I’ll go straight to the point with 5 new finds on the web. For the time being, while there are no news on the label side, I’ll just share with you some new finds straight away. I’m quite tired and busy to give much attention to the blog. Well, still it is not terrible, right? It’s much more than what you would find elsewhere on the web, right? Anyways…

Botschaft: oh wow wow wow! When Ronny from the Kleine Untergrund label told me a new 7″ was coming out by this brilliant band I couldn’t wait to see how it sounded like. I loved their previous effort so I knew I was going to like “Sozialisiert in der BRD”, the A side of of their new record. But more than liked it, I loved it. It is terrific! The record  was released last Friday, and it includes a B side of course and it is called “Daseinsweck”. But that is not all. No way. I’m even happier to share the promo video for “Sozialisiert in der BRD“, with footage of West Germany in the  90s. I need this record in my hand. It is only limited to 200 copies, so my sound advice is to get it fast.

Cosmo K: some lovely acoustic pop from this Madrid band. There are 7 very short songs to stream on Bandcamp and also available on 7″ vinyl which is co-released by Discos de Kirlian, Aplasta tus Gafas de Pasta and the band. I am really enjoying it, the smart lyrics and easy to sing along melodies. I hope I can get a copy of it. The band is formed by Ángela, Álvaro y Maria and it seems only 10 records are left. Damn. Everything feels so limited these days.

Señalada: still checking out the new releases by Discos de Kirlian, and I find a band I have never heard before, Señalada from Zaragoza, Spain. They have a 10″ out now called “Mejores Amigos” which sounds great. 8 songs, 200 copies of the record, and 4 people form the band: Alba González, Alberto Cano, Tito Andrés y Pedro Señalada. Looks like the Barcelona label is on a roll, finding superb up and coming Spanish pop bands. Definitely worth checking now and then what the label has to offer as they are very prolific!

Taneli Lucis: found this Peruvian duo through the Latin American Twee Facebook page. Luz and Daniel form the band and they seem to be influenced by Slowdive, The Radio Dept and Pia Fraus. Last year, in March 2017, they uploaded 6 songs to Youtube, and this might be their debut EP, I don’t really know. What I do know is that they sound pretty good. I hope to hear new songs by them in the near future.

Tropical Fuzz: Brazilian Guitars 1988-2018: lastly I want to recommend this comprehensive compilation done by the Brazilian label Midsummer Madness. I do believe the title is wrong, it should be 1998, but who knows. I don’t know which band is from 1988 in the tracklist. Maybe someone can tell me. Anyhow, it is true that some important bands from Brazil are missing, like Pale Sunday or Brincando de Deus, but it is definitely a good introduction to Brazilian guitar pop. Check it out.

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Personal Column were a Liverpool band, functioning from 1980-1986, based around the songwriting of Marc Vormawah and Colin Brown. Big favourites of John Peel, they did three sessions for his show, as well as sessions for Kid Jenson and Simon Bates.

That’s how Discogs introduces Personal Column. It is the first time I’m listening to their music. I was brought here thanks to the chiming guitars of “Same Old Situation”, a song I immediately dubbed as a long lost indiepop classic, even if it dates from 1983, years before C86 or similar terms were coined.

Listening now to some of their other songs I can tell they were more of a new wave band than a classic guitar pop band. Nonetheless there are terrific guitar pop moments in their songs, and their more new wavey tracks are still very enjoyable. So don’t doubt checking them out on Youtube where a trove of songs have been uploaded, including a video for their last single “Strictly Confidential” and a live performance at Exchange Flags in 1982 of their first single “Ignorance is Bliss?“.

I have a good feeling about them. I think I will find quite a lot of information and details about them, unlike many bands I feature here.

As I said earlier their first single was “Ignorance is Bliss?” with the B side “Dreamer in Babylon”. It was released in 1982 by Contrast Records (CON 001) which I’m assuming it was their own label as the only two records listed by it are theirs. The sleeve gives us our first clues about the band: their members. They were Mike Hayes on bass, Mike McCarrol on drums, Colin Brown on keyboards and Marc Vormawah on vocals and guitars. Thanks to these names we know that Mark Hayes had also been in a band called Salvation (which Cherry Red put out a retrospective collection in 2005)  and Mark Vormawah had played in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing and also released a solo album called “Too True” as Marc V. on Elektra.

The next year, 1983, their 2nd single would see the light. It is the superb “The Same Old Situation” that had “Terminal Suspicion” on the B side. It was released on Contrast Records (CON 002) and was recorded at The Pink studios in Liverpool in May of 83. It was engineered by Steve Power.  For this record the band lineup had changed too. We see now that Rob Boardman is also playing guitar and Terry Sterling has replaced Mike McCarrol on drums. Terry would later play with a band called Two’s A Crowd.

Lastly their last single “Strictly Confidential” was released in 1984 on the well known Stiff Records (BUY 202). It was released in both 7″ and 12″ formats and also there were international versions for this record in Spain, Netherlands and Germany. The 7″ single had the song “Here’s Looking at You” on the B side and we see that the A side, “Strictly Confidential” was mixed by Julian Mendelsohn and recorded by the band and Pete Coleman.

The 12″ version was available in Spain and included three different versions of “Strictly Confidential”. On the A side was the Radio Version and the Dub version, while on the B side there was the Long Mix. I wonder how this record do in the different countries it was licensed…

A good find with information about the band is an old website. It seems that all the data in it dates from 2006. The first thing that we see is a paragraph or two by Phil Hargreaves were he mentions that there was many tapes with recordings by the band. But was Phil in the band? It seems he joined at a later point as a saxophonist.

