May 2015 – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 19 of 48)

A repeat post from exactly one year ago today:-

If you own a mint copy of today’s single, then make sure you continue to look after it lovingly. And maybe think about adding it to an insurance policy.

The first ever single release on Sarah Records was by The Sea Urchins. From wiki:-

The initial line-up of The Sea Urchins was James Roberts (vocals), Simon Woodcock (guitar), Robert Cooksey (guitar), Mark Bevin (bass), Bridget Duffy (tambourine, organ), and Patrick Roberts (drums). Their first two releases were flexi discs given away with fanzines in 1987. Bevin soon left, to be replaced by Darren Martin.

Their “Pristine Christine” single was the first Sarah Records release, and is highly coveted among vinyl record collectors. With the following year’s double-A-side “Solace”/”Please Rain Fall” they began to show more mod-rock influences. Both singles were successful in indie terms, but Sarah Records were unwilling to commit to an album, and Duffy and Martin left.

Woodcock took over on bass, with James Roberts adding guitar. The band released one more single for Sarah (“A Morning Oddyssey” in 1990), but disagreements about the next single saw them move on to Cheree Records, who issued “Please Don’t Cry” in 1991. The band split up in summer 1991. Two albums were subsequently released; Sarah Records issued a compilation of the band’s material for the label, including the flexi-disc tracks, as Stardust in 1992, while Fierce Recordings issued a live album in 1994.

James Roberts, Cooksey, and Woodcock later formed the band Delta. James Roberts, Patrick Roberts, and Robert Cooksey also formed The Low Scene.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the record is ‘highly coveted’ with the copies copy on Discogs having an asking price of over £250. I don’t own a copy, and while it would be nice to, I’m happy enough that I have the song via one of the many CD86 style compilation CDs that have been released over the years:-

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Pristine Christine

On thing to note is just how young all the band members were at the time this single was released – all of them were with just 17 or 18 years of age. When I look around today at similarly aged kids of a number of friends, I find it a scary thought that such fresh and innocent faces would be capable of such works of class.

——————–

And here’s the two completely gorgeous b-sides to said precious single:-

mp3 : Sea Urchins – Sullen Eyes
mp3 : Sea Urchins – Everglades

All in all, a fabulous three tracks with which to introduce yourselves to the world. Deserved to be a mainstream pop success.

Enjoy

Armoury Show

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #14 : ARMOURY SHOW

The Skids had broken up back in early 1982 and the solo career of Richard Jobson had stalled. Two years on, and still only 24 years of age, he decided to try again and formed The Armoury Show with his mate Russell Webb (ex Skids) and John McGeoch and John Doyle both of whom had been integral to the sound of Magazine.

On paper it had a lot going for it but the three early singles – Castles In Spain, We Can Be Brave Again and Glory Of Love failed to hit the spot with the record buying public. All three tracks were included on debut LP Waiting For The Floods in September 1985 while Castles In Spain was re-released on the back of some high-profile TV appearances and support slots for well-know bands. All to no avail.

Two more singles followed in early 87 before the band called it a day.

Maybe the world wasn’t quite ready for a mid80s era Simple Minds tribute act….which may sound harsh but have a listen to this track from their one album to see what I’m getting at:-

mp3 : The Armoury Show – Kyrie

Enjoy.

Compilation (Ipod Fridays)

I-POD FRIDAY

SW-C has been back in touch re his i-pod Friday which takes place today. I hope none of his work colleagues read this as it will only spoil the surprise(s)

Ipod Fridays

So in the end I made a decision…I wanted to portray a message in the music that I selected. So with a selection of cover versions and some other tracks I spelt that message out.

I’m also turning my Ipod Friday into a quiz featuring a solitary question, I’m offering the prize of a Mars Bar for whoever gets closest. Here is the question: –

How many cover versions are there in my forty songs?

So here is the set list – and go on then – folks how many cover versions are there in this list (JC you are banned from entering as you know the answer), the closest guess gets a special prize which will be revealed later, I appreciate its hard without hearing all the tracks though. Oh and if anyone wants to take a guess at the message I was telling people, then please feel free to comment.

Dandy Warhols – Primary
Alabama 3 – Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
Vaccines – The Winner Takes It all
I Monster – Daydream In Blue
Dinosaur Jr – Just Like Heaven
Carter USM – Down In the Tube Station at Midnight
Azealia Banks – Harlem Shake
Major Lazer – Halo
Eels – Get Ur Freak On
Radiohead – Nobody Does It Better
Oasis – I am the Walrus
Number One Cup – Joe the Lion
Rolling Stones – Not Fade Away
Exlovers – Wicked Game
Angel Haze – Doo Wop (That Thing)
Levellers – The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Lemonheads – How Will I Know?
Yung – Imaginary Calls
Interpol – Specialist
Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Alt – J – Lovely Day
Flaming Lips – Can’t Get You Out of My Head
Ultrasound – Fame Thing
Chromatics – Ceremony
Kaiser Chiefs – Golden Skans
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Black Mountain
New Fast Automatic Daffodails – Big
Girls Names – Zero Triptych
Astrid – Redground
Nai Harvest – Sick On My Heart
New Order – Blue Monday
Of Montreal – Fell In Love With A Girl
Yazoo – Situation
Idlewild – American English
New Kingdom – Mexico Or Bust
Glamorous Hooligan – Stoned Island Estate
Concretes – Miss You
Ultra Vivid Scene – Mercy Seat
Nirvana – All Apologies
Tilly and the Wall – Night of the Living Dead

As usual any comments you want to make about any of the choices are more than welcome.

mp3 : Dandy Warhols – Primary
mp3 : Vaccines – The Winner Takes It All
mp3 : Carter USM – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
mp3 : Radiohead – Nobody Does It Better
mp3 : Interpol – Specialist
mp3 : Lemonheads – How Will I Know?
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix of Two Halves)
mp3 : Flaming Lips – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
mp3 : Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Black Mountain
mp3 : Glamorous Hooligan – Stoned Island Estate
mp3 : Concretes – Miss You

S-WC

Altered Images

THE ALTERED IMAGES SINGLES (4)

The huge success of Happy Birthday was more than maintained with the fourth single from Altered Images. I Could Be Happy, a brand new song, was almost like a nursery rhyme in its structure as Clare reels off three unrelated things that make her feel good about life – climbing a tall tree, heading over the sea to Skye or going for a lengthy dip in the River Nile.

