I had forgotten that till this came up on random play on the i-pod while I was lazing on the beach recently that the original vinyl version of the ninth single to be released by The Smiths was a different mix from that which was placed on the LP The Queen Is Dead.
The difference is fairly marginal but quite significant as the LP version saw the addition of extra layers of synthetic strings - the original single perhaps being a truer reflection of the band's sound, although to be fair, there were a few songs as time went on that had the odd quirky sound added to them.
mp3 : The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
The single reached #23 in the UK singles chart in September 1985 which was very disappointing for just about all concerned, I remember at the time that a few fellow band obsessives didn't buy it as the band had committed the heinous crime of shooting a promo video to go with the record - Morrissey had previously said that under no circumstances would the band ever do such a thing. This was of course an era when more and more money was being spent on extravagant and often innovative pop promos, when image took precedent over all else, and many fans felt betrayed.
It was their loss, for 'Thorn' is a very fine piece of music with some excellent strumming from Johnny Marr, while Morrissey delivers a very lovely vocal complete with some yodelling...
But what about the b-sides? Well, I reckon that they are two of the best tracks The Smiths ever recorded....and only on the 12" can you get to hear them the way they were intended.
Rubber Ring is a truly brilliant song -one of the most danceable tracks the band ever recorded. One that all four of the band play as equal a part in its magnificence as anything else in their entire repertoire. But just as you think it is going to fade away like most other songs, it it suddenly cuts out at 3:40 and after a short spoken vocal with a heavy European accent, it segues into Asleep, an incredibly moving piano-led ballad with a sense of a cold and bitter wind blowing through it as Morrissey. not for the last time, muses on taking his own life. And as the song fades out with the word 'goodbye', the piano stops and a music-box version of Auld Lang Syne - and should auldacquaintance be forgot - that just puts the icing on the cake of a truly astonishing bit of music that over the two songs lasts almost 8 minutes.
I have no idea why, on all the various compilation LPs that have been issued since, that Rubber Ring and Asleep have been separated into two separate songs. An act of wantonvandalism if you ask me. But just in case you've ever been looking for them:-
HIGHLIGHTING A BAND NEVER FEATURED BEFORE ON TVV......
The Freeze, not to be confused with the South London soul-funk group Freez, were formed in 1976 at Linlithgow Academy in Central Scotland, a school that was also attended by Alan Rankine co-founder of the Associates.
The main songwriter and singer Gordon Sharp was a flamboyant dresser with a gender twisting style, more of later.
As much as anything the music scene in the East of Scotland in the late ‘70’s was vibrant with groups playing a wide variety of pubs.
Two such venues were the Cunzie Neuk in Kinghorn and the Dutch Mill in Kirkcaldy. The Cunzie Neuk will always be remembered for its legendary carpet that stuck to your feet with every step. It was a combination of deep pile and McEwan’s Export.
I saw The Freeze play both pubs with their mixture of glam, punk and art rock with small dollop of Goth. Gordon Sharp loved dressing up in sequenced dresses with fishnet tights. This came in very handy after a gig at the Dutch Mill when my friend Hamish McIntosh lost a contact lens - it was only retrieved when Gordon stood on it wearing his fishnets and the lens got caught in his tights........
I also came home to Kirkcaldy one Friday after work at St Andrews University to be told, that another friend, George “Dod” Fenton, would be picking me up at 6.30 pm and we would going to a pub in deepest darkest Dundee to see The Freeze play.
Now Dod was the scariest driver I had ever or to this day travelled with in a car. He owned a Hillman Hunter and he thought nothing of overtaking five other road users in the one manoeuvre. It was my first experience of a “white knuckle ride”, not helped by knowingg that he had written off his previous vehicle coming back from a Skids gig in Aberdeen after hitting black ice outside Montrose and rolling the car, an accident in which all occupants had miraculously walked away safely.
We survived the journey to Dundee but I didn’t think I’d survive the gig in one of Dundee’s depressive housing estate pubs when Gordon took to the makeshift stage area dressed in a flowing purple dress to a chorus of “look at that POOF!!!!”
The Freeze set featured cover versions of Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain and Eno’s Baby’s on Fire as well their own favourites Paranoia and Psychodalek Nightmares.
mp3 : The Freeze - Psychodalek Nightmares
They had two independently released singles the In Colour EP and Celebration and they went on to make two sessions for John Peel’s Radio One Show.
mp3 : The Freeze - Location (Peel Session) mp3 : The Freeze - From The Bizarre (Peel Session)
In the summer of 1981, Dod Fenton and I went on holiday to Kavos in Corfu, I took with me a cassette containing one of the John Peel sessions. Our accommodation was above a taverna, the owner Terry was good enough to allow me to play the session tape over his music system as we sat under the stars enjoying our evening meal and drinking into the night.
In 1982, Gordon Sharp and fellow songwriter David Clancy relocated to London and changed the band name to Cindytalk.
Little known trivia fact - Gordon joined some near neighbours of his who lived in the town of Grangemouth when they recorded their own second Peel Sesssion - his near neighbours being The Cocteau Twins.....
In 1984 Cindytalk released their first album Camouflage Heart.
mp3 : Cindytalk - Of Ghosts & Buildings
The same year Sharp joined the afore-mentioned Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie to record It’ll End in Tears under the moniker This Mortal Coil; he also provided vocals for three other tracks, including the indie chart-topping Kangaroo, which was included in John Peel’s highly thought of festive 50 from 1984.
mp3 : This Mortal Coil - Kangaroo
To this day Cindytalk continue to produce experimental electronic music and are highly thought of throughtout the world. In October 2009 they played Edinburgh for the first time ever. I 'll confess however, that I find their current output takes some listening to.
I prefer the fact that late last year, Dod's brother Ian Fenton gave me mp3 copies of the John Peel sessions recorded by the Freeze.
It was great to take me back to that time in my life. Now, to complete the experience in full, I’m going to pour some beer on the carpet to make my feet stick while eating my tarmasolata and kebab.
I work in the world of hype and spin, but even I couldn't have come up with the words that describe the collective that are going to take over part of the Flying Duck every now and again.
