’89 Starry-Eyed Three-Way: The Lightning Seeds – “Pure”
The Lightning Seeds are available on iTunes.
by Walter Price
In the fabled year of 1989, Modern rock was well established. Sprouting its never-ending tentacles allowing a wide variety of new genres to take flight. Popular US radio was full of copycat popsters and hairy rockers, but the post-punk genre was where the craftiest of the songwriters were calling home.
Legendary acts like The Replacements, Camper Van Beethoven The Pixies, and XTC were more than thriving, they were shaping future generations of artists. One of the bands I rarely hear ballyhooed about as an influencer, but were, is The Lightning Seeds. And ’89 was the year they broke worldwide with their sonically soft yet heavy in definition track, “Pure”.
Night time slows, raindrops splash rainbows
Perhaps someone you know, could sparkle and shine
As daydreams slide to color from shadow
Picture the moonglow, that dazzles my eyes
And I love you
On all accounts or my interpretations, this song was the purest of sweet love sentiments. Perhaps written from the perspective of a burgeoning relationship when nothing seems impossible. I was slightly in awe when I discovered that the single was actually more of an ode to the fact that beautiful moments never last.
Lying smiling in the dark
Shooting stars around your heart
Dreams come bouncing in your head
Pure and simple every time
Now you’re crying in your sleep
I wish you’d never learnt to weep
Don’t sell the dreams you should be keeping
Pure and simple every time
Fine, it makes sense and the beauty hasn’t faded. Listening to Ian Broudie’s delivery never strays from sincere. Which is one of the reasons this song has weathered the test of time. Not only for those nostalgic afternoons playing the music that soundtracked your youth but as a tune that has influenced other artists to take a stab at recording their versions. I’ve dug deep and found three of the most interesting and stunning.
As for the artists you could argue were influenced by The Lightning Seeds…Check out The Bluetones and Ocean Colour Scene.
LIGHTNING SEEDS
MARSHEAUX
emilysingsalot
Luke Sital-Singh
SEEDS
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