These Boys Did Good

The Bodines - Played

The mid-late eighties were littered with indie bands getting snapped up with cheque book waving A&R men employed by major labels. After the successes of The Smiths and James, Manchester was the place to be musically and it was open season on any floppy fringed, fresh-faced jangley popster. I featured an early Creation Records single by The Bodines a few months ago and have had this on the back burner since.

To be fair to RCA offshoot Magnet, they didn't interfere too much with the creative ability exuded by the band and they did lend them Ian Broudie in the studio, who added clarity to their jerky guitar sounds.

These boys write great indie-pop songs mirroring what the post-Factory James were doing, and doing it very well. If you are like me, then Scar Tissue, Skankin' Queens, Slip Slide, Tall Stories, the superb Therese and good old William Shatner will already be favourites. It's a pity this album was wildly ignored, I always thought the sleeve was awful and it would have sold better on a credible indie label in a less sterile cover. The Bodines eventually fell from the roster when WEA/Warners bought the Magnet label a year later. Great record - these boys done good.

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Magnet Records (BODL 2001) in 1987 to high quality lossless flac audio.

A1 Skankin' Queens
A2 What You Want
A3 Scar Tissue
A4 Tall Stories
A5 Clear
B1 Untitled
B2 Therese
B3 Slip Slide
B4 The Back Door
B5 William Shatner