HighSchool, Pet Shop Boys

THE JOYS OF LIVE MUSIC (PART 4287)

Before anyone asks (not that I imagine anyone would), the number in the title of today’s post was plucked out at random and has no significance.

I went to two live shows last week, involving bands/acts at the extremes of careers in pop music, and both turned out to be just as exciting as the other.

The Thursday might saw myself and Rachel hit old London Town to catch the fourth night of the Pet Shop Boys residency at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. When the shows were announced, I really didn’t think I’d land lucky getting tickets – something in the region of 7,500 in total across the five nights were put on sale and the demand was going to be ridiculous, but somehow I made it into the online queue and was I greedily snatched the two tickets on offer.  Flights and an overnight in a hotel were then sorted – we normally do London by train but didn’t want to risk anything going wrong with the journey down if the service was running late and we ended up missing the show – and plans were also made to do a couple of cultural things on the Friday before coming back up the road.

The long-running series a while back on the PSB singles will give you an idea as to why I was particularly excited by the idea of the residency. Neil and Chris, while thoroughly enjoying playing the arenas and festivals with the Dreamworld show the past couple of years, in which the set consists of hit after hit after hit, wanted to strip things right back and play a small venue with the set consisting only of non-single album tracks and b-sides. It was also going to involve crossing another item off the bucket list as it would be my first time attending as show at the Electric Ballroom, a venue I had passed on so many occasions while visiting the nearby Camden Market.

I did have a look at the set lists from the first three nights of the residency, and it was clear the duo were sticking to their word.  They had seemingly rehearsed 35 songs for inclusion in the show, from which 22-24 would be played on a particular night with each night also including a guest musician or singer for part of the set.  Obscure turned out to be a great name for the residency as I don’t think any PSB fan would have nailed down the contents of the final list. With so many to choose from, it’s inevitable that some personal favourites hadn’t made the cut, but there were also tunes that I’d long wanted to hear played live….plus the excitement of whatever was to be aired exclusively on the Thursday night.

I had one slight twinge of regret when I read that Johnny Marr had been the special guest on the Wednesday night, and that a couple of the songs I had hoped to hear had been played that night with him on guitar.  The consolation for us was our special guest being Mark Refoy, who had worked with PSB as a touring guitarist in the mid-00s, but is maybe better known to some TVV regulars as a member of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and Slipstream.

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – A Certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi” (b-side of Winner digital single, 2012)

A song that was only played on the Thursday night, and all the evidence you need that Neil and Chris had dug really deep to come up with the set lists, but it was also the case that real fan favourites from over the years were aired every night:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – King’s Cross (from the album Actually, 1987)
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Your Funny Uncle (b-side of It’s Alright single, 1989)

A truly magical night that will live long in the memory.

Last Saturday, I was in the company of Aldo as we made our way to McChuills, a pub/venue in Glasgow (capacity 150) to see HighSchool play a show in support of their eponymous debut album, which was released last October.

They are another band to whom I was introduced by SWC as back in December 2022, he listed their debut EP, Forever and Last, as #10 in his end of year rundown over at No Badger Required.  He would then three years later list their debut album at #20 in his most recent annual rundown describing its opening track, Dipped, with these words:-

….a tremendous, a four minute blast of guitar riffs and moody vocals, that take all the best bits of The Strokes and The House of Love and moulds them together into something that fizzes with energy. It builds rather wonderfully, treading that line between shoegaze and early nineties dream pop marvellously, before it kind of explodes into a surging chorus that sees the bass speed up as the band channel their inner Joy Division.

mp3: HighSchool – Dipped

HighSchool are from Melbourne, so they were a long way from home, but they got the sort of enthusiastic reception throughout that Glasgow audiences most often reserve for local favourites.  I was, probably by twenty years or so, the oldest member of the audience, and while I couldn’t match the energy that the five musicians and indeed the audience brought to the occasion, I certainly made the most of the night.  A short set of around 50 minutes, with no doubt the band spending just as long at the merch stand afterwards making a truly special night for their small legion of fans, not that I would know as two gigs in three nights is proving to be a bit much these days in my advancing years, and so I was out sharp to catch a train back to Villain Towers, all the while humming this to myself:-

mp3: HighSchool – Colt

This was a digital single released in 2023 but re-recorded as the closing track on the debut album.

HighSchool’s tour continues this week with shows in Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and London.  Get along if you can.

Just to mention that the rest of the week on TVV is going to consist of guest postings, and so you’re in for some treats.

 

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

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

#29: Johnny Teardrop : Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, SETCD 112, 2002)

Edwyn Collins‘ fifth studio album, Doctor Syntax, hit the shops at the end of April 2002.  It was a very low-key release, coming out on CD only, and with no advance single to help with the marketing and promotion, albeit The Beatle$, which had come out in the autumn of 2001, was one of its eleven tracks.

It’s an album that I have always found quite difficult to appreciate.  It’s self-produced, with some assistance from Sebastian Lewsley, and other than some drums from Paul Cook (on two of the tracks), all the instruments are played by Edwyn.  It therefore suffers a bit from nobody really being around to offer second opinions or guidance, and with all the songs being over four minutes in length, it does tend to drift and meander a bit too much.  None of the songs have made it onto the two ICAs that have previously been compiled….but the one that came closest to making its way into the second of the ICAs was this:-

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Johnny Teardrop (single mix)

I’m not sure when this remixed and edited version of Johnny Teardrop was issued as a single (it’s about 20 seconds shorter than the album version).  I’ve seen a photo of a promo which gives a date of 30 September 2002, and if this is accurate, then it was fully five months after the album had been released.  There was certainly a bit of an effort made to promote the single in that a fabulous video was made, one which is full of the sort of pithy humour with which many associate Edwyn with him cast as a pop show presenter while others get to perform the song:-

I’m really not sure if the video was ever aired anywhere….I certainly only saw it decades later via YouTube.  The single didn’t come anywhere near the charts. There were two other tracks on the CD:-

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Never Felt Like This
mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Popstar

The first of these was the opening track on Doctor Syntax.  The second was a previously unreleased song.  It has a sound quite similar to those on Doctor Syntax, albeit the temp was a bit faster than most.  And you can probably tell by the title alone, it’s another of Edwyn’s lyrics that question why anyone would want to consider making a living as a musician.

It would take another five years before Edwyn was able to release his next single.

 

 

JC

Kundalini Genie

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #500: THE KUNDALINI GENIE

It’s no exaggeration to say that this ongoing series in which any Scottish singer or band who has at least one song sitting on the hard drive of my laptop would not have reached #500 (with quite a few more still to come), without me being a supporter of the label, Last Night From Glasgow, and therefore eligible to be given copies of albums that I otherwise would unlikely be aware of.

It was back in November 2023 that False Highs, True Lows by The Kundalini Genie was included among the latest batch of records that were covered by my membership.  The name of the band meant nothing to me, so I was surprised to learn that:-

(a) they were from Glasgow; and

(b) this was in fact their sixth LP, albeit their first for LNFG, with the others being self-released or having been issued with the support of labels in Vienna and Portland, Oregon.

The fact that the band’s music has been described as ‘neo-psychedelia band with Beach Boys-esque harmonic vocal symphonies on layers of dreamy fuzz guitar and synths’ is maybe an indication why they never appeared on my radar.

The membership of the band appears to have changed a few times over the years, but those involved with the 2023 album were Liam Cole (drums), Samuel Floyd (bass/vocals), Isaac Barnes (bass/guitars), Sarah Embleton (vocals/keys) and Robbie Wilson (vocals/guitars/bass/keys/percussion), with the songs being written by Wilson & Embleton.

mp3: The Kundalini Genie – All The Clouds and Silver Linings

The album has a number of decent moments on it, but just not enough to make me want to delve into the back catalogue.

