Month: February 2016

British Sea Power

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #61 : BRITISH SEA POWER

A guest posting from Tim Badger

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Drape Yourself in Greenery – A British Sea Power Imaginary Compilation.

I love British Sea Power, I love the way that they sing songs about ice caps, the coastline, George Orwell, places in Bhutan and insects. I love the way that they play gigs in caves, embrace small festivals (including running their own at the Uk’s highest pub The Tan Hill Inn), run their own crazy club nights in which the basically tested songs from their next album and then sold them as limited edition EP’s, and soundtrack films about Britain. I love the way that they have taken a brass band on tour with them, and then done gigs with them in small mining towns and then made an album of their songs rearranged into brass. I love the way that when I saw them live a few years back they had a poet supporting them. I love the way that they recently appeared on comfy middle class Sunday night TV programme ‘Countryfile’ and didn’t once come across as pretentious rock stars trying to be cool. They went on it because they were fans of the show. I love the way in which they support authors, write books about their mums, and set up their own Book Club. Oh and I love their merchandise. I think that’s everything – oh I’m quite keen on the viola player too. That is definitely everything. Nope, hang on – One last thing – I love the way that ‘Open Season’ the second BSP album has a secret track on it that up until 17 seconds ago, I didn’t even know existed.

I first saw British Sea Power at the Cavern Club in Exeter, this was three days after the single ‘Apologies to Insect Life’ was released and I adored their raw Pixies-ish sound, a sound that has mellowed over the year. I was hooked instantly. I’ve seen them on every tour that they have done ever since and once travelled to Worthing to see them play in a 1930’s art deco jazz venue housed on a pier. I’ve also seen them in a cave, at several festivals and an old abandoned hospital. I’ve also danced with a 9ft polar bear during the filming of a video of theirs, but I’m not saying which one.

A couple of weeks ago British Sea Power was announced as the headline act of the Sea Change Festival in Totnes. I was in Totnes and spoke to the guy in the record shop organising the festival – I asked him how he got British Sea Power to headline a festival where the biggest venue will be a 500 capacity Arts Centre, he said he baked them a cake shaped like a duck and they accepted on the basis of that alone. I think he was joking.

I’ll shut up here for fear of being labelled an indie schmindie fanboy by all and sundry. But if you are fed up with gloomy no personality rock bands, then BSP will rescue you.

Here is my imaginary compilation – with four additional tracks that I just couldn’t find the heart to leave out – that can be released separately as an EP – but I’ll get the band to launch it at a club night housed in a docked submarine or something.

Side One

North Hanging Rock (from Open Season)

Beneath the tiny quiet piano chords and some graceful arcs of feedback you can make out the twittering of birds and the crushing of leaves underneath some feet. Then you hear a whisper and Yan the singer starts ‘Drape yourself in greeney, become part of the scenery’. He is singing about death of course, but he could be singing about anything – it’s just a lovely lovely track.

Observe the Skies (from Valhalla Dancehall)

One of the bands more radio friendly tracks, and one that I find myself humming every time I hear it. It makes really good use of some keyboards and is a close to a conventional pop record as you will get from British Sea Power.

Hail Holy Queen (from Machineries of Joy)

Hail Holy Queen is apparently an homage to a French Body Builder turned erotic movie star. This song I think underlines the quieter side to the band brought about by the introduction of the aforementioned viola player (Abi Fry) – here you get Hamilton on vocal duties and he uses this mysterious falsetto to warbles “I’m at your feet/I’m at your command/Hail Holy Queen of the scene” and then you get this viola that meanders along and I think it sounds almost exactly like ‘Venus In Furs’ by the Velvet Underground and that makes it one of their finest ever songs.

Remember Me (from The Decline of British Sea Power)

If you needed proof that British Sea Power are actually fantastic, then this their first proper single emphatically proves the argument. ‘Remember Me’ has the possibly the most urgent, compelling and exciting opening to a record that I have heard. There must be a full 90 seconds of pounding drums, guitars and seaside sound effects before you even hear a single word uttered. A swirling psychedelic fury filled bastard of a song, a song according to my blogging partner swc, that is so good is sounded like Joy Division had reformed.

Like A Honeycomb (from Open Season)

The first three tracks of ‘Open Season’ are a whirl of backbeats, guitars and knackered sounding synthesizers, then you get ‘Like A Honeycomb’. A track that sounds like it was recorded for high school proms, that switches between synths and folky strumming and vocals that stamp all over a chorus – you get Yan vocals on this one “In between the morning and the evening light/That’s how the days go by” – and you get the lyrics delivered with gruff abandon. It’s wonderful.

Side Two

Waving Flags (from Do You Like Rock Music)

A massive call to arms, the band re released this last year at the time of the election as an Anti UKIP record. This is a song that urges unity and wants us to welcome our European cousins who were at the time arriving in the Uk. The message is one of reassurance, that we can all be friends, live and work together like a happy family. Indeed, do one Farage.

No Lucifer (from Do You Like Rock Music).

Possibly the greatest example of the lyrical brilliance of BSP – this rears up full of brawn and gusto and the cries out “give me the dummy, tit” and then you get surrounded by the familiar chants of “Easy” – which I am told is a tribute to Shirley Crabtree, a wrestler better known as Big Daddy – who used to knock people over with his massive belly.

Stunde Null (from Valhalla Dancehall)

Apparently the titled refers to the zero hour in Germany at which World War II ended. Again this is a Yan song in which he sounds almost triumphant when declaring that “You’ve been on standby for half a century” and you get this fuzzy bass and those synths again before the song soars upward in a this wonderful chorus and those great punky guitars again.

Down on the Ground (from Krankenhaus EP)

Down On The Ground should have been a massive hit but for some reason they chose to hide this track as track three on the wonderful ‘Krankenhaus EP’ – behind the equally excellent ‘Atom’ (see below) – but again here is an example of some of the fine tracks that this band record and seemingly just chuck away. This song made me smile almost as much as I did when I got given a toy aeroplane to play with when I was four.

Lately (from The Decline of British Sea Power)

Well I can’t think of a better way to end the album. The rocks in at nearly fourteen minutes evolving from a simple guitar melody into a geological chant of “Do You like my megalithic rock” then “Do you Like My prehistoric Rock” and so on – and then descends into a full on Mogwai style guitar wall of noise.

 

Become Part of the Scenery – The Free EP

So there are four songs that I wanted to include but had to leave off – here they are

Atom – (from Krankenhaus)

Simply because the line “When you get down to the subatomic part of it, that’s when it breaks you know, that’s when it falls apart” is too good a line to ignore.

2. Favours In the Beetroot Fields (from The Decline of British Sea Power)
3. When a Warm Wind Blows Through the Grass (from Machineries of Joy)
4. Carrion (from the Decline…)

And there we have it. I could have done several of these if I am honest. Please enjoy and buy all of their albums tomorrow.

Tim B.

mp3 : British Sea Power – North Hanging Rock
mp3 : British Sea Power – Observe The Skies
mp3 : British Sea Power – Hail Holy Queen
mp3 : British Sea Power – Remember Me
mp3 : British Sea Power – Like A Honeycomb
mp3 : British Sea Power – Waving Flags
mp3 : British Sea Power – No Lucifer
mp3 : British Sea Power – Stunde Nulle
mp3 : British Sea Power – Down On The Ground
mp3 : British Sea Power – Lately

mp3 : British Sea Power – Atom
mp3 : British Sea Power – Favours In The Beetroot Fields
mp3 : British Sea Power – When A Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass
mp3 : British Sea Power – Carrion

JC adds…….

BSP were on my list of bands to feature in an ICA but when Tim offered to do this, I willingly stepped aside. I’m a big fan of the band, owning most of their records and catching them live on four occasions. Tim however, is a bit of an uber-fan but he’s not alone in this regard as they are the sort of band that really do attract a devoted following,

I think this is down to a combination of factors such as their constantly innovative approach to their craft with every album being different in style from its predecessor, the wit and intelligence of the song-writing, the blistering live shows which usually involve some sort of crowd participation or just simply that they are a perfect cult band content to make people happy at the price of not chasing commercial success.

In his accompanying e-mail to this piece, Tim said ‘I loved every minute of writing this.’ That certainly comes through in the writing. He also hinted that it broke his heart for two other named songs not to make the cut. Well, I’m not having that:-

mp3 : British Sea Power – The Pelican
mp3 : British Sea Power – Canvey Island

Enjoy.

Clash

THE CLASH ON SUNDAYS (6)

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Disc 6 is (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.

How appropriate that this should be slated for inclusion on Valentine’s Day as it is the song by The Clash that I am most in love with.  It’s a song that features highly in my all time list of singles and I’ll be saying a bit more in that particular series in due course.

It’s also got a belter of a b-side.

mp3 : The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
mp3 : The Clash – The Prisoner

I’ll leave the majority of words today to those who contributed essays to the singles boxset.

(WHITE MAN) IN HAMMERSMITH PALAIS : Released 16 June 1978 : #32

The Clash’s first album always sounded a bit rough to me. It was only when I saw the band live on their “Out Of Control” tour that I found out how potent they could be. It was October 21st 1977 in Trinity College Dublin and it was way more than just a gig. This was a tribal gathering and it had a seismic impact on the Dublin subculture.

White Man In Hammersmith Palais came out June 16th 1978. It was the first Clash song that drew influence from the reggae music of their “front-line” Notting Hill Gate neighbourhood. It was also the first song that really revealed the bands political depth. Written after a disappointing reggae gig at the Hammersmith Palais featuring seminal Jamaican stars Dillinger, Leroy Smart and Delroy Wilson, it mocks both the gun-toting braggarty of the reggae artists and the shallow attention seeking UK punk rockers for missing the real danger; the rise of the neo-Nazi movement.

Maybe more interesting than the political message was the evidence it gave us of a new-found musical ambition that set The Clash apart from their punk rock peers. This was one of the greatest bands of all time coming into their own.

