Today's songs come from the soundtrack to the film High Fidelity, released a quarter of a century ago in 2000, the film version of a Nick Hornby novel of the same name. High Fidelity is about Rob Fleming, a record shop owner going through a mid- 90s, mid- life crisis. It's all very of its time, very mid- 90s/ turn of the millennium, Rob a slightly sad soul who can't commit, who deals with life via making lists and tapes, and with crises by re- organising his record collection. When the book became big- and then the film- lots of people assumed that if you bought records and filed them in any kind of organised way, you were a version of Rob. Which maybe some of us are- but also aren't.
Anyway, this post isn't really about High Fidelity, a film which has its moments as any film with John Cusack in will. It's mainly about the band in this scene....
Teasers on social media led us to assume that a Beta Band announcement about a re- union was imminent and lo, earlier this week it happened. A tour of the UK in September and October followed by one in the USA. The scramble to get tickets for the UK dates has been a bit mad but I managed to bag a ticket for Manchester Apollo on 4th October and though it's six months away I'm really looking forward to it. Word has it there will be new music too.
Dry The Rain is on the High Fidelity soundtrack but originally came out in 1997 on their first EP, Champion Versions. The Beta Band sounded so different and so fresh in '97 they became treasures immediately, the melancholic and doleful vocals matched by the inventiveness of the sounds- dub basslines, samples, pots and pans percussion, trumpets, acoustic guitars, a new low key psychedelia for the late 20th century, eclectic but accessible too, experimental but with tunes. Dry The Rain, 1997's best song, floats in, shuffles along, builds beautifully and ends with the chanted vocals' 'If there's something inside that you wanna say/ Say it loud it will be ok/ I will be alright/ I will be alright', the sound of a man trying hard to convince himself that he will be ok.
I saw them in 1999, on what would be Eliza's birthday four years according to the internet, at Leeds Irish Club. I went to review them for a long gone Manchester arts and music magazine. The venue was swelteringly hot, hotter than hot, trousers sticking to your legs hot. The Beta Band were epic, four men with banks of equipment, instruments, amps, microphones and gaffer tape. They split in 2004, three albums behind them and a million pounds in debt. They've all travelled some distance since then. It will be good to have them back.
Another band on the High Fidelity soundtrack, another 90s band combining experimentation and pop and also still touring, are Stereolab.
A great book. A great film. A great soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteJM
I can only echo what John just said. Great on all counts.
ReplyDeleteI've lost track of the number of times I've posted songs from this soundtrack. And that Beta Band scene in particular.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Dry The Rain fantastic?? Not just a terrific song but a lesson in how to build an atmosphere and a groove. Perfect for that scene in High Fidelity...I bet we've all done that head nodding along to a tune we've never heard in a record shop!
ReplyDeleteIt was a latter day Dylan song, Most of the Time, that hit me in the feels. Don't know why.
ReplyDeleteJM
What sort of person would you be if you DIDN'T file your records in some kind of organised way?
ReplyDeleteI worked at a record store many moons ago. The scenes in the shop are the ones that hit home. - Brian
ReplyDeleteRol- I can only agree. Imagine just having them in no order at all. It doesn't bear thinking about.
ReplyDeleteJohn- interesting that, about the Dylan song. And now in 2025, is a 1997 Dylan song even a latter day Dylan song?
Nick- Dry Then Rain is perfect isn't it. Not a wasted moment or note.
Great book, great soundtrack, and like Brian says, lots to resonate with, but I have to say I far preferred the book to the film (and now wonder if I'm alone in this?!)
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone C, I think I prefer the book too
ReplyDeleteBuzzing BB getting back together. I once saw them at the Pilton Party in Glastonbury with support from Starsailor. There was a surprise acoustic set from Coldplay in between which was a buzzkill for me but when BB came on late they took the roof off the tent. I spoke with Steve Mason after a subsequent lacklustre gig in manchester and he said sometimes the magic works and others not. I went to a Lone pigeon gig in a pub basement in MCR once and SM and Mani turned up just before the show and SM played drums for his former bandmate.
ReplyDelete