August 2016 – Page 2 – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

B&S ON SUNDAYS (13)

From wiki:-

“White Collar Boy” (as shown on the album or “The White Collar Boy” as labeled on the single) is a song by Belle & Sebastian from their album The Life Pursuit. It was the third single from the album. The track was released on 26 June 2006 on Rough Trade Records, and was produced by Tony Hoffer. Upon release it failed to make the top 40, only charting at #45. It is the band’s first single not to make the Top 40 since “Lazy Line Painter Jane”. The model on the cover is Catherine Ireton, who later became the lead vocalist for Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl project.

It’s not that great an effort and I suppose most fans were a bit hacked off that the band now seemed to be like so many others, content with lifting a number of singles from an album rather than making each release seem precious or of value.

As with The Blues Are Still Blue, I didn’t buy this single at the time which came out, like the other two lifted from The Life Pursuit, on CD, 7″ vinyl and DVD.

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – The White Collar Boy

However, many years later I found a copy of the 7″ in a charity shop and picked it up. I remember being gobsmacked at the choice of b-side, hoping somehow it wasn’t the Rod Stewart cover I dreaded it being. But it was….

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Baby Jane

The original was awful and this was a million times worse. I recall saying as much on the old blog and giving it a real kicking. It provoked one of the most vitriolic comments I’ve ever been on the receiving end of, with the contributor accusing me of all sorts in terms of my taste in music and that I had no right nor was I qualified to pass judgement on the band. Maybe it was a coincidence but that particular past was very soon afterwards the subject of a dmca notice – as indeed were a number of other more glowing posts that I’d given the band and within a few weeks the accumulation of such notices in such a short period of time led to google taking the decision to abruptly close down The Vinyl Villain without giving me the chance to salvage anything.

If I didn’t have any time at all for the cover version back then on, you can imagine my feelings now after all that!

I’ve tracked down the two tracks that were on the CD single. Please excuse me if I simply post them without giving them a listen.

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Long Black Scarf
mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Heaven In The Afternoon

See those posters who despaired of me persisting with the series of James and Cinerama singles??? They may have had a point. But I’ll keep going as we’re almost at the end.

Blue Nile

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #36 : THE BLUE NILE

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I know that many T(n)VV readers like The Blue Nile and so I’m being populist by featuring them in this series.

But I’ve personally never understood why they’re so revered.

I think a lot of it boils down to being so underwhelmed when I first heard them. This was a band who everyone was talking about in Glasgow back in the early 80s as being the next big thing. They had been signed to Linn Records, a label that had been established to assist with the promotion of extremely high-quality (and highly expensive) audio equipment that was manufactured just outside the city. They were supposed to be making cutting edge music the likes of hadn’t been heard before – a mix of pop, soul, experimental and dreamy electronica complete with a smooth vocal delivery.

They were also rumoured to have written a modern anthem for my home city. I was more than a little intrigued and then I heard it:-

mp3 :

The Blue Nile – Tinseltown In The Rain

Oh dearie me.

I’ve had more arguments with folk over the years about this song than any other. I’m very much in the minority as thinking it dull, dreary and devoid of any sort of soul. It’s utterly antiseptic.

I also thought that many of the fawning reviews were pretentious and bordering on parody, full of words and phrases which on their own were fine but when run together as a piece were hilarious. Indeed, it has gotten worse over the years. Here’s som of the bollocks which accompanied the 2012 re-release of the debut LP A Walk Across The Rooftops:-

“1984’s A Walk Across the Rooftops remains unique in its fusion of chilly technology and a pitch of confessional, romantic soul that ‘alternative’ types would usually shy away for fear it wasn’t ‘cool’… in the years since, its peerless power to affect has accrued multiple layers of rueful resonance.”

It proved to be perfect for someone almost seeking to relearn the art of listening to music; perhaps because it seemed to have been made by people who were in the early stages of learning how to make miraculous music from simple building blocks. This was a necessity as none of the members were trained musicians, but the resulting album of very simple, carefully constructed compositions proved far greater than the sum of its parts”

Whatever.

Paul Haig

HEAVEN SENT (PREFERABLY IN SMALL DOSES)

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The above is one of my favourite sleeves and when I was younger and much much skinnier, I always thought it would have made for a great t-shirt. Actually, I still think it would make a great t-shirt.. but I have to accept that it just wouldn’t look stylish at all on me.

