Stephen Duffy - I Love My Friends (expanded) - Needle Mythology
By rights, Birmingham's darling of the synth-pop set should have been bigger than the band he left. Yet Stephen 'Tin-Tin' Duffy's oeuvre remained something of a cultish niche from the day the single Icing On The Cake stiffed outside the Top 10. His solo career garnered favourable reviews, as did his soft-folk project The Lilac Time. But neither artistic endeavour has ever translated into big sales, despite being literate, melodious and poetic, a state of affairs that remains a frustrating mystery.
I Love My Friends originally appeared on the Cooking Vinyl imprint in 1997 (some appeared on Indolent) to very little critical fanfare, yet ranks as one of his most consistent and enduring albums. Crammed full of barbed witicisms and unashamed pop melodies, ILMF is one of the first treasures reissued by Pete Paphides' new label, Needle Mythology (named after Duffy's single of the same name - other releases include a hard-to-find Ian Broudie LP, Tales Told).
Its running order has been re-jigged to include songs that should have been here in the first place (Mao Badge and In The Evening Of Her Day) and shouldn't (You Are and What If I Fell In Love With You, both produced by XTC's Andy Partridge), plus there's a new sleeve design (although i quite liked the original). It says something about the confidence of an artist to sideline a song as terrific as You Are but, in truth, it didn't quite fit with the mood of what is largely a reflective, biographical and, at times, sombre album. Songs like The Deal, Twenty Three and The Postcard are great examples of how refined and craftsmanlike Stephen Duffy had become some 15-plus years into his solo songwriting career.
Arguably, Duffy's career hasn't witnessed a heyday per se but ILMF ranks pretty highly - pretty much everything he's created has stood the test of time, even the nuggets contained on the extra CD version. The Waitresses Story and The Girl Of The Year are testament to this undoubted talent. Great package. Messrs Paphides and Duffy should be proud of it. Music in Colors, Duffy and the Fontana years await vinyl attention immediately.
9/10
I Love My Friends originally appeared on the Cooking Vinyl imprint in 1997 (some appeared on Indolent) to very little critical fanfare, yet ranks as one of his most consistent and enduring albums. Crammed full of barbed witicisms and unashamed pop melodies, ILMF is one of the first treasures reissued by Pete Paphides' new label, Needle Mythology (named after Duffy's single of the same name - other releases include a hard-to-find Ian Broudie LP, Tales Told).
Its running order has been re-jigged to include songs that should have been here in the first place (Mao Badge and In The Evening Of Her Day) and shouldn't (You Are and What If I Fell In Love With You, both produced by XTC's Andy Partridge), plus there's a new sleeve design (although i quite liked the original). It says something about the confidence of an artist to sideline a song as terrific as You Are but, in truth, it didn't quite fit with the mood of what is largely a reflective, biographical and, at times, sombre album. Songs like The Deal, Twenty Three and The Postcard are great examples of how refined and craftsmanlike Stephen Duffy had become some 15-plus years into his solo songwriting career.
Arguably, Duffy's career hasn't witnessed a heyday per se but ILMF ranks pretty highly - pretty much everything he's created has stood the test of time, even the nuggets contained on the extra CD version. The Waitresses Story and The Girl Of The Year are testament to this undoubted talent. Great package. Messrs Paphides and Duffy should be proud of it. Music in Colors, Duffy and the Fontana years await vinyl attention immediately.
9/10