(Suburban Crimes Of) Every Happiness

A near-invisible presence on the margins of underground pop, Simon Rivers is well into his fourth decade of making sweet, powerful, crushing records. Weaving the messy threads of suburban life into dense tapestries, he has something of the Go-Betweens’ gift for melody, something of Mark E Smith’s ear for language, something of Vic Godard’s common touch, and almost none of the acclaim that should have been his due. Boo hoo.

Every Happiness should have been a word-of-mouth sensation when it was released, but one way or another there were no mouths, no words. Every Happiness is as brilliant a “lost classic” as one could hope for. Equal parts storming anthems, introspective wonders and deranged bits of social observation. Released for the first time on vinyl and now expanded to more than 80 minutes, with Under The Rainbow, a track only heard before on an obscure Spanish compilation album, which was built around what Simon describes as a “disused Kitchens Of Distinction backing track”.