BMX Bandits, Meat Whiplash, Membranes, Mighty Mighty

C86 : THE ULTIMATE SERIES (Parts 21, 22, 23 and 24 of 114)

Meat Whiplash were from East Kilbride, a 1960’s new town built to deal with population and industrial displacement from nearby Glasgow. They only ever released one single, which came out in September 1985 on Creation Records. I’ve used the reverse of the picture sleeve, as it offers a rare image of the band.

mp3: Don’t Slip Up – Meat Whiplash

Track 13, Disc 2 of CD 86 AND Track 9, Disc Three of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

The band members have never made any secret of the fact that they were wholly inspired by the success of The Jesus and Mary Chain, who were also from East Kilbride. Alan McGee was well aware of the existence of Meat Whiplash, and he invited the band to support JAMC at a gig taking place in London in March 1985 at North London Polytechnic.

This was the gig that ended in a riot, with the trouble beginning when Meat Whiplash took to the stage. The band finished what was a chaotic set and in the dressing room afterwards, McGee promised he would record and release their debut single….and six months later he was as good as his word. It got to #3 on the Indie Chart. Three of the four members of Meat Whiplash would later be part of The Motorcycle Boy, an Edinburgh-based indie-band who released a number of wonderful singles between 1987 and 1990.

BMX Bandits formed in 1985 in the former mining town of Bellshill, some ten miles east of Glasgow.  They are still very much on the go today, having been piloted throughout by Duglas T Stewart, whose face adorns the sleeve of this, the b-side of Sad?, their debut 1986 single for the Edinburgh-based independent label, 53rd & 3rd Records:-

mp3: E102 – BMX Bandits

Track 19, Disc 2 of CD 86 AND Track 7, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

There have been numerous members of the band over the years, including folk whose names are also associated with the likes of The Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines and The Pastels.  There have been at least twenty-eight singles (some as joint efforts with other bands) and thirteen albums across at least sixteen labels, with others being responsible for reissues.  The overall body of work is vast and has been an inspiration to many bands the world over.

Sean Dickson, later to find fame and fortune with The Soup Dragons and as HifiSean plays guitar and bass on this one.

Another one which sees me use the reverse of the debut single. Mighty Mighty hail from Birmingham, forming in 1983, beaking up in 1988 and getting back together in 2009.  The debut was released on their own label, Girlie Records

mp3: Everybody Knows The Monkey – Mighty Mighty

Track 18, Disc 1 of CD 86

After a second single on Girlie Records, the band moved to a slightly bigger indie label in the Warwick-based Chapter 22 for whom they would release four singles and one album before calling it a day.  They reformed in 2009 when they were asked to play at the Indietracks music festival in 2009 and the following year they played Popfest Berlin.

In 2012, the Berlin-based Firestation Records issued the ‘lost second album’, The Betamax Tapes, on vinyl and CD, 25 years after it had been recorded, while 2013 saw Cherry Red Records released a 2x CD compilation Pop Can – the Definitive Collection 1986-88 containing all their singles and B-sides, alongside several album tracks.  July 2019 saw Mighty Mighty release their third album, Misheard Love Songs, again on Firestation.

Everybody Knows The Monkey is another personal favourite from the era.

The best part of 20 years this blog has been going, and it’s finally a debut for The Membranes, a band formed in Blackpool, a town probably best known for its tower and annual illuminations.  The band has punk roots, which explains its formation in 1977, and while there were occasional changes in personnel, they stuck to it till 1990. A reformation came in 2009 and they still play and record today.

mp3: Everything’s Brilliant – The Membranes

Track 10, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

A song from 1986, released as a stand-alone single on In Tape Records.  It was their sixth single and there had also been four albums by this point in their career. If wiki’s info is correct, they are now up to sixteen singles and twelve albums.  Their frontman and bassist is John Robb, a well-known writer and media pundit here in the UK, whose work has been published in countless newspapers and magazines. He’s also the author of eleven books on various facets of modern music, and he sings and plays with the band Goldblade.  It’s fair to say, as he approaches his 65th birthday this coming May, that he shows no signs of slowing down.

 

JC

Proclaimers

FOUR TRACK MIND : A RANDOM SERIES OF EXTENDED PLAY SINGLES

A guest series by Fraser Pettigrew (aka our New Zealand correspondent)

#14: The Proclaimers – King Of The Road (1990)

I’ve mentioned previously how my taste in music took a folky turn in the mid and late 80s as I disengaged from the fading post-punk scene. Among the beneficiaries of my attention-shift were The Proclaimers, whose first album This Is The Story sprang to prominence in 1987.

Much earlier, in Edinburgh sometime around 1981 I had actually once met Craig Reid (or was it Charlie? I guess they get that a lot…). A girl I knew at university who came from Cupar in Fife had been at Bell Baxter High School with the twins and one day as we walked along Lothian Road she spotted Craig (or Charlie) and we stopped to chat.

(JC interjects……..I once read that you could tell the difference by looking at their glasses.  The frame of Craig’s was black while for the other brother it was Charlie brown)

My vague memory of the occasion left me with the impression that the brothers were at that time performing as a sort of electro post-punk act with a ropey synth. The idea now of The Proclaimers as Scotland’s answer to Suicide or Soft Cell seems more than faintly hilarious, and it was probably never so, but I’ll leave that image there for general amusement.

At any rate, when The Proclaimers did finally make their mark they were an entirely acoustic duo, no synths, no mirror shades, just six strings, vocal harmonies, handclaps and those square-rimmed specs. Indeed, it was the simplicity of the arrangement, or non-arrangement on that first album that was one of its chief appeals. The strength of songs like The First Attack, Over and Done With and Letter from America was allowed to shine through without unnecessary embellishment.

I tagged the style as ‘folk’ largely on account of the acoustic format, even though it plainly wasn’t Dick Gaughan or Boys of the Lough. It didn’t occur to me that there was anything country and western going on, largely on account of the brothers’ wholly unapologetic Scottish accents (the album’s opener Throw The R Away is not a song but a manifesto). Even the cover of the George Jones hit (I’m Gonna) Burn Your Playhouse Down wasn’t enough to alert my dull brain to the transatlantic influence.

To me, Scottish country and western was slavishly imitative yee-haw by the likes of Sydney Devine and Lena Martell. Even after a decade of rehabilitation by Elvis Costello, Squeeze and The Mekons, country music still seemed to demand that its performers conform to a certain stereotype. Sometime around 1990 I saw Hank Wangford supporting Billy Bragg at the Half Moon in Putney, and with his grisly, stubbled mug and cowboy hat he looked and sounded as though he’d teleported in from some West Virginia moonshine distillery rather than cabbed it from some West London gynaecology clinic where he worked his day job.

But the Proclaimers’ country connection could not be ignored once second album Sunshine on Leith came out in 1988. The addition of a full backing band foregrounded the arrangements that even included a steel guitar. Dead giveaway! Songs such as I’m On My Way and the version of Steve Earle’s My Old Friend The Blues exuded Americana much more than they might have done with the first album’s stripped back treatment.

