Titus writes:
A
New Year has dawned and I hope you all enjoyed the Festive Season. I
look forward to listening to WTF is this in 2024 and to telling
you more about some of the alternative bands & people who have
impressed me over the years. I’ve always believed that there is a whole
world of music out there waiting to be listened to, and that ‘TOTP’,
plus many so called music radio stations are not really that
representative of the stuff that people enjoy. A great example of this,
is my recent blog focus on the great British band Bob. If their superb
single 'Convenience' had been on say Radio One’s playlist, and had
been embraced & promoted by the media, it would surely have gained
its true accolade of ‘a perfect pop record’, just as ‘Teenage Kicks’ by
the Undertones quite rightly did some years before (well done Peely as
always for your persistence in promoting this
masterpiece)........ well, that’s just my opinion, which you can take
or leave – the majority of you are probably leaving this very minute!
This
leads me nicely onto a band that was one of the best bands that never
quite made it. I refer to the Would Be’s from Northern Ireland, who
Peel really championed in 1990 and beyond. The band was set up by the
Finnegan brothers in 1989 and at the time the group’s average age was
around seventeen. Astonishingly Paul Finnegan was only 13 at the Would
Be’s conception. The band sent a copy of of their first single ‘I’m
hardly ever wrong’ on Decoy records to J.P, bearing in mind that they
had had only 250 pressings done. At this time, many Indie bands did
similar, in the hope that the great man would have time to listen to
them and give them some air time on his radio programme. To cut a long
story short, Peely loved the record and even played it on his BBC World
Service programme, in addition to his regular slot on Radio 1. Very
soon after they recorded a session for the Peel Show, and it was then
that the A & R people, always scouting for hot property, came to
sign them. They were persistent in that they apparently contacted the
schools that vocalist Julie McDonnell & trombonist/saxophonist
& violinist Aideen O’Reilly attended for information.
Against
all odds, the band chose the small Decoy label, but unfortunately this
company had no money to spend on an album, which would have arguably
been the icing on the cake for such a talented bunch. Julie McDonnell
returned to her studies and was replaced by Eileen Cogan, but the
writing was on the wall for a band without sound financial backing.
After recording their third E.P. the Would Be’s split in 1991, without a
debut album and its proceeds to fall back on.
A
short-lived reunion happened in the Millennium year, and then a more
successful one in 2012, when the original line up got back together,
minus drummer Pascal Smith. In 2013 they FINALLY released their much
awaited debut L.P. ‘Beautiful Mess’.
On
the Peel Session broadcast in 1990, the band performed 4 songs : ‘All
this rubbish is true’ / ‘Must it be’ / ‘Funny ha ha’ / ‘My radio sounds different in the dark’, which is the track I have requested lex to play
this coming Friday, or the original Decoy track.
In
conclusion, the track I have requested, is arguably a near as dammit a
‘perfect pop record’......just like the Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’ and
Bob’s ‘Convenience’. The title of the track always reminds me of
growing up in the 1950’s, listening in the dark to Radio Luxembourg on
my radio at low volume, which was concealed beneath the bed clothes. In
hindsight, I’m sure my parents knew that I was listening. Happy days.