THE VINYL VILLAIN

THE KIDS OF 96 AND 97 SHOULD HAVE PICKED UP ON THIS

2012-02-24T06:00:00.000Z

Britpop didn't, in hindsight, produce too much in the way of brilliance. But this 1996 CD single remains close to my heart:-

mp3 : Kenickie - Punka
mp3 : Kenickie - Drag Race
mp3 : Kenickie - Walrus
mp3 : Kenickie - Cowboy

Kenickie made excellent pop records and in Lauren Laverne had a terrifically talented and charismatic frontwoman whose post-pop career has seen her become a very successful radio and tv presenter.

Although they did enjoy a couple of Top 30 hits in a career that spanned five years, I think there is a general consensus that Punka was their best ever moment. The tracks featured today formed the first release of the single in late 1996 when it stalled at #43. A year later the record label decided to re-release it on the back of other singles being minor hits, but despite it being issues as a 7" single plus 2xCDs with freshly recorded b-sides, it only reached #38.

Punka is one of the songs that John Butcher Boy is fond of playing at his Little League club nights and it inevitably fills the floor.

Happy Listening

I JUST DON'T GET IT......

2012-02-23T06:00:00.001Z

There are certain songs that seemingly every rock critic deem to be above criticism. This, dating back to 1976, is one of them:-

mp3 : Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks

Written by Dee Dee Ramone and Richard Hell and openly about heroin addiction, it was first recorded by Hell's former band, The Heartbreakers, (released in 1977) and later by Dee Dee's band The Ramones (released in 1980).

This of course contradicts what many people think...myself included up until I read something in a magazine a few years back...that the song was composed by Johnny Thunders.

Wiki gives an explanation....

Hell and Dee Dee were in agreement that the song was mainly written by Dee Dee. "The reason I wrote that song was out of spite for Richard Hell, because he told me he was going to write a song better than Lou Reed's "Heroin", so I went home and wrote 'Chinese Rocks'," Dee Dee is quoted in Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. "I wrote it by myself, in Debbie Harry's apartment on First Avenue and First Street."

According to Dee Dee, the song was "about Jerry Nolan, of The Heartbreakers calling me up to come over and go cop" heroin, a form of which was known in those days as Chinese Rocks. "The line 'My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall' was about Connie, and the shower was at Arturo Vega's loft," where Dee Dee, his girlfriend Connie and Joey Ramone all lived at one point.

Dee Dee wanted to record the song with the Ramones, but bandmate Johnny Ramone vetoed it, claiming that the song was too obviously drug-related. Dee Dee then took it to Richard Hell, also with The Heartbreakers at the time. "Dee Dee called me one day and said, 'I wrote a song that the Ramones won't do,'" Hell recalled. "He said, 'It's not finished. How about I come over and show it to you and we can finish it if you like it?'"

According to Hell, "What happened is really clear, and the songwriting credits can all be checked at BMI. The song is by me and Dee Dee, but Dee Dee did 75 percent of it. I mean, all I did was write two verses out of three. Dee Dee wrote the music, the concept was his. He's basically responsible for it. But he brought me the song; he didn't even know Johnny and Jerry, but we were friends and he thought the band was great. And when the Ramones didn't want to do the song he said, 'Look, I've written one verse of this song with the chorus and it's about heroin, how about you write the rest of it and it's yours?'" And that's what he did." Dee Dee similarly recalled, "Richard Hell put that line in, so I gave him some credit."

Richard Hell then goes on to explain that the song became one of the Heartbreakers' most popular songs, even after he left the band. They ended up recording it for their 1977 debut album L.A.M.F., and some band members added their names to the credits even though nothing had changed about the song

All vinyl pressings of L.A.M.F. including the 1984 L.A.M.F. Revisted album continued to credit the song to Thunders, Heartbreakers' drummer Jerry Nolan as well as Ramone and Hell. It was only after the deaths of Thunders and Nolan that the credit was changed. However, both the 1994 and 2002 CD reissues of L.A.M.F. now name the three Ramones as the writers Joey, Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee -- but not Hell.

"The credits are false," Dee Dee wrote in 1997. "Johnny Thunders ranked on me for fourteen years, trying to make out like he wrote the song. What a low-life maneuver...."

If you look online and official databases for both ASCAP and BMI, the credits on Chinese Rocks are to just Dee Dee Ramone and Richard Hell.

It's a fascinating story...one that is, in my humble opinion, better than the song itself. Just doesn't anything for me. More pub-rock than anything else. But hey....what do I know? My copy of the song comes from a compilation CD given away with a music magazine.

REVISITING AN OLD POST....45 45s AT 45 - NUMBER 2

2012-02-22T06:00:00.004Z

Originally posted on Tuesday 17 June 2008

I’ve repeatedly said that I was never a punk, but just someone who loved an awful lot of the punk-sounding records. However, the early singles and debut LP by The Clash weren’t things that I was initially fond of – they were just too raw and raucous for my tastes, which at that time were still evolving.

As with most teenagers, I got some money from my mum and dad and aunties and uncles for my 15th birthday, and so I traipsed up the road to the record shop. I can’t actually remember everything that was bought…there’s every chance I bought a bundle of disco stuff as Saturday Night Fever was all the rage and all the girls wanted someone who danced like John Travolta.

I do distinctly remember buying my first ever single by The Clash with some of the money – it was on prominent display in the shop having just been released a couple of days previously. The reason I remember all this is down to a sort of hero-worship of a guy called Mick. Not only did he work in a record shop, he also had his own mobile disco with lights and everything....and Mick said that day that if I wanted to buy something special for my birthday then it should be this new single called (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.

When I told him that I didn’t really like The Clash, he asked me if I had ever really listened to them. I had to admit that I hadn’t other than what I had sometimes heard on the radio. He then offered to play the single for me there and then. Of course in order to retain any degree of coolness, I was always going to say it was fantastic.....

So I took the record home, but I was nowhere near convinced. This certainly was nothing like love at first sight. But like all new records, it continued to get spins on the turntable all the time, and within a week or so, after a number of listens, I realised, in a sort of Road To Damascus conversion moment, the song was something really different and special. And with that I felt I could classify myself as a Clash fan – one of the best decisions I ever made as the band and their music became a sort of secret password for getting on so well with people in the years to come.

The first example of this was a year later when I took on my first ever summer job, over a period of six weeks or so, at the age of 16. It was in a city-centre store that sold car accessories. I was easily the youngest member of staff – the rest of them were dead old being at least 19, while the store manager was ancient at the age of 25. I wasn’t able to do the sort of things they did, such as go out to the pub after work on a Friday night. But one other worker was interested in the fact I bought Melody Maker every week – although his own preference was for the NME.

That’s when I learned his taste was for punk/new wave, his favourite being The Clash. The fact that I liked the band was a big factor in me being accepted in the workplace.

A few years later, the time had come to move out of the family home and into a student flat. It was a case of trying to find folk you would be compatible with, and the deal with the two lads who I was eventually to move in beside was sealed when we all said that White Man…was our favourite Clash single. So much so in my case, that by this time (1983) I had learned to play it note-for-note on a Casio keyboard which I demonstrated one evening in a drunken stupor while another of the flat mates played bass and the other sang. The girls we had back that night were far from impressed.

I always thought I was in a minority with my love for this single over all others by The Clash. I was certain that White Riot, London Calling or even the cover of I Fought The Law would win out in any popularity contest. But no, there was some sort of poll a few years back which revealed that the most popular and enduring song was the one released in June 1978:-

mp3 : The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
mp3 : The Clash – The Prisoner

It was unusually slow and melodic for a punk/new wave band. You could even make out a whole lot of the words without the need for a lyric sheet. It was also a song that lended itself to the use of your badminton racquet masquerading as your guitar….and it’s a song that has aged magnificently, sounding every bit as fresh, exciting and vibrant today as it did 30 plus years ago.

It’s hard to recall that all those years ago, the release of White Man… caused a bit of an uproar among the hardcore fans of the band. It was a radical departure from the short, sharp, loud and angry songs that had symbolised everything punk/new wave was supposed to be. It was, looking back, the earliest indication (notwithstanding Police & Thieves) that The Clash were no one-trick pony but in fact a quite extraordinary band capable of producing top-quality songs influenced by all sorts of genres.

I no longer have this single in the collection – another victim of the Edinburgh debacle of 1986, but by then it wasn’t a bit of vinyl that could have safely gone on the record player.

It was a record that had been played to within an inch of its life – it was worn out, full of scratches and jumps courtesy of it being shoved on more than once in a drunken stupor in which I bumped against the turntable. And because I imagine that’s how everyone who ever owned the single behaved with it, I’ve never pursued a copy via e-bay as the vinyl will be in a far from pristine condition. Instead, I’ve relied on an antiseptically clean copy that I have within the 3-CD box-set of Clash on Broadway.

2012 update...

One of the greatest things about blogging is how generous many folk are. Not long after this post appeared back in 2008, someone (and I'm annoyed I can't remember who it was) got in touch to ask if I had the alternative version of the song recorded especially for a Rock Against Racism LP in 1978. When I said I hadn't, it was promptly attached in an e-mail. And here it is...

mp3 : The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais (alternative version)

Happy Listening

THE NUMBER ONE SINGLE WITH THE LONGEST TITLE (WITHOUT BRACKETS)

2012-02-21T06:00:00.001Z

And before anyone grumbles, the picture on the sleeve is distorted as illustrated above.

I've never been a huge lover of the Manics. I've not much of their stuff in the collection. And I've certainly got no time at all for this abomination of a cover single they recently released.

But there was a time they were riding the crest of a wave and deservedly so. They got to #1 in August 1998 with a song that was inspired by the Spanish Civil War and the part played by left-wing Welsh volunteers who joined the International Brigade in the ultimately doomed effort to prevent the rise of fascism under General Franco. It's not often get pro-war songs from a left-wing perspective.

The song takes its name from a Republican poster of the time. A photograph of a young child killed by Nationalist bombs is shown under a sky of bombers with the stark warning "If you tolerate this, your children will be next" written at the bottom. An original of the poster can be seen at the Imperial War Museum, London, as well as at the Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection at the University of California.

According to the sticker on the front of my copy, I picked the CD single up for £2. Not bad for a hit as big as this and for the fact there's remixes to suit most folk's tastes:-

mp3 : Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
mp3 : Manic Street Precahers - Massive Attack Remix
mp3 : Manic Street Preachers - The Class Reunion of The Sunset Marquis Mix

The third track features work from uber-producer David Holmes.

Happy Listening

THE MONDAY CORRESPONDENT

2012-02-20T06:00:00.001Z

From Hilltown to Tinseltown.

Hearing a track on my iPod whilst in the middle of the South China Sea inspired this posting.

The track I heard was Tragedy Girl by King L, a band band formed in 1995 by Gary Clark.

Clark had fronted Dundee band Danny Wilson, who were formed in the mid-eighties. Gary Clark and schoolmate Ged Grimes had been in a school band together. It was when they were joined by younger brother Kit Clark, they were signed to Virgin Records after being discovered busking.

Initially they were called Spencer Tracy, their first album was recorded, the artwork completed, when someone from Virgin Records in America feared that they may be sued by the Tracy family, and so a name change was needed.

Clark’s father was a big Frank Sinatra fan and his favourite Sinatra film was Meet Danny Wilson, about which Clark Snr was always complaining that the TV companies never showed often enough. It seemed to fit the bill.

The album Meet Danny Wilson was released in April 1987, and its first single Mary’s Prayer was released three times before becoming a hit in the UK. It only happened after it was championed by Jonathan King’s ‘youth’ TV show No Limits who kept playing the video as a song that ‘should have been a hit’. The song actually went to #32 in the US charts before it reached #3 in the UK charts, as I said earlier, at third time of asking.

mp3 : Danny Wilson - Mary's Prayer

The album was an eclectic mix, with two tales of leaving their hometown of Dundee - Davy and Aberdeen. Other tracks had a jazz feel to them and one song - Nothing Ever Goes To Plan - is even described as a Bosa Nova. But the strength of the album is the song writing of Gary Clark.

The follow up album Bebop Moptop produced a second hit single The Second Summer of Love, a song that I don’t really care for, while another single I Can’t Wait was backed by a wonderful live cover version of the famous Abba hit Knowing Me Knowing You which includes the immortal shout out ‘Jimmy Shand*’ before the instrumental break where they played an accordion instead of a guitar.

mp3 : Danny Wilson - Knowing Me, Knowing You (live)

*Sir Jimmy Shand from Auchtermucty, Fife was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion. He was a favourite of the Queen.

The three members of Danny Wilson went their separate ways in early 1991, Gary Clark then released a single under the name of Eleven.

He then set about writing and recording a solo album, most of the songs were intended for a third Danny Wilson album but he had a free hand with his choice of songs without consulting anyone else.

Ten Short Stories of Love was released in 1993; it’s an album that shows Clark’s ability to write bitter/sweet pop songs. The album had a more soulful sound in places. Unfortunately the album didn’t sell in any great numbers.

mp3 : Gary Clark - This Is Why, J

It was on the back of this release that I saw Gary Clark, for the one and only time, play live in his hometown of Dundee, at the Whitehall Theatre on the 27th May 1993.

Being a sort of homecoming gig, the place was packed to the rafters and a surprise was that in his touring band was Boo Herwerdine, the founding member of The Bible.

During the evening both Ged Grimes and brother Kit joined Clark on stage. One of the highlights was when they played a tremendous version of the Isley Brothers’ Summer Breeze, which was quite appropriate for an early summer’s evening even in Dundee.

The collaboration with Hewerdine continued into Clark’s next project, the aforementioned King L album Great Day for Gravity.

The pair started writing songs and the album developed further when Clark met Eric Pressley on a trip to Los Angeles. Neil MacColl, also a former member of The Bible, joined in the writing and recording of the album.

The album once again failed to sell but received great critical acclaim, but it's one that I've found very enjoyable rediscovering recently.

mp3 : King L - Tragedy Girl

Clark and Pressley then formed a band Transister with Keely Hawkes, (sister of Chesney ‘the one and only’ Hawkes). They produced a six track EP and one album. Tracks from the album were used in six different Hollywood movies. Their sound is quite similar to Garbage.

mp3 : Transister - Dizzy Moon

Gary Clark then became ‘a gun for hire’ songwriter composing hit songs for the likes of Natalie Imbruglia for whom he co-wrote and produced her million selling album White Lilies Island.

So far he has worked with David McAlmont, Liz Phair, Skin (Skunk Anansie), Mark Owen and Lloyd Cole among others.

mp3 : Mark Owen - Kill With Your Smile

Working with Lloyd Cole seems on the whole to have been a very enjoyable experience, according to a recent interview with Gary:-

"I’d met Lloyd a few times in the process of gigging and doing promotional work, we shared the same publisher and he suggested that it would be good for us to write together. We met up in New York and we came up with a few songs. The interesting thing about Lloyd is that he is a brilliant songwriter….but he doesn’t want to write lyrics with anyone else.

I was used to being involved in the lyrics, so it was a weird dynamic trying to work with him, because I’d suggest things and could feel him pulling away. I’d suggest more and he’d just close the song down. So I left New York thinking we had a bunch of unfinished things and Lloyd would finish the lyrics once I’d gone.

‘That Boy’ is the one song of ours that saw the light of day and it has been released, on the original ‘The Negatives’ album, on a Greatest Hits compilation and on another release.

It really is the gift that keeps on giving!!!!"

mp3 : Lloyd Cole - That Boy
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Negatives - That Boy
mp3 : Lloyd Cole - That Boy (Langer & Winstanley Mix)

Gary Clark now lives in LA and is a highly sought after songwriter and producer.

If you are listening to a mainstream radio station chances are you are hearing a pop song written and produced by a man from Dundee.....from the Hilltown area of the city of Discovery.

Mr John Greer, Monday 20 February 2012

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 7 (Part 2) : IN WHICH YOUR REVIEWERS STRUGGLE TO FIND THE RIGHT WORDS

2012-02-19T10:30:00.003Z

JC writes.......

A four band line-up at King Tut's on 16 February was originally intended to be the only gig of Week 7 but the late phone call from Drew for the Spector gig changed things a wee bit.

Regular correspondent Son of the Rock left behind a comment the other week that he was hoping the gigs would see me getting out of my comfort zone. I'd like to think to some extent that going along to nights where I know nothing about the bands was taking me away from such a zone, but I take the point that jazz, metal, classical and boy-bands should be taken in to make this 'adventure' complete. Give it time....

The 16 February event was picked out at random. Myself and Aldo thought that seven weeks in it was time we went along to said venue and that what we should do is find a night when none of the names of any of the bands meant anything to us. Here's what we we made of it all....

REVIEW OF SWEET SWEET LIES/THE WELLGREEN/TEN GALLON BRATZ/THE BAD BAD MEN : KING TUT'S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW : THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY

First impressions from the downstairs bar at King Tut's is that it's a very unusual crowd. Lots of folk who we wouldn't imagine are regulars - a lot older than normal for one thing and quite boisterous for the most part. We put it down perhaps to maybe the bands being local and that they've brought along a fair smattering of family members to support them on the big night.

We go upstairs at 8.45pm in time to take in the set from bottom of the bill The Bad Bad Men. Just 15 seconds in and Aldo says they sound and look like a band you'd find in Irish bars. JC nods in agreement. Before long, it's clear that the five folk on stage are incredibly competent and accomplished musicians and singers. But there's a feeling among us both that they are a band more akin to playing weddings and are getting the night off to do their own stuff which is, for the most part, upbeat folk-rock that is well received by the smallish audience. But not exactly our musical cups of tea.

Next up is Ten Gallon Bratz. They are a group of blokes in what we guess are mid-late 40s and possibly even 50s. Completely unlike any other line-up either of us have seen at King Tut's which, for the most part, is the venue through which up-and-coming wannabees pass through as they seek fame and fortune. This looked like men who played music for a hobby...they could easily have passed for a group of teachers who had come together to make music. Their songs were very Americana - the sort of stuff you hear from Tom Petty or going back further in time, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Again it's music that neither of us have much fondness for but again it's impossible to slag anything off. These guys, just like the opening act, can play and sing. They get a fantastic reception at the end of every song. Just before their final song, they take a photo of the crowd and thank everyone for coming along - especially those who came down on the bus from Greenock (a town some 20 plus miles west of Glasgow).

Before the next act come on, we muse over what we've seen so far. Two bands who were good at what they do but it was stuff neither of us particularly liked. But given we didn't know what we were getting into we couldn't grumble. So we didn't and instead settled down to experience The Wellgreen.

Two young lads take to the stage and between them play, keys, acoustic guitars and drums. They're another local act who give us a pleasant enough set enjoyed more by Aldo than JC. Lots of two-part harmonies and while there's still a fair bit of Americana about them, there's a variation in tempo amidst their set that was lacking with the earlier bands. Rather bizarrely, two members of the audience take to the stage to dance to one of their tunes - but not in any Bez type tribute - the song in question was slow in mood and feel.

We reckoned that with three local bands all having brought along their own fans tonight that the place would empty before the main act came on. And yes, while some folk did take their leave, there were still maybe 120-150 in King Tuts at 11pm when Sweet Sweet Lies hit their first notes.

The crowd went mad for the entire 35 minutes - all sorts of dancing down the front and even some singing along to the tunes. Again, none of the music particularly struck a chord with either of us, but it was impossible not to enjoy witnessing such a vibrant and whole-hearted event, band and audience alike. What did they sound like? Was difficult to say....there were a whole load of influences on their sound. At times they were as Irish-bar sounding as the opening act, at other times they evoked a far more European cabaret feeling.

We left King Tut's three and a half hours after entering acknowledging that we had a good night out but agreeing that with the exception of The Wellgreen, we'd probably not be all that fussed about seeing any of them again. But quite clearly, all four bands have a load of fans and deservedly so.

Details on each of the acts can be found at these sites:-

http://somethingnothingrecords.co.uk/artists/sweetsweetlies

http://www.myspace.com/thewellgreen

http://www.tengallonbratz.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thebadbadmen

JC and Aldo, Sunday 19 February 2012

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 20)

2012-02-18T06:00:00.002Z

From wiki:-

Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark (Sci-fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin). Formed in 1994, the band broke up in 2003, but reformed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts.

The three musicians formed Bis in 1994, when Rin and Disco were in secondary school and Steven had recently finished there. About a year later, they appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops performing "Kandy Pop" from their Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP ahead of its release: much being made at the time about them being the first 'unsigned' band to do so: in reality dozens of bands - especially in the late 1970s and 'novelty' acts - had appeared on the show with singles released on labels they had no formal contract with other than as a distributor or, like Bis, on a single by single basis.

Bis released a number of EPs, three of which entered the UK Singles Chart. In the late 1990s "Eurodisco", from their album Social Dancing, became a minor success for the band in Australia as well as the UK.

The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "Black Iron Skyline", a lyric from the song Twilight of a Champion by The The.

The band's early releases were on Glasgow's Chemikal Underground label, run by The Delgados, before transferring to Wiiija where labelmates included Cornershop. In the United States, their records appeared on the underground label K Records, and on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label. They toured extensively both in the UK and abroad— their diverse influences reflected in the kind of acts they appeared with: Pavement, Garbage, Luscious Jackson, Foo Fighters and Gary Numan amongst them.

The group became a favourite of the likes of Blur, John Peel and Green Day, despite a particularly hostile review by Steven Wells in the New Musical Express entitled "The Sinking of the Bis-Lark".

The U.S. first encountered the band during the closing credits of The Powerpuff Girls animated series. Their song "Detour" was also given some radio airplay in the U.S. They enjoyed a period of success in Japan, selling nearly 100,000 copies of their debut album in its first week of release, but future releases failed to be anywhere near as successful.

The band broke up in 2003, after playing a farewell show at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. All remained active in the local music scene. Steven and John Disco played in Dirty Hospital and Rin acted as a DJ. Rin was also in a band called The Kitchen, whilst Disco joined the ska band, The Amphetameanies, which included members of Belle & Sebastian and Pink Kross.

In 2005, they announced on the official Bis website that together they had formed a new band, called Data Panik with Stuart Memo on bass and drummer Graham Christie. After releasing two 7" singles, however, the band split up.

Bis contributed an old song to the game Jet Set Radio Future called "Statement of Intent". In 2005, Bis performed in animated form on the CBBC children's cartoon BB3B.

As of 2006 Rin was working on solo material. In 2007 she teamed up with the Scottish electro-pop outfit, Juno!, and has collaborated on their independently released singles, "Smoke & Mirrors" and "These Boys Are Athletes", as well as regularly appearing live with the band, most recently at the Rock Ness 2008 Festival.

