Like most major music genres, the sub-genres often cause confusion and debate because of the mix of styles and it can be somewhat ambiguous in context.
To begin with, one definition of jangle music is this:
Jangle or jingle-jangle is a sound characterized by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars (particularly 12-strings) played in a droning chordal style (by strumming or arpeggiating). The sound has featured mainly in pop music and is often associated with 1960s guitar bands, folk rock, and 1980s indie music.
But then others cite more post-punk and indie bands as their definition of the jangle genre:
Profile of ’80s Underground Genre Jangle Pop
No mention there of Brighter or 14 Iced Bears or the Sea Urchins. See, those bands and many more are true jamgle and I believe the Sarah Records catalogue is the flagship to steer us through this retrospective tribute.
I remember playing Coastal (Field Mice) at a friend’s house where their six-year-old son totally loved September’s Not So Far Away! I would say many of the Field Mice songs were endearing and captivating and just so simple in structure. That was one of the first things I noticed about these bands and the distinctive jangly guitar sound that identified them, there was nothing intricate about the structure of the songs, yet some were just breathtakingly brilliant.
An example of this would be Tell Me How It Feels (The Sweetest Ache) which is in my all-time 100 songs (see I-TUNES here).
Before we take a look at the nine Sarah compilation albums (I certainly had the first three and bought the finale There And Back Again Lane), from a personal perspectve I sought to make my own 12-track compo of favourite songs, using one song from one band only. Also a good time to show off the video I made for My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon!
01 – Field Mice – It Isn’t Forever
02 – The Sea Urchins – Cling Film
03 – Aberdeen – Fireworks
04 – Northern Picture Library – Love Song For the Dead Che 1
05- The Siddeleys – My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon
06 – The Orchids – Avignon
07 – The Springfields – Sunflower
08 – 14 Iced Bears – Hay Fever
09 –East Village – Kathleen
10 – The Sweetest Ache – Tell Me How It Feels
11 – Brighter – Around The World In 80 Days
12 – Blueboy – River
And so it’s Britain, 1987. Bruce Willis has a song in the charts, Thatcher’s pissing off students and miners up and down the country and record company executives are living off a diet of cocaine and Duran Duran. In a sleepy suburban corner of Bristol, Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes are dreaming of a different world. A secret world. The world of Sarah Records.
Matt and Claire were hard at work on their fanzines Are You Scared To Get Happy and Kvatch respectively at the time, when they decided to start putting out records from their flat. Their creative buzz resulted in the formation of Sarah Records, and whether they intended to or not, their response to the stifling, corporate nature of the late 80s music industry helped shape the genre that would later be ubiquitously referred to as ‘indie’. Sarah was instrumental in providing a platform for young bands to release music. Innovative and sincere in their approach, the duo focused primarily on releasing singles and compilations from the bands they loved. Bands like Heavenly and The Field Mice; bands who would go on to influence a generation of young people to pick up guitars, go back to basics and start making their own music.
While Sarah Records’ enduring influence has been far reaching, it was always a labour of love, “I’ve never thought there’s a link between how good a record is and commercial success – it’s all about money and marketing and looks and luck, and always has been”, Clare postulates. “We didn’t have the money, we never wanted to risk the whole label for one hit, and we didn’t want to do what it takes.
“There’s a lot of compromise involved in getting successful”, she continues, “a lot of doing what you have to do to sell, and it becomes less and less about the music.” Matt and Clare knew what they wanted from the start though. “Matt was part of Sha-la-la, which was a group of fanzine writers who got together to release flexidiscs and distribute them through their fanzines, and I had done a flexi with the Sea Urchins and The Groove Farm through my final Kvatch fanzine, so we had both already released music before we started Sarah. We had very clear ideas about what we wanted to do.”
The label grew out of a shared ethos to release the music they loved and the music they felt was authentic. “There’s a certain honesty and integrity about a lot of the music, and about Sarah itself; it’s all quite real and heartfelt and genuine,” she reflects, “that’s why it continues to resonate.” The resonance she speaks of can be heard in countless bands today: the off-kilter glockenspiels you hear in Los Campesinos, the jangly chords of Joanna Gruesome and the self-deprecating humour of The Cribs. Modern indie owes an outstanding debt to Sarah’s cast of misfit teenagers.
The likes of The Sea Urchins and The Field Mice were rag tag pioneers, experimenting with what they were discovering and learning on the job. “I think it was really important for the bands to embrace new sounds and experiment, and it worked really really well. Some of the bands were pretty young and had only just learnt to play and record when their first records came out”, Claire told us. “There’s a charming naivety to, say, the first Field Mice and Orchids singles, and I still love those records.”
