Systems of Romance

For my second post today, I’ll be tackling the first of a handful of requests for early 4AD material. I may have posted some of the upcoming releases in the past, but consider this an attempt to start phasing out some of the old divshare links in general. I may update old posts, or do fresh ones with full records in due time, so stay tuned.

Otherwise, this one’s a fresh post on The Happy Family, a UK based quirky pop/post-punk outfit formed in 1981. The band rose from the ashes of local band Josef K, and released both a three-track single and one full-length record in 1982 on 4AD records, landing the deal after a few support slots with the Cure. These remained their two official releases, though ten demos for an unreleased second album surfaced in 1985 as The Business Of Living.

The band’s sound is very different than the material 4AD was releasing at the time… Instead of budding ethereal or doom-ridden post-punk, the Happy Family had more in common with Brel-esque pop, tossing in several literary sensibilities.

Soon after the Happy Family disbanded, lead vocalist Nick Currie finished his schooling, and subsequently whipped up a solo career under the moniker Momus, who eventually signed with Creation Records. Momus is still active to this day…

The Man On Your Street was re-released on disc in 1992, tacking on the Puritans 7” at the end of the record:

The Happy Family- The Man On Your Street CD
1. The Salesman
2. Letter From Hall
3. The Luckiest Citizen
4. Revenge!
5. The Courier
6. The Man On Your Street
7. A Night Underground
8. Two Of A Kind
9. March In Turin
10. Puritans
11. Innermost Thoughts
12. The Mistake

*download it here*

This entry was posted on August 26, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under 1980s, 1982, 4ad, brel, josef k, literary references, momus, the happy family, uk . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.