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the release of their debut album The New Transistor Heroes, Bis re-formed in April 2007 for three shows in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. A greatest hits compilation titled We Are Bis from Glasgow, Scotland was released on compact disc to coincide with these shows.

In August 2008, Rin released the solo single, "DNA", which she followed up with the release of her debut album, My DNA with "This Is Fake DIY" in September 2008.

In November 2009, Rin announced that the band would reform to play at the Primavera Festival in May 2010.

More recently, singer Manda Rin provided the artwork for an iPhone game called "All Fridges Are Psychotic" and (on 18 November 2010) made a short guest appearance on the BBC music quiz programme Never Mind the Buzzcocks. She also teamed up with Hyperbubble on a track for their 2011 album Drastic Cinematic.

And here's the one bit of plastic I have in the cupboard:-

mp3 : Bis - Kandy Pop
mp3 : Bis - Secret Vampires
mp3 : Bis - Teen-c Power
mp3 : Bis - Diska

A #25 hit in March 1996. Next up.....Blood Uncles.

THINKING ABOUT GOLF-PLAYING POP STARS.....

2012-02-17T06:00:00.003Z

Lloyd Cole's solo career hasn't brought a huge deal of success with just the one chart hit - Like Lovers Do back in 1995. I'm not sure if it has been Lloyd himself or the record label but some of his better material has been left behind as LP tracks with the stuff released as singles being weak.

This, the second single lifted from Bad Vibes in 1993 is an example of what I'm referring to:-

mp3 : Lloyd Cole - Morning Is Broken

Bad Vibes isn't a great album - it's certainly my least favourite of all the solo material. But it does itself no favours by leading off with Morning Is Broken which is a rather dull song all round that still got issued as the second single from the LP. Maybe Lloyd saw something in it that few of the rest of us did.

The start of it nowadays reminds of the hit single Dominoes by The Big Pink, but for years I couldn't get out of my head that it was the sort of nonsense we'd be subjected to by Kula Shaker.

The single was shoved out on two CDs and the four tracks were a bit of a mixed bag:-

mp3 : Lloyd Cole - Radio City Music Hall
mp3 : Lloyd Cole - Eat Your Greens
mp3 : Lloyd Cole - The Slider
mp3 : Lloyd Cole - Mannish Girl

The best of them is The Slider which happens to be a cover of a Marc Bolan song. The good thing is that a few years later, Lloyd did re-discover his mojo and nowadays his material and live shows are things of joy and often rare beauty.

Here's a TV performance from back in the day:-

Happy Listening

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 7 (Part 1) : THE LONDON MEEJA HYPE MACHINE

2012-02-16T19:25:00.001Z

REVIEW OF SPECTOR/DAVID’S LYRE/FATHER SCULPTOR – KING TUT’S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW – 15 FEBRUARY

Another late call, this time from Drew who is the brains behind the excellent Across the Kitchen Table blog, sees me setting off for the first of two consecutive nights at one of the world’s best places to see live music.

I wake up on the morning of the gig knowing nothing about any of the three bands. On the way to work, there’s a preview piece in the Metro newspaper which tells me the headline act are tipped to be massive and that in years to come all of us lucky to have been at the sold-out King Tut’s will be able to boast about seeing a really massive and popular band before they were famous. Later in the day, there’s a two-page spread in the Glasgow Evening Times bumming up Spector, again predicting great things and also pointing out they are supporting Florence & The Machine on an arena tour in the next few months. I’m intrigued enough to come home and do a quick on-line search where I learn that they’ve already been on telly via Later with Jools Holland at the back end of 2011, have released four singles with an album on the way and that the NME as well as the BBC, The Observer and The Guardian have all said very complimentary things about them. Oh and the lead singer Fred McPherson is a bit famous in certain circles for having had a relationship with Peaches Geldof, being a presenter on MTV 2 and having been involved previously with a couple more London-based wannabe indie bands.

But I deliberately don’t listen to anything to keep an open mind.

There’s three bands on the bill.

First up is Father Sculptor who get the night off to a very entertaining start with a short but varied five-song 20 minute set. It begins and ends with bog-standard 80s indie-pop enlivened by excellent playing – Drew thought the drummer was great, while I was impressed by the guitarist. But the second song of the night was one that caught my attention – very reminiscent of the Sire-era James...i.e the time when they were really struggling commercially but making great music. It’s after this song they announce it is their first ever gig which does make the performance all the more impressive. They’re worth keeping an eye on and hopefully I’ll come across them over the course of the next 12 months - it will be interesting to get Aldo’s take on them.

Before the second band come on, Drew casually says “You never know what you’re going to get with a 3-band line up at Tut’s. It can be a bit iffy.” Turns out he was Mystic Meg on this one....

David’s Lyre turns out to be a ten a penny bloke with guitar singing about his love life into two mics, one normal the other with an echo effect. There’s no doubt he can sing, but he doesn’t have a big enough presence nor are the songs strong enough to hold either or our attentions. So much so we almost find ourselves breaking the cardinal rule of gig-going of ‘Show respect and don’t talk loudly while the artists are on stage’. But we stop ourselves just in time...

It’s another short 20-minute set so he didn’t overstay his welcome and so by 9.45 the stage is clear for the headliners.

Except they didn’t come on until 10.35...to be fair they were listed as being 10.30 -11.15 but with the other acts finishing well ahead of their expected times they could have come on a bit sharper....

Drew comments that it’s the smallest crowd he’s ever seen at a sold-out gig at King Tut’s. This means either the capacity has been reduced (unlikely), the guest list numbers weren’t as big as anticipated (possible), ticket-holders have been turned away because they had no i.d., fake or otherwise, showing they were 18 years of age or over (almost certainly).

First song played makes me think it’s a Libertines tribute act but made up of five blokes who are chartered accountants or marketing execs. Drew points out that the guitarist could well be a slimmer and younger Boris Johnston. I’m staring at the singer trying to work it out who he is a ringer for.

Second and third songs make me think more pop than indie, full of ready made ‘sha la la la’ chant along choruses. It’s easy to see from this early juncture why they are liked, and with a frontman oozing confidence and talking at length inbetween the songs, there’s more than a fair degree of stage presence.

Songs four and five bring something home to me. I can’t ever remember in all my years of gigs at this hallowed venue of ever hearing such a crystal-clear vocal and backing vocals at the expense of the instruments. It’s almost as if the mix is trying to disguise a paucity of tunes......

Track six it hits me that Fred McPherson is a doppelganger for the character Brad in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I’m sorry but after that I can’t take him seriously.

They close with two songs that bring the house down – Drew tells me these are the better known singles. After 37 minutes, they depart. The crowd for the most part are happy. But neither myself or Drew will be joining the whores, sorry I meant to say hordes of the London meeja proclaiming Fred and his boys as being the saviours of indie rock’n’roll.

But here's link to the highlight of the night.

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://fathersculptor.bandcamp.com/album/velvet-fall-two-of-swords"&amp;gt;Velvet Fall / Two of Swords by Father Sculptor&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

SWING WHILE YOU'RE SINGING

2012-02-16T06:00:00.001Z

I love golf. I love New York City. So I'm bound to love this promo from 1994:-

Not sure if they show this all that often nowadays on account of parts of NYC that appear in the promo are no longer there post 9/11.

The thing is....I owned a copy of this single year before I ever saw the video:-

mp3 : Dinosaur Jr - Feel The Pain
mp3 : Dinosaur Jr - Get Out Of This (No words just solo)
mp3 : Dinosaur Jr - Repulsion (acoustic live at CBGB's)

Indiegrungepoptastic stuff.

JUST FOR YOU.....HERE'S A LOVE SONG

2012-02-15T06:00:00.000Z

Happy 15th February dear readers....remember L.O.V.E. isn't just for Valentine's Day.

mp3 : Orange Juice - L.O.V.E...love
mp3 : Orange Juice - Intuition Told Me
mp3 : Orange Juice - Moscow

As lifted from the 12" single. And I will have no arguments........Intuition (Part 2) is the greatest b-side ever. Well, that's my view today at least.........

PS : The fun will begin immediately. I've stopped my whining. Temporarily.

HAPPY VALENTINES' DAY

2012-02-14T06:00:00.008Z

They had a run of hit singles between 1977 and July 1979. Then it stopped.

Many folk blamed a disastrous UK tour in 79 when they were blown off-stage every single night by an up and coming band called Joy Division. Others said they just got fed up with the one-dimensional approach to song-writing and playing. The truth is that they probably just fell out of fashion as so many bands tend to do after a few years in the limelight....and besides, the third LP - A Different Kind Of Tension - had a near impossible task in following up the near perfection of Love Bites.

But 33 years on(!!!!).....this deserves a huge re-assessment. It's a classic pop song of having your heart broken. And denial.

mp3 : Buzzcocks - You Say You Don't Love Me
mp3 : Buzzcocks - Raison D'Etre

You say you don't love me
Well that's alright with me 'cos I'm in love with you
And I wouldn't want you doing things you don't want to do
Oh you know I've always wanted you to be in love with me
And it took so long to realize the way things have to be
I wanted to live in a dream that couldn't be real
And I'm starting to understand now the way that you feel
You say you don't
You say you don't

You say you don't love me
Well that's alright with me 'cos I have got the time
To wait in case someday you maybe change your mind
I've decided not to make the same mistakes this time around
As I'm tired of having heartaches I've been thinking and I've found
I don't want to live in a dream I want something real
And I think I understand now the way that you feel
You say you don't
You say you don't
You say you don't

You say you don't
You say you don't

You say you don't love me
Well that's alright with me I'm not in love with you
I just want us to do the things we both want to do
Though I've got this special feeling I'd be wrong to call it love
For the word entails a few things that I would be well rid of
I've no need to live in a dream it's finally real
And I hope you now understand this feeling I feel
You say you don't
You say you don't
You say you don't love me
You say you don't love me
You say you don't love me
Mmmmm....

It might be sixth-form poetry. But it's bloody good sixth-form poetry. Morrissey-esque....

Fucking brilliant......way better than most of the solo material in recent years!!!

As I say.......Happy Valentine's Day.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 6 (Part 2); JC GETS CAPTURED LOOKING ON IN AWE

2012-02-13T06:00:00.001Z

REVIEW : BUTCHER BOY, BERKELEY SUITE, GLASGOW - FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY

The thing is....I wasn't going to count this as a gig or review it. But I just had to....

This was a performance rather than a gig. It was part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival (GSFF) and offered a chance to hear Butcher Boy providing a live score to Ciné film of family life shot in and around Glasgow from the early 1960's to the mid 1970's. The score comprised new instrumental arrangements of their songs and pieces specially written for the performance to Chick's Day at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) a couple of years ago.

I was accompanied on the night by Doug, a golfing buddy and another long-term aficionado of the band. In the pub beforehand (city centre prices - double that of the bar frequented 24 hours earlier pre-Twilight Sad gig) we mused over how well this would work. The GFT event mentioned above had been a bit of a one-off with specially composed music for films and footage followed by a short gig in which the well-known songs were performed in full. This Berkeley Suite event instead was to be existing songs, played as instrumentals, over super-8 films shot by Alexander Ogilvie Spark, father of the Butcher Boy bassist. When we learned that the band were still soundchecking just 15 minutes before the doors opened, our nerves were a little bit on edge. Mine were anyway....Doug kept saying it would be great!!

I got talking to Cat and Maya - the strings section - at the bar beforehand. Cat told me it was going to be an incredible event and that it was the confines of the space that had in the main led to the soundcheck taking so long. Slightly more reassured, I settled down to take it all in.

By the time we had arrived, the 30 or so seats at tables had all been taken, so we had to stand at the bar. This gave us a great view of the screen and most of the band - we could see Alison on keyboards, Findlay on percussion, the two girls on strings and John on acoustic guitar, all to our right of the screen. Basil, Robert and Fraser were to the left and out of our direct vision.

The performance lasted 55 minutes. As promised, it was instrumental versions of Butcher Boy songs....some of which NEVER get played at regular gigs. Some of the songs were slightly expended in length but it was the way the music had been arranged ....how all the instruments were given time and space to be at the forefront at different times....that made this unlike anything else I've ever seen involving Butcher Boy.

The night showed just how talented a set of musicians they are and just how incredibly good a writer John is. Forget his poetic and wonderful lyrics, this was all about the sounds. And they were gold soundz....

However......I am being a wee bit disingenuous. There were times when I got so lost in the footage that I couldn't completely focus on the music.

I can't say this for sure....but the footage really brought home so much of my childhood and upbringing....and I was wiping away tears every now and again as memories of people and places, rarely recalled for years if not decades, came flooding back.

It began with a few minutes footage from the early-mid 60s of the area in Glasgow where I now go to work every day. It's an area that is undergoing a massive physical, social and economic transformation right now....and to see it when it was such a lively thriving place was thrilling. This was followed by scenes of a Christmas party being celebrated in a hall in the community - it looked so much as if my own family were in the footage (they weren't.....we lived not that far away from this particular area but in those days they'd have been at a similar type of party elsewhere - I've used the past tense as I would have been too young to be part of them).

There was footage of the early days of what was then a new housing scheme on the outskirts of the city (again an area I'm very familiar with), of family holidays on Loch Lomond and in Ayrshire (could have been the Clark family one more time!!) and then, after some incredible footage of Robert as an infant strumming a guitar (shades of things to come), it was back to the East End community and footage of kids playing in streets that have long been bulldozed out of existence before ending with footage of Robert, a wee bit older now, going off to school and playing on his bike in the streets of Irvine, the town that his family had relocated to from Glasgow.

All the while, the music fitted the footage perfectly. The shots of Robert's sister tinkling on a toy keyboard were accompanied by Alison playing a lovely solo while Basil/Finlay/Robert/John all plucked their guitar strings at the time when baby Robert was showing off his talents to his dad holding the camera.

And then.....just when it couldn't possibly get any better.....

The film stopped. And a series of stills began to appear from what we had been looking at for the previous 50 minutes. John stood up for the first time and put a microphone into a stand. He said thank you to the organisers for letting the band be part of the festival and to everyone for coming along. He than started to sing...

We dress our children in blue and grey
On Sundays, birthdays and holidays

The most beautiful rendition of Helping Hands closed the performance over the stills.......

The applause was sustained, heartfelt and fully merited.

Two nights in a row.....completely different types of shows....both will live with me forever. It's days and nights like these that make me realise just how lucky I am to live in Glasgow. And to again wonder why a place with something like 600,000 residents has this much talent and genius....

Set-list

J is For Jamie
I Am The Butcher
Parliament Hill
The Eighteenth Emergency
Carve A Pattern
Why I Like Babies
The Day Our Voices Broke
Anything Other Than Kind
Every Other Saturday
I Could Be In Love With Anyone
I Know Who You Could Be
Days Like These Will Be The Death Of Me
Helping Hands

Some of the footage from the night (but not to the music played...)

mp3 : Butcher Boy - The Eighteenth Emergency

Finally.....click here for some photos from the night. I have to warn you though.....there's an overweight bloke in a red t-shirt caught unawares as he stares intently at the footage....keep the kids away.

JC, Monday 13 February 2012

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 6 : JC AND ALDO HEAD OUT TO THE WILD SOUTH-WEST

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000Z

REVIEW OF THE TWILIGHT SAD : GRAND OLE OPRY, GLASGOW : THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY

The latest stop on the year long adventure was the Grand Ole Opry, the largest country and western club in the UK. It's a fantastic but very rarely used venue for gigs in Glasgow and located in a part of the city over in the south-west which in places hasn't changed since the 60s or 70s. There's no better illustration of this than our rendezvous for the pre-gig drinks...a pub called The Old Toll Bar...a pub for which the word traditional may very well have been invented.

It's no surprise that the pub is such a popular spot with filmmakers seeking to recreate a period feel. The décor doesn’t appear to have changed a bit since 1900....if it wasn't for some hand-written signs advertising modern drinking concoctions such as Jagerbombs and that it has a giant video screen showing the live darts on satellite telly then it was exactly the sort of pub my late grandad would have frequented when he was a young man. And the prices were also of a bygone age - £1.40 a vodka, £2 a double vodka and £1.99 for any pint.

The one mistake we made was leaving at 8pm to catch the support act. I don't like to use the blog to say anything detrimental about new and emerging bands so I wont say what I really thought about Let's Wrestle. But I won’t be rushing out to buy anything or catching them live again. Aldo was in agreement about this....

As we paid so little attention to the band on the stage, we were able to take in our surroundings.

The Opry really is an astonishing place. A little bit of Americana transported lock, stock and barrel of Jack Daniels to south-west Glasgow. Four big flags hang above the stage - the Scottish Saltire and Lion Rampant along with the Stars & Stripes and Confederate banner. The walls are painted with enormous murals that have clearly been inspired by the cowboy and indian films that my dad grew up with and which were such a staple of British TV in the late 60s and 70s. The bar and the very orderly queue control was entirely staffed by members of the Opry....a fantastic old woman who was at least 70 years of age was in charge of the side of the bar where we waited.....I asked if she'd brought her ear plugs but she said she hadn't. She then asked if I thought the band was going to be loud.......I started to worry for her as it hit me that nobody who was an Opry regular was surely prepared for what was to come.

The Twilight Sad took to the stage at 9pm. They left the stage at 10.10pm. I know this as next to the stage is a digital clock with bright red LED numbers circa 1980. They played 13 songs, the majority of which were drawn from the newly released LP No One Can Ever Know.

Before long, I was texting Jacques the Kipper who was unable to come through from Edinburgh (but who had gone along to a free acoustic show put on by the band at a local independent record shop just 24 hours earlier). My text said "Three songs in. Gig Of The Year."

Ten minutes later I was texting "It's getting better. This is genuinely astonishing. Threatening to be a Top 5 gig of all time."

Later on....."The best 35 minutes at a gig in years. It hasn’t let up at all."

I think you get the picture.

They opened with two new tracks....played an oldie...a new track....an oldie....new track....oldie.....two new tracks.....oldie.....new track......and closed with two oldies. It meant that anyone not fully familiar with a record that only hit the shops 80 hours before the gig wouldn't have long to wait till they recognised the tune being played. Interestingly....the two new songs omitted from the set list were the two that I highlighted in my LP review the other day as being what I perceived to the weakest efforts....

All five of the band were on top form. But unsurprisingly, it was Andy MacFarlane on guitar and James Graham on vocals who grabbed most attention. The layers of noise that Andy coaxed from his instrument made you think that there were at least three of him on stage....and he made it look so effortless. Not a single rock star pose or shape was thrown.

James gave what may well have been the performance of his life....it was impossible to take your eyes off him as bellowed out word after word in his distinctive West of Scotland brogue. Sometimes his vocals were lost amidst the sheer wall of noise....but that just seemed to spur him on to greater efforts. He would step away from the mike and let out an almighty roar as if unleashing a demon within him, step forward and take over again. It was, and this is no exaggeration, like watching and listening to the ghost of Ian Curtis prowl the tiny stage. His controlled rage on I Became A Prostitute was the most powerful moment of the night....but his stunning near accapella opening to Cold Days From The Birdhouse will be the abiding memory of a night that was almost but not quite perfect.

The one small hiccup....James' mic packed in just as he began to sing the first words of what proved to be the closing track, At The Burnside. By packing in, I mean it gave the most awful and ear-piercing interference....but it was quickly rectified with a change and the band stopping and going back to the beginning of the song. I'm not sure if this setback led to the band deciding not to play an encore - there were still a number of songs that might have been expected to be aired, particularly the 2010 single The Room - and only the band and their crew will know if the ending was as planned or the set was cut short. But it did seem to catch a lot of the audience by surprise that 70 minutes was our lot.

Still....that gave us time to head back across the road for a couple more drinks in The Old Toll. And then a 30 minute walk home with the biggest grin on my face in a long long long time.

Set List

1 Kill It In The Morning
2 Don’t Move
3 That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy
4 Dead City
5 Reflections of the Television
6 Alphabet
7 I Became A Prostitute
8 Sick
9 Another Bed
10 Cold Days From The Birdhouse
11 Nil
12 And She Would Darken The Memory
13 At The Burnside

Ladies and gentlemen. If you live in or near a town that The Twilight Sad will be visiting in the next few months....do yourself a huge favour and get along. You won't see many better in 2012.

mp3 : The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From The Birdhouse (live)

JC and Aldo, Sunday 12 February 2012

PS : Picture was nicked from here. Hope the snapper, Euan Robertson, doesn't mind. They're a great set of shots

THESE WOULD HAVE BEEN SATURDAY SINGLES....IF I HAD THEM IN THE COLLECTION

2012-02-11T06:00:00.009Z

I've mentioned before that for a short while from around late 1985 for maybe around 18 months that music took a bit of a back-seat in my life. I had just graduated from university, gotten my first job and moved to Edinburgh to live. I got a bit entrenched for a while in the world of community theatre and even a bit of stand-up comedy.....writing stuff for others not performing.

So there's a bit of a hole in the collection from around this era. I'm aware of a fair bit of the stuff thanks in the main to Jacques the Kipper and his endless supply of compilation tapes a few years later, many of which featured songs and bands from my 'lost' period.

Today's Scottish singles isn't one that JtK brought to my attention. It was only in recent years through the blogging activities did I learn that a number of excellent yet short-lived Scottish bands embraced the DIY ethos much of which would contribute to the C86 movement that totally passed me by at the time.

History doesn't say record much about The Big Gun. They were from Irvine, a town on the west coast of Scotland some 25 miles south-west of Glasgow. They only ever released one single on their own Hi-Fibre label while one other song was made available via a flexi-disc which had, on the other side, a song by another native of Irvine, a singer-songwriter called Basil Pieroni.

As regular TVV readers will know, Basil is nowadays the guitarist in Butcher Boy and someone I've become friends with over the past three or so years. It was through this connection that led me to download some tracks from a posting at the wonderful Consolation Prizes blog:-

mp3 : The Big Gun - You'll Always Give Your Best
mp3 : Basil Pieroni - Don't Ever Go Away Again

The homemade info that came with the flexidisc has been reproduced above, but in case you can't read it:-

The Big Gun : Keith Martin (vocals, guitar); Alan Carruthers (guitar); Andy Crone (bass); Andy Kerr (Drums); Andy O'Hagen (additivies)

Both tracks recorded early Nov 86 in Glasgow. Photos by Gordon Hay

Hi-Fibre : Fresh, substantial and committed, in this instance, to the provision of free pop. Here, enthusiasts can sample the delifgts of The Big Gun and Basil Pieroni recorded here for the first time.

