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

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Though I've heard of them, I never bothered to check them out because Everett True praised them to the skies.

His writing tended to have that effect on me.

― Nicole, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

I got a bollocking over a Frank and Walters; clasic or dud....and now this???Field Mice??...I wont even answer that one..

― Michael Bourke, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

about half of the field mice songs are real classic but the experiments with electronic sounds wasn´t very good.

stalker pop haha... it´s true

― Jens, Tuesday, 10 April 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

like evrything else on Sarah Records absolute garbage.Bin everything they ever recorded....

― cockney red, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Classic. Classic. Classic. The Field Mice are the missing link between The Smiths and Belle and Sebastian. Probably the most gorgeous of all unsuccessful bands. Indiepop in perfection. Sensitive is their chef d'oeuvre. Sublime guitar rhythms. And they had different faces. Of course the romantic guitar phase in the beginning but also the dance beat phase at the end which is less convincing. There they sound like a hybrid of New Order and The Orb. I also love the open and frank lyrics (mostly love songs) by Robert Wratten. It reminds me of Neil Young who once said: My life is an open book, you can read it on the radio.

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

I love a lot of things about the Field Mice, but as Tim Hopkins has said elsewhere, the lyrics to 'Sensitive' are fairly repugnant.

― Nick, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

whilst they seem to be remembered for "sensitive" and "emma's house", most of their more experimental and electronic recordings work just as well. after all, whilst they were far from being the greatest electronic band of the time, they weren't really a particularly strong guitar band either. the point is that none of this mattered, because with the field mice the music was always less important than the lyrics.

blueboy and heavenly were certainly better bands on paper, but wratten's honest and personal approach to songwriting lifted the field mice above themselves.

i can understand why people would hate the band - not everyone wants to subject themselves to that level of emotional involvement. there are some songs, particularly "and before the first kiss", that i simply cannot listen to, for fear of being caught up in the emotional turmoil.

conversely, on the occasions when the tone is more upbeat the results are as uplifting as anything this side of the theme from shaft. "coach station reunion" makes me happy, and that in itself is enough to makes me declare the field mice CLASSIC.

― kevan, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

Classic to me... I think that Missing the Moon is still fresh, as is New Order's Perfect Kiss (perhaps where they got the idea in the first place). I think that attributing them as the missing link between the Smiths and Belle&Seb is rather cringing for me to think about it that way... perhaps the missing link between New Order and... Hood? tFM experimented much more greatly than New Order, and worried more about textures as well... but not quite like Hood (especially on Home Is Where It Hurts EP -- just a fab record!)

― fernando, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

Looking back The Field Mice were more heavily influenced by New Order than virtually anyone else, and I agree that placing them between The Smiths and B&S feels wrong. B&S seem to me to have next to nothing to do with the Field Mice or indeed anything Bob Wratten's ever done: it has always struck me as odd the way TBS and B&S are somehow coupled together as the twin godheads of twee pop when they seem to me to have about as much in common with each other as Disco Inferno and Butterfly Child do. I'm not sure about Hood's position in the scheme of things. I'd guess that they'd deny any Field Mice comparisions, but I can't really think of a better modern band to finish off the lineage.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

Richard - I placed The Field Mice between The Smiths and B&S as I find lots of parallels. All three bands are making melancholic melodic pop music. The lyrics are quite important. The lyrics are often clever (esp. the Smiths) but also very emotional (esp. The Field Mice) and adolescent-ish. All three singers have a very distinct slightly effeminate voice. They are all from the UK indie scene. All three bands have a very distinctive sound which you can recognise immediately. I love all of them, I guess they are classics of indie music.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 18 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

TBS and B&S are somehow coupled together as the twin godheads of twee pop when they seem to me to have about as much in common with each other as Disco Inferno and Butterfly Child do.

