lorry. What more could you want?

As this reviewer and photographer are past it and have no stamina, we opt for the one day option. It’s Saturday of the Wychwood Festival – here we are now, entertain us.

On arrival priority is given to breakfast/dinner/lunch, with all three combined in one hastily consumed stomach lining meal of rice, nachos, peas, mushroom risotto and chicken before overdosing on sunshine and alcohol.

First up we check out the (still, barely) living legend that is John Otway, who reduced everyone to fits of laughter with renditions of House of the Rising Sun, Blockbuster, his two ‘hit’ singles, Cor Baby That’s Really Free and Beware of the Flowers. If you’re not familiar with this rock n roll failure I suggest you acquaint yourself at the earliest opportunity. Where else can you get gymnastics, comedy guitars, audience participation and a version of The Osmonds’ hit  Crazy Horses on Theremin?

The Wedding Present

Afterwards I think we saw The Moulettes and then it was time for some abrasive guitar pop from the evergreen The Wedding Present, who blast away the cobwebs with a blistering set. Fantastic.

I hope you’ve all heard the latest Public Service Broadcasting album Inform – Educate, Entertain. Great isn’t it? Well, the eccentric duo, of multi-instrumentalist and Brains from Thunderbirds lookalike J Willgoose Esq, and  drummer Wrigglesworth, were next up. Between them they rocked the house, with Willgoose’s posh electronica knob twiddling among many highlights of their set.

Public Service Broadcasting

After spending four hours haggling over a psychedelic shirt (he wanted 20 quid, I offered him a very reasonable 15) we gravitated toward the big top marquee for a performance by The History of Apple Pie, perhaps one of the worst band names since Muse. Fear not though, despite their name they were fab, drawing on such reference points as Ride, Spiritualized and Lush as they delivered a great set of loose limbed shoe gaze that took me right back to those heady days of 1992 (excuse me while I put my rose tinted glasses on ). They whipped up a veritable tornado of sonic love. I’m going to e-mail them this week, however, to tell them how crap their name is; I think it’s my duty.

The History of Apple Pie

We then caught the tail end of Caravan Palace, and wish I had seen more of their techno barrage par excellence. It was with some trepidation that I waited for Saturday’s headliners, 1980s new romantic pop sensations and Sheffield’s finest, The Human League. I anticipated three numbers and buggering off to see someone else. Well, in the same way that I had to swallow my opinionated cobblers last year and finally concede that Dexy’s Midnight Runners appearance at the Greenman festival was bloody incredible, I have to admit that The Human League were totally ace. It was Kraftwerk on a budget, it was cheese, but the finest cheese you’ve ever tasted and it was fun with a capital F. Mirror Man, Love Action, Fascination are such great big pop singles, with Lebanon, Wonderful, Wonderful, and their crowning glory, Don’t you want me? all shone brightly tonight. They even did their first single Being Boiled, which was greedily fed upon by a joyous crowd, dancing badly on a rare warm English summers evening. It was the epitome of a festival ‘moment’ with respect to Phil Oakey and the girls.

Human League’s Phil Oakey

Afterwards we went backstage to collar Mr Oakey but sadly he couldn’t be found. I think perhaps he spotted me with my clipboard and sexual health questionnaire.

On Sunday morning when I woke up I had in my bag eight packets of pansy seeds, a pair of pink oven gloves, (unused), two country music cds, four bottles of environmentally friendly washing up liquid and a clipboard.

I can’t emphasize enough how much fun Wychwood is. It’s kid friendly, loony friendly, beer friendly. Go next year.

Words by John Haylock, pictures by Arthur Hughes

At The Edge Of The Sea is David Gedge’s pet project. His annual mini-festival, in its fourth year, that (alongside the Holmfirth sister event) allows him to put on his favourite bands, his friend’s bands and play two sets of his own. These sets, the first with Cinerama and the second with The Wedding Present, book-end seven hours of music in Brighton’s Concorde 2.

Cinerama

Arriving at the venue you are treated to a fez wearing saw band playing in the bar (a make-shift second stage for the afternoon). It is an interesting opening and one that certainly catches your attention, even if the music is unlikely to be to everyone’s taste.

