That's amazing, I've loved them ever since I heard My Favourite Dress on the John Peel Show in 1987. They are my all time favourite band, although the latest album is not brilliant.
George Best is a great debut album but they hadn't quite perfected their sound, it sounds a little too like The Smiths on steroids. A Million Miles is superb and a taste of what was to come. For me, Sea Monsters is their high water mark and came out just at the time that I split with a long term girlfriend, I played it non stop for months on end as it really resonated and, truth be told, it still does.
I hear you there HW. Many times during my later life and playing TWP or Cinerama records, I wondered if Gedge was hiding in my wardrobe and writing everything down!! Bizarro is the album I love the most, my brother and I saw them at Subterania in Ladbroke Grove in 1989, that gig made a mark on me. I've got all sorts of memorabilia upstairs in the loft including all the fanzines etc.
Fleshworld is an excellent song which didn't appear on the original U.K. release of Sea Monsters. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
It was one of the B-sides from the single Dare off the album. It was a favourite of the band during live gigs around that time. This included when my sister-in-law shouted at Gedge to play the song and he responded that he would but that he hadn't memorized the words yet. It was funnier than it probably sounds.
Always loved that tune. That style used to be a staple and now all but extinct. Guthrie, Don McLean, Lightfoot, etc.
This song was released when I was very young and isn't particularly noteworthy other than the fact that my childhood friend Dennis couldn't listen to it without bursting into tears. Needless to say, being the cruel little bastards that we were, it was played at every opportunity to create the desired effect.