It’s from a single released back in 1983, and a copy of the 12″ has been part of my collection all that time. The thing is, I’m not actually all that fond of the 12″ cut as the extra three and a bit minutes beyond the 7″ (and album version) take something away from it. It veers to being a tad self-indulgent. But feel free to disagree:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Sent (7″)
mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Sent (12″)

While I’m here, I’ll also shove up the b-side which sees Paul’s cover of a Sly Stone song segue effortlessly into one of own songs and between them run to six minutes. It’s passable……

mp3 : Paul Haig – Running Away/Back Home

Enjoy.

Bad Lieutenant, Banderas, Bats, Bettie Serveete, Bloc Party

CLEANING UP THE I-TUNES : ‘B’

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So here we are again, looking to bring a few singers or bands who haven’t featured before on this particular version of the blog, some of which will have only come back into my mind as a result of me faffing about and tidying up the i-tunes. It’s ‘B’.

mp3 : Bad Lieutenant – Sink Or Swim

Back in 2008 it appeared that New Order had broken up for good this time, especially when Barney announced he was forming a new band which was to be called Bad Lieutenant, named after the infamous 1992 film which starred Harvey Keitel as a cop having a breakdown. Phil Cunningham and Stephen Morris were also involved in the band and so in some ways you could almost look on it as a Hooky-less New Order.

After a couple of digital only singles, October 2009 saw the release of a debut album entitled Never Cry Another Tear. I didn’t buy it immediately, deciding it was late enough in the year to wait to suggest to a few family members that it could eventually be a Christmas present. It would have therefore been the following January that I finally listened to it. It was dreadfully bland and unimaginative plod-rock, a view that didnt;t change on second listen a ew days later.

The third time it’s been played is the past few hours. It still has no redeeming features. It’s only on here as just about every other New Order spin-off has featured at some point or other.

mp3 : Banderas – This Is Your Life

I know for a fact this superb single from 1991 was posted on the old blog.

Banderas were a female duo consisting of Sally Herbert (keyboards/violin) and Caroline Buckley (vocals), both of whom were part of The Communards. They released three singles and one album, calling on the likes of Jimmy Somerville, Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner to play on the records while Stephen Hague was happy to occupy the producer’s chair.

Theirs is a sound not a million miles removed from the smoother synth-pop of the Pet Shop Boys but with a vocal contribution that is powerful yet soulful. Sally and Caroline didn’t really play the game of fame in the pop world – they had crew cut haircuts and their dress sense could be best be described as androgynous – as they tried to demonstrate that female acts, especially in the dance field, did not need to be highly sexualised to be a success.

This Is Your Life was the debut and it was a deserved #16 hit in the singles chart. For a follow-up, they chose the biting and uncompromising She Sells in which the use of the female image in advertising to flog all sorts of products that are solely of appeal to men is given a good kicking over a catchy beat. Sadly, the record stations and record buying public ignored it and before too long they called it a day.

mp3 : The Bats – Made Up In Blue

There will, I’m sure, be readers who are well qualified to tell the story of The Bats. They’re a four-man line-up from New Zealand who have been making well-crafted and intelligent guitar music since 1987 apart from a short hiatus between 1995-2005 when bringing up children became the priority. There’s been eight albums all told along with loads of singles and EPs.

I only discovered them through the internet having downloaded some songs from another blog – I wish I could say which but I genuinely don’t know. The featured track is the lead track from an EP dating back to 1988, just after Daddy’s Highway, their debut album (partly recorded in New Zealand and in Glasgow!!) was released on Flying Nun Records.

mp3 : Bettie Serveete – Hell = Other People

Some indie-style music from the Netherlands.

Bettie Serveete initially consisted of Carol van Dijk (vocals and guitar), Peter Visser (guitar), Herman Bunskoeke (bass) and Berend Dubbe (drums). They initially tried to make a go of it in the mid 80s but to no avail. By the time the four of them were in their 30s they tried again, this time with a fair degree of success and longevity with nine albums in a twenty year period from 1992, albeit they have gone through a succession of drummers since 1998. The featured song is an album track from 2006

mp3 : Bloc Party – Banquet

Bit of a surprise that I’ve never mentioned Bloc Party before as I’m a fan of their debut album, the million-selling Silent Alarm, released back in 2005 (although I was horrified in looking it up to realise just how long ago it was!!).

