Stump 'Buffalo' (Ensign, 1988) (MP3 Download)

With the benefit of hindsight it's hard to imagine how Stump got within a hundred yards of the offices of a major recording company, let alone being signed to one (as despatch riders maybe?).

Incredibly, after a couple of EPs, Stump found themselves signed to a major, releasing their album 'A Fierce Pancake' and dealing in more of their Beefheartian psychobilly psychodrama. 'Buffalo' has a reasonably attractive and quirky sound but it's a lolloping jalopy of a song and it's hard to imagine it troubling the likes of Mel & Kim, Deacon Blue or Rick Astley in the late eighties pop charts.

"How much is the fish? How much is the fish! How much is the chips? How much is the chips!" semi-crooned singer Mick Lynch along to a sound that veers between arhythmic funk and the sound of a therapy group discovering a fretless bass and some pots and pans in the dressing-up box.

It's an arresting proposition that, of course, didn't find its way onto Top Of The Pops. Instead the more alt-friendly home of The Chart Show beamed Stump into Saturday morning homes after the kids has just had their fix of Saturday Superstore or somesuch family-friendly entertainment (these were the days before Dick & Dom).

Encountered in that context Stump stood out but it took a few additional listens before the internal logic of Stumpworld revealed itself. Once it did, though, you're hooked.

Download Stump 'Buffalo' (mp3) (Rapidshare)

Read more about 'Buffalo' and the origin of its striking lyrics - all makes sense when you know why - on the Left and to the Back blog.