(Re)Discover

It's a sobering thought that so many albums which defined my musical preferences as teen are now celebrating their 40th anniversary. Case in point, Discover by Gene Loves Jezebel, released in 1986.

I boiught mine from Sound Seekers, a treasure trove of vinyl, cassettes and a new fangled format called compact discs, in the suburbs of Bristol. This was my first Gene Loves Jezebel album purchase and I lucked out with the limited edition double vinyl, containing Discover and a live album. Glad To Be Alive.

If you think the Gallagher brothers' dynamic is interesting, it's got nothing on Michael and Jay Aston, the core of Gene Loves Jezebel. Poster boys with lashing of lip gloss, pan stick, granny's pearl necklaces and silk blouses, pouts that were in danger of poking your eye out if you sat too close to the telly and heaps of attitude.

They also had some great songs, and this third album really should have been the crossover that Gene Loves Jezebel had been striving for, with Desire (released twice), Heartache and possibly my favourite of theirs, Sweetest Thing. 

It just wasn't to be, with Heartache the best performing single from the album getting to #71, although Discover itself managing a much more respectable #32 in it's first week.  It dropped to #60 the following week though, which suggests that the initial surge was people like me, rushing to buy the 2-for-1 album deal.

I haven't watched the videos in ages and it's been fun to revisit them, not least the fake live audience sound laid over the video for Desire and noticing that, in all three, Jay's guitar is more like an oversized necklace than something to be played.

However, Gene Loves Jezebel inspired more than one Friday night going out look back in the day, when it took almost as long to get ready as it did actually being out in town. And no, I didn't resort to 'borrowing' my granny's blouse. They were both barely 5 foot tall for a start, and I wasn't ready to go out with an exposed midriff. At least, not in the late 80s.