JC

 

Stereolab

FOUR TRACK MIND : A RANDOM SERIES OF EXTENDED PLAY SINGLES

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

#15: Sterelab – Jenny Ondioline (1993)

I’ve never been a ‘completist’ nor a prolific buyer of singles, especially those that were otherwise available on albums. I also gave up reading the music press in the mid-1980s, somewhat limiting my knowledge of new releases. So even though I really liked Stereolab I didn’t religiously buy all of their releases unless I happened to see them during a foray into a record shop. Luck is therefore the main reason I ended up with copies of the Low Fi EP and the stand alone single of John Cage Bubblegum.

And although I wouldn’t normally buy advance singles taken from a forthcoming album, I nevertheless find that I have four such records by Stereolab. Each of their full-length studio albums from 1993’s Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements up to Sound Dust (2001) was preceded by a four-track EP, featuring one or two tracks from the album and two or three non-album tracks. The four that I possess were bought largely because they appeared under my nose and because I reasoned that I was getting at least two songs I wouldn’t otherwise get on the new album. Plus in two cases they were cute little 10” discs – hard to resist.

Miss Modular, the advance single from Dots and Loops (1998), won’t feature in this series because it appeared under my nose on CD and spuriously I’m sticking to vinyl here. The first of the other three is the 10” Jenny Ondioline EP that announced the arrival of Transient Random Noise Bursts.

The title track is of course only the first 3m52s of the track that on the album would stretch to over 18 minutes with the addition of a long Neu-like one-chord groove extending from the instrumental backing to the first part. A different six-minute take was also issued on a 7” single with an alternate version of French Disco (spelled Disko) sold on their tour supporting Pavement in early 1994. The latter track is available on Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2) and the alternate Jenny Ondioline was reissued on the expanded 2019 reissue of Transient Random Noise Bursts.

As is common with Stereolab, the song’s title has nothing whatsoever to do with the lyrical content, which is all about political struggle. And if you are visualising a woman called Jenny you are also wrong. The Ondioline was in fact an early analog musical synthesizer developed in the years after 1939 by a French inventor called Georges Jenny. I know what you’re going to ask next and the answer is also no, the Ondioline is not part of the instrumentation on the track, despite The Groop’s well-known fondness for a bit of vintage analog synth.

Golden Ball is the other album track on the EP and in a shocking deviation from common practice the lyrics actually feature the words “golden ball” at one point, according to one of those online lyrics sites, but given how inaccurate they can be I wouldn’t guarantee it. I can’t hear it myself, but with my cloth ears that doesn’t mean much either. The music builds slowly from a monotonous twanging guitar into another long one-chord thrash. It’s a different mix from the album, running about 20 seconds shorter, featuring a bit of Velvets-style lead guitar early on as the vocals begin, and ending with a short return to the solo twanging instead of swerving into a brick wall with a moogy squawk and blood-curdling needle scratch as on the album.

French Disco is reassuringly not sung in French (apart from the words “la résistance”), nor does it sound like disco music. It’s a great riff and hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on Switched On Volume 1. The lyrics to remaining non-album track Fruition are printed on the sleeve, I was about to say helpfully, but that’s questionable. Allusion, tribulation, transmutation… (but no fruition). Well, whatever. It’s a gentler, downbeat number showcasing nice vocal harmonies from Hansen and Sadier.

Overall the music reflects the steady progression of Stereolab’s early heavier style as they gradually blended in more delicate pop touches but it’s all still very much more Krautrock than Sacha Distel, making it a very satisfying little disc from my perspective. It’s on plain black vinyl.

As well as a CD version there is also an extremely rare clear vinyl version (a rather cleaner version of clear than Low Fi), of which only 36 copies escaped into the wild, 25 of which are autographed by the band members. The remainder of the pressing (of unknown size) came out blemished by some contamination of the vinyl and were destroyed.

Presumably Stereolab switched pressing plant after this, as the album encountered problems too, with off-centre pressings and numerous returns of the gold vinyl version. My gold vinyl copy plays fine, but the label on side one is doubled up, with one of the prints spreading noisily over the run-off groove. If I was desperate for cash I could flog it for up to NZ$600 apparently, but it would break my heart to do so. Similarly, this EP is going nowhere.

Jenny Ondioline

Fruition

Golden Ball

French Disco

 

Fraser

Gang Of Four, Jon King

I HAD A MODEST AMBITION. I JUST WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD

The most recent ‘Book of the Month’ on TVV was To Hell With Poverty, the memoir of Jon King, singer and main songwriter with the Gang of Four. I mentioned that the paperback edition of the book is to be published by Constable on 16 April 2026, and with the date fast approaching, it seems to be the perfect time to share the chat over a  Zoom call that I had with Jon a few weeks back, one which focussed on the book but made sure to touch on the music.

I began by asking Jon what drove him to write the book in the first place.

“I hadn’t really thought about doing it at all, and it came about through a chance meeting with Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks.

“We happened both to be at Abbey Road Studios in London, being filmed for a documentary being put together for a Canadian production company, and I hadn’t seen him for about 40 years.  It was great to catch up with him, especially given that Buzzcocks were our great friends and sponsors in the early days.  I asked him what he was getting up to when he wasn’t being a Buzzcock, and he replied that he was writing his memoir.

“I said ‘Really?’ as I had never thought of Steve being a pen-man.  He told me he was having it ghost-written and finding the whole experience very rewarding, and then caught me a bit by surprise by adding ‘Why don’t you have a go?’  I said that nobody would be interested, to which he said ‘no no no’ and he gave me the name and contact details of his literary agent, Kevin Pocklington.

“I met Kevin who was really encouraging.  It involved, to start with, 10,000 words, as sample chapters which would be used to try and obtain a publishing deal. It was quite an effort as I wanted to do it all myself – I wasn’t going to have anyone else writing with me and I don’t use and thoroughly disapprove of people using AI to write things. So I did, and Kevin got me a deal with Little Brown in the English-speaking world outside the US and then a deal with Akashic Books for the United States.”

Jon then told me that he was very pleased and pleasantly surprised at the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the book, especially as the process over the weeks and months had proven to be a bit of a challenge.

“I’m of the gloomy school of rock and roll – I never expect anyone to turn up to our concerts, and I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in my story.  It was very difficult at the beginning not being an experienced author, and although I was an old-hand at writing lyrics, there was an initial struggle to find my right tone of voice and the best way of writing.

“I didn’t want to churn out long and meandering chapters. I also took time to read, as research, a few memoirs, some ghost-written, others not and quickly came to the conclusion that stories about drugs and drink are boring, and once you’ve read Motley Crue’s story, well you can’t out-Motley Crue, Motley Crue!

“I was able to work out in my head that the book would work best if I wrote about how I was at particular points in time, and to also to reflect on what influenced and inspired me throughout my life.  I also had really liked the way Viv Albertine had written her memoirs –  quite sort of gossipy and chatty  – and that was uppermost in my thoughts as I went about the task.”

As I mentioned in my own review of the book, it doesn’t go straight into the Gang of Four, with the first half looking back at Jon’s upbringing, family life, school, university and his ambition of being a visual artist.

“I did come from what is best described as an economically-disadvantaged background.  Growing up, I was never aware of being poor as that was my surroundings living in a boring commuter village made up mostly of council house stock and low-income families.  I ended up being very lucky to get a free place at one of England’s most elite public schools (Sevenoaks) where I very quickly encountered privilege, and realised that those who have everything get everything give to them.

“It’s something that has stayed with me my entire life, and as an old person I feel even more furious about the inequalities in this country. 

“I’ve always had a modest ambition of just wanting to change the world!  I remember being inspired at the age of 11 by hearing Highway 61 Revisited and how Bob Dylan was really able to excite people in a progressive way, and I wanted to try and do the same.

“But it turned out that I had a talent for drawing, which led me to study Fine Art at Leeds University.  I continued to do well and achieve some success by winning a few prizes, which led to one of my paintings being displayed in the Mappin Gallery in Sheffield.  That particular painting was political but I felt that the people looking at it during the exhibition and passing comment and judgement seemed to be well-heeled and well-off and I wasn’t comfortable.  I don’t think my father in his entire life ever set foot in an art gallery, and so I thought to myself that what I really wanted to do was something creative that had the power to start a conversation, and I began to increasingly concentrate on music.”

mp3: Gang Of Four – Damaged Goods (EP version)

Gang of Four first entered a recording studio in 1978 and the second half of the memoir covers the period through to 1984 during which time the band were signed to a major label and recorded four albums as well as undertaking a punishing schedule of live tours in the UK, Europe and increasingly the USA. I asked Jon why the book had stopped at that point, and whether, given its success, he was going to deliver a second volume.