I wasn’t a big fan of the multi-instrumental Proclaimers. Already the re-recording of Letter From America to make it more Top of the Pops friendly had seemed like typical music industry disdain for an artist’s vision and contempt for the listeners’ ability to appreciate something different. And it wasn’t the country influence I didn’t like – I’d enjoyed Almost Blue as much as the next young punk – but I just loved the directness and transparency of the un-arranged Proclaimers more.

Still, I stuck with them for one more release, today’s featured EP, King Of The Road, a bona-fide country and western song by Roger Miller that was a British number 1 in 1965. The Proclaimers’ version reached number 9 in 1990, their second-biggest UK hit until the Comic Relief version of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) topped the charts in 2007.

I was oblivious to the film The Crossing, starring Russell Crowe, on the soundtrack of which the lead song features, as announced on the gatefold sleeve. An American country song sung in Scottish accents in an Australian film? No doubt there are stranger connections. Either way, it’s a jolly little slice of hobo kitsch, a celebration of the unencumbered life of the itinerant. The back cover shot has Craig and Charlie dossing on the tail of a horse-drawn cart in some desert location, plainly a long way from Leith Links. On the front they are wearing suits and western bow ties like Colonel Sanders, flanking a table with a decanter of whisky, looking anything but itinerant hobos.

King of the Road is followed on side one of the EP by another country cover, Long Black Veil, first recorded by Lefty Frizzell in 1959, and subsequently covered by everyone from Johnny Cash to Joan Baez. It’s a morbid tale of American gothic, told from beyond the grave by a man who let himself be hung for murder rather than use his alibi that he was with his best friend’s wife at the time. Both songs are very straightforward, respectful renditions. Even the Scottish accents begin to crack into hints of Nashville now and then.

Side two features two Reid and Reid compositions, Lulu Selling Tea and Not Ever. The first of these is a decent piece of pop song, showing how the boys could still come up with a nice choon. Lyrically it’s a clever if sentimental look back at the 60s through the lens of childhood, name checking all the things I can remember myself from a similar upbringing in time and place (Daktari, Skippy, lucky bags, Bazooka Joes).

Not Ever is a quite different kettle of pancakes, a gospel-tinged vocal and piano arrangement, two and a half minutes of angelic harmonies telling a rather mysterious non-love story. Altogether it stands head and shoulders above the other tracks on the EP and interestingly (and deservedly) makes it onto The Proclaimers’ Finest compilation released in 2003.

There! I made it through a whole thousand words on The Proclaimers without once mentioning our shared devotion to Hibernian Football Club.

King of the Road

Long Black Veil

Lulu Selling Tea

Not Ever

 

Fraser

Monochrome Set

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (44): The Monochrome Set – The Monochrome Set

After a self-financed and self-released release in 1978, The Monochrome Set signed to Rough Trade Records for whom there would be three singles in 1979 before the band made the switch to Dindisc in 1980.

All three of the Rough Trade singles are still wonderful to listen to, with my favourite being Eine Symphonie des Grauens which I raved about back in June 2018.

The farewell to the label, released on 5 October 1979, was an eponymous effort:-

mp3: The Monochrome Set – The Monochrome Set

While it has a new wave(ish) feel to it, it isn’t atypical of what else was being recorded and issued throughout that year, and it’s just different enough to be memorable.

The b-side isn’t quite as immediate, maybe because it has a jazz/bossanova feel to it:-

mp3: The Monochrome Set – Mr Bizarro

I can’t claim to have even been aware of this 7″ back in 1979, far less purchased it at the time, as I was a bit of a latecomer to the band, hearing them primarily via university friends circa 82/83 after their inclusion on the Pillows and Prayers compilation that had come out on Cherry Red Records.

But I did pick it up in July 2011 on Discogs…..I checked the ‘Purchase History’ and it was one of seventeen singles (thirteen on 7″, one on 10″ and three on 12″) for which I paid the grand sum of £32.25 plus P&P (£3 or thereabouts??) back in the days before the asking prices of most vinyl got silly.

I’ve just had a quick look at what it would cost to do so today and with it requiring multiple purchasers from different sellers, P&P would be substantially higher. I’ve used only UK sellers and the vinyl is graded similar to what it was back in 2011.

The cost??  £102.77

The Monochrome Set single alone has an asking price of £7.50 (up from £3.50), but the real kicker is the 10″ of Where’s Me Jumper? by Sultans of Ping F.C.  I paid £2…the asking price for the sole copy on Discogs is £59.99.

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#26: I Hear A New World : Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, ZOP PR005, 1997)

Edwyn Collins‘ discography section on wiki lists this as an EP released in November 1997.  It is also listed on Discogs under the singles/EPs section.  I’ve a copy, picked up second-hand many years ago. I didn’t pay too much money for it, and judging by a reasonable level of availability on Discogs, it’s not all that rare.

I Hear A New World consists of 2 slabs on vinyl, both of which rotate at 33 ⅓ rpm, and have plain white labels.  The only info about the music comes on a sticker on what is an otherwise plain white sleeve.  The release offers up seven remixes of songs on I’m Not Following You.  Not all the remixes were new, as the Adidas World offering is one which appeared on CD2 of that very single.  But here’s the rest of them…..some of the artists who delivered the remixes will be well known to those with a degree of knowledge about the club scene.

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Superficial Cat (Red Snapper Mix)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Seventies Night (Deadly Avenger Supershine Mix)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Superficial Cat (Red Snapper Vocal Mix)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Downer (James Lavelle mix)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Magic Piper (Of Love) (The Wiseguys Sniper Mix)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Downer (James Lavelle Vocal Mix)

Next week’s post will again be a tad different.

 

JC

Kevin McDermott

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #497: KEVIN McDERMOTT

From the Big Gold Dreams box set.

“The opening track on McDermott’s post-Suede Crocodiles mini-album Suffocation Blues, released in 1986 on Glasgow label NoStrings, revealed a very different artist to the one who had sung with his former band.  Drawing from Roy Harper, John Martyn and Americana on a record produced by legendary singer/songwriter Rab Noakes, McDermott embarked on a more traditional musical path.

mp3 : Kevin McDermott – Slow Time and Temptation

“This was the sole track on the ‘Fast Side’ of the record which played at 45rpm; five acoustic songs played at 33rpm on the ‘Slow Side’. Major label support saw McDermott form the Kevin McDermott Orchestra, releasing Mother Nature’s Kitchen under that name before embarking on a peripatetic musical journey that recently came full circle as McDermott joined the NoStrings roster”

 

JC

 

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #12

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

Monsters

Monster Hospital – Metric

“Bam chicka bam chicka boom boom boom!” It’s the Toronto quartet with a banger. Metric have been at it with the same line up for about 25 years and they’ve got a new album coming out in April. A great live act if you get a chance to see them.

My Beloved Monster – Eels

In which Los Angeles oddball E pays homage to his unnamed monster, who protects him from “the awful sting that comes from living in a world that’s so damn mean,” which we can all use a little bit.

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – David Bowie

Title track from what was arguably the last great Bowie album. The subsequent Let’s Dance catapulted him to megastardom, but it sorta felt like we lost him to the masses at that point and never really got him back. Guitar pyrotechnics courtesy of Robert Fripp.

Monsters in the Parasol – Queens of the Stone Age

You know it’s QOTSA as soon as you hear that deep croon over a super compressed guitar riff. From their second LP, 2000’s Rated R.

