Ups And Downs

Not Unloved is way too disorganised to our alphabetise 7"s. Should lockdown-induced boredom ever make it seem like an attractive proposition, however, the U section will be pretty thin. There will be a few cracking Urusei Yatsura singles , that stupendous Umpteens 45 and a couple of superior quality janglers by 80s Brisbane then Sydney-based group, Ups and Downs. 1986's "In The Shadows" sounds like a perfect 80s radio hit. Maybe it was in Australia. Passionate vocals, clean production and, above all, a singalong chorus. "The Perfect Crime", from the previous year (if Wikipedia is telling the truth), is a notch darker and starts off with strong echoes of R.E.M.s. earliest recordings. Again, it has immaculately recorded guitars aplenty and the kind of melody just begging to be sung by serious teens in cardigans as they dance round their The Smiths and The Go-betweens poster-lined bedrooms. These weren't acquired at the time - I was too busy kicking a football on any available patch of grass to know anything about Australian pop! -  but some time in the early 2000s (from the stock of the legendary but by then closed, Minus Zero) after a kind soul included an Ups and Downs song on an all-Australian mix CD-R. I'm glad he did.