The Waltones: She Looks Right Through Me

[dvno69]

they use to play the boardwalk in manchester all the fekin time this band lol

[Wilfslad]

how were they not massive? Great tunes and a good looking singer!

[Rich27014]

Album duly arrived this week, courtesy of Cherry Red. Packed full of pop gems and great guitar tunes. Superb.

[Rich27014]

What a tune! I was responding to a video of East Villages 'Strawberry Window' elsewhere on Youtube and had to dig out the C90 I had with that on plus a load of other late 80s lost classics, mainly taped off Peter Easton's 'Beat Patrol'/'Rock on Scotland' radio show. There, at the end of Side 2 is 'Million Different Ways', which is still a stone cold classic 23 odd years on.

I'll be looking on Amazon or wherever else for an album, this afternoon......

[Chessingtonian]

Did they do a song called "Smile" too?

[Wilfslad]

@Chessingtonian another classic, yes they did

[katienowkate]

@Chessingtonian

Yes they did - there is a Best Of CD out there with Smile and this on (amongst other fab tracks). Should be able to find it on Ebay if not elsewhere.

[stevc999]

The original Madchester act and the first indie band I ever saw at the Independent - loved them and was gutted when they split - The Deepest is a great album.

Was it really 1987? Feck that makes me so old!

[shareschannel]

you can see and hear the smiths influence... the stone roses were about to change everything... i only checked this to see mark collins former band

[pattarasila59]

AWESOME!!!

[superchorus]

Great band. But, doa67,... "everyone in the world pretended to have a Manc accent"? Well, maybe everyone in *your* world...

[doa67]

I was blessed to have been born a Manc and be 18 year old in '87. You could tell something big was going to happen in the City but the 3 years between 87 & 89 before everyone in the world pretended to have a Manc accent were just unbelievable. The Waltones, The Railway Children, Man From Delmonte, King of the Slums, Dub Sex, The Exhuberants (was I their only fan?). The Fall and James, Inspiral Carpets, The Mondays and Roses in small venues with just a couple of hundred people there. Good times!

[M19niceone]

@doa67 spot on mate. I've have a nod to the ambitious beggars as well, and johnny dangerously (Saw Ignition at the old grey horse didsbury, back in the day, fucking magic). And the desert wolves doing their waltones cover versions ; ).

Still got all my boardwalk ticket stubs, standing perched behind the mixing desk at the back and the weird steps thing (remember when you got in half price at the hacienda with a boardwalk ticket?).

Like you say good times.

[M19niceone]

@doa67

ps yeah you were the only exhuberants fan ; )

[AIFL]

@doa67 You lucky Manc! I love all things Manchester, from the Smiths to New Order, Roses, Mondays, James, this lot, you name it! I never, ever pretended to have a Manc accent though! It must have been the most exciting time ever!

[pmorsman]

Couldn't agree more - I was 17 in '87 in Mcr and it was amazing.

[doa67]

Such a great band. Still one of my favourites of all time and I regularly listen to them 20 years after I first heard them, simply because they beat nearly everything else on my iPod.

Saw them a few times back then. Once in The Hacienda and definitely in The Boardwalk a couple of times.

[relictele]

Wow I thought I knew every obscure jangly band from the 80s on both sides of pond but this is a welcome surprise. Fantastic track.

[relictele]

Er, obscure in the eye of the beholder. And as penance I just bought the album from Amazon :)

[bekbek78]

Does anyone know the chords to this song?

[IJameiovs]

You can play it all in first position with out much trouble.

It's mostly D through the verses and then A (lifting your finger off to get A 7) under "She just looks right through me..." Change to G at the "I tell you why I feel so low" part.

The big chord change at the end (final time it goes "I tell you why I feel so .... LOW) into the final section is an E.

[lambretta186]

nice one for this..great to see mark collins in his former band..

[AIFL]

I am still hunting for a copy of this on 7" vinyl, can anyone help? There is some Waltones stuff on ebay but not this particular gem.

[IJameiovs]

Goodluck with that. They exist, but they're rare. There were only ever one hundred 7" promotional copies pressed. The single was released as 12" only. I was in the band and I only have one 7" copy of it, and I'm not selling.

[AIFL]

Are 12" versions easily available then James? I must own this fantastic gem on vinyl. I have playing this clip to my indie loving mates and it totally blows them away. Did you write this tune? I can't stop playing it!!

[IJameiovs]

There are 2 currently for sale on ebay.

All Waltones songs are credited to the whole band. My recollection is that my only contribution to this one was about how the overlapping vocals should go at the end when we demoed this at The Kitchen in Hulme. I think this song is really all the work of Waltones' bassist Manny Lee - though Mark might have been involved too.

[AIFL]

Cheers for the headzup James. I have a bid in on ebay now. Nice one! I am presuming you were the singer in the band, is that correct?

[diggerdave1000]

Hi If you are the singer you might recall signing a copy of the 12" at HMV Market St Manchester. Still have - happy days. Also saw the band at a gig in Manchester, can't remember venue but around same time.

[IJameiovs]

If you check out the myspace page there's a blog which consists of defunct Manchester venues

[punkrockxzz]

I just bought one of them. I really like your group. Top quality stuff.

[AIFL]

Alright James? I just got the 12" on ebay. Can't wait to play it at my next Indie DJ set! Nice one!!

[IJameiovs]

Nice work.

