This week's Saturday Snapshots inspired me to kick off a new feature I've been thinking about for a while now, focusing on bands I loved who disappeared before anyone really gave them a chance. We probably all have a few of these in our collections. I reckon I can scrape together ten if I think hard enough...
1. Speedy
Speedy then
Speedy now
It was late 1996 and I was working in the record library, mainlining promo CDs that the record companies were hurling at us to try and get airplay for their new bands. It was the height of Britpop and I was out gigging (also mostly freebies) two or three times a week. There were so many exciting new indie bands popping up, it was hard to keep up with them all, but being a comic book fan, I took special notice of the debut single by another new Sheffield band, Speedy. With chiming guitars, a brass section and even a cheer & clap chorus, Boy Wonder promised big things... even though it only made #56 in the charts.
This was followed a couple of months later by the equally glorious Anytime, Anyplace, Nowhere... by now, I was getting very excited about the album. (Though the singles chart remained uncracked.)
But Speedy's crowning glory came in May '97 with the following single, a track I still consider a lost Britpop classic... and so much better than a lot of the songs that still get played from that era. I dunno, there's something about it still sends shivers down my spine... well, you know how I love a good story song.
And then... well, not much. A further single, Going Home, was released in '98, but the record company didn't even bother to send that our way. And the album? The album never materialised.
Until...
Well, until I decided to write this post, at which point I discovered that Speedy's great lost album, New From Nowhere, had finally received an official release by the Lost Music Club record label in April 2014 - 16 years after the band went their separate ways. Better still, it's available on emusic... so I finally got myself a copy. What a wonderful world we live in. If you remember Speedy - or even if you don't, but you dig the songs above - I recommend you check it out.
I can't promise every story in this series will have such a happy ending... but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Coincidentally I have a similar style post scheduled for later on in the week
ReplyDeleteGood idea for a new feature Rol, and glad you finally get to hear the lost album. I don't Speedy, Boy Wonder reminds me slightly of Pulp. Time For You is indeed an underappreciated 90s gem.
ReplyDeleteMirrorring (a collaborative effort by Grouper and Tiny Vipers) released an ambient album I enjoyed in 2012 called Foreign Body. Both continued as solo artists so their output is not really "dead". I think that is the case for a good number of musicians that split up. They still have a passion for creating, but change direction. Sadly some just give up making music.
I can think of quite a few bands who did that and we're never quite as interesting in their solo ventures. A series for another day, perhaps?
DeleteGreat idea! I look forward to seeing some more of these overlooked, underappreciated and short lived groups. One band I always thought was going to achieve great things was the melodic Irish folk pop group Celtus from the late 90s
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brayGl968P4&list=PLJ50h0iK7DThmBlA3XBkkCutp_5pGvthl&index=6
Thanks, Mark... Are you sure that wasn't Chris DeBurgh singing with Clannad?
DeleteYeah it's not the best track I'll admit! I wanted to share Wide Awake, but it's blocked on UK YT for some reason. The fact that their blend of inoffensive Irish melodies didn't take off surprised me, cos Radio 2 were really pushing them for a time, especially Wogan
Delete