Drink in hand and ready in the main stage area it isn’t long before “The Boy Gedge” (as John Peel affectionately referred to him) makes his first appearance with Cinerama. The short sweet set doesn’t go down well with everyone but suited me down to the ground. The widescreen pop sound and songs from their early releases reflect the original Cinerama feel, before they essentially morphed back into The Wedding Present. It feels like a part-time thing, the act only play at this event once a year, but it is a lovely start to proceedings. The members of the band will become more and more familiar as they crop up in multiple acts throughout the day.

The Evil Son

Through the afternoon there is a real variety of music on show forcing you to switch quickly from stage to stage. The folk-prog of Das Fenster features a surprise appearance by former House of Love and Levitation guitarist Terry Bickers. The Evil Son feature members of Cinerama and the Wedding Present and play a nice early 90s influence indie-rock sound that reminds me of the (largely forgotten) Drop Nineteens. Yaz Bebek (complete with band members rushing straight from the other stage) play an enjoyable and unusual jazzy Turkish pop set.

The bands throughout the day confirm Gedge’s later statement that probably nobody but him would like every band that played, but I would be surprised if anyone didn’t find something to like and nothing was less than interesting.

Nightmare Air

Anyone wanting to hear something that little bit noisier would have been delighted by Nightmare Air, a band playing their first ever gigs outside the US. This three piece had a huge sound and the three boards of effects peddles showed that this band was all about the electric guitar. The set was a lot of fun and the overall sound was brilliantly overblown. The only downside (and an inherent risk at a music festival) was that the sound mix was not right, with the vocals far too loud. This made them sound cartoonish when they should have been part of the wall of sound.  Not a band I imagine listening to in my living room, but a band I would definitely recommend seeing live on stage.

CUD

Former Gene front-man Martin Rossiter’s set is probably the only bad bit of organisation all day, proving far too popular for the cramped bar stage. Unable to squeeze in I take the time to peruse the well stocked merch table, and flick through the “Tales From The Wedding Present” comic that is on sale. I even get the opportunity to chat to David Gedge himself, who proves to be a friendly and accommodating figure, clearly enjoying the day as much as the punters. Rossiter sounds in good voice and goes down very well with the crowd that made it in to see him.

Next on the main stage is Cud, and the reunited Leeds act play a set that goes down a storm with a very partisan crowd. I was not a big fan of the band first time round, and they don’t play a style of music that I love, but they play an undeniably great set. The performance is good, the crowd is enthused and the song choices are faultless – all the hits are accounted for with ‘Rich and Strange’ and ‘Only a Prawn in Whitby’ sounding pretty good. A lot of fun.

The Wedding Present

Even with all that has come before, this event is all about The Wedding Present and the venue is packed when they take the stage. The first few songs are some seldom played tracks including b-sides, a track from Saturnalia and the brilliant ‘Love Machine’ from mini. This short warm-up completed the main event begins, a full run-through of the 1991 Steve Albini recorded classic Seamonsters.

This is an album that I have listened to on and off for 21 years, and it sounds brilliant on stage in 2012. The wall of bass, drums and guitars blending perfectly with Gedge’s rough edged vocals and tales of troubled romance. ‘Dalliance’ is the perfect opening track and the album flows perfectly from there-on-in up to the epic conclusion with ‘Octopussy’. The crowd response is brilliant and I haven’t heard that much enthiusiastic singing along at a gig in years, especially with the wonderful ‘Dare’.

Once the album set is finished there is only enough time to play one more track, the evergreen ‘You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends’. It is a prefect closer and the crowd are fully aware when the band leaves the stage that it is the end. This is The Wedding Present and they don’t play encores.

All in all this is a brilliant event, a bargain at £18, and one that I’ll happily attend next year. I’m already looking forward to hearing all the songs from the Hit Parade collection in 2013, and the following year the underrated Watusi.

Words by Dorian Rogers, pictures by Nic Newman.

To see more of Nic’s photographs from the day visit our Flickr gallery.

What makes a good songwriter? For some it’s the ability to tell a good story, for others it’s a turn of phrase that succinctly captures a common emotion. For some. such as Andy Partridge, one of XTC’s chief songwriters, it is simply to draw inspiration from your own life and community.

In a  feature  in The Guardian in 2005 Partridge is quoted as saying:

“I can’t write mid-Atlantic airport lounge music. I can’t talk about my hot babe with her leather and whip or meeting my cocaine dealer. I like to write about what’s going on around the town.”