The original plan was to put Special 20 out as the A side... this was going on the B side, but it became obvious one it was recorded that this was the stronger song.

[stevc999]

Hey all, I was a mass waltones fan and saw them regularly at the Boardwalk - in fact they were my first ever indie gig - was into metal until i saw them - so I owe them big time! If you want their stuff, they re-issued a greatest hits album about a year ago (maybe 2 years ago - I'm getting old)...you can find it on Amazon for a fiver - just buy it - you can't go wrong!

[terracottagazebos]

Thanks for your advice on The greatest album cd . Bought it and can't stop playing it . Made up as well as ive just found the ' Manchester North Of England' tape cassette ,with ' Smile' on it and the original 'Joe ' from the Inspirals .

[stevc999]

I've got pretty much everything by the inspirals as well - however I recommend Spotify for that - they have all the inspirals albums - not too many gaps.

[ruth1488]

big love to the inspirals....swansea

[terracottagazebos]

I forgot about this song wow.Think it might of been on the Manchester North Of England tape i had. I have the Deepest LP ( which i love) and for some reason its not on that ...did they do any other albums ? Thanks for posting this ..good work.

[HairyBosch]

The track on the Manchester : North of England tape was Smile.

And I'm still waiting to hear if anybody's got a link to it, as it's one of my favourite tunes of all time !!!!!

[blumphy]

Still got that tape somewhere but am clueless when it comes to computers...

[AIFL]

I can see why you considered Special 20 as the A-side. Both B-sides are very good actually. I like the use of harmonica in them, very effective. The production on the songs is crystal clear, did they take long to record?

[IJameiovs]

Harmonica in Special 20 was kind of an after- thought. That wasn't how we did it live. We had an idea of a 7" and 12" version of the song - so we extended it with the harmonica bit and some extra lyrics.

Burning Conscience was kind of re-worked at the last minute too. We used to play it slower and Manny sang it. The recorded version had a changed beat, a harder sound and me on vocals

[AIFL]

Hi James, was it obvious at the time that things were about to explode musically in Manchester? Like, were you aware that there was an an impending massive scene just around the corner?

[GriefTourist]

My god. Remember the Desert Wolves?

[paulipips999]

I remember seeing the desert wolves down at the boardwalk back whenever - the days just before manchester turned into a chemical soup heh heh heh!

[loissimo7]

That's my dad!

[IJameiovs]

It certainly is, Loissimo!

[AIFL]

Who is your dad?

[dunkiep]

How I must have annoyed everyone in student halls in sheffield by hacking my way along to this on guitar (had it on the 'bananas' complilation album, raising funds to oppose supporter ID cards at football matches). I used to sing "she just looks like Lou Reed". Seemed funny at the time!

[katienowkate]

Brighton Escape Club (The Apple Orchard - are you out there Davey?) 1991 - one of my favourite gigs ever...Hurrah for happy Indie days gone by!

[HairyBosch]

Saw this lot play in some bar in Bolton which was underneath Barclays Bank, about 3 weeks before they split.

15 people there and still one of the best gigs I've been to.

Anybody got any video footage of them doing "Smile"?

[likeastoolpigeon]

they were amazin,played album tonight,if that dickhead not joined the charletans,who knows

[markie273]

bit strong that mate, it,s charlatans by the way

[blumphy]

Jeeze! This yakes me back.

I seen these in Manchester a few times and still got the 12' single of this somewhere.

Thanks for posting it.

[AIFL]

lovely! No pretentions, what you see is what you get! Great Clip! Well done IJame, to parks for diggin out this little gem!

[breezester]

saw the Waltones at sherborne butterfly farm with my brother steve,The Chesterfields were top of the bill and it was a fucking excellent night!I kipped in my car while steve walked home afterwards!!!

[susanlee17]

lovin the turn-ups!!

[DaDazey]

I think someone just broke the c86 world record..

[markie272]

i,m sure that,s mark from the charlatans on guitar, nice song that. very shoe gazey

[hoffnerburns]

That's 'cause it is!:-)

[ruth1488]

i agree with miss ellie.great tune!!

[elliemiles]

Totally underated band, absolutely fucking amazing British Indie. Riddled with feeling and raw talent!

[SytLien]

who are this guys?? :O

[IJameiovs]

Its The Waltones. I didn't actually write that on the title of clip did I?

I've resolved that now. Check out the bands myspace page for more information.

[gonzax]

fantastic!!

[parveepete]

fantastic band. saw them in birmingham and various venues in manchester. should have made it big. CD brilliant! brings back memories of all those gigs in my mid teens!

[IJameiovs]

go to mediumcooldotinfo and check out the jukebox

[IJameiovs]

Andy of Medium Cool has two Raw Herbs clips on DVD - they may make it to Youtube sooner or later.

[hoffnerburns]

Got any Raw Herbs?

[hoffnerburns]

Good grief! Where do you get this stuff! I had this in seven inch. Indie-tastic!

[IJameiovs]

in 7 inch? a promotional copy

[hoffnerburns]

maybe it was a 12 inch - it was twenty uyears ago! :-)

[funnywife]

Nice little blast from the past there. Yet another chapter in Manchester's musical heritage.

[AndyW001]

Excellent!! Can't wait for the CD!!!

[JulieToo2]

Fab video, nice to "see" the Waltones... ;)

[littlebird1961]

the happiest of days

[ds2408]

enogh to make you cry eh?

[ds2408]

so is my spelling(missing u) ha!ha!