rfi : dubstar

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v.cheap copy of disgraceful floating about, & somebody said they were "like saint etienne, but more 80s", which sounds interesting. are they?

― etc, Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Not very. They're okay.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:11 (nineteen years ago) link

They're more straightforwardly mid-90s and less post-modern than Saint Etienne. 'Stars' is nice.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:14 (nineteen years ago) link

They were great really but Disgraceful may be all you need. And bits of Goodbye. I really like about a third of the third album too but I gather I am alone in this and I can kind of see why.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:18 (nineteen years ago) link

They are very pretty and I love them.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:57 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm also the only one who loves "The Day I See You Again." Disgraceful is indispensible, and Goodbye is an excellent album as well. They are both very sugary.

Alex is correct that he's the only one who likes the third album.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:00 (nineteen years ago) link

and the lady from dubstar is now in client. but you guessed that anyway

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link

One of the most righteous dudes I've ever met was obsessed with them. One time we drank beers together and I hugged me really hard and sang one of their songs directly into my face in a terrible screeching falsetto. It was so magical.

― Sonny Aaygh!, Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm also the only one who loves "The Day I See You Again."

Nah, you're not... it's one of the best songs on Disgraceful, which is a near-perfect album. Goodbye is less good, but it's 15 tracks long and there's nothing wrong with it that some judicious pruning won't fix.

I always found that the slightly twisted lyrics counteracted the sugary melodies quite well...

Alex is still the only person who likes the third album.

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I have the "I (Friday Night)" single and I don't mind it ...

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i like the third album! and i like Client too

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link

I liked their cover of 'St Swithin's Day', but that's all I've heard.

― derrick (derrick), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Argh! Could some knowledgable person tell me who did the original version of "Not So Manic Now"? It IS a cover but the original artist escapes me.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Air Supply.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:16 (nineteen years ago) link

brick supply, surely?

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:21 (nineteen years ago) link

We need a picture of Sarah Blackwood.

http://www.the-universal.com/scans/dubstar_pic.jpg

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Jim's right!

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:27 (nineteen years ago) link

how sugary/&c are they compared to (the band, not the song) Stars? & Jim, what're they like compared w/My Favorite?

― etc, Monday, 20 September 2004 00:55 (nineteen years ago) link

they're more melancholy than sugary in general. if i had to choose a MF song they're most like it would be "burning hearts" but they're more smiths to MF's new order

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Stars (the song) is like, perfect.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link

imho, b-sides of "I (friday night)" and "the same self thing" are totally superior to the third album itself, which is pretty weak

also, TS : goodbye us-version vs goodbye uk-version

― fernando, Monday, 20 September 2004 03:03 (nineteen years ago) link

I should get a copy of the "proper" (UK version) so that I can decide! The US version has ~9 of the "Goodbye" tracks, which are good, albeit stacked next to the "Disgraceful" singles they get really get put in their place.

Dubstar : a great singles band if nothing else.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 20 September 2004 03:39 (nineteen years ago) link

also search the b-sides of the Not So Manic Now single, including the awesome awesome awesome "A Certain Sadness", possibly my favourite song of theirs (also a cover version)

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 20 September 2004 03:47 (nineteen years ago) link

I wuv wot I herd, like.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Monday, 20 September 2004 10:23 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

I think I prefer Goodbye to Disgraceful. It's got a really charming diverse technicolour sheen - like, hey! indie-dance! hey! dub! hey moody electro! hey! jangle! etc etc. which diminishes my suspicions of the group being formed on the back of just one really good idea (I can't remember where I read about Dubstar being the "proper" Smiths/New Order fusion cf. Electronic). It's much more of Saint Etienne style album, quietly but restlessly experimental.

I like that it's so long as well, it's got a bit of that encycopaedic feel which I love so much in the German version of Tiger Bay.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 01:17 (nineteen years ago) link

"Stars" (the song) is a complete and utter classic. I actually shelled out for all, I dunno, twelve??? mixes.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 15:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Odd I missed this thread. Odd that Spencer has nothing to say on it either, I thought this would be totally his thing! Only heard them well after the fact when I found Goodbye used for a buck -- but very well worth it. Much like the first Kenickie album (not in terms of sound but in terms of 'I have found this ridiculously cheap and it's quite great').

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I sent Dan Perry a copy of Disgraceful. I wonder what he thought of it, I suspect it may be a little polite for him.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Y'know at the time "Stars" was out I heard it but couldn't ever figure out who it was. Because of the recent thread activity I started listening and I'm enjoying their stuff very much. There is something very specifically mid-90s about it which I'm finding difficult to pin down - also, it's not a criticism I often make (for example, I'm dumbfounded when people describe New Order as dated sounding). However, I'm mostly just talking about "Stars" itself. I'm looking forward to delving deeper into their catalog.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 17:19 (nineteen years ago) link

"Stars" is fairly unusual for them Spencer in that it could be mistaken for being a trip-hop track. I find Disgraceful much more focused stylistically and thus more rooted in a particular moment in time than Goodbye which musically is like Saint Etienne meets Different Class.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 21:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I guess if anything that should strengthen the mid-nineties association, but for some reason it doesn't.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 21:37 (nineteen years ago) link

I sent Dan Perry a copy of Disgraceful. I wonder what he thought of it, I suspect it may be a little polite for him.

IT IS FUCKING ACE. If I hadn't just broken my headphones I would have considered taking off _The Cure_ to listen to it today.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:05 (nineteen years ago) link

five years pass...