I don't know Butterfly Child at all, but... since it's often me doing the comparing, I'll tell you why:

1) it is based on TBS's live shows, rather than their recorded output. Their recorded output is slightly less twee and more listenable except for the fact of

2) Commonality of "I didn't need to know that..." aspect of far too much lyrical sharing. Bob Wratten does it on a far more raw and (to me) unlistenable level, while the B&Sers tend to wrap it in layers of irony and sarcasm. But still.

Far prefer the Field Mice to the TBS, BTW.

― masonic boom, Wednesday, 18 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

Reading the AMG review of Where'd You Learn to Kiss that Way? I am amazed. Jason Ankeny says "in retrospect the Field Mice now seem like the missing link between the Smiths and Belle & Sebastian". Upthread I exactly wrote that. So who copied whom? Maybe we just had the same idea independent from each other.

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

shows what a shithole bristol was then eh? thank fuck for massive attak wipe out all this crap sara records shit down the plughol were it belongs.

― XStatic Peace, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

No missing link needed. Red herring.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

that really is the last word in pith.

― cw, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

am I allowed to confess that I’m not sure how the lyrics to “sensitive” are repugnant ? morally ? i always found it their most complete lyric... though I can see that grammatically the syntax of their own that the field mice invented can verge on the surreal (especially “fab friend” & “song 6”)… thought it was worth mentioning that I always thought the fieldmice were most obviously in the lineage of new order (last 2 mins of missing the moon gives that away), but if you listen to the wake’s “here comes everybody” that’s where the question of their historical antecedents really seems to start to fall into place. I love both B&S and hood but musically can see no correlation at all while in terms of ambition, only the hood comparison stands up….

― kieron, Wednesday, 13 March 2002 01:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Dud, except for a few songs, notably "Emma's House"--which is just perfect.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:46 (7 years ago) Permalink

Liking one or two Field Mice songs and not any others seems very odd to me, much odder than liking none.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

Do they seem all of a piece to you?

I suppose it's more that I can only take a bit of them at a time, so I generally lock on the few songs that seem strong enough to transcend the often overbearing vocal treatment. I also don't think much of their Human League-esque electronic things although they're listenable.

"Emma's House" does sort of seem sui generis though, I could easily see someone liking that song and that song only. That person might be me, eventually.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:51 (7 years ago) Permalink

Also "Emma's House" is one of the few F.M. songs that allows the emotions to emerge from the scenario, rather than detailing the emotions in deadening clinical terms or obvious metaphors.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

Songs I kind of like: If You Need Someone, Fabulous Friend, End of the Affair....

Overall F.M. strike me as a WRONG reaction to music currents of the late '80s. Or at leasta profoundly reactionary one, sort of a dead end. That doesn't mean it didn't produce some good music.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

No they don't seem all of a piece Ams (I have a favourite FM song for instance) but they're one of those bands which I think I judge by their overall emotional aesthetic or 'vision' or something like that so when I'm in sync with that I think "yes the Field Mice are great" without having to think about individual songs. And otherwise I tnink "there is no way in hell I want to listen to anything by the Field Mice".

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

Emma's House is classic. If simply for the refrain, "why do we call it Emma's house...?"

― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 21:57 (7 years ago) Permalink

Tom I think we're articulating two ways of dealing with a similar sort of ambivalence.

David: yeah, that's a great line. It reminds me of driving around my home town or college town... physically everything is the same but emotionally all there are, are ghosts and memories. I think it's that sense of transience that makes the song stirring. Although I mostly like it because it's a very concise and self-confident pop song, sort of summarizes the (modest) virtues of the genre without being beholden to them.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 22:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

I also like how the vocal line seems to wait patiently for the chord changes instead of leading the way.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 22:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

jeez, this is an old thread. the field mice were fantastic, virtually their entire catalog is high quality song-wise, in fact i could probably sing you every song. the comp on Shinkansen is probably one of the most satisfying band retrospectives ever. TBS, as much as i like them, pale in comparison.

