Various - Sound Of Leamington Spa

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

Being a fan of British eighties indie pop and also living in Sweden isn't easy. It is only very seldom that you see records from that era for sale here, and when you do find an album such as one, for example, by The Railway Children, it's their last, not-so-good album, which has been issued on a major label as a last attempt at success.That's why a compilation such as this one, 'The Sound of Leamington' is very welcomed by me. 21 tracks, 19 of which I've never heard, from the golden era of British indiepop scene is pure heaven! And when it's done like this, it's hard to find any bad things at all about this project. But sadly, there are. More about this later though. Now, let's begin browsing through the vaults of 'The Sound Of Leamington Spa'. It all kicks off with a great Pooh Sticks song,'Indie pop Ain't Noise Pollution'. I suppose this was recorded after the classic 'On Tape', as this sounds a bit more developed than that. But 'Indiepop…' is a great tune with great lyrics. Just look at that title! A brilliant way to start off a compilation like this one. From here we go via the great 'Strike Up Matches' by Episode 4 to the slightly less great 'Cathedral Walls' by Big Red Bus. And here I am struck by that same old feeling again, the same feeling I got when I first listened to the Desert Wolves' CD a couple of months ago. And that is that all the singers (well, all the singers here anyway) sound like Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet. I really don't know who was first, but since Spandau Ballet released their first few singles as part of the new romantic movement, I suppose Tony Hadley would win in a court battle. OK, back to the CD anyway. The Man From Delmonte are undoubtedly a strange band. The song here 'Drive Drive Drive' is the second song I've heard by them, the first being 'My Love Is Like A Gift', and I can only come to the conclusion that this band doesn't take popmusic too seriously. But there's nothing wrong with that as long as the songs are good, and The Man From Delmonte certainly make great pop songs. Hey Paulette's "I Really Do Love Penelope' is one of the two songs here that I've heard before (the second being The Desert Wolves' 'Mexico') and it's a brilliant song. Those Spandau Ballet-ish vocals and chiming, jangly guitars just melt my heart, as does the wonderful 'Beat Girl' by The Wishing Stones. While there are only a few of them, I should also point out though the not-so-good songs as well. Metro Tritity's 'Spend My Hole Life Loving You' sounds like something we in Sweden call a "dansband", which is a "musicscene" quite unique for our country as far as I know, but that I will try to explain anyway. Four or five persons (often with a female vocalist) play very very soft popmusic (but not in the twee-way, this is just lousy) while dressed in suits, singing lyrics in Swedish about love that are drenched in reverb. The big thing about all this though is that it's played in dance parlours with adults slowly dancing the night away. Phew, a long story just to describe one simple song. But now you know what to stay away from when visiting Sweden. Further songs that aren't very good on this CD are 'Summer's Coming Down' by The Clamheads, 'Barbecued' by Last Party and the closing track Holy Cow' by The Aurbisons. Also, I have already mentioned 'Cathedral Walls', which isn't really that terrible, but which just sounds like everything else on the compilation. That's one of the flaws about this album. The songs too often sound the same, but all in all this is a great compilation and a great way to catch up with what happened on the British Isles some 10-15 years ago, before Madchester came along with it's wackawacka-guitars and baggy beats and threw indiepop on the dump. An accompanying booklet is great too, with lots of info on the contributors, which is something that is too often missing on compilations like this. Here, nearly every band has it's own page in the booklet with biographical texts attached also Great work,Tweenet! I can't wait for the next one…

Track Listing:-

1 Pooh Sticks : Indie Pop Ain't Noise Pollution
2 Episode 4 : Strick Up Matches
3 Big Red Bus : Cathedral Walls
4 Man From Delmonte : Drive Drive Drive
5 Hey Paulette : I Really Do Love Penelope
6 Where Gardens Fall : Search
7 Anyways : Silver
8 Metro Trinity : Spend My Whole Life Loving You
9 Hepburns : Andy And Valerie
10 Asia Fields : Dazed
11 Siddeleys : Sunshine Thuggery
12 Hot Rain : Time Is On Our Side
13 Desert Wolves : Mexico
14 Clamheads : Summer's Coming Down
15 Sister Rain : Burt Reynolds
16 Cherry Orchard : So Blind
17 North Of Cornwallis : Billy Liar
18 Windmills : The Day Dawned On Me
19 Last Party : Barbecued
20 Wishing Stones : Beat Girl
21 Aurbisons : Holy Cow