Having posted something by The Aliens last week, one of the acts which rose from the ashes of The Beta Band, I thought it only right I posted something by Steve Mason, former member of the same band.
This is from his fourth solo album and I think this song is the closest he has got to sounding like The Beta Band’s finest moments:
And here’s the song that reminds me of; if you only know one Beta Band tune this is the one to know. And if you’ve seen High Fidelity (and I imagine you all have) you will know it intimately:
Two fairly dull anecdotes: firstly, one night when Hel and I still shared a flat, her feller, and now husband, Neil came round. I mention Neil every now and then, mostly in the context of us finding we both love certain Dire Straits and Kris Kristofferson records and aren’t ashamed to announce it to the world. So I think it only right to point out that he doesn’t only like those (he’s a massive Mogwai fan, for a start, a band I’ve never really got to grips with, which I’m told is because I’ve never seen them live); on this particular evening I threw a playlist on that I’d made, and it included this song. Neil looked at me in something approaching wonder and said: “Have you put The Beta Band on this playlist?”
Yes, yes I had.
More male bonding inevitably followed.
Second dull anecdote: when I finally graduated, I spent a year back home, living with the folks, working in a motorway restaurant, trying to work out what I would do next, waiting for something to happen. My Dad had opened an account with a certain online retailer named after a river, and I ordered two CDs from them: the first two CDs I ever bought online.
The first was The Beta Band’s majestic The 3 EPs; the second was Lank Haired Girl to Bearded Boy by It’s Jo and Danny. If ever there was a twee indie sounding album title and band name combo, that’s it (and that’s what first attracted me to it, truth be told).
Anyway, I think I’ve posted this before, but in any event this is the opening track from said album, and it’s bloody great:
It’s Jo and Danny – Solar Plexus
Listen to that. It’s bloody great.
More soon.
A History of Dubious Taste 