THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

#20: The Fall – Cruiser’s Creek (7″ version)

That thing I said last time out about the Pet Shop Boys and how the song of theirs in the rundown would change from day-to-day depending on my mood. It’s time for a touch of deja-vu.

‘ ‘Cruiser’s Creek’ is brilliant. It’s also bonkers. Mark E Smith, in a contemporary interview with one of the music weeklies, said ‘it’s a party lyric with a party twist’. I’m thinking he was referring to the utter danceability of the song, with a pacey riff and sing-along-chorus, albeit so many of the words in the verses are hard to pick out or fathom. Reading them written down many years later and there’s confirmation that MES is having a sly dig at two of the year’s biggest happenings in the music world in 1985 – Red Wedge and ZTT Records.

If you’re not careful, it’s possible to have a John Peel moment with the 7″ single as it spins at 33.33rpm and not the traditional 45. In other words, that’s me confessing I got caught out the first time I put it on the turntable. The reason for using the slower speed is that the song actually extends to more than six minutes, as opposed to the album version’s running time of a bit more than four minutes. It reached #96 in the hit parade.’ (23 December 2020)

#19: Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve?)

In November 1977, Buzzcocks were touring the UK. Before a gig at the Clouds (also known as the Cavendish Ballroom) in Edinburgh, they stayed the night. Pete Shelley later recalled:

“We were in the Blenheim Guest House with pints of beer, sitting in the TV room half-watching Guys and Dolls. One of the characters, Adelaide, is saying to Marlon Brando’s character, ‘Wait till you fall in love with someone you shouldn’t have.’ “I thought, ‘fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have?’ Hmm, that’s good.”

The following day he wrote the lyrics of the song, in a van outside the main post office on nearby Waterloo Place. The music followed soon after. It’s a song that particularly appealed to my teenage sensations, when the girl(s) of my dreams were way out of my league, preferring the company of lads a couple years older or those who weren’t total bookworms. Not sure that my tastes in music helped much.  But as the years have passed and relationships have come and gone, it’s very clear the song can apply at any time in your life and needn’t be about unrequited adolescent relationships that lead to severe bouts of self-pity.

#18: Arab Strap – Here We Go

‘Aidan Moffat is probably the most unique songwriter to come out of Scotland in my lifetime. The characters in his songs are more often than not angst-ridden, lacking in self-belief, riddled with doubts and always in fear of failure. Almost all of his songs could be filmed as a short story. And when you dig a little bit below the surface, you will often find some fantastic examples of humour in his writing.

What makes the band so special however is that Malcolm Middleton was able to take these brilliant bits of narrative and set them to music that was equally as ground-breaking and imaginative.

(And before anyone pulls me up about how I’ve suggested the labour in the band was divided, I’m well aware that sometimes Aidan wrote music as well, and that Malcolm did contribute some lyrics.)

I’m sure we’ve all been in this place at some point in our lives – sitting or standing looking at the other half of your relationship and wondering just what it is that has led to the two of you temporarily hating the sight of one another….’(1 May 2008 and 22 May 2015)

#17: Billy Bragg – The Saturday Boy

From one of the ICA’s I penned. #37 on 15 September 2015.

‘If anyone ever mentions that they don’t like Billy cos he is a one-trick pony only capable of singing protest songs then this is my way of coming back at them. A stunning tale of love and rejection. And a reminder of what exactly la la la la la la la la la la means when used in a song (most of the time anyway).’

#16: Friends Again – State of Art

It is baffling that Friends Again endured a career of such poor record sales and never got beyond headlining the student circuit in the UK.  But theirs is an all-too familiar story of a label interfering and seeking to control the artistic and performance sides of things, with bosses insisting on certain production values that diluted rather than strengthened how the band’s sound came across on record.

In short, they were stifled at every turn, including for a rare and important live TV appearance where somebody came up with idea of adding two female vocalists despite the band never having worked with any backing singers at any point in their career in the studio or on stage. Utter madness. And when success didn’t come with the first LP and the record label asked questions the band did the sensible thing and broke up, leaving the individual members to go off and do their own thing.

The reunion show in Glasgow last January remains a live highlight of 2026.

#15: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Do You Love Me?

This was written back in 2008.  It’s dated a wee bit!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

“When I was the new wave kid on the block, I used to snigger behind the backs of the guys at school who were fans of bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Yes. (I didn’t do it to their faces as they were bigger than me and would have giving me a right good kicking).

“I did so because, unlike them, I got to hear the songs that I liked getting played on the radio, and sometimes I even got to see the bands that were my favourites appearing on the telly. I was of a very impressionable age, and my attitude was that you were a nobody if you didn’t get played on Radio 1 or Radio Clyde this side of midnight. And an even bigger nobody if Noel Edmonds, Jimmy Saville, Tony Blackburn or Dave Lee Travis didn’t read out your name in a rundown during Top Of The Pops.

“In my wee world, it wasn’t relevant that the sorts of bands – the ones that so excited the guys with long hair, the combat jackets and the patchouli oil – could sell LPs in their millions and play concerts that recreated perfectly all the albums note-for-note in shows lasting three hours in length – mainstream recognition was the be-all and end-all.

“So, it’s just as well that as I’ve got older my attitude has softened –for I would never have found a place in my heart and mind for the greatest act to ever come out of Australia.

“In a career that now goes back more than 30 years, Nick Cave, whether with The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds or Grinderman has had one commercial hit that got him on TOTP. And even then, that was because fans of Kylie Minogue bought the single….

“His fame and career is now so similar to the dinosaurs of the 70s in being based entirely on critical acclaim album sales and live performances that leave you panting for more without ever troubling the compilers of the singles charts.

“All this means is that an awful lot of folk who have an interest in music, but no real depth of passion or soul for it (i.e. they’ll maybe buy what they hear on the radio but never take risks) are missing out on his genius and talent. I suppose that’s good in one way as it means Nick Cave will never get so big and famous that his live shows move to arenas and stadia. But overall, don’t you agree that his music should be in every household?” (25 April 2008)

Dearie me.  I’m no threat to Nostradamus

#14: Associates – Skipping

‘ ‘Sulk’, released in 1982, was the third album from Associates in as many years, albeit one of the previous LPs had simply brought together singles and b-sides. It was, however, the first to bring them commercial success to match the critical acclaim of the earlier releases. It can often be the case that the inclusion of one or two truly stunning songs can overshadow the rest on an LP and make everything else seem tame or even mediocre in comparison. But there’s no chance of hit singles ‘Party Fears Two’ or ‘Club Country’ having that impact or effect on Sulk, as all ten tracks really are something very special. (16 June 2023)

#13: Frightened Rabbit – Music Now

This blog started out back in 2006 just as Frightened Rabbit were beginning to get noticed, initially here in Scotland. I got on board with them very quickly and watched them go from playing the tiniest and cramped of venues to becoming a band with devoted fans the world over.  So many songs that I could reflect on and tell a story related to TVV, but in the end I’ve gone for the one that was the defiant opening on the day T(N)VV was launched, just 24 hours after blogger/google nuked the original. (24 July 2013)  (and this happens to be post #5003)

#12: The The – This Is The Day

Me and The The go back a long long way, not quite to the very beginning of the band but certainly to 1982 and the singles which pre-dated the release of ‘Soul Mining’ the following year.

The enigmatic yet charismatic Matt Johnson has always fascinated and impressed me, releasing distinctive music that seemed to be perfectly in tune with my own feelings and views at different stages in my life. He has always surrounded himself with the very best of musicians, initially in the studio and then on the road in the 90s. He is highly regarded and respected by just about every other fellow musician, not least Johnny Marr whose membership of The The was actually longer than his time in The Smiths. Having said that, Luke Haines isn’t a fan, having had a huge bust-up when The Auteurs were the support act on a UK tour…….

This particular song is the one that I most associate with my first flat.

‘Well you didn’t wake up this morning cos you didn’t go to bed’ – as an opening line seemed to capture what every weekend was designed for.

‘This is the day your life will surely change’ – as a chorus seemed to capture what the hope of every Friday and Saturday night was going to be about as I set out in the (forlorn) hope of finding a true soul mate.  (26 September 2018 and 12 June 2008)

#11: R.E.M. – World Leader Pretend

‘For highly personal reasons, this is up there among my all-time favourite songs by anyone, far less by R.E.M.

Let’s just say that it gave me inner strength and self-belief at a time when I was going through a lot of turmoil, not really sure if I had the ability to break out of a relationship in which I found myself trapped. There’s also an amazing live performance captured on Tourfilm in which the song’s opening is amended to name check a song by Gang of Four.’ (20 September 2016)

#10: The Wedding Present – Dalliance

‘Kennedy’ will never lose its place as my favourite TWP song, but I thought it would be too predictable to have it in this rundown….a sentiment that is going to apply as we get closer to the #1.

‘Dalliance’ is quite extraordinary. A woman is walking away from an affair, deciding that her life is going to best spent with the person she is married to. Her now jilted lover is, understandably, distraught about it. He recalls incidents from their time together, and in particular how she used to always bin his gifts and presents, because she was scared what her husband would say or do, and as he finally realises that her two relationships were built on tissues of lies and at least one of them was doomed from the outset.

Then, the kicker comes.

You told him what he wants to hear and so you got another chance
But I was yours for seven years
Is that what you call a dalliance?

Seven years?? For fuck’s sake, that’s a helluva time for things to have been going on. I can say that with some personal knowledge….the affair between myself and Rachel – we were both married at the time – was so intense that it all came to a head after four months, and we knew decisions had to be made one way or another. Both marriages were soon over, and we’ve been together since February 1990. There is no way either of us could have tried to keep things secret for seven years………..

#9: Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point

A band with just two singles to their name from back in 1984 really shouldn’t be bothering the higher echelons of any rundown.  But then again…..

It’s not just the stunning vocal performance that makes this such an outstanding record – listen to the fantastic production that sees some great guitar and keyboards work beefed-up by a cello and strings that aren’t a million miles away from the sound that would appear years later on ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’. And wouldn’t you know that ‘Breaking Point’ was a Kingbird Production…..one of the names used by the soon to be famous Ian Broudie……

#8: Joy Division – Transmission

From one of the ICA’s I penned. #160 on 6 April 2018.

