Sunday 11 October 2009

AIR CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE

"Air Conditioned Nightmare" was released on 5th November 1990 on all 4 formats available at the time , 7", 12", CD Single and Cassette Single (although I have never come across the Cassette version in my searches, but the adverts shown further down refer to MC which would be the "musicassette"). The title track was a joint composition between Milton and Bassett and production-wise seemed to be a step forward from "Abstain".
There seemed to more "Beatlesy" style harmonies present and the guitars a touch more psychedelic compared to the first release and generally there was a more produced feel to the record. Maybe this was the input from John Leckie, famous producer, who has worked with other great bands like "The Stone Roses", "Radiohead", "The Verve" and myriad others. Lyrically this single seems quite caustic, slating the people in power and mediocre grey lives. I particularly like the line "polite society would buy it and hang the corpse up in the Tate". And yet again "Five Thirty" showed that they were not just a singles band with a further three Bassett songs to back up the 12" and CD single. First, there was "Mistress Daydream" backing up the 7". One of the finest guitar intros and as most reveiewers of this record point out, it had more than a touch of the old Hendrix influence. The riffing and soloing almost seems continuous throughout without distracting the song in anyway. "The friendship you've been seeking is deep within your heart, but hatred is no remedy". "Judy Jones" is another energetic mod-stomp of a song, similar in vein to "Abstain" whilst "The Things That Turn You On" sees the band slow down for the first time. Starting off with acoustic finger picking and Bassett singing the verses, a flange (no sniggering boys) effect guitar then comes in for the chorus. The song builds up and Hoopers drums come in on the second chorus. There's loads of brilliant lines in this track and it would be hard to single out any, however , I will as it's hard to beat "The simple fact is you spend half your time shouldering arms with the Friday brigade, your smouldering charms on weekly parade". You get a real sense of the state this relationship is in.

As I mentioned previously, one of the great things with "Five Thirty" was their record covers. I absolutely loved the abstract collage effect on the cover of this release shown at the beginning of this blog. There always seemed to be something new each time you looked at it, wether it was the UFOs, rock stars (Jim Morrison peeping through a church window) or mini "Abstain" posters. There was something almost apocolyptic about it, but it remains my favourite record cover of all time. Yet again there was value for money by the inclusion of additional artwork within the record sleeve (as seen to the side here- dont forget to click on the pictures to see them much larger in a new window) as well as all the lyrics to this release. Great songs, great packaging.

The critics also seemed to love this release, well most of them anyway. Have a look at some of these articles although the third reviewer is less amoured with the band than the first two.





































It was just after the release that I saw "Five Thirty" for the first time. It was 5th December 1990 and I remember the support band were "Thousand Yard Stare". Some of you may remember their song "Wonderment" which was included on "Happy Daze 2", a compilation CD containing loads of bands of the time that also included "Five Thirty" with a different version of "Somethings Got to Give". I also recall that I was quite shocked at the amount of people at the gig. I was expecting a packed to the rafters type gig, but unfortunately the people of Sheffield had not made the same effort as me and about thirty others (or probably just not heard the first two singles). However, "Five Thirty" still played a blistering gig which included all the tracks of the first two CD singles (except "The Things That Turn You On" which was likely a little too gentle, shall we say, to play live). There was also one other song played which I had not heard before. I am sure the song mentioned something about a monkey in it so maybe was "Out To Get In". Does anyone out there know if this song was likely to have had an outing at this time? At the end of the gig I parted with my dosh to buy two t-shirts. One was plain white with the psychedelic circle from the "Abstain" 12" artwork with "Abstain" lettering below. The second t-shirt was also plain white with "Air Conditioned Nightmare" cover artwork. I loved both t-shirts and wore them to death. My only regret was that I ran out of money so I did not buy a poster of the "Air Conditioned Nightmare" cover artwork.

Don't forget, as usual, you can click on the piccies to see them larger. The scans open up in a new window and you can see them in all their grainy quality.

I have added below an interview and live review, both from around the time "Air Conditioned Nightmare" was released. Hope you enjoy these articles and watch out for my blog about "13th Disciple" coming to an interweb near you very soon....


Monday 5 October 2009

ABSTAIN

"Abstain" (YZ530T) was released on 9th July 1990 on 7", 12", CD single and Cassette single. The title track was written by Tara Milton and was backed with Paul Bassett composition "You". "Abstain" was a raw, energetic mod song, like "The Small Faces" on even more speed. Great lyrics throughout especially the closing line "I left my heart on the pavement for pedestrians like you".
But it was the b-side "You" that led me to feel the band had something special. Starting off with chiming arpeggio before the wah-wah guitar kicks in. With a theme of lost love Bassett first sings "How long must I burn my hands on you" and later laments "It's fruitless to enjoy my freedom, when all I want is You". The songs ends in a climax that sounds like helicopters crashing into a volcano. I wanted more....














