The Wild Flowers - Sometime Soon (2022)

Like Del Amitri, Wolverhampton’s Wild Flowers became tired of a disinterested UK pop scene and looked to America for inspiration and appreciation. After two singles, ‘Melt Like Ice’ and ‘Things Have Changed’, and an album, The Joy Of It All, on Reflex in 1984, the fledgling outfit were dealt a blow when original guitarist Dave Newton left to form the Mighty Lemon Drops. The remaining members, Neal Cook (guitar, vocals), Mark Alexander (bass) and Dave Fisher (drums), eventually found a replacement in Dave Atherton, and the band duly signed to aspiring local label Chapter 22. They broke their two-year silence in 1986 with ‘It Ain’t So Easy’, followed later that year by ‘A Kind Of Kingdom’. Both singles were then coupled on a mini-album, Dust, primarily aimed at introducing the Wild Flowers to the US market which was more sympathetic to their New York-influenced rock sound. The band became the first British act to sign with Slash in the USA, releasing Sometime Soon in 1988, preceded by ‘Broken Chains’ and ‘Take Me For A Ride’ in the UK. The band’s Tales Like These was recorded in the inspirational surroundings of California, by which time a new drummer, Simon Atkins, had been found. The album made little headway in the UK (where Slash is handled by London Records) and the group concentrated more on performing in the USA.