SOMEBODY FAMOUS Somebody Famous on Vinyl/The Ship of Grandad's Day Remastered double CDR (Stone Premonitions)
Somebody Famous was Stone Prem founder Tim Jones' band from the 80s and early 90s, which also included a few other names familiar from various Stone Premonitions projects, eg Martin Holder, Paul Ellis, Mark Dunn, Paddi, and Steve Sekrit, aka Stephen Robson, formerly of Punishment of Luxury and now in Stone Prem band Shay Tal. This double CD compiles all the tracks from their vinyl releases from the late 80s on one CD, and a remastered version of their 1991 CD The Ship of Grandad's Day on the other. Starting with the first CD, Somebody Famous on Vinyl: I Like to Travel is really catchy, quirky rock. Dancing Feet is very much a product of its time, and the dance remix that follows even more so. This is late 80s synth based pop with lyrics about moving to the beat, shaking your body and so on. Both versions are however a little more off-centre than the mainstream equivalents of this sort of music.
The tracks from their self titled LP are a mix of pop and rock with some quintessentially 80s elements like synths and sax. Although it sounds in some ways like the sort of music that was mainstream at the time, the band also take on board forms of rock that are more timeless, as well as some quirkier, undergroundy elements that prevent the music from sounding too dated or too commercial. The last two tracks on this CD, Love Will Stay and New Day Tripper, come from a 7" single and are very fine janglepop that's well worth checking out.
The second CD, The Ship of Grandad's Day, is full of sophisticated, well crafted music that combines guitar-based pop with rock and prog elements. Carousel is an evocative mix of janglepop, atmospheric synth and prog rock. This description may sound strange, but in fact it works fantastically well, and the song is amazingly catchy. There's a Heaven has shades of Tim's subsequent band The Rabbit's Hat, and is one of the tracks that best illustrates bassist Friz' distinctive style, which is far more melodic than that favoured by many other bass players. Black Beauty (On Cowboy Hill) is a punchy and catchy acoustic song, whilst Half Mantra is reminiscent of the proggier/spacier material that was soon to come from The Rabbit's Hat. Greg Orion is a very brief snippet of medieval style chanting (note the pun on 'Gregorian'!), that leads on to Hieronymus, a song that subsequently became one of The Rabbit's Hat's classics and one of my very favourite songs of theirs. Ship (Pilot's Mix) is a remix of the title track, mostly instrumental but with a few snippets of quirky speeded up and slowed down vocals.
The Ship of Grandad's Day has stood the test of time rather more than Somebody Famous' earlier material that was very obviously from the 80s. The album has a much more timeless sound and introduces a lot of talented and original ideas. This really is a superb album, and one well worth investigating by anyone curious about the roots of The Rabbit's Hat.
Bliss Aquamarine (www.blissaquamarine.net)