September 2016 – Page 2 – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

REMEMBERING ITALIA 90

Pop Will Eat Itself were far more successful than my memory told me. I had always thought of them as a sort of cult act who deserved more success than they ever achieved. But doing a little bit of research shows up that twelve of their singles made the UK Top 50, with the fabulous Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies going Top 10 in 1993.

Today’s offering was released in 1990 just before the World Cup that was held that year in Italy. I love how the cover has the flags of all 16 finalists around a football, and the fact the record is described as a 30cm single and not a 12″ single as a nod to Europeanism.

mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself – Touched By The Hand of Cicciolina (Extra Time Mix)

The official song for the England World Cup squad that year was World In Motion by New Order, while the other big hit was the operatic tune that BBC-TV used for its coverage, Nessun Dorma sung by Luciano Pavarotti.

All in all, a good World Cup for music. Such a pity the tournament itself is widely regarded as the worst in history since it began in 1930.

Here’s the b-sides of the 30cm single:-

mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself – Touched By The Hand of Cicciolina
mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself – Touched By The Hand of Cicciolina (Incredi-Bull Mix)

The latter was a nod to this footballer, much loved by many a pop singer from the Black Country.

Cicciolina, for those who don’t know was an Italian porn star. At the previous World Cup, England had been knocked out after a controversial goal by Diego Maradona who later claimed it was ‘The Hand of God’ who had scored it and not him. I still laugh at the commentary from various football matches sounding as if there are multiple orgasms a-plenty.

Scotland made the finals in 1990 (and have only done so once since in 1998). While England made the semi-final, we came home just about first after losing to Costa Rica, beating Sweden and then losing a late goal to Brazil when a draw would have seen us get out of the group. Our song was honking….

mp3 : The Scottish World Cup Squad & Friends – Say It With Pride

Enjoy.

Various

BONUS POSTING : A FEW SONGS

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Once more I foist some stuff on you from the new mixes I’ve pulled together for listening to on a 7-hour plane journey. Named today after the first sample on the first tune. And please….don’t be put off if one or more of the featured bands is not to your esteemed tastes….this one works and comes in on time…59:50.

mp3 : Various Artists – Elevator, Going Up

Shopper’s Paradise – Carter USM
He’s On The Phone – St. Etienne
Last Nite – Detroit Cobras
Head On – The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Only One I Know – The Charlatans
Unbelievable – EMF
Push Upstairs – Underworld
Brother – The Organ
The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
Outdoor Miner – Wire
The Freeze – Spandau Ballet
Penelope Tree – Felt
Sunday to Saturday – The June Brides
Radio Free Europe (original Version) – R.E.M.
Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
Touch Sensitive – The Fall

I’ll likely listen to this one at maximum altitude and optimim cruise control speed.

Buzzcocks

BUZZCOCKS SINGLES 77-80 : (Part 3)

After the self-inflicted wound of Orgasm Addict, the band enjoyed their first taste of chart success with the follow-up, released on 3 February 1978. But they made sure nobody could play the b-side on the radio:-

mp3 : Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?
mp3 : Buzzcocks – Oh Shit

A #37 hit. Deserved much better as it is one of the most underrated post- punk pop tunes of all time.

Bonus Peel Session version from 7 September 1977:-

mp3 : Buzzcocks – What Do I Get? (Peel Session)

Botany 5

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #40 : BOTANY 5

r-3494122-1332613406

Botany 5, consisting of Gordon Kerr, Steve Christie and Jason Robertson recorded two singles in 1990 and one LP in 1991 for Virgin Records. The group’s mellow meditative soundscapes led to comparisons with the likes of Talk Talk, The Orb and Animal Nightlife. Before being lost forever to the music business jungle, the Botany 5 trio completed a series of acclaimed live shows aided and abetted by former Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika.

mp3 : Botany 5 – Love Bomb

Not to be confused at all with the single of the same name released by Clare Grogan.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING

one-more-time

Those of you who are fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds will know today marks the release of the new album, Skeleton Tree. You’ll also know that the release was preceded by the one-off showing last night in more than 650 cinemas worldwide of One More Time With Feeling, a documentary about the making of the record in which fans had the first opportunity to hear the new material.

Album launches tend to be happy and joyous affairs – indeed just a mile or so at the other end of the city centre of Glasgow from the cinema I was sitting in, such an event involving the wonderful and exciting Teen Canteen was taking place (with early reports from friends who were there indicating it was one of the gigs of the year). After such launches, the singer or band tends to take to the road and promote the new material via the live setting (such as Teenage Fanclub did earlier this week).

Neither of these options would have been appropriate for the launch of Skeleton Tree.

For those of you who don’t know, work was already underway on the new record when Nick Cave and his family were hit with the most unimaginable personal tragedy.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/15/nick-cave-son-arthur-dies-brighton-chalk-cliff-fall

The subsequent inquest, in November 2015, found that Arthur had taken some form of hallucinogenic drug, most likely for the first ever time, shortly before he fell to his death.

At some point in time, and I’m sure as part of the grieving process, Nick Cave returned to the studio to finish work on the new record. He knew that at some point when work was complete that he would need to promote the record but he could not, understandably, bring himself to be subject to widespread media attention nor go on stage not knowing just how he would react.

In December 2016, he called up his film-making friend Andrew Dominik and floated the idea of a documentary to capture the band performing the new album. Work began in February 2016 at a time when the band came together again to mix the record but it soon became clear that the bond between the two men, and the trust placed in the film-maker by the Cave family and circle of friends, would allow something much more substantial to emerge from the process.

The finished work, shot almost exclusively in black and white and 3D, has long sections in which Nick Cave tries to talk and muse on what has happened to him over the past year and a bit. It also has some of the most astounding performances of some of the most astounding songs that the Bad Seeds have ever recorded.