"For my life, My God I'm singing!"

― Mark G, Friday, 10 September 2010 14:03 (thirteen years ago) link

If the man you've grown to be
Is more Morrison than Morrisey

― Arvo Pärty (Paul in Santa Cruz), Friday, 10 September 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link

the greatest hits is amazing

― acoleuthic, Friday, 10 September 2010 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link

dubstar >>>> dubstep

― acoleuthic, Friday, 10 September 2010 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link

I still play Disgraceful a lot, it stands up really well. I have to credit that album for getting me into Billy bragg.

I never heard the second album despite No More Talk being one of my favourite singles of the 90's. Maybe I will splash out the 99p for it on Amazon.

― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 11 September 2010 15:39 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

"A Certain Sadness", possibly my favourite song of theirs (also a cover version)

took me 9 years to hear the original tho

― kel's vintage port (electricsound), Thursday, 28 November 2013 10:07 (ten years ago) link

Their cover of St Swithin's Day snapped my heart in two.

― Flowersdie, Thursday, 28 November 2013 13:58 (ten years ago) link

Hey so I kind of like the third album now.

Also didn't realize till now that I actually have the "Not So Manic Now" single, complete with the aforementioned and terrifically lovely "A Certain Sadness."

― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Thursday, 28 November 2013 22:29 (ten years ago) link

Just spent the evening listening to 'Disgraceful' and half the second album thanks to this thread. Never got the third one, but have the single of "Self Same Thing". Is the rest of it similar?

― michaellambert, Thursday, 28 November 2013 23:44 (ten years ago) link

self same thing is probably one of the best moments on the 3rd. i like the album, though it definitely feels like things are on the way down

― kel's vintage port (electricsound), Friday, 29 November 2013 00:28 (ten years ago) link

Still haven't got/heard the second album.

― Kitchen Person, Friday, 29 November 2013 01:05 (ten years ago) link

Sort of surprised to see Lex into Dubstar at the top of this thread.

― Tim F, Friday, 29 November 2013 01:53 (ten years ago) link

four years pass...

WAHT NEW DUBSTAR???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ORxgXkNb7w

― Sybil Disobedience (Leee), Wednesday, 11 July 2018 00:15 (five years ago) link

New album out in September. The single is nice enough.

― kitchen person, Wednesday, 11 July 2018 03:58 (five years ago) link

many years ago I worked with one of the main blokes from brick supply.
to say he was angry/bitter re the dubstar cover version would be an understatement.
due to a problem re publishing they never saw a penny off it.

― mark e, Wednesday, 11 July 2018 09:28 (five years ago) link

Understandable, but how much money did Dubstar's "Not So Manic Now" made anyway? It's not like it was a huge hit.

― daavid, Wednesday, 11 July 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link

New single is a little boring :(

― daavid, Wednesday, 11 July 2018 15:00 (five years ago) link

unfortunately agreed, but to be fair I've listened to client way more than dubstar

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, 11 July 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link

It's definitely more polite than anything off of say Disgraceful but I'm happy to have new Dubstar, and the new single is a perfectly lovely song.

― Abercromb Metrion Finchos (Leee), Thursday, 12 July 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link

this is nice. just glad to see them back!

― imago, Thursday, 12 July 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link

I always found Dubstar a hard band to love - great singles but too arch over a full album - but I like this new single a lot.

― boxedjoy, Friday, 20 July 2018 10:16 (five years ago) link

two months pass...

Let's have a big new album listening party!!

― imago, Friday, 12 October 2018 13:20 (five years ago) link

i am not ashamed to say that this is sounding lovely

― imago, Friday, 12 October 2018 13:28 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/QFE5Ylw.png

― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 12 October 2018 17:27 (five years ago) link

― imago, Friday, 12 October 2018 17:59 (five years ago) link

never change, imago

― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 12 October 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link

shan't!

meanwhile this album is very dear. it's almost like dubstar's particular strain of melancholia always befitted the midlife crisis (as told from a female perspective), and now they can finally make it a reality

― imago, Friday, 12 October 2018 18:21 (five years ago) link

loses points for the drab attempt at an epic closer, but that aside this is really pretty consistent

― imago, Friday, 12 October 2018 18:22 (five years ago) link

I would've sworn that "Waltz No. 9" was a b-side from the band's first go?

― Catherine Power (Leee), Wednesday, 17 October 2018 21:29 (five years ago) link

loses points for the drab attempt at an epic closer

What is this, the chorus is such fluttering brain melting goodness.

― Catherine Power (Leee), Wednesday, 17 October 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link

WTH Lewis Jaeger I'm still waiting to throw down with you over the last song.

― Is Guardians of the Galaxy worse than it used to be? (Leee), Wednesday, 24 October 2018 04:48 (five years ago) link

tikka takka vibes sans busquets bite and still cheap on discogs yes mates

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

― saer, Wednesday, 24 October 2018 05:31 (five years ago) link

Wrong Dubstar Saer!

Just came to this thread becuase Disgraceful had come on via autoplay - always a pleasure to hear again – and now I see there is a new album too, will give this a listen today.

― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 5 November 2018 10:51 (five years ago) link

three years pass...

This new album is quite jolly and benefits massively from the return of Stephen Haguey Hague. "Blood" is dark.

― technopolis, Sunday, 8 May 2022 10:37 (one year ago) link

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