Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Love At Second Sight



I'm not sure many people remember The Bible, which is a shame; frontperson Boo Herwerdine's songs were heartfelt, literate, inventive, melodious - and they looked like they might make it big for a while. They were big in our final year student flat (Wood Street, Walthamstow, just down from the Whipp's Cross roundabout, scarily distant from...bloody everywhere worth being).

They released two albums in the late 80s - usual story, the first a cracker, the second more 'mature' but somehow less gripping - and along with 'The Queen Is Dead' their debut soundtracked our stuffy London summer of 1986, the Finals done, the whole of The Rest Of Our Lives ahead of us and none of us with any sense at all of what the hell we might do with it.

And when you want to live
How d'you start
Where d'you go
Who d'you need to know?

I turned out my dusty TDK of the record in my spring rummage this year and uploaded a few tracks to the computer; they sounded great.

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

The Bible - 'Graceland' (1986)
The Bible - 'King Chicago' (1986)

Boo Hewerdine is still busy and The Bible reformed in the late 90s, though we've kind of lost touch. You can buy a shiny new CD of Walking The Ghost Back Home here, and I just might.

16 comments:

  1. Always loved Graceland. For some reason I never investigated The Bible further. There’s a good idea for a post here: forgotten or obscure bands that were big hits in your student house.

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  2. You're right - in a haphazard way over time I suppose I've been sort of doing it - The Faith Brothers, now The Bible. The Railway Children were another lot we liked. Otherwise, so mid-80s studenty-predictable - The Smiths, The Cure, Lloyd Cole, Costello, EBTG, Prefab Sprout, Jesus & Mary Chain, Bunnymen, New Order...'Back In The DHSS' by Half Man Half Biscuit...

    Fat Paul liked The Bangles.

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  3. i've seen gracelands and it's fucking brilliant. i bought some love me tender moisturising bath milk from the shop.
    i bought almost all my dusty springfield records from a shop in the little funny arcade down wood street all my funny little indie singles from ugly child down hoe street my dancing twelves and all the vegetables in the world from walthamstow market.
    oh and the tales i could tell of some of the whipps cross nurses....

    ps
    the railway children should still be suffering from the curse i put on them for not turning up to play the opening night of our club the evil rotten still puss seeping bastards.
    x

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  4. Heeey - I have this LP too.

    Boo toured quite a bit with Gary Clark of Danny Wilson fame a number of years back as well...

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  5. Wasn't one of this lot Kirsty Maccoll's brother?

    I really liked them, never really bought them. The Faith Brothers on the other hand...what a band!

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  6. Great album I've had on vinyl for years - now ordered on CD from the website!

    Thanks Davy!

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  7. What's good for bluepaul is good for me and I have bought me one too...

    And I have found that if you order from Boo's site you can ask him to sign your copy! How cool is that?

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  8. Incidentally, re. other matters arising....

    1. Kirsty Maccoll's brother? Really? You sure?

    2. Faith Brothers - oh yes.

    3.Those must have been good gigs!

    4. I got a mono LP of 'Highway 61 Revisited' from one of those shops. And now I know why I never cracked it with a Whipps Cross nurse. You'll set Dick Van Dyke off, mind...

    5. Isn't 'Love Me Tender Moisturising Bath Milk' a middle period Half Man Half Biscuit song?

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  9. A bit of a Google later...yup Neil Maccoll, brother of the late great Kirsty.

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  10. & take a listen to "The Last Temptation of Chris" by Chris Difford - the man pops up again...

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  11. Strangely dug this out on viyl recently too.

    Sure the cd has slightly different mix of a couple of tracks...

    Boo also works with Eddi Reader and has written material for her.

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  12. Boo Hewerdine and co. were f*cking brilliant.

    (^that was me swearing on the bible. ho! ho!)

    I loved The Faith Brothers and Railway Children too. Nice to see some like-minded souls here.

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  13. So it turns out....everyone remembers The Bible. Yay!

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  14. Doesn't Big Sound Authority get a walk on part at some point?

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  15. Darren, I'm afraid I am not familiar with their work : (

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