THE SUNDAY CORRESPONDENTS

NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE..........

A few weeks ago, while sitting together at the Raith Rovers verses Partick Thistle match - an unusual event in itself as myself and JC have season tickets for different parts of the ground - the talent and genuis behind TVV asked if I had ever won the 50/50 half time draw.

I should of course explain as background that the 50/50 draw is a lottery where the money raised is split equally between the football club and the lucky winner.

I replied that I hadn’t... but.... informed him that back in 1974, on the 23rd of February I had won the lucky programme number competition and received the pricely cash sum of £2.00.

This was given to me by one of the office workers through a window at the back of the main stand. Contrast that with the winner of the 50-50 on the day of the Rovers v Thistle game receiving a cheque for £476 which was presented by ex-player Billy Mitchell on the pitch at half time, with photographs taken for inclusion on the website and within the pages of the subsequent match programme.

JC was astonished that I remembered such details from so many years ago, but the reason, as the meerkats might say, was seemple. My luck coincided with my 14th birthday.

The Rovers drew the game 1-1 with Berwick Rangers in front of 1675 people, and strangely given the contect of this question arising out of nothing, the aforementioned Billy Mitchell played in that very game.......

Having waited to collect my prize, I was then late for the next part of the standard post-match ritual which imvolved running with my mates some half a mile towards the town centre to stand outsude Edwin Donaldson’s TV and Hi-Fi shop window and watch the fulltime results roll round on Grandstand on BBC 1 or World of Sport on ITV.

Donaldson’s was a bit of a posh shop and it also stocked and sold records, many of which were advertised on posters in the shop window and on the shop walls. And one of the new records took my fancy.

It was right there and then that I decided to purchase my first real album.

Now I say real as all the previous albums I had were the TOP OF THE POPS albums.

TOP OF THE POPS albums were a series of records issued by Pickwick records, which consisted of anonymous cover versions of recent and current hit singles. They were intended to copy the original hits as closely as possible and were produced using session musicians and singers. Elton John featured on early editions as a session singer and pianist. The albums were budget priced and sold in their millions. In my house they were a staple Christmas present.

They also had covers that usually had a foxy looking lady not wearing many clothes; well I was only in my early teens!!!

There was also another reason that I hadn’t bought many records.... I didn’t have a record player of my own... I had to go into my wee sister’s room to play any records, as she had the only record player in the house. The old gramophone style record player in the dinette had packed up and my wee sister had received a new plastic box stacking record player for Christmas. It stayed in her bedroom; there was always a fight for me to be given a chance to get to use it.

It would be another year for me to save up to buy my own and mine was a stereo with speakers, second-hand but bought with proceeds from my paper round. I was the worst paperboy in the world; on a Saturday I was still delivering the morning papers at 11.30am, which prompted a smart-arse factory worker to ask if the paper had the football results from that day in it!!!

So what did I buy as my first album??? Well, I suppose the picture above gives it away - it was Old New Borrowed and Blue by Slade.

It had been released the previous week and thanks to a combination of my birthday money and my BIG £2 winnings, I headed to Boots the chemist on Kirkcaldy High Street that had a good record department and was cheaper than the aforementioned Edwin Donaldson’s.

I had bought Slade’s previous single which had been Merry Xmas Everybody, having seen them perform it on the BBC 1 programme Nationwide. So it seemed the right thing to do buying their album.

I’m not going to sit here and say that it was any kind of classic, but I lost my album virginity with this purchase.

At the time there was split between my friends the ones that were Slade fans and the ones who liked The Sweet. which was in many ways a precursor to the Britpop battle of 1995, when it was Oasis verses Blur. Oasis even covered Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize as the b-side to Don’t Look Back in Anger.

The only track from the album I still have on my iPod is Everyday.

Thinking back and typing all of this made me recall that the first single I ever bought was The Newbeats -Run Baby Run (Back Into My Arms) in 1971 at the age of 11. I don’t why I bought it; it was just a song I really liked. I always hoped it would turn out to be some Northern Soul Classic but I got it because I liked the falsetto vocals.

My next single was bought a year later in Arbroath, while on a day trip from the Belmont school camp in Meigle, Perthshire.

I was away from home for the first time and stayed at the school camp for 4 weeks for all of £7.00.

After a day out at Arbroath’s open air pool, we were allowed an hour’s shopping in the town centre and I bought Metal Guru by T Rex.

It was an easy choice as the single was Number one in the chart. It was T Rex’s last Number One.

I’m sure I got a lot of credibility on the bus going back to the camp for buying this single. I remember one boy, who I won’t name, bought the latest Neil Diamond single.

For the record the Rovers beat Partick Thistle 1-0 on the 16th of January 2010 with a great performance and JC’s conversation prompted me to buy a copy of the programme from 1974 from a dealer and help put these ramblings together.

mp3 : Slade - Everyday
mp3 : The Newbeats - Run Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)
mp3 : T Rex - Metal Guru

John Greer, Sunday 28 February 2010

Note from JC

It wasn't planned out this way, but this posting appears the morning after John has thrown a party for his 50th birthday which was but a few days ago. Belated birthday greetings my friend....and who knows, maybe you'll have won the 50-50 at yesterday's match some 36 years after your last triumph......(EXCEPT THE GAME WAS POSTPONED!!)

A WEE BONUS POSTING.....

By all rights, I should by now be well on my way to the football, but the game has fallen victim to the never-ending snow and rain that has engulfed Scotland since 2010 arrived. So I'm browsing around here putting the finishing touches to the review of the new Frightened Rabbit LP that I'll post on Monday morning.

In the meantime, I see that someone has mentioned in the comments left behind in the Archive posting from a few hours ago that they hadn't tracked down the second Aztec Camera single on Postcard Records from back in 1981. Always happy to oblige on such gems:-

mp3 : Aztec Camera - Mattress Of Wire
mp3 : Aztec Camera - Lost Outside The Tunnel

The b-side is a different version to that which appears on the LP High Land Hard Rain.

Happy Listening.

FROM THE ARCHIVES : A SERIES FOR SATURDAYS

From 14th May 2007

YOUR FLEXIBLE FRIENDS

Have a look here for the full Orange Juice discography.

Other than the ultra-rare and now very expensive debut Postcard single and the Felicity flexidisc given away with the fanzine, I'm delighted to say that via purchases at the time, rummages around e-bay and finding a couple of things in second hand shops, I've now got the lot, all of which, including the b-sides, I finally got round to converting to mp3 files the other day. *

The flexidisc that came with Bridge contains one of today's rare offerings for your enjoyment:-

mp3 : Orange Juice - Poor Old Soul (flexidisc version)

One of their oldest and best songs. I'm certain that the flexidisc version is a unique recording, live in the studio.

The other mp3 is the flexidisc pictured above:-

mp3 : Orange Juice - The Day I Went Down To Texas (flexidisc version)

This came out with the single Flesh Of My Flesh and is a slightly different recording than that which subsequently appeared on the LP Texas Fever.

I'm happy to take requests for anyone looking for the b-sides or anything else. **

* Still on the look out for the debut single. I am prepared to pay good money for it as well.....

