FST 062 NIVENS

Those workaholics at Berlin’s Firestation Records have come up trumps again in their mission to ensure that every English jingle-jangle pop band from the mid-80's enjoys a second spell in the limelight.

This time it’s the North East’s Nivens that are given the opportunity to have their entire recorded output neatly packaged onto one handy CD and in the main they do it justice.

Like a cross between the jangle of vintage Brilliant Corners and Postcard-era Orange Juice, but with a distinctive vocal that leaves the listener in no doubt as to the bands roots, Nivens (originally the Nivens) were typical of so many provincial bands formed in the 1980s.

Of the 19 tracks included here, it’s the ones that were released at the time that stand out, but only because of the slightly better sound quality than the demos.

'Beautiful', the lead track on the 'Dialect Drug' EP, still sounds ace 17 years on and other gems, such as 'Let Loose Of My Knee' (their debut release), 'Yesterday' and 'Northumberland', have also aged rather well.

Of the demos, 'Tidal Waves', 'San Francisco' and 'Judy Garland' are probably the pick and would all have been worthy of single release, which may have been a possibility if the legal threat from another, supposedly more high profile, the Nivens (from Norwich) had not brought a premature end to the band.

There are rumours that Nivens will reform for a few ‘memory lane’ gigs. I for one will be keen to see them if it happens.

They may not be a national treasure, but Nivens are like finding a fiver rather than a ball of fluff down the back of the sofa and that is a decent result.

Dixie Ernill

Of the recent batch of 80s-era British jangle-pop reissues from Firestation
Records, I'd have to say that this one's my favorite so far. Additionally,
it's the only one from them so far where I've had a working knowledge of the
disc's subject, having been a fan of the Nivens ever since I first heard
their fantastic split flexi with the Holidaymakers (the first release on
Woosh Records, and one of my favorite split flexidiscs of the era). This
disc collects almost everything the band had released during their few years
together - the flexi and two 7"s on Woosh, as well as the second
self-released demo tape - and adds a couple comp tracks and different
versions of the songs that were unheard until now. Given the time period and
label involved, I think you can easily guess what the band roughly sounds
like: male vocals, chiming guitars and excellent melodies, with a sound on
par with bands like the Dentists and the Brilliant Corners (but without the
trumpet). Only a couple duds show up, but lots of high points abound
throughout the disc, including "Yesterday", "I Hope You'll Always Be My
Friend", "It's True" and of course, "Let Loose Of My Knee". Excellent!
MTQ=16/19
-- Listen to "I Hope You'll Always Be My Friend"