That early to mid 80s jangly sophisticated pop sound (think Aztec Camera, Postcard Records, The Lotus Eaters, etc)

Vic Goddard is maybe one of the progenitors of this thing?

I'm too young to remember, but I get the impression that Haircut 100/Nick Heyward got a kind of sniffy reaction from the music press at the time and were seen as a watered down version of the postcard records stuff?

the liner notes in the orange juice box set go in pretty hard on haircut 100. i remember reading them and thinking "this is a bit much boys."

This is their only US hit that I recall---picked on for image, I reckon, but not that different from many other "Haircut" bands, as they were called then. heavily featured on MTV and/or VH-1 (Haircut Wave before Hair Metal)---not bad, breezy lite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRyso4DsDvg

I love that song...

Didn't hear "Love Plus One" until a decade or so ago, but now I've heard it at CVS and in supermarkets.

This one's great: relevant to the thread, an interesting mix of Spandau Ballet wardrobe, horns that aren't ska, and a power-pop structure and momentum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFtw1w4Q0lw

...whereas the demo version is punkier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAol4lYBp2E

I think the Orange Juice beef re: Haircut 100 wasn't just musical I think they nicked their look - woolly jumpers etc - from a look Edwyn had been dabbling in.

oh yeah, for sure. again: read the coals to newcastle liners. they keep the wry humor intact throughout, but are very thorough in their takedown lol.

FWIW (and I know perhaps not much), one of those two band names is much better than the other…

yeah, i'm definitely team orange juice on this one.

Was wondering whether The Farmer's Boys might have come up. Glad to see they did. I particularly dig Whatever Is He Like? which is possibly at the shabbier end of all of this.

Might the The Monochrome Set be distant cousins?

Maybe even the young Momus? (Though I can't find a super-compelling illustration, song-wise, at this instant.)

before his first solo record Momus was the singer in a band with the guitarist and the bassist from Josef K, which is totally this kind of sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV_G7B7rmm0

Always - The Turf Accountant's Dream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly4h6xUMZPk

On the subject of Momus, this sound was very popular in Japan, and even seems to have its own term there 'Neo Acoustic' or 'Neo Aco' for short. Flippers Guitar are the most popular example of a band that was very inspired by this sound (at least on their first two records)

Might the The Monochrome Set be distant cousins?

Not so distant I'd say.

Love that Always record. The Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit, April Showers - Abandon Ship, Vic Godard- Stop that good all prime examples of this type of thing

stop that girl, even

Wild Swans and April Showers both kind of cult acts in the Phillipines along with the likes of the Lotus Eaters and that band Ricky Gervais was in whose names escapes me. They seem to have a real soft spot for winsome jangly stuff. Have found a couple of copies of the April Showers record in the quid bins here and both went there for a fair bit of cash:

https://www.discogs.com/release/838848-April-Showers-Abandon-Ship

Wow, will be looking out for that.

Yeah there's a few things like that around - virtually no-one in the UK gives a shit about it or knows what it is

Do the La's fit here, and how good are they overall? I only know the US hit "There She Goes":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CCfIJgVM6M

The Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit

very classic jam! frustratingly not on spotify (in the us anyway). sire albums are there, though - and that stuff's not too bad either.

re:Johnny Hates Jazz, their best song (Me and My Foolish Heart) ends with some truly dreamy jangle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDBRnq43wrY

RYM uses the term "neo-acoustic" to describe a lot of this stuff, based on a Japanese scene inspired by it which I know nothing about. It actually kind of annoys me but still.

Other unmentioned names: Virgin Dance, Marine Girls, the Jazz Butcher, early Del Amitri

land of my dreams - anna domino, my suitor - bertenholer, view from her room - weekend all dwell in this rarefied spot for me. Marden hill, Louis Phillipe (you mary you), Fire Engines, Monochrome set "Whats the matter boy" era subway sect and the singles either side. Early Microdisney (pink skinned man)? Things directly inspired by punk, but reaching back to an indistinct, urbane, almost pre rocknroll era in their language and imagery. I think i may be talking nonsense. Don't think the Las belong in here, or even bands like Felt or early shack, but the Pale Fountains kindof do I feel. Also very distinct from c86.

Semi-related, but I always feel there is a cracking compilation to be made of quite world-weary alternative/guitar/whatever adult pop made in the early 90s by 30 somethings who were also in some way famous in the previous decade. It's not a very distinguished headcanon but some of its classics are:

Nick Heyward - Kite
The The - Slow Emotion Replay
Julian Cope - Fear Loves This Place
World Party - Is It Like Today?
Prefab Sprout - The Sound of Crying
The Beautiful South - Old Red Eyes Is Back
XTC - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians - So You Think You're in Love
Squeeze - Some Fantastic Place
James - Born of Frustration (not famous in the 80s outside indie-land but it still fits)

Poly Styrene's 1981 solo album Translucence is really good and maybe fits the criteria for this thread

Yeah thats is a great and really surprising record. Was that talked about in the Polystrene documentary? I'd love to hear the story there.