‘A guest posting from Dave Glickmann in August 2017 described ‘Transmission’ as the first true kickass JD track; my own thoughts were articulated at length when I placed it at #6 on my 45 45s at 45 rundown back in 2008 – Hooky’s basslines grab you in, Stephen’s drumming sets a beat that makes you want to jump out of your seat while Barney’s guitar work reminds you of the punk ethos when anyone could pick up an instrument and play. But it’s THAT voice which makes the song so very special. It’s the sound of someone reaching deep inside his own soul and then straining it through every nerve in his body before hitting the listener in the chest with its power and authority. And just as you think he can hit you no more, he screams…..

‘And we can Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance’

#7: The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane

‘Sublimely beautiful.  The single version is some 20 seconds shorter than the version on the LP ‘Before Hollywood’. Nowadays, when I hear the song, it is with some sadness as it reminds me of Grant’s sudden and very unexpected death, but against that, it is one that I associate with some of my happiest days, weeks and months on Planet Earth when I fell properly in love for the first time a long time ago.

Fun facts : It was written as a recollection of childhood in a London flat in an effort to combat homesickness with the band as far away as can be from their native Australia, cold and skint and fearing they’ll never succeed. It was written using the acoustic guitar belonging to the owner of the flat while he lay comatose from drug abuse. The guitar belonged to Nick Cave.’ (23 November 2016)

#6: Magazine – Definitive Gaze

From one of the ICA’s I penned. #35.  7 September 2015.

‘It’s the opening track on the debut LP (and opening song on ICA#35).  It was a great way to introduce yourself to the album buying public. It was co-written by Howard Devoto and John McGeoch , respectively one of the greatest post-punk lyricists and one of the most underrated musicians these lands have ever produced. John’s work elsewhere outside of Magazine resulted in the best songs of other bands ever recorded by bands such as Siouxsie & the Banshees and PiL and yet on this track it is the keyboard playing of Dave Formula and the bass notes of Barry Adamson that really make this tune so memorable. It’s a perfect example of how Magazine, while made up of amazing individuals, really were the sum of those talents.’

#5: Orange Juice – Blue Boy

‘Released in September 1980, on the same day as Josef K‘s ‘Radio Drill Time’, which was just as well as the two singles shared doubled up picture sleeves. These were black and white, with the plan being to have them hand-coloured individually, using pencils.  The members of Josef K were meticulous in their approach, carefully adding relevant colours to a pair of shoes and a pot plant.

Orange Juice did things a bit differently. The band, and a few of their friends held a ‘colouring-in party’ at 185 West Princes Street in Glasgow, home of Alan Horne and the de facto HQ of Postcard Records at which, having discovered that doing things carefully and properly would take an incredibly long time, they all just scribbled lines, shapes and the occasional words randomly, meaning that no two sleeves were the same.

‘Falling and Laughing’ may have been the debut but ‘Blue Boy’ has proven to be the most enduring and enjoyable single from the Postcard era. And surely the greatest song to ever make use of the word ‘gabardine’. The unexpected appearance of an organ just short of two minutes in adds to the charm of this otherwise noisy and frantic guitar frenzy.’ (5 October 2025 and 27 January 2016)

#4: The Clash – White Riot

As with ‘Kennedy, so with ‘White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)’

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

As a debut it was incendiary, raw and quite unlike anything most of us had heard before.  The single version differs from the US album version in that it opens with a police siren instead of Mick Jones counting the band in.

#3: The Smiths – Girl Afraid

From one of the ICA’s I penned. #150. 21 December 2017

‘To me, the great single that never was. There are some critics out there who feel the tune is let down by a trite and simplistic lyric. Maybe it was one that Morrissey wasn’t completely convinced by and so it ended up as the extra track on the 12” release of ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’. It was one of the first of the second batch of songs that fans got to enjoy (i.e. it wasn’t on the debut album nor had it been aired on a BBC radio session) and to those of us who liked to throw ourselves all over the student union dance floor, it was deemed an instant classic. It’s still one that I love to air whenever I’m lucky enough to be putting together playlists for club nights. The lengthy instrumental introduction set a standard for indie music that very few, if any, matched over the remainder of the decade.’

#2: The Jam – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight

‘There are days when I think this may well be the greatest record of all time, especially with each passing year. An incredible tune with an incredible lyric which, to a 15-year-old who hadn’t yet set foot in London, was genuinely terrifying. Not only did I never want to bump into the muggers but please don’t ever let me cross the path of the atheist nutter who sprays ‘Jesus Saves’ onto walls. My first trip on the London Underground came in 1983. It happened to be on the Piccadilly line at King’s Cross, and I was genuinely intrigued at how deep down I had to go to get to the platform.

All the way down on the escalators I was quietly singing this song to myself, and to my amazement when I finally reached the end of the escalator ride down into the bowels of the city, I found I could indeed make out the distant echo of faraway voices boarding faraway trains.

Thankfully, I never met the atheist nutter, not knowingly at least.’ (21 March 2025)

#1: New Order – Ceremony

‘Temptation’ won’t ever lose its place as the greatest 45 of all time, and ‘Age of Consent’ will always be my favourite piece of music by New Order.  But this rundown has seen me in a very reflective mood over the many all-consuming weeks it has taken to pull together.

“The songwriting credits indicated that this was a Joy Division song and eventually we would later get to hear their take on things with an Ian Curtis vocal via its inclusion in the ‘Heart and Soul’ box set released in 1997. But back in 1981, it was an indication that New Order were determined to carry on as best they could, and even though it was clear that Barney wasn’t anything like as good a singer as Ian the powerful delivery of the music more than made up for it. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat when I first listened to this record and whenever I have heard it in a live setting ever since it has had the same impact. ‘ (26 June 2015 as part of ICA #20)

 

And with that, the 20th anniversary celebrations are over, 20 years to the day that the very first post appeared over on the old blog.  It’s now 5,003 posts here at the new blog since 24 July 2013, and with the what I reckon were 2,292 posts over at the old place between 30 September 2006 and 23 July 2013, that’s 7,295 efforts at engaging with folk out there!

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing this series, although I’ll admit that it did drive me a bit insane at times trying to narrow down the song choices.  I did spend a lot of time reading through the archives, and I reckon there’s a huge amount that we, the TVV community, should be collectively proud of.  The guest contributions are, without question, what helps keep this blog afloat.

Rachel asked me how many words have been typed up, and of course there’s no way of finding that out, not least because quite a number of posts over at the old blog can no longer be accessed, but I did a rough count for the 20th Anniversary series and it added up to around 68,000 which is probably enough to count as a small book.

It’s been difficult to do all this and keep up with all the other blogs that I love to read, but as of late yesterday, I did finally complete the task of reading what everyone has posted at their own places these past few months.  I promise not to fall behind as badly ever again.

The final thing I want to say, again is ‘THANK YOU’, and that’s directed at everyone out there for being part of something that has brought me so much happiness.  The fantastic responsse to each and every posting on this series have offered constant reminders as to why I keep going, even on the days when it can feel like a bit of a chore.

As Edwyn Collins once sang ‘upwards and onwards’, but in saying that, I do have to say I doubt that it’ll last another 20 years given I’m already in my early 60s.

And I really will need to come up with a solution to what will, one day, become a genuine problem when I’m truly old and decrepit….what to do with the vinyl and CDs taking up so much space here in Villain Towers.

Hopefully, you’ll all be back again tomorrow.

 

 

JC

#40: Björk – Human Behaviour

‘Nobody anticipated the sounds which Björk would bring to the party with her first solo material after The Sugarcubes had called it a day. There was a fair chance that it would be a touch different from the music she had made over the years with her band, but surely it was still going to be indie-schmindie with the emphasis still being on a traditional line-up of a guitar, bass and drum, with a flavouring of keyboards……so it was something of a shock to the system to hear the debut offering.’ (29 November 2019)

#39: Electronic – Feel Every Beat (7″ remix)

From one of the ICA’s I penned. #205 on 7 February 2019.

‘A five-minute version of ‘Feel Every Beat’ closes the debut album and tempting as it was to use that here, I have to bow to the remixing skills of Stephen Hague who chops about a minute off the original and helps deliver something which captures perfectly what Jonny and Bernard wanted Electronic to sound like and what they wanted a band to be….”we don’t need to argue, we just need each other” ‘

#38: James – Hymn From A Village

Here’s Dirk.

Jim Glennie, the bassist, once said that “this is the one James song that he would want to survive if all but one were accidentally erased”. That would be my wish as well, although I strongly suggest to everyone reading this to have a closer look into James back catalogue until, let’s say, 1993: if you’re not familiar with what they issued then, you may have missed a treat.

(16 November 2023)

#37: Gang Of Four – I Love A Man In A Uniform

I’ll happily admit that this has jumped a few places in the rundown, thanks to me being given the opportunity to firstly chat to, and then a few weeks later meet, Jon King at the time of the paperback launch of his autobiography.

‘Gang Of Four had wowed the critics with the albums ‘Entertainment’ in 1979 and ‘Solid Gold’ in 1981 without ever really translating the column inches into sales and familiarity with the general public. Things weren’t helped by a hard-headed and uncompromising attitude towards their art, with one example being them eschewing the opportunity to appear on Top of The Pops after the show’s producer asked that the word ‘rubbers’ be replaced by ‘rubbish’.

The third album, ‘Songs of The Free’, was released in 1982. It was preceded by an absolute belter of a single, one which could be said to be the perfect hybrid of post-punk and disco.  The song stood every chance of hitting the charts and this time there wouldn’t be a word which would be of concern to the TOTP censors…..and then Argentina and the UK went to war over the Falkland Islands and a large number of songs, old and new alike, were banned from radio play for fear of causing offence. ‘I Love A Man In A Uniform’ had no chance of surviving that cull.’ (31 January 2019)

#36: Josef K – Chance Meeting

Originally formed in 1979 as TV Art, this Edinburgh four-piece then decided to name their band after protagonist of Franz Kafka’s novel ‘The Trial’. A ten-track demo brought them to the attention of a few labels, but it was on Absolute Records, founded by Orange Juice drummer Steven Daly, that the debut 45 was released.  This then led to Josef K receiving and accepting an offer from Alan Horne at Postcard for whom there would be three singles and an album. One of the singles was a totally different (and better) version of the debut on Absolute Records.

#35: Fatima Mansions – Blues For Ceausescu

‘The lyrical genius of Cathal Coughlan reflecting on how a popular uprising in Romania brought down a dictator yet closer to home in the UK and Ireland nothing changes……..

