The latest installment in the monthly series looking back at the songs which were #1 in the indie charts on the first day of the month 30, 20 and 10 years ago.
Thus far, it has shown decent enough stuff (for the most part) in 87 and 07 while demonstrating that 97 was a year in which the major labels took dross to the top of the indie charts thanks to the exploitation of a loophole around distribution. R. Kelly and The Rembrandts cannot, by any definition, be classed as ‘indie’. Third time lucky perhaps?
1 July 1987 : mp3 : The Soup Dragons – Can’t Take No More
The band’s fifth release and their first, and indeed only 45, to take the top spot in this chart. It was probably helped a bit by the fact it was released in three different vinyl formats – 7″, 12″ and a live 12″ , the latter which included a rather appalling version of Purple Haze. It’s all a long way removed from the baggy/dance stuff that took them into the proper charts a couple of years down the line.
1 July 1997 : mp3 : Blur : On Your Own
Food Records by this time were completely owned by EMI and so Blur were only eligible for the chart via that loophole referred to above. It’s actually one of my favourite tracks of theirs from that era – it’s since been said by Damon Albarn that it was one of the first tunes he wrote with Gorillaz in mind. It climbed as high as #5 in the UK singles chart, again helped by the fact that it was released on 7″ vinyl and well as 2xCD singles with a number of b-sided that had all been recorded live at John Peel‘s home studio at Peel Acres and broadcast on his show on 8 May 1997. Here’s some bonuses for you to celebrate this series featuring that very set:-
mp3 : Blur – Popscene (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Song 2 (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Chinese Bombs (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Movin’ On (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – M.O.R. (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – On Your Own (live at Peel Acres)
And now, especially for those of you who like the electronic sort of stuff:-
mp3 : Blur – On Your Own (Walter Wall Mix)
It’s a 15 minute remix courtesy of William Orbit.
1 July 2007 : mp3 : Jack Penate – Torn On The Platform
I was working in Canada ten years ago and hearing this makes me glad of that. This is my first exposure to this particular singer/songwriter.
He was on XL Recordings which that same year also released albums by Radiohead and M.I.A. I’m guessing it was the late teens/festival goers who took him to the top of this chart and to #7 in the UK singles chart. Wiki tells me he was popular in 2006/07 but his second LP in 2009 sort of sunk without trace. His fifteen minutes of fame had come and gone.
Orange Juice signed off with a flourish with their final single having the very tongue-in-cheek title of Lean Period. It was issued in 7″ and 12″ formats in a brown paper bag (the reverse side of the 7″ version is pictured above), a 12″ format with a printed sleeve and a limited 7″ edition that came with an additional flexi disc with two live tracks.
Despite all this, it staggered around the nether region of the charts but as this was a time when the charts were measured on a Top 100 it meant, in official terms, that Lean Period actually spent three weeks in the official rundown – entering at #78, rising to #77 and then leaping, salmon-like to the giddy-heights of #74 in October 1984.
mp3 : Orange Juice – Lean Period
mp3 : Orange Juice – Bury My Head In My Heads
mp3 : Orange Juice – Lean Period (12″ dub version)
mp3 : Orange Juice – Rip it Up (live)
mp3 : Orange Juice – What Presence?! (live)
The flexi disc recordings are very lo-fi, ripped as they are straight from those fragile and flimsy bits of plastic and so you’ll have to turn the volume right up. There are superior versions available via the Coals to Newcastle boxset but I thought I’d stay true to the blog’s principles.
Back in July 2015, I wrote about Propaganda and their debut single Dr Mabuse, released in February 1984. The piece made passing reference to the fact that the follow-up single, Duel, didn’t get released until much later largely as a result of ZTT having to concentrate on the phenomena that was Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I always meant to do a follow-up posting but never quite got round to it until now.
Duel is a lovely bit of electro-pop that fitted in just perfectly with so many of the other musicians I was developing a love for in the mid-80s, and in particular Pet Shop Boys. There was also something quite erotic about the vocal delivery of Claudia Brucken, but visually it was the other female in the band – Susanne Freytag – who really did it for me. The band actually were on UK telly quite a bit around the time of Duel, including a couple of live songs that were aired on Whistle Test on BBC 2 during which they proved, as a live act, they could cut it, albeit there were some backing tapes involved. It was also interesting to see Derek Forbes, formerly of Simple Minds, making an important contribution to the live sound.
It turned out to be the band’s best-selling single in the UK reaching #21 in May 1985 but I always felt the group never got the success it really deserved as the media by now were setting out on a ZTT backlash, sick to the back teeth of FGTH, and arguing that their success was down to the production skills of Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson and the hype-skills of Paul Morley rather than any talents the musicians might have. It seemed to be implied that Propaganda were no different despite the fact that anyone who saw them perform on Whistle Test and indeed The Tube on Channel 4 would know these were bona-fide musicians and singers.
The band toured for much of 1985, promoting debut album A Secret Wish. A remix album was issued just before Christmas but the band were strangely absent throughout 1986 and out of the blue came the news that Claudia Brucken was leaving to pursue a solo career. It turned out that the group had been taking legal action against ZTT as they were unhappy with the details of the recording contract and the label had counter-acted with action that prevented them going elsewhere. The new-look group did get a move to Virgin Records in 1988 but without the sort of attention foisted on them when they first burst onto the scene,
The 7″ version of Duel appeared on the debut album:-
mp3 : Propaganda – Duel
The 12″ had an extended version along with an industrial version on its flip side:-
It was back in the Autumn of 1999 that I first came across Basement Jaxx, thanks to two of their singles being played in all the pubs and clubs I found myself traipsing into on the Costa Del Sol while on a golfing holiday with a crowd of mates.
Now I’ve never been someone who has dismissed dance music as ‘not for me’, but to be honest I don’t have that much of the genre in the collection. But Red Alert and Rendez-Vu had become such an integral part of the week that I set out to track them down on my return to Glasgow.
In the end, I bought the LP Remedy and found that there was an awful lot to like about this lot. Indeed, not long afterwards they played a show at Glasgow Barrowlands and I dragged Mrs Villain along and we had a right good time despite being among the oldest folk in the venue, and that more than anything else convinced me that Felix and Simon were well worth keeping an eye on.
Since then, we’ve gone along to see them on a few more occasions and never been disappointed, although it’s fair to say that the shows at the Barowlands outshone those at the Academy, mainly due to the sound at the latter venue often being problematic. They’re an act that always get me off my seat and onto the dance floor – as can be testified by a good friend of ours who, somewhere, has video footage of myself and Mrs Villain dancing to Red Alert at his 40th Birthday party a number of years ago….the icing on the cake being it was a fancy dress bash and we were there as Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell.
