THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

TVV IN 800 SONGS : CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BLOGGING (Part One)

The first ever posting on the Vinyl Villain blog was on 30 September 2006. The original blog was hosted by Blogger/Google, but was taken down on 24 July 2013 for what was alleged to be continued violations of copyright policy.

The very next day, The (New) Vinyl Villain emerged blinking into the sunlight, hosted on WordPress, with a paid annual subscription taken out for the little bit extra protection.

The 20th Anniversary is fast approaching, and having given a lot of thought as to how to best mark it, I’m going to go all self-indulgent. On Mondays to Fridays, between now and 30 September there will be a daily posting of songs that have a connection with TVV. I’ve been ambitious as 800 songs have been picked out, with no repeat artists on offer, technically speaking.

For instance, it’ll be no surprise that Paul Quinn features more than once, but it will be in different guises. Picking out another at random, Tracey Thorn’s voice will be heard a few times.

I want to stress that, for the most part it’s not a rundown. The songs listed from #800 down to #121 have more or less been randomly allocated, although you’ll soon see the occasional patterns developing. Those songs will form Parts 1 to 17 of the series with 40 songs offered up each day.

Parts 18 to 23 will feature the final 120 songs and these have been ranked in my order of preference.

There will be loads of stuff you all know along with hopefully a few surprises as well as some that might best be described as skeletons in my closet. Apologies in advance that each of the daily posts will be lengthy. I’ve a rough estimate of how many words are involved, and it adds up to a medium-sized book. Oh, and there will be spelling mistakes and grammar will be strangled. I’m not a professional writer. 🙂 🙂 🙂

I hope there’s enough to get folk interested, and please, feel to comment as often or as little as you like.

Let’s get this party started……..

#800 : McFadden & Whitehead – Ain’t No Stopping Us Now

I’ve always said that 1979 was the best ever for music. It wasn’t all down to the brilliance of new wave/post punk, either. A little bit of disco with R&B roots, from Philadelphia seems an ideal way to kick things off. A #5 hit just as I was celebrating my 16th birthday.

#799: Hipsway – The Honeythief

There’ll be loads of Scottish-based (and indeed Glasgow-based acts) in the rundown. I reckon all the members of Hipsway, like my good self, were teenage mutant disco dancers back in the day, with it later spilling over to the music they would go on to make. Peaked at #17 in March 1986.

#798: Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket

It took me until 31 May 2025 to make my performing debut on stage with a band. The Dial-Ups, a fabulous cover band from Santa Monica, had me join them for their very last song of the evening. I played cowbell….and had the time of my life.

#797: Fizzbombs – Sign On The Line

Out of vanity, I once asked AI to describe The (New) Vinyl Villain. One of the sentences it offered up was, “The blog is heavily intertwined with the UK music scene, specifically around Glasgow and Edinburgh”. Fizzbombs were a short-lived four-piece from the capital city, and this came out in 1987 on the locally-based Nardonik Records.

#796: Detroit Cobras – My Baby Loves The Secret Agent

This blog wouldn’t be half the place it is without guest contributions, particularly to the Imaginary Compilation Albums series. There have been over 400 ICAs since the first appeared in June 2014, and around 75% have come from elsewhere. It’s an incredible stat….especially as one of my sentences in ICA #1 was “This series will likely be short-lived.”.

Dirk penned a fantastic ICA (#34) in September 2015 on the Detroit Cobras. This is a cover of a song written by the late Fred Sledge Smith, whose gravestone in Los Angeles says “Never boring, always loved – he made America dance.”

#795: Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side

There’s quite a few ‘big hitters’ who didn’t make it into the Top 120 and will be subject to a random position in the rundown. Please put your hands together for Mr Lewis Allan Reed (2 March 1942 – 27 October 2013).

#794: Pele – Raid The Palace

Nope. It’s not the famous Brazilian footballer issuing a revolutionary call to arms. This lot were an indie-band from Ellesmere Port, in north-west England, active in the early 90s. This was their debut single from back in October 1991. I first heard this when my mate Jacques the Kipper included it on a homemade compilation tape.

#793: Foil – Reviver Gene

This lot’s lead singer, Hugh Duggie, is a lifelong friend of Jacques the Kipper, and there was an ICA (#89) in August 2016. This, their 1996 debut single, was described as ‘The Scottish Huskers, playing Sugar-y speed guitar in the middle of a stampede of Buffalo Toms. Splendid!” Which nicely leads into……..

#792: Sugar – Changes

Recently reformed after a period of 30 years, and by all accounts still as superbly entertaining as ever. This was their debut single, released on Creation Records in August 1992. It wasn’t a hit.

#791: Grrrl Gang – Honey

If it wasn’t for blogging, I’d never have come across this indie pop band from Indonesia. This single dates from 2021, and, yes, it is very derivative of the indie-pop of the 80s, particularly of the sort which emerged from Glasgow and the surrounding towns, but so what?

#790: Divine – You Think You’re A Man

Included in the rundown no other reason other than the live performance I witnessed at Strathclyde University Students Union in 1985 being one of the most fun and enjoyable shows of them all.

#789: Spear of Destiny – Liberator

As with Divine, this brings back memories of a live show in the Students Union….but this one was all about my young brother, SC, at the age of 18, ripping off his shirt and leaping fearlessly into the mosh pit.

#788: Janet Kay – Silly Games

I’ve more than 50,000 tunes on the hard drive of my laptop, but not all that much in the way of reggae/lovers rock. ‘Silly Games’ is from 1979, the more than any other that’ll feature in the rundown. Janet Kay proved to be a ‘one-hit wonder’ in terms of the charts, but she has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in musical theatre.

#787: The Lucksmiths – T-Shirt Weather

I posted this one back on 13 March 2015, ending with the words “Does any reader who knows more about the band fancy contributing a posting? Perhaps as part of the Imaginary Albums series?” Within days, Eric from Oakland obliged and his guest ICA, #10 in the series, appeared on 7 April 2015

#786: HighSchool – Sony Ericsson

One of the ‘newest’ bands among the 800. I picked up on them thanks to SWC posting links to tunes over at No Badger Required. Went to see them play a small venue in Glasgow earlier this year, and they were outstanding. I was by far and away the oldest person watching on (and dancing!!).

#785: The 101’ers – Keys To Your Heart

One of the ‘oldest’ bands among the 800. The 101’ers, formed in 1974, were regulars on the London pub scene. ‘Keys To Your Heart’ was their debut single, but by the time it was released, they had spilt as their lead singer and main songwriter had left to join another band. His name was Joe Strummer….and he’ll be back a couple more times in this rundown.

#784: Sleeper – Sale Of The Century

There will be a smattering of Britpop among the 800. Sleeper had eight Top 40 hits between 1995 and 1997, with this peaking at the #10 spot. They were the inspiration for the phrase “Sleeperbloke”, referring to the disparity between having a glamorous female singer and the other frequently ignored male members of the band.

Bonus Track : The Just Joans – Sleeperbloke

#783: Portishead – Glory Box

As I said, if a song didn’t crack the Top 120 of this rundown, it gets a random number. This one came close, and I mean very close, to making the cut. A #13 hit in January 1995.

#782: The Woodentops – Plenty

The debut single from July 1984. Another band who were the subject of a guest ICA. It was #70 in the series, penned by Strictly Rockers in April 2016.

#781: Soho – Hippychick

In which a Johnny Marr riff was used to great effect to create a dance track that went Top 10 in January 1991.

#780: Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes

This 2006 debut single, peaked at #4. It was a time when everything touched by lead singer Jack White seemed to turn to gold, coming amidst more than a dozen Top 30 hits for The White Stripes.

#779: The Orb – Toxygene

Another song that peaked at #4, in February 1997. My dear friend ctel, who knows a lot about these things wrote these words on TVV back in November 2008. “The Orb virtually invented the electronic genre known as ambient house, resurrecting slower, more soulful rhythms and providing a soundtrack for early-morning ravers once the clubs had closed their doors.”

#778: Lene Lovich – Lucky Number

Yet another from 1979. Some days this one irritates me, some days I find it quite charming. You can probably guess what I was feeling the day I picked out the 800 songs. Chosen specifically at 778 as these were the first three digits (after the area code) of the phone number in the house I grew up in.

#777: The Who – I Can’t Explain

There’s less than a handful of songs among the 800 which predate the 70s when I first developed an interest in music. This was one I dedicated to my great friend Kenno when it was posted in February 2019. Kenno, tragically, succumbed to cancer in March 2024, aged 59. I miss him.