Someone on Discogs described this 1990 single as hearing the voice of an avenging angel having a bad day and guitar chords like a firing squad. The only reason this never made my 45 45s at 45 countdown all those years ago is that I missed out on it when it was originally released. My first exposure came via an end of the year round-up on some late evening show on Radio 1. I bought the CD single the next time I was in a shop and paid almost £5 for the privilege. I’ve since picked it up on vinyl and it was for a lot less than a fiver.’ (2 October 2013)

#34: Cocteau Twins – Musette and Drums

‘The closing track on the 1983 album ‘Head Over Heels’, and still my all-time favourite Cocteau Twins song, by the proverbial country mile.

My first exposure to the LP was thanks to a flatmate who not only had an enviable record collection but an expensive stereo system. When I bought my own copy a few days later and played it on my cheap stereo, it sounded good, but not as majestic as it did on the equipment sitting in the bedroom through the wall. It was then that I vowed to save to get myself a bigger, better and more powerful set-up, which I achieved some nine months later, thanks to the generosity of my parents on the occasion of my 21st birthday….and I’ve always made sure, ever since, that my equipment, whether for vinyl and/or CDs, has been decent but affordable.’ (8 May 2023)

#33: Mike Garry and Joe Duddell – St Anthony : An Ode to Anthony H Wilson (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

First time this has featured on the blog, other than in the middle of a mixtape.

I’m tempted to say it does exactly what it says on the tin, but it deserves an explanation, just in case nobody knows the backstory.

Mike Garry, a Manchester-born poet, wrote the text shortly after Tony Wilson passed away in 2008, and began performing it in his live shows.

Joe Duddell, a Manchester-born composer and arranger, was moved to put the words to music, based on ‘Your Silent Face’ by New Order.  It was released as a single in August 2015, including a Weatherall remix which took it to even greater heights. All the proceeds went to charity.  And in case you haven’t see the video…..it’a a film which always chokes me up.

#32: Broken Chanter – Piazzale Loreto

A track from the newest album, ‘This Could Us, You, Or Anybody Else’ released in April 2026.  In what I feel is the greatest thing to happen as a result of this blog, I’ve become friends with frontman David MacGregor, and when he learned that it was my thus-far unfulfilled ambition to appear, somehow, on a vinyl record, he arranged for me to come to the Chenikal Underground studio and record some handclaps for possible use.  The thunderclap that comes in behind the drums at the six-second mark (and a few times thereafter) is all me, as produced by the legendary Paul Savage (ex Delgados).  And I’m given a mention in the credits…..

#31: Echo and The Bunnymen – Heads Will Roll

ICA #41 was composed at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet initially above the Atlantic Ocean and latterly over the north-east corner of Canada as the plane headed ever closer to the city of Toronto. The headphones were plugged into the i-phone and as I went through the songs I typed the words into its ‘Notes’ function from which I later did a cut’n’paste and edit.

‘Critics of the band feel they got a long way on the back of one tune and one groove. But the thing is, when the tune and the groove is this divine why quibble? Yes, you might initially think this is ridiculously close to bring just a speeded up version of the track (‘A Promise’) which closed the other side of this imaginary album but wait till you hit the two-minute mark and get blown away by the psychedelic instrumental break…it’s still incredible to think that much of the album ‘Porcupine’ was written and recorded at a time when the band weren’t really on speaking terms.’ (6 October 2015)

#30: Le Tigre – Deceptacon

‘The irregular indie-discos hosted by John Hunt of Butcher Boy always finish with an absolute gem of a song, and quite often it was this.  And if wasn’t the closer, then it was one of the songs aired during the final 15-20 minutes. Given how popular a song it has become, especially given that it was only ever an album track on the 1999 eponymous offering, then I’m assuming loads of other indie-discos aired it too.  But I like to think of John as the pioneer.’ (5 May 2022)

PS : AND A LATE ADDITION TO THIS POST.

This is such a difficult song to cover, but SPRINTS (who featured in the rundown a few days ago at #287) made a great stab at it earlier this year.  I only found out about it last Saturday when I was catching up with posts over at No Badger Required.  mp3: SPRINTS – Deceptacon

#29: The Auteurs – Show Girl

Rol of ‘My Top Ten’ fame.  Another ridiculously talented writer that I’m lucky to have as an occasional contributor.  This comes from ICA #178 on 15 August 2018.

Back to the beginning then, and the opening track from the debut Auteurs album, New Wave. Released in 1993, when Britpop was but a twitch in Brett Anderson’s underpants, it immediately established Haines as one of the most entertaining lyricists of his era – like a less romantic Jarvis, or a Morrissey who doesn’t both hate and love himself*.

*I suppose I should explain that remark, especially here in the Former Republic of Morrissey Fandom, now renamed isntheatwatland. Morrissey has clearly made a career out of a curious mix of self-love and self-loathing. Haines combines the wit and cynicism we all loved about pre-Brexit Moz with a healthy dose of iconoclasm… but you never get the feeling that he’s a nasty man. In fact, he seems like quite a jolly chap in person…

#28: Pixies – Monkey Gone To Heaven

A song cited by so many as an influence, yet in peaked at #60 in the UK charts in March 1989.  I’ve a personal tale to tell.

I got married in July 1988 after a whirlwind romance to someone whose interest in music was virtually non-existent…..but I felt the change was what I wanted and more importantly, needed. It was time to put the toys and distractions of my youth away forever.

Within a matter of months, I was bored rigid. I missed my old mates and my old lifestyle. I missed going to gigs and listening to Radio 1 after 8pm of an evening. It was all soap operas and detective shows in my household. I was in danger of growing old before my time.

I wasn’t reading music papers, and I wasn’t buying anything. All my own music had been put under the stairs.

One day, instead of waiting at the stop for 20 minutes for the next bus home, I popped into a well known Edinburgh city centre record shop. The second, or maybe third song that was played was unlike anything I had ever heard before. A great guitar riff, big powerful drumming and a whiny vocal that was part-spoken, part-sung and part-screamed. And was that some cellos there at the end? Surely not…

The song needed to be bought. So, it was up to the counter to ask the bloke behind the counter who and what was that? The answer, of course, was ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ by the Pixies.

I had no idea who he was talking about. But I bought the single. The first bit of vinyl in at least 9 months since my wedding day. And then went home and pulled out the turntable and amp and record collection from under the stairs.  Within a year, I had moved out of the marital home. A few months later I was back living in Glasgow with a woman called Rachel, who became my second wife – you may have seen her referred to here and there as Mrs Villain. Crucially, Rachel liked a lot of the music that I loved and was all for going out to gigs rather than get hooked on Eastenders and Taggart. She’s still like that all these years later. Oh, it was Rachel who, in September 2006, bought me an mp3 turntable and encouraged me to start writing a blog instead of just reading them.  I’ll never really be able to thank her enough.

#27: Massive Attack – Protection

I’ve loads of Tracey Thorn records, dating back to her time with The Marine Girls, as a solo artist and of course with Everything But The Girl. But she has never sounded better than on this collaboration. No point in me repeating what I’ve said previously about dance acts/dance music and how I’m not well-enough qualified to comment with much conviction.

But somehow I’ve never really regarded Massive Attack as a dance-band – particularly when thinking about their best singles. It was a close run thing to include this instead of ‘Teardrop’. Both songs are equally gorgeous, haunting, unique and unforgettable. But in my mind, Tracey shades it over Elizabeth Fraser.

Why?

I think it’s because Protection is one of the best lyrics ever recorded by a female artist – its full of conviction, passion, love and strength without ever falling into the trap of being soppy or maudlin.

#26: The Twilight Sad – That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #3 on 9 September 2014.

‘A track which in some ways is eerily reminiscent of ‘Maps’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this is a strange and disturbing song told from the point of view of a very unhappy and disturbed teenager. It was my introduction to the band back in 2007.  And yes, there is the occasional use of the dreaded c-word which is normally a bit of a taboo, but it is spat out by James in such a way that you can have no doubt that the person being sung about is truly loathed. They say you never forget your first time and in the case of The Twilight Sad I never will.’

#25: Pet Shop Boys – Domino Dancing (disco mix)

More than 300 PSB songs to pick from…and  I can guarantee that if I was typing this up tomorrow, or had done so yesterday, then it probably would have changed. This is the one most fitting my mood today. Here’s what was written as part of the PSB singles series a while back.

‘Perhaps already tiring of being pigeonholed as purely a synth band, the duo in March 1988 had decamped to Miami for some recording sessions. They chose to work with Latino producer Lewis A. Martinée, the results of which saw far more musicians play on a PSB track than ever before (at this point in time). The credits list two additional keyboard players, a guitarist, a four-piece brass section and a backing vocal group in the shape of The Voice Of Fashion.

The record-buying public didn’t really take to ‘Domino Dancing’ as it only reached #7, which was seen as a bit of a let-down after two consecutive #1s. The disco mix is the version released on 12″ vinyl and then on the album ‘Introspective’.  It’s majestic.’ (19 February 2023)

#24: Paul Quinn & The Independent Group – Will I Ever Be Inside Of You

Talking of majestic.  Here’s the blurb from ICA #66, posted on 7 March 2016

‘Even if this had been the only song that the great man had ever been part of then his legendary status would have been sealed.

The opening and title track of the band’s second and final LP may extend to over nine minutes in length but there isn’t a single second of waste or excess. The Independent Group were ridiculously talented but then again what else would you expect when it was made up of some of the greatest musicians to ever have come out of Scotland at any time in our history, never mind that short period in the aftermath of punk and when a certain type of indie music gained a foothold. Add in lush orchestration and a contribution from one of our then leading opera singers and you have a recipe for something unique and unforgettable.’

#23: Blondie – Heart Of Glass

This one happens to be another from 1979 in this rundown. I’ve written it or made reference to it as much as any other over the past 20 years, but I reckon the few sentences I knitted together for ICA #197 on 20 November 2018 does best for this rundown.

‘The 12” version of ‘Heart of Glass’ is one of the finest pieces of music in my lifetime. It goes on and on and on and on…..and there are days, especially when I’m lying on the beach under a blazing sun, when I feel it comes to a halt all too prematurely. Indeed, on such a day and when I’m in such a mood, I’d be happy to have a 25-minute version of Heart of Glass take up an entire side of an ICA. But such a thing, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t exist.’

