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Sisters of Mercy

Come on, even if you didn't dance in the eighties you danced to "This Corrosion"!!

-Jimmy-

Biography
by Steve Huey

One of England's leading "goth" bands of the 1980s, the Sisters of Mercy play a slow, gloomy, ponderous hybrid of metal and psychedelia, often incorporating dance beats; the one constant in the band's career has been deep-voiced singer Andrew Eldritch. (There is some disagreement as to whether the group took its name from an order of Catholic nuns or from the Leonard Cohen song of the same name.) Eldritch originally formed the band in 1980 with guitarist Gary Marx and recorded its first single with a drum machine dubbed Doktor Avalanche. Guitarist Ben Gunn and bassist Craig Adams were added to make live gigs feasible, and the Sisters built a reputation through several singles and EPs. Gunn left the band in 1983 and was replaced by Wayne Hussey. The Sisters of Mercy recorded their first full-length album, First and Last and Always, in 1985, but two years later, internal dissent had split them apart; Marx left to form Ghost Dance, and Adams and Hussey departed shortly thereafter. A legal dispute ensued over the rights to the name Sisters of Mercy; Adams and Hussey attempted to use the name Sisterhood, but Eldritch released an EP under the name to prevent its usage, and the two finally settled on the Mission. Eldritch chiefly utilized a corps of temporary sidemen from this point on (although former Gun Club bassist Patricia Morrison was an official member of the group for a short time) and rebounded with his two biggest-selling American LPs, Floodland and Vision Thing.

Levitation

The House of Love is one of my top ten favourites so of course any band related to them boded well with me

-Jimmy-

Biography by Jason Ankeny

Following a well-publicized fall-out with frontman Guy Chadwick, guitarist Terry Bickers left the House of Love in 1990 to form Levitation with bassist Laurence O'Keefe, keyboardist Robert White, guitarist Christian Hayes and drummer Dave Francollini. A series of brilliant live gigs quickly cemented the fledgling group's status among the British press, while interviews with the eccentric Bickers, in which he expounded freely on topics including prog-rock revivals, flying saucers, reincarnation, bacchanalian revelry and Egyptology, further established the band as media darlings.Anticipation was high for Levitation's recorded debut, and 1991's Coppelia EP did not disappoint: a shimmering, majestic effort highlighted by the narcotic epic "Smile," it also featured excursions into delicate psychedelia ("Rosemary Jones") and distorted pop ("Paid in Kind"). The follow-up, The After Ever EP, was equally strong, and the two records were later combined with live material and a pair of new tracks, "Squirrel" and "It's Time," as the full-length Coterie. In 1992, Levitation issued the superb Need for Not album, soon signing to major label Chrysalis. In the wake of the release of 1993's Even When Your Eyes Are Open EP, the group mounted a British tour; while playing London's Tufnell Park Dome, Bickers abruptly announced "Oh, dear. We've completely lost it, haven't we?" and left the stage, never to return to the band and refusing to publicly discuss his exit. (He subsequently worked under the alias Cradle.) In his absence, the remaining members of Levitation hired new vocalist Steven Ludwin and issued an EP, King of Mice; the 1994 full-length Meanwhile Gardens, a patchy collection of re-recordings of old songs as well as new material, was issued only in Australia, and was the unit's final effort.

The Selector

'Celebrate the bullet' is one of my favourite songs from that time period. Very underrated band.

-Jimmy-


Biography by John Dougan

Despite being the band that got the least press during the ska revival of the early '80s, the Selecter, while only recording one undeniably fine record, deserved better than they got. Hailing from Coventry, England, the same hometown as ska pals the Specials, the Selecter's secret weapon was lead singer Pauline Black, arguably the best lead singer of the ska revival, who gave the jumpy and jittery songs an edge that veered into haunting drama. Although they got off to a roaring start with their debut record, 1980's Too Much Pressure, the second record, Celebrate the Bullet, was a strained follow-up that led to the band's rapid demise. Black spent some time singing solo and eventually re-joined guitarist Neol Davis in a Selecter reunion in the early '90s that has seen them become dance club favorites. According to those attending Selecter shows, the vibe is strong and the music great.

B-Movie

Yes another new wave one hit wonder. "Nowhere Girl" was played constantly in Toronto back then on CFNY.

-Jimmy-

Biography by Michael Sutton

The new wave band B-Movie's most recognizable record became more popular long after the combo had split up. Named after an Andy Warhol painting, B-Movie formed in 1979 with Steve Hovington (vocals), Paul Statham (guitars), Graham Boffey (drums), and Rick Holliday (keyboards). Inspired by synth-pop pioneers like Ultravox and New Order, B-Movie wrote catchy songs enveloped in keyboards. The group was signed to the Some Bizarre record label in the early '80s; in 1981, the band appeared on a Some Bizarre compilation album with future '80s synth-pop superstars such as Depeche Mode, Blancmange, and Soft Cell. In 1982, the single "Nowhere Girl" was a hit in Europe. Although "Nowhere Girl" was not a Top Ten smash in America, the song continued to be a favorite on radio stations' '80s flashback shows. With Hovington's icy vocals and Holliday's somber synths, "Nowhere Girl" became an enduring tale of teen alienation; "Nowhere Girl" was revived on the Just Say Yesterday compilation in 1992 and it's generally considered to be an '80s classic. Ironically, the track lasted longer than B-Movie's career. B-Movie released the LP Forever Running in 1985 and then broke up. Boffey joined Slaughterhouse 5 and Statham collaborated with Peter Murphy. Hovington formed the techno outfit Amethyst.