I first (did you notice that), I said first bought "Abstain" on Cassette single (for some reason I had started buying a few Cassette singles), but loved it so much I bought the CD single as well to be able to hear more tracks. Track 3 on the CD single was "Catcher in the Rye". This was a fully re-worked version of the track that was released in the mid-eighties, full of lively basslines and wah-wah heavy.
Anyone who bought the album "Bed" will already be familiar with 3 of the tracks on this release. "Abstain" and " Catcher in the Rye" were both included at the tail end of the album while another version of "You" nestled itself nicely in the middle. Despite this, I would recommend that you track down the 12" or CD single as "Coming up for Air" soon became one of my favourite tracks. Starting with a tight sounding drum intro, in came a snaky dirty bassline soon to be followed by a howling wah-wah guitar. One blog I read said the song sounded like someone creeping up on you before giving you a good kicking. Well said.

This release not only introduced me to new music, it also introduced me to great literature. I was intrigued by some of the songs titles and so out I went and bought Salingers "Catcher in the Rye" and Orwells "Coming up for Air".

The cover to "Abstain" was not one of their best in my opinion, however, they soon raised the bar very high indeed. This cover appeared to be a close-up of a lump of fatty meat with Five Thirty's logo in the top corner. I always liked the font of the logo as it was instantly recognisable, much like the logo for "Oasis". However, the 12" had an inner sheet with psychedelic artwork on one side and lyrics to all 4 songs on the other. I always liked the psychedelic artwork (I think it was designed by band friend Chris Drew). This artwork also appeared on Paul's Telecaster and Phil's bass drumskin.


As you can see, I was so impressed with this new band that it was the first (and last time might I add) that I sent something off to be signed. Not wanting to risk losing my CD cover in the post, I sent the Cassette single cover off. Fortunately, the legendary Andrew Sheehan (respect to Andy, I never met him when "Five Thirty" were around, but got to know him when "Orange Deluxe" started touring. He even gave me his mobile number so that I could ring him for guest list places- thanks for that Andy) sorted it out for me. Check out the video for "Abstain" below:


The gig review below is taken from the "Abstain" tour when Five Thirty played 18 dates in July to promote their debut. This particular review is from The Duchess of York in Leeds played on the 24th July 1990. Following that is a review from Sounds magazine dated 7th July 1990 (not sure of the date of this gig though).
























Now here are a couple of interviews. The first one is an early interview from "Melody Maker" then next is a full page article taken from Sounds magazine dated 21st July 1990.

































News was really gathering steam now and there were loads of articles and gig adverts were starting to appear in the music papers:






































These brightly coloured babies are press releases given out with the promos for the single. I have managed to get hold of one which consisted of a 12" record sleeve with a "Five Thirty" and an "Abstain" sticker on the cover. Inside the sleeve was the promo photo near the top of this section, a 7" vinyl of "Abstain" and these two sheets.

Sunday 4 October 2009

ABOUT FIVE THIRTY






















I don't profess to know everything about the band and stand to be corrected, I will even sit down to be corrected for that matter. Most of the information will come from the music magazines, and you will be able to see the original articles within this blog.

Five Thirty were formed in 1985 when Paul Bassett (guitars, vocals) and Tara Milton (bass, vocals) formed a band at school near Oxford and helped perfect their craft by occasionally playing in a blues band in and around Reading. Whilst the blues band were getting bigger in Reading, Paul and Tara became disillusioned and decided to pack their bags and move to the big smoke to make a more tangible commitment to the band. This was 1989 and they encamped at Charlotte Street in the west end of London. Their previous drummer Keith ??? could not make the same commitment, however, within days a certain Phil Hooper moved into the same bedsit. Paul and Tara were trying to write songs and banging their feet and generally making a noise, when down came Phil who liked the cut of Paul and Tara's jib as he thought they sounded a bit like The Housemartins. "What a good place to be...". One slight problem was that Phil could not play the drums. Paul and Tara knew it clicked with Phil so persevered over the next year and they practiced hard as a trio doing all night rehearsals.

Five Thirty started of wanting to be a mod band. Whilst looking the part, Tara confesses due to lack of musical ability they sounded more like a punk band. Their sound developed as they embraced the sounds of Funkadelic and R'n'B and English bands like The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Yarbirds but still revelling in the mod way of life. After the year of hard work Five Thirty were beginning to find their own sound. A sound of Hendrix haze, wah wah guitars, three part harmonies, snaky basslines all presented in a tight and powerful mod-like way that had earned them their many early Jam references.

Tara stated in an earlier interview that they were already writing good songs but did not have that sound. Well now they had it and they were starting to get noticed. It was not just the fans that were noticing them, it was the A & R men too, and Five Thirty were gonna cause another stink and that was by getting signed to a major label, East West Records. It wasn't long before they were to release their proper debut on 9th July 1990 (an earlier incarnation of Five Thirty had already released a 12" single of Catcher in the Rye back in 1985). The single was "Abstain".......

Before I talk about the debut single have a look at this NME article where legendary Radio 1 dj Steve Lamacq talks to the lads the week "Abstain" was released followed by a three live reviews around London and Brighton at this time.