Since 2021, former horse racing journalist Nick Godfrey has been the music archivist’s answer to Dr Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, moving backwards and forwards through his own music-loving lifespan, righting the wrongs of choice and curious BBC radio sessions not previously being given an official release to the world at large — beyond fuzzy home tapings uploaded to YouTube or elsewhere – with the self-built Precious Recordings of London label.
This has meant time-hopping vault extractions from post-punk pioneers (Essential Logic), C86-adjacent indie-pop practitioners (The Bodines, The Jasmine Minks, The Weather Prophets), members of the extended early-‘90s Sarah Records family (Heavenly, The Orchids, Boyracer, Blueboy) and the more open-ended post-mid-‘90s music world (The Flaming Stars, Bis, Standard Fare, The Aislers Set, Cuban Boys).
Not just fixated on the John Peel tape reels — although such historic commissions have understandably dominated the discography thus far – the Precious-facilitated restorations have also taken in recordings originally booked-in for Janice Long, Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Riley & Coe for the enterprise’s distinctively designed double-7” and – latterly – 10” EPs, replete with period photography, sleeve notes and other extras.The latest four-tracker brought to us via the conduit of Godfrey’s basement flat HQ flips back to the aforementioned sprawling C86 scene, which continues to fascinate Discogs hunter-gatherers, for the sole BBC session from Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes, a band that dispensed a handful of singles / EPs across the late-‘80s and one album in 1990.
The Edinburgh-born six-piece — named after Elvis Presley’s stillborn twin brother and a line from The Young Ones — who once rubbed shoulders with more successful peers like The Shop Assistants, are represented on this expanded-player with four raw but rousing cuts, produced – in breach of then BBC protocols – by The Jesus And Mary Chain’s Douglas Hart. Hence, the opening “Laughing, Smiling And Falling Again” springs from the speakers with lead vocalist Fran Schoppler gutsily surfing atop a joyous wave of thickly-layered jangling. The ensuing “Leave You Behind” goes for a more winsome psych-folk-rock presentation, underpinned by rumbling Phil Spector-ish drums, that is equally as effective.Over on the flipside, whilst bookended by a spoken-word ‘you-had-to-be-there’ in-joke regarding erstwhile children’s TV staple Brian Cant, “Up On The Big Wheel” swoons and careens along with a gleeful Caledonian charm.
The most abrasive moment is saved for the EP’s epilogue — “Hank Williams Is Dead” — in which Hart’s studio stewardship is felt most noticeably, as the group’s giddiness is gradually minced into a near-wall-of-noise, through densely orchestrated feedback. It’s a sonic shift that almost doesn’t quite work, but ultimately any qualms are quashed as the group’s infectious melodicism still bleeds through the din. Although clocking in at a mere ten minutes in total, there is a visceral beauty to be found in the brevity here. Moreover, this is an EP that quickly acquires ear-warming familiarity, through the repeated spins required to aurally absorb such a fleeting time capsule.A strong dual introduction then, for late-comers to the under-the-radar realms of both Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes and Precious Recordings.
-Adrian-