My Monster – Blondie

When the Bowery legends returned to the studio in 2017 they had so many collaborators that they named their album Pollinator to reflect all the guest contributions. Musos like Joan Jett, Sia, Dev Hynes, Nick Valensi, Charlie XCX and many others got involved. This track was written by Johnny Marr, who plays guitar on it.

Meet ze Monsta – PJ Harvey

I was super-stoked to include the track ‘Down By The Water’ in the Warm & Fuzzy collection that was FF#9, a set of songs with fuzzed out bass lines. Then I did a little research and discovered that there’s no bass on that song at all. Bummer. So, here’s PJ with another moody gem from the same album.

Little Monsters – Charlotte Gainsbourg

From her second album 5:55, released 20 years after her 1986 debut. This track was written by Jarvis Cocker.

The Boogie Monster – Gnarls Barkley

Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse from the duo’s 2006 debut, St. Elsewhere. The track samples “Ku Klux Klan Sequence” written and performed by Italian film composers Armando Trovaioli and Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, making it legitimately monstrous.

Eaten By The Monster of Love – Sparks

One LA oddball isn’t quite enough, so here are the Mael brothers from 1982’s Angst In My Pants. Like all of their records, lots of folks loved it and no one bought it. You guys know that Sparks never got any radio play in the US, right?

Monster Ballads – Josh Ritter

It’s a crime that singer/songwriters as talented as Josh Ritter aren’t household names. A lovely song from his fourth LP, The Animal Years. He released another 9 albums after that one, to very little acclaim, if any.

Bonus track: Monster – Fred Schneider

The astute TVV crowd will have noticed that this set doesn’t have any songs simply titled ‘Monster’. That’s because there are hundreds of them and too many to choose from. But we deserve at least one, especially if it’s by a legend like the B-52’s frontman. Schneider was the only member to release a solo album during the band’s heyday. The record was produced by Bernie Worrell, fresh off his stint on keys for Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense tour. Background vocals by Bess Dial-Up wannabe Kate Pierson.

 

Jonny

 

Talking Heads

SMALL SCREEN GEMS (3): Talking Heads – BBC2 (1978)

Breaking up the run of slightly longer posts these past few days…..

This isn’t a rare or unknown clip as it’s all over YouTube as well as being a staple of whenever BBC TV puts together programmes looking back at the music of the punk/post-punk/new wave era.

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a music show broadcast on BBC2 between 1971 and 1988, albeit its name was shortened to Whistle Test from 1983 onwards.  It was most often a mix of live performances, interviews, features and promo videos (which in the early years were often just the song over old film archive, often of long-lost cartoons put together by staff at the BBC).  The live performances were always the highlight……

31 January 1978. The band had earlier opened the show with Don’t Worry About The Government, which was most likely the way most UK music lovers came to be  introduced to Talking Heads.

mp3 : Talking Heads – Pyscho Killer (live)

From the Stop Making Sense soundtrack, released in 1984 and still up there as the most jaw-dropping opening to any concert film.

JC

Concrete Bulletproof Invisible

THE CULT CLASSICS :THE RE-RUNS (2)

29 December 2013.  This came from Phil, who at the time was curating the blog The Corn Poppy. The last posting was in November 2019.

– – – – –

Is there an implication that a bunch of people actually liked a bona fide cult classic? I’m not sure anyone else ever heard this. But here’s a disc that in that parallel universe would have been a smash – Big Tears by Concrete Bulletproof Invisible. CBI were actually Doll by Doll with Glen Matlock on bass. Wikipedia says:

Doll by Doll were a London based rock band formed by Jackie Leven in 1975. They came to prominence during the New Wave period but were largely ignored by the music press of the time – their emotional, psychedelic-tinged music was judged out of step with other bands of the time.

The original line up was Jackie Leven – vocals and guitar, Jo Shaw – vocals and guitar, Robin Spreafico – vocals and bass, and David Macintosh – vocals and percussion. This line up only recorded one studio album Remember before Spreafico was replaced by Tony Waite (1958–2003). In this configuration they released the albums Gypsy Blood (produced by John Sinclair) and the eponymous third album, Doll By Doll, before the band split up.

At the time of final LP Grand Passion, only Leven was left of the original line-up, joined by Helen Turner (vocals and keyboards) and Tom Norden (vocals, guitar and bass) with a number of guest musicians, including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Mark Fletcher (bass) and Chris Clarke (drums) played with the group live. Doll By Doll finally fell apart in 1983, though Leven, Shaw and Macintosh plus ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, released a single Big Tears under the name “Concrete Bulletproof Invisible” in 1988. Leven became a prolific solo artist, releasing a series of albums featuring more folk orientated material.

In 1983 Jackie (from the Kingdom of Fife) had been mugged and half strangled leading to him losing his voice for a time and giving up singing all together. There were no more Doll by Doll albums and nothing else from Jackie until the mid 1990s when he started to release a string of albums which gave him a genuine cult following. But this one single did sneak out.

Big Tears was a Matlock song, on the b-side was Braid on my Shoulder, written by Leven. These are a cracking pair of songs with all the punch of Matlock’s best powerpunk swagger and Jackie’s still powerful voice. There was a UK 12″ version which added Good Thing and a US 12″ with Love Kills. This was Concrete Bulletproof Invisible’s only record, but the name was used as the title of a John Foxx instrumental (the song is credited to Foxx/Leven).

Jackie Leven had a chequered career often on the verge of greater success, never quite grasping it. Sometimes it seemed like deliberate sabotage on his part. In 2000 or thereabouts he settled in the Hampshire village of Botley, just opposite the pub, often popping out for a pint (usually with a vodka in it) or to tour Germany or Norway. A friendship with crime author Ian Rankin led to Rankin naming his last two novels after Leven lyrics. He died in November 2011 six weeks after releasing one of his best albums (Wayside Shrines). One day a song of his will be used in a car advert and suddenly everyone will love him.

mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Big Tears
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Braid On My Shoulder
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Good Thing
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Love Kills

 

Phil

 

Jasmine Minks, Railway Children, We've Got A Fuzzbox...And We're Gonna Use It

C86 : THE ULTIMATE SERIES (Parts 18, 19 and 20 of 114)

We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It!! came together in Birmingham in 1985. The four-piece all-female band stuck around until 1990, and then reformed briefly from 2010-11 and again in 2015.  The debut release in March 1986 was the Rules and Regulations EP, issued on Vindaloo Records, a label founded by Birmingham-icon Robert Lloyd who played with The Nightingales.  It was picked up by all sorts of radio stations and before long it reached #41 in the ‘proper’ singles chart as well as #1 on the Indie Chart.  They certainly were in the ascendancy when the C86 cassette was released in May 1986:-

mp3: Console Me – We’ve Got A Fuzzbox…And We’re Gonna Used It

Track 8 on side 2 of the C86 cassette; Track 19, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

Their next single, Love Is The Slug, also on Vindaloo Records, hit the Top 30 in November 1986, with debut album Boostin’ Steve Austin being released (but not charting) before the end of the year. The album included a re-recording of Console Me.