In a nutshell, he writes about what he knows. This frees his work from pretension and gives his lyrics genuine meaning. As the article later alludes, the example of Partridge puts the meaningless drivel of the likes of Coldplay to shame. Chris Martin needs to have a wander around town more like Partridge if he ever hopes to gain a song writing reputation to match his bank balance.

We’ve been having a good listen to the lyrics and construction of some of our favourite tracks recently and have decided to attempt one of our Top Tens looking at the art of the great songwriter and those whose lyrics inspire and amaze us. We’ve set some ground rules. They have to broadly fit into the indie or alternative musical world we cover, which unfortunately rules out Kate Bush. They also have to be an active song writer who is still releasing. This  rules out Partridge,  as XTC’s last album was more than a decade ago.

Andy Partridge

In our list we’ve some who not only write great lyrics but are expert song constructors. For some their best work is behind them but they are still plugging away. Meanwhile, for others they seemingly get better with age. Others in our list really give thought to the art of songwriting and take delight in helping fans and music lovers understand the process better.

We’ve also cheated a little. It is in fact a top 11; we couldn’t separate our top two choices so decided to give them equal first.  So with all that in mind here’s the first part of  our top ten (okay, its 11 really) song writers. To view part two of this list click here.

10. Darren Hayman

As singer and songwriter with 1990s act Hefner Darren Hayman already had a good reputation on the UK indie scene for producing strong lyrics and well worked songs. Good Heart, which made our Top Ten Tearjerkers list, is a perfect example of this. In this track Hayman tries and fails to convince his lover to stay with lines such as

You were just there, in the right place. You smooth out the wrinkles on my face

But arguably his best work has come in recent years, during a productive and purplest of patches that includes two albums about his native Essex (Pram Town, Essex Arms), contributions to the Vostok 5 space travel art and music project, bass playing for another great modern song writer Robert Rotifer in his band Rotifer, an album of piano ballads (Ship’s Piano) and his  January Songs project, where he wrote, released and recorded a song a day in January 2011. He is set to release an album about British lidos and Essex witch trials.

Darren Hayman at the Vostok 5 exhibition, 2011 (pic by Dorian Rogers)

It is his January  songs project that is perhaps his most impressive in terms of songwriting, in which he gave his audience a fascinating insight into the song writing process and came up with some superb lyrics and song writing that made a mockery of the short time he spent on them. I Know I Fucked Up, sung by Allo Darlin’s Elizabeth Morris and My Dirty Widow are among our highlights.

We drove to Barcelona on the road along the coast
The sun got in my eyes, we careered side to side
and now all I hear is the knocking of her heels on my casket

If you see my dirty widow
Tell her it’s ok
Tell her I don’t mind

A final mention goes to one of his songs on Vostok 5, A Little Arrow and a Little Squirrel, about the Russian  dogs Belka and Strelka, the first space dogs to return  to earth alive. Its line

“In a cage made of metal and glass, two beating hearts, beating too fast,”

perfectly captures the perilous, unusual situation these animals’ faced and shows a willingness by Hayman to write about the most leftfield of subject matter. It is among many highlights in a great songwriting career for Hayman that is showing no signs of letting up.

9.Luke Haines

Luke Haines is a different character from most of the people on this list, he has worked hard to commit commerical suicide many times in his career and he is as well known for being bitter as he is for great songwriting. But great songwriting is what he does, and it is something he did with his previous bands, The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder, and is something he continues to do today as a solo artist.

Looking back at his earliest songs, on the Mercury Prize nominated New Wave, he seems romantic and almost whistful. Jump forward to Now I’m A Cowboy and the lyrics get more sophisticated and literary with his best known song ‘Lenny valentino’ opening;

‘There were mourners on the street of every shape and size
The motorcade came down from Redondo
Assassins on the corner tried to throw you a line
You dirty-mouth comic Rodolfo’

Luke Haines

The third Auteurs album (and possibly his career defining recording) After Murder Park cranks up the bile considerably opening with the line;

“When you cut your lover slack you’ll get a fucking monster back”

To be more accurate, the single version of the song, ‘Light Aircraft On Fire’, featured the f-bomb, the album version was cleaned up, a rather perverse back-to-front decision.

