Fingerprintz - Houdini Love

When I was about eighteen I took a trip with my friend Sam to Mesa, Arizona. We stayed with his young widowed aunt and it was my great fortune to discover her late husband's CD collection. It was full of obscure (for an American teenager) new wave albums by artists I had read about but never heard -- Scottish bands Aztec Camera and The Silencers among them.

The Silencers sounded a lot like Simple Minds to me until I became more familiar with their work. Several of their songs teased the charts, particularly in France, but they never had a breakout hit in America or their native Britain. Their debut single Painted Moon came closest, peaking at number 57 in 1988. Of their studio albums only "A Blues for Buddha," their second, is still in print.

When I was introduced to The Silencers in Mesa almost 15 years ago the Internet was just becoming available to the public through dial-up modems. We weren't so rich we could afford that, so it was a few years before I discovered that The Silencers were a reincarnation of Fingerprintz, a London-based new wave outfit active from 1979 to 1985. If The Silencers were marginally successful, Fingerprintz was no more than a footnote in the pop history of a region whose minor bands' reputations often engulf actual musical output. If I had heard of Slaughter & the Dogs and Penetration then why hadn't I heard of Fingerprintz? [Answer: Slaughter et. al were part of a scene in Manchester that blew up so big even the little bands have gone down in musical history, and Penetration had a 1977 single that captured the punk zeitgeist.]

The last time Fingerprintz's albums were issued they came on black circles of polyvinyl chloride with little grooves all around, and I would be surprised if they were in stores again before compact discs were long defunct. I found my copies online somewhere and though they wouldn't impress an audiophile they are clear enough to get the main ideas across.

One of their tracks particularly stood out and it has since become one of my all-time favorites. In fact, it's my fifth-most-played track since February 2007. Houdini Love, from album "Distinguishing Marks" (1980, Virgin), has an uptempo rhythm -- though the vocals and guitar carry most of the energy. Jimme O'Neill's voice is a masterpiece of sublimated emotion. In another word, cool. The music anticipates The Replacements' poppier moments viz. Alex Chilton. I imagine Houdini Love was fantastic played live, and I hope someday it gets its due from critics and fans.

Download Houdini Love and bonus track Painted Moon here.

Jack Lee - Middle of the Night

Jack Lee has every reason to be proud of his songs. He wrote Hanging on the Telephone for his band The Nerves and watched Blondie ride it up the charts to number five in the UK (his song Will Anything Happen? also appeared on Blondie's 1978 new wave classic "Parallel Lines"). He also wrote at least one song for Suzi Quatro (You Are My Lover).

In 1983 his rocker Come Back and Stay, which first appeared on debut solo album "Jack Lee's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1" (1981, Maiden America), reached number four in the UK charts. But once again the song was someone else's version; Paul Young had gussied it up into a soulful pop ballad. Lee's album also included a rerecorded version of Hanging on the Telephone.

A label called Lolita released Lee's second, self-titled, album in 1985 - but I think it was only available in France. It includes raucous punk opener Sex, a new-wavey guitar number called Why Am I Lonely? that sounds like the Knack or Joe Jackson, nostalgia-driven power-pop ballad From Time to Time, and ten other solid tracks.

After that the world had to wait for the invention of YouTube and MySpace before it could hear new Lee compositions. On the former there's a good little biography and series of cool videos, including a discussion of how he came up with Hanging on the Telephone.  I can't seem to find Lee's artist page on MySpace now, but new music was available there for a while, and that's where I discovered Middle of the Night around 2007.

Lee has kept his acute pop sensibilities - and I don't know what he was doing during his long commercial absence but his bouncy melancholia has matured into a deep, world-wise voice. If he had every right to be proud before, now he should feel the satisfaction of taking his songwriting to a higher level. Middle of the Night is the story of a journey across America and accompanying discoveries in the dark. Townes Van Zandt couldn't have written a more evocative or engaging meditation.

I think this recording was intended as a demo, and the bitrate is a low 128 kbps. But before I found this mp3 I was listening to a very poor quality version I grabbed from Lee's MySpace page -- with great pleasure. My Last.fm page informs me that over the last two and a half years I've listened to this track more than any other.

I hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has me.

I also enthusiastically recommend The Nerves' recent compilation "One Way Ticket," which as far as I know is the only in-print recording of any of Lee's studio recordings; and it has cool liner notes. You can download all 20 songs for $7.99 right now at Amazon.com.

Download Middle of the Night for free here, with bonus tracks Come Back and Stay and Sex.

UPDATE: I found Jack Lee's MySpace page here.

The Cherry Orchard - This Could Be Love

It's not easy to come by reliable information on this band. Their official Web page is sparsely decorated and doesn't pop up near the top of a Google search; just over 1,000 people have visited their Myspace page. And there have been at least two outfits recording under this name. One is a retro pop band from Cambridge, England and the other is an electronic act (whose No More Nightmares single I accidentally purchased thinking it was the other Cherry Orchard). In the few available online references The Cherry Orchard is most often categorized as twee. I suppose they would bear occasional comparison to twee heroes The Field Mice, but The Cherry Orchard is far more accomplished-sounding and melodic than an average twee band.

This Could Be Love is an album track from "Healing Faith Like Fire" (Red Honey, 1990). As far as I know it wasn't a hit anywhere; its entire audience registered by Last.fm, a site that tallies up members' listening habits, is 10 people. But it is three and a half minutes of energetic, edgy, romantic pop. Also worth checking out is their cover of Streets of Your Town from a Go-Betweens tribute called These Are The Songs We Always Wanted To Hear. I'll include it as a bonus track.

Click here to download This Could Be Love and Streets of Your Town!

Intro

One of my favorite ways to find new music is to monitor blogs using Google Reader. I have found excellent stuff at Black Acetate, Jangle Pop Boutique, Madchester Rave On, Nyāko's Treasures, Power Pop Criminals, Take the Pills!, and PVAc to 44.1 kHz. These blogs have provided me with a rich cache of obscure and out-of-print gems that I would have otherwise overlooked.

In an ideal marketplace the best product would always sell the most units but 18 years of paying attention to music (counting from my freshman year of high school) has taught me that there are ignored tracks from many years ago, like Fingerprintz's Houdini Love, that should be renowned alongside Another Girl, Another Planet. And there is relatively new music like Jack Lee's Middle of the Night, The Affair's Honey, and anything by Smoking Popes that should be top downloads on iTunes.

I want to share with you the songs that jump out at me - that make me wonder how they continue to be so unknown. I'll also post some rare tracks that, while not ignored classics, are good and interesting - like The Lumieres's Cinder Hearts. Most of the music I post will be out of print or available for free already. And all the posts are intended to introduce you to new bands and prompt you to buy their product.

Thank you for visiting the blog. I hope you find a few new favorite songs here.