It is an extraordinary, powerful and moving piece of film. It goes beyond belief that Nick and his wife Susie should so openly share their feelings about their sense of loss and grief in such a bold and frank fashion without ever looking for the man behind the camera, and by extension the audience, to offer up any pity.

The other thing that was most striking was watching a man whose very strength has always been his lyrics and prose at such a loss to find the words to adequately articulate the pain he feels every waking day.

One More Time With Feeling wasn’t something to be enjoyed in the same way as other music documentaries. It was haunting and sad and yet it was full of beauty and dignity. It’ll stay with me a long long time and I’ll recall many of its scenes any time I play the new album.

Wonder Stuff

HUP

I’m sure you’ve all received at some point via social media an invitation from a friend to share your tastes in music with the watching world. One of the things doing the rounds a few months back was a request to simply post the sleeve of an album you were particularly fond of without any need to say why that particular piece of plastic is so important to you.

It’s very tempting to bring that concept to T(n)VV by posting a picture and hoping that the many talented contributors would then, in effect, write the piece via the comments section. Especially on those occasions when time is against me doing the usual thing. But I won’t.

It was interesting to see some of the responses – the majority of folk put up the sleeves that you’d expect, the timeless classics and ground breaking albums. Some however, showed off a little by featuring records that sold poorly, are not well known and in all honesty are defined as ‘cult’ when the real word should be ‘shit’.

Then there were those whose choices might have raised a few eyebrows as surprises….the sort of release that would be classed by the majority as solid lower or minor league fare but in the eyes and to the ears of the individual contributor really is an album worth shouting about.

I think Hup, the sophomore 1989 album from The Wonder Stuff, would fall into that category.

The band had been snapped up by Polydor Records on the back of a well-received self-financed EP, backed by a lot of positive media who were always happy to talk to the highly-opinionated but erudite front man Miles Hunt. Their debut album from 1988, The Eight Legged Groove Machine, went Top 20 in the UK despite none of its four singles doing all that much. The songs were short, snappy and catchy, leading to many a comparison with early Buzzcocks. They were just as energetic and infectious on stage – every show saw every audience members leave at the end of the night bathed in sweat from their own exertions.

The single which preceded the release of Hup is regarded by many as the band’s finest three minutes…..or four minutes forty five if you take in the 12” extended version.

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Don’t Let Me Down, Gently (extended)

This went Top 20 in the singles chart in September 1989, paving the way for the album the following month to crash in at #5.

But here’s the thing….Hup was a long-way removed from the debut album. It opened with a song that sampled dialogue from movies and tv shows which then went into something clever yet mid-paced.

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – 30 Years In The Bathroom

Other songs featured fiddles and banjos while, #gaspshockhorror, there was even a ballad.

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Unfaithful

It was a big leap forward and it caused many old fans to turn their backs and seek out alternative bands who relied on a rough, raw energy; it also soon led to a parting of the ways with Rob ‘The Bass Thing’ Jones deciding this folksy, rootsy chart friendly sort of stuff wasn’t becoming of a genuine hellraiser, leading him to quit at end of the 1989 tour after which he would move to America before his lifestyle caught up with him and he died of heart failure in 1993.

I’ve a lot of time for Hup. It was an album that was difficult at the time to categorise as it had a little bit of everything. Many of the bands contemporaries had strayed into ‘Madchester’ territory, mimicking the sounds and grooves of the chart bands but the Stuffies had, certainly at this point in time, avoided that temptation. The second single lifted from the album was incredibly radio friendly but anyone who was only familiar with the debut material would have been hard pushed to identify them correctly:-

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Golden Green

To give the band a bit of credit, they actually put this out as a double-A single with an otherwise unavailable track on the flip side:-

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Get Together

This wasn’t however, an original number; instead it was their version of a a pro-peace/anti-war single from the 60s that had since been covered on many an occasion by acts as diverse as Jefferson Airplane, the Dave Clark Five, Andy Williams and Louis Armstrong. Part of the lyric would later come to the attention of the record buying public as the sung/spoken introduction to a track by Nirvana………..

Golden Green/Get Together was only a minor hit and didn’t give the album that anticipated spike in sales. It also nixed the idea of lifting a third single from the album which in a sense was a good move as it allowed the band to move on, but which prevented some decent songs becoming better known:-

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Radio Ass Kiss
mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Cartoon Boyfriend

The first post-Hup release in May 1990 also caught folk out as it slammed straight into the Madchester territory that they had so carefully bypassed the previous year:-

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Circlesquare (Paranoia Mix)

The title of the track on the b-side made me smile.

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Our New Song

Enjoy.

Various

BONUS POSTING : A FEW SONGS

oops

Just over two weeks until I take off for Toronto and so I’m still compiling the soundtrack for the plane journey in lieu of the usually piss-poor in-flight entertainment.

I’m trying to get each chunk to come in at around about the 1 hour mark. Indeed, as I was putting this one together I thought it would make an ideal 60 minutes of quality radio play, going from the news at the top of the hour till the same again 3,600 seconds later.

And then I threw in a song I wasn’t originally planning to include as I thought the running order was going to come up short. This, as it turned out, took the total time to 62:20. If I’d left well alone, I’d have been more than fine. But as it is, I’ve fucked up one more time and thus the title I’ve selected of this particular smorgasboard:-

mp3 : Various – Oops, I Did It Again

Couple of nice and unusual segues…

Swerve – Dub Sex
Pump Up The Volume – M*A*R*R*S
Homosapien – Pete Shelley
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Theme From S’Express – S’Express
Age Of Consent – New Order
Just Like Heaven – The Cure
There She Goes – The La’s
Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh
Lost Weekend – Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
Babies – Pulp
Rise and Shine – The Cardigans
Candy Everybody Wants – 10,000 Maniacs
Eine Symphonie des Grauens – The Monochrome Set
Sorry For Laughing – Josef K
Irish Blood, English Heart – Morrissey
Kiss – Prince & The Revolution
Trash – Suede

At least another two of these to come before I leave.