I’ve also picked up cheap second-hand copies of the two singles that made such an inital impression; I flipped a coin on which to feature – the image at the head of this picture gives away which song won..as do the mp3s:-
mp3 : Basement Jaxx – Rendez-Vu (single edit)
mp3 : Basement Jaxx – Miracles Keep On Playin’ (Red Alert Remix)
mp3 : Basement Jaxx – All U Crazies
Also forgot 2 Many DJs took a Basement Jaxx number and mashed it up with something by The Clash; it was made available on a bonus disc when the Jaxx released a Greatest Hits CD:-
mp3 : Basement Jaxx vs The Clash – Magnificent Romeo
Two years ago, I was lucky enough, courtesy of Jacques the Kipper, to find myself at the world premiere of Big Gold Dream, a documentary film that told the story of the Scottish post-punk scene. Some of you may even recall my review of the film. It can be found here.
Fast forward two years and once again JtK has come up trumps and gotten his hands on tickets for Teenage Superstars, the second part of the filmmakers’ project. This time round, it focussed on how the scene developed from the end of Postcard Records through more than a decade to when Britpop came into being. It was an era of some of the finest ever music to come out of Scotland; indeed it could be argued that a ten-part series would be required to do full justice to the subject matter and so trying to squeeze it into a 110-minute long feature was a tall ask.
The director Grant McPhee, co-producers Wendy Griffin and Erik Sandeberg and editor Angela Slaven skilfully get round things by focussing in the main on the Glasgow/West of Scotland scene and the music which emerged from the brain of Steven Pastel and from the mining town of Bellshill. As with the earlier film, it proved to be a hugely entertaining watch, filled with great humour from just about everyone who was interviewed but also made room for the occasional piece of pathos from those who were an important part of the story but who were ditched before their bands made it big.
It is also incredibly informative. Who knew that the BMX Bandits based part of the design of the sleeve of their debut single on something they literally ripped off the back of a Sigue Sigue Sputnik 12”? Who had any idea that, of all the individuals to come out of Bellshill at the time, Sean Dickson of the Soup Dragons would be the one who was the most creative and most driven to be a success? Who would have thought Douglas Hart of the Jesus and Mary Chain would prove to be full of gentle, self-deprecating humour about his time working with the Brothers Reid? Who realised that over the years, there have been 28 different members working alongside mainstay Duglas T Stewart in the afore-mentioned BMX Bandits; or that Eugene Kelly, having brought an end to The Vaselines, was so down on his luck that he worked as a barman on the same street as where I had lived for the first 9 years of my life (it’s a big street, admitedly).
Others would certainly have known this, but it was news to me that the reason AGARR came into use as the catalogue prefix for all the singles on the 53rd and 3rd record label was that it was short for ‘As Good As Ramones Records’
Oh, it wasn’t all surprises – other parts merely confirmed what you thought, including that Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love are three of the most intelligent and lovely blokes ever to venture into pop music.
All the way through this world premiere, I thought of my Seattle-based friend Brian from Linear Track Lives who would have reckoned this just about the perfect night. There were wonderful shots of modern-day Glasgow dotted throughout the film interspersed with original footage that belonged to one or more of the contributors, including all sorts of stills and videotape of them in locations such as the house belonging to Norman Blake’s grandmother (where many rehearsals took place), busking to a large but bemused crowd outside Marks & Spencer in Glasgow (where, on a good day, Sean, Norman and Duglas would make enough money to buy a baked potato each before going home on the train) and inside the legendary Splash One club where so many of the bands would make their live debuts (and which your humble scribe missed out on as I was working and living 45 miles east in Edinburgh).
Oh and the film was followed by a Q&A before decanting to a nearby venue for live acoustic sets from Eugene and Duglas – although with an 11.30pm start to the gig, there was no way I could stay on without getting overnight accommodation and then up really early to be through at work in Glasgow the following morning. I’m really sorry that I can’t include a review of that here for you.
It is a documentary for music obsessives, lovingly filmed and edited, getting across that those who were interviewed really enjoyed reminiscing; there weren’t too many scores settled, although it is fair to say that Bobby Gillespie gets a bit of criticism at various times, and it’s interesting to note that neither he nor Jim Reid and William Reid from the Mary Chain took part; on the other hand, there is regular use of Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth as a talking head, and he make it very clear just how important and influential every single one of these Teenage Superstars turned out to be in the pantheon of modern music towards the end of the 20th Century.
The film will be getting a second screening on 1 July in Edinburgh as part of the international film festival. After that, who knows? I’m sure it will air at some point in the future in Glasgow but it really does deserve to be seen much further afield.
Inevitably, I’ve spent the weekend listening again a few of the timeless songs that popped up during the film.
mp3 : The Pastels – Truck Train Tractor
mp3 : BMX Bandits – E102
mp3 : The Vaselines – Molly’s Lips
mp3 : The Soup Dragons – Hang Ten
mp3 : Shop Assistants – Safety Net
mp3 : The Jesus & Mary Chain – Upside Down
PS : The original review contained a link to Velocity Girl ; however, it, and indeed no Primal Scream songs were actually used in the documentary and so, to avoid any confusion or potential problems to Grant & co., I’ve removed the link.
Now we get into the section of the series where I will struggle a bit.
You might recall a couple of weeks back my passing comment that I don’t own any XTC albums after English Settlement. This is partly down to the fact that 1983 saw me fall head over heels for so many other great bands and singers that there was no room for XTC anymore; it wasn’t helped by me being bitterly disappointed by the singles that were released to support their next album, and none more so than this from April 83:-
mp3 : XTC – Great Fire
I thought it limp and uninspiring on its release and I haven’t changed my mind since.
It was released on 7″ and 12″ in two different but equally appalling sleeves (as you can see above). The 12″ enabled the continuation of the Homo Safari series that had begun back in 1979 on the flip side of Making Plans For Nigel. Nos 1-3 had been released previously so it begged the question about what happened to No.4 (it turns out this would eventually appear in 1987)
mp3 : XTC – Gold
mp3 : XTC – Frost Circus (No. 5 In The Homo Safari Series)
mp3 : XTC – Procession Towards Learning Land (No. 6 In The Homo Safari Series)
Crap single. A ‘trying too hard to fit in with contemporary pop’ B-side – complete with horns – that seemed so alien to the sound of XTC and two boring instrumentals. File under inessential recordings.
I’m sure at least one of my regulars, to whom I am both grateful and of whom I am always in awe of, will drop by with a wonderfully-worded and persuasive contribution that proves my opinion, in this instance, is wrong!
In which the series featuring singers and bands from my native land crosses over the border.
From wiki:-
Eastern Lane were an English indie band from Berwick-upon-Tweed, comprising Derek Meins (vocals/guitar), Andrew Lawton (guitar), Stuart Newlands (bass) and Danny Ferguson (drums). Their name was taken from a street in their hometown. The band was formed in 2001.
The band released two albums: Shades of Black in 2003 and The Article in 2005. Both albums are on the Rough Trade label. Their song, “Feed Your Addiction” was featured in an HSBC advertisement.
In late 2006 the band went their separate ways, according to a posting on the band’s MySpace site, the split was down to the fact they have been unable to release any new material “due to circumstances with labels and money etc.”
Derek Meins is now pursuing a solo career, performing and releasing as The Agitator.