It's all down to Drew from Across The Kitchen Table. Not only did he come up with the idea, but he made the approaches to get others involved, scouted out the venue, spoke to the folk who run The Flying Duck, and sorted out the logo/images. All the while I was lazing around on a beach many thousands of miles away.
The truth is that I'm quite nervous about it all. It's one thing posting some mp3s and some words here on a daily basis knowing that if folk don't like things they can dive across to someone else's blog or at worst switch off the PC. It is a totally different scenario trying to entice folk to giving up some of their precious time to come into the centre of Glasgow and not only listen to what I'm playing but hopefully dancing to it. Then again, if they don't like what I'm doing, they can hang around for a short time before another blogger takes to the decks or whatever contraption is to be deployed in respect of aural pleasure.
Ever since I realised what I had signed up, just about every song I listened to on the beach in Aruba has been analysed in terms of whether it had the potential to be a floorfiller, or at very least have the potential to create interest to get the toes-a-tapping. Then I started to worry about how to sequence the songs.....and then questions ran through my brain - should I have more than one song by the same artist in an evening, do I go with a few things that are obscure to show-off a bit, should I take requests, what will I do if something completely clears the floor (especially after Drew has revved up the whole thing just before I've come on) etc etc etc.......
But despite all of that, I am so looking forward to Saturday 12th June when I will forego the joys of England v USA in the Group Stages of the World Cup for something totally different.....I hope maybe some of you will be tempted. At the very least, please put the word around.
I guarantee that I will play at least one bit of vinyl that came out on Postcard Records and there's likely to be a fair bit of the sort of stuff I used to dance to back in the early-mid 80s. The dubstep is likely to be left to one or two others.
Fatboy Jim will be in the house.........
mp3 : The Wonder Stuff - Who Wants To Be The Disco King? mp3 : Colorblind James Experience - Dance Critters mp3 : Blowoff - Saturday Night All The Time
Unlikely though that any of the above will feature mind you.........
It's now almost the end of May, and I'm just a matter of weeks away from celebrating my 47th Birthday. I take it I'll never now make it as a famous DJ and will need to content myself with just doodling away here in blogland endeavouring to make a few folk happy.
I mention this as it means I'm now two years on from my 45 45s at 45 series in which I did a countdown of all my favourite singles. There were a couple of rules - namely that I had to have bought the single at its time of release and not picked up on years later, and furthermore, each singer or band was restricted to one entry in the rundown to prevent it being dominated by the likes of The Smiths, New Order and The Jam.
The newest song in the rundown came in at #43 and was the double A-side of Be Less Rude /Sing The Greys by Frightened Rabbit. But if I was doing the chart now, it wouldn't feature anywhere due to the release of this song in 2008:-
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - Fast Blood
With a lyric that David Gedge would have been proud of and a tune that more than does it justice, Fast Blood is a the tale of a situation that every single one of us has surely found ourselves in. That moment when lust takes over every single one of your senses and your brain stops functioning properly. You get reckless. Your entire world revolves around the one person whose eyes you are staring into. There's only one thing on your mind.....and you are praying that they feel the same way.
Quite stunning. And I've been lucky enough to see some fabulously energetic live renditions over the years which have helped make it such a favourite. It would certainly be placed a bit higher than #43 in any 2010 rundown.
Here's yer b-side:-
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - Soon Go
And here's a live performance in Wisconsin back in late 2008
Really disappointed that the new album hasn't catapulted them to major stardom.
Thanks for all the positive feedback on the previous postings which have featured the singles released by Cinerama between 1998 and 2003.
As I've said previously, none of them made the singles charts but this is more an indictment on the failure of radio station producers to hear quality when put in front of them by pluggers than any other factor. Cinerama were a fabulous outfit....every bit as enjoyable as The Wedding Present....and all of their singles deserve to be better known.
Oh I say 'were' as if Cinerama had gone for ever. David Gedge is compering a day of music and frolics in Brighton this coming August, and there on the bill will be a very rare and welcome appearance by Cinerama.......
Anyway, today's offering is the band's 10th single, released in 2002. As ever, it has a quite astonishing Gedge lyric. It's one of his infidelity stories of the one-night stand variety. And a belter of a tune:-
mp3 : Cinerama - Quick Before It Melts
Sadly, this is a single I haven't been able to get my hands on, so the track is the extended version lifted from the LP Torino. If anyone has a copy of the singles that they would like to sell, I'd love to hear from you.
In the absence of the b-sides, here's a Peel Sessions version to enjoy:-
mp3 : Cinerama - Quick Before It Melts (Peel Session)
I was very surprised in doing a wee bit of research to discover that from Ceremony in 1981 through to Waiting For The Sirens Call in 2005, New Order had 30 different songs released as singles (I'm not including any of the Blue Monday or World In Motion remixes in that figure).
I've previously gone on record that Temptation from 1982 is my all-time favourite single. And because of that, I've never really sat down and tried to work out which order I would list the rest of the New Order singles in terms of personal favourites.
Actually, that's a lie. Ceremony runs Temptation close for my all time favourite 45. Blue Monday isn't all that far behind either. Beyond that, the remainder of the Top 10 would be quite fluid depending on the mood I'm in.
But I know that the comeback single from 1993 would be quite high on the list.
New Order had more or less imploded on the back of the recording of Technique which was released in 1989, notwithstanding that with the help of Keith Allen and sundry footballers they achieved their sole #1 single the following year with World In Motion. The fact that Factory Records had also gone under made many folk think the band would be no more, especially as each member was sidetracked by various solo projects. But after a hiatus of more than three years, this very fine piece of pop was unleashed on the world:-
mp3 : New Order - Regret
Aided by a bizarre Top Of The Pops appearance filmed live from the set of the then hit TV series Baywatch, the single climbed to #4 in the UK charts which remains, outwith of the afore-said World in Motion and one of the Blue Monday remixes the highest chart position they ever enjoyed.