Half Man Half Biscuit

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #90 : HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT

A GUEST POSTING FROM THE ROBSTER

cover

Check Your Sheds!

Another Half Man Half Biscuit Imaginary Compilation

I swore to myself I wouldn’t do another one of these. I’ve done five already and I don’t want to be greedy. Besides, this whole business of choosing 10 songs by your favourite artist(s) lark is bloomin’ hard work and messes with your head. Those acts worth compiling have way in excess of double that number of songs that you simply can’t do without, so it’s a real psychological struggle with yourself to whittle it down to 10. No matter how hard you try, you always feel you could have done better, and there’s that obscure b-side you wish you’d included just so everyone thinks you’re a proper hardcore fan. I promised myself I wouldn’t put myself through it any more.

Yet, here I am again, which begs the question – why? Why do this to myself? Well, in a recent series of exchanges between myself and JC, he happened to mention that I “promised” a volume 2 to his Half Man Half Biscuit ICA.

https://thenewvinylvillain.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/an-imaginary-compilation-album-7-half-man-half-biscuit/

I dispute that I actually promised such a thing, I merely mentioned that I’d consider it. To be fair, I completely forget I even said that. Anyway, the point is I was also considering the future of my own blog and hit upon an idea for a new series. This series seemed to coincide with JC’s request for this ICA, so I agreed to do it, though there is an ulterior motive which I shall reveal at the end. In the meantime…

Like all ICAs, this was tough. In compiling the songs, I made sure I avoided everything JC included in his original (hence no Joy Division Oven Gloves or Trumpton Riots) while attempting to cover the band’s entire 30-year recording career. I also wanted something that sounded like a coherent album and represented the band’s styles and moods as well as Nigel Blackwell‘s frequently brilliant lyrics. There are some glaring omissions, but rather than focus on those, here’s what I ended up with.

Side One

1. The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train) (2002, from ‘Cammell Laird Social Club)

A big fan favourite this one and a regular in their live set. The tale of a couple who’ve split up because she craves a more upwardly mobile lifestyle in Notting Hill “where the cocaine is Fair Trade”.

2. Westward Ho! – Massive Letdown (2014, from ‘Urge For Offal’)

Westward Ho! is a North Devon seaside town I spent a lot of time in during my youth. It was our preferred beach when we were kids, then as a teenager it was where I and my friends would hang out at weekends. There was a nightclub there where the DJ would play some of our records for us in a half-hour rock slot. Then, in my 20s, I was a regular at The Anchor, the best live music venue in North Devon. While mainly local bands played there, my mate got Chumbawamba, Credit To The Nation and a few other recognised names to play there in the early 90s. Happy days.

The Anchor is now, inevitably, expensive apartments and Westward Ho! really is a massive letdown. It remains, however, one of only two towns in the world with an exclamation mark in its name, and the only town that’s known to be named after a book. It’s also worth noting that the album this track comes from, ‘Urge For Offal’, is the band’s most recent, their 13th, and their highest charting since the 80s!

3. Everything’s A.O.R. (1991, from ‘McIntyre, Treadmore & Davitt’)

After breaking up due to “musical similarities” in 1986, Half Man Half Biscuit reformed in 1990. The first album following their reformation was ‘McIntyre, Treadmore & Davitt’ which contained this gem, another song they still play live. I particularly love the line “I can put a tennis racket up against my face and pretend that I am Kendo Nagasaki.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo_Nagasaki

4. Restless Legs (2005, from ‘Achtung Bono!’)

We’ve all suffered from restless leg syndrome, haven’t we? Only Nigel Blackwell could write a song about it though. “Milky drink and Sudafed / That should sort you out, she said.” If only it were that simple, eh? HMHB don’t do videos, but fans often make their own. Perhaps the best of them all is this Eraserhead tribute:

https://youtu.be/j6gI7CHYRrU

5. Dickie Davies Eyes (1987, ‘Back Again In The DHSS’)

This wasn’t in my original countdown (I had The Bastard Son Of Dean Freidman from this album instead), but then I realised JC didn’t include it in his! Surely some mistake? A stone-cold classic.

Side Two

6. Irk The Purists (2000, ‘Trouble Over Bridgewater’)

Bridgewater is a town in Somerset. Nigel’s clearly a big fan of the westcountry. This track is all about music snobbery, or to be more specific, winding up music snobs. For that reason alone it’s genius.

7. Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years (2003, ‘Saucy Haulage Ballads’ EP)

Somehow Nigel has the uncanny ability to take a sad, even tragic situation and make you laugh at it. Imagine finding out that the grave you’ve been visiting for 23 years is not actually that of your loved one but a complete stranger’s instead…

8. Even Men With Steel Hearts (Love To See A Dog On The Pitch) (1995, ‘Some Call It Godcore’)

HMHB during the 90s just didn’t tick my boxes, and even in retrospect I don’t seem to have the affection for this period of the band as I do with their earlier and later eras. Nonetheless there are still some standout tracks of this time, and this is one of them. Those of us of a certain vintage can well remember the days when you would occasionally get a dog running around the pitch during a top level league match:

https://youtu.be/DvwA7BK4-6A

(Interestingly, this video includes footage of a Honved match, and we were all teenage armchair Honved fans, were we not?) And while Nigel laments the lack of dogs in the game nowadays, this little fella trended on Twitter after this appearance:

https://youtu.be/iVx3brQT0AU

9. We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune (2005, from ‘Achtung Bono!‘)

One of my fave tunes this one. The lyrics are classic Blackwell, but for me it’s just an all-round great song so there’s no other reason needed to include it.

