‘Hooked EP’ by Catatonia

This one comes up by mistake, really. A little while back, I re-organised EPs and b-sides into more obvious chunks so that they’d be easier to listen to. Had I not missed this, it would be filed away under ‘Way Beyond Blue’ additional tracks – where I would almost certainly never listen to it ever again. But I didn’t, so here we are.

I picked this up in Wales at around the point that Catatonia were becoming famous. This was an early release – their second, I think. Nothing on this EP re-appeared later down the track, though in fairness, it’s not that bad. The first two tracks are pleasant-enough jangling indie, very much in keeping with the rest of their early work – the band went on to become much more ‘anthemic’, and there are precious few signs of that here. The final track, ‘Difrycheulyd (Snail Ambition)’ is sung in Welsh with spoken French interjections – charming in its own way, but precisely the kind of self indulgent nonsense the band were to ditch once they decided that selling some records might be quite a nice idea.

It’s not a great record by any stretch, but it’s a debut EP, so you can’t be too harsh. You know – for what it is, it’s fine.

‘For Tinkerbell’ by Catatonia

One of those items that’s in my collection more or less by chance. I picked this up in Wales just as Catatonia were on the ascent in the rest of the UK. ‘For Tinkerbell’ was an early EP which I vaguely thought might turn into a collector’s item. It’s probably fair to say that that isn’t now the case.

In and of itself, it’s alright, in a ‘stretching your wings’ kind of way. ‘For Tinkberbell’ itself is a pleasant enough song, ‘New Mercurial Heights’ is a better one (though whether it’s good enough to sustain two versions within five tracks is debateable) and ‘Dimbran’ is also fine. All are a bit similar – a slightly murky backing track layered in jangly guitar, with Cerys Matthew’s voice providing the main point of interest. ‘Sweet Catatonia’ is the low point. The song itself is fine, but this version is slow to the point of tedium, lacking any energy that would make it worthwhile.

Three of these tracks would find their way onto Catatonia’s debut album, all re-recorded and improved, thus rendering this record entirely pointless. I guess you win some, you lose some.

‘Cutting Edge 2’ by The Cutting Edge Band (Delirious?)

Released one year later than it’s predecessor, Cutting Edge 2 has some major stylistic differences. Though it remains, largely, a very accessible worship album, there’s more variety within these six tracks, and the beginning of a shift towards arrangement and performance being more developed. ‘The Prophet Song’ and ‘Lead Me’ are unmistakeably worship songs, but would be difficult to sing in a church. ‘The Happy Song’ would work in certain contexts (it did the rounds at Soul Survivor for a few years), but it would be a brave worship leader who attempted it at home (I think I did, once or twice, but I was learning…) Even ‘King Of Love’, in all its simplicity, would be a little to personal to sing in a group. ‘I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever’ is the only track from CE2 to make any kind of a ‘Thank You For Saving Me’ type impact, and it can still be heard in churches today from time to time. ‘Coming Back’, by contrast, was their most mainstream-aimed song yet. I don’t think the band had any secular ambitions at this point (the band still weren’t even a fully formed unit), but this was definitely pointing the way.

Instrumentally, the album followed the template set by the first. It’s largely a mix of acoustic guitar and piano. The addition of Stuart Garrard to the line-up means the electric guitar plays a more prominent role throughout the collection, but only in a supporting role. By Cutting Edge 3, there would a fundamental shift of balance in this direction…

'Carry On Up The Charts' by The Beautiful South

As a rule, I tend to avoid buying greatest hits compilations, as I’d rather collect the albums which the songs come from in the first place, especially now, when bands release greatest hits collections after only a handful of proper records. This collection from the Beautiful South came into my collection through marriage, and was virtually unnoticed for a long while. It’s not that I’d ever disliked the band, but I’d never really taken any time to appreciate them beyond a vague recognition that Paul Heaton was a good songwriter. Then, a few years ago, I saw them live at the V Festival during a gap in the schedule, and they were fantastic. However, even after this, I didn’t delve properly into this album, not til now, and I’m pleased to listen to it at this point.

The surprise, I suppose, is what’s missing. ‘Blue Is The Colour’ and ‘Quench’, the two massive selling Beautiful South albums came after this compilation, so lots of the songs that are most associated with the band aren’t here. You do, however, get ‘Song For Whoever’, ‘A Little Time’, ‘You Keep It All In’ and ‘Old Red Eyes Is Back’ among its fifteen tracks, most of which are familiar on some level, and all of which are good. The blend of fairly gentle arrangements and delicate lyrics with a heavy streak of cynicism give the songs quite a timeless quality – they’d stand out a bit today, but they would have stood out a bit in the early 90s when they were released as well, which is no bad thing. My initial vague appreciation of Paul Heaton’s songwriting is fully confirmed (with apologies to Dave Rotherway, the co-writer I knew nothing about). In fact, I’ve been listening to this for a few days now, and enjoying it immensely.

'A Promenade Companion' by The Divine Comedy

Again, not an album, but a four track EP that accompanies one. This EP came free with early copies of Promenade, though I think my copy was a download in the days when Napster ruled the internet. It's not an essential part of the back catalogue - all the songs appear elsewhere in different guises - but it's a nice addition.

Recorded live (by the sounds of it) by Neil Hannon, a cellist and a violinist, this EP contains one track from 'Promenade', the parent album, and three from the previous one, 'Liberation'.

'Don't Look Down' and 'Your Daddy's Car' are straightforward interpretations of their orginal versions, but with less instruments. 'Queen Of The South' is the highlight, re-imagining the original track as a far more emotional display. 'I Was Born Yesterday' is played somewhat oddly - as if Hannon has recieved a new voice for Christmas, and is learning how it works. Good stuff, though.