The Mackenzies - Man with No Reason

Long-forgotten C86 band from Glasgow, in the Fire Engines/Josef K/A Witness sort of vein. As far as I can tell they only ever had two releases of their own, both singles. A couple of them went on to be Secret Goldfish.

This was from a 1987 flexi compilation.

Close Lobsters - Let's Make Some Plans

Here's a deadly single from another C86 band, who really should have been mega-stars on the strength of this song alone. I remember actually thinking they just might do it with this one but oddly it didn't even end up being one of their higher indie chart placings, which is mad. I mean just listen to it. It's fecking great.

From 1987.

McCarthy - Celestial City

Well it took a couple days and a number of not-very-pleasant phone exchanges with what passes for my ISP but I've finally got the home internet sorted...I think. If I disappear over the weekend, you'll know what happened.

Anyway, here's an unusually downbeat one from C86. But then McCarthy, as Revolutionary Communists, weren't exactly a cheerful lot. It's actually kind of surprising they were on C86 at all, in retrospect.

Malcolm Eden went on to Stereolab, who I always thought were kind of overrated.

The Windmills - Boxing Glove

Essex boys the Windmills emerged in the C86 era but only managed one single before disbanding - then reappeared ten years later, still sounding like an '80s Creation band. Of the Blow-Up, Jazz Butcher variety. Which wasn't necessarily my favourite Creation subgenre. But wasn't terrible either.

This is from their second album, 2001's Sunlight.

The Bodines - God Bless

The Bodines' debut single is far less well known than their C86 classic "Therese", but it's nearly as good. It was released on Creation in 1986.

The Servants - Transparent

Another great C86 track, from a band who's probably remembered these days mainly because Luke Haines was in them. Phil King was too, but then, what wasn't he in?

This was also the b-side to their first single, "She’s Always Hiding". As far as I'm aware Syd Barrett never sued them over it, although I think you'll agree he certainly could have.

A Witness - Zip Up

Surprised I haven't posted anything yet by A Witness, an underrated C86 band from the Manchester area. Their sound was more abrasive than some of their contemporaries - shades of maybe the Fire Engines, or Josef K in their less melodic moments - which I suppose made them something of an acquired taste. Keith Curtis's voice was a bit jarring too. Still, I liked them, mostly.

This track appeared on a 1988 EP called One Foot in the Groove, although this is the Peel Session version, which is the one that appeared on the 2002 retrospective Threaphurst Lane.

Mighty Mighty - Law

Just another great C86 track. Mighty Mighty actually put out a number of singles in the 1980s but this is the only one that anyone seems to remember.

They played at Indietracks last year, but I'm not sure if that was just a one-off or not.

14 Iced Bears - Balloon Song

An early single from the Bears, back when they were still firmly in C86 mode. Not much to say about this other than isn't it great?

The Jasmine Minks - Forces Network

One of those bands I always think of as a C86 band even though they weren't. This is from their self-titled full-length debut, released on Creation in 1985. It's kind of an odd little track, I think, but one I like a lot.

Close Lobsters - Don't Worry (Violently Pretty Face)

Another great C86 band. For a while there they actually seemed poised to break through to alt-rock stardom - this was at the time of their brilliant 1987 single, "Let's Make Some Plans", which had the advantage of a superb video as well - but alas it never happened and instead they broke up after a somewhat disappointing (but, in fairness, not bad) second LP. They are very fondly remembered by indie fans everywhere. If only the Soup Dragons had met the same fate.

This song was released on the What Is There to Smile About? EP, alongside "Let's Make Some Plans", but I've posted an earlier (and renamed) version from a demo album I gratefully obtained from Wilfully Obscure. There's a touching innocence to this particular recording, which fits the song really nicely.

Chin Chin - Dark Days

Here's a very obscure little gem from Chin Chin, probably Switzerland's finest all-girl C86 type band. (If anyone knows of a better one, by all means pass on the info!) They released only one album, 1985's Sound of the Westway, which was reissued on Slumberland earlier this year. Go get it.

Apologies for the audio quality, but I think the essentialness of it shines through.

The Wedding Present - My Favourite Dress

This is definitely one of those songs that falls into the category of "indiepop classic", and with good reason. Along with the Verlaines' "Slow Sad Love Song", it's one of the most perfect depictions ever of the utter despondency brought on by a broken heart - one of those songs that you're probably not human if you can't relate to at least a little bit.

