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Hey there everyone. Hope you are well, and thanks for reading our newsletter this week. For those of you north of the equator, I hope that your summer is going well. We have had some hot and humid days here in Raleigh, but the last couple of days saw the temperature drop significantly, and today as I write we’re experiencing biblical levels of rain. Very un-summer like compared to previous weeks, so it’s a little ironic that my pick this week is very much associated with the summer. In a lot of people’s minds at least.
With all the hullabaloo over the Oasis reunion shows this summer, I have found myself going on a bit of a 90s BritPop nostalgia trip. I have been playing a lot of live shows on YouTube and trying to find gigs I was at, as well as listening to live LPs from some of my favorites from that era. One of our distributors recently had some early Suede LP reissues available, which I ordered for the store. I added in for myself a copy of their fantastic live performance from Brixton Academy in 1993 that was released as a film at the time and titled Love & Poison, but never as a record. I had a bootleg tape for years and so was pleased to finally get a vinyl record of this show. Suede was an amazing band live. Like The Verve, their gigs were special, emotional events, especially in those early days. I wasn’t at this Academy gig, but saw them a bunch of times, including a couple of their famous fan club gigs. Talking of Verve, watch their US Tour film from 1997 called Do Not Panic; it’s a great example of how powerful they were live. That film, along with the footage from their hometown heroes’ gig in Wigan at Haigh Hall in 1998, is essential watching if you haven’t seen them and like the band. Richard Ashcroft of the Verve has been opening this summer’s Oasis shows.
A recent record purchase from a nice lady who brought in cool stuff to sell yielded another live album by another one of my favorite 90s bands, Ride. This record was a bootleg and compiled performances recorded in France, taken from the band’s tour for the Carnival Of Light album in late 1994. The sound quality is excellent, and if you like this period of Ride, I highly recommend checking it out. I know some Ride fans prefer the earlier more shoegaze stuff, but I think they moved into the mid-90s BritPop era well, and I remember liking Carnival Of Light when it came out. They too, as evidenced from this record, were a good live band. Another that I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of times.
Anyway, all this to say, that in the process I rediscovered another band from this period that I really liked and hadn’t listened to in years. Namely, Dodgy. I noticed our one-stop had reissues of their second album Homegrown from 1994 and a collection of their classic A’s and B’s called appropriately, Ace A’s + Killer B’s, and so ordered a copy of each for the store.
I remember really liking Homegrown when it came out, and the lead track especially. That song, Staying Out For The Summer, is terrific and kickstarted a run of hits and success for the three-piece band. Ironically, the album didn’t get released until the autumn of 1994, but the next spring and summer of 1995, you heard Staying Out… everywhere.
Dodgy was a pop band that wrote catchy songs, with great close vocal harmonies, reminiscent of bands from the 1960s like The Hollies and The Easybeats, to name a couple. Perfect for that moment in BritPop when 60s nostalgia was running high. They weren’t by any means a retro band, though, sporting sixties clobber and Beatles bowl cut hairdos. The influences in the songwriting might have been there, but not the look or the aesthetic. I liked them when they came out because their first album was produced by Liverpool’s Ian Broudie and they were involved in political causes and fights, like supporting the dockers and electoral reform groups. They were also one of the first groups to visit Bosnia and play in Sarajevo after the siege ended. They supported the War Child charity and returned to Bosnia the following year. When a lot of groups were yucking it up and partying, they were out there putting their money where their mouths were and doing good work and supporting worthy causes.
I’d say that Homegrown, their second album, is my favorite of theirs. It begins so strongly with the aforementioned Staying Out For The Summer and continues in a mostly happy and jaunty fashion, but if you listen to some of the lyrics closely, you’ll pick up a darker edge layered into the pop tunes. Album closer Grassman is definitely about drugs, something that the scene was awash with back then, whether it be a bit of smoke or harder stuff like coke and smack. Thankfully, a bit of herb and beer was enough for me back then. I’d already been scared off trying harder stuff by Grange Hill in the 80s and the Zammo storyline. That’s a reference for all the UK 80s kids reading. The vibe for Homegrown though was more about weed, and to drive that point home, if the title hadn’t already done it, some early copies of the album came with cannabis seeds included. So that you could grow your own. Get it?
Listening back to the album now, it fits right in with my love for smart, sixties-inspired pop, and I am reminded of the band from Arizona that I like, The Resonars, who I have written about here before. Those guys are probably a little more overt in the psychedelic sixties influences, but both bands share great vocal harmonies and know just when to insert a good guitar solo.
Dodgy hit the highs the following year with the album Free Peace Sweet. That album continued their run of hits. Unfortunately, still not reissued and quite pricey to find, just like their first album. Thankfully, for those that care, you can get a lot of the key tracks from that first album and the third, plus single sides on the A’s & B’s collection. The songs In A Room and Good Enough will always bring a smile to my face and take me back to those days.
Go check them out if this your first time hearing about them or give yourself a reminder like I did if it’s been a while. The band was well loved in the UK and had several chart hits, but didn’t make much of an impact stateside. After the release of their third album, singer Nigel Clark left the band and performed as a solo artist. The remaining duo brought in new members and carried on as a five-piece, releasing a fourth album in the early 00s. After an almost ten-year hiatus, they returned and have since released two more albums and played out live again. I admit to not knowing much about these 00s releases, but still like those first three albums and believe they have more than passed the test of time.
Cheers guys, see you ‘round here next time.
Dom