Arranged chronologically, it really gives a good idea of how the bands sound progressed and why it was probably a good idea they eventually called it a day. Starting with a Peel Session cover of “You Sexy Thing” the early sound of the band is typical indie jangle of the time, only really distinguished by Carl Puttnam’s Jimmy Page-like vocal tone. Slowly they get more polished, the tracks from “When In Rome Kill Me” are good songs, but poorly realised. However the David Gregory produced “Hey! Wire” marks a turning point, and it’s no coincidence that the album then follows with 6 out of the 12 tracks of the last Imaginary Records album “Leggy Mambo”. “Leggy Mambo” is for my money their best album in terms of being what you got when you saw Cud live. i.e. “The Drummer From Cud”, Steve Goodwin’s drumming. There is much more of a dance feel on these tracks and this is driven by Goodwins drumming more than anything else.
The second CD covers the A&M releases, and everything up to the tracks from the album Showbiz are pretty good. Asquarius was a good album, but no Leggy Mambo and singles Oh No Won’t Do and the unsubtle Purple Love Balloon were fun too. Though I would have prefered the cover of “Price of Love” to the other Oh No Won’t Do B-side “Ariel”. Showbiz, though I enjoyed it at the time seems pretty ropey in retrospect. Neurotica is Cud doing Nirvana, which is just wrong. Of course in turn Stiltskin’s “Inside” was then in turn a third hand Nirvana as it seemed to rip off Neurotica. Apart from One Giant Love, the other Showbiz tracks here are leaden compared to the later Imaginary stuff. Then we get some forgettable post-William Potter (Cud’s bassist who left before the band split) tracks and a new-ish version of “When In Rome Kill Me”‘s “Strange Kind Of Love”, a track whose live thrill has still never been properly captured on record. This gets closer than the early version did, but it’s still not quite there.
For the tenner I paid for it, it was a good buy. These are tracks I’ve not listened to for about 10 years, and that I only had on tape or on vinyl that is 100 miles away, so it was interesting to rediscover the band | so loved when I was 16 and to put some perspective on the relative quality of their output.
Biggest disappointment? No “Ski Bum”!