pink records

i don't think enough is ever said about what a wonderful label pink records was.
i've just done a cursory google and other than tweenet and indiepages no one really mentions them.
and yet....

at the time i don't remember thinking, "ooh! there's a new release on pink - i'd better buy that", but i do seem to have an awful lot of records on pink.
in fact some of my favourite records and some of my favourite bands.



i know i've already talked about the june brides - i won't go into them again, just wanted to remind everyone that pink was the label that unleashed them into the world.



the wolfhounds!
surely everyone in the world adores the wolfhounds.
"cut the cake" is an astonishing record.
i mean, the guitars are so fierce, so grating, the voice is so angry and frustrated - whata record to make as a debut release.



"unseen ripples" is one of the records i distinctly remember bunking sixth form for.
i had actually asked my mum to pick it up for me.
she used to go home during her lunch break from work and, though i knew the record should be waiting for me when i got home from college i just had to check.
i was so excited.
mum was there when i opened the front door.
bless my mum - she's always understood - she didn't ask me why i wasn't in classes, she just handed over the record, told me to make sure i ate something and went back to work.
i spent that afternoon listening to the album over and over, reading all the lyrics and staring at the cover thinking how cool it was that it was printed back to front.



my first that petrol emotion record was "manic pop thrill" on demon records.
i don't remember why i'd bought it but i tried hard to like it. half of it i thought was amazing (like "fleshprint" and "lettuce"), the rest didn't really move me.
i'd not heard "keen" until the video of it was on the "gimme shelter" video that you could buy through the melody maker.
i loved "keen" and hunted down a copy of the 7".
it's still my favourite TPE song and one of my all time favourite singles.



so, mccarthy then.
another band that's remained a favourite. one of the bands that really had an effect on the way i thought politically and musically.
no one could make guitars chime quite like mccarthy did on "red sleeping beauty" and no one seemed to fit so much into such short songs.



"frans hals" was another killer pink release.
beautiful cover (though my copy's a little bit grubby nowadays) and such clever words.
a tune you could sing with a message included - made a change to have a band use melody to put across their message instead of either ranting and raving or sounding like a folky.



if you don't own a copy of the pink compilation, "beauty", then i suggest you go directly to eBay and have a look for one.
it's always selling pretty cheaply but should worth a fortune.
as a snapshot of why pink was a wonderful label and what was happening away from the spotlight of the NME and their ilk, you can't do much better than buy this album.

jamie wednesday released a couple of 12"s with pink. i didn't like them too much (apart from "we three kings of orient aren't") but due to them transforming into the ever terrible but ridiculously well-liked carter USM these are the only pink records that appear to fetch large amounts of money.
so my advice - ignore jamie wednesday but invest in pink.
one of the great forgotten labels of the post punk indie scene.