The Monochrome Set — Marc Riley BBC 6 Music 2011-2022 (Tapete)
Photo by Steve Brummell
Tapete revives the grand tradition of releasing live BBC sessions and what better band to choose for the inaugural set than The Monochrome Set. In many ways the archetype of independent bands championed by the late John Peel and more recently BBC 6 DJ and former Fall guitarist Marc Riley, The Monochrome Set have held to their eccentric course through multiple incarnations and styles. Ever hovering on the fringes of fashion and fame over his five-decade career, Indian born Bid is a unique lyricist with an ear for melody that mixes spiky power pop, skiffle, noir soundtracks, Joe Meek esoterica, Essex cowboy twang and more into a unique brew of skewed indie jangle. This 32-track collection concentrates on the band’s third phase albums from the 2010s but includes energetic versions of a trio of their early singles.
“Eine Symphonie Des Grauens” from 1979 is updated here with a whirling keyboard background. “Alphaville” is lighter, the original guitar churn replaced by with a sci-fi Wurlitzer. In both cases, the Bid’s lyrics straddle the line between metaphor and the literal, rotting lust-ridden corpses transposed with religious fervor in the former, self-harm and mental illness in the latter. He is also a dab hand at sarcastic political satire, the jaunty Falklands War era “Jet Set Junta”, is just as penetrating and singalong-able now as it was then (replace the Argentine generals with Russian oligarchs for added effect). The band broke up in 1985 after releasing four albums. Reforming in 1990, Bid, founding guitarist Lester Square and long-term bassist Andy Warren recorded five more albums before disbanding again in 1998.
Since their third reformation in 2010, punctuated by Bid’s recovery from a brain aneurism, The Monochrome Set have recorded a further six albums, selections from which the BBC 6 Sessions showcase. Bid’s lyrical concerns have widened to include robots, aliens, mysticism and mortality albeit expressed with his customary wit and wordplay. The music ranges through the big beat of “Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome” and “Super Plastic City”, the Merseyside flavored “Lefty”, the organ driven “Iceman” and “Cosmonaut”, the cosmic country feel of the wonderfully titled “Stick your Hand up if you’re Louche” and the noirish “Really in the Wrong Town” with the band in excellent form and Bid occasionally pushing his voice to the edge but caressing his words with elegant conviction. These sessions are a wonderful introduction to The Monochrome Set’s later albums. The inclusion of the early singles a bonus that will hopefully encourage people to dive back into the band’s complete discography.
