GIG REVIEW : MAGAZINE : PICTURE HOUSE, EDINBURGH : SUNDAY 30 AUGUST 2009

Third time this year that I've seen Magazine play live. This was by far the strangest.

The sense of anticipation wasn't any less than before, but the fact that there was a very prominent notice saying the band would be playing two halves of show, with the first half commencing at 8.35pm meant I knew exactly when the lights would go down.

Previously, the band took to the stage after a taped version of The Thin Air before launching into a blisteringly powerful The Light Pours Out Of Me. This time, it was all a bit more subdued. Howard Devoto emerged from the shadows, said something that he considered witty and urbane but went over the heads of most of us, said something like 'suit yourselves' as the band pumped out the opening notes of Because You're Frightened.

The song ended with Howard showing off a vinyl copy of The Correct Use Of Soap LP while saying it was 30 years ago you know...as the band played the intro to Model Worker.

I couldn't believe what has happening as it was now clear that we were going to get treated to the whole album, track-by-track, in order.

And given that the LP is up there in my all time Top 10 list you can begin to imagine how freaked out I was about this.

It was a truly stunning 40 minutes or so, spoiled only slightly by the fact that the keyboards of Dave Formula seemed so low in the mix. But what the live performances proved is that this is an album predominantly driven by the bass of Barry Adamson and the drums of John Doyle. I didn't stop dancing the entire time....even during the slower numbers.


I was slightly nervous about the second half of the show....after all we knew there would be no songs from one of the albums, and while there was clearly much to look forward to, I wasn't sure it could match the enjoyment of the first half.

And so it proved.....but only just.

Things weren't helped by the fact that the second part opened up with the obscure and 'difficult' b-side The Book which is more a reading from the pretentious notes of Howard D rather than a real song. What followed were far from obvious choices - 20 Years Ago, Upside Down and Parade - a b-side, a flop single and slowish-tempo album track. But just as I began to worry that things were going to peter out, we were treated to Permafrost and The Light Pours Out Of Me before the band left the stage to huge roars from a very appreciative audience.

The encore consisted of two songs. Definitive Gaze and Give Me Everything. The lack of Shot By Both Sides left a few folk bemused, but I don't think anyone felt cheated - maybe other than the fact that the second half only gave us 8 songs after the 10 songs of the first half.

As with gigs back in February I think of all the great tracks that weren't played. Only one song from the much loved Secondhand Daylight LP, and no sign of the manic I Love You Big Dummy as played earlier in the year. But I still loved it. And if there is a next time, I'll certainly be going along.

mp3 : Magazine - A Song From Under The Floorboards (live)
mp3 : Magazine - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Peel Session)
mp3 : Magazine - Give Me Everything

The live track was recorded in Melbourne on 6th September 1980. The Peel Session aired on 8th May 1980, while the single was released on 17th November 1978.

MAYBE IT'S AS WELL YOU REFORMED THE ORIGINAL BAND...

I'm writing all my posts in advance just now....don't ask. So I don't know if last night's performance by Magazine lived up to expectations. I'm guessing that it did....

But anyway, I thought it would be worth bringing your attention to Luxuria, the band that Howard Devoto formed in the late 80s. The only member was Norman Fisher-Jones, aka Noko, who has taken the place of the late John McGeogh in the live line-up of Magazine (and a great job he did at the gigs earlier this year).

So, it is a wee bit of a surprise that Luxuria proved to be a bit of a letdown. All we got were four singles and two albums but the songs, despite some excellent guitar playing from Noko and the occasional bit of lyrical genius from Howard, never really caught the imagination. Critically or commercially. Although there are quite a few folk out there who believe it to be Devoto's best period.

Judge for yourself with this 12" offering which was co-produced by Luxuria and Dave Formula, the keyboardist from Magazine:-

mp3 : Luxuria - The Beast Box Is Dreaming
mp3 : Luxuria - Beast Box
mp3 : Luxuria - Useless Love

There's a great tale of the band's last ever gig over at a myspace site:-

The final LUXURIA gig @ Town & Country Club (now The Forum) in London featured cameo appearances by Barry Adamson - Bass on a rendition of Magazine's "The Light Pours Out Of Me" for an encore, and Morrissey, who read a passage of Marcel Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu" over the intro of "Mademoiselle" before throwing the tattered book into the crowd as the band kicked into the song. (There is a bootleg recording of the gig in circulation).

Was anyone there? And did this really happen??

THE CLASS OF '79 (Part 28)

1979 was the year that the Sex Pistols enjoyed the most success in terms of the singles charts with three Top 10 hits. But by then they were a parody of a band - after all it was two Eddie Cochran numbers covered by Sid Vicious plus a Steve Jones rocker that we're talking about.

The spin-off however was that John Lydon could do no wrong, and even some of his strangest recordings were huge hits.

Like this:-

mp3 : Public Image Ltd - Death Disco

There's probably never been any better description of this record than that penned by Gary Mulholland in his brilliant book This Is Uncool - The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk & Disco (available to buy here).

Despite turning his back on the Sex Pistols' audience, John Lydon could've farted into a paper bag and made the British charts in 1979. The more he told us to fuck off, the more we loved him, at least, for a while longer anyway. So he pushed it as far as it would go.

This record did just about everything a punk rocker was not supposed to, It was long, It had no shoutalong choruses. It has a disco beat, of a sort (the NME originally announced that it was called 'Death to Disco', in a air of punk-reactionary wishful thinking). It was based on a diseased Arabic mutation of Tchaikovsky's 'The Dying Swan' from Swan Lake. And it was about his mother, who was dying of cancer. The result was disturbing, blackly comic, moving, profound and so far removed from anything resembling punk, pop or anything else that it had the desired effect - it got rid of the punks.

Oh, how I struggled with this when I was 16 years old. So much so, that it is one of the few records I bought and then gave away to someone else. I got two old singles by The Jam in exchange, which at the time felt like a bargain.

Fast forward to 1990 and my purchase of a CD copy of the P.I.L. greatest hits compilation and me listening to Death Disco again for the first time in eleven years. By now I knew that great songs didn't need hooks or memorable, hummable tunes, and that a cauldron of noise in which a screaming vocal fights for your attention alongside screeching guitars over a bass/drum delivery that on its own would have you dancing like a madman under the flashing lights could be a work of genius. I was now able to appreciate Death Disco.....

