THE ENGLISH TAPE, SIDE 2 TRACK 12
SABRES OF PARADISE – “Wilmot” (12″ Single)
Sabres Of Paradise called a whole album Haunted Dancehall, but really they just meant this song, the grotesque truncation of which on that album marked the exact point where Andy Weatherall twigged that uncool people liked him too and he’d better head back underground pronto. “Wilmot” tracks a fat trumpet across a dusty, dubby, dancefloor, folding time in on itself so that Windrush generation blues partygoers shake hands and bodies with their clubbed-out 90s inheritors. The atmosphere is smoky, friendly, and strong: if you listen to “Wilmot” hard enough you can hear more of the real history of British pop music, and the forces and crossovers that shaped it, than any book would let on.