There were three other versions available on the CD single:-
mp3 : New Order - Regret (New Order Mix) mp3 : New Order - Regret (The Fire Island Mix) mp3 : New Order - Regret (Junior Dub Mix)
The engineer on the New Order Mix was Owen Morris who within a matter of two years would become famous for his production work with Oasis,particularly on (What's The Story) Morning Glory. The other two mixes were aimed at the dance market with production credited to superstar DJsTerry Farley and Pete Heller.
A hit in many parts of the world in 1994. But you really gotta love the great people of Norway who propelled it all the way to the #1 slot. Us Brits kind of gave up when it reached #15.
The four-track CD single had three songs that were previously unreleased.
mp3 : Beck - Totally Confused mp3 : Beck - Corvette Bummer mp3 : Beck - MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack
Happy Listening. (You can see that I'm still kind of tired after the holiday at the lack of real effort that has gone into today's posting)
Although I have a vinyl copy of the LP Knife which was released by Aztec Camera in 1984, its one that I've never converted to mp3, partly because I'm not all that fond of it and partly because it has a scratch on one side of it that causes the tracks to badly skip and jump.
Last week however, I saw that a CD copy was on sale in a local record shop for £5, so along with a few other things I picked one up.
Having listened again in full to the record for the first time in at least 20 years, while still thinking it is a huge disappointment on the back of High Land, Hard Rain, the songs on Knife are a reasonable enough collection, albeit with just 8 tracks making the final cut, it still feels as if Roddy Frame had a wee bit of writer's block at the time.
But something odd struck me as I was going through the booklet that comes with the CD.....
It features all sorts of information, including all the lyrics. It tells you that Roddy Frame was vocals and guitar, David Ruffy did drums and backing vocals, Campbell Owens played bass and did backing vocals and that Malcolm Ross was responsible for guitar and backing vocals.
There are credits for Guy Fletcher (Keyboards, Backing Vocals), Frank Ricotti (Perscussion), Chris White (Saxophone) and Martin Drover (Trumpet). The person who illustrated the sleeve , the photographer, the engineer, the assistant engineer and the studio Knife was recorded in are all clear to see.
But only in a smaller sized print does it say 'Produced by Mark Knopfler for Straightjacket Songs Ltd'.
It's almost as if everyone involved in the band, management and label want to forget that the Dire Straitsfrontman was ever involved in the process.
I remember well the furore when it was announced that Mark Knopfler was to take control of the second Aztec Camera LP, but the argument being that he was someone who was capable of getting the very best out of Roddy's guitar playing skills. But the cynics among us knew that it was all about WEA trying to get some of the millions of folk who had bought Dire Straits records to show an interest in the latest Scottish band they had added to their roster.
The move backfired. Too many fans of old (and I count myself among their number) were quick to dismiss the record without really giving it a proper listen, while Dire Straits fans showed they were only interested in Mark Knopfler's playing and singing and they shied away from the record. The result was that, despite a heavy promotional budget, the lead-off single All I Need Is Everything stalled at #34, while the follow-ups Still On Fire andBackwards And Forwards bombed completely. The album reached #14 which was a respectable enough showing, but nothing like as expected by the label.
Anyway, back to what I was saying.
I had a look at my vinyl copy and the name Mark Knopfler is as prominent as anything else on the sleeve. 26 years on and it is a completely different story....
mp3 : Aztec Camera - All I Need Is Everything mp3 : Aztec Camera - The Birth Of the True
Oh I should mention that the 8 tracks do stretch out to a shade under 40 minutes, but nine of these are taken up by the closing song Knife, one that even now I struggle with. I don't deny there's a really decent song buried among the rubble of a dreadful production......but it still is at least 5 minutes too long.
Still, given all that Roddy has done in recent times to help Edwynrecover from his various ailments, I'm more than happy to forgive him!!
Feel free to disagree.
But surely no-one can forgive Roddy those trousers.
National Health glasses, unruly flaming hair, masses of freckles and braces on my teeth.
No I didn’t have a great deal going for me as a teenager.
But what I did have was an insane sense of humour, (much needed against the taunts my looks brought) and better taste in music than all my friends put together. While they were dressed in tartan trousers that looked too short for them and scarves around their wrists chasing after some strange looking Scots, swooning at The Partridge Family or sighing at The Osmonds, I much preferred music by The Kinks, T Rex, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and many more. I did try and like the stuff my friends did but eventually ‘came out’.
1979 came along and my brother and two of his friends planned a trip to Knebworth in August as Led Zeppelin were going to be the main attraction there. After a great deal of badgering and blackmailing (I promised not to tell Mum about those magazines under his bed), he agreed I could go if I could convince Mum and Dad.
My incentive was not only the music and adventure but I also had a big crush on one of his friends. So I worked hard on Mum;
“I am 17 that’s old enough”.
“All my friends go to these kinds of things”.
I chipped away and wore her down until she agreed; she was great she understood my need to go. I gave her a hug then left her to break it gently to my Dad in thither room.
“Led who?" I heard him say as I shot upstairs to tell my Brother the good news.
August came we set off for the weekend on the Friday, drove the 170 or so miles, four and a half hour journey from Yorkshire to Hertfordshire, all packed into my brother’s old green Vauxhall Viva. We had more beer and cider than anything else, I wondered a few times on the way if it would make it. Luckily it did.
Along with the rest of the world it seemed, we parked up, pitched a tatty old borrowed tent and made camp. Drank beer/cider mix and ate crap food all weekend.
The atmosphere was phenomenal. Chas and Dave a couple of cockney lads were there performing Gercha, Rabbit and The Sideboard Song.
Although I have since read and watched mixed reviews about their performance, no self opinionated music critics analyzing can compare to the eager, young, alcohol fuelled opinions that Led Zeppelin were amazing.
Stairway to Heaven, Black Dog and every time I hear Whole Lotta Love it takes me back.
We drove back on the Sunday tired out from lack of sleep and too much drinking. The crush never did develop into anything; I was just Dave’s kid sister, to be treated like one of the lads. The old Viva had a puncture on the A1 just outside Peterborough on the way home. But there was nothing in the world that could dampen my spirits.
