I heard this on 6 Music earlier in the week, on Gideon Coe's show. "Ooh, I like that," thought I, "I wonder who it's by?"
Turns out it's Red Sleeping Beauty by McCarthy, who Wikipedia describes as "a British indie pop band, formed in Barking, Greater London ... [that] mixed a melodic style, dominated by ... 12-string guitar playing, with ... overtly political lyrics, often satirical in tone, which reflected the band's far-left leanings."
Oh, and they formed in 1984, and released this single in 1986, so new to me but not new at all. Whatever. I might be very late to the picnic, but I quite like this.
I dicovered McCarthy through their song Keep An Open Mind... Or Else, which sounded quite R.E.M.-like to me. They were certainly left of Lenin politically...
ReplyDeleteWill look out for that.
DeleteUntil the vocals started, this put me a little in mind of early Wedding Present.
Great song. My one and only McCarthy purchase - but it's a good one, was the 12" of Should The Bible Be Banned? from 1988. They were great with a song title, too: the B-sides are We Are All Bourgeois Now and Saint Francis Amongst The Mortals. I found Keep An Open Mind... Or Else much later, but your post has reminded me that I need to go and listen to more!
ReplyDeleteMcCarthy's other footnote in history is that it's membership included Tim Gane and (albeit, very near the end of the band), Laetitia Sadier, who have gone on to produce even more wonderful music as Stereolab.
I love a good bit of music family tree history.
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