Tuesday 28 January 2014

The Vincent Units





On last weeks MuhMur SoundArt Radio Broadcast I played The Vincent Units' "Carnival Song" as a "classic from the new wave era". Engineer Dave was ecstatic as it was a song he remembered from 30 odd years ago but had forgotten all about and never knew who it was by … he had it on a compilation cassette (I believe the youngsters call them mix tapes nowadays) given to him by Nigel Jacklin.
It was at this point that I had to declare my ignorance of who The Vincent Units were. I had / have always associated them with The Pop Group. Slits, Ilya Volkswagens, Maximum Joy etc - The Y Records connection and the dub, jangling ska type of sound … all very 1981 and CND badges.

Internet research. The Vincent Units were a spin-off project from The Tesco Bombers - a musical collective that also featured some members of The Homosexuals and future Sheriff Of Nottingham Keith Allen. (I like Keith Allen, I remember The Atoms, The Bullshitters and his alter ego Trawler Bates). The Tesco Bombers also released a single on Y Records. It was at this point I discovered there was a Vincent Units cassette released with different versions of their 7" along with live recordings, interviews and demo/rehearsal "jams". I found a copy floating around the world wide web for only a fiver .. bargain. The cassette is on the label Pro-Star Recordings (catalogue PRO 1). The inner sleeve also claims there is a release by The Tesco Bombers and a further cassette by The Vincent Units - is this true? Were they ever released? Can anyone help me here - I would love to know. I would love to hear too (again) if anybody can help out?

The cassette is excellent to listen to, a lovely trip down memory lane (great song). OK - it is dated in parts and some of the live recordings are crude and lo-fi - but it is of its' time and still sounds "fresh" in parts. Head Unit was a chap called Neal Brown who went onto become an author having biographies on Tracey Emin and Billy Childish published as well as writing the forward for Bill Drummond's book  "45".

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