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Shopping for kicks, got the weekend to get through
On Fridays this year we ask...
What's in the Box?
The Box in question is the glovebox of my car, home to my extremely motley tape collection. By the time I owned a car with a tape player tapes were on the way out and most of my music was in CD format. However, charity shops were practically giving tapes away, which meant that I bought rapaciously and eclectically. A half-remembered 80s band who once released a single I'd liked a little ? A band I'd vaguely heard of ? An unknown group with good cover art ? Bring them on.
Of course, the net result is that I've ended up with a tape collection which any music-lover would be slightly ashamed of. There was a relatively narrow window (late 70s to later 80s) when tapes were big news, and my horde represents that. However, in amongst the terrible pop I've found some gems and I reckon its time to come clean about my guilty musical secrets.
Today in The Box we have:
Sleeper - The It Girl
I remember liking Sleeper a lot when their singles were in the charts. Then I went to see them at Brookes in Oxford, and pretty much lost interest in them as a result. Live, they were... not awful, but dull. The frontwoman, Louise Wener, was amazingly lacklustre, and the rest of the band were such a byword for nonentity that they'd already caused a new phrase to come into being.
While I'll still cite that as a dreadful gig, it doesn't alter the fact that their recordings weren't actually bad.
Mind you, the other day I was so surprised by Chris Moyles that I nearly drove off the road. That Chris Moyles was on my radio is something of a surprise - usually when a tape runs out and dumps me into Radio 1 during breakfast-show time I abandon all pretence of looking at the road until I've shoved in a new tape, changed the radio station or, if necessary, ripped the stereo out bodily with my bare fingers.
Anyway, he announced that he was going to play a track from a band who are largely forgotten but who deserve to be better known; a band whose entire back catalogue you should dash out and buy right now; a band of utter genius. Then he put on Sale of the Century, also from this album. My apologies to the person waiting next to me at the Hanger Lane lights, who looked at bit frightened when I yelled at the opening notes.
So, it's not that great. And it's not that bad. What is it ? It's a rather dated slice of 90s indie. But it's very catchy and danceable; I had a little boogie round the front room to Statuesque and Dress Like Your Mother while recording this. And I'm currently sorting out a shift-change in The Box, and The It Girl has gone on the in-pile.
Sleeper - Statuesque [link expired]
This is another of those tapes which sounds fine in the car, but when listened to in the rarified atmosphere of our front room reveals itself to be very worn and crackly.
[Poll #1276086]
What's in the Box?
The Box in question is the glovebox of my car, home to my extremely motley tape collection. By the time I owned a car with a tape player tapes were on the way out and most of my music was in CD format. However, charity shops were practically giving tapes away, which meant that I bought rapaciously and eclectically. A half-remembered 80s band who once released a single I'd liked a little ? A band I'd vaguely heard of ? An unknown group with good cover art ? Bring them on.
Of course, the net result is that I've ended up with a tape collection which any music-lover would be slightly ashamed of. There was a relatively narrow window (late 70s to later 80s) when tapes were big news, and my horde represents that. However, in amongst the terrible pop I've found some gems and I reckon its time to come clean about my guilty musical secrets.
Today in The Box we have:
Sleeper - The It Girl
I remember liking Sleeper a lot when their singles were in the charts. Then I went to see them at Brookes in Oxford, and pretty much lost interest in them as a result. Live, they were... not awful, but dull. The frontwoman, Louise Wener, was amazingly lacklustre, and the rest of the band were such a byword for nonentity that they'd already caused a new phrase to come into being.
While I'll still cite that as a dreadful gig, it doesn't alter the fact that their recordings weren't actually bad.
Mind you, the other day I was so surprised by Chris Moyles that I nearly drove off the road. That Chris Moyles was on my radio is something of a surprise - usually when a tape runs out and dumps me into Radio 1 during breakfast-show time I abandon all pretence of looking at the road until I've shoved in a new tape, changed the radio station or, if necessary, ripped the stereo out bodily with my bare fingers.
Anyway, he announced that he was going to play a track from a band who are largely forgotten but who deserve to be better known; a band whose entire back catalogue you should dash out and buy right now; a band of utter genius. Then he put on Sale of the Century, also from this album. My apologies to the person waiting next to me at the Hanger Lane lights, who looked at bit frightened when I yelled at the opening notes.
So, it's not that great. And it's not that bad. What is it ? It's a rather dated slice of 90s indie. But it's very catchy and danceable; I had a little boogie round the front room to Statuesque and Dress Like Your Mother while recording this. And I'm currently sorting out a shift-change in The Box, and The It Girl has gone on the in-pile.
Sleeper - Statuesque [link expired]
This is another of those tapes which sounds fine in the car, but when listened to in the rarified atmosphere of our front room reveals itself to be very worn and crackly.
[Poll #1276086]
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They were supported by the Supernaturals, with Frank Black guesting on bass. Who were brilliant :)
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As for Sleeper though, hmm, I pretty much lost interest after the first album, so I never got as far as this one. 'Inbetweener' is still a pretty good song though.
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Imagine all that fannish energy directed towards a band history forgot, like Sleeper, or Kingmaker.
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I had a friend at school who was a huge fan of Level 42. I always found that a bit of an obscure choice for mania, too.
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Not that I was even half of a fan, much like Sleeper I thought the first album was ace and after that meh. See also: Echobelly, Republica. What was it about those early-mid-90s female-fronted bands?
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[*] well of course they don't these days, they just shove stuff on myspace. But Sleeper were in the 90s. The fill-in-for-more details card in my copy of The It Girl doesn't even allow you to specify an email address :)
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It also reminds me of something. What does it remind me of? Hmm.
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What do the kids listen to to be bouncy and cheerful to these days?
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I have been listening to Sleeper a fair bit recently as it's on my indie playlist on my ipod. I love Statuesque, Vegas and Sale of the Century. Ahhh, the mid-90s