Also "Emma's House" is one of the few F.M. songs that allows the emotions to emerge from the scenario, rather than detailing the emotions in deadening clinical terms or obvious metaphors.

how much FM have you actually heard? because i don't think you have any idea what you're talking about.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 00:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

I have all their records! (Well, had. I sold everything but the comp you speak of.)

Way to be diplomatic, Jim.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 00:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

i'm not in a very charitable mood at the moment. i find your opinions endlessly frustrating because you always seem to be hovering on the periphery of offering an opinion i could agree with.. i honestly don't think i've encountered anyone who interprets music more differently to me. i feel like i'm trying to understand something that would require a gestalt switch i'm not prepared to make.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 00:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

classic

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 8 August 2003 00:41 (7 years ago) Permalink

a thousand times classic. rock n' roll sees the field mice when it looks in the mirror and backs away in disgust.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Friday, 8 August 2003 01:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

I pulled out their compilation a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. I'd had it for a while but hadn't listened to it much. I was thinking "now I 'get' them" until I read Kevan's post and realized I don't remember any of the lyrics. It was more cos of the overall sound that I changed my mind. By FM maybe amateurist meant British FM, pop songs in the traditional sense, not stuff we hear on FM in the US (maybe in the UK) today. I can see how they'd be an ideal version of that, not too obtrusive. Funny thing is it seems anti-industry, not Brill Building pop, or maybe a vast cottage industry of people making their own stuff more or less according to their interpretation of a standard. (It's weird that Beatles pop but not Britney pop seems to allow for that.) Maybe we (in the US) value not being shouty more than people in the UK cos what's on the radio there is less like that, or there's a balance.

― youn, Friday, 8 August 2003 05:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

Hmmm. Not exactly sure what you mean. I don't have any history hearing the FM outside of the records my friends taped for me and the albums I bought. I don't know how it might have sounded on the radio ca. 1988.

I suppose one problem I have with FM is how determinedly not-shouty it is, or rather how simpleminded is their solution to that perceived problem.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

i can't work out if he's talking about Field Mice or Frequency Modulation

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

No wonder the last few posts have bewildered me a bit.

By "FM" I mean Field Mice, without exception. I've never heard them on the radio!

I wonder how this thread would've progressed if the confusion continued...??

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

heaven only knows..

is it fair to say that the FMs were one of the 'indie-dance' pioneers? and if so is this something to be proud of?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

Not exactly sure what you mean.... Depends on when you date "indie" for one thing (or do you mean "indie pop"--a label that didn't exist then to my knowledge). They certainly incorporate New Order-like synth/syndrum textures into a number of records, but it seems more dance music-informed than actual dance music.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

did they do a record with her out of st etienne?

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

St. Etienne covered "Kiss and Make Up".... But did they do anything with Sarah Crackers? I dunno.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

no, but as i recall two of the FMs contributed to a StEt song (which may have indeed been their version of "Kiss and make up")

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:05 (7 years ago) Permalink

(xp)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:05 (7 years ago) Permalink

Depends on when you date "indie" for one thing

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)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Now I'm out of my depth...

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

Their shift into electronics was roughly concurrent with the Madchester thing, but postdates "W.F.L." which is probably the 'birth' of indie-dance.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

makes sense - esp since Wratten was such a Factory-head

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

oh, sorry, that's what i get for skimming...

― youn, Friday, 8 August 2003 06:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

and not noticing the obvious...

― youn, Friday, 8 August 2003 06:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

only Field Mice track I like = "Missing The Moon"
(only Spacemen 3 song I like = "Big City")
(they have two things in common)

― etc, Friday, 8 August 2003 07:21 (7 years ago) Permalink

extreme length?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 07:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

Midway. They were, when I was 17, the Band You had To Like in Exeter. And they were OK, but somehow never as fragile and lovely as they should have been. A better idea than they were a band.

― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Friday, 8 August 2003 08:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

I never ever got them, and I liked a fair number of their contemporaries. I even like certain selected members of the band very much. But I could never work out what is was that set them apart as the best of that particular bunch for so many people.