Matt and Clare created Saraopoly (pictured below) in the early 90s to mark their 50th release. We asked filmmaker Lucy Dawkins if she’d ever played; “It’s incredibly complicated to play and requires a good knowledge of Bristol’s public transport system circa 1990. It was Sarah’s 50th release so they wanted to release something special, a kind of pop art statement. I think it sums up Sarah and Clare & Matt’s sense of humour.”
I’ve also put together this 10-minute video apropos Sarah Records…
SARAH RECORDS COMPILATIONS
SHADOW FACTORY (1988)
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist
THE SEA URCHINS Please Rain Fall
14 ICED BEARS Sure To See
THE ORCHIDS Underneath The Window, Underneath The Sink
THE SEA URCHINS Sullen Eyes
THE POPPYHEADS Dreamabout
THE ORCHIDS Give Me Some Peppermint Freedom
THE SPRINGFIELDS Are We Gonna Be Alright?
THE SEA URCHINS Pristine Christine
THE ORCHIDS Tiny Words
THE FIELD MICE Fabulous Friend
14 ICED BEARS Come Get Me
THE SPRINGFIELDS Sunflower
THE ORCHIDS Apologies
THE FIELD MICE The Last Letter
THE GOLDEN DAWN My Secret World
TEMPLE CLOUD (1990)
THE ORCHIDS Yawn
THE FIELD MICE Sensitive
THE WAKE Carbrain
BRIGHTER I Don’t Think It Matters
ST CHRISTOPHER All Of A Tremble
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Green
GENTLE DESPITE Darkest Blue
THE GOLDEN DAWN George Hamilton’s Dead
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY You Should All Be Murdered
BRIGHTER Inside Out
THE FIELD MICE If You Need Someone
ACTION PAINTING! These Things Happen
ST CHRISTOPHER You Deserve More Than A Maybe
THE FIELD MICE Song Six
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Can’t You Tell It’s True?
BRIGHTER Noah’s Ark
AIR BALLOON ROAD (1990)
THE ORCHIDS It’s Only Obvious
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist
THE SEA URCHINS Please Rain Fall
THE FIELD MICE If You Need Someone
THE ORCHIDS Underneath The Window, Underneath The Sink
ST CHRISTOPHER You Deserve More Than A Maybe
THE FIELD MICE End of The Affair
GENTLE DESPITE Darkest Blue
THE GOLDEN DAWN George Hamilton’s Dead
THE FIELD MICE Sensitive
THE WAKE Carbrain
BRIGHTER I Don’t Think It Matters
THE SEA URCHINS Pristine Christine
14 ICED BEARS Come Get Me
THE GOLDEN DAWN My Secret World
#THE SPRINGFIELDS Sunflower
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY You Should All Be Murdered
ST CHRISTOPHER All Of A Tremble
ACTION PAINTING! These Things Happen
THE POPPYHEADS Dreamabout
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Green
THE ORCHIDS Blue Light
BRIGHTER Noah’s Ark
GLASS ARCADE (1991)
THE FIELD MICE Holland Street
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Rio
ETERNAL Sleep
THE SWEETEST ACHE Tell Me How It Feels
THE ORCHIDS Farewell, Dear Bonnie
THE SEA URCHINS A Morning Odyssey
THE SPRINGFIELDS Wonder
THE FIELD MICE So Said Kay
HEAVENLY I Fell In Love Last Night
THE ORCHIDS Something For The Longing
EVEN AS WE SPEAK Goes So Slow
THE FIELD MICE Quicksilver
ETERNAL Breathe
ST CHRISTOPHER Salvation
EVEN AS WE SPEAK Nothing Ever Happens
THE SWEETEST ACHE If I Could Shine
FOUNTAIN ISLAND (1992)
TRAMWAY Maritime City
HEAVENLY So Little Deserve
EVEN AS WE SPEAK One Step Forward
GENTLE DESPITE Bittersweet Kiss
THE SWEETEST ACHE Sickening
ST CHRISTOPHER It’s Snowing On The Moon
SECRET SHINE Grey Skies
THE ORCHIDS Tropical Fishbowl
GENTLE DESPITE Shadow Of A Girl
EVEN AS WE SPEAK Must Be Something Else
THE ORCHIDS Pelican Blonde
TRAMWAY Technical College
HEAVENLY Wrap My Arms Around Him
THE WAKE Major John
THE FIELD MICE Between Hello And Goodbye
TRAMWAY Star
ENGINE COMMON (1993)
THE HIT PARADE In Gunnersbury Park
THE SUGARGLIDERS Letter From A Lifeboat
THE ORCHIDS Thaumaturgy
THE HARVEST MINISTERS You Do My World The World Of Good
BLUEBOY Clearer
BRIGHTER Half-Hearted
THE SUGARGLIDERS What We Had Hoped
THE ROSARIES Leaving
THE FIELD MICE Missing The Moon
THE ORCHIDS I Was Just Dreaming
THE SUGARGLIDERS Fruitloopin’
BLUEBOY Popkiss
SECRET SHINE Honey Sweet
THE HARVEST MINISTERS Six O’Clock Is Rosary
BRIGHTER End
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY I Don’t Suppose I’ll Get A Second Chance
GAOL FERRY BRIDGE (1994)
EVEN AS WE SPEAK (All You Find Is) Air
BLUEBOY Try Happiness
THE SUGARGLIDERS Reinventing Penicillin
