What a story this one is. The Five Year Plan was a band with, among others, Rob Pursey (later of Heavenly, etc.) and Tim Rippington (later of The Flatmates, etc.) back in the-Eighties. Burning with ambition in a pre-C86 Bristol or thereabouts, the group hooked up with Martin Whitehead, he who was about to form the seminal Subway Records. Five Year Plan had their chance, but they gave it up. Rather than record for the up-and-coming label, they went off to hone their indie chops with plans to return. They have. Now.
Bringing band-mates Dave Squire and Katy West back, and recruiting Rocker Rosehip to drum in place of their retired original drummer, The Five Year Plan was ready to tackle this all again. With an eye towards finishing what history had stopped, they decided to finally record their album in the manner they would have in 1985 or thereabouts. 1985 is out now and it's somewhat surprisingly energetic. Rather than being simply an exercise in digging up the best indie from England's past, this release serves as a sort of experiment, and a re-imagining of those old styles in the old manner, only done now. "Wiser Older But Wiser" has real energy, and a sort of chiming power. The sound of this one, and "Six Feet Under" reveals a debt owed to early Cure, The Only Ones, and even the Go-Betweens. The harmonies between Katy and Rob are lovely, with the hooks redolent of the sound of any number of Brit post-punk groups from the original era. "Useless" adds keyboards to give the mid-tempo moodiness a sleek sheen.
This recasting of the past is a successful effort. Less gimmicky than it might seem on paper, 1985 finds a bunch of little gems that are breathed into life now. There's nothing here that's modern, so nothing sounds too much like 2023, frankly, and one can imagine this fitting in nicely, as it was intended, on the Subway Records imprint 35 or so years ago. The Five Year Plan are now having their moment, and I had fun joining these folks on their run through the past. Rob Pursey went on to Heavenly, The Catenary Wires, Swansea Sound, and so on, while Tim Rippington was in The Flatmates and then Beatnik Filmstars. Katy West and Dave Squire found lives outside music, but they seem to have not lost any of their chops judging by how spry their playing is here on 1985. And Rocker Rosehip was in The Rosehips, The Flatmates, The Groove Farm, and so on. It's good to hear him here, as it makes perfect sense that he drums on this.
1985 is out now from The Five Year Plan. Details below.
[Photo: Five Year Plan Bandcamp]