Odd Couples. Don't you just love them . Lee & Nancy. Dean & Nancy. Frank & Nancy. And not just Nancy by any means. Johnny & June. Serge & Jane. Micky & Sylvia. Otis & Carla. Marvin & Tammy. The Fifties and Sixties were full of these Odd Couples. But they weren't just of their time. They laid down a lasting marker that endures. In any record collection worth its salt.
In the Eighties, the decade where I came of age and first started noticing these things Lee & Nancy or Nancy & Lee if you prefer, started make a re-emergence. Every cool Indie disco, or nightclub soiree you went to you heard Sand, Some Velvet Morning or another one of their classics. Among the rough stuff. The Leather Boys. Stooges, Suicide, Velvets and Heartbreakers.
Imitation tributes began to appear in that and later decades. Nick & Kylie. Nick & Polly. Mark & Isobel. Bobby Gillespie and every poor unfortunate he could persuade to share a mic or stage. The legacy and tradition endure. The records still sound cool even if you're instantly familiar with the tropes and it feels like you're eavesdropping on others most intimate foreplay. Let's face it. That's just fun anyhow.
Which brings us to Stereo Naked. And Cerys Matthews. Cerys is back . On 6 Music's Sunday morning Show. I always love listening to Gideon Coe sitting in for her when she takes a short break, he always plays a fascinating mix, but Cerys has become something of a small but treasured listening institution over the years.
Cerys understands Sunday Mornings and what we want to hear on them. Nina Simone. John Martyn. Soul, John Betjeman. Her own instantly recognisable Welsh tones. Comfort. Familiarity. And when she plays something new, something immediately comforting and familiar that fits instantly into our existing playlists and comfort zones..
On Sunday she played something off Stereo Naked's latest album and I sat up instantly careful to catch who I was listening to at the end of the track.I did some rudimentary research. Stereo Naked are essentially a guy in a bowler hat from New Zealand. A lady from Cologne with flowing locks and harmonising vocals.
They work out of Germany and Upside Down is their latest record. It's Americana essentially ad they're fluent in its tongues. At times they go all Appalachian. Elsewhere they veer into Nancy & Johnny territory. It's all immensely adept and pleasurable. And highly recommended.
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