It is astonishing to realise that this song spent 5 weeks in the charts in the summer of 79, entering at #34 on 7th July, and then taking the #32, #20, #26 and #28 positions thereafter, which means it got at least five plays on Radio 1 (but I'd place a bet there weren't many more than that unless John Peel gave it a spin).

As I don't have the b-side to offer***, I thought it worth also providing this:-

mp3 : Public Image Ltd - Memories

This was the follow-up and it reached just #60 in the charts. By this time the punks had truly denounced Lydon as an art-rocker. But again, listening to this more than a decade after it had first appeared made me fully realise that Lydon was a pioneer of a new sound that was innovative.

Feel free to differ. I imagine a few of you will.

*** courtesy of that very nice chap Ed from 17 Seconds, here is yer actual b-side, ripped from yer actual scratchy vinyl:-

mp3 : Public Image Limited - No Birds Do Sing

THEY ALL CAME FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF FIFE...

Regular readers will be aware that I've occasionally mentioned my affection for Raith Rovers FC. The team earned promotion last season to the Scottish First Division, which means we are just one more promotion away from the regular games against the big city teams like Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United and Aberdeen and a handful of others in the Premier League.

Today is the biggest game of the season so far as we head 10 miles across the county of Fife to take on our fiercest rivals - Dunfermline Athletic. Or as I usually refer to them - Scumfermline. We played them a few days ago in a cup tie and lost 3-1. I'm hoping for better today...

The only half decent thing to ever come out of the town was The Skids, without any question whatsoever, Scotland's finest punk/new wave outfit. So it seems appropriate to pay a tribute to them today.

Formed in 1977, the original line-up was Richard Jobson (vocals), Stuart Adamson (guitars), Bill Simpson (bass) and Thomas Kellichan (drums). They embodied the spirit of DIY-punk, with the initial releases coming out on a local label run by a record shop owner. When they formed, Jobson was just 17 and had just left school. Adamson was 18, Simpson 20, and Kellichan the auld yin at 23. But they had talent and style that belied their youth.

By April 1978 they were signed to Virgin Records and over the next three years they enjoyed a fair amount of success in terms of chart and critical acclaim. Debut album Scared To Dance went Top 20, helped by the massive success of the single Into The Valley, a Top 10 smash in early 1979. The album led one reviewer to describe the band as 'the Scottish Clash', and there were many of us living in this part of the world who believed it to be true.

The follow-up album was released only six months later and wasn't quite what anyone expected. By now Kellichan had departed to be replaced by Rusty Egan who was a doyen of the London scene and a good friend of Jobson who had fallen for the charms and bright lights of the capital city. Working with Bill Nelson, who was best known as a member of the prog rock outfit Be Bop Deluxe, the LP Days In Europa was criticised by many commentators on release for having a sleeve which seemingly paid homage to Aryan supremacy, while music was as much about the abundance of keyboards from the fingers of Nelson as it was the guitar stylings of Adamson.

The record label took notice of what was said and quickly re-packaged the album and remixed a number of the songs. But the fans still loved what they were hearing - in becoming less 'punk', The Skids had found a sound that was of its time while being commercial enough for radio stations to love thanks to the big hooks and the sing-a-long choruses.

But behind the scenes, all was not well. Egan left not long after the release of Days In Europa to join Visage, and was replaced by Mike Baillie, while just three months later, Billy Simpson also departed the band, to be replaced by Russell Webb, a Glasgow-born musician who was also an acquaintance of Jobson.

This four-piece produced The Absolute Game, released in September 1980 and what is reckoned by many (muself included) to be the band's best piece of work and if The Skids were indeed the Tartan Clash, then The Absolute Game is their equivalent of London Calling - a real mix of punk/rock/pop/prog/electronica/folk which still sounds immense almost 30 years later. But Jobson couldn't resist cocking a snook at those who had criticised the original release of Days In Europa, and so the initial copies of the new album came with an additional limited edition LP called Strength Through Joy, which was the English translation of the Nazi-era state controlled leisure organisation. The free album was quite different in tone and style from The Absolute Game - it was folk-like in many places.

Stuart Adamson was however, tiring of the singer's seemingly pretentious behaviour and attitude, and he left the band in mid 1981, with Bailie not that far behind him. That left Jobson and Webb as The Skids, and the fourth and final LP was Joy an album that at times was not that far removed musically from Strength Through Joy, but at others was quite appalling - almost a prototype for the sort of pish that Runrig would attack our senses with a few year later.

Oh and it also featured an incredible list of guest musicians, including Billy Mackenzie, Alan Rankine, Mike Oldfield and Virginia Astley. Stuart Adamson himself appeared on one track, the single Iona.

Joy was a flop. It was all too clear that what really made The Skids so special was the guitar-work of Adamson, and not the clever lyrics, word-play and misty-eyed romanticism of Jobson.

The Skids were soon no more. Jobson went on to release poetry albums, act on the London stage, form a new band called The Armoury Show and then carve a niche for himself as a TV presenter and part-time male model. More recently, he has become a film director of note.

Adamson formed Big Country who became even more famous and popular than The Skids, particularly in the mid 80s. Sadly, he committed suicide in December 2001.

In 2007, Richard Jobson, Bill Simpson and Mike Baillie, along with other musicians including Bruce Watson (ex Big Country) got together to play three gigs, partly to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the group's formation, and partly as a final tribute to Stuart Adamson, Two of the shows were in a small venue in Dunfermline with the other being at T in the Park. If I hadn't been working in Canada, then I know I would have gone along....it's one of the few regrets I have about heading over there to work for a short spell.

By the time The Skids broke up they had released four very different types of LP (five if you include the extra record with The Absolute Game and six if you go for the Days In Europa remix). All this and the lead singer wasn't all that long turned 21 years old.

There have been six (count 'em!!!) compilation LPs/CDs as well, including a very fine release called Dunfermline from 1987, which gives you all the hit singles, a few fan favourites that were album tracks and a couple of songs from Joy (an album that is largely ignored on most of the compilations).

It was just a pity they came from the wrong side of Fife.....