His work with Black Box Recorder was (briefly) more successful and well received by the critics, but no less barbed,

“Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it”

went the chorus to their single release ‘Child Psychology’.

These days Haines is a critically acclaimed author, two volumes published of his musical memoirs, and his music no longer infects the mainstream. That isn’t to say that he has lost his songwriting skills, far from it. His latest album about wrestling in the 1970s features some of his best songwriting, and is a surprisingly warm and nostalgic record.

8. Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh has always existed just inside the fringes of American indie music scene. Critically acclaimed and successful without getting quite the same level of attention as her contemporaries such as The Pixies. Her air of quiet oddness coupled with an unpredictable performance style, ranging from whispered to screaming, marked her out as something a little bit special.

Kristin Hersh

Few artists have managed to preserve a range of styles so successfully for so long. Want sprightly indie rock? Then the Throwing Muses can supply it with songs like Counting Backwards. Feel like some delicate pop music? Then Kristin Hersh solo performing Your Ghost will be right up your street. And if you’d like something a bit rough and heavy then 50 Foot Wave performing Clara Bow should fit your mood. The latter being her lyrical style in microcosm, an evocative mix of delicate and violent imagery.

Whether it was soaking in your poppy tea
Or your southern hospitality
Your voice has a singsong quality
And bones were made to be broken
Bones were made to be broken

This wide variety of musical styles is coupled with some great lyrical themes which leap between the personal and the surreal. She is one of the most raw and personal lyricists with her mental health, relationships and even the loss of custody of her first son being the subjects of her songs.

More than 25 years into her recording career she is every bit as exciting a performer as she was in the early days of Throwing Muses. Her perfomance at The Breeders ATP in 2009 was testament to that as she rocked as hard as any other performer that weekend.

7. David Gedge

Admittedly The Wedding Present and former Cinerama frontman David Gedge is a bit of a one trick pony. The poor chap has been singing about love and most notably loss for almost 30 years. So why is he on this list, you ask? If anything this obsession with the intricacies of relationships, of the highs and lows, the introspection, the guilt and jealousy, is his strength not his weakness, as his turns of phrase continue to resonate with audiences today.

David Gedge, Yeovil Orange Box, 2011 (pic by Joe Lepper)

Even on latest Wedding Present album Valentina, written during recent years of enjoyable touring for Gedge, he still manages the self-deprecating aside to suggest all is not well as “everything about my so called life is boring.” Across the years this trademark bittersweet lyrical style has hoovered up fans, who have stuck with him resolutely as their own loves and losses come and go. Among our highlights are the jealous rant of My Favourite Dress from 1987’s George Best with lines such a “It took six hours before you let me down, To see it all in a drunken kiss, A stranger’s hand on my favourite dress.”

After four years of relentless touring The Wedding Present have returned to the studio to release their eighth  album and first since 2008’s El Rey. These years of touring certainly show on their new album Valentina. Its tracks are tight, punchy and pop savvy; exactly the sort of album a band well versed in how to please an audience would make. Like a well-rehearsed gig its ten tracks whizz by.

It is also unmistakable Wedding Present, full of the trademark songs of love and occasional loss from David Gedge, the band’s frontman and only remaining member from its original 1985 line up. The band’s recent tour to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Bizarro and rehearsals for this year’s focus on Seamonster’s 20^th anniversary have also clearly influenced this album. Its energy is certainly more akin to their earlier indie pop focus rather than their, at times, more downbeat later albums.

But while Gedge has clearly been reminiscing about the old days, this doesn’t sound like a band of old codgers churning out the same old stuff. For a start, the band Gedge has assembled are a young bunch, including the band’s guitarist and co –writer on most of the tracks Graeme Ramsey.  Their enthusiasm shines through, making it sound perversely more like a young band influenced by the 80s, borrowing a bit from Pavement, a bit from The Fall and whole lot from, well, The Wedding Present of the 1980s.

Gedge is more comfortable these days in baggy Cargo trousers than skinny jeans but when I caught their show in Yeovil last summer I was taken aback at how young Gedge looked.  Life in his new hometown of Brighton on the Sussex coast coupled with the band’s continued touring clearly agree with him.

