Friday, 5 January 2018

National Pastime



Drew wrote a post a while ago saying that blogging often seems to be about exposing the obscure, bringing to light long forgotten songs and the ones that got missed. In the spirit of that here is an absolute lost gem, a Factory Records B-side by Stockholm Monsters, straight outta Burnage. This song was the flipside to All At Once, released in June 1984.

Opening with clattering drums and a low slung bass, then a beautifully naive topline and a wonderful non-singer's vocal. Produced by Peter Hook and lost by a record company who wouldn't pay for pluggers and promotion because they believed the music would sell itself. If this was the only song they'd released, they'd still more than deserve a place in a version of mid-80s indie scene. A little slice of perfection.

National Pastime
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8 comments:

  1. The Swede5 January 2018 at 09:46

    Marvellous stuff - a lost gem indeed.

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  2. Anonymous5 January 2018 at 13:16

    Great song . . . and a great band. Almost criminal that they are not better known. Their back catalog is well worth seeking out.

    Darren

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  3. Swiss Adam5 January 2018 at 13:48

    Agreed Darren- there is lots to discover in their back catalogue. Ahead of their time in many ways too.

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  4. JC5 January 2018 at 16:27

    a song that is appearing soon over at my place.....16th Jan to be precise!!!

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  5. Swiss Adam5 January 2018 at 16:50

    Fucking hell JC- you've dropped the comment bomb this afternoon! Taken me ages just to read all your comments. Happy new year.

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  6. Brian6 January 2018 at 03:27

    I picked up reissues of Alma Mater and the All at Once singles package a couple of years ago. Really glad I did. As I recall, it was one of your posts that inspired me to do so.

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  7. Echorich6 January 2018 at 23:49

    One of my favorite Factory bands. They certainly survived at the whim of Tony Wilson though. They were favorites and then they weren't. Fairy Tales, Partyline, How Corrupt Is Rough Trade and of course All At Once/National Pasttime are brilliant songs. John Rhodes, keyboars and trumpet, passed away 3 yrs ago. Back in 1990, on a trip to Manchester, I had the opportunity to meet one of Factory's house designers Trevor Johnson. I got to see a great deal of his work in his studio. The artwork for Alma Mater and All At Once really stood out to me and he gifted me a few pieces of artwork I had him sign. - This is for SA, but he also signed a huge ACR - Wild Party poster which I had immediately shipped back to NYC for fear of it getting messed up on the flight home...

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  8. Swiss Adam7 January 2018 at 17:35

    I hope you've still got them Echorich.

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