The Edge, U2

Has anyone else ever managed to combine great tunes with such ferocious moralising? Dylan, in his early years, possibly, although Dylan pinched a lot of his tunes from elsewhere. It wasn’t just that Joe Strummer made you believe his outrage; he made you share it too. I have listened to this song hundreds of times and I’m still not entirely sure how he gets us from a reggae show at the Palais to Adolf Hitler in a limousine. I do know, however, that by the time you get to the fantastic, soaring finger-pointing last verse, you’re willing to leave your job and your family in order to right any wrong that Joe tell you to. The irony is that the Four-Tops-stage-right showmanship that Strummer bemoans is replicated, in part, by Mick Jones’ pop sensibilities – that’s why we’re all still listening now. This is a great single by one of England’s two or three greatest-ever bands.

Nick Hornby, novelist (High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch)

Radiohead

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (25)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY 21 APRIL 2008

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So here we finally have something from probably the most talked-about band across cyberspace*

*(well they were back in 2008!!!).

I was very very lucky to see Radiohead at the outset of their career on two occasions – the first when they were complete unknowns in September 1992 as the support act to The Frank and Walters at The Venue in Edinburgh. Just over a year later, having had success in the USA with Creep, they were given the support slot with James and this time it was Glasgow Barrowlands just before Xmas 1993.

I’d be a liar if I said that on the basis of those two gigs I could have predicted that world domination would soon be theirs. In fact, I’d go as far to say that having bought debut album Pablo Honey on the back of the 1992 gig and been a bit disappointed with it, I wasn’t all that looking forward to seeing them support James. But that night, they gave a pretty decent performance, and a bit of hope that they were going to be more than one-hit wonders.

Problem was, the band seemed to disappear from view thereafter as the UK went barmy for Britpop. As we now know, it was in fact to begin the long and drawn-out process to write and record songs for their second LP, on which work began in early 1994 but which wasn’t released until May 1995.

And its my considered opinion that The Bends might just be the best LP of all time…..its certainly the one I’ve listened to more than any other over the past 13 years (up to 2008!!!!). Yup, I much prefer it to the more-critically lauded OK Computer.

Part of this is down to the existence of the song that has made #25.

You can scour the internet and see that the song is pretty special to a lot of people, but there’s a bit of argument as to what exactly it is about. What can’t be denied is that Thom Yorke delivers an incredibly intense and moving vocal while the boys in the band deliver a haunting and memorable tune and melody.

It is clearly about something that is far from natural – the constant use of words like rubber, plastic and polystyrene only help emphasise that point. But is it about an artificial feeling of love that the protagonist has for someone, or does it have a deeper meaning? Is it indeed the template for Radiohead’s manifesto for the future in which their disgust about the way the planet is being treated would come to dominate how their songs sounded as well as the band’s philosophy and outlook on things?

I’m not entirely sure, and I’ve said previously, I tend not to delve too deep into the meaning of lyrics. They are important, but no more so than the music.

I know that many of you will disagree that this in fact the finest single ever released by Radiohead. While I had a bit of a debate with myself about which song to select for certain bands, this one was, as the cliché goes, a no-brainer. This is a song that can provoke so many emotions in me, depending on my mood and state of mind, and there’s not many others that I can say that about.

mp3 : Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees
mp3 : Radiohead – India Rubber
mp3 : Radiohead – How Can You Be Sure?

Surprisingly, the single only reached #20 in the UK charts, and it was later single Street Spirit (Fade Out) that was the big seller.

Chemikal Underground Records

BONUS POSTING : HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND

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The most important and influential record label ever to come out of Scotland has just reached its 21st birthday, and I want to pay tribute.

I’ve actually been lucky enough, through my day job in an office just a few hundred yards from their HQ in the east end of Glasgow, to get to know and work on some projects with the folks who run Chemikal Underground. I still pinch myself that I’ve become friendly with musicians whom I idolised as a fan not too many years ago and I’m thrilled that in an era when labels of all sizes have endured all sorts of turmoil and issues as a consequence of the ways we all ‘consume’ music nowadays, that Chem is still able to produce the most wonderfully diverse and rich output you could wish for – and in 2016, thanks to the new album from Emma Pollock,  have just released what I think will soon be referred to as a classic.

I did think about approaching Stewart Henderson and asking for an interview from which I’d try to create a blog post, but an article has appeared today in one of the biggest selling tabloid papers in Scotland which really does the business. And so, in the spirit of the villainous ways that I do things round here, I’ve gone for the cut’n’paste approach

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THEY started in the kitchen of a flat on Glasgow’s south side, creating a record label to release their own music.

Twenty one years later, they’ve launched the careers of some of Britain’s best-loved indie bands and been garlanded with an array of industry gongs.

Chemikal Underground remain one of the most important and influential record labels the country has ever produced, surviving against the odds with a mixture of luck, loyalty and endeavour.

They were established by the members of The Delgados to release their first single in 1994. Within 18 months, they’d signed Glasgow’s bis, got them a memorable slot on Top of The Pops with single Kandy Pop and started thinking outside the kitchen

Founder Stewart Henderson said: “We decided to record songs and do things ourselves and there was quite a vibrant DIY scene at the time. Putting out the first Delgados single Monica Webster was a high, but bis lit the touch paper.

“It catapulted us out of (fellow Delagados) Paul Savage and Emma Pollock’s kitchen and into an office. Within a week we’d gone from pressing 3000 CD singles to 30,000.”

The label are now based in an office in Bridgeton in Glasgow’s east end.

They’ve won two Scottish Album of the Year Awards in four years, with records by RM Hubbert and Aidan Moffat, seen The Delgados LP The Great Eastern nominated for a Mercury music prize and established the weekend-long East End Social music festival along Duke Street as part of the Commonwealth Games 2014 culture programme.

Stewart said: “It’s significant that a label like Chemikal Underground have been able to endure 21 years. It’s important people see a company like ours surviving when the landscape of the music industry has changed so dramatically.”

Emma Pollock’s new LP, In Search of Harperfield, kicked off the label’s 2016 release schedule, with more coming including a soundtrack to Graeme Obree documentary Battle Mountain from Alun Woodward.

Stewart said: “People talk about labels like Postcard records with love and admiration. But some were like magnesium flares. They burned quickly and brightly then collapsed in on themselves.

“The fact we’ve survived this long is a testament to the amount of music being made in Scotland.”

Here, label boss Stewart Henderson picks his top 21 Chemikal Underground records of their 21 year history.

Bis: ‘Kandy Pop’ from ‘The Secret Vampire Soundtrack’ (March 1996)

Chemikal’s third release catapulted this Glaswegian teenage trio onto Top of the Pops and essentially made the next 21 years possible.

We’ve had so many important acts on the label but bis it the touch paper and no mistake.

Arab Strap: The Week Never Starts Round Here (November 1996)

Controversial to plump for Arab Strap’s debut album rather than their later (more polished) records but this has ‘The First Big Weekend’ on it and remains one of our favourite ever releases.

It’s an incredibly brave, uncompromising statement by a band that would go on to influence and shape independent music in Scotland.

Mogwai: Young Team (October 1997)

If bis provided the commercial catalyst for Chemikal Underground then Mogwai have fuelled our progress ever since.

Nearly twenty years old, this album still sounds furious and beautiful in equal measure: what an opening gambit by one of Scotland’s most consistently creative bands.

The Delgados: The Great Eastern (April 2000)

A big album (in every sense) for Chemikal when it mattered most: with Mogwai and Arab Strap having moved on from the label, The Great Eastern earned the label’s founders a Mercury-nomination and showcased The Delgados’ flair for leftfield orchestral splendour.

Radar Brothers: And the Surrounding Mountains (May 2002)

Another long-standing favourite, the Radar Brothers hailed from Southern California and released five albums with us over the years.

They evoke such a brilliant sense of the outdoors, of longing and of thoughtful reflection that we suspect the only true place to listen to this album is on a long Greyhound bus journey as the landscape dances past the window…

Arab Strap: Monday at the Hug and Pint (April 2003)

The only band to feature twice on this list and with good reason.

Arab Strap’s second spell at the label delivered another batch of great albums but this one got a pub named after it and features ‘The Shy Retirer’ which rhymes ‘moanin’ with ‘serotonin’.

The defence rests.

Malcolm Middleton: Into the Woods (June 2005)

Malcolm’s musical input to Arab Strap was incalculable, the perfect foil for Aidan Moffat’s lyrics, but this album highlighted what a great songwriter he was in his own right.

From the brilliant AA Milne inspired artwork, through a host of musical styles and some darkly comic lyrics ‘Into the Woods’ is a classic.

Aereogramme: My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go (February 2007)

Another giant on Chemikal’s roster, the much-loved Aereogramme made three extraordinary albums including this, their swansong in 2007.

Craig B and Iain Cook would go on to release another two albums on Chemikal as The Unwinding Hours before Iain found global success with CHVRCHES and Craig launched his acclaimed solo project A Mote of Dust.

Various Artists: Ballads of the Book (March 2007)

An important and influential album for Chemikal Underground, this was an idea of Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble who, having worked with Edwin Morgan (Scotland’s Makar), was keen to unite Scottish literary figures’ lyrics with the music of various bands and recording artists.

The product was ‘Ballads of the Book’ featuring stellar collaborations between the likes of Alasdair Gray, Ian Rankine, Ali Smith, King Creosote, Norman Blake, Vashti Bunyan, AL Kennedy, Trashcan Sinatras and more.

The Phantom Band: Checkmate Savage (January 2009)

A debut album from an unknown band that took everyone by surprise.

Only The Phantom Band could fuse Captain Beefheart, krautrock, old world folk and doo wop into one album and pull it off perfectly.

A band for every music fan to cherish.

De Rosa: Prevention (March 2009)

Our second Alasdair Gray designed album cover, Prevention was De Rosa’s second album and remains a high-water mark for sophisticated, eloquent songwriting.

Everything about this album is class and the band have recently reformed too, releasing ‘Weem’ on Mogwai’s brilliant Rock Action label.

