Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Never let it be said Elsewhere doesn't listen to its constituency. When the cry went up more than a decade ago, "Why no Half man Half Biscuit at From the Vaults?" the solution was obvious.
(The answer however is, because they're pretty awful -- but that's neither here nor there)
For those who have lived happy and fulfilled lives in the absence of any knowledge of this often hilarious, satirical and willfully cultish group out of Birkenhead, Liverpool their story is rather fascinating.
Formed in the mid Eighties by brothers Simon and Nigel Blackwell, Neil Crossley, David Lloyd and Paul Wright, they enjoyed early success with their album Back in the DHSS (Beatles references are rife, see the photo) and they promptly broke up.
They reformed but avoided anything like a stable line-up around writer/singer Nigel Blackwell and bassist Crossley, were invited onto The Tube (they didn't go, their local team was playing that night) and continue on their eccentric way to this day.
Song titles tell you they don't take much seriously: on Back in the DHSS there are Sealclubbing, 99% of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd, Time Flies By (When You're The Driver of a Train), Venus in Flares and I Love You Because (You Look Like Jim Reeves).
They recorded an album with the title Achtung Bono and the single from it was Joy Division Oven Gloves. Other tracks included Shit Arm Bad Tatoo, Asparagus Next Left and We Built this Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune.
Half Man Half Biscuit are a very English phenomenon -- in the absurdist, parody tradition of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Monty Python, the Soft Boys and so on -- and their followers are . . . . let's just say "loyal" and leave it at that.
I don't want to offend and have them come round the house waving umbrellas and penguins and threatening to sing Architecture, Morality, Ted and Alice outside my window..
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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.
The Riverboat Captain - May 4, 2011
If you ever need advice on the cultural references (though I guess reading this that you might not be all that interested), drop me a line :)
Save"Time Flies.." is a parody of a song from the late 60s childrens stop motion animation series Chigley.
megan Stunzner - May 4, 2011
Time Flies - the roll call at the beginning (Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb) is from Trumpton, another stop animation childrens' TV programme from the late 60's.
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