The Mock Turtles
With their promising UK hit single 'Can You Dig It?', the Mock Turtles followed a line of success stories that had emanated from Manchester, England, between 1989 and 1991. Like many of their contemporaries, the band had been playing the independent circuit for several years before realizing their potential. The band's lynchpin was singer, guitarist and songwriter Martin Coogan, who had previously fronted Judge Happiness, won a Salford University talent contest and subsequently issued a single, 'Hey Judge', on the Mynah label in 1985.
As the Mock Turtles, Coogan was joined by Steve Green (bass), Krzysztof Korab (keyboards) and Steve Cowen (drums), and their recordings surfaced on several of the Imaginary label's popular tribute compilations (covering Syd Barrett 's 'No Good Trying', Captain Beefheart 's 'Big-Eyed Beans From Venus', the Kinks' 'Big Sky', the Byrds' 'Why' and the Velvet Underground 's 'Pale Blue Eyes'), illustrating their eclectic tastes. Meanwhile, the band's first 12-inch EP, Pomona, was issued in 1987, and although it owed an obvious debt to early David Bowie and veered towards the overblown, the confidence of musicians, string arrangements and songwriting was obvious.
In 1989 Andrew Stewardson replaced bassist Steve Green and Jo the keyboard player also joined the group. Guitarist Martin Glyn Murray joined the band in time for 'The Wicker Man' (inspired by the film of the same name), followed by 'And Then She Smiles'. From pure folk to powerful songs verging on the pompous, the Mock Turtles conveyed a distinctive feel within their music. However, it was their next single, 1990's 'Lay Me Down', that hinted at bigger things, sporting a sparse yet infectious shuffling backbeat.
Hot on its heels came a well-received debut album, Turtle Soup, in June, which fared well on the independent chart, as did the band's collaboration with one of Coogan's long-time influences, Bill Nelson, for 'Take Your Time' (the b-side of their next single, 'Magic Boomerang'). This was enough to lure Siren Records, and for their first major label single, the band chose to rework the b-side of 'Lay Me Down', 'Can You Dig It?'. The single was an instant hit, with BBC Television's Top Of The Pops appearances to match, and in its wake came another reissue of sorts, 'And Then She Smiles'. This failed to build on the success of 'Can You Dig It', and the Mock Turtles' highly commercial Two Sides suffered from a low profile, despite its abundance of musical muscle and carefully crafted songs.
In the meantime, Imaginary compiled most of their early single tracks on 1987-90, for those newcomers who had missed them first time around. However, the Mock Turtles' rapid progress soon transmuted into an equally swift decline. Around 1993 Steve Cowan left the band and a new drummer joined called Steve Barnard. The band dissolved when Coogan formed a new band, Ugli, with Korab and Green after Murray left to pursue an acting career (although Murray later returned to Ugli). Steve Green and Krzysztof Korab both left in 1989 and Coogan (brother of Steve) wrote songs for the latter's pseudonymous comedy crooner Tony Ferrino.
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12": Can U Dig it?
[SRNT 136]
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Released 1991 on Siren Records. All tracks composed by Martin Coogan. Track 1 produced by Peter Smith and Martin Coogan. Track 2 produced by Martin Coogan. Track 3 produced by Martin Coogan and John Pennington.
12": Can U Dig it? The Steve Proctor Remixes
[SRNDM 136]
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Released 1991 on Siren Records. All tracks composed by Martin Coogan. Tracks 1 & 2 produced by Peter Smith and Martin Coogan. Track 3 produced by Martin Coogan. Additional remix and production on tracks 1 & 2 by Steve Proctor. This is the second 12" of Can U Dig it?, featuring the Steve Proctor remixes. 'Can U Dig it? Yeah!' is the more upbeat and dance orientated remix by Steve Proctor, a tune well ahead of its time and adopted as an anthem by the global dance club Whirl-Y-Gig. Adding the notorious "Can You Dig it?" sample from the 1979 film "The Warriors", Proctor successfully converts this from an indie pop tune into a classic dance track. Whilst the first 12" (see above) is available on CD, these much sort after Steve Proctor remixes are limited to 12". Your best bet of finding this is hunting through second hand record shops, looking especially under Manchester Indie sections.
A third mix of Can U Dig It? was produced by Steve Proctor and featured on the CD single of "And then she smiles". This was called "The Lights Out Mix ". Thanks to Steve Proctor for this information.
CDS: Can U Dig it?
[7243 546969 23]
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Released 3/03 on Virgin Records. Taken from the form coming album 'Can U Dig it? - The Best of the Mock Turtles'. All tracks composed by Martin Coogan. Additional remix and production on tracks 1,2 & 3 by Fatboy Slim and Simon Thornton. These new remixes have been released to coincide with the 2003 Vodaphone Live commercial. Norman Cook and Simon Thornton stick faithful to the original album version from 1991, delivering a very subtle revamp of this classic indie tune that will probably hit the charts due to the amount of the airtime the Vodaphone advertising campaign is receiving. Overall I conceive this as a missed opportunity given the huge potential of this track - surely some serious dance remixes could have been produced too???