Roky Erickson with Okkervil River: True Love Cast Out All Evil (April 2010)

Alt-rock legend and 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erickson teamed up with fellow Austin, Texas band Okkervil River to make this emotional, uplifting testament to faith, hope and forgiveness.

Devastating.

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat: Everything’s Getting Older (May 2011)

The winner of the inaugural Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, Everything’s Getting Older is a wry, poignant – and at times quite filthy – modern classic.

Wells’ subtle melodies provide the perfect foil for Moffat’s peerless lyrics, just listen to The Copper Top if proof were needed.

The finest song in Chemikal Underground’s entire catalogue.

Rick Redbeard: No Selfish Heart (January 2013)

Phantom Band frontman Rick Anthony released this solo debut under the name Rick Redbeard and gifted us one of Chemikal Underground’s very best albums.

Recorded in his Glasgow flat and his parents’ Aberdeenshire home, No Selfish Heart seems instantly recognisable, timeless even, evoking the careworn confessionals of Neil Young and Tom Waits.

Conquering Animal Sound: On Floating Bodies (March 2013)

The work of Anneke Kampman and James Scott, this dazzling record inhabits a world almost entirely of its own.

Created over 18 months it weaves intricate electronica and samples with Anneke’s extraordinary vocals.

Cosmology, philosophy and semantics framed in all their otherworldly glory.

RM Hubbert: Breaks & Bone (September 2013)

Following his SAY Award win in 2013 for Thirteen Lost & Found, Hubby found his voice on Breaks & Bone, singing half the tracks while the other half highlighted his trademark flamenco-inspired guitar style.

A technically brilliant musician and a gifted songwriter full of wit and warmth, his music’s a key part of Chemikal’s legacy. He’s brilliant at swearing too.

Holy Mountain: Ancient Astronauts (April 2014)

Courted by Chemikal when they were still a blistering duo of guitar and drums, we finally secured Holy Mountain’s services as the ultimate rock power trio channelling the likes of Black Sabbath, Iron Monkey and Deep Purple.

They brought the noise alright, what an album.

Adrian Crowley: Some Blue Morning (November 2014)

On his third album for Chemikal (his seventh in total), Galway’s Adrian Crowley seemed to perfect his brand of evocative, cinematic songwriting.

Currently finishing his debut novel, this wonderfully modest man of letters makes music that brings to mind the drama of Scott Walker, the poetry of Leonard Cohen and the sweep of Lee Hazlewood.

Miaoux Miaoux: School of Velocity (June 2015)

Glasgow-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Julian Corrie delivered Chemikal’s finest foray into smart, electronic pop with this irresistible release from last June.

Referencing early Prince and Scritti Polliti while squeezing in the odd Nile Rodgers flourish, School of Velocity is a masterclass in melody and leftfield pop.

FOUND: Cloning (November 2015)

Nearly up to date now with an album by the tirelessly creative Edinburgh outfit FOUND who were responsible for Chemikal’s only edible release – a chocolate 7” back in 2011.

Cloning finds them in full-on synthesiser mode, recalling Vangelis and Tangerine Dream in this glorious sci-fi soundtrack to a film that hasn’t been made yet.

Emma Pollock: In Search of Harperfield (January 2016)

Last but not least then, and fitting that it should be penned by a Chemikal Underground founder and member of The Delgados.

Emma’s first album in six years has already been hailed as a triumph and for good reason.

A sophisticated, articulate pop album that explores family, responsibility and loss is quite simply the best album of Emma’s career and a jewel in the crown of the label she created with three of her friends.

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Here’s a few tunes to remind you of the quality of stuff this very fine Glasgow and Scottish institution have brought us over the years:-

mp3 : Bis – Kandy Pop
mp3 : Arab Strap – The Shy Retirer
mp3 : The Delgados – No Danger
mp3 : The Phantom Band – Throwing Bones (single version)
mp3 : RM Hubbert & Emma Pollock – Half Light (recorded live at Aberfeldy Distillery)

They also have has some ingenious films/videos made to accompany various releases.  None better than this for what Stewart has said – and I agree with him – is the finest song in the entire catalogue

There is a fantastic on-line shop from which you can buy a fair chunk of the back catalogue.

I really do urge everyone pays it a visit and if you haven’t already, sign up for their newsletter which is always a great and brilliantly-written piece of work that won’t clog up your inbox,

COMPETITION TIME

I’d like to mark this momentous occasion by offering T(n)VV readers the chance to pick up items of their choice from the Chem shop, up to a value of £50, that I will pay for in lieu of me sending Stewart & co. a big bottle of champagne and a tacky 21st birthday card.

All you have to do is answer this simple question, the answer to which can be found over at the Chem website:-

Which two musicians make up the Chem act Aloha Hawaii?

Send your answer to thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk

First name drawn out of the hat after Monday 29 February will win the prize.

Ben Watt

THE BOY WITH (THE) THORN BY HIS SIDE

Everything+but+the+Girl
Huge apologies about the terrible pun – it’s the sort of thing you’d cringe at when you picked up an NME in the mid 80s.  But as far as I know, it’s one I’ve come up with by myself.

There’s loads can be said about Ben Watt – the laziest and easiest thing I can do is refer you to this wiki page.  Hard to imagine that back in the 90s, he experienced a very rare and life-threatening illness with his recovery only enabled with the removal of 15 feet worth of intestines….I read the other day that he’s going out on tour this year with a band that will feature Bernard Butler on guitar; the pity for me being that his Glasgow gig on Saturday 28 May coincides with me being away that weekend so I’m sadly going to miss it (but I will be back in time for the following night’s big event which is Robert Forster playing at King Tut’s……)

It seems that Ben will be including tracks from his 1983 debut solo album within his setlists.

North Marine Drive is a very good but not great album. While it is a work that predates anything he made with Tracey Thorn, it is very evident that it is a close relative to the first few Everything But The Girl LPs. It’s also an album that I reckon Paul Weller listened to a lot back in the days for there’s quite a few of the songs quite similar in mood and tempo as many an album track or b-side by The Style Council. It’s really no surprise that Ben and Tracey ended up guesting on Cafe Bleu.

So why do I say good and not great??

Listening to it afresh all these years later, I still can’t find anything to criticise about the five tracks that make up Side A. But I still get annoyed by the opening song on Side B – Waiting Like Mad – and it’s all down to the inclusion of a saxophone piece that makes it sound like some sort of inoffensive but totally bland bit of muzak that wouldn’t be out-of-place at dinner parties where guests were more interested in the sound of their own voices and boasting about how quickly they would make their next million on the stock market.

It’s five minutes of hell in an album that is only 33 minutes in length, containing 8 original Ben Watt compositions and a Bob Dylan cover. It’s a record I played a lot in my student days – always without fail skipping Track 1 on Side B – and it’s a record that takes me right back to a particular era when life did seem so much carefree and less worrying; when getting out of bed before noon wasn’t a necessity; when your circle of friends were always around you and you saw them every day, and when I was umpteen stone lighter, thinner and there was more hair on the top of my head.

Oh and to when I dressed exactly like Ben Watt in the picture above….even in the summertime. Except for the white cotton socks. Could never bring myself to wear them.

mp3 : Ben Watt – Some Things Don’t Matter
mp3 : Ben Watt – Empty Bottles
mp3 : Ben Watt – North Marine Drive

Happy Daze indeed…..hard to take in the fact that it was 33 years ago!

 

Beta Band

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #60 : THE BETA BAND

A guest contribution from S-WC.

the beta band

Stop Fighting with your Thoughts – A Beta Band Imaginary Compilation

One of the best scenes in the film High Fidelity is the scene where the lead character who works in a record shop says ‘I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by the Beta Band”, it was around that moment when the Beta Band were finally a ‘cult band’.

That one line, probably the most iconic plug for a band in a movie ever, summed up the power of Steve Mason’s band from Scotland. A band that as I have said before on these very pages dragged rock music kicking and screaming out of the Britpop malaise and influenced and wooed everyone from Noel Gallagher to Thom Yorke. Back to the film, John Cusack in the movie then played ‘Dry The Rain’ and people will buy it and even though you don’t actually see anyone part with their cash (its film, right.) you know that at least five copies will have been sold before closing.

The Beta Band were brilliant, they merged hip hop electronica, folk and pop music together and it came out as one sound, one incredible massive sound. But at the same time they never took themselves that seriously, they mucked around, wore stupid hats but we let them because their music was so good. Yet they never really had the global success that they deserved, each record they released struggled to find its audience. They released three album plus the ‘Three EP’s’, the first one ‘The Beta Band’ is often overlooked because the man itself described it as ‘fucking awful’. It isn’t by the way, it’s actually pretty good.

I once got punched for saying that Pink Floyd were shit. They are, face facts Pink Floyd fans. The second Beta Band album ‘Hot Shots II’ sounds like what Pink Floyd were trying to sound like, where Pink Floyd disappeared up their own arses in a self-indulgent toss fest, the Beta Band did it in a restrained and focused way. Yet ‘Hot Shots II’ is a sad and anxious record full of songs with titles like ‘Gone’, ‘Broke’ and ‘Quiet’. I blame Radiohead for this as the Beta Band spent most of that year touring with them. ‘Hot Shots II’ is almost perfect, full of rhythms and beat that are massively ahead of its time.

In 2004, the third and final album appeared this was ‘Heroes to Zeroes’ it was a bit of dramatic shift – its not a bad record but they tried to make it sound more commercial and whilst it has its moments like the Siouxsie Sioux sampling ‘Liquid Bird’ and the terrific single ‘Out Side’, it feels a bit flat in places. A band pushing to make it on the radio and failing so they simply gave up. The Beta band were always a band who thought to much and spent too long in the shadow of Radiohead so here after a few weeks of planning is the Beta Band Compilation. Hope you enjoy it.

Side One

1. “She’s The One” (from The Patty Patty Sound EP, 1998)

I’ll put in as simple as this, ‘She’s the One is the sweetest, most smile inducing and best song the Beta Band ever made. After all this is a simple song, that chant (a common theme, you will find) “She’s the One for Me” which gains more power with each repetition, that takes your focus so much that the climax almost burst out of nowhere. A brilliant way to spend eight and a half minutes.

