Photograph
Manicured Noise
1980

Postcard feat. Jodie Taylor from Manicured Noise – Metronome 7?. Pre (003). 1980.

A. Metronome
B. Moscow 1980

Taken from Consolation Prize website (link below)

"Great bands come and go. Some last decades, some last one album and are remembered for long time afterwards. But others end up as a footnote on rock’s back pages, largely forgotten by the general public.

As the interest in the late-70s post-punk era grew, however, some lost bands have been remembered, as labels seek out old post-punk bands and re-release their old recordings.

Manicured Noise were mentioned very, very briefly in Simon Reynolds’post-punk history ‘Rip it Up and Start Again’. They were, however, a great band, at their peak a kind of English fusion of Talking Heads and the Contortions. Unfortunately, their career was effectively over before it began, with only a couple of EPs under their belt. The band was quickly working towards their peak after their original vocalist Owen Gavin left the group, shifting from an abstract, avant-garde sound to something more accessible.

Now, all their studio recordings, plus a BBC session and some live tracks, have been compiled on ‘Northern Stories 78/80’, on Caroline True records. It includes two versions of the band’s best known track, ‘Faith’, which was covered by indie band Shack in the late 80s."


(Excerpt from piece by Mark Rowland for Penny Black Music)