Words and the PS are from Sid. I went for the songs.
What can anyone say about the 60th birthday of a guy who didn’t make 40? I think if Billy was still around he would still be making music. He’d love the Internet and how quickly he could produce and distribute music without the obstructive, stifling interference of Record Companies which had crushed his career and his soul so. He would do some wee cabaret slots at the Edinburgh Festival mibbe. He’d be happy with his dogs mibbe. He’d probably still be up in the Sidlaws. Maybe somewhere in an alternate universe he still is, but in this one his music stopped over twenty years ago. It is nearly thirty five years since his last hit single.
Billy and his Associates didn’t have many hit singles either – about two and a half at the last count. So Billy Mackenzie’s work isn’t about hits… it is mostly about misses. But those misses make for some spectacular listening. His list of recording associates is astonishing – he recorded with Barry Adamson, BEF, Apollo Four Forty, Yello, Skids, Shirley Bassey, Steven Emmer, Shakespeare’s Sister, Peach, Paul Haig, Alan Rankine, Michael Dempsey, Steve Aungle, Loom, Pascal Gabriel, Thomas Fehlmann, Blair Booth, Philip Erb, Moritz Von Oswald, Ralf Hertwig, Dei Zwei…
Billy should be a stylish, slightly tweedy, Scottish eccentric gentleman living out his years in a cottage in the hills to the North-West of Dundee. A sight to behold as he sets a polished brogue on some rugged granite outcroppings on the short heathery flanks of Auchterhouse Hill with a loyal whippet or two at his side. Happy Birthday Billy.
Sid Law
PS. Remember when New Year Shows were like this?
mp3 : Associates – Boys Keep Swinging
mp3 : Associates – Tell Me Easter’s On Friday (12″ version)
mp3 : Associates – Breakfast (Peel Sessions)
mp3 : Billy MacKenzie – Pastime Paradise
mp3 : Haig/Mackenzie – Thunderstorm
JC writes…….a huge thanks again to Sid for the fantastic contributions these past few days. And thanks to all of you have dropped in and been part of these extended birthday celebrations of a unique and sadly-missed talent.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Glad to see Tell Me Easter’s on Friday. Track 1 side 1 of any ICA I woyld come up with. Side 2 starts with Skipping. Haven’t worked out any of the other tracks LOL.
On the point of collaborations, there is something quite honourable and creditable that the list are all Billy type people and doesn’t include Lloyd Webber, T Horn, Earl Slick and all those others that Record companies were pushing him towards. He obviously hurt his own career prospects in the process though.
Anyway, great series JC/ Sid.
Really like Thunderstorm.
Thank you so much for this wonderful week of music & memories honoring Billy.
Thanks so much to you and Sid for sharing this week – it’s been lovely to celebrate Billy’s work along with you.
Thank you, Sid. Quite a celebration.
As often, didn’t know the guy (you’d be surprised how many great british sounds never cross the Channel), glad I could find out about him !
A great way to pay further homage to Billy MacKenzie. Thank you JC and Sid for providing us such fantastic glimpses into the man through his music. Billy rates as a musical hero for me, one I wish everyone could get the chance to discover.