As shocking as Amy Winehouse not punching a fan at Glastonbury would have been, I've decided to take a break from the KLF - at least for this post - and focus on one of my other favourite bands: The Pale Fountains.
Formed in Kensington, Liverpool, in 1981 by teenager Mick Head, the "Paleys" rapidly developed a strong cult in the Merseyside area. Their love of Love, Baccarach and David and some of the pre-Raphaelite leanings of the recently closed Zoo Records (run by Bill Drummond, of course), rapidly became almost a cliche in the Liverpool area - echoing down twenty-five years of music to the Beefheart angular Britpop of the Coral, through the chiming glory of the La's.
Augmented by the bass work of Chris McCafferty and Thomas "Jock" Whelan on drums, the band really started to take off with the inclusion of Andy "Diagram" Diagram, a multi-instrumentalist and predominant trumpet player who added so much to their gentle, riverbank-y sound. Diagram had previously appeared with the Diagram Brothers (where he had changed his surname in a Ramones-esque act of anonymity; I've never found out what his real name is) and Dislocation Dance.
A first single, "Just a Girl"/"There's Always Something On My Mind" was released to much critical acclaim in late 1981, rapidly followed by a bidding war resulting in a contract with Virgin Records and their first - and only - top 50 hit, the extraordinarily Spectoresque "Thank You".
A gap of over a year then occurred in their release schedule, as they prepared to bring out their debut album: "Pacific Street", which eventually appeared in 1984. This wonderful album really is one of my favourites - but it has been sadly neglected over the years by Virgin and EMI in the UK. A 13-track UK CD was issued in 1989, and although it has never been deleted, it does little to represent the Pale Fountains "gap years" between their first independent single and their major label debut album. Thankfully, a Japanese 21-track CD was issued in 1999, which mopped up many of the outstanding tracks from the Paley's singles. This CD (like many expanded Japanese editions) has never been reissued or released indepedently in the UK - although owners of the British version may take some comfort from the fact that "Love's A Beautiful Place", one of the extra tracks on the UK Version, does not appear on the Japanese import. Of course, the downside of this is that if you want to own their entire discography on CD you have to buy both discs. If you like this album, I would recommend buying the UK CD as it's usually only around £5.00.
Here is the full Japanese CD, alongside the British-only extra track, from mediafire:
http://www.protectlinks.com/117172
http://www.protectlinks.com/117297
320kps from the CD.
More Pale Fountains soon ... or possibly next ...