“When I wrote the book two years ago, I wanted to have a natural arc of rags to riches and back to rags again.  It felt like a natural place to stop.  Things were changing for me as a musician, with Andy and I having a lot of difficulties because of his alcoholism.  Things became a lot more complicated, and if the period covered by the book had extended, a lot of it would have been about the disintegration of our relationship. But I didn’t want to write bad things about Andy. We loved each other until a point. I’m never quite sure when it all went south, 82 or 83 maybe, and I really wish we hadn’t made that fourth album. I should have put my foot down and just stopped it.

“The paperback edition does include a coda just to bring a few things up to date. Over the past year, we did a huge farewell tour, including selling out a coast-to-coast tour of America.  It was a remarkable experience, and I was astounded by it, both from the way the audience reacted and the fact that around one-third of them were under the age of 30.  For whatever reason the Gen Z’s have adopted or seem very keen on what we do, while in the hip-hop community, Run The Jewels and Frank Ocean have sampled songs, and I’m name-dropping like mad now, but even Pharrell was saying that the inspiration for the album he made two years ago was Entertainment!  You can’t help but be flattered by it.

“The immediate future is a short promotional tour around the paperback, and then in June we are heading back to the States for a handful of shows, with the band being myself, Hugo, Ted Leo and Gail Greenwood.  We’ve been in the studio with the great producer Nick Launey, and we recorded for the first time a song we played all the time called Elevator which never made it onto Entertainment! because Andy and I thought it was too much like pop music, but it’s actually a really catchy punk rock song, and we are going to put that out once Nick has mixed it.

“We’ve also re-recorded one of our mid-90s songs, I Parade Myself, along with four entirely new songs. It’s really exciting as I never thought I’d ever record any new stuff. They will all come out at least on all the digital platforms in the fullness of time. And who knows, maybe I’ll win a Grammy for best new act!”

I ended our chat by asking Jon for his thoughts on the current music scene and whether he could readily identify a 21st Century Gang of Four.

“There is a need – there’s always a need –  to agitate through contemporary music. Even back in the 60s, Elvis Presley made a song like In The Ghetto and the Supremes made Love Child about being a single-parent mother while Kenny Rogers wrote a song about a disabled Vietnam War veteran who couldn’t get it up. A song like that would never be made now.

“I don’t think there’s an identifiable Gang of Four these days. I am a bit puzzled by this given how dark and complicated things are at the moment.

“The problem is so much of music has been distorted and destroyed by the vampire digital platforms who just steal creative peoples’ money.

“Things are becoming even worse with AI coming along allowing people to copy and clone music without paying anybody. And of course in pop music, you’ve got that overwhelming dominance of say Max Martin who is now the most successful songwriter of all time after Lennon and McCartney, and so the similarity of big-selling pop music, with the exception of wonderful people like Beyonce, means you don’t have any pop band as distinctive as Abba or a new guitar band as distinctive as Nirvana or indeed anyone similar to Gang of Four. 

“There are a lot of great bands and great music out there, but whether there’s anything like us, I don’t think so.”

We spoke about a few other things during a call lasting over 30 minutes, but I’ve edited things down to ensure this piece isn’t too long.   My big takeaway from the chat is that Jon King is incredibly creative across all the arts.  He has a quiet personality that is very unassuming and down to earth while still having that fire in his belly and a desire to change the world. Above all else, he is someone well worth listening to, and who will undoubtedly be great value at the upcoming events in support of the launch of the paperback edition of To Hell With Poverty.

Thursday 16 April : The Red Lion, 640 High Road, Leytonstone, London : In conversation with Miki Berenyi :   Tickets here

Thursday 23 April : 1 in 100, Old Castle Road, Glasgow : In conversation with Douglas MacIntyre :  SOLD OUT

Friday 24 April : The Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street, Edinburgh : In conversation with Phill Jupitus : Tickets here.

The book can be pre-ordered from here.

Oh, and one of the new Gang of Four songs has just been given a digital release.  Click here

A special thanks to Kevin Pocklington for arranging the Zoom call.

 

JC

Mountain Goats

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #410: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

A guest posting by Rol (My Top Ten Blog)

I’ve been wanting to write this ICA for ages now… but, y’know… I waste enough time on the internet trying to get people to like the songs I like as it is. It can be quite exhausting, can’t it? Swimming upstream, while the curmudgeonly throw rocks at you from the safety of the riverbank. Why do we do it? Because, as Pete Postlethwaite once said, “Music matters”. And in this crazy, mixed-up world that gets crazier and more mixed-up every day, it’s one of only two things I can rely on to keep me afloat. The other thing? Books. Reading and listening to music are my lifejacket… which brings us to John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. Because as well as being a superb songwriter (hipsters at the New Yorker called him “America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist”), Darnielle is also an acclaimed novelist. I read his most recent novel, and it blew me away. Here’s my review from Goodreads…

“A true crime writer moves into a house where an infamous murder took place… and it begins to affect his work.”

The title and cover suggest a generic horror tale, but this is much, much more – an investigation into the very nature of storytelling (but not in a wanky, “in’t stories brilliant?” Neil Gaiman way), questioning whether a narrative can ever be truly subjective, unbiased or reliable. There is horror here – most notably two gruesome murder scenes – but there’s far more psychological darkness, with superior use of perspective shifts and alternating voices, and a climax that manages to surprise without going for the obvious shock.

I’ve become increasingly enamoured with Darnielle’s work as a songwriter with his band The Mountain Goats, so it’s hard to believe he could be an even better novelist. Frighteningly good.”

Darnielle has only written three novels to date – most of his time is still devoted to the day job and since 1991, that means 23 studio albums from The Mountain Goats. I don’t claim to have heard them all – I’m still at the early stages of discovering the delights they have to offer. But I’ve already come across more than enough songs to make a decent ICA and hopefully try to get to get a few more people to like the songs I like.

1. This Year

You need a proper life-affirming anthem to kick off a mixtape, right?

My broken house behind me and good things ahead
A girl named Cathy wants a little of my time
Six cylinders underneath the hood crashing and kicking
Aha! Listen to the engine whine

Shades of Springsteen’s Born To Run right there, but also the work of previous ICA honorary Craig Finn. Premier storytellers all. And if you’re looking for a chorus to thump the steering wheel to as you tear down life’s metaphorical highway…

I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me!

That’s become my mantra lately.

Here’s a great live performance of the song featuring US TV host Stephen Colbert on guest vocals.

2. No Children

OK, let’s take the mood down now. Waaaaay down, with a blacker-than-bleak doomed relationship song that a lot of old country music stars would have given their right arm for. I can hear George Jones singing a slowed down version of this, or Loretta and Conway turning it into a duet.

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises
We’re pretty sure they’re all wrong

I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn’t over
And I hope you blink before I do
I hope I never get sober

And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can’t find one good thing to say
And I’d hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You’d stay the hell out of my way

3. Love Love Love

Now for something a bit more cheerful… how about a love song? Featuring King Saul, Sonny Liston, Raskolnikov and Kurt Cobain. Some things you do for money and some you do for love, love, love.

4. Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back To Leeds

A lot of Mountain Goats records are thematically linked and tell a larger story between the songs. I won’t use the word “concept album”, because I know it’ll make some of you come out in hives. Anyway, this one is from the 2017 album Goths, which might be when I first started to pay attention to John Darnielle’s songwriting. I’m always attracted to songs about other singers, and as I go to work in Leeds, I was doubly intrigued.

Although he was born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Andrew Eldritch went to university in Leeds, and that’s where he formed The Sisters of Mercy. The song isn’t strictly a biography, it’s more a metaphor about returning to your roots to get back what you’ve lost. In many ways, it seems like a direct reply to our opening tune, This Year.