#776: Twa Toots – Please Don’t Play A Rainy Night In Georgia (Peel Session)

John Peel gets loads of mentions on TVV. And rightly so. Plenty of Peel Session songs have featured over the years, and this one dates from October 1983. While this song was never given a studio recording, it was released a few years later as part of the Strange Fruit series of Peel Sessions on vinyl.

#775: Barn Owl – When No One Is Around

One that I downloaded in the early 2010s. It was by a band called On The Day We Met Gambas Pil Pil. A few years later, I saw a band called Barn Owl as the support for a gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow, and they played ‘When No One Is Around’ note-for-note. Turned out that there had been a band name-change. Still not sure if this Arcade Fire-style tune was ever given a physical release.

#774: BOB – What A Performance

A London-band championed by Peel back in the late 80s. I first learned about them years later thanks to this song being included within a Cherry Red Records compilation box called C87. It was their debut single, on Sombrero Records, and I’ve since picked it up on 12″ vinyl.

#773: D.A.F. – Der Mussolini

D.A.F. is short for Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, a Dusseldorf-based band who were originally with us at the tail end of the 70s and into the early 80s. I danced to this one a fair bit back in the student days. Don’t worry folks, it’s not a track praising the merits of the old fascist – indeed it is merely encouraging Benny boy to shake his ass with his dancing partners Adolf and Jesus. If it wasn’t for the pounding electro-beat, it’d be as camp as can be.

#772: Captain America – Flame On

A rather wonderful piece of indie pop from 1990. Captain America was formed by vocalist and guitarist Eugene Kelly following the dissolution of his former band, The Vaselines. The name of the band had to change soon after following an injunction threat from Marvel Comics who claimed copyright. They changed it to Eugenius which just happened to be the frontman’s affectionate nickname.

#771: Death In Vegas – Dirge

Electronic dance group whose second album, ‘The Contino Sessions’, released in 1999, used a range of guest singers including Dot Allison from One Dove (and yes, Dot will be back later on in the series!). It never charted but is one of their best known tunes thanks to it being used in commercials and within film soundtracks over the decades.

#770: Act – Absolutely Immune

Late-80s synthpop duo consisting of Scots-born musician Thomas Leer and West German-born singer Claudia Brücken. Released four singles and one album in 87/88 on ZTT Records, none of which sold in any great numbers. This one is quite similar sounding to Propaganda, which was Brücken’s former band.

#769: Hindu Love Gods – Raspberry Beret

In essence, a side-project of R.E.M. with vocal duties handled by Warren Zevon, whose career stretched back to the late 60s and who, for over 30 years until his death from cancer in 2003 at the age of 56, was a huge influence on many big hitters and popular artists within the American music industry without himself ever enjoying much mainstream success. He was also an almost complete-unknown here in the UK. And yes, it is a fabulous cover of the Prince song.

#768: Juliana Hatfield – Nirvana

Released on her debut solo album in 1992, by which time Juliana Hatfield, at the age of 25, was already a veteran of the music scene having been part of the Blake Babies and The Lemonheads. A tribute to the grunge rockers who were, at the time, taking the world by storm.

#767: Kraftwerk – The Model

Another of those that, on another day, might have made the Top 120…….

#766: The Members – Sounds Of The Suburbs

Back to 1979 again. If ever a song signified what that year was going to hold in store, this was it. A previously unknown band outside the London pub scene get picked up by the record industry and given the chance for a brief dalliance with fame. It was Virgin Records who took a chance on The Members, and it paid off with this fast, frantic tune and lyric about boredom which was an understandable hit with teenagers and adolescents.

#765: Pop Wallpaper – Strawberry Letter 23

Edinburgh-based pop band from the 80s who never gained much traction outside the central belt of Scotland. This was their second and final single, a cover of a Shuggie Otis song, released in 1984 on the very short-lived Rosebud Records. I like it but it is very much of its time.

#764: Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen

Next year will mark the Golden Jubilee of this incendiary 45. A scary thought in itself as to how time really does fly, especially the older we get.

#763: Timezone – World Destruction

Back-to-back Lydon. From 1984/85 when he collaborated with New York hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambatta. The production values have dated the tune somewhat, but worth remembering that it was one of the first to fuse hip-hop with electro and rock elements, and helped paved the way for acts like the Beastie Boys to find fame and fortune.

#762: Wojtek The Bear – Second Place on Purpose

One of the more recent bands to make it onto the list of 800 songs, this is from their 2023 album ‘Shaking Hands With The NME’, released by Last Night From Glasgow. This lot make the sort of intelligently enjoyable indie-pop that has never quite gone out of fashion, certainly in the environs of Villain Towers,

#761: Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

OK. We are all most likely heartily sick of this one thanks to its over exposure on the radio and the fact everyone who goes to a karaoke night thinks they can nail it. But there’s no denying it is a lovely and catchy tune is there?

Tomorrow will see the #721-#760 part of the rundown.

JC

#magazine45s

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF MAGAZINE (5)

A Song From Under The Floorboards (VS 321) : Released January 1980 on 7″

I was 16-and-half years of age when A Song From Under The Floorboards was released. I don’t often express regrets about how my musical tastes evolved and developed, which is no surprise given how often I talk up 1979 as being the greatest ever year for new music and how much joy came by way through, in particular, the first half of the 80s when I lived the student life (on a grant and with the great support of the Bank of Dad and Mum).

But I do get annoyed at myself that I didn’t pick up on Magazine until 1982 with the purchase of the After The Fact compilation, an album, as the title itself suggests, issued by Virgin Records after the band had broke-up.

Nobody at school brought Magazine records into the 5th or 6th Year common rooms to play. I, no doubt, read about the band in one or more of the music papers and probably heard them played on the John Peel show every now and again, but nothing stuck in my brain, albeit I’ll offer the defence that so much was going on, musically and the rest, that there wasn’t much room. And when I really break it down, I was too wrapped up in The Jam who were, in my mind, the greatest band the world had ever seen and indeed would ever see.

To messrs Devoto, McGeoch (RIP), Adamson, Formula and Doyle, I offer a wholehearted and unreserved apology. Can you take any consolation that I think A Song From Under The Floorboards is one of THE greatest bits of music ever recorded?

mp3: Magazine – A Song From Under The Floorboards

Any Magazine fans back in the day must have been ridiculously excited back in January 1980, and would have been counting down the months, weeks and days until the new album was released (the wait turned out to be four months). It is astonishing that no radio stations picked up on this song as it had all the hallmarks of a hit single – if only it had been brought to the attention of the record buying public.

What about the b-side?

mp3: Magazine – Twenty Years Ago

I do wonder, given it contains the refrain ‘Twenty years ago I used your soap’ if the original plan had been to have this one on the album, only to later decide that there were ten ‘better’ tracks’ or perhaps the band felt it would leave them open to accusations of listening to P.I.L. a bit too much? Either way, it means that the few who bought ‘Floorboards’ had two immense pieces of music to enjoy.

The second-hand market via Discogs has quite a number of copies of the single available for very reasonable prices. Anyone who is serious about music should have this i their collection. Just sayin’………

JC

Nicol & Elliot

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #521: NICOL & ELLIOT

Nicol & Elliot, consisting of Andrew Nicol (acoustic guitar and vocals) and Rachel Elliot (violin and vocals), when asked what type of music they played, gave the reply that it sat within the broad church of Americana but specifically somewhere around folk-noir, indie-folk and alt-country.

They initially began working together in 2018 and in due course would digitally release 12 songs across 3 x EPs between 2019 and 2021. Last Night From Glasgow, in April 2022, provided a physical release for the music, with an album entitled Nichol & Eliot – 3 EPs

mp3: Nicol & Elliot – Dragging Me Down

It was only a few months later, in November 2022, that Andrew and Rachel announced, via the band’s Facebook page, that they were we’re taking an indefinite break to focus on other things for the time being.

JC

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #23

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

BOOKWORMS

A year or so ago, before hijacking every second Friday from JC, I curated ICA #394, about bands that took their names from songs they liked. But it’s an erudite and well-read crowd that tunes into TVV regularly, so let’s have a look at bands who named themselves after literary works.

Underground Medecin – The Fall.

You’d think that bossy, critical and opinionated crank Mark E. Smith would have had naming rights to the band. But it was the original bassist, Tony Friel, that suggested calling the Mancunian act The Fall, after Albert Camus‘ 1965 existential novel.

Step Into My Office, Baby – Belle and Sebastian.

Stuart Murdoch named his band after a story he wrote, which in turn was named after a French children’s tv show, which got its name from the children’s novel Belle et Sébastien by actress turned author Cécile Aubry.

