I'll Be Your Saint: A Retrospective of Adorable
Click on this icon to listen to the playlist as you read along.
Any generation of music is going to have many acts that come and go, barely making a dent or, at best, achieving that both coveted and decried ‘one hit wonder’ status. What to make of a band like Adorable? In 1993, they issued one of the best albums of the decade, beloved by many but never able to make the breakthrough to commercial success. A follow-up a year later also failed to click and their label dropped them, leading to their break-up. Other than a couple reunion shows in 2019, it was the last we’d hear from the band.
Such details relegate them to relative obscurity, a footnote (as their 2009 compilation was titled) of their generation – not even a one hit wonder. It is a status that is grossly unfair and not commensurate with the appreciation their music drew from many, though obviously not nearly enough. Let’s shine a light on their brief history and revive our adoration for Adorable.
Adorable (L to R): Robert Dillam, Stephen 'Wil' Williams, Pete Fijalkowski, and Kevin Gritton
Adorable’s story started at the University of Warwick, in Coventry, England in 1988. Fellow students, Stephen ‘Wil’ Williams (vocals, guitar) and Pete Fijalkowski formed a band, Bubblegum Flesh. Pete jumped in 1990 to form another band, The Candy Thieves, with him on guitar and vocals and friend, Wayne Peters, also on guitar. Wil soon came to replace a short-lived bassist. Peters then chose to leave, and Robert Dillam joined on guitar along with Kevin Gritton on drums. The new line-up changed their name to Adorable.
They developed a dream pop sound of layered guitars, thick, reverberating basslines, and forceful beats. What separated them from a pure shoegaze sound was a general lack of airiness to the vocals and musical ambience. Their pop hooks and urgent vocals put them more into the emerging Britpop vein. A direct comparison to early Blur was not inappropriate, and they also linked sonically to the ‘grebo’ vibes of the Stourbridge sound and the likes of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin or The Wonder Stuff. Most reviews tended to compare them to ‘80s stalwarts, Echo & The Bunnymen, given the similarity of the vocals.
After a single, “Sunshine Smile,” that gained them press attention but was ultimately not released by the small indie label that recorded it, they did get a contract with legendary shoegaze label, Creation Records (plucked out of a showcase over more highly touted, Suede, who would go on to do alright, regardless). A re-recording and release of “Sunshine Smile” gained them a #1 spot on the UK Indie Chart. That was followed by the debut album, Against Perfection, released in 1993, which reached #70 in the UK albums chart.
I discovered Adorable via the inclusion of the song, “I’ll Be Your Saint,” on an indie compilation CD, Independent 20, an excellent series that exposed a lot of great indie UK music (that Volume 16 issue I had was one of my most played discs at the time, along with Volume 14). I picked up Against Perfection soon after and it’s hard to explain how hard I fell for it. There wasn’t a bad song on the album, moving through frenetic turns and graceful, moody dream pop. The hooks were abundant, with nothing cut back from the wall-of-guitar and driving basslines that marked their sound. While the pop-oriented singles, “Sunshine Smile” and “I’ll Be Your Saint” were most likely to gain them attention and success (though only the first came close, reaching the top forty in the US Alternative chart, the band also lacked promotion in the US thanks to fallout between Creation and their US counterpart, SBK records, when the Sony buyout occurred), it was tracks like “Homeboy” that brought exhilaration and goosebumps. Riding a rumbling bassline and exploding into satiating crescendos, it was an amazing track. This playlist only selects five of the twelve songs on the album (it was agony settling on each non-selection), but I heartily encourage you to listen to the whole thing, as it is well worth it.
It appears the band had a disagreeable streak, with reports of difficulty with their label, media, promoters, and each other. It suggests they didn’t so much embody their name as fans would hope. So, when their second album, Fake, was released in 1994 and went nowhere, their label cut ties and the band packed it in. Creation was now a sub of major, Sony, who was less patient than its indie predecessor, and likely more focused on Adorable’s labelmate, upcoming Britpop behemoth, Oasis. Despite occasionally checking Adorable’s slot in the bins at record stores, from my perch in Canada I never found and was not aware of this LP. Listening to it now, it was good but not as great as the first. More pop, less rough-edged, and frankly including a couple of less than worthy tracks, the album seemed to be a classic case of the sophomore slump. The cause, as is so often the case, was the project being rushed by the label.
Ironic against its title, Against Perfection was nearly perfect. Adorable can look back and know they achieved at least that, and for me and I know many others, it is a cherished artifact of a very good period of music. Maybe if it had been released a couple years earlier it could have been more entrenched in the shoegaze scene, or a couple later and it would have taken off amidst the frenzy of Britpop, but maybe not? Perhaps all that I love about it, the hard-driving guitars, the thick basslines, exhilarating changes in pace, and copious hooks were just too much for a broader audience? The general story about Adorable is that the band annoyed with their cockiness, and the always fickle UK music media wrote them off as derivative and undeserving of such confidence. But a perusal of the internet will find many discussions of the band as one of the great misses of their generation and deserving of so much more recognition. I am here to add to chorus, and to help ensure Adorable remains an enduring and cherished part of the ‘90s music story.
The Playlist - “song” \ album (year)
“Sunshine Smile” \ Against Perfection (1993)
“Glorious” \ Against Perfection (1993)
“Homeboy” \ Against Perfection (1993)
“Sistine Chapel Ceiling” \ Against Perfection (1993)
“I’ll Be Your Saint” \ Against Perfection (1993)
“Feed Me” \ Fake (1994)
“Submarine” \ Fake (1994)
“Go Easy on Her” \ Fake (1994)
“Have You Seen the Light” \ Fake (1994)
