Today I got an email from my pal in LA, Christian Stavros, and he wrote: ‘currently listening to a playlist of my fave bands from growing up’, proceeding to list, amongst others, The Lightning Seeds. Do you remember they had a hit in the US ages ago with a song called ‘Pure’? It was a surprising hit too, as it sounded so English. It actually reminded me of the Jonathan King classic ‘Everyone’s Gone To The Moon’. Lead singer Ian Broudie (also a top producer) has a similar voice and delivery. This was around ’89 when sounding English was becoming a problem, unlike in the ’60s & ’70′s. Years later, when I worked for Columbia and was Suede’s US A&R guy, I was always fighting to get attention for them at the label. The radio department would argue: but they sound so English. I’d always say, ‘I know – that’s the point’. But guess what, I lost the argument and Suede didn’t get the play they deserved, or any play actually. So…i proceed to ask Christian if he’s heard this single, and happily he hadn’t. I say happily, because it was really fun to turn him on to it. I pulled it out, and it just sounds great.