The Darling Buds - Pop Said (2006)

If ever there was a more melodic, frenetic and fun piece of classic 1980s indie, it has yet to be found. These Newport indie favourites were inexperienced bordering on the amateur when they pressed their debut single, and rode the crest of the 'blonde' movement.

Captivated by the effortless pop of singles such as Burst and Hit The Ground, the indie infrastructure fell at their feet. John Peel and Janice Peel were playing a song each from their Just To Be Seen/If I Said double A-sided single; NME and Melody Maker gave them front covers and Radio 1 sessions were recorded.

Pre-dating fellow Welshman The Pooh Sticks by a couple of years, The Darling Buds shared their melodic, positive jangle but avoided the tweeness of the C86 scene of which The Pooh Sticks were a cornerstone. Instead, Andrea Lewis' vocals provided the pop thrills while guitar flailed and chugged in the background.

That The Darling Buds had fans from the more rocky side of the indie scene comes as no surprise when listening to this re-release of their classic album. Pop Said shows their powerful side balanced by the sweet female vocals of Lewis; each song could have been a single, and indeed quite a few were.

The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Velvet Underground, The Cramps and The Shop Assistants are all referenced in the sleeve notes here, but like all the best bands, they had their own sound which found its most perfect, unfettered form on Pop Said.

The Darling Buds' first studio LP is a potent mix of Blondie and Velocity Girl. Not as streetwise as the former but rougher than the latter, it's a solid collection of 12 straight-ahead pop-punk songs, some of which were re-worked and glossed up from earlier EPs released on the Native label.

The orginal album's 12 tracks (which would alone have worth shelling out for) are joined by some contemporary b-sides and rarities and even these show off the razor-sharp writing that marks The Darling Buds out as something of a lost treasure.