So young, yet so gone? Echobelly were supposedly the "new Smiths", but where have they gone? Yes, they were Swedish (or at least their guitar player) and yes, they took some hooks from "How Soon is Now?", but that's only two strikes, not three, so they're not out. So where are they?

And whatever happened to The Primities? Tracy Tracy was the loveliest thing in pop. Did she win the battle but lose the war to Tranvision Vamp's Wendy James, the 80's Courtney Love? Elvis Costello was so entranced by Wendy and her sex that he even wrote an album full of songs for her. Tracy would never stoop so low, though has she now paid the price for her virtue?

Echobelly where a fantastic group and are still around. They did release a new Lp not so long back unfortunateley, if you are hoping to hear the same quality of "every ones got one" & "on" there first two LP's then you will be sadly very dissapointed.
I think the demise of there career was around the time "Debbie Smith" left, and the third Lp was released, although there were a hand full of decent songs and one fantastic B-side "falling flame" generally "Lustra" was very poor. To really put the nail in the coffin some of the B-sides were rave remixes by talentless dj/producers, in my opinion a very poor & shameful root to take. At around this time i did see them in concert a couple of times and they could still cut it on stage, but it seemed they were aiming at the wrong type of audience playing college venues to students who had probably just gone out for a cheap piss up and didn't really care much who they were seeing play on stage. This really showed at the concerts where there was no passion or atmosphere.
After the Third Lp, Echobelly disappeard for a while, apparently they took time out and they spent some time in the himalayas, i believe over the millenium. Listening to the latest offering i think like me you might be very dissapointed, it seems to be a musical experiment there "sergent peppers" Lp if you like, and most songs its hard to pick out the word and isn't lyrically as pleasing as the other albums and it doesn't have that rough crispy rocky edge of the first two LP's. I think that the experiance in the Himalayas, loss of direction and maybe to many drugs are what you a hearing on the lastest Lp. 'SHAME'
Still love ya Sonja! & i still dream of "Great Things"

> So young, yet so gone? Echobelly were supposedly the "new
> Smiths", but where have they gone? Yes, they were Swedish (or at
> least their guitar player) and yes, they took some hooks from "How
> Soon is Now?", but that's only two strikes, not three, so they're not
> out. So where are they?

All ya gotta do is go over to echobelly.com and email Sonya. She responds
personally to all and is extraordinarily nice to her fans.

It seems they had a difficult few years. Sonya had an illness which almost
ended her singing career. Their accountant stole all their money. Their
former manager tried to sue them. Sony felt the direction they wanted
to go wasn't commercial enough. Stuff like that, most of it quite
typical. There was a death in their inner circle as well.
Anyway, in 2001 their former label put out a Best Of which
includes the singles plus some of the better odds and ends. Echobelly
now have their own label, Fry Up, and they released the Digit EP, the People Are
Expensive LP, and a couple singles so far. One of the singles includes
their old Bellyache EP classic "I Don't BElong Here," for those unable
to find that, as well as a re-recording of "Sleeping Hitler."
I just got the most recent album myself, and haven't completely digested
it, but I think it's rather good. If you liked "Dark Therapy," "Atom,"
maybe you'd like it. Supposedly they will have another album soon,
and maybe a U.S. tour. They really need to tour if they're gonna make the
DIY route work. Oh, they've had some more band member changes, but
Glenn is still to co-leader.

So, basically, they are now attempting a second act without corporate
support. Which is extremely difficult in this day and age. I think people who liked them back in the 90s should try and help 'em out. Sample the album and if you enjoy it spread the word. Some of the new songs are quite lovely and they still are a unique group IMO. You can order it from the various online music retailers.

> [A]lthough there were a
> hand full of decent songs and one fantastic B-side "falling
> flame" generally "Lustra" was very poor.

According to the band, they were hooked up with corporate
pop producer Gil Norton for "Lustra" and he was, in their
words, "anal" and made them record parts of songs ten zillion
times to "perfect" them. They prefer the demos. As for me,
while I definitely felt dissapointed by the album at the
time, it's grown on me. "I'm Not A Saint," "Iris Art"
are pretty and "The World Is Flat (and We're Insane)" has good lyrics and
rocks. "Everyone Knows Better" and "O" are other stand outs.
But the by far the best is among the U.S. release bonus tracks.
"Mouth Almighty" starts off recalling "I Can't Imagine
the World Without Me," and then becomes one of their most energetic
pop-punky gems to date. Her voice sounds particulatly cool on that one, and she sings it with attitude. "Holding the Wire" is another good
one, even though it starts off kind of annoying.

The one thing that bothers me about echobelly is they have some of the
worst cover art I've seen. They look like CDs you'd see in the
dollar bin and not even consider pausing while flipping by.

Well I liked Ecohbelly, but the claim of being the 'new Smiths', is completely flawed, bands need to have their own individuality.

The Primitives were pretty talentness, but a good laugh all the same.

> All ya gotta do is go over to echobelly.com and email Sonya. She responds
> personally to all and is extraordinarily nice to her fans.

> It seems they had a difficult few years. Sonya had an illness which almost
> ended her singing career. Their accountant stole all their money. Their
> former manager tried to sue them. Sony felt the direction they wanted
> to go wasn't commercial enough. Stuff like that, most of it quite
> typical. There was a death in their inner circle as well.
> Anyway, in 2001 their former label put out a Best Of which
> includes the singles plus some of the better odds and ends. Echobelly
> now have their own label, Fry Up, and they released the Digit EP, the
> People Are
> Expensive LP, and a couple singles so far. One of the singles includes
> their old Bellyache EP classic "I Don't BElong Here," for those
> unable
> to find that, as well as a re-recording of "Sleeping Hitler."
> I just got the most recent album myself, and haven't completely digested
> it, but I think it's rather good. If you liked "Dark Therapy,"
> "Atom,"
> maybe you'd like it. Supposedly they will have another album soon,
> and maybe a U.S. tour. They really need to tour if they're gonna make the
> DIY route work. Oh, they've had some more band member changes, but
> Glenn is still to co-leader.

> So, basically, they are now attempting a second act without corporate
> support. Which is extremely difficult in this day and age. I think people
> who liked them back in the 90s should try and help 'em out. Sample the
> album and if you enjoy it spread the word. Some of the new songs are quite
> lovely and they still are a unique group IMO. You can order it from the
> various online music retailers.

> Well I liked Ecohbelly, but the claim of being the 'new Smiths', is
> completely flawed, bands need to have their own individuality.

Yes but it all happened pretty quick for echobelly. Smiths fan travels
from Sweden to England...meets singer...their first songs sound
extremely Smiths-esque...NME launches them into British
stardom before they even have an album out.

> Well I liked Ecohbelly, but the claim of being the 'new Smiths', is
> completely flawed, bands need to have their own individuality.

> The Primitives were pretty talentness, but a good laugh all the same.

Primitives talentless??? F*ck you AND your Mum!
PJ Court was a GENIUS level songwriter. Up there with Mr. Marr himself. When HE was up there,that is...

> Primitives talentless??? F*ck you AND your Mum!
> PJ Court was a GENIUS level songwriter. Up there with Mr. Marr himself.
> When HE was up there,that is...

Oh dear little boys will have their tantrums I suppose.

I didn't say I don't like 'em, saw them live once and they were quite shambolic really.

The term genius really is used all to readily.

I once saw Tracey from the Primitives and the guitarist bloke (her partner, I think) walking down the high street in Leamington Spa one Saturday afternoon. She looked the part, wearing a leopard print coat and sunglasses. It was February, I think...

> The term genius really is used all to readily.
As is the word 'classic'.

TMF