** Still willing to take requests. But watch out for a boxed-set of stuff due out on Domino Records in the not too distant future......

Oh and here's another flexidisc that I didn't include back in May 2007 - one that came with the 7" version of Lean Period - as I was in the habit in those days of only including two songs per posting to save on bandwith.

mp3 : Orange Juice - Rip It Up (live)
mp3 : Orange Juice - What Presence?! (live)

Happy Listening

IT'S FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE....WITH GREAT SCOTTISH SINGLES (15)

This was a really tough one to choose this week.

Sons & Daughters have released five singles so far in their six-year career, and every one of them is worthy of inclusion in this series. The lazy thing would have been to go back and re-post the words that accompanied the #26 entry in the 45 45s at 45 series from 2008 and the debut single Johnny Cash.

Or I could have gone for Dance Me In, a single that was produced by Edwyn Collins and gave the band their only Top 40 hit so far.

Or either of their two most recent singles, Gilt Complex and Darling both which feature on 2008 LP This Gift which was produced by Bernard Butler (an LP that remains a bit underwhelming compared to previous albums but which I enjoy a lot more than I did on its release).

But I didn't, and instead have gone for the band's third single - one taken from 2005 LP The Repulsion Box. It's a single that captures one of the things I like most about the band, namely that they have two very good and very different vocalists in Adele Bethel and Scott Paterson, and its when they are belting it out in tandem that you find the band at their blistering best. It's also one that makes me want to pogo like the good old days......

mp3 : Sons & Daughters - Taste The Last Girl

I bought this on vinyl as I fancied hearing their take on a great old single by The Stranglers on the flip side. I wasn't disappointed:-

mp3 : Sons & Daughters - Nice 'n' Sleazy

But in doing so, I failed to buy the CD single which had a previously unreleased track called Stranger Song. So if anybody out there wants to fill this small gap in my collection, I'd be thrilled to hear from you.

Oh and here's the promo:-



Happy Listening.

GIG REVIEW (By a Very Special Guest Contributor)

Islands in the Stream - Shearwater, Captain's Rest, Glasgow, 23-02-10.

It's really quite something to witness. Possibly your favourite collection of musicians of the moment, of the decade, playing in a venue the size of your old living room up in the West End of the city. On tour to promote their new album, The Golden Archipelago, the Captain's Rest in Glasgow is packed tight with both locals and outsiders and the atmosphere for Shearwater's performance is expectant, to say the least.

Supported by the rather intriguing David Thomas Broughton, the set from Austin's finest is largely drawn from their new album, of course, and the transition from studio to live setting is as sublime and triumphant as it appears fun and effortless.

This is not a surprise, given the sheer musical talent on display. For this humble attendee, it will always be Jonathan's heart-melting vocals that steals every scene, although the closing sections of Hidden Lake, where Thor and Kimberley duet via Glockenspiel, was a sight and sound to treasure.

In addition to material from the new album, Shearwater dip into what is now a sizeable back catalogue and let new light shine on songs such as Rooks, The Snow Leopard and Hail, Mary (the latter their choice set closer). What is most noticeable from a wonderful evening on the Great Western Road is two things - how much pleasure Jonathan, Kimberley, Jordan, Thor and Kevin clearly obtain from playing together (they 'need' to do this, there seems to be no choice) and how keen they are, as a collective, to ensure the audience enjoys the performance as much as they do in creating it.

It is a genuine and felt connection. It's always telling, really, when you look up on stage and see big smiles coming towards you as a song such as Runners of the Sun hits that point when the sheer, almost visual, beauty behind it comes out to say hello, and hold you close. It was a night to cherish and remember, even though their pitch-perfect cover of Talk Talk's The Rainbow never made the final cut, alas.

Do go out and see them play, if you can, and pick up The Golden Archipelago - an album that must surely feature in those 'best-of' lists, when the time comes.

Review by Comrade Colin

Note from JC.

I don't know all that much about Shearwater, and I certainly don't know any of their songs. But it is a long time since I've gone along to a gig and been so utterly captivated by what I was seeing and hearing no more than six feet in front of me. It was a night that became unforgettable for a whole number of reasons, not least the music, but also bumping into Ed and Mrs Ed from 17 Seconds as well as spotting Aidan Moffat standing at the main bar with Malcolm Middleton enjoying a few beers before slipping quietly to the back of the packed venue to enjoy the gig (well, I'm assuming they enjoyed it....if not they would have been in a minority).

Incidentally,the author of this review is someone without whom this blog would never have got off the ground and whose own now sadly deleted blogs from long. long time ago remain a standard to which I will always aspire......and here's the song he wanted to accompany his words:-

***mp3 : Shearwater - Runners Of The Sun

*** Sadly, within a matter of hours of this positve review appearing, someone unknown has been in touch with my file management service, and I received the following:-

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box.net account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

Shearwater - Runners Of The Sun.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box.net Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

However, there is a way to hear some very fine tunes, as our intrepid reviewer explains:-

ah, sorry about the box.net troubles jc. the album is only just out in the states, i think, and Matador are doubtless keen to 'protect' their new product. but, if you go to shearwatermusic.com you can download (legally) a couple of tracks made available from the new album - 'Black Eyes' and 'Castaways'. ok, over and out.

Happy Listening

IS THAT REALLY 12 MONTHS GONE BY??

With time being a bit tight for all sorts of reasons, I now tend to spend hours on Sundays writing all sorts of pieces up to two weeks in advance for the blog. Which is why, although I am typing this on 14th February you aren't reading the words until quite a few days afterwards.

As myself and Mrs Villain exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day, we both recalled that this time last year we had travelled down to Manchester to catch Magazine play live. I wont bore you all with just how much this gig meant to me after all the years as I've said it all too often here on the blog, but we were both amazed to think that 12 months had flown in so quickly.

And to commemorate the anniversary of the gig, I've dug deep into the cupboard and pulled out the sole single from the LP that no-one ever claims to be their favourite - Magic, Murder & The Weather from 1981 - one that was recorded as the band was breaking-up and which consequently was never promoted via a live tour or indeed much promotional press. It is an album that misses the touch of the late John McGeogh who had quit the previous year fed-up with the lack of success, and instead took his talents to Siousxie & The Banshees and later on to P.I.L.

Anyway, here is the last original single that Magazine ever released, in its 12" form along with the b-sides:-

mp3 : Magazine - About The Weather
mp3 : Magazine - In The Dark
mp3 : Magazine - The Operative

Incidentally, the guitarist brought in to replace McGeogh was Ben Mandelson, a former college mate of Howard Devoto. Among other things in a what has been a long and distinguished career, Mandelson would many years later become part of Billy Bragg & The Blokes.

Happy Listening.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

D.I.S.C.O. does not suck.....as publicly said by Edwyn & co.

From the notes that accompanied the vinyl release of the LP Ostrich Churchyard back in 1992:-

Satellite City

Written in the aftermath of an early Nu-Sonics concert (17th January 1978) supporting British reggae outfit Steel Pulse and much to our chagrin, an embryonic Simple Minds at the Satellite City disco in the clouds (above the Apollo). For a long time this was referred to as the 'Disco Song' in part homage to Chic's 'Dance Dance Dance - Yowsah! Yowsah! Yowsah!'