It was a fantastic experience that started my love affair with live music, grabbing every chance I could to watch anything live, I still do. It was the first time I had camped out, gone to a live venue and the first and last time I have ever eaten pickled onions and drank beer at six am in the morning!
mp3 : Chas'n'Dave - Gercha mp3 : Led Zepellin - Whole Lotta Love mp3 : Led Zepellin - Black Dog
Red and Ginger, Sunday 23 May 2010
And now she has done her first ever blog piece. R&G also supplied some great images to go with this piece, but sadly I wasn't able to format them in time before I went away on holiday. So the photo is one I found browsing the net of some of the crowd who were at Knebworth in 1979.
A big welcome please to TVV's first female Sunday Correspondent........ although I'm not sure her songs of choice will last long as I suspect the dmca cops might come after us.
Read this extract from a piece written by ctel on Friday 29th May 2009 as part of the month-plus long series of guest postings:-
R.E.M. – Country Feedback (Live) (2006): My little son has cancer. We are in hospital on the ward. He has just come back from neurosurgery for his brain tumour (his second in under a month). It is his last chance. But it could leave him blind, paralysed; who knows. The mix of fear and hope and trying not to have too much of either. I can’t sleep. I’ve been playing acoustic R.E.M. a lot. But this is the track that counts. The knotted tight emotions. The feeling that no-one else can understand. Like sex and drugs, you just can’t adequately explain how watching your child die over a protracted period feels to those who haven’t gone through it. And anger below the surface. I’m not normally good at hearing lyrics but the words “We've been through fake-a-breakdown, Self hurt, Plastics, Collections, Self help, self pain, EST, psychics, fuck all” express it all. The anger at the religious who in their pity will pray for you. The anger at the New Agers who will cure with crystals and incantation. The unutterable sadness from the repeated refrain of “It's crazy what you could've had”. Knowing that he's dying. Knowing I am right. And hating myself for it.
When he put this piece together, Ctel provided a great version recorded live in Stockholm. I cant locate that particular file, so instead I hope you'll like one recorded in Athens, Georgia back in 1992 that made it onto the CD single Bang And Blame:-
mp3 : R.E.M. - Country Feedback (live)
The photo is of ctel's little one, who sadly passed away in September 2007. I was living and working in Canada at the time, and when the news reached me, I was in tears. Even now thinking about it, especially reading what ctel said at the time over at the blog he kept throughout his son's incredible battle will always make me cry.
Ctel's music blog offered readers the opportunity to try and help find a cure for the sort of illness that took away his child's life. The bastards at blogger prevented that when they threw Acid Ted onto the cyber bonfire. I'm honoured to have the button available at TVV. It would be nice if one or two of you gave it a click occasionally.
I'm finishing off the look at the compilation CD Happy Ever Ever - The Best Of Kitchenware Records with four of the least known songs to most people.
Track 9:-
mp3 : Hug - Firebrands
Back in 1992, the NME described Hug as Newcastle's answer to The Sugarcubes. Others said that vocalist Gemma Wilson sounded like Tanya Donnelly of Belly. Elsewhere it was said 'mid-period Banshees, The Cure and The Pixies are suggested in the heavyish guitar patterns.' All of which should have pointed to a big future. But instead they got nowhere. I certainly can't recall much from them when they were around, and other than this song, I own nothing of theirs. Anyone out there got anything more?
Track 12:-
mp3 : Geoff Smith - Six Wings Of Bliss
The info with the CD advises the track was taken from the LP Fifteen Wild Decembers and that is was a recoding that was part of the Sony Classical catalogue (which means I'm almost certain to get a dmca notice).
I'm glad I had a look as the only Geoff Smith I could find on wiki was described as a musical performer and composer from Brighton, England. And I just didn't associate such an act with Kitchenware. And love it or loath it, its the inclusion of a track like this which lifts the compilation a notch above the norm that record labels churn out.
Which brings us to Tracks 8 and 13:-
mp3 : Fatima Mansions - Behind The Moon mp3 : Fatima Mansions - Blues For Ceausescu
Again, it is easier to extract from wiki to get a flavour of what this most underrated act were all about:-
Fatima Mansions were an art rock group formed in 1988 by Cork singer/keyboardist CathalCoughlan, formerly of Microdisney. They took their name from a downmarket housing estate in Dublin.
They enjoyed some indie chart success and technically entered the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in 1992 with a heavily reworked version of Bryan Adams' song Everything I Do) I Do It for You, taken from an NME tribute album in aid of the charity, Scope. However, although this single was technically a double A-side, the flip-track, Manic Street Preachers' version of Suicide Is Painless received most of the radio airplay and is by far the better-known track.
They also gained mainstream exposure by opening a European leg of U2's Zoo TV Tour in 1992, although they were nearly booed off the stage and almost started a riot when front man Coughlan swore at a Milan audience and insulted the Pope. [
The band often courted controversy with religion, dictators, empires and general authority being targets for Coughlan's vitriol. Despite this, The Guardian newspaper described him as "the most underrated lyricist in pop today", and DJ John Peel said he could "listen to CathalCoughlan sing the phone book".
And that final sentence is reason alone to accept that Fatima Mansions are always worth paying attention to.
Behind The Moon is taken from the mini-LP Bertie's Brochures, on which you can also find this incredible cover:-
If anyone has an mp3 of said track, I'd be delighted to receive a copy from you.......
And as for the single Blues For Ceausescu, that simply is a song that I enjoy and appreciate the older I get. Bloody marvellous it is. Cracking video as well....
And that completes my look at all 14 tracks on the compilation. I hope it wasn't too predictable......
I'm back from Aruba over the weekend. Normal service should resume on Monday.
I closed off yesterday's posting with Part 1 of a documentary about Kitchenware Records. Before waffling about today's songs, I'd ask you to watch the second and final part of the documentary:-
Keith Armstrong made no secret from the off that the major labels would have a big say on how acts on Kitchenware would fare, none more so than Prefab Sprout as CBS were one of the biggest and most powerful labels on the planet.
