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Media: Album
Label: Glass
Catalogue: GLALP009
Released: Nov1984
Recorded: August 1984, Woodbine Studio, Leamington Spa
A-Groove: would you like to swing on a star?
B-Groove: or would you rather be a fish?
Southern Mark Smith
Real Men
Soul Happy Hour
I Need Meat
Just Like Betty Page
Marnie
Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present
Mind Like A Playgroup
Girlfriend
My Desert
CreditsPat Fish
Max Eider
Owen Jones
David J.
John A. Rivers - engineer
Jonathan Dee - engineer
John A. Rivers - producer
Mitch Jenkins - photography
Emerson Hunt - sleeve
Our special thanks go to Danny Hopkins, Eric and Julian at the Grand Union, Chris Seventeen, Earl Sikkorski and, of course, to D. Elvis Barker. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been in touch with us one way or another over the past few months: you know who you are, and we know where you live.This record is dedicated to Big Basil and Rosemiaowrie. Enjoy it if you can - yours ever, The Butcher X.
Southern Mark Smith Soft white underbelly = Saturday Scene.
Real Men Some things never change. Notice how they never sit together on buses?
Soul Happy Hour An important personal statement.
I Need Meat Could refer to a number of things. Can it really be about road accidents? Oblique.
Just Like Betty Page Is this the sort of tune you can play to your mother?
Marnie Across the steepes the rumour runs : she's still at it, and she must be stopped!
Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present Do you know what happens if you leave a fish too long in an elevator? Educations.
Mind Like A Playgroup Warp factor 10. A perfectly reasonable argument in my opinion.
Girlfriend Concerns a number of conflicting feelings (yes, we do have them) about the strangest summer I ever spent. Yes, it is a shame, and yes, I do miss them all. Dedicated to the free dinner circuit, and may it never ever happen again.
My Desert Not a joke. It is there, and it is waiting.
I think that, lyrically, a lot of the songs are a bit trite and immature, and our inability to take ourselves seriously is much in evidence. A record, I feel, of its time. We were young(ish) and cocky and I think it shows. I still haven't learned to sing on this one, which bugs me too. Still, it was cheap and cheerful, and it helped us to meet an awful lot of people.
I was told, incidentally, that if we released this on Glass we could expect a top global sale of 2,000. We released it on Glass and sold about 25,000 copies. Source: Pat Letter: 1993-08-30
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the greatest
jim.harrison[at]-remove-salisbury.nhs.uk - jim wiltshire
23Jan2017 1:23 PM (6 years 247 days ago)One of the greatest albums of all time.To me the JB and Max at their best(they may well disagree but what do they know).All 10 songs classic,take me back to my late teens,me and my middle brother can still sing/quote the lot.
A great record that will never die and to me and my bro has stood the test of time.And we both sing it,play it and quote it to our tablet,xbox generation children and not surprisingly they love it as well.Good taste is in the genes.Cheers Pat,Max,David J and Mr jones,to me the classic JB line up -
Scandal Revisited
dave[at]-remove-daveungar.com - Dave, Columbus
13Nov2013 10:07 AM (9 years 319 days ago)Podcast episode, John cuts deep into the Jazz Butcher's 1984 album, A Scandal In Bohemia. Featuring interviews with band members, Pat Fish, Max Eider, Owen Jones, and David J.
http://jugheadsbasementtnh.podomatic.com/entry/2013-11-06T16_20_32-08_00 -
CWB'day Present
drnick[at]-remove-fionawardle.freeserve.co.uk - Fiona T Wardle. Paxton, Scottish Borders
13Oct2012 1:15 AM (10 years 350 days ago)Just found an old tape with CWB'day Present on it from a John Peel show from lord only knows when (if you know, are you Lord?) Took me well back, well back and funky. I think the same night this was played had a session on by J+M Chain...Restorative of faith and the likes.
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dec
phil87[at]-remove-hotmail.com - dr tokyo insane
30Oct2009 5:04 AM (13 years 334 days ago)i heard this here in perth western australia when i was 16 and my friend had just got his drivers liscence and we used to drive for miles around the sleepy city listening and having our horizons expanded. brilliant
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cazzo che bel disco come mi e' piaciuto!
fabrizio.valli2[at]-remove-virgilio.it - genoa italy
23Dec2005 4:42 AM (17 years 281 days ago)...che anno era '84 miiiii un secolo fa! questo disco ci (a me ed ai miei amichetti)ha fatto veramente divertire tantissimo... oggi probabilmente dopo 20 anni lo sto risentendo (!!!!)E' ANCORA FRESCO IRONICO insomma BELLISSIMO dovro' farlo proprio sentire ai miei fuckin' twins :)) (sono fermi ai sex pistols)...cacchio come ci andavamo giu' pesante in quegli anni........le canne che facevamo!!!!
P.S vi ho pure visto a londra nell'85!!!!! (in un clubbetto minimale)
hey are u sitt alive??????
i hope u have an italian friend!
see u again ........merry christmas and a happy new year!!!!!!!!!!!!
fab -
Smart and Sassy
Kevin Nelms[at]-remove-216.170.5.187 - Lincoln NE, USofA
5Mar2004 11:38 PM (19 years 208 days ago)I came across this L.P. by way of David J. Back then I thought he was the deal. Still do. I know not the Bauhausler most went for.
When a copy of this made its way across the pond all the way to Nebraska I was hooked. Still sits on my record shelf. Something about it spoke to my smart and smart-assed sensiblilities.
Still gets play on occassion as this kind of wit and witticism is not exactly rampant these days. -
A Scandal In Northolt
david.milligan[at]-remove-bbc.co.uk - London(ish)
10Sep2003 2:25 AM (20 years 21 days ago)It's got REAL MEN on it, for Pat's sake!! This album was a staple on our turntable (still got the album AND the turntable) when I first moved to London to share a house with a couple of other spikey-haired blokes. We met the Real Men every time we went out. Soul Happy Hour was like a mantra, and my 2 kids (10 and 7) have been recently introducing "Mind Like A Playgroup" to their mates, who love it! AND it introduced us to Betty Page, although not in person, obviously!
Cheers-
Dave Milligan www.arco.org.uk -
A Scandal...
paul[at]-remove-daintry.fsnet.co.uk - London
21Jun2002 4:58 AM (21 years 102 days ago)Butchie, Butchie, yeravinalarfincha? Scandal In Bohemia is a Fine and Noble record and one that's been a loving, loyal friend for fifteen years. Maybe it's because I was living round the corner in Percy Terrace when this was recorded at Woodbine that I've got such a soft spot, but really I think it's because it's a truly great album. Of its time, maybe, but also transcending that time and still fresh as a daisy today. Songs like Southern Mark Smith, Just Like Betty Page and the sublime Girlfriend rival anything anyone's written anywhere anywhen, and Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present showed the Jesus and Mary Chain how it's really done. Pat, reconsider your harsh verdict. You may have been a different Fish then, but this is still a great record and more of a peacock than an albatross.