Hi - Fibre : Bright, urgent and working through the night to deliver instant classics to the nation; allow no-one to seel you this record. Hi-Fibre - fast, reliable and painfully instinctive

But as I said above, only one proper 45 would appear - The Big Gun's Heard About Love backed with Happens All The Time. Sadly I don't own a copy. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I'm able to convert copies of the tunes as posted on youtube:-

mp3 : The Big Gun - Heard About Love
mp3 : The Big Gun - Happens All The Time

Have a listen folks.....and discover one of THE great long-lost 45s of Scottish indie-pop.

Oh and the chap Andy O'Hagen on "additives"?? I'm reliably informed it was the tambourine that he was shaking. He grew up to be this awfully talented bloke......

REVISITING AN OLD POST.......THE GREATEST BIT OF PLASTIC EVER??

2012-02-10T06:00:00.001Z

Originally posted on 6 October 2009

Picture the scene. Student Flat, August 1984.

It was back in the days of student grants and not loans, and the months of July and August could be as laid-back as you wanted them to be (assuming you had no re-sits). One flat mate comes in late one night with a 7" copy of the new single by The Smiths - the band whose debut LP and first four singles had been the sound of the summer. The rest of us scream at him to hurry up and shove it on the turntable....

It turns out to be astonishing for a number of reasons. The music and singing are every bit as joyous as the uptempo stuff the band have previously released, but its all over far too quickly for our liking. We play it again, and there's a consensus that while it's not as good as This Charming Man, its an improvement on Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, the band's previous 45. On third playing, there's a view that it is in fact a classic that we will soon be throwing shapes to over at the student union disco within days.

Time for the b-side. Oh, its a slow one with Johnny Marr on acoustic guitar - I'm looking forward to this. Morrissey is singing like an angel. Fucking hell. This could be just about the best thing they've done so far. And is that a mandolin?

The song ends, again all too quickly. I applaud. Seven other people join in. Why didn't the band make this a double A sided single so that it would have got twice the plays on Radio 1 and appealed to a bigger audience? This has got Top 10 written all over it....

The next day I'm in Glasgow city centre on the look out for the 12" single. I take it home. There's only two other flatmates in. We see from the label that the two songs on the 7" single will have identical versions on the 12". But the other track seems to be almost 7 minutes long....which we all reckon must be a misprint. After all, this is the band that more or less wants to get back to the short sharp perfect pop songs. The needle is put into the groove.

What emerges from the speakers shocks and stuns us. This is unlike anything any of us have in any of our modest record collections. It is completely unexpected. It is also, as far as I'm concerned, the most stunning song I've heard in years. This time there is no applause at the end....just a huge cry of 'FUCKING BRILLIANT' at the top of my voice. It is immediately played again, This time, instead of just sitting listening, someone (not me I'm sorry to say) gets up and starts doing the Morrissey dance around the living room....before running out into his own room from where he brings back a handful of blank cassettes and demands it be taped there are then as this is a song that demands to be blasting out of every room in the flat.

So as every other member of the household comes home over the next few hours they are greeted with a cacophony of noise which is the same song being played in six different locations with six different starting times....and in the main living room with the big speakers, it is being sung along to with gusto now that we've written down and learned all the words.

Well, that's how I would love it to have happened. It's how I would ask for it to be filmed in the story of my life. In reality, I brought the 12" back to an empty flat and played the three songs to myself. Over and over again. It was about three or four hours before someone else came home - I simply passed the 12" single to him and said he should listen to this while I nip out to the shops for a packet of biscuits and a carton of milk. I come back ten minutes later and he looks at me and says 'Best thing they've ever done mate. No question.'

mp3 : The Smiths - William, It Was Really Nothing
mp3 : The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
mp3 : The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

I'm not going to sit here and claim that any of these are the best or most important songs the band ever released. But c'mon, has there ever been a more perfect 12" single?

It was a shock to the system that it only reached #17 in the UK charts. And as I mentioned above, if the 7" had been a double-A side, then it surely would have been massive as the melody and lyrics of 'Please...' would surely have appealed beyond the band's immediate fanbase. And I'll repeat what others have said over the years....it's amazing that something as ground-breaking as How Soon Is Now? could initially be placed only as the extra track on the 12".

And what about the fantastic appearance on TOTP to promote the song......a shirtless Morrissey while Johnny Marr strums away on a guitar given to him by Elvis Costello....

Sigh..............................

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 3)

2012-02-08T06:00:00.002Z

After the demise of Elevation Records in late 1987, it would be almost two years before the world heard again from Edwyn Collins.

By now he had signed to Demon Records, a label that had been partly founded by Jake Riviera who will always be associated with the post-punk rise of Stiff Records.

Edwyn's first release was his debut solo LP - Hope And Despair - which was released to a a small amount of critical acclaim and even less sales in the summer of 1989. By this time, the short hit period of Orange Juice was but a dim and distant memory and the UK was on the verge of being consumed by the madness of
Madchester. Dance music was all the rave and fashion and the demand for the likes of Edwyn among opinion-formers was non-existent.

That didn't stop the label having a crack at the singles chart in July 1989. Here's the three tracks from the 12" version:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Coffee Table Song
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Judas In Blue Jeans
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Out There

The single is the opening track on Hope and Despair which is an album that has really survived the test of time in terms of quality. It is packed with great tunes, many of which are still part of Edwyn's live performances more than 20 years on. And in Blue Jeans....you have a gem of a b-side. Sadly, Out There is not among the great man's greatest efforts - it's where he thinks he's Ry Cooder - but at least it's only 57 seconds long.

Trivia fact. The toucan illustration for the sleeve is Edwyn's own handiwork.

And just when you think this posting couldn't get any better:-

Happy Listening.....and viewing

(This of course shuld have been the posting for Thursday 10 Feb.....)

JUST FOR YOU....HERE'S A POP SONG

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000Z

This isn't a single I own.

I went into buy it at the local indie store back in 2005 but they didn't have it. I bought the LP instead. It's not great, but I still think this is a cracking bit of pop music that deserved to be a monster smash. Much bigger than the #38 position it crawled to It's tailor made for morning and day-time radio.

mp3 : I Am Kloot - Over My Shoulder

Happy Listening

HURRY HURRY HURRY........

2012-02-07T06:00:00.004Z

This is a truly wonderful free exhibition of photos on display in Glasgow until 27 February.

From the accompanying website:-

Harry began his photographic career in his Glasgow home town, standing outside the Apollo, flogging gig-goers newly-developed shots from bands' Edinburgh shows the night before. Harry's impulse to guerilla lensmanship swiftly drew him to London: from 1979 to 1984 he was a staff photographer for the music weekly Sounds, providing countless front covers. During those five years, Harry's photographs covered the post-punk waterfront, from Blondie to David Bowie; the Associates to Devo by way of Joy Division, Bryan Ferry, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Birthday Party, The Cramps, The Clash, Altered Images, Penetration, The Specials and Suicide (not to mention Wham!, ABC and Spandau Ballet).

At that time, Harry's London flat also became home to fellow Scots migrants like Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Josef K and The Bluebells. Harry thus became one of the first few photographers to capture the fey arrogance of Edwyn Collins and his Postcard cohorts, and subsequently appeared in the Derek Jarman video for 'What Presence'. Several of these photos comprise Harry's first career retrospective at Street Level Photoworks.

In addition to the expected band portraits and live-action front-row shots, there are a host of unique photos: salute the militant gay triumvirate of Jimmy Somerville, Tom Robinson and Andy Bell as they march for homosexual equality. Savour Peter Capaldi - years before he learnt to swear and mutated into Malcolm Tucker - looking cute and wholesome as bow-tied front man of Glasgow band The Dreamboys (with favourite US late-night chat show host, Craig Ferguson on drums). Taste the flying mud, baying skinheads and noxious aroma at T In The Park's ill-fated grandsire, the 1980 Loch Lomond Festival.

Harry was born in 1954 in Helensburgh and attended Penilee Secondary School, then on to Paisley College of Technology where he gained a BSc. in Electrical Engineering. In 1976 he attended Jordanhill College, and became a teacher of Maths and Physics. He is a self-taught photographer whose interest was inspired by taking photographs at gigs in the late 1970's. Following a long and productive stint at Sounds music weekly as a photographer, Harry became editor of Marvel Comics publications such as Care Bears, Flintstones, and Star Trek. In August 2002 Harry suffered a brain aneurysm and returned to Glasgow in February 2006.

And if you click here....you will get a flavour of what it is all about

I've been meaning to plug this event for ages, but what really triggered it off was a wonderfully-written piece by Teddy Jamieson that appeared in the magazine that comes with the Saturday edition of one of the few half-decent newspapers left in Scotland. Unfortunately, there's no way to link to the article via the paper's website, but here's the extract that deals with long-time hero of TVV, Paul Haig:-

"I'd have been 22 in that photograph - 23 at most. That was just after Josef K had split up. It reminds me of clothes. I used to go shopping down the King's Road in London for 'me gear'. And the haircut - that was always talked about. I think it was haircut of the year in Melody Maker in 1983. A bit of rockabilly was coming into fashion at the time so it was all mixed up with that. It's a kind of a flat top.

That 23-year old is a bit of a stranger. It was a long time ago. He was probably a lot more serious - kind of involved in pop music a bit more, not trying to git in but playing the game a bit. I don;t think stardom or success ever bothered me. At that point I wanted to make pop records - real glossy, siny pop records. Josef K was a bit more serious and I think I was trying to have more fun, getting into the production side because everything was changing at that time from punk and post-punk to the glamorous sound of pop with ABC and the like.

I went rather quickly from being in an indie band to being in the pop world. I grew sick of that world pretty quickly and realised it wasn't something I was keen to be involved in. But I did enjoy making some of the records in those days.

When I was in Josef K we used to play quite a lot with Orange Juice and sometimes we'd go through to Glasgow and hang out. We used to go to cafes and things. There was no bitter rivalry - it was quite friendly. We were all young and stupid together.

Before that the focus had been on Liverpool and Manchester and at that point it became Edinburgh and Glasgow, though mostly Glasgow. It was the first time in a very long time that there had been attention paid to the cities, and I don't think we realised at the time how cool a scene it was.

When you think about what was before and what came after there's not a huge amount. Maybe that's why people paid it a lot of attention. I think when you were involved in it you didn't see it the same.

What have I held on to from then? Stubborness and making the music I want to make, which is probably the wrong thing to do, but I don't care, so I haven't changed in that department. I think I'm on my 12th solo album now.

I'm so excited just now because of what I'm working on and that's what I like - to try and make the best I can at the time."

It's a great mini-interview with Paul, although I'm not going to agree with his statement that there's not been a huge amount since the early 80s. It might not be as influential or ground-breaking, but there's always been something special about music made in and around Glasgow. What it has done is whet my appetite for Paul's new LP which is due out in the summer.....

And if any of you who live in the Glasgow area or are likely to find yourself in the vicinity before the end of this month, then get yourself down to the Harry Papadopoulos exhibition. To paraphrase Teddy Jamieson - the photos capture Glasgow when it was the coolest city in pop and which capture a pop moment that still looks impossibly fresh. Proof, if any were really needed, that the 80s was a decade with an awful lot more going for it than some histories will have you believe.

mp3 : Josef K - It's Kinda Funny
mp3 : Paul Haig - Adoration

And click here to read some more of Teddy Jamieson's articles.

IN PRAISE OF THE THIRD LP : NO ONE CAN EVER KNOW by THE TWILIGHT SAD

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000Z

Back in the summer of 2007 I ended up working in Toronto for four months. It was a fantastic experience and I've loads of great memories inclduding musical highlights thanks to great live gigs. I of course took the i-pod with me on the adventure but I also threw about 20 CDs into the suitcase to keep me going as well, including the debut from a littkle-known but critically acclaimed band from Scotland called The Twilight Sad.

Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters will always be part of the soundtrack of my summer in Canada. Many was the late night I'd get in from the office and press play on the CD player in my rented flat. The distinctive west-of Scotland brogue took me home....but above that it was the wonderful noise the guitars made that made the debut such a stand-out. Follow-up Forget The Night Ahead from 2009 was to my ears every bit as brilliant as the debut, although I know many other fans and critics felt, and still feel, there was a bit of second-album syndrome.

Moving forward now to 2012. And today's official release of the band's third LP, No One Can Ever Know.

I usually don't take up offers from record labels to download upcoming releases but as I already was planning to go see the band on tour just after the record hit the shops I decided to make an exception in this instance.

Around the time I did this, I also read a feature on the band in the local publication The Skinny. Lead singer James Graham pulled no punches - "We never want to remake the same record just because it's pleased some people" and without naming names had a wee did at those singers and bands who don't progress because fans, reviewers and magazines don’t like it when things change, and so the bands just end up sticking to the same formula because they’re making their money.

And so with a wee bit of trepidation I approached the new record. First reaction was that it wasn't as strong as the others although a couple of the songs were stand-outs. I also noticed that the vocals were far clearer on this record than in the past and that James, who I think has one of the best voices of any band on the planet, was in blistering form. I listened a few more times and by this morning I reckon I was up to about 12 plays, mostly to and from work on the train through a fairly good set of headphones rather than the standard i-pod issue.

Something else that was raised in that feature in The Skinny kept going through my head. "No One Can Ever Know is an album that will reward those fans who put in the time and effort. Like so many greats before them, The Twilight Sad have always been a grower of sorts and this third outing doesn’t buck that trend. A cursory listen might simply flag the aforementioned changes, a second and third will likely eke out some quality moments until eventually on your fourth or fifth spin the likes of Dead City or Nil will gut-punch you into hitting that repeat button."

And do you know something....it's true.

I'm overwhelmed with the magnificence of most of this LP. But not all.

The opening quintet of songs - Alphabet, Dead City, Sick, Don't Move and Nil are astonishingly good. Loads of the music, with its heavy reliance on keys, reminded me of Joy Division, Radiohead, The Cure and from what little I know of them from music videos, Nine Inch Nails.

The next track, Don't Ask Me drops the quality a bit....I couldn't help but draw comparisons to some of the less commercial material released in recent years by Editors. And while I think that one day I might like the next again track, Not Sleeping, it hasn't clicked yet.....but I really have a suspicion that when performed live it will come into its own.

The closing two tracks are Another Bed and Kill It In The Morning. The former is one of the most danceable tracks the band have ever released - very new romantic sounding in many ways with latter day Soft Cell springing to mind - and is a real grower. The closing track is a belter in respect of James' vocal with the tune kind of meandering along for the most part - until the last minute and a half where it becomes something quite special - early New Order special.

I'm absolutely certain that No One Can Ever Know is an album I will listen to a great deal in 2012 - and more so after hearing the songs played live later this week. But I'm not sure if I was coming to the band for the first time, or if this was their debut, whether or not I'd be quite as impressed.

Please support the band by buying the album. I might have an advance download copy but I've already been here and pre-ordered the real thing.

All credit to The Twilight Sad for daring to be different and nor resting on their laurels. And for an album we'll all still be talking about come December 2012.

Here's an acoustic version of the song already lifted from the LP as a single. The video is directed by the immensely talented and wonderful Adam Stafford:-

And here's the promo of the next single:-

and another from the LP:-

So how about a live version of a classic??

And taking me back to Toronto......

Happy Listening

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 19)

2012-02-04T06:00:00.001Z

From wiki:-

The Big Dish are a Scottish pop/rock band formed in Airdrie, Scotland in 1983. The band initially comprised Steven Lindsay (vocals/guitar), Mark Ryce (guitar) and John Harper (keyboards). The trio was subsequently augmented on stage by Raymond Docherty (bass) and Keith Burns (drums). As well as releasing three studio albums, the band performed live as support to Lloyd Cole and Big Country.

By the time their debut album Swimmer was released on Virgin Records in 1986 the line-up had undergone notable changes, with Lindsay and Docherty joined by new guitarist Brian McFie, keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Ritchie (album recordings only), Allan Dumbreck on Keyboards and Dave Cantwell on Drums. Tracks on Swimmer were significantly polished versions of the tracks that had been played live up until then. Live, however, the songs from Swimmer had a punch to them that complemented songs played by the bands they supported. Songs like Slide with its simple bass line thumping out, were anathema to the late 80s "house" music that was taking over the charts and clubs of the time.

Lindsay, McFie and Docherty then completed the follow-up album Creeping Up On Jesus in 1988 with session musicians — including drummer Blair Cunningham and hornman Gary Barnacle, Craig Armstrong and Paul Wickens (keyboards) and a horn section. Despite Bruce Lampcov's muscular production, this second effort proved commercially unsuccessful and the band was dropped from Virgin, when Lindsay refused to countenance recording a cover version.

Lindsay and McFie recorded the band's last album Satellites for the American East/West label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records) in 1991 with assistance from Armstrong, Docherty, record producer Warne Livesey and a number of session musicians, including bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Manu Katché. They also put together a new touring line-up featuring bassist Tracey Gilbert and drummer Skip Reid. However, despite critical acclaim for the new record and a hit single ("Miss America" entered the UK Singles Chart at #37),the group disbanded shortly afterwards.

A compilation of the group's work entitled Rich Man's Wardrobe was released by Virgin Records in 1994, featuring cuts from the band’s two albums with the label, and the inclusion of rare track "Voodoo Baby".

Not long after the split, Lindsay resumed his partnership with Armstrong. Lindsay provided vocals on Armstrong’s 2002 album As If to Nothing. To promote this release, Lindsay returned to the live arena, performing throughout Europe with a thirty-piece orchestra.

Lindsay returned to the fold in late 2004 on his own Seminal label with the piano-driven Exit Music featuring string arrangements by the Scottish Ensemble. Lindsay plays and programmes all other instruments and the album has received widerspread acclaim. The Australian edition of the album contains two additional tracks. Lindsay was then signed to Chrysalis Records, and in 2007 the second solo CD Kite was released, including a cover of "Monkey Gone to Heaven", originally by Pixies.

The band reunited to play a sold out show at Glasgow ABC on January 21 2012 as part of the Celtic Connections festival, and the Darvel Music Festival in May 2012. The lineup for the reunion was Lindsay, McFie, Docherty, Dumbreck and Ross McFarlane(drums).

And here are the three tracks from the 12" version of the hit single mentioned above:-

mp3 : The Big Dish - Miss America
mp3 : The Big Dish - From The Mission Bell To The Deep Blue Sea
mp3 : The Big Dish - The Town Celebrity

I can see what The Big Dish, even today, provoke great excitement among music lovers. But other than this 12" single and a compilation sampler CD containing five of the singles I don't own anything. I never quite took to them but can't explain why except it all sort of sounded like stuff I had loved by others a few years earlier.

Mind you, I do like the Mission Bell b-side....it's the sort of think Lloyd Cole and The Commotions would have been very proud to have written and recorded.

Next up in this series.....Bis

IN PRAISE OF BOOKS : LE FREAK : AN UPSIDE DOWN STORY OF FAMILY, DISCO AND DESTINY by NILE RODGERS

2012-02-03T06:00:00.003Z

I asked Santa to bring me this as it had received quite a number of excellent reviews towards the end of 2011. I'm pleased I did.

Nile Rodgers is best known as one of the founding fathers of disco thanks in part to the songs he wrote and recorded with Chic and the songs he wrote and recorded with others acts such as Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. What I hadn't realised until picking up this immensely satisfying 300 pages was his contribution to the careers of so many others including David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.

OK. His musical career is not that your average indie-kid will confess an undying love for. And to be honest, outwith the Chic songs I don't have much else in either the vinyl or CD collections. And if this had been a book in which all Nile did was talk about music and musicians I don't think I'd have been impressed.

What makes this such a cracking read is the life he has lived.....particularly his childhood and formative years. For once it is easier to just crib from the dustjacket.

Born into a mixed-race family of dopefiend bohemians, he learned - at a very early age - everything he needed to know about love, loss, fashion, art, music and the subversive power of underground culture. The stars of the scene were his glamorous teenage mum and heroin-addicted Jewish stepfather.....

His upbringing is a genuinely astonishing tale as he went from east coast to west coast and back again (more than once) living sometimes with mom, his grandparents, with hippies and members of the Black Panther organisation. The first third of the book is genuinely unputdownable.

The middle part is a bit less interesting - just a wee bit too 'rags to riches to excess' for my liking. Loads of sex, loads of drugs and loads of dancing and not too much humility. But to a large extent, given how wild an upbringing Nile Rodgers had experienced, it's not hard to understand why he went off the rails so easily. To be fair, parts of the middle section of the book are a great read when he's telling you about his family rather than tales of how great it was to work with the rock and pop gods of the 80s.

The final part of the book deals pretty quickly with the last 15 years. There's a fair bit of death and tragedy in here with the author acknowledging that but for the grace of god...and there's things you learn about what he's now doing with his life and the fortune he has amassed.

I'm fairly sure that the story that Nile has set down is like a 7" version of his life....and the extended 12" version would be well worth getting your hands on. For instance, I'm sure he's got loads more tales from his childhood - it really does seem as if that alone could have been a 500-page volume.

The positive reviews are merited. And you don't need to be a disco king or dancing queen to get a lot of pleasure from this book.

mp3 : Chic - Le Freak
mp3 : Chic - Good Times
mp3 : Chic - Everybody Dance

And here's some videos and clips of famous songs from the 80s that he was partly responsible for:-

Happy Listening

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 5 : JC TAKES UP A LATE INVITE

2012-02-02T06:00:00.003Z

REVIEW OF BONNIE PRINCE BILLY - OLD FRUITMARKET, GLASGOW - SUNDAY 29 JANUARY

The phone went around 5pm on Sunday night. Basil Butcherboy lets me know there's a spare ticket to go catch Bonnie Prince Billy who is in town as part of Celtic Connections. I said yes...and discovered then there was a whole crowd going along including Robert Butcherboy and other musician friends of theirs whose depth of knowledge and love of all forms of music leave me looking a total novice.

My first exposure to Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Palace Brothers aka Palace Music aka Will Oldham) was via a Domino Records compilation LP a few years back, although I did know and love one of his songs - I See A Darkness - courtesy of Johnny Cash covering it on one of the volumes of American Recordings (it was volume 3). It was actually the original version of Darkness that was on the compilation....and whisper it....I preferred it to Johnny Cash's version. But other than picking up some of his songs on other compilations or from other blogs. That was until I asked Santa to bring me a copy of the 2011 LP Wolfroy Goes To Town.

It's an album that is Americana to the core. It is very sparse and basic sounding. Hugely acoustic and relying heavily on vocal harmonies, I can't quite make up my mind if it is a folk record or an old-fashioned country classic without the twangy guitars.

The live gig drew heavily on the songs from Wolfroy Goes to Town. Such is the hushed nature of these songs that I dreaded the 2000-strong capacity audience would, through talking or shuffling off to the bar between songs ruin the atmosphere. My fears were unfounded. The band had the audience mesmerised from the off....certainly in the area I was standing, from the beginning to the end some 110 minutes later, there was a reverential silence.

