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Post Info TOPIC: Don't get the recognition they deserve?


Loudmouth

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Don't get the recognition they deserve?
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Has anybody got a selection of bands/artists that they think are really brilliant but the public just does not know about them. I'm thinking about more "established" acts rather than new arrivals? The sort of acts that make you think why is there so much rubbish around and  yet down the years so many unheralded or little known musicians can plough their lonely furrow while Big Music does its thing.

Just some quick ones that come to mind for me

Dory Previn 70's singer songwriter

Noosha Fox 70's disco act ( Just check Goldfrapp for image/ musical borrowings)

The Only Ones -(loads of brilliant songs but people only seem to know Another Girl...

The Pretty Things ( Raw r and b , proto punks, psychedelic masters )

The Band Of Holy Joy ( late eighties folk/punk outlaws out of New Cross via Geordieland)

David Devant and his Spirit Wife (Obscure nineties indie, Mark and Lard faves from the Britpop years)

Ladytron- (Scouse disco via Stockholm or thereabouts, from the  naughties)

I mention these but there are loads more where these came from- always glad to be introduced to music that might be worth listening to, from a Rats fan.



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In the Long Grass

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Difficult one to answer this as I've got a few 'one off' albums based on things like a fleeting radio hearing, a support set, a friend recommending or possibly a TV appearance (e.g. I Ludicrous, Polyphonic Spree, Farmer's Boys, Serious Drinking) but in most cases I've not followed up or pursued the career of the band to be able to say consistently brilliant. 

Also debatable where we draw the line of "known but unknown". Only Ones I'd say are almost one hit wonder territory, as is Noosha Fox (she did Single Bed right?), so they've had recognition far more than the thousands of acts that slog the circuit and never get any record deal. 

For unknowns I'd volunteer an artist I saw this year called Wendy Solomon who I thought really had the 'x factor' and has been in bands since 80s apparently before going solo. I love the 6 track CD sampler sold at gig...but whether I'll actively look out for next release it's hard to say.



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Loudmouth

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What irritates me is when acts are reduced by say radio stations to the status of one hit wonder by lazy dj's and the people who make playlists- hence the Only Ones are largely known for having one hit single. Never occurs to these dj's to investigate a band and play a wider selection of their songs.

The Rats again get squeezed into a very narrow corridor of hits- despite their more than worthy back catalogue of six excellent albums. My musical leanings have always been a bit left field so I know a lot of people just won't have heard the acts I talk about and I likewise will not know much about other artists people mention. Have heard of all the people you mention I ludicrous , Farmers Boys etc.

There is the old indie fans dilemma of having liked a band when they were largely unknown and when they start to get more recognition/airplay you may feel a bit confused. I used to love the early Belle and Sebastian singles in the nineties- Stars of Track and Field, Lazy Line Painter Jane, Dog on Wheels- and became much cooler about them later in the noughties when the sold more albums.

I think my point is that sometimes we don't want our favourite artists to be too well known. Its a strange paradox.



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Back To Boomtown

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Most obvious to me is Dodgy.  Made three brilliant albums, had a clutchful of great singles, were fabulous live yet are now largely forgotten.

Bluetones are another, and I would add the Super Furry Animals.

Vapors are a band that had more then just the w@nking song.

Futureheads and Rakes are another more recent pair.  I would even add Hard-Fi.

There's also a band called The Boomtown Rats, they don't get the recognition they deserve.



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Loudmouth

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The term cult band comes to mind in all the examples you give- certainly all have their fanbase and are far from being unknown. I suppose recognition is all relative.

Bands like the Vapors despite being quite good will always get tagged as Jam soundlikes which is very unfair and lazy. Always loved the single called News At Ten.

The Futureheads Hard Fi and Rakes  and SFA were always NME faves last time I bought the NME (largely for the free cd's) so I would argue they were always heavily promoted in indie circles, which is maybe different to being mainstream. Most indie music operates in a time bubble for want of better metaphor, a period of maybe five years when bands are at their creative peak and before their sell by date (usually dictated by the people who originally made them famous ie the music press).

The Internet at least keeps good music alive- anyone can watch Dodgy videos (the band of course!) so the music is there for instant reference if anybody wants to be reminded or is  tuning in for the first time. Won 't be much Staying Out For the Summer with the rubbish weather were having!

 



-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 16th of June 2011 12:43:16 PM

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In the Long Grass

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One band that had hits for sure but rarely get acknowledged nowadays in same way that so many of that era do is Mott The Hoople. I've only got a limited knowledge of their repertoire, but can't remember last time I heard them played on radio (poss my fault for wrong stations) or mentioned in music nostalgia programmes.

Always thought they had something unique and bridged that gap between rock, R&B, and at least the spirit of the later 70s if not the sound. Maybe it's the difficulty in pigeon-holing them that leads to them not being quoted as champions of any genre. Hmmm...not so dissimilar to a certain band from Ireland I've realised as I write.



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Loudmouth

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Don't know too much about Mott The Hoople but their singles, the Bowie cover All The Young Dudes and Roll Away The Stone are played a lot on the radio. All The Young Dudes contains the classic line "is that concrete all around, or is it in my head?"

In the case of the Rats the singles tended to be varied but the overall sound was basic rock n roll catagorised as New Wave by the music press. Its not good far any band to have a sound thats so predictable that one of their albums would suffice.

 A great lost band from the nineties was Geneva the Scottish band from Aberdeen. Their singer Andrew Mountgomery had a very distinctive voice, a bit like his fellow countryman Billy Mckenzie of Associates and they had a string of brilliant singles from the album Further released in 1997 on Nude records. Ive always found Geneva one of the most emotionally effecting bands I've ever heard- the sort of music that sends shivers up your spine.



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BTR


Tonight

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I can remember receiving a promo CD that had a song called This Is For Real by David Devant and his Spirit Wife. It reminds me a bit of Pulp, the Beatles, the Darkness, and the Wonder Stuff.

Found it on Youtube:

http://youtu.be/QdRBoQ6wWJw




-- Edited by BTR on Sunday 17th of July 2011 06:51:01 PM

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Loudmouth

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This Is For Real is a good intro to David Devant and his Spirit Wife. Their nearest equivalent would be Pulp but they had their own distinctive style- very English, - they are from Brighton- and always wrote really poppy tuneful songs with excellent lyrics. Lots more examples of David Devant and his Spirtit Wife can be found on YouTube. The band incidentally is called   named after a famous spiritualist/stage magician/ film exhibitor [1868-1941]

Mark Radcliffe used to play them on Radio One in the mid nineties, which is how I heard them. Seems the masses were more into Oasis and their dreadful Wonderwall stuff but that is how it is.

Another good Brighton band who don't get much recognition is Clearlake, who started out in the late nineties and recorded a great album called Jumble Sailing.



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Loudmouth

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft1Nc5eP5vg

 

 

 

This is Momus, with Hairstyle Of The Devil. Momus started out on Creation Records in around 1987 and isn't widely known- a bit  of a cult figure to those who like him.



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Loudmouth

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Here's the brilliant Geneva from 1997 with Into The Blue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFlT-T7dsYI



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Loudmouth

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A good intro to Belle and Sebastian is The Stars Of Track and Field again from 1997

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=belle+and+sebastian+stars+of+track+and+field&aq=0&oq=belle+and+sebastian+stars+



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