The Wedding Present, Yeovil, June 2011

There’s a happiness to the album, much more love than loss in the lyrics, as well as some nods to previous classics. The frantic, chopping guitar intro on You’re Jane is vintage Wedding Present. Back a Bit.. Stop is another highpoint, with typical Gedge  lyrics such as  “every single thing about my so-called life is boring.”

The Girl from the DDR, with female backing vocals in German,  and another high point on the album, Deer Caught in the Headlights, are further examples of this being an album about the joys of love and life.

There are some minor quibbles. The mix by Andrews Scheps, whose past credits include Metallica and Iggy Pop and Johnny Cash, has turned the guitars up a notch or two and toned down other aspects of the band, including one of my highlights from their live show last summer – the backing vocals from bassist Pepe Le Moko on 524 Fidelio. This is still the album’s standout song, but I’d have liked her contribution to be given the same prominence it has live, rather than be drowned out.  In addition, opener You’re Dead starts well but then gets a little lost during its extended outro, which marks the only real bit of flab on the album.

But these are the most minor of quibbles about an album that is far more enjoyable than El Rey, more consistent than Take Fountain and more upbeat than Seamonsters. It is also worth noting that  Scheps has also done a fine job bringing out the best in drummer Charles Layton.

8/10

by Joe Lepper

See Also: Ten bands That Changed Our Lives  – The Wedding Present , The Wedding Present Live Review (Yeovil, June 2011)

Both the gathered mass of 30 and 40-somethings and The Wedding Present themselves seemed equally surprised that this legendary indie band found itself playing Yeovil, Somerset, this month (June) for the first time in nearly three decades of gigging.

The Wedding Present, these days with just songwriter and frontman David Gedge remaining from their original line up, may have a back catalogue of 250 songs but they are far from being simply a greatest hits act. Gedge quite rightly considers the act still to be a creative force in indie music and while the set spanned most of their 26 years it contained a fair sprinkling of new ones and omitted a good chunk of their most well known tracks.

Tracks from 1989′s Bizarro, such as ‘Brassneck’ and ‘Kennedy’ were notable absentees, but seeing as they’ve recently finished a 21st anniversary tour of the album this is perhaps unsurprising. Only ‘Gone’ from Bizarro made a set list that had a bias towards their early 1990s period, including Seamonsters (1991) and their run of chart hits from 1992, the year they released a single a month.

David Gedge, The Wedding Present

Also strangely absent were tracks from the albums El Rey (2008) and Take Fountain (2005). Not sure whether there has been a Stalinist purge on this period. I hope not as Take Fountain features some of Gedge’s finest songwriting.

Among the highlights were those from the earliest and most recent points in their career. Opener ‘My Favourite Dress ‘, from debut album George Best (1987) and early single ‘Why are you being so reasonable now?’ proved crowd pleasing moments. A surprise highlight was second track and  new song ’524 Fidelio’. This was among  the most pop savvy of the night and featured some fine backing vocals.

A small segment of tracks including ‘Health and Efficiency’ by Cinerama, the band Gedge formed in 1998 and morphed into The Wedding Present in 2003, also went down well despite being unfamiliar to some of the crowd.

The Wedding Present

While there were cries from the audience for their own favourites the band, which clearly has a strong work ethic in the same mould as other music survivors The Fall, rigidly stuck to the 20 song list and it’s career long no encore policy. “Its nothing personal, we just don’t do encores.,” Gedge politely announced.

Apart from a slightly hairy mic grabbing moment from an enthusiastic 40 something (who is surely going to be red faced back in the office on Monday) this was a typically engaging performance from Gedge and his well drilled band. Gedge particularly seemed to enjoy the responses from the crowd to his question “so what is Yeovil famous for”. It was a pleasure watching his reaction move from laughter to confusion to admiration as the  responses of “fuck all” , ” gloves” and “PJ Harvey” followed.

* Support was provided by  Nick Parker and Design. Somerset based singer songwriter  Parker has recently returned from a multi-date tour of Germany and delivered a tight, polished set of his thoughtful songs about modern life. Design, which contains members of 1980s Somerset bands The Chesterfields and Thatcher on Acid, provided another retro indie highpoint of the night with their take on The Chesterfields’  late 1980s track ‘Ask Johnny Dee’.

8.5/10

by Joe Lepper

See Also: Top Ten Bands That Changed Our Lives Pt 5: The Wedding Present

More photos from the night, as well as regular features such as ‘classic clip of the day’ can be seen at our Facebook page.

