Sock Free Hideaway

SONGS THEY NEVER PLAY ON THE RADIO

18. Candy Flip: A breakfast dream was empty, and no-one took the blame 

PART 1

MY SPECIAL TOTP moments began in 1979 with Wings whose Christmas idyll played on my Grandparents' black and white telly whilst I was getting a bit bored in their company. It was both tantalizingly close and somewhat remote. And mysteriously exciting. That same formula of baffling proximity endured throughout the 80s but in colour, which made TOTP even more captivating. We all know the video hits. 

Watching an eclectic array of acts that often regularly toured on Snub TV brought everything into closer proximity, but killed a lot of mystique. The TOTP acts still seemed remote until the Roses and Mondays swaggered onto the show in 1989. These were bands that were regularly playing the International and Hacienda and not always packing them in. Bands that began fusing their attitude with an acid smiley and daisy age sensibility. It spawned a Face cover that celebrated E and really felt like a moment.   

By early 1990, house influence was ubiquitous and an unadulterated indie-dance sound crossed over into the charts. In my final year of comprehensive education in 1986, I was totally obsessed with the Beatles, so when Candy Flip's Strawberry Fields Forever began to get club play, I was buzzing. Germany's June edition of Pop Rocky magazine labelled them, without irony, 'The Beatles on Acid.' Brilliant. Primal Scream's Loaded also aired on the same TOTP when it finally charted and it felt like another important moment. 

PART 2

CANDY FLIP that same month were on the cover of Smash Hits with their cheeky name, (slang for mixing E with LSD), and played live at the legendary Konspiracy.

I was there flapping without the candy on a wonky stool most of the night. Whereas the Scream welcomed drug references Candy Flip with their unfortunate name and freshly acquired pop aspirations, began distancing themselves from the Hacienda and began talking up the Pet Shop Boys instead.

The fey aspects of C86 inherent in Candy Flip's poppy moments also carried over into the Beloved's later synth pop duo incarnation. The Beloved were more successfully wedded to an acid smiley and daisy age sensibility, but didn't chart as highly. They knew the music business inside out whereas Candy Flip dressed like fashion victims and appealed to a younger audience so started saying naff things like 'acid house might as well have been called banana house.' With an unkind UK music press quickly savaging them their quality tunes got lost in the laughter. 

A crying shame they weren't taken more seriously coz the flip side of their biggest hit, Aqua Libra, is a stunning slice of mellow piano laden goodness. Evolution on their ill-fated debut twelve still takes me to bleep heaven, throbbing in all the right places, and still sells for under a tenner. Buy it. 

Rhythm of Life is also a cheeky little play on Derrick May's masterpiece, which actually sounds cool softening those irrepressibly sexy stabs. Almost as cool as putting JB's funky drummer sample on a Beatles track. The Most Excellent mix of Redhills Road teases in the vocal, then lets it soar. Justin Robertson's remixes were prone to teasing out the vocals, which is testament to its strength.  

They deservedly got the chance to make a studio album and really embraced it. Madstock...The Continuing Adventures Of Bubblecar Fish stands up well and still plays coherently, demonstrating a fine production ear. They comprehended that they were now the weirdest boy band ever but were still subsumed in the same mellow baggy groove that made their big hit such a club moment. Pop songs that sound a bit dull and cheesy fed through videos of Danny Spencer's constant smiles actually come alive and demand much more attention in the context of this LP. Like the opposite of TOTP.   

 

Highlight, the aforementioned Redhills Road, illustrates that they were every bit as odd as Shaun Ryder, whose inane lyrics in stark contrast were lauded by the music press. Odd, but from Stoke and not Salford. So not seen as authentic. They could also concoct a more coherent and convincing form of soft psychedelic dance than the Mondays. 

I also reminisce about Oasis and how fucking over-rated their TOTP performances were, and their authenticity was, with its aggression and simplicity. And I bemoan how LSD sort of fizzled out of the scene, taking Candy Flip with it.