HEAVENLY Atta Girl
ACTION PAINTING! Classical Music
EAST RIVER PIPE My Life Is Wrong
THE SUGARGLIDERS Ahprahran
BOYRACER I’ve Got It And It’s Not Worth Having
HEAVENLY P.U.N.K. Girl
EVEN AS WE SPEAK Getting Faster
BOYRACER Cog
BLUEBOY Air France
SECRET SHINE Loveblind
EAST RIVER PIPE Helmet On
THE SUGARGLIDERS Theme From Boxville
BATTERY POINT (1995)
BLUEBOY Dirty Mags
BOYRACER He Gets Me So Hard
THE HIT PARADE Autobiography
ABERDEEN Fran
BLUEBOY River
NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY Last September’s Farewell Kiss
IVY Wish You Would
SHELLEY Reproduction Is Pollution
ACTION PAINTING! Mustard Gas
IVY Avenge; SECRET SHINE Deep Thinker
THE SUGARGLIDERS Top 40 Sculpture
NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY Paris
ABERDEEN Fireworks
SHELLEY Hero
BLUEBOY Toulouse
THERE AND BACK AGAIN LANE (1995)
THE FIELD MICE Sensitive
HEAVENLY Atta Girl
THE SUGARGLIDERS Ahprahran
THE SPRINGFIELDS Sunflower
THE ORCHIDS Peaches
BLUEBOY The Joy Of Living
THE HARVEST MINISTERS 6 O’Clock Is Rosary
BRIGHTER Inside Out
EAST RIVER PIPE Make A Deal With The City
THE WAKE English Rain
SECRET SHINE Temporal
NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY Paris
HARVEY WILLIAMS She Sleeps Around
ST CHRISTOPHER All Of A Tremble
THE SEA URCHINS Pristine Christine
BOYRACER He Gets Me So Hard
ACTION PAINTING! Mustard Gas
THE SWEETEST ACHE Tell Me How It Feels
ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Rio
THE HIT PARADE In Gunnersbury Park
EVEN AS WE SPEAK Drown
An article on Sarah Records from Uncut
It says something about the reputation of Sarah Records that the most dramatic statements in a documentary dedicated to the Bristol indie label come from its detractors. Chief among them is the late NME critic, Steven Wells. Sarah, he wrote “should be called AntiPunk Noel Edmonds Mister Blobby Pile of Pooh Rubbish Records”. He returned to the theme more pungently in a review of Secret Shine’s inoffensive 45 “Loveblind”. “This isn’t music,” he wrote, “it’s cancer.”
To be fairer to the critic than he was to Sarah, Wells was professionally outraged about everything, and the label’s understatement was out of step with the times. Sarah was a cottage industry that made a virtue of restraint. Even here, invited by filmmaker Lucy Dawkins to blow their own trumpets, the nearest the founders Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes come to being boastful is when Wadd deals with the question of professionalism, and its absence. “I think we were maybe just unprofessional in an entirely different way from most record labels,” she says, “so we weren’t falling apart and doing drugs and being pissed all the time. We were just taking pictures of buses.”
Sarah existed between 1987-1995, releasing almost 100 artefacts (87 singles, a handful of albums, some zines, a board game). Many of the records had photos of Bristol landmarks, not necessarily buses, on the covers. The label was quietly political, and had a policy of not objectifying women on its sleeves. But they weren’t above using drawings of penguins or lawnmowers.
Wadd (from Harrogate) and Haynes (from London) were students in Bristol, who bonded over their mutual love of fanzine culture. Wadd had produced Kvatch (interviewing the likes of Ivor Cutler, Billy Bragg and The Pogues), and had been impressed by the accessibility of Welsh post-punkers The Alarm. Haynes, an unlikely record mogul, produced the fanzine Are You Scared To Get Happy? which included flexidiscs.
Clare and Matt met at a Julian Cope concert (with Primal Scream supporting) and never looked back. The label was set up on the Enterprise Allowance scheme, which allowed people to redefine their unemployment as a small business, and scored a single of the week with its first release, by The Sea Urchins. Sarah’s reputation is for tweeness, yet it issued an anti-poll tax single by The Orchids, and its brand of patient feminism fed into the riot grrrl movement.
And so as we lie ‘between the stars’ and dream about what once was, perhaps the essence of jangle lives on, judging by a couple of blogs I have found; here is one:
And I’ll disappear quietly and leave this with a review of the Brighter Singles 1989-1992 compilation, something else I used to have!