Here’s the fifth part in our list of bands that changed our lives. These are more than just our favourite bands, these are bands that altered how we think about music and provided the soundtrack to our lives. To see the other bands previously  featured in this series click here.

Part 5 – The Wedding Present

Some people will see this article and be surprised at The Wedding Present as a choice for a landmark band, to many they will represent the mundanity of pre-Madchester indie. To a 15 year old fledgling alternative music obsessive in 1987 they represented something more, the first new British indie act to grab me in my teenage years.

Formed in 1985 by David Gedge and Keith Gregory, from the ashes of their first band the Lost Pandas, the line-up was completed by Peter Solowka and Shaun Charman. This line-up would record a handful of singles and Peel sessions (the band recorded 9 sessions with the DJ) ,released in 1988 as Tommy, and their classic debut album George Best.

The Wedding Present circa 1990

George Best was my first encounter with the band and soon became my favourite album of my mid-teens. The Wedding present were seen as second rate to The Smiths in the indie-hierarchy, but to me they were the superior band in every way. I love The Smiths now, but as a teenager in the south of England they said little to me. I wasn’t interested in Morrissey’s fey approach or his poetic references, Gedge’s tales of wet bus stops, disappointment and girl troubles said a lot more to a 15 year old who was just discovering girls and the complications that brought.

The bands time on the major label RCA was a brilliant period which produced the bands two best albums and saw the band going from creative strength to creative strength. Bizarro showed an increasingly abrasive edge to the bands frenzied guitars and spawned their first top 40 hits. ‘Brassneck’ was released as a single and rerecorded with Steve Albini, who would oversee the follow-up album Seamonsters, beating PJ Harvey and Nirvana to recording with the Big Black legend. The B-side to the single included a cover off the Pavement song ‘Box Elder’ some 8 years before Blur picked them up as an influence in the wake of Brit-pop.

I saw the band live several times in the late 80s and early 90s and they were never less than excellent. Gedge a dry witted and understated front man and the sets full throttle and filled with crowd pleasing favourites. Even the band’s trademark refusal to play and encore added to the enjoyment of the live show.

The Wedding Present had a landmark contract with RCA, it not only meant they could work with any producer or their choosing but also meant that if the label rejected any of their singles they could choose to release it with any other label. As a result the label didn’t resist their decision to release a single a month for the whole of 1992, which were later released on the Hit Parade 1 and 2 compilations. This proved to be a good move as the band equalled Elvis’s record of having 12 top 30 hits in a single year, despite each single being limited to 10,000 copies. One of my regrets is only picking up three of the singles, my record buying at the time being at the mercy of the stock in the Our Price on Eltham high street, and missing out on the inventive cover art and interesting cover versions on each b-side.

The Wedding Present today

With the release of Watusi in 1994 (the first album by the band to only feature Gedge from the original line-up) I had started to lose interest in the band. In retrospect this was a mistake as that album stands up as one the bands best (and demands a reissue) but as a fickle indie kid I had moved on to other acts. After a few releases were ignored by the record buying public Gedge joined me and brought the band to a close to focus on his new act Cinerama.

Cinerama pulled me back in, they were basically the same band but with less of the drab indie reputation that The Wedding Present had established over time. After a string of excellent albums Gedge reverted back to the Wedding Present moniker to release Take Fountain in 2005.

The band continue to this day, playing gigs, releasing records and running mini-festivals in Brighton and Holmfirth. they deserve to be remembered as one of the great British bands of the last 30 years and David Gedge held up alongside Morrissey as one of the great lyricists and songwriters.

Ten Wedding Present Tracks To Check Out:

1. You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends
2. My Favourite Dress
3. I’m Not Always So Stupid
4. Kennedy
5. Corduroy
6. Dalliance
7. California
8. Spangle
9. Sports car
10. I’m From Further North Than You

And for a selection of songs listen to this Spotify playlist. (Only live tracks are available on Spotify from the pre-Bizarro era, and the albums towards the end of band first time around aren’t present).

By Dorian Rogers

Everyone has their own Top 100 Albums list, but this is ours based on our love of alternative and independent music over the years. There are some albums here that you will have seen on many lists before but we’ve also opted for some obscurities with the aim of highlighting some different music for you to seek out.

