And The Native Hipsters - There Goes Concorde Again
...And The Native Hipsters was an English post-punk group formed in London in 1979. Centred on duo William Wilding and Nanette Greenblatt (aka Blatt), they are best known for their 1980 debut single, "There Goes Concorde Again", a strange, sometimes disturbing experimental piece featuring Blatt's repeated childlike refrain of the title over a minimalist backing of bass, guitar and synth.
Links to Peel[]
Peel championed "There Goes Concorde Again" when released, even if it divided his audience:
"I always like reading Paul Morley's single reviews in the NME basically because his opinions tend to coincide most of the way with mine and you're always pleased to see your prejudices confirmed by somebody else. He's very partial to the Native Hipsters "There Goes Concorde Again" and so seem to be quite a lot of people who listen to the programme because we've had a lot of mail about it and the BBC received quite a few phone calls. We had one rather hostile letter from somebody who thought that we were polluting the airwaves and was going to take us to the authorities on this score. But it here comes again." (07 August 1980)
Peel's verdict after playing it: "terrific".
Writing on the group's website, Wilding recalls the effect of airplay on the John Peel Show. The initial pressing of the 7" amounted to 500 copies:
"For about a week we formed a production line to produce the finished records. We shipped them out to Rough Trade and waited. About a month later John Peel played Concorde. Within days we had an order for another thousand copies. Then a further order for another 4 thousand. Try making that many covers round the kitchen table." [1]
In later years Peel felt that the single hadn't stood up quite so well with the passing of time. Following a listener query on 15 August 2001, he said,
"It was immensely popular in whatever year it was that it came out... it's one of those ones I occasionally take it out and think 'shall I put that in the programme?' - but it doesn't sound as wonderful now as it did then. But that's often the case I think. A little philosophy for you there."
Although the group released further material in 1982 and 1983, it is not clear if Peel played any.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Peelenium[]
- None
Shows Played[]
The list below was researched only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further information if known.
- 28 July 1980: There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
- 02 August 1980 (BFBS): There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
- 07 August 1980: There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
- 13 August 1980: There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
- 16 August 1980 (BFBS): There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
- June 1981 (John Walters): There Goes Concorde Again (7") Heater Volume HVR 003
External Links[]
- Footnotes