Milestones # 1: Milltown Brothers – Slinky
Before Matthew went on holiday, we sat down over a gin and tonic and went through the admin of the site and the technical mumbo-jumbo I would need to know to keep things running in an orderly fashion here at Toad Towers. Unusually, it was Plymouth Gin and not Matthew’s usual choice of Bombay Sapphire. Plymouth Gin is a little sweeter than the more common London Dry Gins, and I really quite like it. I told Matthew about the time I visited the Plymouth Gin distillery in, erm… Plymouth. It really is an interesting place, you should go if you get the chance. They do guided tours and have a wonderful cocktail bar upstairs; very stylish, but ever so comfortable and not at all pretentious. And the best Singapore Sling I’ve ever had!
Anyway, I asked Matthew if he had any ideas for things to post on the site – he is the expert after all – and he poured another gin and suggested putting something up about the music that’s meant a lot to me in the past. Milestones along the journey. My own desert island discs, if you will.
Whenever I’m asked this sort of question, three particular albums spring to mind. They’re all from the early 1990s; and that might be key as I was in my late teens then: the formative years. I’ll keep the next two installments in this indulgent little mini-series up my sleeve for now, but I’ll start today at the beginning with a wonderful album which emerged from the post-industrial wastelands of urban Lancashire in 1991.
The Milltown Brothers’ debut, Slinky, is quite simply the finest album of the late-80s / early-90s UK guitar-based indie scene. I imagine you’re gasping in horror at such an outlandish claim, but I’m making that statement quite sober and keeping in mind the likes of The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and Primal Scream along with abysmal crap like The La’s and The Happy Mondays.
The band were built around a gifted songwriting core of brothers Simon and Matt Nelson, whose intricately crafted tunes and concise but evocative lyrics made the more popular efforts of their contemporaries mentioned earlier appear clumsy and lumpen in comparison.
The Nelsons, both guitarists, backed themselves with a tight and imaginitive rhythm section, which allowed the Hammond organ of keyboard virtuoso Barney Williams to breathe an irresistable warmth into the band’s sound. (Unlike the nascent Charlatans, for example; who swamped their debut with an overwhelming deluge of Hammond to fill the gaps left by the rudimentary musicianship of the rest of the band.)
Slinky encompassed the spectrum of indie sounds prevalent at the time. From punchy, agitated pop to cheerful acoustica; and from swirling baggy to contemplatitive, introspective ballads. Each subgenre stamped with the band’s unique authority, and the competition booted confidently into touch.
The album was fairly upbeat overall, but I’ve chosen two of the more introspective numbers as I think they demonstrate my point about the craftsmanship these guys possessed as the intricately layered arrangements build to breathtaking climaxes. I’ve also added the best of the rockier offerings to give you a rounded picture of the band.
The album is long-deleted, but you can still find copies kicking around on eBay – and usually for buttons. If you like what you usually find on this site, then Slinky is well worth a couple of quid to you.
Milltown Brothers – Sally Ann
Milltown Brothers – Which Way Should I Jump?
Milltown Brothers – Real
Dylan
Now, to be honest with you sir, I have to agree. Plymouth is indeed a wonderful gin. A little rougher, if you will, but far superior in a gin and tonic.
If Toad ever gives you, or anyone else a hard time about proof reading, you can ask him about the time he completely wrecked himself, and his brother I might add, because he failed to proofread the label on a bottle of Plymouth ‘Navy Strength’ Gin. Poor fellow. I’m not sure his eyesight ever recovered. Nor come to think of it, his cat.
Anyway, top tunes. Takes you right back this music. It just couldn’t have been been from any other place or time could it.
I saw them once at manchester university. I thought i was going to see them a second time around a month later………I was going to see the headline band[whose name I can't recall] and thought I heard the sound of the Milltowns coming from inside the venue and assumed they were the support band…….turned out to be Oasis [playing their second ever gig]
The Milltown Brothers’ debut, Slinky, is quite simply the finest album of the late-80s / early-90s UK guitar-based indie scene.
Fuck me. A bold claim indeed. And one which fans of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, the Field Mice, Teenage Fanclub, and the Wedding Present might have just cause to dismiss as absurd puffery.
That said, these tunes really are quite good, aren’t they? Hmm. That’s something to think about then. You know who else I love from this period? Popguns. I don’t understand why songs like Because He Wanted To and Landslide are not recalled as true classics of the late 80s / early 90s period. They’re just brilliant.
C&B, I’d expect fans of those bands to dismiss anybody else’s claim to the best album and such bollocks; but, if you were to put Slinky up against an album from any of these bands in front of someone completely impartial and do the old Pepsi challenge on them, I’d put money on the MBs every time.
Apart from the Wedding Present, I’m not starting a Wedding Present argument on this site!
But yes, you’re right, anybody would be perfectly justified to dismiss that as the most absurd puffery!
Stewart, there’s a legend that Oasis once supported the MBs, were you there that night? If you were.. Respect, brother!