We have been releasing this list ten at a time every Friday. We hope you enjoy this fourth instalment. Here’s our previous instalments (80 – 71,  90 -81 , 100-91).  See you next week for 60-51.

Also, for  more great albums visit our  Classic Albums section

70. Smog – Knock Knock

Bill Callahan, AKA Smog, has been releasing melancholic dead pan songs since 1992.  Knock Knock, his seventh album, added instrumental texture and a new sense of optimism to the Smog palette, it even included a bona fide pop single in the shape of ‘Cold Blooded Old Times’. The move towards more uptempo numbers is only part of the story, the quite introspective side is still in evidence, and the children’s choir on ‘Hit The Ground Running’ is a surprising touch. Knock Knock sits pretty much smack in the middle of the Smog discography and is the best place to start.

69. Billy Bragg – Talking With The Tax Man About Poetry

The cover bares the self deprecating message about this being Bragg’s  “difficult third album.” The reality is that it may just be his best. Expanding the musicianship markedly compared to earlier work the songs retain Bragg’s passionate, political and emotional lyrics but musically this is a far broader album. From standout single ‘Levi Stubbs Tears’, to the folk blues influenced ‘Train Train’, the jaunty ‘Greetings to the New Brunette’, the gorgeous horn section on ‘The Marriage’ to the traditional ‘There Is A Power in a Union’, this 1986 album  is packed with fine tracks from one of the UK’s most accomplished folk artists.

68. Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab’s take on art-pop, synth-pop and 60s lounge music made them popular with other bands and critics alike, but never lead to a mainstream breakthrough. Their music can seem cold and clinical, their experimental side often overshadowing the quality of the songs. Emperor Tomato Ketchup is the album where all their elements came together perfectly. Opening number ‘Metronomic Underground’ exemplifies why this album works so well, the bleeps, squelches and monotonous repetition offset my smooth organic sounding bass, guitar and organ. This is followed by ‘Cybele’s Reverie’ Anglo-French art pop softened with Sean O’Hagan’s lush string arrangements and mid-way through the album they drop ‘The Noise of Carpet’, a perfect fuzzy guitar pop single. Their most varied and satisfying release.

67. Portishead – Dummy

Back in 1994 this debut by Bristol band Portishead was just about everywhere. Massive in the US, massive in the UK, its mix of trip hop, experimental rock and jazz made it a staple album of rich, poor, young and old alike.  Through its standouts such as ‘Sour Times’ and ‘Numb’ it perfectly encapsulates a sense of doom within the UK at the time. It was a time when the economy was still reeling from Black Wednesday and the greyest PM of all time John Major was in charge.  We can’t listen to this without thinking of an ’80s rich stock broker contemplating the millions he’s lost from his balcony in 1994 and dreading the nightmare to come.  This was rightly seen as a critical success as well at the time, winning the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. Their self titled follow up failed to replicate this stunning debut and it was not until 2008 with the release of Third that they would reach such dizzy heights of industrial melancholy again.

66. Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen

Paddy McAloon is a songwriter on a par with anyone that came out of the 1980s and Steve McQueen (renamed Two Wheels Good for its US release) is as good as any romantic pop record to come out of the era. ‘When Love Breaks Down’ gave the band their first big hit, and it is a special record, but it is just one of many classic pop gems on the album. ‘Faron Young’, ‘Appetite’, ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Goodbye Lucille #1′ and pretty much anything from the record could be picked for a “Best of the 80s” compilation. It is a sophisticated record, McAloon was aiming to be Cole Porter as much as Paul McCartney, but it is an accessible and fun record as well. Thomas Dolby’s excellent production does firmly date it in the mid 1980s, but that is no bad thing, it stands as a pretty perfect artifact of that era.

65. The Wedding Present – Bizarro

When The Wedding Present signed to RCA in 1989, two years after their stunning debut George Best, there were accusations in the music press that they had sold out. What was ignored by some critics was that their contract ensured they retained control over single releases and producer. Their RCA debut, a mini-album in Ukranian, and this, their second album proper, prove their major label owners were true to their word, allowing the band’s independent zeal and credibility to grow. While retaining George Best’s trademark fast paced guitars and the melancholy lyrics of frontman David Gedge the tracks on Bizarro are somehow bolder and bigger, with singles like ‘Brassneck’ signaling a career peak for a band that continue to produce fine music to this day.

