It’s not too hard to see how ports like LA, New York, Glasgow, London and Bristol became musical hotbeds; their geography makes them a cultural melting pot and natural breeding ground. In the early ‘60s, new rock’n’roll discs from the States first landed off the boat in Liverpool.
Now weirdly, I’m not sure I’ve ever been to Liverpool. My son Scott has and spent an enjoyable day pottering round the city. But 43 years of living in the country and I never did get round to a visit, which I regret. Nevertheless, in many ways, growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the whole country navigated under a Merseyside lighthouse.
First off, we were living in a post-Beatles world. They had largely created the landscape in which music in the UK was attempting to organise itself as the ‘70s wore on. Not very successfully. Any band that tried to sound like The Beatles suffered by comparison - perhaps only ELO came close to evolving their sound successfully. But technology had changed (powerful amplification for live performances, not least) and the culture was changing too. New forms emerged and The Moptops, even had they stayed intact, would have struggled to retain their hegemony in an era of heavy metal, prog, disco, reggae and eventually punk.
Then there was the stranglehold Liverpool FC imposed on the footballing landscape. At one point they finished first or second in the league for 14 out of 15 seasons.
And something else as well – the post-industrial wasteland that the south of the country wanted to forget about and detach itself from. Riots in Toxteth. Condescension from London. In the end, leading to a culture of neglect and callous indifference which facilitated the Hillsborough disaster of 1989.
Is there a Liverpool sound which can tell the story? I struggle to pick out a consistent narrative. There’s always been a debt to America, as befitting a city facing west (via Ireland, of course, another significant influence). In the ‘60s there was Merseybeat, of course. In the early ‘80s a neo-psychedelia with the Teardrop Explodes and the Bunnymen. Since then there’s been a sort of shimmering, twangy sound of bands like The Wild Swans and the LAs that’s not quite my cup of tea. But you may disagree.
So here’s a Merseyside melange. See what you think.
Tracklist:
The Story of the Blues, Part One, Pete Wylie and the Mighty Wah!
All being fine, King Hannah
Tennis, Courting
Treason, The Teardrop Explodes
Modern kosmology, Jane Weaver
Almost, OMD
One of those things, Beija Flo
Spit on a stranger, Kathryn Williams
Walking with thee, Clinic
Villiers Terrace, Echo and the Bunnymen
Upon 9th and Fairchild, The Boo Radleys
For what is Chatteris?, Half Man Half Biscuit
20, Hannah’s Little Sister
We will last, Shai-Li Paldi