Sarah records

The scene itself (c86) was never more than a figment of the NME's imagination and to my mind has about as much significance in retrospect as that silly Bushell skinhead thingie or Romo but some great records came out of it including the already mentioned Chesterfields, Brilliant corners, early Soup dragons (before they went American), Motorcycle boy etc. I find it difficult to tell the difference between many of these and the Sarah stuff although Sarah tended to be slightly too twee and Fey even for my sensitive adolescent ears.

In conclusion, some good stuff, some bad, some a bit wet, great sleeves but I never really understood what the fuss was about regarding the label in general

I forgot to mention The Razorcuts; I Heard You... was hardly off my turntable during 1987.

Salad days, they were.

GOOD SARAH Field Mice Orchids Springfields Sea Urchins Brighter

BAD SARAH Poppyheads Heavenly (tho I love Talulah Gosh) Sweetest Ache

Yes.

on the whole, sarah strikes me as a little too self obsessed and mimsy twee. i always enjoyed the more fun bands of that era really...

The label that matches Sarah best in both spirit and quality is Matinee - they've only put out one real dog (the french band Ego) over 40-odd releases..

'Cutie music' - oh no. I heartily loathe virtually everything I've heard on Sarah except a few Orchids and Field Mice trax. Oh and The Wake, but they're an anomaly.

The usual 'oh but there are some classic songs' line is ridiculous - how could anyone possibly think that unless they've never heard, say, Arthur Lee, H-D-H, Pete Shelley or Goffin/King....

Tripe.

I think you just made that up. At least, that's the first I've ever heard someone connecting St Christopher with Gnac.

Can't wait for the new Montgolfier Brothers album btw.

The darker corners of the Sarah catalogue are sometimes the most interesting - I'm playing the Sweetest Ache's only Sarah LP at the moment and find it as pure as I remember it at the time. Sure, the vocals of some bands were an acquired taste, but musically and lyrically sometimes they were spot on. And I LOVE the two Gentle Despite singles. I can remember getting the second single home, thinking "Wouldn't it be funny if they've gone heavy metal?" and dropping the needle on "Torment to me", a rock monster (by Sarah standards) and laughing out loud. And the pre-Slowdive Eternal - what potential. The only Sarah records I outright hated were the Heavenly LPs (great singles, dreadful LPs) and the Rosaries single, otherwise everything else is just fine. But then I lived through it all and have memories attached to each record.

Dated? Well, hasn't a lot of early 90s stuff dated anyway? The whole underground scene in the UK seemed to die around the same time as Sarah closed shop, the Waaah! imprint and Biscuits distribution seemed to give way at the same time. It's a shame as it was a true underground circuit that seemed to thrive for a while.

Sarah put out one or two singles by Dublin band The Harvest Ministers who were rather wonderful. They released a few more albums over the years after leaving Sarah. They even still turn up playing gigs in Dublin every couple of years but not for a while now. They used a more eclectic variety of instruments than the average sarah band (violin, alto sax) which at the time seemed wonderfully exotic but these days between Calexico, Tindersticks and the High llamas seems a bit less so.

And the Sugargliders (NZ, Oz based???) were great - I still remember Trumpets Play.

And while Creation cutie bands are being mentioned anyone ever notice Apple Boutique, one great single called "Love Resistance" circa 1988.

Ah, so many memories.

This was in the back room of a pub. I was driving, and had had a pint at lunchtime, and so ordered an orange juice. The barman honestly said "What are you, some kind of pouf?"

Then convince me, g. Put me straight.

I still like Felt a lot, as in I actually still play their stuff.

missed this one before. most of their stuff i wasnt that into, but this is good. the another sunny day, field mice, east river pipe and secret shine records i still play quite a bit

1. The Sea Urchins - their singles, and hence the Stardust comp, were all great. Probably the one thing here I'd rank as an all-time favourite.
2. Talulah Gosh - that posthumous comp of Peel sessions and to a lester extent the early Heavenly records.
3. Boyracer - all the Sarah singles, arguably their best recordings.
4. Sugargliders - their singles, and We're All Trying To Get There comp.
5. Another Sunny Day - the approximately 70% of the London Weekend comp where one doesn't mistake them for the Field Mince. "Anorak City," "You Should All Be Murdered," etc.

