I’m In Love With A Girl…

For every one artist who scores a hit in the charts, there are at least 100 other artists who are just as good, if not better, than that lucky act. On the other hand, for every hit a particular artist has, there are likely a dozen more deserving songs in their catalogue that deserve equal chart success. The Freshies manage to fall into both categories: they should have been more popular and they have plenty of songs deserving of more success than their minor hit "I'm in Love with the Girl on a Certain Megastore Check-Out Desk" (originally titled "I'm in Love with a Girl on a Virgin Manchester Megastore Check-Out Desk"!) should be better known radio classics that bring back fond memories to more than just Freshies fanatics.

One of Manchester’s best kept secrets, The Freshies were integral to the late 70’s North West punk/new wave scene. However, this secrecy wasn’t through a lack of trying to gain success, main man Chris Sievey once said that he was responsible for 25 consecutive “flop” records. That’s an awful lot of self-belief. A true maverick, some would say Sievey was perhaps more famous for his publicity stunts to get his band noticed: Petitioning for a week outside Granada TV studios or stealing “Stiff Records” headed notepaper and then forging “internal” letters between executives expressing interest in The Freshies. Not forgetting publishing “The Complete Book of Rejection Slips” (200 Ways To Say “Thanks But No Thanks”). Sievey pre-empted the punk/DIY ethic by a couple of years when he formed his own label RAZZ RECORDS in 1974 and dutifully tried to put his band together. It took the advent of punk in 1976 to really get the bands wheels in motion. Renowned for doing their own thing, when asked if they went to see the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, he replied “Nah, we were rehearsing that night”.

Thirty five plus years later, listening back to the bands perfect pop-punk, it’s mindboggling that none of these releases had chart success. “I’m In Love With The Girl From The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk” faring the best and reaching the lower regions of the top forty.

The Freshies should fit nicely in your collection right in between the Records (for the power pop leanings) and Jona Lewie (for their eccentricities). But perhaps that's too obscure? Well, they would have made the perfect flagship band for Stiff Records.

Ripped from the 7” single to 24bit FLAC by blogmeister @ ESWA 

The Freshies; I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk

A1.  I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk

B1.  I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk (Sing Along Version)