But it turns out that she doesn’t want to do any of these things just for any sheer unadulterated joy; nope, these are all on her radar to let her bring a relationship to an end. It was, tune wise, also just about the simplest thing they had written and recorded so far and, thanks to a very crisp and clear production from Martin Rushent, it was unashamedly pop in its approach and style with the aim of getting regular radio play.

It was a record that had the feel and sound of a summer record and yet it was released in the depths of winter at the beginning of December 1981 at a time when the big hit single was still riding high in the charts. None of this mattered as I Could Be Happy proved to be every bit as enduring, spending twelve weeks in the charts including nine successive weeks in the Top 30, helped no doubt by some Top of the Pops appearances in which viewers could not have done anything other than be enchanted by Claire. The single was released in 7″ and 12″ form.

7″

mp3 : Altered Images – I Could Be Happy

mp3 : Altered Images – Insects

As I mentioned the other week in the Saturday series, I’m a huge fan of Insects which is one of their most enduring songs; and depsite being one of their most ‘Banshees by numbers’ efforts it was Rushent and not Severin who was in the producer’s chair.

12″

mp3 : Altered Images – I Could Be Happy (extended)

mp3 : Altered Images – Disco Pop Stars

The use of 12″ vinyl to offer extended and remixed versions of the three minute pop single was becoming increasingly popular around this time. More often than not the extended versions didn’t work all that well and seemed to take aWay from the radio friendly versions – the likes of Soft Cell were very much an exception as they managed somehow to turn the 12″ single into an art form. Altered Images weren’t the worst offenders though and the 12″ of I Could Be Happy is bearable.

The bonus track on the 12″ made me laugh out loud at the time and still does. It’s a band re-production of the sinister flop debut single but in a way that makes it instantly disposable. And it’s not been down in any shape or form that would see it put on the turntables of any discotheque that I can think of.

Oh and I’d like to dedicate today’s post to Carlo Zanotti. Many thanks for your kind words of encouragement and appreciation the other night at the Belle & Sebastian post-gig bash at The Admiral.

Enjoy

Communions, Iceage, Lower, Music from Denmark, Yung

IN PRAISE OF….. DENMARK

Another quality and imaginative contribution from S-WC.

In a few weeks’ time Mrs S-WC, Princess S-WC and I are heading off to Copenhagen for a few days to celebrate my 40th birthday. I’m not that fussed about being 40, its just another year after all but last night Mrs S-WC dropped the surprise trip on me and now I am really looking forward to going to Denmark and celebrating my 40th in a place that I’ve never been to there before. I have read nothing but good reviews of the place and Copenhagen is supposed to be one of the most child friendly cities on the planet. It also happens to be the home of one of the best music scenes on the planet and all the time I spent endlessly waffling on about the ‘Danish Scene’ appears not to have been wasted. She was pretending to be completely uninterested, how do women do that?

So let’s rewind back to 2011 and if like me you are in anyway interested in indie rock then you would have probably stumbled across New Brigade the debut LP by four Copenhagen teenagers called Iceage. This record singlehandedly put Danish indie rock on the map. ‘New Brigade’ also introduced Iceage to a wider world and in my opinion it is nearly a perfect record, 24 minutes of wailing, bromance and gothic charm, the Guardian described it as ‘A yobbish Joy Division’ and they are spot on, as usual.

mp3 : Iceage – White Rune

The immediate problem is that nearly every band that came out of Denmark was labelled the ‘new Iceage’and record companies fell over themselves to ‘find them’. Over in Denmark though, the best bands in Iceage’s circle such as Lower and Sexdrome, made such bleak and brutal rock that they had almost no visible commercial value, well not to the UK and US Markets at least. All Lower want to do is destroy your eardrums, I mean, they are fantastically brutal but they are not Iceage Mark 2.

mp3 : Lower – Craver

Let’s come back to 2015, and an awful lot has changed, Denmark is blooming and nearly every week there is a new band from Denmark that is generating a buzz of hype. This weeks thing are Yung, they hail from Aarhus the (I think) second biggest city in Denmark. Their debut record Alter has shown that not all bands from Denmark have to sound like Iceage. ‘Alter’ is jangly indie pop with just a dash of spikiness thrown in. In the last couple of years noir-ish Danish TV programmes have been all the rage and Yung appear to have tapped into that with the video for lead track Nobody Cares – they basically mess around on cold looking dock and we half expect a lady in a knitted jumper to start investigating.

mp3 : Yung – Nobody Cares

Like I said the developing scene is not all about Iceage soundalikes, take Communions for example, they are perhaps the band most like Iceage in their looks but they sound like The Stone Roses just after Sally Cinnamon was released (ie when they were really good). Their debut EP Cobblestones is outstanding and something I thoroughly recommend to you all, I am quite excited by Communions, they could produce something really special.

mp3 : Communions – Cobblestones

I should perhaps point out, that even Iceage don’t actually sound like Iceage anymore, – the closest thing I can liken it too is when Idlewild released American English which sounded like REM rather the early Fugazi inspired records – the last Iceage record Plowing Into the Field of Love has a distinct alt country feel to it and to be honest it sounds a lot like the Libertines circa Up The Bracket, which obviously is a very very good thing indeed. There were not many better records released last year than ‘Plowing Into the Field of Love’.

mp3 : Iceage – The Lords Favourite

I hope you all enjoy the tracks that I have posted – and as ever I’ll be interested in what you all think.

S-WC

John Cooper Clarke

I SPEAK YOUR EVERY WORD

The mere mention of his name yesterday inspired me to adapt and update a post from January 2007 over at the old place.

The post-punk era in the late 70s and early 80s wasn’t all about jumping about down the front.

The man pictured above is John Cooper Clarke. He is a poet.

You listened to what JCC had to say. He was often a support act for many acts – let’s face it, all he needed was the bus/train fare and a microphone – and he had a fantastic stage presence that commanded attention.

Maybe it was the big hair; maybe it was the unmistakable Salford/Manchester accent; maybe it was because he had something meaningful to say, often in a very humourous way; maybe it was a combination of all of the above.

