S.o.t.D. – Looks Like We’re Shy One Horse/Shoot Out – Colourbox

Looks Like We’re Shy One Horse/Shoot Out – Colourbox

I became a huge fan of the 4AD label in the eighties. From a purely face value perspective, the covers were spectacular, each and every single one. The stellar work of 23 Envelope gave the label a very diverse, and paradoxically very unified look. I don’t think I’m the only person who bought their records, sound unheard, just because of the cover or by virtue of the fact that it was a 4AD release.

And then of course, there was that other important point – the music. I’m trying to think if there was any act on 4AD that I wasn’t such a fan of..... Don’t think so. Bauhaus, Birthday Party, Wolfgang Press, Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, XMal Deutschland, This Mortal Coil, Throwing Muses, Swallow, Red House Painters, Pale Saints, Lush, His Name Is Alive, The Pixies, Dead Can Dance, the list goes on and on and on.

Colourbox remain one of my particular favourites. Everything from kick ass dance tunes, soulful covers of old reggae tunes, to atmospheric movie soundtracks. They tackled a broad range of stuff, and did it all with aplomb.

Sadly, after their A.R. Kane collaboration, M/A/R/R/S, and the mega hit Pump Up The Volume, Steven and Martin Young, the musical core behind Colourbox (Lorita Grahame was the voice), stopped making music altogether. There are more than a few acts that I lament their demise, death of members, etc. But I really rue the day the Young brothers pitched it in. When I listen back to their stuff now, some of it getting on to 30 years old, it still sounds absolutely fantastic to me. It makes me sad to think what else they might have achieved if they had continued on making music.