So why am I featuring them in this series? The answer is Berwick Rangers Football Club. Again from wiki:-
Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, on the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of Scottish football, and are the only club from outside Scotland in the Scottish Professional Football League.
So if it’s good enough for football, then it’s good enough for this corner of t’internet.
mp3 : Eastern Lane – Feed Your Addiction
I downloaded this from somewhere else many years ago on a recommendation. The music is a bit Husker Du but sadly the vocal is a bit Kings Of Leon. I didn’t pursue things further
In early 1988, it had been a long time since there had been any new Prefab Sprout material. Some two and a half years since the release of Steve McQueen with all sorts of rumours kicking around that the record label had rejected its follow-up as not being commercial enough (rumours that turned out to be true). All it had done was lead Paddy McAloon to go back and write a bunch of songs that would prove to be the most pop and radio friendly sounding of his entire career which in due course would provide the band with their only ever Top 10 single and their most succesful and biggest selling album.
The music press trailed the release of the new material by indicating that the lead-off single was a tribute to the life and work of Bruce Springsteen. This was a hard one to swallow….I didn’t have Paddy down as an admirer. Now don’t get me wrong, although I didn’t at the time (and still don’t) own any of The Boss’s records , it wasn’t down to any personal dislike or not rating his songs – he seemed (and still does) a very sound bloke and he was (and still is) very good at what he does – it’s just that the music he makes has never done anything for me.
It was therefore a bit of a relief that the song, once listened to closely, was actually spoofing much of what Broooooooce stood for:-
mp3 : Prefab Sprout – Cars and Girls
As I’ve written previously, I love Cars and Girls as much for the fact that having been subjected to that intense pressure to come up with a catchy hit, Paddy delivered a blasting critique of the label’s biggest selling star without the bosses seemingly catching on.
It was as far removed from any of the songs on either of Swoon or Steve McQueen as could be imagined. It was almost AOR sounding and the sort of thing that wouldn’t have been out-of-place on the sort of compilations that you find in service stations the length and breadth of the UK. A perfect song to listen to as you accelerated your vehicle over the speed limit, preferably with the soft-top roof lowered as the wind whipped through your hair…with a lyric that took the piss out of such folk.
The single wasn’t a huge success, stalling at #44. But incredibly enough, Cars and Girls would become a staple part of those service station CDs over the next 20 years and as such helped boost Paddy’s bank balance by a fair bit.
Here’s the two excellent tracks that were on the b-side of the 12″
mp3 : Prefab Sprout – Nero the Zero
mp3 : Prefab Sprout – Vendetta
Nero the Zero is a fine tribute to Paddy’s home area – akin to Raintown and its relationship with Glasgow – while Vendetta could easily be interpreted as sideways swipes at the folk at CBS for the rejection of the previous album.
As I said in the comments section, many many thanks for all your kind words on the occasion of my 54th birthday.
The mix of the tunes played during the first half of the recent There Is A Night That Never Goes Out event seemed to be well received. And in keeping with giving into public demand, and in particular from Neil McAllister, here’s the mix of the 43 songs that made up the second half of the night as selected by Hugh and Robert (some of them being in response to requests made on the night itself)
mp3 : Various – There Is A Night (May 2017 – Part 2)
44. This Is The Modern World – The Jam 45. A Message To You, Rudy – The Specials 46. Love Plus One – Haircut 100 47. Temptation – Heaven 17 48. Fade To Grey – Visage 49. Debaser – Pixies 50. Crash – The Primitives 51. Just Like Heaven – The Cure 52. Pretend We’re Dead – L7 53. Let’s Go Crazy – Prince 54. Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths 55. Always On My Mind – Pet Shop Boys 56. Na Na Hey Hey – Bananarama 57. Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics 58. Cannonball – The Breeders 59. Kill Your Television – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin 60. This Charming Man – The Smiths 61. Do You Remember The First Time? – Pulp 62. Sit Down – James 63. Geno – Dexy’s Midnight Runners 64. You Can Call Me Al – Paul Simon 65. Yes – McAlmont & Butler 66. Don’t You Want Me? – The Human League 67. Panic – The Smiths 68. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – R.E.M. 69. New Sensation – INXS 70. Animal Nitrate – Suede 71. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division 72. Getting Away With It – Electronic 73. A New England – Kirsty MacColl 74. Happy Hour – The Housemartins 75. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths 76. Gold – Spandau Ballet 77. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads 78. Hit – The Sugarcubes 79. Faith – George Michael 80. How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths 81. There She Goes – The La’s 82. The Only One I Know – The Charlatans 83. Sheila Take A Bow – The Smiths 84. Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm – The Wedding Present 85. Sensitive – The Field Mice 86. Everything Flows – Teenage Fanclub
When it was revealed, back in 2002, that the instrumentalist half of Arab Strap was going down the solo record route, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in dreading the outcome.
The band’s LPs hadn’t ever really given any indication that the guitarist was a frustrated frontman and my initial thoughts that this was his record label Chemikal Underground just saying yes to a vanity project. I’ve rarely been so wrong in my entire life as a run of consistently entertaining solo records soon established Malcolm Middleton as one the most talented singer-songwriters Scotland has ever produced.
His debut, the bizarrely titled 5:14 Fluxotine Seagull Alcohol John Nicotine, is a heartbreaking but engrossing listen filled with songs dealing largely with depression and self-pity from the failure of a relationship, with a distinctly Scottish vocal that at times seemed fragile and uncertain which left most listeners feeling that Malky really wasn’t the most comfortable or confident of solo performers. So what followed three years later was confounding and brilliant in equal measures.
Into The Woods was a complete revelation, filled with the most part with incredibly upbeat and joyous tunes bordering on anthemic. And if you don’t want to sing along to the radio-friendly catchy choruses then you’ll surely be tempted out of your seat at the indie-disco to shake your stuff.
But then when you listen closely to the words, you’ll spot that Malky’s take on life hasn’t changed all that much from 5:14 over the intervening three years – he’s still racked with insecurities, self-doubt and he’s worried beyond belief. Even when something good comes into his life, all he can think about is how inevitably it will all go wrong at some point in the near future…arguably the living embodiment of a Morrissey lyric…..
Opening track Break My Heart sets the tone for much of what follows. Malky has again fallen in love and this is a good thing. Or is it? After all, it’s only a matter of time before the relationship ends and he”ll be in pieces. But then again….if he does get his heartbroken he can go back to writing his shit songs (his own description of his output!!) and he’ll be a decent musician. It’s almost as if he can only perform if he’s the tortured artist with happiness being an impediment to success. Funny thing is…..I know someone who I think is a very talented writer but they tell me they can’t really do so unless their life is in a state of flux and turmoil so Malky’s outlook isn’t unique.
Lyrically, a number of the songs wouldn’t have been out of place on his debut LP but musically they are head and shoulders above fully fleshed out marvellously with keys and strings and a crisp, clean hugely confident production.
This was an LP I took an instant liking to in 2005. It was also an LP that just got better and better with each listen, musically and lyrically. All these years later and I still find it a great listen from start to end across all 12 tracks and have never tired of it. And don’t think I ever will.