I saw him a few times in the 80s – most often at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the days when it was truly an underground sort of event rather than a vehicle for comics to come to town and make a fortune over a three-week period.

The mp3 offering might sound like a bit of a misogynist rant. But listen carefully and you’ll hear that it is a brilliantly worded attack on bigots who can’t bear to see mixed-race marriages.

mp3 : John Cooper Clarke : I Married A Monster From Outer Space

But what I consider to be his best piece of work was recorded with a backing band.

mp3 : John Cooper Clarke – Beasley Street

A poem written in 1980, and it’s a sad reflection on society and its inability to deal with inequalities that there is almost certainly a Beasley Street not too far from where you live – especially if you live in a major city.

JCC is still very much on the go today. The original posting in January 2007 was inspired by an interview with him in the then current edition of Mojo magazine – an interview conducted by Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys.

Here’s another one that I used to know off by heart back in the days:-

mp3 : John Cooper Clarke – Twat

You can read all his poems here.

Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls

DREAM SEQUENCES

Today I’m featuring a single that I picked up a few years ago in a charity shop for the princely sum of 25p.

mp3 : Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls – Dream Sequence I
mp3 : Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls – Dream Sequence II

Pauline Murray was one of the first girls to come out of the punk movement. She was just 18 years of age when she came to prominence as lead singer with Penetration, whose debut single from November 1977 is a true landmark effort:-

mp3 : Penetration – Don’t Dictate

Sorry, I couldn’t resist including that – a rare example of a single from punk era that has just not lost any of its appeal the best part of 40 years on.

Penetration split up in 1980 after just two albums and five singles. Pauline was just 22 years of age at the time, and her next project was with the aforementioned The Invisible Girls who were in fact the backing band for the Salford poet John Cooper Clarke. The new combo released a self-titled album in 1980, a piece of work that was critically acclaimed but didn’t sell all that well.

It was a record that came out on Illusive Records which was a subsidiary of RSO Records which, if memory was the biggest label in the world at the end of the 70s as it was home to The Bee Gees as well as being the label for the soundtrack to Grease.

But it would have been perfectly at home, and indeed a better fit, if it had been on Factory Records as it had production from Martin Hannett (who also played on the record) and a sleeve by Peter Saville, both of whom of course are central characters in the rise and fall of the best label to ever come out of Manchester. Oh and the drummer was John Maher of Buzzcocks….

I was delighted to grab a copy of the single as I used to have a copy of the subsequent self-titled Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls debut album but as I’ve not seen it in the cupboard for years so I can only assume that I loaned it to someone and forgot to ask for it back. What I do remember is that it was a record slightly ahead of its time, relying on the then largely unfamiliar sound of synthesisers with Pauline’s vocals often being well back in the mix as if they were an instrument. It really is one of the great lost albums of the era (literally in my case…..).

I do see that last year the album was re-released with a bonus disc of Peel Sessions, remixes and live versions. I might well go and track it down….or I might go to the online second-hand market for a copy of the vinyl. Either way, it’s on a list of things to do.

Enjoy.

Pastels

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 18 of 48)

Here’s an unlikely confession from a Glasgow-based indie kid…….

…………..I don’t own all that much by The Pastels.

They’ve been part of the local music scene since I was a teenager with their first recordings seeing the light of day back in 1982. I suppose my problem was that I didn’t take an instant shine to many of the early records and the first few times I caught them live, either as a headline or support act, I was rather underwhelmed.

But looking back now I can see and appreciate just how much of an influence they have had, not just on the local music scene, but on the growth and development of indie music over the past 30+ years.

They must have been one of the most experienced bands to be associated with the C86 movement as by that time they had released a number of singles on various labels including Rough Trade and Creation and by the year in question were on Glass Records for whom they would record their debut LP that was recorded in 86 and released in early 87. The track on CD86 came from the debut album but it had also been released back in October 1984 as a b-side on a single released on Creation:-

mp3 : The Pastels – Baby Honey

A fantastic song extending to almost seven minutes in length it is actually the last song on CD 2 and so brings the 48-track compilation to an end. For those who associate The Pastels with tweeness it must come as a bit of a shock as it, to all intent and purposes, rocks out a fair bit.

Anyways, as has been my practice with this series to try to track down any recordings associated with the track on the compilation album then here’s the other two songs on the 1984 single:-

mp3 : The Pastels – A Million Tears
mp3 : The Pastels – Surprise Me

A Million Tears is a fantastic piece of music and while I’m not so enamoured by Surprise Me I take it that a certain Jarvis Cocker listened to it more than a few times and came to be heavily influenced.

Finally…..if anyone ever wants to ever bump into Stephen McRobbie (nee Pastel) you can do so by dropping into Monorail Music in Glasgow where you’ll find him, as owner, behind the counter. His store is something to treasure and has become my first port of call for new music on the few occasions that I buy it!

Enjoy

Arab Strap

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #13 : ARAB STRAP

I said more than enough yesterday.

mp3 : Arab Strap – Gilded (live at King Tut’s, Glasgow on 16 October 1996)

Wish I’d been there.

Originally recorded for the b-side of the debut single. As you’ll hear from the introduction, this was the very first gig the band played but already there were folk who knew all the words!!

The boys have since admitted they were far from sober when they took to the stage. But at least their nerves had been steadied…

Arab Strap

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM #14 – ARAB STRAP

I know this effort will not get anything like the same attention as #11 in the series for the simple fact that there are far more fans out there with a knowledge of and an opinion on The Clash than there are when it comes to Arab Strap. But for me, this narrowing down to just ten tracks was every bit as impossible a task and one that I will complete and immediately look at it and feel I want to make a change.

The reason for turning to this particular band today is quite simply down to the fact that they are due to feature in tomorrow’s Saturday series and I was stumped as to which song and from which era to plump for. So I decided it would be best to have a go at the imaginary compilation LP and then add something else in for the Saturday series.

Arab Strap are probably my favourite Scottish band of all time, although The Twilight Sad are vying for that top spot. It’s probably only the fact that Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton continue to produce so much in the way of outstanding post-Strap material that keeps their former band at the top of that particular chart.

