Birdie "Some Dusty" (1999)

Tracklist:
1. Laugh
2. Dusty Morning
3. Let Her Go
4. One Two Five
5. Lazy Day
6. Folk Singer
7. Port Sunlight
8. Blue Dress
9. Linus
10. I Can't Let Go

Birdie are (or were - I'm not sure they're still a going concern) Debsey Wykes and Paul Kelly. Debsey was a member of Dolly Mixture, who released some records in the early 80s which can bring tears of nostalgia to the eyes of aged indie anoraks up and down the country. 'Ver Mixture (as Smash Hits would probably have called them) became Captain Sensible's backing band for a bit. That's Debsey dressed as a south sea islander performing "Happy Talk" on Top of the Pops. Paul Kelly was a member of East Village. He directs music videos these days (for Eighteenth Day of May and Birdie), and he has also just finished work on a documentary on the Royal Festival Hall which is called "This Is Tomorrow" (see post below). Debsey and Paul met when they toured with Saint Etienne in the early nineties.

"Some Dusty" was Birdie's first album, released in the autumn of 1999. Reviews at the time were generally very positive and it seemed that all of them mentioned "early Velvet Underground" as being the primary influence on Birdie's sound (such a sound!), and as you'll hear, there are similarities. I prefer to think of this as "Sunday Morning Music", perfect music for hangovers. Aural Alka Seltzer. The spirit of C86 is also lurking in here, and sixties pop at its most laid back; Francoise Hardy, Donovan, Marianne Faithfull that sort of thing. I don't know if Debsey is a great singer as such, but she has a beautiful voice. On "One Two Five" and "Folk Singer" double-tracking showcases her vocal talents wonderfully, and the band are no slouches either (hopefully Roman Empress will be along at some stage to pass on some more info about them). "Blue Dress" is a world of organs, Revolver-style backwards guitar and psychedelic strings - it's just magnificent is an unassuming sort of way. It would take a hard heart to resisit the soothing single "Let Her Go" or the shimmering "Port Sunlight". Track this album down, and while you're about it pick up their follow up set "Triple Echo". Birdie are a great lost band, so I'm happy to spread the word about them.

Youtube:
Let Her Go
Such A Sound

The Collected Films of Saint Etienne

To anyone who knows me who might be reading...you knew I would do this.

Today, somebody asked me who my favourite group was. I gave the pat answer that OBVIOUSLY I couldn't choose just one. In truth, I was being coy, Saint Etienne sprang to mind immediately.



Their albums and singles, it should go without saying, are always brilliant, fresh-sounding, future-eyeing, intelligent pop. And they keep getting better, their most recent album "Tales From Turnpike House" is probably their best so far. A new compilation is released in September. Appropriately enough it is called "London Conversations: The Best of Saint Etienne", and two singles are coming along with it; a new version of "Burnt Out Car" (re-jigged by Xenomania), and a collaboration with Annie and Richard X called "This Is Tomorrow", which incidentally is the name of Saint Etienne's latest film.

My favourite thing Saint Etienne have ever done is probably their film "Finisterre", which they made in 2002 to sort-of promote their album of the same name, and which finally got released on DVD over here in 2005. It's about London: the train journeys to the city centre from the suburbs, the coffee shops, record shops and parks; it's about people's experiences of living and working there, or of leaving and coming back to it. It goes into the night life, romantic literature about the city, the gulf between the sunken, run down council estates and the luxury appartments in affluent areas. It depicts the city as it undergoes a period of renewal at the beginning of this decade; many locations in the film have apparently disappeared since it was made. Many people are interviewed to talk about their experience of London (among them White Stripes' producer Liam Watson, Vashti Bunyan, novelist Shena Mackay and Subway Sect leader-turned-postie Vic Goddard) but no-one actually appears on film as a talking head, instead we just hear their voices over lovingly-shot images of the city. Saint Etienne's music and a narration, which is delivered by Michael Jayston and written by Bob Stanley and Kevin Pearce, hold it all together via a flurry of musical and literary references (of which my favourite is the McCarthy/ Manics inspired "We told the friendly bank manager about our dreams, he talked of business plans and pension schemes; Natwest, Barclays, Midland, Lloyds: use a bank? I'd rather die..."). At one point the voice over intones "My object is to encourage an appreciation of the unlooked for pleasures. The create an enthusiasm for the neglected or undervalued...the freakish, even." - a sentiment which I, and I'm sure many "bloggers", can identify with. "Finisterre" is a real work of love; beautifully shot, well narrated, and ultimately... very Saint Etienne. Bob and co-director Paul Kelly (also a member of Birdie, of whom more tomorrow...) were interviewed for The Guardian's media section last week and you can see that here. Kieran Evans also deserves credit for his wonderful work on "Finisterre".

Here's a YouTube link of a live version of a track from the album "Finisterre" (on the album it's immediately followed by the quote "Rock could be so good, but we make it all so rubbishy...").



And while we're about it...
a very short and very selective history of rock on film.