That’s the opening three tracks on Into The Woods, and everyone of them a standout in their own different way. It’s a record I hate not listening to or playing all the way through in the correct order so it is tempting to give you all of the other nine songs but I’d rather you went out and bought a copy, preferably from the Chemikal Underground on-line store.
Oh and no matter how many hundreds of time I’ve travelled through Falkirk High Station, I’ve yet to have Loneliness Shines play on the i-pod(s) or i-phone at that identical moment…..
Much has been written around these parts recently on the music of Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn, better known and cherished as Everything But The Girl. University students already on their own paths to careers in music, once they met, a common direction of love and music opened up to them. Almost 35 or so years later their musical canon has the ability to move listeners emotionally and physically.
Ben and Tracey’s musical journey was one of exploration of many forms and styles. From Cafe Jazz (or the horrid tag of Jazz/Pop) to Indie Jangle…from heartfelt orchestrated Country and Sixties Pop to a sophisticated mix of Smooth Jazz and Soulful Balladry and eventually a successful foray into the world of House music. All through those changes in sound and style, they managed to maintain their integrity as artists and provide some very, very memorable music.
Here is an ICA which explores in 10 songs the essence of what it was to be Everything But The Girl from their debut Eden/eponymous titled in the USA album to their final long player Tempermental. It is by no means definitive. It does reflect a certain amount of personal preference in places, and I will leave the ‘elephant in the room’ off the track list only because it is a song that I believes deserves its one discussion – one which I will address at the end.
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL – AN ICA OF LOVE AND MUSIC
1. Laugh You Out The House – from EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL (US release)/B-side of EACH AND EVERYONE – This was my entry song into the world of Everything But The Girl. It is 1:50 of jangling pop with a breezy approach that just pulls you right into the sunny warm world of their music. Take a moment to listen to the lyrics and you will hear the angst and amorous confusion of young adults. That it was left for a b-side everywhere outside the USA show’s how deep their songwriting was at this early stage.
2. Fascination – from EDEN – From the moment I heard Fascination, I was devastated by it’s beauty and it has remained one of my 10 favorites songs. Ben’s lone acoustic guitar and Tracey’s open/echoey vocals command your attention and caress the words and emotion of the song. As other instruments slowly enter the song, a second guitar, bass and finally sax, the song’s emotions also build to a beautifully unresolved end.
3. Trouble And Strife – from LOVE NOT MONEY – With a sense of confidence from their debut, EBTG set about making a sophomore album on their own terms. They put together a more stable band with ex-Young Marble Giant bassist Phil Moxham and ex Mo-Dette June Miles Kingston on drums. Love Not Money is a an album filled with great music – a masterful turn on The Pretenders’ Kid, the universally (well in our universe) loved When All’s Well and a beautiful cautionary ballad dedicated to tragic actress Frances Farmer – Ugly Little Dreams.
Trouble And Strife really shows off the strengths of EBTG as a band. It is one of the more aggressive tracks on Love Not Money, opening with a powerful guitar riff and some very confident vocals from Tracey. The song deals with the struggles and hardships of being a woman and looking back on what limitations a mans world provides. Personal politics would be a theme that would run through their music until the end.
4. Cross My Heart – from BABY THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT – For their third album, EBTG said farewell to their association with Robin Millar and Mike Pela on production and decamped to the studio with Mike Hedges but lost the band in favor of a more orchestrated sound.
The album reflects their growing interest in country music songwriting and showcasing the lyrics and emotions of the genre with the Sixties’ many walls of sound from Dusty to Phil. You’ll even here the ghosts of Patsy Cline and Jimmy Webb in the songs on BTSSB. But the song I feel captures everything Ben and Tracey set to do on the album is Cross My Heart. It opens with a spacious Dusty/Sandi vocal and builds into a giant, sweeping orchestral masterpiece. Tracey is mic’d in the tradition of those 60’s pop standards and it gives magnifies the singular beauty of her voice. Cross My Heart touches on such allowed ground as a song like I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore from Dusty In Memphis – and maybe that album is the only other one I know that really captures an similar spirit.
5. Tears All Over Town – from IDLEWILD – The follow up to Baby The Stars Shine Bright was a more conventional pop album for EBTG. But there were lessons learned to this point that they brought to the album. This was the first time they attempted to produce themselves – with the help of masterful engineer Jerry Boys – and synths made a pronounced appearance replacing much of the band feel of their previous work. In fact there is no drummer credit anywhere to be found on the album.
There is a more intimate feel to many of the tracks, but not at the expense of quality or craft. Tears All Over Town reflects this new maturity best in my mind. Ben and Tracey enjoy some vocal interplay and the song hangs on a simple percussion pattern with some synth and guitar embellishment. It avoids all the obvious glossy pop devices that were everywhere in the middle 80s and still manages to be a shiny, fresh jazzy pop confection.
6. Driving – from LANGUAGE OF LIFE – There is something natural about EBTG heading into the studio for their next album with a proper Jazz producer – Tommy LiPuma – and luminaries such as Stan Getz, Joe Sample and Michael Breaker to make a real Jazz record. Tracey has called Language of Life a “fully realized…modern American soul-pop record, but it is also their most difficult album to put your finger on. It is an album that divides fans and critics and has lots of highs and lows. One thing I will admit is that it is missing its “edge.”
EBTG went from mature to adult between Idlewild and Language Of Life and in the process lost a good deal of the emotion that charged their best songs. The best example the album has to offer as an example of how a choice to create sublime pop lost that edge is in the album opener and minor U.S. radio hit Driving. I really love this song – it is a pop gem, but on first hearing I was struck by how much of a straightforward love song it was. No irony, no twist and nothing left unresolved.
7. Boxing and Pop Music – from WORLDWIDE – After the precision of Language of Life, EBTG took a trip back toward the a more intimate, reflective sound and subject matter for Worldwide. With a good deal of touring under their belt- I was able to see them 4 times in 3 years prior to Worldwide, Tracey and Ben wrote songs that reflected where their career and relationship had taken them. Worldwide certainly isn’t an immediate album, it has no obvious single in my mind, but it shows off the power of their songs.
To this point, none of the songs on this ICA featured Ben Watt in a role as lead singer. There are quite a number of songs which feature Ben that are among my very favorites by the band and I will address this over at my place in a day or two. Ben handles the verses on Boxing And Pop Music and Tracey joins in about midway through the song. But it’s the beauty of Ben’s reflective lyrics that make this song such a masterful piece of pop. He paint’s a picture filled with memories that evoke emotions of love, happiness, sorrow and regret and ultimately contentment. As the song fades and you sit taking it in, a final reprise, separately titled Feel Alright, begins to wash over you to help all those emotions really soak in and end the album.
