Welsh Wednesday #3

Chinese Whispers by Melys

Melys hailed from the Snowdonian town of Betws-y-Coed, Conwy. Regular listeners of John Peel's shows back in the day will doubtless remember them, Peely was a big fan. Amazingly, they were not absolutely huge. It could have been different, especially with the release of Chinese Whispers in 2001. The single did not feature on any album until it was included on the compilation 'Suikerspin' the following year, but it was number 1 in Peel's traditional Festive Fifty (another Melys song was also featured in the same list). This was the year of the White Stripes and the Strokes, yet Chinese Whispers topped the lot. It could (should?) have sold by the van load. So why didn't it?

A couple years ago, guitarist Paul Adams posted a comment on a You Tube posting of the song in which he explained the band refused the single to be repressed after initial copies sold out. "We were a bit scared of getting bigger than we were to be honest," he admitted. Even so, the fact Chinese Whispers wasn't a massive hit is simply a travesty. It's a great tune, a bit - dare I say it - Catatonia-esque? You wonder if it had been released in 1998 whether it would have been as big as Mulder and Scully or Road Rage.

Sadly, it all went a bit off the boil for Melys after this single. They didn't release another studio album until 2005's 'Life's Too Short', and that was the last anyone heard of them until a John Peel tribute show in 2009. Adams mentioned in his You Tube comment the band was back recording new material again, but the fruits of those labours remain unreleased.