LARRIKIN LOVE: 2005–2007

“Who says there has to be a beach to wear a bathing suit?”

I’ve just found out that Larrikin Love have split up, although they’d actually announced it three months ago on their MySpace page (The news as it happens!!). They we’re a band that stunned me instantly with their first single ‘Little Boy Lost’. I had it at number thirty-nine in my ‘Top 100 Tracks Of 2005’ which was my very first post on this blog. They attacked Blair’s government on the ‘Downing Street Kindling’ single, made deliriously catchy Pop about murdered schoolgirls on ‘Happy As Annie’ and even wrote a B-side about a ginger cat called ‘The Very Sad Ballad Of Brutus From No.72’. Late 2006 saw the release of their brilliant ‘The Freedom Spark’ album featuring guest appearances from Indie heroes like Jamie T and Patrick Wolf and The Rumble Strips.

The last release came this March in the shape of their gorgeous re-make of Alterkicks’ ‘Good Luck’ single. I remember seeing their live set from Glastonbury on the Beeb and thinking it was one of greatest pieces of televised music I’d ever seen. Fiddles were played, Drums were banged, the band jumped and whirled around and they even got Ed’s mum up on stage to play the spoons. I made a mental note to see them live but now sadly I’m never gonna get that chance. Why does a brilliant band like Larrikin Love split up, just as Take That, The Spice Girls and The Police get back together… what a cruel and inhuman world we live in!

Click here to buy ‘The Freedom Spark’ from HMV.

Here are ten of my favourite Larrikin Love rarites/mp3s as a reminder of what we’re missing out on:

Larrikin Love – Dead Long Dead mp3 (Tennyson inspired B-side)
Larrikin Love – Downing Street Kindling (Statik Refix) mp3
Larrikin Love – Good Luck mp3 (Alterkicks cover/complete re-make)
Larrikin Love – Happy As Annie (Patrick Wolf Remix) mp3
Larrikin Love – Is It December? mp3 (Another great B-side)
Larrikin Love – It Explodes! mp3 (Secret track hidden on the album)
Larrikin Love – John O’Ryan’s Polka Dot Skirt (Live) mp3 (Traditional folk song)
Larrikin Love – Little Boy Lost mp3 (Rare first single)
Fyfe Dangerfield – Well, Love Does Furnish A Life mp3 (A breathtaking cover)
Patrick Wolf – On Sussex Downs mp3 (Another wonderful cover)

Here are links to watch some ace Larrikin Love videos on YouTube: Six Queens / Happy As Annie (Original Version) / Happy As Annie (New Version) / Edwould / Downing Street Kindling (Time Machine Version) / Downing Street Kindling (Super-8 Version) / Well, Love Does Furnish A Life

By the way, if anyone has a video clip of the Glastonbury performance please let me know.

Click here to listen to the frighteningly wonderful new things that Ed’s doing called ‘The Pan I Am’.

Larrikin Love Website / Larrikin Love MySpace