My big problem with bands who emerged around that time was that I got interested in blogging back in 2006 and started focussing on nostalgia, not paying too much attention to new music unless it was on my doorstep in Scotland. I’m sure Bloc Party have made great records since the debut but I haven’y actively sought any of it out. If there’s ay long-time fans out there, then I’d be very happy to post an ICA….

Cheers.

Anthony H Wilson, Care, Joy Division

NINE YEARS AGO

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I was living and working in Toronto. Jacques the Kipper sent me a text in case I didn’t get the news. I posted this on the blog.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

I was saddened by the news of the death of Tony Wilson.

I’ve no doubt you’ll find some heartfelt tributes on loads of blogs, as well as a few less than kind remarks as there are many who thought the man was a twat. And let’s face it, he sometimes thought he was as well.

I’m not from Manchester, and perhaps not best placed to offer an opinion. But I’ll contend that Tony Wilson did as much as anyone in the latter part of the 20th Century to raise the profile of the city he’s most associated with. He helped transform it into a city where those of us who didn’t live there were jealous of those lucky enough to do so.

I only met him once. He came to Glasgow for a book reading of 24 Hour Party People, and it turned into a fabulous couple of hours. He was regally entertaining, with more than a hint of self-parody about his persona. Along with Bill Drummond, he was the one guy in the music industry that I would love to have been able to go down the pub with.

The world is a slightly poorer place without him being around. I hope the city gives him a great send-off.

song : Care – Sad Day For England

song : Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine Version)

2016 Addendum….

The city did give him a great send-off and they’ve never forgotten him. Here’s one of the most extraordinary and memorable things I’ve ever had the privilege of watching and listening to.

Strawberry Switchblade

USING POP TO HELP CONQUER YOUR DEMONS

Strawberry Switchblade are often held up as one-hit wonders, thanks to their second single, Since Yesterday, hitting #5 a few months after its release in late 1984. But I want to tell the fascinating story behind their relatively little known debut 45………………

Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson, two of the earliest punks in Glasgow, made up Strawberry Switchblade. Their name came from a James Kirk song that was never recorded by Orange Juice. The girls were friendly with everyone in the Postcard Records scene and received a lot of encouragement to make a go of things musically, with John Peel (who certainly had a thing for attractive female Scottish singers) offering them an early radio session while also persuading his mate David Jensen to do likewise given that the pop approach and sound of the girls was more likely to find favour with listeners earlier in the evening.

All of this led to Bill Drummond showing an interest and he arranged for them to record a debut 45 on 92 Happy Customers, an independent record label run by Will Sergeant from Echo & The Bunnymen. The debut, entitled Trees and Flowers, sold around 10,000 copies, was voted in at #47 in the 1983 Festive Fifty and led to Drummond signing them to Korova Records which was bankrolled by the giant WEA and on which they would enjoy the chart success in late 84/early 85.

mp3 : Strawberry Switchblade – Trees and Flowers

A lovely little ballad which included a contribution from Roddy Frame on guitar, it’s worth looking closely at the lyric:-

Dawn cracks the dark
And it breaks the silence
Of my waking hours
And my heartbeat’s licence

For I hate the trees
And I hate the flowers
And I hate the buildings
And the way they tower over me
Can’t you see
I get so frightened
No-one else seems frightened
Only me, only me

I can’t but see
That the sun has risen
To my window, my world
Of my home sweet prison

They were penned by Jill Bryson who, despite appearing to the world to have a carefree attitude and approach to life which was best demonstrated by her dressing flamboyantly in a city where you were openly ridiculed in the streets for doing so, suffered dreadfully from agoraphobia with long spells in her life where should couldn’t leave her house.

I find it impossible to imagine what living with such a condition must be like and Jill’s sad lyrics capture just how heartbreaking it is to face up to and how difficult it is to explain what many will consider to be an irrational fear. I remember once, many years ago, seeing someone take an awful panic attack in the street as a result of this condition. It was scary watching a young woman, probably aged around 25-30, just grip onto a lamp-post and suddenly start screaming loudly; she had a friend with her who was obviously au fait with the condition and knew how best to handle the situation, which included reassuring those of us in the immediate vicinity that things were OK and that the fear would pass. It troubled me though to think what would happen to any agoraphobic who was struck down while out on their own….it didn’t bear thinking about.

Most singer-songwriters will have a great deal of autobiographical content in their early songs – Jill Bryson was incredibly brave to do what she did. And in such a lovely and understated way too.