There were many great moments of beauty in this performance - many of them provided by the vocal talents of Angel Olson whose delivery on backing and occasional lead vocals came straight from the school of June Carter. Particular highlights were his own Beast For Thee, That's What Our Love Is, Black Captain and No Match. The biggest cheer of the night went to I Never Thought My Love Would Leave Me, a song he dedicated to UK folk artists June Tabor and Dick Gaughan who had both performed to great acclaim earlier on at the Celtic Connections festival....which demonstrated that this was an audience, while hugely appreciating Bonnie Prince Billy, were incredibly knowledgeable about the wider folk scene (I have to own up...I had to google June Tabor and I only know of Dick Gaughan because he's been namechecked by Billy Bragg)

My personal favourite was the final song of the night. A haunting, moving and quite frankly tear-jerking cover of the Merle Haggard song Because Of Your Eyes. That's when I finally made my mind up It had been a country gig.....and a damn fine one at that.

When I See A Darkness was aired...with a rendition that was one of the more upbeat tunes of the night - almost honky tonk in nature. It still got a great reception mind you.

Having said all these great things about the night, I do have to add that it was perhaps maybe 20 or 25 minutes too long for me in terms of the one-paced nature of the show. A wee bit more variety and I would have said it was a perfect night.

But then again...what do I know. One of my august company said immediately afterwards that it was a life-enriching event. Not going to argue with that...but while he and others might have thought they'd won the jackpot prize, mine felt like just the four numbers on the line....

mp3 : Bonnie Prince Billy - No Match

Happy Listening

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 4 : FOUR AND A HALF BEARDS FOR A FIVER

2012-02-01T06:00:00.001Z

REVIEW OF RICK REDBEARD/FOUND/MALCOLM MIDDLETON : BREL, GLASGOW : TUESDAY 24 JANUARY

Howdy folks, it's my turn this week to bring you the review of this week's gig in JC and Aldo's 52 Gig in a Year series.

Last Tuesday saw myself, and JC (almost recovered from his weekend in London) head out to the West End to Brel for an evening of music from the Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, part of the Celtic Connections festival currently taking place in the city.

Brel is a Belgian bar and restaurant situated in one of Glasgow's more picturesque locations, Ashton Lane. JC having attended a gig at the venue previously advised that we should get there prior to doors opening to ensure we got our pick of the seats, which we duly did. However, a tactical error resulted in us being poorly positioned when the doors were opened and we had to queue behind 20 or so others to get in. On entering the venue the plum seats had been taken leaving us with the choice of sitting up the back, or right in the front row. We went for the front row.

I think I can quite confidently say that I've never been closer to a stage, being positioned right under the noses of the performers.

Up first on stage was Rick Redbeard, the side project of Rick Anthony, lead singer with Glasgow group the Phantom Band. It was fairly standard singer/songwriter stuff, but far from unpleasant, and I for one really enjoyed his set. As Rick (whose beard isn't as red as the moniker suggests) headed of stage, we got chatting to the two women who'd joined us in the front row, who turned out to be Rick's mother and sister. There was an amusing tale or two from his mum about the young Rick, but we did promise not to divulge to the wider world.

FOUND then took to the stage, consisting of three members, this was a band that JC and I had heard good things about from acquaintances, however, neither of us had listened to any of their material before. Before the music, the beards, and it has to be said that Ziggy Campbell, lead singer won the award for beard of the evening, sporting a luxuriant and full example, unlike Kev on sampler who looked like he'd only decided to start growing his that morning.

Onto the music, it was certainly an unusual and very interesting sound which they produced. Folk, with a dash of country and some Beefheart-esque time signatures. They appeared to have some minor difficulties in adapting their songs to an acoustic setting and admitted that their one and only acoustic rehearsal had taken place the Saturday previously. It did, however, give us a brief flavour of what they are about and agreed that we'd both like to investigate them further and hear the songs in their full glory.

After a short break, the main attraction, Mr Middleton took to the stage with little fanfare, and had to have a few attempts at bringing it to the crowds attention that he was about to begin his set. Beginning with new song The Whole World's Gone to Fuck (he loves that expletive in his song titles doesn't he?!), an enjoyable enough start, followed by twenty minutes of new material. I felt the highlights were few and it didn't have me hugely anticipating the next release, there were certainly none which grabbed me on first listen. It was a pretty nervous performance, and he seemed to lack confidence at times (though having only seen him once previously, this may be his live persona). There were one or two bits of banter with the audience, with JC himself replying "Aidan Moffat?" to the query from Middleton if anyone knew who he was! He rounded off the thirty minutes or so on stage with the excellent A Brighter Beat, just to remind us of the genius that lurks behind that ginger beard.

mp3 : Rick Redbeard - Dreams Of The Trees
mp3 : FOUND - Modern Age Dancing
mp3 : Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat (live at The Oran Mor, Glasgow)

All in all, another excellent evening, particularly when you consider that it cost a mere fiver.

All great things Chemikal Underground here.

Aldo, Wednesday 1 February 2012

RE-ISSUE! RE-PACKAGE! RE-PACKAGE!.....EXTRA TRACK (AND A TACKY BADGE)

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000Z

True Faith is a 1987 track by New Order, produced by Stephen Hague. It was the first New Order single since their debut Ceremony to be issued in the UK as two separate 12" singles. The second 12" single features two remixes of True Faith by Shep Pettibone. Both versions of the 12" (and also the edited 7") also include the song 1963.

The single peaked at #4 in the United Kingdom on its original release in 1987. The single also became the first New Order single to chart on the Hot 100 in the United States that same year and their first ever Top 40 hit, reaching # 32.

A True Faith remix 12" single and CD single were released in 1994, and another True Faith remix 12" single and CD single were released in 2001. The 1994 remix charted in the UK at #9.

But I'm no fool. There would never be any better versions than those released on vinyl back in 1987.

mp3 : New Order - True Faith
mp3 : New Order - 1963

mp3 : New Order - True Faith remix
mp3 : New Order - True Faith dub

I do own one version of the 94 mix as it was made available on a CD compilation:-

mp3 : New Order - True Faith-94 (The 94 remix)

And while searching the files on the PC, one of the 2001 versions has turned up courtesy of its inclusion on a Q Magazine Dance CD given away free:-

mp3 : New Order - True Faith (Morel's Pink Noise Mix Edit)

Anyone fancy a bizarre cover??

Happy Listening

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 2)

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000Z

Edwyn's second single was released in November 1987 with the catalogue number ACID6 has the distinction of being the final ever release on Elevation Records:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - My Beloved Girl
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Clouds (Fogging Up My Mind)

The 12" has the catalogue number ACID6T, and in addition to the standard version of the single, has these:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - My (Long Time) Beloved Girl
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Clouds (Fogging Up My Mind) - Cumulonimbus Version

There was also a limited edition 7" box edition (ACID 6B) which came with three postcards of black & white photos of Edwyn (the reverse of one was blank, another had lyrics written in Edwyn's own handwriting and the third had a list of tour dates in November and December 1987.) Oh and it also had two extra tracks on the vinyl as well:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - 50 Shades Of Blue (acoustic version)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - What's The Big Idea?

50 Shades Of Blue would emerge as a 7". 12" and CD single in its own right some two years later by which time Edwyn was on Demon Records, while What's The Big Idea would be re-recorded and find its way onto the LP Hellbent On Compromise which was released in 1990.

I couldn't find any promo on you tube, so I'm guessing parent label WEA had already decided they had thrown enough money at Elevation Records so there wasn't one made.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 (PART 2) : JC FLIES SOLO

2012-01-27T06:00:00.046Z

Review of Butcher Boy/Darren Hayman : Cecil Sharp House, London : Saturday 21 January

(The subplot......24 hours after Easterhouse, JC was down in Camden, London to watch his beloved Butcher Boy - could it be better than the gig he himself promoted in Glasgow back in November??)

The venue was the majestic and quaint Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It’s a building that dates back to 1930, and other than some modern adaptations to allow it to conform with access legislation, it has been authentically and lovingly maintained to the glory of its opening day. It’s an atypical venue for Butcher Boy and a real surprise to find such a building amidst the hustle and bustle of Camden

Support came from Darren Hayman, someone I’d last seen ages ago as lead singer of Hefner on a tour when they supported Billy Bragg. I recalled enjoying the support on that occasion, but not enough to go out and buy any merchandise. The bloke who took to his seat behind the piano to the side of the stage was not the face I recalled from Hefner....but then again, do many of us look the same way we did some 14 years ago?

Dressed in a coat, scarf and cap, he did confess early on during his often amusing between-songs patter that he looked like a Dickensian character. Like a geeky Oliver Twist. This was a show I was really looking forward to.

Sadly, it was very soon a show I was really looking forward to the end of.

The songs were all a bit too monotonous. They were also, for the most part, depressing. Darren’s delivery was akin to an off-pitch Neil Young circa 1970. There was loads of polite applause between the songs and most folk stayed in their seats to watch the 45-minute set. But it was so deadly quiet that moving your chair and walking across the wooden floor to the exits would have seemed very rude. If there had been reserved seating, and if the room had been carpeted, I think a few would have headed for the sanctuary of the bar. There were a few folk who loved it all. Perhaps my mood wasn’t helped by being so tired from being out the night before and travelling down earlier in the day, but Darren’s set threatened to send me to sleep. His saving grace was the occasional story between the songs.

And so to Butcher Boy. This was their most important gig since the December 2009 support slot to Belle & Sebastian with many of the audience being debutants given it’s been a long while since the band played the capital. The band did not let anyone down. They were exceptional and played a sublime main set:-

When I’m Asleep
The Day Our Voices Broke
Girls Make Me Sick
I Am the Butcher
This Kiss Will Marry us
Carve A Pattern
Helping Hands
Russian Dolls
Anything Other Than Kind
I Know Who You Could Be
Sunday Bells
Imperial
I Could Be In Love With Anyone
There Is No-one Who Can Tell You Where You’ve Been

The first seven songs were the same running order as at the Langside Halls gig in Glasgow a couple of months back, but thanks to the venue having a full-sized piano next to the stage – fully utilised by Alison – quite a bit of the set took on a whole new sound. The rendition of This Kiss Will Marry Us was a real tear-jerker, while Helping Hands was another which benefited from the piano rather than electric keys.

John was in fine voice – he was even spotted dancing a bit during Girls Make Me Sick. Mia and Cat were flawless. Basil was on fire. Fraser was his usual reliable and talented self no matter which instrument he picked up, and not for the first time, Robert and Finlay on bass and drums drove the set along at the perfect pace, quite clearly having the time of their lives.

It was magical.

My ears pricked up when midway through the set when they launched into Russian Dolls. One of the lesser-heralded songs on the new LP, this was the first time the band have ever played it live. And they did a great job of it.

After that it was back to the tried and trusted set played at Glasgow until they came back for the deserved encore.

I’ve since learned that they had four songs up their sleeves for the encore – they passed on Parliament Hill, which again would have been the first time they had ever played it live, and they also passed on the traditional set-closer of the upbeat and highly danceable Profit In Your Poetry. Instead, perhaps with a nod to the sort of music the venue is famed for, they slowed things right down with the rarely-played slow version of Keep Your Powder Dry as released on their debut EP back in 2005 (when half of the band had yet to become members) as well as the tear-jerking Days Like These Will Be The Death Of Me.

It was a truly special ending to a night when London belonged to Butcher Boy and they again gave a live performance that it was a privilege to see.

There were a few folk filming the gig on phones and cameras. I've tracked down a few clips already out there on the internet. To the various folk who have put them on you tube....thank you. And I hope you don't mind me lifting them and putting them here.

AS I MENTIONED, EARLIER.....A HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO MADE THIS FOOTAGE AND POSTED IT ON YOU TUBE. I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THAT IT APPEARS HERE...
Next up for the band is again something a bit different.

On Friday 10 February, they will be performing an instrumental set as part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Those of us lucky enough to have been present at their one-off performance at the Glasgow Film Theatre back in 2009 when they played a specially composed live soundtrack to a silent movie shot in the 1950s in the West of Scotland will have an idea of what to expect.

But before then, other gigs beckon. Tune in next week for the next instalment.

JC : Friday 27 January 2012

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 : THEY WENT OUT TO THE EASTERHOUSE COS THEY LIKED THE SOUND OF IT

2012-01-26T06:00:00.011Z

REVIEW OF CORNERSHOP/1990s at THE PLATFORM, GLASGOW : FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012

Celtic Connections is a long-standing annual festival of music held in Glasgow every January. It began as a celebration of folk and traditional music but has increasingly diversified into more contemporary stuff and many acts who now appear under it banner are about un-Celtic as a church of Scotland minister who has a season ticket for the football team that play at Ibrox Park. But this diversity is hugely welcome, for without it your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo would not have got on a #41 bus on a wet Friday night to go see Cornershop supported by the 1990s.

Easterhouse is a vast post-World War II housing estate, known locally as a scheme, some five miles east of the centre of Glasgow. It’s an area I know quite well as I had family who lived there and when I played football when I was younger, many of the matches were played on pitches in the scheme. Over the past 50 years since its construction it has always had a bad reputation – much of it sensationalised and over-played. It has, in recent times, undergone a massive regeneration with many facilities that should have been built in the first place finally being made available to the populace. One such facility is The Bridge which brings together a college, library, swimming pool and performance space under one roof. The performance space is called Platform – and this was the venue Celtic Connections had expanded to for part of its 2012 programme.

This was a new venue to both of us – for me it is now approaching 60 the number of different places in Glasgow I've has seen a band or singer since 1979 (there’s a posting in there somewhere). It is a very modern and adaptable space, capable of supporting theatre, dance and concerts. It’s the sort of place which has retractable raked-seating meaning it has an incredibly tall space from floor to ceiling and 1990s looked awfully small when they came on not longer after 8pm to a sparse and what seemed largely uninterested audience, including a group of well-behaved and attentive 8 year-olds who sat cross-legged down on the floor near the stage.

The 40-minute set was enjoyable enough that the time passed quickly and such was the energy and enthusiasm of the band that they quickly won the majority of the audience over. The venue benefits from having cracking acoustics with the sound being ass good as either of us have heard in many a long time, and this particularly highlighted just how good frontman Jackie McKeown is on guitar.

1990s have never really cracked it in the six or so years they’ve been going. Maybe that’s because they’re not your usual 3-chord indie outfit. They’re more American rock-indie that UK skinny-boy indie. They were far from dull, but the set was just a bit too one-paced to be truly special. We both actually thought a song played near the end had been aired earlier in the set. The thing is though, 1990s would be the perfect opening act for many an arena or stadium band on tour. They have crowd-pleasing upbeat tunes and based on a wet Friday night to an audience that was far from familiar with their songs, a cracking positive attitude to performing.

mp3 : 1990s – You’re Supposed To be My Friend

Cornershop took to the stage at the back of 9pm. The venue, although not the biggest, was far from full. But it was an audience that really wanted to be there and gave the band a rousing reception as they one-by-one took to the stage and belted out Heavy Soup. They very quickly got into a funky groove and gave the fans a set that drew almost exclusively on their three studio albums released between 1997 and 2009. It was the first time either of us had seen them live, and for JC in particular it was a long-held ambition being realised. Some songs were even better on the stage than the recorded versions. Sleep On the Left Side was a particular highlight of the early part of the set – a keys, drums, bass and vocals on version that had the entire audience dancing along. JC noted at the time ‘Will I hear a better song live in 2012’?

About 45 minutes into the set they went into the hit they are best known for. Played at the pace and temp of the original and not the Fatboy Slim version that topped the charts back in 1998, Brimful of Asha brought the house down.

After a band plays its best known hit, things can often go downhill for the audience. And here’s where Cornershop divided opinions.....

The next 20 minutes featured just the one song – The Turned On Truth (The Truth Is Turned On) which closes the 2009 LP Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast.

JC : Stunning sonic boom boys. The groove is perfect and this noise could go on all night as far as I’m concerned. Doubt I’ll hear anything so infectiously funky the rest of the year.

Aldo : Could have done with this being cut down a bit before the noodling began. But that’s personal taste for 3 minute pop songs and my self-admitted short attention span.

But we both agreed that the encore of Good Shit was the perfect way to end the evening and we went home happy. JC with a new t-shirt in his possession and Aldo determined to listen to a bit more Cornershop.

mp3 : Cornershop – Good Shit

JC and Aldo. Thursday 26 January 2012

IN WHICH THE EP TITLE DOES NOT MATCH THE MAIN TRACK

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000Z

Lazy posting today...which somehow seems appropriate. Word lifted from wiki:-

Ice Hockey Hair is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's Radiator, or its follow-up Guerrilla. The title track refers to an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle.

The first track on the EP, "Smokin'", was commissioned by British television station Channel 4 for a programme about sloth presented by Howard Marks as part of a series on the seven deadly sins. The band went into Grassroots, a community recording studio in Cardiff, in June 1997 and looped a sample of the Black Uhuru track "I Love King Selassie", playing along and writing "Smokin'" "completely spontaneously". According to singer Gruff Rhys the song is "really light and up" as a result of being recorded in the summer. The track's lyrics refer to smoking cannabis, with Rhys stating that it "seems ridiculous that you can't do what you want with a plant that grows naturally" in reference to the drug's illegal status in many countries. Rhys has claimed that he does not consider the track to be subversive however—it is about the band's own drug use and he doesn't "expect everyone who buys the record to do the same. They'd be quite sad if they did".

Chief lyric writer Rhys has stated that, whereas he might "empty parts of [his] emotional state" into some songs, Ice Hockey Hair's title track was written in the "instant pop music" tradition.[1] The track was originally called "The Naff Song" as the band felt it "had so many naff, cheesy things about it" before being renamed "Ice Hockey Hair" following a conversation with a Swedish football player who said that having 'ice hockey hair', an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle, was a really naff thing to do in his home country. Rhys has described the song as a "Badfinger-style power ballad" and claimed that it is about "someone who's sunk so low they're asking advice off a women with ice hockey hair".The track was recorded at Orinonco Studios, London.

The band felt that "Ice Hockey Hair" and "Smokin'" were "light relief" and needed to be released so that they could concentrate on their next album, Guerrilla, with Rhys stating that the "EP was a good chance to do something in isolation, because the tracks on it won't fit in with the new album, and they didn't fit in with the old one".The EP is completed by "Let's Quit Smoking", a remix of "Smokin'", and "Mu-Tron", a largely instrumental track named after the Mutron guitar effects pedal and written by keyboardist Cian Ciaran.

mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Smokin'
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Mu-Tron
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Let's Quit Smoking

The EP reached #12 in the UK singles charts. Fabulous stuff I'm sure you will agree.....

PICK ANY 3 FROM 30.....

2012-01-23T06:00:00.021Z

Something came up on the i-pod shuffle the other day that got me thinking that it was perhaps the finest of the singles released by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Not more than 20 minutes later, another random single came on that made me think this was in fact their finest 45. All of which got me doing a wee bit of research...

Between 1978 and 1995, the band released 30 singles. Of these, all but three sold enough copies to gain a place in the UK Top 50. But they were never a band that had enormous hits – just two made the Top 10 and a further three went Top 20.

A further thirteen of their singles stalled in the middle sections of the charts (ie between positions 21 and 40) which at least got them regular name checks on Top Of The Pops. They were also a band who had an unfortunate knack of reaching #41 and then falling away – this happened to them on four occasions.

So a few more sales here and there could have seen history record them as one of the great singles bands in terms of sales rather than merely quality. Funnily enough, while I’ve often thought of myself as a fan, I don’t have all that many of their singles in the collection. Admittedly, a few went missing back in the mid 80s when I lost all of my collection of 7” singles in a misadventure, but while I’ve since then replaced many of these as the years have gone by, I’ve never been inclined to do so with the Banshees.

Partly this was to so with the singles being widely available on a couple of excellent ‘greatest hits’ type LPs, volume one of which was released as far back as 1981, but also because so few of the 45s had contained particularly memorable or essential b-sides. And it’s this lack of plastic in the cupboard that has led to them not being featured so often here at TVV over the past five and a bit years as they deserve.

So without any further ado, here in descending order are my three favourite S&tB singles:-

Number 3

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Slowdive

From 1982. This was one of those pesky #41 hits. It’s the strings that do it for me. That and the it where Ms Sioux sings/moans ‘Oh My God’ in the most orgasmic of fashions. This was a song brilliantly covered many years later by LCD Soundsystem

mp3 : LCD Soundsystem – Slowdive

Number 2

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities In Dust

From 1985. This got to #21. It’s the ability to dance in a non-gothic way does it for me. That and the memory of a brilliant live performance on Whistle Test with Ms Sioux confined to a chair after she had busted her knee while performing live.

I’ve a copy of the 12” version of this single in the cupboard and hence this extended version. Goth goes Tears For Fears.......

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities In Dust (Extended Eruption mix)

Number 1

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Israel

From 1980. This was yet one of those pesky #41 hits. A song that wasn’t included on any of their studio LPs. It’s the ability to dance in a totally-gothic way does it for me. A single that takes me back to arguments in the common room at school about how punk and new-wave had great musicians and talent shouldn’t be measured alone on the basis of extended guitar or drum solos.

It wasn’t easy to get it down to three. I’ve left off Happy House, Hong Kong Garden, Kiss Them For Me and Spellbound when all were serious contenders.

So many great singles.....with the biggest shame being that it was cover versions – Dear Prudence in 1983 and This Wheel’s On Fire in 1987 – that give them two out of three of their highest chart placings.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 18)

2012-01-21T06:00:00.004Z

From wiki:-

Composed of Stuart Adamson (formerly of The Skids, vocals/guitar/keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar/mandolin/sitar/vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums/percussion/vocals) though a variety of other drummers have been in the band throughout their long career, including Simon Phillips and Aaron B. Prior to the recruitment of Butler and Brzezicki, an early incarnation of Big Country was a five-piece band and it featured Peter Wishart, later of Runrig and now an SNP MP, on keyboards, his brother Alan on bass, and Clive Parker, drummer from Spizz Energi / Athletico Spizz '80 (Rough Trade & A&M Records). Parker had approached Adamson to join his new band after the demise of The Skids. Adamson auditioned Parker (1980) at The Members rehearsal room in Ladbroke Grove London, and the next day was called on to play drums on demos for CBS Records at their Whitfield Street studios. The demos just featured Adamson, Parker, with barely a contribution from Watson. Adamson had asked bassist Dave Allen from the Gang of Four to join the band but he declined. Adamson asked Parker to join the band, which led to 8 months of rehearsal in Dunfermline, at a disused furniture warehouse. The culmination was a successful concert at the Glen Pavilion in Dunfermline, (playing to a home crowd, mainly Skids fans), and an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, where the CBS Studio demos were utilised. What followed were live dates with Alice Cooper's Special Forces tour in 1981. The band were 'out of their depth' with their rambling Echo & The Bunnymen and keyboard orientated sound which went down badly with the metal crowds and the band were dumped from the tour after 2 dates of Bournemouth Centre, and Birmingham Odeon. Adamson's management issued an ultimatum and the Wisharts and Parker were sacked. Adamson later asked Peter Wishart to rejoin on Keyboards, but Peter declined without his brother in the band. Parker formed the synth pop band Scary Thieves, and signed to EMI Records, and later went on to play session drums for ex-Jesus and Mary Chain member John Moore in The Expressway, (Polydor Records) touring the UK and USA. Alan Wishart later joined Parker in contemporary folk band Barra (Sony/ATV Music/Hi-Note Records). The manager Ian Grant brought in Brzezicki, and Butler, and along with Watson, the main band Big Country line up was formed. Although the band's music drew from Scottish traditional music, none of its members was born in Scotland. Adamson grew up in Dunfermline though, and as such, his Scottish accent was genuine.

