It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

What with all of the Stone Roses stuff that has been happening this week I have been casting my mind back to the late 80's and to what was really going on, with me anyway.


I remember buying The Stone Roses a couple of months after it's release and liking it. It didn't blow me away or anything, no Damascene moment. At this time it wasn't Manchester bands so much that interested me but more producers such as A Guy Called Gerald and the others who had been showcased on the "North, Sound of The Dance Underground album. In fact around about this time I was getting the feeling that guitar bands were a thing of the past , slightly outdated and that House and Acid were the future.

I know that the two scenes weren't mutually exclusive and there would be a coming together of the genres in the years to come in what would horribly be termed as 'indie dance' but could be more appropriately be termed as 'indie shuffle'. But I do think that there were 2 distinct camps, the House heads and the guitar loving indie kids still not at one with the concept of 4/4 beats.

So when I think back to 1989, sure I played Fools Gold,  I Am Resurrection and  W.F.L by Happy Mondays but the track that sums up that summer for me from a Manchester band is Pacific 202 by 808 State.

Have a good weekend people.

808 State - Pacific - 202

Hypechester

In the wake of the whole Hypechester thing, anybody with a guitar, a pair of Joe Bloggs flairs, a bowl haircut and a Mancunian accent could be signed to a record label on these attributes alone. There were some really terrible records that came out on the coat tails of the Mondays and the Stone Roses.
I'm not saying that the High are one of those but they were formed by Andy Couzins, who had been a member of the Stone Roses and their sound is not dissimilar, it has that jangly Byrds thing going on. The music is nothing earth shattering but compared to some of the dross coming out at the time it is pretty good.

The first track was a single and is also on the first album Somewhere Soon.

The High - Up & Down

The second track, if I remember correctly had to be withdrawn from sale for some alleged attempts to nobble the charts or didn't chart because of the allegations, or something. However I could be completely wrong and have just made that up but I'm sure I read it somewhere at the time.

The High - More