Simple Minds – Love Song
1981 and 1982 - are they the MOST EXCITING years in pop? Spoiler: yes, yes they are.
Belle and Sebastian – I Didn’t See it Coming (Richard X Mix)
In which Belle and Sebastian turn into Dollar for four perfect minutes.
Thomas Leer – No 1
Two years prior to "Snobbery & Decay", Thomas Leer was out-blowing the Blow Monkeys with the string and saxophone drenched "No 1".
The Blue Nile – Headlights on the Parade
Niall on the 'Nile. It had to happen eventually.
Danny Wilson – Never Gonna Be the Same
Danny Wilson and the problem with perfection - how Mary's Prayer turned into a curse.
CHVRCHΞS – Clearest Blue
The success and ubiquity of some bands is a little perplexing, and Scottish synth pop specialists CHVRCHΞS are a great example. To date they’ve had one ‘hit’ (The Mother We Share, no.38) […]
Horse – God’s Home Movie
Stewart on the rather brilliant Horse, regional bias and the inexplicable popularity of Scooter.
Deacon Blue – Loaded
Nothing – not even a cold macaroni pie from Greggs – makes this ex-pat Glaswegian well-up like the opening bars of Deacon Blue‘s 1987 debut Raintown. It probably helps that the record […]
The Associates – Breakfast
In Forest of the Dead, one of Steven Moffat‘s finest episodes of Doctor Who, there is a line that made me shiver when I heard it: “I have the two […]
The Chimes – 1-2-3
A mere 9 months after Songs of Innocence-gate, the moment it became abundantly clear that Bono, The Edge and co. couldn’t even give their music away, it’s hard to imagine […]
Sheena Easton – 101
My esteemed colleague and Popvoid’s Mr Big, Niall McMurray, has already discussed the concept of an artist entering his or her Imperial Phase, and today we explore the moment when […]
Strawberry Switchblade – Let Her Go
We shall not see their like again.
Cicero with Sylvia Mason-James – Live for Today
In America there is something called the Mason-Dixon line, which essentially marks the cultural border between the North and the South. In Britain – in pop terms – we have […]
The Indian Givers – Fake I.D.
One of the great forgotten pleasures is the ritual of going into a record shop on a Monday morning and flicking through the new releases. The late eighties were an especially great […]
Prides – Messiah
As a card-carrying Scottish person (the card donates my organs to Greggs the Bakers) I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t actually heard of Prides until they popped up at the […]
Into the Popvoid 