"Once upon a time........(Isn't that how fairy tales are supposed to start?) a gallant prince (Phil Wilson) and his men at arms (Adrian, Frank, Jon, Simon and Brian) fought heroic battles against evil villians (the majors AND apathy) to win the fair princess, (that would be the residuals) and they all lived happily ever after?
What a load of rot.
Well, in fairness, the Prince WAS gallant, and so were his men, but the deck was stacked against them before the first hand was dealt. That doesn't dilute their greatness or contribution however, and it is with this in mind that I offer this retrospective.
I must admit I didn't own any of the singles prior to the release of the first LP, "There are Eight Million Stories..", but I was actively awaiting it as the press was abuzz over these new upstarts. This was during the begining of what I refer to as "The Golden Time", roughy 84-85, when the Smiths were at the apex of their zenith, New Order were releasing LP's like Lowlife, and also gracing us were the initial offerings of greats to be like James, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Railway Children and the Housemartins. Guitars were chiming everywhere, and it was bliss.
So the LP finally came out, and being
there on the front line I got one of the early red copies that had the printed
insert with pics and lyrics. I grabbed it, rushed home, cleaned it and threw
it on the turntable. Soon I was awash in the strains of "The Instrumental"
a ditty full of very busy little guitar bits, shining trumpet and what's more,
the scratch and scrawl of a man torturing a violin. "Heaven help us" I thought,
this is brilliant! To top it off, they had the temerity to sing in a song
called the instrumental
"You walk in straight lines
You pray for good times
How GOOD to know you're ri-hight
God is on your side..."
It soared, it elevated, it was unique
and it was driven. And I was under it's spell. The next track, "I Fall", has
remained one of my favorites. It's a plaintive cry thru a rich wall of jangle
pop, with brilliant, dare I say Moz-esque lyrics;
"I fall and you drag me down,
no one is listening, so lets shout out loud,
to prove that we're alive...."
and later;
"We'll make the sunlight shine for us...
and the waves break for us...
We can choose to lose or win,
we can refuse to be shut in....Oh oh O-oh.."
At this point the song breaks off and Sweeneys plaintive viola chimes in to create what I think is one of the most bittersweet moments in rock history, as Wilson comes back with the clinchingly aching "I'll ride the hurricane, away.....from here". Gold kiddies, pure pop gold.
Well, it would be easy enough to go on and on, but the rest of the LP was all much the same, and the attention it garnered seemed to verfy that. Since I have gotten to know our Mr. Wilson, and learned much of his youth history, I can quite clearly see where a lot of the angst and emotion that wrote these lyrics came from. Sad that's it's often this way, but if it's any consolation to him he managed to turn it into one of the best records of the 80's, and dare I say, all time?
It's here I'd like to reproach him for not bothering to tour the US, and let the rest of us have a glimmer. But that was probably not all his fault. You see, part and parcel of the Junies demise was their association with the Pink label and the rapscallion who ran it. Being their label/manager you see, this delinquent absconded with virtually all of their money. If I told you Phil's net assets from the June Brides, you'd call me a liar. When you realized it was true, you'd cry. Kind of like, after he sold all the equipment he only owed 27 Pounds. That sort of thing.
It takes not a genius to realize that a ship unfunded cannot sail forever. They did release a few noteworthy singles after the first LP, but while good, the greatness of the first LP was not there, and I think the looming monetary crisis had a lot to do with it.
So it was that our Phil went on his solo binge, the anger of his recent screwing still burning hot in him. In an effort to take the piss on us all, his first single, "Waiting for a Change" had a decidedly country and western bent to it. While many found it interesting, most of us (and I can ashamedly include myself in this group) thought "Crikey, has he gone daft?" With record buying dollars at a premium, Mister Wilson got taken from my "to get" list, the bastard that I am.
After seeing the cover of the 10 miles single here on the site, I can say I now remember seeing it when it came out, but the recent memory of the last one and the bizarre cover scared me away. Pity, as I later found out it is a brilliant record, and given time, I've come to like the first single too.
As for me, I went off on my merry way, and so did the Junies, all of whom by now had "real" jobs of the everyday mundane sort. Years passed by, music sank into the black hole of the early 90's, and we all went about our business. About 1997 I finally "got online" as I felt the need to learn computereese for the benefit of my newborn daughter. Since I was staying at home to raise her, I spent my time trying to make web money, doing among other things writing reviews on Epinions. It was here that a brown-nosing Mr. Wilson, snooping about for Junie tidbits on the net came across my June Bride review. He dispatched an email stating his appreciation, "what a kind lad" and all that. I naturally thought it was a joke and it took a few emails to actually convince me it was him. (I think that buttered his ego though)
To his (and his wife Pams') misfortune, he soon found himself racing home, hanging on my every email. (I have that power somehow.) We soon became fast friends, and he sent me every June Bride trinket he could lay his hands on, to which I am extremely grateful. Especially the music which I was too stupid to get when I had the chance. I truly didn't deserve it now, and what's more, for free. What a magnanimous bastard he is.
So I'll say here, the 10 miles single is quite the keeper, and the later Caff single of "Better Days" B/w "You Won't Speak (The Written Word)" is most excellent. It is more mature than the Junies stuff I suppose (which is only natural) but has all the things we loved about them. I am also privy to a CDR containing many obscure songs including the unreleased "Small Town", a true giant of a song.
At this point my ire was up. You see, in every letter from him, he lamented his current employment, that being a paper shuffler for Her Majesty (in his defense, he's hardly giving the old girl his all). So I took it upon myself to beat some sense back into him, get his fire lit, and get on with his career. I assumed the mantle of manager-in-exile and have been submitting his work to various labels to get this back material released. On that we are at the nibbling stage just yet, and that brings us up to the present, kiddies.
What does the future hold? Who can say. Personally, I am quite sure Phil has at the minimum 1 great new LP in him, and will try my best to get it made. At the very least this year (2001) should see the release of the back catalog. And even should that be all, still, we can only be grateful to a group of fine young lads so pure they turned down "coke" at gigs because "they had their own cooler, thanks".
They can still make us smile, bless em............
© 2001 John Kruczek