Straight Lines – Silverchair.

In an early interview, the Aussie upstarts claimed their name was derived by combining the titles of ‘Sliver’ and ‘Berlin Chair‘ by Nirvana and You Am I, respectively. In truth, the band was named after The Silver Chair, fourth novel in CS Lewis‘s Chronicles of Narnia series.

Time for Heroes – Libertines.

Dissolute troublemakers Pete Doherty and Carl Barát first called their band The Strand, perhaps after Roxy Music‘s early single. But they ditched that moniker in favor of the Marquis de Sade‘s (of course) unfinished novel, The Lust of the Libertines.

Non-Alignment Pact – Pere Ubu.

Cheating just a bit here because Pere Ubu is the lead character in Alfred Jarry‘s 1896 absurdist play, Ubu Roi. But it’s such a great song it had to be included. Check out Julian Cope‘s version, which is also great.

I’m Waiting for the Man – Velvet Underground.

The Velvets named themselves after a cheesy tract by Michael Leigh, basically about swinging. It proclaims right on the cover: “Here is an incredible book. It will shock and amaze you. But as a documentary on the sexual corruption of our age, it is a must for every thinking adult.” I read it out of curiosity one time–bunch of stiff, outdated naughty nonsense from 1963.

I Don’t Know Why I Love You – The House of Love.

I kinda hated this band because the drummer’s girlfriend declined to sleep with me when I met her backpacking around Europe one summer. Pretty disappointing, especially as the band named itself after Anaïs Nin‘s 1954 novel, A Spy in the House of Love, wherein protagonist Sabina enjoys all manner of sexual escapades.

Tinseltown in the Rain – The Blue Nile.

Apart from that they’re named after a 1962 book by Alan Moorehead about the exploration of the Nile river, I can’t tell you much about this band. They’re from Glasgow, so maybe our good host can elucidate.

Roll Away the Stone – Mott the Hoople.

I always thought this was a stupid band name until I discovered that they named themselves after a 1966 novel. Then I read Mott the Hoople and confirmed it’s both a stupid book and a stupid band name.

Litany (Life Goes On) – Guadalcanal Diary.

The band took their name from a 1943 memoir by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. Guadalcanal Diary was part of the 1980’s music scene in Athens, Georgia that revolved around REM, the B-52s, Pylon, Let’s Active and others, although to less acclaim.

Children of the Empire – Weyes Blood.

Natalie Mering started calling herself Wise Blood, after Flannery O’Connor‘s 1952 novel, as a teenager. The name morphed into Wise Bluhd and finally Weyes Blood. This beautiful song is from her most recent album, 2022’s And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, which young Jane put on my radar. Natalie wins bonus points for once being the bassist in experimental Portland band Jackie O-Motherfucker.

Jonny

Various

THE RESPLENDENT RETURN OF LITTLE LOSER’S LOTTERY : #12

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

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

# 12 Bizarre Festival, Loreley Rock (July 1993)

JC writes………

The ways of the modern world have their upsides and downsides. I’m not going to dwell on any downsides today….but instead rejoice in the fact that Dirk, over in Germany, can send his latest missive to me in Scotland, and although I’m on a short break to celebrate Rachel’s upcoming birthday, I’ve able to read it, download it and get everything in place from over here in Italy.

My own previously scheduled post for tomorrow can wait for a while. I do want to mention, however, that things are going to be a wee bit different round here for the next few weeks. Our Santa Monica buddy, fiktiv, will be in his usual Friday slot tomorrow and then the regular Saturday and Sunday series will be exactly where you expect.

But Monday 31 August will be the first part of possibly the most ambitious series I’ve ever turned my hand to. Please tune in for more. Fingers are crossed that it goes down well. And if it doesn’t???? Well, normal service will resume in October. And with that…..it’s time to hand the floor to Dirk.

Morning friends,

Sorry indeed for the rather huge gap between the last post and this one, but all of my free time was spent on having to buy not one, but two new cars. Well, not ‘new’ – that would have made it a lot easier, I suppose: ‘used’ cars it had to be, because alas I don’t own this blog, I am just an underpaid employee as a matter of fact!

Little Loser turns 18 in two weeks, he passed his driving test recently, so naturally currently his highest desire is driving his own car from that day on. My own car was slowly dying for quite some time now, so it needed to be replaced as well. So after I work I did nothing else but searching the internet, trying to strum up a mate of mine to accompany me going looking at potential candidates (because I know next to nothing about those, it must be said). To cut a long story short, mission has been accomplished – two new/used cars are there … and I am even more skint than usual!

Right, Little Loser’s pick that’s why you came here after all – not me complaining:

and yes, another Bizarre Festival he chose, 1993 in fact. This was held on the world-famous Loreley Rock again, back in the day when the river Rhine still had water and wasn’t just a dry sinkhole! A most fantastic venue, as I mentioned before – probably my favorite one ever. Also, another great line-up, I would think, which enables me to pick some neat tunes:

Sonic Youth, Levellers, Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, Porno For Pyros, Young Gods, Helmet, Therapy?, NOFX, Hole, Consolidated, PodVod, Pink Pills

I have no memories whatsoever about the three last names, probably I arrived too late to witness them. But the other bands were ace, as you would have expected. And I haven’t even mentioned the highlight of the day (no, not another girl, very sorry, folks!): supposed to headline were Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so it was printed on the tickets for the buying public. Now, I have never been a big fan of theirs, so for me Sonic Youth – in all their glory – were the highlight of the event. I probably even planned to head home after their gig, I suppose.

But imagine my surprise and joy when it was announced that the Peppers couldn’t make it (it later turned out that their guitarist had quit shortly before or something), and that their replacement were one of my favorite bands on earth at the time, New Order, promoting their new album, ‘Republic’! Now, the crowd weren’t there for them, obviously, so the vibe wasn’t all to great, I must admit. Well, it surely wasn’t for the Red Hot Chili deadheads, me on the contrary, I enjoyed seeing New Order again after quite some years.

Some kind soul managed to tape their set and make it publicly available in a very decent sound quality, magic stuff indeed:

New Order – Temptation (live Loreley, July 10th ’93) [ah, couldn’t resist … probably their second best song, so …]

Also of course a few tunes from the other contestants. Perhaps you already know those, in this case it could be nice to listen to them again. But if you do not them, do listen! It’s worth it, promised …:

Young Gods – Envoyé [from Switzerland of all places! A great tune from 1986]

Hole – Teenage Whore [from 1991, their debut – when Mrs. Cobain still was in good form altogether]

Therapy? – Vicar In A Tutu [not really a cover band, Therapy?, but this isn’t too shabby, right? From ’97]

Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy – Television, The Drug Of The Nation [from 1991. and a child watches 1500 murders before it’s 12 years old“, he says. Mind you, now in 2026 it’ll probably be 15.000!]

Helmet & House Of Pain – Just Another Victim [staying with a bit of hip hop, and why not! Another great collaboration, this – a single from 1993]

Sonic Youth – Sunday (’98) [the only single from their 10th album, ‘A 1000 Leaves’, and probably my favorite tune by them]

NOFX – Kill All The White Man (live in Hollywood ’95) [a most perfect version of this old favorite, to be sure!]

Another Bizarre – pick next time? You’ll have to wait and see, I suppose.

Until then, enjoy,

Dirk

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (39): The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Language of Violence

There was no longevity about The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, but the output from the duo of Michael Franti and Rono Tse has proved to be enduring and essential.

Franti and Tse had both been members of industrial hip hop band The Beatnigs, whose one album on Alternative Tentacles had been released in 1988. It was two years after this that DHoH came into being, and their debut single was (What Do I Do To Become) Famous and Dandy, a song which explores the history of black entertainers in modern American popular culture, especially on television.

It was that very medium which was the subject of their next single, and probably their best known-number, Television, the Drug of the Nation, a re-working of a Beatnigs song. This was my first exposure to the band, and the way they seemed to fuse the rap of Public Enemy and the beat poetry of Gil Scott-Heron was something I found incredibly exciting. The debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury was bought the week it was released in March 1992, and I looked forward to them taking the world by storm.

It didn’t happen, although they were given excellent exposure to wider audiences thanks to them opening up on tours for the likes of U2, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine.

A third single, Language Of Violence was lifted from the album.

The tale of an horrific homophobic murder, with a twist at the end for one of the perpetrators. It was never going to be played on the radio, but the group and the record label, 4th and Broadway, (a subsidiary of Island Records), were determined to push this particular message. It was issued on 12″ CD and cassette, with the vinyl also containing a 12-page comic in which the story of the song, via the lyric, is laid out.