It's faintly amusing that while the 7" supposedly reigned supreme at the time as the politically sound medium, I mostly heard this stuff on those CD comps found in dusty pawn shops circa 1995.

'tell me how it feels' is also a sweetest ache classic.

nag is pretty well off the mark by omitting even as we speak(still think their album is the best thing ever on sarah),the orchids, secret shine, northern picture library, blueboy(meet johnny rave, some gorgeous accident, also-ran, all of the if wishes were horses album, all fantastic), the rosaries single, and really everything that heavenly released on sarah was excellent. really the only sarah band i had little use for was st christopher.

Didn't mean to suggest all else was worthless; that was just a quick late-night back-of-a-napkin treatise on why I personally am a little bit glad for the label's existence. That said, I've never really been convinced of the greatness of more than a couple of EAWS or Secret Shine songs, that's true.

Finally listening to the Orchids' "Unholy Soul." I'd always skipped it as it has essentially the same cover art as the Epicurean compilation, and I assumed that Epicurean would have cherry picked all the best stuff.

Totally wrong. I kind of wish this band had been on another label, where they wouldn't have gotten all tangled up in political theories about how one should release music. Along with not being especially jangly or particularly twee (as we in the US understand the term, I think) they're standing the test of time extremely well. Any number of songs that theoretically could have been minor hits in the US at a particular time in the 80's...

a random tweet in my feed tonight :

"joel_sloan joel sloan
My cousin used to own an indie record label called Sarah Records.Haven't heard a great deal of their stuff before so working through it now.
"

A couple of months back my wife told me that one of other dads from school used to play the drums in 'a band called 13 Polar Bears or something'. Hmmm.

good tribute band name

My cousin used to own an indie record label called Sarah Records.Haven't heard a great deal of their stuff before so working through it now.

I'm guessing they didn't see each other at holiday events much.

Listening to Blueboy's "Unisex," what a gorgeous album!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sarah-Records-Book/211713058883967

so this song is in large part an homage to the sort of dream pop i closely associate w/ sarah records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOF70JZJB0w

here's my question: at :24 to :30 the singer does this particular chromatic slide that INSTANTLY makes me think of field mice/another sunny day/even as we speak/etc. what exactly is happening there, musically. help a brother out.

it does sound a bit like something bob wratten could have written.

Wow, I'd never really cared for the Raveonettes before but that song's pretty great.

Like this vocal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-6Cu30K_1s

it's not the general quality of her voice that i'm referring to (although that too is reminiscent of the sarah sound) but that particular moment of the melody.

and yeah i'm not really much of a raveonettes fan (starting w/ their awful name) but that song is v pretty.

I'm pleased to see that someone is finally writing a book on Sarah Records. I can't remember full details but I'm subscribed to the page on Facebook about it, I think it's the guy who wrote the sleevenotes to the Blueboy reissues, and he's trying to track down as many people involved as he can - he's found members of The Golden Dawn and possibly even Gentle Despite! Respect! It should be good.

Loool gentle despite

or Genital Desperate as Peel once called them when he misread their name on air...

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/09/04/bandcamp-sarah-records-guide/amp/

So Slumberland (re?)issued a Springfields singles comp, and wow they sound pretty great, I slept on them at the time. First Americans on the label makes them the Throwing Muses of Sarah. They kinda stand out as more retro/psych (especially their frequency and choice of cover songs) than the rest of the twee pop gang.

Which is also the role that Choo-Choo Train played in the Subway Organisation - Ric Menck and Paul Chastain played in both bands.

some familiar names on this very good compilation: https://ndrthebridge.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-bridge

Oh yeah, I've been obsessed with that Luxembourg Signal track!

very nice but the RHCP track seems wildly out of place

I was meant to be seeing Swansea Sound, the Pooh Sticks/Heavenly supergroup, in Hastings a few weeks ago but it was postponed due to the storm (which I was pleased about because said storm meant I couldn't get there anyway). I need to listen to that comp

How many of these bands is Beth Arzy a member of?

(But seriously, listened for new Luxembourg Signal and enjoyed the whole thing.)

lol but the last Jetstream Pony album is pretty awesome