It Scares The Health Out Of Me....

One of the first bands that I saw live was The Bodines at what was then Glasgow Tech (now Glasgow Caledonian University). At the time The Tech used to have a good line up of bands on a regular basis. It was at this venue that I also saw, amongst others, The Wedding Present for the first time, pre George Best. It was obvious even then that David Gedge was a major talent and that there was something special about The Weddoes. The Bodines were pretty special too, but never got the promotion or exposure they deserved and sadly were destined to be overlooked and fade back into relative obscurity. Before doing so they did however manage to release one of the 80's true indie classics with their second single, Therese.

I was listening the other day to the C86 cassette and Therese stood out like a sore thumb (in a good way). Although still fun to listen to, the cassette is very much of it's time. Of all the bands on the cassette The Bodines, to me, seemed the most likely to take off. Whereas many of the bands had an endearing amateurish quality to them, The Bodines were even then more polished and ambitious sounding, as was very much in evidence on their debut LP, Played, that arrived in '87. Somehow Played only managed to make it to the lower reaches of the album chart, perhaps it was just a case of timing, as is often the case. Great jangly melodies, sardonic lyrics and a vocal reminiscent of Ian MCulloch, what's not to like ?

There were many other top tunes on C86, from the likes of The Wedding Present, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Shop Assistants, Age Of Chance and, of course, the sublime Velocity Girl but Therese is the one for me.

Therese