That's All Very Well But: The Best of McCarthy by John McCarthy Singers NEUF 2024

Tracks:
Red Sleeping Beauty
Should the Bible Be Banned
MP Speaks, An
Fall, The
Funeral, The
We Are All Bourgeois Now
Antinature
Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill
Frans Hals
Myth of the North-South Divide, The
Something Wrong Somewhere
This Nelson Rockefeller
Charles Windsor
From the Damned
Child Soon in Chains
Enemy Is at Home, The (For the Fat Lady)
Well of Loneliness, The
Youre Alive
Keep an Open Mind or Else
Im Not a Patriot But...
Comrade Era
Should the Bible Be Banned

Performer Notes:

• THATS ALL VERY WELL, BUT... is a solid overview of singles, radio sessions and album tracks by the politically-minded U.K. indie band McCarthy, best known retroactively as the first band of Stereolabs Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier.
• Personnel: Malcolm Eden (vocals, guitar); Tim Gane (guitar); Gary Baker (drums).
• Recording information: 10/07/1986-11/01/1988.
• Many politically aware bands emerged in England during Margaret Thatchers tenure as Prime Minster, but few were as vocal about their negative views of Thatchers policies as McCarthy. The band fused the awareness and outrage of punk rock to a jangling guitar-pop skeleton and created rapid-fire pop gems that glistened with razor-edged sarcasm. It should be noted that THATS ALL VERY WELL BUT… THE BEST OF MCCARTHY is not a "best of" in the traditional sense--it consists entirely of rare tracks drawn from the bands radio appearances and from long out-of-print vinyl-only releases.
• "Should the Bible Be Banned" (which appears in two different versions) is the quintessential McCarthy song, a bitter diatribe on media-influenced crime--specifically a murder sparked by the biblical tale of Kane & Abel--set to a rollicking beat smothered with bright guitars (electric in the first version, acoustic in the second). Other standouts include "Red Sleeping Beauty," which is built on militaristic drum crescendos, the over-the-top "Kill Kill Kill Kill," a high-speed swipe at vivisectionists, and the brilliantly titled "Keep an Open Mind Or Else," which lyrically addresses free speech and highlights the exquisite interplay between the guitars of Tim Gane and Malcolm Eden.

Producer: Dale Griffin, Nigel Palmer, Dave Callahan, Miti

Format: CD (1 Disc); Stereo

Country: (not USA)

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 12 April, 2004

Label: Cherry Red (UK)

Dimensions: 12.5 x 14.2 x 1 centimeters (0.06 kg)