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....