blue orchids
ltm catalog

Formed by Martin Bramah with Una Baines after the pair left The Fall in 1979, the Blue Orchids released a string of classic singles on the Rough Trade label, including Disney Boys, Work and the Agents of Change ep, as well as the album The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) in 1982. The following year the group disbanded, but returned in 1985 with another strong single, Sleepy Town. After a further stint in The Fall, Martin Bramah gathered together a new Blue Orchids for the single Diamond Age (1991) and a second album, The Sleeper (1993). A third Blue Orchids album emerged in 2004, Mystic Bud.

"Some of the most visionary music of its era. Ramshackle but transcendent" (Simon Reynolds, in Rip It Up & Start Again)


THE GREATEST HIT (LTMCD 2367) £10
The classic 1982 indie chart topping album originally released on Rough Trade. The LTM edition includes all ten album tracks, together with nine bonus tracks taken from contemporary singles and eps. These include Work, Disney Boys, The Flood and The Long Night Out. Album highlights include Sun Connection, Dumb Magician, Low Profile, Bad Education and A Year With No Head. Also included is an ultra-rare version of All Tomorrow's Parties, performed by Nico and produced by the legendary Martin Hannett. 74 minutes of music, 19 tracks in total. Full tracklist: Disney Boys, The Flood, Work, The House That Faded Out, Sun Connection, Dumb Magician, Tighten my Belt, A Year With No Head, Hanging Man, Bad Education, Wait, No Looking Back, Low Profile, Mad as the Mist and Snow, Agents of Change, Conscience, Release, The Long Night Out, All Tomorrow's Parties.

Reviews: "One of the best albums we're likely to hear all year" (NME, 1982); "Blue Orchids epitomise an overlooked strain of intelligent guitar rock that ought to chime with fans of grainier latterday garage combos, and in leader Martin Bramah they possessed a songwriter of singular authority. All of it is essential British kit. Four stars" (Q Magazine, 2/04); "Trebly, tentative and trippy, these songs have come to define the Blue Orchid's sound. Utterly excellent" (Whisperin & Hollerin', 11/03); "The best band in the world" (Washington City pages, 1/04)


THE SLEEPER (LTMCD 2340) £10
Recorded in London over several months in 1993, The Sleeper confirms Martin Bramah as a major (yet sorely underrated) talent. In addition to surging pop numbers such as Lover of Nothing, Diamond Age, Dream Boat and Butterfly Effect, the set also encompasses the soft (Blue Grey Boy), the sinister (Weird World) and the intimate ballad Out of Sight, one of Martin's best-realised arrangements to date. In addition to the entire lost album, this CD includes tracks from the Sleepy Town, Diamond Age and Secret City singles. The digitally mastered set runs for a full 70 minutes, and the booklet includes extensive sleevenotes. Tracklist: Weird World, Dream Boat, Lover of Nothing, Blue Grey Boy, Diamond Age, Butterfly Effect, NY Gargoyles, The Gun is a Coward's Weapon, Dark Matter Kid, Out of Sight, Love Fiend, NY Gargotles (Secret City Mix), NY Gargoyles (Subway Mix), Moth, Sleepy Town, Thirst, Diamond Age (12"), Sleepy Town (12").

Reviews: "A deceptive band whose songs have a way of stalking you" (Uncut, 3/03); "It's surely time for one of post-punk's most underrated songwriters to get the credit he deserves" (Q magazine, 4/03); "Lover of Nothing and Diamond Age reveal a hitherto well-hidden lighter side. The jittery funk of NY Gargoyles is another highlight" (Leonard's Lair, 2/03); "The Sleeper is the grail unearthed for Bramah aficionados... The opening five tracks are probably Bramah's best batch of songs to date. Indeed the less-cluttered version of Diamond Age, the serenely confident Dream Boat and the dignified and defiant Weird World are all on first-name terms with genius. Up there with Josef K's 'Sorry For Laughing' and Shack's 'Waterpistol' in the glorious unearthed treasure stakes. All we need now is a sequel" (Whisperin' & Hollerin', 2/03); "Bramah and company are in excellent form, and the recording is top notch. Lover of Nothing is the could-have-been-great single" (mundanesounds, 5/03)