As they have done for years, the home team will today run out to the strains of Into The Valley - one of my all time Top 45 singles - and sitting in the away end at East End Park is the only time I hate hearing it. But I can console myself with the knowledge that lead singer Jobson's brother at one time played for centre-forward for Raith Rovers.....

These are taken from 1978, 79, 80 and 81 respectively-

mp3 : The Skids - Charles
mp3 : The Skids - Charade
mp3 : The Skids - Circus Games
mp3 : The Skids - Fields

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING...............The last of the four is of the Runrig variety.

PS : For anyone interested, I'm just back from seeing my team gain revenge with a well-deserved 2-0 win...

WHY DID I START THIS THING? (Part 3)

As I said two days ago, Mrs Villain made me do it!!!

Yer not too shabby for an old bird of 51 (oops, did I type that out loud???).

mp3 : Microdisney - Birthday Girl
mp3 : The Wedding Present - Happy Birthday

The Morrissey feature will return next Friday.

WHY DID I START THIS THING? (Part 2)

This posting has to read in conjunction with yesterday's inane ramblings.

Thanks for today's unearthed bits of treasure go to Drew, Marcy, Davy H, Dirk, Ed and Ctel.

mp3 : The Lotus Eaters - You Don't Need Someone New
mp3 : Pink Nasty -BTK Blues
mp3 : Trembling Blue Stars - Say Goodbye To The Sea II
mp3 : Clinic - IPC Subeditors Dictate Our Youth
mp3 : Long Fin Killie & Mark E Smith - The Heads Of Dead Surfers
mp3 : Betty Boo - Shame (Hoodlum Mix)

The last two days have been but a small sample of folk I want to thank. There's many many more of you out there. So I promise that I'll return to this subject again in the future.

Tomorrow is Friday. Prepare for the unexpected.

WHY DID I START THIS THING? (Part 1)

I get the occasional email from readers, and a couple of times recently I've been asked, in passing, why I started this blog.

There were loads of reasons at the time, but in the main it boiled down to the fact that having installed broadband in the house (around three years ago this week) I could now browse the world wide web seeking out songs of old, and I decided on a whim that this was something I wanted to do myself. So Mrs Villain bought me a USB turntable one day and told me to stop just talking about it...

There's thousands of music blogs out there, and on the right hand side of this page you'll find a list of some of my particular favourites. There's one or two other new blogs that have started up in recent times that are also proving to be royally entertaining, and they're likely to be added to the list in the weeks ahead.

But there's also been a number of blogs that have come and gone. For a while I kept a list of the 'dead' blogs, but ended up deleting this during one of the periodical clean-ups. I've actually lost count of the number of songs I've downloaded from blogs over the years. Some of them I've kept....

But when I do that, I will usually make an effort to track down some product and purchase something, even if it is just a legitimate mp3 download - and I hope that's what most of you will do of and when you download something from my wee place. So, depsite some folk claiming that bloggers are killing the music industry, I find I'm spending more on music now in 2009 than at any other point in my life, and am running out of space in the cupboard that holds the vinyl and on the shelves where the CDs are stacked.

But enough rambling. The idea of today's post is to bring you some of the more obscure and wonderful things I've downloaded over the past three years. I keep a copious note of those whose blogs I've lifted songs from, so a big thank you to Liz, Coxon, Agnes, Colin, Matthew and Phil Spector for all the wonderful things you've done over the years.

mp3 : Coin Op - Hey Uri
mp3 : Arab Strap - Here We Go (live acoustic session)
mp3 : Jens Lekman - You Can Call Me Al
mp3 : Elle S'Appelle - Little Flame
mp3 : Paris Motel - Mr Splitfoot
mp3 : Blur - Close

More things like this tomorrow. And more thanks.

Happy Listening.

MY RECENT SPENDING SPREE (Part 5)

I've never really been one for chasing old Magazine releases on the internet as I'm quite happy to listen to the albums and this wonderful boxset which was given to me on my 40th Birthday (so if you're reading this Jackie and Richard, thanks again!)

The boxset is a collection of rarities, b-sides and Peel sessions. The b-side to the above 7" single, released back in 1980, can be found on Disc 1. But I resolved that until I finally got my hands on the actual vinyl, I was never going to post it here.

But again, the wonder of ebay meant that I picked it up a few weeks ago for a snip:-

mp3 : Magazine - Sweetheart Contract
mp3 : Magazine - Feed The Enemy (live)

The b-side was recorded at the The Russell Club, Manchester on 3rd May 1980. It's a version that is far removed from the original and shows just how good the band were live back in their prime with Barry Adamson's bass driving the song on at a frantic pace while John McGeogh (RIP) and Dave Formula batter away at lead guitar and keyboards respectively to create a sonic thunderstorm which will have caused bleeding ears for the sweaty audience in the confinement of such a small venue. Compare and contrast with the epic recording of the original, with one of the most sneering vocals ever delivered in history of mankind:-

mp3 : Magazine - Feed The Enemy****

*****removed to comply with dmca notice.

I'm off to see the band again this coming Sunday for the third time this year, and the Picture House in Edinburgh will be the smallest place yet. Oh how I'd love for them to play either version of enemy.....

DEAR VINYL VILLAIN......

I follow your blog daily, and was wondering if you would be willing to share your insight on the whole Smiths reissue subject, as the man himself has made some interesting comments.

I thought he did get royalties (that's what the big legal battle was about a while back) -- rights? I figured of anyone I "know", on or offline, you'd be the deepest font of such knowledge. Anyway, I really appreciate any perspective you might share on the subject, and thanks for keeping up the villainy!

Best,
Patty

I was flattered to say the least by Patty saying I'm the deepest font of knowledge....I see myself simply as someone who fell in love with the music when the band first came to our collective attentions back in the early 80s and have remained a fan ever since, albeit some of the solo output of Morrissey has got on my tits now and again. There are many more fans out there better qualified to offer views on anything Morrisseyesque.

Patty has specifically asked for my views on this story:-

Morrissey tells netdepressives to boycott his re-releases

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco : Posted in Music and Media, 14th August 2009 23:29 GMT

Lyricist and sardonic crooner Morrissey has urged loyal fans to steer clear when the big music labels re-release his old tunes.

Mozzer has asked fans not to buy either a planned boxed set of his solo work or a re-released set of CDs and vinyl from his days with the legendary Smiths.

