THE BADGEMAN
B-Side: P.A.F.
(Paperhouse 1990)
There is absolutely nothing I can tell you about The Badgeman. I simply have no idea of who they were or where they were from, or even (before re-listening to this record what they sounded like). I suppose I could go and look it up on the net, but that feels like cheating and against the vaguely nostalgic ethos of this blog. History is those things that we remember an idea that should be familiar to those of you who've read Sellar & Yeatman's "1066 and all that". Anyway after that digression I can tell you what led me to buy this record - it's a combination of the sleeve and the label. I had a small number of other singles on the Paperhouse labels - which I liked - and they all have this lovely blue die-cut sleeve with a lovely picture on the label (oh and it was probably cheap too).
Crystals starts off with a slowish beat which is enjoyed by full-on psychedelic swirling guitars. The singer comes in and kind of mumble-sings over the top of this mid-tempo psych-rocker. The whole thing is punctuated by guitar wails and shrieks, then slowly the guitar riffing starts to fade out and the record ends.
P.A.F. is the name of the b-side - I don't know what it's short for - it may have been alluded to in the lyrics, but to be honest I wasn't following them that closely. This is harder, heavier and faster than the a-side feels like something from the rockier end of 60's psychedelia. It's a driving rock song, it's got attacking sound with no showing off and no showboating, with plenty of riffage throughout.
I quite enjoyed listening to this record because I had no recollection at all of what it sounded like. I think I'll quite enjoy listening to next time I listen to it because, if it weren't for the notes I took whilst listening, I'd still have no recollection of it. It's pretty much the epitome of unmemorable.
Next time another record that I don't remember...
