Chart entered : 23 March 1991
Chart peak : 49
Number of hits : 21
This lot are unfortunately best remembered for attracting one of the most lethal musical insults of all time.
Ocean Colour Scene came out of the Midlands mod scene in the eighties.Guitarist Steve Cradock ( born 1969 ) formed a band called The Boys in 1988 with school friends from Solihull. They were mainly a covers band but released an EP, "Happy Days", which I haven't heard, on their own label. They also supported Steve Marriott and tried to attract Paul Weller's interest. At the same time vocalist Simon Fowler, bassist Damon Minchella and drummer Oscar Harrison were in a band called Fanatics who released an EP "Suburban Love Songs", tracks of undistinguished power pop and a more promising song called "My Brother Sarah" which OCS later polished up. Fortuitously, both groups split up around the same time and Steve joined up with the ex-Fanatics trio to form Ocean Colour Scene late in 1989.
They signed with the !Phfft label in 1990 and released their first single "Sway" towards the end of the year. The lyrics could have come straight from Secret Affair with Simon repeatedly demanding a "piece of the action" but otherwise they sound like baggy bandwagon jumpers with the funky drumming and wah-wah guitar sound. Simon can sing and Steve can play but the song is terribly uninspired. They got to perform it on The Word which raised their profile.
"Yesterday Today" was their next single. Again, the fear of the future lyrics seem to have been written for a re-make of Quadrophenia while the music sounds imported from the Stone Roses' debut album. It wouldn't be so bad if the song had a decent hook but it's just competent and dull - second division as well as second hand. They got to perform it on BBC2's indie rock show Snub which may have given it the necessary push to sneak into the charts.
Always amusing to see a band's debut sound nothing like a subsequent reinvention that worked better. OCS obviously had chops but I'm not sure their decision making in terms of who they worked with did them any favours...
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