Despite being a fan of theirs I didn't get around to seeing them live until relatively late in their career, maybe '91 or '92, and it was in this really tiny club in the US which despite its size they didn't come close to filling. Nonetheless it seemed that everyone there was a Wedding Present fanatic and the atmosphere was brilliant. While waiting for them to take the stage I got chatting to a fella in the crowd and when I mentioned that I hoped they played this song he told me, "They don't play that any more." Fortunately he was wrong; it ended up being their final encore and when the opening chords struck I really did believe I had died and gone to heaven. It was genuinely one of the highlights of my gig-going career, and you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that's saying a lot.

Yeah Yeah Noh - The Time Beings

Here's another sadly forgotten '80s band. Yeah Yeah Noh were from Leicester and put out a few records in the middle of the decade which sort of blended post-punk, psychedelic and C86 type pop. Most of these were on the short-lived In Tape label, but Cherry Red kindly compiled them into a retrospective called Leicester Square: The Best of Yeah Yeah Noh which was released a couple years ago and which you should buy.

Here's one that was left off that compilation. It was a B-side to their 1985 single "Temple of Convenience", and its title would make a great band name. Somebody should steal it.

Pop Will Eat Itself - The Black Country Chainsaw Massacreee

I was never a huge fan of the Poppies, even back in their C86ish days. They were always a little too much of a joke band and I didn't think much of their songwriting skills either - most of their material from that era sounds to me like the least interesting B-sides put out by other C86 bands. And anything from 1987 on, forget it.

This one's good though, a track from an early single (I think) which found its way onto the compilation album Now For a Feast, the only PWEI record I ever bought. Or ever will.

The Chesterfields - Completely and Utterly

Here's another one that could have easily been on C86 but wasn't. The Chesterfields (or Chesterf!elds, if you prefer) were from Yeovil and put out a few records in the late '80s that seem to have been pretty much forgotten. Shame. This is one of their earliest singles, released on the Flatmates' Subway label.

RIP Davey.

The Razorcuts - Snowbound

Here's another band that I always think of as a C86 band even though they technically weren't. Actually they're a really good bridge between C86 and Sarah - not that that would be a very long bridge, of course, but you know what I mean; elements of both the snappy pop that characterised classic mid-1980s indiepop and the twee-er sounds that followed a bit later. Or maybe I'm talking shite again (after the weekend I had that's a definite possibility).

Anyway, here's a lovely Razorcuts track from 1989's The World Keeps Turning LP.

The Pastels - Crawl Babies

I had a Pastels t-shirt once. It was a really nice t-shirt, and I bought it knowing that whenever I wore it to a gig I would be the coolest person there, and would be the envy of all my indiepop friends. I couldn't wait. So I wore it one night - to a gig featuring the creme de la creme of the local indie scene, it doesn't really matter who at this point (and not that I could even remember!) - and the scenesters were suitably impressed. I was asked several times where I got the shirt, complimented on it by a few others and given admiring glances by nearly everyone else. As expected.

I then sat down on an open red ink pad - thus rendering the t-shirt unwearable ever again. I suppose that served me right.

The point behind this cautionary tale is, of course, that the Pastels were/are one of the best loved indiepop bands ever. They're difficult to neatly categorise, because there are elements of so many genres in their sound; it's particularly interesting to note how some of their classic debut Up For A Bit With The Pastels sounds remarkably shoegaze now, in retrospect, although it was released in 1987. I'm not sure if this is a sign of a band ahead of their time, or a band that didn't really have a notion what it wanted to do, but who cares? It sounds great.

Oh, and Stephen Pastel... yum.

The Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World

The Soup Dragons' 1990 breakthrough album was so thoroughly horrid I've had trouble convincing people that they actually used to be good once. But they were. Really good, in fact. They weren't on C86 for nothing you know.

Their early singles were collected by Sire and released on the Hang-Ten! compilation which is, quite simply, something no indiepop fan should be without. You can pretend it's by someone else, if you need to.

Here's a little taster.

The Mighty Lemon Drops - Inside Out

The Mighty Lemon Drops were one of the more commercially successful C86 bands, although unfortunately that success was, as it so often is, accompanied by a tendency toward the bland and mainstream. I say a "tendency toward" because in their case I think they still wrote pretty good pop songs; it's not like what happened to the Soup Dragons, eventually, who basically went down the toilet.

This was from their third and most successful album, World Without End. Great song...shame about the video.

The Mighty Lemon Drops - Inside Out