RECORD TURNOVER 80s HITS #222
I never really paid much attention to Portsmouth group Cranes, until I realised they also had a life in the 80s. Founded by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw they started playing together as early as 1985, their first full-length didn’t arrive until 1991. While that album, called Wings of Joy, sounded much like 4AD artists like Dead Can Dance or a darker Cocteau Twins, it’s their earlier and more gothic sound that appeals to me.
The album was preceded by two 12” on the same label Dedicated (also home to Chapterhouse and Spacemen 3 for a while), but you’d have to go back to their 1989 mini-LP to hear their original sound. Self-Non-Self came out as a 12” on the small Bite Back! label. It’s been reissued on the Music On Vinyl service, but you can also hear it here.
But the group’s first recording was actually an even more raw EP called Fuse, out on the same label. The 1986 cassette was finally given a remastered reissue on Cranes’ own label Dadaphonic in April this year.
Along with an unreleased track, these 7 songs present an almost-industrial sound with some similarities to Pornography-era The Cure as well. Perhaps if it had been given a wider release at the time it would have been a darkwave classic. The original group disbanded in 1997, but the Shaw siblings returned with a new album four years later and continue to play together with a new lineup.
