Athletico Spizz 80 – Do A Runner (A&M LP 1980)

OK, I knew that this was 26 years old because there’s a clue in the name. But I know nothing else about Spizz – I usually rely on my dusty/trusty Virgin Encyclopaedia of Indie & New Wave to bail me out at times like these but this lot don’t even get a footnote - well done Branston, more delays – and yes I have checked all the other Spizzes (Oil, Energy etc… and not a jot. This book, published in 1998, is becoming increasingly foreign to me.) But let me say that this is an enjoyable LP, tense and restless, and, quality-wise, though it’s not as good as the first Franz album, it’s a damn sight better than the second. There’s one long track that’s particularly brilliant called ‘Airships’ while elsewhere there are loads of great songs that would do Art Brut proud. The band themselves looked pretty cool, not unlike the anonymous ones from The Rakes or Maximo Park. They had song titles like 'European Heroes' and 'New Species' and they had lyrics like ‘Clocks are big, Machines are heavy.’ I’ve always said that. They are/were well-read, sporty and tower-block sharp.

So what have I discovered? That art-rock did not begin with that there magazine you get in record stores. It began much, much earlier, in the afterglow of punk. But I’m sure you knew that already.

Do A Runner is available from all good charity shops priced £2.50

There is no CD. There is no link.

Melanie – Sunset & Other Beginnings (CBS 1975)

Was there a worse year than 1975 in the history of British pop music? It really has to be the nadir between the first Cliff EP and latest supercool band with the trilbies, etc. Sure, The Sex Pistols played their first gig that autumn but it wasn’t really until the following summer that the cultural winds, mercifully, blew away all the dreadful remnants of decaying movements. I have only ever garnered six albums from that time frame: Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Desire and Basement Tapes (all classics), Buffy’s Changing Woman (which is so average I’ve only played it once), Harvest For The World (which I haven’t yet played at all beyond the title track) and this one. This one I’ve played many times – it is probably my favourite Melanie album. The fact that everything got destroyed by punk – including thousands of musical careers, possibly Melanie’s too – cannot be regretted. Punk was so necessary. I’m not gonna spout any new found love of Prog or sympathy for Glam. It was overblown and disconnected from the people. Yet I do feel sorry for Melanie Safka, a sixties sweetie who never did anyone any harm, who only wanted to sing her songs, made suddenly irrelevant. This hippie-chic album is a mixture of melancholy and misdirection, poignant leftover poetry, and that familiar frisson of feminism. Her covers of You Can’t Hurry Love and Dream Seller I tend to skip. But her own numbers, Perceive It, People Are Just Getting Ready, Sandman, Afraid of the Dark and The Sun & The Moon are wonderful and imbue this record with unexpected strength. If the album had six more songs like these and had ditched the covers it would be a classic. Still, I recommend it despite its unimportance in the grand scheme (you’d be far hipper to spend your money on Tim Buckley, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell CDs – but try and find some room in your heart for Melanie). One can’t help wondering how her music might have developed had punk never happened. As a songwriter might she have eventually attained the stature of a Carole King or Joni? Perhaps, romantically, I like to imagine so. (But if we ever find ourselves back in 1975 we’re really in trouble. 1234... All around my hat…)

Sunset & Other Beginnings was found at a carboot sale for 50p. It's fairly easy to come by quite cheaply online - eBay isn't all Arctic Monkeys 7"s at £74.99.