100 replies to this topic

[MkB]

Glad to hear it. Even if you don't end up agreeing with me that OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH is the best thing ever made, if you're a Craig fan you definitely won't regret checking it out.

I have no doubt about that
I recently decided to go through as much as Craig's work as possible. This week, I received the DVDs of Sword of Honour (for which I have great expectations) and Obsession, I'll keep you posted about these ones!

[bond 16.05.72]

In an ideal world the BBC would realise what a gem they have and they'd restore the print, conduct interviews assemble an extensive doc and get all the living members of cast and crew to participate. Show the doc the night before broadcasting it in it's whole over a series of weeks or nights

Then release after broadcast a comprehensive OFITN The Restorations box set.
Many people in the UK never witnessed it at the time of it's original broadcast and to repeat with a big fan fare to hype it up a month or so before would give this masterful drama the treatment it deserves.

Craig and all the cast are tremendously proud of there achievements and would all I'm sure would participate in a retrospective.

Well we can but hope can't we?

To change the subject on a similar quality level BBC2 have bought the Wire and will be broadcasting it in the near future.

Like OFITN it's about time more people really understood the brilliance of this series.

[Loomis]

Well, I can't believe that OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH won't be re-released on DVD at some point. It's just too well-known and too good to remain deleted forever. Craig (and in the role that made his name) is a big selling point these days, and I guess Eccleston's now pretty famous as well.

Prompted by another thread in which we're currently discussing bands like Blur and Oasis, I'm thinking that OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH is the TV show of the Britpop phenomenon, not only because it has Oasis and Pulp on the soundtrack, but also because it looks to the past in ways that the Britpop bands took inspiration from earlier eras. For instance, Oasis were The Beatles, Blur were The Kinks, Pulp were The Smiths, Suede were David Bowie and The Stone Roses were Led Zeppelin.

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life, I hope that the nostalgia many Brits in their early 30s (like me) feel for that era will help get OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH reissued.

[Scrambled Eggs]

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life

I hope this doesn't mean The Bluetones are getting back together.

Here's a fan trailer for OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH done in the style of the CASINO ROYALE trailer. It's rather good.

Nice trailer! (and heck, how I love this choral Bond theme!)
Loomis, you've convinced me, big time. I can't wait for my copy of OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH!

Where did you order your copy? On amazon they only seem to have second hand copies.

[MkB]

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life

I hope this doesn't mean The Bluetones are getting back together.

Here's a fan trailer for OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH done in the style of the CASINO ROYALE trailer. It's rather good.

Nice trailer! (and heck, how I love this choral Bond theme!)
Loomis, you've convinced me, big time. I can't wait for my copy of OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH!

Where did you order your copy? On amazon they only seem to have second hand copies.

Well, I have nothing against 2nd hand copies

[Loomis]

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life

I hope this doesn't mean The Bluetones are getting back together.

Or Menswear.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

Well, I can't believe that OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH won't be re-released on DVD at some point. It's just too well-known and too good to remain deleted forever. Craig (and in the role that made his name) is a big selling point these days, and I guess Eccleston's now pretty famous as well.

Prompted by another thread in which we're currently discussing bands like Blur and Oasis, I'm thinking that OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH is the TV show of the Britpop phenomenon, not only because it has Oasis and Pulp on the soundtrack, but also because it looks to the past in ways that the Britpop bands took inspiration from earlier eras. For instance, Oasis were The Beatles, Blur were The Kinks, Pulp were The Smiths, Suede were David Bowie and The Stone Roses were Led Zeppelin.

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life, I hope that the nostalgia many Brits in their early 30s (like me) feel for that era will help get OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH reissued.

I would really like to see this TV series. And I agree with all of your post except for a tiny bit: Pulp weren't The Smiths, because Cocker's band were contemporary to Morrissey's group. Although almost no-one knew about Pulp until '94's His'n'Hers, their first album It is from 1983.

[Safari Suit]

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life

I hope this doesn't mean The Bluetones are getting back together.

Or Menswear.

I don't think The Bluetones ever split. Their last album came out only a couple of years ago.

And it's Menswe@r and they ruled.

There have (amazingly) already been Brritpop revivals (i.e. revival revivals). First in 2003 (a whopping six years after it is generally believed to have "died") when Live Forever got a brief theatrical release, with a more high-profile tie-in soundtrack and DVD release. Also when some of the more commercially successful indie bands emerged around 2005 (Kaiser Chiefs etc.) some journalists tried to convince us this was all part of a "Britpop Mark II". I remember a radio documentary at the time where bands with no discernable Oasis influence on their sound, such as Keane, were citing Oasis as their biggest influence. Bizzare!

[Loomis]

Now that we're witnessing the beginnings of a Britpop revival, with Blur reforming and Oasis enjoying a new lease of life

I hope this doesn't mean The Bluetones are getting back together.

Or Menswear.

I don't think The Bluetones ever split. Their last album came out only a couple of years ago.

And it's Menswe@r and they ruled.

I never thought I'd encounter a Menswear purist on CBn - or anywhere!

Anyone here remember Gene? They had their moments.

Guess an Elastica reformation will be next.

[Safari Suit]

Menswe@r purist! Menswe@r!

I bought their album Nuisance for 25p about six years ago, and let me tell you it was worth every penny!

Gene were OK, although they were very redolent of The Smiths. Hell, they even released a Hatful of Hollow-esque compilation straight after their first album.

The Boo Radleys were also great, although yes, Wake Up! did become increadibly annoying. Giant Steps is a masterpiece.

My favourite minor-league Britpop band was/is probably Rialto, but their debut album didn't come out until late 98, when the whole scene was out of vogue, curtailing their chances of success.