They released six albums between 1996 and 2005 along with a dozen or so 45s/EPs, one live album, a number of limited edition pressings and finally an end of career compilation followed by a box set. Of all of these, only the live album (as so often with many bands) proved to be a bit of a letdown coming nowhere close to capturing how good they could be on stage.

Their material offers much from a musical point of view. There were nods to indie, dance and techno in much of the material as well as Middleton displaying an incredible talent for all forms of guitar playing from melancholy acoustic string-plucking right through to axework worthy of the rock gods he grew up worshipping. Lyrically there was and still hasn’t been anything quite like them with Moffat using his distinctive Central Scotland brogue to half-speak and half-sing what seemed like highly personal tales of a drug and drink fueled existence that all too often ended in pain, misery and regret. And there was never any thought given to cleaning up the langage….this was music set to discussions you would have with your mates in a pub or at the football….it was authentically working class and it was more authentically Scottish than anything I had ever heard before.

And so, without further delay, here’s what I’ve come up with for today’s imaginary compilation LP:-

Side A

1. Packs Of Three (from the album Philophobia, released in May 1998)

“It was the biggest cock you’ve ever seen
But you’ve no idea where that cock has been
You said you were careful – you never were with me
I heard you did it four times
But johnnies come in packs of three”

Has there ever been such a shocking and heart-wrenchingly opening few lines to any song as to this opening number to the band’s second LP? If so, please enlighten me….

The lyric is so powerful that it initially distracts you from the wonderfully understated guitar work going on in the background and then, for that final emotional punch in the guts for the final minute and a half the melancholic cello kicks in……

2. The Shy Retirer (from the album Monday at The Hug & Pint, released in April 2003)

The opening track from the band’s fifth album set to a tune that is worthy of being classified as an indie-disco classic – it’s the sort of thing you could imagine appearing on a Belle & Sebastian or indeed a Go-Betweens record although while Stuart Murdoch/Robert Forster/Grant McLennan (RIP) have written many a fine and poetic song about the pain of unrequited love they never quite got to the nitty-gritty in the way that Aidan Moffat does in this instance.

Everyone involved knew that this song deserved a much wider audience than one of its lines with its stark lyric would have allowed and so a radio edit was put together and issued as the lead track on an EP but it didn’t chart.

3. The First Big Weekend (single, released in September 1996)

This is the song with which Arab Strap announced themselves and is, in effect, a true short story of what a group of close friends got up to over the course of a long weekend from a Thursday afternoon through to a Monday afternoon, set to a tune driven by an acoustic guitar and a drum machine.

I can actually pinpoint the weekend in question – Thursday 13 to Monday 17 June 1996 – with the big clue being the reference to this big international football match on the Saturday afternoon. I can vouch that the weekend in question was ridiculously hot and sunny and I spent it in St Andrews with a group of mates getting drunk and playing golf and of course watching that very football match.

As much as I enjoyed myself that big weekend, there’s no doubt the packed few days of canteen quizzes, Glasgow night clubs, chatting up girls, getting high and drunk, coming down and starting all over again with an interlude of watching an episodes of The Simpsons was much more fun. But then again, on the eve of my 33rd birthday my crazy days were over…

It actually turns out that the debut LP, The Week Never Starts Round Here, was already finished but Chemikal Underground suggested a single to precede it would be a useful tool. It was written over a morning and recorded the same afternoon. It was very quickly picked up by John Peel and Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1 and indeed would go onto be voted as #2 in the 1996 Festive Fifty.

4. Don’t Ask Me To Dance (from the album The Last Romance, released in October 2005)

From the first of the band’s songs to one of the last and it perfectly demonstrates just how much their sound evolved, developed and matured over the decade they were together. It’s an album that has far more of a rock element than any of their others and the closing minute and a half enables Malcolm Middleton to demonstrate his guitar god credentials.

Nobody knew at the time that the band had decided to call it a day on the back of their sixth album and certainly none of their fans would have anticipated that both would go on and have successful solo careers, but the hints of what the seemingly lesser-appreciated/valued member of the duo was going to be capable of in the coming years can be heard on this and many other songs on what is a hugely underrated record.

5. I Saw You (Peel Session, recorded in March 1997)

I find it astonishing that the boys never released this until they had called it a day. It’s a song that was part of many of their early live shows but given its fast tempo and rocking tune it didn’t fit in all that well with the material that would eventually find its way onto Philophobia in 1998. And so the Peel Session was the only time it was ever recorded and it eventually saw the light of day on the Ten Years of Tears! compilation released in 2006.

Arab Strap had a great relationship with John Peel. As mentioned earlier, the debut single featured highly in the Festive Fifty and it was no surprise that early the following year they had a debut Peel session. One of the other tracks they recorded was a re-worked version of The First Big Weekend with the lyrics re-written to document the trip to London to do the session. on which Stuart Murdoch and Chris Geddes of Belle & Sebastian also performed.

Side B

1. Love Detective (single, released in January 2001)

The band also used a fair bit of piano and keyboards to great effect on many of their songs, particularly in the second half of their career and this #66 hit single (and subsequent track on the LP The Red Thread) is a very fine example. It’s also another frighteningly imaginative lyric in which Aidan recounts to a friend almost breathlessly over the telephone how his world has crashed around him after he broke into the box where his girlfriend keeps some secret things including a personal diary.

2. Here We Go (single, released in March 1998)

I didn’t pick up on Arab Strap until well after the debut LP had caught on and so this was the first thing of theirs I ever bought on its release and which I helped get to #48 in the singles chart (the highest position any of the singles ever reached). This is a song that I listed at #17 in my 45 45s at 45 rundown back in 2008 and if I was to repeat the exercise today it would still feature so highly in any rundown. 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…..

3. I Would’ve Liked Me A Lot Last Night (from the album Philophobia, released in May 1998)

The second successive track lifted from Philophobia, one of the most brutally warts’n’all albums ever recorded with equally brutal warts’n’all artwork with a painting of a naked woman (Aidan Moffat’s girlfriend) on the front sleeve and a painting of a naked man (Aidan Moffat) on the back of the sleeve.

The word philophobia is defined as “the abnormal, persistent and unwarranted fear of falling in love or emotional attachment; the risk is usually when a person has confronted any emotional turmoil relating to love in the past but can also be chronic phobia”

I’m guessing that those who suffer from philophobia will also have a huge degree of self-loathing. If so, they would instantly relate to this incredibly sad and moving tale.

