THE WAKE Rare Crush 7" Sarah Records Indiepop

$

34

THE WAKE - "Crush The Flowers" 7" (SARAH 21)

EX / M copy with insert & postcard. Issued on post wave / shoegaze label Sarah, contains the title track + "A Carbrain."

"Glasgow, Scotland's The Wake was never terribly prolific, but with a recording career that spanned a dozen years, they were one of the longest-lasting bands on the British indie pop scene. Formed in 1981, the original lineup was singer & guitarist Caesar (who had briefly played in Altered Images), keyboardist Carolyn Allen, drummer Steven Allen, and bassist Robert Gillespie, the irrepressible hipster who later played the Moe Tucker-style drums on the first Jesus and Mary Chain album and then led Primal Scream through a fruitful career of bandwagon-jumping. Illustrating their initially dark, almost gloomy post-punk style, the Wake's debut single, "On Our Honeymoon," came out on their own Scan Records in January 1982. Press reaction was favorable enough that the quartet signed to the era's leading British indie, Manchester's Factory Records, and released their first album, Harmony. Briefly shunted to the Belgian subsidiary Factory Benelux, the original lineup released their last single together, "Something Outside". Gillespie departed shortly thereafter. With Alex MacPherson replacing Gillespie on bass, the reconstituted Wake released two more singles on Factory, "Talk About the Past" and "Of the Matter". Besides confirming that the band named itself in honor of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd of Sarah Records, the legendary bedroom label that spearheaded the twee pop movement of the late '80s, were longtime Wake fans and asked the group to join their roster. The release of "Crush the Flowers" was followed a little over a year later by the Wake's third album, the ironically-titled Make It Loud. Later the trio released possibly their finest record ever, the 7" single "Major John," the ultra-melodic A-side of which was backed with the snarky "Lousy Pop Group," a names-named screed against the current state of mainstream British pop music. Returning almost three years later with their fourth album, Tidal Wave of Hype. This album is every bit as wonderful as the earlier Here Comes Everybody. The Wake even followed it's release with an increased slate of live shows, with the help of Matthew Drummond and James Moody of Sarah labelmates the Orchids on guitar and bass."