Stuffed away in a cupboard in my house is a box of vinyl 45s. Many of these singles are absolute classics and unavailable on CD. This is a poor situation and I’m determined to do something about it.
So, from now on (or until I run out of 45s), I will post an MP3 of one of these great, lost 45s for the world to re-discover.
The first single is called “You’ve Never Heard Anything Like It” and is performed by The Freshmen, an Irish ‘showband’.
The single was released in 1979 and was quickly picked-up by John Peel, who played it many times, becoming one of his favourite singles. I heard the track thanks to Peel and found it in a cheap singles box for the princely sum of 10p.
It’s a swinging little number about a bored, fed-up teenager complaining about his family to an agony aunt. Full of lovely lines and a great chorus that you’ll soon want to join in with.
The Irish Showbands website has this about The Freshmen:
“Though they featured the classic showband line-up and they played for dancers in ballrooms throughout Ireland, the “showband” tag didn’t sit lightly on the shoulders of The Freshmen from Ballymena. More than most bands, they epitomised the divide between urban and rural Ireland, drawing their biggest crowds in cities like Cork, Galway and Waterford….”
According to one source, the single got as high as 17th in the Irish pop charts!
So, here it is: The Freshmen – You’ve Never Heard Anything Like It
The Freshmen – You Never Heard Anything Like It (MP3 3.8 mb)
Go on, download it. Play it, play it again and again. It’s a wonderful single. Any comments?
Oh yeah, just noticed, they also have an entry on Wikipedia.
Cheers for sharing. Got this up my loft somewhere!
Great info on the band. John Peel was the gateway to new music at the time.
Playing this again is like boarding a musical tardis.
Hey Bryan, thanks for commenting. It is a great song isn’t it? What would’ve we done without Peel? I hate to imagine : )
Hadn’t heard this before until they played it on rte radio 1 today!! Excellent. My favourite tune now. ?
It’s a great tune, eh?
Loved this song and, like you, had the 7″ single many years ago. Hadn’t heard it for decades but it’s still a little cracker!