Pure and simple every time
The Lightning Seeds — Pure
(from the CD Cloudcuckooland, MCA Records 1990)
As I recall, it was sometime around the summer of 1992 that it was codified that everyone in my generation was a flannel-clad nihilist. Which struck me as weird at the time because am I the only one who remembers a weird burst of cockeyed optimism in popular music around 1990 or so? Specifically, I’m thinking of songs like World Party’s “Put the Message in the Box,” Jesus Jones’ “Right Here Right Now,” and several others that had this general vibe of earnestness and wide-eyed optimism. The Lightning Seeds’ “Pure” was definitely one of the biggies in this subgenre, and probably my favorite of the lot. I was listening to this album again recently (having bought a cheap copy from the remainder bins at Newbury Comics to replace the one lost in The Great CDs Or Housing Purge Of 1998), remembering how weird it seemed even back in 1990 that this album was released on a major label, much less the terminally unhip MCA Records. Other than Ian Broudie’s spangly production job — which, it must be said, sounds terribly dated now — there is little about “Pure” that wouldn’t have fit on a Sarah Records single around the same time, and yet this was an actual American Top 40 hit. Go figure.
–Stewart Mason
King Rat said,
November 14, 2008 @ 2:37 am
I remember this song!
DJ El Toro said,
November 14, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Ian Broudie is a great example of an artist acquainted with the pervasive melancholy of that era, yet who favored putting a (deceptively?) pleasant gloss over tough sentiments. Look at his production work with Frazier Chorus & the Colourfield. I much prefer that bittersweet aesthetic to the flat-out anger and nihilism of grunge.
jan snare said,
November 14, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
aye, a great tune, with a brilliant guitar solo rip off from new order.
it came out originally on ghetto, and as I remeber took ages to take off, then Virgin and MCA signed him up and the rest is indie pop heaven. bit of a patchy history since then, but let’s not forget Mr Broudies great productions, in particular Echo and The Bunnymen.
UnknownEric said,
November 14, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
He also gets extra points for taking his “band” name from a misheard Prince line.
Stewart said,
November 14, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Ha! I actually removed a sentence where I mentioned that the guitar solo is completely ripped off from “Love Vigilantes,” just because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one who heard that!
Kathy said,
November 14, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
I so remember this song. It got quite a bit of airplay (at least in my city) during the summer of 1990.
Sue Jayne said,
November 20, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
“All I Want” was another nifty little number off this album, and the version of it in the video is even better than the one on the CD.
ostrakos said,
November 24, 2008 @ 10:15 am
VH1 Classic has been playing the videos for this and All I Want quite a bit. I really wish I still had this album for those songs and “The Life of Riley.”
Peter Collins said,
December 1, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
It’s quite pleasant. I found much of his work samey. It’s worth remembering that he was responsible for the catchy Three Lions, the official song for the England football team at the European Championships of 1996, which caught a kind of zeitgest and always reminds me of that summer (catchy line of ‘Football’s coming home’). Ironically, it became an unofficial anthem of the German team that actually won that tournament.
Manolo Valverde said,
December 4, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
Maybe you will find funny to know that an unshamed ripoff of this song became a hit in Spain as the main theme of popular comedy series Los Serrano. Do not blame this Fran Perea guy, the real `author` is Mikel Erentxun which has already done the same with other songs like The Smith`s There is Light … and more
Judge by yourselves
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ujlWGOZc4QM
Ian said,
December 19, 2008 @ 11:07 pm
God, I remember when my friend from the radio station, who was doing a show after me, made me play this song. “Oh, seriously, you will dig this,” he said. One of my favorite songs ever. Ever.
RT said,
January 4, 2009 @ 11:06 pm
Broudie, in his capacity as Echo and the Bunnymen producer, played the perfect four(?)-note guitar intro to “Rescue,” over the band’s objections, and without which it would be a much lesser song.
Matt said,
January 6, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
This is the first time EVER I have read a blog post about The Lightning Seeds. They were the first band I ever listened to and the reason I got into music, which is a very uncool thing to say, particularly in the UK. I still love them and play all their albums. Glad to see Ian Broudie hasn’t been forgotten about because he was responsible for some of the best pop of the 90’s as an artist, and some gret production in the 80’s and 00’s. He had a solo album out about 3 years ago. It was good. Great Post.
Simon said,
May 15, 2009 @ 8:52 am
Bored at work and found myself humming Pure and remembering how I used to think the guitar riff was a rip off of New Order…. So, just type “did ian broudie rip off new order” into Google and found this page.
Glad I’m not the only one who heard that!