In the heady days of the late 1980s, all roads seemed to lead to rock superstardom for vocalist Neil Holliday, bassist Terry Lloyd, guitarist Tyrone Holt, and drummer Carl Alty. They had whipped up an excitable cult following on the local scene, but through a series of missed opportunities and unfortunate sliding doors moments, a record deal ultimately never came to fruition in the way it should have.

The recordings of their 1989 debut album Hello Flower, despite the intoxicating elixir they presented, were left to gather dust and passed off from the band’s original manager to a friend, and now, 35 years later, they have just been unearthed in the loft of a Manchester apartment, so it’s about time to drop into the rabbit hole.

Put simply, this album is the missing key to unlocking the long-sought-after beginning of the Madchester scene and subsequent Britpop story. Through just eight tracks, an entire moment in history is bottled on the cusp of something unparalleled and massive, and there’s something transportative and frankly breathtaking about just how pivotal it really should have been.