Dubstar: Disgraceful - 1995
From their name, you may imagine that Newcastle trio* of songwriter and vocalist Sarah Blackwood, guitarist Chris Wilkie and programmer Steve Hillier would be a dub reggae-influenced Massive Attack-style outfit. Not so. They were a synth and subtle beats combo that were associated with BritPop but were refreshingly free of grungy guitars, Beatles influence and Liam Gallagher-type sneering male vocals. Instead they had a gentle, albeit somewhat homogenous sound and Sarah's sweet, evocative voice to give them a bit of a unique character on the mid-nineties scene. Lyrically, Sarah's songs were clever, observational, wry and a tad cynical, often delivered from a female relationship-inspired angst point of view.
* Additional musicians appeared on their albums, playing drums, bass, cello, accordion and keyboards.
This was their debut album and its cover blatantly signifies a bit of an obsession with female sexuality. Check out the barely hidden vagina within the pencil case!
The album is a permanently low key one, sonically - one of those relaxing, unthreatening offerings that doesn't get you drumming on the table or thinking you are in the middle of a festival crowd jumping up ad down to something like Sit Down by James. The tone is set from the outset, with the subtle bassiness of Stars and Sarah's ethereal voice. A tub-thumper it isn't, neither is it an obvious pop single, but, for all that, it has something about it.
Anywhere has a delicious programmed rhythm to it, and some organ breaks that are a bit Elvis Costello & The Attractions-ish. It is a most attractive track.
That afore-mentioned poignant cynicism is present on Just A Girl She Said, a tale of a girl putting up with a soulless one-night stand. She knows it will be unsatisfying, but she goes through with it anyway. Another dark-ish themed number, The Elevator Song has a mysterious sound that puts me in mind of the Specials' Ghost Town somehow. I love the atmospheric keyboards on this.
The Day I See You Again has a relaxed kind of Euro-Pop sensual, rhythmic appeal to it. Its lyrics are quite ABBA-esque in their description of the humdrum mixed with the romantic - a bit like their The Day Before You Came and not just in its title, either. Also notably, the lyrics go thus - "if the man he's grown to be is more Morrison than Morrissey". Poor old Van, eh?
"It's not you it's not me" sings Sarah on Week-In Week-Out, balefully bemoaning the death throes of a relationship. She almost sounds like Morrissey in her despairing, doleful misery. The semi-spoken part has her sounding a little like Nico with The Velvet Underground. The tempo is raised on the bright and breezy, summer's morning vibes of Not so Manic Now. However, its airy melody belies its moving, world-weary themes of tower-block living. There is an intrinsic sadness to Sarah's voice that is ideally suited to deliver her songs, I think.
Popdorian is probably the closest the band get to a BritPop sound with its Byrds-like jangly guitar backing and upbeat joie de vivre. There is something of a late sixties/early seventies feel to it, both musically and lyrically. Not Once, Not Ever returns to the group's more familiar laid-back style, with more of those Parisian airs, slightly Style Council-esque.
The first Dubstar track that caught me firmly by the ears, so to speak, was their beautiful, appealing cover of Billy Bragg's St. Swithin's Day. It is another song for which Sarah's voice is perfect. It is one of those songs where the cover is possibly the superior version. It's just gorgeous. I have always loved the song and this simply lovely version makes me do so even more. Quality. Love that vaguely funky but sensual backing too. This would make it on to any "best of BritPop" list for me, all day long.
This excellent understated album ends in suitably quietly solid fashion on the impressive Disgraceful. Was this album "disgraceful"? Anything but. It's a bit of a hidden gem.
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