10. The Referee’s Alphabet (2002, from ‘Cammell Laird Social Club)

Another classic, sung from the point of view of a football referee. Sentiments most true fans would agree with here, I’m sure. The final refrain sums it up for me: “Wouldn’t it be fun if we gave the ref a gun.”

Debate away, friends. I’m sure there’s all manner of alternative thoughts out there. Which brings me back to my ulterior motive as mentioned above.

Over in my little corner, I have run a few series known as ‘The Genius Of…’. So far I’ve covered David Gedge, Tim Smith, Jack White and Nick Cave. I thought next up I’d do Half Man Half Biscuit. But then I thought – no. Everyone loves the Biscuits, so why not let everyone contribute.

So here’s the deal – send me a piece about your fave Half Man Half Biscuit track. I don’t care what the song is or what you have to say about it, just write something (max 500 words) and send it to me. In exchange I’ll say nice things about you and will buy you a pint if we should ever meet. If I remember. I’d love to hear from you and it might just give my blog the kick up the backside it needs.

[email: rob.baker71@gmail.com]

THE ROBSTER

Teenage Fanclub

BONUS POSTING : FEEL GOOD HIT OF THE SUMMER

A few months back, Teenage Fanclub surprisingly announced that the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh was to be the sole Scottish date on the short UK tour to support the impending release of Here, the band’s tenth studio LP but just their second in the last eleven years. This is a band who can instantly sell out some of the largest venues in Scotland and who, whenever appearing on an outdoor stage at a festival, will attract numbers in the many thousands no matter who is on at the same time elsewhere in the field. And yet, this 600-capacity basement venue is where we find ourselves packed into on a sticky September evening.

Now let me make it quite clear from the outset; this particular has long been a favourite location of mine. It is just the right side of intimate and offers options to stand downstairs or up above on a balcony. It’s more or less a square shape and the sight lines to the stage, other than at the very back, aren’t affected by unsightly pillars. It also, especially since a major refurbishment some six years ago after a devastating fire, has an excellent sound system.

But it is a venue that is always, without fail, incredibly stifling thanks to its basement location in an old stone church that seems to just absorb the heat. And when it sells out, there is next to nothing left in the way of breathing room. This is all fine and dandy when it is a young band attracting a young and predominantly thin audience where there will always seem to be a little bit of leeway. But the average age, and the ever-increasing average waist/dress size of a more mature audience such as would be typical at a TFC gig was always going to generate ridiculous amounts of bodyheat.

I got there in time to catch the support. I don’t like using this place to knock or criticise new and emerging bands as they collectively always have more talent than 10,000 maniacal bloggers called Jim could ever conjure up. So I’ll simply say that the four-piece band from Glasgow who opened proceedings weren’t my cup of tea but there were others were quite taken by them. The 45-minutes were endured but with the consolation that I had got there early enough to bag a great spot from which to watch the main attraction.

TFC bounded on at the stupidly early time of 8.30pm as there was a curfew of 10pm – I’m told this might have to do with the venue often doubling up a dance club in the late evenings/early mornings rather than the crazy licensing laws in the capital on the 49 weeks of the year that the Festival and Fringe aren’t hanging around.

TFC bounded on (yes, they really did with all sorts of energy, enthusiasm and smiles) and went straight into Start Again to huge acclaim at the end of which Norman thanked everyone for coming along and said that the show was going to feature songs from every album except one (which in the end turned out to be The King). In keeping with the democratic nature of the live shows, they then went into Don’t Look Back followed by About You, thus allowing Gerry and Raymond to take lead vocals and in doing so ensured the show hit a high spot from the outset.

And over the next 90 minutes, it rarely deviated from that level with no alarms and no surprises.

There’s just no way to find fault with a set that relied most heavily on Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain, their two biggest selling and most enduring works in which they really nailed the trick of killer choruses via warm harmonies and great melodies. The four new songs were aired at really appropriate times being wrapped around an achingly beautiful Ain’t That Enough mid-set; they closed with Sparky’s Dream and The Concept , and yup, it was the full 8 minute version of the latter that could have gone on for twice as long and still not bored anyone.

And then they came back for a three-song encore : I Need Direction, Can’t Feel My Soul and Everything Flows.

No wonder all 600 of us exited back up the narrow staircase and out into what was now a drizzly yet still hot evening wearing the widest of grins and using one-word descriptions like amazing, stunning, incredible, awesome, wonderful, astonishing, extraordinary, stupendous, phenomenal and outstanding.

Or perhaps it was best articulated by a complete stranger who came up to me as I waited on the friends who were generously giving me a run home and so letting me avoid the misery of engineering works on the railway line back to Glasgow – ‘that was fuckin’ magic big man – no wonder we’re all smiling like we’re on ecstasy!’

mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Sparky’s Dream
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – I Need Direction
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Ain’t That Enough

Enjoy

Gene

OCD EPs : #3 : GENE

A GUEST POSTING FROM DAVE GLICKMAN

Back to the scene of the crime, at least insomuch as my first ever contribution to this blog was a Gene Imaginary Compilation Album.

As a quick reminder, the OCD EPs are intended to be short collections of the best or most interesting obscure, off the beaten track songs that only the most ardent and obsessed fans might be familiar with and have in their libraries. Been bitten by the “have to have everything they ever recorded” bug for your favorite band? If so, perhaps there is an OCD EP in your future.

In most cases, once the obsession to own everything takes hold, a long and arduous search ensues in the dark corners of the internet to find those hidden gems – a fan page here, an obscure video site there, an mp3 posted to a long since abandoned blog. However, in the case of Gene, no such effort is required. Instead, a gentleman by the name of Lewis Slade has already done all the work for you. Lewis’ site, “You’ll Never Walk Again,” is quite simply the go to source for all things Gene. Going on 12 years after their last gig, Lewis is still updating the site several times a year with new material. So, as it relates to the tracks shared below, you all now know who to thank.

