REWIND: Babybird - 'Goodnight'

Of all the bands and artists of the last few decades, Babybird is without a doubt one of the most underrated. Originally an outlet for Stephen Jones' "lo-fi" bedroom recordings, it soon blossomed into a fully blown band who scored a number of hits in the 90s, their most famous being a song completely unrepresentative of the talents possessed by genius songwriter Jones. The most recent Babybird album 'The Pleasures Of Self Destruction' was released in 2011, and proved to be the final one as Jones decided to put the name to rest, annoyed at being forever linked with 'You're Gorgeous' and wanting to be recognised for his other creative achievements.

For the last few years the prolific maverick has been releasing mostly instrumental music under the Black Reindeer alias, leaving some fans hungry for "real songs" with "proper singing". So the teasing of a new album entitled 'Back To The Womb' is definitely worth getting excited about, as this is the record where Jones returns to a musical setting more in tone with the Babybird material. However, Stephen is an artist who doesn't like living in the past and who doesn't repeat himself, so I doubt any of it will sound anything like the glorious 1996 single 'Goodnight', a perfect slice of summer guitar pop that balances out the sweet and sour in a way that only Jones can. You can find it on the brilliant 'Ugly Beautiful', which includes fully-blown versions of many of Jones' lo-fi works that he did prior to forming the band. Most of the original tracks can be heard on the five albums that make up 'The Original Lo-Fi' boxset...