Let’s pause here and let life “happen” to Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. They knew they needed a break from the grind of music after Worldwide. Much has been made of the prior two albums seeming to exhaust their musical clarity – I don’t subscribe to this opinion. Most notably, Ben was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome, an auto-immune disease that attacks breathing and digestion in increasingly life-threatening stages. This was their new focus. He had a very lucky outcome from the disease and went into remission and recovery but with permanent effects to his body and lifelong treatment. For the better part of 2 years this was reality for Ben and Tracey and Everything But The Girl would have to wait. Before his illness, 2 EP’s would make an appearance in ’92 and ’93, in the UK. They were wonderful additions to my collection, but neither gave any indication that more music would follow. But then….
8. Two Star – from AMPLIFIED HEART – Somehow, even with a period of silence of 4 years, it felt like Everything But The Girl was a very current part of my musical fandom in the early 90’s. They were that much of a force for me that all of their catalog managed to stay current for me and always on the turntable or in the cd player. When word came that there was a new album ready for release, I remember being VERY excited. I managed to get a promo cd, meant to reintroduce the band with a few songs and interview clips with Ben and Tracey, was made available by their US label Atlantic and I was just bowled over by the two new songs included.
When the album was released and I played it over and over, I kept coming back to one song that seemed to recapture all of the beauty and fragility I heard the first time I heard Fascination on Eden. Two Star, which I would learn is a term for low rated leaded petrol – what Americans used to know as Regular Gasoline back in the days before emissions controls, just captured my ear and seemed to bring everything full circle. Back was the gentle disquiet of the lyrics, written here by Ben, with Tracey reflecting on her own disappointing lot as she judges a friend’s life choices. It’s a song that makes you want to give the singer a hug and at the same time be very self reflective. Ben’s tender arrangement with Harry Robinson, Kate St. John’s Cor Anglais and Danny Thompson’s double bass shine, framing Tracey’s performance perfectly. It is still one of those songs that I can put on repeat while driving and listen to over and over.
9. Walking Wounded – from WALKING WOUNDED – After the release of Amplified Heart something momentous happened – Missing – the second single was remixed by House Master Todd Terry and Everything But The Girl’s world would change again. This was no fluke, Ben and Tracey had their ear to the ground and had already worked with Massive Attack on Protection, Better Things and Hunter Gets Captured By The Game for Batman Forever. Their next album would show just how intent they were. Their brand of pop songwriting would sit side by side with, as well as inform, forays into Drum And Bass, Trip Hop, House and Electronica on the album.
On such a strong and varied album, the title track stood out for me as the biggest gamble and a great payoff. Walking Wounded is gorgeously orchestrated with the spot on programming of John Coxon and Ashley Wales (Spring Heeled Jack). Tracey loses none of her edgy, sometimes witheringly direct, delivery and the song seems to bounce and dance around her. Ben and Tracey harnessed DnB and shaped it to fit their needs. It’s just a perfect modern electronic song.
10. Lullaby Of Clubland – from TEMPERMENTAL – Tracey and Ben’s next album would turn out to be Everything But The Girl’s final album. It took a step or two deeper into Dance and Electronica, while never abandoning the lyrical and musical history of the band. It is full of dance floor ready tracks with a difference – the difference being a lyrical level that remains pretty much unmatched. Subjects ranging from being attacked on the street and the withering of English Cities to the solitary and sadder side of nightlife/club life. Many of the songs have a wonderful sparse singer/songwriter feel to them bathed in deep and contemporary house sounds.
The track that spoke most to me was Lullaby of Clubland and Ben’s lyrics of empty routine clubbing routine as a metaphor for modern life, rather than a panacea for a boring life. The song’s reliance of repetition drives home the futility expressed in the lyrics.
There are literally another four volumes I could come up for and Everything But The Girl ICA and that is a testament to the depth of their work and the risks, both successful and unsuccessful, that they took. I hope this goes some way to give some insight into their music.
ADDENDUM:
YES, MISSING WAS MISSING….
My reason for not including Missing is mostly because of what that amazing song became rather than what it represents on parent album Amplified Heart. Amplified Heart is seen by many, and I include myself, as a return to form for Everything But The Girl, an album that celebrates the amazing songwriting and music of Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. It is absolutely all of that.
But by the time of its release, Ben and Tracey were beginning to move on, energized by House and Electronic music and recent collaborations with Massive Attack, it was a dynamic decision to take Missing, a track that already had a funky groove underpinning it’s love song foundation. It was already a hypnotic groove on the album, but as a single Ben and Tracey went for broke…Missing is a highlight of the album and was the song that allowed EBTG to take a new and exciting path. Overplayed in the past 22 years, sure, but that doesn’t diminish it’s greatness… Click here
The Missing Remix EP provided a Deep House expansion, a Progressive 2 am stormer, a tech/trance revisioning and an Eastern flavored trip-hop excursion.
Todd Terry laid down the Four to the Floor beat while staying true to the melody and arrangement of the song. His addition of keyboard stabs gave dimension to the beat and he very smartly kept the synth lines of the original to weave through his tougher beat. For me it is one of the best House remixes EVER. Click here
Chris And James took Missing to the land of the extended build up with a remix that kept the bones of the original track and added an arrangement full of drama. Again, the remixers knew they were working with a gem of a song and did everything they could to preserve it’s essence while still managing to bring an exciting dance floor edge. Multiple build ups, tribal drum patterns and judicious cut ups of Tracey’s vocals create some real wow moments in the remix. Click here.
I find myself waffling at times between the Todd Terry House mix and what Chris And James did.
For something entirely different we turn to Ultramarines more downtempo/tech/trance reimagining of Missing. A good deal of the original album version fits in well here and is preserved. Multiple percussion patterns are the highlight here, laying down a new bed for Tracey’s vocals to rise up from. There’s even a bit of a Laurie Anderson homage in the chorus as a snippet of Tracey’s voice is used as a counter beat, much like Anderson’s voice in O Superman, yet more subtle. Click here
Finally, Little Joey offers a Trip Hop remix that is like a nice glass of Port after a delicious and filling meal. It goes down smooth. Tracey’s voice get modified and reversed giving the song an Eastern feel. Interestingly, this is the only mix that Tracey seems to to have laid down an alternative vocal for. She seems game to purse this remake/remodel remix and it pays off because it flows so much more naturally than a cut and paste remix. Click here
I don’t mean the two groups were separated at birth…..just that these two rather good songs have much in common when it comes to guitar riffs.
mp3 : The Monkees – (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone
mp3 : The Hives – Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones
The former is from 1966 and the latter from 2004. Both really good examples of the two-minute pop song, but if forced to choose between them, I’d go with the older song. Oh and according to wiki, Mickey Dolenz, via his lead vocal, was the only member of The Monkees to actually perform on the track.
With apologies for those of you who were expecting and hoping for the latest instalment of the XTC series. I promise it will return next Sunday.
It’s my 54th birthday today. For much of my life I had an irrational fear that I wouldn’t reach that number. I can’t explain why and I was quite nervous this time last year just in case I wasn’t totally crazy but in fact scarily psychic. But thankfully, it did turn out I was just crazy. My state of mind was helped midway through the year by SWC and Badger inadvertently finding the real reason #53 was significant in my life – it turned out it was to do with Billy Bragg and Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
I thought I’d share another mix thing today. It’s based on something I did for an event a few weeks ago in Glasgow.
