ALBUM REVIEW – DANDELION ADVENTURE: JOHN PEEL SESSION: Silent Radio

For those of us living in small towns with an often unimportant music scene, the arrival of a band whose ambitions and talents extended beyond the local pub rock halls was always cause for concern. celebration. The Dandelion Adventure emerged from Preston and the surrounding area, initially in 1986 as a delightfully sprawling improvised mess, before morphing into a more focused sonic assault a few years later. Here’s a band that would have been a favorite even if they weren’t based in my backyard. As the editor of a local fanzine, I had the chance to become the reporter in their van and witness their raid on the largest cities and the country’s capital. Their live shows gained a solid reputation with Mark Wareing spitting words through a haze of hair and smoke like Mark E Smith’s version of Much Hoole, while guitarist Stan Batcow and bassist Ajay Saggar created an aural commotion. My Bloody Valentine and The Pastels both asked to open for them. On another occasion they topped the bill for a full day at the Lady Owens Arms pub in Islington alongside the new Blur. Although in hindsight it’s easy to see that Damon Albarn and his colleagues were on the fast track to fame, at the time Dandelion Adventure was the more compelling option.

During a brief recording career, they released only two mini-LPs on the Preston label, Action Records. The first, “Puppy Shrine”, inspired Thurston Moore to praise the group, although presumably they caught his attention with a cover superimposing the heads of Duane Doberman, Joanna Lumley, Spike Milligan and a horned figure on the Sonic’s shoulders. Youth. By the time of their second album, 1990’s Jinx’s Truck, their sound had been enhanced by the addition of a second drummer, Jason Boyce, joining original member, Geoff Bird, to create a propulsive blitz.

The band recorded a John Peel session, released on June 18, 1990, just three months before the band broke up. Saggar managed to retrieve the tapes from the BBC vault and secured their release alongside their 1988 four-track demo and a few songs recorded in their rehearsal space.

Although the band formed a large part of my youth, my reluctance to succumb to nostalgia means that I have rarely wanted to revisit their music over the past 30 years. So it was interesting to see if time had treated him kindly. The session begins with ‘Exit Frenzy Revisited’, a track from ‘Jinx’s Truck’. What is immediately striking is the monster sound obtained. Saggar’s rumbling bass bears the imprint of one of his musical heroes, Jean-Jacques Burnel, creating an ungodly din alongside Batcow’s effects-laden guitar. Boyce and Bird’s two-drum assault spins the senses and Wareing’s vocals sound huge and resonant.

The remainder of the Peel session consists of previously unreleased material. “Bing Crosby’s Cathedral” begins with staccato guitars and a surreal narrative, with each member taking turns relaying the story, reminiscent of Bongwater’s “David Bowie Wants Ideas.” However, with words, “His favorite was on the menu tonight, tequila» followed by whistles, the song launches into a thrash. “Don’t Look Now” could be accused of being too cluttered percussion-wise, but it sounds incredibly full and has an excess of ambition, with Wareing proclaiming “rave is dead“. The session ends with “All the World’s A Lounge”, guitar and bass sounding huge, a range of samples over the top, including documentary footage of the use of the atomic bomb. Mischievously, it ends with a voice boasting about having the two best drummers around.

The demos seem puny in comparison. However, it is interesting to hear an early version of the fan favorite, “Speed ​​Trials”, often jokingly known as “Cheese Pies”, Wareing’s version of the priest’s ability to offer absolution from 30 Seconds for Sins, accompanied by slide guitar. The previously unreleased “Death Is A Beautiful Carpark” features the staccato guitar stylings that were a common feature of the indie underground of the era and extensive vocal effects. The feedback-heavy version of the exciting “Chickenfeed” suits the band better than the lightly cleaned-up version that appeared on “Puppy Shrine.” An instantly recognizable rumbling bass line announces this earlier version of “King Burger Autopsy” with Wareing’s lyrics focused solely on Elvis rather than the stage designers’ character sketches that filled out the version that eventually appeared on “Jinx’s Truck.” Both rehearsal tracks are inevitably rough and ready, although it’s interesting to hear how “Disneytime” morphed into “Circus Motel.”

Listening to the Peel session shows how Dandelion Adventure were one of the most imaginative and sonic bands of their era and what a shame that circumstances prevented them from developing their sound further. However, this loss is offset by the excellent career they enjoyed after Dandelion Adventure: Wareing is the head of Ginnel, Batcow runs the Pumf label and releases various recordings under the guise of Howl in the Typewriter, while Saggar is incredibly productive both as Bhajan Bhoy. and in various collaborations. Boyce went on to drum with the manic Stretchheads and Bird developed a career as a documentary maker and was even heard fronting BBC Radio 4’s Pick of the Week.

Dandelion Adventure: John Peel Session – Released July 5, 2024 (Wormer Bros. Records)

The Radio 4 documentary about the band can be heard here: Short Cuts – Series 16 – Beginnings – BBC Sounds

I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and later wrote for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the more angular indie sounds, playing with a community samba drum group in recent years has helped broaden my tastes, so that in 2021 I’m much more likely to celebrate an eclectic mix of sounds and getting me excited about Made Kuti. , Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Cuban Soul Jazz compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.