Intuition Told Me Parts 1 + 2

During this period I would frequently open Orange Juice sets alone with my Gretch 'Black-hawk' guitar for company and very nervously perform Intuition Told Me part 1 before being joined by the group for the now more obscure part 2. I suppose now is as good a time as any to reveal that "Did I mention in the first verse...." was a direct lift from 'Yes Sir I Can Boogie' a female duo from Spain.

Ergo.....it is acceptable to like jingly-jangly Caledonia pop and things that filled floors directly under the mirrorballs.

mp3 : Orange Juice - Satellite City
mp3 : Chic - Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah) (12 inch version)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Intuition Told Me (Part 1)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Intuition Told Me (Part 2)
mp3 : Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie



ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

SEE...I DO READ ALL YOUR COMMENTS!

Just under two weeks ago, I featured the work of Care and made reference to the fact that guitarist Ian Broudie would later go on to find fame and fortune with The Lightning Seeds.
As ever, it was great to get positive feedback via the comments section, and one contributor Daniel reminded us that Broudie had in fact covered one of the Care singles as a b-side a few years later.

It can be found on the flip side of the 12" single of Sense, a #31 hit back in 1992, and a song written in collaboration with Terry Hall.

mp3 : The Lightning Seeds - Sense
mp3 : The Lightning Seeds - Flaming Sword
mp3 : The Lightning Seeds - Hang On To A Dream
mp3 : The Lightning Seeds - The Life Of Riley (remix)

Two years later, Terry Hall released his own version of the song and it reached #54 in the UK charts



Happy Listening.

BOOK REVIEW : STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN by STEWART COPELAND

Subititled A Life with The Police, Polo and Pygmies, this is a hugely enjoyable and unusual rock autobiography.

The dust jacket states the facts. Over 50 million records sold. 5 Grammy Awards. 2 Brits. Members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Police were the biggest band in the world.

But what came before? What came afterwards? And what happened when, 23 years on, the band members reformed for one final tour? Stewart Copeland answers all these questions and more.

The book is a really easy read, not least for the fact that its 313 pages of narrative are spread over 43 chapters and one afterword, not one of which is more than 13 pages long - and even then, that particular chapter deals with the teenage years. The story of The Police from 1976-1894 are given the briefest of mentions in as far as it is told over a measly 11 pages. It is quite clear that Stewart Copeland considers what has happened in his life since to be of far more significance and far more interest to the casual reader.

Whether he's composing operas, being part of an Italian twenty-piece orchestra, shooting movies in Africa, playing drums with some new rock stars who look upon him as a legend, taking part as a judge in a TV show or playing polo with the next King of England, the author does so with a sense of adventure and fun. He's got enough fame and fortune to seemingly not worry about a single thing, and is therefore able to lead a full and hugely diverse life that takes him to places and puts him into situations which are often almost a state of self-parody.

But Copeland never ever leaves the reader feeling that he is boastful about anything. Far from it. His style of writing is often self-deprecating - one example being his realising that now that he is no longer a high-profile pop star, there is very little in his everyday wardrobe that he can safely wear without looking or feeling ridiculous. And the tales he tells about his stint as a judge on Series One of the BBC show Just The Two Of Us which aired in February/March 2006 are enlightening in terms of the manipulation that goes on behind the scenes to make entertainment out of a mediocre show.

The final third of the book however, is when it really does come into its own as a rock memoir that is a cut above most, as it deals with the period from February 2007 when The Police get together and go on an ever-extending world tour that was seen by over 3 million fans. He doesn't hide from the fact that for a while it was fun and enjoyable, but all too quickly the novelty wore off and it was just a job that had to be done. His description of some of the Stingo (his word) temper tantrums and pursuit for on-stage perfection are a real joy.

There are tales of missed cues, bum notes, vocal notes not hit, near fights breaking out on stage........despite which every gig was lapped up by an always-adoring audience of tens of thousands, no matter the city.

And then there's the day that Stewart hung out with the boys from Rage Against The Machine. I won't spoil it by revealing the outcome, but it shows up a fantastic and different side to the angry young men who spoiled Simon Cowell's Christmas a few weeks back.

An articulate and funny man has written an articulate and funny book that is well worth investing in.

mp3 : The Police - Truth Hits Everybody
mp3 : Klark Kent - Don't Care
mp3 : The Police - On Any Other Day



Enjoy.

GIVING IT EVERYTHING

Its now the best part of 30 years since Sonic Youth began to make music. They're yet another act who have never appear to have been all that bothered about breaking into the mainstream or even enjoying moderate chart success, even when during the 90s they were on the roster of Geffen Records, part of the giant MCA media operations.

According to wikipedia, the band's discography includes 16 studio albums, seven extended plays, three compilation albums, seven video releases, 21 singles, 46 music videos, eight releases in the Sonic Youth Recordings series, eight official bootlegs, and contributions to 16 soundtracks and other compilations. Highly impressive numbers, and surely among all that there is bound to be something for everyone to enjoy.

I don't call myself a fan of Sonic Youth - I'm not like Mike over at Manic Pop Thrills who probably owns just about everything they have released and has caught them live on several occasions. So he is the best person I know to direct your detailed questions on the band. But I do own a couple of albums and a few years ago I picked up a copy of the DVD compilation of the videos they have made over the years to go with the various singles from the 90s.

If chart success is anything to go by, then the 1992 LP Dirty would be as good a place to start as any if you want to buy something. Especially if you're even remotely fond of the work of Nirvana.

Dirty was produced by Butch Vig, who was of course at the helm of Nevermind. Dirty, unlike any other Sonic Youth LP spawned four singles, two of which made the Top 30 in the UK charts.

This was the lead-off single and opening track on the LP:-

mp3 : Sonic Youth - 100%
mp3 : Sonic Youth - Creme Brulee
mp3 : Sonic Youth - Genetic
mp3 : Sonic Youth - Hendrix Necro

Released in July 1992, it peaked at #28 in the UK, and provided the band with their biggest ever success in their homeland with a #4 placing on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. While this was impressive enough for a band that had always been cult more than anything else, it was probably a disappointment to the label bosses who reckoned Sonic Youth were the next in line to make the crossover to mass popularity and millions of sales the world over.

The video was one of the first to be made by acclaimed director and occasional actor Spike Jonze.



Two and a half minutes that did more to glamorise skateboarding than just about anything else and thus made walking around pedestrianised areas in city centres a dangerous occupation forever more.

But you gotta admit its a cracking tune.

ARAB STRAP UPDATE/NEW AIDAN MOFFAT SONG

While fannying around on the PC tonight drafting up blog posts for the days that lie ahead, a very welcome email hit the Inbox:-

It's been a long time since we did a mail-out, but at least when we do it's something special. Besides all the usual news you might expect to find below, there's also a download link to a brand new track by Aidan, a cover version of an old Calypso song called 'Monkey Talk'!