There’s indifference on the wind
But a faint gust of hope
At a club nobody goes to
With a musty velvet rope
Guys in Motörhead jackets
Who knew him way back when
Haven’t raised a drink in years
But now meet up again
To remember how it was
When they all thought they’d move away
And ride in Lotus 7s
Through the London streets one day

5. Cold At Night

Bang up to date now with a song from last year’s album, Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan, a “full-on musical” (track 1 is an overture) about three stranded shipwreck survivors, an idea that apparently came to Darnielle in a dream.

For those of you who don’t want your albums to tell complete novelistic stories, with each song a chapter, I’ll say this… much as I like the idea from a writing perspective, I don’t ever listen to these records with the larger narrative in mind. I take them song by song, as I do any other record. I have this dream that when I retire and have more time to find a comfy chair to sit back in, with the lyrics sheets on my knee, appreciating my favourite albums as a whole, like proper musos must do. I’m sure I’ll get even more out of the Mountain Goats back catalogue if I ever get the chance to do that. I guess what I’m saying is, the songs work on their own too. You don’t need to worry about the forest, just enjoy the trees.

The first thing you learn is there’s always a clock ticking somewhere
And the next thing you learn is how cold it can get at night
The first thing you learn is how strong you can be if you have to
And the next thing you learn is how cold it can get at night

6. Training Montage

Speaking of which, here’s a song that… well, I have no idea what it’s about. But I think I read somewhere that the Goats wanted it to be the kind of tune you’d see Sylvester Stallone working out to in Rocky. It’s got a slow start, but around the thirty second mark it all kicks off and… well, if you’re not singing along by the end, check your pulse for signs of life.

7. The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton

Now forget all that larger narrative bunkum I was talking about earlier – how about a tune that tells a complete story in two and a half minutes? A story some writers would need a whole book to tell. Darnielle understands that a writer’s greatest skill is not what he puts on the page, but what he leaves off… making the reader fill in the blanks.

JD apparently wrote this song after working for a couple of years in a California Mental Health facility. He wrote a longer version as part of Bloomsbury publishing’s 33 1/3 series, ostensibly a tribute to Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality LP, but really just expanding on this song’s central premise: the awful impact of crushed dreams. So many great lines here, it’s both funny and very, very sad.

When you punish a person for dreaming his dream
Don’t expect him to thank or forgive you
The best ever death metal band out of Denton
Will in time both outpace and outlive you

Hail Satan!

8. Woke Up New

But if you’re looking for a more traditional pop song, try this. A classic “day after I was dumped” tune from 2006.

The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it
But I drank it all just ’cause you hate it, when I let things go to waste
And I wandered through the house like a little boy, lost at the mall
And an astronaut could’ve seen the hunger in my eyes from space

And I sang, “Oh, what do I do?”
“What do I do?”
“What do I do?”
“What do I do without you?”

9. Damn These Vampires

John Darnielle always seems to be writing in character, so it’s hard to tell how much of his own life creeps into these stories, and how much of it is just his imagination. However, Damn These Vampires is apparently semi-autobiographical – the vampires in question being the heavy drugs he took back in the 80s, before he managed to turn his life around.

Crawl ’til dawn
On my hands and knees
Goddamn these vampires
For what they’ve done to me

10. Anti-Music Song

I wanted to close with this because it takes me back to my introduction, specifically the question of why I waste so much time on the internet trying to get people to like the songs I like. You see, it seems there are some people out there who get far more pleasure from rubbishing the songs they don’t like rather than celebrating the ones they do. There might even be one or two of them reading this post… except I doubt they’ll have made it this far. Have I mentioned that the first band I truly loved was Queen? Big ELO fan too. And as for Billy Joel…

Anti-Music Song is written from the perspective of a musical snob and/or internet troll. Over on Genius, the site that allows people with far too much time on their hands (Ha! Irony!) to pull apart song lyrics and offer “definitive” interpretations, there’s a suggestion that when Darnielle wrote this, he really did dislike all the people he mentions here – even Brian Wilson. (And if you don’t like the Beach Boys, you don’t like joy.) Although he apparently changed his mind about many of them with the wisdom of age.

Apparently he even changed his mind about the Stretford Segregationist after this song was recorded… although I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d changed it back again given recent infamy. Either way, I’m sure many of you will get a chuckle out of the way Darnielle repeatedly mispronounces That Guy’s name here. It would wind him up no end, if he ever heard it.

 

 

Rol

 

Paul Haig

16 YEARS AND ONE DAY AGO….

Those of us who devote time and energy to blogging about music are all very aware that the popularity of the genre peaked a long time ago.  It’s always been the same with how we listen to and consume music.

I hate the word consume, but it’s appropriate in this instance.  Growing up, it would have been nigh on impossible, in the UK, to imagine a world without Top of The Pops, and in later years, I would never have believed MTV and similar channels becoming irrelevant.  Even when the streaming services in the shape of Napster etc began to have an impact, I think we would all have under-estimated the way most people, and particularly those who are young, would actually listen to music at the quarter-point of the 21st Century.

Today’s post, from a personal perspective, looks back to 6 April 2010, and what I consider to be the apex of the collective impact of music blogs. Paul Haig Day II.

It all goes back to events in March 2009, when the original Vinyl Villain blog was the subject of a DMCA takedown notice for an article about Paul Haig on the basis that the copyright holder of the song offered up as an mp3 download had demanded its removal as well as the words accompanying the article.  But the article had been put together with the help and support of Paul Haig and his manager, meaning that the actual holder of the copyright article, far from raising a complaint, was actually in support of it being used.

Further chats with Paul’s management led to the idea of designating 6 April 2009 as Paul Haig Day, when as many blogs as possible would write about him – either as a solo artist, his time with Josef K or of one of his collaborations – and that the songs used in any articles would come with his blessing.

Twelve months later, the idea was to do likewise, but hopefully bigger and better.  It was best summarised by one of the other bloggers who took part, “Home taping didn’t kill music and the world wide web isn’t going to either.”

The response to Paul Haig Day II was truly incredible, with everyone’s efforts boosted by the man himself, with what was an exclusive (at the time) brand-new remix of one of the songs from his most recent album for use on the Vinyl Villain blog:-

mp3: Paul Haig – Trip Out The Rider (remix)

Here’s a list of the 38 bloggers and supporters who got involved in one way or another on the day:-

adam from ‘Pretending Life Is Like A Song’
ally from ‘Dusty Sevens’
Blogmeister from ‘Everything Starts With An A…
Brian from ‘Consolation Prizes’
Chris & The Team at ‘Exit 97.7 WEXT’
ctel from ‘Acid Ted’
Davanelli from ‘The World According to Davanelli’
Davis McArdle (guest posting on The Vinyl Villain)
Dirk from ‘Sexy Loser’
Drew from ‘Across The Kitchen Table’
Duncan from ‘Flippin Kids’
Ed from ’17 Seconds’
Erika from ‘1001 Fun Things To Do In Aberystwth’
Fernando from ‘Por si llueve’
FiL at ‘Pogo-A-Gogo’
Friend of Rachel Worth from ‘Cathedrals Of Sound’
G from ‘How Does That One Go Again’
Greer from ‘A Sweet Unrest’
HD from ‘Helpless Dancer’
Herbal T from ‘The Mixed Up World Of Herbal T’
James from ‘Appetite For Distruction’
Jim from ‘Aye Tunes’
JJ from ‘Spiralphoria’
Mel from ‘London Cafe : The Best Of UK Indie’
Mona from ‘Exile On Moan Street’
Nat from ‘Another Aging Hipster’
Paul from ‘You Would Say That Wouldn’t You?’
Phil Spector from ‘Plain or Pan?’
Postpunk from ‘Postpunk’
Rol from ‘Sunset Over Slawit’
Sean from ‘Battery In Your Leg’
Simon from ‘The Songs That People Sing’
Swiss Adam from ‘Bagging Area’
tart from ‘Love Shack, Baby’
The Cat from ‘Jock’n’Roll’
Webbie from ‘Football & Music’
Will from ‘Between Thought & Expression’
Will from ‘We All Want Someone To Shout For’

It was also mentioned across a range of music aggretator sites etc.:-

The Hype Machine
elbo
Broken Controllers
Pop Librarian
Cowbell FM
Lintom
Indieblips
gigulate
Blip FM
wikio
Friendfeed

And not one of us was the subject of a DMCA notice!

