One of my favourite bands of all time are The Icicle Works. I first heard of them when they briefly entered the UK pop charts in the early 80s with Love Is A Wonderful Colour and Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) but I dismissed them as just another average pop band until I saw them live at the Freshers’ Ball when I started my second attempt at a degree at South Bank Poly in 1984. They were one of the best live bands I have ever seen and I saw them regularly until they split up in the early 90s.
Now I see that Karma Download are selling MP3s of some of their back catalogue. They have their first two albums and a compilation available. The compilation looks particularly good value for money at 16 tracks for £7.99. If you’ve never really listened to The Icicle Works then I strongly recommend that you give them a try. Their recordings were never really as strong as their live performances but there’s still some worthwhile stuff there.
I particularly recommend Out of Season, Understanding Jane and Nirvana.
Hi, I also saw the Icicle Works around 6 or 7 times between ’84 and ’86 and watched their style change dramatically. I never thought their albums reflected their stage show – Ian McNabb didn’t stay still long enough in his style.Good memories
I saw Ian play at Liverpool just before last Christmas and he was brilliant and “Hollow Horse” as an encore sealed a fantastic evening!
I was a big fan of The Icicle Works in the eighties….the band fought the good fight to maintain the importance of strong guitar influence in an era of synthesized shit…they truly were one of the best live acts of the 80’s….they got me through the 80’s in fact…Best concert I saw was in 1984 at the Floating Bridge in Woolston Southampton