#22: The Specials – Ghost Town

‘To lots of people, this will always be associated with events in 1981 which briefly threatened the very fabric of British society. To this humble scribe, it’s a great song, quite different from anything else that had thus far emerged from the ska movement. Oh, and it also had two equally memorable b-sides. (2 April 2016)

#21: Butcher Boy – There Is No-One Who Can Tell Where You’ve Been

The fifth birthday of the blog was celebrated by a gig in Glasgow held belatedly on 19 November 2011, headlined by Butcher Boy with support from Adam Stafford.  I lost a bit of money in putting the event on – very much the mistakes of a rookie promoter, but for a long long time, it remained the most exciting thing, musically, that I’d ever been part of.  The events of that night were referenced in ICA #17, posted on 19 June 2015.

“A tune that is played more than any other within Villain Towers as I’ve taken its first thirty seconds and turned it into a customised ringtone for my mobile phone. All those influences that the early reviewers pinpointed (The Smiths, Tindersticks, Felt, Belle & Sebastian, R.E.M. and Go-Betweens) can be heard in its perfect two and a half minutes. It’s also evidence that John Hunt is a fine singer although he personally considers that he is merely OK….but what it does highlight is just how talented he is as a musical arranger.”

 

JC

#60: The Breeders – Cannonball

‘Kim Deal did a lot of great things with Pixies, not least her lead vocal and bass notes vocal on ‘Gigantic. But I still think ‘Cannonball’ is her finest ever moment.

It’s one of those songs which tips its hat in the directions of indie and grunge and has an unnerving ability to lodge itself into your brain. Go on…..give it a listen right now, and I bet you find yourself singing or humming snatches of the tune later in the day as you go about your business.’ (17 March 2023)

#59: Scritti Politti – Faithless (Triple Hep’n’Blue)

‘I’m no connoisseur of art and paintings. I’m not able to dissect a work of art, nor can I really look beyond the immediate visual images that meet the naked eye for something that is more deep and meaningful. And sometimes this happens in music.

I chanced upon a brilliant piece of writing on the LP ‘Songs To Remember’ by Scritti Politti. It highlights how the record, which on first listen appears to be a hotchpotch of soul, jazz, R&B and pop at its purest, is actually a very clever and subversive piece of work full of political sentiments that almost border on the anarchic. Now I’m not saying I was never aware of the fact that Green Gartside had a strong and almost extreme left-wing ideology, but I kind of let it drift away on the wind whenever I played what has long been one of my favourite LPs of all time.

There’s a lot to admire in the essay – for instance, I’d never have cottoned-on to the fact that the sleeves of the singles were a parody of the finer things in life such as cigars and Courvoisier. I also love the analysis that this was a record full of innovative acts of homage thanks to Green’s style and approach, but the use of soul would later be stolen by ‘the hideous mid-Eighties Live Aid Brigade with their own agenda’, with many of them believing ‘big hair and big volume equals soulfulness’ .

This is all very well and true, but I just can’t help but proclaim my love for the songs is all down to finding something sounding classy in among all the guitar-dominated stuff that I was immersed in at the age of 18.’ (23 January 2016)

#58: Julian Cope – Bagged-Out Ken

‘From the notes of the Head EP, released in 1991, and which got as high as #57.

A Ken doll from Miami leaves his home and flies to England “….looking for Feeling-Groovy Barbie”. He hears the Happy Mondays and, being a U.S. college student, digs the whole loose scene.  N.B. The backing vocalists are singing the names of old ’60s Barbie outfits.

Quite barking, I’m sure you’ll agree. But quite brilliant with it is so many ways.’ (11 September 2015)

#57: Radiohead – No Suprises

Martin of the New Amusements Blog.  ICA #108.  15 February 2017. The self-imposed rule for this ICA was no more than one song from any album,

“A lullaby for the suicidal, perhaps. And yet one that somehow manages to be uplifting, even in the unsettling video in which Thom looks set to drown (spoiler – he doesn’t). You can draw a straight line through Asleep by The Smiths to this song, and then… where? The parent album was, for a time, often held up as not just the band’s best but the best ever, by anyone, frequently troubling the top of the “best N albums of all time” lists that were very popular around the millennium. It is great, but I think The Bends shades it.”

#56: Edwyn Collins – Don’t Shilly Shally

‘Santa Claus was very very good to me. Mrs Villain scoured e-bay for something unusual, and a box of 7″ singles by Altered Images/Edwyn Collins/Orange Juice ended up coming down the chimney in the old man’s sack. A total of 30 records going back to the Postcard era and containing a few rare gems such as flexidiscs and a Clare Grogan solo single. One of them was this, a very early solo single by Edwyn from 1987 produced by Robin Guthrie from Cocteau Twins. Like so many songs I end up posting on this blog, it should have been a hit…..but wasn’t.’ (6 January 2007)

(Addendum from a repost in January 2019) :  ‘From recollection, the job lot was a little over £30, including postage. The mania from a vinyl revival was still a couple of years off…..you’d certainly be looking at £100 and upwards nowadays….there were three postcard singles in the bundle along with every 7″, in mint condition, along with every single ever released by Altered Images, including rare picture discs.’

#55: Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Surfin ‘USM

SWC and Tim Badger with a joint ICA,  #150.  19 November 2015.

This one took us about eight seconds to decide upon. In 1992 I went to see Carter with my friend Rob –it was his first ever gig. To this day I have never seen someone grin as much as he did when that Red Dwarf sample starts up, then the crowd start chanting ‘You Fat Bastard’ at the (starry eyed?) bollock naked guy on stage and then the guitars fire up. This was why we all loved Carter. The amazing lives shows and the sense of belonging you got at one of them.

#54: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – I Hope You’re Happy Now

‘Early summer of 1986. There was a very unusual opening to an edition of Whistle Test. No presenter telling us what was coming up on the show. Just a quick blast of the theme tune and straight into what turned out to be a stunning performance of a song which contains what must be one of the most vicious and vindictive lyrics ever penned. It’s really only when you see them written down on the page that you get the full extent of the bitterness contained in the lyric. All spat out over an incredibly catchy, infectious and jolly tune.  One of my favourite tracks from ‘Blood & Chocolate’ which is my favourite EC album.’ (11 October 2023)

#53: The Cure – Lullaby (12″ version)

‘The Cure have released 41 singles going back to ‘Killing An Arab’ in 1978 right through to ‘The Perfect Boy’ exactly 30 years later. But I would never have guessed that ‘Lullaby’ was the one which performed the best in the UK singles chart when it crawled its way up to #5 in 1989.

So the highest chaarting 45 turns out to be the one about the creepy and haunting tale of an eight-legged creature which frightened Robert Smith in his nightmares as a youngster. Or, is in fact the song, as has been suggested in some places, really about drug addiction and dependency but written in such a way that it gets past the censors at the BBC for the all important airplay? Either way, I think it’s one of the most inventive arrangements to feature on any record by The Cure.’ (24 April 2015)

#52: Kendrick Lamar – m.A.A.d city

‘It was SWC who brought my attention to Kendrick Lamar. He put up a number of postings about the latest superstar of rap music that got me listening and thinking that there was something worth delving into. I can’t really explain why I missed out on all that was written at the time about ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’ (2012) and ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ (2015) other than I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe I had a sense of being too old and too white to look to pursue any further interest in the genre.

But I am very grateful to SWC. He didn’t go into any overdrive about Kendrick Lamar other than to point out that he had a lot to say about the social, political and economic injustices facing black communities in America, and that he was doing so through what was not a new form of rap but one which seemed to take things to a different level. My interest was piqued. ‘ (2 May 2023)

#51: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes

Here’s Dirk…….

Hello friends,

thinking about it, there might be four, five, six albums which, after all those decades, I would still consider to be good throughout. And with ‘good throughout’, I mean all songs: ‘no fillers, just killers’ as we, rather pathetically, used to say when we were younger. Well, I did, at least. ‘Psychocandy’ comes to mind, Billy Bragg’s debut as well as the first one by The Undertones, ‘Crazy Rhythms’, ‘London Calling’ of course, perhaps the first one by The Smiths – but also ‘Rattlesnakes’, the first album by one of the finest bands ever to emerge from Glasgow, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions.

I remember taking the record home, and it did not get off my turntable for weeks – every song a winner, as I said. I still cannot say what it was that attracted me so much back then. I mean: I can now, but in 1984/85 it was punk/New Wave only for me by and large, so how on earth a record as fragile and in parts even turgid as this managed to meet with my approval, I simply don’t know. Perhaps I just wanted to show off a bit, presenting my oh so clever Dylanesque side to those girls I couldn’t convince with my oh so dangerous Strummeresque side …. as you might already have gathered, none of it worked at the slightest, of course – but hey, I was 16 and desperate! But I loved these songs even when I listened to them on my own, so it wasn’t all about impressing the female population, I reckon.

As much as I do hate snakes, this is a mighty fine tune and for me, it hasn’t aged a bit. Then again I’m still a bit of a hopeless romantic poseur, so …Enjoy!!

#50: PJ Harvey – Sheela Na Gig

Craig McAllister.  ICA #63.  22 February 2016

‘Sheela Na Gig’ was PJ’s second single and also appeared on ‘Dry’, her debut LP. She sets her stall out early here, singing about ‘child bearing hips‘ and ‘ruby red lips’. Hearing this for the first time as a 21 year old, I had no idea what a Sheela Na Gig was (Google it), so I listened to this thinking “Oh! Aye!” I always had this faint idea from then on in that one day she’d go out with me, until she met that bastard Nick Cave. Oh well, her loss.

#49: Fire Engines – Candyskin

‘A magical and wondrous moment in pop music history. Said moment happens at the nineteen seconds mark when the strings so unexpectedly kick in.

I was completely unaware of ‘Candyskin’ till September 1983 when I finally moved out of the family home and into a student flat at the beginning of my third year at University. This noisy, abrasive and unconventional single was owned by a flatmate and it was one of his all-time favourites…….it didn’t take me long to understand and appreciate why.

About 19 seconds…….’(22 December 2015)

#48: Tindersticks – City Sickness

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #48 on 6 November 2015.

‘This was initially released as a single in September 1993 just a couple of months prior to the debut double album. The single use of the f-word towards the end of the song would have stopped it getting any airplay, but then again I’m sure producers would also have been scared to suggest to their presenters that they play a 45 which tells the tale of a man masturbating to block out the memory of a failed relationship. The band’s unwillingness to compromise can be seen from the fact that they never recorded it for a Peel or Radcliffe session at the BBC as the rules of the day would have meant either a bleep-out or a word change.’