Those first two Aztec Camera singles on Postcard still sound remarkable, for a number of reasons: the much-quoted fact that Roddy Frame was 15 or 16 when he wrote and recorded the songs, but also because they sound like nothing else that was around at the time, as far as I can see. When so much post-punk guitar music was angular and abrasive, they were strumming acoustic guitars, but not in a folky way, not in a retro, 60s way. I still don't know who they sound like. The early Pale Fountains singles have a very similar sound, but came slightly later and I assume they were influenced by Az Cam rather than coincidently pursuing the same thing.

not a very distinguished headcanon but some of its classics are

Maybe also Edwyn Collins's hit, "A Girl Like You"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9cSn0wkltg

Obvious choice, but

Semi-related, but I always feel there is a cracking compilation to be made of quite world-weary alternative/guitar/whatever adult pop made in the early 90s by 30 somethings who were also in some way famous in the previous decade. It's not a very distinguished headcanon but some of its classics are:

Squeeze - Some Fantastic Place

The Some Fantastic Place album sounds like they'd been listening to REM with all the mandolins and ukuleles and what-not, I'd guess they were probably an influence on a few 80s artists who went in this direction? Crowded House maybe another model for someone from an 80s new wave band reinventing themselves as a tasteful adult guitar pop act, I don't think anything in that list was produced by Mitchell Froom, but it has that kind of sound - and he produced Mighty Like a Rose and Brutal Youth by Elvis Costello. I'd suggest Terry Hall's solo album Home from 1994 as well (and the Colourfield had one foot in that '80s jangly sophisticated pop sound', so maybe another example of the link between the two modes?)

This one's great: relevant to the thread, an interesting mix of Spandau Ballet wardrobe, horns that aren't ska, and a power-pop structure and momentum.

This song ("Nobody's Fool") just came on the Haircut 100 thing I'm listening to (Pelican West - 40th Anniversary) – and goddmamn, what a great single.

(LOL, you can tell I rarely swear on here, I can't even spell curse words right)

quite world-weary/alternative

reminds me that discussions over on Roxy Music Live - S/D went in this direction when Roxy was coming back to tour last year:

Siren, Manifesto, and Avalon all worked for me as their idea of the new mainstream, para-everything else that was going on there, and with a mid-70s-as-hell toward and into early 80s, w/o seeming too trendy, just increasingly smoov,catchy, romantically pessimistic to new-married hopeful, reasonably committed to being good in the late night hotel bar-to-supermarket-to-drugstore. Not the creative peaks, but ageing or aging gracefully

― dow, Thursday, September 15, 2022

the late night hotel bar-to-supermarket-to-drugstore.

xps R.E.M. is a definite influence I'd say and in fact they could probably get onto the compilation themselves, even if that period was actually their commercial peak (it would be a bit like putting the Beatles on a toytown comp but it can be done). Crowded House, Costello and Terry Hall (I still haven't heard Home so I should do that) are great suggestions also

Re:Edwyn Collins I was thinking 'Make Me Feel Again' would work better. Also something from Nick Lowe's The Impossible Bird, Weller's Wild Wood and others I've forgotten.

quite world-weary alternative/guitar/whatever adult pop made in the early 90s by 30 somethings who were also in some way famous in the previous decade.

If being in Young Marble Giants counts as being in some way famous I would definitely put the Stuart Moxham and the Original Artists stuff in this category

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-_Z3Z1CWY

tbh I love this album more than anything by YMG but I recognize that's an idiosyncracy

Since you're going there, I'll seize the opp to mention Alison Statton w Weekend and duet Devine and Statton, haven't heard Statton & Spike.

(she's also in there w Stuart and Original Artists is why I thought of it)

if we're talking about post-YMG stuff, then the Gist definitely need a mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc0SXW1fd6U
The Gist - Love at First Sight

Oh yeah, and Statton was on there too!

I totally should have given more quality time to The Gist.

Some days the Weekend album is the best popular music long-playing record I've ever heard. Fruity instrumental interludes and all lol. (Especially that issue with stray single sides and demos tacked on.)

How about something from the third Martha & The Muffins album, This Is The Ice Age which I sometimes think is the most underrated album of the decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T-z23yWHf4

Also a song by The Passions that isn't I'm In Love With A German Film Star.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ctM9g0_gI

Martha & The Muffins album, This Is The Ice Age

I spent the day at the cottage immortalized in "You Sold the Cottage" (before it was sold)

Apologies for spamming the thread, this one just popped into my head as well. My friend made a couple of compilations called The Lost 80s which were full of this kind of thing. Abandon Ship by April Showers took over my life last year and is the most I've ever spent on a 7" single. It's such a beautiful song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWoEYChr5AU

Now I see that April Showers have been mentioned on this thread a couple of times already. Glad to see some other fans here. Just catching up with the thread and checking out the songs I don't know. That Hey! Elastica single is fantastic.

kp- that passions song is a f'kn jam! i keep a "radio station" playlist on my spotify and that's been on it for the past month or so. they're one of my favorites for sure.

Nice! I love the whole album, but that track in particular is so good. I feel like if that had been put out as a single after German Film Star they might have not been a one hit wonder.

This post-Josef K Paul Haig single is one of my faves, especially 'Soon':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkVCojnvHnc\

My friend made a couple of compilations called The Lost 80s which were full of this kind of thing.

Coincidentally was just going to say I feel like there’s a lot of this sort of thing on the Gary Crowley’s Lost ‘80s comps that came out a few years ago.

the siddleys - my wet wednesday afternoon (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXPD1S1BXPA

YES. That song threatens to make me weep for reasons I can't explain. I feel like the Siddeleys might be even more conspicuously related to the 'tradition' in question when the guitars are wispy and they add horns lol.

Fairground Attraction - "Perfect" (1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txapREGWHp0

Speaking of Scots, how about Danny Wilson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hqgC3W9GUI

Danny Wilson are great, some brilliant hidden gems on the first album

I think it's funny that the band members ended up mad that people thought they were a guy named Danny Wilson rather than a band. Like, what did you think would happen? But yeah, both albums are good.

I gave my tape copy of Bebop Moptop, which I had purchased for 99¢, as a farewell gift to a guy I knew whose actual name was Danny Wilson; he was unusually grateful.