Creation Records

A DIAMOND OF A HOT AUGUST NIGHT?

The history of Creation Records can easily be spilt into two parts, either side of the success of Oasis.

The pre-era reached its zenith over a blisteringly hot London weekend back in 1988 when a gig, a compilation album and two incredible singles were released.

The gig was on Sunday 7 August at the Town & Country Club, which at the time was the place for name indie bands to perform but with a capacity of more than 2,000 was an ambitious booking for Creation even when the plan was to open the doors at 4pm and have eight bands play full sets under the banner of Doing It For The Kids.

Judging by what photos are around from the day, it looks as if plenty of tickets were sold, aided no doubt by the fact that a number of the bands were being heavily pushed by the then highly influential UK weekly music papers. However, the one on-line review that I’ve been able to find, written by the now famous Simon Reynolds, would indicate that the event was more miss than hit with many punters going home a bit disgruntled. Here’s some edited extracts on the minus side:-

Heidi Berry…harks back to the islet of troubled AOR occupied in the early Seventies by Sandy Denny and John Martyn

Jasmine Minks….the singer sounds like he’s gargling a sock, and ultimately theirs is a thin-lipped and ill-fitting appropriation of “the Sixties”. I never saw a band leave the stage so lackadaisical and unemphatic a manner.

Nikki Sudden….. shuffles on for a couple of rather scrappy blues numbers

Jazz Butcher………. gains a point for sounding comparatively robust, but loses several for his Jennings-and-Darbyshire/Robyn Hitchcock Englishness, and for his session-standard saxophonist.

Primal Scream…..their moment has long passed.. They’ve abandoned the gossamer fragility of “Crystal Crescent” and “Gentle Tuesday” for a blues that sags but never approaches the ponderousness and tumescent turgidity attained by various visionary white bastardizations of R&B. Gillespie’s voice just doesn’t have the grain for raunch, can only sing ba-ba-ba Bay City Rollers tunes; he crouches low, wigs out in that boneless, rag-doll manner of his, a flailing cod-dementia, willing it to be as good as the old days.

To be fair, the review is complimentary about the next three bands on the bill – Felt, House of Love and My Bloody Valentine and you get the impression that if the gig had been restricted to these three bands, within the standard evening hours for such things, Simon would have declared a it a total triumph.

But the most cutting remarks are left for the band who came on last and in essence were the headliners – Biff Bang Pow!

The event peters out with a bit of malarkey involving a cut-out Alan McGee and Joe Foster attempting to lead a singalong of “We Are the World”. The “no encore” rule (to ensure each act doesn’t over-run) is observed even at the end, leaving the crowd restive and frustrated.

Overall impression: a sense of “now” being eclipsed, drained vampirically by the past and its stature; the loss of the present moment through being made to seem impoverished next to the history it was umbilically bound to. Only The House of Love and My Bloody Valentine know that you have to torch the whole heap of pop signs and totems, rather than shuffle them about a bit. Only those two bands brought back the sudden quickening of “NOW” that eluded us most of the time today.

The following day, 28 years ago today, Creation put out a 15-track album, also called Doing It For The Kids, for the price of a 7” single. All of the bands/singers who performed at the T&C were featured along with eight others, many of who were already being acknowledged as being mere footnotes, and miniscule ones at that, in the annals of indie-pop.

Side A

1. The Jasmine Minks – Cut Me Deep
2. Felt -Ballad Of The Band
3. The House Of Love – Christine
4. The Weather Prophets – Well Done Sonny
5. Primal Scream – All Fall Down
6. Biff Bang Pow! – She Paints
7. The Jazz Butcher – Lot 49

Side B

1. Heidi Berry – North Shore Train
2. Nikki Sudden – Death Is Hanging Over Me
3. My Bloody Valentine – Cigarette In My Bed
4. Pacific – Jetstream
5. The Times – Godevil
6. Momus – A Complete History Of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17-24)
7. Emily – Reflect On Rye
8. Razorcuts – Brighter Now

It’s a reasonable enough compilation which veers from having some tracks that have more than stood the test of time to those which are even more unlistenable now some 28 years later, but it passes the litmus test of bargain compilation albums as offering something for everyone.