While it true that the 66 minutes that make up the record is never a comfortable listen it is also a work that manages to hold your attention all the way throughout. It is the sort of record that really could only be made by people in their mid-20s as the subsequent decades of experiences would make them far better equipped to deal with the situations they are facing and the lyrics wouldn’t flow so easily. But take yourself back to your teenage years and the decade that follows and I’m sure, having listened to Philophobia, that you will ne recalling all sorts of sordid and embarrassing memories and episodes. It’s way cheaper than a psychiatrist.

4. Cherubs (single, released in August 1999)

Having enjoyed a load of critical success in the wake of Philophobia the band were the subject of a few offers to tempt them away from Chemikal Underground, one of which was accepted.

Go! Beat Records was the dance offshoot of Go! Discs one of the great indie labels of the 80s although by the time Arab Strap signed for them it was just another arm of the Universal Music Group. Arab Strap had a thoroughly miserable time of it at the new label and within 18 months, after one album and one EP, they were knocking on the door at Chemikal who had no hesitation in taking them back with no hard feelings whatsoever.

If there was one good thing to come out of the time at Go! Beat it was this, the lead track on the EP the video of which I recall seeing on nationwide terrestrial television which would I reckon have been the first and possibly one time that happened in the band’s history. It’s a fine blend of a punchy upbeat drum machine, fine strumming and a rinky-dinky keyboard behind a minimalist and faintly optimistic lyric. Yes, that’s right an optimistic lyric….of sorts.

5. There Is No Ending (from the album The Last Romance, released in October 2005)

The closing track on the closing album. After dozens of songs that dealt with teenage and 20-something angst here’s one that celebrates love lasting forever until you grow old.

For a band that had to face up to so many accusations of being latent miserablists this is an extraordinary way to sign off and it captures Aidan Moffat for what I think he is – romantic at heart. For the most part in the Arab Strap canon he’s been a sad and depressed romantic all too often seeking solace in the comfort of the bottle or from the drugs cabinet but now at last he’s happy and looking forward to the future and he wants the world to know it.

A joyous and wonderful anthem to finish things off.

mp3 : Arab Strap – Packs Of Three
mp3 : Arab Strap – The Shy Retirer
mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend
mp3 : Arab Strap – Don’t Ask Me To Dance
mp3 : Arab Strap – I Saw You
mp3 : Arab Strap – Love Detective
mp3 : Arab Strap – Here We Go
mp3 : Arab Strap – I Would’ve Liked Me A Lot Last Night
mp3 : Arab Strap – Cherubs
mp3 : Arab Strap – There Is No Ending (7″single version)

That’s almost twelve hours since I typed the first word of this piece. I’m away for a lie-down.

Lambchop, Sisters Of Mercy

UNASHAMEDLY STOLEN FROM A FRIEND

Brian over at Linear Track Lives! is one of the most consistently inventive and entertaining bloggers out there. He is currently in the middle of a rundown of his Top 100 songs from the 90s and he’s already delivered some cracking surprises including this at #58:-

“There is something about the way frontman Kurt Wagner delivers words in that Tennessee drawl that takes me back to listening to my relatives spinning yarns at reunions back in the sticks of Illinois as a youngin’. Everything was just a little slower and a little simpler. Even when Wagner’s tales are filled with melancholy, I still find the music comforting. Perhaps I also like Lambchop because I think this would have been a group my father and I might have actually agreed on.

As for today’s pick, this is the second and last song on the countdown with the dreaded f-dash-dash-dash word (as Ralphie would say) in the title. If you only know Lambchop’s more recent work, you might find the tempo of this one quite surprising. “Your Fucking Sunny Day” most assuredly doesn’t sound like it was sung from a rocking chair. It comes from the band’s third album, ‘Thriller.’ That’s a little self-deprecating humor from a group that produced two earlier albums with few sales to show for it. On the off-chance this song might have received some airplay, there was a clean version called “Your Sucking Funny Day,” which is a smile, but I don’t think Merge or anyone else needed to worry too much about such things.

mp3 : Lambchop – Your Fucking Sunny Day

It’s also one of my favourite Lambchop songs – they were a band I was going to include in last week’s series in as much that I have quite a few of their albums but nowhere near the whole back catalogue. I’m particularly fond of the LP Nixon which was released in 2000 and is packed with great tunes with this being the track that would be edited back by a minute and released as a single. The album version is superior:-

mp3 : Lambchop – Up With People

Two years later the band followed up Nixon with Is A Woman with initial copies of the CD having a bonus disc that included a hugely inspired and genius cover version:-

mp3 : Lambchop – This Corrosion

For those of you who may not be familiar with the original, well it is considered by many to be THE greatest goth anthem of all time. All 11 minutes of it. Get those shoulders shaking:-

mp3 : Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion (12″ version)

And finally, the Lambchop take on a punk classic:-

mp3 : Lambchop – (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

Enjoy y’all.

Twilight Sad

N/O/C/E/K

A wee treat for fans of The Twilight Sad.

Back in early 2012 the band released their third studio album. No One Can Ever Know was a work that shocked and stunned a lot of folk with a very clear move away from the ‘wall of sound’ guitars that had dominated the previous LPs into something that was heavily reliant on a dark and moody synth sound. It was an album that I adored on its release with my appreciation heightened by a spellbinding performance in the confines of the Grand Ole Opry in Glasgow, a venue that 99.99% of the time caters for country music and Americana.

Later in the year the band went that bit further with the experimentation by authorising the release of No One Can Ever Know : The Remixes which was, as the name suggests a collection of remixes of songs from the album, many of which were quite experimental and more likely to appeal to fan of those doing the remixing than those who had gone nuts for the first two Twilight Sad LPs. Me? I’m very happy to be counted in as a fan of the remix effort although I was a little disappointed that it was primarily the same songs that got the treatment with the nine tracks comprising three versions of Sick and two each of Nil, Not Sleeping and Alphabet.

