Duel!: Kingmaker Vs The Divine Comedy

Listening to it again now, it's like, yes, his voice is still a bit annoying and his lyrics are still a bit pretentious and overwrought, but there's so much passion and pain there, and he's finally finding his voice, just as everyone has stopped listening - the songs are all pretty sad and desperate, and the fact nobody is listening any more just amplifies this. I know lots of people are not going to be into it, but genuinely, first 18 minutes of this (and last 5) are still brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12r_vs4HfPw

also, this interview is fantastic, and explains why he suddenly quit it all forever.

http://www.kingmakerband.com/interview-with-loz-hardy/

Really Scrape the Sky caught my ear on the radio but I didn't buy the album, the second album's singles didn't provide any greater incentive. For some reason though I bought the third album. I'm not as enthusiastic as Camaraderie but I love the guitar tone and the heavy wah-wah use and it's certainly as good as any other album by a second tier britpop band. I probably never need to listen to the album again but In the Best Possible Taste Pt 1 does the pop + string quartet trick pretty well and I would keep Frustrated Gangster over 99% of the output of that benighted era.

Only song I particularly remember from being all over the Radio 1 breakfast show is Saturday's Not What It Used To be, which seems to have stiffed at a lowly 63.