Sixteen years on, and most of the above blogs are no more.  I know of at least one author who has passed away, and given the fact that many of us who were so heavily involved in blogging were of, shall we say, advanced years, there are likely to be others.

I can’t remember exactly why I didn’t push things for Paul Haig Day III, and sadly April 2013 is one of those period where all the posts on the old blog have been lost forever, not captured by The Wayback Machine, but I’ve a feeling that what I did was look around the blogging landscape and notice that fewer people were involved in posting regularly, and rather than have any event diminish in numbers, I decided not to pursue it.

Nor did I know that just a few months later, in July 2013, I’d have been on the receiving end of one too many DMCA warnings (I think it was my fourth) and Blogger.com decided to wipe the original blog off the face of the earth without any warning.

Scary to realise that the (new) Vinyl Villain has lasted twice as long as the original blog….but then again WordPress has shown itself to be much more sensible whenever it gets a DMCA complaint in that the opportunity is offered to remove the ‘offending’ piece of music.

mp3: Paul Haig – Justice (unreleased 7″ version)

As included on the compilation album, European Sun, released via the Belgian-based Les Disques Du Crépuscule in 1987.

JC

Grinderman

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (32) : Grinderman – Palaces of Montezuma

Back in 2019, I had a short series looking at each of the Grinderman singles.

The group came into being in 2006, consisting of Nick Cave and three of his Bad Seeds – Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martyn P. Casey. Having undergone an extensive and musically ambitious tour promoting Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus in which the Bad Seeds had been expanded to include a number of backing singers, Cave wanted to get back to basics and set about writing material akin to the days of The Birthday Party back in the 80s.

The debut single was released in January 2007.  The eighth and last single appeared in July 2011. There were also two studio albums.

The Palaces of Montezuma was the sixth single. It was part of the album Grinderman2, and a few months later it was announced it would be issued with new mixes, initially as a digital download and then as a ‘limited to 1000 copies 12″ release’ as part of Record Store Day on 16 April 2011. My unwillingness to get involved in the shenanigans around Record Store Day means that, back in 2019, this was the only physical copy of a Grinderman single not in sitting somewhere in Villain Towers.

That changed in May 2021 when I saw someone on Discogs putting a copy of a CD single that had been issued as a promo, presumably to radio stations and such like to air one of the songs.  It cost me £4.95.

mp3 : Grinderman – Palaces of Montezuma (Cenzo mix)
mp3 : Grinderman – Palaces of Montezuma (Barry Adamson remix)
mp3 : Grinderman – Palaces of Montezuma (album mix)
mp3 : Grinderman – When My Baby Comes (Cat’s Eyes remix)

As I said back in 2019,

The Barry Adamson remix is the one that does it for me on this occasion. I also mentioned that the remix of When My Baby Comes, another of the tracks on Grinderman 2, was of some interest.

Cat’s Eyes, formed in 2011, are a duo comprising Faris Badwan, lead vocalist with The Horrors, and Rachel Zeffira, a Canadian-born Canadian soprano, composer and multi-instrumentalist.  The duo are quite unconventional but gained ever-increasing critical acclaim from the outset, in recent years, culminating in awards for their film score for the 2014 art-house release The Duke of Burgundy. Having said that, the duo haven’t released anything since the 2016 album, Treasure House.

 

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

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

#28: The Beatle$ : Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, SET 093, 2001)

The collaboration with Bernard Butler which featured last week had been the first single in four years on which Edwyn had been credited as a performer. It’s not that he had been quiet, but it was a period in which he concentrated largely on his production work, although there were also two other projects to which he had contributed cover songs.

The first of these had been in 1997, when he was one of a number of contemporary Scottish artists to feature on the soundtrack of the 1997 film The Slab Boys, itself an adaptation of a John Byrne play that had been written in 1978, with its narrative set in a carpet factory in Paisley in 1957.  The play has long been very popular in Scptland, having been revived on a number of occasions over the past almost 50 years.  The film, however, wasn’t all that well received and its soundtrack, unsurprisingly, features songs from the era in which it is set, with Edwyn’s two offerings being his take on some of the best-loved and best-known songs by Bobby Darin and Fats Domino:-

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Dream Lover
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Ain’t That A Shame

The following year, he was to be found contributing to A Song For Eurotrash, an album issued by EMI Records to cash-in on what was a cult TV programme on Channel 4 and the staging of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest which was taking place in the UK for the first time in 16 years.  It’s a peculiar release with the likes of Bananarama, Dubstar, 808 State, Kenickie, Terry Hall & Sinead O’Connor (performing a duet), and Saint Étienne covering songs that had previously won an edition of Eurovision.

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Ding A Dong

The original had won in 1975, performed by the Dutch pop group Teach-In (it reached #13 in the UK charts).

It was the autumn of 2001 when Edwyn finally released a single that he had written himself. It was another that took him in a new direction:-

mp3: Edwyn Collins – The Beatle$

Five minutes in which there is more than a hint of him being influenced by trip-hop, with a lyric which I have long felt was aiming a punch in the direction of the fag-end of Britpop just as much as it poses questions about the music press’s obsession with the Fab Four.

It was released only on 7″, which went totally against the grain of most singles with the preferred format normally always being CD.  There was next to no info on the sleeve or the label other than both sides of the single were written and performed by Edwyn Collins. Oh, and the b-side wasn’t a new song, as Welwyn Garden City had originally been released on the b-side of the 12″ of The Magic Piper of Love back in 1997.

Which is partly why this post has been padded out with the three cover versions….none of which could ever be described as highlights in EC’s career.

 

 

JC

Kilgour

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #499: KILGOUR

Kilgour describe themselves as a grumpy rock band from Glasgow.  Whether that’s the nature of the music or the mindsets of the musicians, I can’t honestly say.

They’ve been making music since 2019, but it took until March 2024 before the debut album, How To Put Your Hat On, was released via Last Night From Glasgow. Incidentally, the band name is pronounced ‘Kil-Gore’ and were seemingly named after Kilgore Trout, a character in the book Breakfast Of Champions, written by Kurt Vonnegut that was published in 1093. (A band called Kilgore Trout will be part of the C86 series in a few months time).

The band’s frontman, Fionn Crossan, is in fact from Belfast, but the core of the group, Isaac Davie (lead guitar), Euan McMahon (bass) Katie Mackie (keyboards) and Jimi Maffei (drums) are from my home city.

mp3: Kilgour – Set It Alight

As you might ascertain from the song offered up today, the band’s sound is influenced by the sort of guitar music that emerged in the early 90s, which is a plus in my book.

JC

 

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #13

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

Beckoning

 

When I moved to L.A. in 1991 there was a lot of buzz around this skinny kid, Beck, who was some kind of lo-fi folk punk instigator. He’d show up at local haunts like the Alligator Lounge and Jabberjaw with an acoustic guitar and a gas-powered leaf blower. He was quirky and funny, and part of a homegrown scene. Mom and pop record stores carried his vinyl releases, which sometimes included little paintings and drawings he made with his friends.

Then ‘Loser’ came out, and you know the rest.

Since that landmark single was released in 1993, Beck’s made all kinds of great music. It would be surprising that no one’s come up with an ICA for him, but there are so many stellar songs to choose from it would take ages to narrow down a list of 10. Thankfully, he’s been equally prolific collaborating with other musicians, making the selection process for those efforts a bit easier. Here’s a look at some killer tracks featuring Beck on other people’s records. No matter the genre you always know it’s him.

The Valley of the Pagans. Gorillaz.

From their seventh studio LP, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. A collection of videos and singles the 2D band recorded with the likes of Peter Hook, Elton John, St. Vincent, and many others.

Time Wind. M83.