2. “Round The Bend” (from The Beta Band, 1999)

‘Round the Bend’ is the Beta Bands funniest and saddest moment. It’s also one of the few times in which the lyrical genius of Steve Mason out shines the music. It’s a tale of shit night out and Mason is very specific in the lyrics, his simple thoughts of going out drinking alongside fantasy’s about pyramids blend brilliantly.

3. “Dogs Got A Bone” (from Champion Versions EP, 1997)

This song shows that despite all the ideas and innovation, the Beta Band also made really simple sweet jams sound incredible. The song is basically an acoustic guitar, a harmonium and obviously a bit of beat boxing. It doesn’t have a chorus or even a proper verse and at just short of six minutes that is pretty magical.

4. “Al Sharp” (from Hot Shots II, 2001)

The best song off ‘Hot Shots II is also the best example of where different sounds gel together perfectly. I should have put this as track 2 on side one because it’s the perfect antidote to ‘She’s the One’. I love the way this song hypnotically weaves music around two devastating statements “You and I will never be fine” and “I never even tried to smile for you”. Crikey that’s harsh.

5. “Eclipse” (from Hot Shots II, 2001)

‘Eclipse’ closes ‘Hot Shots II’ and it feels like a big hug after an album of cold and bitter music. It is almost the complete opposite of every other track on the album, its long, it’s a bit silly and its really chilled out. Whereas the rest of ‘Hot Shots II’ is obsessed with death, this is an acoustic guitar torch songs that ends with what sounds suspiciously a prog rock jam. Don’t let that put you off Side Two please.

Side Two

6. “Squares” (from Hot Shots II, 2001)

‘Squares’ opens with an a capella moment and immediately you know that this is something different. The drums crack in like fireworks and barely form a beat until it blooms suddenly and its iconic ‘Daydream’ nods jumps in. Strangely both The Beta Band and I Monster both used the ‘Daydream’ song in the same year and the melodies are so similar that they get confused. But whilst the Beta Band version has depths in between the hooks that makes the song sound sinister and like a bad acid trip and as the song goes on you hear the shout of ‘Daydream’ turning more and more into a nightmare. But it is a wonderful piece of music.

7. “Dance O’er The Border” (from The Beta Band, 1999)

Perhaps an example of why so many people were pissed off with the first Beta Band album. On first listen this song is a mess – a repetitive percussion heavy jam and I think it always sounded like a B side to a dance 12” with added mumbling, Mason is ad-libbing. So why is it on the album?? Because 5 years later LCD Soundsystem did exactly the same thing and made me listen to this all over again and realise the genius of it.

8. “Needles In My Eyes” (from Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos, 1998)

‘Needles In My Eyes’ is a track that best describes a break up like no others, there is one line here “Last night I dropped my heart and I never want to see it again”. It leaves you numb and you feel the pain and it is almost a relief when you hear the next verse state that “Needles in my eyes won’t cripple me tonight”. Phew.

9. “Dry The Rain” (from Champion Versions EP, 1997)

For most people this is the best Beta Band song, but it isn’t you have that right at the beginning of this compilation. It was one hell of an impressive debut though. You will of course remember the chant “I will be your light” and the opening line “This is the definition of my life/Lying in bed in the sunlight/choking on the vitamin tablet” which is a lyric so Radiohead like that I surprised they didn’t actually write it. From that moment on I knew that this was a band I would love and in Steve Mason a singer I would worry about. Oh man, its such a good record.

10. “Pure For” (from Heroes To Zeroes, 2004)

“Pure For’ is the last song on the final Beta Band record so ideally it should close the imaginary compilation, right? This is just too sparse to do that, it’s mainly just a drumbeat , a few synth chirps and a guitar that has been recorded backwards – there is no grand conclusion apart from the chant of “I’m so glad you found me”. It is such a happy ending, you forget the limitations the band faced and you forget that its their last song and just let it engulf you.

mp3 : The Beta Band – She’s The One
mp3 : The Beta Band – Round The Bend
mp3 : The Beta Band – Dogs Got A Bone
mp3 : The Beta Band – Al Sharp
mp3 : The Beta Band – Eclipse
mp3 : The Beta Band – Squares
mp3 : The Beta Band – Dance O’er The Border
mp3 : The Beta Band – Needles In My Eyes
mp3 : The Beta Band – Dry The Rain
mp3 : The Beta Band – Pure For

Enjoy!!

Dan Hicks

2016 DELIVERS ANOTHER KICK IN THE TEETH TO MUSIC FANS

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A close friend of this particular corner of the internet, Johnny the Friendly Lawyer, dropped me a poignant few words the other day:-

Hi Jim, hope you’re doing okay. A little frightening reading the news each day as we seem to be losing musical heroes on a regular basis.

I’m writing about the latest casualty, Dan Hicks, who was kind of a folky troubadour from the Bay Area that I was always fond of. Hicks was an older gent (74); not the sort of artist that is featured on TVV or the blogs of our extended family. Still, he was a lovable figure and there is a song in particular I wanted to call to your attention.

It’s called ‘Meet Me on the Corner’ from Hicks’ 2000 LP Beatin’ the Heat. You might be interested as it’s not only a duet with Elvis Costello, but features a ripping lead by Stray Cat Brian Setzer, a local hero from my native Long Island. (To my knowledge it’s the only studio recording with Costello and Setzer together, although they did appear in a Simpsons episode!)

Cheers,

Jonny TFL

I’ll admit to not being aware of Dan Hicks, but if he was revered by folk who like this blog, then it seems right and fitting to acknowledge his sad passing. As someone else who posted this elsewhere has said, it’s a tune that blends Swing, Country, Pop, Blues, Rock and Roll and Jazz…

I thought it also worth cuttin’n’pasting the obit from the New York Times:-

Dan Hicks, a singer, songwriter and bandleader who attracted a devoted following with music that was defiantly unfashionable, proudly eccentric and foot-tappingly catchy, died on Saturday at his home in Mill Valley, Calif. He was 74.

The cause was liver cancer, said his wife, Clare.

Mr. Hicks began performing with his band, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, in the late 1960s in San Francisco, where psychedelic rock bands like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead dominated the music scene. The Hot Licks’ sound could not have been more different.

At a time when rock was getting louder and more aggressive, Mr. Hicks’s instrumentation — two guitars (Mr. Hicks played rhythm), violin and stand-up bass, with two women providing harmony and backup vocals — offered a laid-back, all-acoustic alternative that was a throwback to a simpler time, while his lyrics gave the music a modern, slightly askew edge.

He came to call his music “folk swing,” but that only hinted at the range of influences he synthesized. He drew from the American folk tradition but also from the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt, the Western swing of Bob Wills, the harmony vocals of the Andrews Sisters, the raucous humor of Fats Waller and numerous other sources.

“It starts out with kind of a folk music sound,” Mr. Hicks explained in a 2007 interview, “and we add a jazz beat and solos and singing. We have the two girls that sing, and jazz violin, and all that, so it’s kind of light in nature, it’s not loud. And it’s sort of, in a way, kind of carefree.”

Songs like “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?,” “Milk-Shakin’ Mama” (“I saw the girl who keeps the ice cream/And now it’s I who scream for her”) and “Hell, I’d Go,” about a man whose fondest wish is to be abducted by aliens, displayed his dry and often absurd wit, as did his gently self-mocking stage presence. But he had his serious side, too: “I Scare Myself,” a longtime staple of his repertoire, was a brooding, hypnotic minor-key ballad about being afraid to love.

Mr. Hicks’s records never sold in the millions, but at the height of his popularity in the early 1970s, he and his band appeared on network television and headlined at Carnegie Hall, and he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Fellow musicians were among his biggest fans: Guest artists on “Beatin’ the Heat” (2000), the first Hot Licks album after a long hiatus, included Bette Midler, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, while Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett joined him in the studio four years later for “Selected Shorts.”

Daniel Ivan Hicks was born on Dec. 9, 1941, in Little Rock, Ark., the son of Ivan Hicks, a career military man, and the former Evelyn Kehl. His family moved to Santa Rosa, Calif., near San Francisco, when he was a child.

He took up drums in sixth grade and guitar as a teenager. After graduating from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) with a degree in broadcasting, he performed in local folk clubs while also playing drums with dance bands.

From 1965 to 1968, Mr. Hicks was the drummer and occasional vocalist with the Charlatans, widely regarded as the first San Francisco psychedelic band, although he himself remembered it as less a band than “just kind of some loose guys.” While still with the Charlatans, he formed the first version of the Hot Licks.

The group’s 1969 album, “Original Recordings,” sold poorly, but three subsequent albums for the independent Blue Thumb label established it as a successful touring act.

Mr. Hicks nonetheless disbanded the group in 1973, at the height of its popularity. “It was getting old,” he explained in 1997. “We became less compatible as friends. I was pretty disillusioned, had some money, and didn’t want to do it any more.”

His career stalled after that, but he returned in the 1980s with a new group, the Acoustic Warriors, which duplicated the Hot Licks instrumentation without the female singers. In the late 1990s, he added two singers and brought back the Hot Licks name.

The band, with frequent changes in personnel, toured regularly and continued to perform occasionally in recent years when Mr. Hicks’s health allowed, most recently in December in Napa, Calif.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Hicks is survived by a stepdaughter, Sara Wasserman.

“I will always be humble to my dying day,” Mr. Hicks, tongue in cheek as usual, said when interviewed in 2013 by Roberta Donnay of the Hot Licks. “On my dying day I will explain to the world how lucky they have been to be alive the same time as me.”

RIP Dan Hicks.

Klark Kent, Police, Stewart Copeland

READ IT IN BOOKS – STEWART COPELAND

I found this old review in the files from the old blog. I thought it would make a good follow-up to yesterday’s post (without knowing what sort of feedback that was going to get…)

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Strange Things Happen : A Life with The Police, Polo and Pygmies is a hugely enjoyable and unusual rock autobiography.

