The Darling Buds - Purveyors of the catchy.
The Darling Buds In Session – 1987 – Past Daily Soundbooth
The Darling Buds – In Session for John Peel – September 21, 1987 – BBC Radio 1 –
The Darling Buds tonight. Something catchy and simple tonight.
The Darling Buds formed in Caerleon near Newport, South Wales, in 1986 by 19-year-old Andrea Lewis Jarvis. Their debut single, “If I Said”, was released on February 1987 and was well received. The group re-released the single on an established label, Native Records, receiving radio play on John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show. Signing with Sony in 1988, several singles preceded their critically acclaimed 1989 debut LP, Pop Said…. The album, described as “relentlessly chirpy”, ultimately reached the Top 30 in the UK Albums Chart, and the band appeared on Top of the Pops as well as the cover of Melody Maker twice (24 September 1988 and 18 February 1989). In 1990, the original drummer, Bloss, left the band and was replaced by Jimmy Hughes from Black. Their second album, Crawdaddy, was not as well received, even if, according to critic Doug Brod, it “reveal[ed] a more mature Buds, a group that has learned the value of a little variety.”
Pressing forward with their new style, the group followed with their third and final album in 1992, entitled Erotica, a few weeks before Madonna’s album of the same name. The album contained the US single, “Long Day in the Universe”, which was featured on the soundtrack for the Mike Myers film, So I Married an Axe Murderer. This line up featured second guitarist Matt Gray (ex-Soldier Dolls). Although they toured the United States in support of the album for a year, the members of the Darling Buds grew increasingly frustrated by their lack of commercial success and disbanded. Speaking to the Q Magazine in 2012, Lewis explained the reasons behind their decision: “Sony’s London office wanted to pass the financial buck after we’d moved to LA and the bureaucracy meant we couldn’t tour or record. We got stuck in limbo for ages and eventually called it a day.”
In case you missed them the first time around – here is a sample of what John Peel found so engaging, as this is their second session for him on September 21, 1987.
Crank it up and enjoy.