Side One

1. Left Handed (demo)

On their debut LP Olympian, Left Handed is one of those loud-soft-loud numbers. However, it turns out that the early version of this song was a muscular tour de force from beginning to end. I much prefer it to the studio version.

For reference: Left Handed (album version)

2. Someone For Everyone (John Peel session 8 Dec 1999)

This is a Gene original from the 1999 John Peel Christmas show. As Martin says, “It’s something we dared not ever record. That will say a lot for it.” Actually, it is quite pleasant.

Side Two

3. Love Lives Here (The Faces cover) (John Peel session 27 Dec 1999)

Think of this as Gene’s version of The Smiths’ Rusholme Ruffians/(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame medley, only in reverse. Not only does the track say something about the band’s early influences, it further reinforces the greatness of one of their early B-sides (a single fat finger slip during the piano intro notwithstanding).

For reference: I Can’t Help Myself (Radio 1 Session 18 May 1994) – Actually, this song belongs in every post about Gene regardless of the topic.

(JC adds…………………….YUP!!!!!!)

4. Nice (“Let Me Rest” demo)

Let Me Rest is far from one of my favorites on Libertine. It just seems over-produced, the mix isn’t right and there’s oh so much of that grating organ sound. This demo version has none of those problems and the positive merits of the song really shine through. If not for a small skip in the recording at 2:55 (that presumably was not fixable), I am sure this would have been included on the deluxe edition re-release of the album in 2015.

For reference: Let Me Rest (album version)

DAVE

NYC, Various

EVERYONE’S YOUR FRIEND IN NEW YORK CITY (1)

A GUEST POSTING FROM ECHORICH &

JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

original

JTFL writes…..

A few weeks back JC ran a post about Television‘s wonderful Marquee Moon, which I described in the comments as a great source of pride to all New Yorkers. JC responded with a challenge: “an ICA that is so NYC rather than coming from any one band or singer….”

Of course that’s a challenge that any native would jump at and, in short order, Echorich chimed in that he was more than prepared to throw down. ER and I began selecting songs and it soon became clear that we were looking at lists of themes, rather than tunes. In other words, multiple NY-related ICA’s. We let JC know that the project was beginning to mushroom into perhaps more than he bargained for. To our delight, our host was more than happy to accommodate. So, we are pleased to present the first installment of an occasional series, EVERYONE’S YOUR FRIEND IN NEW YORK CITY.

Echorich put together “Coming of Age in New York City” as a provisional ICA before he and I pitched the series idea to JC. Subtitled ‘Foundations and Formations’, it’s a perfect introduction to how people of our generation connected music and NYC. I didn’t change a word — just added my own thoughts to ER’s memorable memories.

Step in and stand clear of the closing doors!

1. Velvet Underground – Venus In Furs

ER : The Velvets were known to me at as early an age as 10. Thanks to an older cousin who was quite an important influence on what I listened two in those summers between Elementary School terms, I learned about The Velvets, Bowie, The Stooges – even King Crimson. This song always seemed spooky, dangerous and sexual to my young, innocent ears…little did I know how right I was once I was old enough to really understand the song. I’m sure this is the first song I ever listened to in the dark.

JTFL: I was old enough when I bought the first LP to understand the sexual references of ‘Venus’ but what freaked me out was a song dedicated to smack. Lots of innuendo and camp metaphors in rock music about hard drugs. Not the Velvets: ‘Heroin’ is an overt tribute. The couplet ‘When I’m rushing on my run/And I feel just like Jesus’ son’ is what spooked me.

2. Tuff Darts – All For The Love Of Rock + Roll

ER : Although I never got to see them with Robert Gordon, Tuff Darts were a legendary band in the Downtown Rock Scene having been one of the first bands to gain a following at CBGB’s. Proto-Punk, Punk, New Wave, all those labels fit Tuff Darts and their brand of Garage/Glam Pop. Every time I hear this song I can’t help being transported back to the bowels of CBGB’s and the dark corners of Max’s Kansas City. Glory days…

JTFL: ‘Bowels’ of CBGB’s says it perfectly. CB’s, for all its fame, infamy and significance, was absolutely disgusting.

3. Suicide -Rocket USA

ER : Suicide – another band that remained more Downtown Living Legend for years before I could actually own any of their music. The angry minimal sound and howling vocals made me edgy and anxious as a kid…they still do and I love it. In the late 80s I would have the privilege of meeting and befriending Alan Vega and he was gracious enough to let me get the fawning, fanboy in me out and quickly became one of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure to know and share a drink with. Nights hanging out in the lounge at the Gramercy Park Hotel, where he lived, until 7am talking about everything and nothing were just magic.

JTFL: Suicide were more of an academic idea than a band for me. That is, they’re more interesting to talk about (and, apparently, to) than to listen to. Still, if only for the sake of the antagonism between the band and the crowd, Suicide are as important as any of the downtown bands that influenced the following generations.

4. New York Dolls – Jet Boy

ER : More of NYC’s post Velvets legend. The Dolls twisted Glam Rock and The Rolling Stones into what I’ve always thought was the first true Alternative Rock music. They found a way of mixing in Blues/R+B/Glam into something new and raw. Is it any wonder that McLaren would look to The Dolls as the future – even if he was their death. Where most would namecheck Personality Crisis, or Looking For A Kiss or Trash, it was always the speedy, Jet Boy that played over and over in my youthful ears.

JTFL: Guilty; would’ve name-checked Personality Crisis. Saw Johansen and Sylvain join Thunders and Nolan on stage at Irving Plaza and they just KILLED on this song.