I'm guessing that one of the reasons CBS were sp keen was the fact thatPaddy McAloon had written an absolute belter of a ballad that was perfect for radio that couldn't fail to take the world by storm. It makes it on to this compilation as Track 4:-
mp3 : Prefab Sprout - When Love Breaks Down
I reckon there must have been a stunned silence when the single failed to chart in 1984. And an even bigger silence when the LP from which it was lifted, Steve McQueen, also failed to set the charts alight upon its release despite some amazing press reviews. CBS had nothing more than a cult indie band on their hands when they thought they had an act that would fill stadia the world over. When Love Breaks Down eventually did chart the following year but only reaching #25. And it never did become the staple fare of daytime radio that so many predicted.
I don't know if many at CBS were aware of the fact that the lead-off single from the band's next LP was a sideways swipe at the biggest act on the label:-
mp3 : Prefab Sprout - Cars And Girls
This appears on the compilation LP as Track 7, and it is maybe a lit bit surprising that it is included when the follow-up, The King Of Rock'n'Roll, the band's best known single and biggest hit, is excluded. Anyway, with the emergence of this smash hit, CBS were happy enough to turn a deaf ear to the sentiments displayed in Cars And Girls.
Happy Ever After - The Best Of Kitchenware Records opens with a Prefab Sprout song (as featured in the first posting in this series) and it also closes with a Prefab Sprout song:-
Track 14:-
mp3 : Prefab Sprout - Carnival 2000
Again, this is an inclusion that bemuses me. It's lifted from the 1990 LP Jordan - The Comeback which as a whole is about as musically as far as you can get from the jingly-jangly pop of the first singles just a few years earlier, with all sorts of musical genres covered including soul, samba and doo-wop.
I'm not all that fond of Jordan. It was an LP I listened to a lot on its release, but it never quite hung together as a whole for me. Carnival 2000 is far from the best song on the LP. It was also part of a 4-track release entitled Jordan - The EP which, true to record label form, was an effort to wring out as much as possible from fans without offering any new product. Amazingly, the EP reached #35 which was a higher position than the two earlier singles lifted from the LP.....
Incidentally, Carnival 2000 is the track that closes Happy Ever After - according to the sleeve that is - but there is another hidden Prefab Sprout track tagged on a few swconds later - and it's the title track of their 1997 LP Andromeda Heights. The hidden track is included in the version posted.....
For those of you fed up with this extended look at one record label, the four remaining tracks on the compilation will be rounded up tomorrow.
More from Happy Ever After - The Best Of Kitchenware Records
While Prefab Sprout were the band that took gave the label most chart prominence in the 80s, it was The Kane Gang who were the second biggest act in terms of sales, thanks in the main to Track 6 on the compilation:-
mp3 : The Kane Gang - Closest Thing To Heaven
Wiki describes them as a blue-eyed soul trio, which concise enough, if not IMHO 100% accurate. There was a wee bit more to them than that......it kind of makes them sound like a north-east version of Wet Wet Wet.
As was mentioned the other day, Kitchenware had a deal with majors for a number of their acts and The Kane Gang were helped by the muscle and money of London Records. Closest Thing To Heaven reached #12 in the UK charts in 1984, and indeed it take another four years before any other single by any other band on Kitchenware would achieve a better chart position. The debut LP The Bad And Lowdown World Of The Kane Gang also sold well, reaching #21 in the album charts.
Hopes were high for the band's second LP Miracle that was released in 1987. But lead off single Motortown was a surprise flop and the band seemed to lose faith in themselves. The LP didn't break the Top 40, and before too long they had become something of a footnote in musical history. Said single is Track 3 on the compilation:-
mp3 : The Kane Gang - Motortown
There is a third single from The Kane Gang that is also on this compilation, sneaked in at Track 10. It was originally released in 1985 as the fourth track lifted from their debut LP and unsurprisingly it didn't chart. Thinking back, that was one of the few things that annoyed about Kitchenware in the 80s - they were awfully keen to release as many singles as possible from their roster's LPs, with little regard to providing fans with value for money.
mp3 : The Kane Gang - Gun Law
But to show just how important The Kane Gang were in raising the profile of the label, have a look at Part 1 of a short documentary on Kitchenware that was filmed for the music programme The Tube that aired on Channel 4:-
You don't get to lead-off unless you've enough quality to keep folk hooked....
One of the downsides about being away on holiday right now is that I will have missed another magical, memorable and unique gig by Martin Stephenson in the cosy confines of a small venue in Glasgow under the auspices of the Sounds In The Suburbs promotions that are the brainchild of Alan Hendry.
How do I know it was magical etc? Quite simple really, they always are.
Martin Stephenson & The Daintees remain one of my all time favourite acts. Seen them loads of time live, and I've written about them loads of times on TVV. Use the search box in the top-left hand space to get a few samples if you feel like it.
Anyway, the band's involvement with Kitchenware dated from 1986 to 1992 and featured four critically acclaimed LPs. How none of them propelled the band into the level of fame and fortune of so many of their peers is one of the great musical mysteries of the 20th century.
Two of their singles feature on Happy Ever After - The Best Of Kitchenware Records.
Track 11:-
mp3 : Martin Stephenson & The Daintees - Wholly Humble Heart
Released in 1988, it is a re-recorded version of one of the songs on the LP Gladsome, Humour & Blue. My own preference is for the original version mind you......
mp3 : Martin Stephenson & The Daintees - Wholly Humble Heart (LP Version)
Track 2 :-
mp3 : Martin Stephenson & The Daintees - Crocodile Cryer
From 1985. The song that made me fall for the band. And still one of my favourite records of all time. And here's the clip from OGWT which got me hooked.....
This week's featured compilation LP is entitled Happy Ever After - The Best Of Kitchenware Records. So you can guess what lies ahead....
Founded in 1982, it is still going strong with Editors being the best-known of their current newer acts. But for many of us of a certain age, it will always recalled as the home to some of the most glorious and lush pop records of the 1980s, mostly but not always from bands formed and based in the north-east of England.
There are 14 tracks on the compilation, with contributions from 8 different acts. and what I intend to do is feature all of them in a random haphazard way over the next 6 days. So apologies if you're not a fan of the singers and bands on the label ...maybe its best you take a wee holiday from TVV for a while and come back when I resume normal service.