Recording News:

1. The Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat album (no title yet) is about half finished, but due to scheduling commitments it's unlikely to be finished before the end of the year. Release is now expected in Spring 2011.
2. Aidan will be releasing an EP in the Autumn to coincide with a UK tour, more details when we have them.

Radio News:

Aidan was recently a guest on the BBC Radio 3 literature and poetry show, The Verb, where he performed 3 songs – The Last Kiss, Weathering, and Lullaby For Unborn Child. The show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on March 5th at 9.15 pm, and should be available on the BBC iPlayer after that.

Arab Strap News:

The Arab Strap box set, Scenes Of A Sexual Nature, is now scheduled for release in April. Details from Chemikal Underground:

"The boxset reissue of Arab Strap's first two albums is finally nearing completion with a provisional release date slated for mid-April. The final touches have been applied over the past week with the final flourish, a numbered certificate personally signed by Aidan and Malcolm, getting - quite literally - signed off as you read this electronic epistle.

A reminder then, of exactly what this slab of enormo-wonderment comprises:

* LP of Week Never Starts Round Here replete with artwork modifications reflecting Aidan's original 'vision'.
* 2LP of Philophobia with revised sleeve artwork incorporating lyric/book effect.
* Bonus 2LP featuring Arab Strap's first two Peel Sessions, rarities/tracks from old singles etc. and a live version of 'Girls Of Summer' from Chemikal's 5th Birthday Party, complete with John Peel's introduction.
* The bonus 2LP also includes 'Daughters of Darkness'; a previously incomplete and unreleased track, recently finished in Chem19 by Aidan and Malcolm exclusively for this box set.
* A CD of live BBC material: Arab Strap's first ever concert at King Tuts in October 1996 and their live performance at T In The Park, July 1998.
* A CD featuring tracks from all of Arab Strap's WNSRH and Philophobia-era EPs.
* A data disc featuring MP3s of all the vinyl only tracks and movie files for videos 'Here We Go' and '(Afternoon) Soaps'.
* A complete replica of Arab Strap's original 'green frog' demo cassette as sent to Chemikal Underground in 1996.
* Full, exclusive sleeve notes by both Aidan and Malcolm.
* A full colour poster featuring press clippings/reviews/Strap-related Falkirk hysteria.
* A numbered certificate. individually signed by Malcolm and Aidan.

So, in summary: 5LPs, 3CDs, 1 cassette, 1 poster, 1 signed certificate, over 70 tracks, only 1,000 made, a lot of hard work, a great deal of excitement...

Pre-ordering details are currently being finalised with a proposed retail price in the region of £65."

Gig News:

25th February – Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh (City Reads night with Jackie Kay).
27th of February – Owl Parliament all-dayer, Union Chapel, London.
7th March – Mono, Glasgow. Support set at the Burnt Island album launch.
June 5th – Borderline, London – JUST ANNOUNCED!

And finally, that new song. Feel free to send the link or MP3 to anyone else you think might like it.

And as I think that includes anyone who read this, I'm posting it here:-

mp3 : Aidan Moffat - Monkey Talk

Think of it as the ying to the Bee Gees yang.......

Oh and I'm already saving my pennies for that box set.

THE SUNDAY CORRESPONDENTS

*NO ELVIS, BEATLES OR THE ROLLING STONES....

Much as I like some of what JC writes about most days on this fine blog, I feel he often paints a misleading picture of the music that what most men and women of his age were really listening to and enjoying back in the days when they were young teenagers beginning to enjoy some freedom and independence including the ability to save up their pocket money or cash from a paper round to invest in records.

I've seen all sorts of tributes to the punk, post-punk and new wave movement as if that was the be all and end all. But don't let yourselves be kidded on.... it wasn't easy to hear too many of these records on the radio on a regular basis. In fact, I'm prepared to bet that outside of the Top 30 Chart rundown on Sunday evenings and the John Peel show - which lets be honest rarely ever had lots of listeners of the age of 13 or 14 - you would never hear most new wave acts on Radio 1. Certainly, the Breakfast Show presented by Noel Edmonds and later on by Dave Lee Travis didn't go big on screechy guitars and indecipherable shouty lyrics.

And as such, most impressionable male teens were not jumping around their bedrooms utilising a tennis racket as an imaginary guitar but preferred to practice their moves and shapes in an effort to impress one or more of the girls who roamed around in packs in draughty church halls dancing to disco.

In short, they wanted to be Tony Manero, not Tony James. Proof? Ask men who was born in say 1962, 63 or 64 what was the most important bit of music they had to be part of in 1977, and they are for the most part liars if they say it was getting into some sort of live concert. Instead, they were stealing their older brother or cousins ID and adding some make-up to their top lip in an effort to create a hint of a moustache, just so they could get into to see the film Saturday Night Fever, complete with its X-Certificate which restricted admittance to only those over the age of 18. Either that or they were trying to use the same ID to get into porn cinemas for movable versions of what they ogled over on Page 3 of many of the British red-top tabloids of the era.

Go on....don't deny it.

So the soundtrack of 1977 for most folk was not as JC likes to claim, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones or The Jam. It was this:-

mp3 : Bee Gees - Staying Alive
mp3 : Bee Gees - Night Fever

I bet most of you still know all the words as well.

The Ghost of Troubled Joe, 14 February 2010

* This posting attracted a DMCA notice - the first in months!!! Seems the bosses out there dont want bloggers to post Bee Gees songs from 30+ years ago. C'mon, surely everybody who wants to own these songs has already bought them in some shape or form...

JC

FROM THE ARCHIVES : A SERIES FOR SATURDAYS

From July 24th 2008

BETTER THAN W.B. YEATS AS A POET?

Tony Wilson once made the claim that Shaun Ryder was a better poet than William Butler Yeats, and that in the fullness of time, he'd come to be regarded every much as talented a genius as Mozart.

I'm sure my dear friend Greer, who, in addition to making fabulous weekly contributions to the Contrast Podcast, writes an equally fabulous musical and poetry blog called A Sweet Unrest, would be horrified at such a comparison, but I do suspect Tony's tongue, and not for the first time, was parked right into his cheek.

Having said that, the opening four lines to Kinky Afro, in which a dad directly addresses his young offspring, are as good as any representation of misogynist and unreconstructed man I've ever read in my life:-

Son, I'm 30
I only went with your mother cos she's dirty
And I don't have a decent bone in me
What you get is just what you see, yeah.

And as much as I love Kinky Afro, not just for the lyrics but the catchy tune that immediately makes me want to get off my backside and dance, there is no better Happy Mondays song than the opening track to their 1989 LP, Bummed:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck

A truly astonishing bit of music, and the only thing that stopped it making the 45 45s at 45 rundown the other month was that I missed out on it when it originally appeared as a single. I only heard it a couple of months afterwards courtesy of it being included on a compilation tape made up for me by my old friend Jacques the Kipper (older readers might remember that JtK often left comments in the early days of TVV...he's now too busy being a modern dad to stop by and say hi.....)*

But having missed out first time around, I made sure I picked up the single when it was given the remix treatment and re-released a few months later. And as much as I love the original, produced to perfection by Martin Hannett, there are days when I prefer one or other of these mixes:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - W.F.L. (the Vince Clarke Mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays - W.F.L. (Think About The Future)

Vince Clarke is of course, the electro-pop superstar who had made the Top 10 with four different acts - Depeche Mode, The Assembly, Yazoo and Erasure - as well as releasing a single with the mighty Paul Quinn.

