are the following bands any good:

trembling blue stars

from the ashes of field mice and northern picture library came the sounds of mr robert (bob) wratten making more whispering songs about what a load of tripe the whole idea of relationships is and oh, wouldn't we really all just be better off crying at sunsets at lands end? possibly. actually the first tbs LP is gorgeous, as it should be since it was named after a line in a go-betweens song. the second, newest one, called something whimsical or other is less good but still plays a bit on my cd tray when i'm feeling, well, whimsical and lovelorn. like david gedge backed by the wake. possibly.

suicide

godlike. naturally. the eponymous debut lp reissued recently by mute/blast first, and it's a must. limited 2nd live cd is also glorious. they made a later lp for the terminally cool Ze label but i don't have that, altough i do have the most amazingly great 'dream baby dream' and the alan vega solo 'juke box baby' on a compilation. yeah, keith's 'joke' is probably as close to b& s as you'll get. paul haig recorded a version of 'ghost rider' and it was ace. naturally. like david gedge without a microphone and no-where near a recording studio.

tindersticks

yum, i fell in love with 'Marbles' which remains one of the most sublime records ever made (and on 10" format to boot!), and wrote once that they were the heirs to the Go-betweens' throne. then they released the huge lumbering classy debut Lp and i reformed my opinions. fell out of love with them after that but picked up 'Curtains' last year and loved it and them all over again. recommended if you don't laugh a lot. like david gedge without a sense of humour. and on codeine.

go-betweens

the holiest of all, the gods and godesses of Pop. naturally. came from Brisbane and were quite plain apparantly, but that's bollocks cos Robert Forster was a silver screen star with a Monkees and patti Smith fixation, Grant Mclennan was a hero who adored Phil Ochs and hence played beside TVs with Bruce Lee movies showing, Robert Vickers was an ace face and Lindy Morrison was Virginia Woolf. LAter, they had Amanda Brown who was an angel in angels' clothing. They made the greatest records EVER and then they split up, allowing Forster and McLennan to make solo records that were never quite as great although they sometimes come close. Anything is classy, and Beggars Banquet reissued them all at low price, which is a bonus. Liberty Belle is my fave, although Tallulah, 16 lovers Lane and Before Hollywood all push it close. Lovers lane sounded polished at the time but played again now it just sounds divine and has some to-die-for songs on. if the new Belle LP is 'polished' like this then i shall be happy :-) the Go-Betweens are nothing like David Gedge. The Delgados also have little in common with david Gedge, and Peloton is a classy record and no mistake, which makes me think of Swirlies a lot, which is A Good Thing. they have a thing about cycling references, hence Delgados, Peloton and Domestiques. Wasn't there a record with Van Impe as well? Cool. 'Pull the Wires from the Wall' was a single was it not? Single of the year then? quite possibly. love you all. the duke. PS for yougsters, David GEdge was singer in the dreary Wedding Present who made two good singles in the mid 1980s and then repeated the formula of love-sick and hard done by male angst thing to death over the rest of the decade. Formula is Pop, but only if it's a good formula ;-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Somos todos conejitos felices que tararean . consonancias felices del conejito - no somos? -----------------------------------------------------------------------