Chefs - Records and Tea: The Best of

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 2 / 5 / 2012

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Review

Ten years ago, I used to spend a lot of time on eBay, trying to get my hands on all the rare indie pop singles that was missing in my record collection. Most of the time, I lost the auctions to some Japanese bidder who, unlike me, had a lot of money to spend (I presume). With that said, I did win a lot of auctions too, and one of the highlights from this period for me was when I won the Chefs’ single '24 Hours'for a couple of pounds. As they only released one more single during their brief career, I tried hard to win the other one, 'Sweetie', as well, but sadly that never happened. Instead, I had to settle for an MP3 file I found on the Internet, where I also managed to get a hold on some other Chefs tracks, including a couple of songs from a Peel Session. That was all I ever got to hear by this long lost Brighton band (which included singer Helen McCookerybook). Until now. On this new compilation, released by Damaged Goods, all the songs from the singles and Peel Sessions are compiled, together with the rest of the band’s catalogue of recorded songs: all in all, 24 tracks. Sometimes I can feel a bit sorry for the Chefs, as they so were so painfully ahead of their time. The two singles were released back in 1980, but, listening to them now, they might as well have been recorded ten years ago. Or even one year ago, for that matter. This is twee-pop (what else can you call a song with lyrics like “Records and tea/Are all life means to me”?), decades before that genre got its name. Indeed, I remember that both 'Sweetie' and '24 Hours' were very popular among the Swedish indie pop fans in the early 21st century. With that in mind, this compilation should have been released a decade ago, but I guess it’s better late than never. So what about it, then? Is it any good? Well, it is. Even though the aforementioned singles are still the highlights, there are several great songs on offer here, like 'Let’s Make Up', which was the B-side to '24 Hours'. Included are also the two tracks from their last single, released under the name Skat, and judging by them, a mediocre Velvet Underground cover version ('Femme Fatale') and an equally mediocre original song ('One Fine Day'), I don’t think we have to mourn the fact that they decided to call it day after its release. But don’t let this fool you. There are plenty of great pop songs here for you to explore. And a look at eBay while writing this review, tells me that the original singles are still hard to get ('24 Hours' are being sold for around 10-15 pounds). Save your money and buy this CD instead.

Track Listing:-

1 Food
2 You Get Everywhere
3 Sweetie
4 Thrush
5 Records And Tea
6 Boasting
7 24 Hours
8 Let's Make Up
9 Someone I Know
10 You're So Nice
11 Toby
12 One Fine Day
13 I'll Go Too
14 Love Is Such A Splendid Thing
15 Northbound Train
16 Springtime Reggae
17 Sweetie
18 You Get Everywhere
19 Femme Fatale
20 Let's Make Up
21 Honcho
22 Sleeping Dogs Lie
23 Sad Boy Style
24 Love, It Is Just A Word

Band Links:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chef

Label Links:-

http://www.damagedgoods.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DamagedGoodsR
https://www.youtube.com/user/Damgoodre
https://twitter.com/DAMAGEDGOODSREC
https://plus.google.com/10811642622648