The dust jacket states the facts. Over 50 million records sold. 5 Grammy Awards. 2 Brits. Members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Police were the biggest band in the world.

But what came before? What came afterwards? And what happened when, 23 years on, the band members reformed for one final tour? Stewart Copeland answers all these questions and more.

The book is a really easy read, not least for the fact that its 313 pages of narrative are spread over 43 chapters and one afterword, not one of which is more than 13 pages long – and even then, that particular chapter deals with the teenage years. The story of The Police from 1976-1984 are given the briefest of mentions in as far as it is told over a measly 11 pages. It is quite clear that their drummer considers what has happened in his life since to be of far more significance and far more interest to the casual reader.

Whether he’s composing operas, being part of an Italian twenty-piece orchestra, shooting movies in Africa, playing with some new rock stars who look upon him as a legend, taking part as a judge in a TV show or playing polo with the next King of England, the author does so with a sense of adventure and fun. He’s got enough fame and fortune to seemingly not worry about a single thing, and is therefore able to lead a full and hugely diverse life that takes him to places and puts him into situations which are often almost a state of self-parody.

But Copeland never ever leaves the reader feeling that he is boastful about anything. Far from it. His style of writing is often self-deprecating – one example being his realising that now he is no longer a high-profile pop star, there is very little in his everyday wardrobe that he can safely wear without looking or feeling ridiculous. And the tales he tells about his stint as a judge on Series One of the BBC show Just The Two Of Us which aired in February/March 2006 are enlightening in terms of the manipulation that goes on behind the scenes to make entertainment out of a mediocre show.

The final third of the book however, is when it really does come into its own as a rock memoir which is a cut above most, as it deals with the period from February 2007 when The Police get together and go on an ever-extending world tour that was seen by over 3 million fans. He doesn’t hide from the fact that for a while it was fun and enjoyable, but all too quickly the novelty wore off and it was just a job that had to be done. His description of some of the Stingo (his word) temper tantrums and pursuit for on-stage perfection are a real joy.

There are tales of missed cues, bum notes, vocal mishaps, near fights breaking out on stage……..despite which every gig was lapped up by an always-adoring audience of tens of thousands, no matter the city.

And then there’s the day that Stewart hung out with the boys from Rage Against The Machine. I won’t spoil it by revealing the outcome, but it shows up a fantastic and different side to the angry young men who spoiled Simon Cowell’s Christmas a few years back.

An articulate and funny man has written an articulate and funny book that is well worth investing in.

mp3 : The Police – Truth Hits Everybody
mp3 : Klark Kent – Don’t Care
mp3 : The Police – On Any Other Day

Enjoy

Police

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #59 : THE POLICE

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This is one that I’ve been giving some thought to for a few months as I know that putting the spotlight on The Police and attempting to justify them having an ICA will appal rather be of any appeal to most readers. But given that this was the first headline band for whom I ever bought a concert ticket (May 1979 – Glasgow Apollo) and that I’ve included one of their 45s in my list of my favourite ever singles it would be ludicrous not to make this effort.

There’s no doubt that the rapid growth in popularity of the band which saw them transform from post-punk new-wave wannabees into stadium rockers in the blink of an eye had a lot to do with how they have come to be acknowledged or otherwise by music fans of my generation. It is also nigh-on impossible nowadays to separate any feelings for the bland outpourings, musically and otherwise, of Sting over the past 30-plus years from much of the music that he and his two mates made when they were initially together between August 1977 and March 1984 (the dates of their first and last gigs as a trio). Having said that, they were a band who, for this fan, really came to represent the law of diminishing marginal returns in terms of quality – the bigger they got in terms of mainstream fans, the more bland the music they made; conversely, the more bland the music they made, the more units they shifted and the more money they made.

They were, for a while the biggest band on the planet. Five of their six studio LPs went to #1 in the UK and Australia. Their two final albums have picked up 11 platinum discs in the USA and it is estimated they have sold 75 million records the world over. And their final number one saw them deliver one of the most instantly recognisable pop singles of all time – albeit I cannot bring myself to include it in this ICA which unsurprisingly focuses very much on the earliest material.

SIDE A

1. Can’t Stand Losing You

The song that made me fall for the band, courtesy of seeing it performed live on the Old Grey Whistle Test in late 1978. Housed in one of the greatest single sleeves of all time, it limped to #42 on its initial release but reached #2 ten months later on its re-issue, kept off the top spot by I Don’t Like Mondays, the ode to mass shootings as recorded by The Boomtown Rats. Three minutes of pop magic with that hint of a reggae that was prevalent in many of the early singles and which seemed to offer something a little bit different; a jaunty tune over the black tale of a teenage suicide after being unable to cope with being chucked.

2. Dead End Job

I’m not going to make any grandiose claim that this is among the best the songs by the band but I feel it fits in really well at this early stage of the ICA. The b-side to ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ is just a bit of new-wave noise that was partly reliant on a riff developed by the drummer but it demonstrates that the initial output of the band wasn’t that different from many of their contemporaries other than they clearly had a very talented guitarist (who was of course more than a decade older and experienced than most other new wave axemen).

3. Message In A Bottle

The band’s first UK #1 single and the proof that they were about to really make it big. There shouldn’t be too much argument that this is a tremendous bit of pop music however you look at it. It is driven along by a cracking riff and it also gives space to demonstrate that the rhythm section are quite talented. Bought on green vinyl by me on the day of its release in September 1979, the 7” take isn’t widely available as the album and all subsequent CD releases of greatest hits etc. have offered up the longer version in which ‘sending out an SOS’ goes on for just a wee bit too long.

4. Next To You (live)

The opening song on the band’s debut album was always one of their most popular; Sting would include it within his solo sets while it has also been given the cover version treatment by a number of other acts including Foo Fighters. It is that unusual beast from the new wave era – an unashamed love song. Such was my desire to get everything by the band baack in the days that I bought an import LP called Propaganda in late 1979 as it contained two live tracks recorded earlier in the year at the Bottom Line club in New York. Next To You was the second of those tracks and quickly established itself as my favoured version.

5. Roxanne

The breakthrough hit. It is worth recalling that this had been a huge flop in the UK in April 1978 when released as the band’s debut as much for the fact that our notoriously conservative radio stations would naturally shy away from airing any songs that were about sex never mind one that was so openly about using the services of a prostitute. It was only after the 45 became a hit in the US and Canada in Spring 1979 (hitting the Top 40 around the time the band were captured for the above mentioned Propaganda LP) that the UK stations decided to get behind the band and this led to A&M Records quickly re-releasing Roxanne to enjoy an eight-week residency in the Top 40. The red light that had stopped the band going anywhere had now totally changed colour….

SIDE B

1. Fall Out

The flop debut single from May 1977 recorded and released before Andy Summers was part of the band. It is also the only 45 not written by Sting. The band have been very self-deprecating about it and in many ways disowned it quite early on with the admission that it was recorded before they had done any live performances and that original guitarist Henry Padovani was so nervous about it all that he only played the guitar solo with Stewart Copeland (who had written the track) playing the other guitar parts as well as the drums.

It came out on the small label Illegal Records who took advantage of the band’s higher profile and re-released it in late 1979 where is sold enough copies to hit the Top 50 here in the UK at which time Stewart Copeland said the original release (which can fetch up to around £40-£50 if it is in mint condition) had sold “Purely on the strength of the cover, because of the fashion at the time. Punk was in and it was one of the first punk records – and there weren’t very many to choose from. “

It’s actually not all that bad if viewed as a punk record. It certainly gave no indication however, that the band would be all that special.

2. Invisible Sun

The one time where the trio courted controversy. By late 1981, they were one of the most popular bands in the world despite each of their three albums suffering from ever decreasing quality. They were popular not just because they had shown an ability to make catchy and radio-friendly pop songs but for the fact that their clean living, trouble-free approach to the job in hand, including playing the game of co-operating to the fullest extent with the media, made them a band that was appreciated by folk of all ages. For every snobby review that emanated from the pen of a music critic you could point to twenty or more sycophantic profiles in the pages of newspapers and magazines while broadcasters were falling over themselves to get the handsome and rugged frontman onto their stations.

So the release of a mournful sounding anti-war number, whose video never stood a chance of being aired in the UK thanks to it consisting solely of footage taken from news stories that dealt with the civil war underway in Northern Ireland, was a shock to the system. They didn’t have to do this and indeed a backlash could have set them back in the UK – but the fact that the single reached #2 (kept off the top spot by Adam Ant being Prince Charming) was proof that pop music could be effective in getting across a social and political message. Band Aid was just four years down the line…

3. The Bed’s Too Big Without You

I struggled to understand those who criticised the band for their efforts to deliver a blend of pop and reggae, particularly those whose gripes seem to be centred around ‘white men haven’t got the natural rhythm to make reggae’. The thing is, the music industry played along with the notion and were very happy to pigeon-hole singers and bands in ways that defined the sort of music listeners should expect from white musicians and what should be written, recorded and performed by black musicians – particularly in the 80s.

Sting and his mates absorbed a lot of influences – it’s worth remembering that prior to post-punk/new wave both of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland had been in bands who encompassed R&B, psychedelia and prog – and therefore they could play a bit. If you want evidence, have a listen to this album track from 1979 , particularly the middle section where the vocals stop.

4. Voices Inside My Head

Here’s the problem I knew I was going to hit with this ICA. Eight songs in and I’m not convinced that there’s another two songs out there to complete the task in hand. Bu hey, every one of the band’s five albums had filler going back to the debut which in Be My Girl/Sally included a spoken word number about blow-up dolls (and on that tour ‘Sally’ would be brought on stage while Andy Summers did his free-form poetry. John Cooper Clarke it most certainly wasn’t!!)

This track from 1980s’s Zenyatta Mondatta has just two often repeated lines over an increasingly aggressive and catchy beat that turns into the ‘cha’ chant that would layer be taken up with great gusto by Stuart Adamson in the early songs of Big Country (see Fields Of Fire….or even better catch live footage of that band on you tune from hose days and you’ll catch what I’m on about).

