Paper, Bullets & Walls

New Order Love Covers

Two superior covers of New Order songs today. I don't mean superior in the sense that they're better than the originals - although they are both wonderful and give the songs new leases of life - but in the sense that they're a cut above yer typical cover version. (Note to self: don't say 'superior' next time - 'brilliant' would have served just as well and would've saved all this unnecessary blather.)

Anyway, where was I? Yes, two superior brilliant versions of New Order songs, Love Vigilantes by Laura Cantrell and Bizarre Love Triangle by Frente. I've blogged about Frente on a number of occasions in the past and am sure I must have put their atmospheric, acoustic take on BLT up here at least once before, but it's always worth another outing.

Meanwhile, listening to the gorgeous, heartfelt vocals of Laura Cantrell - who I don't think I've written about before, although I could be wrong - it's hard to believe she trained as an accountant or lawyer, or something equally square, in a past life. But that's probably just narrow-mindedness on my part. I could listen to her country stylings all day - and quite frequently do. John Peel's musical tastes may have been more than a tad eccentric at times, but with his championing of Laura C (and loads of other stuff in fairness), he was bang on.

Laura Cantrell - Love Vigilantes mp3

Frente! - Bizarre Love Triangle mp3

(Would be interested to hear which of these you prefer. Me, I'm torn!)

We Got The Clunk

You really do never quite know what unexpected delights you might stumble across while rummaging through the racks in your local charity shop. Take yesterday, for example. Ambling through Tunbridge Wells I stopped off in the Hospice in the Weald shop, where I was amazed to find an Australian CD of an early Frente release, the five-track Clunk EP. And oh look! here's a picture of it (or one like it) now.


Now, I'm not exactly sure how rare Clunk is, if at all, but I do know that when I originally got my first copy of it back in the late nineties (I was something of a Frente completist at the time) I had to badger my sister - who was living in Sydney at the time - to traipse around various second-hand record shops in her locale and track down a copy for me. Yet yesterday here was this rare CD of music right on my doorstep. Well maybe not right on my doorstep but the music's certainly right up my street. (Arf.)

I think I may well have ended up selling that first copy on eBay in a mad moment, actually. I'll not be selling this latest one, though, oh no. Like Pat Jennings or Bev Evans from Animal Park, this one's a keeper.

(In an uncharacteristic act of generosity, here are all five tracks for your listening pleasure. Paper, Bullets and Walls is my favourite. What's yours?)

Frente - Ordinary Angels mp3

Frente - The Book Song mp3

Frente - Seamless mp3

Frente - Paper, Bullets and Walls mp3

Frente - Nadi mp3

Three of a Kind #74

I first heard Frente! when they played a live session on Mark Radcliffe's late night Radio 1 show in about 1994. "Blimey, these are a bit good!" I thought to myself, not unreasonably. In fact, I was so impressed with this antipodean combo that I went on to collect pretty much everything they ever released, obscure self-funded early Australian EPs and all. (Most unusual for me - I'm usually pretty slack when it comes to the whole 'completist' thing.)

Frente! had been formed in 1991 by Angie Hart (vocals) and Simon Austin (guitar and occasional co-vocals), after the pair met in a bar in Melbourne where Simon was working. They were to remain the two core members throughout the band's lifespan, which would be most of the nineties (although they did reform briefly to release the Try To Think Less EP in 2005).

Despite releasing numerous EPs and singles, Frente! only ever got round to recording two actual long players: 1992's Marvin The Album and '96's Shape. Marvin is the more instantly accessible of the two, and contained the big hit singles (Accidently Kelly Street, Ordinary Angels and - on the international release at least - their cover of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle), but over the years I've found Shape to be the more durable of the two. Like an overzealous blood donor, it just keeps on giving. (Marvin still packs a fair old punch too though, in fairness.)

It seems the band had become a bit ashamed of their pop past by the time they were about to record Shape - so much so that the exclamation mark at the end of their name suddenly disappeared - and had settled upon a more mature sound. Now, many's the time a once-great pop band have lost the plot when attempting such a change of direction but in Frente's case I think it actually made them even better. This is a bit of a vexed question amongst fans of the band, though, and there's a pretty even split among people as to which Frente album is actually the best. To be fair, Shape didn't sell nearly as well as Marvin had, and its disappointing sales pretty much sounded the death knell for the band (apart from that later mini-revival). Still, though, I like it a lot!

Here are three songs from different stages of the band's evolution. I'll leave you to work out for yourselves which came when.

Frente! - Testimony mp3

Frente - The Destroyer (Acousdelic version) mp3

Frente! - Face Like A Spider mp3

(mp3s available for 7 of your earth days)

Frente CDs are currently going for a song at eBay

Three of a kind #19

Kylie Minogue, Men At Work, Rolf Harris...yup, Australia has produced some quality music over the years (do not think I'm kidding here - I cry at Two Little Boys every single time and Kippers and I are still arguing over which song was Kylie's finest hour), but there's more! Much, much more. Here are live songs from three of my favourite Australian bands.

The chances are that, if you've stuck with our blog to this point, you'll already be familiar with The Lucksmiths. Here's a song from a recent gig of theirs in Massachusetts. You can download the rest of the gig from Bradley's Almanac.

The Lucksmiths - Great Lengths (live) mp3 (right click and save as)

"I wonder if you can pick up my accent on the phone", muse The Waifs in their 2002 single, London Still. Yes. Yes we can. And I hope to always hear it because it's lovely! This is from a live session for Radio 3 from a few years back.
The Waifs - London Still (live) mp3 (left click, available for 7 days)

And finally, the band which opened my eyes to how great Aussie music can be, Frente! I'm not entirely sure when this is from - probably 1997 or so - but if anyone wants to hear the rest of the session, leave a comment saying so and I'll put it up.

Frente! - What's Come Over Me (live) mp3 (left click, available for 7 days)

There are lots of lovely downloads if you visit Frente! lead singer Angie Hart's website.

Buy albums by the featured bands from Amazon.co.uk