I'd Bite You If I Had The Teeth...

The Brilliant Corners - Shangri La

The Brilliant Corners - Meet Me on Tuesdays

The Brilliant Corners - Brian Rix

Almost perfect indie-pop.
A bold claim, they didn't claim it though, I just did.
The Brilliant Corners were formed in Bristol in 1983 by David Woodward, the late Chris Galvin and Bob Morris.
The first few years they sounded like a Crampsy swampabilly band (mind you so did MBV back then and look how they turned out!!!).
It wasn't until the release of 'The Fruit Machine' EP in 1996 that they seemed to really find their feet and the sound they would be known for all over the land (well, kind of). All jangly and poppy, with catchy tunes full of great lyrics flowing freely and effortlessly into our ears, 'Meet Me on Tuesday' being the first track on it.

From here onwards there was no turning back, and the following album 'What's in a Name' from the same year was full of the same high quality tunes, it also contained 'Brian Rix' which was released as a 7" and pretty much became their signature track, certainly the one that they are most know for.

A few more great singles including the wonderful Monochrome Set sounding 'Delilah Sands' and a cracking album in 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' later and we reach possibly my favourite Brilliant Corners moment. The b-side of their 'Why Do You Have to Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?' single from 1988... 'Shangri La'.
The slower tempo and wistfully beautiful lyrics, and those stunningly gorgeous hair raised on the back of the neck girly vocals and that discordant mad squeeling guitar fade out... Just perfect.

The Brilliant Corners released their last record in 1993 and in 1995 Davey Woodward and Chris Galvin formed Experimental Pop Band, sadly Chris died in 1998 from Cancer.
But he will be forever remembered by me through the back catalogue of one of my favourite indie-pop bands.

Oh and as for the 'almost' perfect indie-pop tag at the start of this post...
No handclaps.
But I can live with it.

Buy - The Brilliant Corners on ebay
Sadly it's about the only place you'll find their records nowadays.
Visit - The Brilliant Corners @ MySpace
Visit - Davey Woodward interview
Visit - Experimental Pop Band

Simon
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