yummy fur | comic book heroes without capes

i really can't remember where i first read about yummy fur.
i certainly hadn't heard them as, if they were being played by peel, that didn't help as i stopped listening to the peel show in the late 80's.



actually, now i think about it, i think i simply got a slampt! flyer amongst a bunch of other flyers and fanzines.
reading through it most of the descriptions didn't fill me with enthusiasm.
but the yummy fur one stuck out - something about tiny beefhearty big flamey songs.
so i ordered the 10 track 7" and when it arrived i immediately fell in love.

it's a terrific record. short. punchy. fun.
i guess that what made it stand out even more for me was that it came at a time when i was being inundated with noise - cassette releases by cock ESP, dogliveroil, pain jerk, all those "noise artists" on labels like betley, face like a smacked arse and the like.

they were great in their way, and i enjoyed the noise thing, but i was beginning to really miss tunes.
songs you could sing along to instead of white noise and screaming electronics.



it seemed like ages before the next yummy fur record came out.
was it about a year?
it may well have been.

the second single was more of the same but just as exciting.
another 10 tracker too!
i just adored it.
i'd not felt like this about a record for years and years and years.
i thought, and still think, "british sounds" was terrific.
a song i wish i'd written.
an excellent ron johnson plays pop hook and great lyrics,

"i'm not american,
don't call me thurston,
i like my accent."

all in that lovely glaswegian yelp.



the second single had been put out by my friend paul's guided missile label and, not long after the "night club" LP got a split release with slampt.
there are some really good songs on it, but it felt a little too long.
10 songs on a 7" was poerfect for the pop that yummy fur were making and to stretch that out to 17 songs over an album was just a little much.
that said there are some top tunes on it and you really should have it in your collection.

after that yummy fur got a bit patchy.



"policeman" was a top idea for a single, but "plastic cowboy" was a bit of a waste given that it was only three songs, two of which were just reworkings of songs on the "night club" LP.

the "supermarket" single on vesuvius suffered from dreadful production - all the records before, even though being recorded on 4 and 8 track machines all sounded bright and thumpy, this was just mushy.

the next couple of singles, "shoot the ridiculant" and "roxy girls" failed to excite - in hindsight the "roxy girls" record isn't bad.
but the "ridiculant" record is just pish - poorly thought out casio keyboard buffoonery - sorry paul, but you shouldn't have released it.



but then "male shadow at three o'clock" came out.
it was a vesuvius released six track 10" and it's still my favourite yummy fur record.
t has the lyrical wit of the early songs coupled to some quite astonishing music.
pure tongue in cheek pop fun.
"st john of the cross" is a stunning, "colonel blimp" is laugh out loud funny.



not long after ,"sexy world" was released and was another great record.
you could hear the progression of the band from 4 track indie punk to pop ballad writing indie stars in the making.
you could also hear that this was the end.
ideas that had been played aroudn with had started to be used again and again.
you know, there's only so many times you can mention nina hagen, smack and the german disco scene before the joke turns to mud.



i saw the band at the bull & gate in north london just as they were splitting up.
they were pretty good (though i much preffered gag, who'd played support).

the band broke, john became the 1990's and the other lot went off to form some band called franz ferdinand - i group that i find insufferably boring.
to me they are the yummy fur without the wit or song writing ability of mr. john keown.

funny that.