Voices Inside My Head was a song that came to life in the live setting, often stretching out well beyond its standard four minutes, and seems to be a good fit at this point in the ICA.

5. Peanuts

This stood out as strange even back in the days The Police were searching for the formula that would take them to the top. It’s frantically fast with a ridiculously punky guitar solo (see also Landlord, the b-side to Message in A Bottle which was a candidate for this part of the ICA) but has the bonus of a twisted and strange sax part and a crazy chant of the song title seemingly coming out of nowhere after a lyric that was attacking pop stars who were not only living life to the full but making a career of singing songs about said lifestyle. It was seemingly aimed at Rod Stewart who had been one of Sting’s idols just a few years earlier….

I do love how the song comes to a spluttering and tired sounding end. Seems an appropriate way to close off this particular an ICA which I’m not myself completely convinced is worthy of inclusion in this what I think is proving a great series (thanks in the main to the guest contributors) but without whom etc……

mp3 : The Police – Can’t Stand Losing You
mp3 : The Police – Dead End Job
mp3 : The Police – Message In A Bottle
mp3 : The Police – Next To You (live)
mp3 : The Police – Roxanne
mp3 : The Police – Fall Out
mp3 : The Police – Invisible Sun
mp3 : The Police – The Bed’s Too Big Without You
mp3 : The Police – Voices Inside My Head
mp3 : The Police – Peanuts

Enjoy.

Only 48 hours till the next ICA…..it’s a guest posting from an old friend.

Style Council

THE STYLE COUNCIL SINGLES (10)

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The second album from The Style Council had been released to a fair amount of critical acclaim in May 1985. Our Favourite Shop also proved popular with the record buying public and in fact reached the #1 spot, albeit for one week only. It was an incredibly diverse LP in terms of sound with elements of pop, soul, funk, rap, jazz and the spoken word all to the fore at various times. The credits for the record show that in addition the regular four Councillors, there were three other guest vocalists (including the comedian Lenny Henry) with eighteen other musicians receiving one or more performance credits.

It was an ambitious and sprawling work with not all that many really obvious candidates for radio-friendly singles, and therefore it was always going to be interesting to see what was going to be the follow-up to the catchy and splendid Walls Come Tumbling Down.

Very few of us would have put money on it being Come To Milton Keynes.

For starters, it’s a strange old tune with a number of changes in pace and tempo. There’s no killer chorus and there’s all sorts of different instrumentation on the record including what appears to be a harp over an incomprehensible spoken word section towards the end. The lyric is a bit garbled and there’s a few bad puns included, none of which would have made much sense to folks outwith the UK. Oh and there’s also the fact that a number of radio stations shied away from it as there was a bit of a media controversy over the title and the subject matter of the lyric.

mp3 : The Style Council – Come To Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes is synonymous with the sort of developments that Paul Weller had attacked during his days with The Jam via The Planner’s Dream Goes Wrong which appeared on The Gift. It was one of the few places that was economically booming in the early-mid 80s thanks to it being able to offer all sorts of economic incentives to businesses and industries, and almost as if it to rub other’s noses in it, the town fathers embarked on a marketing campaign that extolled many virtues under the slogan of ‘Come To Milton Keynes’.

The songwriter thought it was all based on a false premise and penned a lyric which basically said the town, far from being an idyllic spot, had more than its fair share of social problems which couldn’t be masked by lovely new houses and amenities. Indeed, the perceived intention of the strange tune was ‘to create a musical pastiche which matched the supposed artificiality of Milton Keynes itself.’

As is always the case when any sort of artist has an attack on a particular community, the local politicians and residents are whipped up into a frenzy by the media and the band was warned to stay away. In an effort to defuse things, Paul Weller used a BBC interview, when offered the opportunity to explain the song’s meaning, to say it was about much more than this particular corner of England:-

“It was more about the new towns, the fact we used Milton Keynes is neither here not there. They’re up in arms about it apparently, but big deal, you know. It’s more about the way Britain’s values are changing and us as a race are changing as well, I think, and the kind of materialistic values we seem to have adopted, quite American I think.”

All of which saw the song stall at #23, the first by the band (if you exclude The Council Collective effort) to not reach at least #11 in the singles charts.

It was released on 7” and 12”. The common b-side was a rather exquisite love song with a catchy and lovely tune that was tailor-made for daytime radio and would have made a fine single.  And yet, it hadn’t even made the cut for the album

mp3 : The Style Council – (When You) Call Me

It’s the 7” version of the single I have in the cupboard and so that’s all I can offer today.

Earth Wind and Fire

IF I MAY BE INDULGED FOR A MOMENT OR TWO

sorry-sticker_000

I haven’t been in and around blogworld much this past few days, and to those of you whose places I like visiting and leaving comments, then I promise to do so when I get my mind back focussed on things again, hopefully in the next couple of days.

Huge thanks to everyone who left such kind and lovely words after my posting a few days back when I had learned that a good friend had been given just 48 hours to live.

As with so much ever since he was initially diagnosed he proved them wrong yet again and that 48 hours ended up extended enough that I was able to get to see him one last time, to share some final happy thoughts and reflect on how lucky I am to know so many amazing people. He finally succumbed last night, but I’m adhering to his final wish and nor to be maudlin, sad or upset about it.

I noticed too that the music world lost another bright star the other day with the passing of Maurice White. I’ve admitted on these pages to having a soft spot for disco, and Maurice’s band were among the greatest exponents of the genre. Indeed, a few weeks back myself and Jacques the Kipper were at a football ground bemoaning the dreadful choice of music being played by the stadium announcer until this came on and made us both smile:-

Sheer brilliance.

PS : There was a comment from Webbie the other day after The Skids posting that linked to a September 2015 internet radio show from Gary Crowley in which he interviewed Richard Jobson.  It’s a tremendous show, packed with great punk/new wave tunes and a hilarious chat with Jobson that is chock-full of wonderful anecdotes as well as having some lovely words about the late Stewart Adamson

https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/gary-crowleys-punk-and-new-wave-show-15092015/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link

If you can’t be bothered with the music, then FF to the interview which begins at 61 minutes in….

Clash

THE CLASH ON SUNDAYS (5)

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Disc 5 is Clash City Rockers.

The time in and around the release of Complete Control had seen the band out on the road for a fair bit, and is often the case in such situations, there was a bit of a fall-out with Mick and Paul not on speaking terms for a bit.  Part of this came from the fact that Mick and Joe had been given the opportunity to go to Jamaica to absorb some of the culture on offer in the hope it would have a positive effect on the songs that were going to be needed for the second album – Paul being the biggest reggae fan in the band was understandably annoyed at having to stay in the cold and damp UK while his mates went in search of inspiration (forlornly as it turned out as later captured on the album track Safe European Home).

While the two songwriters were in Jamaica, manager Bernie Rhodes pulled a trick that caused yet another rift in Camp Clash.  The band had gone into the studio to record a new single – an anthemic number that partly mythologised all that The Clash considered they stood for while incorporating, in part, a section of a tune from a 17th century children’s nursery rhyme about church bells in London.

The thing is, Rhodes thought the final recording was a bit flat sounding and so he convinced producer Mickey Foote to increase its speed marginally thus making it slightly higher in pitch.  All this was done while Joe and Mick were away and the single had been pressed before they heard the results.  They were appalled and angered and Foote was sacked on the spot.

mp3 : The Clash – Clash City Rockers (single version)

All subsequent releases of the song on compilation albums etc have featured the original version of the song (at the proper speed)

mp3 : The Clash – Clash City Rockers (original recording)

The b-side was an update of one of Joe’s old pub rock songs but the vocal gifted to Mick:-

mp3 : The Clash – Jail Guitar Doors

It’s long been a popular song among fans and indeed was deemed worthy of inclusion on the track-list of the band’s debut LP when it was finally released in the USA in a form almost unrecognisable from its UK counterpart.

Jail Guitar Doors is also the name of a charity, set up by Billy Bragg, whose aim is to aid rehabilitation by providing musical equipment for the use of inmates serving time in prisons and funding individual projects such as recording sessions in UK prisons and for former inmates.  A similar scheme was later established in the USA.

The single reached #35 in the charts and again they declined an opportunity to promote it via an appearance on Top of The Pops.

CLASH CITY ROCKERS : Released 17 February 1978 : #35

The opening chopped guitar riff, executed with such abrupt power and precision, immediately arrests you and informs you you’re in the presence of true greatness.  Punk was primarily a male youth culture, and the song audaciously kicks over the previous statues of lad iconicism – Bowie (and the pre-nonce) Gary Glitter.  It was saying that it wasn’t wearing make-up and pretending to be camp that made us shocking; it was because we were obnoxious, spotty, angry, bored young cunts.

This was one of the songs that made me leave home and go to London, then underscored my early years in the city. It was always on at all hours in the Shepherd’s Bush squat and Queensbridge Road pads, and it was our national anthem. I became an insomniac because of this song. There was never a centre-half at Hibs who got up as high for corner kicks as I did when this bastard blasted out.

Every time you put it on you were making a statement: this is our time and we will not be denied. A lot of water, beer, amphetamine and music has flowed under the bridge since then. But under the right conditions – for example, blasting out from a Stoke Newington stereo on a hot London summer’s day – I feel a shiver down my spine and nearly 30 years seems to have been shed. I love it so much.

Irvine Welsh, novelist (Trainspotting, The Acid House, Filth)

Sons & Daughters

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (26)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2008

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Quite a few folk told me that I really would like Sons and Daughters long before I ever got round to hearing them. I did know that Adele Bethel was in the band, but having seen her previously perform live on stage with Arab Strap, I wasn’t convinced she was capable of fronting her own act. So despite there being a real buzz about the band in Glasgow, I remained quite blasé about things, and I never got round to finding the time to check them out.

