The Lipster

There’s a long list of ladies whose creative endeavours have been squirreled away, left to jostle for position on the shelves of pop’s dark and untidy broom cupboard. But with the likes of Bettye Swann and Vashti Bunyan having had something of a dusting off in the last few years, it’s now the turn of folk-funk-rock doyenne Chris Harwood, whose one and only album, Nice To Meet Miss Christine, was recently re-released. And after not one, two or three, but 35 years.

And just why is that too, too long? Well, it’s the sort of spooky, slinky psyched-up noise you might imagine wafting from a portable Dansette on a dusky summer’s afternoon, after three too many ciders and a naughty cigarette. Which means it’s a perfect, hand-tailored fit for the current spell of yummy weather. Wooden Ships slinks in with some quivering orchestral strings, Hammond organ jazziness and lazy 70s vocals which hint at the egalitarian concepts of the period (according to Ms. Harwood, smiling is "something I can understand because everybody does it in the same language"). But you mustn’t let the "like WOW, man" hippy angle deter you. Though she hailed from the less than bohemian enclave of Twickenham (home to rugger bores and bloody nice pubs, yar), this still didn’t stop her from sounding very much like southern Blighty’s answer to Janis Joplin (have a listen to Gotta Do My Best, to see what we mean).

The sad side to all this is that since its release, Harwood has vanished. After the twerps at her record label failed to release any singles or give it a proper marketing push, it ended up with an anonymous and uninspired excuse for a sleeve. Original copies were rumoured to be found in plastic bins outside second-hand shops, sat next to other vinyl the owners could handle being warped by the sun or pinched from the pavement. And crate-digging hip-hoppers attracted by the righteous organ breaks have since been prepared to pay over 200 snickers for it on eBay. But now you don’t need to. Which is a happy end to Ms Harwood’s story, wherever she may be.

Two tracks to download (right click and save):

Wooden Ships

Gotta Do My Best