the Vaselines

So... the second instalment of my random voyage of musical discovery is already reaping some rich rewards. 'All the Stuff and more' is essentially the Vaseline's first album, 'Dum Dum', and some more stuff. Fun, fast, dirty DIY rock'n'roll tunes with titles like 'Rory Ride Me Raw', 'Sex Sux (Amen)', 'The Day I Was A Horse', 'Monster Pussy'. Nice girl-boy tunes with a knowing twist, fast noisy popsongs. There's an obvious Velvet Underground influence, but also curious 80s touches. The songs are strong and stick in your head though, even though they can be a bit repetitive when listening... I think this came out on The Pastels label 53rd and 3rd, with whom they seem to share a wide-eyed love for DIY rock'n'roll and a wayward attitude, but it doesn't have the affected layered drowsiness of the Pastels (who have been growing on me too). Cool to hear the lovely, original versions of 'Jesus wants me for a sunbeam' and 'Mollys Lips'...

Last night I saw Eugene Kelly taking Mark Lanegans place at the Isobel Campbell show at the (great, smokefree) Bush Hall, which was mainly duets, just like most of the Vaselines music. It worked really well. They even ended the show with a Vaselines song...