Song 44: Barcode Bypass

Barcode Bypass - Mull Historical Society

Aah, Scottish pop, that's what it's all about. I forget sometimes just how much magical Scottish music there is. Mull Historical Society have got even less far in the music business than The Delgados but the fact that Colin McIntyre (for he is the sum of the MHS) is still making records indicates that there are people out there that still want to hear them.

He is a richly melodic songwriter - perhaps his life would have been better spent co-writing hits for a clever girl band like Girls Aloud. He is also, arguably, one of those acts like Belle and Sebastian and the Beta Band who, perhaps, though they have an enjoyable body of work, never quite topped their first salvo.

Again, I have John Osborne to thank for introducing me to 'Barcode Bypass' - late 2000, I think, and I think it did cause a bit of a stir in the music press.

It's such an unusual song - an epic about an old man who runs a shop which is being put out of business by a supermarket. There's a sense of gentleness and nostalgia to the song, an ease and confidence to the songwriting but its subject matter is actually pretty much on the button.

It reflects the artist's own journey a little, I think. He is actually from Mull (though the actual Mull Historical Society got a bit disgruntled with him and have changed their name to the Mull Historical and Archaelogical Society) in the Hebrides, but went to work in some kind of IT job in Glasgow before returning to his home island to pursue songwrting greatness.

When I was actually living (at university) in Scotland and even in the years directly afterwards, I do feel I had even more of a connection to what Scottish music was about than I do now - perhaps I've become a little urbanised and re-Anglified since then - back then the stream of greatness from Scotland seemed relentless.

There's a lot of Mull Historical Society I like (they have four albums and McIntyre has two under his own name). Perhaps it was all a bit of a sugar rush, but their music was capable of being entertaining and then moving in very quick succession. The first album, 'Loss' had this and the first track 'Public Service Announcer' as well as the eponymous 'Mull Historical Society' and a few others. Then, on the next album 'Us', songs such as 'The Final Arrears', 'Five More Minutes', 'Asylum' and a sequel to 'Barcode Bypass' called 'The Supermarket Strikes Back' from the alternative point of view.

To me, the next album was their best - I loved the lead single 'How 'bout I love you More', 'Peculiar' and 'This is the Hebrides' and there was another extraordinary epic called 'Death of a Scientist' about David Kelly (about whom Thom Yorke also wrote the excellent 'Harrowdown Hill').

Even last year's album 'City Awakenings' had plenty of moments. Basically, this is a guy who knows how to write tunes. If you like your pop quirksome, naive, warm and Scottish (who doesn't) this could be the band for you.

Looking at wikipedia, I'm pleased to see that I'd underestimated Mull Historical Society's success a little - in fact the albums and singles generally did push into the Top 40 - these days, that would be seen as an unabashed triumph for a guitar band.

I remember saying how Ooberman (who dealt in a similar oeuvre) got it all wrong with their name, and the same may be true of Mull Historical Society - you can't imagine it as a Top 10 name, can you, but it's actually rather a splendid name, quaint and meaningful, rather than ugly and ill-fitting.

Anyway, this is a beautiful song - I can't believe it's over 12 years old, I still remember looking out over St Andrews from my flat on South Street listening to it, getting all misty-eyed. Getting nostalgic for a song which deals in nostalgia is a headfuck too many, so bye for now, that'll probably be all on Scottish pop for a while.