This week's Album of the week

I know Fiona is going to love this. She probably can't believe it took me until the third week to place this album at the top of this week's pile.




1. The Pursuit Of An Orchid 2. Two Cats On The Piano 3. Memory Fever 4. For The Delicious C 5. Desire Regained 6. Get Out Of Live 7. Pistol Crazed 8. The Wreck In The Bay 9. Reason To Feel 10. Memory Fever 2 11. The idyll Off Crown Circus 12. Perpetual Adoration 13. Sweet Deceit 14. The honeysuckle Rose 15. On The Steps At Park Circus

Now like a lot of people on the good side of Scotland, I haven't much time for the Scotsman, but when I was trawling around the web looking for a decent image to put on the blog I found this great review dating from 2005.

The Bathers Sweet Deceit (Island, 1990)

"I'm nineteen and I'm crazy about you. Yes I'm crazy about you. So crazy." If you've heard Chris Thomson sing this song, Desire Regained from this 1990 record, you should have hairs standing on the back of your neck by now. It is certainly worth seeking out if you haven't. If The Blue Nile offer a late night Glasgow train or car journey, The Bathers offer the same tour but in the form of a bracing walk. Thomson's voice, the closest Scotland has come to Tom Waits, later came to distinction on Bloomsday with two of Lloyd Cole's Commotions, but Sweet Deceit is the start of something good (The band continued to record through the 90s on Marina records). Unusual Places to Die, The Bathers' previous album on Go! Discs, is also worth your investigation if you can find it on CD, but Sweet Deceit is where The Bathers started to luxuriate. As well as the stunning Desire Regained, it's difficult to hear The Pursuit of an Orchid, The Honeysuckle Rose or Memory Fever without hearing a singer and songwriter at his evocative best. A wonderful 1990 late night snapshot of the then City of Culture.

Well, so much for the Scotsman's John McKie. What do I think? I think its one of the best albums to come out of Scotland in the past twenty years. Unfortunately, despite a small cult following, the band, and Chris Thomson in particular, never got the wider recognition they deserved. If you ever get the chance to hear a Bathers album, but this one in particular, then give it a go. You'll be glad you did.