The folk who have been running Strangeways, a club night in which 90%+ of the tunes were from The Smiths or Morrissey, felt that, after more than five years, a wee change was needed. Thus was born There Is A Night That Never Goes Out.
As the poster above indicates, the idea was to go with The Smiths alongside the sort of stuff with which I tend to populate this place. The sort of night that I reckon dreams are made of. The first one was arranged for Friday 26 May but as it clashed with a number of gigs, including The Wedding Present just up the hill from the venue for Strangeways, it was decided to make it 9pm – 2am instead of the usual 8pm – 1am to allow folk to make the most of things.
I got in touch with a few suggestions, including what I thought could make for a decent 90 minute run of tunes early on in the night. To my absolute delight, I was asked if I wanted to take the slot from 9.30 – 11pm. Honoured and thrilled as I was, my overriding concern was that the date also coincided with my brother and his family being over here on holiday and I might have ended with an unavoidable diary clash. And to be perfectly honest, I was nervous about possibly making a mess of things and getting the evening off to a start that would be impossible to recover from.
So…the compromise was I’d supply the tunes on a memory stick. A full 9o minute mix in the preferred running order but with each tune in stand-alone fashion so that Robert, Hugh and Carlo from the Strangeways crew could take the temperature of the crowd and alter things if necessary.
The good news was that I was able to get along, in the company of Aldo with Comrade Colin also along for a bit of moral support. It was fascinating to stand and watch people react to the songs I had chosen and which Robert was cueing up and playing. Initially, there was a lot of smiling, nodding and quietly mouthing along to the tunes, but nobody seemed too keen to dance. It was blisteringly hot in the venue – Glasgow had enjoyed a day of scorching sunshine – and between that and folk still being sober there seemed a bit of reluctance to get on the floor. Not even a couple of Smiths songs for the regular crowd from the old format of the night did the trick.
And then, just after 10pm something just seemed to click. Almost as if everyone decided at the same time that too many good tunes were being passed up. Or maybe that’s the new witching hour. Anyways, it was a song by The Cure that was the trigger, which was great news as it provided the evidence that going with a wider selection of music than the previous Strangeways nights was the going to work out just fine.
The next four hours proved to be an absolute triumph. The crowd began to ask for requests, all of which were met. A smattering of tunes from the late 70s and the second half of the 90s were also sneaked in to keep folk happy. Everyone seemed very happy judging by the smiles on all the faces and there was a real and obvious buzz being generating; the subsequent feedback on social media over the following days only confirmed what everyone had been feeling on the night. It was an absolute triumph.
My only regret was that I had to leave just before midnight to catch the last train home as I had much to do over the weekend and needed a reasonably clear head. I’ve been asked to take part in the next night on a date yet to be determined. I’m delighted about that and incredibly excited. Never dreamed that I’d be doing such things at 54…..
The whole night contained 86 songs. I thought I’d shove up the first 43 of them in a single, downloadable mix. It lasts a handful of minutes over two-and-a-half hours all told. My set list goes from songs 9-31.
It was all predetermined before the crowd arrived; there was one addition thrown in on the night (at song #29) and another shifted from earlier in the set list to #30 as these made for better links from some goth tunes to the Postcard classic that I wanted as my closer. A couple of my initial suggestions were rightly dropped once it became clear what was going to work and what wouldn’t click with the crowd which meant in the end my ‘turn’ came in at a shade under 85 minutes that for the most part was bang on and helped set things up nicely for the main DJ acts as the space filled its 200 capacity.
1. Ceremony – Galaxie 500 2. Oblivious – Aztec Camera 3. Obscurity Knocks – Trashcan Sinatras 4. A Better Ghost – Butcher Boy 5. Round and Round – New Order 6. Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack 7. What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths 8. Everything Counts – Depeche Mode 9. Let’s Dance – David Bowie 10. Don’t Talk To Me About Love – Altered Images 11. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side – The Smiths 12. Take The Skinheads Bowling – Camper Van Beethoven 13. Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh 14. Bye Bye Pride – The Go Betweens 15. Still Ill – The Smiths 16. Blister In The Sun – Violent Femmes 17. Driver 8 – R.E.M. 18. In Between Days – The Cure 19. Age Of Consent – New Order 20. Girl Afraid – The Smiths 21. Waiting For The Winter – The Popguns 22. Our Lips Are Sealed – Fun Boy Three 23. A Song From Under The Floorboards – Magazine 24. Speed Your Love To Me (extended mix) – Simple Minds 25. Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs 26. I Want The One I Can’t Have – The Smiths 27. Hong Kong Garden – Siouxsie & The Banshees 28. This Corrosion – Sisters Of Mercy 29. April Skies – The Jesus and Mary Chain 30. When All’s Well – Everything But The Girl 31. Blueboy – Orange Juice 32. Sparky’s Dream – Teenage Fanclub 33. Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? – The Wedding Present 34. Here Comes Your Man – Pixies 35. Ask – The Smiths 36. It’s The End Of The World…. – R.E.M. 37. Rise – P.I.L. 38. Street Life – Roxy Music 39. She Bangs The Drums – The Stone Roses 40. Connection – Elastica 41. Homosapien – Pete Shelley 42. Enola Gay – OMD 43. The Cutter – Echo & The Bunnymen
Feel free to recreate Strangeways in the comfort of your own home or garden.
Eagleowl were described by one critic as the soundtrack to the saddest, most beautiful art-house film you’ve never seen.
Consisting of Bartholomew Owl (guitar, vocals, glockenspiel), Clarissa Cheong (double bass, vocals), Malcolm Benzie (violin, guitar, vocals), Rob St John (harmonium, organ, vocals), Owen Williams (drums) and Hannah Shepherd (cello), they released two singles and one EP of low-fi folk-pop music between 2008-10 before a debut LP This Silent Year was put out by the now defunct Fence Records in 2013.
They’ve been pretty quiet since although almost all the band members have guested on various albums and live shows by many other similar sounding singers and bands; Rob is currently very busy with Modern Studies, a band that has really taken off over the past year or so while Bart is involved in increasingly with the latest version of Meursault. Whether all this means that we’ve seen the last of Eagleowl, I’m really not sure.
This is the rather lovely and atmospheric title track of their first ever EP:-
I believe it’s TVV pal Jacques the Kipper who sometimes rolls his eyes at our, er, nostalgic appreciation of bands gone by. I’m guilty of that — I did contribute an ICA about Spoon, who are still active, but the first ones I wrote were about XTC and the Stranglers, bands that began in the 1970’s. So here are a handful of contemporary charged particles just so’s you don’t get the impression that I’m not paying attention to what’s happening musically these days.
With apologies for this very late amendment to today’s post.
Many thanks for such kind words in the comment section following the ICA on The Skids. For those of you who are new or newish to this corner of the internet, yesterday’s posting was the 1,500th on The (New) Vinyl Villain which came into being in July 2013. Prior to that, there was The Vinyl Villain which came into existence in September 2006 before being brutally murdered at the hands of google almost seven years on after 2,278 posts, many of which were quality contributions from guests all around the world.
