Ramshackle Rumble

Delighted to welcome Moonboots from Manchester’s estimable Aficionado Recordings and club night to write a piece on the story behind the superb forthcoming release on the label – the iconic Liverpudlian Balearic of Brenda Beachball Ray’s Ramshackle Rumble EP.

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, I was a teenage It’s Immaterial fan. In those pre-internet days I would hang out in Smiths of Wigan’s record department hoping to come across some obscure double pack 7″. I guess I just wanted to own everything I could get my hands on. As fate would have it, I came across this 12″ one fine day in 1988.

Perusing the cover, I noticed that Jarvis from It’s Immaterial had played on it. And it was only 99p! I got it home and in all honesty I was a little underwhelmed. It was pleasant enough. Just not my bag at the time.

The Acid House steamroller was heading my way though and my (mainly) indie and 80s pop collection was filed away as US and Italian import 12″s took pride of place instead. I moved to Manchester a couple of years later and my new-found Balearic sensibilities led to a reassessment of those unloved indie and pop/pap pieces. Post-club sessions back at my flat in Chorlton led to a rediscovery of Mandarin Mooch, tucked away on the flip of D’ya Hear Me.

All the Balearic boxes were ticked. The dubbed out, eastern sounding chugger – to my ears – was a tune. It was also around about then that I found my second Brenda record in King Bee Records… The magnificent Volume One.

Fast forward 20 odd years and I decided that the criminally ignored Theme From Tall Dark Stranger (tucked away as Volume One’s last track) should be uploaded to YouTube (see above).

It had probably been online for about a week when I received a lovely message from Naffi HQ. Brenda had dropped me a line saying thanks for putting it out there. We exchanged email addresses and she tantalisingly told me about an unreleased Beachballs track from ’88 – Theme from Another Space.
Perfect for Aficionado Recordings, the label I run with Jason Boardman.

A lot of Brenda’s early Naffi material has been compiled, beautifully, by the excellent Em label but the later 80s stuff needed some love too. She sent over four tracks and the seeds for nado007 were sown. Eight months later here it is. And guess what? Jarvis from It’s Immaterial plays on this release too. That’s another one for the collection…

Five Balearic Beachballs

1. Dancing thru’ the Night
2. Theme From Another Space
3. Mandarin Mooch
4. Shellfish Samba
5. Tall Dark Stranger (vocal version taken from Bugs on the Wire comp)

Brenda Beachball Ray’s Ramshackle Rumble EP will be in the shops (the good ones anyway) on Monday. And you can keep up to date with the label on their Facebook page here.

– Moonboots, Feb 2014