There were three tracks on the 12″:-

mp3: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Language of Violence
mp3: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Famous And Dandy (Like Amos ‘N’ Andy) (Instrumental)
mp3: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Theme From ‘Water Pistol Man’

It’s the full-length album version of the lead track, coming in at more than six minutes in length. The middle track was an instrumental take of a later re-working of the debut single, while the final track is another instrumental, a slightly edited version of the song which closes the album. Both instrumentals give a great indication of how musically talented the duo were as performers and arrangers.

JC

June Brides

THE CULT CLASSICS :THE RE-RUNS (8)

9 February 2014. This came from myself but was inspired by a reader from Sweden.

– – – – –

This is a last-minute change of cult classic. I had something else lined-up but it’s now going to have to wait a few weeks. Blame it on the demands of the customer base…and specifically that of Jacke from Stockholm who just 48 hours ago asked for some June Brides in the next post.

I’ll confess that I initially missed out on The June Brides. They formed in 1983 and by the following year had released two singles on The Pink Label. This was an era when I was listening to a lot of music and I can only guess that the reason that TJB passed me by was that I was too busy getting lost in the music of The Smiths, New Order, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, Friends Again, Orange Juice, Go-Betweens, etc to pick up on everything. It wasn’t till the early 90s, some five years after TJB had broken-up, that I became aware of some of the songs they had recorded and released in their all too brief a career.

More fool me.

I think it’s best therefore, to allow someone who did fall in love with them right away to express what it is that makes this band so special. I’m pinching the following words from a great piece put together by Andy Wood in a piece he posted on the great blog/website Manic Pop Thrills:-

I was still at school, struggling along and trying to find some kind of identity for myself. A friend gave me a cassette of sessions that he’d taped recently from the John Peel show and there was a session by The June Brides which really struck a chord with me and that was it, I was hooked. The four songs on that session really stuck out for me, there was a sense of beauty and lovely melodies, there was the mix between that loveliness and a sense of regret, even worldly-weariness but also a sense of the possibility of change and a defiance that things could be better, no matter how small the change. The words and music became very special to me. I began to get quite interested in the sounds being produced by independent bands and labels and discovered a whole world which influenced me and this got me into playing, putting on live gigs and producing fanzines as part of a D.I.Y. culture that seemed so vibrant and interesting and diametrically opposed to the world of the polished, dull mainstream.

I tracked down everything I could find by the band and looked forward to new records and the possibility of seeing them live. Alas, although they played Dundee once I had no chance of being admitted to a strictly over 18’s only show in Fat Sams. I hated being young, I couldn’t wait to grow up, I was impatient to taste this world of gigs and music, to be free from the strictures of school and my parents but I was stuck, as The June Brides suggested, simply waiting for a change.

Fate is a cruel thing. Despite having seemed to have been on an unstoppable rise, releasing an album and several great singles and touring incessantly – including with The Smiths (on an Irish tour) – the band called it a day. Those who added the lush viola and trumpet to the June Brides sound would go on to play sessions with a number of bands including while frontman Phil Wilson signed to Creation as a solo artist.

The influence of the band remained though, at times noticeable and at other points less so. I think it can be heard in the music of a number of bands, not necessarily in an obvious way but it’s there. Belle and Sebastian would be one band I’d say shared my love for The June Brides. Their Peel session was issued in 1987 which finally allowed me to replace my hissy second generation cassette. A best of followed a few years later then there was an album of covers put out. Cherry Red issued the double CD “Every Conversation. The Story of The June Brides and Phil Wilson” which collected everything the band and Wilson had ever recorded. It’s an essential album for anyone I think…..

And it’s thanks to that Cherry Red compilation that I really discovered just how good the June Brides had been and indeed how equally rich the Phil Wilson solo material was in quality. It is, without question, as Andy says, an essential compilation. It also led me to get a hold of a vinyl copy of their one proper studio LP, There Are Eight Million Stories…. which was scheduled for a posting on this blog in a couple of weeks time, but Jacke’s prompting has brought things forward.

With this being the cult singles series, I’m going back to 1984 to the earliest material. I really couldn’t make my mind up which of the two singles from that year to select, so I’m cheating and featuring both.

mp3 : The June Brides – In The Rain
mp3 : The June Brides – Sunday To Saturday

(catalogue # Pinky1, released March 1984)

mp3 : The June Brides – Every Conversation
mp3 : The June Brides – Disneyland

(catalogue # Pinky 2, released September 1984)

The b-sides are also from the top drawer.

30 years on and the band have reformed and are playing live. They came to Glasgow in late November 2013, but alas I was out of the country on holiday. I hope they come back again soon*….

JC

* I finally got to see The June Brides at the Glas-Goes-Pop festival in August 2022. It was well worth the wait!

LCD Soundsystem, Wooden Sjhips

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (50) : LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls

This is one of those 7″ singles that I genuinely cannot recall buying. It’s not showing up as one that I purchased through Discogs, and I can’t think, given the mint condition it is in, that I got in a charity shop or in the second-hand section of a record shop. By the process of elimination, it must have been bought as new back in 2010, partly on a whim based on my enjoyment of the first two LCD Soundsystem studio albums, both of which I have long had on CD.

It’s a song I didn’t know when I bought the single. I would have been aware, from the music press, that a third LCD Soundsystem album was on the way, and so Drunk Girls would have been acting as my taster, albeit an earlier single, Pow Pow had come and gone without me noticing. I’ll admit to being underwhelmed by Drunk Girls which then had a lot to do with why I didn’t rush out and buy This Is Happening when it hit the shops a couple of weeks later.

I’ve listened to it again a couple of times in recent weeks and while I don’t think it’s one that is essential for any collection, it’s not nearly as awful as I had remembered. If I had to give it a score, then it would be 5 out of 10.

mp3: LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls

My issue is down to its overreliance on a repetitive two-word shout-along with no real semblance of a chorus, with more than a passing note to the structure of White Light /White Heat by The Velvet Underground. Maybe my expectations were too high.

The b-side was a tad unusual in that in involved a cover version by Wooden Shjips, a San Francisco-based band of whom I know very little but, based on this one song I have of theirs in the collection, are accurately described as a psychedelic rock band.

mp3: Wooden Sjhips – Drunk Girls

The single didn’t crack the charts, but the album did go Top 10.

Oh, and while doing a wee bit of background research on this one, I learned that the video was one in co-directed by Spike Jonze and James Murphy. It’s one I’d never seen previously. It’s bonkers and a bit scary!

JC

#magazine45s

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF MAGAZINE (AN INTERLUDE)

There’s some logic (in my mind at least) as to why there’s an interlude on this particular Sunday.

Magazine had released just four singles up to now, two of which had been non-album offerings, while the other two had involved different mixes from the album versions.

Three of the next four would all be lifted from one album, The Correct Use of Soap, recorded in the second half of 1979 with Martin Hannett, who himself had not long finished production duties on Joy Division‘s debut album. I really feel I need to talk/write about the album before shining the light on any of its singles.

The writer Garry Mullholland, in his 2006 book ‘Fear of Music : The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco’ penned these words:-

‘The third Magazine album is a key transition in British pop. There was now a generation of musicians who had been excited by the Pistols but also by disco, reggae and the pop of their childhoods. Bands began to question whether rock and the electric guitar were really the cutting edge, or just a form of codified conformity.

So it was entirely natural that a band from a punk background, but with prog-rock-standard musicians, attempted, on The Correct Use of Soap to make a radio-friendly pop, complete with funk, soul and disco rhythms, horn solos, keyboards-to-the-fore, girly backing vox, even tender ballads. Joy Division’s producer Martin Hannett was brought in to give his fellow Mancunians a clearer, less dense and aggressive sound, while keeping the mystery and edge intact and not letting it get all Boomtown Rats. Everybody involved got it dead right. And then….no one bought it.’

It’s not quite true that nobody bought it. It came in at #28 on the first week of its release in May 1980. It stayed at #28 the following week. It then dropped, but by only three places to #31. After that, it plummeted to #61 and on the fifth week after it hit the shops, it was nowhere to be seen in the charts.

It’s an album that has managed to more than stand the test of time, as I pointed out when I posted a review of it written for the Louder Than War website in 2013. I did make the observation that the writer, Amy Britten, had written the review a style akin to what some refer to as the golden era of the UK music papers, when a thousand words would be used instead of a mere handful, and it was necessary to have a thesaurus close at hand.

