There was a most unexpected and welcome surprise for the four-fer with Robert Elms on Saturday: Flowered Up’s It’s On.
CHOON!
The subject for the four-fer was youth club anthems. This is going to be ACE, I thought. Memories of early 80’s, with a wide palette of pent up teenage frustration to choose from.
Wrong.
It turns out that I am about a decade or so older than the average demographic of Elms listeners.
Instead we have early 70’s ska and bubblegum soul. It was all fine, but it wasn’t the racket of a youth club four-fer that I was expecting.
And then some fella called in and suggested Flowered Up.
OH MY DAYS.
Disclaimer: the 1991 release date was WAY BEYOND my own youth club experiences. I should have been selecting The Specials' Nite Club, or something similar.
Flowered Up were more of an undergrad sound for me. Weekender was a constant favourite at the SU Friday night discos.
Gosh, they were heady times. And a little fucked up as well.
And then around ten years later, I think I saw them in London around the turn of the Century.
This was when all things Madchester still had something of a bad name.The guns and drugs had taken over a few years earlier. The Stone Roses imploded spectacularly,
But around 2000 - 2001, there was a feeling in some of the circles that I moved in around the time that Madchester wasn’t dead; or it at least deserved a reappraisal.
The trouble was that all the original bands had long since cleared off.
I remember going to a club at Embankment one Friday night for a Madchester revival. I’ve no idea what the club was called.
In the back of my mind, Flowered Up were booked in to play a reunion gig - their first together in years.
This was a very messy scene. I can’t remember the exact details, but I don’t think Flowered Up actually played.
It might have been that some of the band turned up, but not the full outfit. It may even have been a cringe PA mime set that followed.
I was pretty fucked up tbh…
The fella on the four-fer described the Herberts perfectly: Youth Club Rave. I like that genre, but can’t pin anyone else down to it.
So yeah / no, I did / didn’t see Flowered Up.
I most deffo didn’t see Paris Angels whilst an undergrad. They split up en route to a gig at Colchester Arts Centre.
Musicians: messy.