Track 1 :-
mp3 : Prefab Sprout - Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
One of the first releases on the label, this song had first been a self-financed release by Prefab Sprout on Candle Records. I'm sure most of you know by now that the first letter of each of the words in the title spell Limoges, the city in France where the girlfriend of singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon had moved to live, breaking his heart in the process. A stunning record that reminded this particular listener of Postcard-era Aztec Camera. And while I have loved a lot of what the band have gone on to record and release over the years, I'm not really sure if they have bettered this.
Track 5:-
mp3 : Hurrah! - Sweet Sanity
By the time of this release in 1986, Kitchenware had done what many indies would do in order to thrive and that is sign deals with major labels. Sweet Sanity came out via a deal with Arista Records and was part of a big push to propelHurrah! to mega-stardom after the initial buzz over the first four singles. This included prestigious support slots to U2 on the tour that promoted The Joshua Tree, so it was clear that everyone saw a stadium-rock type future for the band. Everyone that is except for the record-buying public who steered clear of Hurrah! in great droves.
I was astounded to read on wiki that the video for Sweet Sanity was banned in many places for featuring the heinous crime of two women holding hands and cuddling as they walked together. My, how things have changed.......
Since Part 1, I know that countless readers (less than can be counted) have been pink and moist with anticipation, so here it is…
AMSTERDAM INITIATIVE TEST – PART 2
Grim and pale with (heavy) head in hands - like the ghost of King Charles II but with a more mod haircut, I sat in Dan Van Samaritan’s apartment in Utrecht, central Holland on the Monday morning. It was 08.30 and I was due at work in south west England ... hundreds of miles away.
Before I’d been shooed away at midnight by the be-whiskered Amsterdam Police; through a fug of tasty smoke, they’d given me the phone number of the British Consulate in The Hague. I pulled the scrap of paper from my pocket. “Right” thought I. “These Union Flag-flying fuckers will sort me out. No problem. That’s what they do, isn’t it?”
I called their number on Dan’s phone. No answer. The Consulate staff weren’t there. My life was already a Dutch Breakfast so I could well do without those lazy sods still nibbling on Gouda and pumpernickel reading their morning Expatica Express.
“Get thyselves sat beneath a portrait of The Queen and help this beleaguered countryman, you work-shy mandarin bastards” I chuntered to myself. I lit a Peter Stuyvesant and tried the number again. Still nothing. Perhaps they were out last night dressed in orange celebrating the first herring of the year, or something?
Half an hour later, I finally extracted a gruff ‘Hullo’ from a she-male voice at the other end.
‘Geertruyd here’.
It was the cleaner!
It transpired that Her Majesty’s Ambassador and all his merry civil service men were not in the office that morning due to what she called ‘a Training Day’. I vented my spleen toward the damduster-wielding dutchwoman. I was beside myself. (In-cand-escent and in-de-shit). She sympathised with my plight; understanding my acute frustration and desperation, but unable to offer any advice other than, ‘Continue to the port sir, and hope that your passport is there waiting’.
OK. South I go to bloody Belgium then. It can’t be that far from here can it?
By the way, the coach I had missed in Amsterdam had long since arrived in England. Unbeknownst to me however, my friend had been given a hard time by UK Customs at Passport Control. “And which one are we today then sir?” he’d been asked as he wielded 2 passports and a likely story.
Anyway, I got on a local bus full of Holland’s finest old cloggy women and headed towards the nearest motorway junction.
mp3 : Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere
Back on the main Highway, out came my map, anorak, thumb, and my metaphorical Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Benelux Blues. The drizzle lowered in the Lowlands. After half an hour, a car pulled over. It was clearly an ‘Ok ya, company car’. An unwashed black Audi with 4 tell-tale ironed shirts hanging in the back.
Herman the Sales Rep listened to my tale of woe. He was heading to Eindhoven for a Plastics Convention. A city I knew only as the home of a football team called PSV and the Philips lighting Company. Herman seemed friendly enough. (But then, Jack The Ripper was probably a right charmer on first meeting). We chatted over the next hour or so and I told him my tale. He shook his head in disbelief.
I mentioned the beer, and the cold, the lack of ID and money, Amsterdam, and the missed coach home. I told him that I was serving in the Air Force and that my bollocks would be lightly poached as I was late back on duty.
mp3 : XTC – The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
Then, in a truly bizarre coincidence, as we passed Eindhoven, he had the most wonderful lightbulb moment!
The nearest RAF Station was not far across the Dutch/West German border.
“That’s it. That’s where we can go!” declared Herman.
In 1984, RAF Brüggen was a major NATO base in a Cold War world - where a certain apocalyptic Nuclear War was just around the next bunker. Two Tribes, Greenham Common, Threads, Reagan, Thatcher, CND, Protect and Survive, Cruise and Pershing missiles. Why, even painting the windows white and sitting under the kitchen table wouldn’t save you.
This Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) meant we were doomed – the lot of us. In fact, the only undecided thing was how you were gonna spend your final 4 minutes; prior to kissing your ass goodbye.
Aah, happy days!
Anyway, I digress. Herman agreed to take me across the border into Germany and onto the RAF base. As a Sales Executive, he knew the way like the back of his leather-bound filofax.
‘If you don’t get home safely, I’m a Dutchman’ he vehemently declared.
“Aren’t you the funny fucker?” says I.
We crossed the manned national border, with him flashing Fritz a Business card and me an inane grin. On a road through a forest, we approached the sprawling air base, negotiating speed-calming barbed wire chicanes flanked by armed guards. We could see the Hardened Aircraft Shelters. Fierce German Shepherds prowled the perimeter fence. (How ridiculous they looked with their crooks, dressed in their woolly waistcoats and leather shorts. (Only joking, I mean Alsatian-type dogs really)).