A tie-up with major label WEA soon followed, but it took until 1989 before any new material emerged, and when it did, the band name had been shortened to Fuzzbox and the music was now that of a dance-pop group with fuzzboxes nowhere to be seen.  But it worked as three singles went Top 30 (the best-performing being International Rescue at #11 in February 1989) and a Top Ten album, Big Bang, in August 1989.

The much-used ‘musical differences’ saw the band break up in 1990.  The first reformation in 2010 saw three of the members, plus two additional musicians, undertake a tour and perform at a number of festivals that year and in 2011.

Original guitarist Jo Dunne, at the age of 43, died from cancer in October 2012.  The still musically active two original members – Vix and Maggie Dunne  – recruited three new members to reform again in 2015. That line-up has released two new singles and continues to be part of the pop-based nostalgia circuit.

The Jasmine Minks formed in 1983 in Aberdeen.  Technically, they have been together ever since, albeit there have extended periods of absences when they weren’t recording or touring, but at no time did they ever announce a break-up.  They were one of the first bands to be signed by Alan McGee to Creation Records, and this involved the band relocating en masse to London in 1984.

mp3: Cut Me Deep – The Jasmine Minks

Track 21, Disc 1 of CD86.

This was a song recorded for the album Another Age, issued by Creation in 1988.  By this time, they had already released four singles and an EP, and Another Age was their third album.  There would be one further album for Creation in 1990 before the first hiatus, reappearing briefly in 2000/01 on Poptones, the label launched by Alan McGee after Creation had folded.  Another long hiatus then ended with a new EP and live shows in 2010, before it all went quiet again after 2012.

In 2017, The Jasmine Minks started playing live and recording again. There have been a couple of new singles while 2023 saw a new album, their first in twenty-two years, with We Make Our Own History being issued by Last Night From Glasgow.

The Railway Children were a four-piece band from Wigan and were initially active from 1984 to 1991, before reforming between 2016 and 2019. They were signed by Factory Records on which they released two singles and one album in 1987/88 before making the jump to a major label in the shape of Virgin Records.

mp3: Darkness & Colour – The Railway Children

Track 25, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

Reunion Wilderness had been the debut album on Factory, but Virgin Records used it as the band’s calling card in the USA by re-releasing it with four additional songs, including Darkness & Colour.  By 1988, the band were being fast-tracked to the big time, and their new album Recurrence was partly-promoted through support slots for R.E.M. in Europe and Sugarcubes in the USA.  The hoped-for hit single continued to evade until 1990 when, at the sixth attempt, Every Beat Of The Heart reached #24.

Later singles didn’t break into the Top 50, likewise with their albums for Virgin Records. They left the label in 1992, but lead singer Gary Newby continued to perform solo and would release two albums under the moniker of The Railway Children in 1997 and 2002.

In 2016, the original line up decided to get together purely for a series of live dates. They went on to play several times over the following two years, with the final gig being at the Borderline, London in December 2018.

 

JC

Potsdam Ska Festival 1990, Various

THE RESPLENDENT RETURN OF LITTLE LOSER’S LOTTERY : #4

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

‘GIGS FROM YESTERYEAR, WHEN I WAS YOUNG + PRETTY AS A PICTURE’

# 04: Potsdam Ska Festival, Potsdam, GDR, 1990

El Bosso & Die Ping Pongs

Braces

Lindenpark, Potsdam

Hello friends,

a very nice choice by Little Loser, this – a gig I had nearly forgotten about, but memories came back quickly for a change: this is just another concert which I attended on behalf of my mate Alfred: as mentioned before, he is the one who – rather unsuccessfully – tried to establish himself as a manager for all sorts of independent bands, starting with The Braces from Krefeld, one of the many third-wave ska outfits of the late 80s/early 90s.

Ska at the time was a difficult issue, it must be said. The few gigs that did take place in a halfway near distance were attended by strange folk indeed: mainly by people who came in for the music and for drink and dance. But also by people whose idea of a good time was to disturb others, fights started by them were a common sight. Now, those of you even older than me might have witnessed concerts by, for example, The Specials in 1979 – Jerry and Terry’s message was crystal clear, I always thought: ‘unite (in music), don’t fight!’. Apparently this plea hadn’t yet reached German ears 11 years later: it was still a constant clash between fascist skins, S.H.A.R.P people and the few visitors with suits, shirts and ties.

So when the very first Potsdam Ska Festival took place in the summer of 1990 in – you’ll already have guessed that – Potsdam (a town in the southwest of Berlin right at the opposite end of Germany), the organizers, Brand Rudy (a small West German company), knew that serious trouble might well be expected. The venue, the Lindenpark, was an old GDR youth club, not that big really – so it’s not that hard to tell in retrospect why the venue and Brand Rudy decided to engage top notch security companies: West Berlin’s Teddy Semke (nine of them for 2.500,- Deutschmarks) for the Friday and another Berlin company for the Saturday (six guys then for 21,- Deutschmarks each/hour). Plus the Brand Rudy and the Lindenpark entourage (one of the two bosses worked for the German border police for eight years), which meant per night there were about 50 bouncers around! Not too shabby for certainly not more than 1000 guests, right? Also, two East German police vehicles constantly patrolled around the Lindenpark in circles, whether their plastic Trabant cars added something to a secure feeling remains questionable though … I thought it was more an amusing sight than anything else.

Either way, all this manpower turned out to be the right decision: two great days and nights were had, as well security-wise (only one head-injured skin, hit by a bottle, two bleeding noses) as financially: the event grew to be Europe’s biggest Ska Festival for years to come, bands from all over the world played there until they called it a day in, as far as I know, 2010.

In 1990 though you could feel the tension everywhere: the wall fell just half a year before, but it would take another six months before Germany was to be fully united again, which means in early July 1990 Potsdam was clearly GDR! There were a few East German bands, Bull Frogs, Michele Baresi, Messer Banzani but mainly the acts came from West Germany. To be frank, the East German combos weren’t pretty good in comparison, probably that’s why they were used as openers.

Now, as you might imagine it wasn’t all awe and admiration with the GDR folk when the western bands and fans arrived at the venue, quite the opposite in fact (mind you, we haven’t fully outlived this discrepancy now, some 36 years later: sometimes it’s still decadent Westerners against unsatisfied Ex-Commies!). So all in all the beginning of the festival was a bit, let’s say, ‘tenacious’, but it evolved pretty quickly into an utter chaos of fun, dance and drink. So much so in fact that the guests drained the entire goddamn awful GDR draught beer by early Saturday evening. No problem for the bands and us who had backstage access: there were incredible amounts of West German canned beer to keep us going, of course it was generously smuggled outside by us when the Eastern brew was empty.

I have seen the main bands so often in the late 80s/early 90s, memory is rather blurred when it comes to specific gigs. I’m sure though all of them (the usual suspects really, if you’d rather – the scene was pretty small it must be said) were brilliant, as they always were. And the main reason is that there were no big headed egos within those bands, you see. They all were kind of ‘big bands’, with easily seven, eight, nine people on stage, so hiding your ego certainly was not an easy task, mind you! You have the lead singer, you have the rhythm section, you have the horn section etc. – and as long as all of them think they have the most important part, things are bound to go wrong.

