Just dug this one out #12 - HUP by The Wonder Stuff

Wonderstuff
originally uploaded by mark benney

I can't even imagine the point in my life when The Wonder Stuff fitted in. HUP was released in 1989, the same year that I first heard Galaxie 500 and the year after Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" was released. And yet here it is in my record collection and I have memories of seeing them two or three times including a drive down to see them at the dire Brighton Centre. They are certainly a band from my previous life, the one were I went to gigs with old school friends instead of new work mates, The Pogues, The Waterboys and The Men They Couldn't Hang also fit into that category, and I guess like all of those bands it was the live experience more than the records that mattered.

Listening to the CD now it's baffling that I ever really liked it, occasionally the cathcy-pop elements sneak through and "Golden Green" had me nodding along. The intro to "Piece of Sky" also got my hopes up but ultimately it descended into the same chant-a-long, fist-waving, bouncy, jangly guitar pop that the rest of the album is overflowing with and which becomes tiresome quite quickly.

This is the second post in row to have raided Mark Benney's Flickr stream for it's accompanying shot. Mark has uploaded a stack of great photos taken in the early 90s that seem to cover so many of the bands that I was seeing around then.