There is a biography by the band written by John Jenkins. He mentions that he was a keyboard player in a band called Come in Tokyo. This is the same John Jenkins Mark would play with later on in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing. It was at a venue called The Warehouse. He liked them, especially the songs “Friction”, “Here’s Looking at Your”, “Liverpool 8 999” and “Struck By Lightning”. Then he mentions a demo tape with 8 songs that included “A Women’s Place”, “His Master’s Voice”, “Jury Service”, “Personal Column” and “World in Action”. What other songs were in it?

Then he mentions that the first single was recorded at Alan Peters studio in Liverpool’s city centre and the band self-financed this record. Thanks to this the band got to appear on television playing both “Ignorance is Bliss?” and the song “Institutions” at Granada’s Exchange Flags programme. That’s where the Youtube video I linked earlier comes from.

Afterwards the band started performing new songs at gigs like “Same Old Situation”, “Astrology”, “The Nature of Things”, “Dangerous Places”, “Points of No Return”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “Terminal Suspicion”. Were all of these recorded?

Then John says that he was asked to be the band’s manager, but because he was busy with Come in Tokyo he had to decline the offer. Even though he declined he went with the band to the recording of the 1st Peel Session of Personal Column. They recorded that day “Dangerous Places”, “Red”, “Same Old Situation” and “Friction”. This was recorded in 1982. Oh! I wish I could listen to it!

There was another Peel Session and also a Kid Jenssen Session. Then the band signed a publishing deal with ATV music. That would mean that Personal Column’s songs are (were?) owned by Michael Jackson?

Lastly he mentions a few other songs the band had like “Waiting for the Axe to Fall”, “Hook Line” or “Sink Without a Trace”. Then the band ended without getting a good offer to release an album.

Jenkins mentions he has a lot of Personal Column gigs on tape. Would be great if someday they see the light of day, maybe on Bandcamp or Youtube.

From pictures on the website we know the band played gigs at the Left Bank Bistro supporting Phil Battle & the Sensible Shoes, Magic in the Desert and Andy Pike, at the Masonic, the Everyman Bistro, The Venue, The Zigzag Club in London, and in Switzerland as part of a festival of Liverpool bands in that country. Something that is also interesting from these pictures is that Mark Moraghan, the television actor, ex Holby City, was at some point part of the band as a backing singer and percussionist.

On the BBC website, looking for Peel Sessions I find the tracklist for the other sessions the band did. The one from 1983, with Dale Griffin as producer, had the usual four songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Ignorance is Bliss” and “Crusade”. Lastly the 1984 session with Paul Smith as a producer had “World in Action”, “British Style”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “The Price You Pay”. For this session the drummer was Tom Fenner.

Thanks to this website I find out that Mike Hayes and Robbie Boardman once did a European tour with Afraid of Mice. That Marc, Tony and Phil were once part of 16 Tambourines. That Mike Hayes was running Boho Records in the South Coast. And Phil Hargreaves was running his own label Whi Music.

Lastly the Music tab offers 17 songs to listen and download! Fantastic! There is even a cover art to download and print if you’d like to make your own CD.  Then a sort of discography that I think I will just copy and paste here:
1981: Recording at Open Eye studio, Liverpool (British Style, His Master’s Voice)
1982: ‘Ignorance is Bliss/Dreamer in Babylon’, single on Contrast records, recorded SOS studios, Liverpool. Marc Vormawah: voice, guitar; Mike Hayes: bass, backing vocal; Colin Brown: keyboards; Robbie Boardman: guitar; Terry Sterling: drums; phil hargreaves: sax on Point of No Return
1982: Peel Session one (Red)
1983: ‘The Same Old Situation/ Terminal Suspicion’, single on Contrast records, recorded at Pink studios, Liverpool.
1983: Session for Simon Bates (Dangerous Places)
1983: Session for Kid Jensen (Point of No Return)
1983: Peel Session two (Sleight of Hand, Crusade)
1984: Album recorded for Stiff, ultimately unreleased (Institutions) 1984: Gig at ICA, recorded for Radio Kent (A Woman’s Place)
1984: ‘Strictly Confidential/Here’s Looking at You’, single on Stiff
1984: Peel Session Three Marc Vormawah: vocal, guitar; Shaun McLoughlin: bass; Tony McGuigan: drums; Colin Brown: keyboards
1984: demo in Amazon Studios, Kirkby (New Victorian Age)

I keep looking for more information and see that Mark Vormawah had been playing gigs as late as last year. I noticed for example he played at the Folk on the Dock on August 26 2017. And has even released an album this year called “Goodbye to Yesterday” which is available to stream on his Soundcloud.

I also find out that Ed Shelflife had written about them many years ago. Maybe that’s why I had this sort of memory of having heard them in the past? My memory is not how it used to be.

Lastly I found out that Mark Vormawah had been in Upsets, Rob Boardman in Jass Babies, Visual Aids and Clique, Mike Carroll in Sebastian’s Men, Shaun McLaughlin (bassist in 1985) in Acheans and Afraid of Mic and Toni Guigan (drums in 1985) in Indangerous Rhythm. There seems to have been a session for Simon Bates and that the original lineup had recorded a session with John Hall in 1982 under another name, Inside Information.

According to a WIKI, the Kid Jensen included three songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Influence is Bliss” and “Slight of Hand”. Is that right?

About Inside Information or John Hall I couldn’t find anything nor about the Simon Bates session. But I think in the end I did find a trove of information, even 17 songs to listen. Nothing to complain. Now, I need to get copies of the records!

Does anyone remember them?

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Listen
Personal Column – Same Old Situation