Present perfect

I t has been a long time coming but, 35 years on, Classic Pop can finally reveal the true reason Fairground Attraction suddenly split up at the height of their chart-topping, Brit Award-winning success.

“It was when they didn’t let me have ‘ladling’ during a game of Scrabble on the tour bus,” declares singer Eddi Reader, clearly still nursing a grievance over this lexicographical injustice. “They were fucking wrong!”

“That’s what it was,” concurs guitarist and songwriter Mark Nevin. “It was a Scrabble problem.”

They’re joking, of course. The real reasons for the folk-rock four-piece’s sudden immolation – less than two years after they’d come from nowhere to score a No.1 hit with their debut single Perfect – are as messy and complicated as any break-up. But three-and-a-half decades on, Fairground Attraction are back in business – and no one is more surprised and delighted than them.

So, what kept them?

“It’s a good question, and we don’t quite know how to answer it ourselves,” admits Nevin, talking to CP over Zoom from his home in London. “Eddi and I didn’t really speak to each other for decades, and... it’s almost like she’s not a real person any more,” he smiles. “When we first spent time together again, in Glasgow, Eddi was sitting at the piano, and I looked over and thought: Is this actually happening? Is she real? I almost wanted to reach out and make sure she wasn’t a ghost.”

A MATTER OF TIME

Reader, looking on from her native Glasgow, smiles affectionately. Having reopened communications last year – when she jumped on stage at one of Mark’s solo shows for an impromptu version of FA fan favourite Allelujia – the two are clearly enjoying each other’s company again, along with fellow founding members Simon Edwards (guitarrón) and Roy Dodds (drums).

“There were a number of factors [that led to the rapprochement],” reflects Mark. “I think we’ve probably grown up, finally. Also, you look around and you see people like Terry Hall,