The two singles released the next day have however, gone down in history as among the finest of their generation.

mp3 : The House of Love – Destroy The Heart

mp3 : My Bloody Valentine – You Made Me Realise

The label’s reputation was such that emerging bands such as Ride and Teenage Fanclub were keen to sign on the dotted line and then there was a bit of payola as Primal Scream proved all the critics wrong and became the first to fuse indie and dance in way that was really commercially successful. However, this didn’t mask the underlying problems of ever increasing debts from trying to run a bloated label, packed with acts who were always going to be a drain on resources, and so it was no surprise that half of the company was sold to Sony Records in 1992…..which, given that Oasis were just about to emerge so unexpectedly, proved to be a master stroke in terms of creating the necessary infrastructure and distribution networks to cope with demand.

It was just four years on from Doing It For The Kids but it may well as have been ancient history.

Enjoy.

Belle & Sebastian

B&S ON SUNDAYS (12)

Belle-blues

Last week, Martin left the following comment:-

“…..this song, funny little frog, might be the worst song ever recorded. by anyone. ever.”

Be prepared Martin. Be prepared.

From wiki:-

“The Blues Are Still Blue” was the second single from the Belle & Sebastian’s The Life Pursuit. The track was released in April 2006 on Rough Trade Records, and is produced by Tony Hoffer. The single reached #25 in the UK singles chart.

The wiki entry is very abrupt in comparison to many of the other singles. And no wonder, as it’s a travesty of a 45.

There were a number of possible candidates for the all-important follow-up single after the album had been released to mostly positive reviews, but very few of which considered it to be the band’s finest body of work. It was generally considered to be a 3/3.5 out of 5 body of work which was, to the casual listener, probably a generous mark if you were going purely by The Blues Are Still Blue, with its nonsensical lyric set to a tune that seems a partial tribute to glam rock.

I just can’t find anything endearing about it. All of which means I didn’t buy the 45 at the time – again released in CD, 7″ and DVD format – and so as I find the tracks out there on the internet, it will be the first time I hear them.

CD single:-

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – The Blues Are Still Blue

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit

Strange that the track after which the album was named was reduced to being an obscure b-side when in fact it is much more obvious a B&S number than many of its contemporaries; it’s certainly better than the a-side

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Mr Richard

Please make it stop. A pastiche of Paul Simon‘s Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard is what comes to mind. Or a ‘comedy’ number by your in-house entertainment crew on an 1980s package holiday

7″ b-side

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Whiskey In The Jar

Limp and lifeless and pointless cover of a cover in a nod to the band referenced in I’m A Cuckoo. Oh dear.

The DVD had a live version of Roy Walker, again taken from the Botanic Gardens gig of June 2012. I can’t be bothered to track it down.

Strange how the band were now more popular than ever but the new material was sadly lacking……

Bloomsday

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #35 : BLOOMSDAY

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Warning.

Today’s is a real heartbreaker of a number. So you better get ready now…

Bloomsday was a short-lived project. It came about in 1990 when Chris Thomson (ex Friends Again) joined forces with Steven Irvine and Neil Clark who were both without an output for their musical talents after Lloyd Cole had chosen to go solo.

There was one fantastic upbeat pop single called Strange Honey, followed by a majestically moody album called Fortuny. There’s not a great deal of commercial sounding music on the record – and those songs which are of that ilk have dated a bit – but there’s other deeper, darker and intense numbers that even nowadays more than 25 years on still have the ability to astound with every listen. Like this.

mp3 : Bloomsday – Universal Thirst

The Boatman’s Call would see Nick Cave make a whole album out of being torn asunder by failed relationships and it being held up as a modern masterpiece. None of his songs however, come close to capturing just how hard it is to cope when your one true love leaves you behind…….and the despair of coming to forlornly rely on hope.

Not an easy listen. But trust me on it……

PS : The double bass on this song is played by none other than Mark Bedford of Madness….

Electronic, Morrissey, Public Image Limited

TRIPLY DISAPPOINTED

disap

Three different songs that share the same title:-

mp3 : Electronic – Disappointed
mp3 : Morrissey – Disappointed (live)
mp3 : P.I.L. – Disappointed

The first of these the biggest ever hit single for the supergroup, reaching #6 in 1992. The middle track was originally the b-side to Everyday Is Like Sunday but- the live version I’ve shoved up today is from the flip of the 12″ of Pregnant For The Last Time. The final track is the 12″ version of a 1989 single that barely scraped the Top 40.

The Three Johns (Lydon, Marr and McGeogh) along with Moz, Barney and Neil in one posting? Now THAT’S what I call music…..