The EMI, HMV and Parlophone record labels in November plan a boxed set of Morrissey singles and B-sides from his post-Smiths years spanning 1985 to 1999.

But Morrissey told the True to You site: "Morrissey does not approve such releases and would ask people not to bother buying them. Morrissey receives no royalty payments from EMI for any back catalogue, and has not received a royalty from EMI since 1992."

Morrissey - the inspiration to a generation of lonely and awkward adolescents who fumbled with their feelings along with themselves in their bedrooms and the empty disco halls of the 1980s - has also taken exception to a planned set of Smiths CDs from entertainment label Rhino and Warner's re-release of Smiths LPs on 180 gramme vinyl.

Again, Morrissey does not approve of, and was not consulted on, the Rhino set. "Morrissey last received a royalty payment from Warners ten years ago, and, once again, he would ask people not to bother buying the reissued LPs or CDs," the statement said.

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before, but this is the second time the queen of the North has thrown his daffodils at entertainment giant Warner. He urged fans to avoid Warner's Morrissey live at the Hollywood Bowl last August, slamming it as the slapdash work of cash hounds.

Morrissey said in a statement on True to You at the time, he'd not been consulted on the release, which he claimed was a "breach of contract".

"I am not signed to Warner, and no royalties from this DVD will come to me. Please spend your money elsewhere," Morrissey said.

As is mentioned in the article this is the second time in 12 months that the great man has complained about material being released without his consent - it happened in August 2008 when the Live At The Hollywood Bowl DVD was issued. On both occasions, he has made a big issue about a lack of royalties.

I reckon this obsession with royalties goes back to the infamous court case that he lost to Mike Joyce when he was forced to pay out millions after a judgement went against him. Read here for a quick summary.

My initial reaction is to have sympathy with Morrissey and say that fans should be careful of shelling out cash for product when none of it will end up in his bank accounts.

But then I think a bit more about things such as the umpteen greatest hits LPs that have been released over the years (with yet another compilation due this side of Xmas), the outrageous prices for t-shirts and other merchandising at gigs, and then there's the fact that having jumped from one major to another throughout the 90s, he's probably not done too bad in terms of advances and so on. Problem now seems to be the short-terms gains from his various contracts turn out to be a poor deal in the long-run.

Plus....it really is a bit careless to have a situation when you've signed contracts that allows this to happen again and again with so many different record labels, so Morrissey really only has himself to blame.

When he had the row about the DVD I thought he could have done something about it by releasing an alternative concert - even if it had to be one that was hastily arranged and filmed - but clearly he was content simply to moan about things. Granted, its a bit more difficult to do something about old material being re-issued - but hasn't he really done the record labels a big favour by drawing attention to the very fact that these releases are imminent? I'd be surprised if any hardcore fans don't already have the songs in their collections, either from buying them first time around or scouring the internet for second-hand copies. Who knows, some may even have been downloading from the myriad of sites that post Morrissey/The Smiths songs of days of old.....

And without this oxygen of publicity would all that many people have noticed these releases? I think not.....

Patty asked for my insight, and for all that it matters in the grand scale of things, I'm not sympathetic to the great man's call to boycott these products. I know that if I was a relatively new fan who was desperate to get a hold of a long-deleted song that I loved and the only way to do was through these releases, then I'd be at the local record store on the day of release.

mp3 : The Smiths - You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby
mp3 : Morrissey - You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side

As ever, feel free to join in the debate.

THE CLASS OF '79 (Part 27)

It's something of a special posting this week.

A few weeks back, I got a really nice email from Stefan Grimm of Kassel in Germany saying that he was a fan of the blog, and in particular, the series looking back at 1979. I wrote back and said thanks, and in doing so I asked if there was any song he'd like to see featured.

"THE PLANETS -"Lines" springs to my mind, dunno why really. it's from 79 anyway" is what he told me.

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I went back and said I didn't know anything about the song or the band, but if he wanted to send over a copy, I'd willingly feature it. I also said that if he wanted to write the piece himself, I'd be very happy to provide the space.....

This is what he sent back:-

In the summer of 1979 I visited London for the very first time with my mum (i was only eleven years old). I can clearly remember seeing the house in Kensington that had the The Great Rock`n Roll Swindle ad painted on one whole side.

I also remember this huge Rasta on roller skates with a massive ghetto blaster on his shoulder listening to some Reggae Radio show whilst rolling past the bench on which I sat in Kensington Gdns.

At the hotel I used to listen to the beeb and back home I rushed out to buy this not at all spectacular recording by THE PLANETS along with I Don't Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury & The Blockheads. I thought I was the coolest kid in Germany at the time always listening to Radio One via medium wave from then on."

Many moons later I found out the THE PLANETS were merely a project of one Steve Lindsey who used to be in famed Liverpool (post) Punk bands Deaf School and Big in Japan.

Tell me honestly when its pish and you can`t use it on the blog :))

There's no way I'd ever say no to someone who takes the time to do what Stefan has done....this blog is about sharing old songs, often long forgotten and neglected, in the hope of making a few folk smile with nostalgia. Anything else is a bonus.

mp3 : The Planets - Lines

Stefan sent me all sorts of links where I could find info on The Planets. It turned out that Lines was the debut single released in July 1979, followed by the LP Goon Hilly Down in October 1979 and then this single in November 1979:-

mp3 : The Planets - Iron For The Iron

More singles and a second album appeared during 1980/81. In 2000, a CD was released which brought together most of the songs in one place, and it can be found right here.

You can read more about the band here and here.

Happy Listening

LAZING ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON

I lie.

It's far from sunny. And its not an afternoon.

But its a good title for a posting whose words are a straight lift from one of the earliest things ever shoved up here on TVV back in November 2006, albeit this time I've also thrown in the b-sides of the 12" single for good measure.

I was originally prompted to post this for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, Adam from the then and still wonderful Pretending Life Is Like A Song had posted a few great 12" versions of Soft Cell records around the same time, and that got me thinking that it would be a good idea to post some of the solo stuff released by Marc Almond.

Secondly, I posted it the day after Rachel (or Mrs Vinyl Villain as she is sometimes referred to) & myself watch the final edition of Will & Grace on DVD. Rachel's favourite character in the show is Jack McFarland - and when he appears on screen I can't help but think of this song.

