Microdisney - Harmony Time (1988)

Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan met at a party on New Years Eve in 1979, and with the addition of vocalist Mick Lynch they formed a trio that they named Constant Reminders. Within a few months they'd added Jack Walsh on bass and and Dave Galvin on drums, and their live gigs were taken much less seriously than future Microdisney outings would be, most likely because of Lynch's vaudevillian sense of humour compared to Coughlan's more acerbic world-view. The band stayed together for a few months, but having two frontmen was always going to be trouble, with both Coughlan and Lynch wanting to sing their own songs, and so Lynch left to join The Mean Features, later going on to become the frontman for indie-shamblers Stump. With Coughlan on keyboards and vocals, and O'Hagan on guitar, Chris McCarthy replaced Walsh on bass, and Giordai O'Laoghaire was added as a second guitarist, with the quintet renaming themselves Micro-Disney. Their style was completely different to what they would become known for, being a sort of rambling punk-funk, led by O'Hagan's lightning fast rhythm guitar, as can be heard on 'National Anthem', which was their contribution to the 'Kaught At The Kampus' 12" single, released in 1980. O'Laoghaire left the band in January 1982, soon followed by Galvin in March, and after McCarthy departed the band was down to a duo of Coughlan and O'Hagan. In May 1982 it was announced in Devoid Media magazine that they were on the verge of signing to a UK label, and in September they released their first single 'Hello Rascals' on Kabuki Records. 

'Pink Skinned Man' followed in 1983, and the success of the two singles led to an invitation to go to London to record a session for the John Peel show, deciding to move there permanently once it was recorded. While there they recruited Jon Fell on bass and Tom Fenner on drums, and became a gigging band again. In January 1984 they recorded a second Peel session, and just three months later were invited back again for another session in April. By this time they'd signed a deal with Rough Trade Records, who released their debut album 'Everything Is Fantastic' in May, together with the 'Dolly' single the following month. From the middle of 1984 Microdisney started gigging extensively to build on the relative interest of their first releases, not just to make the public aware of their existence but also to win over their record label in the process, as Rough Trade seemed to be shuffling their feet over the next release, and reserving their efforts and resources for label mates The Smiths. 'Everybody Is Fantastic' did make a brief appearance in the indie charts in August, and a further Peel session was recorded in October 1984, where they previewed some excellent new material. Penniless and desperate for continuity, the band considered re-releasing a compilation of their older material themselves, and it came in the form of the provocatively titled 'We Hate You South African Bastards', put out by Rough Trade, and allowing fans to hear those rare first two singles, as well as picking up some previously unheard songs. However, the album was not representative of what Microdisney were doing at the time. Impatient for the new material to see the light of day, their situation was fuelling some increasingly bitter lyrics, commenting on the political situation in England at the time. 

January 1985 finally saw signs of progress, with a new album and single promised, and a heavy nationwide tour to follow, but it was April before the three song EP 'In The World' finally appeared, and it pretty much disappeared without trace. Things then went quiet again, while fans waited for the promised album, but before that appeared they released the single 'Birthday Girl', which was one of their best pop songs. The album finally arrived in November, with Rough Trade putting significantly more weight behind its release than their first record, and 'The Clock Comes Down The Stairs' became their first indie number one, helped in no small part by being a truly brilliant album. The success of 'The Clock Comes Down the Stairs' gave Microdisney prospects of a much brighter future as they entered 1986. James Compton (ex Darts) had joined them on keyboards, and the band were beginning to be noticed in the press, prompting Virgin Records to offer them a record deal, which was an easy decision to make bearing in mind that they'd always felt they were never given the backing they deserved from Rough Trade. Once signed to Virgin, Microdisney entered a well deserved period of rest and relaxation, with gigs few and far between, although they did play the Glastonbury festival, and they recorded their sixth Peel session In July. 1986 saw them working on and recording a new album, with 'Crooked Mile' appearing in January 1987, six months after it should have been released. 'Town To Town' was issued as a single, and was well received, almost gracing the Top Forty, and it even earned them a pleasurable appearance on the Tom O'Connor show, with no hint of a scowl, and playing in the spirit it was intended. 

Things were not as rosy as they seemed, though, as the band were unhappy with the recording of 'Crooked Mile', feeling that they had ruined some of their best songs, and despite the record having at least three other tracks good enough to be singles, they refused to release any more singles from it. By February 1987 their promotional tour had fizzled out,  and they commenced work on the follow-up record, with the first fruits being the superb return to form single 'Singer's Hampstead Home', being a vicious attack on Boy George, who lived in Hampstead at the time. Instead of the new album following right behind the single, it became a waiting game again, and it was February 1988 before they issued another single, with 'Gale Force Wind' preceding the album '39 Minutes' by a month. It was their best work in some time, with a production that captured the hard side of their nature but took nothing away from the pop melodies, and where no punches were pulled. Despite the quality of the music, it was ignored by the general public, and they were dropped by Virgin just two months after the album came out, and the disillusioned band split up in August 1988. Normally that would be a sad end to a criminally under-rated group, but with talents like Coughlan and O'Hagan involved they weren't going to stay down for long, and in no time at all Coughlan had formed Fatima Mansions and O'Hagan put together The High Llamas, with both bands going on to have the huge success that had eluded Microdisney. They should have been much more respected and admired than they were, and hopefully you can hear how good they were from this collection of rare singles, b-sides and out-takes. 

      
Track listing

Disc I - 1980-1985
01 National Anthem (from the 'Kaught At The Kampus' 12" single 1980)
02 Hello Rascals (single 1982)
03 The Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost (b-side of 'Hello Rascals')
04 Michael Murphy (previously unreleased)
05 Patrick Moore Says You Can't Sleep Here (previously unreleased)
06 Pink Skinned Man (single 1983)
07 Fiction Land (b-side of 'Pink Skinned Man')
08 Love Your Enemies (previously unreleased)
09 Pretoria Quickstep (previously unreleased)
10 Dear Rosemary (b-side of 'Dolly' 1984)
11 Harmony Time (b-side of 'Birthday Girl' 1985)
12 Money For The Trams (b-side of 'Birthday Girl' 1985)

Disc II - 1985-1988
01 Loftholdinswood (from the 'In The World' single 1985)
02 Teddy Dogs (from the 'In The World' single 1985)
03 464 (from the 'In The World' single 1985)
04 Little Town In Ireland (b-side of 'Town To Town' 1987))
05 She Only Gave In To Her Anger (b-side of 'Singer's Hampstead Home' 1987)
06 Brother Olaf (b-side of 'Singer's Hampstead Home' 1987)
07 Half A Day (b-side of 'Singer's Hampstead Home' 1987)
08 I Can't Say No (Betty Lou Version) (b-side of 'Gale Force Wind' 1988)
09 No, I Can't Say (Thank You For Speaking To Me Mustapha) (b-side of 'Gale Force Wind' 1988)
10 Can't I Say No (Hackney Aid) (b-side of 'Gale Force Wind' 1988)