Forever Until Victory: The Singles Collection

In 1986, British weekly New Musical Express released C86, a promo cassette of exciting new bands on the post-Smiths, post-Psychocandy UK indie scene. "C86" later became retroactive shorthand amongst hipster indie kids, describing bands from that time and place who took Johnny Marr's shimmering guitars and the Reid brothers' deadpan snarl as their starting point. In that sense, Paisley, Scotland's Close Lobsters weren't your average C86 band even though their "Firestation Towers" was one of the compilation's standout tracks. Though Andrew Burnett's sardonic vocals and Graeme Wilmington's complex guitar lines were in step with the times, these lads reached back a generation further for their primary influences, incorporating elements of Sunset Strip folk-rockers like Love and the Byrds on one hand and modish Carnaby Street pop-art heroes the Creation and A Quick One-era Who on the other. This comprehensive 19-track singles anthology covers their too-brief career (three years, two albums), and although a few B-sides are standard-issue C86 jangle, the best songs here -- the yearning, bittersweet "Let's Make Some Plans," the coffee-nerves rush of "What Is There To Smile About?" -- stand up to any singles released in the late '80s, indie and major-label alike.