One day, while pottering around the house (quite possibly yet again putting the CD and vinyl collections into the proper alphabetical order) I heard a great noise coming from my TV which was tuned into MTV2. I wandered into the living room and started paying attention to a video for a song that had caught my ear partly because of a great guitar riff and partly because it was being sung in a broad Scottish accent. Then there was a chorus of sorts in which a vaguely familiar looking female came in on joint vocals, and then the video descended into chaos with a bar-room brawl. Fantastic stuff, but who the hell were these fabulous people??

Up came the caption, and at that point dear readers, I hung my head in shame. For it was of course this:-

mp3 : Sons and Daughters – Johnny Cash

So out I traipsed to Avalanche Records to purchase the LP Love The Cup. I felt as if everyone I the shop was laughing at me for being the last person in Glasgow to buy the album which had been on prominent display for ages. I took it home and played it. And then I immediately played it again. And again. And again.

Not long afterwards, the Villains were on one of their regular pilgrimages in search of the sun. We found ourselves one day on the French island of Martinique on a day-trip from our main base on St Lucia. Mrs V was trying on some clothes in a boutique, and there was a French-language radio station on in the background. Without warning, Johnny Cash came on – and it wasn’t the Man In Black.

I grooved….well, I was on holiday and unlikely ever to set foot in the shop again and didn’t care how ridiculous I looked. I may have been the last Glaswegian to pick up on the song, but I bet I was the first to hear it on a radio station in the middle of the french-speaking part of the West Indies.

The b-side of this single, as you’ll see from the sleeve is called Hunt. A version of this song was put on the follow-up LP, The Repulsion Box:-

mp3 : Sons and Daughters – Hunt

Now if this version is different from that on the b-side of Johnny Cash, I apologise. I have found a copy on e-bay and ordered it, but it never arrived in time to make this particular post…if it is different, I’ll try to add it in later on…

I thank you.

(2016 update).  It was different.  Here is the b-side

mp3 : Sons and Daughters – Hunt (single version)

Enjoy.

Chumbawamba, Credit To The Nation

FIRST-RATE PROTEST POP

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Chumbawamaba were part of the UK music scene for 30 years prior to them calling it a day in November 2012.  In that time they released a whole bundle of singles and albums that raised awareness for all sorts of just causes and campaigns as well as getting across their viewpoint about a burning issue of the day, as was highlighted in the recent posting looking that 1992 single behave!

Some folk got awfully annoyed by Chumbawamba on the basis that they took life far too seriously, but any band that is prepared to tackle issues as diverse as domestic violence, religion, racism, fascism, war, homophobia and the decline of working class rights within short and catchy pop songs is all right by me.

It was really bizarre to seem them gain their 15 minutes of real fame in 1997 when the very catchy and anthemic Tubthumping went to #2 in the UK singles chart and I’m sure the band were bemused to see how it was adopted by the lager-swilling lad culture who regarded the concept of getting pissed and falling over only to pick yourself up and start all over again as something to boast and sing about at the top of your voice. Anyways, the song so was so ubiquitous at the time that just I quickly got sick of it and even almost 20 years on don’t enjoy listening to it.

Having wound up their own Agit-Pop label on the back of being frustrated at the failure of behave! to get into the charts they signed to One Little Indian with the first release in September 1993 being a joint single with Credit To The Nation, an act which was in fact a teenage UK hip-hop singer called Matty Hanson aka DJ Fusion with two backing dancers who had come to the fore earlier in the year thanks to the chart success of Call It What You Want, a single which sampled Smells Like Teen Spirit….a piece of music which got many of those in the press who worshipped Nirvana all hot and bothered under the collar.

This anti-fascism single, released at a time when right-wing politicians were rearing their ugly heads all over Europe, reached the Top 75 despite a lack of support from radio stations:-

mp3 : Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation – Enough Is Enough
mp3 : Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation – Hear No Bullshit (On Fire Mix)
mp3 : Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation – The Day The Nazi Died (1993 mix)

Different versions of the b-sides can be found elsewhere

mp3 : Credit To The Nation – Hear No Bullshit. See No Bullsit, Say No Bullshit
mp3 : Chumbawamba – The Day The Nazi Died

Enjoy.

Style Council

THE STYLE COUNCIL SINGLES (9)

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A few weeks ago, I mentioned that White Riot had been written as a call-to-arms for disaffected youth in the UK. Eight years on, and the disaffection was still there – indeed it was increasing all the while thanks to a government whose policies were not of the caring, sharing variety.  Paul Weller‘s increasing frustration with young people not willing to engage in the political process on the basis that ‘they’re all the same aren’t they?’ or ‘it’s only one vote for me and that ain’t gonna bring about change is it?’ led to him penning the lyrics to Walls Come Tumbling Down with such lines as

“Are you gonna realise the class war’s real and not mythologised?’

mp3 : The Style Council – Walls Come Tumbling Down

It was released as a single in May 1985 and its jaunty radio-friendly tune, combined with a high-profile promotional campaign with appearances on all sorts of TV shows, helped it crash into the charts at #13 after which a TOTP appearance helped climb to its highest position of #6.  The fact that it dropped down the charts afterwards rather quickly was perhaps an indication that mixing pop and politics wasn’t helping the band find any new audiences.  But that didn’t stop the main man continuing to get on his soap box and promise that many of the songs that had been penned for inclusion on the second LP would further attack the unfairness of life under the Thatcher government.

As it turned out, the song’s lyrics became a bit of prophesy for what would happen over the next few years in Eastern Europe with the collapse of one totalitarian dictatorship after another and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Indeed, Annie Nightingale, in her final show of the decade which celebrated some of the best and most popular songs of the 80s dedicated it to everyone in Germany whose lives had clearly changed forever more.

There were three quite different songs on the b-side of the 12″

mp3 : The Style Council – Spin’ Drifting
mp3 : The Style Council – The Whole Point II
mp3 : The Style Council – Blood Sports

The first is by far the weakest of the tracks with a bland tune set to sixth-form lovelorn poetry while the last is an acoustic and angry attack on those who supported hunting in the UK countryside and provided further evidence of Weller’s willingness to pen political material of a very personal nature.

The Whole Point II however, is something really powerful and disturbing. The tune was first used on the Cafe Blue LP with a lyric that attacked the political classes in the UK. This updated and very sad version is from the perspective of someone who is contemplating suicide by jumping into the sea…….

The lyrics have undoubtedly aged Walls Come Tumbling Down, but it is a cracking tune that demands to be danced to.

Enjoy.

 

Skids

MY FIRST CELTIC/FOLK RECORD

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That’s Celtic with a ‘K’ incidentally……

Glasgow has, for many years now, used the month of January to stage a three-week festival called Celtic Connections which nowadays really does offer something for everyone and goes well beyond the celebration of fiddle and accordian based folk/trad music that has long been associated with my home country.  To get an idea of what 2016 had to offer, pay a visit over to Charity Chic as he took in a number of gigs and has provided some excellent reviews.

I went along to a couple of shows but pressure of work and a clash of commitments prevented me taking in more.  As I sat at one of them with a mate who really is big into his folk/trad music, as well as being a huge fan of post-punk and in particular Joy Division, I got thinking about how in some ways the final two singles and album by The Skids back in 1981 were ahead of their time in that nobody who was aiming at the young market in Scotland made use of folk or roots music. Instead, it was regarded, in Glasgow at least (as that’s all I can authentically vouch for as it was where I was raised and had lived all my years till that point) as being music for old fogies.  Nowadays, you look round an audience at a Celtic Connections gig and it takes in all age ranges with ever-increasing numbers in the 16-30 bracket.

I can take it in small doses.  And in much the same way, I can take the excesses of the final stuff by The Skids in small doses and only every few years.  It’s amazing to realise that this music was recorded in August/September 1981, just two and a half years after Into The Valley, one of the great new-wave anthems of all time, had propelled the band to fame.  Of course, by 1981 The Skids were really just a two-man outfit consisting of Richard Jobson and Russell Webb augmented by guest and session musicians.  Jobson has warned everyone the next LP was going to be different and those of us who had got our hands on a copy of the Strength Through Joy extra album with The Absolute Game (see this previous posting for details) were, shall we say, a tad concerned.

Joy bombed, not even making the Top 100.  The two singles also sold abysmally and it was no real surprise that Jobson went off to lick his wounds with poetry readings and it would be three years before he returned to music with The Armoury Show, again with the help of Russell Webb.

This was the band’s last ever single:-

mp3 : The Skids – Iona
mp3 : The Skids – Blood And Soil

The a-side is a shortened version of a track which lasts more than seven minutes on the album. It’s the second best thing on the album (the best was featured in this post last year) and by far the most accessible track.  The b-side, which is one I’ve grown to appreciate over the years as it does sound authentically traditional,  is an alternative version of the track which opens the album (and which still makes me grimace a fair bit).

mp3 : The Skids – Blood And Soil (album version)

One other thing worth noting and including today is that Stuart Adamson contributed guitar to Iona while the Fairlite, which is responsible for the bagpipe sound, is played by Mr Tubular Bells himself, Mike Oldfield (and that’s the first and likely last name check he gets on this blog).

The album closes with an ambitious but ultimately flawed track on the basis that the kitchen sink and the rest were thrown at it and there’s just too much going on to take it all in:-

mp3 : The Skids – Fields

The reason that particular track also features today is that Alan Rankine plays guitar on it while his band mate Billy Mackenzie contributes a backing vocal. Sadly, the opportunity to turn into something akin to an Associates track isn’t taken.

Enjoy…even if only for the fact it’s not the normal sort of fare on offer round these parts.

Coral

I HEARD SOME NEWS TODAY OH BOY…..

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With apologies to Swiss Adam for adding a posting on the same day as his excellent ICA. I prefer, if possible, to give guest contributors the floor to themselves.

January was an appalling month.

February just got a lot worse.

A good mate of mine in his mid-50s was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer just under two years ago. He decided there and then to fight things on his terms, declining courses of chemo or radiotherapy on the grounds that all they would do is make him miserable while only giving a slim chance of extending his life. He also very publicly, via social media, recorded his battle happy and willing to provide his family and friends with all sorts of updates. Every month on a particular date he would commemorate the fact that another period of time had passed and he was still there smiling and laughing away.

