Jimmy The Hoover "Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh)" (1983, Innervision)

I never said all of the records on this list had to be good!

After masterminding the controversial ascent of the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow, where does a subversive pop svengali go?  When the eulogies were flooding in for Malcolm McLaren, I don't recall anyone mentioning his role as manager of Jimmy The Hoover.  The band swam in the murky slipstream of Culture Club, sharing their producer (Steve Levine) who gave them a similarly exotic pop lilt.  CBS subsidiary Innervision (then also home to Wham!) signed the band and released "Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh)".  It was the group's sole hit, reaching number 18 in the UK in 1983.  Derek Jarman directed the video, but probably erased it from his CV soon afterwards.

It's probably best not to speculate as to the origin of the band's name, but there was no 'Jimmy'.  The vocals came courtesy of one Derek Dunbar - an un-popstar-ish name if ever there was one.  Legend has it that the band's career took a serious nosedive when Derek replaced his floppy blonde haircut (popular with the girls, apparently) with a severe mohican (teen magazines didn't want to know).  There were also the visa problems of Zambian bassist Flinto Chandia, who is now a celebrated sculptor.  McLaren's attention was possibly diverted by his own 'Duck Rock' project and after just a few singles, the plug was pulled on Jimmy The Hoover.

The Paris Angels "Perfume" (1991, Virgin)

Despite being the optimum age for 'Madchester', I could never bring myself to invest in a pair of flares.  As usual, I surveyed the scene from a safe distance: Birmingham, to be precise.  I did buy a few of the records though, including the 12" of "Perfume" by the Paris Angels which had been given the seal of approval by John Peel and had reached the giddy height of number 6 in his 1990 Festive Fifty.

"Perfume" is a storming four-on-the-floor belter, quite unlike most of the laid-back 'baggy' fare of the time.  Originally released in 1990 on the Sheer Joy label, the track was later beefed up and re-issued when the band signed to Virgin.  Tellingly, the song was the result of a collaboration with “Blue Monday” engineer Michael Johnson.  The mix of squelchy acid synthesizers with jangly guitars and morose male/female vocals is somehow looser than New Order, with the 'Loved Up' version of “Perfume” bounding along like an over-excited puppy.

Despite the massive popularity of "Perfume" in indie circles, The Paris Angels never managed to cross over into the mainstream.  Their album "Sundew" failed to shift major label units and when Virgin was sold to EMI the band was one of the many acts that were culled.

The Smiths "Now I Taste The Tears" (1968, Columbia US)

I first heard this on Trouble's show on WFMU a few years ago.  Having spent my 1980s teenage years as a devotee of those other Smiths, I was intrigued that this US Columbia 45 from 1968 wasn't better known.  (NB: the above video features an Italian CBS pressing with a nice picture sleeve).

This brooding lament was written by Buzz Clifford, who had achieved earlier success with "Baby Sittin' Boogie" in 1961.  Despite this auspicious start, Clifford's solo career failed to take off and he concentrated on songwriting for other artists including Kris Kristofferson and Lou Rawls.  There are echos of these two in the soulful country arrangement of "Now I Taste The Tears", with its loping beats and sweeping strings also reminiscent of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe".   The song builds to a dramatic orchestral crescendo and the pay-off line: "Walk into my bedroom, then I find my gun".  This allusion to a violent murder/suicide might give a clue to why the track, apparently released in April 1968, might have quietly dropped off the airwaves.  This was after all the month when Martin Luther King was assassinated. 

"Now I Taste The Tears" was also covered by the Fearns Brass Foundry and the Beacon Street Union.  Both are worth a listen.

Little is known about the Smiths.  There are reports on the Internet that the group subsequently became the better known act Smith (purportedly discovered by Del Shannon), who signed to ABC Dunhill and enjoyed chart success with their cover of the Shirelles "Baby It's You" and album "A Group Called Smith".  Can anyone confirm the connection?