Oh and the photo used to illustrate the posting was taken moments after my team, Raith Rovers, had won a cup final with a goal two minutes from the end of extra time back in 2014. The look of disappointment and indeed despair on the faces of the opposition players is quite plain to see…..

Durutti Column

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #87 : THE DURUTTI COLUMN

A GUEST POSTING FROM …strictly rockers…

vini

Another tricky ICA to distill. So much great music and over 30 albums!

I’ve focused on the Factory years up to 1990. If there’s enough interest, an ICA of 21st century Durutti Column might be forthcoming…

Ten FACTs, Ten Years, Ten Tracks:

• Durutti Column were founded in 1978 by Anthony H Wilson and Alan Erasmus. They were the first signing to Factory in 1978.

• Durutti Column were named after a mis-spelling of ‘Colonne Durruti’, the largest anarchist group active in the Spanish Civil War – followers of the grandly-named Buenaventura Durruti

• The original five-piece recorded two tracks for the debut Factory release, ‘A Factory Sample’. However, due to disagreements about producers, it soon became a solo project of ‘that genius guitarist that’s always ill’, Vini Reilly.

• The debut album ‘The Return Of The Durutti Column’ was recorded in just two days by Vini Reilly and engineer Martin Hannett. It was famously housed in a sandpaper record sleeve glued by members of Joy Division & ACR. A Situationist prank that had also been considered by Malcolm Maclaren for the Sex Pistol’s debut

• All The Durutti Column’s releases on Factory had catalogue numbers ending in ‘4’

• Bruce Mitchell, DC’s longtime percussionist and sometime manager, joined in 1980 from Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias

• A self-taught guitarist, Vini’s first recorded work was Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds’ ‘Ain’t Bin To No Music School’. When Vini left the band to join DC, he was replaced by Billy Duffy and ‘Ed Banger’ was replaced by Steven Morrissey. Vini later played guitar on Morrissey’s ‘Viva Hate’

• Brian Eno cites Durutti’s 1981 release ‘LC’ (‘Lotta Continua’. Italian for ‘continuous Struggle’) as his all-time favourite album and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) claims Vini is ‘the best guitarist in the world’. According to self-critical Vini, ‘it’s just tunes, innit’

• Vini recently suffered three strokes and was the subject of an appeal that raised £3000 in just one day to cover his unpaid rent

• In the film ’24 Hour Party People’ God appears to Tony Wilson and tells him that Vini Reilly is way overdue a revival, that he should consider a ‘Greatest Hits’ album and that the Durutti Column is ‘good music to chill-out to’. God was right. He usually is.

Durutti Column: 1980-1990 The Factory Years ICA

01 Sketch For Summer (Return Of…, 1980) FACT 14

Probably the best-known DC song complete with Martin Hannett‘s sampled birdsong. Its a love/hate thing

‘(Hannett) more or less got sounds for me that no one else could understand that I wanted’

02 Madeleine (Lips That Would Kiss EP, 1980) FAC BN2-005

B-side of the rare ‘Lips That Would Kiss’ EP. Released in Belgium on Factory Benelux

03 For Belgian Friends (A Factory Quartet Sampler, 1980) FACT 24

Up-beat drums by A Certain Ratio’s Donald Johnson

04 Jacqueline (LC, 1981) FACT 44

Recorded on 4-track cassette at home. The first recordings with Bruce Mitchell on drums

05 The Missing Boy (LC, 1981) FACT 44

Written about Ian Curtis with heart-wrenching, hesitant vocals by Vini. Not a dry eye in the house. ‘Same old order… Same old order… Same old order’

There was a boy / I almost knew him
A glance exchanged / Made me feel good
Leaving some signs / Now a legend
The dream was wrought / Where thoughts were heard
Love is reserved / From previous times

Like a dead bird in the dirt / Like a rusty can on the ground
I don’t believe in stardom / Machinery in action
Full of experts / Full of experts
Same old order / Same old order / Same old order

Watch with obsession / Some accident of beauty
Try to capture / As the light begins to fail
Shapes to compose / Shadows of frailty
The dream is better / Dissolves into softness
But the end / The end is always the same

06 Without Mercy (Stanzas 4-7) (Without Mercy, 1984) FACT 84

Just. Beautiful. Intended as an instrumental evocation of the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats

IV.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

V.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

VI.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.

VII.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
“I love thee true.”

