Day 99. Wow. Almost a 100 days working from home! How is everyone doing? After posting this blog post I’ll be preparing files and sending to press the Macguffins album. At last! Very very excited!

Now, here are some finds to enjoy over the weekend.

Teen Idle: the Asbury Park, New Jersey, band has just released a new EP titled “Insomniac Dreams”.  I have recommended this band not too long ago if my memory serves me right. So it is good to hear from them again, with their dreamy pop music. It is also worth mentioning that all proceeds of this 6-song EP will be donated to the Movement for Black Lives.

Fine.: I remember the great band Fine from Spain. But not. This one have a period at the end of their name. They also have female vocals but they are from this side of the Atlantic. They hail from Boston and have just released three new songs under the name “Lying Alone”. Lovely EP!

The Slow Summits: wow! The Linköping band is back again with a wonderful song, jangly and classic sounding. Just how I like it! Their new song is called “Safe and Sorry” and it does sound a bit like Cats on Fire, right? Oh I love this sound. I really wanted their previous EP which I don’t even know if it ever came out in physical format. I just didn’t approach them because they had a label… maybe now is a good time? What do you suggest me?

The Clientele: I think everyone knows the London band. There is not much to say aside that they have a new song. It is called “Closer”. And it is pretty pretty. So that. Don’t miss it.

Teen Angst: Another band with Teen in their name you’ll say. But hey, this quartet comes from Perth, Australia, home of so many fantastic bands in the past. So have a listen. Enjoy their  latest two songs, “Let (Pull Through” and “Cheeseburger”, two terrific indiepop songs with Michelle on vocals, Connor on guitar and backing vocals, Emilie on bass and backing vocals and Fraser on drums. Good stuff!

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The indiepop world was shook a few days ago. The Facebook page C86 & All That: The Creation of Indie in Difficult Times would tell us that Alex Taylor, the vocalist of the legendary Scottish band The Shop Assistants had passed away. This was enough to make the indiepop community fall into a deep sadness. I don’t know any indiepop fan that doesn’t like the Shop Assistants. Everyone is a fan and Alex Taylor was a very important figure for all of us to like this band.

But the shock was even more surprising. Our hero had passed away in 2005.  Many years ago, but only it became public now. It is hard to grasp, understand, anything after that news. I was silent. I didn’t know how to take it. It reminded me the beautiful song Strawberry Fair from Sweden had written maybe around 2004 or so, “Where is Alex Taylor Now”. A classic in my book. Yes, Alex had nothing to do with the indie scene for years, decades. But we all assumed that she was doing non-music stuff and that was that. And that was cool of course.

Michael Kerr was putting together the Motorcycle Boy retrospective compilation last year. The Motorcycle Boy, another wonderful band were Alex was involved with her amazing vocals. At last and finally we were going to listen the “Scarlet” album that was intended to be released in 1989. He tried to get in touch with Alex but with no luck. He would find out the news. And perhaps share with Neil Taylor who runs this Facebook page and who wrote the book by the same name.

This is tough indeed. And I wasn’t sure how to react. I want to give a tribute to The Shop Assistants and to the Motorcycle Boy. Maybe I could interview the other band members, I will love to be able to do that. I think it would be great to share their stories. I will try.

But as I’ve seen a lot of Shop Assistants and Motorcycle Boy records posted on the web these past few days, on Facebook and Instagram, I thought people are forgetting about a wonderful 7″ Alex released with the Motorcycle Ride. And thought maybe a lot of people have missed this one. I do own a copy and took me a bit to do so, finally bidding and winning on eBay many years ago. And yeah, I think it would be a good idea to let everyone know that this wonderful records also exists.

Originally this release was a tape. A tape released by no label. Perhaps a 100 copies, give or take. There were two songs on the tape, both Blondie covers, “Union City Blue” and “Atomic”. Motorcycle Ride was actually the band Ride  (Andy Bell [guitar, vocals], Loz Colbert [drums], Mark Gardener [guitar, vocals] and Steve Queralt [bass]) with Alex Taylor on vocals. Yeah, now you can understand the name of the band, Motorcycle – Boy + Ride. That’s my calculation.

These tapes were given away at the Jericho Taver in Oxford when Ride performed a special set for a small number of friends and family members. The date December, 22nd, 1989. A Christmas party. The question is, did Alex went down to Oxford to perform the songs? According to Ride’s website she did. There is even a tracklist of the songs they performed that night: “Union City Blue”, “Picture This”, “In the Flesh”, “(I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear”, “Atomic” and “Dreaming” by Blondie and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges. It is said that the venue was re-opened for their private party after the main show had ended.

And another question, maybe even more important is, when and where were these two covers recorded? The Ride website also answers this. So there was a recording session at EMI Publishing Studios in Charing Cross, London. It was also in December of that year, tho it doesn’t say what day. It also looks like these were the only two songs recorded. Or are there more?

Four years later the Welsh label Fierce Recordings would pick this up. In 1993 they would release these two songs on a 7″. The catalog number was FRIGHT 060. On the back of the sleeve there is a small text explaining the release: “Ride with Alex out of the Motorcycle Boy, doing Blondie’s “Union City Blue” & “Atomic”. This was originally made for a christmas 1989 free cassette in some ridiculously small numbered edition and now it’s rescued from the void by Fierce Recordings of Swansea. We look on it as a public service. This is a release in our glorious ‘Trade Mark Of Quality’ series.”

The sleeve was a black and white fold-over sleeve. Blondie is on the cover, and on the back with a Doctor X shirt.

Not much more information about it. It is clear it was just a one-off thing. But would be amazing to find out when and how did the friendship between Ride and Alex started. If Alex had contributed with other bands in similar ways or was Ride the only lucky ones. Are there more recordings? Probably not, but would love to find out. Maybe there is a recording of that gig at the Jericho Tavern? I’d be thrilled to find out more.

And once again, I’ll play my Shop Assistants records. My Motorcycle Boy records. And my Motorcycle Ride record.

Thanks for the music Alex Taylor.

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Listen
Motorcycle Ride – Union City Blue