Album Review - The Wishing Chair by 10,000 Maniacs (1985) (Elektra)

Most consider the 1987 album In My Tribe as magnum opus album for the 10,000 Maniacs. In my 'humble', but ultimately correct opinion, this undoubtedly makes 'most' wrong, for The Wishing Chair is undoubtedly their finest in that it appeals from so many different musical angles.

Initially there is a definitive old world charm to it that drags us back well beyond it's natural 1980's home, to an old world place that sees tracks such as Back O' The Moon (see below), Arbor Day and Just as the Tide was Flowing hinting at the old world jangly folk pop direction that the band would predominantly adopt in the 1990's. 

Compilation Review - Compact & Bijou by The Mayfields (2018) (Firestation Records)

Firestation Records have assumed the mantle of chief musical archaeologists over the years. Not just because of their superb The Sound of Leamington Spa series, which has provided me with some quite wonderful tracks from bands I have never heard of or have been re-acquainted with after seeing them support the latest 'indie sensation' one rainy Tuesday night in some place like Skegness, but also because they have the brilliant ability to find the best of the 'should have been big bands' and make them just that, for an hour or so on their brilliant compilation CD's.

EP Review - Clearlake Revisted by James Dean Driving Experience (1989) (Plastic Head Records Limited)

James Dean Driving Experience did not quite fit with the very exact times of the late 1980's and as such missed out on the critical acclaim that they undoubtedly deserved.

There was just nothing definitive about their sound and as such they somehow seemed to play in the divide between being the greatest Sarah Records band that the Bristolian label never signed and arriving just that couple of years to late to capitalize on the mid 1980's jangle-pop heyday that was morphing into Madchester just as they were releasing their best work.

Readers Choice Playlist (August 2018)

August 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 149 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop series on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The Top 20 (see below) is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our various social media sites including blog link clicks.

EP Review - The Briar Rose by Choo Choo Train (1988) (Label: The Subway Organisation)

Prior to becoming the successful power pop outfit Velvet Crush, the Ric Menck and Paul Chastain partnership were a couple of young lads unleashing their love of all things 1960's janglepop via bands such as The Springfields, The Big Maybe, Choo Choo Train, The Stupid Cupids, Bag O Shells and as members of Matthew Sweet's band.

In fact they are probably best know for being the first international artists to ever be signed for pioneering labels Sarah Records (The Springfields) and The Subway Organisation (Choo Choo Train).

EP Review: Please Don't by Sandblast My House by One Thousand Violins (1986) (Constrictor)

If your are old you may just remember a time before the internet. In these pre-mid 90's years, before Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Spotify and all manner of social media, new bands were discovered via magazines such as NME and their ridiculously flimsy multi-coloured flexi-discs, musical fanzines that were so cheaply produced your fingers were to be ink stained for the entire month until they could eagerly grab the next one, or by listening to the handful of radio shows, such as the John Peel show, that dared to see past the mainstream opinion of 'commercial quality'.

Reader Choice Playlist (July 2018)

July 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 151 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop series on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 (see below) is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, and Twitter sites and on the blog links clicks (highest to lowest). 

EP Review - Love Resistance by Apple Boutique (1988) (Creation Records)

Some bloggers like nothing more than to reference a whole host of previous bands / obscure influences when writing reviews. Some even put the aforementioned bands into bold and/or italic text to highlight their sheer unrivaled knowledge to all 74 of their readership.

This is is the bloggers equivalent of the middle aged man with insufficient genitals, splashing their life savings on a sexy little red sports car (usually with a stripe of some sort on it)  that hardly accommodates their belly behind the thumb sized wheel.

Readers Choice Playlist (June 2018)

June 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 106 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 (see below) is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, and Twitter sites and on the blog links clicks (highest to lowest).

Album Review - London 0 v Hull 4 by The Housemartins (1987) (Go! Discs)

The Housemartins were largely ignored upon the release of their first two singles. Both Flag Day and the ultimate ear-worm Sheep failed to break the UK top 40 . However the third single from this album rectified this, with Happy Hour (see below) charting at number 3 and cementing both the commercial and critical acclaim for this album and forcing 'all things Hull' into the public consciousness, just as The Smiths were starting to implode internally.

Album Review: The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional (1986) (Hot Records)

I was 17 when The Triffids released this album. At this age I was happy to be enjoying the initial furtive fumblings of my first serious relationship, had a good set of long term mates and was limiting the sort of trouble I ended up in to the sort that was considered as 'oh he is just a bit of a lad' rather than the 'oh he got in with the wrong crowd' sort that used to be wheeled out by the mothers of various 'naughty boys' I knew when the police turned up at their door. In summation I was a happy product of a happy childhood and although I did not realize it at the time, I ended up being eternally grateful to my parents for this. 

Readers Choice Playlist (May 2018)

mAY 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 121 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 (see below) is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, and Twitter sites and on the blog links clicks (highest to lowest).