The Pooh Sticks

"I'm in you" the 14 minute song introduced to me at a party. It has the best 7 minute solo halfway in.

-Jimmy-

Biography by Jason Ankeny

The Pooh Sticks were rock's most inside joke, a monumental yet affectionate prank on the very mythology of pop music itself. Cloaked behind ridculously-overblown marketing schemes, made-up histories and cartoon-character images, the Welsh group punctured the industry's myriad excesses, freely pilfering from the entirety of pop's past by shoplifting titles, lyrics and melodies at will; wrapping their barbs in cotton-candy sing-a-longs, their subversions worked on many levels — postmodern cultural criticism, retro-irony, slavish imitation, and power-pop manna among them — to forge an identity as high-concept as it was low-brow.The Pooh Sticks were ostensibly led by frontman Hue Pooh (born Hue Williams), who in October 1987 teamed with Swansea-area schoolmates Paul, (guitar), Alison (bass), Trudi Tangerine (keyboards) and Stephanie (drums) — no last names, please — and debuted with the single "On Tape," a witty jab at indie-rock fanboy mentality released on manager/svengali Steve Gregory's Fierce label. (In actuality, Gregory was the real mastermind behind the Pooh Sticks, writing, arranging and producing their records, designing their cover artwork and even choreographing their live performances.) Alan McGee — an ironically lavish box set comprised entirely of one-sided singles including the famed "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well," a nod to the Creation Records chief — followed in 1988.The Pooh Sticks EP, a streamlined collection of the box set material, appeared later in 1988, trailed by Orgasm, a set "recorded live...in Trudi Tangerine's basement" including the wonderful "Indie Pop Ain't Noise Pollution." The 1989 mock-bootleg Trademark of Quality was next, compiling live material from a pair of recent club dates including a cover of the Vaselines' "Dying for It" as well as an early rendition of the group's semi-original "Young People." In 1990, they even finally recorded a proper studio LP, Formula One Generation.In 1991, the Pooh Sticks added Talulah Gosh and Heavenly vocalist Amelia Fletcher to their ranks; the resulting LP, The Great White Wonder, was their masterpiece, a collection of ace pop songs built entirely around other people's ideas, from the Neil Young "Powderfinger" guitar solo at the heart of "The Rhythm of Love" to the liberal use of Stephen Stills' "Love the one you're with" credo right down to the record's title, borrowed from a legendary Bob Dylan bootleg. 1993's sublime Million Seller took the same path; 1995's Optimistic Fool was the Pooh Sticks' swan song.

Freur

I had this on vinyl. Dammit. See I wrote the word "had". That makes me mad!
Great song. Remember watching Vanilla Sky when freak Tom Cruise got in the elevator and it was playing in the background.

-Jimmy-

Biography by Wikipedia


The band was formed in the early 1980s in Cardiff, Wales by Hyde, Smith and Alfie Thomas. It originally had only a graphic 'squiggle' for a name. In 1983, after recruiting John Warwicker and drummer Bryn Burrows (formerly of the Fabulous Poodles), they got a recording contract with, CBS Records, and met the label's insistence on a pronounceable name, with the compromise that the squiggle was pronounced Freur.
Their first and only hit single (number 59 in the UK Singles Chart), was "Doot Doot" (1983).[1] It was recorded and co-produced by Alex Burak at The Point studio in London, which was controlled by Rupert Merton of Point Music publishing. Merton (who also had an early version of the Thompson Twins on his roster of artists) signed Freur.
The band released five further tracks after "Doot Doot", between 1983 and 1985: "Matters of the Heart", "Runaway", "Riders in the Night", "Devil and the Darkness" and "Look in the Back for Answers". All failed to dent the UK chart.
Freur released two albums: Doot Doot (1983) and Get Us Out of Here! (1985). The second LP was only released in Germany and the Netherlands. Freur also composed and performed the soundtrack to the movie Underworld (aka Transmutations), written by Clive Barker. Warwicker left the band in 1986 and Freur went into recess. In 1987, Hyde, Smith, Thomas and Burrows, along with bassist Baz Allen signed to Sire Records under a new name, Underworld, and found minor success with the single "Underneath the Radar" (1988) before initially folding in 1990.
The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles would list Freur under the symbol, with the translation by the side, until the late 1990s. John Warwicker is a video artist in the graphic design collective Tomato, whose founders include Hyde and Smith. "Doot Doot" was used in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001) and in "(Gossip Girl)" season 2 episode 24. More recently it is heard on the serene palm pre "Go with the flow" tv ad campaign with an LE lucid dream-like ambiance. Maybe a reference to Vanilla Sky. The now defunct UK magazine Sounds referred to the band as "Elephant with a stick of Rhubarb" because of the shape of the squiggle.