It's A Fine Day: Jane and Edward Cherry Red Original 1983

Edward Barton (You Tube search) lived on the Planet Hulme in 1983 when this delightful confection came out on fabled indie Cherry Red. Along with a goodly proportion of the City Life Magazine collective, and Morrissey's brother who played for the White Horse pub footie team, and future star lad editor James Brown, a cheeky little sod then managing power punk misfits Big Flame and fixing the Indie charts, and a staggering proportion of Manchester's up and coming creative community to boot.

City Life tried apeing the Hacienda's (unsuccessful) local band night Hometown Gig with the (unsuccessful) Hulmetown Gig at the Russell Club aka the PSV. Think there may have been just one episode, or perhaps two. Fall-reject Marc Riley (and the Creepers) later to become a Shirehorse and "Lard" to Mark Radcliffe's "Mark" played, Marquis Gaga and the rest, and IIRC Edward Barton - famous from live daubing appearances on The Tube and for the above, supported with Me and My Mini and I've Got No Chicken But I Have Five Wooden Chairs. Big Ed and the Rocking Rattlesnakes you say? Possibly. What a cracking bill.

Edward's home on Charles Barry Crescent or thereabouts was his castle. And inevitably he had a giant throne therein. Made from railway sleepers arduously carried up countless pissy stairs by the adherents of the Barton cult. In fact the castle was at least two deck access council maisonettes - "knocked through" to achieve the kingly proportions required. Lighting was expressionist gothic horror. There was a tree bedecked with babies' dummies retrieved from gutters, as I recall. A canvas too, with what looked like a preparatory daub for a reclining nude. Absolutely finished in fact. Quoth the artist. Embarrassing early art crit moment.

Barton later rented a shop unit in Affleck's Palace on Oldham Street. One show in this "Oblong" included the work "Stolen". The conceit (?) being that the cage which formed the outside of the work contained items which had been stolen to order by this Artful Dodger's crew of light-fingered urchins. The management, with other tenants suffering a shop lifting epidemic, did not see the funny side and evicted the poor artist post haste. Buoyed only by chunky royalties from It's a Fine Day and a string of other hitful compositions.

Edward's Wiki | His Band Coffee Table | Edward's Poetry Book, Bad Leg | Unofficial Hagiography | Barton Discography.

Here's the Miss Jane version and the famous Opus III both of which sadly remove the final, quintessential line of the lyric. Kylie and others just burnt bits of music.

And Fat Boy Slim / Norman Cook also had a bit of this and that. Mostly unaccompanied vocal melodies and song from his 1995 "Hush" album.

I'll be back to stick in some more illustrations and links later. Thanks to @ManchesterChimp (their Website for a nostalgia inducing tweet. Here's the LOL video for "Not A River" made by my mate Howard Walmsley, for starters.