Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

King Of The Slums – Barbarous English Fayre. Now here’s a band who are grievously unsung. They were probably at their peak (and enjoying their 15 minutes of NME/MM-endorsed fame) when this compilation of early singles and new tracks was released in 1989, the flipside of the loved-up Madchester scene. The song titles are almost comically Morrissey-esque – ‘Simpering Blonde Bombshell’, ‘Venerate Me Utterly’, ‘Bedevilment’s Favourite Son’ etc – but the music positively seethes with small town violence and frustration, a distorted electric violin constantly needling away in the mix. Really, these guys were brilliant… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAr9M9yOUpE (and also recently reformed apparently)