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.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 8 August 2003 08:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 111 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

New TBS album out this week, apparently. At leastin the US and Spain...not the UK for some reason.

Yeah, I really enjoyed that EP as well. I'm very excited.

― mikef (mfleming), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 01:47 (5 years ago) Permalink

i always wondered if they ever did all that well in the UK relative to the other territories? but apparently the Elefant deal includes the UK. i've certainly had no hassles getting TBS or Camera Obscura stuff from UK mailorders at regular prices...

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 01:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Not really about the Field Music but: a listen to the Northern Picture Library rerelease on LTM convinces me that this is actually Wratten's true shining moment of all three of his bands. It might be because, as I'm arguing in my AMG review I'm writing up, it's the time when he was least overtly concerned about having to write focused songs as such, but could indulge various sonic fascinations in and of themselves. I think the results brought to bear by him, Davies and Dobson are, in their own quiet way, astonishing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 01:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

hmm. it's possible you're on to something, although i feel a lot of the NPL stuff (probably more specifically the Sarah singles) was, i felt, some of Wratten's least satisfying work. however the 'blue dissolve' single and 'here to stay' are staggeringly good in the context of his catalogue.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

You know, I KNEW you would be the first person to respond to this thread. (This is not a criticism.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

heh.

for some reason i never heard much NPL stuff til recently, and that was a result of regaining my Bob faith with "Helen Reddy", the best thing he's done since the first TBS album. i do think he's a very consistent songwriter, perhaps moreso than, say, Stephin Merritt, but he has a voice it can sometimes be very easy to tire of.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

Meanwhile, I note I posted just above talking about the 'Field Music,' which actually somehow is a much better name than the Field Mice!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:09 (5 years ago) Permalink

'skylight' might be his best song ever. traffic and ticking, lucky, it's all so lovely. the back story is nice too where he was going to write all instrumental songs because his girlfriend was developing stage fright. i suppose many would find that unbearably twee.

― keith m (keithmcl), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

sounds quite practical in a way

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

so, did annemari and bobby ever get back together? if not, then that's even shittier than kevin arnold and winnie cooper not ending up together at the end of wonder years.

― andy dale (andy dale), Monday, 22 May 2006 13:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

also classic for creating his own genre 'stalker pop' with two trembling blue stars records about his ex.

hahahaha

― Cunga (Cunga), Sunday, 28 January 2007 08:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

haha, yeah, i thought that was hilarious too.

but really, leave little bobby alone.

and the field mice? classic x 100,000,000,000

― tears (blood bitch), Sunday, 28 January 2007 20:58 (3 years ago) Permalink

oh, and for the record, annemarie's purportedly comfortable with all of bobby wratten's songs and albums for her.

― tears (blood bitch), Sunday, 28 January 2007 21:00 (3 years ago) Permalink

she even plays on most of them!

― tears (blood bitch), Sunday, 28 January 2007 21:03 (3 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

bobby is my baby, and, i am bobby's baby.

what a fucking songwriter.

― andi, Thursday, 30 August 2007 22:29 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

surprisingly mediocre, except for "Emma's House" which is heartbreaking.

― Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Friday, 12 June 2009 04:59 (1 year ago) Permalink

i don't really see how emma's house can be plucked out of their catalogue as being anything different to a huge number of their other songs

― comedy cafe at the toxteth hotel (electricsound), Friday, 12 June 2009 05:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

I dunno, it's my favourite Field Mice song as well.

The LTM Snowball CD is really good - the 1st album and related singles. Never really got into their later stuff much.

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 12 June 2009 08:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

Does anybody have the Peel Session? I can't find it.

― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 12 June 2009 15:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

yeah "emma's house" is my favorite as well; seems to crystalize all their strengths into one perfect song with no chaff. "missing the moon" comes pretty close, though.

love "a wrong turn and raindrops" and whatever the "never to kiss again" song is also.

st et propelled their self-destructively limp "kiss and make up" into the cosmos

― guammls (QE II), Friday, 12 June 2009 20:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

i'm talking the big shiny version on the american Foxbase Alpha, not the still-limp version that's on "you'll need a mess of help..."