And lets not forget Mansun, who debatably don't actually count as Britpop.

[Loomis]

The Boo Radleys were also great

Indeed. Saw 'em live. Also Bis (remember them?).

Here's another one: The Auteurs.

(You can keep Northern Uproar, though.)

[Safari Suit]

I've never even heard any Northern Uproar. Weren't they signed to Creation?

I bought Luke Haines' autobiograpyhy when it came out a couple of months ago. What a miserable, conceited and thoroughly amusing bastard he is! I think I might prefer his work as Black Box Recorder to his work as The Auteurs, but it's a close run thing.

[Loomis]

I've never even heard any Northern Uproar. Weren't they signed to Creation?

Possibly. I think they were Oasis wannabes. I remember reading about them in the NME or Melody Maker in 1996 or thereabouts, and the journalist complained that in the wake of the Gallagher brothers' success indie labels were spending too much time putting together bands that looked like young thugs on a stag weekend.

[Santa]

Oh wow. Those were good days.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

What about Cast?? I always liked that band , but I never understood why they never were that popular (at least, outside UK).

Edited by Mr. Arlington Beech, 16 March 2009 - 06:26 PM.

[Loomis]

Were you ever into The Seahorses (Stone Roses guitarist John Squire's shortlived but successful band formed after he quit the Roses)?

What about Cast?? I always liked that band , but I never understood why they never were that popular (at least, outside UK).

Well, British acts generally aren't very popular outside Britain.

[Safari Suit]

What about Cast?? I always liked that band , but I never understood why they never were that popular (at least, outside UK).

I think they were percieved as being a bit workmanlike. Pedestrian. "Dad Rock" and all that. I always liked them though. Albums were a bit patchy maybe, but a lovely string of singles. Walkaway is the lone everyone remembers, and I was cheered up when I heard Shining Light in a TV programme recently.

The Seahorses; I remember the album being pretty good and, again, the singles were great.

[Loomis]

The Seahorses; I remember the album being pretty good and, again, the singles were great.

Yeah. They weren't fit to lick The Stone Roses' boots, mind you. I've heard bootlegs of what would have been The Seahorses' second album (recorded but never released), and they're absolutely dire. Even as someone who thinks John Squire walks on water, it would have been a shockingly wretched LP.

[Safari Suit]

Was his solo album any good? I was doing work experience in a rather cramped library when that came out, and during one of the many more boring patches I can remember reading an article in Q in which he had to answer questions sent in by readers (some of them by text I believe, rather cutting edge stuff in 2002), and many of them were not terribly pleasant. The one that sticks in my mind was someone describing his singing as "like a comedy Bowie".

This is perhaps a little tangential...

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

Were you ever into The Seahorses (Stone Roses guitarist John Squire's shortlived but successful band formed after he quit the Roses)?

What about Cast?? I always liked that band , but I never understood why they never were that popular (at least, outside UK).

Well, British acts generally aren't very popular outside Britain.

For some reason... British acts are usually very popular here in Chile, although a few fit in the cult status, some- not so worldwide known, outside UK- artists come only to this country, instead of make a sothamerican tour.

[Loomis]

Was his solo album any good?

I think both his solo albums (2002's TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING and 2004's MARSHALL'S HOUSE) are good. However, they're not what you'd expect from the Stone Roses and Seahorses axeman. For one thing, they're not very commercial records (and indeed they rather tanked in "the marketplace", whereas I believe The Seahorses' DO IT YOURSELF hit number one). They're light on whistleable tunes. MARSHALL'S HOUSE (a concept album about the paintings of Edward Hopper, no less!) is particularly "experimental", often irritatingly so.

Surprisingly, neither album really features the sort of incredible guitar pyrotechnics and soloing you'd expect of the man often considered the greatest guitarist of his generation. Of course, this disappointed a lot of fans, but I seem to recall Squire saying in an interview that he was deliberately trying to focus more on singing and songwriting than on guitar work.

I've heard some tracks that would probably have been on his third solo album, which he started recording three years or so ago but scrapped (he's now officially retired from music and concentrating on his new career as a painter). It was an unexpected and excellent marriage of techno (yes, really!) and blistering guitar workouts, a bit like The Prodigy meeting Hendrix.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

Talking abour solo work... how was the reception for Jarvis Cocker's debut album (2006's Jarvis) did it have any radio airplay in Britain?? particularly with his first single "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time", which, by the way, had a really funny video.

[Loomis]

Don't quote me on this, but I think it tanked. I don't believe Cocker has had any success outside Pulp. I mean, I may be wrong, because I don't pay attention to the charts any more, but I'm somewhat certain that he's stiffed as a solo artist. Not, of course, that he would have been expecting Robbie Williams-type sales.

[Santa]

I quite liked the album.

[Safari Suit]

Both that single and the album creeped into the lower regions of the Top 40; not too bad considering. He also had an episode of the South Bank Show dedicated to him.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

I've listening live previews of Cocker's new album Further Complications in youtube, and it sounds very good- with a little bit more rock oriented style-, particularly "Girls Like It Too", which I had the opportunity to hear personally in concert, last year.

Edited by Mr. Arlington Beech, 16 March 2009 - 09:02 PM.

[Loomis]

Just finised Michael Eaton's "critical reading" of OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH, published in 2005 as part of the BFI TV Classics series. An excellent and informative book for fans of OUR FRIENDS, detailing much of the real history depicted in the show (postwar social housing policy, police corruption, etc.), as well as a great read for anyone with an interest in television drama.

[Santa]

http://www.dailymail...ears-split.html

[Loomis]

OMG! I don't believe this! I think I've died and gone to heaven!

[Santa]

OMG! I don't believe this! I think I've died and gone to heaven!

It's the Daily Mail. But still...