Wiki tells me that M83 is a pinwheel galaxy. I thought it might be a bus route! Not sure what the French electropopsters’ particular astronomical interests are, but it’s a sweet little number.

The Vagabond. Air.

10,000 Hz Legend was the band’s second album, released in 2001. In addition to Beck singing and playing harmonica on a couple of songs, the album features a crowd of interesting folks. Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Roger Manning were both in Beck’s band at the time. Dr. Rigberg‘s buddy Jason Falkner shows up on a few numbers, too. The legendary Corky Hale plays harp on one track. She’s had a very long musical career in jazz, ran an eponymous boutique on Sunset Boulevard, was a teacher at Planned Parenthood, and founded Angel Harvest, a charity that distributes restaurant food to the needy. And she’s married to Mike Stoller of the Lieber-Stoller songwriting duo, who wrote a fair number of Elvis Presley‘s hits.

Heaven Can Wait. Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Beck produced and wrote most of the songs on IRM, third LP by the sexy chanteuse. Our friends Mssrs. Johnsen and Falkner also turned up on the record.

Death Valley High. Orville Peck.

Just your average South African gay cowboy in a fringed mask. From his most recent album, Stampede.

Night Running. Cage The Elephant.

From Social Cues, the band’s fifth album. Here the Kentucky outfit branched out musically, adding complex orchestrations. Beck’s dad, David Campbell, is an accomplished conductor and composer, and he did the string arrangements. (He also did the arrangements on the Charlotte Gainsbourg album featured earlier in the set.)

Attracted To Us. The Lonely Island.

Andy Samberg was a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live for seven years. If you’re a successful comedian you get to marry Joanna Newsom and make goofy records with other celebrities. In addition to Beck, Turtleneck & Chain featured famous folks like Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, cult filmmaker John Waters and…Michael Bolton?

Skipping Like a Stone. Chemical Brothers.

This is from For That Beautiful Feeling, released in 2023. It’s cool that more than 30 years after he hit the scene all kinds of musicians are still interested in collaborating with Beck. In fact, most of today’s songs were released after the pandemic.

Paper Crown. Black Keys.

The Akron, Ohio duo are a couple of the only artists as prolific as Beck. They’ve released 14 albums since their 2002 debut, not to mention solo records, all kinds of guest appearances, and the producing that singer/guitarist Dan Auerback gets up to. This is from 2024’s Ohio Players.

Flavor. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

TVV stalwart Chaval recently observed “Everyone Scottish likes The Proclaimers. it’s the law.” Not all New Yorkers are as devoted to JSBX, but they ought to be (even though they didn’t have a bass player). The band were like NYC in a way–an exciting mix of a lot of different things: blues, funk, punk, garage rock, urban raunch, and rockabilly, with Spencer waving a theremin wand around. Beck literally phoned in his rap for the tune. You can hear him asking, “was that good?” to which Spencer replies, “You got the flava!” Beck also shows up in the video for the song, along with Mike D. from the Beastie Boys.

 

Jonny

 

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat

THE FIRST OF A FEW TRIBUTES THAT WILL BE OFFERED UP TODAY

I’m almost 63 years old, and therefore I count myself lucky that until very, very recently, I still had both my parents.

Dad passed away on 19 March and his funeral service will take place a few hours after this post is published.   He was 90 years of age, and hadn’t been in great physical health for quite a while, although his brain and mind remained razor-sharp until the end.  In many ways, it was quite remarkable that he lived such a long life given that back in 1991, at the age of 56, he was diagnosed with lung cancer (the result of having been a very heavy cigarette smoker since he was in his teens), and went through major surgery to remove the diseased organ.

He made a full recovery, learning to live and function with one lung, with the operation minimising the risk of the cancer spreading elsewhere.  His illness caused him to retire from work early, and my mum did likewise.  Financially, they were fine as both had made good plans in terms of pension schemes, and for the next 30 years or so, they enjoyed life to the full as much as their ages and health would allow them.

Back in 1991, the surgeons didn’t, and indeed couldn’t, say how long dad would live, advising that everyone reacted differently to the surgery.  But his previously active lifestyle proved to be a huge help, and his body adjusted quickly to his breathing capacity being restricted.  To everyone’s delight, he was back on the golf course within a matter of months, and out and about doing his singing and dancing in the pubs and clubs that he and my mum and their pals frequented in Glasgow. Oh, and then he was away overseas on holidays again.

About seven years ago, however, he really began to slow down as his body aged. The lung capacity issue led to him having mobility issues and affected his leg movements. Some days were better than others, but increasingly, he was unable to get out and about, particularly over the past couple of years, and for the first ever time we could see it having an impact on his state of mind. He was frustrated by it all, but he was determined that he would regain the power in his legs, buying all sorts of specialist exercise equipment that he would use in the hope he would regain some strength.  Mum, who is three years younger than him, took on the role as his named carer in the eyes of the authorities.  Between them, they were determined that dad would remain at home and not go into anywhere for specialist care.

The arrangements worked, albeit chest infections and respiratory issues (including COVID) saw him hospitalised a few times, but only for short spells. The most recent of these came last September when, unfortunately, he was admitted just two days before his 90th birthday which meant we had to cancel the planned party in a local pub. He was back home after a five-night stay and once again in the care of mum.

He was of an age that he was on a regular schedule of check-ups and scans at the local NHS hospital.  One such scan earlier this year, in early February, would show up that he had developed a small cancerous growth in his kidney that was spreading.  His age and the fact he had just one lung meant that there was little that could be done in terms of treatment. He was given palliative care, at home, with specialist nurses coming in once a week to check on him and advise my mum on how best to look after him.

If he was scared, he didn’t let on.  He said he wasn’t in too much pain – more a discomfort – and his medication was nothing stronger than over the counter tablets.  No timescale was asked for, nor was any given.  I don’t think any of us wanted to contemplate him facing a slow, lingering and what ultimately would likely be an undignified deterioration over a period of months, but it was something we were prepared to deal with, and dad did accept that at some point, he would need to be put fully in the care of those who knew best and had the experience of dealing with cancer patients.

But things changed unexpectedly on the evening of Thursday 19 March, which was some four weeks after he had been given the diagnosis.  At 8pm, he collapsed at home and passed away almost in the blink of an eye, despite the best efforts of a friend who lived nearby and the paramedics who were there within ten minutes. We are grieving our loss, but it comes with a sense of relief that he died without pain, and at home, with mum being the last person he saw and spoke to.

I’ve been busy over the past two weeks in terms of the funeral and sorting out dad’s estate, with a priority being to make sure that mum’s life can go on as best is can as she faces up to a life alone after nearly 64 years of marriage.  The funeral will, as these things always are, an occasion to reflect and remember, and my hope is that any sad moments find themselves far outweighed by the thoughts of the happy times – that will certainly be the message throughout the eulogy later today at the crematorium.

Talking to the funeral director about various things, and indeed having to go out and buy myself a suit for the occasion, has seen me think a fair bit about one particular video and tune.  I hope you don’t mind me sharing it.

mp3: Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – The Copper Top

From the album Everything’s Getting Older, released on Chemikal Underground in 2011.

The Copper Top is, indeed, the nearest pub to the crematorium in the town in which Aidan grew up.  It’s an astonishing piece of writing, to which Bill, best known as a jazz pianist, has written the most perfect and moving piece of music.

RIP Dad.  Thanks for everything.

 

 

JC

Various

THE DEEPER IN DEBT, THE HARDER YOU BET

mp3: Various – The Deeper In Debt, The Harder You Bet

Nothing Can Stop Us – Saint Etienne
Sit Still – Life Model
Just Like Heaven – Dinosaur Jr.
Talulah Gosh (Janice Long Session) – Talulah Gosh
Birthday – Sugarcubes
Insects – Altered Images
Everything Hurtz – The Fall
Nothing To Be Done – The Pastels
State Of Art – Friends Again
I Need Two Heads – Go-Betweens
Running Away – The Raincoats
T&A – Blondshell
World Leader Pretend – R.E.M.
Magic 8 – Annie Booth
Abandon Ship – April Showers
Coast – Kim Deal
Number 1 – Poster Paints
Hidden track to take it to exactly 1 hour

 

JC

Cassandra Complex, Sleeping Dogs Wake

THE RESPLENDENT RETURN OF LITTLE LOSER’S LOTTERY : #5

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

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

# 05: The Cassandra Complex & Sleeping Dogs Wake – Metropol, Aachen (1990)

Rodney Orpheus back then…

….and now

Sleeping Dogs Wake

Dear friends,

for a change, Little Loser‘s girlfriend drew this ticket yesterday – let’s call her Jana, for that’s her real name in fact. And another great choice it was, although “industrial goth” isn’t my preferred cup of tea, it must be said.

