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Dandelion Radio exclusive: tracks from the 'lost' Miaow album
1 Nov 2009, 12:36
The great ‘lost’ Miaow album
I suppose there’s a danger music’s becoming a bit like the earth and the sea at the moment: there aren’t too many mysteries left to uncover. I mean, couldn’t Brian Wilson just have left it at and not give Uncut and Mojo wet dreams by actually releasing ‘Smile’? Did ‘Let It Be’ have to be disrobed? And why couldn’t what remained of the Basement Tapes bootlegs remain just that?
So, by revealing some of what’s about to be finally released as the great ‘lost’ Miaow album, am I guilty of the same thing?
A bit different, I would contend. For a kick-off, what was released by Miaow in the eighties amounts to far too small a legacy for such a great band. While we certainly have more than enough of Wilson, The Beatles and Dylan to be going on with, the same can scarcely be said of Cath Carroll’s fleeting, yet unquestionably fine, outfit, one of the very best of the large glut (and in their case the word is wholly inappropriate) of ‘indie’ bands of the mid-eighties, and yet their recorded output amounts to a single from late 1985, a track on the NME C86 compilation and two Factory Records releases from 1987.
Amid this, they recorded two fine Peel sessions, both very well remembered but insufficiently discussed. The first of those Factory singles, ‘When It All Comes Down’ I have on seven inches of treasured vinyl and I’ve always regarded it as one of the finest releases of the period. And their debut single also contains ‘Grocer’s Devil Daughter’ one of many great songs from the sub-genre of anti-Thatcher songs that so bestraddled the decade.
This is a fine, but very brief, legacy from a great and very briefly active band. Of course, there were always rumours of an album they recorded for Factory but which was never released, but I have many friends in the Manchester area who assured me this was complete bollocks and that there is nothing else to be heard from the band.
They’re still telling me it’s bollocks, by the way, even though I’m claiming to have three versions of tracks from the album, now scheduled for release in early 2010 via the Lilypad label, in my November Dandelion Radio show. They are all, I insist, genuine articles rescued from demos the band made of them in the eighties. And frankly, this excites me to hell.
The three tracks ‘Angel Spit’, ‘Marry Me Dusty’ and ‘Inglorious Miltons’ are all mindblowingly good, carrying that trademark ultra-sweet Cath Carroll vocal lilt, and being just precisely what they are – examples of the very finest guitar-based indie from a decade filled with such stuff, very little of it deserving to stand alongside something as wonderful as this. In that sense, maybe it’s better than it’s coming to light now.
Fitting, as well, that the exclusive Miaow feature follows on the heels of the Woodentops exclusives in the last show, because Miaow supported The Woodentops back in the day, and share with them the distinction of being one of those guitar-bands of the period that make you look very silly if you try to pigeonhole them in any misleadingly convenient way.
You can hear the three exclusive tracks throughout November on my show at www.dandelionradio.com, and hear more from the project at www.myspace.com/cathsmiaow. After that, you can join me in positively aching with anticipation to hear what the rest of this album sounds like. On the evidence of what we have so far, it promises to be well worth the ache and far more worthy of this than those aforementioned ‘legendary’ sixties sides. These are releases worth getting moist over.
Also in my Dandelion Radio show this month is a second Dandelion session from The Pocket Gods, a preview track from the new Schuman The Human album, brand new Spidersleg, a track from the most extraordinary reggae album of the year from Ras Zacchari, more from the wonderful Dead Times, a couple of ace slabs of Belgian electronica, and tracks from albums by show favourites Wet Hair, Retrigger, Nickname: Rebel and of course the amazing Fuck Buttons. Plus loads more in a three hour extravaganza.
Remember to vote in the Festive Fifty while you’re at the Dandelion website. As usual, your three tracks, in order, from 2009 releases, to be with us by 30 November. Cheers.
MiaowCath CarrollFactory
I suppose there’s a danger music’s becoming a bit like the earth and the sea at the moment: there aren’t too many mysteries left to uncover. I mean, couldn’t Brian Wilson just have left it at and not give Uncut and Mojo wet dreams by actually releasing ‘Smile’? Did ‘Let It Be’ have to be disrobed? And why couldn’t what remained of the Basement Tapes bootlegs remain just that?
So, by revealing some of what’s about to be finally released as the great ‘lost’ Miaow album, am I guilty of the same thing?
A bit different, I would contend. For a kick-off, what was released by Miaow in the eighties amounts to far too small a legacy for such a great band. While we certainly have more than enough of Wilson, The Beatles and Dylan to be going on with, the same can scarcely be said of Cath Carroll’s fleeting, yet unquestionably fine, outfit, one of the very best of the large glut (and in their case the word is wholly inappropriate) of ‘indie’ bands of the mid-eighties, and yet their recorded output amounts to a single from late 1985, a track on the NME C86 compilation and two Factory Records releases from 1987.
Amid this, they recorded two fine Peel sessions, both very well remembered but insufficiently discussed. The first of those Factory singles, ‘When It All Comes Down’ I have on seven inches of treasured vinyl and I’ve always regarded it as one of the finest releases of the period. And their debut single also contains ‘Grocer’s Devil Daughter’ one of many great songs from the sub-genre of anti-Thatcher songs that so bestraddled the decade.
This is a fine, but very brief, legacy from a great and very briefly active band. Of course, there were always rumours of an album they recorded for Factory but which was never released, but I have many friends in the Manchester area who assured me this was complete bollocks and that there is nothing else to be heard from the band.
They’re still telling me it’s bollocks, by the way, even though I’m claiming to have three versions of tracks from the album, now scheduled for release in early 2010 via the Lilypad label, in my November Dandelion Radio show. They are all, I insist, genuine articles rescued from demos the band made of them in the eighties. And frankly, this excites me to hell.
The three tracks ‘Angel Spit’, ‘Marry Me Dusty’ and ‘Inglorious Miltons’ are all mindblowingly good, carrying that trademark ultra-sweet Cath Carroll vocal lilt, and being just precisely what they are – examples of the very finest guitar-based indie from a decade filled with such stuff, very little of it deserving to stand alongside something as wonderful as this. In that sense, maybe it’s better than it’s coming to light now.
Fitting, as well, that the exclusive Miaow feature follows on the heels of the Woodentops exclusives in the last show, because Miaow supported The Woodentops back in the day, and share with them the distinction of being one of those guitar-bands of the period that make you look very silly if you try to pigeonhole them in any misleadingly convenient way.
You can hear the three exclusive tracks throughout November on my show at www.dandelionradio.com, and hear more from the project at www.myspace.com/cathsmiaow. After that, you can join me in positively aching with anticipation to hear what the rest of this album sounds like. On the evidence of what we have so far, it promises to be well worth the ache and far more worthy of this than those aforementioned ‘legendary’ sixties sides. These are releases worth getting moist over.
Also in my Dandelion Radio show this month is a second Dandelion session from The Pocket Gods, a preview track from the new Schuman The Human album, brand new Spidersleg, a track from the most extraordinary reggae album of the year from Ras Zacchari, more from the wonderful Dead Times, a couple of ace slabs of Belgian electronica, and tracks from albums by show favourites Wet Hair, Retrigger, Nickname: Rebel and of course the amazing Fuck Buttons. Plus loads more in a three hour extravaganza.
Remember to vote in the Festive Fifty while you’re at the Dandelion website. As usual, your three tracks, in order, from 2009 releases, to be with us by 30 November. Cheers.
MiaowCath CarrollFactory
