Daniel made me a tape of Last Party songs many years ago. It was an instant hit. We should not forget just what an important part tapes played in spreading music in those days. Money was scarce. This was the Thatcherite 1980s after all. Everyone I knew was either a student or on the dole, scraping around as best they could. John Carney paints the picture admirably in his The Outside Of Everything. As ever, he is spot on.
Few of us had much to spend on records and there often seemed to be little in common in terms of what we did buy. This was not entirely accidental. If you had it on a tape then that would do. You would buy something else instead and then pass on a tape in turn. That’s how it worked. Of course for those in the big cities it was often easier to find things cheap; the journalists cast-offs and the charity shop finds. Where I lived there was also a street of charity shops, but there was never much of interest there. The occasional Fontella Bass 7” perhaps. Scraps. The pleasures of living in the sticks.
So the only Last Party record I have in my collection is the 'Tree Shada' 12” from 1987. I do not remember how I came by it. Something tells me that Daniel passed this to me as well, although the small sticker in the corner of the sleeve says Soul Survivor record store in Bath, so it might have been that C bought it in her student days. She found that copy of Alma Mater there a week before the store closed, after all.
I do have a couple of Bitter Springs singles, however. The Bitter Springs being the group that Last Party metamorphosed into sometime in the mid 1990s. I admit I was not really paying much attention and quickly lost the scent. Or the plot, depending on your point of view. There are arguments to be made on both sides.
The Bitter Springs, it seems, have been releasing albums on a regular basis ever since, and thankfully have seen way to reissuing a whole raft of Last Party recordings along the way. I have not seen any CDs, but both the Love Handles and Cacophony on Port Hampton Singles and Rarities sets are available for download from eMusic.
Now the trouble with tapes of course is that they do not always last the pace. That Last Party tape more or less died some time ago, so it’s been some time since I last heard these songs. Not as long as with those APB records, but a good decade at least I would say. Similarly, though, they sound so familiar. Like old friends popping around, putting their feet up on the sofa and sharing a beer and a yarn or two. So many wonderful tales to recount of course, and far too many highlights to point you towards. Except…
The aching ‘Trust U Dear’ with those gorgeously bitter lines about lime green shirts and not loving like you used to. The bittersweetness of memory never sounded so darkly wondrous as this. Except perhaps on ‘Damp’, which strolls along autumn avenues, kicking through leaves and musing on the drifting tides of relationship. Like Shena Mackay’s Music Upstairs, ‘Damp’ is kitchen sink drama with a seductively bruising heartbeat. Or what about the melodic pounding of ‘Mr Hurst’ with the references to country houses, six miles to the local post office and hearing the gardener sing? I always thought there was a hint of Pride And Prejudice and Brideshead Revisited in there, but perhaps that is my romantic mind at work. And then there is ‘Jesus Hates U2’ which always made me smile indecently. For U2 were one of those most derided of groups at the time. Something to do with rockist ideologies and making heaps of money. Of course the song was not really about the group at all, but rather a dig at fallen out relationships, with the title an aside made humorous by the use of those txt tricks. Didn’t Prince start all that nonsense? The start of the txt revolution. Or something of that sort.
In the tradition of those old tapes, then, here are the four songs I’ve mentioned. Naturally, if you can afford to, you should buy the aforementioned albums from which they come. Me, I’m off to dive into the Bitter Springs records that I have yet to hear. It promises to be quite a delightful journey.
Back in the day there was nothing more depressing than hearing squelching sounds coming from your tape deck, was there? Used to happen a lot.
LP were indeed a great group, as were / are the Bitter Springs. I think of Last Party now as a less ethereal Blue Orchids, a more personable Fall. Simon Rivers was no slouch as a tunesmith, but as you suggest he was an even better lyricist, turning out memorable lines in every song - in 'Damp', 'one more plate glass window attacks another helpless drunk' always stuck in my mind. Definitely due a 'Backed With' before long. Speaking of which, I'd best get on with the next one...
Posted by: awildslimalien | April 10, 2008 at 14:17