Sudden Afternoon – in session for Andy Kershaw – BBC Radio 1 – February 20, 1986 – BBC Radio –
Sudden Afternoon to start the week – a band that is a total mystery to me, as it seems to be to just about everyone else. Virtually nothing is known about the band, apart from founding members R.S. (aka: Bob) Warner and Matt Russell. They had one album out and two eps. Got started around 1985 and by the end of 1986 had gone separate ways.
What they left was some good music and a well-produced album, along with this session for Andy Kershaw at BBC Radio 1.
It never ceases to amaze me; bands that have every possibility of success and great popularity, cutting it short in mid-career and disappearing without a trace. Causes for breakups run the gamut; from personality clashes to lack of chart success. Or, as is often the case, disillusioned by bad reviews and one too many hostile crowds at clubs.
Whatever the circumstances were, they are too often the case and explain why bands that stick it out for the long haul (over 20 years) are more the exception than the rule.
And maybe Sudden Afternoon didn’t leave behind a loyal following or a slew of artists citing them as inspirations, which could explain why their debut album, Dancing Shadows is now going for stupid amounts of money on the collectors market.
All this is speculation and maybe none of it is what really happened – whatever the issue and the circumstances, here is a band that has been neglected for a few decades, badly underrated and completely overlooked in the ensuing years.
All I know is; Sudden Afternoon had a lot going for them, and this session offers a glimpse and some proof that music, at least the business end of it, is capricious at best, deadly at worst – and art gets muddled in there somewhere.
Hit the play button and see what you think – or better yet, this may trigger a few memories from you and perhaps they wound up being not as obscure to someone listening who knows the story.
In the meantime, crank it up and enjoy.
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