I thought they were c**p.
I saw them a few months later, again supporting the Manics, this time at the Town & Country Club.
I still thought they were c**p.
Thankfully a fledgling Xfm had recently been granted a temporary licence and it seemed that every time I switched it on they were playing 'Turning American' (in reality this probably happened twice). My opinion began to shift and I was happy to shell out 99p on a white vinyl copy of Mondo Akimbo A-Go-Go from the Notting Hill Record & Tape Exchange (they actually had about a dozen copies marked down that far, approximately 1/50th of what it sells for now).
By the time the debut album Earth Vs. the Wildhearts was released I was fully converted. It still amazes me that someone involved in the Tattooed Love Boys went on to something this good (although to be fair it was their vocalist that really let them down - I had the misfortune to listen to their Why Waltz When You Can Rock & Roll single a couple of years ago and that has to go down as one of the worst vocal performances committed to vinyl).
Later releases seemed a but formulaic to me, and I saw little point in their cover of Dogs D'Amour's Heroine on Endless Nameless
(the Dogs themselves having already killed that song off when re-recording it for Straight
). But this was a British band who for a while looked like genuine contenders - if only certain substances hadn't got in the way .......
2 comments:
Although they have a checkered history, there are some of their albums that are rock classics...this and the ep compilation Don't Worry.... being obvious contenders.
I wouldn't call most of the later releases "formulaic" (with the exception of Must Be Destroyed) - more like they're not sure what band they want to be. 15 years on and the B-sides/EP's are still usually the best songs by miles!
Post a Comment