"...it was twenty years ago today..."

Well, actually, it wasn't it was more like 20 and a half years ago today. In any case, I don't recall the exact date, but we're talking late June/early July 1993...

That was when I first heard Heavenly. 

It was on the John Peel show over the Glastonbury weekend. At least, I think it was. That's what my memory tells me anyway. And memories are, as we know, perfect; just ask all those people who saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland... 

So, he's about to play this song, and he's trying to decide how it's meant to be said; the title on the sleeve says it's "P.U.N.K. Girl", and he's undecided as to whether or not he should say each letter of P.U.N.K. individually, or as the word "Punk"... and he plays the song, and I am enraptured by it. Enraptured. 

That was when I first heard Heavenly. 

I heard it again once more on his show, and decided I must buy the song. (Incidentally; I'm also pretty sure on one of these shows I also heard the stunning Blue Eyes Deceiving Me, by Even as we Speak.)

A couple of weeks later, I'm in Swindon in HMV, and flick through a box of 7 inch singles on the counter, and BAM! There it is. A single copy of P.U.N.K. Girl, by Heavenly. I had to buy it. I recall also looking for Blue Eyes Deceiving Me, but they didn't have it. What they did also have, though, was a 7 inch of Her Jazz, by Huggy Bear; which, at the time, I had heard about, but hadn't actually heard, so I bought that, too.

Oh, that Heavenly 7 inch... I played it so many times. The a-side was just bliss. And the b-side, Hearts and Crosses, was so heartbreakingly sad. And there was a time when I figured that even if I never heard another song by Heavenly that this single would in itself be a perfect snapshot of the bad.

But, soon I found more; cassettes of a couple of their albums in HMV and Our Price... it seemed so normal then, but looking at music shops these days I do wonder that if Sarah Records were around today would they even be able to get their music in HMV? With the internet, would they even need to?

Soon after this, in 1995, came There and Back Again Lane, the final release, a 21 track CD compilation, from Sarah Records. Track 2 was a Heavenly track; Atta Girl... and I was blown away. It's a song that so very quickly wormed its way in to my head to become my favourite ever song; an accolade it holds to this day.

This was all just the start, and Heavenly sort of became Marine Research, which sort of became Tender Trap. And back further Heavenly had, sort of, previously been Talulah Gosh... oh, such joy. 

At the core of all of these bands is the beautiful voice of Amelia Fletcher, who could, frankly, sing I Wish I Could Fly, and make it sound beautiful. Heck, when John Peel did a carol concert one Christmas, the Marine Research contribution transformed In The Bleak Midwinter from a song I'd always thought a bit dull to a think of great, great, beauty. 

Frankly, if you've not bought any stuff by these bands, you're missing out. I'd suggest starting with;

• This Is Heavenly. (Compilation with most Heavenly singles on.)
• The Decline and Fall of Heavenly. (8 Tracks of sheer perfection.)
• Marine Research; Sounds From the Gulf Stream. (Actually, probably the best of the list. Really.)
• Talulah Gosh; Was It Just a Dream? (Compilation of pretty much everything they did...)

And if you don't like these, then you have no soul!

Oh, and the answer to Peel's question; you spell it out! :)