I'm mid-way through an occasional project to photograph my entire collection of a few thousand 7" singles - the product of a wasted youth, no discrimination and the bullying methods of the fine staff of Cob Records in Bangor, who would 'recommend' stuff I'd later realise they couldn't flog to anyone else, while also filling my bag with their own bands' work (which actually was often much better than the stuff NME had persuaded me to buy that week. If you're ever wondering why I'm merely a nobody with a blog rather than one of those ubiquitous 'influencers' or DG of the BBC, it's probably because I think every one of these is an unjustly over-looked pure pop banger.
As you can probably tell, not many of these bands made it big or even moderate, and rightly so in some cases, but there are lots of hidden gems and more with nostalgic redolence for my (unremarkable, glum) youth. Quite a lot of them don't exist electronically (this was the 90s after all) so listening to them takes care and effort, which I like. I also miss the nerdy culture of indie capitalism: the coloured discs, the badges, the double 7" releases, stickers, limited editions, deliberate anti-aesthetics, the overseas-only releases with different B-sides, the messages etched into the centre: all the things that aimed to hook you in.
These are just some random ones - no special reason to pick them other than that they caught my eye. They're the survivors: I sold 400 of the most desirable ones to pay for the last three months of my PhD. I still mourn the gaps that only I can see.
I loved Avrocar very much. Birmingham Krautrock…mmm
Boo Radleys, From The Bench At Belvedere. This is how they spent their Wake Up! Boo millions
Ah, the Fierce Panda label - one of my obsessions.
This Ectogram track isn't online, so have 'Cennin' ('Leeks').
Not available, so here's a track from a related band:
the tasteless 'Richey is Dead' by Ideal:
The major label re-release of Punka - I had to sell the original.
This is a floor-filler that always gets attention when I play it. Just a rush of fun.
A bit of Girlfrendo:
Still don't know how The Paradise Motel didn't fill stadia with their stately gloom.
An attempt to revive the indie v pop wars
The might PWEI
Along with Broadcast, one of my favourite twisted pop bands.
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