RIGHT. The Monochrome Set
 

well Mojo magazine included the Rough Trade classic 'He's Frank' on their latest free CD, so here is a thread accordingly. I fell in love since I got 'Strange Boutique'. 'Love Zombies', the second album, is a corker too, and I've not heard much later stuff.
Regardless, I love Bid's lyrics and their melodic inventiveness, nobody sounds quite like this band... there are few who pull off intelligent pop quite so well. I just find them fun to listen to. And especially when you first hear them, you never quite know where they are going next. Oh yeah and Bid is pure sex, in my opinion. Thoughts??

Eine Symphonie des Grauens


He's Frank (not the best version, still)


B-I-D spells Bid


Jet Set Junta


Sweet Chariots (from their brief 1990 'comeback', I presume?)

Oh good call sir. Great band. I'm sure Urban is a big fan and he could tell you more.

I don't listen to this band anywhere near as much as I should.

I sort of see them as a kind of bridge between post punk & early indie. They didn't have the rawness of say The Pop Group or Swell Maps , on the other hand they're a bit more abrasive than say Orange Juice or The Smiths.

I've only really heard Strange Boutique & Love Zombies , both great albums.

They also used to be Adam Ant's original band called The B Sides. They recorded one song , a cover of Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walking in 1976 and then split up.
Never heard it , wouldn't mind though.

This thread has got me in the mood to get some of their albums as I am sadly bereft of any of their stuff. Had some vinylnway back when.

here's a pretty good blogspot search engine for one's musical needs... I found 'Love Zombies' on there, and 'strange Boutique' shouldn't be hard to find. Having trouble finding 'Eligible Bachelors' though, their third and allegedly last great album. Still these are the kind of albums you want on CD really aren't they?

This will be brilliant aswell, Cherry Red Records' original 'Pillows and Prayers' compilation...

Also apparently Iggy Pop has done a version of He's Frank with Fatboyslim...might be up on myspace?

x

edit: definitely agree with your point Urban, I guess they were a bit new wave-y but you can just imagine all the melodic indie bands of the 80's wetting themselves over the Monochrome Set

finally got strange boutique, so so good.

by the way: thep5.blogspot.com

Coincidentally, have you guys heard of the band Strange Boutique?

Thanks MB for the annoying emails I get for new posts in every thread I have ever posted in :thumb:

but second that CA, 'Love Zombies' is a close second to 'SB' you might want to check out and after that they maintain the cool but the production gets a lot more professional.
I also like the way Bid is the most unashamedly aristocratic post-punk songsmith there ever was, being Indian we can only assume his father was a tea baron or something...

If enough people realise how amazing the first album is it will get remastered and we can all be happy. Unfortunately, by my calculations it will be another fourteen-odd years before popular guitar music reaches the post-punk revival revival.

You know it's not too hard to turn that off.

This album is ridiculous, I can't stop listening to it and it keeps getting better. It makes me feel like all the new music I've found since discovering post-punk has just been to fill the void. It's absurd how much this one concentrated movement resonates with me.

And by concentrated I mean dispersed.

I would still totally fuck Bid.
Here's a 52-minute interview with him for Cherry Red which I only just spotted. Coincided with the one-off private party reunion at Dingwalls (I think it were Dingwalls... footage on youtube is disappointingly poor)

And here's some single tunes that kick the proverbial arse of their LP counterparts.

He's Frank (Slight Return) - 1979 (First ever record put out by Rough Trade)

the Monochrome Set (I Presume) - 1979 (single version)

Alphaville - 1979

If anybody has other singles/B-sides from their first incarnation, share them or forever hold your peace...