But for diehard fans there was even more to come thanks to the existence of No One Can Ever Know : Tour EP which the band made available as a digital download when you placed an order through their online store or, as in my fortunate case, as one of 300 physical copies put on sale at the merchandise stall when the band went out on the road. It’s actually something the band are very good at in terms of rewarding loyal fans – over the year I’ve picked up a some limited edition mementos including CDs and prints.

The Tour EP offered up one entirely new song (in demo form), three new slowed-down versions* of tracks from the parent album and two songs otherwise only available on hard to get limited edition singles:-

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – Idiots (demo)
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – Alphabet (alternate version)
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – Not Sleeping (alternate version)
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – Untitled #67
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – Another Bed (alternate version)
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – A Million Ignorants

(* and in the case of Alphabet, a heart-wrenchingly beautiful rendition that is my favourite version of the song)

I’ve also discovered a cracking fan site devoted to the band. You can visit by clicking here on the new link I’ve put up on the right hand side of the blog.

Enjoy

Altered Images

THE ALTERED IMAGES SINGLES (3)

The third Altered Images single was due to be released in September 1981 just in advance of the as yet unnamed debut album. It must have been a nervy time for all concerned both within the band and at the label given how poorly the first two singles had sold, especially as there was a consensus that those were probably their best and catchiest songs.

Steve Severin had completed his production duties at Rockfield Studios in Wales but there was a nagging doubt that the resultant music wasn’t ever going to transform well to daytime radio and so alternative names were banded about with Martin Rushent emerging as the first choice.

He was someone who had enjoyed a fair degree of success in the post-punk era working in the producer’s chair for the likes of The Stranglers, Generation X and Buzzcocks. But it was his work on Dare by The Human League that had taken things to a whole new level and so, perhaps as a final roll of the dice by Epic Records, he was asked to take over the reins of a new song called Happy Birthday in the hope that something a bit more pop-orientated would result.

The track was worked on at a studio in Berkshire and the results certainly pleased the record label who decided it would be issued in 7″ and 12″ form with the latter featuring an extended dance mix. Not only that, and despite every other track on the proposed LP being the work of Severin, it was decided also to name the album after the third single. No pressure then.

It looked initially as if the idea wouldn’t bear fruit as the single crawled into the charts at a very lowly #63. But unlike Dead Pop Stars which had dropped out of the charts immediately, there was a modest increase in sales in week two that saw it climb to #48. Week three saw the band crack the Top 40 and so become eligible for increased daytime airplay and more importantly appearances on Top of the Pops. Six weeks after its release, Happy Birthday hit the #2 spot in the singles chart, a position it held for three weeks. It was unable to initially dislodge It’s My Party by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin and then it was leapfrogged by The Police and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. While I’m sure it was disappointing not to quite grab #1 the chart performance of Happy Birthday, especially given what had happened with the first two singles, has to be regarded as a triumph.

All told, Happy Birthday would spend more than four months in the Top 75 – it was still in the charts when the band’s fourth single was released in December 1981 and indeed just as it appeared to be ready to drop out Happy Birthday jumped back up the charts again thanks to end of year sales at Christmas time.

I remember at the time initially loving this song but, as so often happens when something hangs around the chart and daytime radio for what seems like an eternity, I got sick of hearing it and longed for the days when the band were a well-kept secret. But as time has passed, I fully acknowledge and recognise that the breakthrough hit was a fabulous moment in pop music:-

mp3 : Altered Images – Happy Birthday
mp3 : Altered Images – So We Go Whispering

The b-side was self-produced and its dark and rather haunting tune, highly reminiscent of The Cure, would have been a bit of shock to those who had been attracted to the band by the lighter side of pop music on the a-side.

As mentioned, the 12″ came with an extended dance mix together with an additional track:-

mp3 : Altered Images – Happy Birthday (dance mix)
mp3 : Altered Images – Jeepster

The latter, again self-produced, is a more than passable stab at what had been a hit single for T Rex back in 1971/72 when the various members of Altered Images would have been young kids.

Enjoy

Compilation (Ipod Fridays)

A HEARTFELT APPEAL TO ALL T(n)VV READERS

SW-C has been in touch seeking some help in a crucially important aspect of his life from the esteemed readers of T(n)VV.

I would ask that you all back his heartfelt appeal. I’ve kicked things off with a PS…..

Ipod Fridays

Working in an open plan office has its draw backs. The main one, other than the people, is the radio. In my office ours is stuck to Radio 2 – which was the station of choice following the dramatic vote that we had some weeks back. Classic FM was second so it’s not all bad. I usually plug into my Ipod and drown out the nonsense dribbling out of Ken Bruce’s mouth, however about six weeks ago our hipster manager had an idea. Ipod Friday.

The concept was that every Friday morning, the radio would be replaced by someone in the office’s Ipod – they would then have no more than three hours to play anything that they wanted to the rest of the office (whether they chose to listen or not). It is supposed to stimulate debate, teamwork and camaraderie. At first people were horrified, largely because they can’t live without hearing Popmaster every sodding day. But then the first Ipod Friday occurred.

It fell to David, a quiet fifty something, to produce the first playlist, and that morning we listened to three hours of top-notch Northern Soul and it was wonderful. From then on, people in the office started to look forward to Ipod Fridays, the week after David was Marie, she produced two hours of mostly decent Britpop and then ruined it by playing thirty minutes of Paloma Faith. I’ve barely spoken to her since. Next up A young guy called Matt, played three hours of electronica including Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, which was cool. After that it tailed off, the music has got a bit ‘mumsy’ lots of George Ezra singing about ‘catching the train to Australia’ (what you on about you trumpet faced fool?) a bit of Sam Smith and Coldplay, obviously.

On May 29th its my turn. So I have roughly two weeks to produce a set list for the rest of the office and to be honest I am a bit stuck. I kind of want to do a theme but kind of want to just stick the Ipod on random for three hours and see what happens.

Some of the themes that I have looked at include: –

1. Music that has featured in a film.

There is an almost endless list of these, even if I listed my favourite forty films of the last thirty years or so I could probably produce a pretty cool set list.

mp3 : Magnet – Willow’s Song

and I imagine that for some of the males reading this song will provide you with some happy memories. I should also state that the only version I have is from a chilled out mix CD so it might end abruptly, if anyone has the full version I’d love a copy.

