Thursday 20 March 2014

Spherical Objects - "Past and Parcel" (Object Music OBJ001) 1978




The Spherical Objects were one of those post punk groups formed by those leftie ex-student types in their mid-twenties, who were too old to be in a proper punk group like The Stranglers(i know!!!), who were Pub Rockers anyway.
They share much in common with The Desperate Bicycles,like a prominent organ, a singer with an awful bank manager tone to it, and made and financed their own records.
Object music was founded by singer and guitarist, Steve Solamar, and was responsible for many a great act to find its way onto vinyl for the first and last time.
The man(?) needs some kind of trophy for releasing the "A Manchester Collection" by the Manchester Musicians Collective (very right on),in 1979; and bringing the superb Vibrant Thigh, and I.Q.Zero into a recording studio.
The music is sort of a poor mans Fall meets the Desperate Bicycles, and in accordance with the fashion of 1978, it was recorded and mixed in one day.
I bought this when it was released, I was 14, it was cheap and in the "Punk" section of Revolver in Leicester Market Place; It was Cheap, It was Punk so I did it. Got it home and hated it; the singer sounded like an old bloke who'd try and sell you life insurance! But, as i'd spent £2.49 on a record I had to play it several times, and I still hated it. So not having played it since 1978, I played it again, 35 years later, and......guess what.......I love it! And because I had played so many times in `78, I remembered most of the words(the human brain never fails to astound me!). Once the generation gap thing has eroded through time, and I'm an old(er) bloke; I can see the true majesty of this early relic of the pre-indie period. A real unpretentious DIY meisterwerk, that navigates a course directly along the thin line of true "punk" ethics, if ever they exist?
Jonny's Final Thought :
 The Spherical Objects ,as a name, probably referred to the Spherical Objects in Steve's trousers that, in the future, he would have removed to become Shirley Solomar?

DOWNLOAD the past in a convenient parcel HERE! 

2 comments:

Vote4cake said...

Didn't really like this record, but You Can Become was a great song.

Unknown said...

“Didn’t really like this record” . . You have absolutely got to be kidding! The musicianship on this LP was almost as astounding as the “Live at The Witch Trials”-period Fall. Roger Hilton was no Karl Burns to be certain, but well more than competent than you give him credit for; he and Fred Burrows proved a formidable rhythm section, and Duncan Prestbury’s keyboards were superb pop pablum that fit the material like a glove. Take into account the fact that John Bisset-Smith was only 17(!!) on Past and Parcel (and was just coming into his own; I was astonished with how far his style had progressed on the more superior “Elliptical Optimism” just one year later) and, that said, this only leaves Solamar’s intelligently constructed lyrics to be waxed upon (not to be outdone by his eclectic vocal style) as each song moved seamlessly to the next. I have Past and Parcel and Elliptical Optimism on both vinyl and reissued CD format (which i play often so as not to defile the vinyl) and cherish them more than one could ever know. Think of all of the bands that came out of Manchester and released material between 1977 and 1980, the sheer breadth and scope of the music, not to mention extremely intelligent and bitingly incisive lead vocalists, I’m gobsmacked 40 years later. If I had to narrow it down to my fave 5 Manchester bands from that time period (and a LOT of bands will be disappointed/disapproving), I’d have to go with The Smiths, The Fall (Witch Trials-period only), Joy Division, Magazine and, yes, Spherical Objects. There is no debate to be had here, it's just my keen ear for music that still sounds refreshing some 40+ years on along with extremely intelligent/intellectually pleasing lyrical content by the bye. But “didn’t really like this record”? All I can say is that the Objects deserve to be held in at least as high esteem as the 4 other bands mentioned. Criminally underrated and sorely missed.