I did offer up my own thoughts on the album.

I’ve never claimed to be a ‘good’ writer, but I am passionate about the things I like, albeit I often can’t get beyond using words like brilliant, fantastic or amazing to describe how much a particular record means to me.

The Correct Use of Soap will always be high up on the list of my favourite albums, but not because I’m able to make all sorts of smart and obscure references from the lyrics. It’s an album in which all members of the group are at the very top of their games, and yes, it enjoys a production input from Hannett that is unusually crisp and clear without too much gimmickry. It is a record that deliberately veers all over the place, with punk, funk, pop all to the fore – it even has a soppy ballad, complete with female backing vocals which tug at the heartstrings. But I’ll just keep coming back to the fact that McGeogh and Adamson, in particular, have never sounded better.

There’s not a duff song on ‘Soap’….it would, on its own make for a perfect ICA. A position that Devoto & co. seemingly acknowledged by the fact that in 2009, shortly after their brief reformation, they undertook a tour in which they played the album in order from start to finish, before taking a short break and coming back for a second set of songs from the other albums.

I’ll get round to looking at the singles over the next few weeks. The fact that the opening track of the album was passed over for a 45 is an indication of its quality

mp3: Magazine – Because You’re Frightened

It’s also one of the finest demonstrations of just how great, and I mean GREAT, a guitarist Magazine had. It’s no wonder that Siouxsie Sioux and her colleagues would soon put in a call and ask John McGeoch to join them.

JC

Multiples

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #520: MULTIPLES

I’ve this CD in the collection, handed to me as I was leaving a gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow.

One in Four is a compilation album released by the mental health charity The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) in 2004. It compiles 14 exclusive and previously unheard tracks recorded by artists who had previously been involved in events run by the charity.

More than 250,000 copies of the album were distributed to people in Scotland to raise awareness of mental health issues. It takes its name from the statistic that one in four people in Scotland will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives.

One of the bands on the CD is Multiples, who offered up this instrumental part guitar/part electronica offering:-

mp3: Multiples – Everything Is Everyone’s Fault

There’s not too much info out there, but on Discogs I read that the four members were David Roy, Graeme J.D. Ronald, James Hamilton and Stuart Memo, all of whom were involved with other bands kicking around the scene back in the early 00s such as Dananananaykroyd, Errors, Remember Remember and The Royal We.

There appears to have been two releases – two songs on a 10″ split single with The Kitchen in 20o4 and a two songs on a 7″ single of their own in 2005. The track included on the SAMH CD was later one of the tracks on that 2004 single.

JC

CHVRCHES

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE? (88)

Fair play and a tip of the hat to anyone out there who owns a copy of the debut 10″ single, on red vinyl, that was released by Chvrches back in November 2012

mp3: Chvrches – The Mother We Share

It seems just 500 copies were pressed up and the very few that pop up on the second-hand market have asking prices of the best part of £400.

The single came out on National Anthem Records, a boutique UK independent label that struck gold early on, with Haim delivering its first release and Chvrches its third.

In saying that The Mother We Share was the debut single, it should be noted that, in an era when digital releases were all the rage, particularly for new, emerging and/or unsigned bands, Lies, which had been posted on line in May 2012, is regarded as the band’s debut song. Within weeks of the physical release of the single, there was an incredible buzz about this new band from Glasgow, helped by the fact the trio of Lauren Mayberry, Ian Cook and Martin Doherty went out on an extensive tour that took in dates across Europe and into North America, with seemingly everyone talking up their performances.

In due course, they would sign to Virgin Records and in September 2013, debut album The Bones Of What You Believe was released to equally great acclaim.

There were two other mixes, both very much with Glasgow connections, included on the debut single:-

mp3: Chvrches – The Mother We Share (A JD Twitch Optimo Remix)
mp3: Chvrches – The Mother We Share (Miaoux Miaoux Remix)

And having featured the debut, I do need to repeat what I said back in 2016 on the last occasions the band featured on the blog……. I don’t quite get all the hoo-ha over Chvrches.

In saying that, I’m pleased that a Scottish act, particularly one featuring an ex-member of the hugely underrated and largely unappreciated The Unwinding Hours and Aereogramme, is being so critically acclaimed and selling decent amounts of records, but the synthpop music they make just doesn’t move me. Probably an age thing…..but the vocals in particular often make them far closer to the clean, near antiseptic pop fodder that makes up much of the modern era chart stuff than it is to the pioneering stuff from the late 70s and early-mid 80s with which they are often compared.

JC

Band of Holy Joy, Go! Service, Primitives, Sea Urchins

C86 : THE ULTIMATE SERIES (Parts 79, 80, 81, and 82 of 114)

The Sea Urchins, from West Bromwich, formed in 1986 and split up in 1991. This song has given them a prominent position in the indie pantheon.

mp3: Pristine Christine – The Sea Urchins

Track 6, Disc 1 of CD86.

The very first single to be released, in late 1987, on Sarah Records. It, naturally, has the catalogue number SARAH 1.

The band had come to the attention of the label through, yup, flexidiscs given away with fanzines. There would be two more singles for the label, Solace (SARAH 8) in 1988 and A Morning Odyssey (SARAH 33) in 1990.

Disagreements about the next single saw them move on to London-based Cheree Records, who issued Please Don’t Cry in 1991, but The Sea Urchins split up shortly afterwards. The following year, an 11-song compilation of the band’s material for Sarah, plus the earlier flexidisc tracks, was released as Stardust (SARAH 609).

Go! Service, from London, were a short-lived outfit, who released just one single in 1985

mp3: Real Life – Go! Service

Track 19, Disc Three of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition

It’s actually one of the two b-sides to It Makes Me Realise, which came out on Dreamworld Records, and was just the third 45 to be issued by the label. Go! Service were a four-piece band with a female singer, Jo Bartlett. The band supported a fair number of bands back in the day including The Television Personalities, The Housemartins The Blow Monkeys and The June Brides. The group disbanded in early 1986.

Part 59 of this series looked at Lazy, one of the four songs on the 1986 debut single by The Primitives. In mentioning that they would be making a second appearance in this series, I did say I’d pick things up and provide a fuller narrative.

The Primitives released seventeen singles/EPs and three albums between 1986 and 1992. The first three singles were solely through their own label, Lazy Records, but after they signed the label over to RCA Records in 1987, they were effectively on a major label, albeit the releases still carried the Lazy imprint.

February 1988 saw their fifth single, Crash, become an international hit, reaching #5 in the UK, Top 20 in most European countries and #3 in what was known as the Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard) chart in the USA. Life was never the same again.

Debut album, Lovely, went Top 10 in the UK. The next four singles, which straddled the first and second albums across 1988/89, all went Top 50, but crucially as far as the record label was concerned, there was nothing as big or successful as Crash and sales were declining with each release. When third album Galore, released in January 1992, flopped and failed to offer up any hit singles, the band decided they’d had enough and split up.

Fast-forward to 2009 and the band decided to reform, partly to honour former bassist Steve Dullaghan who died that year at the age of 45. The following year they undertook a tour of the UK and played a show in New York City. They have remained very active since, recording a number of singles as well as two albums.

Now for a bit of time-travelling

mp3: Really Stupid – The Primitives

Track 2, Disc 2 of CD86

Their second ever single, released on Lazy Records in 1986, and a #3 hit on the Indie Chart.

The Band of Holy Joy, from London, were initially together between 1994 and 1993, and subsequently again for a short time in 2002/03 before a second reformation in 2007, and they are still together today.

First time around, there were eight singles, beginning with Had A Mother Who Was Proud : And Look At Me Now, which came out on London-based Flim Flam Productions in 1988, and ending with Claudia Dreams on the own Ecuador Records in 1993. There were also seven albums/mini-albums.

mp3: Rosemary Smith – The Band Of Holy Joy

Track 5, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition

Their third single, released in 1987 on Flim Flam, after which they signed with Rough Trade.

They have been incredibly prolific since reforming, with thirty albums, many of them as digital-only releases or on lo-fi cassette.

JC

Style Council

SONGS UNDER TWO MINUTES (27): MICK’S BLESSINGS

mp3: The Style Council – Mick’s Blessings

Side 1, Track 1 of Café Bleu, the debut album from The Style Council, released in March 1984. It was a bit of a curveball to open with this jaunty instrumental, in which Paul Weller‘s only contribution is via handclaps. It turned out to be one of three instrumentals across the opening fours songs…..The Jam it most certainly wasn’t.

