It's been a while so it's back to Creationland today with Coventry-based Adorable;
There's a few bits an pieces on the old internet about the band, not least on the VH1 site (referencing the All Music Guide again); which gives a nifty bit of the back story, and I also like the assertions on the "Proper Adorable homepage" that the band split "because of several factors: there were problems within the band, creation dropped them, etc", rather than no one wanted to buy their records because, and I apologise if I'm slandering anyone here, they were the shoegaze equivalents of Birdland; all big ideas and snooty interviews, but not as good as they thought they were.
Having said all that, I rather like the mp3 below, it's a snapshot of what indie bands were trying to do in 1992 and is certainly not that far from the Rides and Curves of this world. Maybe they should have been bigger, especially as they were on Creation and could obviously thrash out a pretty good tune when the mood took them; and the more I listen to this particular EP, the more I'm a bit disappointed I missed them the first time around, if I'd ever been any good at meeting hoopy-tighted indie girls, this would have been a belting record to put on the record player while you failed to get a snog out of them at the end of the night...
This is the eponymous first track of the band's first EP; Adorable - Sunshine Smile, and it's a bang on bit of Creationry if ever I've heard one, right down to the Dreams Burn Down-esque wailing guitar at the start. Oh, and you'll note the "I want to be Suede!" sleeve as well.
Buy "Footnotes: the Best of Adorable 1992-1994 "
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Adorable
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Another cracking post - I too still have this single - check out one of the bonus tracks - 'Everything's Fine' - should have been released as a single in its own right!!
ReplyDeleteAnother gig at Stoke Wheatsheaf for me here - Adorable supported by The Nubiles (was initially meant to be Marion supporting but they pulled out) so we got Tara Milton's mob instead. From memory there was a grand total of 13 people at the gig.
Still I got my 7" of 'Vendetta' signed at the end!!
Sunshine Smile is one of the bestest singles ever.
ReplyDeleteEverything's fine was on a later single, I think.
Excellent live, too. You really did miss out.
... saw them suporting Carter. They were absolute rubbish. I think I've had more fun at work, sometimes.
ReplyDeleteSistine Chapel Ceiling was a belting single too. They really were a bit unfortunate by virtue of timing - tons more exciting than anything else going on in indieland at the time, but suddenly Suede appeared and overtook them. Incidentally, a fairly good 'Best Of Adorable' has just come out...
ReplyDeleteInoffensive though they may be, Adorable do not deserve a ‘best of’.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was only my copy of 'Sunshine Smile' that was pressed that badly...
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong! They were never a shoe-gaze birdland! they were brilliant - the first three singles/EPs - Sunshine Smile, I'll be your Saint and Homeboy were all excellent, comparable to The Drowners, Metal Mickey & Animal Nitrate....
ReplyDeleteIn fact they were what people needed in a glam suede / manics make an effort for pop kind of way - which must be the antithesis of what shoegazing stood for.
The Polak single i have is not bad either!
Can we lump Sweet Jesus in with them as well?
This took me back. I was young and snotty and working in a recording studio back in the early 90s. This was my only credit. Yup I'm the 'Simon Lennon' on the back of the single.
ReplyDeleteMy one and only claim to fame!
The atmospherics in the middle of the song were the guitarist rubbing his jumper up and down the strings while the rest of the band were off eating lasagne in the canteen. He was the new boy and they all knew each other from Uni if I recall correctly. And as such they barely spoke to him in the week they were in recording the three tracks on the single. And, apart from the drummer, they were really really short!
Not the best band from that era, I agree with that.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw them support Buffalo Tom somewhere, sometime. Pretty average and overly self-indulgent I seem to recall....
ReplyDeleteI played football with the drummer a few years ago. Nice bloke. Thought he was going to cry when I ripped his Coventry City footy shirt, though.
ReplyDeleteHey, Matt, I had a soft spot for Adorable as I was friendly with Robert Dillam who was 'the new boy guitarist' that Simon mentions.
ReplyDeleteThey were a pretty good live band and had a habit of hiding great songs on b-sides (checkout Obsessively Yours, which I think was the b-side to Homeboy).
They would have hated the Suede comparisons by the way. Robert was a massive My Bloody Valentine fan and had followed them round the country (I think that's how I met him) and we'd driven down to Oxford once to catch Ride on the strength of hearing the first EP. Basically he was a guitar effects fanatic, massively passionate about music and he had about three other bands on the go with various people around Coventry. Great bloke.
Kev the drummer was a lovely quiet guy too, Piotr the 'arrogant' frontman was a massive Psychedelic Furs fan who just took himself a bit too seriously. The bass player was called Wil (one 'L') and his favourite band was the Austin, TX noise band Scratch Acid yet he was playing in a band that couldn't have been further away from what they were doing, probably why he was always scowling. Can't say I ever warmed to him - though he did have one redeeming feature - an absolutely lovely girlfriend called Emma.
Anyway, I'd definitely recommend checking out their debut album 'Against Perfection' and the b-sides to the first few singles.