Various - The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol 2

by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 13 / 2 / 2002

Various - The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol 2

Label: Firestation Tower
Format: CD

"Fantastic" collection of obscure and previously unsung British indiepop from the golden age of the eighties

Review

The German label Firestation Tower has brought us many fine releases, but their greatest gift to humanity is without any doubt their two compilations 'The Sound Of Leamington Spa'. The first one was released in late 2000, and now here is the next one, with more obscure British indiepop singles from the golden age of the eighties. The first impression I get from this compilation is that it is more uniform than it’s precursor, but at the same time it lacks those “hits” that the first one had, which featured songs like' Drive Drive Drive' by the Man From Delmonte and' Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution' by the Pooh Sticks. To me, as a result, this second volume is more interesting than the first simply because there are more bands on this one that I have never even heard of before. Most of them are bands that I would love to get acquainted with as well. The CD kicks off with Friends, who with Phil Wilson (of the June Brides and the Loft), the Groove Farm (who recorded briefly for the Subway label), Love Parade and Ambitious Beggars (with whom Firestation Tower released a compilation CD last year), are one of the few bands on here that I already knew of along . All of those bands and artists are great. I knew that. But then we have all these new (to me) bands also … Bob Hope is one of those bands that you often see mentioned in interviews and articles about the UK 80’s indiepopscene, but you have never heard a song recorded by them. Well, now I have, and it’s great, although the chorus reminds me a bit of Dave Edmunds’ 'Queen Of Hearts' or maybe even the Everly Brothers, with some fast, hard strumming on the acoustic guitar. I won’t bore you to death by bringing every band on this compilation to attention, so let’s just get to the point here, shall we? This is a fantastic compilation, and is just as good as the first volume (which I presume you already own, if you don’t: what’s your excuse?). The very informative booklet also makes excellent reading when browsing through this virtual indiepop museum.

Track Listing:-

1 Friends - You ’ll never see that summertime again
2 Bob Hope - I don ’t know
3 Newsflash - An Englishman
4 Sandalwoods - The day is mine
5 Said Liquidator - Third man
6 Reserve - Butcher ´s daughter
7 Benny Profane - tear the web
8 Dubious Brothers - Yes man
9 Phil Wilson - Better days
10 The Groove Farm - Just a silly phase
11 Splendid Fellows - Fields of corn
12 The Big Gun - Heard about love
13 Harbour Bar - The Boy I was
14 The Honest Johns - Judas in me singing
15 Fat and Frantic - I don ’t want to say goodbye
16 Fallover 24 - Cloth stained blue
17 The Passmore Sisters - Difficult
18 Love Parade - Under the weather
19 Ambitious Beggars - Pockets and minds