Music Reissues Weekly: The Earlies - These Were The Earlies

The reappearance of These Were The Earlies for its 21st-anniversary is a surprise. Although The Earlies' debut LP received a maximum-marks review from NME on its 2004 release – and widespread praise in general – it is not an album instantly shouting “cult item.” Nonetheless, as the reissue and a tie-in reformation of the band show, there is a residual affection.

Playing These Were The Earlies confirms why. From its opening seconds, it sets itself up as top-notch modern psychedelia, with references – some overt, some subtle – to The Beach Boys, Love and, more contemporaneously, Mercury Rev. A lyric with the words “Mother Mary” cannot have been written without knowing The Beatles would instantly spring to mind.

Despite the touchstones, the instant impression is that the album could have been recorded at any time in recent(ish) years. While digital technology is clearly employed and there’s an awareness of electronic dance, it is warm, drifting and often ethereal with direct singing and creamy harmonies. The songs – which is what it boils down to – are strong, memorable. Whatever the analysis it is a winning album, one which it is great to be reminded of.

Originally, These Were The Earlies came on CD in the UK, US, Australia, Germany and Japan, and also as a double LP in the UK only (copies of which now sell for £30 to £50). The new reissue comes on CD and as a double LP. It has a new reflection on the album written by band member Christian Madden. A cassette release (also available on download) of other tracks from the time complements the reissue.

The Earlies were (or, bearing in mind the reunion, are) Brandon Carr, Giles Hatton, John Lapham and Christian Madden. On the ten-track album (opener “In the Beginning,” strictly speaking an 11th track, is a half-minute scene setter), all four are credited as multi-instrumentalists (with Hatton responsible for the bulk of the electronics) and the compositions are credited to the band as a whole. The lyrics are credited to Carr and Lapham, production to Hatton and Lapham. Right here, right now, Christian Madden is playing keyboards on the Oasis reunion tour (he has also played with Doves and Liam Gallagher). There was a second and last Earlies album, late 2007’s The Enemy Chorus. After this, members pursued various paths with or as Black Lodge, Corner Suns, Cosmic Cowboy, The Danes, The Late Chord. Christian Madden and the Enemy Chorus, MIEN, Old Fire and The Revival Hour.

How the band got together is unlikely. Carr is from Dallas, Texas; Lapham from Abilene, Texas. Hatton and Madden are from Lancashire: Manchester and Burnley, respectively. In the late 1990s, Lapham encountered Madden at a sound recording class in Manchester. He met Carr at a record shop in Texas. Lapham got things rolling by sending DAT tapes of rough recordings to the other three. Tracks were then built up on the digital tapes, bit by bit. A first single – “Song For #3” / “Ride Condensed” – arrived in June 2002. Further singles and EPs followed – seven more, on CD, CDr and vinyl. In 2004, it was decided to select tracks from these to fashion an album: the album which became These Were The Earlies – the title’s past tense acknowledges that the material had already been out.

Given all this, that These Were The Earlies hangs together as an album is extraordinary. It is a patchwork quilt. Also, nothing gives away that it was recorded with a form of remote working. All four band members did not meet face-to-face until 2004. In the UK, These Were The Earlies was issued on 19 July 2004.

Around that time, the band’s MySpace page noted influences including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pink Floyd, Mercury Rev, Brian Wilson and Grandaddy. Once it was out, reviews of These Were The Earlies mentioned Air, the Beach Boys' Smile, Manitoba and Mercury Rev (Pitchfork), and that the album was a “Warp [Records]-inspired answer to Brian Wilson’s Smile” and was “insane pop genius. Scintillating” (NME) or "an outstanding record that you would be unwise to miss, the best debut album of 2004" (Uncut), “a lush approximation of what Mercury Rev would sound like were they fronted by Neil Young” (The Observer) and that it was “a work of baroque detail, crossing between Mercury Rev's psychedelic Americana and The Beta Band's bucolic electronica” (Q).

At the end of 2004, NME chose Franz Ferdinand’s debut album as its Album of the Year. Brian Wilson’s recreation of Smile was at 33 in this Top 50 – the only album in the run down on a similar wavelength to that of The Earlies who, despite the 10/10 NME review, didn’t make the listing.

Now, this superb album has reappeared and The Earlies will be on stage to play it in full. Early or late? With music this enduring, it probably doesn’t matter.

• Next week: Marc and the Mambas – Three Black Nights Of Little Black Bites.  Marc Almond sets Soft Cell aside in 1983
• More reissue reviews on theartsdesk
• Kieron Tyler’s website

@kierontyler.bsky.social