Wednesday 12 September 2007

The Last Chant "Run Of The Dove" (Chicken Jazz Records, 1981)

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Here's yet another of those records that I know absolutely nothing about. I'm sure that I bought this single (in Record & Tape Exchange, obv.) because it was on Chicken Jazz, who'd released the Waterboys single "A Girl Called Johnny". (though this single came first). I remember being somewhat disappointed with the single when I first got it, but when the middle of the 80's rolled round, the fact that it was basically an EXACT copy of the Velvet Underground meant it scored some major points and stayed in my collection. It's a piece of dark, brooding psychedelia: it broods and builds, swells and surges: it's a quite extraordinarily confident record, which seems all the more confusing when nothing further was heard from its protagonists. Sometimes, great bands have enough power and drive to get that one great single out: then no more. It's the Mayfly principle at work. Live fast, die young, and leave a wonderful 7" piece of vinyl that people will blog about for years to come.

And yes, that's my digital camera that's made the sleeve look so bad. I apologise. One of these days, I promise I'll get a scanner. As ever, if anyone out there has any more info on the band, let me know.

The Last Chant "Run Of The Dove" (mp3)


11 comments:

So It Goes said...

Mmmm...'Hole In My Shoe' via 'Venus In Furs'. What a strange choice for release in the 80s. Definitely a step up from Phodge, though.

Mick said...

I know exactly where you're coming from with the 'mayfly principle'.
You also get crap bands that suddenly produce a one-off great single. Haven't thought of a name for that principle but these are the reasons I collected singles.

Paul Groovy said...

if you can put DOWN WITH TRACTORS on the net then I can put GROOVYBLACKSHADES there too!

www.groovyblackshades@blogspot.com

Iain Baker said...

Paul! loving the blog, will link to it on here....
Put some mp3's up, it's dead easy, i'm using fileden.com, have a look and you'll see how easy it is to upload stuff :))

chip said...

I played on this record,sixteen at the time,yeah listened to alot of velvets;Mike scott was a real help.

Iain Baker said...

Hey Chip, glad you found your way here, and i'm even more impressed with the single, now i've found out you were so young at the time..
Nice one! keep in touch,
iain

Anonymous said...

The Last Chant came from Liverpool. Decent band in their day but sadly never got the breaks. Great record - still got it.

Wally said...

I have a copy of this single and it was great as were all the releases on Chicken Jazz - someone really should compile them all and re-release them.

I also have Jazz 5 which was a 7" by Ahab (Paul McLaughlin), who I know very little about but who did a cool cover of "Don't Give Up On Us" which was originally done by David Soul from the Starsky and Hutch TV Fame.

Unknown said...

We've got this single too. Just this weekend my brother ripped it to CD for Carl Blanthorn who was in the band. We haven't seen him for more than 20 years and he doesn't have a copy anymore so it was nice to be able to do this. I've yet to listen to it despite it sitting in our record collection since 1981.

Len said...

The track's on Mike Scott's Soundcloud page. This is what he says about it:

Psychedelic 1981 single by long-gone Liverpool band The Last Chant. It was released on Chicken Jazz, the pre-Waterboys label run by me and some pals. I co-produced the record at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, and sang some backing vocals. The Last Chant were a six-piece group who specialised in strange African-cum-Velvets grooves, had a fiddler (Tim Blanthorn, who later played on The Waterboys' A Pagan Place album), and a front line of three killer singers. When they sang together a crack opened in the sky.

Viagra Vs Cialis said...

I dont know nothing about these guys, Im going to see how it sounds.