Blue Aeroplanes Bop Art Rare

Contents • • • • • • • • • • • History [ ] The Blue Aeroplanes first performed under that name at the King Street Art Gallery in in 1981. They consisted mainly of former members of the, with the addition of Nick Jacobs, former guitarist and vocalist of Southampton band The Exploding Seagulls. The same line-up played three or four concerts over the next couple of years, either at the gallery or for benefits, including a centenary performance at the, with the addition of trumpet and didgeridoo. The Blue Aeroplanes' first album Bop Art was released on their own in 1984, and was rapidly picked up by the Abstract (US) and Fire (UK) labels. It contained material that had been considered as a follow-up to ' only album, Bagpipe Music. Gerard Langley's largely spoken poetic lyrics were combined with a heavily guitar-centric band that went on to release Tolerance (1986) and Spitting Out Miracles (1987) and several singles and EPs whose B-sides were brought together in the compilation FriendLoverPlane (1988), all on the Fire label. On 24 February 1990, the band released their most critically acclaimed album, Swagger, this time on a major label /.

This was followed by Beatsongs which was recorded in the United States and released in 1991. Iupac Nomenclature Of Organic Compounds. This second album on the major label was their highest charting, reaching no. 33 in the UK album charts. A second compilation of rare B-sides and out-takes, FriendLoverPlane2 (Up in a Down World), was released in 1992. The follow-up to Beatsongs was delayed until 1994 when the album, Life Model was released on the label, followed by Rough Music in 1995. 'Broken & Mended' from Life Model was the band's last single to chart and is a favourite at gigs. A long break and another label change to ArtStar preceded the release of Cavaliers in 2000.

Following negotiations with who now owned the rights to Swagger and Beatsongs, The Blue Aeroplanes made a surprise return to this major label. EMI re-released Swagger Deluxe as a 2-CD version in January 2006. This was followed by an album of new material called Altitude later that year, released on EMI's imprint. The group then recorded an album of cover versions of classic tracks that were originally recorded by artists signed to the Harvest label. The album, called Harvester, was released by EMI/Harvest in 2007. As well as the two FriendLoverPlane compilations, several other compilations have been released in recent years. The Best of The Blue Aeroplanes (1987–1992) was released by EMI/Chrysalis in 1997 and featured many of the songs from Swagger and Beatsongs.