#47: The Sundays – Can’t Be Sure

strangeways. ICA #411. 20 May 2026.  Let’s face it when it came to The Sundays place in the rundown, I wasn’t going anywhere else.

Preceding what would become synonymous intricate guitar work, a few seconds of pitter-patter drums announced the Sundays’ arrival. This is a rasper of a debut single, and it caused – deservedly – quite the stir at the time.

So many years later, and even counting its screeds of memorable lines about weather (bad) and desire (even worse), it’s the let-it-all-go lift on the penultimate word ‘later’, the frantic scramble of guitar and the ‘yeaaaaahhh’ ending that remains the moment-and-a-half to experience.

#46: Aztec Camera – We Could Send Letters

”High Land, Hard Rain’ is packed with ridiculously catchy and memorable tunes and some wonderfully observant lyrics, many of which were written before Roddy Frame had reached his 18th birthday. He was also astute enough to recognise that the sublime ‘We Could Send Letters’ deserved a far better fate than to wither as a b-side on an obscure and hard-to-find 45 on Postcard Records, and in doing so he takes what was already a very special song and turns it into something as beautiful as the sun going down of a late June evening off the west coast of Scotland. The album version has a slightly slower tempo than the Postcard version thus enabling the song to breathe a little bit more, and at almost a minute longer in length, it accommodates a cracking guitar solo.’ (23 July 2019)

#45: XTC – Making Plans For Nigel

Jonny the Friendly Lawyer (aka fiktiv). ICA #26. 28 July 2015.

One of the band’s best known and loved songs, but what is it about, exactly? Parents planning their child’s future? A comment on English society’s emphasis on steady employment? Never been able to work that out, but I do love this number.

And later on,  here’s what I typed out as part of the XTC singles series.

‘Colin Moulding has said it is semi-autobiographical in that his parents weren’t sure about his efforts to pursue a career as a musician and tried to persuade him to remain at school and get enough qualifications to go to university.

Lyrically, it was a brilliantly timed song. The British Steel Corporation (BSC), for so long a cornerstone of the UK economy at a national and many local levels, was now in deep financial trouble and making huge losses, largely from the fact that the more modern plants elsewhere in Europe and further afield could easily supply the products to manufacturers much more cheaply. Nigel, or indeed anyone, didn’t appear to have too much of a future,and indeed there soon followed a high number of plant closures in the early 80s that put tens of thousands of men out of work and with few prospects.

But having said all that, the tune is responsible for it becoming a hit. I think that has a lot to do with the sound of the drums which were quite unusual for the time in question as well as the nagging riff that once heard isn’t easy to forget….in a good way!!’ (9 April 2017)

#44: Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun

‘To my ears at least, American music was really appalling in the early 80s. Maybe I was so accustomed to the punk/post-punk/new wave/indie stuff that I was wrapped up in my student flat that I missed some things. But America was, at time, all stadium anthems from the likes of Broooooce, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac and the like.

One day, a flatmate came in and demanded we all listen to a new album he had picked up. It was from an American band called Violent Femmes. Not expecting much, the other four of us gathered round the turntable and speakers …wow!! This was something truly different. Songs of unrequited love, misery and suicide but not like we had heard before. These tunes were upbeat…the lyrics were funny….you could even dance to them!! It was a truly innovative record – it was the first time that I realised a ‘punk’ record could be made with acoustic instruments.’ (15 March 2016)

#43: Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful

The Mighty Wah! did appear in an earlier part of the rundown, but this is Wylie, kind of, as a solo artist.

Almost thirty years Forty years on and this still sounds amazing when it blasts out of the radio, which it still does, albeit rarely, on the nostalgia stations. It reached #13 but was worthy of at least Top 3 to match his biggest ever hit.  It’s a tune and a half while lyrically it’s a fine commentary on the social injustices imposed on society by the Tories and Republicans in the first half of the ‘greed is good’ decade. (14 October 2015)

#42: Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble

From one of the ICA’s I penned on 21 February 2020. In keeping with the spirit of the Beastie Boys, all the words used in the ICA were sampled (!)

‘No New Yorker was unaffected by the terrorist attacks of 2001, and the Beasties were no exception. Released in 2004, ‘To the 5 Boroughs’ was reflective, in part, but just as much a part of their challenge to the darkening mood was to get back to what they do best – revelling in rhyme and having fun with music and words, celebrating New York as the place where all these things became possible, and defending it by carrying on as before. ‘Triple Trouble’ went back to hip-hop’s early days, sampling the opening of ‘Rapper’s Delight’ while the trio traded gallumphing brags and outrageous boasts back and forth over the infectiously bouncing beat.’

#41: Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy

‘It really is all too easy to forget how brave Jimmy Somerville and his bandmates were for being so open about their way of life and their views. Their records, and those of such as Pet Shop Boys and Frankie Goes To Hollywood took the celebration of queer culture into the mainstream, and made many people realise, probably for the first time, that homophobia was every bit as distasteful as racism and apartheid.

There’s just something about the early Bronski Beat records that make them sound so special. There’s a bit of the inventiveness of Giorgio Moroder in there, along with the pop-savvy touch of Human League and Heaven 17. There’s also the choir-boy falsetto vocals of Somerville that recalled, in some ways, Russell Mael from Sparks. Theirs were records which struck a chord with so many people, from the hard-core gay militants to the indie-kids and the disco-divas with their handbags and stiletto heels. ‘(7 September 2013)

 

 

JC

#80: Sparks – The Number One Song In Heaven

‘The Number One Song In Heaven was totally unexpected in the summer of 1979. Just about everyone had more or less forgotten about Sparks after a bundle of hit singles in 1974 and 1975  and they were probably regarded as a bit of a novelty act, mainly to the fact that Ron Mael when appearing on telly stared intensely at the camera and freaked everyone out. Oh, and he also had a moustache and haircut that made him look awfully like Adolf Hitler….

It shouldn’t be forgotten that very few bands used electronic keyboards to any great effect in the late 70s. Sparks went for it in a big way, deciding to recruit Giorgio Moroder into their number – an act of absolute genius.  The long version was the b-side – where prog met glam met disco met film soundtrack on one piece of 7″ black vinyl.’ (7 December 2016).

That passing mention of Moroder does lead nicely to this…..

#79: Donna Summer – I Feel Love

I quoted extensively from a piece written back in May 2012 by Jon Savage for the Guardian newspaper.  Given I pay a monthly sub to said publication, I feel fine about quoting much of it again:-

“I Feel Love was and remains an astonishing achievement: a futuristic record that still sounds fantastic 35 years on. Within its modulations and pulses, it achieves the perfect state of grace that is the ambition of every dance record: it obliterates the tyranny of the clock – the everyday world of work, responsibility, money – and creates its own time, a moment of pleasure, ecstasy and motion that seems infinitely expandable, if not eternal.

I Feel Love went to No 1 in the UK during the high summer of 1977, and stayed there for four weeks – filling dance floors everywhere, because it’s so good so good to dance to. Like David Bowie’s Low and Heroes, and Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express, it was also the secret vice of those punks who were already tiring of sped-up pub rock, and it sowed the seeds for the next generation of UK electronica.” 

(30 July 2020)

#78: Kirsty MacColl – A New England (12″)

‘I don’t think anyone will disagree with my proposal that A New England is a classic. Written in late 1982/early 1983, it has always been one of the most popular of Billy Bragg songs, one that gets as loud a cheer as any when he plays it live.  It’s a song that came to wider public attention back when Kirsty MacColl covered it and took it all the way to #7 in the UK charts in the early months of 1985.  Credit does have to go to both Kirsty for the way she re-interpreted the song, turning it into a bonafide pop classic while keeping the innocence and charm that was such a hallmark of the original, and to Steve Lillywhite whose deft and crisp production has ensured the song hasn’t dated. The 12″ version is almost eight minutes long, with a very lengthy fade-out.’ (21 September 2020)

#77: Simple Minds – This Fear of Gods

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #72 on 2 May 2016.

‘It was the band’s misfortune to be on Arista Records for ‘Empires and Dance’ as the label was unable to promote properly an album that was described on its release by Paul Morley as ‘authentic new torch music….an LP of terror-songs, vigilance and vanity‘. It was as dark and deep and wonderful as anything Joy Division were producing, but with a disco-beat….’

#76: Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes

‘Pale Blue Eyes was released back in 1969 by The Velvet Underground. It very quickly became a favourite of buskers and would-be-rock-stars the world over and has since been given the cover treatment by countless bands and artists. If you don’t believe me, google in the words ‘Pale Blue Eyes – cover versions’ and see the results for yourself. Just about all of the versions I’ve ever heard more or less stick faithfully to the tone and delivery of that of the original – but no doubt there is a drum’n’bass or house style out there somewhere just to prove me wrong.

In August 1984 Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins released their version as the first release on a label called Swamplands, the boss of which was none other than Alan Horne, the genius behind Postcard Records. The label was funded entirely as a subsidiary of London Records. Alan Horne had huge hopes for this record, believing it would catapult Swamplands and all its acts to fame and fortune. It got no higher than #72 in the UK charts. In the end, just six singles were released on the label, none of which sold well, before London pulled the plug on the venture.’ (12 April 2014)

#75: Camper Van Beethoven – Take The Skinheads Bowling

‘If the statement on the reverse of the sleeve of this single is to be believed, then this was “recorded at Samurai Sound Labs in Davis, California, with mixing taking place at Samurai Sounds Labs & Chris Molla’s-enormous-piece-of-squid-in-the-fridge-studios while most everybody was naked or wearing massive fur boas & platform shoes.”

If only mobile phones and social media had been around back in 1984, then we would have an idea whether it is fact or fiction. After all, who keeps giant squid in their fridge?

Camper Van Beethoven aren’t all that well known beyond this song, released here in the UK in early 1985 on Rough Trade. It made it all the way to #8 in the Indie Charts and was voted in at #47 in the end of the year Peel Festive Fifty. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think it is one of the finest, funniest, freshest and most wonderful songs from that era, one which always got me off my seat every time it was aired at an indie-disco or night out.’ (13 September 2021)

#74: Care – My Boyish Days (12″ version)

‘Care was primarily a coming together of Ian Broudie and Paul Simpson. The former is best known as the man behind The Lightning Seeds, but he’s been part of the music scene in his native Liverpool since the late 70s, initially as part of the new wave band Big In Japan (who also featured Holly Johnson, who found fame with Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and Bill Drummond, likewise with The KLF).

