Sunday, May 16, 2010

Nightingales - Blisters

Another great and somewhat under-appreciated band of the post-punk era. Nightingales were from Birmingham but always seemed to me to have a bit of the Manchester about them - that was probably down to Robert Lloyd's half-talking, half-singing vocal style and acerbic lyrics, which earned him more than a few comparisons to Mark E. Smith (though they were really quite different, I think). The music was fast-paced and sounds a bit like an earlier version of the Wedding Present.

Their debut album, Pigs on Purpose, was released on Cherry Red (of course) in 1982 and is one of that label's early classics. It does sound a bit dated now, which might be partially down to what sounds like a really amateurish recording process. But it's still wonderful.

Lloyd went on to a brief solo career - the highlight of which was a song in which he managed to rhyme "anchor", "thank her", "blanker", "Paul Anka", "Sri Lanka" and "wanker" - and then reformed the Nightingales for the reunion circuit, of which I've yet to have the pleasure.

This was the closing track to Pigs.

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