In hindsight this may be the reason why I always thought The Braces were the best of the lot, they hardly fought about such things, as far as I can tell. Also, they were more melodic than their contenders, something which I always loved. They even used a violin and an electric piano on stage, something the other bands would not dream of. Close second came El Bosso & Die Ping Pongs, very nice people indeed, and their trombonist, Professor Richie, later found worldwide fame as Dr. Ring-Ding!
When the third Ska wave finally hit the beach a few years later, it was all over soon: many combos disbanded, so did The Braces. After that I occasionally met the trumpeter in Aachen whilst he studied there (not so his stunning younger sister alas, whom I had an absolute crush on), he is now a top urologist / head physician somewhere in the south of Germany.

Here’s the line-up for the two days of the festival: Bull Frogs, No Sports, Michele Baresi, The Busters, Heinz 57 (Blue Chateau), El Bosso & Die Ping Pongs, Messer Banzani, The Braces, Skaos.

And finally, here’s some music:

Messer Banzani – ‘Peace Is Wonder’ (’92)
El Bosso & Die Ping Pongs – ‘Immer Nur Ska’ (one of their first, their signature tune really, a live version thereof from ’86)
Skaos – ‘Going Insane’ (’88)
Busters – ‘Wish You Were Here’ (’93) (and yes, you Pink Floyd-completists: it’s that one!)
No Sports – ‘King Kong’ (’89)
Braces – ‘The Letter’ (’89)

Take good care,

 

Dirk

 

 

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#25: Adidas World : Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, SET 045, 1997)

The new album, I’m Not Following You, was released in early September 1997.  Twelve songs, two of which had previously been released as singles, and a number of guest musicians, one of whom, Mark E Smith had co-written one of the songs, a glam stomper called Seventies Night, with a playfully nostalgic lyric to match.   The reviews were mixed, with critics falling into two camps of love or loath.  Edwyn was either praised for another record in which he had shifted direction from last time out, steering away from the commercially obvious or being accused of taking an arrogant and self-indulgent approach to his art.

The truth is probably somewhere in-between, for there are some tremendous moments on the album alongside a couple of difficult, almost experimental tunes that seem to go on forever, including the title track, which closes proceedings and lasts the best part of eight minutes.  It’s a CD for which I was, and remain, grateful to have a skip button on a remote control.

By the time a third single was lifted for release, the album had completed what proved to be a two-week stay in the charts, doing no better than #55.  It was probably as well that Edwyn had such a great relationship with Setanta, as other labels, as had been the case in the past, might have called it a day.  Instead, one of what was a number of agit-pop efforts on the album was issued as a single, on 2 x CD and 7″ vinyl, in mid-October

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Adidas World (7″ Extended Radio Remix)

Yup….the album version was remixed and extended by over a minute!

I’m not sure if this attack on consumerism, and swipe at Britpop, was given much radio play.  I’m certain, for instance, it would have fallen foul of broadcasting rules at the BBC aimed at preventing brand awareness.  But somehow, it sold enough copies to make a very minor dent in the charts at #71.

There were three songs on CD1, with one of them also being the sole b-side on the 7″

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Mr Bojangles
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Talkin’ About The Times
mp3: Edwyn Collins – High Fashion

The first is a cover of the song written in the late 60s by American country/folk singer, Jerry Jeff Walker, and which subsequently became a staple among many popular entertainers. The other two are very much in keeping with the sort of songs that could be found on I’m Not Following You, and they may well have been under consideration for inclusion on it.  Or maybe it was always the intention to lift another single and some songs were held back to be used as b-sides.

CD2, if listened to by those who had accused Edwyn of self-indulgence with the album, would surely have led to loud choruses of ‘TOLD YOU!!!!!!’

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Episode 3
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Episode 5
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Episode 10 (No, No, No, Adidas World)

The first two are attributed to Edwyn Collins/Sebastian Lewsley.  Those of you who have paid attention to whenever Mr Lewsley’s name has come up in previous offerings in this series will be aware that these tracks will be highly experimental offerings.  (that’s my way of saying unlistenable nonsense).

The third is written solely by Edwyn, but the liner notes state ‘Adileted by the Victorian Spaceman’.   The pun doesn’t make sense, but then again, neither does the music.

There would be one more release to close out 1997 before Edwyn considered it time to draw a line under the promotional activities around his latest album.

 

JC

Katrina and V-Twin

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #496: KATRINA AND V-TWIN

This one should have been picked up first time through the alphabetical run through of Scottish singer/groups with at least one song on the hard drive, as it comes from a compilation 2 x CD  – Rough Trade Shops Indiepop 1 – that I’ve owned since shortly after its release in 2004.

mp3: Katrina and V-Twin – Gifted

It’s a bit of a strange one, as the single released on Domino Records in 1998 is credited only to V-Twin, albeit Katrina Mitchell is mentioned as contributing vocals.

V-Twin are a legendary band in the pantheon of Scottish indie-music, but, and I suppose I better whisper it, I’ve really never taken to them.

The facts are that the band formed in 1997, with the mainstays being Jason MacPhail (vocals) and Michael McGaughrin (drums), but helped out in the recording studio and on stage by just about anybody was who was anybody in the late 90s Glasgow scene, before Bobby Kildea (bass) and Dino Bardot (guitar) became permanent members to record debut album The Blues is a Minefield, which was released in October 2002.  Kildea is probably better known as the guitarist with Belle and Sebastian.

A Drowned In Sound review of Call A Meeting, the single released in advance of the album, was very scathing:-

“V-Twin, noted for their immensely affable indie shoddiness, have decided that now is a time to go, yes, rock. Possibly it’s garage rock. That impression would be garnered based on the ‘let it all hang out’ production, and the breakneck speed that the first 120 seconds fly by in. More than anything, it sounds like a cheap Rolling Stones tribute band attempting to ingest all of Keef’s drugs in one go. Frankly, I prefer it when V-Twin were attempting to pastiche the Velvet Underground.”

Gifted predates all that. It’s actually a cover of I’m Tempted, an obscure 1968 Northern Soul record by Sandy Hollis.

In terms of the musicians on the single, Katrina Mitchell has been part of The Pastels since the late 80s while ‘Beans Geddez’ is a name used by Chris Geddes, the keyboard player with Belle and Sebastian.  Stephen Pastel didn’t play on the single, but he was involved in the production and mixing sessions.

 

JC

 

Clash

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE? (81)

What follows is more or less a lazy re-post, but given it is from 10 January 2016, there may well be a few who didn’t see it first time around.

Famously written in the aftermath of disturbances at the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1976, it couldn’t be any further removed from being about a call for some sort of race war, which incredibly was what some media commentators claimed was its subject matter when it was released. It is of course, a demand/plea/call-to-arms aimed at disaffected white youth in the UK, of which there was an ever-increasing number, to take note of the fact that the black community wasn’t afraid to take direct action to get their viewpoint across.

As a debut it was incendiary, raw and quite unlike anything most of us had heard before. I’ll admit, I wasn’t yet 14 years of age and so it kind of passed me by at the time as indeed did all the initial punk songs. But when I eventually did catch on to The Clash around 15 months later, it was great to go back and discover the early material.

