Sarah Records' There And Back Again Lane compilation has been out a couple of years now, but I still feel that I need to write about it. I never bought it at the time because I thought I'd probably got most, if not all, of the tracks on the CD. I also felt a bit disappointed with Sarah cos I found that many of their later releases didn't live up to the greatness of their earlier ones. In fact, I used to avidly purchase practically everything they released - not in a 'sad collector' way, but because I knew that there was a 99% chance that I would love it. However, towards the end, there were far more releases I just found 'not bad' as opposed to 'earth shatteringly brilliant', so I gave up on them. I also found I couldn't listen to the earlier releases without getting all nostalgic, because during a time in my life that I would perhaps rather forget, I listened to a lot of music on Sarah, and I tended to associate the music on Sarah with this time. But now I feel that I can listen to them again without reminding myself of the past - a good thing, as the Sarah label changed my life. That is no exaggeration. If I hadn't have known about Sarah, I wouldn't have found out about all those other small indie labels that were every chance influenced by Sarah, and I would never have known about most other things that I listen to these days. Because of all this, I would never have started this fanzine. Maybe I wouldn't even know what a fanzine was? (Believe it or not, people do exist who aren't aware of fanzines. They all live in Redditch ... probably). But getting interested in Sarah wasn't just a way of finding out about other things - Sarah itself was very important to me. As I said earlier, there was a time when I could buy practically anything on the label without hearing it first, and I'd know I was going to like it lots. Most of my all-time favourite songs were on Sarah - Emma's House by The Field Mice (yeah, I know they disowned that song, but I think it's one of the best they ever did. It was also the first Sarah single I bought, so I like it for sentimental reasons too), Grey Skies by Secret Shine, The Sadness Of Sex (Part 1) by The Orchids (and most of the rest of the Unholy Soul LP), absolutely everything by The Sea Urchins, and stacks more.

But now Sarah is no more, and two years ago they put out There And Back Again Lane as their final release. You may think that it should have been a double CD, and it's true that there were so many superb songs on Sarah which could have made it onto here - but if you think like that then you may think 'it should have been a triple CD', and you've got to stop somewhere I guess. Still, it would have been good to see every single band who were ever on Sarah on this compilation, not just the ones who released three singles or more. But as I said, you've got to stop somewhere, I guess. This CD is capable of showing the more closed-minded people out there that the music on Sarah was nowhere near as narrow as they previously thought. Although many of the tracks are melancholic and/or jangly, there's also noisy punk from Action Painting! and Boyracer, and proper pop pop, not really indie-pop, from Even As We Speak. What you won't find on here, however, is anything twee. People classed Sarah as a cutie label, but although aggressive, hard music with arrogant, "rock 'n' roll" lyrics wasn't their speciality, this didn't make them cute either. Anyway, why can't you sing about love and stuff, why do you have to hide your feelings behind a mask of toughness and conceit? Why can't you be yourself without worrying about what other people think? As Matt said back in Aquamarine #1, "People who use 'cute' and 'twee' as insults because they're uncomfortable with us being un-rock 'n' roll and non-macho say more about their own insecurities and traditional reactionary attitudes than they do about us". The only band on Sarah who I'd generally class as a bit twee (and even then I don't mean it as an insult) were Heavenly, but the track on this compilation is one of their later songs which is more riot grrrl influenced, and has Amelia shouting 'fuck you!' - nothing twee about that is there?!

It was true, there aren't many tracks on the CD I haven't already got elsewhere, but it comes with a booklet which is a kind of history of the label, told in a personal, story-like manner, which is sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone who was there the first time round (or even if you weren't). I wish I'd bought the CD earlier just for this. Certain bits I found particularly amusing/interesting, mainly the stuff about The Sea Urchins, who as you are probably well aware, were my all time favourite band. (Anyone who read Aquamarine #1 may have got the impression that I thought Delta were better than The Sea Urchins - this isn't the case. It's not really possible to compare The Sea Urchins and Delta in terms of 'who's best', they are very different bands and I like them both equally. And while I'm on the subject, the quote from Aqua #1 about Ivy, "better than The Sea Urchins?", was a question, not a statement, the answer of course being "Ivy are good and all that, but...", well, you know the answer.) I'd heard some of those Sea Urchin-related rumours before, and reading this seems to have confirmed them as true. As well as various anecdotes concerning Clare and Matt and the bands, there's band photos and pictures of the fanzines that Clare and Matt used to write, gig posters and so on. For anyone who was ever interested in the Sarah label, or even anyone remotely curious about it, this is an essential purchase. Although Sarah is well and truly finished, and nothing else on the label will ever be re-pressed, this recently has been, and should still be available for £10(UK)/£11 (Europe)/£12 (World). As you know, Matt now runs Shinkansen, so make cheques payable to Shinkansen Recordings, and send them to PO Box 14274, London SE11 6ZG.

Since this article appeared in Aq 14, it appears that the compilation has been deleted, which is a shame, but you can still contact Shinkansen at the above address for their current releases.

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