3 Comments

What a great album, I had forgotten many of those wonderful songs that featured in your notes!

Thanks

Expand full comment

Be Bop Deluxe, well, Bill Nelson, really, sound nothing like Wakefield. Barclay James Harvest, on the other hand, sound exactly like Oldham in the mid-70s. And the two towns separated only by the narrow spine of the Pennines. Incredible, really.

And, apart from the shame that it wiped out real artists like Nelson, among many other brilliant would-be stars, such as Deaf School, punk was very much needed…ha-ha!

As you say, Pilot’s sudden success and then equally sudden demise is a bit of a mystery, because they were always catchy, which, in the mid-70s seemed to be all that was required by a less than discerning Too of the Pops audience.

Ivor Cutler will always remain a mystery to me. I’ve tried, and I’ve tried, and, finally, I am tried by him. No idea at all what the heck he’s doing or what it’s all about. First heard him through Peel, and was always irritated by his interrupting the flow of punk and reggae with another Cutler abomination…ha-ha!

Thanks for this…and, yes, Glenn Tillbrook, indeed!

Expand full comment

Agree …. Mostly! I never got Ivor Cutler till I saw him live, then realized he was wonderful! And of course Deaf School was the pinnacle of art school rock.

Expand full comment