JC

Gene

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (37) : Gene – Sleep Well Tonight

It always felt to me that Gene were a cut above many of the bands they were lumped-in with in the mid 90s. They came to prominence as Britpop was being talked up as a thing, but I’ve personally regarded them as being part of that genre of acts, and I reckon there was more than enough talent in the band, as songwriters and performers, to have made it no matter the era.

It’s interesting to look back and see that while they achieved a great deal of critical acclaim, and attracted a fan base that was and remains incredibly devoted (as can be measured by the response to the 2026 comeback tour), they only ever enjoyed marginal success in the UK singles chart. Excluding the limited edition debut of which just 1,994 copies were pressed on 7″ vinyl, there would be eleven singles, ten of which did go Top 40, but their highest placing was just #14, which happened to be the 1996 re-release of For The Dead, the limited edition debut.

Their first brush with chart success came in November 1994, with this, their third single, reaching #34.

mp3: Gene – Sleep Well Tonight
mp3: Gene – Sick, Sober and Sorry
mp3: Gene – Her Fifteen Years

A trio of top-quality songs, all offering up something different to enjoy and appreciate. And I think they’ve aged well.

JC

Various

CONFESSIONS OF A CONDOM SALESMAN : PHOENIX, FLEADH & THE SUMMER OF ’93

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

Over a couple of months in the summer of 1993 you would have variously found me swanning around backstage with performers at the Fleadh in Finsbury Park, then working on the set-up of the first Phoenix Festival at Stratford-upon-Avon, and later helping out at a photo shoot for a wannabe pop star alongside legendary producer Martin Rushent.

I’d love to tell you that amongst all this involvement with the music biz I witnessed some epochal live performances and had unforgettable encounters with a few rock icons, but instead it most notably saw me handing out free condoms from the back of a van while the bands I wanted to see were playing elsewhere.

This was not for pleasure but for work, you see. I had recently taken a blind leap into a new job with a small public relations agency based in the sleepy fenland town of Ely, ten miles north of Cambridge. The agency’s major client was the London Rubber Company, producer of the Durex brand of condoms. As often in the world of PR, the agency had been founded by a former exec at LRC’s old agency who had left with the express purpose of stealing the account for himself.

Said former account director and MD of the new agency was a man to whom I will refer simply as the Big Nosed Cunt. You may feel such an offensive epithet is excessive, but I can assure you it is purely descriptive, for he had a very big nose and he was a cunt. I’ll call him the BNC henceforward in order to reduce the cunt-count.

For my first few months in Ely I was unaware of the full extent of the BNC’s true cuntiness, and so I was an eager assistant in executing his plans for Durex. The PR strategy was to strengthen association between the brand and the world of rock and pop, on the sound basis that teens and young adults were the ones doing all the casual shagging, not older couples in long-term relationships for whom the increasingly antique phrase ‘family planning’ meant The Pill or lust-crushing parenthood.

In pursuit of this racier brand alignment, the BNC secured the main sponsorship rights to the first Phoenix Festival that July at a disused airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon. Vince Power’s Mean Fiddler organisation conceived The Phoenix as rising from the supposed ashes of the Reading Festival, deemed incinerated by a business dispute, but ultimately Reading ’93 went ahead under new management, while Power forged ahead with the rival event.

Preparations for July saw me organising production of large pvc banners emblazoned with Durex logos and liaising with Mean Fiddler over logistical matters. To get a feel for how things would work backstage, a VIP pass was procured for the Irish-themed Fleadh festival in Finsbury Park in June and I was told to go and check it out.

The headline act was Bob Dylan, preceded by Van Morrison, preceded by a string of other acts including The Pogues, John Martyn, Kirsty MacColl, The Men They Couldn’t Hang and Stiff Little Fingers. The only problem for me was that a very good friend was having his stag night in Cambridge on the same evening. I realised that it was either Bob and Van or my friend Martin.

Martin won, but I did go down to Finsbury Park early and hung around backstage where the only person of note that I recognised was Bruce Foxton. If you’ve ever wondered, backstage in the VIP area at a rock festival is pretty much like front of stage, except people are better behaved at the bar, and there are seats that would otherwise be stolen away by punters. The weather that night was dreadful, possibly making it easier for me to pass up Bob and Van and catch the train back to Cambridge after seeing The Pogues. Martin’s pre-nuptial rite turned out to be the most uneventful stag night I have ever been to, apart from my own – a few quiet pints and a chicken jalfrezi at The Curry Queen on Mill Road.

If you’ve also ever wondered how one of these huge festivals comes together I sincerely hope it is nothing at all like how it came together at the Phoenix because it very nearly didn’t. We took up residence in Stratford three days before the opening Friday and experienced 72 hours of mind-boggling chaos and frenzy. Right up until the first act was due to take to the stage I was convinced it would never happen, such was the apparent state of disorganisation and panic behind the scenes.

I contributed to a flood of questions both petty and serious with which the poor site manager was incessantly bombarded concerning anything from plastic chairs and spare rope, to scaffolding, power supplies and perimeter fence security. Every single decision about anything could only be answered by this one bloke who basically didn’t sleep all week and was physically and mentally fucked by the time the curtain went up.

To add to everyone’s explosive stress levels, on the Thursday night a bunch of ticketless crusties tried to storm the entrance to the camp site, initiating a ruck with security and a lengthy stand-off that blocked passage for everyone else, leaving people still pitching tents after midnight.

Although I knew I would be working, I was hopeful of being able to see several bands at the Phoenix, including my new faves Stereolab. Some I’d seen already – Fatima Mansions, New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Gil Scott Heron. Several others I wanted to see, including Sonic Youth, Julian Cope and George Clinton. There were lots of bands that no one had ever heard of in 1993, like Pulp and Cornershop, and many others you still haven’t heard of.

Sadly, the list of bands I saw was very short on account of having to work shifts dishing out free condoms to fans from the window of a converted ice-cream van, or going backstage to make sure the corporate bores from Durex had someone to talk to. Stereolab would have to wait a few more years, but at least I did get to see most of Sonic Youth’s headline set, which was fantastic, a raging crepuscular drama in the midsummer twilight. The Young Gods were an interesting surprise, being 1-Swiss, and 2-sounding full metal without even having a guitarist. George Clinton was a no-show. The BNC was of the opinion that Sonic Youth were rubbish, but The Black Crowes were great. If you think I was being uncharitable to him before I bet you think differently now, eh?

Backstage we didn’t see too many stars in our sponsor’s marquee. Richey Edwards was one. Vince Power himself was another, and he introduced me to a bona-fide multi-millionaire. “This is Mr Murphy,” said Vince, eager to get rid of me. Mr Murphy and his friends looked like a group of elderly Irish farmers in tweeds and flat caps, which is not far off what they were. If you’ve lived in the UK since the 1970s, especially round London, you’ll have seen many of Mr Murphy’s big green lorries hanging around road works and building sites. As Wikipedia records, “At his death in 2009, his worth was estimated at £190 million. He valued his privacy and was known to spend little on luxuries, instead preferring to spend time with his own workmen and other Irish friends.” Mr Murphy didn’t have a lot to say to a soft-fingered office boy like me.

A few weeks after the Phoenix the BNC took me on another poptastic outing to deepest Berkshire to photograph ‘pop star’ Mike Fab-Gere “playing live inside a giant condom.” This was the kind of worthless PR shit that ex-tabloid hacks like the BNC excel at. Pointless, patronising, inaccurate, trivial, titillating, sub-moronic trash.

Mike Fab-Gere was another Durex sponsorship property, the alter-ego of one Mike Southon, a former IT entrepreneur who’d sold his business for enough cash to live on forever and rededicated himself to getting onto Top of the Pops dressed in platforms, spangle flares, chest wig and droopy Jason King tache. Tapping into the first wave of 70s revivalism like Björn Again he carved a niche for himself playing swinging 60s and glam rock covers to halls of drunk students, chucking buckets of Durex rubbers into the crowd.

We found Mike all dressed up and ready to go in a small field in some unremembered village, accompanied by his pal Martin Rushent, erstwhile producer of several discs in my collection by The Stranglers, Buzzcocks and Generation X, and later of The Human League’s chart successes. I think he and Mike were neighbours who had bonded over a few jars at their local pub on Millionaire’s Row. Rushent looked like a porky middle-aged plumber with a scruffy beard rather than the sonic architect of some of the finest new wave albums of the age. I was just 30 and guessed Rushent was maybe hitting 60 and had retired from producing. In fact he was 45. God knows what I look like to 30 year-olds, but by 63 – my age today – Martin Rushent was sadly dead.

