The Field Mice: Cl*ss*c Or D*d

well what i'm getting at is that i think they pre-dated all that Madchester/"indie dance" nonsense (back when "indie dance" wasn't really dance at all)

Jim E-T: the idea that TFM were ever the Band You Had To Like in Exeter is baffling to me in the extreme. Did indie really have a heyday in Exeter? (I left the area in 1989 and kind of assumed that the same 10 people stayed liking that kind of stuff as had been interested for the previous five years.) TFM played their second (third?) ever show in Exeter, as I recall.

(Sorry Sarah)

Jesus, we must have overlapped. I was there from 89-91.

I saw the WDYLTKTW comp for a fiver and bought it meaning to flog it on e-bay for as much as it could get. I haven't sold the bugger yet, as I do very occasionally play the keybd/sequencer tracks which aren't bad. But the jangle-indie stuff is staggeringly useless - Wratten's lyrics are so *literal* and plain - no mystery, nothing unexpected, just 'I am so far way from you/summer's too long..blah blah blah.
How can anyone stand to listen to this shit? It's delivered in such a mopey, 'I'm so useless' milksop croon that you want to say 'Stop hanging around the fucking coach station you dozy twot and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!' Or bring back national service!
At least Morrissey was funny.

i like wratten veers towards the wet on many occasions, but how can you deny a song like "so said kay" or "missing the moon", two of their least literal (and most beautiful) songs..

I really dislike the record sleeves, for the most part, and I know I part ways not just with many of you but with several of my closer friends as well on this. I always thought the lettering was too big! They often seem like Minimalism for Dummies. (I guess this quality--a kind of studied naivete--is on purpose.) I find the For Keeps cover especially ugly. I like a lot of the covers to the Sarah comps, though.

This is something that bothered me about the FM, but now it doesn't for some reason. I think the first time I heard "If You Need Someone," I probably cringed.

If you need someone to tell you everything is gonna be alright, I can do that, I can do that, I can.

Bob is really a wimpy, wistful, fragile fellow (and seeing him live confirms this), and it comes off as completely honest. So it works for me. A little sincerity is refreshing nowadays, isn't it? (But I can *totally* see how people would hate his lyrics. I gave the comp to a friend of mine, and he said that he loved the music but sometimes the lyrics made him want to punch the guy.)

So, "Willow":
Don't you go thinking I never did love you

Kills me every time.

Matt Haynes makes me well cross with his attitude to reissues.

[Homer Simpson voice] Bids, anyone?

I bought all the records at the time because I loved the music, and I still love the music now, and it breaks my heart that I've had to sell them and I'll never be able to see them again, but on the other hand my financial needs (paying back a loan for an eye operation) are more important than music at the moment. I'm refusing to sell any of my Sarah CDs because it's those I play the most, but the vinyl can go in dribs and drabs and if people want to buy it, let them. I'd dearly love some kind of "Sarah Soup" compilations which compile all the first 50 singles onto CD (and I've done what I can from my collection anyway), but I don't think that's ever going to happen.

So, people like me will sell our records, and Matt will complain. But he's the only one with the power to do anything about it.

Matt's attitude to reissues/collectors annoys me too. But being realistic (and playing devil's advocate for a moment), he's working with limited funds, and, given the choice, wouldn't you prefer to release a new record than repress an old one? Either way, I get the impression he's really not interested in music any more, if indeed he ever was.

I won't go into the ins-&-outs of Bob's songwriting here; all a bit too close to home. But, cover designs: yes, uniformly bad. "Minimalism for Dummies"..exactly.

Marianna: a Bob W retirement fund is a *very* good idea...

But let's face it, as nice as the occasional Fosca or Tompot Blenny record are (and yours of course are marvellous, Harvey, any chance of another?) Shinkhansen seems to be slowly fading off into the distance, even a TBS compilation is like admitting defeat, that people only are interested in Bob's bands, and now they've gone I can't see the label lasting for too long. As Harvey says, I think Matt's lost interest in music.

(Of course, Matt could always reply to the contrary here)

At least the ASD sleeves had some enigmatic photos on 'em, and "Rebellion" is probably one of my fave sleeves ever (and I'm not just saying that to make Harvey happy, I remember seeing it in Replay in 1994 and thinking "That looks so cool, I've got to buy it on vinyl too").

Alternatively, I reckon London Weekend, Rebellion & California would all fit quite snugly on a single CD, which is quite appealing, if ultimately pointless.

If the comp is truly "worth" that much, I might make a copy for myself and sell it. (Who knows, by the time I get back from Europe, perhaps it will have been repressed.) Although mine's beaten up just a bit, as a result of the bad packaging that Gareth describes.

I'm not super familiar with the Field Mice catalog but "Fabulous Friend" sounds like it came straight off of R.E.M.'s Reckoning, which is a very good thing in my book.

Too many people here need to explore more it seems

this song from a Peel Session is so good, v New Orderish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_27IUnBk1o

holland street is a dazzling instrumental

― brimstead, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:22 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this one absolutely leapt out at me yeah

Humblebee was lovely ty!

ditto Anoint

"Below The Stars" has a lovely Lazer Guided Melodies vibe. More of this sort of thing please!

Another obscure good one, originally given away on vinyl with Bob Stanley’s old Caff zine. Goes for a small fortune nowadays

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYsMIDKeMCI