Strawberries On Sunday

Robert Forster has a new album out in May called Strawberries and he's obligingly released the title track as a video this weekend.

Strawberries features Robert duetting with wife Karin Bäumler in what I presume is their kitchen, whilst the family black cat attempts to steal the show in the background. The song and the video are a joy from start to finish.

I''m not only looking forward to the album, but also Robert's return to the UK later this year for a few dates, including a show in Cardiff. Never having seen him or The Go-Betweens live on stage before, I bought tickets without hesitation. Very excited.

All this singing about strawberries inevitably made me think about other such songs, so here are five more. I rigidly stuck to the plural, so no Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles (or Candy Flip, for that matter) or Strawberry Line from the current Beak> album, even though it's brilliant.

Instead, and perhaps inevitably, things continue with Strawberries by Asobi Seksu, a beautiful song from the 2007 album called - what else? - Citrus. The single was accompanied by fine remixes by The Whip, CSS and out-shoegazing the original, Ulrich Schnauss.

Next up is Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It's Wintertime), a 1985 single by The Dentists. I'd like to say that I was hip to the Medway Scene bands as a 14 year old but I'd didn't even know there was a Medway Scene at the time. Frankly, I barely knew that there was a Bristol scene, let alone anywhere further from home.  

I first heard this on the 2005 compilation Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996 and, had I got there 20 years earlier, it would have been right up my street.

Fast forward to 2014 and Franz Ferdninand, with a low-key release of Fresh Strawberries, on 7' and promo CD single only, although there is a striking monochrome video. Fresh Strawberries closes Side 1 of Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand's 4th album released the previous year. 

The penultimate choice is Taste The Strawberries by War Against Sleep, the non de plume of Duncan Fleming, described as an "ongoing battle against the absurd waking dream that passes for life, in which he plunders the hidden treasures of a thousand charity shop records, writing songs that tingle the spine, move the soul and lift the spirit".

I'm a recent convert and I have to say that I'm all in. There are five albums available on Bandcamp, Taste The Strawberries taken from the 2008 debut Pleasure Complex. I will also have the pleasure of seeing Duncan perform live next month, in a special show with Emily Breeze at the Cube Microplex in Bristol.

There is only way to wrap up this half dozen though, and the one singular exception to the strawberries (plural) theme. That, of course, is Strawberry Switchblade. 

I selected their cover of Jolene, as a tribute to Dolly Parton, whose husband of 60 years, passed away last week. Whilst Dolly's career went into the stratosphere, Carl Dean intentionally kept a low profile, continuing to focus on his Nashville-based asphalt-paving business. 

However, as Dolly revealed decades later, Jolene was inspired by her husband's experience of a cashier at his local bank, who developed a crush on him.

As an impressionable adolescent, I thought Strawberry Switchblade were fantastic. My crush on Jill Bryson, though in the video and TV appearances for Jolene, Rose McDowall was an arresting sight in a leather zip-up one-piece, coming on like a Gothic Emma Peel from The Avengers.

Jolene was released in 1985, and sounds very much of its time, including a musical nod to Bronski Beat's cover of I Feel Love by Donna Summer. I still own and cherish the 12" single, but can it really be forty years old?!

 

 

 

 

 

Decade III: 1984

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded sometime in March 1990, discarded or misplaced somewhere along the way, reimagined and recreated 18th August 2024.

 

The halfway point, and the second of the two cassettes from the Decade series that I lost, broke or smashed with a lump hammer at some point in the last twenty years. One of these scenarios is highly unlikely.

 

I had a vague recollection of some of the songs on the previous mixtape, but I have no memory of the original 1984 tracklisting whatsoever. It probably would have featured Bronski Beat, almost certainly Depeche Mode and would I have left off Tears For Fears with Shout or at a push Mothers Talk? I don't know, but none of them have made the cut this time around.

 

The selection starts off with two of the defining songs of the year for me, by Prince and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. My appreciation of the Purple One really kicked off a few years later, but I was in with the Liverpool lads as soon as they appeared on The Tube and Top Of The Pops. Neither song has lost its edge or impact, forty years later.

Eighties by Killing Joke, as well as being an apt choice for this series, was the one that hooked me in to the band. Most likely I would have heard them on the radio previously, but it was probably Love Like Blood and the Night Time album the following year that sealed the deal. Kurt Cobain was similarly inspired.

1984 was also the year that the ZTT aka Zang Tumb Tuum label exploded, on the back of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's success with Relax and Trevor Horn's huge production. It was also the home to The Art Of Noise and the bonkers Close (To The Edit), in the days when this kind of craziness could also be a #1 single in the UK. I've got multiple versions of this song, reflecting ZTT's saturation of the market with vinyl, cassette, VHS and Beta, endless 12" remixes and probably a kitchen sink format for one of their releases. On the downside, every single length version of Close (To The Edit) in my collection is prone to vinyl crackles or tape hiss and dropout, so please excuse the slight dip in sound quality.