― guammls (QE II), Friday, 12 June 2009 20:55 (1 year ago) Permalink

So Said Kay for me. Not just because it's wrapped up in all sorts of personal and nostalgic reasons either, I just think it's a great song. One of their best, alongside Fabulous Friend, Wrong Turn and Raindrops, and, yeah, Emma's House.

― DavidM, Friday, 12 June 2009 21:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

Aw, nobody has said "Canada" yet?

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 12 June 2009 21:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

so are there people who DON'T like stuff like "missing the moon" and "let's kiss and make up" with the beats and acid house noizes and such? just wondering. i love that stuff to death. janglegaze + beats and dance atmospherics works so well. probably explains why recurring is my fave sm3 album after the perfect prescription.

anyway, once or twice a year i pull out the two disc thing and am reminded of how much i luuuuuurve this band.

ah, here we are on this thread:

"most of their fans(the label too) didn't like the dancey stuff"

― scott seward, Friday, 9 April 2010 18:54 (4 months ago) Permalink

more fool them

― henry s, Friday, 9 April 2010 19:21 (4 months ago) Permalink

This was a time when such things as 12" singles and drum machines were objects of loathing for a lot of the people who were into this scene so yeah, probably some people didn't like it. But I'm pretty sure their label was quite proud of Missing The Moon when it came out. I think I remember an editorial in one of their fanzines or whatever coming out in defiant support of the 12"-only release and the use of drum machines etc.

― everything, Friday, 9 April 2010 19:42 (4 months ago) Permalink

Of course, the vinyl version of Missing The Moon has "this record sells at 7" price" or something like that, prominently printed on the sleeve. The whole politics of that scene seems so quaint nowadays.

― everything, Friday, 9 April 2010 19:47 (4 months ago) Permalink

sarah were an extremely political label, with a business philosophy more in common with crass records than creation/anyotherindielabel of the 80s and 90s.

― Deluxe Merseybeat Wig (Jack Battery-Pack), Friday, 9 April 2010 19:57 (4 months ago) Permalink

oh, and FM completely classic btw.

― Deluxe Merseybeat Wig (Jack Battery-Pack), Friday, 9 April 2010 19:58 (4 months ago) Permalink

Depends what you mean by "political" really. The stuff Crass was putting out was directly political as well as being subversive in their marketing. Also, not a lot of the music on Crass would be touched by any other label. The Sarah acts, and the manner of marketing and distributing them were not particularly different from what Pink, Subway Organization, etc had been putting out for years. There's not a lot of real politics in the music, artwork or marketing of Sarah Records. But if giving away a postcard with a 7" record can be considered political because it enhances the value of the product and diminishes their profits then sure. I think their marketing was more or less typical for the time. Certainly there was a lot of "pay no more than..." stuff going on at the time - Creation Records did it a lot.

― everything, Friday, 9 April 2010 20:15 (4 months ago) Permalink

surprisingly mediocre, except for "Emma's House" which is heartbreaking.

― Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:59 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark

i sort of agree with this, although i'd say another dozen or so of their tracks are better than mediocre. but i almost never listen to this anymore, and when i do i tend to doze.

― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 9 April 2010 20:18 (4 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Man, I wanted to love the Field Mice 'cause the sound is really good, but the lyrics and the delivery just makes me want to smack him upside the head. Goth's may be as depressed as this but at least their music doesn't lead me to violence!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 24 June 2010 22:24 (2 months ago) Permalink

(I suppose being happily married also means the feelings expressed in these songs are much more remote.)