Album Review - Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies (1980) (Stiff Records)

I once watched a documentary about a tribe in Papua New Guinea where young teens climb up a 300 foot rope ladder to some rickety old platform and throw themselves off with only a vine rope of 299 feet saving them from certain death. The pain of the various dislocations is supposed to send them into manhood.

Album Review - Up on the Sun by Meat Puppets (1985) (SST Records)

Despite a vast back catalogue encompassing 14 albums over the 35 years+ since their self-titled debut in 1982 (which still remains an essential listen after all these years) it is only really the Meat Puppets II album that has ever really solicited the sort of widespread critical acclaim the band deserves. However, in my 'humble' but ultimately correct opinion, it is this, their next album, that truly deserves the most widespread plaudits.

Readers Choice Playlists (April 2018)

April 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 133 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop features on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, and Twitter sites and on the blog links clicks (highest to lowest).

Compilation Review: London Weekend - Another Sunny Day (1992)

On Friday nights I like to drink beer with my mates in our pub. Amid the debates about sport and the usual old jokes / stories that we have all heard a 1000 times but still find ridiculously funny (as only inebriated men can) we sometimes address things that genuinely matter, that are genuinely important, to such an extent that it is not beyond the wildest stretches of the imagination to presume that President Trump and that Russian fella who got him the gig, probably talk about similar things.

One such such topic that my beer addled friends and I discussed, that I am convinced would have been addressed by the Donald and Mr Putin over a beer when less important matters of state had been addressed for the evening is 'What Sarah Records band is most typical of the whole Sarah Records aesthetic'.

Now Donald may well have flicked his poerfectly lacquered hair off his orange brow and placed a temporary cessation on his favourite hobby of cursing Mexican chaps, in order to argue the point that Brighter were 'the' Sarah Records band. Which would obviously cause Mr P to stop the training preparation for his World Cup hooligan squad and counter with Blueboy, thus risking immediate nuclear reaction or at least a 'your fired' from 'The Don'.

Luckily for us, despite the dutch courage emanating from several weak lagers, my friends and I were eventually able to reach consensus that Another Sunny Day were probably the most 'Sarah type band' of all the Sarah Records bands. The initial reason for this is that ASD were effectively a Harvey Williams side project of whose most prominent successes at the time were emanating from another Sarah band in The Field Mice, which incidentally, is rumoured to be Theresa May's (British PM) choice of  music which she takes a rare moment off from avoiding the implementation of Brexit.

This 'side project' ethos just seems to fit in with the Sarah ethic, who always seemed to have started things offs to foster a love of a certain kind of music and then seemed almost surprised when it took off and desperately tried to keep it as informal as possible. This they did with their 'other' bands like ASD inasmuch that they grew the stock of the band without ever releasing an album or a proper EP.  For ASD it was just a bunch of 'jewell in the crown' singles, lovingly released of vinyl. Sarah were effectively the ultimate singles label and ASD were, in our opinion, their ultimate singles band as can be seen on this brilliant compilation which includes all of the Sarah output.

Rio

As such this compilation is totally filler free and symbolizes the 'quality not quantity ethos' of the label with tracks such as The Smiths William it Was Really Nothing inflected You Should All Be Murdered, the twee-festivals of I'm in Love With a Girl Who Doesn't I Exist and Rio (see above). and the jangling beauty of Can't You Tell it's True (see below) and Things Will Be Nice, being the torch bearers for a compilation that is an essential purchase for any Twee / jangle / indie pop fans.

                                                           Can't You Tell it's True

Another Sunny Day may not have received the plaudits that Trump, Putin and May's 'Sarah band' favourites did...but if me and my pub mates were running the world, they would!

Artist Links

twee.net, 
Wikipedia

Label Links



home.clara.net
sarahrecords.org.uk
Twitter
Wikipedia

Readers Choice Playlist (March 2018)

March 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 173 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop features on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and on the blog links (highest to lowest).

Compilation Review - Stardust by The Sea Urchins (1992) (Sarah Records)

Janglepophub have featured The Sea Urchins three times in its #DailyJanglePop series' that are undertaken on our various social media platforms. Considering the fact that this band never actually released a full length album it is amazing to see our followers falling over themselves to 'like', re-tweet,  re-blog and all other manner of things that express cyber appreciation for this band. In fact apart from the 'likes' afforded to old favourites such as R.E.M and The Housemartins, my google-nerd statistics furnish me with the indisputable fact that this band are third in the 'love in' stakes.

EP Review - The Fierce Crack (EP) by This Poison! (1987)

In the annals of jangle-pop / indie-pop history Scottish band This Poison! seem to have spent much of the last three decades being summarily and completely unfairly dismissed as something of a poor man's The Wedding Present and of course there are certain notable comparisons.

Album Review: Step Outside Love by the Black Cillas (2014) (Firestation Records)

In my London University days, Kentish Town's Bull and Gate Pub was one a hive of activity for young music snobs. As such I used to regularly make the hour plus voyage from West to East London to see the coolest of bands that 'were not quite making it' (at the time a minimum requirement of 'cool').