I can't believe that this was released as far back as 1991 - I really had it in my mind as a tune of the late 90s. The lyrics were, as I'm sure many of you know, penned by Jaques Brel who released it in 1965.

Three years later, Scott Walker recorded an English-language version that went Top 20. The spelling of Scott's version was Jackie.

I reckon this single is one of Marc Almond's finest moments, thanks in the main to an incredible production by uber-producer Trevor Horn who included all sorts of sampling as well as a 70-piece orchestra. Completely over the top and wonderful.

Strangely enough, Marc's autobiography - Tainted Life - reveals that he wasn't all that enamoured with his performance on the record as he thought it was too similar to that of Scott Walker. He does go on to say however, that it was a song he loved performing live.

Incidentally - Tainted Life is up there with Julian Cope's autobiographies as among the best you'll ever read.

mp3 : Marc Almond - Jacky (12 inch version)
mp3 : Marc Almond - Jacky (alpine dub)
mp3 : Marc Almond - Deep Night (12 inch mix)

Happy Listening.

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE....WITH MORRISSEY (Part 31)

It's no surprise that some folk aren't all that impressed that I'm devoting every Friday to one particular artiste (see comments from last Friday's posting to see what I mean) given that over the past eight plus months I've shown that not all the singles released by Morrissey have been classics. But hey ho, there's less than 10 weeks left now, so cheer up.

Back in 1990 there was a bit of a sharp intake of breath when the great man revealed that as a follow-up to his single about disability - November Spawned A Monster - he was intending to deal with another taboo subject matter, that of male prostitution.

Given that I was expecting some sort of gloom-ridden lyric over an equally downbeat tune, I was quite astonished to hear such a jaunty tune coming out (so to speak) over the speakers of an Edinburgh record shop one lunchtime:-

mp3 : Morrissey - Piccadilly Palare

Of all the singles he's released over the years, this is the one that has unquestionably grown on me more than any other. My initial reaction was that it would be a great record if it had been released by Madness, but I really wanted Morrissey to be much more than a tribute artiste. But after a couple of plays and a close listen to the these lyrics I realised that this was one of the finest records he'd recorded up to that point:-

Off the rails I was
And off the rails
I was happy to stay
Get out of my way
On the rack I was
Easy meat, and a reasonably good buy
A reasonably good buy

The piccadilly palare
Was just silly slang
Between me and the boys in my gang
So bona to vada. oh you
Your lovely eek and
Your lovely riah

We plied an ancient trade
Where we threw all life's instructions away
Exchanging lies and digs (my way)
Cause in a belted coat
Oh, I secretly knew
That I hadn't a clue

(no, no. no, no, no. you cant get there that way. follow me...)

The piccadilly palare
Was just silly slang
Between me and the boys in my gang
Exchanging palare
You wouldn't understand
Good sons like you
Never do.

So why do you smile
When you think about Earls Court ?
But you cry when you think of all
The battles you've fought (and lost) ?
It may all end tomorrow
Or it could go on forever
In which case I'm doomed
It could go on forever
In which case I'm doomed

Bona drag ...

The song title refers to a slang language first used by Victorian-era male prostitutes, so the near music-hall tune really is a touch of genius. I suspect Morrissey was really disappointed that this only reached #18 in the UK charts, which at the time was the poorest performing 45 he'd yet released, for within a month of its release he was dismissing it in an interview with a UK music magazine as 'not a particularly strong record'.

I wonder how Morrissey feels about the b-sides...

mp3 : Morrissey - At Amber
mp3 : Morrissey - Get Off The Stage

The former is a reasonable enough song that turned out to be on a par to quite a few that would appear on the LP Kill Uncle that appeared on the shelves just a few months later, which means in the overall scheme of things is quite disposable.

The latter however, (co-written with Andy Rourke), is the sort of thing that many of today's young turks would probably revel in singing at Morrissey himself, with its barbed lyric about pop stars who have gone on too long and who release song after song after song which all sound the same. If, as is rumoured it was written as an attack on Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, it is interesting to note that when it was released they were both 47 years of age and regarded by many as well past their prime.

Morrissey is still going strong in 2009 at the age of 50........ he's never performed Get Off The Stage live, and I imagine that he now never will.

Oh and trivia fact....the sleeve photo was taken by Anton Corbijn, one of the best known music photographers from the late 70s onwards, and a couple of years back directed Control, the superb movie about the life and times of Ian Curtis.

Tune in next Friday for Part 32.

AS I WAS SAYING THE OTHER DAY..

....it took me a long while to cotton on to the fact that R.E.M. weren't a bad band, in the shape of Document, their 5th studio LP released in 1987.

One of the last things I bought on vinyl in the mid-late 80s before turning almost exclusively to CDs for many years (and I wasn't alone in doing so) has turned out to be a reasonably rare piece of plastic.

mp3 : R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
mp3 : R.E.M. - This One Goes Out (live)
mp3 : R.E.M. - Maps And Legends (live)

It's the original flop 12" release on the I.R.S. label, and the perceptive among you will have clocked that one of the b-sides is an early version of what would become their breakthrough hit, The One I Love.

On 24 May 1987, members of R.E.M. played two consecutive acoustic sets at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica as a benefit for Texas Records. This One Goes Out was one of four as yet unreleased songs performed by just Michael Stipe and Peter Buck at the first show, while Maps and Legends is taken from the second show. That we have recordings of them at all is down to the fact that Stipe enjoyed the shows so much he carried around a cassette copy of it and insisted that they be used as b-sides on subsequent singles.

Happy Listening.

WHAT A REFRESHING ATTITUDE

Pictured above is the sleeve of a 6-track EP that I picked up on a whim earlier this year - partly as the ever entertaining Matthew aka Toad had talked about them in glowing terms and partly as I liked the sleeve.

Here's what their own myspace site says:-

The Second Hand Marching Band are a group of 16-22 musicians who play mainly in Scotland. They play folk music which a mixture of dance, pop and post-rock influence.

The SHMB started performing in December 2007 and have in the last year been up and down Scotland playing venues, tea houses, parks, festivals and fields. They have an EP coming out on Chaffinch Records called "A dance to half death".

