It's time for another one of our occasional wanderings through Six Degrees Of Kevin Shields.
Each time, we start with a musical figure and take some fairly random twists and turns, hopefully across a range of genres and acts - all as part of our valiant attempt to link them through to the King of Shoegaze, Kevin Shields.
This time we actually start with a group - Portishead - whose seminal album Dummy turned 30 years old on 22 August.
Beth Gibbons and Geoff Barrow met in Bristol, in 1991, while part of an Enterprise Allowance Scheme (a government self-employment programme of the time). Along with Adrian Utley they formed Portishead, who would become one of the leaders and pioneers of the trip-hop movement (although I believe that is a label most of the band involved, didn't like).
Dummy would be the first of the three albums the band would release on Go!Beat Records and won the following year's (1995) prestigious Mercury Music Prize. The record saw them use a range of hip-hop techniques, including sampling, scratching and loop making, as well as a bed of their own original music. Other studio techniques employed included using a broken old amplifier and distressed vinyl. Gibbons would later work with Paul Webb, who was performing under the name Rustin Man, on the record Out Of Season in 2002. With Gibbons smoky, blues voice, Variety described them as if they were "Billie Holliday fronting Siouxsie & The Banshees."
Portishead: Glory Box (Official music video)
Talk Talk were formed in 1981 by Mark Hollis, with Lee Harris, Simon Brenner and Paul Webb - a synth pop band initially described as being a bit like Duran Duran. They both shared a fascination with Roxy Music, and there was another link, as Colin Thurston produced the Duranies and the first Talk Talk LP.
Their first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984) both made the UK Top40. The Colour Of Spring (1986) brought them critical acclaim, while Spirit Of Eden (1988) saw them veer off into more experimental and jazz infused directions. Friction led them to leave their EMI label, and Webb also departed, and there was one more record in 1991 with Polydor. Tim Friese-Greene had come into produce It's My Life and stayed with them right through to 1991, also acting as a songwriting partner for Hollis (who sadly died in 2019).
Talk Talk: Life's What You Make It (Official music video)
Tim Friese-Greene started his career as a tape operator at Wessex Sound Studios in London in the mid-70s, working with the likes of Hawkwind. He would go on to producing, most notably with Talk Talk, but also working on Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age Of Wireless (including the hit She Blinded Me With Science), and several works for novelty act Tight Fit. Later on he would produce Irish pop singer Brian Kennedy and alternative rock band Catherine Wheel. He also released two LPs and two EPs himself, under the name Heligoland.
Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me With Science (Official music video)
Catherine Wheel came out of the coastal town of Great Yarmouth in 1990, putting out five records over the next decade, which started in shoegaze territory, before moving into a much more aggressive rock style. Their first two EPs were put out on Norwich's Wilde Club Records, before they signed with Fontana. Chrome, their second album and the one that saw the drift to harder rock begin, was produced by legendary indie producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters, Echo & The Bunnymen, Feeder). Band leader Rob Dickinson (coincidentally a cousin of Iron Maiden's Bruce) said in an interview that this album was an inspiration for both Interpol and Death Cab For Cutie - he said that he had been told this directly by members of those bands.
Third record, Happy Days (1995) included a collaboration with Tanya Donelly on Judy Staring At The Sun (which reached #22 on the US Modern Rock chart). The mid-90s was seeing the UK firmly moving into Britpop territory, meaning that for the rest of the decade they probably saw more success in the US.
Catherine Wheel (w/ Tanya Donelly): Judy Staring At The Sun (Official music video)
A teenage Tanya Donelly started a group with her best friend at school, Kristin Hersh, who would also become her step-sister when her father married Hersh's mother. Throwing Muses started out in their Rhode Island hometown before drifting a few miles up the coast to Boston. They signed with influential UK label 4AD, and Donelly was mostly guitarist and backing vocalist, although also the second songwriter, with her tunes tending to be simpler, poppier songs than Hersh's.
Whilst still in Throwing Muses, Donelly also joined Pixies' Kim Deal on her new side project, The Breeders, for their 1990 debut Pod. She would leave the Muses after 1991s Real Ramona and form her own band, Belly, with the Gorman brothers (Chris and Tom) and ex-Muse Fred Abong. 1993s debut Star did well in the UK, providing them a breakout album and hit single in Feed The Tree. Abong was replaced on bass by Gail Greenwood and they completed follow up King in 1995. She split Belly up after that, although they have been reformed since 2016. In the inter-rim Donelly put out several solo records and various other collaborations, and the dd appearance with Throwing Muses. In 2009, she worked with the band Dylan In The Movies on a cover of The Cure's The Lovecats for a compilation, Just Like Heaven: A tribute To The Cure.
Belly: Slow Dog (Live on Later with Jools Holland, 1993)
The title track on the Just Like Heaven: A Tribute To The Cure record was performed by a band called Joy Zipper. They are real life husband and wife team, Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso, from Long Island. Starting out in the late 90s, their first effort was home recorded, but by the time of second record American Whip, they could get others involved. The record was recorded in Glasgow and London, and includes Belle & Sebastian's Mick Cooke playing flugelhorn on several songs, and Joey Waronker (REM, Beck) on drums. The record was co-produced by DJ David Holmes and My Bloody Valentine's very own- KEVIN SHIELDS.
Joy Zipper: Out Of The Sun (Official music video)
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