I relived a time from way in my past last night when I went to see The Wonderstuff at the Academy in Bristol. Although they have toured sporadically in the 20 or so years since they were at the peak of their fame this tour stood out as a celebration of their first album "The Eight Legged Groove Machine". They played this album from start to finish in the first part of the show and then came out to do a smattering from their later albums including Golden Green, Don't Let Me Down Gently and Size of a Cow. Lead singer Miles Hunt remarked that he would under no circumstances be playing their biggest hit "Dizzy" and as this collaboration with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer was little more than a novelty record in the vein of Joe Dolce's Shaddupayaface then no ones was complaining about that.

Despite the advancing years their live show had lost none of it's energy and raw enthusiasm. Sadly, band members have been more difficult to hang on to with Miles Hunt and guitarist Malc Treece being the only two original members. Original bassist Rob Jones and drummer Martin Gilks had both left the band during one of many band breakups/reformations/lineup changes  and have both tragically passed away. New members have been recruited with the most notable being violinist Erica Nockalls with whom Miles Hunt has also produced some acoustic material as a side project.

All this nostalgia for my makes me wonder what was the fate of their similar contempories; Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine and Jesus Jones.

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