And here's one review of the CD from this very respectable indie/alt outlet:-

Probably the easiest thing I've ever had to review. They are a Scottish folk collective. They come from Fife and they sound like a twee Scottish version of Beirut. Lots of parping horns, wheezing accordians and choraled vocals. It all has a very uplifting feel and I could imagine sloshing pints of beer around to this, singing along and making a fool of myself. I love the name of the record label - Chaffinch Records. How delightful. In this day and age of misery, stabbings and poverty its nice to hear something that reminds me of the beautiful Scottish countryside and a much more innocent time. I'll give you more comparisons if you want? Vashti Bunyan, the Fence Collective,,Lucky Luke, Beirut (again) the music from the Wickerman or a happy Matt Elliott. Apparently we are the only shop in England selling this!

Or were selling it....cos there were only 150 copies of the CD manufactured, and now that they've all been sold, the band and the label are making all the tracks available for download, absolutely free of charge.

And its real easy to do. Just click here and see for yourself.

Among the songs you'll hear is the title track:-

mp3 : The Second Hand Marching Band - A Dance To Half Death

I'm happy to admit that the CD wasn't an instant hit with me, but I've fallen in love with quite a lot of it over the past few months after repeated listenings on the i-pod going to and from work.

One of the other bloggers who has raved constantly about The SHMB is Jim from the brilliantly named Aye Tunes, and just the other week, he made available a session they had recorded for a radio station round these parts, including a quite stunning cover version that is entirely different from the original:-

mp3 : The Second Hand Marching Band - One Armed Scissor

Yup, the same song by this lot:-

mp3 : At The Drive In - One Armed Scissor

I know not everyone will fall for the charms of The Second Hand Marching Band, but you've got to give them enormous credit for sharing their songs in this way when it would have been just as easy to run off a few more hundred copies.

Happy Listening

ANYONE WANT TO SELL ME THIS?

I've spent a fair bit of time trying really hard to complete my collection of singles on the Postcard label.

And last Saturday, I thought I was as close as I'll ever get.

I've long given up ever getting my hands on the ultra-rare and ultra-expensive debut by Orange Juice - (Falling & Laughing b/w Moscow - for which I've gone as high as £100 on ebay twice and got nowhere near it). But I harbour hopes of one day landing the sole The Go-Betweens single recorded for the label (I Need Two Heads b/w Stop Before You Say It).

Last week, one came up one ebay and I shoved in a bid of £22.50. The closing date was last Saturday at 8pm, and thanks to a delay in getting home after the Raith Rovers v Dundee match and not being at the PC for the final moments of the auction, I lost out to a late bid.

Now the thing is, I already have one of the the songs on vinyl as it was included on the LP 1979-1990, but I would love to get my hands on the 7" piece of plastic real estate. Anyone selling?? Or know of anyone who might be selling???

mp3 : The Go-Betweens - I Need Two Heads

It was during the recent mad spending spree that I picked up the other single that had been missing from the collection. So a big thanks for the advent of ebay and an increasing willingness/desire of some folk to sell off some old rarities.....

mp3 : Aztec Camera - Just Like Gold
mp3 : Aztec Camera - We Could Send Letters

The b-side was re-recorded and put on the band's debut LP High Land Hard Rain, but the music snob in me will insist that the original - released as Postcard 81 3 - is the best

STOP PRESS : My plea has not been in vain. One fabulous reader has sent me an email and named a price that is extremely fair. Thanks Gary.

However, given that Grace Maxwell in the recent book revealed that not even Edwyn has a vinyl copy of Falling & Laughing in his collection, I'm not expecting to ever own the complete set of Postcard singles...

MY RECENT SPENDING SPREE (Part 4)

This wasn't something bought on second-hand vinyl or via ebay. Instead, it was bought, along with another album by the band Cats On Fire after I was lucky enough to catch them play a gig in Glasgow a couple of weeks back.

I'm not the greatest at picking up on new bands. I now spend so much time listening to old stuff that I might think would fit in well with this blog that I've come to rely heavily on recommendations from friends and fellow bloggers. And bizarrely enough, it was a golfing mate of mine who suggested I might like this four-piece from Finland.

And he right on the mark, for Cats On Fire are my favourite discovery of 2009, albeit they've been around for a few years and their debut album was released in 2007.

I might never have gotten to know anything about Cats On Fire if it wasn't for the fact that I've used TVV to rave about the Glasgow-band Butcher Boy. In a 'isn't the world a small place' sort of thing, it turns out that Basil Pieroni, the guitarist with Butcher Boy is really friendly with a bloke called Douglas Mackie, who just happens to be someone I've got to know through golf over the past four months. Douglas thought that when we met at the golf course that he knew me from somewhere - it turns out he remembered me 'dancing' at this gig I reviewed a while back.

Basil was promoting a Glasgow gig by Cats On Fire and Douglas thought I should go along. It was in a really small but what turned out to be a fantastic venue called The Flying Duck. There couldn't have been anymore than 60 or so folk present, but the band turned in a truly memorable performance.

Now...if you want something truly original and ground-breaking, then this lot aren't for you. But, if you're like me and a total sucker for indie pop from the 80s/90s played 20 years later - and a brand of indie pop that crosses The Cure, R.E.M and The Smiths (the latter often right down to a damn near perfect Morrissey impression and a guitarist with licks as cool as those of Johnny Marr) - then you will be blown away by Cats On Fire.

Their myspace site is right here, and you can listen to five songs drawn from The Province Complains (2007) and Our Temperance Movement (2009), as well as some videos, including Tears In Your Cup which has a tune not far removed from Get Over You by The Undertones.

And once you've done that, get yourself shifted to their official website and find out more. I give you a cast-iron TVV guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

mp3 : Cats On Fire - I Am The White-Mantled King
mp3 : Cats On Fire - Letters From A Voyage To Sweden

And given I've mentioned Basil and his band, it would seem criminal not to ask you to listen to this, possibly my favourite song so far of 2009:-

mp3 : Butcher Boy - Carve A Pattern

And then, go here and buy the album React Or Die. That's not really a request by the way.....

Oh and its also a place where you can buy the latest Cats on Fire LP.

