I'll tell you who still sound good ........ The Au Pairs, ooh yes, and the Gang Of Four

It's always good to hear a blast from the past and think "wow that still sounds good". I take it as testament to my good taste that this happens to me a lot.

Today's band is the Au Pairs who have an old Peel session from 1979 repeated on Marc Riley's show this week. They still sound fabulous - I remember thinking this about five years ago as well and at that point I was prompted to track down their LPs on ebay.

I always bracket the Au pairs with the Gang Of Four probably because I went to see them both in my first or second weeks as a student at Liverpool University in 1980. Well I say I went to see them both, actually the gang Of Four didn't play because one of them got badly beaten up whilst in a pub down the docks road. I imagine the dockers didn't take kindly to the band's left-wing political stance (maybe!).

As it happens, the Gang Of Four still sound brilliant both their old tracks and new material, all except the dreadful 'Return The Gift' that is. (Rather than remix the classic Entertainment album, they chose to re-record it to get rid of the blemishes. What a dreadful idea, it's the blemishes that make band's début albums so much better than the follow-ups.)

Here's a link to blog all about the Au Pairs' albums.: http://saltyka.blogspot.com/2007/03/au-pairs.html