2. Cover versions only

Just last week I was listening to an old Maximo Park album and this came on it – a cover version of the Julie Cruise classic that I really didn’t remember being there. I’ve said before that I love a good cover version, so could easily work my way through three hours worth.

mp3 : Maximo Park – Falling

3. My Favourite Tracks of 2015

Miniskirt by Braids is I think the best track released this year, it is a track that I heard in a shop in Exeter about two months ago, I was waiting for a sandwich, and had to ask the guy serving what it was. I went home and downloaded it straight away. Saying that the latest single from Girls Names ‘Zero Triptych’ is just as awesome.

mp3 : Braids – Miniskirt

4. Tracks from the Forty Albums you should hear before I am forty.

This is a list I started at my now defunct (and never to be resurrected) blog When You Can’t Remember Anything, I got to Number 32, but I did produce the full list and a Spotify Set list of it, so I could cheat and use that.

mp3 : Four Tet – She Moves She

5. A Random List of about forty tunes

Starting with this……

mp3 : Death Grips – Beware

So have readers any other ideas – any suggestions gratefully received and if anyone is interested I’ll post the full set list when I have compiled it.

Thanks for Reading

S-WC

PS from JC

Given the recent general election results down in England where a great many people voted for the Tories on the basis that they couldn’t bear to see any sort of coalition that would give power or a platform to the Scottish National Party (SNP), I’d propose a set list entitled ‘Honestly…..Scotland isn’t too bad’ and have forty tunes from singers/bands who are entirely from that little corner of planet earth. Hell, I’d even be prepared to compile something myself!!

Laugh

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 17 of 48)

Anyone remember Intastella?

It’s been written that they were Manchester’s answer to the London-based Saint Etienne but I’m guessing this was simply on the basis that they made indie-pop with a dance theme and had a female singer. Anyway, Intastella came into being in 1990 (at the height of Madchester) and disbanded in 1996 (at the height of Britpop) having enjoyed only limited success.

But what’s this got to do with CD86 you might well be asking….and the answer is that Intastella rose from the ashes of Laugh.

And Laugh are one of the acts featured on CD86.

Laugh had formed in 1985 featuring Martin Wright (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Ian Bendelow (guitar), Martin Mittler (bass guitar) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums). They would go on to release three singles between 1986 and 1988 on The Remorse Label before moving to Sub Aqua Records for whom there was one single and an album.

They never quite cracked it, even in terms of the indie charts, and so it was no surprise when they called it a day at the end of the decade; all bar the guitarist would metamorphosise into the new band with the addition of Stella Grundy on vocals and a dancer called Lil’ Anthony.

Here’s the not too bad but not fantastically memorable track from CD86:-

mp3 : Laugh – Paul McCartney

It was the band’s second single for Remorse. The rumour is that Craig Gannon (who at this point in time would have been a past member of Aztec Camera and The Smiths) played on the record, although he isn’t credited on the sleeve.

Here’s yer b-side:-

mp3 : Laugh – Come On, Come Out

Enjoy

April Showers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #12 : APRIL SHOWERS

With apologies for those of you who have followed this and the old blog for a long while as this will be far from the first time I’ve featured this songs.

I would so love to be able to offer anything other than Abandon Ship in any look back at April Showers. But it is an impossible task.

For those who don’t know, April Showers were a short-lived Glaswegian pop duo comprising Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin. They released just one single on Big Star, a subsidiary of Chrysalis, in 1984. And it’s a tremendous, timeless piece of pop thanks in part to a wonderful production from Anne Dudley of the Art of Noise.

It’s a very rare and hard to find piece of plastic, in both its 7″ and 12″ format, with collectors being asked to fork out from £50 and upwards for the 12″ on the basis that it also has an otherwise unavailable instrumental version of the a-side.

My copy of the song comes courtesy of its inclusion on the compilation album 10 Years Of Marina Records.

mp3 : April Showers – Abandon Ship

Jonathan Bernstein is now a succesful author and screenwriter over in the USA. Click here for a past review of one of his works.

Altered Images

THE ALTERED IMAGES SINGLES (2)

Brushing aside the disappointment of the debut single failing to bring the commercial success that it merited attention soon turned to the band getting back into the studio to begin work on the debut album. It was felt by all concerned that continued work with Steve Severin represented the best chance of getting into the charts with the band still very much aimed at the indie end of the spectrum rather than all out pop music as can be evidenced by their next bit of vinyl.

It was May 1981 that A Day’s Wait was issued as a 7″ single. I recall hearing it for the first time on an evening show on the local commercial radio station and the highly popular DJ, who was spinning it in response to a request, being quite dismissive of it. I wasn’t sure of it myself initially as it didn’t quite have the same impact as the debut single but nevertheless bought a copy with some of the earnings from my paper round. It proved to be one of those 45s that, having taken five or six listens to get used to, but became a firm favourite as something in my brain and the sounds coming from my new stereo record player clicked.

mp3 : Altered Images – A Day’s Wait

The problem was that most DJs had the same opinion as the commercial station bloke and the record received minimal airplay and disappeared off the radar all too quickly having generated ridiculously low sales. It was a worrying time for all concerned and was a contributing factor to the departure of founder member Gerard ‘Ceasar’ McInulty who was replaced on guitar duties by Jim McKinven.

The b-side was another unsettling Banshees type track:-

mp3 : Altered Images – Who Cares?

The band, just two flop singles in, were at a crossroads. Nobody could have predicted what happened next…

Enjoy

Boo Radleys

WISHING THAT THE WHOLE WORLD KNEW MY NAME…..

There can’t be many better examples than The Boo Radleys of a band being wrongly pigeonholed on the account of their one big hit.

Wake Up Boo! was everywhere in 1995. And it deserved to be given it was such a magnificently piece of catchy and infectious pop that put a smile on your face every time you heard it. The downside however, is that it emerged at the same time as a lot of other guitar-led music with an indie-bent that got lumped together under the Britpop umbrella, and the outcome was the band also got held up as being part of the genre.

It was something they hated. They had been making critically acclaimed music since 1990 (initially lumped in with the ‘shoegazing’ fraternity) and indeed had, in 1993, released an album that has the critics swooning and proclaiming them as the best band in the country.