MYSTIC BUD (LTMCD 2374) £10
Recorded in 2003, the third studio album from Blue Orchids sees mainman Martin Bramah joined by Stuart Kennedy, Alastair Murphy, Charlotte Bill and Bud Umu. Mystic Bud features nine superb new Bramah penned songs, including the naked soul of Shining Brow, the upbeat Soul Stuff and Freak Show, the Snake Pass stomp of Black Peg's Son and the troubadour gem Sub Rosa. By way of a surprise, the set closes with a narcoleptic cover of the Archie's classic Sugar Sugar. If you're looking for reference points, think…bubblegum trance! Full tracklist: Shining Brow, Soul Stuff, Angel of the Loop, Freak Show, Black Peg's Son, The Secret of the Sacred Orchid, Bemused, Earthling, Sub Rosa and Sugar Sugar.

Reviews: "A free-ranging set of folk, rock and power-pop" (Magnet, 03/05); "The songs offer ragged reminders of their author's singular talent. Campfire guitars, flutes and dulcimers replace the electricity of yore, but on chirruping opener Soul Stuff or the mordant, declamatory Freak Show, Bramah proves that age has hardly withered his muse" (Q Magazine, May 2004); "A mature album from a mature artist who still sounds as relevant as ever. This is probably - whisper it softly - Bramah's best offering yet" (Leonard's Lair, 3/04); "Bramah's ear for skew-whiff psychedelia remains strong, and a flat-out lovely nod to the past comes with a cover of Sugar Sugar, given a slow, moody reworking that turns it into a beautiful pop equivalent of the Velvet Underground's Heroin" (All Music Guide, March 2004); "A far more intiminate, secretive plant that grows gradually on you with repeated plays. More pastoral, there's an elemnt of low-key, wistful English psychedelia, and the songs are pretty, fragile and quite sublime" (Whisperin' & Hollerin', 3/04); "Bud is a psychedelic folk record beautifully carved from hushed vocals, dense arrangements and a hazy, indiscrete production" (Exclaim!, 04/04)


FROM SEVERE TO SERENE (LTMCD 2354) £10
In addition to all seven tracks recorded for their legendary John Peel sessions in 1980 and 1982, this CD includes the rare Riding the Times ep recorded in 1987 as Thirst with ex-Fall drummer Karl Burns, plus several live tracks recorded in Manchester in 1981. This digitally remastered set runs for 71 minutes, and the booklet includes detailed sleevenotes. Tracklist: Work, The House That Faded Out, Low Profile, Sun Connection, Bad Education, A Year With No Head, No Looking Back, Crystal Kiss, The Unknown, Let Go, Riding the Times, Tighten My Belt (live), The Flood (live), Sun Connection (live), Hanging Man (live), Disney Boys (live), Work (live), Underground Breakfast (live).

Reviews: "This has dated incredibly well. In kinder times, the grimy Dickensian pop of Work and laconically catchy Bad Education would surely have troubled the charts - four stars" (Q magazine, 4/03); "The Blue Orchids cut a caustic swathe through the early 1980s with songs like Work... The Charalatans and Inspiral Carpets both emulated their inventive use of Hammond organ" (Uncut, 3/03); "All pre-apocalyptic sense of wonder, it looked forward with awe to visions of what might have been, then ran for the hills instead" (Glasgow Herald, 2/03); "The second Peel outing is the real gem. Spacier and more considered than before, it features Bramah far more at ease with himself as a vocalist. If pushed, this reviewer would plump for A Year With No Head as his absolute fave Bramah tune" (Whisperin' & Hollerin, 2/03); "The Peel sessions actually serve the Blue Orchids better than their studio recordings - tighter, more intense, and better sounding. In fact their whole second Peel session is utterly wonderful" (mundanesounds, 5/03)

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