Sort of like a less successful version of Ride, Winchester upstarts Revolver burst (if that's the appropriate verb - which it probably isn't) onto the shoegazing scene in 1991 with the stupendously brilliant Heaven Sent An Angel EP. This release included not one but two of the year's finest indiepop moments - the title track plus the far-too-good-to-be-hidden-away-on-the-B-side Molasses.Despite following this up with two more splendid releases (The Cradle Snatch and Venice EPs) in the subsequent twelve months, the success that this unusually melodic pre-Britpop band so richly deserved continued to elude them, and when they finally resurfaced in 1993 with their first (and only, as it turned out) studio album, Cold Water Flat, their moment seemed to have passed. The mildly underwhelming nature of some of the album's tracks only served to confirm this, for me.
A much safer bet is the 1992 US compilation album of the first three EPs, Baby's Angry. As a historical document of the UK indie scene at the time, this CD is as fine an example as you could wish to find. From it, here's the aforementioned Heaven Sent An Angel and Molasses, plus the equally thrilling Red All Over.
Revolver - Heaven Sent An Angel mp3
Revolver - Molasses mp3
Revolver - Red All Over mp3
(songs available for 7 days)
Buy Revolver stuff here here
4 comments:
I honestly thought no-one remembered this band but me! In fact I've been planning to post 'Heaven Sent' for ages, so well done Kippers on getting there first. Maaan I love the blogosphere...
Saw them live in about '91 when I think they were all still students at Imperial College London. They were really pretty good - but as you say, like so many bands of that era in particular never lived up to that early promise.
Thanks Davy. It's good when you realise you're not completely alone in your liking for an obscurish band, eh? I must admit I wasn't expecting too much of a response on this one, if any!
I didn't get round to mentioning this in the post, and you may well know it already, but singer Matt Flint went on to become bass player in Death In Vegas for a while, while drummer Nick Dewey subsequently co-managed the Chemical Brothers. No idea what happened to the bass player (the splendidly named Hamish Brown), mind.
those three ep's really were great. i agree with you, the lp was a bit of a letdown. it came out at the tail end of shoegaze and they seemed to be trying to shed that tag, by stretching out on the album. didn't really work, they should have stuck with the guitars and effects pedals.
One of my friend's brothers was the drummer. I saw their first ever performance, at a party at richboys house, although the only thing I can remember them playing there was a blinding cover of 'stepping stone'. And their first 'out there' show in the back room of The Railway. Lovely to hear them again.
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