I still find it hard to come to terms with what happened when google shut down the old blog without any sort of advance warning on the grounds that my corner of cyberspace was impinging on the ability of singers and bands to make an honest living. The most galling thing about it all was that millions of words expressing love and appreciation for songs were consigned to the dustbin without any consideration of their worth.
So…. the next landmark round these parts will be post # 1,722 – the 4,000th post all told. I’d love it to be a guest post if anyone is up for it (looking like the turn of the year or thereabouts at the current rate of things).
OK….that’s enough of the nostalgia and self-congratulations. Here’s the latest lot of inane meanderings………
………..A while back I finally got round to picking up C87, a 3xCD box set released last year by Cherry Red Records, a 74-track compilation of material that was released across different indie labels in 1987. As with so many of these things, the quality is a bit hit’n’miss, although for the most part it is very enjoyable, and given that this was a year when I more or less switched off from music then there’s a lot of things I’m discovering for the first time.
The CD86 series was one of the most popular ever run on this blog and so I’m going to follow it up, belatedly, with an occasional series featuring songs from C87 but on the proviso that the singer or band will be making a debut here.
First up is Track 24 on CD1. Here’s what the info booklet says:-
Borrowing their name from an Incredible String Band album, Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters comprised singer Emily Green, guitarist Sandy Fleming and twelve-string guitarist Gordon Dawson. The band signed to Dan Treacey’s Dreamworld label in 1986 and set about recording their debut with the help of Phil King and drummer John Wills (both ex Servants).
‘Love Is Blue’ captured the band’s unashamedly ’60s-styled sound, as did one of the B-sides, Treacey’s short garage punk ditty ‘Don’t Ask My Name’. A self-titled mini-album appeared in 1987 (on Constrictor) followed by Trash Mantra (produced by Dan). 1989’s The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters, released on Voxx, assembled their Dreamworld recordings, before Emily went off to record with Swedish act Boy Omega.
mp3 : Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters – Don’t Ask My Name
I’ve managed to track down the A-side of the single:-
mp3 : Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters – Love Is Blue
So here we are. Post number 1500 since the blog was raised from the dead after being killed off by Google.
A huge thanks to all of you out there for the amazing support you’ve given, and a special word to those of you who have contributed guest postings, offered comments or just encouraged me through some nice e-mails. I wouldn’t be motivated to do all this if wasn’t for the fact it is being enjoyed and responded to so positively each and every day.
I was going to mark it with a look at a Northern Soul single but that plan fell through as it was featured recently over at Brian’s place. So I’m turning to Plan B with an ICA from The Skids, one of the best bands to emerge out of the post-punk era.
They played Glasgow a few weeks back as part of a 40th Anniversary Tour. I didn’t get along as I was otherwise very happily occupied with the visit of Dirk, Walter, Adam and the afore-mentioned Brian along with meeting up with and enjoying the company of Drew (whom it was gave me the Northern Soul 45 that I was intending to feature today), CC, Aldo, Strangeways and Comrade Colin. But a couple of other friends went along to The Skids, and come Monday reported that it had been outstanding; seemingly Richard Jobson still has it in spades while the band, consisting of Bill Simpson (bass), Mike Baillie (drums) and the father and son combo of Bruce and Jamie Watson on guitar, delivered a blisteringly loud and perfectly paced set that also paid fitting tribute to the contributions of the late Stuart Adamson.
The thing is, just after The Skids broke up in 1982, a compilation LP entitled Fanfare was released by Virgin Records and its 12 tracks (six on each side of the vinyl) is quite tough to better. So Fanfare is your ICA today for nothing else other than the fact it also came with these liner notes composed by John Peel…and so I can claim he’s written something for this blog!
John Peel writes….
“Richard Jolson (vocals)
Alexander Plode (guitar)
Stuart Adamson (guitar)
Thomas Bomb (drums)
Yes, Jolson. This, according to a mimeographed sheet from No Bad Records of Dunfermline, was the original line-up of the Skids. The anonymous writer of this press release, which accompanied the first Skids single, was of the view that the band was ‘destined for the top’, and he was almost right. To quote further from his thoughtful paragraphs, the Skids were ‘causing a substantial “BUZZ”,’ and this time he was spot on. This was early 1978 and for some months Scottish fanzines had been noising abroad the excellence of Messrs. Jolson, Plode, Adamson and Bomb, remarking that they had moved beyond the confines of pure punk and were evolving into something entirely of their own devising, something that was, or so it was hinted, identifiably Scottish.
Thus it was that when No Bad NB1, ‘Reasons’, ‘Test Tube Babies’, and ‘Charles’, reached the sink-pits and stews of London, the Skids already enjoyed the first murmurings of a reputation, and when the band followed the record south they must have hoped for an enthusiastic reception. Back home they had been heard on Radio Forth, for Heaven’s sake, and had supported the Stranglers in Edinburgh, and when they clambered on stage in a Stoke Newington pub they must have been disappointed at the mute, incurious glances of the few regulars which greeted them. Happily, my old brave ones, this performance was enough to win the Skids an outing on Radio 1 and a subsequent approach from Virgin Records.
The rest, I am tempted to say, is history.
First out of the Virgin gate was ‘Sweet Suburbia’. ‘This white vinyl record has a weird gimmick’, warned the company’s effervescent promotions department mysteriously, adding ‘You’ll like it’.
Consumers did, but only a bit, as the record pounced on the number 70 spot in the charts but then fell away into nothingness. ‘The Saints Are Coming’ improved on this, clawing its way as high as 48.
Next on our turntables was ‘Into The Valley’, released in February 1979, which reached the top ten, although the truly discerning preferred the reverse, ‘TV Stars’, assuredly the only record to date to bring together in song the stars of ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Crossroads’ along with Kenny Dalglish, the greatest living Scotsman, and this typist.
There were further hit singles, stirring LPs, and it wasn’t too long before the music weeklies, having come to terms that Richard Jolson was really Richard Jobson, spotted that he was also a likeable, gregarious, and highly quotable chap. ‘Jobbo’, as we had to learn to call him, has never been backward at coming forward, and he took to this notoriety with definite enthusiasm, using it to his own advantage and diversing into poetry and the theatre.
After the Skids third LP, ‘The Absolute Game’, Stuart Adamson, by now a highly individual guitarist, resigned his commission, leaving Richard, brother to Meadowbank Thistle’s goal-hungry striker, John Jobson, to soldier on with bassist Russell Webb.
On the stage, amid locker-room gossip that he never simulated anything, no siree, Richard was to be spotted spending evenings lying on top of the celebrated ingenue, Honey Bane, and he could be observed at artistic soirees declaiming his and other folks’ poems in a firm and manly voice. Contemporary with this arts-lab activity Richard was working with Russell on ‘Joy’, an LP in which they ferreted back into Scottish history and culture. Despite a warm review from the Guardian, reaction to ‘Joy’ was pretty frosty and shortly after release the Skids were no more.