The single version differs from the US album version in that it opens with a police siren instead of Mick Jones counting the band in:-

mp3 : The Clash – White Riot

The b-side was an otherwise unreleased song which became a bit of a manifesto for the punk era:-

mp3 : The Clash – 1977

The single peaked at #38 in the charts in early April 1977.   Almost 50 years ago, FFS………

I reckon we can all agree that White Riot was truly a cracking debut 45.

 

JC

Sister John

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #408 : SISTER JOHN

A GUEST POSTING BY KHAYEM (dubhed.blogspot.com)

JC writes………

I’m lifting these next five paras, adapted slightly, from the Last Night From Glasgow (LNFG) website.

“Sister John, a Glasgow-based quartet of multi-instrumentalists, has been captivating audiences since their formation in 2016.

Centered around the evocative songwriting of Amanda McKeown (vocals, guitar), the band also features Jonathan Lilley (guitars, keys), Sophie Pragnell (drums, viola), and Heather Phillips (violin, bass).

Their lo-fi yet lush instrumentation and harmonies, and introspective lyricism have garnered critical acclaim and a dedicated following. Their gorgeous, folk-influenced debut, Returned From Sea (2017), was described as “what might have happened had Lou Reed written for Vashti Bunyan.”

Their 2019 self-titled follow-up expanded their sonic reach, described as “The Beatles jamming with John Cale”—a balance of classic songwriting and experimental edge, and included the swaggering I’m The One. In 2021, I Am By Day pushed further into experimental textures and lyrical introspection.

After a four-year hiatus, Sister John returned with their fourth studio album, Don’t Worry, It’s Forever, released on May 30, 2025. This collection offered an intimate portrayal of love amidst loss, reflecting on generational transitions and the evolving nature of identity. Raw, direct, and personal, the album represented Sister John at their deeply affecting finest.”

– – – – – – –

I’m now handing over to Khayem, who had all this to say in a posting over at his place a few days ago.

Take The World At 45

I have JC at The Vinyl Villain to thank for my love of Sister John.  It all started innocently enough on 12th March 2022, with #298 of JC’s epic Saturday’s Scottish Song series (still going strong, with #495 dropping yesterday).

Sister John were that week’s featured artist and JC was spot on when he wrote that,

“I’m guessing that, for the vast majority of you, this will be your introduction to Sister John. I thought that it would therefore be worthwhile to post one song from each of the three albums, and should you find yourself enjoying and liking what you hear, then perhaps you might be tempted to place an order with LNFG for some vinyl.”

I did like what I heard but wasn’t sufficiently moved to go to LNFG. After all, I hadn’t bought any vinyl for years! That all changed before the year was out, when JC enthused about the imminent debut album from HiFi Sean & David McAlmont, which was available to LNFG subscribers in 2022, ahead of a general release in 2023.

Suitably motivated, I took out an annual subscription, and got the album – Happy Endings – and was introduced to a load of other artists that I’d either not heard of at all, or not for a very, very long time.

One of the perks of LNFG membership is access to their digital vault of pretty much everything the label has released since day 1. And it was in the vault that I rediscovered Sister John, namely the three albums mentioned in JC’s post, plus singles and one-offs.

2025 saw the release of fourth album, Don’t Worry, It’s Forever, the first that I’ve received in glorious vinyl and it maintains the high standard of the previous releases.

Amanda also writes all of the songs, which manage the balance between achingly sparse and deeply moving. JC reflected on “particularly enjoying [the music] when I’ve needed to, or wanted to, slow things right down.”

He’s absolutely right. Sister John’s albums would fit comfortably in a playlist including Nick Drake, late period Talk Talk, or Portishead, yet sounds like none of these. And chances are, Sister John may have passed me by altogether, were it not for the recommendation from the blogging community, which would have been a tragedy.

Today’s Sister John selection has been sitting on my hard drive and on my phone for well over a month. It was a last minute decision to go ahead with posting it today, and it was only when referring back to The Vinyl Villain that I realised that it’s pretty much 4 years to the day since that fateful Saturday’s Scottish Song post. Sometimes, these things are just meant to be.

So, this is me paying forward. As with JC’s original post, I’ve sampled three songs, one from each of the four albums, plus a 2016 single that also ended up on their debut. More by accident than design, the first half focuses on Sister John’s earlier recordings, the second half their output in the 2020s.

I had half a thought to match the compilation title by bringing the selection in 45 minutes. Sensibly, I went with a sequence that seemed to flow and play well as an album in its own right, so the running time went a bit over, but no regrets.

The closing song here is also the closing song on the current album and is as good a sentiment as any, in a world where it’s easy to become paralysed by fear and self-doubt. I should take Amanda’s advice myself.

And if you like what you hear, but are unsure whether to buy a Sister John album or, better still, subscribe to Last Night From Glasgow, you know what? Just do it anyway.

(JC interrupts……..and with that, Khayem’s 13-song selection magically becomes the latest ICA)*

*RUNNING ORDER AMENDED AT 9AM AFTER SEEING K’s COMMENT!.

SIDE A

1. Gone (from the album, Returned From Sea, released in 2017, LNFG 8)

2. Silver Whistle (from the album, Sister John, released in 2019, LNFG 18)

3. He Came Down (2016 single, later included on the album Returned From Sea)

4. Lost and Won (from the album, Sister John)

5. Backstreet Swimmers (from the album, Returned From Sea)

6. The Other Side Of Love (from the album, Sister John)

BONUS TRACK : Secrets You Keep (from the compilation album Isolation Sessions, released in 2020, LNFG 37)

Isolation Sessions was a COVID lockdown project on which one of the LNFG roster would cover a song by another.  In this instance, Sister John offered up their take on a song by Stephen Solo, whose album Pii was given a digital release back in 2016.

SIDE B

1. Strange Ideas (from the album, I Am By Day, LNFG 45)

2. Thinner Air (from the album, Returned From Sea)

3. Grief (from the album, Don’t Worry, It’s Forever, released in 2025, LNFG 199)

4. The Bud (from the album I Am By Day)

5. Me & Nevine (from the album, Don’t Worry, It’s Forever)

6. How Can I Keep It Alive (from the album, I Am By Day)

7. Just Do It Anyway (from the album, Don’t Worry, It’s Forever)

 

 

Khayem (and JC)

 

Brigitte Calls Me Baby

A SHOUT OUT FOR….

A GUEST POSTING from STRANGEWAYS

From Chicago – via Janis Joplin’s Port Arthur, Texas – comes Brigitte Calls Me Baby. Under the belt are two LPs: The Future is Our Way Out (ATO, 2024) and the so-new-it’s-not-even-released-as-I-type-this Irreversible (ATO, 2026).

Influences? Comparisons to the Smiths are nothing new – but also no less appropriate in part – and my sister reckoned a bit of Associates and a general feel of new wave. There’s maybe something of the Killers sometimes, and it would be remiss also not to note a sound that occasionally kind of honours New Romanticism. For that, head to We Were Never Alive – a song, like all the recommendations below, from The Future is Our Way Out.

