Track of the Week: bIG fLAME: New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology) (1986)
'We did change the world, full stop.' bIG fLAME
The story of bIG fLAME is a strange one. It is a tale of arrogance, betrayal, integrity, bloody-mindedness, unwieldy song titles, silly haircuts and daft punctuation. And that's before we even get onto the music. Alan Brown (bass and vocals) and Dil Green (drums) were allegedly in the original line-up of Wham! with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, but were kicked out due to general aesthetics - apparently the record company moguls just didn't think our heroes were good looking enough to be part of a successful pop group. Allegedly. So Brown and Green, muttering that they weren't going to sell their souls and their integrity in order to become successful anyway, retreated back to Manchester, recruited Greg Keeffe on guitar and set about making proper music. Pop stardom could go to hell. Using a number of bizarre gimmicks guaranteed to put off the normal record buying public, such as releasing 7-inch singles only - well, honestly, who buys albums these days anyway - bIG fLAME embarked on their short, fiery career. Perhaps the height of their fame came when, oddly enough, their song 'New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)' got included on the NME's C86 compilation. Eschewing the jangly Byrds-derived pop of their contempories, bIG fLAME sounded like The Fire Engines and The Minutemen going to the pub, snorting a truckload of speed and then arguing violently about politics before passing out, on average, two and a half minutes later. This pretty much holds true for all of their songs. 'New Way' starts, with an almost jazzy rhythm before Keefe's guitar, atonal, distorted, trebly and mixed incredibly loud, disrupts the song and leads into a must faster, crazed rhythm. The band ably navigate their way through a number of tempo changes, and Brown and Green's energetic rhythm section recalls The Minutemen but, unlike The Minutemen's ultra-tight playing, chaos never feels far away. Lyrically, I assume the song does pretty much what it says on the tin - Brown's voice is always low in the mix, and, although they certainly have political ideals, the band also possess a wry sense of humour, evident in song titles such as 'All The Irish Must Go To Heaven' and 'Why Popstars Can't Dance'. bIG fLAME's brand of organised chaos was never going to crack the mainstream, and the band made sure that they split up before they became in danger of splitting up, leaving just a handful of singles and Peel sessions. Since these are (criminally) out of print, and reasonably hard to find without bankrupting yourself over eBAY (unless you know where to look), the curious can check out their myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/bigflamemcr, and a video of them performing !Cuba! exists on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSDgGqFc17g.
The story of bIG fLAME is a strange one. It is a tale of arrogance, betrayal, integrity, bloody-mindedness, unwieldy song titles, silly haircuts and daft punctuation. And that's before we even get onto the music. Alan Brown (bass and vocals) and Dil Green (drums) were allegedly in the original line-up of Wham! with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, but were kicked out due to general aesthetics - apparently the record company moguls just didn't think our heroes were good looking enough to be part of a successful pop group. Allegedly. So Brown and Green, muttering that they weren't going to sell their souls and their integrity in order to become successful anyway, retreated back to Manchester, recruited Greg Keeffe on guitar and set about making proper music. Pop stardom could go to hell. Using a number of bizarre gimmicks guaranteed to put off the normal record buying public, such as releasing 7-inch singles only - well, honestly, who buys albums these days anyway - bIG fLAME embarked on their short, fiery career. Perhaps the height of their fame came when, oddly enough, their song 'New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)' got included on the NME's C86 compilation. Eschewing the jangly Byrds-derived pop of their contempories, bIG fLAME sounded like The Fire Engines and The Minutemen going to the pub, snorting a truckload of speed and then arguing violently about politics before passing out, on average, two and a half minutes later. This pretty much holds true for all of their songs. 'New Way' starts, with an almost jazzy rhythm before Keefe's guitar, atonal, distorted, trebly and mixed incredibly loud, disrupts the song and leads into a must faster, crazed rhythm. The band ably navigate their way through a number of tempo changes, and Brown and Green's energetic rhythm section recalls The Minutemen but, unlike The Minutemen's ultra-tight playing, chaos never feels far away. Lyrically, I assume the song does pretty much what it says on the tin - Brown's voice is always low in the mix, and, although they certainly have political ideals, the band also possess a wry sense of humour, evident in song titles such as 'All The Irish Must Go To Heaven' and 'Why Popstars Can't Dance'. bIG fLAME's brand of organised chaos was never going to crack the mainstream, and the band made sure that they split up before they became in danger of splitting up, leaving just a handful of singles and Peel sessions. Since these are (criminally) out of print, and reasonably hard to find without bankrupting yourself over eBAY (unless you know where to look), the curious can check out their myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/bigflamemcr, and a video of them performing !Cuba! exists on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSDgGqFc17g.
posted by Jonathan Thornton at 3:10 pm
2 Comments:
I think this is a reasonable view of big flame. However I'm not a believer in chaos in their music - I think everything was incredibly well rehearsed - I know they practiced in Hulme 3 nights a week throughout their existence as well as playing over 200 gigs. i should know - I lived next door and now have a hearing aid - they were loud. i was a big fan and still am i think they missed the boat being around in the dreadful mid 80s when hothing except stadium rock was around. They sound better than any of their contmeporaries 20 years on. A new compilation lp is due out apparently some time in late 2007. My favourite tune is lets rewrite the american constitution which has an ultimate guitarlick and funky undertones. Another couple of singles would have been good - as they hadn't reached their peak when they packed in. the fact that their last tour was completely coreographed shows that they left nothing to chance. their final gig at the Boardwalk Manchester was the high point of my life up to that point- amazing! Sadly i think it still is.......
I think big flame were perfect. They were nothing like the shambling music they were labelled with. I saw them many times and they were always ultimately tight. John Peel once said they were the best live band he'd ever heard.
Another couple of singles would have been good - I agree and that last gig at the Boardwalk... equalled only by the Stone Roses in Blackpool 3 years later. That gig is on dvd....no chanceof that for big flame... I'll have to trust a rusty memory!!
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