But in 1985, things were quite different. Musical styles weren’t as separated as they are nowadays, it was a bit of a mishmash then, at least to me. So when I first heard the band on Peel, I just loved the tune, regardless of its intended style. And that song was the mighty ‘Moscow Idaho’ – their second single and still a gem today!

Moscow is a border town in Idaho, and it’s just a very short drive from there into Washington state. Now, I was told that apparently the drinking laws are different between Idaho and Washington (at least they were in ’85), which results in a vast trail of youths driving from Washington to Moscow (or the other way around, I forgot) every weekend in order to get their feverish hands on cheap booze … that’s what the song is about.

I always loved ‘Moscow Idaho’ but I must admit I didn’t closely follow up what Cassandra Complex released after it. Now, you can surely understand how surprised I was a few years later when I learnt that the band had signed with Taboo, the tour agency located in Aachen mentioned previously, the one my mate Alfred sort of freelanced for within his more or less sad management ambitions. And for various reasons, being closer to Taboo probably having been one of them, the band moved from Leeds to Aachen. I could imagine that UK under Thatcher was another one, who knows.

To cut a long story short, I then got to know them and on occasions I went drinking with them in town. Rodney Orpheus, singer, was a very difficult character, I always thought. Nice, but absolutely weird. I have no memories of Paul Dillon (synths and drum machine), but the third guy in the band was ace: Andy Booth, a Leeds journalist who stayed with them as their guitarist after an interview. Whenever I entered the bar this twerp would shout at the top of his lungs, misquoting Adam Ant: “Dirk Wears White Socks” – which I did not, promised!

Rodney relocated to Hamburg later and found quite some fame as a producer, author and top-rank Illuminati. Unbeknownst to me, he re-recruited Dillon in 2007 and they are still going strong, had a world tour and will be playing Europe this autumn – and guess who will be with them on this occasion again? Right, Andy Booth! So probably I should go and see them again, just in order to shout something back at him when he’s onstage – let’s wait and see!

Obviously I have seen them playing in Aachen many times, so forgive me if memories have blissed again on specific gigs. To be frank, I had to look up which of their many albums they were promoting in 1990, the year this gig took place:

And here is what they sounded like:

Cassandra Complex – “Nightfall (Over EC)” (1990 – from the album ‘Cyberpunx’)
Cassandra Complex – “March” (1985 – their first single)
Cassandra Complex – “Moscow Idaho” (1985 – their second single)

They even released a new single last year, a cover of a Finnish artist, Suzi Sabotage. And I thought it would be fitting to give to you not the regular version, but the ‘No To Trump – Remix’ instead:

Cassandra Complex – “Nazi Goths Fuck Off” (2025, The No-To-Trump-Remix)

And here’s the support act, Sleeping Dogs Wake, from their debut album:

Sleeping Dogs Wake – “Understanding” (1989)

As I said, probably not everyone’s favourite genre this, certainly not mine – but still refreshing and quite nice to hear again. That said Cassandra Complex have always been a step ahead in comparison to the many rather boring EBM/Gothic/Industrial contenders … so listening to some of the tunes might be worthwhile for you!

Enjoy,

 

Dirk

 

 

Saint Etienne

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE? (82)

Today is yet another one of those when I try and give myself the equivalent of bank holiday.  This time, it’s a repost of a repost.  This originally appeared on the old blog back in October 2009 and was regurgitated in January 2018. It now finds a new purpose by fitting into this particular series

– – – – – – –

Back in May 2008, my dear friend ctel from the fantastic Acid Ted blog, came in and hi-jacked TVV while I was away sunning myself on holiday. To be fair, I asked him to look after the shop while I was gone, and he did so in his own distinctive and entertaining style with a short series called Confessions On The Dance Floor.

One of the songs he featured was the Andrew Weatherall mix of an early St Etienne single, which itself was a cover of a Neil Young track from days of old. Here’s what ctel said:-

After all the good taste that is 45 45s @ 45, some more of those dirty little musical secrets we all have. None of that post-modern “guilty pleasures” nonsense.

Next up, Neil Young. Yeah, you were lauded in the sixties. Can’t you stop now. Your whingy voice irritates me. But we all have to pretend that he’s a genius.

The only track worth anything to me is “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”. The third track on Neil Young’s album After the Gold Rush. The song was supposedly written for Graham Nash after Nash’s split from Joni Mitchell. Released as a single in October 1970, it became Young’s first top 40 hit as a solo artist, peaking at number thirty three in the U.S. Musically, the song consists of the same three chords; D, G, A; repeated until the end.

Actually, I don’t like Neil’s verison. The only version worth a damn is by St Etienne. In 1990, Saint Etienne recorded a cover version of the song, included on their debut album Foxbase Alpha. According to Wikipedia “This cover is relatively faithful to the original but is arranged in 4/4 (as opposed to the original’s waltz time), with a driving piano-bass-drum section.” Whatever. What is important is that the genius that is Andrew Weatherall later remixed the song to further emphasise the dub bassline.

Get some Vera’s, spark up and listen

This was their debut single and it features Moira Lambert on vocals as it pre-dates Sarah Cracknell joining the band. And although I’ve loved plenty of St Etienne releases over the years, I don’t think they ever surpassed this piece of magic:-

mp3 : St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
mp3 : St Etienne – Filthy (featuring Q-Tee)
mp3 : St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (a mix of two halves by Andrew Weatherall)

Oh, and I know fine well that this is the 1991 re-issue of the single….I was never hip enough to buy it first time around….but then again my purchase did help it become the bands first Top 40 hit. Oh, and another thing – while they are now known as Saint Etienne, you can see from the cover of the CD single that they were St Etienne in those days….

Allez les vertes.

 

– – – – – – –

2026 update : I now own a second-hand copy of the original 1990 release on 12″, so here’s its b-side:-

mp3: St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (version)

And as the band get set to call it a day, I remain firmly of the view that they never bettered this single.

JC

#edwyncollins45s

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

#27: Message For Jojo : Bernard Butler & Edwyn Collins (Setanta Records, SET 084, 2001)

This is the part of the series where I build in something of a natural break for myself, as today’s offering is just an edited version of a previous post from 25 February 2021.

As far as I can work out, it was as far back as 1995 that Bernard Butler and Edwyn Collins started collaborating, with the initial fruits being the co-writing of some songs which would find their way onto Edwyn’s singles as extra tracks, together with Bernard taking on production duties. This would be just a year or so after he had left Suede and immediately after work had been completed on promoting the McAlmont & Butler early singles and debut album.

Fast-forward to June 2001. And the release of this single on Setanta Records, the label which to which Edwyn had been signed since the early 90s:-

mp3: Bernard & Edwyn – Message For Jojo

It didn’t get anywhere near the pop chart, although it does seem it reached #20 on the Indie Singles chart.  I’m not sure what that translates to in terms of sales, but I can’t imagine too many folk in addition to myself bought it (the sticker on the front of the CD case tells me I paid £2.99 from Tower Records). It’s a pleasant enough offereing without being ground-breaking…..the lead vocal is taken by Bernard when it undoubtedly would have been better handled by Edwyn. But believe me, it is a song that gets better with repeated listens…..and the chorus does become quite infectious after a while.

There were two other tracks on the CD single:-

mp3 : Bernard & Edwyn – Can’t Do That (The Hoover)
mp3 : Bernard & Edwyn – Clean

The former is a very bizarre but immensely likeable five and a bit minutes. There’s a hint of the sort of dance music played by Air about it. I reckon if it was played to you for the first time with no hint who was involved, you would have got long odds on guessing it was a collaboration between the former guitarist in Suede and the former frontman of Orange Juice.

