The Essential 10: The Icicle Works

This edition of The Essential 10, our quickfire introduction to a wide range of my favourite artists, features one of Liverpool's finest, The Icicle Works; an act that managed 5 albums over a career that spanned 1980 to 1991 (and touring sporadically since then).

I have trawled the entire catalogue to come up with ten of my favourite tracks by them, including a few surprises (although, if you don’t know much about them, they may all be surprises).

Ian McNabb and the Icicle Works came into my life as a first year university student in 1991, ironically around the time they were finishing up. Since then, McNabb has put out a further 18 solo albums (and occasionally tours under the Icicle Works banner - and may crop up in this feature some time in the future); Chris Layhe has taught guitar in Manchester and put out some solo material (briefly reuniting with McNabb for some acoustic shows more recently); Chris Sharrock went on to drum with the likes of Oasis and Robbie Williams. They put out four albums with this line-up, then McNabb released one more after that using the band name.

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1. Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream): Let's start with probably their biggest hit - while it didn't chart as high in the UK as first single, Love Is A Wonderful Colour, it did give them their one and only US Top 40 song. Check out Chris Sharrock's insane drumming right through this one. (live on the BBC, 1983)

2. Who Do You Want For Your Love?: One of those 'big' epic songs that Ian McNabb has always had a penchant for writing, with lush strings and big plonking bits of piano, not to mention that rousing middle eight. (official music video)

3. Evangeline: A nice bit of straight up indie rock, driven by a catchy keyboard hook, taken from third album, If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy, Sing His Song, produced by Lightning Seed Ian Broudie. (tv appearance, 1987)

4. All The Daughters (Of Her Father's House): A big and brassy single off of the second record, The Small Price Of A Bicycle - the horns give it quite a distinctive mid-80s sound, as does the nice bit of funky guitar in the middle. (official music video)

5. Starry Blue-Eyed Wonder: The Icicle Works liked to mess around with genres, rhythms and pace - this one starts with a slow blues-y Hammond organ led dirge, which explodes into life half way through and careers at a hundred miles an hour to the end - McNabb's guitar and Sharrock's drumming are front and centre. (audio only)

6. Out Of Season: A beautiful deep cut from the first eponymously titled album (1984) - it builds up with these lush guitar runs, recedes into quiet keyboards, before finally erupting into a glorious chorus. (audio only)

7. Here Comes Trouble: Another one of those epic McNabb tunes I mentioned earlier - full of opulent sounding strings, staccato drum patterns and a bit of a Spector-esque wall of sound built up around him going full throttle in the epic chorus - the 1960's would have been proud! (audio only)

8. Hope Street Rag: A token from the last Layhe / Sharrock-less Permanent Damage album, which is generally overlooked, but which has a couple of great tunes on it - including this one; a bright and breezy romp, which even manages to throw in a Spanish sounding guitar strum into the mix, with some swirly keys.

(live in Leeds, 2017)

9. Hollow Horse: A great track from album number two - this one has always been a favourite of mine, with its bouncing bass line, driving rhythm and catchy arpeggiated riff (and did I mention more absolute nuts drumming?). "We'll be as we are, as all the fools who doubt us fade away..." (live on The Tube, 1984)

10. Understanding Jane: A banging bit of garage rock to round things off - from the sustain and crashing chord to open it up, the punk rock Chuck Berry solo, right through to the final feedback fade out - it's classic rock n roll played a wee bit faster. (official music video)