Things took a turn for the worse just after Christmas, but my mate again demonstrating his courage and determination saw in the New Year at home before admitting himself to hospital on the first day of 2016. His January has been spent in and out of hospital as the cancer began to spread viciously to other parts of his body and he required help to eat and drink to prevent kidney failure. He still kept up the running commentary, saying he was determined to get out and about and see folk, with a special effort likely to be made to see his beloved Raith Rovers at least one more time.

This afternoon he posted what he said would be his final note on social media. Pneumonia had set in and he had been given the news by his docs that he had 48 hours. He signed off ‘Thank You Everyone for your love and friendship. Talk of the times, the love and the laughing.”

He’s the bravest, inspirational and most selfless man I have ever had the privilege to know.

He was a huge music fan. He wasn’t a blogger but he did present shows on community radio in which he played all sorts of music that reflected his incredibly wide taste. He liked a number of hip and trendy bands and he was one of those on whom punk/new wave had a huge influence. At the same time however, he never hid away from the fact that he also loved just about every pop record that had conquered the charts when he was a lad,back in the 70s and he took great delight in airing them on his radio shows.

And then there was Roy Wood and Wizzard who he was convinced was the greatest musician and band ever to walk this planet. He got to meet his hero too, in an unforgettable night that was plastered all over social media and put the widest of grins on the faces of everyone who knew him.

But it’s approaching a time when he no longer will be with us and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m missing him already. I’m sad that I never got the chance to say my final farewell in person as the pneumonia came on very quickly and unexpectedly and the plans to travel the 70-odd miles to the hospital this coming Friday are now worthless.

Matthew from Song By Toad also knew my mate and in his brilliantly succinct way has just captured exactly how so many of us are feeling when he replied back to my mate “Sorry. I know you want us to remember the good times, and soon we will, but for now it’s just sad as fuck.”

He was keen on this lot. I’ll think of him every time it pops up on shuffle

mp3 : The Coral – Pass It On

Things surely, can only get better.

Big Audio Dynamite

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #58 : BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE

A GUEST POSTING FROM SWISS ADAM

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Big Audio Dynamite are one of my favourite bands- pioneering, imaginative, forward thinking but always remembering that the song is the thing. B.A.D. formed after Mick Jones got kicked out of The Clash. Even though he made up with Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon pretty quickly and Joe realised that the Clash didn’t work without him Mick was already well away with B.A.D.

Hooking up with London face and filmake Don Letts, keyboard man (and husband of Patsy Kensit) Dan Donovan,  bassist Leo ‘E-Zee Kill’ Williams and drummer Greg Roberts, Mick saw the new group as a chance to prove Joe and Paul wrong and there’s no doubt about who had the best post-Clash 80s. B.A.D.’s back catalogue is chock full of genre-busting, sampledelic, pioneering stuff but also fully loaded with tunes. Mick’s lyric writing is superb, witty, wide ranging and warm, as is their use of technology and their wider influences – hip hop, reggae, house, spaghetti westerns and British films. Some of it has dated, like the white jeans, baseball caps and Dalek guitar, but there’s more than enough to put together a worthy ten track imaginary compilation. As I shall suggest here….

Sit Tight And Listen Keenly While I Play For You A Brand New Musical Biscuit

1. Medicine Show.

Opening song off the 1986 debut album and a killer single too with a lovely FXed guitar riff, Mick rhymes his way through dozens of laugh out loud lines. The cowbell and drum machine pump along and the liberal use of sampled film dialogue (Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and James Coburn among them) make this song worth every second of its six-and-a-half-minute length. Paul and Joe and John Lydon turn up for the video too.

2. V Thirteen.

Probably their single finest song, co-written and produced by Joe Strummer (Joe did this live in the late 80s).

3. The Battle of All Saints Road.

Revisiting the West London of Clash mythology, the stomping ground of rockers, dreads and rude boys. Musically it takes in Clancy Eccles’ Fire Corner and duelling banjos. From 1988’s Tighten Up Vol ’88.

4. E=MC2

Pop and then some- Nic Roeg’s films set to a hugely catchy song. You really don’t get this from anyone else.

5. C’Mon Every Beatbox.

The single to lead into album number two No. 10 Upping Street (‘home to an alternative funky Prime Minister’ apparently. Thanks Joe) this song has Mick and Don trading rapid fire lyric lines, buckets of samples, a guitar solo that apes Jimi Hendrix and Neneh Cherry strutting her stuff in the video.

6. I Turned Out A Punk.

After 1989’s Megatop Phoenix the original line up disintegrated. Don Letts, Greg Roberts and Leo Williams went off to form Dreadzone. Mick subsequently put together various different BADs (Big Audio Dynamite II, Big Audio). The ‘new’ BAD had several moments that I wanted to put in here but space won’t allow- The Globe is a cracking single, Rush is top stuff too, Mick proving yet again that he can rise from the ashes. I could make shouts for Innocent Child, Harrow Road and Can’t Wait as well. In 1996 F-Punk came out, a funny album marred by some iffy production and cardboard drums. I Turned Out A Punk shows Mick’s muse and signwriting remained intact. Two chord, fuzzed up, organ led augmented garage rock and Mick’s formative years collapsed into rhyming couplets.

7. Rewind.

I was going to include Contact, house music turned into a pop song, from Megatop Phoenix. I probably should but I don’t want this to be too singles dominated. Instead here’s another song from the same album, digital reggae influenced and sung by Don Letts.

8. Beyond the Pale.

Mick sings about his roots. Immigration as a positive force for the individual and society.

9. Other 99 Extended Mix.

Over guitars and electronics Mick sings the song of the 99%, of not making 10 out of 10 and how sometimes 5 is just fine. The band don’t settle for half marks though, turning in a cracking tune. The 12” extended mix adds several minutes more after the breakdown.

10. The Bottom Line.

That shuddering bass. The guitars. Cowbell. The horses are on the track. There’s a new dance that’s going around. Economic decline. Nagging questions always remain. Even the Soviets are swinging away. From the debut album and still fresh as a daisy. I’m gonna take you to…part two.

Bonus Track

Greg Dread (Roberts) recently put the band’s intro music onto his Soundcloud page. Built of two minutes of samples, beats and synths, it’s the fanfare that announced B.A.D.’s arrival onstage

B.A.D. Live Intro Tape

mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – Medicine Show
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – V Thirteen
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – The Battle Of All Saints Road
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – E=MC2
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – C’Mon Every Beatbox
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – I Turned Out A Punk
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – Rewind
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – Beyond The Pale
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – Other 99 (extended mix)
mp3 : Big Audio Dynamite – The Bottom Line
mp3 : Live Intro Tape

JC adds : More great stuff every day from Swiss Adam can be found in the Bagging Area.

Council Collective, Style Council

THE STYLE COUNCIL SINGLES (8)

(And so to the second posting of the day, held over from last week)

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Is it or isn’t it?

Technically, it’s a single by The Council Collective, but the a-side is a Weller/Talbot composition and it is in effect The Style Council supplemented by guest vocalists (Jimmy Ruffin, Junior Giscombe and Vaughan Toulouse) as well as guest musicians (Dizzi Heights and Leonardo Chignoli). Oh and Martin Ware was involved in the production and mixing.

As the rear of the sleeve explains:-

The aim of this record was to raise money for the Striking Miners and their families before Xmas but obviously in the light of the tragic and disgusting event in South Wales resulting in the murder of a Cab driver, some of the monies will also go now, to the widow of the man.

We do support the miners strike but we do not support violence. It helps no one and only creates further division amongst people.

This record is about Solidarity or more to the point – getting it back! If the miners lose the strike, the consequence will be felt by all the working classes. That is why it is so important to support it. But violence will only lead to defeat – as all violence ultimately does.

The single was released at the end of 1984 but proved to be the band’s poorest selling record thus far, stalling at #24 in the UK charts. This was likely down to a combination of it not getting as many radio plays as previous singles (the stations being disinclined to mix pop and politics….well for the time being!!), that some of the natural fan base weren’t as politically inclined as Paul Weller had thought and sadly, just the fact that it wasn’t all that good a song. But in 1984, reaching #24 in the singles chart would have meant tens of thousands of sales and so decent enough amounts of monies will have been raised:-

mp3 : The Council Collective – Soul Deep (12″ version)

Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : The Council Collective – A Miner’s Point

It is a fascinating piece of social history. It is a near 17-minute long spoken piece in which Paulo Hewitt interviews two striking miners.  I say fascinating, but it is also very sad.  These two quietly spoken men are determined to see things through and firmly believe that they are going to win.  They articulate very well their reasons for taking such action and while critical of those who are still working, they hold out olive branches to all concerned.  That it didn’t work out as they hoped or anticipated makes it in fact that rare artefact – history as recounted by the eventual losers.

The b-side is also listed as a Weller/Talbot composition – I’m assuming this is as much to do with the payment and collection of royalties (and subsequent donations to the causes) as anything else.

 

Radio 236 (various)

RADIO 236 : THE NEXT EPISODE

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Nobody laughed in my face last month when I ‘produced’ the first edition of Radio 236. So I thought I’d give it another go.

Once again it’s all music and no talking.  A little bit longer this time but still five minutes under the hour. It’s still a bit rough in terms of volume control but I’m getting there!

Tune in here: https://www.spreaker.com/embed/player/standard?episode_id=7681477

Or feel free to download:- https://www.spreaker.com/user/8537283/radio-236-episode-2

mp3 : Various Artists – Radio 236 (2nd Episode)

Songlist:-

Hello Again – BMX Bandits
Song 2 – Blur
Age Of Consent – New Order
Seether – Veruca Salt
I Saw You Blink – Stornoway
Batyar – The Ukranians
Fait Accompli – Curve
All On You (Perfume) – Paris Angels
Once In A Lifetime – Talking Heads
Yes – McAlmont & Butler
The Man Who Took On Love (And Won) – The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross
Gold Digger – Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
Seven Seas – Echo & The Bunnymen
No Danger – The Delgados

Enjoy.

Volume 3 should be with you next month.