THE CLASS OF '79 (Part 26)

I reckon some of the tracks I've featured in this series looking back to an era that was decades ago haven't aged all that well. But that isn't something that can be levelled at today's bit of magic:-

mp3 : Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)

This actually charted 30 years ago this week, entering the Top 40 at #6. Any song which came in that high usually took the top spot the following week, but it only reached #3 with the Boomtown Rats 'epic' I Don't Like Mondays staying on top (I have a fondness for many of the early singles released by the Dublin band, but that song was simply shite).

But back to Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

I didn't know until googling the song that it was seemingly inspired by a near-fatal accident involving a roadie and the cancellation of a live show in Rome. That is why it is one of the reasons that 'no electric shocks' is a reason to be cheerful.....although this bit of stuff on the internet suggests it's for something altogether different.

I've long lost this single, but I do clearly remember that it had a wonderful b-side called Common As Muck. Anyone able to fire over a copy? ***

Reasons to be sad? Ian Dury died a lingering death, battling cancer for around five years, finally succumbing in March 2000 aged just 57. And I don't think he ever really got enough critical acclaim for his lyrics, which are among the best I've heard during my 46 years on this planet.

*** thanks to Jason from Lyon, France for the mp3 of the b-side.

mp3 : Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Common As Muck

Wonderful.

I WON'T SAY NO....HOW COULD I?

A very nice email from Mick Spence the other day asked if I could repost the Orchestral Version of Armageddon Days Are Here (Again) that I featured here at TVV back in May 2007.

Glad to oblige:-

mp3 : The The - Armageddon Days Are Here (Again) (Orchestral Version)

The original posting was part of three great and rare 80s-era b-sides from vinyl records that I had picked up in a second hand shop a few days earlier, and I also posted a long-lost single from around the same time. And I reckon its worth sharing them all one more time:-

mp3 : R.E.M. - Pop Song 89 (acoustic)
mp3 : Elvis Costello - I Hope You're Happy Now (acoustic)
mp3 : Robert Wyatt & The SWAPO Singers - The Wind Of Change

You'll find the R.E.M. song on the flip side of Stand and the EC song on the flip side of I Want You. Both are great versions - the Costello one is a particular favourite of mine and a perfect companion to the bitter and twisted a-side (the best song he's ever written?????).

And completing the quartet is a joyous and upbeat protest song that turned into a great prophesy. In the days when I took to the streets protesting about apartheid, I never imagined the situation would turn around in my lifetime, never mind just a few years later.

Tune in tomorrow for another crackly bit of plastic that has stood the test of time and still sounds incredible in this digital era.

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE....WITH MORRISSEY (Part 30)

Ok folks.....you're going to get short-changed this week.

I've endeavoured to bring you all the singles plus all the b-sides that Morrissey has released as a solo artist over the years. But, there's a couple missing from a single released in February 2008.

It really comes down to the fact that I couldn't be bothered shelling out three times for the same release, when all I would get in return were a couple of live songs from shows that were part of American tours in May and October 2007. It was bad enough that the single was being used to promote the eighth compilation/greatest hits album - the exact same number as actual studio albums that had been released at this point in time.

So, I only bought one of the two versions of the 7" single, and here are both sides of the fantastic plastic in all their glory:-

mp3 : Morrissey - That's How People Grow Up
mp3 : Morrissey - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (live)

The single itself is one of the better offerings in the singles canon, in as much that a bit of a plodding tune is rescued by a fine vocal by Morrissey and a wonderfully strange and glass-shattering intro from backing vocalist Kirsteen Young. (Ms Young had previously supported Morrissey on some of his American dates, and has fronted her own two-piece band featuring pianos and percussion since the late 90s - she kind of sounds like Kate Bush at times and Tori Amos at other times. Her myspace site is here)

The b-side is a Smiths cover....regular readers will know my views on these. This offering from Omaha in May 2007 is fairly typical and unessential fayre.

The single reached a surprisingly low #14 in the UK charts, which is probably down to the fact that it had received a lot of airplay for about two months before release and most fans had downloaded a copy from somewhere or other. Maybe if a bit more effort had gone into the b-sides it might have charted higher.....but then again, given that the follow-up single performed even more poorly despite having new songs on the reverse blows that theory of mine out the water.

Oh and it is versions of Why Dont You Find Out For Yourself from Salt Lake City and Last Of The Famous International Playboys from New York, both in October 2007 that are missing. I'm sure you'll forgive me.

The sleeve shot was taken by Jake Walters, who has become the favoured snapper in recent years.

MY RECENT SPENDING SPREE (Part 3)

I was tempted to call this posting 'Do You Remember The First Time?'

Pulp were always one of those bands that you would read about in a music magazine every now and again, and depending on the particular journalist, they seemed to get a hugely positive or hugely negative review, whether it be an assessment of their records or the reactions to a live gig. But never really having heard any of their tunes, I was never in a position to make my own mind up. And although they were a band that did seem to divide opinion so much, I was never inclined to find things out for myself.

Back in the early 90s, I was, in my usual fashion, watching the ITV Chart Show on a Saturday morning. In the days before satellite telly, there wasn't all that much music on the box, and the best thing about this particular show was that every three weeks they had an indie chart in which you might be lucky enough to catch 90 seconds of the latest video by Carter USM, Lush, Pop Will Eat Itself or some shoegazing nonsense. I wasn't paying all that much attention to the rundown one Saturday until about midway through a tune which hit me as something quite unique.....by now I had missed who the band was and what the song was called, but I recognised from the video that the singer was the bloke out of Pulp as I had seen his photo in the music papers a few times.

By the end of the video, I was certain the song in question was called 'I Want To Take You Home'. I looked for it in a few shops around that time, but with no joy. It must have been the best part of a year later that I then saw another Pulp video on the same show....this time I clocked that it was for a song called Lipgloss. The following week I found a CD album of theirs called His'n'Hers in the second hand section, so I bought it. About halfway through my first listen, the track I had previously thought was called I Want To take You Home suddenly came through the speakers loud and clear...