Formed initially as a five piece band in 1981, their first single was "Harvest Home", recorded and released in 1982. It was a modest success, reaching #91 on the UK Singles Chart. Their next single was 1983's "Fields of Fire", which reached the UK's Top Ten and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a hit in the United States (reaching the US Billboard Top 20), powered by "In a Big Country", their only U.S. Top 40 hit single. The song featured heavily engineered guitar playing, strongly reminiscent of bagpipes; Adamson and fellow guitarist, Watson, achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. Also contributing to the band's unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer. The Crossing sold over a million copies in the UK and obtained gold record status (sales of over 500,000) in the U.S. The band also performed on both the Grammys and Saturday Night Live.

The band released the non-LP extended play single "Wonderland" in 1984 while undergoing a lengthy worldwide tour. The song, considered by some critics to be one of their finest, was a Top Ten hit (#8) in the UK singles chart but despite heavy airplay and a positive critical response, was a comparative flop in the U.S., reaching only #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the last single by the band to make a U.S. chart appearance.

Their second album Steeltown (1984) was a hit as soon as it was released, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one. The album featured three UK top 30 hit singles, and received considerable critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, but like Wonderland (and, in fact, all subsequent releases) it was a commercial disappointment in the U.S, peaking at #70 on the Billboard album charts.

Throughout 1984 and 1985, the band toured the UK, Europe, and, to a lesser extent, the U.S., both as headliners themselves and in support of such artists as Queen and Roger Daltrey. They also recorded prolifically, and provided the musical score to a Scottish independent film, Restless Natives (1985), which was not released on CD until years later on the band's Restless Natives and Rarities (1998) collection.

1986's The Seer, the band's third album, was another big success in the UK, peaking at Number 2. It produced three further top 30 singles, including the Irish number one hit "Look Away", which would also prove to be the band's biggest hit in the U.K., peaking at #7. Kate Bush provided backing vocals on the album's title track, and as was the norm for the band at the time, the album received good reviews from the music press. In the U.S., The Seer sold a little bit better than Steeltown, reaching #59 on the Billboard charts.

In what some critics felt was an apparent attempt to regain their dwindling U.S. following, Big Country used producer Peter Wolf for their next album, Peace in Our Time (1988), which was recorded in Los Angeles, California. The result was very different from the previous singles and albums, and, in "Broken Heart (13 Valleys)" contained the song which Stuart Adamson claimed to be his favourite of all time.[citation needed] Despite this it was not well received by most critics and fans. One reviewer noted that it was the group's "least representative and least interesting album." It sold poorly. During the "Peace In Our Time" Tour, the band were supported by Diesel Park West and Cry Before Dawn.

No Place Like Home (1991) not only effectively killed off the band's commercial hopes in the US, it nearly broke up the band. Drummer Mark Brzezicki returned to the studio as a session drummer after leaving the band. The album found the band trying to reinvent themselves and shift away from their '80s image. It was not a commercial success and was not released in America, although two re-recorded tracks showed up on 1993's The Buffalo Skinners.

In 1991, the band was dropped by Phonogram, the label that had released all of their material for ten years. After that, Big Country became a minor act, popping up in the lower echelons of the charts in the UK and Europe with the release of every subsequent album. Only one of these, 1993's The Buffalo Skinners, received a major label release (via Chrysalis Records), and it seemed a return to form of sorts for the band, reaching the UK Top 25. The album obtained a surprisingly enthusiastic critical response, and although it produced two UK Top 30 singles in "Alone" and "Ships", its sales were meagre and, in retrospect, it can be seen as Big Country's last, lost chance to regain a mass audience. Regardless, the band retained an intensely devoted cult following, as evidenced by their deceptively large post-1990 discography, which consists mostly of live concert recordings and singles/rarities collections.

Throughout the 1990s, Big Country became a popular 'opening act', supporting such bands as Rolling Stones and The Who. Big Country had backed Daltrey on his 1985 solo album Under the Raging Moon, and Tony Butler played bass and backing vocals on Pete Townshend's 1980 hit single "Let My Love Open the Door". Both Butler and Brzezicki performed on Townshend's 1985 solo album White City: A Novel. Brzezicki played drums for The Cult on their 1985 Love album and featured in the video for the single, "She Sells Sanctuary".

Of growing concern, however, was the mental and emotional health of lead singer Adamson, who reportedly had struggled with alcoholism for several years. Adamson split with his first wife, who later spoke to Scottish and English tabloids about his heavy drinking. He moved to Nashville in the mid-1990s where he took up residence and married a hairdresser. While in Nashville, he met noted artist Marcus Hummon and released an acclaimed studio album with him under the moniker The Raphaels.

In 1995 Big Country released another album, Why the Long Face?.

1999 saw the release of Big Country's eighth and final studio album, Driving to Damascus (titled in its slightly different, augmented U.S. release John Wayne's Dream). Adamson said publicly that he was disappointed that the album did not fare better on the charts, which led to depression. Later that year, he disappeared for a while before resurfacing, stating that he had needed some time off.

Adamson returned for the band's 'Final Fling' farewell tour, culminating in a sold-out concert at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom on 31 May 2000. Although that marked the end of Big Country as a touring band, they were always adamant that they would appear together again. They played what turned out to be their last gig in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October that year.

In November 2001, Adamson disappeared again. Numerous appeals were put on the Big Country website asking for Adamson to call home and speak to anyone in the band, the management company, or his ex-wife. The website also requested that any fans who might have been 'harbouring' the singer to contact the management company and alert them to his whereabouts. Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler had indicated they were concerned but the reason Big Country had lasted so long was they stayed out of one another's personal lives, and both later noted they were unaware of the extent of Adamson's problems. He was found dead in a room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii on 16 December 2001. The official autopsy revealed that he had hanged himself.

At the time of death he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.279%.

A memorial to Adamson was held at Dunfermline's Carnegie Hall in January 2002, followed by a tribute concert at the Barrowlands in May. It brought together the remaining members of both Big Country and The Skids; Adamson's teenage children, Callum and Kirsten; as well as Steve Harley, Runrig, Simon Townshend, Midge Ure and Bill Nelson.

In 2007, to celebrate 25 years of Big Country, founding members Bruce Watson, Tony Butler (now lead vocalist for the first time), and Mark Brzezicki reunited to embark on a tour of the UK with dates in Scotland and England and a gig in Cologne (Germany). They also released a new album, twenty five live, on the trackrecords label.

As of September 2008 the band returned to an indefinite hiatus.

The surviving original members toured again in late December 2010 and January 2011 with Mike Peters of the Alarm and Jamie Watson, Bruce's son, added to the lineup. They played another set of concerts in April 2011. Big Country have been announced at six major UK/Irish festivals in 2011 — Isle of Wight, T in the Park, Oxegen in Kildare and V Festival (Chelmsford and Stafford), plus Inverness with Simple Minds.

Steve Lillywhite, who had produced Big Country's first and second albums, produced the band's first single in over twelve years. He remarked: "When I heard the demo of their new song, I was impressed on first listen. I am looking forward to working with the band again whom I last worked with in the 80s on one of my favourite albums I have ever produced — The Crossing."

“It will be a real buzz working with Steve again," Tony Butler said in response. "He is a producer we all have a great regard for and are looking forward to working with again. We'd also like to thank all the festival promoters for having faith in us."

The band will also soon announce a series of smaller dates where they will be "breaking in" new songs for a future release. "These will be places we have never played before," Mark Brzezicki added, "giving us the chance to work in new songs in the more intimate type of venues.”

Mike Peters said, "Due to the success of the January and April tours, the band have decided to continue and have already started planning for a new album and a 30th anniversary tour in the new year."

Bruce Watson commented: "We are 100% dedicated and intent on making this new line up a permanent one. We can finally look forward to completing unfinished business from the past, particularly internationally, and look to a creative and active future"

Around August 2011, Big Country their first single in 11 years called "Another Country" with Peters on vocals.

I first saw Big Country at a gig at Strathclyde University in 1982, going along to pay homage to Stuart Adamson as I'd been a huge fan of The Skids. I came away hugely impressed and saw them quite a few times over the next 18 months and watched them become popular and successful. But I never did take to the material on Steeltown and they faded away from the list of bands I classed as liking. But I still have all the 12" versions of the early singles plus the debut LP on vinyl:-

mp3 : Big Country - Fields Of Fire (Alternative Mix)
mp3 : Big Country - Fields Of Fire
mp3 : Big Country - Angle Park

The b-side remains one of my favourite songs from the era...

Today's posting is dedicated to Brian from the blog Linear Tracking Lives!

He's such a fan of Big Country that he is flying all the way over from the USA to see them play in Glasgow at a show on 6th February 2012. His posting on his upcoming trip captures his excitement brilliantly. Click here to read.

Next week...........The Big Dish

THE FRIDAY CORRESPONDENT

2012-01-20T09:00:00.003Z

Recently, a reader requested a piece featuring Ultravox and Midge Ure. Your wish is our command.

The first incarnation of Ultravox formed in 1974 as Tiger Lily. Vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Leigh and guitarist Steve Shears were joined by Canadian drummer Warren Cann, bassist Chris Cross and soon after by violinist Billy Currie.

They played a mixture of glam rock, influenced by Roxy Music and David Bowie with a harder edge that suited the audience change of taste as the onset of punk approached.

Fledgling producer Steve Lillywhite produced their early demos and due to his involvement they were signed to Island Records but it was Brian Eno who produced their self-titled debut album.

With the change of name to Ultravox and Leigh’s name change to John Foxx, came a minor success with the single My Sex.

The second album Ha Ha Ha featured one track Hiroshima Mon Amour that showed the synth-led future of the band. This track is a particular favourite of mine and is still seen by critics and fans alike as the standout of this period of their work.

mp3 : Ultravox - Hiroshima Mon Amour

After their third album Systems of Romance, produced by famous German producer Konrad Plank, failed commercially, Island Records dropped them.Shortly afterwards, following a tour of America and Canada, Foxx departed the band to pursue a solo career while guitarist Robin Simon remained in the States.

This left Currie, Cross and Cann without a singer.

Currie had been a part time member of new romantic electronic supergroup Visage, who also featured Midge Ure.

James ‘Midge’ Ure’s musical journey to Ultravox had seen many twists and turns. He started as a guitarist in a covers band called Salvation that was the house band of the Clouds nightclub in his hometown Glasgow. When the lead singer left he also took on the role of singer.

In 1975, Ure was approached by Malcolm McLaren and offered the lead singer role in a new band he was putting together….. the Sex Pistols. He declined the offer.

After a name and image change Salvation became Slik and in early 1976 their third single Forever and Ever went to number one, in the UK Charts.

mp3 : Slik - Forever and Ever

Phil Coulter and Bill Martin who wrote the single, had previously written hits for other including Bay City Rollers. After three more singles without repeating their chart success, they terminated their contract with Coulter and Martin, citing unhappiness with their ‘boy band’ look. Ure in particular was determined to embrace the ‘new’ punk style of music that was becoming popular.

The members of Slik changed their name to PVC2 and released one single on Zoom Records:-

mp3 : PVC2 - Put You in the Picture

It was after this failed effort that they decided to go their separate ways.

Ure moved to the bright lights of London, where he met Glenn Matlock who invited him to join a new band he was putting together with Rusty Egan and Steve New to be known as The Rich Kids.

Elsewhere, Slik and PVC2 band drummer Kenny Hyslop and bassist Russell Webb formed the Zones.

mp3 : Zones - No Angels

Hyslop then went on to play sticks for both Simple Minds and The Skids. Webb also joined The Skids.

The Rich Kids released one album - Ghosts of Princes in Towers - as well as three singles to a fair amount of critical acclaim that wasn't reflected in poor sales.

After they were dropped by Island Records, things were hard for the remaining members of Ultravox . At one point they were so skint they even had to sneak into an Island Records warehouse to get back some of their musical equipment.

At this point in history, Ure had just completed an American tour playing guitar with Thin Lizzy. It was Rusty Egan who badgered Billy Currie to approach Ure with a view to joining Ultravox. Still a young man, Ure had been around a bit....but as he began rehearsing with Ultravox, he finally he was in a band that was moving in the right direction, with all members contributing to their new sound.

The product of these sessions was the album Vienna. Once again Konny Plank produced it, working with him was a dream come true for Ure, as he had long admired his work with Kraftwerk.

Midge Ure brought a commercial sheen to the previous Ultravox sound that wasn’t universally accepted by all their following, but that and their new electronic driven songs brought them an album that broke into the UK album Top Ten, peaking at No.3.

The first single from the album reached number 28 in the UK charts

mp3 : Ultravox - Sleepwalk

This was followed up by the title track - a song that was infamously held up on its rise to the top being stuck at #2 in the singles chart behind novelty one-hit wonder Joe Dolcesinging Shaddup Your Face

But while man at #1 faded into obscurity, it was just the beginning of an extended period of success between 1981 and 1986 with Ultravox enjoying 4 Top Ten albums and numerous hit singles.

As I’ve said on their rise to success, Ultravox shed a good number of fans that couldn’t accept Midge Ure as lead singer and frontman but history shows they achieved the commercial success their early record label craved.

Mr John Greer, Friday 20 January 2012

31 YEARS AGO TODAY....ON WONDERFUL RADIO 1

2012-01-19T06:00:00.001Z

Monday 9 January 1981. Sometime between 8pm and 10pm. On the Richard Skinner Show on BBC Radio 1. In the days when few TV stations and not many more radio stations would have meant a fairly good audience for the songs performed in session:-

mp3 : Orange Juice - Upwards And Onwards (1981 session)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Wan Light (1981 session)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Felicity (1981 session)

So much was expected of the boys at this point in time. Success was still some way off, before which there would be an acrimonious parting of the ways from some of the original members.

Those were the days my friends. But 31 years ago??? Jeeeez.

Tracks lifted from the sublime Coals To Newcastle box set. I urge you all to buy a copy...although it is becoming a bit of a rarity. Not even Amazon have any in stock......

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

2012-01-18T06:00:00.003Z

A LIFE IN A YEAR OF GIGS : #2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

After the experience of the local hip-hop scene in week one, your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo decided to get on more familiar ground in week two. And to avoid the possibility of us having to leave early and miss the headline act as had happened with Mackenzie and Swad, we decided to make it a Friday night out.

There were two gigs vying for our attention – in the end Aldo tossed a coin. If it had come up tails, we’d have gone to this:-

“Ultimate Thrush, She’s Hit, Smack Wizards and Gig O Ram play the Old Hairdressers on 13 January and then all their names will go into a hat to select four new supergroups who will have just 24 hours to create a set then play the same venue of the 14th”

But it was heads. So it was a swift return to the 13th Note on the 13th for three bands, the headline act of which was described as ‘fiery indie music from Sweden.’

First thing we note is that the venue isn’t quite as crowded as it had been for the hip-hop night. Also, instead of about 80 baseball caps in the house, there’s just one on the head of a bloke who is the double of the bloke who used to play bass in Queens of the Stone Age. Oh and there’s a lot more females in the audience this week – a mix of indie-cool, goth and rock. The night looks promising.

Fat Janitor take to the stage. Four young men who have attracted a fair crowd for being bottom of the bill. It’s loud guitars, bass, drums and a laptop. It’s mostly instrumentals or minimal lyrics. It’s mostly fast. Oh and did I mention it was loud??

These boys can play...no arguments from either of us. They are hugely energetic and seem slightly constrained by the small size of the performance space. This is a band whose audience would revel in a mosh pit. Korn come to mind as do Rage Against the Machine, but no doubt their real influences will of course be more hardcore and obscure.

The drummer was particularly impressive. He battered away without seemingly breaking sweat during the six-song set. But the truth is, it was neither of our scenes. Aldo was pleased he’d brought his earplugs while JC wished he’d invested in a set. Can’t see John Butcher Boy playing any of the Fat Janitor material at any of the Little League nights. Not enough in the way of pop hooks or melodies.

After a short break, Miss the Occupier take to the stage. JC has to own up and admit that this is a band he’s long been looking to catch live as the drummer is someone he used to work alongside.

Another four-piece act - guitar, drums, keys and a fantastic-looking female singer who also plays bass. Said singer had been spotted in the venue a bit earlier wearing killer heels – these were removed for the performance so that it was barefoot a la Sandie Shaw, who coincidentally the singer, thanks to the black-bobbed hair, has more than a passing resemblance to.

Despite the band being a bit unhappy with the sound via their own monitors, what comes across to the audience is a fabulous 30-odd minute set that had the two of us among many others swaying and dancing along. Lots of hook and lots of melodies. Notes we took at the time name check The Cure, Pauline Murray, Sons & Daughters, Sonic Youth, The Slits, Pixies and Lush. Two more to add in the cold light of day - The Organ... and Elastica Hugely enjoyable stuff.....but it all begs a thought.

If a band this talented, energetic and such damn good fun to watch and listen to are still unsigned more than three years after their formation, then no wonder the modern-day music industry has gone to buggery.

Miss The Occupier would, without any question, have been massive if the industry hadn’t messed up so spectacularly in the late 90s when any indie-looking and sounding band were signed up and given huge advances only to see the scene crash and burn within months thanks to a lack of quality control and the fact that things do move on (albeit inevitably come back into fashion some time later). Right now, the fashion is for bands round these parts to have something that makes them stand out as distinctly Scottish and that clinches them a deal – no harm in that – but there has to be and must be room for talented bands like Miss The Occupier. They aren’t your typical Scottish band right now – they could just as easily be from Swindon, Swansea, Sunderland or Stockport. And their music deserves a wider audience. Including the good people of Sweden. Talking of whom....

The QOTSA look-alike in the baseball cap with the beard turns out to be the bassist in From Our Hearts, tonight’s headliners. Formed in Gothenburg back in 2009, they have attracted a reasonable crowd for a Friday night in January, but we’re wondering how the hell they can afford to be here. The entry fee was just £3 and there’s no t-shirts, CDs, vinyl or merchandise to allow any further financial contributions to support their efforts.

They’re another four-piece band – and we’re caught out by them having a female vocalist as she is stood to one side while the bass player is centre stage. Oh and their drummer has more than a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain in those photos where he wore glasses – or maybe it’s Garth from Wayne’s World.

JC makes his mind up right away that this band are going to be good. Opening few minutes of guitars are indie-rock heaven....and besides the singer’s guitar-strap says ‘Jazz Sucks’ on it. JC would want one of those if only he had a guitar....

They are also very good indeed. Less poptastic than Miss The Occupier there is a touch of shoegazery about them and its close cousin – grunge. Dinosaur Jr and Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins influences are duly noted. There’s nothing unique or earth-shattering about From Our Hearts, but after more than 30-years of listening to punk, new wave, indie, college rock, grunge, Britpop and all parts in between, there’s very little can ever be new with a classic four-piece line-up.

But part of what this whole ‘one gig per week’ is to try and ‘discover’ things that otherwise would have passed us by. From that perspective, the night at the 13th Note was a success as two of the acts are now firmly on our radar while the third, while not our cups of Earl Gray, are recommended to those who like lots of noise and moshing.

Even at this stage in the adventure, it’s going to take something special to give us a better value night than we enjoyed on Friday the 13th at the 13th Note. £3, three bands and we got talking to one of the performers afterwards (and yes, Ione from Miss The Occupier was as good on the drums as the other two stickmen mentioned above).

It was a gig we went to on the toss of a coin. Very much a case of ‘heads, we win...’

NOW TO THE MUSIC....................

Fat Janitor's six-track debut mini-LP Lurk can be downloaded for free by clicking here

mp3 : Fat Janitor - Laughing Sick

Loads of information and links to Miss The Occupier can be found here

mp3 : Miss The Occupier - All Day

And finally....to learn more about the headline act, please click here

mp3 : From Our Hearts - Berlin/San Francisco
mp3 : From Our Hearst - Disco From Our Hearts
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Rewind
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Sunn 636

JC and Aldo. Wednesday 18 January 2012

THIS WAS ON THE CD SHELF NEXT TO YESTERDAY'S OFFERING

2012-01-17T06:00:00.003Z

And it couldn't be anymore of a contrast.

From the winner of the 1998 BRIT Award for Best British Male Solo Artist.

mp3 : Finley Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter (Abbey Road Version)
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter (Album Version)
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Everybody Knows
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Le Saint Des Delinquents

What can I say? It's a cracking wee pop song with a hint of reggae. I don't own anything else by the singer.

The BRIT was in recgnition of his debut LP Maverick A Strike which sold by the barrowload when released in 1997. By the time he got round to releasing a follow-up some three years later, his public had more or less deserted him and he's never troubled the charts since.

Strange fact pop-pickers. Finley Quaye is Scottish.

Born in Edinburgh in 1974 to a Scots mother. His dad, who he never knew when he was growing up, was from Ghana and a well-known jazz musician.

REVISITING AN OLD POST.......LET'S RAAAWWWKKK

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000Z

This wasn't originally intended to be a repeat post. I just wanted something loud to blow away the cobwebs on a Monday morning. But I did a quick search via google and found I composed these cliches back on Tuesday 19 January 2010:-

Sometimes I fall for something that isn't quite what folk who know expect of me. Such was the case back in Y2K when the heavy rotation of some promo videos on MTV2 expanded my horizons. (I had only just got a satellite dish installed and was amazed that there was a music video channel that played non-chart fodder). There was also a great wee 45 minute show on Sunday nights that was presented by a little-known fella from New Zealand by the name of Zane Lowe......

Anyways, I ended picking up what seems now to be a hard-to-get-hold-of CD by Queens Of The Stone Age. It came, as the image indicates, with a bonus disc of 5 songs plus a CD-ROM video.