At the other end of the spectrum, Eurythmics were becoming increasingly more slick with each album. Previous album Touch seems to have been the jumping off point for many, though I liked it and was positively disposed towards follow up single Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Released to promote the film adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 (one film that couldn't afford to have a delayed release), Eurythmics also provided the largely instrumental soundtrack album. Not much to recommend it, to be honest. I skipped this album and was disappointed with the 1985 follow up, Be Yourself Tonight. 

I've inadvertently created a mini Six Degrees Of Separation here. Elvis Costello got Green Gartside in to provide backing vocals on I Wanna Be Loved. Green had also appeared on Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams album; Elvis would do the same on Be Yourself Tonight. And the thankfully prophetic Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA was produced by... Elvis Costello.

 

The thread ends there as I couldn't find any link to Strawberry Switchblade, though suggestions on a postcard are welcome. Since Yesterday is a low-fi pop classic that made me briefly want to buy a polka dot shirt. I didn't, though my fashion crimes in this decade were many and there are photos to prove it. Fiction Factory were another one-hit wonder from this year, and whilst I have no recollection of their wardrobe choices, what a song, eh?

Billy Idol came as close as he ever did to a ballad with Eyes Without A Face (UK #18 in August 1984, pop fans), though Steve Stevens succumbs about two thirds of the way in, releasing an almighty riff. None of that guitar nonsense for Heaven 17 though, who (Fair)light the way with Sunset Now, backed by female vocal trio Afrodiziak. Member Caron Wheeler would find her moment in the spotlight a few years later, first with Soul II Soul, then as a solo artist.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't include Come Back by The Mighty Wah! on the original compilation in 1990, which may have been one of the triggers for losing/destroying it years later. In 2024, Pete Wylie and Josie Jones get to close the show as only they can. A fantastic song that manages to soar even higher than The Story Of The Blues.

I'm hoping that you'll all, ahem, ‘Come Back' tomorrow for 1985, though if you're expecting Madonna, Tina Turner, Nik Kershaw and Dire Straits, you're going to be bitterly disappointed...

 

1) When Doves Cry (Edit): Prince

2) Two Tribes (For The Victims Of Ravishment) (Album Version): Frankie Goes To Hollywood

3) Eighties (Album Version): Killing Joke

4) Close (To The Edit) (Video Version 2): The Art Of Noise

5) Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (Single Mix): Eurythmics

6) I Wanna Be Loved (Radio Version): Elvis Costello & The Attractions ft. Green Gartside

7) Nelson Mandela (Extended Version): The Special AKA ft. Stan Campbell

8) Since Yesterday (Album Version): Strawberry Switchblade

9) (Feels Like) Heaven (Album Version): Fiction Factory

10) Eyes Without A Face (Single Version): Billy Idol

11) Sunset Now (Album Version): Heaven 17 ft. Afrodiziak

12) Come Back (The Story Of The Reds) (Album Version): The Mighty Wah! ft. Josie Jones

Side One (46:25) (KF) (Mega)

Phil Good Times

Happy birthday Phil Thornalley, born 5th January 1960.

 

Phil's had an interesting career, to say the least. He started out as a recording engineer aged 18, working with the likes of Steve Lillywhite, Alex Sadkin and Mickie Most. In 1982, Phil produced Pornography, the fourth album by The Cure, subsequently joining the band when Simon Gallup left (the first time). That's Phil's double bass on The Love Cats.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Phil joined Johnny Hates Jazz as lead singer following the departure of founding member Clark Datchler. Oh, and he also co-wrote a song called Torn which became a rather big hit when covered by Natalie Imbruglia in 1997.

I'll confess that I haven't followed Phil's career into the 21st Century, but a a flick through my music collection highlights how many beloved artists he has produced, co-produced, remixed or performed with. This then is a 12-song selection that put a big grin on my face and got me turning up that dial.

Have a good one, Phil!

1) Here Come The Good Times (Album Version By Phil Thornalley): A House (1994)

2) The Yearning Loins (Single Version By Phil Thornalley): Prefab Sprout (1984)

3) Mr. Pink Eyes (Single Version By Phil Thornalley, Chris Parry & The Cure): The Cure (1983)

4) The Greatness And Perfection Of Love (Remixed Version By Stephen Lovell, Phil Thornalley & Stephen Lipson): Julian Cope (1984)

5) Who Knows What Love Is? (Album Version By Phil Thornalley): Strawberry Switchblade (1985)

6) Mack The Knife (Single Version By Phil Thornalley & The Psychedelic Furs) (Cover of Gerald Price): The Psychedelic Furs (1981)

7) Bitter Heart (Extended Mix By Phil Thornalley): Seona Dancing (1983)

8) What Presence?! (Extended Version By Phil Thornalley & Orange Juice): Orange Juice (1984)

9) Girl From Mars (Single Version By Owen Morris & Phil Thornalley): Ash (1995)

10) Kindred Spirit (Re-Recorded Version By Phil Thornalley & Tom Dokoupil): Edwyn Collins (1989)

11) Songs Of Love (Phil Thornalley Remix): The Divine Comedy (1999)

12) C'est La Vie (Single Version By Alex Sadkin & Phil Thornalley): Robbie Nevil (1986)

Phil Good Times (46:09) (Box) (Mega)