50 songs to take to my grave #35: Quick As Rainbows

To my mind, Kitchens Of Distinction were one of the great overlooked bands of the 90s. There are all kinds of theories behind their failure to break into the mainstream: they were difficult to categorise; the singer's sexuality wasn't deemed compatible with the genre; their songs' challenging subject matter. All utterly ridiculous, if you ask me. Kitchens Of Distinction would have been huge if artistry really mattered to the masses. But it doesn't, so they weren't.

A shame, because it means the masses missed out on Quick As Rainbows, one of the era's great pop songs. The original single, produced by the late Martin Hannett, was always one of my favourite tracks of the decade. Released in March 1990, it didn't sound like anything else around at the time. The shoegazing movement was taking off, and for some reason, Kitchens were lumped in with that by the ever-lazy press, but I always thought there was a lot more to them than that. With Kitchens of Distinction, there seemed to be far more emphasis on melody and meaningful lyrics than their contemporaries.

It was the band's first new material since their debut album, but it wouldn't be until a full 12 months later that a new album, 'Strange Free World', would emerge. It contained a newly recorded version of Quick As Rainbows, and I was massively disappointed. It just lacked a bit of the punch the original had. While it was clear the intention was to make it fit with the rest of the album - which it did - I would rather it had been left off altogether as it meant most people came to know this inferior version rather than the amazing original.

While I can now stomach the album version far more than I did back then, I still cannot get past the fact that the original single version is infinitely better. It's less laden with claustrophobic noises and effects which distract from the song itself. Hannett's simpler take on it allows Quick As Rainbows to breathe and spread its shimmering gloriousness far and wide.

I absolutely adore Kitchens Of Distinction, and when they released their first album in 19 years in 2013, it was a delight. They clearly still had it in them to write some great music and the finished songs were among the best in their canon. The Bowie-heralding single Japan To Jupiter was a serious contender for this series, but it was edged out as Quick As Rainbows has endured for 25 years, and I still haven't grown remotely tired of it. If that doesn't qualify it for a place in my coffin, I sure as hell don't know what does.




UPDATE: There's been an extraordinary amount of hits on this post in less than 24 hours, way more than any thing else I've ever posted. Well, according to Blogger's stats anyway. Anyone know if this has been tweeted or shared somewhere?