HAPPY EVER AFTER (5)

I'm finishing off the look at the compilation CD Happy Ever Ever - The Best Of Kitchenware Records with four of the least known songs to most people.

Track 9:-

mp3 : Hug - Firebrands

Back in 1992, the NME described Hug as Newcastle's answer to The Sugarcubes. Others said that vocalist Gemma Wilson sounded like Tanya Donnelly of Belly. Elsewhere it was said 'mid-period Banshees, The Cure and The Pixies are suggested in the heavyish guitar patterns.' All of which should have pointed to a big future. But instead they got nowhere. I certainly can't recall much from them when they were around, and other than this song, I own nothing of theirs. Anyone out there got anything more?

Track 12:-

mp3 : Geoff Smith - Six Wings Of Bliss

The info with the CD advises the track was taken from the LP Fifteen Wild Decembers and that is was a recoding that was part of the Sony Classical catalogue (which means I'm almost certain to get a dmca notice).

I'm glad I had a look as the only Geoff Smith I could find on wiki was described as a musical performer and composer from Brighton, England. And I just didn't associate such an act with Kitchenware. And love it or loath it, its the inclusion of a track like this which lifts the compilation a notch above the norm that record labels churn out.

Which brings us to Tracks 8 and 13:-

mp3 : Fatima Mansions - Behind The Moon
mp3 : Fatima Mansions - Blues For Ceausescu

Again, it is easier to extract from wiki to get a flavour of what this most underrated act were all about:-

Fatima Mansions were an art rock group formed in 1988 by Cork singer/keyboardist Cathal Coughlan, formerly of Microdisney. They took their name from a downmarket housing estate in Dublin.

They enjoyed some indie chart success and technically entered the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in 1992 with a heavily reworked version of Bryan Adams' song Everything I Do) I Do It for You, taken from an NME tribute album in aid of the charity, Scope. However, although this single was technically a double A-side, the flip-track, Manic Street Preachers' version of Suicide Is Painless received most of the radio airplay and is by far the better-known track.

They also gained mainstream exposure by opening a European leg of U2's Zoo TV Tour in 1992, although they were nearly booed off the stage and almost started a riot when front man Coughlan swore at a Milan audience and insulted the Pope. [

The band often courted controversy with religion, dictators, empires and general authority being targets for Coughlan's vitriol. Despite this, The Guardian newspaper described him as "the most underrated lyricist in pop today", and DJ John Peel said he could "listen to Cathal Coughlan sing the phone book".

And that final sentence is reason alone to accept that Fatima Mansions are always worth paying attention to.

Behind The Moon is taken from the mini-LP Bertie's Brochures, on which you can also find this incredible cover:-



If anyone has an mp3 of said track, I'd be delighted to receive a copy from you.......

And as for the single Blues For Ceausescu, that simply is a song that I enjoy and appreciate the older I get. Bloody marvellous it is. Cracking video as well....




And that completes my look at all 14 tracks on the compilation. I hope it wasn't too predictable......

I'm back from Aruba over the weekend. Normal service should resume on Monday.