Early Eighties Glasgow contemporaries of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Josef K and Altered Images. The Bluebells somehow seemed a little less essential than their fellow travellers at the time. At least to NME readers like me. Now, almost forty years later with the re-release of their debut album Sisters they scome across as impossibly youthful, vital and fresh to my ears.
The template for their sound and sensibility seemed clearly to be early Sixties British Pop. They almost come across as Freddie & The Dreamers, Herman's Hermits or Manfred Mann wannabes on here sometimes, particularly on their most famous songs and notable hits Young At Heart and Cath. They seem to certainly owe nothing, or next to nothing to Punk.
This pales by comparison with Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain, I'd say the finest album this particular scene produced, but most albums would. There's certainly much here to relish and enjoy. A good record for the middle aged likes of me to start the day with. A couple of songs you might want to skip perhaps, but for the most part, this should put a spring in your step.
All yearning choruses and swooning harmonies. Sisters come across a reminder of what seemed like more innocent times, (I guess many of the fortunate feel that way about their youth and mid-teenage years). One to savour your first kisses, the way your heart always seemed about to break, and the sky seemed infinite when you were sixteen.
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