Time to waken these pages from another slumber and briefly dip a toe into the ninties (it won't happen often). It surprises me today that many fans of Doves have forgotten or never heard of Sub Sub. Often remembered as one hit wonders, their back catelogue forms an interesting perspective of a career which eventually morphs into the superb Doves. If only more Snow Patrol and Coldplay fans would give Doves a listen.
I've no real intention of going into a detailed history of what Jimi & the Williams brothers were doing before Catch The Sun (hopefully those inclined will dig deep and research themselves), but Sub Sub were very important and after flirting briefly with the hit parade, they followed a distinct path through the multiple floors of dance into a guitar driven rock/pop which became their current sound.
All these releases are long deleted and many found themselves in the bargain bins of your local Woolies or WH Smiths - were this scribe was to pick them up. Most now fetch silly money on the second hand market as the value of their early work has become highly collectable. This is not a complete discography as I've tended to ignore the many many remixes which were released in attempt to push chart positions or fill a CD single. This is however the essential catelogue of Sub Sub's work.
Space Face was originally a self-financed white label only single circulated around Manchester in 1991. Virgin/Circa Records picked it up and released it on the Ten Records subsidary. It did very little and the label ended their interest (silly moos). Doves still play this track as an encore at gigs today.
Space Face : ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on Ten Records (TENX 373) in 1992
A. Space Face
B. Ecto-Jam-Sub
The band were picked up by late New Order manager Rob Gretton who "signed" them to his Robs Records label. The first single Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) was a massive top ten hit featuring that rarity, a Jimi Goodwin slap bass hook. It propelled the band from nowhere to Top Of The Pops. Follow-up singles, Respect, Angel and Southern Trees were musically very good but did little in respect of sales. Sub Sub's time in the spotlight was over.
Full Fathom Five : ripped from a CD album released on Robs Records (CD ROB 30) in 1994.
1. Coast
2. Angel
3. Valium Jazz
4. Southern Trees
5. Inside Of This
6. Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)
7. Flute Track
8. Swamp
9. Respect
10. Past
A1. Coast
A2. Past
B1. Inside Out
B2. Inside Of This
Subsequent singles were an awful trip-hop collaboration with Tricky followed by a poppy single featuring New Order's Bernard Sumner on vocals, This Time I'm Not Wrong b/w Firesuite. The single never sold in any volume to gain recognition but was a guide to a new guitar driven sound and a move away from dance music. Firesuite was an early recording of the Doves standard with the same name.
Allegedly the band had laid down tracks for a second album for Robs Records and these were destroyed in a studio fire. Other sources say the band had decided to abandon the Sub Sub concept completely and reform as Doves with a much more grown up rock sound.
The unofficial Delta Tapes album was touted as the unreleased second album but was infact just a compilation of later singles and b-sides. It was released around Europe through third party labels, finding it's way to the UK as an import.
1. Crunch
2. This Time I'm Not Wrong
3. Lost In Watts
4. Jaggernath
5. Firesuite
6. Smoking Beagles
7. Clear Blue Water
8. Heads Will Roll
