A very late change of plans at Villain Towers.
Echorich picked out ten great tracks that would make a tremendous Pete Wylie compilation and given that postpunkmonk has said he wished that he had picked up on more of the material back in the day, well I think it’s worth posting something up. For those of you who don’t perhaps read the comments, here’s what echorich had to say:-
Pete Wylie is my favorite Rock Star of ALL TIME…Probably because he’s the only one I’ve gotten drunk with until 7am in a New York Nightclub 4 nights on the trot, and definitely because he NEVER attained Rock Start status but was always prepared for it.
JC, you’ve picked the three songs which earned him the rank of a great artist. But I will add three that I just can’t live without, and one is among my 10 favorite songs of all time.
The first, and one which first blew my socks off and sucked me into WAH!’s aural vortex was Seven Minutes To Midnight. There might not be any more urgent Post Punk song ever written.
The second, and the one which if count as an all time favorite is Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me). To this day, this song sends chills up my spine and makes me quite emotional every time I play it.
The third is If I Love You. Again, Wylie’s straining, pleading singing just grabs the listener and won’t let go.
And as for an Imaginary WAH!/Wylie Album, here’s mine:
A
1. Better Scream
2. Seven Minutes To Midnight
3. Remember
4. Story Of The Blues
5. Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me)
B
1. Weekends
2. Come Back
3. Sinful
4. If I Love You
5. Heart As Big As Liverpool
All of the tracks selected by echorich can be found on this long-deleted compilation CD which, if you see any second-hand copies kicking around, I would recommend you splash out on it.
In the meantime:-
mp3 : Wah! Heat – Better Scream
mp3 : Wah! Heat – Seven Minutes To Midnight
mp3 : Shambeko Say Wah! – Remember
mp3 : J.F. Wah – Story Of The Blues
mp3 : Wah! – Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me)
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Weekends
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Come Back
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful
mp3 : Pete Wylie – If I Love You
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Heart As Big As Liverpool
Echorich also made some great observations on the solo career of Ian McCulloch:-
Candleland is the stand out, but there are some excellent moments on Mysterio – Pomegranate, Magical World, Dug For Love – which beats many of his contemporaries at the dance/rock emerging at the time and his gorgeous reading of Leonard Cohen’s Lover, Lover, Lover. In fact I’d say his version of the last song is as beautiful and seminal as Jeff Buckley’s career turn on Hallelujah. My favorite McCulloch song – it’s a b-side to Candleland’s Faith + Healing single – Rocket Ship. It’s an exuberant track with a heartfelt love song built-in.
I’m with him on Lover, Lover, Lover as being a tremendous cover version. Feels right that this week of nostalgically looking back at the class of Liverpool early 80s style should come to an end with these culled straight from the vinyl:-
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Candleland (The Second Coming) (Extended Version)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Dig For Love (12″ version)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Lover, Lover, Lover (Indian Dawn Mix)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Lover, Lover, Lover
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Faith & Healing (The Carpenter’s Son Mix)
while these are from CDs:-
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Rocket Ship
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Suzanne
The latter two are more great takes on Leonard Cohen originals – and incidentally, it was Mac’s love for the Canadian bard that turned me onto his songs many years after I had initially ignored them on the grounds of him being hippy-dippy and ultra depressing.
Enjoy
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
What a fantastic week! Thanks to all involved.
And I’m already waiting for Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes..
I’m desperately trying to catch up with the wealth of quality Liverpudlian tuneage that’s been shared this week and couldn’t wait to get stuck into this post when I saw it pop up this morning. Pete’s the only one of The Crucial Three I’ve never seen live, though I did spot him in the audience of many shows I went to in London during the 80’s and 90’s. I always had a soft spot for ‘Four Eleven Forty Four’, but regardless of its absence, what a terrific listen your comp is. Also great to catch up with some solo Mac, haven’t heard ‘Rocket Ship’ for an age.
Leonard Cohen is too often incorrectly labelled a miserablist. Much like early Moz, the humour in his work is consistently overlooked.
Echorich, far away in time, picked a nice Wylie set, and I bet I’m one of many VV readers who thought, “I hope JC turns that into an imaginary comp!”
I like a lot of Mac’s solo work- Candle land is good, Lover x3 is ace and Mysterio has its moments too. I saw him on the tour at Manchester Uni with a teenage band in tracksuits and a ton of dry ice. memorable.
By the time Mac got to tour Mysterio in The States, he was playing pretty small venues. But as a sort of extra show/record company thank you (Sire/Reprise stood behind him after he left The Bunnymen), he played CBGB’s with one Roddy Frame as guest guitarist! THAT was a show!
Thanks for this great double post. Story of the Blues is such an amazing song but I have never got stuck into Pete Wylie’s other stuff. I am doing now, starting with this compilation.
Thanks JC for the Ian McCulloch post, love the Leonard Cohen covers, I’d forgotten about Suzanne completely.
Reminds me how much I used to listen to September Song and Cockles and Mussels!