At the RAF Brüggen main gate, Herman came into his own with sales waffle a-gogo. Thankfully, the airman on guard duty wasn’t the brightest bullet in the magazine. His tin hat was on the wrong way round. (‘Must be a chef in his day job’ I thought). For all he knew, I could have been Soviet Sid the Stasi SuperSpy. (I had no ID and he had no idea). With a salute from him and a weary wave from me, we were in. A high security top secret base with the largest Tornado aircraft force in NATO had been infiltrated by a Dutchman saying, “I have come to check the vending machines in the NAAFI” and me – a scruffy youth in a borrowed lime green anorak.
By the way, This ‘oops’ moment had happened at RAF Brüggen earlier that year.
Now at this moment en route to Station HQ, my ears began to bleed. “What the fuck!” It had never happened before or since. Herman pointed it out to me as he parked up. Dan Van Samaritan’s rain jacket would never be the same again and my white ‘Tube Station’ T-shirt sported fresh claret blobs. He passed me a wet wipe with ‘Currywurst’ printed on it. With ears dribbling, I tried to compose myself and rehearsed my story in my fat head.
I introduced myself to a clot of a Corporal in Personnel Services. Seeing the blood, he quickly realised it was above his pay level and found me a Warrant Officer. And, if Rottweillers had hats then he’d be one. At this point, Herman motioned that it was time for him to leave. I thanked him – woefully insufficiently – and he was gone. Rotty with a blue beret took me to a room where I regaled him with bumbling tales of lager and London and Leeds United. Throughout my desperate report, I remember how he took phone calls about bonfires and sausages and fireworks. (It was the 5th of November). Here I was, at my tether’s end, whilst he considered the merits of a good Catherine Wheel.
So here’s the plan: Issued with a Temporary ID card and an Advance of Pay to cover costs home. I take a lift to Mönchengladbach in a mini-bus full of bonfire-going kids. There I catch a train through what’s left of Germany and across The Netherlands to the Hook of Holland. Overnight Ferry to Harwich. Train to Waterloo. Train to Salisbury. Taxi home. Bollocking from work. Re-union shag with girlfriend. Phone call to relieved mother. Two-way tales with passport-holding mate. Food. Sleep.
Through the damp squib of a night, I hurried to the train station for the 19.30 Deutsche Bahn, (that’s German for ‘a big train’) relieved I had escaped the jaunty jabberings of a dozen under 10s.
I’d been given an advance of pay in cash. Exactly 138 Deutsche Mark - to cover the whole fare from Monchengladbach to Salisbury. I asked for a ticket and the frau behind the counter told me the price ...
“That is 143 Marks please”.
“Surely some mistake?” I argued.
“Nein. The price it has risen last veek”.
“Shit. Bollocks. Fuck”. A queue built up behind me.
“Can I leave you my name and address? Can you take my watch instead?”
Sensing my desperation (along with the fact that if I were to throw myself under the train there would be an interminable delay - even by über-efficient German suicide=mopping-up standards), the woman behind me in the queue stepped forward and offered to pay the 5 DM difference.
“Oh, thank you, danke, muchos” I babbled, as I went to hug her … but as she recoiled, I thought better of it!
I made it onto the train and felt like Richard Attenborough in The Great Escape. All I needed was the trilby hat and a pair of specs made from old German milk bottles. The ‘funny look’ from the Guard as he checked my ticket added to the ‘squeeky bum’ moment. We shake, rattle and rolled all the way to the west coast port of Hoek van Holland.
(Cue ‘Homeward Bound’ by Paul Simon you may be thinking? Too obvious, dear reader. We don’t just throw this blog together you know).
Unsurprisingly, I puked all the way across The Channel. The sea was as rough as a bear’s arse. (Is there anything worse than not having a cabin and clutching a public porcelain pot for hours and hours?)
Anyway, I can see you glazing over at the back dear reader(s). Suffice to say, I continued across Britain in shabby vagrant style and arrived home to my accommodation block on the Tuesday afternoon in one piece.
Many were relieved to see me. ‘Cept the bloke next door who’d had his eye on my portable TV. I even went on to marry the girl waiting for me. Aaah!
mp3 : Paul Weller – In Amsterdam (By a strange twist of fate, this is from his new album!)
"For some time now I have been nursing the idea of putting on a night and playing some of the tunes that I've posted here over the past year and a bit but decided it would be too much hassle.
However, recently I decided, why not. So I thought instead of doing it myself I would enlist the help of some of the reprobates listed down the right hand side of the blog, well the ones within traveling distance of Glasgow. As I have a theory that I think that every music blogger has a yearning to play their music really loud outwith the confines of their own home. So I emailed JC, Gareth and ANCB to see if they would be interested in playing their tunes to more than their spouse's, progeny and pets who, let's face it must be sick of hearing these records. I got a positive response from all three, although ANCB is the exception to my theory as he has no desire to dj but would come along.
The next hurdle was finding a venue. For this I employed the opinions of a couple of hipster friends of mine who live in the toon and they gave me a comprehensive list of suitable venues. I contacted a few of these and whittled them down to a couple but one really appealed to me. When I didn't get a reply from them , I decided to give it one last try and if still nothing then I would just give up on the idea. To my surprise and delight, Barney from The Flying Duck responded and was interested in putting on the night. So today, I finalised the nights (yes, we've been offered 3 nights).
All that is left now is to think of a name, as my original idea Bloggers Delight has already been used (bugger), The Bloggers Coalition, I've been told is crap and The Vinyl Villain Asks From Across The Kitchen Table, How Does That One Go Again? doesn't exactly roll of the tongue and would take up a whole flyer.
So if you are in the vicinity of Glasgow on June 12th, July 10th or August 14th and want to see 3 sad gits play what can only be described as a cornucopia of different styles of modern and not so modern music, come to The Flying Duck at the top of Renfield Street between 8pm and midnight, admission free before 11pm and laugh at us or buy us a pint."
Since typing those words, the name BLOG ROCKING BEATS has been settled upon.
So.....there you have it. I'm going to be DJing again very soon. And I'm shittin bricks at the very thought of it.....or perhaps that is last night's mahi-mahi having its revenge on me.
