Easterhouse - Waiting For The Redbird

The difficult second album followed in 1989, and there was a glaring absentee in the form of guitarist Ivor Perry who had left to work with the post-Marr embers of The Smiths and eventually The Cradle. The change resulted in a mellowing of the band's direction with a more radio friendly sound. The politics were still there, but more subtle and less obvious to the casual listener. The title track, Waiting for the Redbird, the single Come Out Fighting, and the sad yet poignant, Stay With Me were the most commercial pieces ever to be recorded by the band. There is no doubt that Andy Perry's superb voice carried the new songs very well, even if they do sound a little dated now.

A deal in the USA with Columbia/CBS should have opened up a bigger audience but the U2-styled anthemic America would have done little to impress the bosses at their new label as well as those who controlled the country's airwaves.

Waiting For The Redbird : ripped from a vinyl album released on Rough Trade (ROUGH 124) in 1989 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Waiting For The Redbird

A2. You're Gonna Miss It (When It's Gone)

A3. Stay With Me (Death On The Dole)

A4. Come Out Out Fighting

B1. America

B2. Hope And Glory

B3. Say Yes

B4. This Country

B5. Sweatshop

Easterhouse - Contenders

Musicians don't write many protest songs these days, and it seems politics (like many other things) has been eradicated from popular music. I'm not too sure why, but during my youth it was prevalent.

Somewhere there is the unpublished history of protest rock from Dylan to Chumbawumba via the seventies & eighties cocktail of Dead Kennedys, The Clash & Red Wedge - Bragg, Weller and The Redskins etc. Maybe Chumbawumba hitting the top ten was to signal the death of the protest song and political rock, maybe people lost interest, maybe we grew older and less angry. These days kids pitch tents in protest and smash institution windows, perhaps we were more literate back then. Bono hasn't waved his white flag in anger since 1983 and Weller has chilled with age.

Manchester's Easterhouse were a political rock band, here's what I wrote in an earlier post:

There were four Manchester bands following in the wake of The Smiths - all of whom were supposed to be the next big thing, James were snapped up by Sire, The Railway Children went to Virgin, MCA snapped up The Bodines and London Records signed Easterhouse. I don't think London Records realised what they had signed, and had certainly not done their research. Easterhouse were not your standard jingle jangle baggy jumper affair.

Named after a rundown Glasgow housing estate, Easterhouse were a powerful & political rock outfit faced up by Andy Perry's powerful voice and brother Ivor's guitar. The band supported The Smiths on many occasions, and Ivor Perry was eventually to replace Johnny Marr in the dying days of The Smiths.

London Records let the band go after one single, and Easterhouse were to go on and release their finest work on Rough Trade. The single Inspiration (see earlier post) is a tribute to IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands (featured on the cover), with the flip-side playing homage to sectarian marching bands.

Their debut album follows that vein and courts controversy at every corner. The songs are bold and brash, high quality indie-rock with balls for The Smiths Generation who had shunned the pomp of U2 and The Alarm.

Easterhouse should have been huge but the odds were always stacked against them. Contenders is a fine album and still sounds great today. My copy came with a free 7" single which is included in this rip.

Contenders : ripped from a vinyl album released on Rough Trade Records (ROUGH 94) in 1986 to lossless high quality FLAC audio.

A1. Out On Your Own
A2. Whistling In The Dark
A3. Nineteen Sixty Nine
A4. Cargo Of Souls
A5. Lenin In Zurich
B1. Get Back To Russia
B2. To Live Like This
B3. The Boy Can Sing
B4. Estates
C1. Get Back To..
D1. ..Russia

Easterhouse - Inspiration

There were four Manchester bands following in the wake of The Smiths - all of whom were supposed to be the next big thing, James were snapped up by Sire, The Railway Children went to Virgin, MCA snapped up The Bodines and London Records signed Easterhouse.

I don't think London Records realised what they had signed, and had certainly not done their research. Easterhouse were not your standard jingle jangle baggy jumper affair.

Named after a rundown Glasgow housing estate, Stretford's Easterhouse were a powerful & political rock outfit faced up by Andy Perry's powerful voice and brother Ivor's guitar. The band supported The Smiths on many occasions, and Ivor Perry was eventually to replace Johnny Marr in the dying days of The Smiths.

London Records let the band go after one single, and Easterhouse were to go on and release their finest work on Rough Trade. Courting controversy, Inspiration is a tribute to IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands (featured on the cover), with the flip-side playing homage to sectarian marching bands.

Inspiration : ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Rough Trade (RT 174) in 1986 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. Inspiration

B. Johhny, I Hardly Knew You

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