I remember hearing their debut single one evening on either the David Jensen or Janice Long show on Radio 1 and being knocked out by what was then a pretty unusual and distinctive mix of acoustic guitars and synthesisers. I tracked the record down the following day.’ (11 December 2013)

#73: Blur – Death Of A Party (12″ Death)

‘In 1993 and 1994 it was all a bit ‘cor blimey guv’ and catchy upbeat sing-a-long numbers driven along by the classic sounds made by a line-up consisting of singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer.  Things had changed a lot by 1997…. very few fans were prepared for the self-titled 1997 LP. It sold less in the UK than more recent albums but sold far more in other countries. Blur and Britpop had parted forever and ‘Death of A Party’ is their sign-off.

This mix is by Adrian Sherwood. It’s 7 minutes long and miles from removed from ‘Parklife’.’ (6 June 2014)

#72: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Electricity

Rhetor.  ICA #33.  24 August 2015.

“This song makes the perhaps natural connection between synthesizer music’s novel sound, and the power behind it that makes it all possible. The real feat of the song is that the emotional range and warmth of the voice of singer Andy McCluskey offsets so naturally the “colder” machine generated synthetic sound of the instrumental track. Along with other club hits such as Tesla Girls and Telegraph, the theme of exploring the potential for both good and harm in even the simplest forms of technology continues, through the very unexpected medium of new wave dance music, treated from the uniquely historical perspective of “hindsight”.”

#71: Arctic Monkeys – When The Sun Goes Down

‘I was 42 years of age when I first encountered Arctic Monkeys. They, certainly to this wizened and gnarled veteran, felt different and made me wish I was 18 again. It was all down to the fact that this group of working-class musicians made infectiously catchy guitar-led music, fused with lyrics that defied belief, given they were the work of a teenager.

This tale of prostitution on the streets of Sheffield, as observed by a bystander who turns down an approach and then sees the woman get into a car driven by, in the narrator’s own words, a scumbag. Not only is it an astonishing lyric written by someone so young, but it comes with a tune that moves from the melancholy/resigned to pounding stomper and then back again.’ (24 April 2023)

#70: The Popguns – Waiting For The Winter

I have previously written about this tune, but only in a factual descriptive way. It dates from 1989 and my first exposure to it was many years later via the CD compilation Rough Trade Shops – Indiepop 1, bought on release in 2004.   Here’s some words from the booklet that came with the compilation:-

‘Eugenie’ by the Popguns is a collection of their first three singles and every track is as close to total perfection as ‘Parallel Lines’.  The Popguns make the most perfect relationship break-up music – just listen to the heartache in Wendy’s voice.

Wendy had such an ache and unrequited love in the way she sang – every syllable stripped back to the heart of emotion.  As Paul Weller almost once put it, in the Popguns one can hear the sound of a thousand lonely housewives clutching milk bottles to their hearts’

#69: The National – Mistaken For Strangers

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #95 on 18 November 2016.

‘Since forming in Cincinnati in 1999, this five-piece band have, in a career path sort of similar to early R.E.M., built up a following through a combination of increasingly good songs with the desire and willingness to graft for their art.  There was a real sense of ‘wow’ when 2007 album ‘Boxer’ hit the shops with North America embracing the band as the latest potential saviours of alt/indie/radio friendly guitar music.’

#68: Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh

strangeways. ICA #153. 30 January 2018.

“Talulah Gosh, featuring the mighty Amelia Fletcher, tend to polarise. Easily distinguishable from say Motörhead or GG Allin, the band’s output was, and is, often dismissed and marginalised as cute, shambling and, most especially, that reliable kiss-of-death: ‘twee’.

“Slow verses. Quick choruses. Talulah’s self-referencing anthem is a corker and, as alluded to already, paints a picture of an elusive, unsolvable character. Just who is the phantom Talulah Gosh? A minor myth insists it’s a thank-you to the band-naming Clare Grogan herself. Let’s hope, though, that the mystery endures – like an indiepop yeti or Loch Ness Monster.”

#67: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Television, The Drug of The Nation

‘An unparalleled attack on mass-media brainwashing, written and delivered in a pre-internet age, but whose message still resonates 25 34 years on. Possibly more so in an era of so-called fake news and alternative facts.’ (12 May 2017).

#66: Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

‘First time I heard this was as the opening song on a cassette made up by Jacques the Kipper. It was a time when every six weeks or so, we would thrust a tape into each other’s hands along with set of cryptic clues for each song, and challenge the other, not just to identify the track, but also offer a few observations.

His clue for the opening song was ‘Vodka’. Sheer genius if you ask me…..the boy should have become a copywriter with an advertising agency.’ (4 March 2015)

#65: Half Man Half Biscuit – National Shite Day

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #8 on 16 March 2015.

‘Most HMHB tracks are of the short and sharp variety, so this, the closing track from ‘C.S.I. Ambleside’ which clocks in at almost six and a half minutes, has to be regarded as epic. It is an extended rant of what it is about modern society that pisses Nigel off set to a tune that thirty forty years ago you’d probably never imagined the band being capable of recording and playing.’

#64: Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (12″ version)

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #156 on 27 February 2018.

‘In which Soft Cell showed that the cold and harsh synth sounds could be every bit as soulful and haunting as the Tamla Motown mid-temp ballads. ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’ really is ‘What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted’ in a new era and a new location. Every late-teen and twenty-something, male and female alike, empathised with the protagonist who was standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo, crying their eyes out as the rain poured down in sympathy. The 12” inch is particularly glorious, with its extended and mournful clarinet solo intro setting the perfect tone for what, I would argue, has always been the finest few minutes in Marc Almond’s entire career, with his failure to hit the perfect notes at the end of the song only adding to its poignancy.’

#63: The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit/God Forbid

‘Revolutionary Spirit/God Forbid was the last single to be released on the legendary label Zoo Records which was run by the equally legendary Bill Drummond. It came out in 1982 and was produced, in mono, by the late Pete De Freitas who also drums on the record. I remember hearing both sides of the single on Radio 1 – it was most likely on the John Peel show but I can’t be certain – and then trying to track it down in shops in the coming days. It proved an impossible task.

One of my mates did however know someone who had a copy (I think it was a cousin in Liverpool) and he sent us up cassettes of the record. In those days, maybe it was the sheer obscurity of the songs that helped make it all so special but in all truth they both perfectly capture so much of what was great about the sound of new young Liverpool. It took me until 1990 to finally got a hold of my own copy of the songs thanks to the purchase of a Zoo compilation.’ (11 April 2008)

#62: The Chesterfields – Ask Johnny Dee

‘A lot of the stuff from the C86 movement hasn’t aged well. In many cases, this will be down to poor production which nowadays grates on the ear while all too often the off-key singing which in its day seemed to be part of the charm now sounds annoying.

But there are still some songs that, almost 30 40 years on, deserve to be thought of as absolute classics. It’s a crying shame that so many of the small indie labels weren’t able to give the records the push they needed to crossover into the conscious of mainstream listeners. All too often, the label and indeed the band seemed happy enough to settle for a few playings on the John Peel Show, a positive review in the NME and then an appearance somewhere in the indie Top 10. I’m not saying that was the case with today’s tune, but there is seemingly something seriously wrong when a song as brilliant as this has to settle for #4 on the Indie Chart. ‘(7 February 2014)

#61: Paul Haig – Something Good (10″ remix)

‘In 1988, Paul Haig took a very bold and brave step by fully financing the recording of his next album himself without the safety net of a guaranteed release. He again worked with Alan Rankine (Associates) and thankfully for all concerned, it was picked up by Circa Records, an offshoot of Virgin. Hopes were high, particularly for the release of an outstanding and poptastic lead off single that was tailor-made for radio play and an appearance on Top of The Pops.

But….once again, Paul was denied by the pop gods with him again being in the wrong place at the wrong time with Madchester all the rage and synth-pop well out of fashion. And yet, when you listen to ‘Something Good’ (especially the 10″ remix version), and indeed some of other tracks on parent album ‘Chain’, it’s not a million miles away from some of the less clubby tracks on ‘Technique’ by New Order (e.g. ‘Run’).’ (27 January 2019)

 

 

JC

#100: Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Glasgow Jubilee

‘In June 2012, before a packed audience at the Barrowlands in Glasgow, it was announced that the winner of the inaugural Scottish Album of The Year Award was ‘Everything’s Getting Older’ by Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat. It was a hugely deserved and popular win as it is a quite extraordinary record, combining the talents of one of our premier jazz pianists with our modern-day indie bard best known for being half of Arab Strap.’ (9 July 2016)

I don’t think there’s any denying that ‘The Copper Top’, a song featured on many previous occasions on the blog, is by far their crowning moment.  I’ve selected another track from the album for this rundown, one that’s NSFW…..

#99: Iggy Pop – The Passenger

Swiss Adam. ICA #183. 6 September 2018.

‘A killer riff, the perfect punk rock ‘n’ roll riff, written by Ricky Gardiner. Iggy, narrator and punk outsider, riding around Mitteleuropa in David Bowie’s car, seeing the city’s ripped backside, the hollow sky and everything else, through the window of the car. Little touches can make such a difference in recordings- note the bell ringing at the start. I read somewhere that The Passenger is Johnny Marr’s favourite song. A song that is both impossibly exciting and as numb as it can be.’