I know most folk rave about the quality of Different Class, the 1995 LP that turned Pulp into superstars in the UK, but I've a very soft spot for His'n'Hers which I reckon is a better all round record, albeit it doesn't have the genius that is Common People. It was an act of negligence on the part of the record-buying public that Babies was a flop single on its initial release in late 1992, and I reckon the record label did the right thing with a re-release in May 1994, when they made the track the lead-off on the Sisters EP:-

mp3 : Pulp - Babies
mp3 : Pulp - Your Sister's Clothes
mp3 : Pulp - Seconds
mp3 : Pulp - His'n'Hers

I don't know why I never bought the EP when it was released - looking back it was a time when I was living in Glasgow in a small flat and travelling to Edinburgh every day to work. Space in the flat was at a premium, there wasn't a lot of spare cash kicking around, and CD singles/EPs frankly didn't seem worth the money if you already had the album (I didn't realise until a few years later that it was a re-recorded version).

So, when I saw a copy for sale on ebay the other week, I snapped it up, partly to make amends for not buying it 15 years ago, but mainly to give me an excuse to talk about the song here at TVV.

There's some interesting sleevenotes from the EP that I think are worth sharing:-

"Your Sister's Clothes" features the sisters from "Babies" four years on. Now the younger sibling finally gets her revenge for earlier years. "Seconds" explores the idea that perfect people are... well, perfectly boring to be honest whilst "His'n' Hers is one man's fear of domestic interiors set to music.

What are you frightened of?
(and remember - shove it in sideways)

Jarvis Cocker is a national treasure. Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong.

Oh and here, from a BBC session recorded on 30th May 1992 for the Radio 1 Show, The Evening Session, is another version of I Want To take You Home (with aplogies for the commercial intro for Lamacq & Whiley beforehand):-

mp3 : Pulp - Babies (Session)

Happy Listening.

MY RECENT SPENDING SPREE (Part 2)

I bought this for two reasons.

One...I'm rediscovering a long-lost love for Trashcan Sinatras (the 'The' has been redundant for a wee while now....and as Phil points out, they have combined 'Trash' and 'Can'...).

Two....I always like to find a few unusual things to include in the regular feature From Under the Covers, and this CD single from 1996 was perfect.

But, it also fits in very well with this on-going series, and besides, it gives me the best excuse to bring another great fan-run website to your attention.

I bought quite a bit of the band's early stuff, and indeed the Obscurity Knocks EP got a high entry at #30 in last year's 45 45s at 45 series.

To recap from that posting:-

The Trash Can Sinatras were formed in the late 80s, in a town called Irvine, which is around 25 miles or so south-west of Glasgow.

Much of the initial attention was focused on singer Frank Reader, simply for the fact that his elder sister, Eddi Reader had enjoyed a fair bit of attention and fame, firstly as a backing vocalist with Gang Of Four, and later as the singer with Fairground Attraction who enjoyed a #1 hit with Perfect in 1988.

I suppose I first noticed the band for the simple reason that they were signed to Go! Disc Records which was the home of Billy Bragg and The Beautiful South, leading me to think the Trashies would be have some sort of political bent. I saw their debut 12” EP on sale in a record shop in Edinburgh and bought it on spec for £2. It was only then that I discovered the band were in fact more aligned with the other reasons that label boss Andy MacDonald signed acts – they wrote and sang gloriously catchy pop songs that were full of clever lyrics that demanded close listening.

In due course, I bought two follow-up EPs as well as the debut LP, all of which appeared in 1990. They were a band on heavy rotation, but I wasn’t really giving music too much close attention, as it was a time when I had not long met the now Mrs Villain and there were far more important and pressing things on my mind .......such as sorting out the divorce from the first wife.....

One day, I went to see the Trashies live in concert and came away rather underwhelemed. It was 1993 before the band released any new material, but the comeback single, like the gig a few years earlier, didn’t do much for me. And with that, I stopped taking an interest in the band....

The thing is, I was wrong to do so, for they have been turning out the usual brilliantly crafted music all these years, and you could do a lot worse that spend a fair bit of time over at Five Hungry Joes (click here for the link) which is everything a fan-based website should be and see for yourself just how much.....

But back to 1996 and this EP:-

mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - To Sir With Love
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - Claw
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - A Boy And A Girl
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - You Only Live Twice

The title track is a cover of the theme to the 1967 movie of the same name. The theme was sung by Lulu (who also had a part in the film) and what I didn't know until researching for this piece was that while it was a #1 hit in the USA, it was never released here in the UK.

The second and third tracks are original TCS songs, while the fourth is a cover of the theme to the 1967 James Bond movie of the same name, originally sung by Nancy Sinatra, which was a #44 hit in the USA and a #11 hit in the UK.

I've no idea why the band chose to release two tracks from movies of that particular year...maybe Colin from the afore-mentioned Five Hungry Joes might be able to enlighten us.

What all four songs do however, is provide a great platform for the vocal talents of Frank Reader which, to my untrained ear, can be as achingly beautiful as the much-lauded and better-known Tim Buckley.

Enjoy.

MY RECENT SPENDING SPREE (Part 1)

I decided that the money I won recently in the credit union sweepstake (see here for a reminder) would be better spent buying up some old vinyl and CD. So I've been busy on the internet and in a couple of second-hand shops in Glasgow. One of yesterday's offerings from Joe Jackson was one such outcome of a rummage among the bargain bins, today's is from the more refined and altogether less dirty under your fingernails approach from using ebay.

I wasn't much of a Jesus And Mary Chain fan to begin with. It was just a noise with an attitude that I'd heard and seen before and not all that long ago either. But my view changed a bit when I heard the joyous noise that was April Skies, but even then I dismissed them as having a small amount of talent and an awful lot of hype. It took until the purchase of a compilation album and repeated listens to a flop single from 1990 to make go back and try again. And I'm grateful that I did. I'm not sorry I missed out on all the chaos of the early gigs, for there is something a little bit satisfying picking up on a band years after everyone else and getting to listen to loads of their back catalogue in one big bite.

Same thing happened to me with R.E.M. as Document in 1987 (the band's fifth LP) was finally the one that I cottoned onto.

Anyway, I picked this up on ebay, simply as I wanted a vinyl version of the JAMC song that really got me converted:-

mp3 : The Jesus And Mary Chain - Head On
mp3 : The Jesus And Mary Chain - In The Black

The Pixies did a cover version of this single on their LP Trompe Le Monde. I'm sure most of you will agree its an inferior version:-

mp3 : The Pixies - Head On

More tales from the treasure hunt to come in the days ahead.