Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #13

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

Beckoning

 

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

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

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

The Valley of the Pagans. Gorillaz.

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

Time Wind. M83.

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

The Vagabond. Air.

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

Heaven Can Wait. Charlotte Gainsbourg.

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

Death Valley High. Orville Peck.

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

Night Running. Cage The Elephant.

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

Attracted To Us. The Lonely Island.

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

Skipping Like a Stone. Chemical Brothers.

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

Paper Crown. Black Keys.

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

Flavor. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

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

 

Jonny

 

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mp3: Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – The Copper Top

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

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

RIP Dad.  Thanks for everything.

 

 

JC

Various

THE DEEPER IN DEBT, THE HARDER YOU BET

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

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

 

JC

Cassandra Complex, Sleeping Dogs Wake

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

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

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

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

Rodney Orpheus back then…

….and now

Sleeping Dogs Wake

Dear friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And here is what they sounded like:

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

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

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

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

Sleeping Dogs Wake – “Understanding” (1989)

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

Enjoy,

 

Dirk

 

 

Saint Etienne

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE? (82)

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

– – – – – – –

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get some Vera’s, spark up and listen

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

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

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

Allez les vertes.

 

– – – – – – –

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

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

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

JC

#edwyncollins45s

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

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

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

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

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

mp3: Bernard & Edwyn – Message For Jojo

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

There were two other tracks on the CD single:-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

JC

Kevin McDermott Orchestra

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

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

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

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

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

mp3: Kevin McDermott Orchestra – Wheels of Wonder

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

 

JC

 

Billy Bragg

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

mp3: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JC

David Sylvian, Japan, Mick Karn, Ryuichi Sakamoto

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

A guest posting by Mopyfop

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

mp3: Japan Sylvian, Karn and Sakamoto – A Selection

Starting at the beginning –

Japan – Methods of Dance (from Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

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

Japan – The Art of Parties (from Tin Drum)

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

Japan – Sons of Pioneers (from Oil On Canvas)

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

Japan – Cantonese Boy (from Tin Drum)

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

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

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

David Sylvian – Nostalgia (from Brilliant Trees)

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

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

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

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

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

Japan – Nightporter from (Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

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

Japan – Ghosts (from Tin Drum)

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

 

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

 

Mobyfop

 

BMX Bandits, Meat Whiplash, Membranes, Mighty Mighty

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

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

mp3: Don’t Slip Up – Meat Whiplash

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

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

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

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

mp3: E102 – BMX Bandits

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

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

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

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

mp3: Everybody Knows The Monkey – Mighty Mighty

Track 18, Disc 1 of CD 86

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

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

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

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

mp3: Everything’s Brilliant – The Membranes

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

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

 

JC

Proclaimers

FOUR TRACK MIND : A RANDOM SERIES OF EXTENDED PLAY SINGLES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

King of the Road

Long Black Veil

Lulu Selling Tea

Not Ever

 

Fraser

Monochrome Set

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

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

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

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

mp3: The Monochrome Set – The Monochrome Set

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

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

mp3: The Monochrome Set – Mr Bizarro

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

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

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

The cost??  £102.77

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

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

JC

Kevin McDermott

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #497: KEVIN McDERMOTT

From the Big Gold Dreams box set.

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

mp3 : Kevin McDermott – Slow Time and Temptation

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

 

JC

 

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #12

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

Monsters

Monster Hospital – Metric

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

My Beloved Monster – Eels

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

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – David Bowie

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

Monsters in the Parasol – Queens of the Stone Age

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

My Monster – Blondie

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

Meet ze Monsta – PJ Harvey

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

Little Monsters – Charlotte Gainsbourg

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

The Boogie Monster – Gnarls Barkley

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

Eaten By The Monster of Love – Sparks

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

Monster Ballads – Josh Ritter

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

Bonus track: Monster – Fred Schneider

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

 

Jonny

 

Talking Heads

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

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

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

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

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

mp3 : Talking Heads – Pyscho Killer (live)

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

JC

Concrete Bulletproof Invisible

THE CULT CLASSICS :THE RE-RUNS (2)

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

– – – – –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Phil

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mp3: Cut Me Deep – The Jasmine Minks

Track 21, Disc 1 of CD86.

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

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

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

mp3: Darkness & Colour – The Railway Children

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

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

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

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

 

JC

Potsdam Ska Festival 1990, Various

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

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

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

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

El Bosso & Die Ping Pongs

Braces

Lindenpark, Potsdam

Hello friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And finally, here’s some music:

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

Take good care,

 

Dirk