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 24 June 2010 22:25 (2 months ago) Permalink

don't know what songs you heard but it is entirely possible to put together a decent FM playlist without all the mopey soppy shit

― st. pancreas (electricsound), Thursday, 24 June 2010 23:25 (2 months ago) Permalink

I was listening to the "Where'd You Learn To Kiss That Way" comp all day. By all means, please suggest a better playlist!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 24 June 2010 23:52 (2 months ago) Permalink

haha ok fair enough. i strongly believe, though far more of FM than anything he did afterwards, that he was quite a varied lyricist and painting his songs as depressive is to do him a disservice..

not much to be done though about the delivery tho!

― st. pancreas (electricsound), Thursday, 24 June 2010 23:54 (2 months ago) Permalink

The For Keeps LP is pretty upbeat. "Coach Station Reunion" chugs along in a similar vein as "Radio Free Europe". I prefer the down tempo stuff. I would hesitate to call it "mopey", though. Their best songs were biting and cruel ("The Letter", "The End of the Affair", etc.), a cut above typical Sarah Records/C86 fare.

― henry s, Thursday, 24 June 2010 23:59 (2 months ago) Permalink

despite my constant posting on this thread i haven't actually listened to any FM in a number of years. should probably do something about that i guess

― st. pancreas (electricsound), Friday, 25 June 2010 00:05 (2 months ago) Permalink

I played some Field Mice/Trembling Blue Stars for a friend once and he described the singing as pretty awful moaning.

To each his own, I say.

― kreidleresque, Friday, 25 June 2010 01:42 (2 months ago) Permalink

I like how their lyrics sound like letters being rewritten as they are sung.

~~I could never hate you~~
~~I did not mean one word of what I said~~
~~I don't hate you~~
I love you
~~Let's kiss and make up~~
Let's you and I kiss and make up

~~he doesn't care about you, whereas, I do~~
he doesn't care about you as I do

~~I would never treat you as he does~~
behave that way, I'd never, towards you
~~you don't care what I would or would not do~~

~~he doesn't love you~~
I'm the one who loves you
~~you don't love me~~
he's the one you love

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 25 June 2010 03:32 (2 months ago) Permalink

1. Five Moments 5:16 - never really paid attention to the lyrics but it's pretty
2. If You Need Someone 3:43 cheerful upbeat ode to friendship or more
3. Sensitive 5:03 -maybe the one that forever painted him in the mopey biz
4. Couldn't Feel Safer 3:44 cheerful, happy song about love
5. Below The Stars 5:32 this one is pretty chipper too though the tempo is slow
6. Coach Station Reunion 3:07 -cheerful upbeat number about being excitedly in love, although long distance
7. Everything About You 2:23 -cheerful love song
8. It Isn't Forever 5:59 -an unrequited love song, still not so miserable
9. Between Hello And Goodbye 2:26 -slow tempo but a love song somewhere in the middle, more melancholic than sad
10. And Before The First Kiss 5:53 -sad one
11. Tilting At Windmills 4:35 - instrumental, could be on tears on the dance floor post
12. Missing The Moon 6:59 more dance, upbeat
13. Let's Kiss And Make Up 6:09 upbeat but then to some field mice fans these are the saddest songs of all
14. Triangle 6:06 if these were on section 25 records everyone would love them
15. Canada 3:25 cheerful country song but sad lyrics
16. Anyone Else Isn't You 4:11 sad mopey
17. September's Not So Far Away 4:11 cheerful upbeat

so really, his default mode is not really morbidly depressed. at least not on disc one.

― keythhtyek, Saturday, 26 June 2010 02:51 (2 months ago) Permalink

I imagine Bob Wratten gets quite a kick out of writing sour/dour songs of unrequited love. I mean, it's telling that he goes by "Bob" and not "Robert". (How differently would we view The Cure fronted by Bob Smith?)

― henry s, Sunday, 27 June 2010 02:14 (2 months ago) Permalink

i think he got better with trembling blue stars. "emma's house" is the only deathless field mice song IMO.

― by another name (amateurist), Sunday, 27 June 2010 22:49 (2 months ago) Permalink

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