Cast 'I'm So Lonely'

Chart Peak: 14
YouTube

Cast have had another string of Top 10 hits this year - 'Free Me' - 'Guiding Star' and 'Live The Dream'... Next comes this haunting ballad 'I'm So Lonely' due for release in November '97.

There's always a certain sense of achievement when I get to the last page of the booklet on one of these albums. Like Ocean Colour Scene, Cast had a run of six Top 10 hits in 1996-7, although 'I'm So Lonely' was the track that ended it: Cast did also go on to score a seventh, unlike OCS, but then they never managed a Number One album. Like OCS they were never a remotely cool act to like, though in their early days they did have a strong reputation as a live act.

Although I'd bought their debut album - and not entirely on spec, I had borrowed it first and liked it enough to get my own copy - I never quite got around to picking up second album Mother Nature Calls. I guess the title wasn't exactly encouraging. I do now have all four singles from the album ('Live The Dream' isn't on a Now album but it is on Shine: Best Of '97) and I feel like I might have had the right idea. I do remember some reviews citing 'I'm So Lonely (Calling You Back)' (as it was sometimes called, John Power seemingly a big fan of brackets at this time) as the album's best track and indeed it is a nice bit of pop balladry, more enjoyable than 'Better Day'. But it's not quite the haunting classic it means to be and I keep finding myself willing it to be better than it is.

Also appearing on: Now 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 43
Available on: The Collection

Cast 'Sandstorm'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

'Sandstorm' was a No. 8 hit for John, Liam, Keith and Peter in January 1996... It followed 'Fine Time' and 'Alright' to become their third Top 20 hit.

If you're taking notes you'll spot that this is the second track on Now 33 that's a follow-up to a single called 'Alright', and no it's not the same song. I've mentioned before - and may very well mention again, as they crop up a lot on these albums - that I always had a certain soft spot for Cast, especially the first album which contains nothing especially original or unique but is a solid assembly of pop songs. Yes, I said pop songs, because  that's what they really are; some of their audience might have disagreed, but I don't think Cast ever were or particularly wanted to be an alternative to anything, they were - are, in fact, as they reunited and released a new album last year - simply an band who happened to be playing this kind of music in an era when it was called "indie".

By the start of 1996 I'd borrowed a copy of the album but did not own it so it made perfect sense to buy a CD single of one of the standout tracks. I was tempted by the bonus live tracks too, having heard that the band were really good in concert (it was a lot cheaper to test this by paying £1:99 for a single than buying a gig ticket of course). As a throwaway slice of Merseybeat, complete with John Power's heavily-accented vocal ("We're just not a pair...") 'Sandstorm' is a satisfying snack. It's all the better for keeping the running time down to about 2 minutes 42, coincidentally almost exactly the length of 'There She Goes' by the La's, by far the most acclaimed track Power was ever involved in. I got my money's worth, even though the live tracks turned out to be a bit disappointing.

Also appearing on: Now 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43
Available on: Britpop Anthems

Cast 'Free Me'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

Due for release on 24th March '97, 'Free Me' is the stonking new single from the top Mersey combo they call Cast... It is likely to storm into the chart in a fairly big way, like.

So I was all set to start this post by talking about how forgotten this song and band were and then what do I hear on Steve Wright's Non-Stop Oldies the day I start to write this post? Well, actually it was the follow-up to this, 'Guiding Star' but still, it was a bit of a surprise.

At the time, though, Cast were very much on a roll and the first single from their second album cruised easily into the Top 10. I recall quite liking it a the time, although I noticed the very similar middle eight to David Bowie's 'Little Wonder' from earlier in the year. I probably hadn't heard it for a good five years when I bought my copy of Now 36. Sadly it proved to be the track that disappointed me most: not that it's a bad song, but it's not an outstanding one either, and even though all the same people were involved it seems to lack the surefooted production of the singles from their first album. Probably just as well I never bought Mother Nature Calls, then.

Also appearing on: Now 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 43
Available on: True 90s (3 CD Set)

Cast 'Alright'

Chart Peak: 13

YouTube

'Alright', A No. 13 hit in September 1995, was the follow-up to the storming 'Finetime'... It gave the fab four (John, Liam, Peter & Keith) their second hit of the year

Making the first of their many Now appearances here, Cast were very much part of the second wave of Britpop; in the early days when the word was first used it concentrated on more ironic, art-schooly acts like Suede and Saint Etienne, whereas this particular foursome were at almost the opposite end of the indie spectrum. Indeed it seems rather a quirk of history that this was ever called alternative music at all, because they'd surely have seen their antecedents as the likes of The Who, very much mainstream acts in their day.

That said, 'Alright' does have its own claim to indie heritage insofar as it dates back to John Power's days in the La's. Indeed that group used to play it live but never recorded it: a radio session recording appears on the recent box set and is probably the closest there'll ever be to a studio version by the La's. It was an obvious single choice for Power's second band, though, and with the demand there was for guitar-led pop in 1995 an unsurprising hit (coincidentally it peaked at exactly the same position as 'There She Goes'). I didn't buy the single, but I subsequently borrowed the album from a fellow sixth-former, and ultimately bought my own copy. I'd pretty much put it away for years until I started doing this blog, but I listened to it again yesterday and rather enjoyed it. Cast were never a really important act but sometimes they did what they did pretty well and this, though not their strongest single, is by no means their weakest. Today, that's enough for me.

Also appearing on: Now 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43
Available on: Summer

Cast 'Walkaway'

Chart Peak: 9

YouTube

I don't think I still have it, but back in 1996, Polydor sent me a print of the picture used for the cover of this single (relax girls) to try and induce me to buy the thing. I didn't, in the end, because I made do with the album, but the very fact that the marketing budget ran to these lengths is, I suppose, a sign of how successful Cast actually were for a while. To wit, their first ten singles (of which this was the fourth) all entered the Top 20, more than half even reaching the Top 10, then suddenly as the turn of the century neared it all seemed to vanish and they're barely mentioned now.

Cast were as identifiably Liverpudlian a band as Space, but in other respects they were really quite different; although normally grouped among the later Britpop groups, they never seemed to be that fussed about being considered alternative; they just wanted to get on with it. To that end, 'Walkaway' [all one word, I don't know why either] is a simple, Merseybeat-esque ballad that doesn't exactly break new ground lyrically but is remarkably well put together, with the assistance of John Leckie's sure-footed though subtle production. Cast arrived on the record racks with an excellent reputation as a live act, and they don't seem to have needed a lot of fuss to get this down on tape, before doubtless heading to the pub. I'm not going to go so far as to agree with the YouTube uploader who called this "One of the greatest ballads ever", but it's one track that I enjoyed more than I expected to. I noticed a rather pretty bit of string arrangement just after the instrumental break too.

Also appearing on: Now 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43
Available on:All Change