Think About The Future was a mix made by an up and coming DJ and mixer called Paul Oakenfold, who went on to become one of the biggest phenomena of the 90s - maybe ctel at Acid Ted can fill us all in properly....**

Anyways, the inspiration for this posting is merely that on the train to work yesterday morning, feeling a bit low as I was going to be stuck indoors on one of the few warm and dry days we've had in Glasgow this past month or so, the original version of Wrote For Luck came round on shuffle on the i-pod.

Instant happiness without the need to ingest drugs or alcohol.

Oh and I got up from my seat, stood near the exit door and did a little dance (in my head it was a big dance - all Bez moves and shapes - but in reality I only sort of moved my head from side to side and tried hard not to sing along in case I scared the passengers).

Maybe Tony was slightly wrong about Shaun's poetic abilities, but alongside his brother and his mates in the band, you can't argue against the claim that he was one helluva songwriter.....

* JtK has of course re-surfaced since July 2008 and not only leaves behind comments but has become one of the band of Sunday Correspondents

** Of course ctel got round to looking at Oakenfold in his A-Z, plus numbers, of all things that were crucial in dance music over the past 25 years.

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE..WITH GREAT SCOTTISH SINGLES (14)

A couple of weeks back I was at a Burns Supper. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I'll refer you to this in-depth wiki article. But to summarise, the gathering is all about celebrating the poetry and songs of a man from Ayrshire, Scotland.

Sometimes I read the lyrics produced by Frank Reader and listen to the wonderful tunes written by him and his bandmates in what used to be called The Trash Can Sinatras, but are now refereed to as Trashcan Sinatras and think that here's another Ayrshire man whose life and work we should be toasting on a regular basis.

The Trashies as they are fondly known round these parts have been releasing consistently excellent records since 1990, albeit there tends to be lengthy periods between LPs, with 2009's In The Music being just the fifth studio recording in all that time.

There are many more people better qualified out there to wax lyrically about this band than me. For instance, the always entertaining Phil Spector from the blog Plain or Pan? is a fountain of knowledge, and indeed gave us all a treat at TVV with this guest contribution last year.

Debut single Obscurity Knocks from 1990 is an all-time favourite and featured in the rundown of my all-time favourite 45 singles a couple of years back. But instead of returning to that song, I'm homing-in on the lead-off single from the 1993 LP I've Seen Everything, one that captures much of the the lyrical quality that is a hallmark of Frank Reader, particularly among the earlier recordings:-

Hello, I’m Harry.
I’ve had women, I’ve had germs
They’re eerie, wild and wailing
And seductive in small doses

Only one way
Only one way
Why can’t we take a couple of tablets?

Hello, I’m Harry.
Did you receive the letter sent?
The cheque enclosed?
The negatives?
Now here's some headlines current and sensible

Moscow’s in Ayrshire, what’s the problem?
Should I throw my tammy in the ring
And run for president

Oh, it’s farmed out
Oh i’m penned in
Oh, I’m left in no doubt.

I’m Harry, hello
Hey I’m Harry, hello

You want me,
You want me, do I?
Arsenic be judge
Gin be jury

The chocolate’s watching,
The cuckoos are clocking me
They leave me alone in my sulk
Stalking a beautiful girl in a rural spot
I gets larger as she gets nearer

There’s only one way, away away…
The rest is chemistry

What do you mean you didn't know that Moscow is in Ayrshire. He tells you no lies.....

mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - Hayfever
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - Say
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - Kangaroo Court
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras - Skin Diving

All recorded at the magnificently monikered Shabby Road Studios in Kilmarnock.

IN PRAISE OF TWO WONDERFUL B-SIDES

One of the minor reasons I started this blog was to bring attention to otherwise unavailable or difficult to find records that were place on the b-sides of long-deleted singles, and for a while back in the early days I ran an occasional series.

This was one that I would have featured long before now except that I finally got my hands on the elusive piece of plastic just a few days ago while browsing through a crate of 7" singles in a second-hand store.

It was only a short time back that I featured The Monochrome Set and I was delighted to see that my deranged and incoherent chain of thoughts triggered off some happy memories for a number of readers. This relatively quick return to look at them is the result, as the opening paras indicate, the result of a hard-to-obtain b-side. Yes, there are versions available on CD compilations, but I dont think any of them feature the full version that originally appeared back in 1980.

But let's deal with the A-side first of all.

Having gathered a cult following with a series of singles in 1979 on Rough Trade, the band switched over to another London-based indie label, Dindisc for whom they would release three singles and two albums in 1980. This quaint instrumental number was one of the singles:-

mp3 : The Monochrome Set - 405 Lines

Now let's face it, catchy and interesting enough it might be, but its not exactly going to set the radio waves alight is it?

The b-side starts off as if it is a live track, and one that is of poor sound quality at that. You can hear some crowd sing-a-long at the outset in what is clearly a small venue, then some cheering as a guitar as struck. After just under 50 seconds, lead singer Bid utters the words 'Let's Have Some Decorum' and suddenly we switch to a quite gorgeous and moving studio track:-

mp3 : The Monochrome Set - Goodbye Joe

It's about watching an on-screen film performance by this bloke here in case you were wondering.

Oh and for the record, the song was later recorded by Tracey Thorn, and again was consigned to obscurity on a b-side. This time on truly wonderful single released on Cherry Red Records back in 1982:-

mp3 : Tracey Thorn - Plain Sailing
mp3 : Tracey Thorn - Goodbye Joe

Both these songs featured heavily on compilation tapes from that era that were used to impress would be girlfriends that I really did have a sensitive side. Didn't work all that well......

MORE KISSING COUSINS

I'll often defend Franz Ferdinand if anyone ever has a go at them. For one thing, their 2004 self-titled debut LP remains an excellent and consistent piece of work which deservedly made them not just media darlings but hugely popular with the record-buying public.

But the other thing that I loved about them at that time was their decision to record and release a limited edition 7" single with Fire Engines, a band that I have given the occasional mention to before within the page of TVV.

It would have been quite easy for Franz Ferdinand to have simply paid lip service to the debt they owed Fire Engines for the spiky guitar sound that they do so well. But instead, they chose to bring a long overlooked act to the wider attention of the public with this particular collaboration which saw a hugely popular FF song covered by FE, and a much-neglected and wonderful FE song given the FF treatment:-

mp3 : Franz Ferdinand - Get Up And Use Me
mp3 : Fire Engines - Jacqueline

The single was never intended for general sale, but was available to buy at two gigs in December 2004 when Fire Engines opened for Franz Ferdinand. Sadly, it was a gesture not appreciated by the mob as this review from the time indicates:-

At the first of two hometown gigs to cap their annus mirabilis, they invited their favourite Scottish pop band of yore, The Fire Engines, to reform once more for the occasion. The Edinburgh post-punkers’ set flew right over most of the crowd members’ heads, so plastic beer glasses flew over the band members’ heads.