The latter is a bit disappointing after what has gone before. It’s a bit of a nondescript ballad if truth be told…..but you may have a different viewpoint. Again, I feel it might have benefited from Edwyn taking lead vocal…….

Turns out there was also a 12″ vinyl release, on which there were three tracks.

A:  Barry, Garry & Larry’s Message For Jojo (Intercepted By Trevor Jackson)
B1: Who Said The Victorian Spaceman Can’t Do That (Remix)
B2: Message For Jojo (Radio Edit)

I don’t have this single, and other than what appears to be a cheapish battered and tatty copy from a UK seller on Discogs, I’d need to fork out about £50 when you add in postage and customs charges if I went to the handful of overseas sellers.

And this post will be the evidence I offer in my defence if I’m ever accused of being a completist when it comes to the vinyl collection.

 

JC

Kevin McDermott Orchestra

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #498: KEVIN McDERMOTT ORCHESTRA

A quick follow up to last Saturday’s posting. From wiki:-

“Following his solo album, Suffocation Blues, Kevin McDermott formed the Kevin McDermott Orchestra (KMO), with an initial line-up of Jim McDermott on drums, Steph Greer on bass, and Chris Bramble on percussion. They started performing the material that would become Mother Nature’s Kitchen.

McDermott distributed KMO demos to record companies, the recordings now without Bramble, and with Iain Harvie, and they were soon signed to Island Records.

In 1989, KMO recorded Mother Nature’s Kitchen. The line-up for the album recording was Jim McDermott, Steph Greer, Robbie McIntosh, Blair Cowan, and David Crichton. Shortly after the recording was completed, Robbie McIntosh left to play for Paul McCartney, and Marco Rossi joined KMO on electric lead guitar.”

mp3: Kevin McDermott Orchestra – Wheels of Wonder

Having loved Stop The Rain, the jangletastic Suede Crocodiles single from back in 1983, I was looking forward to this, but after hearing Wheels of Wonder, the lead-off KMO single, on a local radio station, I gave it a large body swerve.  A few years ago, I picked up a very cheap second-hand copy of Mother Nature’s Kitchen.  I’m glad it was cheap.

 

JC

 

Billy Bragg

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (34): Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears

mp3: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears

I’ve written about this single before.  Well, sort of.  I typed out and published these words:-

‘This is one of those songs where, no matter how hard I try, I can never come up with the words to do it justice. Maybe because it is the saddest song I’ve ever heard’

I’ve hunched over the keyboard again, but still the right sort of words won’t come to me.  I’ve remembered the first time I heard the song.  It was courtesy of the ‘promo’  being aired on an edition of Whistle Test.  It had been trailed that the new Billy Bragg video was going to be played at some point in the programme, and so I sat patiently with the finger never far away from the record button to capture it on a VHS tape.

I didn’t buy the single at the time….money was a tad on the tight side in the summer of 1986, what with an expensive rent to pay, even in a shared flat in Edinburgh, and a lot of socialising being done, so I wasn’t one of those who helped it enter the charts in mid-June at #44 or one of those who bought it over the next couple of weeks as it climbed up to #29.  I was happy enough to constantly watch the video and wait until the release of Talking To The Taxman About Poetry in late September to get my hands on the studio version of the song with it’s fade-out instead of  the ‘oi’ ending.

Levi Stubbs’ Tears remains, all these years later, one of the most astonishingly brilliant songs I’ve heard in my lifetime.  The tune is simple, effective and memorable.  The lyrics are as evocative, powerful and emotional.  Oh, and tear-jerking if I’m being totally honest.  I’m kind of welling up just now as I type these words….I think we all know someone, or at least we know someone who knows someone, who is the woman whose life-story mirrors this tale.  I’ll stop there.

Many years later, I picked up my first copy of the single, finding it in a second-hand shop in Toronto in 2007.  It was the Canadian release, a six-song EP on Polydor Records.  In due course, with my love for vinyl fully re-ignited by getting this blog underway, I soon picked up the UK release, on Go Discs, with these three cuts as the b-sides:-

mp3 : Billy Bragg – Between The Wars (live)
mp3 : Billy Bragg – Think Again
mp3 : Billy Bragg – Walk Away Renee (version)

The live track was recorded at the 1986 Festival des Politischen Liedes (Festival of Political Songs). The festival was an annual event, held in East Berlin, between 1970 and 1990, organised by the Communists the official youth wing of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Billy certainly got around a great deal in those days, as just one man and his guitar didn’t track up too many expenses.

Think Again was written by Dick Gaughan, a Scottish folk singer with left-wing leanings, who has long been one of Billy’s heroes and inspirations.  I was lucky enough to be at a gig in 1997 when Billy and Dick co-headlined a show as part of that year’s Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.

Walk Away Renee has the word ‘version’ in brackets for the fact that as Duane Tremelo (who in due course would be unmasked as Johnny Marr) plays the song’s melody, Billy doesn’t deliver the words we all knew from The Four Tops hit, but instead embarks on a spoken tale of a man falling in love, going through the amazing/scary emotions that come with such a happening…..and then getting jilted, before finding what seems likes a very superficial a reason to accept it’s all over as far as he’s concerned (or maybe he was being metaphorical?).  Either way, it’s quite magical.

JC

David Sylvian, Japan, Mick Karn, Ryuichi Sakamoto

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #409 : JAPAN, SYLVIAN, KARN and SAKAMOTO

A guest posting by Mopyfop

A mixtape of sorts just over an hour of music (that has also been turned into an ICA)

mp3: Japan Sylvian, Karn and Sakamoto – A Selection

Starting at the beginning –

Japan – Methods of Dance (from Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

A great Mick Karn bassline, Steve Jansen (David Sylvian‘s brother) drumming like he means it, side 2 track 1. A great opener – David Sylvian (real name David Batt from Lewisham in South London doing his best Bryan Ferry voice).

Japan – The Art of Parties (from Tin Drum)

I like to think of this as Japan‘s difficult 3rd album (it’s their 5th) but it is if you consider Quiet Life as a new beginning. I can recall us dancing around the record shop when this came out as an album track.

Japan – Sons of Pioneers (from Oil On Canvas)

A live album and the last tour’s opener. Mick Karn’s fretless bass in all its glory.

Japan – Cantonese Boy (from Tin Drum)

The album’s closer and with it the distinct break-up of the band. A satisfying coda?

David Sylvian – Before the Bullfight (from Gone to Earth)

When this came out in 1986 I didn’t know what to make of it. Parts of the lyrics keep cropping up in my mind and the whole thing is memorable. I see now shades of prog rock with a stellar set of side men including ¾ of Japan with Steve Jansen on drums and Richard Barbieri on synths + Bill Nelson on electric and acoustic guitars & Kenny Wheeler on fluglehorn. Apparently the composing started with the drums, not a melody.

David Sylvian – Nostalgia (from Brilliant Trees)

The first sense on the debut solo album that things were not going to be like they were before. Something haunting?

David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Forbidden Colours (revised version)

A real nice surprise on Secrets of the Beehive, Sylvian’s 4th album was a re-recording of this theme from Goodbye Mr Lawrence – done because he thought something was missing from the album. Sakamoto plays the keyboards, Jansen on drums again.

David Sylvian – The Scent of Magnolia (from Everything and Nothing)

More great side men, this time John Giblin’s distinctive bass, Bill Frissell on guitars, Sakamoto on electronics and his then wife Ingrid Chavez on some vocals.

Japan – Nightporter from (Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

The first time we really heard David Sylvian on his own with a Satie like piano riff.

Japan – Ghosts (from Tin Drum)

It’s about the band breaking up, though they did not know it when recorded. It also seems a suitable place to stop!

 

The image chosen to illustrate today’s piece is ‘Shipping on the Clyde’ by the great John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 – 1893).  The location is Broomielaw in the Glasgow city centre.   It’s rather different looking now…….

 

Mobyfop

 

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