I’m pretty new to The Beloved, having been turned on to their early singles/Where It Is compilation LP late last year. I had originally heard their later material, generally more dance/club friendly affair in the vein of Cause & Effect, Anything Box, etc. While the UK band (now a duo) has enjoyed tons of success since embracing the electronic club scene, the Cure-loving post-punk kid in me was very surprised and excited to hear that the band’s earliest material had more in common with B-Movie, The Chameleons, Modern Eon, and other emotive post-punk bands from the turn of the decade. Sure, there were still synths around every corner, but the keyboards were more focused on mood and atmosphere, leaving the sparse hooks to the vocals, guitars, and bass. Songs like ‘Saints Become Us,’ ‘In Trouble and Shame,’ and ‘Slow Drowning’ (oh god, ESPECIALLY ‘Slow Drowning‘) quickly became all-time favorites, and moody Wierd barn-burners in the last few months of the party’s existence.
These tracks here predate even the earliest singles, and employ the same early post-punk vibes heard on the singles that followed two years later. The demos were recorded in 1983/1984, and the peel sessions were recorded in 1985, just before the release of their first singles. Only two tracks from the Peel Sessions would appear on various singles, the aforementioned ‘Trouble and Shame’ and the excellent ‘A Hundred Words.’ ‘The Flame’ appears as both a Peel cut as well as a demo, while the rest of these tracks are new- two of which were recorded as The Journey Through, as the band was known until guitarist Guy Gausden joined. My favorite of the entire lot is easily ‘Privacy (Sometimes),’ which features the same sort of arpeggiated gloom explored in ‘Slow Drowning’– perhaps the track evolved from this early demo, but either way, I love that song so much it’s great to hear something that lives in the same world…
All of these tracks (and more spanning the band’s career) were originally made available on The Beloved’s website, where you can also hear newer material and read up on the band over the years. So with that in mind, please excuse the bitrate. I normally handle my own rips and give you guys the best quality possible these days, but in light of what’s available, I feel these tracks deserve to be heard regardless, so I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
The Beloved- Demos 1983-1984
1. The Flame
2. A Search
3. The Last Detail
4. Privacy (Sometimes)
*tracks 1-2 recorded as The Journey Through (though I have them tagged here as The Beloved for easy organisation)
The Beloved- Peel Session Jan. 1985
1. The Flame
2. A Hundred Words
3. Idyll
4. A Beautiful Waste of Time
The Beloved- Peel Session Oct. 1985
1. So Seldom Solemn
2. In Trouble and Shame
3. Jospehine
4. Up A Tree