If the truth be told, it's not an album I play all that often nowadays, but I still think the two singles are fantastic, and I've also a very soft spot for one of the tracks on the bonus disc for the fact that it plays nicely on an old hippy hit by Carly Simon away back when I was just a child. And here they are:-

mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - You're So Vague

And apologies to Drew - he left a comment behind 2 years ago saying that he hated it.

Here's the promo.

As I said, sorry Drew. And anyone else who hates it.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 17)

2012-01-14T06:00:00.002Z

From wiki:-

The Beta Band formed in 1996 around St Andrews musicians Steve Mason (vocals, guitar) and Gordon Anderson. The two had plans to call their group The Pigeons but later changed their minds. As they pulled together songs for their debut EP, Champion Versions, they added Robin Jones (drums) and John Maclean (DJ, sampler, keyboards). Steve Duffield was the original bassist but quit the band soon after recording Champion Versions. Not long after they were signed to Regal/Parlophone, Anderson became ill and decided to quit the band. He would later produce recordings under the name Lone Pigeon. The remaining members added Englishman Richard Greentree (bass) and solidified their lineup.

Champion Versions was released in July 1997 to critical acclaim not only for the music but also for the record's innovative cut-and-paste sleeve design (the work of John Maclean). Two further EPs followed in 1998: The Patty Patty Sound in March and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos in July. The EPs were all subjects of widespread critical praise, and all three appeared on the appropriately titled The Three E.P.'s collection in September 1998. The compilation was rated by Pitchfork in the Top 10 Albums of the year.

The band soon commenced work on their ambitious first full-length recording, pulling inspiration from sources as diverse as Jamaican reggae, Disney's movie The Black Hole and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." The record, simply titled The Beta Band, was released in June 1999. The first track, "The Beta Band Rap," managed to tell the band's back story over alternating bubblegum pop, rap and rockabilly backing tracks. Its eclecticism was representative of the rest of the album, which was widely perceived to be more stylistically diverse than the initial EPs. The mixed press turned decidedly negative when the band announced their own disdain for the record. They claimed that Regal's unreasonable deadline and tight budgets kept them from refining their improvisations into coherent songs.

Nonetheless, the album had not generally been as well-received as the preceding EPs, and the band returned to the studio with something to prove. The result of that session was the double A-side single "To You Alone"/"Sequinsizer", recorded by future The Go! Team producer, Gareth Parton. As early as August the previous year, Mason had discussed the possibility of releasing the tracks as a single and had urged fans to lobby Regal for the release. It was released on 24 January 2000. The single was received favourably and was widely regarded as a return to form for the band. The NME made it their "Single of the Week", and would later select it as one of the 50 greatest singles of 2000 in their end-of-year awards. "To You Alone" was also included on the soundtrack of the 2000 remake of the television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), released in March.

Even higher profile soundtrack exposure was to follow, with the band's music featuring prominently in a scene in the film High Fidelity (based on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name), released in late March 2000 in the U.S. and July in the UK. In the film, a record store owner played by John Cusack mentions the band by name ("I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band") and plays a minute or so of the song "Dry the Rain." This exposed the band to a wide range of new listeners, particularly in the U.S., where the band's profile had previously been borderline nonexistent.

A hiatus followed, during which Mason released his second King Biscuit Time EP. The band gradually gravitated back into the studio, this time recruiting noted UK producer Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, to oversee the process. The album, Hot Shots II, appeared in summer 2001, and was warmly received by critics and fans alike. It sacrificed much of the first album's experimentation for more boiled-down pop structure and hooks. The band had originally intended to release "Squares" (b/w "Won") as the leadoff single—a video had been filmed and promo discs issued—but when it transpired that another single ("Daydream in Blue" by I Monster) featuring a sample from the same sixties song by Gunther Kallman was to be released at around the same time, the band opted to release "Broke" instead. Two other singles were released from the album: "Human Being" in October 2001 and "Squares" in February 2002 (with the I Monster track long out of the charts). The band embarked on a long tour to support the album, at one point supporting Radiohead. In August 2002, they made #3 on Q magazine's list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

The band began demo sessions for their third album in September 2002. They entered the studio with producer Tom Rothrock in 2003 and managed to complete a number of tracks. However, the band were not pleased with the results, and nor were Regal executives. So it was that the band themselves produced the album. Famed producer Nigel Godrich was called in to mix the album, which was finally completed in early 2004. Lead single, "Assessment," was released on 12 April 2004, followed by the album Heroes to Zeros on 26 April. One of the tracks, "Liquid Bird" is based on a sample of Painted Bird by Siouxsie and the Banshees. A second single, "Out-Side", followed in July. To the surprise of most fans, the band announced their breakup on their official website on 2 August 2004. In November, they performed at the Summer Sundae festival and commenced a farewell tour. Their final show was at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms venue on 5 December 2004.

On 3 October 2005, the band released a 2-disc DVD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Film, featuring most of the band's videos and a selection of short films, television footage, documentaries as well as four songs recorded live at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 November 2004, one of the band's final performances. Also released on the same day was a 2 CD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Music, comprising a compilation disc of studio recordings and a disc containing the Shepherds Bush gig.

Since the split, Steve Mason has released music with his solo project King Biscuit Time, as well as new projects Black Affair and Good Face. In May 2010, he released the first record in his own name entitled "Boys Outside". Robin Jones and John Maclean have become The Aliens along with former Beta Band member Gordon Anderson (a.k.a. Lone Pigeon) and Richard Greentree is working with his new band The General and Duchess Collins.

Now I'm willing to admit that it's a bit of a cheat offering today. I'm not lucky enough to own a vinyl copy of the 12" EP that was Champion Versions. There were only 1000 of them made and they are exceedingly rare. But I do have a copy of the afore-mentioned Three EPs collection on which you will find:-

mp3 : The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
mp3 : The Beta Band - I Know
mp3 : The Beta Band - B+A
mp3 : The Beta Band - Dog Got A Bone

A genuinely innovative and impressive debut that still sounds fantastic almost 15 years later. All four songs .

Here's astunning and extended live version of the best-known song from the farewell tour:-

And said clip from High Fidelity:-

Brilliant stuff all round.

Next up Big Country.

IN PRAISE OF THE CD SINGLE : SOMEONE SOMEWHERE

2012-01-13T06:00:00.001Z

The Wannadies released many a great single in the 90s and the early part of the 20th Century. They were a hugely entertaining live act as well with one particular show some 10 years ago at King Tut's in Glasgow being a particular stand out.

They are probably best remembered for You And Me Song which was a bit of a flop when first released in 1994 but which soared to #18 some two years later after it featured in the soundtrack to the hit movie Romeo + Juliet - the updated one directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Despite their singles being infectiously catchy and radio-friendly, The Wannadies only enjoyed chart success on two further occasions - the aptly named Hit in 1997 reaching #20 and today's offering for your ears, which was the follow-up to the re-released You And Me Song:-

mp3 : The Wannadies - Someone Somewhere (single version)
mp3 : The Wannadies - Why
mp3 : The Wannadies - Goodbye

A paltry #38. The UK CD-single buying public were too busy looking out for the next great Britpop act to pay attention at that time to the great stuff coming out of Scandinavia. Fools.

Here's the LP version which tags on another minute of music at the end:-

mp3 : The Wannadies - Someone Somewhere

Happy Listening.

CHIRPY, CHEERY POP - PERFECT FOR LIFTING THE JANUARY GLOOM

2012-01-12T06:00:00.001Z

January is a depressing month. Tired and skint and after Christmas. Trying hard to get back into the swing of things at work. Dark mornings when you set off and even darker evenings when you come home. It's cold, it's wet or snowy. The joys of summer seem a long way off.

Sometimes though a chirpy cheery pop song comes on the i-pod shuffle and lifts that gloom.

mp3 : The Thrills - One Horse Town

Released in March 2003, it reached #18 in the UK singles chart. It was just about the band's biggest ever hit - but this equally jolly follow-up hit #17 a few months later:-

mp3 : The Thrills - Big Sur

Promo time.....

Told you. One listen and it feels like July.

REVISITING AN OLD POST.......BECK : DEVIL'S HAIRCUT

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000Z

TOUCHED BY THE HAND OF GOD

Well.....that could have been a headline you would have expected to read when this single was released in mid 1996.

It was a time when the mania and hype around Oasis was at its most ferocious with Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger having dominated the singles charts like no others in many a long time. Beck had recorded a critically-acclaimed LP entitled Odelay, but the first single lifted from it, Where It's At, hadn't done all that well, peaking at #61 in the USA and #35 in the UK.

But Noel Gallagher was a big fan of Beck and he offered to play on and produce a remix of the follow-up single, Devils Haircut. Fair play to the record label, they resisted the temptation to make the most of things by keeping the original version as the single with Noels' remix, along with another remix by Mike Simpson of The Dust Brothers made available as extra tracks along with a previously unreleased Beck song.

The Oasis connection worked to some extent in the UK, with the single reaching #22 (which is the third highest single position Beck has achieved over here). But it made no difference at all in the USA with Devils Haircut bellyflopping its way to #94.

mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut
mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut (Remix by Noel Gallagher)
mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut (Groovy Sunday Remix by Mike Simpson)
mp3 : Beck - Trouble All My Days

My own verdict? An excellent pop single on its own. But both remixes do manage to bring something extra along to the song - the extra guitar playing (by Noel Gallagher himself) makes it ideal for your indie discos, while Mike Simpson's work gives it a touch of soul.....

Happy Listening.

IN PRAISE OF BOOKS : IT'S LOVELY TO BE HERE by JAMES YORKSTON

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001Z

This wasn't a Xmas gift....it was one I picked up in the middle of last year while browsing round one of the few remaining branches of Fopp Records in Glasgow City Centre and one which was read in a few days. I'm giving it a mention here as I saw some copies on sale in the same shop for just £3 the other day which is an astonishing bargain given its list price of £9.99

The book is, as its cover indicates, a series of extracts from the diaries of James Yorkston written while he was on various tours. On the surface this might sound a bit dull and monotonous - you know the sort of thing....woke up with hangover, travelled to venue, did soundcheck, gig was great/mundane/OK/awful* (* delete as appropriate), got drunk afterwards and went to bed after crazy party/realising again how much I miss my family back home* ("delete as appropriate).

But this is nothing at all like that.

It begins, somewhat very helpfully to anyone who might not know too much about the author,with a 20-page introduction that explains how James Yorkston became part of the roster of the critically-acclaimed and increasingly popular indie-label of Domino Records. There then follows five separate chapters for tours covering 2004-2009 in different parts of the world promoting different records to different audiences.

There's a real touch of the Malcolm Middleton's about much of the writing with James seemingly always trying to convince himself that he is as good and talented a performer as everyone else is telling him. It's very clear from the outset that the author is indeed a true gent from his behaviour towards fellow artistes, including support acts or those above him on the bills and that he is one of life's genuinely decent blokes in an industry where egos run rampant and you can never really be sure of who your friends really are.

The book, like a few others in the genre (see in particular parts of the Luke Haines bio Britpop and My Part In Its Downfall which was previously reviewed here at TVV), is great at reminding anyone envious of the rock'n'roll lifestyle that much of it is mundane and repetitive with the added worry of never knowing in advance how well your performance will be received. It's worth remembering that to musicians this is a job first and foremost.....and I don't care what anyone says, there are days when nobody wants to go to their work.

Other recurring themes are the need to get a decent meal - James is a committed vegan and many a promoter has failed to grasp just what that means - and his feeling that only drink and Valium can get him through the fear of flying. I know all this sounds a bit downbeat and depressing, but at no point does the author seek your sympathy. There's a great deal of self-deprecating humour in the writing (another Middleton trait) and all told you cannot help but feel a lot of warmth and affection for the author....he's the sort of bloke you'd be proud and honoured to call a mate.

You really don't need to know anything about the records James Yorkston has released over the years to get something out of this book, and as I say, it's going for a ridiculously cheap price in Fopp Records just now, so don't be shy and give it a try.

mp3 : James Yorkston The Athletes - St Patrick
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - St Patrick (Vitus Mix)
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - Catching Eyes
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - Blue Madonnas

All four tracks lifted from a single released back in May 2002. It's a really beautiful song in my humble opinion.

Happy Listening

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 1 : THE GLASGOW HIP-HOP SCENE

2012-01-09T06:00:00.020Z

A LIFE IN A YEAR OF GIGS : #1 : THE GLASGOW HIP-HOP SCENE

As explained yesterday, 2012 is going to be the year of the live gig for TVV with your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo doing all we can to give you a flavour of all sorts of music in the raw from all sorts of venues.

We decided to dive-in at the deep end. In some ways we had no choice given how few live gigs are put on during the first week of any January. There was an option to head through to Edinburgh and take in something highly recommended by Song By Toad on a Friday night, but we wanted to get things going in Glasgow.

So it was on Thursday 5 January that we headed along to the 13th Note to take in the following attraction:-

“Deadlife Entertainment presents: MACKENZIE & SWAD (ep launch) / JAKEYBYTEZ / ERIN FRIEL / THE HEAVY DAMAGE

Mackenzie & Swad-EP Launch of 'Falling The Concept Of The Number 7' - Complex Lyricism With Some Outstandin Beats
Jakeybytez -Comedy Hip Hop Trio
Erin Friel-Young Talented Female Songwriter/Singer
The Heavy Damage-Abstract Hip Hop Duo
Doors being 8pm and the price reasonable blingin. £4 entry”

Neither of us had been to any hip-hop gigs before unless you include catching sets by famous Americans at outdoor festivals. We certainly had no idea that there was a Glasgow hip-hop scene that on the evidence of the turn-out at the 13th Note is reasonably thriving.

There must have been close on 100 folk in the small basement space that is one of the best and sweatiest venues in the city. And I reckon 98 of them knew one another. Guess which two stood out in the crowd??

The pre-gig beats came courtesy of Tesko. We didn’t recognise one single track but it was clear the stuff was going down well with the audience one or two of whom were dancing. At 9pm the first act took to the stage – and it was Erin Friel. In our heads when we see the description “young talented female songwriter/singer” we imagine some bed-sit angst with an acoustic guitar.

Not this time.

All 4 foot 11 inches of Erin grabbed the mic and proceeded to give us a few minutes of spoken word in a very strong Glasgow accent delivered at full speed. There was the occasional stumble along the way, possibly from nerves, but that was about the only grumble we had about her performance. She followed up with three songs again delivered with a heavy Glasgow accent, all of which seemed to draw on her life and environment, but there was no doubt she could sing and rap. One track, which may or may not have been called No one's an angel until they go to heaven was a particular standout. Erin finished with some more spoken word and after 15 minutes left to well deserved rapturous applause and acclaim.

The next 35 minutes were among the most surreal either of us have ever had at any gig. It was ‘Open Mic’ time.

It was opened by one bloke paying tribute to what he’d just seen with Erin’s set and with a warning that he didn’t want the usual nonsense spouted at open mic sessions about guys shagging burds and spurting all over their faces or bitch this, cow that. In other words....cut out the misogyny.

It was, we’re afraid to say, like a red rag to a herd of particularly pissed-off bulls as bloke after bloke took to the stage and spouted all sorts of nonsense about their masculinity and virility. They all seemed to have a mic in one hand and a pint of Tennent’s Lager in the other and it seemed to be a spoof of a bad sketch in some sort of Scottish comedy show.

Having said that, a couple of those who took part in the open mic session did stand out. The same bloke who had started it jumped up at one point and delivered another blistering rap along similar lines of his opener – he was right in the face of one of the other rappers who had been ranting about women and it seemed for a moment that it might turn into a violent confrontation. But then again, given that everyone in the venue seemed to know one another it might just have been part of an elaborate and very clever act. Our suspicions that the Open Mic session might be a bit more planned were raised when the final person took to the stage and delivered something that was as good as anything either of us had heard in our admittedly limited knowledge of the hip-hop genre. Not so much straight out of Compton as straight out of Crookston (or No Sleep Till Buarheid)

Ten minutes later and Jakeybytez took to the stage. To our dismay, there were at times 5, sometimes 6 and occasionally 7 of them on stage at one time. We say dismay as all of them had been part of the Open Mic session that we had for the most part just endured. Thankfully, there were only 4 mics available so we were spared all of them rapping at the one time.

At least we knew from the advance description that Jakeybytez (a great name incidentally) were a comedy hip hop act. But sorry guys, we just didn’t get it. Having said that, we were in a bit of a minority as their 20-minute set went down an absolute treat with the 13th Note posse. One thing we will say however – the shouty-along chorus of set-closer Out Comes Stanley was catchy as fuck.

By this time is about 10.20 and the MC announced the headline act MacKenzie and Swad would be up next in about 10 minutes time but for now we’d be left in the capable hands of Tesko. Again, all sorts of tunes were pumped out none of which we knew, but they showed that in the right hands, rap can be wonderfully entertaining to listen to.

Unfortunately by 10.45 there was still no sign of the headliners and with our last train back to our hoods due not long after 11 we cut our night short and headed to the station.

Overall, we had a good night. It was well worth the £4 entry fee....there are pubs not far from the 13th Note where it costs more than that for a bottle of beer...particularly for catching Erin Friel’s set and for learning that in a city famed for jingly-jangly guitar pop played by boys with occasionally fashionable haircuts there is a hip-hop scene that until the participants opened their mouths would not have looked out of place in any working-class city in North America....except 95% of the folk in the Glasgow venue were white.

Here's JC's favourite ever hip-hop effort:-

mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Television, The Drug Of The Nation

And a great suggestions from Jacques the Kipper for a fine example of hip-hop from closer to home

And finally, as JtK puts it....."to show where hiphop can travel to musically - one of the best singles of last 10 years". No arguments there....

More adventures next week as we seek out gig #2.

JC and Aldo. Monday 9 January 2012

THIS WEEK...I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN WATCHING.....

2012-01-08T06:00:00.013Z

One of the things that I have in mind to try and keep TVV a wee bit fresh in 2012 is to get along to many more live gigs and write about them. Not neccesarily a review as such.....as I will now try to explain.

I've made a new year's resolution to get to at least one live gig per week throughout 2012 (unless I'm away on holiday). But I'm not going to be seeking out the usual indie-schmindie sort of stuff that I listen to all the time. Instead it's going to be a smorgasbord of singers, acts and bands who will be taking up my evenings - and more often than not I'm going to have a bit of company.

Some of you may recall that last June's gig by Morrissey was reviewed by Aldo. Click here for a reminder.

I've been trying hard to get him more involved with TVV....he's a former work colleague of Jacques the Kipper and he's become a good mate of mine in recent years, particularly since he moved through to live and work in Glasgow about a year or so ago. I mentioned this idea of a gig per week and he said he was right up for going along.

We've already done our first event earlier in the week and the second is happening in a few days time. Our thoughts on what we saw at #1 of 2012 will be shared with you very soon.

mp3 : Rilo Kiley - It's A Hit
mp3 : We Are Scientists - It's A Hit

And finally today, in response to a lovely comment left the other day by Craig (one that was initially disturbing but quickly cleared up....) here's the cover version that started it all for the late great Mr MacKenzie:-

mp3 : Associates - Boys Keep Swinging

And the original promo to say happy 65th birthday Mr Bowie. See you with your bus pass on the top deck of a London Routemaster:-

And one final wee tribute:-

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 16)

2012-01-07T06:00:00.003Z

From wiki:-

Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake.The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965 children's book by French writer Cécile Aubry, later adapted for television and an anime. Though consistently lauded by critics, Belle & Sebastian's "wistful pop"has enjoyed only limited commercial success.

After releasing a number of albums and EPs on Jeepster Records, they are now signed to Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and Matador Records in the United States.

Belle and Sebastian were formed in Glasgow in 1996 by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David. Together they recorded some demos with Stow College music professor Alan Rankine, which were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produces and releases one single each year on the college's label, Electric Honey. As the band had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, Belle and Sebastian were allowed to record a full-length album, which was named Tigermilk. Murdoch once described the band as a "product of botched capitalism".

Tigermilk was recorded in three days and originally only one thousand copies were pressed on vinyl.These original copies now sell for up to £400. The warm reception the album received inspired Murdoch and David to turn the band into a full-time project, recruiting Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums) to fill out the group.

After the success of the debut album, Belle and Sebastian were signed to Jeepster Records in August 1996 and If You're Feeling Sinister, their second album, was released on 18 November. The album was named by Spin as one of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005, and is widely considered the band's masterpiece. Just before the recording of Sinister, Sarah Martin (violin/vocals) joined the band. Following this a series of EPs were released in 1997. The first of these was Dog on Wheels, which contained four demo tracks recorded before the real formation of the band. In fact, the only long-term band members to play on the songs were Murdoch, David, and Mick Cooke, who played trumpet on the EP but would not officially join the band until a few years later. It charted at #59 in the UK singles chart.

The Lazy Line Painter Jane EP followed in July. The track was recorded in the church where Murdoch lived and features vocals from Monica Queen. The EP narrowly missed out of the UK top 40, peaking at #41. The last of the 1997 EPs was October's 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light. The EP was made Single of the Week in both the NME and Melody Maker and reached #32 in the charts, thus becoming the band's first top 40 single.

The band released their third LP, The Boy with the Arab Strap in 1998, and it reached #12 in the UK charts. While often cited by critics as the band's best album, Arab Strap has nonetheless had its detractors. Pitchfork Media gave the album a particularly poor review, calling it a "parody" of their earlier work. In spite of this, the album garnered positive reviews from Rolling Stone, and the Village Voice, among others. During the recording of the album long time studio trumpet-player Mick Cooke was asked to join the band as a full member. The This Is Just a Modern Rock Song EP followed later that year.

In 1999 the band were awarded with Best Newcomer (for their third album) at the BRIT Awards, upsetting the much better known acts Steps and 5ive. That same year, the band hosted their own festival, the Bowlie Weekender. Tigermilk was also given a full release by Jeepster before the band started work on their next LP. The result was Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, which became the band's first top 10 album in the UK. A stand-alone single, "Legal Man", reached #15 and gave them their first appearance on Top of the Pops.

As the band's popularity and recognition was growing worldwide, their music began appearing in films and on television. The 2000 film High Fidelity mentions the band and features a clip from the song "Seymour Stein" from The Boy with the Arab Strap. Also, the title track from Arab Strap was played over the end credits of the UK television series Teachers.

Stuart David soon left the band to concentrate on his side-project, Looper, and his book writing, which included his The Idle Thoughts of a Daydreamer. He was replaced by Bobby Kildea of V-Twin. The "Jonathan David" single – sung by Stevie Jackson – was released in June 2001 and was followed by "I'm Waking Up to Us" in November. "I'm Waking Up to Us" saw the band use an outside producer for the first time. Most of 2002 was spent touring and recording a soundtrack album, Storytelling (for Storytelling by Todd Solondz, a movie which The New York Times has called one of the best 1,000 movies ever made). Campbell left the band in the spring of 2002, in the middle of the band's North American tour.