Brushing aside with a contemptuous snort all the usual stuff about legacies of fine music, the great sadness in the demise of this most admirable of bands lies, for me, in that in his search for a Celtic identity and sound, Richard Jobson (nee Jolson) overlooked the fact that it was precisely these elements that distinguished the Skids from the post-punk herd in the first place.
If you don’t believe me, listen again.”
John Peel
And now….here’s my own inconsequential words on each song….
Side A
1. Into The Valley
One of my favourite singles of all time. Still puts a smile on my face every time those first few distinctive notes are played. Richard Jobson has stated that the indecipherable lyrics are about the recruitment of Scottish youths into the army and more specifically about a friend who had been killed on a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. I prefer to think that it is actually a tribute to High Valleyfield (aka The Valley), a former mining village just outside of Dunfermline whose residents have long endured a reputation for hard living.
2. Working For The Yankee Dollar
The band’s sixth single and their final Top 20 hit (not that anyone knew that at the time).
Days in Europa, the band’s second album had confused me a bit. It wasn’t remotely like the debut and while it contained a few were moments that I really liked, it wasn’t an easy listen. It wasn’t helped by the fact that its closing track was in fact the opening track played backwards with a highly serious semi-spoken Jobson vocal that made no sense, even when read from the sheet provided with the LP.
There was a bit of a backlash to the album, partly from the sound that producer Bill Nelson has delivered, but also from the fact that sleeve was alleged to have incorporated artwork associated with Nazism. Virgin Records quickly announced that the LP was going to be remixed and re-released within a new sleeve. The first signs of the remix was a totally different and beefier take on Working For The Yankee Dollar. I loved how much better it sounded, particularly the guitar work from Stuart Adamson, so much so that for about two weeks I thought it was the greatest record ever written. Bear in mind I was just 16-and-a-bit- years of age and my tastes, like my hormones, were all over the place. My tastes have evolved somewhat but I still think this is a great piece of work.
3. Sweet Suburbia
The debut single for Virgin Records in September 1978 and which, true to the punk ethos, was kept off the debut LP. As Peel reminds us, it only hit #70 when it was worthy of so much more. The lyrics of the final verse, from about 1:45 to 1:57 are priceless…
Birth and birth and birth and birth and birth Live and live and live and live and live Mate and mate and mate and mate and mate Die and die and die and die and die
4. A Woman In Winter
There were only 18 months between Into The Valley and A Woman In Winter, and yet the latter sounds as if it is a band who are five or ten years down the road in their career such is the quantum leap in sound and ambition. The title of this song would also be the name of a movie directed by Richard Jobson in 2006 – footage from which would be used as the basis for the promo video for the Arab Strap single Speed-Date.
5. Masquerade
The prompt follow-up to Into The Valley was surprisingly not lifted from the debut LP as the band were already well on their way to the follow-up LP by which time they had lost a drummer. It’s maybe not quite their finest moment and it hasn’t dated too well, but it still has that great one-word shouty chorus to get the juices flowing.
6. The Saints Are Coming
It doesn’t matter that U2 and Green Day got their paws on this many years later with their versions raising monies for victims of Hurricane Katrina (the song was chosen partly for its lyric about storms and drowning and partly because the NFL team in New Orleans are The Saints).
This is a belter of a new wave anthem. An absolute belter. If the band had recorded this and then broke up without anything else seeing the light of day, it would be high up on the list of cult hits.
Side B
1. Animation
The re-mixing of Days In Europa LP also saw the release of the updated version of Animation which was regarded as one of the strongest songs to emerge from the process. To the surprise of many, including this fan, it stalled at #56so becoming the first flop single in a long while.
2. Out Of Town
Lifted from the third LP The Absolute Game, this really had the potential to be a great radio-friendly single but the band insisted on more experimental and less typical cuts being lifted as 45s.
3. T.V. Stars and 4. Of One Skin (live)
Track 3 on Side B is one of the greatest and funniest b-sides ever recorded. This wasit as captured at the Marquee in London on 1 November 1978. It is still played live in the current shows although many of the names have been updated to make it more contemporary. But the chorus remains “Albert Tatlock”. Overseas and younger readers can click here to find out more about our Albert….
It segues straight into another live track, this time from the Hammersmith Odeon show in London on 20 October 1980 as part of the tour to promote The Absolute Game.
Of One Skin was originally a b-side to The Saints Are Coming as well as bring on the debut LP Scared To Dance; it was a real joy that this was included on Fanfare and to be honest was one of the main reasons I bought it back in the day.
5. Charade and 6. Circus Games
Once again, the decision was taken to weld these two tracks with no gap between them.
I remember being disappointed by Charade on its release as it felt a bit of a con to follow up a 45 entitled Masquerade with one that had a similar sounding word. It’s still my least favourite single of theirs and probably wouldn’t have made the cut in a standard ICA.
Circus Games was the lead single off The Absolute Game and the last time the band would crack the UK Top 40 singles chart in July 1980.
I don’t know why, but this song caused quite an emotional reaction within my then 17-year old self. Maybe it was the use of the kids choir on backing vocals; maybe it was that the lyric seemed to convey a really sad and epic tale although I couldn’t quite work out what it was meant to be about; or maybe it was just that the guitar playing, which seemed to come from a totally different place than any of my other heroes of the day, just got into my brain and caused a reaction I wasn’t expecting. One of their most enduring songs and a perfect way to end the ICA. Except….
BONUS E.P.
1. Charles
2. Reasons
3. Test-Tube Babies
The three-track debut on No Bad Records, recorded in October 1977 and released in February 1978; and as John Peel reminds us above, attributed to Richard Jolson on vocals; this is a different version of Charles than that which would appear on Scared To Dance a few months later.
One of the most sought-after artefacts in the history of indie-pop is the debut single by The Sea Urchins, released in August 1987.
Not only is Pristine Christine a ridiculously good piece of music, it is also the single with which Sarah Records was launched. I said a bit more when I featured the single back in 2014 pointing out at the time that the sole copy up for sale had an asking price of more than £300. The growing market in vinyl over recent years has increased the asking price – there are currently four available on Discogs as I type this and the going rate is now £450. That’s the sort of price that Falling and Laughing, the very rare first single on Postcard Records was going for a few years ago – you can now expect to pay as much as £700.
You could always look to pick up The Sea Urchins second single, the eighth 45 to be released on Sarah.
mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Solace
The six members of the band were hardly prolific. It was a full ten months after Pristine Christine before Solace reached the shops. And listening to it nowadays, it hardly seems worth bothering about. It’s distinctly average fayre and doesn’t come close to matching the majesty of the debut….indeed it’s the sort of indistinct near-tuneless effort that dogged a lot of now thankfully forgotten bands who emerged out of the C86 scene. Although I will conceded there’s a decent guitar solo of about 25 seconds length some two-thirds of the way through the song.
The b-side isn’t anything to write home about either; the annoying sound of twee:-
mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Please Rain Fall
Will still cost you upwards of £40 for a copy mind you.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 