After a customarily pithy set, dedicated to John Peel "and anyone else who’s dead", The Fire Engines departed to a chorus of boos, but to the core faithful, the spiky fuzz of Get Up And Use Me, the madly danceable New Things In Cartons and the almost conventionally melodic Meat Whiplash were still a buzz 25 years on.

Sadly, I couldn't get a ticket, or I would have been down there risking my life in defence of the old fellas. And just as sadly, I never got a hold of the 7" at the time.....but then again isn't that what browsing charity shops is partly all about nowadays. Oxfam, Byres Road, Glasgow. £3. A bargain.

Oh and here's yer originals:-

mp3 : Fire Engines - Get Up And Use Me
mp3 : Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline

That's why they only work when they need the money.

KISSING COUSINS

In June 1983, the UK dance act Freeez enjoyed their biggest ever chart success when this single reached #2 in the charts:-

mp3 : Freeez - I.O.U.

As the cover of the single indicates, as much prominence was given to the fact that the record was produced by Arthur Baker as it was a release by Freeez. It really was massive that summer, spending months in the charts and becoming one of the Top 20 best-selling singles in 1983. Just as importantly from the band, producer and record label perspective, it also got massive play in clubs all across the United States, thanks to its infectious and catchy chorus and repetitive but memorable beat.

At the same time as Freeez enjoyed this success, it became known that New Order had also been working with Arthur Baker to release the follow-up to Blue Monday. The band coyly dropped hints that while the new song would be a bit different from previous New Order tracks, it would somehow be familiar to many. A bit of an understatement when you listen to this:-

mp3 : New Order - Confusion

Given that it was released while I.O.U. was still in the lower regions of the British singles chart, Confusion did remarkably well to climb to #12 on its release in August 1983. Especially as it was only issued in a 12" format.

It was amazing to see so many New Order fans belatedly accept the brilliance of the disco-pop single that had driven so many of them demented in the previous months. I say this with some certainty, as I was one of them.....

This tune - and let's face it, it is two songs with the same tune - did more than just about any other to create that indie/dance crossover, and in its way was more responsible for the development of The Hacienda nightclub than any other New Order song. Including Blue Monday.

Fancy some b-sides?

mp3 : Freeez - I Dub U
mp3 : New Order - Confusion (Rough Mix)

Lay down your overcoast and dance.

A SAD LAMENT

Hopefully, a few of you might recognise where I've pinched the above image from.....

It's the masthead of one of the best and most informative blogs that has ever graced the internet. Oh and one of the liveliest in terms of the numbers of actual postings.

Acid Ted.

But it's my sad duty to inform everyone that as of yesterday, Acid Ted is no more.

Thankfully, it has not gone the way of the equally wonderful To Die By Your Side which was the victim of an outrageous takedown by blogger last week. Instead, the mighty ctel feels it is time to call it a day. It's only right that his final post be quoted in full:-

Two years, 1300 posts and the alphabet is over.
Hope you've enjoyed it. I have.
Thanks for dropping by and for all your comments.
All blogs have an end. This is mine.
So long and thanks for all the fish.

Now I cant claim to be a huge lover of the dance genre that was championed over at Acid Ted, but I made sure I went in on a very regular basis and read all that was said if only to learn a lot more about acts and music that was often alien to me.

It was actually almost impossible to keep up with ctel's prodigious output - sometimes he could produce six postings over a 24 hour period. He began his A-Z of the genre on Thursday 14th February 2008. Two years to the day afterwards, he completed his epic task and laid down his keyboard.

Ctel is a long time friend of TVV. He has posted here on a reasonably regular basis and not just when I've been away on holiday and given him the run of the place - I will always be in his debt for him stepping in to keep the blog going during a spell when I ran into some difficulties with my hardware crashing at home, all the while keeping Acid Ted ticking over as well.

So, I'm asking all of you to do me a wee favour. If you've ever visited Acid Ted over the past 2 years and taken advantage of his generosity by, ahem, borrowing one of the many thousands of mp3s he has made available, why not pop in for one last visit and say something nice? He more than deserves it...... Click here

Hopefully, it won't be the end of ctel's contributions to this interwebby blogging malarkey. He knows that he will always be welcome to do his thing in here at any time he chooses.

Thanks for everything amigo. Hope your self-imposed exile isn't an extended one.....

Here's some stuff I love that he has featured:-

mp3 : Kiss AMC - Rawside
mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself - RSVP (Apollo 440 Mix)
mp3 : One Dove - Why Don't You Take Me (Weatherall Mix)
mp3 : The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - Disaster Fund Collection

Dance Motherfuckers Dance.

SKELETONS IN MY CLOSET (9)

Newer visitors to the blog might be wondering what the hell the title of today's post is all about. Y'see, for a while back there, I was proudly posting some songs which I was happy enough to admit having a lot of affection for but which might come as a bit of a surprise to anyone expecting jingly-jangly pop. Quick recap:-

Spandau Ballet - Paint Me Down (22nd October 2008)
Robert Palmer - Johnny and Mary (28th October 2008)
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (10th December 2008)
Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Oooh (13th December 2008)
Chic - Everybody Dance (20th December 2008)
Sugababes - Overload (14th January 2009)
Klark Kent - Don't Care (4th March 2009)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Tropical Gangsters LP (24th June 2009)

And so the series makes a comeback with one of the founding fathers of prog-rock, although by the time this particular single was released in 1980, he had long left Genesis behind.

One of the reasons I began to listen to Peter Gabriel was the fact that he was championing the end of apartheid at a time in my life when I was just beginning to become more socially and politically aware of what was going on in the world. In particular, he recorded a song demanding justice for the death in custody of Stephen Bantu Biko which he featured on his LP Peter Gabriel III, and which he later released as a single (a record I've long intended to feature on TVV but never quite found the right reason to do so).

This was also the LP that brought Gabriel his first real degree of solo success, thanks to the lead-off single Games Without Frontiers which was a #4 hit in the UK. Today's offering was the follow-up single, a rather dark number that focuses in on lust. The fact that it has the utterly delicious Kate Bush singing away rather erotically on backing vocals somehow only adds to its intensity.

mp3 : Peter Gabriel - No Self Control

I'll quietly ignore the fact that it is Phil Collins who plays drums on the record. Actually, that's a bit unfair....if he had stuck solely to his original day-job as a sticksmith, then Phil Collins would probably be lauded as a superb musician. As it is, we all think of him as the chart-topping man of the 80s loathed by loads, but as the record sales demonstrate, loved by millions in the Thatcherite era.....

Quite clearly, the record label weren't all that fussed about whether or not folk would buy this single, for the b-side was a track lifted from the LP.

mp3 : Peter Gabriel - Lead A Normal Life

A strange little number, largely instrumental in nature, it ids kind of out of place on its own as a b-side as it always felt as if it was written to be the perfect lead-in to the next, and indeed closing track on the LP, which was the aforementioned Biko.

