Anything really from the first Del Amitri album reminds me of my friend from college, Peter. He was firmly in the long-coats-and-gloomy Joy Division school, I was in the tank-tops-and-poppy Haircut 100 camp. But we seemed to agree about this odd, heart-felt, outsidery first Del Amitri album. Nothing like the rockster songs they'd go on to do. Being a Del Amitri fan after their Melody Maker cover didn't make them stars was like being in a secret club. ALmost the best thing about them was the fan club - you got postcards from the band, little badges, they came and slept on your floor - all the things bands do now because internet, they did then because they'd failed to become The Smiths or Lloyd Cole. The modesty was part of the appeal. You got the sense they weren't cool enough for Postcard, too earnest. Jangly too early.
Peter's drawings looked a bit like the album covers, I remember. He got very ill in our final year, which partly, oddly, helped me get an actual degree. He died not long after. 25 years ago? Something like that. These songs remind me of him.