Anyone heard "The Sound of Leamington Spa" comps?

[pretzelbag]

Courtesy of some unremembered blog, I heard a few songs from this series. The songs appear to be pretty good indie pop (though maybe not so much new wave). The CDs appear to be out of print, at least through the US distributors.

Does anybody have a CD or two from this set, and can you comment on any of the bands?

I heard songs by 35 Summers, The Candidates, and On The Waterfront, and they were all good -- catchy for sure.

Here's the tracklisting for the 5 existing volumes (from http://www.twee.net/spa/:)

Volume 1
released October 2000
available on CD and vinyl album

1. The Pooh Sticks - Indiepop Ain't Noise Pollution
2. Episode Four - Strike Up Matches
3. Big Red Bus - Strike Up Matches Big Red Bus - Cathedral walls
4. The Man From Delmonte - Drive Drive Drive
5. Hey Paulette - I Really Do Love Penelope
6. Where Gardens Fall - Search
7. The Anyways - Silver
8. Metro Trinity - Spend My Whole Life Loving You
9. The Hepburns - Andy & Valerie
10. Asia Fields - Dazzed
11. The Siddeleys - Sunshine Thuggery
12. Hot Rain - Time Is On Our Side
13. The Desert Wolves - Mexico
14. The Clamheads - Summer's Coming Down
15. Sister Rain - Burt Reynolds
16. The Cherry Orchard - So blind
17. North Of Cornwallis - Billy Liar
18. The Windmills - The Day Dawned On Me
19. Last Party - Barbecued
20. The Wishing Stones - Beat Girl
21. The Aurbisons - Holy Cow

Volume 2
released January 2002
available on CD and double vinyl album

1. Friends - You 'll never see that summertime again
2. Bob Hope - I don 't know
3. Newflash - An Englishman
4. The Sandalwoods - The Day Is Mine
5. Said Liquidator - Third Man
6. Reserve - Butcher's Daughter
7. Benny Profane - Tear The Web
8. Dubious Brothers - Yes Man
9. Phil Wilson - Better Days
10. The Groove Farm - Just a silly phase I 'm going through
11. Slendid Fellows - Fields of corn
12. The Big Gun - Heard about love
13. Harbour Bar - The Boy I was
14. The Honest Johns - Judas in me singing
15. Fat And Frantic - I don't want to say goodbye
16. Fallover 24 - Cloth stained blue
17. The Passmore Sisters - Difficult
18. Love Parade - Under the weather
19. Ambitious Beggars - Pockets and minds

Volume 3
released June 2003
available on CD only

1. The Candidates - Sound of Summer
2. Pure - Aspidistra
3. Accrington Stanley - The New Me
4. The Morrisons - Listen to your heart
5. One Thousand Violins - Start digging my grave sugar
6. Bloody Marys - Stain
7. Me And Dean Martin - Me And My Paisley Shirt
8. Bounce The Mouse - will you ever say
9. Exit 13 - Perfect dream
10. Waving At Trains - Sylvie
11. Thin Gypsy Thieves - Perfection
12. The Passengers - Sometimes
13. Snowbirds - Motorcycle Baby
14. The Deddingtons - The Last Day
15. C-Saim - give and take
16. Onionhead - It comes around
17. Honeytrap - Peace in a picture
18. The Chairs - Brave Little Soldier
19. The Irregulars - Against the grain of my life
20. The Chalk Giants - Pushing Gary Down

Volume 4
released July 2004
available on CD only

1. The Clouds - Get Out Of My Dream
2. The Submarines - I Saw The Children
3. Decoy Avenue - Gone Native
4. The Candy Darlings - That's Where Caroline Lives
5. 35 Summers - Really Down
6. The Nivens - Yesterday
7. The Minnows - Time Flies
8. The Marteens - First Kiss
9. Hellfire Sermons - The Best Laugh I Ever Heard
10. The Bridge - Shame Is A Girl
11. The Apple Moths - Everything
12. The Williams - I Know I'm Nothing Special To You
13. Johnny Says Yeah! - Waiting Here For Me
14. Dislocation Dance - He's The Man
15. The Church Grims - Plaster Saint
16. Beethovens Kiss - The Wonder Of You
17. Nautical William - Love House
18. Explained Emma - When My Heart Rings
19. The Days - Audrey's Curtains
20. Wake Up Afrika - Walking Blind

Volume 5
Released in May 2005
available on CD only

1. Nine Steps To Ugly - Eddie Lopez Lives In Slough
2. Perfect - Desire
3. A Strange Desire - Promise To Lie
4. On The Waterfront - Mrs. Harrington
5. The Shrew Kings - Losing My Cool
6. The Incredible Blondes - Forever (Swansong)
7. No Flags Etc - Rubble
8. This Poison! - Driving Skills
9. Carpenter Joe - The Path Of Most Resistance
10. Kid Sinister - The Cradle Born
11. Almost Charlotte - Frustration
12. Men Of Westenesse - Boating
13. The Honeymooners - Untitled
14. Action Painting! - Boy Meets World (alt version)
15. Black Cillas - Sebastian
16. The Thieves - And Then He Died
17. Ade Moose And Walker - Lounge Around
18. Gradapenda Rosindale - Bad Days Must End
19. The Wildhouse - Ficca


-pretzelbag.

[Grunch]

Have them all and they are all superb 80s jangle and C86 style pop for the most part. Most are also still available from poppolar records. At some point, they all will be long gone and expensive I am guessing. These are, for me, extremely essential indie 80s gems.

[gazebo]

Vol 6 is coming soon.

[pretzelbag]

Grunch,

Before I posted here, I checked with Poppolar -- sadly, volumes 1-5 are all "not in stock" and/or "unavailable".

The other North American shops listed don't have any inventory either (I checked them too):
# TweeKitten Records - www.tweekitten.com; no matches on "Leamington"
# Darla - www.darla.com; no matches on "Leamington"
# Clairecords - www.clairecords.com; does not appear to stock the Best of Leamington Spa CDs.

Nobody on Ebay has anything for sale at this time. Looks like getting these in the US is going to be problematic. Any other suggestions?

-pretzelbag.

[marie3]

Volume 5 was recently sold on ebay pretty cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Sound-of-Leamin ... dZViewItem

You can have ebay send you updates when any of these volumes are available.

[n/a13]

There are some available here (UK) - http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_res ... on&format=

[DSR]

YUP!! I have all Volumes 1-5 and it's an excellent 80s gem.[8D] I can't hardly wait for the release of Volume 6. Great compilations!

[:)]An apple a day keeps the doctor away!
DR. STIRRING RHOD

[crystal]

totally agree with DSR - have all 5 volumes as well, ll catchy indiepop/sarah/c86 style. great picks, some extremely rare + impossible to find gems hidden there.