“Jane & John” by Alec Bathgate

Alec Bathgate (The Enemy, Toy Love, Tall Dwarfs) has quietly deposited a treasure-trove of music on Bandcamp this year. “Jane & John” is a small but perfectly formed collection of two brief songs that fit together. Here’s “Jane”, written for his former Toy Love band member Jane Walker who died in 2018.

“Jane” and “John” were originally intended as demos, recorded by Bathgate in NZ, but then added some Nashville relish by NZ music fans Matt Swanson and Tony Crow of Lambchop. The resulting songs are beautiful miniature pop gems.

Also worth acquainting yourself with here is Bathgate’s excellent 1996 DIY-psychedelic pop masterpiece “Gold Lamé” (originally a Flying Nun Records CD release) which has had new hi-res transfers from the original master tapes and been newly mastered by the ubiquitous Mikey Young for future (2021) vinyl release and sounds glorious.

“Pull Down The Shades” by Toy Love

“Pull Down The Shades” closes Toy Love‘s “Live at The Gluepot 1980” album, which first saw the light of day as a Record Store Day release in NZ in 2012. Now it’s available as a digital album via Bandcamp and Goner Records, who were responsible for the initial release along with Auckland record store Real Groovy Records.

Dunedin’s proto-punk band The Enemy – who feature on the cover and inside the recently published photo-book “The Dunedin Sound – Some Disenchanted Evening” – disbanded in 1978 after a move to Auckland.

Three of The Enemy – Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Mike Dooley – went on to form Toy Love, adding Christchurch musicians Jane Walker (keyboards) and Paul Kean (bass).

Toy Love called time in 1980. Kean subsequently went on to join The Bats, a band which lasted a bit longer than Toy Love (over 30 years now and they are still releasing fabulous albums, with a new one out soon).

Knox acquired a 4-track reel-to-reel recorder, recording the infamous “Dunedin Double” EP which helped kick-start the careers of a handful of Dunedin bands and their Christchurch label Flying Nun Records.

Knox and Bathgate formed Tall Dwarfs and the rest, as they say, is now history…

 

 

‘Don’t Ask Me’ by Baggy Attitude

I was in Too Tone Records today annoying Tony asking him to play bits of a 1975 Steve Hackett solo LP to remind myself why I should not, EVER, feel tempted to purchase it for ‘nostalgia’ sake.

But I did buy a double Country Joe & The Fish LP for nostalgia sake.

I also bought a new 7″ flexi disc in a pink folded paper sleeve by a two-piece called Baggy Attitude that I had never heard of. Tony thrust it in my hands and said I might like it. Wacky Wacko was the label. $10.

It was two Toy Love songs – ‘Don’t Ask Me’ and ‘Swimming Pool’ – performed by two mysterious women in the cover photo who were only described by their initials J.D.S. & R.M.C.

I had no idea who Baggy Attitude were or what it would be like but I figured anyone who knows about Toy Love and appreciates the songs enough to want to cover them will have the right kind of garage DIY gunk in their veins to do it justice.

I brought it home and played it and it was perfect. Really just exactly what I’d hoped it would be. Reverb-drenched guitar & voice & some minimal percussion. Plus the flexi was fairly substantial and the sound quality was decent. A bargain.

The internet has revealed Baggy Attitude to be Jess from soon-to-be-favourite San Francisco band Brilliant Colors and Roxanne from one of my favourite UK bands Veronica Falls.. It all falls into place…

So…. if you are in Dunedin get down to Too Tone and grab one of these quickly before I get the lot. And if not in Dunedin… get it from Wacky Wacko here.