Blue Orchids - The Flood

The Flood by The Blue Orchids, released on Rough Trade in 1980. Co-produced by Mayo Thompson of Pere Ubu.

The Blue Orchids were formed in Manchester in 1979 around Martin Bramah (vocals and guitar) and
Una Baines (keyboards), both of whom had been founder members of The Fall. The pair were joined by guitarist Rick Goldstraw, bassist Steve Toyne and drummer Ian Rogers (aka Joe Kin). According to Goldstraw, the name was conjured by a friend of his, the punk poet John Cooper Clark, who had envisaged the Blessed Orchids as 'a bunch of haemophiliacs raised by alsatian dogs on a council tip' and 'the weediest gang in Salford.' Somehow Blessed became Blue, as in the old Hoagy Carmichael song, and thus was born a rare and fragile bloom. Info taken from http://www.ltmrecordings.com/bobio.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Blue
• Orchids
• The
• Flood

[glarpspooge]

@The2yung2die you went with nico to see them? that's pretty cool!

[aileenmistretta]

Thanks for sharing.

[tigerboy1966]

Thirty years on, and I can sing along to every word of the lyrics- symbolscrash indeed.

[Rainborn]

In case anyone wonders what the sample in the beginning is, I can tell you it's from a swedish reciting of the Corinthian Letters, 13:3. They're chanting "Och om jag gåve bort allt vad jag ägde till bröd åt de fattiga, ja, om jag offrade min kropp till att brännas upp, men icke hade kärlek, så vore detta mig till intet gagn."

The 1984 international standard translation of this is; "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

[The2yung2die]

i saw them with nico at nite moves happy days

[halfcabdisaster7]

I'm glad my friend sent me this song, it reminds me of something I can't quite remember right now.

[Thejimbobs]

I saw the Blue Orchids support The Birthday Party in 1981 at the then Terratorial Army Centre in York. It was in a room lined with (muzzled!) howitzers. They were as great as this debut single suggested they would be. The second time was at the North Staffordshire Polytechnic in Stoke-on-Trent where they headlined..must have been about 1982 because it was around then that their lp "The Greatest Hit" was released. You can hear echoes of his apprenticeship in The Fall in Martin Bramah's guitar.

[maelstone]

ok, i didnt know that - only heard of him in connection w. pere ubu...

[lexotaniscool]

"The Flood" was released in 1980, he was still the leader of the Red Crayola more than a member of the Pere Ubu , that's what I've meant!

[maelstone]

yes, sure..