That’s a debut record that begins ominously as a broody and beautiful title track fades in. It brings with it though a festival-level sing-along chorus about knowing there’s a place to be happy, but – bummer – not knowing where that place is. Later on, the protagonist appears to be imagining his funeral – one filled with people and flowers. The yearning and angst are delicious and wraparound and, being supplied by a good-looking and willowy frontman in Wes Leavins, deliver a pleasingly familiar experience. Later on, classic rock ‘n’ roll licks are heard from the lead guitar of Jack Fluegel on Eddie My Love. You’ll find a bit of Elvis now and again too, most especially in LP closer and outlier Always Be Fine.

Lyrically, Brigitte often concern themselves with those reliable building blocks from which much great pop is constructed: love and death. For dying – the four-car garage death wish of I Wanna Die in the Suburbs is your first stop. And if love is more your thing, you’ll be well served by the joyous expression found in the poppy and melodic Palm of Your Hand, a perfect gig opener for the way it melts in, prior to swiftly going straight for it. On that note, live, the band is tight and professional in every department – arresting too, and well capable of delivering a night that connects emotionally and walks you back home even if no one else does.

To finish up, and although it’s hardly the edgiest thing to say about a pop group, they feel managed superbly – and ambitious in the best sense: hard-working, serious and in it for the win via high-production promo videos, US talk show spots and the grunt of regular headline touring in their home nation and across Europe.

I know no aspiring rock star lives to one day be chucking a well-composed new email from the hotel window and into the swimming pool, but these things – announcements, sharing a few words of thanks, offering a stripped-back version of a song – matter. And if you follow artists or bands that don’t make those efforts you’ll know why they matter all the more.

Added to these promotional components have been support slots with the likes of Morrissey, Fontaines DC, and the Vaccines, the latter of which – yay – brought Brigitte to Glasgow for the second time in ten months. I see people I quite like and am close to with less frequency. At these shows and others, the group is generous with its time, making a point of meeting fans – and perhaps fans-to-be – when the house lights go up. Again: it’s stuff done right, even if you subscribe to the view that the only thing you owe the public is a good performance.

Last August at Gorilla, a venue in Manchester, a serpent of a meet-and-merch queue took 45 minutes to complete, and by its tail-end every single thing with the Brigitte name upon it had sold out. So what, you might say, but it’s recounted only to express the feeling that something exciting could be in the post for this band. I hope so, because it would be well deserved.

Some Baby boomers from the debut:

The Future is Our Way Out

If you’re in a hurry, I’d try this one first – elegant and anthemic.

Oh, if life could only be so kind I wouldn’t mind being alive…

Fine Dining

A choppy and frantic post-punk blast of relationship drama.

It’s not the way you smile that talks me off the ledge for a while…

I Wanna Die in the Suburbs

A death wish expressed via soaring chorus.

Turn out the lights, then send in the entourage…

Palm of Your Hand

Delightful pop song in the way the likes of In Between Days and Ask are unashamedly upbeat.

You know that the distance isn’t far to get to where you already are…

We Were Never Alive

One for old romantics everywhere.

However real it seemed, it was just a dream…

Beyond that first record, a couple of singles from new album Irreversible – Slumber Party and I Danced With Another Love in My Dream – are found at all your favourite online purveyors.

Lineup:

Wes Leavins – vocals
Jack Fluegel – guitar
Devin Wessels – bass guitar
Jeremy Benshish – drums

brigittecallsmebaby.com

Thanks as ever to Jim for the space, and to you for reading.

 

STRANGEWAYS

Eels

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (31) : Eels – Your Lucky Day In Hell

As mentioned before (away back in April 2019!!!), when I had a quick look at the Eels debut single Novocaine For The Soul, singer/songwriter Mark Everett had been making music for around five years prior to writing and recording material under the moniker of E and becoming an ‘overnight’ success.

This was an era when channels devoted to music videos were a huge part of the offerings on satellite television, with MTV2 being a great place to switch on at any time of the day to catch promos, old and new alike. Novocaine For The Soul had been a minor hit in America at the tail end of 1996 and the black and white video, in which the band appeared to be flying around a back alley in NYC while playing and singing the song, certainly captured the imagination. It was on heavy rotation and in due course, the song was picked up by radio stations, leading to it getting a big push by the record label and entering the UK charts at #10 in February 1997.

What I hadn’t known until doing a wee bit of research for this post was that the debut album, Beautiful Freak, had already been available in the UK prior to Novocaine For The Soul becoming a hit, and hadn’t done very much. It was, as you’d expect, re-released on the back of the hit single, at which point it entered the album chart at #5, eventually hanging around the Top 100 for over six months.

The sales of Beautiful Freak were assisted by the next single Susan’s House going Top 10 in May 1997 as well as by the band’s live shows and occasional appearances on TV shows, and not forgetting that the promo videos were still on heavy rotation on MTV2 and elsewhere.

A third single from the album, Your Lucky Day in Hell, did prove to be a case of just one visit too many to the well.  It was released in September, a few weeks after Eels had played a well-received show at the Reading Festival, but a chart position of #35 would seem to indicate it wasn’t one that brought them new fans interested only in singles:-

mp3: Eels – Your Lucky Day In Hell

One of the highlights of the album, but such a moody and understated tune with a downbeat lyric wasn’t really tailor-made for radio play.

There were two other songs on the CD single:-

mp3: Eels – Susan’s Apartment
mp3: Eels – Altar Boy

The former was a radically different take on Susan’s House, the hit single from earlier in the year, with this remix courtesy of Mike Simpson of the Dust Brothers, which is why it is a close cousin to songs you’ll find on Odelay, the album released by Beck in 1996.  The latter is a cover, a Rickie Lee Jones song, originally recorded for her seventh studio album, Traffic From Paradise, released in 1993.

Both are example of Eels, as they would do throughout their existence, offering up b-sides which added value to any single.

 

JC

14 Iced Bears, Groove Farm, McCarthy

C86 : THE ULTIMATE SERIES (Parts 15, 16 and 17 of 114)

The Groove Farm were from Bristol, active and prolific between 1986 and 1990 across a number of labels and their songs have appeared on loads of subsequent compilations released during the 21st century. Despite not appearing on the C86 cassette, they will feature twice across this series.

mp3: Captain Fantastic (demo) – The Groove Farm

Track 17, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

The next two paras are lifted from the website, Bristol Archive Records

The Groove Farm were a noisy guitar pop band that came to life in 1986, with the release of their first 7″ EP ‘Sore Heads And Happy Hearts’ it was a self released effort, cheaply recorded, with cheaply made sleeves, and hand coloured labels to save money. Only now people describe it as lo-fi, at the time it was ‘DIY’. The band were instantly picked up on and became fanzine favourites with the then booming ‘C86’, ‘shambling’ ‘anorak’ ‘twee’ pop scene that was sweeping England.

The Groove Farm live were never ‘twee’ and they never wore anoraks. They at times, could shamble though! They could also be fantastic, and powerful, pop with the honest and true spirit of punk. Soon they signed to Subway records, but the results of recording in a ‘better’ studio under the orders from the label, were to soften the harsh trebly garage sound, and the band weren’t happy with the records,  Things turned sour with Subway, after money owed, failed to arrive. The last few years found the band back on their own Raving Pop Blast! label, and again recording on 8 track.

