Urusei Yatsura - You Are My Urusei Yatsura

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 6 / 9 / 2016

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Review

Back in the day, after I got divorced, I lived back at home before getting my own place again. I spent many a night at a gig to avoid watching whatever crap my parents were watching on TV. If I was in I generally listened to John Peel and would wait for the Peel Sessions to be broadcast with my finger on the pause button of my tape-to-tape recorder. Often, because he knew people were recording their favourite bands, he would not announce the tracks. The more clever people would just record the whole show and then edit them out later. I spent a huge amount of my non going-out time glued to Radio 1, which was then worth listening to and as good as 6 Music today, and afterwards would spend a huge amount of time playing back these lost treasures. Urusei Yatsura are a band that I'm not sure if I ever saw live but I definitely brought their CDs once I heard them. Unlike their fellow Scottish band, the Jesus and Mary Chain, they didn't really move on from what I remember of them, which isn't a bad thing, as this was a band that did it for fun and not really a career. They only lasted a handful of years between 1993 and 2001, and in that time remained on very small indie label Che and only released three albums, all featuring the band's name in the album's title, so we got 'We Are Uresei Yatsura' (1996), 'Slain by Uresei Yatsura' (1998) and 'Everybody Loves Uresei Yatsura' (2000). Now we have 'You Are My Uresei Yatsura' which has been released some 15 years later on limited neon pink vinyl on Rocket Girl and sourced from five Peel sessions, three evening sessions and the odd Radio Scotland show. This is a fine introduction or reminder of the chaos that the Mary Chain started and then walked away from. It's loud, fuzzed-up bubblegum noise with guitars turned up full, vocals added on to tell a story, and energetic enough to make you jump up and down. It also serves as a fine little remainder of how great their only hit 'Hello Tiger' which comes over like a savaged hurt beast rather than the tweeness the name implies today. A fine collection and the opposite side of Britpop.

Track Listing:-

1 Plastic Ashtray (Evening Session 5/8/96) (Live)
2 First Day on a New Planet (Peel Session 2/4/96) (Live)
3 Kewpies Like Watermelon (Radio Scotland 1995) (Live)
4 Phasers on Stun (Evening Session 5/8/96) (Live)
5 Siamese (Evening Session 5/8/96) (Live)
6 No No Girl (Evening Session 21/1/98) (Live)
7 Hello Tiger (Peel Session 29/7/97) (Live)
8 Exidor (Peel Session 29/7/97) (Live)
9 Slain by Elf (Evening Session 21/1/98) (Live)
10 Flaming Skull (Peel Session 29/7/97) (Live)
11 Dice/Nae Dice (Peel Session 29/7/97) (Live)

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/uruseiyatsura
https://twitter.com/urusei_yatsura_

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/RocketGirlRec
http://www.rocketgirl.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/rocketgirlmusic