#98: Squeeze – Up The Junction

‘A soap opera story in just over three minutes. The boy about town gets caught out with his trousers down. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to grow up and take responsibility. The woman of his dreams soon moves on and all he has left are bittersweet memories.’ (5 December 2014)

#97: The Hardy Boys – Wonderful Lie

‘The Hardy Boys passed me completely by back in the day. My first time hearing them would have been at one of the Little League nights that were always so much fun – I wouldn’t have known them while the song was being played (this being the pre-Shazam app era), but the full playlists would be posted a few days later. in 2015, a full twenty-six years after its original release, the Berlin-based Firestation Records reissued the single on 12″ vinyl.  I snapped up a copy.  Thankfully, that was the pre-Brexit era when vinyl could be shipped across Europe without incurring penal charges through postage and customs.’ (21 January 2021)

#96: Super Furry Animals – Golden Retriever

Between March and September 2015, The Robster treated us to a fabulous 30-part series looking at all the 45s ever released by Super Furry Animals.  I’m spoiled for choice in this instance, but here goes:-

“For album #6, Super Furry Animals went back to basics. Initially, the plan was to write songs all based around the same unconventional guitar tuning: D-A-D-D-A-D. And while a batch of songs were written to that concept, it was felt to be too limiting over all, so that plan was abandoned. The public’s first taste of the new album  was one of those songs written by Gruff on his acoustic guitar in the D-A-D-D-A-D tuning and has real echoes of the blues about it, not just in the musical structure, but in Gruff’s lyrics referencing the devil and the crossroads. It certainly has a more basic, raw feel to it than the songs on ‘Rings Around The World’, but those amazing backing vocals at the end of the chorus, that escalating “dryyyyyyyyyy” really sets the whole thing off for me. It’s that tinge of brilliance that runs through nearly everything the Furries ever did. As for those lyrics – they’re about Gruff’s girlfriend’s two golden retrievers……”

(13 July 2025)

#95: Robert Forster – When I Was A Young Man

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #399 on 2 December 2025.

‘Robert looks back on his own life and the paths that led him to become a musician. It’s a song of celebration, but not made with any sort of boastfulness, while the lyrics and tune clearly pay homage to those heroes of his who helped him on the journey.’ *

* kind of what I’m trying to do through all the references in the rundown to those whose contributions to the blog over the decades have been invaluable.

#94: Malcolm Middleton – Choir

Me, again.  well, given how often I’ve tried and failed many times over the years on TVV to try and persuade you all that Malcolm Middleton is a first-rate singer/songwriter, then there’s no way it could come from any guest contributor.

‘One of the saddest and most poignant songs I have in my entire collection.  I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about Malcolm directly having struggles with his mental health, although many of his lyrics do cover feelings of despair and do feel like the work of someone who has personal experience of anxiety attacks, depression and fears of self-harm; perhaps it isn’t him and he is/has been very close to someone in such a situation. This is an astonishingly moving number that was the subject of a reverential cover a couple of years later by King Creosote.’  (ICA #188, 14 September 2018.)

#93: Martin Stephenson & The Daintees – Crocodile Cryer

‘It was through an appearance on a BBC-TV music show that I first saw and heard Martin Stephenson. It was love at first sight and sound. He played a great little instrumental, on acoustic guitar, called ‘A Tribute to The Late Rev Gary Davis’. He then went to change his guitar for a song to be played with his band The Daintees, at which point his strap gave way and he had to fumble around sorting things out. He gave a sheepish look at the camera, said ‘God Bless’ into his microphone and then strummed the opening notes of “the tale of phoney mourners at a funeral just out for what they can get.” ‘

(14 November 2015; the description of the song is lifted from ICA # 92, penned by Rich Cundill on 2 November 2016)

#92: The Undertones – Get Over You

Another from the class of ’79.

‘I remember putting it on the turntable and being really disappointed in the first few seconds as I thought either my needle was damaged or my speaker was broken (it was still an old-fashioned Dansette record player in those days). Thankfully, it was just the opening riff that blasts away in the background before giving way to a short wolf-whistle clearly delivered by someone who had ambitions to get on a building site…..and then the opening riff comes in at full tilt. It’s Status Quo on speed.  At this point in my life, I had yet to have my heartbroken by a member of the opposite sex…..but I instinctively knew, on hearing this record, that when that particular day came, as inevitably it had to, this was a song I would play, again and again and again (even if only in my head) until the pain went away.’ (14 August 2014)

#91: Leftfield/Halliday – Original

Sonically, I’m in control….and enjoying it.  The one time I specifically featured this, back on 3 August 2015, I ended up warbling on about the different mixes on the CD single and not saying enough about the actual tune other than ‘One of the best bits of dance music ever released.’  I’ll stick by that.

#90: Talking Heads – Pyscho Killer

One of the bands not actually mentioned by Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip in ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ , but the sentiment he expresses carries through.  Here’s Echorich from ICA #115 on 6 April 2017.

“The bass line of God. Psycho Killer is a song that I hold close to my heart. It was less than a year since the killing spree of the Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz when Psycho Killer came out. I lived not 4 blocks from the next to last of his killing scenes at local discoteque, Elephas, in Bayside, Queens. The events of that killing changed my neighborhood for years. Psycho Killer was the darkest song I had ever heard. The motorik influence of the song brings out the detached nature of the song. Its darkness is still powerful 40 years on.”

#89: Hinds – The Club

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #286 on 1 June 2021.  Written when nobody knew the group was tearing itself asunder, with the isolationism and mental health aspects of dealing with COVID taking a grip.

‘Just the three albums in a five-year period, but each of them being quite different in the way that have been worked on, produced and delivered. There are some days when I prefer the lo-fi and noisy approach of ‘Leave Me Alone’, the 2016 debut when the duel vocals from Carlotta and Ana aren’t always in harmony, and indeed on occasions seem to be embarking on their own semi-private duel for supremacy. Then, there are those days when the most recent album, ‘The Prettiest Curse’ (2020) is given a spin as it never fails to put a smile on my face, thanks to its more pop-friendly and sunnier approach, with some of the lyrics being sung in their native Spanish.

And then there’s the middle album – ‘I Don’t Run’ – which was, in 2018, my introduction to the band. While it doesn’t offer anything truly groundbreaking, it is a fabulous listen from start to end, packed with jaunty upbeat sounding songs which provide cover for a set of lyrics dealing, for the most part, with the downside of falling in love – failed relationships, bitterness, misery, loneliness, revenge and relying on your friends to pull you through.’ (‘The Club’ is from the middle album).

#88: Shop Assistants – Safety Net

The last, and best, of the five Edinburgh mid-80s bands in this rundown whose singers and musicians who not only shared rehearsal space, but were often happy enough to moonlight.

‘The musicians who made up what is regarded as ‘classic’ Shop Assistants released just one album and three singles/EPs in 85/86 before imploding.  Their best song is a tremendous piece of pop which may well be of its time complete with an inexpensive, fuzzbox production,  but it still sounds great. It would be voted into the Peel Festive Fifty at #8 at the end of 1986 and it spent more than four months in the indie charts.’ (5 July 2015)

#87: The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet

‘The Only Ones released their debut 45 in June 1977. They disbanded in March 1981 after a career that had seen six singles and three albums. None of the singles charted while the first two albums reached #56 and #42 respectively in May 78 and March 79. It wouldn’t normally be the sort of stats that get you noticed far less fondly remembered. Except for the fact that one of the flop singles would, in later years, be acknowledged as a post-punk classic.’ (21 September 2016).

#86: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message

‘From 1982. Aptly named, as it is reckoned to be the first hip-hop/rap song that was used to offer a social commentary. Only two of the furious five contributed a vocal – Melle Mel and Duke Bootee.  The entire lyric was posted as part of the ‘Some Songs Are Great Short Stories’  –  the fifth verse, ‘A child is born with no state of mind…..’ is one of the finest bits of songwriting of any kind.’ (24 October 2019).

#85: Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro

‘Tony Wilson once made the claim that Shaun Ryder was a better poet than William Butler Yeats, and that in the fullness of time, he’d come to be regarded every much as talented a genius as Mozart. I do suspect Tony’s tongue, and not for the first time, was parked right into his cheek. But having said that, the opening four lines to ‘Kinky Afro’, in which a dad directly addresses his young offspring, are as good as any representation of a misogynist and unreconstructed man I’ve ever read in my life.’(July 2008)

#84: De La Soul – Eye Know (The Know It All Mix)

One of the signs that I was growing increasingly confident that the blog was doing OK came four months in when, in January 2007, I wrote about De La Soul, beginning to feature music beyond the jingly-jangly stuff that was utlised as a security blanket.  I mentioned previously in the rundown that the whistling from ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’ would appear in a sample later on in the rundown……

#83: April Showers – Abandon Ship

;April Showers were a short-lived Glaswegian pop duo comprised of Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin. Releasing their only known single ‘Abandon Ship’ on Big Star, a subsidiary of Chrysalis, in 1984 it quickly gained a cult following due to its sparkling production from Anne Dudley (Art of Noise) and string-heavy arrangements. This quality was echoed on B-side ‘Everytime We Say Goodbye’ with the 12-inch featuring the instrumental ‘Abandon Ship Sing-A-Long-A-Wonder Mix’. Both records are now highly collectible. (£50 As much as £900 nowadays for the 12″!!!)’  *.  (15 October 2011)

* now regretting that I didn’t shell out £50 back in 2011…..

#82: The Chemical Brothers – Asleep From Day

Twenty ‘Twenty-seven years ago, we were on the cusp of a new millennium. It’s a period which already feels like a lifetime ago but, when you turn to the music, seems to have been just the day before yesterday. It’s a year when I enjoyed albums by Fatboy Slim, Underworld and Basement Jaxx as well spending money on a couple of compilations on the basis of having, via finally at the age of 36 going on a boys-only golf holiday to southern Spain and visiting night clubs.

It was a time when Primal Scream had gone full-on with the hard hitting beats and even The Fall, with ‘Touch Sensitive’, were making dance music of sorts. But my age meant I needed the much comedown music as much as the higher energy stuff, and so what The Chemical Brothers offered with their masterpiece ‘Surrender’, seemed perfect.’ (21 January 2019).

#81: Adam Stafford – Shot-down You Summer Wannabees

‘I’ll never tire of shouting out very loudly that Adam Stafford is a musical genius. It’s his misfortune (as such) to have been born in Sunderland and to spend most of his life in Falkirk, instead of one of the great and innovative cities of the world where his talents would have been more readily acknowledged. His music defies any conventional description, with a thin white duke playing his guitar, beat-boxing, crooning and using effect pedals to make sounds unlike anything else that sits here in Villain Towers. In saying that, I’ll quickly add that the live experience always outshines what comes across on vinyl. ‘ (5 April 2023)

 

 

JC

The final six parts of the rundown will be largely made up of cut’n’pastes from previous postings over the past 20 years.  The singers/bands shouldn’t come as a surprise, but some of the song choices might raise the occasional eyebrow.

#120: Soup Dragons – Hang Ten!