64. Hefner – We Love The City

Darren Hayman is a firm favourite here at Neon Filler and our love for his songs started in the late 19990s when he was the front man of Hefner. Hefner wisely called it a day after just four albums, not because they weren’t still producing good music, but because it means that they stand as a rare example of an act that never released a bad album. We Love The City just about shades the top spot thanks to having the usual range of witty, soul searching melodic tracks and having two classic singles in the mix as well. ‘Good Fruit’ and ‘The Greedy Ugly People’ are as good as anything that came out of British indie pop in the era, genuinely stirring and touching. The whole album has a great feel to it and the instrumentation feels fuller and clearer than on their earlier albums. The expanded 2009 edition added b-sides, alternate versions and session tracks and is well worth seeking out.

63.  Sun Kil Moon – Ghosts Of The Great Highway

This 2003 debut  features some of former Red House Painter Mark Kozelek’s best work under the Sun Kil Moon name.  Here Kozelek uses the music as much as lyrics to tell the stories of a variety of tragic characters, most notably boxers . The Neil Young-esque guitar on ‘ Salvador Sanchez’ perfectly matches the story of boxer Sanchez, who died in a car accident aged just 25. Another of boxing’s great tragic figures ‘Duk-Koo Kim’, who died following a fight, gets a whopping 14 minute track to himself. The time floats by though. Other highlights include the beautifully layered guitar instrumental ‘Si, paloma’.

62. They Might Be Giants – Lincoln

New York performance art pop duo They Might Be Giants will probably always be known in this country as a novelty act due to the hit success of ‘Birdhouse In Your Soul’. Anyone prepared to delve deeper will find much to love on any of their first three albums released between 1986 and 1990. Lincoln, the second LP, is the best of all finding the perfect balance between their quirkier side and their ability to write great catchy pop records. Read more on this excellent album in our Classic Albums section here.

61. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

Martin Hannett, who produced 1979’s Unknown Pleasure, was the fifth member of Joy division in all but name. On this debut by the Salford band he stripped back the energy of their live shows to create space and atmosphere. It was a risky move that left bassist Peter Hook gobsmacked at the time. But it was a risk worth taking with tracks such as ‘Shadowplay’ and’ She’s Lost Control’ transformed through Hannett’s cleaner, stripped back sound.  One of the best debut albums of all time with even Hook  now conceding that Hannett “did a good job on it.”

by Joe Lepper and Dorian Rogers

Top 100 (80 – 71), Top 100 (90-81) , Top 100 (100-91)

In December The Flaming Lips announced that would create a song a month in 2011. This would lead to a staggering total of 12 songs released in the year. Amazing…

The Flaming Lips

In 2009 Robert Pollard released 6 albums and 4 in 2010. Assuming he only releases 3 albums this year he will still be on an average of over 4 albums a year. His albums often have 15 to 20 tracks, but even if they only averaged 12 songs an album that means he releases something like 50 songs a year on average. That is more than 4 songs a month, every year.
So, the feat of releasing a song a month isn’t that impressive, and it isn’t even original. In 1992 The Wedding present released a single every month. Each single came out on limited edition 7″ vinyl and featured a cover version as a b-side. The singles all had accompanying videos and each one made it into the charts. This meant that they equalled Elvis Presley’s record of having 12 hit singles in a year. Which means that releasing 12 songs in a year dates back to 1957.

So, unless you are Kevin Shields, releasing a song every month of a year really isn’t something to shout about.

The industrious Darren Hayman

One person who has more right that most to be a bit miffed by the press that accompanied the Flaming Lips announcement is Darren Hayman. The former Hefner font-man (and Neon Filler favourite) is currently heading for the half-way point in his January Songs project. This project involves writing, recording and releasing a song every day in the month of January. That amounts to 31 songs in one month, which is a lot more impressive than The Flaming Lips January target of one song.

When Hayman started the project he said “They won’t all be good but some might be”, in reality the standard has been very high and the songs surprisingly varied. A range of instrumentation, collaborators and styles has made it an extremely enjoyable project to follow.

All the songs and videos (including daily video diaries) can be found on the website http://januarysongs.tumblr.com/. The songs are free to download for the first couple of days and will be available to buy after the project is completed.