07 Tomorrow (Circuses & Bread, 1986) FACT 154

Another haunting, effecting vocal from Vini.

All I wanted was your time / All you ever gave me was tomorrow
And tomorrow never comes / Tomorrow never comes
People stood in a line with flowers / They were only waiting for the moment
And I know the feeling so well / I’ve been waiting for you for so long

08 Finding The Sea (Vini Reilly, 1989) FACT 244

Heaven in two parts. Vocals by Sola. Produced by Stephen Street

09 Otis (Vini Reilly, 1989) FACT 244

Experimenting with samples of singers to stunning effect. Sampling ‘Pain In My Heart’ by Otis Redding. Additional vocals by Pol.

‘Respect & Thanks to those we have sampled.’

10 Contra-Indications (Obey The Time, 1990) FACT 274

Obviously influenced by 1990’s Manchester, this initially sounds like it could be off the first Electronic album

Bonus:

11 I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong (Bonus 7″ w/ Vini Reilly LP, 1989) FACT 244+

An out-take from the Viva Hate sessions released as a bonus 7″ with copies of the Vini Reilly album.

Credited to Vincent Gerard & Steven Patrick ‘Definitely not for sale separately. ‘

‘When they’re duff, they really are fuckin’ duff!”

“…strictly rockers…”

Field Mice

THERE’S TWEE…..AND THEN THERE’S THIS

That above is the sleeve to the 7″ single with the catalogue number SARAH 12. It came out in December 1988 and was the debut from The Field Mice. The lead track is achingly gorgeous. There were three quality songs alongside it. If you own this single than please treasure it and look after it well. It sells for upwards of £60 on the second-hand market these days.

Of course I don’t have a copy. I missed out on a lot of music in the late 80s as my priorities were elsewhere. It took me a long long long time to discover The Field Mice and it came courtesy of a 1998 CD compilation, which even then I didn’t buy until 2007… but I really didn’t mind being so late to the party.

The four tracks on the debut single appear on that compilation:-

mp3 : The Field Mice – Emma’s House
mp3 : The Field Mice – When You Sleep
mp3 : The Field Mice – Fabulous Friend
mp3 : The Field Mice – The Last Letter

Enjoy.

Eels

AN UNUSUAL AND INSPIRED COVER

eels

Eels are a very unusual and distinctive band. They’re probably in loads of collections thanks to their inclusion on all sorts of compilation CDs that have accompanied film soundtracks, including including Scream 2, American Beauty, Road Trip, Holes, The Anniversary Party, Knocked Up, Yes Man, The End of Violence, Hellboy II, Hot Fuzz, The Big White, and the first three Shrek movies. I’d imagine that a lot of folk who were then attracted to buy more stuff by the band as a result of the soundtrack material would likely be baffled by what they picked up….it’s not always the easiest or most comfortable of listening.

They also once did a very unusual cover. This was the fabulous original:-

And here’s the equally fabulous cover in which the original is twisted and kicked around to produce something rather disturbing:-

mp3 : Eels – Get Ur Freak On

Enjoy.

Dinosaur Jr.

HOW REMISS OF ME NEVER TO HAVE POSTED THIS BEFORE (2)

I was sure I had featured Dinosaur Jr. before. I certainly did over at the old blog when I mentioned that I particularly loved the promo for Feel The Pain given it featured golf (albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way). Yup, for those of you who weren’t previously aware, I am an avid golfer. Don’t let that put you off.

I don’t actually own all that many tunes written and recorded by J Mascis but what I do have I really like. Especially this 1988 single which is something of a masterpiece:-

mp3 : Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene

There’s just something quite unique about the song, and it’s probably been best captured by the all music reviewer:-

“…the melody of the song is instantly infectious…..Mascis is one of those rare guitarists who seems to have the ability to voice emotion while soloing, using the instrument to convey a message that verbal language just can’t translate. Freak Scene is the perfect assimilation of several musical genres, blending pop melody, the crunch of metal, and punk attitude with a dash of acoustic folk and classic rock guitar leads filtered through Mascis’ soon-to-be hip, slacker aesthetic.”

Yup. And it’s magnificent to dance to. It didn’t qualify for the 45 45s at 45 series as I only discovered and bought it about two years later…….

Here’s yer b-side (or in my case as it’s the CD single I have, the additional track):-

mp3 : Dinosaur Jr – Keep The Glove

Enjoy