For a few years in the mid-eighties, Perth band The Stems had it all – a string of classic garage-pop singles; a reputation for furious live shows; and an aesthetic that dovetailed neatly with an international re-discovery of the sixties. At First Sight, Violets Are Blue is tidier and more produced than those early singles, but the songs of Dom Mariani and co., sitting neatly between garage and power-pop, shine through the gloss, and their melodic nous is undeniable. It charted in Australia, but all the acclaim wasn’t enough to stop the group falling apart soon after its release in 1987.