Unauthorised item in the bagging area

Thursday 9 December 2010

Stella Stuff


A reader, Tom, was asking about long lost Madchester band Intastella the other day, so here we go. My 12" copy of debut single Dream Some Paradise, which memory tells me is quite good, is in pretty poor nick and won't rip well. At some point I had the album Intastella And The Family Of People, which had a good cover but the tunes didn't live up to the hype. Not sure where the album is but it's not under I for Intastella.

After being touted as Manchester's Saint Etienne and failing to deliver the hits they were dropped by MCA, but resurfaced in 1993 with a single with jungle runner up Shaun Ryder, and then again in 1995 with a cover of Frankie Valli's northern soul classic The Night. The B-side was this, The Right Experience, and listening to it now it's alright. It's 1995 so the Madchester dance pop has gone, replaced by riffier guitars, but Stella's vocals are good and the song's nicely laid back. The band originally evolved out of another Manchester band Laugh, and changed their name when Stella Grundy and dancer Little Anthony joined. Little Anthony (at the back in the picture) was a regular face in Manchester's bars and clubs fifteen to twenty years ago. I've got a feeling I may have shared a podium with him at some point. Bagging Area blushes slightly at the memory of this.

If any readers have got files of any of the earlier stuff like Dream Some Paradise or People, and they don't mind sharing, leave a comment and we'll get them up here. This appears to be my 500th post, which is surely close to insanity considering I only started this at the beginning of this year. I think Bagging Area actually passed this milestone a few days back as the DMCA removed four or five posts, but the counter down on the right says 500 so we'll believe it. Thanks for sticking with me people, and for the comments.

The Right Experience.mp3

5 comments:

bossman said...

Well done on reaching 500 posts, I've really enjoyed them, you have excellent taste.

keep up the good work

Dirk said...

Congrats, mate, keep on the good work!

and: Laugh as in Laugh who did 'Paul McCartney' in another century?!? Stunning track that was ...

Anonymous said...

Well done on reaching 500. Good work.

Interstella are still rubbish, mind.

undeleted said...

Intastella were alright but Stella has done some great solo stuff too. I remember a great single called Keep Smiling I have somewhere. She's also a nice woman and a great interview. I think she's pretty much dedicated to acting now.

That thing they did with Shaun was called Drifter, I think. It was okay, if I recall correctly, nothing to write home about. They all ended up having massive pissed up barney about it at that 24hour Wilson thing. It was hilarious.

Tom W said...

Sounds more Britpop than Madchester, which I guess is because it's from 1995. thanks for posting that, and congratulations on 500 posts. The Madchester song I've never heard - probably because it never got released, possibly because it never got recorded - was Shaun Ryder and Bernard Sumner's version of Donovan's Colours. I remember reading about it in the NME back when I read the NME in the library. there was even a photo of them in the studio. But given their chemical habits at the time, it's likely that nothing usable came of that studio time unless anyone knows different.