Had a busy weekend so I haven’t finished writing the fanzine questions for the bands, but it is shaping up. Also not this weekend but the next I will be traveling to Mexico City for a week. Again if anyone needs some records in the Mexican capital let me know and I’ll be happy to bring some!
Here are some finds from over the weekend!
Debonaire: it really pains me that the Blue-very label releases cassettes. I just don’t like tapes. And here this label is putting amazing music by classic and legendary Japanese bands on tape! Oh dear. What to do? Their latest release is an album by the superb Debonaire from the 80s titled “Lost from the Pictures”. It is coming out on February 5th and will include 11 tracks! Great stuff!
Curling Dreams: what a discovery this band from Halmstad, Sweden. They only have two songs on their Soundcloud, “Falling Down” and “Happy Now”, but the good thing is that even though their is no big quantity there’s lots of quality here! There’s not many details about them on the web but we know they are formed by Jonas Börjesson, Anton Albertsson, Tobias Söderblom, Jonatan Axetorn. I hope to listen more from them soon!
Big Baby: the Richmond, VA, based band is releasing on January 10th a new EP called “Fizzy Cola” on Jigsaw Records (CD) and Hidden Bay Records (tape). At the moment we can preview the track “String of Pearls” which is a terrific fuzzy jangly track. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the songs on the EP and I have to say I am very glad this will be available on CD and not just tape. Makes my life easier.
Flower Crown: the latest from this Pittsburgh band is a terrific track called “High Fantasy”. Released last December, this song even has a video for us to enjoy. This dreamy band is formed by Richie Colosimo, Mike Iverson, Chris Sexauer, Zach Bronder and Jon Sampson.
Decepción Cromática: “Hace Frío Afuera” was released just before Christmas by this Barcelona project. The song title translates as “It is Could Outside” and of course it makes sense that it was put out then. I discover it a bit later, but nonetheless it is very enjoyable!
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From Manchester, a band that had in its rank Craig Gannon who would end up in The Smiths. But The Smiths is a story we all know. I want to know about The Cradle. Who were they?
The band was formed by Craig Gannon on guitar, Ivor Perry on guitar, Gary Rostock on drums, Lee Bennett on bass and Andy Housley on vocals. They released just one record when they were around, in 1987. It was released by Rough Trade on both 7″ and 12″ formats (RT 202).
The A side for this record was “It’s Too High” and the B side had “Walk Around” (both written by Ivor Perry) and, on the 12″, the song “Wires” which was penned by Philip Larkin. The A side was recorded at Amazon Studios in Liverpool while the songs on the B side were corded at Out of the Blue Studios in Manchester. All songs were engineered by Nick Garside who we know from the superb band The Distractions.
Discogs doesn’t list any songs on compilations. Just this release. I wonder then if there were more recordings. If there were demo tapes made. Who’d know. And how did they end up on Rough Trade? Were they big or supposed to become big? Well, they did have people in the band that had been in important bands. For example Gary Rostock was in Easterhouse. Craig Gannon was not only in The Smiths, he was in The Bluebells and played with the Blue Orchids, Adult Net, Vinny Peculiar, Terry Hall and even helped on a track on the sole album by the lovely Help Stamp Out Loneliness.
According to Wikipedia, “It’s Too High” was actually a number 12 indie chart hit. In 1987, when Johnny Marr left The Smiths, The Cradle was put on hold. Why? It says that Ivor Perry was considered to replace Marr. He even recorded some new material with the band, including an early version of “Bengali on Platforms”. Perry was uncomfortable with the situation within The Smiths and in the end decided to leave and resurrect The Cradle with new vocalist Craig Davies. But soon enough Davies signed a solo deal with Rough Trade. This in turn made Rough Trade drop The Cradle. It mentions too that the band continued with another singer. Which singer?
I continue digging and find a name, John Barratt, he was The Cradle’s manager. Then on a book “Meetings with Morrissey” by Len Brown it mentions that Ivor got Gannon to join The Cradle after seeing him “staggering round, pissed, at the Hacienda”.
What about the other members? How did The Cradle start as a band?
There’s many questions, especially if there are more recordings, and what happened with the band after they were dropped by Rough Trade. Who knows. It feels like they were supposed to be bigger. Maybe they played live a lot? Maybe they got good gigs supporting top bands? How long did the band last too? Many questions, few answers on the web.
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Listen
The Cradle – It’s Too High
