Phones Sportsman reviews the NoMen cover versions!

I am flattered, amused and entertained by the thought of The Nomen covering/interpreting the PSB single... and it is good to see the hideous fluorescent lime green cover of the solo single again!
1. I really love you: a charming version, although lacking in quality lyrics (as was the original). The organist sounds a little constipated. (...he was! Senapods have been administered!)
2. Woke up this morning: an appalling noise, very much in keeping with the original...
3. Get Down & Get With it: a classic version, with superb guitar playing and with singing reminiscent of a marriage between Phones himself and Jim Morisson. (although Phones is not gay). (this song was originally written and recorded by Bobby Marchan in the sixties, but was covered by SLADE in the seventies)
4. WahTrack: a brilliant interpretation which should win a Scottish Oscar!
5. The Olton: small but perfectly formed, and a tribute to the little suburb of which i am a proud flower-child.

As part of their long running project to re-interpret the songs of the DIY punk era, the NoMen got together to record the five songs on the original single. In true NoMen fashion they didn't do slavish reproductions, they just listened to the original then played it their own way! A little boy, who happened to be passing, was forced into drawing the cover art!

READ MORE BY PHONES (David Barrigton) SPORTSMAN and see some WEIRD photos...

What the Swell Maps did for Solihull in the late 1970's, the Nomen have now done for Kilmarnock - shamed it into a position where it may never host the Eurovision Song Contest - although it must be admitted that there is no contest when it comes to association football... I believe Kilmarnock are up there above Rangers at the moment, (briefly! sept 2005) while Solihull Borough were generally about 6 or 7 leagues below the Conference, despite feverish support from Epic and myself. I now think that the game with the round ball is a little limp-wristed, and am a keen follower of the Celtic League and a proud fan of the recent Six Nations Welsh triumph in the game with the funny-shaped ball. Plaid Cymru! ( - or let's party for Wales! I am not a city boy anymore, and love living on the edge of Snowdonia. Good for walks but not for gigs! )

THE NoMen COVER THE PHONES SPORTSMAN BAND

PS I never hated Jowe, (a reference to the statement on the front of the Phones Sportsman single), he was a good chap, as were all the Swell Maps. I would also like to say that the lyric about beating up small persons of both genders should be taken with a very large pinch of salt. I am happily married and have a great daughter who is now the same age I was when we first went in the Cambridge studio and recorded Read about Seymour... ...I don't have a son, so hereby officially adopt the Nomen as sons of Phones Sportsman. As long as they are well behaved. (Download the NoMen's first song... "Son of Phones Sportsman") - Since discovering the age of at least one NoMan, Phones gave up on the adoption plans!!!

I have also enjoyed Pincer Movement (the NoMen's version of Jowe Head's 1st solo LP) - a very moody Swissair and Diesel Loco Train, confirming my suspicion that if The Doors were still around, and had given up the drugs, they would sound like the NoMen! Nice artwork too, although I am not a student of the discipline.