Label: A&M
Year of Release: 1992
From one Irish band who sound slightly like somebody else to another who sound like nobody else I can think of... although, rather like The Frames, they are apparently still going today. Before I get into trouble with any Irish readers, I may as well remind everybody that the focus of this blog is strictly what entered the UK Top 40, and despite Wikipedia claiming that the band "did well" in Britain, I rather beg to differ... unless charting at Number 51 with this single and then never returning to the Top 75 again defines success.
Sticking with Wikipedia for a minute, though, it's worth noting that the band are referred to there as being influenced by: "Eastern European, reggae, ska, bluegrass, world music, and pop". Normally when bands are described in this absurd way it's because their Press Officer has had the equivalent of a psycho attack in a genre shooting gallery, and has hurriedly overemphasised their originality purely to grab the attention of journalists on the look-out for something fresh and new. Far too often such descriptions are given to bands who are (as one commenter has already pointed out on my Bark Psychosis entry) simply leaning towards prog rock. Quite uniquely, The Pale genuinely were queer fish, however, and could fairly be described as an act who were (and are) difficult to pigeonhole. "Dogs With No Tails" sounds like some late seventies New Wave band smashing up a Greek Taverna, and other releases veered slightly towards Stumpish territories whilst somehow also retaining an Eastern leaning flavour.
Apparently (and somewhat unsurprisingly) they are still a highly regarded band in Turkey and Israel, which begs some questions as to why Ireland don't just enter them for Eurovision next year. They could hardly do worse, could they?
Sorry for not including the B-side on here, but it's scratched to buggery, and you'll be happy to know that you're not missing out on a great lost flip-side as a result of my carelessness with this one.
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2 comments:
Hello,
Here is a link to the video of "Dogs With No Tails"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1mlPPU6Hns
Sadly not - I did have a friend who owned a copy, but I've long since fallen out of touch with him. (If I remember rightly, his girlfriend accused him of "wasting money on shit" when he came home with a copy and played it to her!)
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