I always thought that the Housemartins felt like a breath of fresh air after the sometime sneering cynicism of punk, and the preening dandies of the new romantics. Four (seemingly) clean cut ordinary lads, playing simple bouncy pop tunes, with left wing, slightly caustic lyrics.
I'm not trying to suggest that the Heaton/Cullimore songwriting partnership is the 1980s Lennon/McCartney, but there's a group of mates feel about the band, similar to that portrayed in the 1960s Beatles films, which was much on show in this 1986 Old Grey Whistle Test film about the band. It's worth a look, even if some of it looks twee, naive and dated now. I bought this, their debut album, on vinyl at the time, and have only just got round to replacing it on CD, for a couple of quid on EBay.
The album kicks off with their breakthrough hit single, Happy Hour, light, bouncy and a fine tune, as is the rousing Get Up Off Our Knees. The slower Flag Day, an earlier, non-hit single feels plodding and forced after the bright start, but Anxious bounces things back into life, before the first half ends with an infectious instrumental, Reverend's Revenge.
Sitting On A Fence opens the second half, pleasant but ordinary, but the balance is restored with the anthemic Sheep, before the average, unremarkable Over There. I'm not generally taken with the band's slower numbers, but Think For A Minute is a lovely song, which makes its point strongly. We're Not Deep isn't. It's another bouncy little number, but not their strongest, and Lean On Me is a very ordinary piano accompanied hymn-like song. The original album concludes with the uplifting Freedom, ending a very creditable debut album.
At the time, the no nonsense songs here were welcome after much po-faced posturing in the decade before, but at a distance, while still a really good album, there's a naivety which hasn't aged as it might.
This CD edition tidies up some B-sides - there's gospel-style versions of Lloyd Charmers' I'll Be Your Shelter, Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready and The Hollies' He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (the last two done acapella), and The Mighty Ship, with Heaton displaying his harmonica prowess, as he had on Reverend's Revenge.
4* - a really good debut, which launched two pop stars' careers!
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