“I’ve a bundle of Soup Dragons 12″ singles in the collection, mostly picked up very cheaply in second hand stores. The lead track from this 1986 release is a particular favourite.” (16 August 2014)

#119: Jazzateers – Sixteen Reasons

“The 2013 Glasgow International Jazz Festival runs from 26-30 June. Jazz is a form of music I have no inclination for at all and I’d normally show no interest at all in any of the gigs at the 2013 Festival except that on Thursday 27 June at Stereo has the Jazzeteers (who are most definitely not a jazz band) reforming for one night to play songs from their 1983 eponymous album released on Rough Trade.” (5 June 2013)

NB : It proved to be a gig beyond my wildest dreams.  Not only did they play the album and other songs from the back catalogue, but they threw in some cover versions, including ‘Felicity’ by Orange Juice, with James Kirk on guitar and with Vic Godard on lead vocal.

#118: Basement Jaxx – Red Alert

“Three times in my life have I been the recipient of something thrown from the stage by a singer or member of a band. The third, and thus far, final, incident was at the very end of a Basement Jaxx gig at the Carling Academy, Glasgow in April 2009.  On the previous two incidents the objects ended up with me when I very close to the stage. This time around, I was the back of the back of the lowest tier of the venue, with nobody behind us to push or shove us for the reason that I was with Rachel who was still recovering from a nasty fall some 10 days previously when she had been out running that left her cut and bruised in a few places, with the worst injury being a broken nose. Basement Jaxx gigs, as we knew from previous experience, can be quite boisterous affairs and it was all about keeping safe.

“I would love to tell you that the drumstick landed at my feet, or that, as I spotted it come towards us, I put up a hand and caught it as cleanly as a baseball outfielder pushed up against the boundary fence.

“I really would love to tell you that.

“The reality is that I didn’t see it until it was too late and could only cry out the word ‘drumstick’ as a warning to Rachel as to what was happening….and as the ‘k’ was sounded, the flying object hit her full in the face, including her nose.

“It all happened stupidly quickly and Rachel, unsurprisingly, burst into tears, more thankfully from the fright of what happened rather than the actual pain. The drumstick had traveled a fair distance to reach us and its downward trajectory meant it wasn’t quite at full pelt. But still, it was a scary few seconds looking at her face and praying to a non-existent god that there was no serious damage.” (2 July 2020)

#117: Felt – Primitive Painters

“An epic rolling track of more than six minutes in length that has all the hallmarks of the involvement of the Cocteau Twins with Robin Guthrie behind the production desk and Liz Fraser on co-vocals. It turned into Felt’s biggest selling single, topping the indie charts for two weeks in September 1985.” (3 April 2017)

#116: HiFi Sean and David McAlmont – Happy Ending

“David McAlmont‘s voice has always been something to treasure, but there’s something truly special about the way it matches up with Sean Dickson‘s electronic and production wizardry.  The title track from an album that was recorded, over an extended period, in David’s home which is on the 18th Floor of a high-rise building in east London, while the added strings were conducted and recorded in Bangalore, India.” (21 December 2022)

#115: Pulp – Common People

Tim Badger. ICA #32.  17 August 2015.

“Quite simply one of the best British singles, ever, by anyone. Absolutely their defining song, and the classic song of the Britpop era. I toyed with the idea of leaving it off just to be controversial but then I realised that I can’t write about Pulp without mentioning it. It’s too good a record. As a song it’s scathing yet hilarious, deeply personal yet turns an eye to larger social questions, intelligent yet simple enough to fit within a massively infectious pop melody. And to top it all triumphant enough to close a live show.” 

#114: The KLF – Last Train To Transcentral (live from The Lost Continent)

“‘Stadium House (The Trilogy)’ was a VHS video released in 1991 that is just under 30 minutes in length. The main film purports to be live footage of The KLF performing their three chart hits at Woodstock, Europa while the supporting feature is called ‘This Is Not What The KLF Is About’, a behind the scenes look at the main film. It is, of course, nothing of the sort, although the main film has been pieced together does make it seem as if the singers, musicians and dancers are performing on a stage within some sort of post-apocalyptic setting, interspersed with footage of a police car and a fast moving passenger train, and is just the splicing of the three promo videos. ‘Last Train To Transcentral’ peaked at #2 in May 1991, kept off the top by Cher and ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’.” (20 September 2021)

#113: The June Brides – Every Conversation

“There’s a case to be made that The June Brides had no right to be categorised as part of the C86 movement.  They had formed in London back in 1983 and the following year saw two cracking singles released on Pink Records. They initially called it a day before 1986 came to a close. The use of the trumpet and viola gave The June Brides a unique sound. They really deserved to have enjoyed far more success than they experienced. Maybe just a wee bit too ahead of their time as their sort of sound became more fashionable in the early 90s by which time singer and main songwriter Phil Wilson was working as a tax inspector.

“There really is no justice in the world of pop music.” (9 February 2014 and 24 May 2017)

#112: Sons & Daughters – Fight

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #199 on 30 November 2018.

“The opening song on the debut mini-album ‘Love The Cup’ (2004).  In many ways, it is the archetypal Sons & Daughters track with great vocal interplay between deadpan Scott Patterson and excitable Adele Bethel while the talents of David Gow (drums)  and Ailidh Lennon (bass) see things driven along at perfect pace and without either of them seeming to break sweat. Oh and it features the best use of a mandolin on any piece of music since ‘Losing My Religion’…..thanks Ailidh.”

#111: Altered Images – Don’t Talk To Me About Love

“The Scottish ‘Heart of Glass’ “ (7 August 2020)

#110: Wah! – Story of The Blues (Parts One and Two)

“Pete Wylie doesn’t do things by half. This climbed all the way to #3 in the charts and is probably the best known of the hits. To my young(ish) ears it sounded like no other record that had ever been released at that point in history. To my old(er) ears it still sounds like no other record that has ever been released in history.” (14 October 2015).

#109: The Bodines – Therese

“Although they are no more than a small footnote in musical history, The Bodines in 1987 did write and record one of the best ever indie-pop singles. They were a four-piece band from Glossop, a town fairly close to Manchester and given they emerged in 1985, it is probably fair to say that The Smiths were amongst their inspirations.” (20 June 2014)

#108: The Skids – Into The Valley

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #128 on 14 June 2017.

“Puts a smile on my face every time those first few distinctive notes are played. Richard Jobson has stated that the indecipherable lyrics are about the recruitment of Scottish youths into the army and more specifically about a friend who had been killed on a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. I prefer to think that it is actually a tribute to High Valleyfield (aka The Valley), a former mining village just outside of Dunfermline whose residents have long endured a reputation for hard living.”

#107: Johnny Cash – Hurt

I grew up with the sounds of Johnny Cash in the 60s and early 70s, sometimes in my own house, but most often when I visited and stayed over with an aunt and uncle who seemed to have all his records. In saying that, there was no way in my sultry teenage era, nor during my time at university when I thought I was cool and trendy, could I admit to having a love of any sort of country music far less having an idol in Johnny Cash. But as more and more hip bands began to include acoustic songs on their albums, it began to be easier to suggest country/blues influences without getting laughed at.

And then in the 1990s, Johnny Cash became fashionable again. His series of ‘American Recording’ LPs, which featured a mix of Cash originals and cover versions, brought him to a whole new audience.  This is probably the best known of the cover songs, thanks to a stunning and moving video that was on heavy rotation on MTV.

#106: Kylie Minogue – Confide In Me

Swiss Adam.  ICA #260.  11 August 2020.

“In 1994 Kylie signed to DeConstruction, Mike Pickering’s label that had massive hits with K-Klass and Bassheads but wanted someone who was a name signing. Kylie wanted some credibility and to work with different songwriters. The result was this, a superb adult pop song, Kylie with Brothers In Rhythm on production, some trip-hop drums, Middle Eastern melodies, a didgeridoo and a string section. The strings are seriously giving the song gravitas and sexiness, there’s a moody undertow and she sings of being hurt, of bearing crosses and sharing secrets. The breakdown part where she whispers ‘stick or twist/ the choice is yours’ is Kylie grown up, the PWL years consigned to the past.”

#105: Hey! Elastica – Eat Your Heart Out

“AGGRESSIVE TRASHY DANCE-POP was one of the descriptions meted out to Hey! Elastica, a short-lived but rather wonderful Edinburgh band from the early 80s who I featured more than a few times over on the old blog before google had its evil way with it. There was a huge hype about them – visually they were quite stunning, while the sound they made was tailor-made for radio play. The indie kids and students loved the sound and yet it had the potential to crossover to younger folk more in tune with mainstream pop. Jacques the Kipper was, like me, rather fond of them as we would discover many years later when we bonded over our tastes in music.” (20 May 2016)

#104: The Style Council – Money Go Round (12″ version)

From one of the ICA’s I penned.  #217 on 26 June 2019.

“From 1983.  It’s a big song in every aspect – the best part of eight minutes long, Paul’s pulpit sermon is given added nuance thanks to D.C’s breathless backing efforts while Mick hits the keyboards as if he’s determined to land the next big solo on a song by The The; there are pounding drums, lashings of bass slaps and the best use of a trombone/trumpet combination outside of 2 Tone. It’s still, for me, one of the best moments in all the Modfather’s lengthy career.”

#103: Prince – Sign “O” The Times

“It is now exactly 30 years almost 40 years since this single was released with the album of the same name following a month later. This coincided with the period when I wasn’t paying as much attention to pop music as I had in previous years. My consumption was mainly through radio and TV and so I’d have heard this, and caught the video a fair bit, not only for the fact that it reached #10 in the singles charts but as it proved to be one of those songs which stayed on playlists for many months afterwards.” (2 March 2017)

#102: King Biscuit Time – I Walk The Earth

“King Biscuit Time is also the name under which Steve Mason of The Beta Band initially released his solo material, with two EPs in 1998-2000 and then two singles and an album in 2005/2006. My favourite of his stuff from that era is the lead song from the No Style EP, which came out in June 2000.” (14 September 2019)

#101: The Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie des Grauens

“The Monochrome Set, formed in 1978 in London, would go on to release twelve singles between 1979 and 1985, before their initial break-up. Almost all twelve of the singles are worthy of sitting in the collection of any fan of fiendishly catchy, clever and danceable indie-pop. The first three singles came out in 1979 on Rough Trade. I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t huge on the band at this time. If I had been aware of the quality of these singles, I’d have snapped them up at the time…..or at least I’d like to think I would have…..the 15/16-year old me might have thought them just a tad too quirky and maybe it was best that I didn’t discover them for a few more years, courtesy of them and later singles being aired at nights in the student union.” (16 October 2019)

 

 

JC