Wish me luck amigos.
mp3 : Baccara - Yes Sir, I Can Boogie mp3 : Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat mp3 : PJ Harvey - Darling Be There
FRIDAY, I'M IN LOVE WITH MORRISSEY (Part 1) - originally posted on 28th November 2008
Yet another series is launched at TVV....and the intention for the next few Fridays (not sure yet just how many), is to focus on songs recorded by Steven Patrick Morrissey since he embarked on his solo career back in 1988.
Thus far, not including compilations, he's graced us with 8 studio LPs, 2 live albums and 38 singles.
Today's offering dates from 1995 when the great man had just moved to RCA Records after seven years with EMI. After the critical and commercial success of Vauxhall and I in 1994 in which the demons of the past including accusations of racism had been almost wiped out, the content of follow-up LP Southpaw Grammar baffled many fans.
It contained just 8 tracks in total, of which two were more than 10 minutes in length and a huge departure from anything else he'd done in his solo career. It was an album cover that did not feature a photograph of Morrissey - again this was a departure from anything else thus far in the solo career, albeit the single Boxers, his final record for EMI at the beginning of 1995, had also not featured the singer on the cover.
Southpaw Grammar was released at the end of August 1995 and received a critical panning, although it sold well enough with long-time fans to reach #4 in the UK charts. Having said that, I wonder just how many, like myself, played it a couple of times and then quietly filed it away on the shelf.....
Two singles were taken from the LP. The first was Dagenham Dave, which appeared some 7 days in advance of the album (it too had a non-Morrissey sleeve).
The second single was The Boy Racer which came out some three months later. Given the time gap between the two singles, and the fact that Morrissey appears on the sleeve of one of the two CDs that were issued, I'm making an educated guess that it was an effort by the singer and his label to try and generate some fresh interest in the LP.
It was a ploy that failed, as the single got next to no airplay and barely dented the Top 40.
The lack of new songs for the b-sides didn't help either - all that was on offer were live recordings from a London gig in February 1995.
It's a bit of a shame as The Boy Racer, while by no means the greatest thing ever recorded, is a reasonable single that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's certainly the most accessible bit of music on the parent album.
But if there's one thing it did highlight, it was that Morrissey's performances of songs by his old band left you pining for Johnny Marr:-
mp3 : Morrissey - The Boy Racer mp3 : Morrissey - London (live) mp3 : Morrissey - Billy Budd (live) mp3 : Morrissey - Spring-Heeled Jim (live) mp3 : Morrissey - Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself (live)
May 2010 update
The series ran for almost a full year with the occasional Friday off for good behaviour, ending with Part 38 on 16th October 2009. It remains one of the most popular things I've ever done at TVV and certainly played a big part in attracting loads of new readers. Having said that, not everyone always agreed with what I had to say about each single.
Ironic that the final two tracks from the 1986 compilation LP features two bands that are probably the best known of all that appeared on the LP, and incredibly one of which is still with us 24 years later.
Side B, Track 4
mp3 : The Wedding Present - Once More
The band had released just one single prior to Once More coming out in 1986 as the lead track on the four-track Don't Try And Stop Me Mother on Reception Records in 1985. They've released many more records since then, many of which have featured on TVV. Some folk say The Wedding Present have never bettered the early songs - but they're wrong. No arguments allowed.
Side B, Tack 5
mp3 : The Shamen - Happy Days
Technically, this is the first ever single by The Shamen, released on One Big Guitar in 1985. The band had changed their name from Alone Again Or and changed record labels after just two singles. FrontmanColin Angus was one of the first to realise that indi-pop wasnt the way forward if you wanted major success, and by mid 1988, the band were down to a two-piece who were more focused on dance. Four years later they were among the biggest acts in the UK with a string of chart hits including the unforgettable Ebeneezer Goode which was #1 for a number of weeks in August 1992.
By the mid-late 90s, the band had turned their backs on commercial sounded dance music and frustrating the life out of their record label bosses at One Little Indian. The Shamen called it a day in 1999, but will be remembered fondly by a great many clubbers of a certain generation.
And that ladies and gentlemen concludes the postings for the first week of my summer holiday. The usual Saturday blast from the past will be here tomorrow, then there will be an offering from one of the Sunday Correspondents. Oh and another compilation LP will fill the pages next week.
The penultimate posting with songs found on the 1986 compilation LP A Different Kind Of Tension
Side B : Track 2
mp3 : VeeVV - The Romance Is Over
Now this was the toughest of the lot to find info about, but thankfully the interwebby thing makes it a bit easier. The best place to start is by looking at the history of a band called Tunnelvision who released one single, entitled Watching The Hydroplanes, on Factory Records in 1981. And no, I can't say I've ever heard it. They seem to have been an act signed on a whim by Tony Wilson after they appeared on the bill at the first ever New Order gig in Blackpool. Anyway, it seems they were a band that were continually slated by the music press and continually compared to Joy Division.
Members of Tunnelvision would, in due course, form VeeVV. The band recorded a flexi single for a music magazine before releasing a double-side 7" on Cathexis Records of which the track featured today is one. A second 12" single soon followed and VeeVV gained some and support slots for My Bloody Valentine, Stone Roses and the afore-mentioned New Order. But before long they had broken up unwilling to embrace Madchester.
Side B, Track 8:-
mp3 : Stump - Kitchen Table
Stump were an Anglo-Irish band that featured former members of Microdisney. This is the only track of the ten on the compilation that hadn't been released at the time, although it would eventually appear on the Quirk mini-LP released in late 1986 on Stuff Records. The band would gain enough fame to be featured on the covers of both the NME and Melody Maker, and there was enough of a buzz about them that they eventually inked a deal Ensign Records who released the LP A Fierce Pancake in 1988, from which the single Charlton Heston reached #72 in the UK singles charts. But the album did not bring the crossover success the label had hoped for and, after recording a few b-sides and some demos, they split before 1989 was upon us.
And I reckon that will be both the first and last time either of these bands feature at TVV (unless one of the Sunday Correspondents knows differently).
I had forgotten that till this came up on random play on the i-pod while I was lazing on the beach recently that the original vinyl version of the ninth single to be released by The Smiths was a different mix from that which was placed on the LP The Queen Is Dead.
