It's Immaterial - Bored Usherette (1991)

In my last post by It's Immaterial I mentioned that just before the band broke up in 1990 they'd started recording what would have been their third album under the guidance of 'Song' producer Calum Malcolm, even titling it 'House For Sale'. Some twenty four years later, whilst moving studios, Jarvis Whitehead and John Campbell discovered a neat cardboard box containing the original multi-track Tascam DA-88 tapes from those sessions and decided to complete the project. After restoring the tapes and recording new parts to complete them, the duo started a crowd-funding page via PledgeMusic to raise enough money to release the album, and after a couple of years they managed to reach their target, and 'House For Sale' was finally released in September 2020. But the story doesn't end there, as the ten tracks that they chose for the album aren't all that was recorded, and with some being updated and re-titled, while others were dropped completely, the final release is pretty much a brand new record compared to my old bootleg of the album. If I remove the four tracks that have now appeared on the official release, we still have nine songs left, making up a 43-minute companion to the long-awaited follow-up to 'Song'. I would encourage anyone who fondly remembers the band, or was alerted to them by my earlier posts, to support them by buying 'House For Sale', and in the meantime you can listen to this collection of songs that didn't make it, but certainly deserved to.

Track listing

01 Bored Usherette   
02 Heaven Help Us All  
03 Out Of The Blue   
04 Just Drive  
05 Wyoming  
06 Is It All Right  
07 Circus Boy  
08 Betcha By  
09 New Moon   

It's Immaterial - Crooked Tunes (1992)

By 1984, It's Immaterial had been reduced to a duo of Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead, who had joined in 1982, and in this incarnation they had their biggest hit to date, with 'Ed's Funky Diner (Friday Night, Saturday Morning)' on Siren Records, quickly followed by the four-track EP 'The Fish Waltz' on Situation Two Records. In September 1986 the band finally released their superb debut album 'Life's Hard and Then You Die', and their next few singles were tracks taken from the album, with it's opening song 'Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune)' becoming their biggest hit and most famous song, featuring regularly on television adverts and 80's-based compilation albums. In 1990 they released their second album 'Song', which as before, was of a subdued, understated nature, with wry wit in the manner of an indie Pet Shop Boys. The album was a commercial flop, despite receiving positive reviews in the music press, but has been re-assessed in recent years and is now generally regarded as a worthy follow-up to 'Life's Hard...', and has brought the band a whole new raft of fans in recent years. Shortly after 'Song' was released the band ceased to be, but before they disbanded they did record a third album, provisionally entitled 'House For Sale', which was rejected by the record company. For the past few years Campbell and Whitehead have been crowd-funding on Pledge Music to have it released, and the last I heard was that by 2017 they'd reached their target, but so far it hasn't appeared. Until it does then enjoy the music of this massively under-rated band with these two compilations of some of their best work. 

Track listing

01 We'll Turn Things Upside Down (The Enthusiast's Song) 
                                                                           (b-side of 'Ed's Funky Diner' double 7" 1986)

02 Let's Murder The Moonshine (John Peel session 1983)

03 Kissing Lord Herbert (b-side of 'Ed's Funky Diner' double 7" 1986)

04 Several Brothers (from the 'Fish Waltz' EP 1985)

05 Lullaby (from the 'Fish Waltz' EP 1985)

06 Fish Waltz (from the 'Fish Waltz' EP 1985)

07 Trains, Boats, Planes (b-side of 'Driving Away From Home' 1986)

08 A Crooked Tune (b-side of 'Driving Away From Home' 12" 1986)

09 Hereby Hangs A Tale (b-side of 'Space' 1986)

10 Only The Lonely (b-side of 'Ed's Funky Diner' re-issue 1986)

11 New Moon (from the unreleased third album 'House For Sale' 1992, later included on  

                                                                    'Unearthed - Liverpool Cult Classics Vol. 1' 2001)

It's Immaterial - Young Men Seek Interesting Jobs (1985)

It's Immaterial were formed by three former members of the Stiff/Radar Records powerpop band Yachts, when John Campbell (vocals), Martin Dempsey (guitar) and Henry Priestman (keyboards) joined up with drummer Paul Barlow to form a new outfit. Considering that the main members of the band were all songwriters it was strange that their 1981 debut single was a cover of an obscure 60's song by The First Impression called 'Young Man (Seeks Interesting Job)'. However, it was their second single on Inevitable Records (home to the legendary Wah Heat! among others) that alerted me to them, as not only did 'A Gigantic Raft In The Philippines' have the most memorable title, but it was a cracking little indie pop song. 'Imitate The Worm' followed on IHM Records, which seemed to have passed me by, as the next single that I was aware of was the excellent 'White Man's Hut' on yet another new label Eternal, and the 12" version was the first example of the band recycling their songs, as it included the b-side to 'Imitate The Worm' on the flip. This was taken to the extreme for their next record, where they completely re-recorded 'A Gigantic Raft' for a 1984 release, together with a Tempest remix and a new b-side, which segued nicely with the A-side when played in succession. During this flurry of activity they also recorded four sessions for John Peel, and some of them included new songs which never later appeared on single or album. As you can see from their convoluted history, It's Immaterial released a wealth of material before their debut album in 1986 garnered them praise from critics and public alike, and so I've managed to compile two collections of their non-albums songs, with the first one covering the period 1981 to 1985, and includes all their singles (with the exception of the rather strange b-side to that first one), along with some of those Peel session tracks, and a 'live' TV recording of one of them, 'Huzzah Huzzah Physic Stick', where I think the band were miming to a backing track, so it's as near to a studio recording as we'll get.  

Track listing

01 Young Man (Seeks Interesting Job) (single 1980)
02 A Gigantic Raft In The Philippines (single 1981)
03 No Place For A Prompter (b-side of 'A Gigantic Raft In The Philippines' original 7" 1981)
04 Imitate The Worm (single 1981)
05 Rake (John Peel session 1981)
06 White Man's Hut (single 1983)
07 The Worm Turns (b-side of 'White Man's Hut' 12" single)
08 Solid Piles Of Food (b-side of 'White Man's Hut' 12" single)
09 Huzah Huzah Physic Stick (John Peel session, and 'live' recording 1982)
10 A Gigantic Raft (single 1984)
11 The Mermaid (b-side of 'A Gigantic Raft' 1984)
12 Challo (John Peel session 1983)
13 Washing The Air (b-side of 'Ed's Funky Diner' 1985)