5. Television – Foxhole

ER : The impetus for this ICA comes from a challenge that JC put to Jonny TFL after a comment on Television’s Marquee Moon. As I mentioned in my comment on that post, as huge a fan of Television as I am, it’s their follow album and particularly Foxhole which always stirred excitement in me. To this day I have never met anyone who feels the way I do about Television’s sophomore album Adventure, but after Marquee Moon, it was obvious that the band wanted to make a record that was more reflective of how they sounded live and also streamlined their sound. Foxhole is the just the right amount of Rock Song, chaos, tension and energy.

JTFL: Yeah, still guilty as I prefer the earlier album. Although Advernture’s lead track ‘Glory’ might be their best song under 10 minutes.

6. The Heartbreakers – Born To Lose

ER : You might say Ramones were the first NYC Punk band – and many would likely agree, but it was Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers that are that band for me. If they were meant to be the first Downtown NYC Supergroup, they failed miserably – as anyone looking to attain that status really should. Richard Hell was way too much of an imposing factor and Johnny, Jerry and Lure got away from Hell as quickly as they could. L.A.M.F. is a classic of the times and was of course a miserable disaster with critics and sales. I remember my Dad asking me what the hell I was listening to in my bedroom and he picked up the album cover and just laughed knowing exactly what L.A.M.F. meant having grown up on the streets of NYC himself. If it wasn’t a moment of musical bonding, it was on a Dad/Son level. Thanks Johnny…

JTFL: Ha! This NYC ICA project has been hilarious as it turns out Echorich and I overlapped in the city, had mutual friends and numerous other coincidences (he booked the Limelight; my band played there, etc.). This story is another example: I was walking down LaGuardia place in Soho with MY dad when a very strung out Johnny Thunders shuffled by wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and one of those shiny foil blankets you cover shock victims with at accident sites. When I told my dad that he was one of my guitar heroes, he sniffed and said in his Brooklyn accent, “your hero looks like shit.”

7. Patti Smith Group – Because The Night

ER : Patti Smith was kind of hard for me to approach as a teenager. She seemed like a literature student slumming as a Punk Rock Poet to me at first. I grew slowly to understand and appreciate the immensity of her gifts as an artist. My favorite Patti Smith Group album is Wave, hands down. But it was Because The Night from Easter that will always be THE song I go to when I need a Patti Smith fix. It speaks to the rebellious teen that still lives somewhere deep inside me… Yeah, Yeah, Springsteen gets credit for writing it, but it’s Patti’s song and she let him know that from the off.

JTFL: For me it’s Patti’s song ‘Piss Factory’, first heard on a punk compilation when I was in high school in the suburbs. NYC is magic and my only ambition as a kid was to live in Manhattan. The lyric: ‘I’m gonna get our of here/I’m gonna get on that train/I’m gonna go on that train and go to New York City’ said it all: for Patti Smith, for me, and for everyone dreaming of escaping to where the action is.

[Shout out to my daughter and all her friends at 318 E. 15 St. who just moved to the city to start college!]

8. Ramones – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

ER : Don’t really have to say too much about Ramones that we all don’t already know. On those first 5 studio albums there isn’t a duff track among the lot. I could include one of a dozen songs that followed me for years growing up. But Sheena Is A Punk Rocker really fits the bill here. Short, sharp and in at under 3 minutes. I always felt some pride that Ramones hailed from Queens, where I grew up. Punk may have played in the Bowery, but it was formed in a garage in Queens.

JTFL: Agree 100%. One of the best things about the Ramones were that they were always those same Queens kids. Whenever you saw them in town (which was all the time since Johnny lived on the next block from me and we all used to drink at Paul’s Lounge on 4th Avenue) they were in their regulation ripped jeans, sneakers and motorcycle jackets. The living blueprint for punk rock!

9. Blondie – X Offender

ER : Another hard one to choose. Blondie remains one of my favorite groups of all time. Sure they have a flawed catalogue of releases – espcially after Eat To The Beat, but I don’t think any of my true favorite bands have a perfect track record of releases for my ears. I could have easily have picked Picture This, Sunday Girl, One Way Or Another, Atomic, Dreaming…but X Offender is an example of what really set Blondie apart at the beginning of their career. That mining of 60’s Girl Group sound was so very important to their early releases, but Blondie refreshed that sound and empowered it. Debbie Harry, to this day is the only female Rock + Roll crush I have had… a flawed Rock Goddess.

JTFL: Flawed? Debbie Harry has no flaws and I’ll love her til the day I die. Although I would have picked ‘Rip Her to Shreds’…

10. Talking Heads – The Book I Read

ER : Here I had to fight with myself a bit to choose THE Talking Heads song that fit best into this ICA. While Psycho Killer is among my all time favorites – #9 on my 50 At 50 playlist – The Book I Read was the song I would play over and over from their debut ’77. It has all you would want from a Talking Heads song – a bit of menace, vocals on the edge, a sweet melody yearning to come out and a rhythm section you could bounce tennis balls off of. I once had the opportunity to speak with David Byrne for a few minutes at a party and while I kept my fanboy gushing in check, I did mention that I had a denim jacket painted with the fuscia/red Talking Heads 77 album cover on the back….He commented that that must have gone down well with all the kids in Zeppelin and Queen jackets when I was in High School. I replied – it had the desired effect – people kept a wide berth. This made David Byrne laugh…score.

JTFL: I would have chosen ‘Found a Job’, a song from 1978 about a couple who is dissatisfied with crap tv so they write and produce a successful show of their own, enlisting friends and family in the process. It’s a quintessential Talking Heads concept that also typifies what’s so great about New York: You don’t like something, so you come up with something better and then make it happen. The city isn’t a place where life slides by you — you’re always in the mix and you have to participate to make it there. First wave punk, especially the English variety, is often seen as nihilistic and negative. Not so for the NYC acts. Talking Heads were positive, productive, inclusive and uplifting with their variety of interesting ideas about ordinary things. Byrne is another one of my heroes for this reason. Of course, Echorich gets to hang out with the guy!

