Despite acres of good press, Peel patronage and an active seven-year lifespan, brilliantly awkward Brummie buggers THE NIGHTINGALES still limped away largely unnoticed from the fray sometime in the mists of 1987 with echoes of "Fall copyists!" still ringing in their ears.
OK, with hindsight, your reviewer grudgingly concedes there were similarities with MES'S, er, merry men in the sense that the 'Gales also smartly subverted rockabilly, country & western and even prised elements of folk into their broadly classic shambling indie sound. Plus, of course, both bands were led by incredible wordsmiths rather than traditional frontmen in the 'rock' sense of the term.
But even with concessions taken into account, The Nightingales were still very much their own entity and instantly recognisable as such. And nowhere more so than on the third, best and (sadly) last album of their original incarnation: the genre-busting "In The Good Old Country Way", which originally raised its' glass to glorious individualism in the bad old days of 1986: a time when, lest we forget, dorks like Level 42 and T-Pau were topping the charts. Blee-urggh.
Indeed, if you're assailed by anyone else saying how utterly shite the 1980s were musically (only very broadly correct in reality), plug them direcly into this record. It's the only one made by the 'Gales last and actually arguably best line-up of (naturally) Robert Lloyd (vocals), Peter 'Tank' Byrchmore (guitar), Howard Jenner (bass) and new-ish recruits Maria Smith (violin, synths) and drummer Rockin' Ron Collins. Yes, at the time it was sad to see stalwarts like guitarist Andy 'The Lid' Lloyd and Rob's bezzie mate, drummer Paul Apperley, leaving the fold, but the new combination worked bizarrely well and "In The Good Old Country Way" is tougher, terser and denser than anything our inebriated heroes could have matched circa either "Pigs On Purpose" or "Hysterics."
In typical bizarre 'Gales lore, "...Country Way" was recorded in unlikely circumstances in that it was recorded in the splendid isolation of a rural Suffolk studio owned by (wait for it) oddball prog-rockers The Enid and produced by one Graham Dickson, who had previously worked with Elton John. Excellent. Bugger Laurie Latham and Trevor Horn said Rob and co, this is the way ahead!
And they were right, because "In The Good Old Country Way" is still the most fabulous melange of indie, punk, rockabilly, country and (weirdly) British folk you could ever imagine. Tracks like "The Headache Collector" and "Down In The Dumps" are fantastic indie hoedowns - led by The Tank's mutant Dick Dale strafe-ings - which soon get you onside; Rob's lyrical reportage (sample: "I keep a tight rein on migraine distribution" - "The Headache Collector") is as frantic and surreal as ever, and the with the benefit of digital remastering we can actually hear Howie's probing, swerving bass at last. Hurrah!
Inevitably, Maria Smith's swirling violin represents the major change/ step forward in the tried'n'tested 'Gales sound, and her input truly makes tracks like "Coincidence" and the great "Leave It Out." The former has a fabulously brooding, neo-mediaeval feel about it and comes straight outta some alternative English folk tapestry, while Smith's violin also circles "Leave It Out" like a ravenous vulture. The militant reggae vibe of this one also proves how adept both Jenner and Rockin' Ron Collins were too. Collins may have looked like a latter-day Jarrow marcher, but he played with the power and pizazz of Topper Headon.
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Yes, there are times - like "Part-Time Moral England" for example - where the chaotic indie 'Gales of yore still hold sway, but when the 'Gales hit epic, six minute-plus tour de forces like "I Spit In Your Gravy" and (yes!) "How To Age" they sound steelier and more evocative than ever before and boy does/ did it suit them.
To complete the picture, this generous re-issue also treats us to the remainder of the Nighingales recordings circa 1985-86. Great, spiky songs like "It's A Cracker" (sure is) represent the last hurrah of the old line-up and feature Messrs. Lloyd (A) and Apperley, while tracks like "First My Job" herald the arrival (cough) of a more pop-friendly sound and the magnificent "Let's Surf" finds The Tank making like Duane Eddy on industrial-strength uppers and the band casually knocking out arguably their finest rock'nroll moment...and allowing it to be put out as the B-side to labelmate Ted Chippington's "Rockin' With Rita." All in all, a typically foot-shooting 'Gales commerce ploy, really.
So it's slightly ironic that it was mostly due to Lloyd's preoccupation with his re-animated Vindaloo label and the commercial upswing of his sort've-famous signings We've Got A Fuzzbox & We're Gonna Use It that ultimately caused him to take his eye off his beloved Nightingales and the band to quietly peter out in 1987 or thereabouts. There would be further greatness from Lloyd with the surprisingly linear pop of his excellent New Four Seasons and in recent times the mighty 'Gales have reformed for another crack at the, er, title, but as the old adage goes, these are other stories for another day.
For now, though, don some wellies, pour a few copious flagons and wander off "In The Good Old Country Way" with this ace re-issue. The going's sometimes muddy and treacherous and you may well find the ending messy, but the natives are friendly and it's a journey you'll never regret taking in the future.
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