Giant Steps, which came out on Creation Records just before Oasis took that label into the stratosphere, was named as the 1993 record of the year by Select Magazine and #2 album of the year by the NME (behind Debut by Bjork). This was a remarkable achievement for an album that hadn’t spawned any hit singles nor sold in any great quantities and it was also against some incredible competition – Suede, The Breeders, Blur, The The, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, Tindersticks and Radiohead were among those who released in 1993 what can now be seen as ‘classic’ albums. But it was well-merited. However, there is no way that you could consider Giant Steps to be in any shape or form a Britpop album.

It is true that the album Wake Up! (on which the hit single featured) was a lighter and more catchy affair than its acclaimed predecessor and it did spend one week at #1 in the UK album charts (taking over from Celine Dion and being removed by Bruce Springsteen) and it did bring the band a whole new audience but not one they were ever entirely comfortable with, particularly in the live environment. It was therefore hardly a surprise that the next album – C’Mon Kids in 1996 – was a long way removed from the sound of The Boo Radleys circa 1995 and in commercial terms it bombed; but in comparison to the next and final album – Kingsize in 1998 – it could be regarded as a huge seller.

The Boo Radleys made some great music throughout the 90s but as I said are remembered chiefly for one song that is very unrepresentative of their sound. I prefer to remember them by these flop 45s:-

mp3 : The Boo Radleys – Wish I Was Skinny
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – Barney (…and me)
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – From The Bench at Belvidere
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – What’s In The Box (See Watcha Got)

And from this rather brave and interesting cover:-

mp3 : The Boo Radleys – The Queen Is Dead

Enjoy

Interpol

IT’S WAY TOO LATE TO BE THIS LOCKED INSIDE OURSELVES…

Interpol are a very successful band from New York City but there is a little-known Glasgow connection that helped set them on their way….

They formed in 1997 with an original line-up consisting of Paul Banks (vocals/guitar), Daniel Kessler (guitar/vocals), Carlos Dengler (bass guitar/keyboards) and Greg Drudy (drums/percussion). This version of the band only released one EP which was entitled FukdID#3. It was released in 2000 with just 1000 copies pressed on Chemikal Underground Records which had just a few years previously been set up in Glasgow by the members of The Delgados. If you want to get your hands on that rare piece of plastic, expect to pay at least £50….

Drudy left the band shortly after the Chem EP and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. This particular four-piece proved to be one of the outstanding new bands in the first decade of the new millennium with four critically acclaimed albums as well as countless sold-out shows on both sides of the Atlantic.

Carlos Denglar was regarded by many as being central to the band’s success in terms of his look, appearance and his bass playing, so it was a shock to when his departure was announced in 2010 shortly after the completion of work on the band’s fourth album. While the record itself was well received, the live shows the at promoted it came in for a bit of stick and it was no surprise that the remaining band members decided to call a time-out on Interpol and pursue a range of alternative and solo projects.

The two-year rest certainly worked a treat as the band got working together again in 2014 and released their first new album in more than four years to huge acclaim.

As with the other bands featuring this week, I don’t own everything by Interpol but what I do have I remain very appreciative of, including this #19 single from April 2005:-

mp3 : Interpol – C’mere
mp3 : Interpol – Public Pervert (Carlos D remix)
mp3 : Interpol – Fog vs Mould for The Length Of Love

The first of the b-sides is Dengler’s distinctive remix of a track from the LP Antics while the latter is a remix, again of a track from Antics, by Fogarino ably assisted by Bob Mould.

Enjoy

Ash

LOOK INTO MY TIRED EYES…

It is really scary to look back and realise that Ash conquered the world before they were out of their teens.

The male trio (Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray) from Downpatrick in Northern Ireland had already enjoyed a modicum of critical acclaim and commercial success thanks to singles and a mini-LP released before they had even left school but that was nothing compared to the release of proper debut, entitled 1977, which went to #1 in the UK and spawned five hit singles, four of which went Top 20.

They expanded their line-up by adding a female guitarist (Charlotte Hatherley) who was even younger than them and gained a well deserved reputation for incendiary live shows. Unfortunately, the pressure to write and record a smash follow-up to 1977 led to all sorts of difficulties and tensions which showed in the patchy Nu-Clear Sounds released in 1998. It also nearly bankrupted all concerned…

Three years later, and still all in the early 20s, Ash unleashed Free All Angels on the world, a record that had been written back in the sanctuary of Downpatrick and well away from all the temptations and distractions that are put before any successful young band. It would go on to sell more than three million copies world-wide and put Ash, deservedly, back in the spotlight where this time they were far better equipped to deal with all that entailed.

There was one more album – Meltdown – as a four-piece before Hatherley quit in 2006 after a hugely adventurous nine years. The next album recorded as a trio was called Twilight of the Innocents. It didn’t quite fare so well and the band also struggled in the live setting readjusting to being a three-piece and unable to properly perform some of their best known and most popular tracks.

What happened next almost beggars belief. Announcing that due to the changing ways that people listened to and consumed music, particularly with the advent of downloading, they would no longer record any albums but concentrate on single tracks. They were true to their word, beginning in April 2009 with a 45 called Return of White Rabbit for which the three band members each hand-created 178 sleeves with the single being available to win in different competitions being run through their website. The following month they announced the intention to release 26 singles, one every two weeks over a 12-month period.

That project came to an end in 2010 since when the band have been active only on the live front. But very shortly, on Monday 25 May, they will release Kablammo!, their first new LP in eight years. Things are never easy trying to keep up with Ash.

Here’s one of their best known singles from the Free All Angels era, with the tracks taken from the 2 x CDs that made up the release:-

mp3 : Ash – Burn Baby Burn
mp3 : Ash – 13th Floor (radio 1 session)
mp3 : Ash – Only in Dreams (radio 1 session)
mp3 : Ash – Burn Baby Burn (album version)
mp3 : Ash – Thinking About You
mp3 : Ash – Submission (Arthur Baker mix)

Only In Dreams is a cover version of a Weezer song. And here’s a little know fact….Burn Baby Burn was the first song played on BBC 6 Music when it aired on the morning of Monday 11 March 2002.

Here’s an acoustic version of the song as made available on a ‘special’ CD release of the album:-

mp3 : Ash – Burn Baby Burn (acoustic)

Enjoy