Ben – I once had a similar experience with over-proof whisky on a bus in France. I’m not sure if a cat was actually involved, although I do recall that after twenty minutes throwing up in the toilet cubicle my mouth tasted like I’d been chewing on a dead cat.
You’re right about the music taking you back too. There’s a change at 3:20 in Real, and I’ll always be 17 when I hear that.
Ride?!
Yes Ride! I mean, these MBs tunes are very good, but they have some work to do before I would place them alongside Seagull or Vapour Trail in the pantheon of truly great songs from their period. And as for comparing them to MBV, well that’s just crazy talk.
Crazy talk indeed.. And I know who the crazy one is!!
I was round at my mate Bwbs’s place the other night for a cocktail party. Not as sophisticated as it sounds even though she had a cocktail waiter to help her make all the alcoholic goodies for her guests.
One of the cocktails served up was a Gin Fizz. Having never tried a Gin Fizz before, despite being almost as much of a mother’s ruin connoisseur as Toad, I asked Bwbs what’s in a Gin Fizz and her answer was – Gin.
So, I’ve had to resort to good old wikipedia to find out what I actually drank that night.
I have no comment to make about the tracks you’ve posted as I have crappy speakers on my computer at work & I can’t hear a thing.
But I’d imagine that a Plymouth Gin Fizz would be rather nice. The one I tried was made with the common Gordon’s variety.
Anyway, just thought I’d share that with you all.
Delighted to have you here, ny dear.
Don’t worry about the songs for now – you’ll love them – trust me.
Wow! A TWoTH appearance! I’m a big fan, if nothing else than of your remarkable tolerance for DC’s monkeyshines. Y’know, the Anchor Brewing company in San Francisco has lately gotten into the gin biz, and they have a lovely brew called Junipero that’s just the thing. And Dylan’s right, these tracks are ace; in fact, they’re nearly as good as the worst songs of My Bloody Valentine.
For more info on the sweet sweet booze…
http://www.anchorbrewing.com/about_us/junipero.htm
“Made by San Francisco’s Anchor Distilling, this does the London Dry style better than anything from the U.K…”
Fucking colonials rattling their cages again!
Mmmm, it’s Yankeelicious! And it goes beautifully which a nice serving of Baltimore’s original fish and chips.
Baltimore was twinned with Cardiff for a long time, you know.
Then Cardiff just got too cool to be associated with some backwoods, hick , country-fuck, yank town.
That’s just blatant baiting, I do apologise!
Not cool enough for Cardiff? Christ, that’s hitting below the belt. I had no idea you could be so cruel.
Cardiff is now twinned with Stuttgart & also Nantes. Nuff said.
There’s nothing wrong with Stuttgart or Nantes.
Stuttgart is the home town of Mercedes Benz and Nantes is, erm… also very nice I’m told.
I’ll have you know that Baltimore is twinned with both Alexandria and Luxor in Egypt; Cadiz in Spain; Genoa in Italy; Kawasaki in Japan (the home of Kawasaki); and Rotterdam, the world’s greatest port. So put that in your leek and smoke it, Welshboy.
I’ve been to Genoa, it was like Bristol with scooters.
(I actually really quite liked it.)
Why Alexandria and Luxor?
Why not Alexandria and Luxor? Perhaps they are some sort of conjoined twin cities?
Wait wait. Now, I can understand defending Baltimore ( i have a good friend who lives there and loves it), Nantes (my wife lived there for a bit and thinks its heaven), and maybe even Stuttgart (er…) but how in the name of Jesuses puckered arse does Ride end up on the same list at the Wedding Present, Inspiral Carpets and now Dylans Milltown Brothers?
Can I just say, this is the first time I’ve said Cunt for a while?
I would’ve thought a trip to Utah would give you loads of opportunities to say cunt, DC. You must have shown admirable restraint. And Ben, I understand your outrage that Dylan might have the temerity to consider Inspiral Carpets and Milltown Bros in the same league with those inspired lads who gave us Nowhere, one of the truly great records of the early “shoegaze” era. I make no claim that Ride was better than (or even as good as) the Weddoes; they weren’t. But on that one album they certainly surpassed anything that Inspiral Carpets had done, and while these three tracks from Milltown Bros. are quite good, I just can’t speak to them authoritatively because I haven’t heard the whole album. I’d be really surprised, though, if it’s as good as Nowhere.
By the way, Smile, an 8-track EP that Ride released in 1990 around the same time as Nowhere, is also truly excellent.
There’s a certain trajectory involved in all this, and it goes something like this:
The La’s – Milltown Brothers – Cast
Do I really need to say any more than that?
Woman, aint there some dusting & some washing of smalls to be done?
Hang on, we know that Cast were no more than The La’s 2 – The Sequel, and both acts were as putrid and rotten as each other.
Why are the Milltown Brothers being mentioned in the same breath as either of them?..
Dylan, did you just get pwn4d by TWoTH?
Maybe…
Good Christ. Turn my back for five minutes…
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