JC adds……

When I threw down this challenge, it was in the hope that one or other of Echorich or Jonny would pick up the gauntlet. I was delighted not only that they both want to get involved but are doing so in collaboration….despite the fact they only know each other through this blog and have never met!

There’s no question that Part 1 is a fabulous introduction, reminding us of some of the sensational new music which emerged back in the late 60s and early-mid 70s. The links to the songs are above each of ER’s an JTFL’s paragraphs.

There’s a few more posts in the pipeline in what I think will be an entralling, informative and hugely enjoyable occasional series.

Clash, Frank & Walters, Prefab Sprout

CALL ME STAR-STRUCK, UNCLE SAM

new-york

I’ve always been fascinated by New York City.

As a young kid I thought it was the most famous place in the world thanks to it being the backdrop to so many films and TV shows. Hell, it even was the setting for one of my favourite cartoons – Top Cat – while there was no mistaking that my favourite comic book hero’s home of Gotham City was the just a different name for NYC.

It was, in my young eyes, everything that America stood for where everything was bigger and better than you could wish for while growing up amidst the monochrome or at best faded-beige UK of the mid 70s. If someone had asked me, as an 11 or 12 year old why I wanted to see New York they would have got the 11 or 12 year old’s classic answer…….just because!

If pushed I would say it was all to do with the fact it seemed to be the best place for sport with the best known names such as the Jets, the Yankees and the Harlem Globetrotters (little did I realise the last of these was showbiz and not sport!). In ‘soccer’ you had the phenomenon of the New York Cosmos and I was desperate to be given the chance of seeing Pele and Franz Beckenbauer take to the field amidst pomp, pageantry and cheerleaders.

Boxing was another sport I watched – particularly the exploits of Muhammad Ali – and it seemed that every other month there was a world championship fight taking place in NYC at Madison Square Gardens. I wanted to be part of such a loud and raucous crowd (albeit years later my first experience of a live boxing match put me off for life)

Oh and then there was the fact that I was fascinated by the idea of hot dogs, hamburgers and milk shakes, none of which you could get in Glasgow at the time (well you could, but you knew that they were all fifth-rate and not a patch on the real things).

Then I got slightly older and began to fall in love with pop music. NYC began to loom even larger as all the best bands in the world constantly talked about how it was the greatest city to play in and how the energy and vitality of the place brought so much to the performances. It also appeared to be where some of the best new music was coming from. And it seemed as if all the women were as gorgeous as Debbie Harry.

But the sheer cost involved meant that visiting NYC in my truly formative years was always going to be an unfulfilled dream. It was difficult enough finding the money to go and visit London far less get on a plane and cross the Atlantic. I didn’t even know how to go about obtaining a passport……

The idea of visiting in later years did come up – myself and Mrs Villain talked about going there for my 30th in 1993 but in the end we went for a beach holiday in the Caribbean. Her 40th in 1998 was another possibility but again the lure of the sand and the sun proved too much.

By now I was in a job that had me seeing a fair bit of the world as I was a senior aide to the equivalent of the Mayor of Glasgow and accompanied him on a number of occasions, especially when he was to deliver a keynote speech at a conference or event.

I had always hoped the opportunity to do so in NYC would occur and so when he received and accepted an invitation to be part of a conference on Waterfront Regeneration, taking place at the Brooklyn Marriott, the dream of so many years was set to some true.

I began to plan everything in terms of how I would spend my free time at the conference and before long I had arranged to stay on for a few extra days at my own expense. Greenwich Village, Central Park, Times Square, Madison Square Gardens, Yankee Stadium, the Chelsea Hotel, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, the Guggenheim and the Statue of Liberty were all on the list as was a ride in a yellow cab. I’d find small and bohemian record and book stores and have the time of my life. I was counting down the days to the conference which was taking place from September 20-22 2001.

It’ll soon be 15 years to the day that the Twin Towers came down and changed everything we thought about the world in the proverbial blink of an eye. It’ll soon be 15 years to the day that I made my first ever visit to NYC as incredibly enough, the conference wasn’t postponed.

It’s true that more than half of the delegates cancelled, including I would reckon 90% of those scheduled to come from Europe as travel plans were predictably chaotic and uncertain.

As it turned out, I was a passenger on the first Glasgow-Newark flight after 9/11. What I experienced during my stay will stay with me for ever. There’s an entire book can be written about my experiences over the following seven days – understandably it wasn’t what I ever imagined NYC to be in my long-held dreams. But if anything, I fell in love deeper and harder than I thought possible.

I’ve returned a couple of times since and seen more of the ‘real’ New York and thoroughly enjoyed myself. But everywhere I look there seems to be a haunting and chilling memory of my first time…..

I was hopeful of returning to NYC this year, on my 53rd birthday no less, to fulfil the ambition of attending a gig at Madison Square Gardens as The Twilight Sad were supporting The Cure that day. But some months out I knew that events close to home would mean I had to be in Scotland for something important the day after my birthday and so the plan was shelved.

I almost set myself up to head over this past weekend with today being Labor Day at the end of a long holiday weekend in the USA with my beloved Toronto Blue Jays playing at Yankee Stadium. But I chose instead to head to Toronto later this month and enjoy an extended break of a week rather than a few days.

Maybe NYC will be on the agenda for next year. Or maybe I’ll wait a while longer and go over when I have as much time on my hands as possible and do things properly and not in a rushed way, hopefully with Mrs V in tow.

There’s a reason for these particular paragraphs appearing today which will reveal itself in 24 hours’ time. For now, here’s some music from UK and Irish bands just as equally fascinated with the city, including the song from which I stole the title of todays’ posting:-

mp3 : Prefab Sprout – Hey Manhattan!
mp3 : The Clash – Broadway
mp3 : The Frank & Walters – Fashion Crisis Hits New York

Enjoy.