Incidentally, fans of the modfather might be interested to know that Paul Weller played guitar on one of the other tracks on the album - a fact that in its day was also enough to make me curious about the record and lead me to buy it.

Happy Listening.

THE SUNDAY CORRESPONDENTS

Because some things in life really are worth pursuing...

Bourgie Bourgie's second single Careless was released in May 1984 with both band and record company hoping to improve on the chart showing of their debut 45 which just missed out on the top 40.

Sadly it fared even worse with the official listings showing a top placing of #96 in the UK Charts.

The band had done the usual round of promotional press interviews and a video had been filmed, but very few ever saw it.

The Breaking Point video had been included on the Now 2 VHS compilation and therefore survived, but the Careless promo was presumed lost. In fact I'm not even sure it was ever shown in full on TV (anyone know for sure?) Then one morning I was checking my email and came across a new listing on ebay for the following item



The seller had been clearing some office space that used to belong to a production company and came across a load of old 1980's video reels in a cupboard.

Rather than chuck them in the skip he took a chance and listed them for auction.

So there it was - a master reel of the Careless video, fresh from 1984. A lost gem but with some slight complications:-

1) I was about to leave the country on holiday for a week and the auction was due to end while I was away

2) I had no idea what I was going to do with a Video-C 1" master reel

The first problem was solved when I got the seller to agree to change the auction to a 'buy-it-now' format and I just managed to complete the payment on the way out the door to the airport. The second problem I decided to worry about when I got back......

Things took a turn for the worse upon my return when I was faced with a badly damaged package and a friendly note of apology from the Post Office



So now, not only did I have no idea how to get the thing transferred, I wasn't even sure if the tape would play.

The next day I scoured the web for info on Video-C format reels and picked up a couple of names.

Like some 21st Century JR Hartley I got my fair share of knock-backs as it turned out the machines used to play these tapes were no longer in general use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%22_Type_C_videotape

Then I finally hit the jackpot.

A helpful chap called Nick at Vanderquest Ltd called me back and offered to do the job for a very reasonable price (I was starting to fear the transfer might cost me hundreds!) His company had the sense to hang on to their Video-C machine (which he said cost about £40k in the 1980's) and now did some steady business converting this sort of old TV broadcast footage.

In fact he remembered Bourgie Bourgie and their PR rep at MCA (who he claimed is now a football agent?!) and seemed more than keen to help out.

That night I packaged it up again (properly this time!) and posted it off. Nick had said they usually had a one day turnaround on these things and he wasn't lying. Despite all my fears that the tape would disintegrate when he loaded it up, everything went perfectly and before I knew it, I had the DVD in my hand.

And so to the video itself. An interview in No.1 Magazine at the time described it as "loosely based on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and in Debut Magazine they had taken credit for the ideas behind the shoot themselves yet still didn't sound convinced.

More recently Mick Slaven described it more bluntly as "a shocker"!

Now you can make your mind up - I don't think it's THAT bad.

There were certainly worse crimes against the pop video committed in the 1980's. The bit where Quinn is singing to the Nun is almost comically sinister and the chain-gang footage around the 2:25 mark finally makes sense of the David Band illustration on the record sleeve.

I should also credit the director Matthew Jacobs who as you can see went on to do lots of other interesting stuff




The Manager of The Punk Rock Hotel, Sunday 14 February 2010

Notes from JC

Words alone can't express how grateful I am for The Manager's single-minded and determined pursuit of this video. I know he spent a fair bit of money buying the master tape and paying for its conversion, and quite honestly, the results are priceless. For without his efforts, nobody would ever have seen this bit of work again, and that's got to be worth major credit, even if having watched the promo you're not that fond of it.

And of course it is yet another wonderful addition to the efforts to put every known piece of footage of Paul Quinn on display in the videography section over at The Punk Rock Hotel.

I'm delighted to say that I managed to do my own tiny bit for this venture with the supply of an old VHS tape that had a long-forgotten clip from a Scottish Television arts programme back in 1994:-



But The Manager went beyond that, for there was also a long-forgotten solo performance from Edwyn Collins on the very same show, and my VHS clip has now been converted and can be seen on you tube.



I thought I'd never see this again far less be able to show it on the pages of TVV. It's this sort of friendship from folk I've only ever exchanged emails with that makes doing this blog so very worthwhile.

mp3 : Bourgie Bourgie - Careless
mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group - Stupid Thing (single version)
mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group - Stupid Thing (LP version)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Gorgeous George

I'll stop typing now as there's a lump in my throat and a wee tear in my eye.

FROM THE ARCHIVES : A SERIES FOR SATURDAYS

From February 16th 2007

WELLER, WELLER, WELLER, OOOOOH (tell me more)

In one of my earliest entries on TVV, I wrote at length about my love for The Jam, and how they remain the only band I’ve ever camped for overnight so that I could get concert tickets.

I didn’t go in a huff with Paul Weller when he broke the band up, and indeed I was soon more than happy to be buying records by The Style Council and going along to watch his new band playing live.

But somehow, I’ve never got into the solo stuff by the so called Modfather. I’ve just found most of it rather dull and dreary. Everyone tells me that his LP Stanley Road is one of the best of the 90s. I’ve tried listening to it a few times and it just bores me. There’s just nothing original about it.

I’m also a bit bemused by the re-writing of history when it comes to Paul Weller. He did not have a period in the wilderness from demise of The Style Council at the end of the 80s to his solo comeback in the mid 90s when the Britpop movement, and in particular Noel Gallagher, paid homage to him. There were a few attempts at re-igniting his career in-between, including this single from 1991:-

mp3 : The Paul Weller Movement – Into Tomorrow

If you have a listen, you’ll hear that it’s not much different from the stuff he would go on to release to great critical acclaim a few years later. It just wasn’t fashionable back in 1991……

Oh there is one Paul Weller solo single that I adore. If he had gone down this sort of route rather than re-hashing his love of the 60s, I might have remained a fan:-

mp3 : Paul Weller - Wild Wood

You can buy most of his solo stuff quite easily, either on-line or in record shops. But if you want the 12" single of Into Tomorrow, you'll most lilely need to try e-bay. Or make me an offer I can't refuse.

PS

Of the 11 comments left behind after the original posting (including a piece of spam), this remains one of my favourite ever in more than 1,000 postings on TVV:-

Anonymous said...

wow you've got a really self important attitude in everything you write. who cares what you think - just give us the tracks you twat

3:01 PM, February 17, 2007

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE..WITH GREAT SCOTTISH SINGLES (13)

BELIEVE IT OR NOT.....THIS POSTING WAS DRAFTED AND POSTED WITH A TIME DELAY ON IT PRIOR TO THE NEWS OF THE LATEST DMCA NONSENSE I MENTIONED LAST NIGHT......

PLEASE READ ON.

Will this prove to be an unlucky posting?

I only ask for the last time I mentioned Hey! Elastica, within the context of a Paul Haig posting, I then got a dmca takedown.

Having said that, it was the posting that led to some correspondence form Paul's management and ultimately to the wee venture thhat became Paul Haig Day across a number of music blogs back on 6th Aril 2009 (click here and here and here for happy memories).

