Thursday, 11 September 2025

Listening Post #38: England... oh, England


Over at The Vinyl Villain, Dirk was singing the praises of the 1982 debut single by The Wild Swans yesterday.

Lately, I've spent a lot of time listening to the band's 2011 "comeback" album, The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years. ("Comeback might not be the most appropriate word, since with the exception of lead singer / songwriter Paul Simpson, this was a completely new line-up, including Les Pattinson from Echo and the Bunnymen and Ricky Maymi from the Brian JOnestown Massacre).

Lyrically, it's one of the most interesting records I've heard in ages, a tour of provincial England steeped in nostalgic longing, but not the kind of flag-waving nonsense that's currently in vogue. "William Blake in Cash Converters" sums it up perfectly.

In the madness of my 3 a.m.s, I'm lost without a guide

English electric lightning protected
Green unpleasant land infected
Vulcan bombers, cornish habors
Elizabethan costume dramas
Sun reporters, New World Order
Johnny Rotten, Geoffrey Chaucer
Bargain Booze and Robert Wyatt
Happy-slappers, Toxteth riots

All the kingdom's quiet now and I can't stem the tide alone



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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 September 2025 at 14:00

    When this album came out it felt like a miracle. I’m a huge fan of Paul Simpson, and I even like the albums that Paul has said he thinks aren’t very good. - Brian

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  2. Swiss Adam11 September 2025 at 18:15

    I was listening to this a few months ago- really good album

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