ALMOST THERE | ISSUE THREE
Unearthed
Divinely obscure post-punk and indie tracks you may not know.
No. 1 The Cherry Boys, ‘Kardomah Café.’
Part of the joy of tuning in to Peel was knowing that you’d be listening to music you wouldn’t find anywhere else. More than that, you knew that many of the records he featured were being played for the first and only time and would never be heard on the radio again. Ever. The downside to this may not be immediately apparent to anyone
who's grown up in the digital age, where everything remains available on the Internet. But back then if you missed a broadcast there was no going back. I suppose I’ll never know how much wonderful music I must have missed out on, but at least now, with the advent of YouTube, specialist websites and so on, music that was ‘lost’ for years is once again starting to see the light of day.
I have taken the title of this feature from Unearthed, a trio of ‘Various Artist’ CDs showcasing some of the many lesser-known punk, new wave and indie bands to come out of Liverpool. It’s only fitting then, that I start with a track from that excellent series.
The Cherry Boys were active in the early eighties and issued four singles: the beautiful, wistful Kardomah
Café being the last. I was lucky enough to see the group live a number of times in London. On one occasion they were supported by an unknown singer/songwriter just starting out on the alternative music scene. His name? Billy Bragg.
Click on the Dansette to listen
to Kardomah Cafe