Incidentally, I want to see if folk will join in again for Paul Haig Day this year, and will post some details over the next week or two.

But back to the subject in hand.

This lot and indeed this song were the subject of a very early on at TVV - and by very early I mean 2nd October 2006 and was just the third posting I ever made. To show how little I was prepared to say in the early days, I'll re-produce the posting in full:-

I've searched a lot of blogs over the past months, and I can't ever remember seeing this lot appear anywhere. It's one of those songs you will either love or hate....it might to be too typically over-produced 80s pop for some folk, but others will fall for its highly infectious charms. I'm clearly in the latter camp.

Hey! Elastica were from Edinburgh, and were part of a glorious age of Scottish pop in the early 1980s that rode on the back of the critical acclaim afforded to Orange Juice. Many more of the bands from this era will appear in future postings - and I'm sorry if any of you take that as a threat.....

I once saw Hey! Elastica at what was then the Glasgow College of Technology back in 1982 (jaysus I'm getting old). I remember the gig being hugely energetic and entertaining but the live sound quality was appalling....but that was a problem with just about every gig at the Tech.

The fact that Jacques the Kipper was moved enough to leave a very positive comment was hugely encouraging and went a long way to keeping me going in days when the blog would get 10 hits on a good day.

I really do love this single, and indeed just about all the records they made in the flop career that seemingly cost Virgin Records a fair amount of cash in terms of an advance that was never near being recouped. I know its not dated all that well, but it still takes me back to a time and to places when life did seem to be all about having fun and no responsibilities. Your right - it was my student days!!

mp3 : Hey! Elastica - Eat Your Heart Out (12 inch version)
mp3 : Hey! Elastica - Clay Hips (1st Movement)

And if you ever wanted to know what they looked like:-



Awesome!!!!

UH, OH...THIS PICTURE USUALLY MEANS TROUBLE

I might be shifting TVV away quite soon. From The Guardian newspaper today.....

Google shuts down music blogs without warning

Bloggers told they have violated terms without further explanation, as years of archives are wiped off the internet

In what critics are calling "musicblogocide 2010", Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google's Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites – and years of archives – were wiped from the internet.

"We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding your blog," begins the cheerful letter received by each of the owners of Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It's a Rap and Living Ears. All of these are music-blogs – sites that write about music and post MP3s of what they are discussing. "Upon review of your account, we've noted that your blog has repeatedly violated Blogger's Terms of Service ... [and] we've been forced to remove your blog. Thank you for your understanding."

Jolly as Google may be, none of the bloggers who received these notices are "understanding" in the least. Although such sites once operated on the internet's fringes, almost exclusively posting songs without permission, many blogs are now wined, dined and even paid (via advertising) by record labels. After the success of blog-buzzy acts such as Arcade Fire, Lily Allen and Vampire Weekend, entire PR firms are dedicated to courting armchair DJs and amateur critics.

Despite the de facto alliance between labels and blogs, not all of the record companies' legal teams have received the message. In a complaint posted to Google Support, Bill Lipold, the owner of I Rock Cleveland, cited four cases in the past year when he had received copyright violation notices for songs he was legally entitled to post. Tracks by Jay Reatard, Nadja, BLK JKS and Spindrift all attracted complaints under the USA's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, even when the respective MP3s were official promo tracks. As a publicist for BLK JKS' label, Secretly Canadian, told Lipold: "Apparently DMCA operate on their own set of odd rules, as they even requested that the BLK JKS' official blog remove the song." It's not clear who "DMCA" is in this case, as the act does not defend itself.

"I assure you that everything I've posted for, let's say, the past two years, has either been provided by a promotional company, came directly from the record label, or came directly from the artist," Lipold wrote to Google.
The company's first official response came only late yesterday, as #Musicblogocide2k10 sped up Twitter's trending charts. "When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorised manner, we will remove the blog," explained product manager Rick Klau. "[If] this is the result of miscommunication by staff at the record label, or confusion over which MP3s are 'official' ... it is imperative that you file a DMCA counter-claim so we know you have the right to the music in question."

The trouble with filing a formal, legal DMCA counter-claim is, that most bloggers don't know how. What's more, many of Blogger's DMCA notices allegedly omit the name of the offending song. Bloggers aren't even sure what they are denying.
Take the case of Masala, co-founded by Guillaume Decouflet in mid-2005. Together with his partners, Decouflet has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to underground genres such as kuduro and funk carioca. Masala's writers weren't typical music bloggers, waxing lyrical about Neon Indian and the new Phoenix remix: mostly DJs, they shared South African electronica, Japanese dancehall, UK funky and Senegalese hip-hop. "We haven't been posting any Whitney Houston or anything," Decouflet explained. He only recalls receiving one DMCA notice – ever – from Blogger. As this email did not name the offending song, he says he doesn't know what caused the complaint. Masala's bloggers responded to Google's email, Decouflet insists, but never heard back. That is, until their entire site – and more than four years of archives – were deleted this week.

"It's just sad because we were documenting young people's music from all around the globe," Decouflet said. "For a lot of people, it was music they wouldn't have been able to discover elsewhere." Decouflet is now trying to "salvage" the Masala archive, using Google's own Reader tool to dig up old posts. Other banished blogs have taken similar steps. Living Ears, It's a Rap and Pop Tarts have relaunched at new URLs, generally without any older material.

Not all music blogs are as innocent as I Love Cleveland and Masala. Although the majority of bloggers share only single songs, showing particular affection for the obscure and out of print, some blogs are the most banal sort of pirates – offering links to download entire new releases. However, these sites are ostracised by the blogging mainstream, left off aggregators such as the Hype Machine. No one protests when Google quietly removes their Blogspot accounts and yet ironically, amid the "musicblogocide", dozens of these still remain online.

The two largest Blogspot-hosted music blogs, Gorilla vs Bear and My Old Kentucky Home, show no sign of being affected, although they will still find these developments alarming. "I don't post anything that's not approved, and obviously nothing on major labels," said Gorilla vs Bear's Chris Cantalini. "But apparently that doesn't matter in some of these cases."

In a press release last year, Google seemed to recognise this distinction, announcing a new policy vis-a-vis music bloggers. From now on, it wrote, DMCA notices would not result in the instant deletion of offending blogs. Instead, individual posts would be temporarily removed, with a prominent notice to help bloggers respond to the allegations. "Music bloggers are a large segment of our users – and we know that for those who've received one or more DMCA complaints in the past, this may have been a frustrating experience," Klau wrote in August. Almost six months later, the experience doesn't appear to have become any less frustrating.

Decouflet sounds weary. "Google is treating bloggers like Big Brother," he said. "Shoot first, ask questions after."

One of those affected is To Die By Your Side, which was one of the blogs that was an inspiration for TVV. And Coxon was a huge help in the early days with all sorts of encouragement. I really felt sick to the stomach when I read it.

So....I've backed up the blog and am investigating a move away to a new address. I'll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, if you do read this Coxon.....hope it's not long before you make a comeback.

mp3 : Jarvis Cocker - Running The World