Small Time + Hey Hey We're the Manques

The Servants was an indie band formed in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England by singer and songwriter David Westlake. Their brand of the mid-80′s jangly guitar-pop was intellectual, refined and classy as opposed to the shambolic and noisy lo-fi scene heralded by the C-86 compilation they would appear on and be connected with during their active career. After lots of lineup changes (including past/future members of The Auteurs and The Housemartins) and a string of great singles and one great LP (Disinterest) the band called it a day in 1991.

Around this time, huge fan and Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch was trying to locate David Westlake in the hopes of forming a band with him, before launching Belle in his school class instead. In 2006, the great Cherry Red label finally culled together the unreleased tracks and singles into the CD Reserved from which this vinyl-only compilation is culled. Combined with a copy of Disinterest (if you can find one) this collection is the essential vinyl document of a great band from a great era of music that can easily be thought of as what would be their debut LP.