mmm…wine…
My Bloody Valentine — Strawberry Wine (alternate version)
(from the LP Ecstasy and Wine, Lazy Recordings 1988)
Because My Bloody Valentine arrived in the US fully formed with the Isn’t Anything and Loveless albums, it wasn’t until after the fact that American audiences heard the records that led to that point. The 1987 single “Strawberry Wine,” originally released on the Primitives’ Lazy Recordings label and collected in this alternate mix on the 1988 compilation Ecstasy and Wine (along with the Ecstasy EP, also from 1987), is one of the band’s more intriguing dead ends, probably the single most immediately tuneful song in the band’s entire catalogue. In retrospect, this sounds like it could be a cover of one of Lee Hazlewood’s mid-’60s tunes for Nancy Sinatra.
–Stewart Mason
Pete said,
January 12, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
This is really a fantastic song. The recording quality is really poor though. The CD I have sounds like it was transfered from a super low bitrate MP3, even though I bought it before MP3s existed. I think Kevin was still figuring out his way around the recording studio at this time.
zbs said,
January 12, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
I vaguely get the Hazlewood bit, but could that just be that the name of the tune is rather similar to ‘Summer Wine’?
Stewart said,
January 12, 2009 @ 6:29 pm
It’s not just the name, it’s the vocal melody of the chorus, which sounds very much like the things Lee wrote for Nancy’s adorably limited range.