The Chemistry Set - Sounds Like Painting (1989)

The Chemistry Set formed in 1987, with an original line up of Ashley Wood (rhythm guitar/ vocals), Paul Lake (lead guitar/vocals), Henry Taprell (bass) and Dave McLean (drums/vocals), with Neil Pond on harmonica and percussion joining them onstage and in the studio. Wood and Lake had met at secondary school in south east London and had previously played together in other bands, and they set about recording their songs for release on cassette on the Acid Tapes label in 1988. This was followed by several flexi-discs between 1988 and 1990, which received international attention, and the band were featured in fanzines in the UK, Spain, Italy, Holland, Greece, Germany, Sweden, Japan, USA, Australia and New Zealand, with some of their songs being included on various compilation albums around the world. The band gigged on the London circuit, playing venues such as The Camden Falcon and The Mean Fiddler, and built up their reputation until they were able to support Hawkwind at Brixton Academy, and tour with Robyn Hitchcock. In 1990 they released the '(Don't) Turn Away' 12" single on Imaginary Records, and followed that the next year with another 12" single 'The Candle Burns'. Around this time they recorded an album entitled 'Sounds Like Painting', but it was only ever issued as a limited edition in Spain, and so it soon became extremely hard to locate a copy outside of that country. Following the limited release of their only album, the band carried on playing and were signed to Polydor Records, but it was the worst experience of their musical careers, with the Head of A&R constantly rejecting their songs, and trying to mould them into a Brit-Pop band. With one argument with the label following another, the band had had enough after two months of fighting their corner and they called it a day, taking an extended hiatus in the mid 90's. Around 2006/2007 the band heard that their elusive 1989 album had been uploaded onto numerous blogs and downloaded over 5,000 times, and this led to the band reforming as a duo of McLean and Wood, and starting a second phase of their career. Since then they've released four albums, a number of CD/EPs, and four vinyl singles for Fruits de Mer Records, as well as seeing a remix of their version of 'See Emily Play' appear on a three-CD box-set tribute to Pink Floyd, 'The Many Faces Of Pink Floyd', in 2013. I've been a fan of this band since they started, and still have both their cassette albums from 1988, as well as the new record which came out last month, so now is the time to make that hard to find 1989 album more readily available for fans and newcomers alike, with a unique colour cover, and the addition of a 1989 recording of 'Wake Up Sometimes'.   

Track listing

01 Some People Never Learn
02 The Candleburns
03 The Look Inside
04 Acacia Gardens
05 Sittin' On Top Of The World
06 Orange Juice Sun
07 Living Alone
08 The Dreams That I Saw Yesterday
09 Minas Tirith
10 Under The Valley
11 Wake Up Sometimes