The studio version of Captain Fantastic would appear on the magnificently named EP Only The Most Ignorant Gutless Sheep-brained Poltroon Can Deny Them Now, which came out in 1987 on Raving Pop Blast!  The band called it a day in 1990 after, if Discogs is accurate, eleven singles/EPs/flexidiscs and two albums.

McCarthy.   A band that I’ve long intended to give some space to on the blog but failed miserably.  A few years ago, I picked up a 3xCD collection of their albums, singles and BBC sessions from which I planned to come up with an ICA….maybe one day.  They came from Barking, Essex (just east of London) and were active between 1985 and 1990.  There had been a self-financed debut single, In Purgatory in 1985, prior to them being asked to contribute to the C86 cassette:-

mp3: Celestial City – McCarthy

Track 9 on side 2 of the C86 cassette; Track 20, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

This song was only ever made available on the C86 cassette (and subsequent vinyl and CD re-releases)

McCarthy, very much a left-wing band when it came to politics, next released two singles on The Pink Label in 1986/87.  After that label closed down, they switched to September Records, which was owned and run by Paul Sutton, who had been part of the management team at The Pink Label.   There would be three singles and an album on September Records in 1987/88 before the label was sold to Midnight Music, on which there would be three singles and two albums in 1989/90.

When McCarthy came to an end in 1990, lead guitarist Tim Gane formed a new band, which saw his girlfriend Laetitia Sadler taking on vocal duties. That band was called Stereolab…..

As mentioned above, all the studio recording, along with BBC sessions, was compiled by Cherry Red Records on a 3xCD compilation, released in 2014.

14 Iced Bears were from Brighton and were active between 1985 and 1992, before reforming for a short time in 2010. They initially signed to Frank Records, based in Hertford just north of London, but by 1988 they had been asked by Sarah Records to record what proved to a rather splendid and catchy single as the fourth 45 issued by the label.

mp3: Come Get Me – 14 Iced Bears

Track 5, Disc 2 of CD86.

It proved to be their only release for Sarah, and like many other singles on the label, it is now quite valuable.  The band were never really tied to any one label during their existence, and they were also more than happy to be on shared releases with other bands, often on flexidiscs.  As far as I can work out, there were ten singles and two albums.

All three of today’s featured bands will return at some point in this series.

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#24: The Magic Piper (Of Love) : Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, SET 041, 1997)

Many thanks for the particularly lovely comments last Sunday, and if you are one of those readers who settles down to read/listen with a coffee in hand, then I hope you enjoy today’s instalment.

One of the biggest movies in 1997 was Austin Powers : International Man Of Mystery, starring the Canadian comic actor Mike Myers, a parody mainly of the James Bond spy films, but also of the entire hip/swinging/hippy 60s pop culture.  The film opened in May, and anyone going along on the back of the rave reviews (and myself and Rachel will admit to being two such paying customers) would probably have been very surprised to hear, if you paid close attention, a familiar voice singing an entirely new song over the closing credits, albeit it was one of those times when the song plays as out takes from the film are played on screen, and the music is kind of incidental.

The credits continued to roll and eventually reach the part where the music is listed. The Magic Piper (Of Love). Written by Edwyn Collins. Performed by Edwyn Collins. Courtesy of Setanta Records.

Well, well, well.

The soundtrack album to the film was released around the same time, and The Magic Piper (Of Love) is its opening track.   I resisted the temptation to buy the soundtrack in the hope that the song would either get a single release and/or appear on Edwyn’s next solo album, a hope that, happily was soon realised, being released at the end of July 1997 on 2 x CDs and 12″ vinyl.

CD1

mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Magic Piper (Of Love)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – More Than You Bargained For
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Red Menace
mp3: Edwyn Collins – It Takes A Little Time

CD2

mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Magic Piper (Of Love)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Who Is It?
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Who Is It? (Halterbacked By The Victorian Spaceman)
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Welwyn Garden City

Six new songs plus a remix, so it kind of felt as if Xmas had arrived in the middle of summer.

The Magic Piper (Of Love) is a fun number, maybe a wee bit silly to some, given that it does have that 60s lounge music feel, complete with a flute (and it is a real flute, not one whose sound was created in the studio using a keyboard and technology).  I’m not going to claim it is anything close to being Edwyn’s best single, but it has a soft spot among fans, given it did provide him with just the second Top 40 hit of his career, coming in at #32 before falling away.

More Than You Bargained For is a fairly straightforward pop song, one which seems to rely solely on the classic vocals, guitars, bass and drums. It’s actually one of those songs, when you realise a few years later it hasn’t ever appeared on an album, you come to think of it as being wasted purely as a b-side.

Red Menace is a curious one.  It has a retro feel to it, and it reminds me of the sort of music that accompanied American cop shows from the 70s, complete with sound effects such as wailing sirens.

It Takes A Little Time is another that has a bit of a throwback sound, particularly across its chorus. The lyric is the sort which Edwyn has churned out a few times over the decades – it might sound as if it is about personal relationships, but it could just as easily be his reflections on a career in the music industry, during which he has taken more than his share of hard knocks.

There’s two versions of Who Is It?  The first is a minimalist sort of song, heavily reliant on synths to set the mood and tempo. It acts as a fine reminder that it has always been impossible to pigeon-hole Edwyn Collins.  The second version sees the reappearance of The Victorian Spaceman, aka Sebastian Lewsley, last given a specific credit for his radical remix of A Girl Like You as one of the b-sides on If You Could Love Me back in 1995.  As you’d expect, it’s full of studio gimmickry, and includes a number of uncredited dialogue samples along the way.  Very much something to be hidden away on a b-side.

Finally, we have Welwyn Garden City.  I have no idea why Edwyn chose to use the name of a smallish town in the south-east of England, some 20 miles from London, as the three-word chorus of this funky, spaced-out piece of electronica, co-written with Sean Reed, someone who has long been involved with Edwyn and is still very much part of the support network in the studio and out on the road.

Oh, and I almost forgot that there was a slightly extended version of the single included on the 12″ vinyl. It’s roughly a minute longer thanks to its outro:-

mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Magic Piper (Of Love) (extended version)

The 12″ b-sides consisted of the Macrame Mix by Youth take on A Girl Like You (as featured a couple of weeks back as a previous extra track on a CD) along Welwyn Garden City.

A couple of weeks after The Magic Piper (Of Love) had enjoyed its very brief stay in the singles chart, Edwyn’s fourth studio LP was released, from which another single was lifted.  And if you think the b-sides this week were a bit on the strange side……..

 

JC

Joyce Delaney

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #495: JOYCE DELANEY

I’ve come back again today to David Cameron’s Eton Mess, the compilation CD issued on Song, By Toad Records in 2015:-

mp3: Joyce Delaney – Don’t Be An Asshole

Joyce Delaney were a lo-fi act from Glasgow, originally consisting of Chrissy Barnacle (guitar and vocals) and Nyla Ahmad (bass and vocal), later joined on drums by Barry Carty.  Over at Bandcamp, you can find digital releases in the shape of Demos (2014), What’s Up Wanda (2017), Busy Girls Lament (2017) and Gently But Firmly (2023).

Don’t Be An Asshole, all 82 seconds of it, can be found on Demos.  The band called it a day in June 2023 with a one-off gig to launch Gently But Firmly.

 

JC