The Only Ones are largely known, apart from by the commitmed, for one song; Another Girl Another Planet. A pretty blistering three mintes, that transcends genres and comparisons. But still, they barely released a bad song during their existence. Robert Forster knew. He started a fanzine in the band's honour. Pete Doherty knows. He practically owes Peter Perrett his persona.
Even Serpent's Shine was the band's second album.. It came out in 1979 and was critically lauded but didn't so much as make the Top Forty in the album charts. The likes of me, who lap up French Romanticism and its legacy like hungry cats from a kitchen saucer, rolled over to have our tummies tickled but such appreciation doesn't pay bills. The band went their separate ways in 1982.
The album is incredibly lovelorn and doomed. It doesn't necessarily hang togrther as an album so much as throw forth brilliant moments like a classy jewel box or a firework display. But we're talking fleurs du mal here. It wallows in a state of self pitying poet maudit hunched projection that was unlikely to cross over into mass acceptance and was destined for eternal cult status. Mainly for those that are prone to this kind of wasted romantic elegance.
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