Lost Records: Chapter Sixteen

December 2, 2008 by John Foster  Send to a Friend

Sarah Records Compilation “Gaol Ferry Bridge”

It’s true. I couldn’t resist adding another column in hopes of turning you cats and kittens on to more music. This is going to focus on discs primarily from the 80s (and early 90s) that have long been hard to find or sort of fell through the cracks of the collective consciousness. They will also be true records in that you should own the whole thing and not download just a few songs. To make life easy, I will focus on spending some of your eMusic credits. The service is still spotty with new releases but an amazing array of back catalogues have come on-line and digging through ebay or gemm has now been simplified to single clicks at a fraction of the cost. Sit back and enjoy!

The very reason that I started this column was the hope that some of the most sought after pieces of music would soon become accessible. While it is true that I miss the tactile sensation of digging through record bins, and the digital hunt of tracking down a German pressing of some impossible to find disc – I would rather everyone be able to actually HEAR all of these amazing songs. One of the most collectible labels of the 80’s was the tiny bastion of twee, Bristol-based Sarah Records. Small pressings on vinyl only served to continue that fetish. The label sought to rectify that in some manner through a series of near perfect compilations adorned with photographs and titles from various landmarks around them. However, those discs sold out quickly and became as sought after (if not more so) than the original vinyl output. Now, Sarah has entered the virtual world and begun the process of making their catalog available through emusic. To say this is a time to rejoice – in your best fey singing voice – would be oh so true. I can’t rule out the possibility of some of the other collections finding there way here but for today we celebrate “Gaol Ferry Bridge.”

Heavenly

Sarah Records was Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd’s merging of their politics and musical tastes as well as their witty writing prose (both helmed killer fanzines) under one roof. As a team, they served as a cheering section for pop music for the people and a love affair with the 7” disc. If something came out on their label you knew that they were behind it 1000% percent. They helped usher in an era of janglepop as well as gave a platform for some terribly sensitive souls. Unafraid and unashamed to be wimpy, they literally wore their hearts on their sleeves. As should be expected when born of such romantic notions, romance would be their undoing. A love triangle involving Wadd and Robert Wratten, the main man behind their flagship band The Field Mice (more on them another day) and his Field Mice/Northern Picture Library band mate Annemari Davies, began to be too much for Wadd to handle as Wratten began to incorporate their complex relationship into his output and Wadd held on to that feeling until the time came for the liner notes to The Field Mice compilation “Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way?” It was far from the only reason they shuttered up the shop but the intermingling of everything had become too much.

They went out in grand fashion with a dramatic ad running in the UK music papers announcing the release of their 100^th record and the official closing of the label. Haynes would soldier on with Shinkansen Recordings and some of the same cast of characters but his heart wasn’t in it the same way. How could it be?

But back to the former glory: “Gaol Ferry Bridge” is especially worthwhile for it’s inclusion of no fewer than three Sugargliders tracks!!!

Starting with lo-fi jazz pop of the Aussie answer to Everything but the Girl, Even As We Speak (who once played a magical set at Galaxy Hut) and their “(All You Find Is) Air” and it’s breezy shuffle. Blueboy brings their somber romanticism to the stage (and amazing acoustic guitar work) via the aptly named “Try Happiness.” Coming on like a mix of a folk duo trying to figure out just how do New Order make all those gadgets work, The Sugargliders “Reinventing Penicillin” is a simple piece of pop joy with it’s drum machine pitter patter and interwoven guitars and cute accents. Heavenly were always one of those bands I wanted to dismiss for being too cute but here they make a case for being pop geniuses instead. “Atta Girl” is a plain and simple solid melody over a little beat combo rocking. Removed from some of their rhetoric of the time, you can’t help but enjoy the final product.

Secret Shine

Action Painting! deserve their exclamation mark via the under two-minute burst of Wedding Presentesque noise that is “Classical Music,” with it’s cries to “smash the clocks.” The Sugargliders return with the laid back “Ahprahran” and a bassy drive punctuated by acoustic trills. The ramshackle glory of early Boyracer is here with Stewart Anderson’s unique yelp pushing along the burst that is “I’ve Got It and Its Not Worth Having.” Heavenly update the girl group sound with breakbeats and call and response invoking vocals in “P.U.N.K. Girl.” Even As We Speak return with the new wave rocker “Getting Faster.” Boyracer come on with the moody brooding “Cog” (at three minutes a long workout for them at the time) giving way to the delicate “Air France” from Blueboy. Secret Shine sneak in with the reverb-drenched shoegazer “Loveblind,” that suddenly sounds current, given the influx of Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts. The Sugargliders wrap up the compilation via the thin funk of “Theme From Boxville.”

Missing from the available downloads are some tracks that were only licensed to the label. In this case it is three wonderful/woe is me tracks by East River Pipe that you should make a point of finding: “My Life Is Wrong,” “Happytown” and “Helmet On.”

Get your twee on!

RIYL: iconic music labels from the indie rock 80s that provided the blueprint for anything tagged with twee these days.

Sarah Records Christmas Party:

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