Back in 1990, The Would Be’s had much in common with The Strypes of today. Hailing from the borders of Cavan, Meath and Louth, the band had an average age of 17 when their first single ‘I’m Hardly Ever Wrong’ was released. Although only a mere 250 copies were pressed, it found its way into the right hands. Much like The Strypes, the youngsters found themselves being championed by some very influential people – in their case, John Peel and Morrissey. Their follow-up was ‘Single of the Week’ in Melody Maker and NME. Predictably, an A&R bidding war ensued.
True to indie form, the band turned down 14 major label offers to go with the obscure Decoy Records. Long story short: it turned out to be a disaster, their debut album never got recorded and the band split up without ever fulfilling their obvious potential for chart-topping greatness.
Until now, that is. 23 years on from that first single, they’ve finally released their debut album. Why now? Maybe there’s a clue in the lyrics to ‘Black & White Rainbow’: “You want a kind of Joan of Arc to lead you out of the dark.”
The big question: is it worth the 23-year wait? Well, possibly not quite that long, but it’s still pretty damn poptastic as we used to say back in 1990. Musically, their early ‘90s influences – The Smiths, The Sundays – are writ large over the guitar parts, but Julie McDonnell’s perfectly pitched vocals somehow give it a contemporary feel. Though they do show their age with such lyrics as, “There is nothing as obscene as us/As James Dean as us,” and, later, “Nothing as delicious as us/As Sid Vicious as us,” in ‘Could Be The Weather’. From the opening title-track through to mellow closer ‘Waste Your Love’, Beautiful Mess features 40 minutes of well-crafted, well-realised, hook-laden, straight-up Irish indie pop. No complaints. It’s just a shame they didn’t release it two decades ago.

Key Track: 'Too Bad'