The band left Jeepster in 2002, signing a four album deal with Rough Trade Records. Their first album for Rough Trade, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, was released in 2003, and was produced by Trevor Horn. The album showed a markedly more 'produced' sound compared to their first four LPs,as the band was making a concerted effort to produce more "radio-friendly" music. In spite of this, the album was warmly received, and is credited with returning the band's "indie cred". The album also marked the return of Murdoch as the group's primary songwriter following the poorly-received Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant and Storytelling, both of which were more collaborative than the band's early work. A documentary DVD, Fans Only, was released by Jeepster in October 2003, featuring promotional videos, live clips and unreleased footage. A single from the album, "Step into My Office, Baby" followed in November 2003 – it would be their first single taken from an album.

The Thin Lizzy-inspired "I'm a Cuckoo" was the second single from the album. It achieved their highest chart position yet, reaching #14 in the UK. The Books EP followed, a double A-side single lead by "Wrapped Up in Books" from Dear Catastrophe Waitress and the new Your Cover's Blown. This EP became the band's third top 20 UK release and the band went on to be nominated for both the Mercury Music Prize and an Ivor Novello Award. In January 2005, B&S was voted Scotland's greatest band in a poll by The List, beating Simple Minds, Idlewild, Travis, Franz Ferdinand, and The Proclaimers, among others.

In April 2005, members of the band visited Israel and the Palestinian territories with the UK charity War on Want; the group subsequently recorded a song inspired by the trip titled "The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House", which would later be released as a B-side on 2006's "Funny Little Frog" single. Push Barman to Open Old Wounds, a compilation of the Jeepster singles and EPs, was released in May 2005 while the band were recording their seventh album in California. The result of the sessions was The Life Pursuit, produced by Tony Hoffer. The album, originally intended to be a double album, became their band's highest charting release to date upon its release in February 2006, peaking at #8 in the UK and #65 on the US Billboard 200. "Funny Little Frog", which preceded it, also proved to be their highest charting single, debuting at #13.

On 6 July 2006, the band played a historic show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The opening act at the 18,000 seat sell-out concert was The Shins. The members of the band see this as a landmark event, with Stevie Jackson saying, "This is the biggest thrill of my entire life". In October 2006, members of the band helped put together a CD collection of new songs for children titled Colours Are Brighter, with the involvement of major bands such as Franz Ferdinand and The Flaming Lips.

On 18 November 2008 the band released The BBC Sessions, which features songs from the period of 1996–2001 (including the last recordings featuring Isobel Campbell before she left the band), along with a second disc featuring a recording of a live performance in Belfast from Christmas 2001.

During the downtime, Murdoch has initiated the film and music project God Help the Girl, while Jackson and Kildea have toured with the reformed Vaselines.

In May 2010, the band stated on their website that they were "back in the studio working on some new songs" and later revealed that they were "in the final stages of recording the [new] album". Sarah Martin later stated in the Q&A section of their website that it would be a 14 track album.

On 17 July 2010, the band performed their first UK gig in almost four years to a crowd of around 30,000 at Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Southwold. They performed two new songs, 'I Didn't See It Coming' and 'I'm Not Living In The Real World'.

In a news update to the official website on 11 August 2010, it was revealed that their eighth studio album would be titled Belle & Sebastian Write About Love. The first single from the album, as well as the record's title track "Write About Love", was released in the US on 7 September 2010. The UK and international release was 25 September 2010.

In December 2010 Belle & Sebastian curated the sequel to the Bowlie Weekender in the form of Bowlie 2 presented by All Tomorrow's Parties.

And here's the three tracks from the afore-mentioned Jonathan David EP:-

mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - Jonathan David
mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It
mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner

Next up.....The Beta Band

SIX DAYS IN TO 2012....AND NOTHING BY THE SMITHS??

2012-01-06T06:00:00.001Z

TVV had a long running series in 2010/11 in which, every Saturday, one song by The Smiths would feature. I stopped after Part 50 back in August 2011 as I was bored with it and judging from the lack of comments felt most readers were too.

This really should have been featured before now:-

mp3 : The Smiths - I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

I have to say that I've no idea what 2012 holds for this blog. Sometimes I'm filled with enthusiasm and at other times I'm bored rigid. I'm grateful to occasional correspondent Mr John Greer for digging me out of the occasional hole when I can't think of anything meaningful to say, but he's away on holiday just now and so there's nothing pending in the in-tray from him.

I'm actually OK just now...I've a few ideas for postings in mind and I'm also quite content to go back and re-post some of the old stuff. But it is quite tough going to think you've something meaningful to say after nearly 1800 posts and gawd only knows how many mps (going by 4 per post - which is probably an underestimate - that gives you over 7000!!!). And I don't want to go down the road of simply posting an mp3 with the artwork from the single or LP.

A few of the bloggers who were around when I began have packed up their tents and headed to the more fashionable Facebook and Twitter. I'm on the former thanks to the need to keep up with news from some of my favourite singers and bands but I don't go near the latter. I'm an old-fashioned boy set in my ways.

So don't come here in 2012 expecting too much in the way of new and emerging music. There will be some, but not much, of that genre. It's going to be the same-old, same-old with music from the dim and distant past prevailing for the most part. Oh and the Saturday series for Scottish singles is coming back tomorrow. And hopefully Comrade Colin will soon be back on the trail telling us all the amazing story of Sarah Records.

This song also somehow seems apt today:-

mp3 : Wake The President - You Can't Change That Boy

Happy Listening

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 1)

2012-01-05T06:00:00.012Z

An occasional series for 2012. Most of the mp3s will have featured before over the past five and a bit years. But this will round everything up nicely and it will be in chronological order.

Shortly after the demise of Orange Juice in 1984, Edwyn collaborated with Paul Quinn to release a cover of Pale Blue Eyes but nothing was heard from him for a wee while after that. It was 1987 when his next bit of music was unleashed on the world. I've previously covered this release on TVV back in June 2010, and being lazy will simply reproduce it:-

Elevation Records was set up as a joint venture between Creation and WEA in 1987. It was a short-lived affair, with just six singles and two LPs neing released between April and November by The Weather Prophets, Primal Scream and Edwyn Collins. None of the releases made the Top50 and WEA pulled the plug because of the poor sales.

Edwyn's first single has the catalogue number ACID4:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Don't Shilly Shally
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - If Ever You're Ready

This was the extra track on the 12", which carries the catalogue number ACID4T:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Queer Fish

The 12" versions are no different from those on the 7". Years later, the demo version of Don't Shilly Shally would appear as one of the extra tracks on one of the versions of A Girl Like You, while a re-recorded If Ever You're Ready would be part of the 1989 LP Hope and Despair as well as the b-side of the 7" single 50 Shades Of Blue).

There was a great promo made for this single:-

And from a special one-off gig in Glasgow back in 2009 when Edwyn was backed by Teenage Fanclub:-

I sadly could not be there that night. Still breaks my heart thinking about it.

NOT TRAINSPOTTING

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001Z

There are many many more people out there way more qualified to talk about The Lilac Time than me. Here's the wiki article if you need further info just now.

They've been going, on and off, since 1987. They werent a band I ever picked up on until Jacques the Kipper included this fabulous bit of pop music from 1989 on one of the many compilation tapes he put together for me:-

mp3 : The Lilac Time - The Girl Who Waves At Trains

I cant believe this wasnt a hit single. It was tailor-made for radio.......

I actually picked up a mint condition vinyl copy of Paradise Circus, the LP from which 'Trains' is taken, for just $3 in Canada a few years back. It really is a gorgeous bit of work in many places and I will get round to praising it in full sometime soon.

Back to work today. Can't be arsed. I will probably put as much effort into the job as I've put into this particular post. Roll on home time.

IN PRAISE OF BOOKS : TWISTING MY MELON by SHAUN RYDER

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001Z

I asked for, and received, a lot of books from Santa and already I'm getting through them at a fair rate thanks in part, at long last, to me accepting at 48 and a half years of age, I need assistance when it comes to reading. So after going to an optician for the first time in my life the other day, I now wear glasses for smallprint - including books and newspapers.

Over the coming year I intend to highlight a few of the music books that I own - I think in terms of bios alone there's now around 100. Just something a wee bit different in an effort to keep the blog a wee bit fresh.

Twisting My Melon, the autobiography of Shaun Ryder is the latest music book I've devoured - and that's an accurate word given all 345 pages were finished in just over a day (it's one of the benefits of working in an office which closed down over the Festive period and forced all staff to take three precious days of annual leave to enable this). The description the book trade are using is:-

Rock'n'roll legend, reality TV star, drug-dealer, poet, film star, heroin addict, son, brother, father, husband, foul-mouthed anthropologist and straight-talking survivor, Shaun Ryder has been a cultural icon and a 24-hour party person for a quarter of a century. This title tells his story.

The raw, undiluted story of Shaun Ryder, lead singer of the Manchester band the Happy Mondays. Following the success of 2 huge albums, a Glastonbury headline slot and world tours in the 1990s, Ryder's drug troubles reached their height, Factory Records was brought to its knees and the Mondays split. This covers everything, from the Mondays to Black Grape to Ryder's success on "I'm A Celebrity".

It's understandable that "I'm A Celebrity" and "reality TV star" get such mentions given that the vast majority of the British public who are aware of Shaun only became so just a couple of years back when he did go into the Australian jungle with a list of Z-celebs for a few weeks. But fear not music fans, it is only from pages 336-342 that we get any great details about that adventure and its aftermath and the vast majority of this hugely entertaining read is all about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

As you'd expect given Shaun's chaotic lifestyle over the years, there's loads about drugs. But there's just as much about the sex and the music. (Don't worry, while sex is mentioned a fair few times it is only ever in passing - there's nothing graphic!!)

It is a genuine autobiography going back to childhood and his upbringing, his first jobs, his life of crime, his early and doomed marriage and the efforts to make it as a pop/rock star. The years of success and the subsequent downfall of both Happy Mondays and Black Grape are covered in detail with Shaun candidly admitting a lot was down to him but he's also used the book to set the record straight that other fellow musicians and latterly his management were often even more problematic.

What makes the book such a pleasure is its style. Early on Shaun acknowledges he's not the most literate person on the planet and it's clear that a ghost writer has worked alongside him - and full credit must go to Luke Bainbridge, who for years has been an excellent music writer on The Observer newspaper, for producing a work that never sounds anything less than Shaun Ryder talking to you down the pub or on a plane and giving you his lifestory. Every page bristles with that distinctive Salford accent.

The good times from the drugs - including just how much money he, the band and their entourage made from selling ecstasy back in the mid 80s are recounted in as much detail as Shaun can recall. But so too are the really desperate times - the true story of what happened in Barbados during the recording of the Yes Please album is superb reading - but the squalid life of a junkie when all seems lost is not glossed over either as evidenced by a short spell when Shaun lived in Burnley.

There's a few great anecdotes about life on the road with his bands - one of the best being how they dealt with someone they caught robbing the tour bus. The irony being how little mercy a thief showed another thief. There's also a fair bit of humility about Shaun - he doesn't fully accept the praise heaped on him as a lyricist by others, and he's quite happy to admit he took ideas from others in putting his songs together. Twisting My Melon itself was a phrase he nicked from a documentary about Steve McQueen....who was one of his great boyhood heroes along with David Essex!!

If you've got some spare cash or vouchers hanging around from Xmas, then do yourself a favour and grab a hold of this very readable, entertaining and often very funny autobiography. It's worth it alone for the family photos of Shaun as a kid.....who would have thought anyone that cute he would turn out quite the way he did??

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Bob's Yer Uncle
mp3 : Black Grape - Shake Well Before Opening
mp3 : Gorillaz - Dare (Soulwax mix)

(Apologies for the links not working previously.....bit of a cock-up on the admin side!!!
JC : 4 Jan 2012)

Enjoy.

GIG REVIEW : THE WEDDING PRESENT : GLASGOW GARAGE : 29 DECEMBER 2011

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000Z

I'm the first to admit that gigs-wise 2011 was less action-packed than any other over the past 30 years. I've a cunning plan in mind to make sure 2012 is a lot more productive...more on that in the coming days.

But 2011 was seen out with a great night out. But you wouldn't expect anything else from a night in the company of David Gedge & Co.

The thing is....before you go along you know what to expect. Around 90 minutes of fast and furious indie-pop played with huge energy and at high volume. With no encore. And at least once in the set, the audience will go bonkers as loads of late 40 and early 50-somethings turn back the clock and pogo down the front to the strains of a Wedding Present classic. It's usually Kennedy or something from way back in the catalogue.

This was a wee bit different.

The tour was a very small one - called Seeing out 2011, it involved just four gigs. One at a very small venue in the village of Leslie in Fife (at which Mike from Manic Pop Thrills was lucky enough to snare a ticket given he lives close by - and here's his review) and the others in Glasgow, Leeds and London. Recent tours have seen the band, for the most part, begin at a blistering pace, slow it down a little and finish on a bit of a high. This particular set however was a real slow-burner with a fair sprinkling of new material (that's the phrase the great man used himself from the stage) combined with the older. more familiar material. As ever, when a band has such a fantastic back catalogue and play for just 90 minutes, it's very easy to mump and moan about what wasn't played rather than was. But I'm not going to fall into that trap other than to say, some that I expected to hear didn't get aired but others that I never thought I'd hear - for instance Queen Anne and Perfect Blue from the Take Fountain LP and the 1992 single Loveslave - were played and played quite brillaintly. And one of the new songs - Deer In The Headlights - sounded as good as anything else played in the set.

But the best (almost) was left to the end. The three closing tracks were You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends, Kennedy and Don't Talk, Just Kiss. They got the biggest roars of the night as the audience to a man and a woman danced their collective socks off and then went into the night with huge grins on their faces and a ringing in their ears that wasn't unpleasant.

My personal highlight was a stunning rendition of Dalliance that built up from the oh-so-quiet start into the white noise middle and end that was such a feature of the entire Seamonsters LP of 1992. Kind of similar to this live version of it from the time:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Dalliance (Black Sessions)

But believe it, the 2011 version was way more sonic. Could even have been a tribute to My Bloody Valentine.

The great news as far as I'm concerned is this:-

The Wedding Present have announced the dates of their 2012 concert tour of North America.

Although the tour has been primarily arranged to celebrate the release of the band’s forthcoming album [which will be out in March 2012] they are also taking the opportunity to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the release of their classic ‘Seamonsters’ album. As such, Seamonsters will be played in its entirety as part of the set each and every night from 20 March onwards. The band’s specific appearances at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, are yet to be confirmed, but the other dates are as follows…

March – April, 2012 : North America

14-17/03 : Austin, TX, USA – ‘South By Southwest’ Music Festival [Actual appearances TBC]
20/03 : Washington, DC, USA – Rock And Roll Hotel with The Jet Age
21/03 : Brooklyn, NY, USA – Bell House with The Jet Age
22/03 : New York, NY, USA – Le Poisson Rouge with The Jet Age
23/03 : Allston, MA, USA – Brighton Music Hall with The Jet Age
25/03 : Toronto, ON, Canada – Horseshoe Tavern with The Jet Age
26/03 : Pontiac, MI, USA – Pike Room with The Jet Age
27/03 : Chicago, IL, USA – Double Door with The Jet Age
28/03 : Minneapolis, MN, USA – 400 Bar with The Jet Age
30/03 : San Diego, CA, USA – Casbah
31/03 : Los Angeles, CA, USA – Troubadour
01/04 : San Francisco, CA, USA – Independent
05/04 : Vancouver, BC, Canada – Biltmore Cabaret
06/04 : Seattle, WA, USA – Crocodile
07/04 : Portland, OR, USA – Mississippi Studios

The European leg of the tour will follow later in the year. I cannot wait. I might even fly to one of the North American gigs....Toronto being a possibility.

The boy Gedge still has it. By the bucketload.

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Kennedy (live)

This particular version was part of a show for John Peel's 50th Birthday. Recorded on 29 August 1989. The version from 29 December 2011 was just as energetic.

Some footage:-

The latter is one of THE great pop promos of all time......

Dont even bother to argue.

MORE BITS OF BLOGGING TRADITION

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000Z

mp3 : Altered Images - Happy New Year

It might only be 23 seconds long, but the sentiment is there.

Here's hoping 2012 turns out to be a good 'un for all concerned.

mp3 : Ballboy - Welcome To The New Year

And my oh my, haven't this lot's image changed a fair bit since 1983......

Tune in all year for more random and incoherent thoughts from your humble scribe.

OUT WITH THE OLD......

2011-12-27T06:00:00.016Z

As 2011 draws to an end, many bloggers - including most mt favourite places to visit as lsited over on the right hand side - will already be looking back over the past 12 months and highlighting some of their personal best ofs in terms of music, books and other entertainment.

I'm sorry for an readers who are fans of such items for it's no something going to feature at TVV.

2011 has not been a great year. Most of you will know why. I thought that 2010 was bad enough - and by gawd it was - but the past 12 months have been just horrible for the most part. Yes, there's been some memorable and happy times to recall but they've easily been outnumbered by the depressing and sad days. As such, I can't look back with much fondness and say why such a piece of music has been great....partly as I didn't find myself in the mood all that often to get out there and buy new things.

It's also why I wasn't able to contribute to the end of year round-up over at the Contrast Podcast. Tim looks for everyone to put forward their 50 favourite tracks, and based on this comes up with a short-list for further round of voting after which we are asked to record an introduction. I just didn't get involved and I feel bad about it....

I do urge you all to pay a visit to the Contrast Podcast in the coming weeks as Tim unveils what will be a hugely entertaining and diverse selection of songs - and all of the introductions will be fantastic as well.

For what it's worth, the three LPs I've listened most to this year have been, in alphabetical order:-

Adam Stafford - Build A Harbour Immediately
Butcher Boy - Helping Hands
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older

They might turn out to be my favourite records of 2011 but given that I've just received a whole bundle of CDs for Xmas, as well as there being about a dozen I've bought but never yet got round to listening to, that could yet change.

One thing I can say music-wise about 2011 - and I'm leaving myself open to all sorts of criticism given that everyone else out there seems to love it - and that's how bitterly disappointed I was with Let England Shake by PJ Harvey.

I've been a fan from the outset, all the way back to the early 90s when she first emerged with singles like Sheela-Na-Gig and Dress. I'm not saying I've loved everything she has released - like everyone else with a career that spans two decades there will be the occasional recording that isn't as good as precious material. It took me a while to buy Let England Shake as I had a few other things to occupy my foremost thoughts. It would have been around the month of May that I got a hold of it - some three months after its release and by which time it had been labelled a masterpiece.

First listen did nothing for me. But then again, that sometimes happens even with records that soon become part of my own list of all-time classics. Also, I might not have been in the right frame of to take it all in.

But it wasn't any better second or third time around. Or the fourth. And since then the fisth and sixth. There might have been a seventh but I'm not sure. In other words, I've given the LP every possible opportunity to grow on me but it hasn't.

It's not that I'm against the idea of protest songs - you only need to have a glance through the vinyl and CD collection to realise that. But I just can't bring myself to agree with those who have said that this is a powerful, inventive, profound and passionate album that captures the anger so many of us feel about the state of the world and mankind's awful ability to wage war on one another for no good reason. Lyrically, it is all of that. Musically, it is so dreary, dull and tedious.

Listening to it took me back to the mid-late 70s when so many friends made me sit for hours with them listening to Pink Floyd LPs and trying to convince me that they were all incredible works of art. To some folk they were and still are. I was bored rigid. Maybe I just din't 'get it'. Today Pink Floyd still bore me rigid and I don't get their popularity.

Let England Shake is my 21st Century equivalent of Dark Side Of The Moon. It's likely to always be high on the all-time lists. Just don't expect me to fall in line.

JC, Tuesday 27 December 2011

I HOPE YOU'RE NOT HAVING A BLUE MONDAY

2011-12-26T06:00:00.001Z

The day after Christmas can sometimes be a bit of an anti-climax. I hope it is not the case with you dear readers.

The folk I feel sorry for are those in the retail sector. They probably finished at 6pm on Saturday night after about three or four weeks in a row without a day off during which time they dealt with customers who were clueless and often rude. I certainly saw some supermarket check-out staff get a mouthful of abuse because the shop had the temerity to have run out of some foodstuffs and those who left it till the last minute were disappointed and in some cased angry.

Over here, 26th December is referred to as Boxing Day. Thought I'd find a track with a tenuous link to the theme of boxing for today...and that linked in with the day of the week. It was one of three on a belter of a CD single from 1990:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck (Vince Clarke mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck (Paul Oakenfold Mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays and Karl Denver - Lazyitis - one armed boxer

Enjoy.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 4)

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001Z

It's the tradition round these parts:-

mp3 : Sultans of Ping - Xmas Bubblegum Machine

Hope Santa has been great to you and your loved ones.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 3)

2011-12-24T11:00:00.000Z

This is for my brother and his family in Florida...and my mum and dad who are over there visiting the grandkids this festive period.

He was lying in the half light
Of Christmas and Glasgow
Thinking and talking
Talking to St Enoch about
Christmas and Glasgow
Drinking and talking

And the sweet smell
Of the Kelvin Hall Circus
And the sweet smell lingered
Of her perfume and kisses

He needed to take one step
He was taking one step back

She knows the only danger
Of Christmas And Glasgow
Is you love too much
And she's thinking of years
At Christmas and Glasgow
When it meant too much

And walking in frost
Down in Cowcaddens
And the sweet smell
As they were lost in the garden

She needed to take one step
She was taking one step back

They could hear choirs, those heavenly choirs
Choirs of angels, those heavenly choirs

They needed to take one step
They were taking one step back

Santa will be coming down the chimney with tunes for you tomorrow.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 2)

2011-12-23T06:00:00.002Z

This was a bugger to sort out for you as the a-side to this 12" single is a double-grooved record, which means you've got to muck about with it a bit to make sure you get both versions of the song as available on the vinyl:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Eve)
mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Day)

Now these might very well be the wrong way round. I've never been sure which is which - I'm basing it on the fact that 'Eve' is listed before 'Day' and is the one the needle slips easiest into.

The b-side is a lot easier:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Present)
mp3 : Sugracubes - Petrol (live)

Unsurprisingly, the sleeve gives a big thank you to Jim and William Reid.

And here's the promo of the single version:-

And finally.....the original and best version:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Icelandic version)

One more posting before Santa arrives.......

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 1)

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002Z

Released in 1981. It's on Les Disques du Crepuscule. Here's what it says on the back of the sleeve:-

Yet another Christmas album. This one comes from Belgium, a small country which has contracted debts from its partners all around the world. In debt we are towards the artists who have written the featured selections collected under the title 'Chantons Noel'. Let's sing Christmas.

