The Pale Fountains: The Complete Virgin Years

Cherry Red Records 

4 CD box set 

Out now available here

 The Pale Fountains should have been massive in the eighties, and you can judge for yourself as their two albums get a long overdue release. 

One of the fascinating things about being a music fan is why offensively mediocre bands like Coldplay can fill stadiums, and others who produce great work like Liverpool’s The Pale Fountains end up as a mere footnote in history. Now you can judge for yourselves as their two imaginative and challenging eighties albums get a long overdue re-release, along with a load of demos and remixes.

The band were formed by Kensington resident vocalist/guitarist Mick Head who you will know best from his later work with Shack and a singular solo career. He recruited his mate Chris ‘Biffa’ McCaffery on bass, Thomas ‘Jock’ Whelan on drums and Mancunian Andy Diagram from down the M62 on trumpet/keyboards.

Only in his early twenties Head’s early gift for melody scored them a £150,000 advance from Virgin Records, which was a lot of money at the time. In an age where bands were expected to churn out a record every 12 months The Pale Fountains were a band who always did things their own way right from the start, so the quartet went off to spend two years in the studio recording their self produced debut.

This set a pattern of wilfulness that reached its peak when in 1982 as their second single Thank You was just inside the top 50, and the then hugely influential Top of the Pops rang enquiring about their availability, which would usually guarantee at least a Top 20 hit. Head said they’d be keen, but wanted to do it with an orchestra, and not surprisingly that career changing network TV opportunity didn’t happen.

Still, after two years in the studio Pacific Street is a sprawling epic, full of baroque orchestral pop that would have made Head’s hero Arthur Lee proud. Reach with Head’s distinctive almost slurred vocal sets the tone as the acoustic opening becomes a big pop chorus with bongos and Diagram’s horns fills thrown in. (There’s Always) Something On My Mind has typically reflective lyrics with a jazzy trumpet solo, and Unless is a sophisticated ballad typical of this period. Natural draws from the deep well of intelligent Scouse pop and they threw the kitchen sink at nearly hit Thank You with big strings and more horns that is reminiscent of Bacharach & David at their peak. You can imagine the record company wondering how they could sell such a singular vision, and a beautiful record that could have been a chart topper sank without trace after one week in the top 100.

There’s a CD of rough mixes from the long sessions around their debut, and whilst it might have been the first take of Fight Think Love/Love Situation many bands would have been happy to release this version. These stripped down mixes really underline the quality of Head’s songwriting and his top class guitar work. They even throw in a jam that includes a version of Love’s 7 And 7 Is, which is ironic as Shack later become Arthur Lee’s backing band on his brilliant UK comeback gigs.

Their second album ….From Across The Kitchen Table came out a year later in February 1985, which for them was lighting quick with future Lightning Seeds main man Ian Broudie in the producer’s chair streamlining their sound. At this point Andy Diagram had left as Head wanted a more direct sound so he recruited his eighteen year old brother John on second guitar. The result is a record full of melodic guitar pop that should have topped the  charts but didn’t. You don’t miss the trumpet on the breezy powerpop of Shelter, which has a touch of early Fab Four about it. The single Jean’s Not Happening benefits from some great strings and Bicycle Thieves has the sort of yearning vocals that would later become Head’s trademark. These Are The Things has plenty of jingly jangly guitar with driving drums high in the mix. Hey has a neat organ opening before morphing into a catchy as hell pop song and the jaunty folk rock of September is the perfect exit point into early Shack.

The final disc is full of the sort of extended 12” single remixes that were so in vogue in the eighties and loads of demos. The album’s title track really benefits from the extra length with some added female vocals with a hint of The Style Council. B Side Just A Girl would have been an A Side for most eighties bands, and they get a bit funky on the demo for 27 Ways To Get Back home.

If you’re a fan of intelligent eighties pop then both these ambitious albums need to be added to the collection. If you love Mick Head’s later career then these often strange, but always melodic, records will give you a real sense of how Shack and his solo records came to be so great.

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Words by Paul Clarke, you can see his author profile here.