I tried to chat but didn’t get far, failing to elicit any interesting anecdotes about Billy Idol or Pete Shelley. He was probably as irritated by this little PR twat as he was by the stupidity of the whole scene before us. Needless to say, there was no giant condom, it was a Durex-branded hot-air balloon, part inflated on its side so that Mike could get inside it and pretend to perform (there was no live music) while the BNC’s brother took pictures. All this to provide some promo shots no one would ever publish to plug Mike’s forthcoming single (a Rushent-produced cover of I Am The Walrus) that would not secure a TOTP appearance. Utter, utter bollocks.

Mike Fab-Gere never got onto TOTP, and a few years later Mike Southon had gone back to being a businessman. I had escaped from the BNC and gone on to do PR for entrepreneurs far less pleasant than Mike and my brief brush with the music industry was, quite thankfully, over. As you probably guessed, the BNC carried on being a cunt and will by now be a retired cunt, boring people with fabricated tales about ligging with The Black Crowes back in ’93. Me, I’m still working and boring people with my tales of ligging with Mr John Murphy, elderly Irish roadmender. Rock and roll, baby!

Side one

London You’re a Lady – The Pogues
100% – Sonic Youth
The Night Dance – The Young Gods
John Cage Bubblegum – Stereolab
Razzmatazz – Pulp

Side two

England’s Dreaming – Cornershop
Hanging Out And Hung Up On The Line – Julian Cope
Go Home Bible Mike – Fatima Mansions
It’s Not What You Know – New Fast Automatic Daffodils
I Am The Walrus – Mike Fab-Gere and The Permissive Society

Fraser

#magazine45s

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF MAGAZINE (4)

Rhythm of Cruelty (VS 251) : Released March 1979 on 7″

The most recent appearance of this single came via its inclusion in Dirk‘s memorable series ‘One Hundred and Eleven Singles’, back on 2 May 2024.

Dirk began by saying there can be no argument that Magazine were, in comparison to their peers, more progressive and less traditional. He then posed the question “How did you see this development back in 1978 or thereabouts? I mean, if memory serves correctly, Devoto was seen as a bit of a betrayer to punk when leaving Buzzcocks … just in order to front this strange modern New Wave combo”

His own take on things was that a lot of people rather wasted their time complaining about Devoto having left Buzzcocks and blaming Magazine for that event, rather than closely listening to early Magazine with an open mind. He is convinced that taking such an approach would have everyone a lot, including the record buying public and, by extension, Magazine as well.

Rhythm of Cruelty, like all the Magazine singles (with the exceptions of #41 hit Shot By Both Sides and later offering Sweetheart Contract which raced to #54 in 1980) failed to trouble the Top 100. Maybe there’s merit inDirk’s observation that they weren’t really given a fair hearing, as it does seem it was only after they split up did the the accolades and credit come thieir way.

Wiki lists Rhythm of Cruelty as being taken from the album Secondhand Daylight which was released just two weeks after the single. But the fact is, the version issued as a 7″ single is a completely different mix from the album version.

mp3 : Magazine – Rhythm of Cruelty (single version)

The band had worked with a new producer, Colin Thurston, who up to this point was best known as a studio engineer for the 1977 albums Heroes by David Bowie and Lust for Life by Iggy Pop album. Secondhand Daylight was Thurston’s debut as a solo producer and he would go onto work with The Human League on the album Reproduction later in 1979 before hitting the jackpot with the first two Duran Duran albums in ’81 and ’82.

Rhythm of Cruelty is a much underrated single. It harks back, in part, to the band’s post-punk roots, as can clearly be heard in the opening bars as well as the cartoon violence of the first two lines spat out by Devoto. Secondhand Daylight proved to contain a fair degree of prog/krautrock elements, which is an indication of the increasing influence of Dave Formula on keyboards. Compare and contrast….

mp3: Magazine – Rhythm of Cruelty (album version)

The b-side is T.V. Baby. The music for this one was written by Formula but for much of the song his keyboards are hidden or well back in the mix. Indeed, the most prominent sound for much of its near four minutes is the saxophone playing of McGeoch. It sounds nothing like any song on Secondhand Daylight, which leads me to think it was always destined for use as a b-side. As these things go, it’s more than alright

mp3: Magazine – T.V. Baby

No other singles were released in the UK to support Secondhand Daylight, but over in New Zealand, one of its tracks was issued on 7″

mp3: Magazine – Believe That I Understand

It was backed by Rhythm of Cruelty as the b-side – whether it’s the single or album version, I’m unable to say as this is the one 7″ release from back in the day that I don’t have in my collection and the asking price on the few occasions it pops up on Discogs is just too much.

JC

Muldoons

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #519: THE MULDOONS

Here’s a few sentences lifted from a Scottish daily newspaper back in 2017:-

“Members of one of Paisley’s most popular indie bands have decided to dust down their guitars and play a reunion show… more than 20 years after their last gig. The Muldoons were a familiar name of the local live circuit in the early 90s, taking the stage at pubs and clubs, and even the town hall to impress fans. However, the group decided to call it a day after a coupe of line-up changes and put their instruments into storage.

Now, 20 years later, the boys are back in town, and ready to rock The Bungalow, in Shuttle Street, on Friday night.

Guitarist Bobby Corrigan, said: “We were Paisley’s finest indie band after forming in 1998 and playing venues like the now defunct Ale House, Toledo Junction supporting Paisley’s own Close Lobsters and also the Lagoon supporting another Paisley artist, Carol Laula.

Now, 20 years later, the boys are back in town, and ready to rock The Bungalow, in Shuttle Street, on Friday night.”

The reaction to the reunion show was so positive that the band decided to fully reform and record a self-released debut single in 2018. Further live shows followed and a follow-up single, again self-funded and released, came out in 2019. This all led to Last Night From Glasgow indicating an interest, and The Muldoons signed on the dotted line in 2020, since when there have been two deservedly well-received albums, Made For Each Other (2020) and We Saw The View (2024).

The LNFG website says this about the band:-

The long awaited debut album from Paisley’s Muldoons is a glorious jangly guitar lovers dream. The music will excite lovers of Lou Reed, Lloyd Cole, Lawrence and of course, the sound of Johnny Marr’s guitar. The Muldoons are inspired by bands like the Brilliant Corners, The Bodines, June Brides and all the great indie outfits who might have graced John Peels evening shows.

Judge for yourself.

mp3 : The Muldoons – Every Week Is The Same (from Made For Each Other)
mp3 : The Muldoons – Audacity (from We Saw The View)

My own take? The Muldoons make music that puts a smile on my face and has me sighing for that era when I was younger, more energetic and had great haircuts!

JC

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #22

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

DR FINETHANG

When I started dating Goldie The Friendly Psychologist, long distance between NYC and LA, she was working at a rehabilitation hospital in Downey, CA. It was a challenging job and Goldie was naturally great at it. Her unsinkable optimism, her sense of humor, her remarkably high medical IQ, and mostly her profound warmth and kindness made her invaluable there. Consequently, she was well-loved at the hospital by the patients and the staff. This was particularly true for an orderly who called her ‘Doctor Finethang’. We thought the sobriquet was pretty funny and of course that’s what I titled the first mixtape I made her.

It’s GTFP’s birthday tomorrow so I was going to try to recreate the mix. But it was so long ago I can’t remember all the songs! Instead, here’s a short set of tunes that I know were on it, that might have been on it, that should have been on it, or that would have made the cut in later years.

She’s Got Everything and When I See That Girl of Mine – The Kinks.

Right out of the gate I broke the cardinal rule of mixtapes by including two songs by the same band. But I couldn’t decide between them and they’re pretty short, so both these Klassics were on.

Kinda Kute – Joe Jackson.

An absolutely perfect pop song, from I’m The Man. Can’t help but think of Goldie whenever I hear it.

You’re The Best Thing – Style Council.

The title pretty much says it all.

Sea of Love – Phil Phillips.

I always loved this song, but I can’t remember if I put it on the tape. At the beginning I was maybe not too quick to drop the L word. But it was the first song we danced to at our wedding, so it definitely belongs.

Can’t Get Enough of You Baby – Colourfield.

My favorite version of a 1965 hit for the Four Seasons.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic – Police.

Another tune that was probably included and another apt title. Second single from 1981’s Ghost In The Machine.

Two of Us – Beatles.

Goldie is really fun to sing with because she’s a natural at harmonizing. She might start on the melody but after a couple of measures she’ll go right to the third. If someone’s already there she’ll go to the fifth. We sometimes sing together–would be more often if I ever learned to play guitar properly–and this has been in our repertoire from the start.

