The Mixers - Speed, Madness, Flying Saucers... (1985)

I've been going through my old cassette collection again, and found this tape that I used to play all the time back in the 80's. The Mixers were a Glasgow neo-psyche band who had a nice line in 60's influenced psychedelic indie pop, and actually had their 'Never Find Time' appear on Dan Treacy's Whaam! Records compilation 'All For Art... And Art For All' in 1984, before it was re-issued by Vinyl Japan as a single in 1998. They were formed in 1980 when 15-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarists Dannie Vallely and Ulric Kennedy replaced departing lead guitarist Jim Bell in a group comprising Grant Morrison on rhythm guitar and Ron Bookless on bass. They were eventually joined by Mikel Angus on drums, and adopting their name from Anthony Burgess' novel 'A Clockwork Orange', the band set about creating melodic pop cross-fertilised with the supercharged delivery of the punk era. This tape was issued by Acid Tapes in 1985, and I added a couple of extra songs to my copy, by The Cloud Merchants and The Ochre 5, who began life as a bedroom project by Dannie Vallely, and employed the vocal talents of his sister Joanne Vallely. The tape was sent to Alan McGee who, predictably, loved it, and weeks later The Jesus and Mary Chain turned up on Joanne's doorstep in East Kilbride demanding the band join them for a Creation Records launch night in Glasgow. A band was formed for the event featuring Dannie Vallely (guitar/keyboards), with ex-Mixers Grant Morrison (rhythm guitar) and Ulric Kennedy (bass), and with Pete Haggerty on drums, but they only stayed together long enough for that one gig. Ochre 5's 'Virtual Sham' is a stunning song which deserves to be included here, and to round off the album we have those two tracks from the Whaam! Records compilation. 

Track listing

01 No One Loves You At All 

02 Now

03 Pictures Of You

04 Dear Sister, Love

05 Big Store

06 The Greenroom

07 Whisper Soft

08 Strangest Play

09 Bitter Sun

10 Closer

11 Virtual Sham (Ochre 5)

12 Things We Used To Say (The Cloud Merchants)

13 Never Find Time

14 Love Hurts