Buzzcocks

BUZZCOCKS SINGLES 77-80 (Part 2)

Howard Devoto might have left the band after the release of the Spiral Scratch EP, but the band decided that one of the songs he had co-written with Pete Shelley should be the debut single now that they had signed with United Artists, one of the first punk groups to end up at a major label.

The choice of said single was designed to court controversy, as was all the rage in November 1977:-

mp3 : Buzzcocks – Orgasm Addict

Not surprisingly, it was banned from radio stations up and down the country and so very few people got to hear it and even fewer bought it. That so few copies were purchased before UA deleted it means you need to pay £10-£15 nowadays for a copy that’s in decent condition.

Incidentally, Pete Shelley now considers the song to be embarrassing. I’m sure that Howie D also doesn’t consider it to be his finest moment, funny as it probably seemed at the time.

Here’s your bass-heavy and rough b-side in which Pete struggles occasionally to hit his high notes:-

mp3 : Buzzcocks – Whatever Happened To….?

Enjoy.

Book Group

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #39 : BOOK GROUP

3350103202

My ability to include Book Group in this series is entirely down to the generosity of Mike from Manic Pop Thrills who gave me a copy of the band’s debut EP as gift when I turned 50 back in 2013. I’m quite lucky as it seems there were only 100 vinyl copies of the record ever pressed up.

Mike is a great champion of new and emerging Scottish bands, often promoting shows in Dundee which is the nearest city to his home town of Cupar. He’s the type who, when he latches onto a band, is really dogged and determined in his efforts to take them to a wider audience. I really admire what he does which is a much more difficult thing than merely writing every day about old songs and old music (and relying on guest contributions to up the quality!)

Book Group are a more than decent four-piece indie-pop band from Edinburgh who have been in existence since 2012 and have, to date, released two EPs, one single and one LP, all of which have positive press in print and on-line. I can do no better than direct you to their page over on bandcamp where you will find some more info and the ability to listen to a tune from their debut album as well as purchase digital copies of everything they’ve ever recorded, including this from the debut EP:-

mp3 : Book Group – Year Of The Cat

Enjoy.

Devo

MY OH MY, I HADN’T HEARD THIS IN YEARS

As I’ve mentioned before, getting the old blog going what is now almost 10 years ago, resurrected an interest in vinyl just before it got hip and trendy. I picked up quite a few singles and albums on-line from folk selling off things for the sake of it rather than trying to make small fortunes and faithfully converted them into mp3 files for online use and for shoving onto the i-phone.

I was in the cupboard searching for something the other day when I found an old single by Devo from 1979 that I had obviously picked up, probably as part of a bigger package, but had somehow missed out when converting things. I loved the quirkiness of this 45 back in the day but it had been ages since I heard it:-

mp3 : Devo – The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise

Listening now it and you hear just how much of an influence this lot were on David Byrne.

I’d never heard the b-side before. The title made me think it would be a bit dodgy and unlistenable. Turns out to be one of the most punk and loud things Devo ever did:-

mp3 : Devo – Penetration In The Centrefold

Enjoy.

Various

BONUS POSTING : A FEW SONGS

cntower

Continuing with the even more self-indulgent behaviour of sharing the new compilations being pulled together to accompany me on the trip to Toronto later this month. I’m also feeling smug as thanks to a series of guest postings this place will take of itself while I’m away.

Usual rules – all compilations must come in at around the 1 hour mark and sound as if they would be suitable for some sort of alt/indie night.

mp3 : Various – CN Tower Of Song(s)

I Fell In Love Last Night – Heavenly
Big Blue World – Paul Haig
Movin’ On Up – Primal Scream
Celebrity Skin – Hole
Janie Jones – The Clash
Ch-Check It Out – Beastie Boys
Brimful of Asha (Fatboy Slim remix) – Cornershop
Rescue – Echo & The Bunnymen
Bulletproof – La Roux
Lenny Valentino – The Auteurs
A Message To You, Rudy – The Specials
This Charming Man – The Smiths
Plastic Supermodel – Anorak Girl
Falling – McAlmont & Butler
Oblivious – Aztec Camera
My Favourite Dress – The Wedding Present
Bye Bye Pride – The G0-Betweens
What Presence?! – Orange Juice

Enjoy. And feel free to download till your heart is full….and dance with gusto round your listening area.

Thee Headcoats

THE ANGRIEST EVER SONG TITLE?

If you ever want an example of a band that steadfastly kept the spirit of punk alive some 20 years after, to all intent and purposes it had crashed and burned, I would draw your attention to the merits (or otherwise) of Thee Headcoats who recorded almost 20 albums between 1989 and 2000.

The man at the heart of this three-piece combo was Billy Childish. It would take thousands of words to try to explain his continued role in music and art in the UK going back to the late 70s and continuing to this day. A summary, edited down from this extensive wiki entry would be he’s a painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist, prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He is controversial – some say he’s a genius and others say he’s a charlatan – and he’s courted controversy for the explicit and provocative nature of a lot of his work.

He’s rarely, if indeed ever, cared what the critics and, in particular the music press, think about him as can be heard from this song released in 1998.

mp3 : Thee Headcoats – (We Hate The Fuckin’) NME

That was one of the tracks on the LP The Messerschmitt Pilot’s Severed Hand released on Damaged Goods, one of the foremost and longest-running indie labels in the UK specialising, for the most part in the alternative leftfield side of things. The title track had previously been released as a 7″ single on the San Francisco based Smartguy Records, with the b-side being quite possibly the angriest ever song title:-

mp3 : Thee Headcoats – The Messerschmitt Pilot’s Severed Hand
mp3 : Thee Headcoats – I’ve Been Fuckin’ Your Daughters and Pissing On Your Lawn

It won’t be to everyone’s taste (mine included!) but hey, sometime I like to push the envelope.