Tears Before Bedtime is the latest album by The Would-Be-Goods who started out as part of the El Records scene in the late 90's, this time around Jessica Griffin leads Peter Momtchiloff, Debbie Greensmith, Andy Warren and a host of special guests to create a rather wonderfully downbeat album.
The album opens with Dr Love a whiskey-soaked tale of despair and the love it drives you too, downbeat piano and guitars help take the pain of the medicine away, at least till the end of this sad vignette.
The Gallopers is set at a fair ground in a far gentler way than Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix singing about his New World's Fair, this is more a cautionary tale for where you might get stuck, with angelic backing vocals helping you to hold on tight.
Tears For Leda takes a classic 60's beat group beat and turns it into a cool indie pop tale of subtle despair, causing the protagonist to keep on telling us about Tears For Leda, he is about to leave her for the Would-Be-Goods the rascal.
The Back Of Your Bike sings about a headstone that cost 5 guineas, with a tune that certainly dates to when that would have been a good wage, reworked into a song for a friend buried at Kensal Green who had an accident with a white van with sad results.
The Tears Of Cora Pearl who will be missed after the events depicted in this slow sad song. The Rose Tattoo evokes for me scenes from the Pasadena parade, no matter how Jessica covers her sins over the slow acoustic guitar, accenting the bruises covering your body, with roses scattered all around.
Don't Come Crying to me if you can't say where you know the trumpet part from, or any of the other things that happen in this song, cool twanging western guitars come in and out of the mix, no matter how much they encourage you to think with your brain, rather than something lower down.
Witch Hazel is for a girl whose still reading her copy of Jackie Magazine, not for some stupid kid who stuck some pliers into a two pin plug and needed Witch Hazel on his burnt eyebrows (Me), she's still jealous of the skinny pretty girls she would never be, Witch Hazel makes her sad, rather than reminiscent for being flung across a room while fusing the electrics.
Old Flame is rather forlorn memories of an old Flame, who is going by a new name now, sad memories of what tore you apart, heartbroken and shattered in pursuit of your love, why is she still holding a candle for you, what was it that so cast a spell on her. Carmilla is a sad song for love gone wrong again, with some wonderful organ parts and gentle percussion driving this on.
The Bride Wore Black is almost an answer song to 999's classic Send Black Flowers To The Bride, I'm sure this bride would more than appreciate the effort to send her the black flowers, while you need to accept, she was not going to wear white. Madam X is a seductress who is going to make a fool out of you, put a hex on her if you want to survive beyond the end of this tale of love and despair and bills unpaid.
Away With The Fairies such a classic phrase for this classic folk pop tale. A dark song of patricide and dark bowed cellos, frenzied dancing, captivating a soul who turns into a hazelnut, which may be among the reasons she has been accused of being away With The Fairies.
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