Great Lost Singles: Never Heard Anything Like It - The Freshmen

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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 Never Heard Anything Like It” and is performed by The Freshmen, an Irish ‘showband’. The single was released in 1979 and 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 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 once source, the single got as high as 17th in the Irish pop charts!

So, here it is:

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?

Next month I’ll feature another forgotten gem, stay tuned to this station.

(with thanks to F)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm interesting song, can't actually say I liked it. still I would be interested to hear whats next.

Umguy said...

Thanks for the download. Looking forward to the next one.

Also wanted to thank you for the recommend on Going Buddhist. I picked it up at the library and thought it was great.

martin said...

Edgar: Oh well, you may like the next one

umguy: Glad you liked the book, the author also introduced me to Iris Murodoch who's books I've devoured ever since.

Let me know how you liked the download.

Umguy said...

I like the song more each time I listen to it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for link to Irish '60s Music Archive ;)

fk

Anonymous said...

Classic track - but I would never have guessed it came from an Irish showband!

Good old Peelie ... :)