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.