Adorable: Footnotes - Best of (92-94)

Adorable was my favorite band of the mid-Nineties, so much so that I named my fanzine after their scorching second LP single “Vendetta,” and still use the Vendetta pseudonym for my writing to this day. Formed in Coventry, England in late 1990, Adorable was lumped in with the then-thriving UK shoegaze scene upon signing to the ultra-trendy Creation Records imprint. That said, their sound was much more aggressive than the likes of Lush and Ride, mostly resembling a more manic version of Echo and The Bunnymen, largely due to vocal similarities between Piotr Fijalkowski and Ian McCulloch. Like the latter, Piotr wasn’t afraid of running his mouth, making for some highly entertaining press interviews back in the day. While it is a little weird to see a Best-Of from a band that only released two albums, it should be noted that Against Perfection and Fake have both been long out of print and this collection of all seven of the group’s singles, key album tracks, and several B-sides flows remarkably well, demanding repeated play even from hardcore fans who have heard this all before. Footnotes perfectly balances the punk-fueled early classics like “Favourite Fallen Idol,” “Homeboy,” (see video above!) and “Sunshine Smile,” with later gems like the intoxicating early New Order-inspired “Vendetta” and the introspective, majestic pop noir anthems “Submarine” and “Lettergo.”