This Perfect Day

In the end I could not resist the hype. The buzz had it that they were kind of a Swedish answer to The Cure. With poetry and drama tastefully borrowed from The Smiths and dynamics learned from Australian cult heroes Hunters & Collectors. But still, er, totally unique.
In 1989 all of this sounded extremely interesting to me, then a rock scribe slowly switching to a&r activities.
The Swedish post punk rock climate was bleak and boring. A decade was coming to an end and nothing on the scene pointed towards an interesting new era. In that situation the rumour about the northern sensation This Perfect Day seemed a major gift.
Of course the buzz had it a wee bit wrong.
I finally got to see them on their fourth sold out gig in a nondescript pub/club in the very touristy central area of Stockholm. The band presented some of the musical cornerstones mentioned above. But the aspects that I found really intriguing were total surprises to me.
The band from the city of Skellefteå way up north was quite obviously working in the beat tradition. Yes, beat as in Beatles. But with a contemporary extremely electrical edge. And cynicism. And humour. I found them astonishing. But very much due to other reasons than I’d thought beforehand.
Close to twenty years later, ten years after their last album, they’re still astonishing. Very few quite unknown acts from any era can present a string of songs this strong and explosive and ageless.
“Setting Things Straight” is a 2CD take on ten recording years with TPD.
Most of the first CD presents bona fide hit stuff. Including the cross over smash “Fishtank” and for the first time on an album “Oh Susie” - the quite different cover version of an 80’s novelty hit.
The second CD is dominated by stuff from cassettes (remember them?), early vinyl singles, CD single b-sides, and rare demo sessions. But CD 2 also features the never before released 1998 recording “Circles”, initially planned to be on a 1998 compilation.
This 33 track compilation embraces a musical transition both charming and in one way frustrating, more on that aspect later. It unveils the rather Morrisseyesque first steps on the debut single “Set Things Straight”, and also one example of TPD walking Cure landscapes, “Sensitive Toy”.
But “Setting Things Straight” is mainly a parade of songs that is distinctly This Perfect Day. The material from the 1992 debut album and on can at occasions showcase aspects borrowed from band heroes like Go-Betweens, Camper van Beethoven, The Triffids and The Smiths. But in the end it’s still a unique sound with roots spiralling backwards through punk way back to Mersey beat.
The last five years of the TPD saga was – it’s seemed to an outsider looking in – a never-ending exploration of all possible ways to recognition. When the band was not touring all Swedish dust roads known to mankind they were in the UK, The US or in some distant Asian market.
Already the second album – including the breakthrough single “I’m In Love” - was released in prestigious places like the US. In conjunction with the third album they toured The US, The Peoples Republic of China as well as Taiwan – an effort that even experienced diplomats would be proud of.
The peak of This Perfect Day mania possibly occurred on March 8 1997. On that winter Saturday they reached the number one position on the at the time very influential domestic “Tracks” chart.
A week earlier the album “C-60” had entered the album charts as a top ten. TPD were for a couple of months a household name even for Herr and Fru Sven Svensson.
But after that the story sadly turned in the wrong direction. A deal with a US major developed into zero and zilch of commitments. Back home they became victims of an internal turmoil at their record company. A compilation scheduled for 1998 release was postponed into oblivion – in fact until now!
In the end This Perfect Day called it quits after a show at the major domestic festival, the Hultsfreds Festival, in the summer of 1998.
With that we’re back to the frustrating aspects to the TPD transition mentioned above. What would have happened through, say, five more years of studio sessions? It’s for sure a lot of potential not being fulfilled here.
But on the other hand: they possibly split up at their zenith, probably the perfect end. You never know. What you for sure know is that “Setting Things Straight” now finally exists. It was for sure worth the waiting.
Lars Nylin, MNW 2007
This Perfect Day - Fishtank