It takes a lot to get me to drink in a bar or pub I don’t like. I normally can’t be bothered, life’s too short to tolerate things I don’t like. But a few weeks ago, an old friend lent on me to meet him for a few beers in the dump of a boozer next to his office. We catch up once every six months at best, so I caved in as he’s a mate and I was being difficult.
We’d been in the place about 20 minutes and I was already pleasantly surprised that they had Timothy Taylor - Landlord on draft (no matter what the place looks like or who drinks in there, any place with that on draft can’t be referred to as a shithole). Anyway, the intro from INXS - New Sensation kicked in & distracted me from our conversation. I spent the duration of the track trying to place how long it had been since I’d heard it, followed by how old I was when I first heard it (16 & 12). It was followed by Devil Inside & Need You Tonight, they were clearly playing the whole of Kick (the first track Guns In The Sky must have passed me by at the time).
I was surprised how well I knew the tracks as I don’t remember loving the record when it came out, and it came out at an age when I have very good recollection of all the records I did love. In the late eighties I’d maybe buy 3 or 4 records a year at most and listen to them on constant rotation. Play one side, flip the tape and repeat. I knew every track back to front. Either way, those 3 tracks back to back sounded great. Big bold production, some cool hooks. Not the kind of road I’d ever go down, but I could tip my hat to them nailing what they were doing. Then that track Mediate kicked in, the one that U2 ripped off a few years later with Numb on their ‘experimental’ record Zooropa just to prove that they could take a shit idea and make it even worse.
My attention & interest lapsed. A couple more tracks passed by I think and then my attention was captured again by Never Tear Us Apart, Mystify & Kick. Another run of great tracks. Never Tear Us Apart is a killer, I’m struck for a moment that I should call (Mark) Lanegan and suggest we cover the song but like most of my good ideas its lost after an evening drinking.
The record dips off again after that, but it’s loaded with 6 great singles. A run of 3 on each side. After hearing it again after all these years it struck me what an underrated band they were. It’s not Astral Weeks or Forever Changes granted, but I usually go by the rule of thumb that all successful stadium rock bands must be shit. This one proved me wrong a little. Michael Hutchence was different from the other frontmen of those bands too, he could actually sing for a start.
I keep meaning to buy a copy of Kick, X too… See if that one holds up. Not got around to it yet.
Of course the other factor I should mention is they’d been playing The Police for the first 20 mins I was in the pub, so anything was gonna sound good after that.
-Rich Machin
Rich is one half of Soulsavers, an English production team that have released some great records over the years and worked with peeps such as Mark Lanegan, Dave Gahan, Mike Patton, Will Oldham and Jason Pierce.
The latest Soulsavers album “The Light The Dead See” (co-op) is something of a gothic soul masterpiece. Buy it now. You know where!