Brighter are a band for the Monday morning music mavens, a rarefied breed that unearths obscure gems, champions them to the underground, and ultimately discards them once they achieve mainstream acclaim. Of all the labels that released the music these mavens covet, England’s Sarah Records might be one of the most revered. This boutique indie released a cache of fabulous recordings that never reached the mainstream radar but always strove for a consistent level of excellence. The Holy Grail of the Sarah catalogue is easily the works of Brighter, who released three 7″ singles and one 10″ single that disappeared as quickly as the band itself.
This new collection, Singles 1989-1992, lovingly delivered by Matinee Recordings, gathers all of the officially released Brighter recordings for the first time to create a time capsule of British music at the turn of a decade. At first listen, this collection appears to be little more that ambient noise for the period that separated the gloomy dominance of the Smiths and the devil may care antics of Oasis, but with every additional spin this compilation shines with the type of unpolished jewels about which music mavens boast.
Although the songs provide footnotes indicating that Brighter was part of a greater musical movement, the shining jangle pop that effuses from this gathering of material rings with tender nuances that distance this band from the maudlin routine of Mozzer and the Jesus and Mary Chain, and also set it apart from the fist-pumping, drug-encrusted madness of bands like the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays. Make no mistake, this album will remind you of the Stone Roses’ “Sally Cinnamon”, Morrissey’s “Everyday Is Like Monday”, and the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Happy When It Rains”, but this is not simply something borrowed and something blue. The marriage of Alison Cousens, Keris Howard, and Alex Sharkey delivered a bouquet of pop hits that deserve the attention of the musical mainstream.
The opening two tracks do little to dispel the notion that Brighter is a band that takes heed of their peer’s efforts. Both “Inside Out” and “Tinsel Heart” employ mid-tempo, reverb-drenched guitars and protracted monotone vocals that recall the efforts of some of their Mancunian counterparts listed above. In fact, these two tracks sound so similar in melody, tempo, production, and vocal meter that the two-second break between tracks could almost be misconstrued as a measured break. The saving grace is that the melody is so pleasing, and by the end of “Tinsel Heart” light percussion enters the mix and the band seems to find their groove just in time for the world class “Around the World in Eighty Days”. While this song relies on many of the conventions used on the previous tracks, there are subtle yet significant differences here. A lead guitar counters the vocal melody in the chorus and the singing seems more urgent if not more improved.
Two tracks on this collection rise to the surface and differentiate this band from countless others in the path from the Smiths to Madchester and the ultimate rise and fall of the Britpop revolution that would become a phenomena in the United Kingdom and beyond during the 1990s. The first is “Noah’s Ark”, a sunny number with an acoustic guitar lead that wouldn’t sound out of place in the late ’80s Paisley Underground. There is little question that this track could exist seamlessly on the seminal Galaxie 500 album On Fire. Leaning heavily on the same production values, Brighter shuffles along with heavily-reverbed-yet-sparse drums, an underlying keyboard melody to compensate for the vocal shortcomings, and a late-song tempo change that leads to a bit of delightful noodling during the outro. This is a classic track that is wholly original but defty fuses the influence of the American college rock movement of the late 1980s with the more dance-oriented leanings of the British pop underground.
The other key track — and perhaps what may have been Brighter’s best shot at a radio anthem — “Does Love Last Forever” finds their huggable jangle pop reaching a fever pitch that results in a frenetic two and a half minute bounce-a-long. For once the band uses a bit of distorted guitar in conjunction with the clean and the result is a winner. This track may best illustrate the parallels between Brighter and their more successful Smiths-era peers the Housemartins. Both acts crafted fey songs about love and the loss of it, but the Housemartins were able to find greater commercial acceptance. At times this collection mirrors the Housemartins’ stellar debut, London 0, Hull 4, with similar song structures, themes, and musicianship. The glaring difference, which may have resulted in the commercial success of the Housemartins, is that the sugary vocal harmonies on London 0, Hull 4 soar while Brighter’s vocal deliveries sometimes fall flat.
Music mavens spend a lifetime crowing about bands that should have been superstars but were deterred for various reasons. This collection leaves little doubt about both the abilities and the shortcomings of Brighter. While this was a band that wrote wonderfully emotive songs that recall the thing we love best about music, they were never destined to rule the world. Casual music fans embrace a different set of ideals than the more rabid ones. There is no need to look back with remorse on the demise or diminished memory of this fine band, and this collection is a fitting eulogy to a fine, albeit brief, career.
Belgrave Hill, Bristol. This is the road immediately behind the basement flat on Upper Belgrave Road (i.e. the original Sarah HQ), and the photo was used on the back of Brighter’s Laurel mini-LP.
calling-the-shots.com 