You Said Something – PJ Harvey.

This tune was definitely NOT on the mixtape, having come out a decade or so after I tricked Goldie into marrying me. But it acquired a lot of meaning over the years and now rightfully belongs.

Message of Love – Pretenders.

I have a thing for talented gorgeous brunettes, so a love song by the Ohio goddess fits in here nicely.

Golden Lady – Stevie Wonder.

Goldie’s last name is Golden, and that’s where the nickname came from. This tune, from 1973’s landmark album Innervisions, was an obvious choice. I only learned later that a high school boyfriend once wrote out the lyrics and framed them for her in some big, romantic presentation. What makes it worse is that the guy is actually pretty friendly, and is both better looking and much richer than I. Oh, well. To paraphrase Daniel Johnston, true love found us in the end.

Happy birthday, baby.

Continue reading “FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #22” →

APB

THE CULT CLASSICS :THE RE-RUNS (7)

2 February 2014. This came from Richard Kolnsberg, aka Echroich who for such a long time was posting over at his place s us all informed and amused on a daily basis over at The Never Ending Search For The Perfect Beat, but who last posted there in April 2023.

– – – – –

Being an American with a love of British pop and rock from the Punk and Post Punk Era, there are literally thousands of song which I consider cult classics, but with just the slightest attention on the interweb it can be determined that they were indeed hits in their native land.

One band that had the odd distinction of being quite bid in NYC in the early to mid 1980’s but only had a whisper of success in the UK was APB.

Scots with a massive love of angular guitar, funky bass and a pure pop sensibility, I just don’t know why each of their first 5 or 6 singles didn’t storm the UK charts. They gained attention from Peel and Jensen but went no where in the charts. Their biggest success was a Billboard #1 Dance/Club Chart hit with What Kind Of Girl in 1984 on the backs of a seemingly unlikely occurrence – underground success in NYC at the hands of a few DJ’s and radio programers with their ears to the ground. Their NYC success was all but unknown to the band for almost 2 years, but their sound was right on target for the City’s college radio and the dance clubs like Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria. This was a time when ESG, NY Peech Boys and Material were spreading left of center funk all over the City.

The story goes that someone at one of the college radio stations called up their label in Scotland, Oily, for some more info on the band and that was the first time anyone at the label or the band were aware of the cult following they had in America’s biggest city and Tri-State area. A quick set of dates on the East Coast went down a smash…I was at 2 of those shows, and they would come back something like a dozen more time over the coming years and I don’t believe I missed any of those shows. Their tours would usually start and finish at NYC’s The Ritz Club and they were sold out events.

For me the track of theirs that was the most personal and thus a classic as well was Rainy Day.

mp3 : APB – Rainy Day

I love Shoot You Down and One Day which are equal in power and hip gyrating attack, but Rainy Day had that plaintive, almost angry lyric that just grabbed me. It’s a song about a day with nothing going right and not knowing exactly what to blame it on.

I count it as one of my Favorite 50 songs of all time for all those reasons. It was also the track I always remember getting the crowd going mental – part angry anthem and manic dance groove. The middle section turns into a reel with three sets of lyrics playing off each other simultaneously creating a tense and intricate groove. The Ritz’s dancefloor would actually move as if a small earthquake was heaving and swaying it during Rainy Day. The middle section turns into a reel with three sets of lyrics playing off each other simultaneously creating a tense and intricate groove.

Richard Kolnsberg

Girl Scout

‘I LIKE THIS BAND AND I INSIST YOU DO TOO’

A GUEST POSTING from STRANGEWAYS

PHOTO CREDIT : Jakob Ekvall for NME

Hallå där.

It’s a privilege to be gifted by Jim the space to share pop thoughts with the (New) Vinyl Villain’s many readers. And here I go again. But don’t look like that – this is a piece I wanted written quickly and, for a change, without going on and on and on.

So welcome to this, the latest ‘I like this band and I insist you do too’ post.

This time it’s Girl Scout, all the way from Stockholm.

I got to know Girl Scout via their opening slots for Alvvays in the summer of 2024 when a pal and I splurged on a few of those gigs. These culminated in one held outdoors on a roasting-hot evening in Bologna during which the local mosquitoes’ love of indiepop was trumped only by their penchant for my blood. There, from the stage, Alvvays’ Molly Rankin thanked Girl Scout on that final support date and commended them for toughing out – ‘always with smiles on their faces’ – the comforts-free odyssey that characterises the lot of the warm-up act.

By this time we’d fallen for these affable Swedes too, and hoped to see them again in Glasgow. We did – and twice, including a real beauty of a recent date at Room 2 in promotion of the Scouts’ new and self-produced LP Brink (Human Garbage Records/Awal Recordings). It’s a corker of an album; the kind of release that after a trio of EPs you kind of kept every appendage crossed for.

Led by Emma Jansson’s super-versatile deliveries – equally at home with pop and rock – below are a couple of Brink cuts.

Crumbs (Brink LP track, 2026)

There’s a few single-worthy tracks on Brink. The actual lead-off single is Same Kids – about finding kindred spirits a bit later in life. That one is lifted by a bratty skater-pop feel and Avril Lavigne-ish chorus. Next up there’s more of the same via the powerful pop of Dead Dog.

And then there is Crumbs. Its weary lyric rails against music industry movers and shakers, plus hideous ‘finance bros’ and hangers-on who ‘bleed me dry and leave me with…’ …the crumbs of the title of course. Here, a life – and its ambition – is summarised as an ‘afterthought’ and the hopeful artist diminished as being ‘just a lark’ by those pulling the strings. It’s a loud, guitar-heavy rocker, and if I’d been pranked – told Alvvays had returned with a newly minted ‘dream-rock’ genre – I’d have fallen for it. That might sound snide but it’s not meant to – after all, pop influencing pop is its lifeblood.

Anyway, Crumbs really is a standout – indeed the one complaint is that its thrilling tractor-beaming intro isn’t three times longer. Heralded by lyric of the year ‘Everyday’s a funeral‘ – itself deliciously rhymed in short order with ‘And I’m making jokes I’ll sue you all’ – Crumbs’ chorus is a soaring bully, its entry preceded each time by the merest beat of silence. Live, it could shred to ribbons, at one-thousand yards, all of those skyscraping flags you see on the Glastonbury horizon. It’d be like that bit when they open the lost Ark in Raiders – only with a fewer Nazis and more A&R men. And yes, I know there’s an off-colour joke in there somewhere.

Simple Life (Brink LP track, 2026)

My friend said of this dry and sarcastic song that if Olivia Rodrigo was singing it – and you could totally imagine that – it’d score a number one. To mix things up further, and it’s likely just me, Simple Life reminds me of the Velvet Underground’s After Hours – but mainly in terms of its nursery-room oddness and irreverence. It also has a kind of just-woken-up feel you’d maybe expect from slackers like Pavement. And the thrown-away, fourth-wall-breaking line ’OK, that’s enough of that, let’s do the chorus again’ always makes me smile.

Other Brink recommendations are:

Intro – It opens the LP – no surprise there – and the short song’s detached and dreamy call-outs are ripped into with brief stabs of distorted guitar.

Uh-Huh – this is a brooder, and it’s plodding in the best way possible. Uh-Huh’s words are predicated on a past infatuation – a character whose incessant presence pops up in laundrettes, on the radio and even in the rain. Not to keep banging on about it, but you could stick this one on Alvvays’ Blue Rev LP and not see the join.

Operator – loads of fun, especially at a gig. Listen out for the ‘beep-beep’. Could be one for Riot Grrrl fans. A review references Elastica too – for me a broadly correct shout when you think of the rampant likes of Annie, All-Nighter and Vaseline.

For making it this far, you’ve earned your Girl Scout badge and also one older song

And here it is: the poppy and infectious Honey. An amusing video features the band gadding around in the typical indie style. This is the tune that first turned my head, and therefore the one you can blame for this post.

Honey (Headache EP track, Human Garbage Records, 2024)

Want to learn more, but avoid odd looks at your favourite internet cafe? Then rather than inadvisedly googling the search term ‘girl scout’ – or, I assume even worse, ‘girl scout honey’ – head straight to the group’s website, and from there onto Bandcamp if you fancy it.

www.girlscouttheband.com

Lineup:

Emma Jansson: lead vocals, guitar

Kevin Hamring: guitar and bass guitar

Per Linberg: drums

Tack så mycket as ever to Jim for the space, and to you for reading. Always appreciated. Never taken for granted.