The Giant Panther

Another band from the early 90's I've mentioned in the past, but just haven't gotten around to blogging about is The Charlatans UK. They are yet another band with a name conflict here in the States that forced the "UK" tag, but if I were these bands I'd wear it like a badge of honor. It sounds so much cooler than say, The Charlatans US, although I could actually live with that if I had to. I know they fool around with calling themselves The Charlatans as originally intended, but they'll always be The Charlatans UK to this fan. The record I come to talk about today is called Some Friendly and it was released in October of 1990. As a 30 year old roaming the alternative rock scene, I just loved this record. I saw them perform at The Paradise February 26, 1991 and had a ball. I know I've talked ad nauseum about the Manchester Scene in the UK around this time, but I never really spelled out how great I thought this record was. Some Friendly and Between 10th and 11th, their followup record, were very solid as first and second records go, but this band was right there with the makers of this sound. I don't want to dwell on it all over again since I have posted about this is the past, but the bands that best represent this period in musical time were The Charlatans UK, The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, The Chameleons UK, James, Oasis, The London Suede and Electronic. There were others, but these bands acts are probably the most famous.

The Hammond B3 Organ seemed to be at the fore of many of the sounds you heard coming out of Manchester at that time. I know many people have long forgotten Between 10th and 11th's "Weirdo," but that song was a killer single in 1992. It's intro was pure organ and it rocked. British heavyweights Deep Purple made a nice living incorporating that instrument into their music and now it was back with a vengeance. I think, though, it was the combination of the Hammond, the drug Ecstasy and the boundless energy in those days. My crowd never touched Ecstasy, but we loved that music as if we had. Some Friendly's first single, "The Only One I Know," was a big hit on WFNX and I owned the CD inside of a week of hearing it. WFNX barely touches it anymore, which is really disappointing to be honest, but at the time they were also dabbling with "You're Not Very Well, Then and Sprosten Green" as well. That didn't last very long, but however I feel about this station today I can't say they didn't play "The Only One I Know" and "Weirdo." There were eleven tracks on Some Friendly and the radio fooled around with four of them. Not bad for a band that nobody ever heard of prior to 1990. Time monkeys around with your memory of records, but I still like Some Friendly very much. It brings me back to a time when I seemed to have less cares, but the truth is I should have had twice the cares. It might have done wonders for the following decades....ah hindsight...

I'm going out tonight, not to see a band, but to hang out with friends so I'm going to keep this relatively short (by my standards). The Charlatans UK are still recording to this day and released a CD called You Cross My Path in 2008. I haven't followed them since their heyday (my tastes move all over the road and I can only stay on top of so many bands), but they went on to record eight more records after 1992's Between 10th and 11th (allegedly named after the rough address of the NY Marque, which was where their first US gig was according to Wikipedia). I frequently go back and listen to this record and if you've never heard it I'm recommending it. Like I said, for every post I only need to make one new fan to make it all worthwhile...