Some will enjoy it, some will dislike it, some will be surprised.

On this particular day where a smooth tender cloud seems to transform all virtualities into possibilities, our best wishes are to those who don't live up to their abilities.....

There's 13 tracks all told, many of them instrumentals. Some of the acts are well known, others less so. Here's a wee bit about each of them:-

mp3 : Aztec Camera - Hot Club Of Christ

If any readers don't know about Aztec Camera or Roddy Frame, then they've stumbled upon this blog by mistake. Surely one of the strangest tracks the boy wonder ever recorded. Throw some spare change into the collection box sir??

mp3 : The Names - Tokyo Twilight

Brussels new wave band originally active between 1979 and 1982, associated with Factory Records and Les Disques du Crepuscule. During this period the group worked extensively with producer Martin Hannett.

mp3 : Paul Haig - Christiana

See what I said about Aztec Camera??? Ditto for Paul Haig.......

mp3 : The Swinging Buildings - Praying For A Cheaper Christmas

Although unconfirmed, the mysterious Swinging Buildings are rumoured to be New Order in disguise…(have a listen...Hooky is in there somewhere surely....)

mp3 : Soft Verdict - For Christmas Only

Soft Verdict is the name under which Wim Mertens started his musical career. Soft verdict is not a band but more a collection of musicians under the direction of Mertens who performed with him. Oh and Wim Mertens is a Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist who in March 1998 Mertens became the Cultural Ambassador of Flanders.

mp3 : White Birds - Possessed By The Stars

aka Minny Pops, a Dutch electronicgroup who released four albums during the early 80's before disbanding in 1986.

mp3 : The Durutti Column - One Christmas For Your Thoughts

aka Vini Reilly. Stalwart of Factory Records who would later write and record with Morrissey as the Smiths frontman embarked on his solo career.

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire - Invocation

Cabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement. Their earliest performances were dada-influenced performance art, but Cabaret Voltaire later developed into a group that blended pop with dance music, techno, dub house and experimental electronic music.

mp3 : Tuxedomoon - Weihnachtrap

Tuxedomoon is an avant-garde, electronic-oriented collective whose music ranges from new wave pop to jazz fusion to more experimental synthesizer soundscapes (usually including saxophone and violin), which were frequently married in concert to performance-art shows. Tuxedomoon was formed in San Francisco in 1977 and landed an opening slot for Devo in 1978 at around the same time they cut their first single.

mp3 : Simon Topping - Peep Show International

Another Factory stalwart, having once been part of A Certain Ratio and Quando Quango.

mp3 : Thick Pigeon - Silhouettes

A minimalist duo who operated on the fringes of synth music and art rock. Instrumentalist Carter Burwell has since gone on to provide soundtrack work for around 50 motion pictures whilst singer Stanton Miranda has worked with Durutti Column and Sonic Youth not to mention being a fully-fledged actress. A 1984 LP ny Thick Pigeon was recorded with Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order.

mp3 : Michael Nyman - Cream or Christians

Michael Nyman an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano. His operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Letters, Riddles and Writs, Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, Facing Goya, Man and Boy: Dada, Love Counts, and Sparkie: Cage and Beyond, and he has written six concerti, four string quartets, and many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band, with and without whom he tours as a performing pianist.

mp3 : Magazzini Criminali - Honolulu 25 Dicembre 1990

In English the name means 'Criminal Stores'. They were (and indeed could well still be) an avant-garde theatre group from Florence.

And of all the bits of music I've ever featured on TVV....Magazinni Criminal is just about the strangest.

As the sleeve notes say.....'Some will enjoy it, some will dislike it, some will be surprised.' Most I reckon will be bemused.

ASK ME I WON'T SAY NO ( HOW COULD I?) (again.....)

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000Z

As mentioned yesterday, I'm re-posting some old stuff in response to a request from a reader. Here's something dating back to April 2009:-

RADIO FRIENDLY UNIT (NON) SHIFTER

All that talk the other day of Paul Haig (and again I'd like to thank everyone who lent their support) got me thinking of other great songs to come out of Edinburgh. And right away, this piece of magic from 1986 sprung to mind:-

mp3 : Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - The Rattler

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie actually formed in Bathgate, which is a small town some 15 miles or so west of the capital, and their first single in 1984 was recorded (as The Mackenzies) on the record label of a local further education college.

This follow up single was put out on the Glasgow-based Precious organisation, which was the home to the soon chart-conquering Wet Wet Wet, but despite a lot of support from local radio stations across central Scotland (with one of the lines changed to avoid references to eating beavers), it flopped. There continued to be a real buzz about Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - this was a time when Scottish acts like Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry and the afore mentioned Wets were hugely popular and GMM were lumped in with all of them - so it was hardly a surprise that they ended up signing to a major label, in this case Capitol Records, in early 1988.

The first couple of singles flopped, and so band and label decided to release a re-recorded version of The Rattler which hit #37 in the UK charts in 1989. Debut LP, Good Deeds And Dirty Rags, did make the Top 30 a few months later, but a fourth single from the album sold poorly.

While some of the songs were as radio-friendly and catchy as many of their Scottish contemporaries, GMM never quite took off as expected - this was probably down to the fact that live they were quite a different proposition.

For instance, the lead guitarist was a huge bear of a man who was once part of a local punk outfit (and still looked as if that's where he'd rather be) and there was a strange gothic-looking girl on keyboards and backing vocals, and you could never accuse them of being cuddly and photogenic...

With no real sustainable success, the record label lost interest, and while the band soldiered on for a few more years, they ended up as a mere footnote, albeit one that left us four LPs, about a dozen 45s/EPs and a couple of live recordings.

After they broke up, the gothic backing singer went onto find real fame and fortune :-

mp3 : Garbage - Queer

Yup, it was Shirley Manson who used to stand at the back of the stage with GMM, and before long she was a huge star the world over as lead singer in the band put together by Butch Vig, previously best-known as producer of Nevermind, the breakthrough album by Nirvana.....with whom Big John Duncan, the guitarist with GMM, occasionally played live.

It's a small world y'know....

My copy of the 1986 single is well worn out, and the mp3 of The Rattler is taken from a CD compilation that gathers up all sorts of indie songs from that year, but I have managed to salvage one of the b-sides:-

mp3 : Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - Candlestick Park

Happy Listening.

(And here's something since tracked down on you tube)

It still is a cracking tune..........

ASK ME I WON'T SAY NO ( HOW COULD I?)

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000Z

A reader writes:-

Just went on to the website after getting home from my works xmas party at The Arches. A colleague recommended the vinyl villain after talking about music from the 80's and all the scottish bands we listened to.

Been trying to get hold of the Fruits of Passion and Goodbye Mr Mckenzie for ages. Saw your write-ups but couldn't download the tracks.

Is there any other way of downloading them ?

Cheers

Ian

It will be a while before they come round on the Scottish singles series, so as an early Xmas present to Ian (and other fans of the groups), here's a reminder of what I said back in May 2010 and how it all sounds:-

I know that long time reader Son Of The Rock is not the only fan of this mid-80s combo, who if memory serves me correctly were from a town called Coatbridge which is just 10 miles or so east of Glasgow, as I've had a couple of e-mails over the years asking for postings.

The thing is, they never made that much of an impact on me at the time, and having got my hands not all that long ago on a second-hand copy of their only LP, I think it is a sound that hasn't dated all that well, but hey, I'm happy to let others listen and make their own minds up.

1986 was the year you need to look at if you want to know more about Fruits Of Passion, who were Sharon Dunleavy (vocals), Glenn Gibbons (guitar), Davey Fullerton (rhythm guitar) and Stephen Alexander (bass). They released a 10-track album on Siren Records, which was a subsidiary of Virgin Records. Four of the tracks were released as singles, none of which troubled the charts:-

mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Love's Glory
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Kiss Me Now
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Everything (I Ever Wanted)
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - No More Tears

There's no denying that Sharon Dunleavy had a powerful voice - very reminscent at times of Maria McKee. But the tunes were a bit too polished and comfortable for my liking, although looking back maybe the band came along just a wee bit too soon to have made it. There's a fair bit of the sort of sounds that would propel Deacon Blue and Texas to fame and fortune just a couple of years later...

THE MONDAY CORRESPONDENT

2011-12-19T06:00:00.001Z

FEED THE WORLD....

In a recent episode of Songwriters on Sky Arts channel, Midge Ure explained how the Band Aid single, Do They It’s Christmas? came about,

“I was up in Newcastle ready to go on The Tube music show with Ultravox. I was talking to Paula Yates, when Bob Geldof came on the phone ranting about the footage from Africa he’d just seen on the BBC news.

He asked to speak to me, he told me he’d found it upsetting and obscene and asked if I could help him come up an idea to raise £100,000 as he didn’t think he had the strength to do it alone.

We met a few days later at his house to come with ideas of what to do. The only thing we could do was record a song.

It was October.

So it had to be a Christmas song, we couldn’t record an old standard like White Christmas or anything like that, as half the money would straight to Irving Berlin’s or whoever’s estate.

Bob thought he had the bare bones of a song that had already been rejected by the rest of the Boomtown Rats, so that told how good it was!!!!

We decided to go our separate ways and met up later in the week to see what ideas we had.

I went home and switched on my small Casio toy keyboard that I kept in the kitchen. I started by switching on the Christmas bells chime and I very quickly came up with the melody.

We met up at my house later that week.

Bob arrived carrying a guitar that looked like he had just retrieved it from a nearby skip, no parts of this thing pointed in the right direction.

He played his idea two or three times, every time it sounded completely different.

Bob had the idea to get Trevor Horn, the hot producer of the time, to produce it, but because of his commitments, he said it would take six weeks to have it ready.

I then took both our ideas to my wee studio at the bottom of my garden; I had the job of trying to piece together these two totally incompatible ideas together.

Meanwhile, Bob got on the phone to round up the troops and bludgeoning people to turn up to sing at the recording.

It is a strange song, as it doesn’t have a chorus and we didn’t have the anthemic ‘Feed the World’ chant until the day of the recording.

Bob felt it needed something and we came up with that as an answer after remembering John Lennon’s Merry Xmas War Is Over.

We glued that on at the end”.

And so the charity single was born.

Mr John Greer, Monday 19 December 2011

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 15)

2011-12-17T06:00:00.001Z

From wiki:-

The Bathers are a Scottish Chamber pop band.

Formed in Glasgow in 1985 after the band Friends Again split up, they are essentially the vehicle for singer-songwriter, Chris Thomson. They have released seven albums.

Thomson secured a deal with Go! Discs Records and released the debut album Unusual Places To Die in 1987. The album gained an enthusiastic reception, but label politics limited its success. Thomson went back to the drawing board and produced the follow-up Sweet Deceit. The album was released in 1990 by Island Records and was, again, critically acclaimed. A flirtation with two key members of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions followed in the form of the Bloomsday album Fortuny.

The Bathers then signed to the German label Marina Records and three albums were released – Lagoon Blues (1993), Sunpowder (1995) and Kelvingrove Baby (1997) – by a new band that now included string players and arrangers Mark Wilson and Iain White, keyboard player Carlo Scattini and percussionist Hazel Morrison. Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins recorded several tracks with the band on 1995's Sunpowder, and performed live with them in Glasgow.

Thomson enjoyed a good relationship with Marina, but felt that a label nearer home would be preferable. The Bathers' sixth album, Pandemonia appeared on Wrasse Records in 1999. The label also released Desire Regained in 2001, a compilation of twenty re-recordings of the band's best known work.

In 2005 The Scotsman put Sweet Deceit as one of their five lost Scottish classic albums. In 2003, the same newspaper listed Kelvingrove Baby at number 42 in its 100 Best Scottish Albums.

I've long intended to do a really lengthy feature on the genius of Chris Thomson, but never quite had the ability to pen the words to do justice to his voice and talents. The Bathers are indeed a national treasure, and while there's been seven albums ( the compilation seeing all the songs re-recorded means it is counted as well), there's just a couple of singles with today's offering dating back to 1987:-

mp3 : The Bathers - Fancy Dress
mp3 : The Bathers - Ju Ju Peach

Neither track it has to be said is atypical of most of the material that features on the LPs. If you can get your hands on the compilation LP mentioned above, it's a great way to begin to learn more about them. And while it is becoming increasingly difficult to get Bathers material, visit this page on a record label site and you'll find some LPs at a more than reasonable price.

Next up in this series is Belle & Sebastian.

I GREW TIRED OF THIS ONE QUITE QUICKLY

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000Z

Following his departure from The Stone Roses in April 1996, guitarist John Squire quickly got back into the music industry with his new band The Seahorses with who he enjoyed a fair amount of commercial success.

All of their recorded output was released in 1997, beginning with #3 hit Love Is The Law in April, followed by three more Top 20 singles over the coming months (including one co-written with Liam Gallacher) as well as a Do It Yourself, a #2 hit on the album charts (it was stopped from reaching the top spot by a Gary Barlow LP).

I was never a huge fan of The Stone Roses, so wasn't all that bothered with the news of the formation of this new band. But I did quite enjoy the debut single the first few times I heard it on the radio (in those pre-internet days it was the only way to hear new music other than hanging around record shops).

mp3 : The Seahorses - Love Is The Law
mp3 : The Seahorses - Dreamer
mp3 : The Seahorses - Sale Of The Century

I probably played it about three times and got bored with it. It's one of those that you hear on a radio and sounds catchy. Then you listen more carefully at home and realise that it's as dull as dishwater. And wholly unoriginal. Plod-rock.

Indeed, I don't think I've actually played the CD in 14 years until just now. None of the tracks had ever been transferred to mp3 and the PC hard drive until now (and they've immediately been removed to free up some space)

So why feature it if I hate it so much? Turns out that the single edit is quite different from the more commonly available LP version - it clocks in some 4 minutes shorter as it doesn't feature the guitar solo (see how I'm doing you a favour). And some of you may well be fans......

Enjoy the reunion folks. It will be fine if the guitarist doesn't play solos.

IN PRAISE OF.....30 SOMETHING BY CARTER USM

2011-12-15T06:00:00.002Z

While recently re-reading the excellent Goodnight Jim-Bob : On The Road with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (a highly recommended book available from its publishers here), I was struck by the following passage:-

On May the 10th backstage at the Carlisle Sands Centre we received a phone call to tell us that 1992 The Love Album had entered the charts at number 1. That surely should have felt a lot better than it did. I was cock-a-hoop head over heels as happy as a sandboy's dog with two tails called Larry when 101 Damnations went into the Top 40 and even more so when 30 Something went to Number 8. Straight in at Number 1 should have killed me. But for some reason it was a bit of an anti-climax. Maybe it was because we expected it. All the planning and marketing and not releasing it the same week as Iron Maiden's new album. I don't know. We opened a couple of bottles of champagne on stage that night and sprayed them all over the audience like the Schumacher brothers but it should have meant a lot more. And yet that Sunday evening in Carlisle I was almost disappointed.

Maybe the unsaid thing from Jim Bob is that he knew the band's poorest LP to date had been the one to take them to the pinnacle and it left a bit of a sour taste.

The band had come a very very long way in a short period of time. Late 1989 had seen the release of the critically acclaimed 101 Damnations on Big Cat Records. An LP that wiki describes perfectly as a critical account of life south of the River Thames, full of black humour, cynicism, wordplay and puns - as indeed was so much of Carter USM's output over the years.

February 1991 saw the release of 30 Something on Rough Trade Records. It was at this time that I got my first ever live experience of the band with an incredible performance in the tiny space at Glasgow Tech Students Union (Jacques the Kipper was with me that night). I caught them live again later in 1991 and again was amazed by the show. They were energetic, lively and hugely entertaining. And in 30 Something, they were promoting what I reckon is one of the best and most overlooked LPs in critics lists - one that has stood the test of time more than 20 years on.

It got them a move to a major label - to Chysalis Records - and 1992 was the year when the UK and much of Europe went bonkers for Jim Bob and Fruitbat, much of it lovingly recalled in the book. There were headlining slots at festivals and just over a year after not selling out a student union, Glasgow was treated to two nights at the Barrowlands - they could just as easily have packed the 12,000 capacity SECC. But the songs on 1992 The Love Album seemed for the most part a bit dull compared to what had appeared on the first two records.

Reputedly costing less than £4000 to record and produce, 30 Something is a masterpiece. From the opening snatched and oh-so accurate dialogue lifted from an episode of Red Dwarf:-

"When You're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like and still climb into your 26-inch trousers and zip them closed. But then you reach that age....24, 25...your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag and without any warning at all you're suddenly a fat bastard"

....all the way through to the melancholy and sadness of the closing track The Final Comedown, there isn't a wasted moment across its entire 41 minutes

There's great passion, energy and humour in the lyrics even when they are dealing with really dark and serious issues such as alcoholism, racism, bullying, domestic violence and depression. There's a great warning of the perils of consumerism which includes a great use of a sample of the voice of Joe Strummer and so many attacks on the state of UK society with the have and have-nots thanks to Thatcherism. For me.....it is the most punk of albums with an electronic twist. And as I say, one that today still hasn't lost its ability to have me jumping around the room like an idiot (even if nowadays I do it in my head rather than in reality....)

Enjoy it in its entirety. But please, please, please......if its something new to you and you like it.....go track down a copy.

mp3 : Carter USM - Surfin' USM
mp3 : Carter USM - My Second To Last Will And Testament
mp3 : Carter USM - Anytime Anyplace Anywhere
mp3 : Carter USM - A Prince In A Paupers Grave
mp3 : Carter USM - Shoppers' Paradise
mp3 : Carter USM - Billy's Smart Circus
mp3 : Carter USM - Bloodsport For All
mp3 : Carter USM - Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss
mp3 : Carter USM - Say It With Flowers
mp3 : Carter USM - Falling On A Bruise
mp3 : Carter USM - The Final Comedown

Immense. At almost 50 something it still speaks to me.

THE WEDNESDAY CORRESPONDENT

2011-12-14T06:00:00.002Z

PRODUCTION VALUES

I recently heard Steve Lillywhite telling how he got his break in the music industry, working as a tape operator at the Philips Studios.

Then while working for Polygram Records, he got the opportunity to produce some demo tapes for the first incarnation of Ultravox then called Tiger Lily with a lead singer named Dennis Leigh, who also changed his name to John Foxx.

He described their early sound as Roxy Music meets punk or arty punk. It was a sound he preferred to hardcore punk. Melody has always been important to Lillywhite.

He then moved to Island Records and assisted with the recording of this hit single:-

mp3 : Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do

While producing Johnny Thunders’ album So Alone a visitor to the studio was Nils Stevenson, manager of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He loved the drum sound produced by Lillywhite and immediately wanted him to re-record the Banshees’ proposed first single Hong Kong Garden.

Back in the day 1978, the band felt it was uncool to have their single on their album, so when he went to record their debut The Scream, the single that reached number 7 in the UK charts did not feature, although it did on the reissue in 2005.

mp3 : Siouxsie and The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

The album was released to great critical acclaim and even recently was voted inside the top 50 debut albums of all time by Uncut magazine.

That production made a highly sought after producer and he became Island Records ‘in house’ producer working with everyone from Steel Pulse, The Psychedelic Furs, Peter Gabriel, Toyah, Talking Heads and U2. Lillywhite remembers that during this period he was so prolific, he once recorded a Psychedelic Furs album in eleven days.

His relationship with U2 started with him producing their first three albums (1980-83) and in 2004 he returned to co-produce How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and in 2009 he also co-produced No Line on the Horizon.

Some of my favourite Lillywhite produced material is on XTC’s album’s Drums and Wires and Black Sea.

mp3 : XTC - Helicopter
mp3 : XTC - Respectable Street

He described them as a great band to work with, Andy Partridge as a musical genius and the group from Swindon, as being a bit like ‘country bumpkins’ who loved to go for a pint down the local pub. The BBC produced a one-hour documentary called XTC at the Manor which featured Steve Lillywhite and XTC recording the track Towers of London and the video for General and Majors filmed at Richard Branson’s mansion. On reflection, he says, it was more of an informational film for Virgin Records and Richard Branson.

The film is available on Youtube

(note from JC.....I was hoping to paste it on the blog, but it has been broken down into five parts so its best you just visit you tube to watch it

Part One here
Part Two here
Part Three here
Part Four here
Part Five here

In 1984, Lillywhite married Kirsty MacColl, he produced her albums Kite and Electric Landlady and she had featured on various sessions for albums he was producing for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Big Country. He recalls, ‘It was Kirsty that introduced me to the music of Big Country and suggested that I should produce them’.

Lillywhite and MacColl had a recording studio attached to their house and this is where Kirstyl recorded her vocals for Fairy Tale of New York, but not where Shane MacGowan sung his.

Incidentally, Lillywhite had suggested Kirsty only after Cait O’Riorden had left the Pogues - it turned out to be a perfect combination.

During the nineties, Lillywhite produced albums for Morrissey and The La’s amongst others and more recently he produced Crowded House’s comeback album Time On Earth.

(another note from JC.....I got to choose the Moz track that Mr Lillywhite produced. And I reckon it's one of THE greatest of his solo tracks....)

mp3 : Morrissey - Now My Heart Is Full

I've long been a fan of the work of Steve Lillywhite. And I don't think I'm alone.

Mr John Greer, Wednesday 14 December 2011

QUICK ROUND-UP.....

2011-12-13T10:13:00.000Z

The above pictured cat is on the mend. But it was looking bad for a bit.

He was taken to the vet last Friday afternoon by Mrs V after she spotted that he was having problems peeing. Turns out he had a blockage which was also affecting his kidneys and liver. Emergency surgery was undertaken - and quite a long operation it turned out to be. He then spent three nights under the direct supervision of a team of vets in a hospital before being allowed back home late on yesterday where he continues his recovery, under my supervision today as I've used the last of my annual leave for 2011 to keep an eye on him.

Plan is to put together some blog pieces for the next few days and to also use those so thoughtfully put together by Mr John Greer, but thought I'd start with a round-up dealing with requests in comments left behind in recent weeks.

Robster was one of a number who liked the Telly Performances Series (so expect more of that in 2012!!). He was particularly taken with the Leonard Cohen appearance and performance of The Future on Later back in 1993 and asked if I could track down the second song he played that night. Happy to oblige but the best copy I could find wouldn't allow embedding. But click here for the link

mp3 : Leonard Cohen - Democracy (live on 'Later')

Garageland asked for a re-post from November 2010. How could I day no??

mp3 : The Jam - Town Called Malice (live)
mp3 : The Jam - Precious (live)

Other requests will be dealt with in the next few weeks....honest!!

Happy Listening