Continuing the streak of 80s indiepop here, because I thought I'd given you Remember Fun's "Hey Hey Hate" long ago but it turns out I was mistaken. I've had the flexi for a while, and if you don't know it it was number 7 in the Sha-La-La series (and shared with Emily). It is perhaps the best embodiment of what all those things like Are You Scared to Get Happy?, Hungry Beat, Trout Fishing In Leytonstone and people like Hurrah! and The Siddeleys seemed to have stood for. Pop with an agenda and a radical sense of style. Were they naive, or has POP today simply lost its spirit?Of all the bands that never managed to get a proper record out in the late 80s, Remember Fun is the band I feel most sorry for. They married 60s jangle (covered WCPAEB's "Transparent Day" they did too) to adhoc tonalities and lyrics infinitely more pressing than Roger McGuinn's, often with a resulting austerity that Wake the President have occasionally come close to capturing. Especially if you listen to Matinée's retrospective ep. Those songs were all previously released and except for "Train Journeys" are among their least melodic. It was hard to resist posting "Car" simply becuase of its sheer political incorrectness today. It tells the tale of the nuisances of collective transport and delivers applaudible lines such as "even if it's ecologically right it's a pain in the backside" and "it's better killing the earth than killing myself". But you need to go back to all those lost tracks from long-forgotten tapes to truly grasp their greatness. Egg Records gave us a taste what these hiss-laden old things can sound like remastered, when they put "Cold Inside" and "Apple of My Eye" on the Souvenirs From Egg Records sampler. Their promised Remember Fun cd will hopefully include all those songs - the dreamy "Clearly Blurred", the barely audible perfection of "P.S. Elaine", the never-before-heard (at least by me - help!) "Never", and "Hey Hey Hate".
CLOUD 67 Remember Fun - Hey Hey Hate
5 comments:
Hi there,
just a short note to let you know I have just sent "Never" to the kittymail-address.
Yes, they were one of the best bands around - and really nice chaps aswell.
Your blogs always an interesting read, Best wishes,
Olaf
I remember a lovely show down in the Vic at the Art School - it might even have been when the Vic was still an alcohol free zone (or more likely when it was just making the move to being more than 'just' a cafe). Remember Fun, The Tractors and The Church Grimms. A fine time was had by all.
As I recall they were all (still are?!) passionate Celtic fans.
really can't thank you enough for that, olaf. let me know if there's anything i can do for YOU.
cheers
Great that it worked. Be sure, going on with the same stuff on your blog is just the best you could ever do. Thanks so much for all the fantastic music. By the way, Changing horses midstream (the fifth song in the player) might well be something for you: http://www.myspace.com/thecamerawalls
Best wishes, Olaf
I was reading something the other day and came across Remember Fun for the first time in years. In the mid 80s I used to work with one of the band and he gave me an early tape. I've just looked it out and it's called "Remember Fun 1" and it contains "Cold Inside", "PS Elaine" and "Don't Worry".
I haven't listened to it yet so no idea how it sounds after all these years but wanted to let you know about this.
Cheers,
Stuart.
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