VERY BUSY JUST NOW......

..what with running around Glasgow shoving up posters in a desperate attempt to draw attention to the upcoming Butcher Boy gig that I only have time to cut'n'paste some old postings right now. Here's something from 22nd February 2007:-

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRLS:-

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t always pick up on great records from 2006 until the year itself had come and gone. As such, I am willing to admit that my so-called best of the year, put on the blog last December, is sadly lacking – but it’s still a more than adequate 70 plus minutes of stuff.

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t always pick up on great records from 2006 until the year itself had come and gone. As such, I am willing to admit that my so-called best of the year, put on the blog last December, is sadly lacking – but it’s still a more than adequate 70 plus minutes of stuff.

And while it is perhaps acceptable that I missed some lesser-known works by the likes of King Creosote and The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club, I have no excuse for ignoring the phenomena that was The Fratellis who just last week won best new act at The Brits.

I also failed to pay enough attention to recommendations from other bloggers, including my sparring partner Colin, about the joy that could be obtained by listening to an all-girl band from Canada called The Organ.

All of the artistes I’ve just mentioned were picked-up on after I downloaded mp3s that came with various postings. If I liked the stuff, I would track down the record locally, failing which I’d send off for it by e-mail.

Thus I came to own, in mid-January 2007, The Organ’s Grab That Gun LP that I believed had come out on Too Pure Records the best part of 12 months earlier.

There’s all sorts of great 80s influences throughout its 11 tracks. Some cynics might say there’s nothing new on offer and that it’s simply a re-hash of the sounds that appeared on records by the likes of The Smiths, New Order and The Cure, fronted by someone doing a great take on the Debbie Harry delivery.

Maybe so. And while it’s not an LP that threatens to change the way anyone would ever feel about music, it’s the sort of record that I’m a bit of a sucker for. It’s not pure pop and it’s not pure rock. It’s catchy, melodic and right away it gets your feet tapping along in time. It’s one of those records that once you know the lyrics, you’ll find yourself singing along inside your head (or embarrassingly, out loud on public transport as you wear your i-pod). Trust me, you will:-

mp3 : The Organ – Basement Band Song
mp3 : The Organ – Brother

I was looking forward to finding out more about The Organ and hopefully catching them on tour over here at some point.

So you can guess my disappointment at discovering they had in fact already split up.

It turns out that the band had been together since 2001, and that the LP had in fact originally been recorded and released in Canada as far back as 2004. It was one of those records that seemingly grew in popularity without any huge promotion other than the band’s tours (including over here in the UK) and a couple of low-key released singles. The full story of The Organ can be found in an informative article over at wikipedia right here.

So I missed out on them. Shame – for me, and on me. So much for me trying to stay hip, trendy and with-it…..

I’d be as well getting my tickets for The Police and From The Jam and forgetting about everything else.

Make me feel better. Go and buy Grab That Gun. You can do it here if you’re so inclined.

2011 Update

It's a record I still love to bits.  But what the fuck was I thinking giving The Fratellis a bit of a thumbs -up? All that changed not long after when I went along to see them live and realised they were shite....

Anyways.  Here's some visuals of The Organ:-







Happy Listening