June 2017 – Page 2 – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

I ADMIT IT….IT WAS THE COVER VERSION I HEARD FIRST

I’ve said before that I didn’t really latch on properly to The Wedding Present until I heard Kennedy being played ay high volume in a record shop. But after that, it was enjoyable going back and listening to the earlier material.

I really liked the song Getting Nowhere Fast, one of their previous b-sides on a 12″ single and included on the CD of George Best, and was intrigued when I spotted, from the fact that it wasn’t a David Gedge composition, that it was a cover version. But the names ‘Alan, Evans, Swift, Oldroyd’ meant nothing to me and in the pre-internet days couldn’t readily be looked up.

It was to be some time before I learned that the original had been by a Leeds band called Girls At Our Best, released in 1980. Even when furnished with that information, I was still none the wiser. Eventually I got to hear the original, via someone putting it on a cassette for me, and fell for its charms. By this time however, it was impossible to track down a copy and it would take until the digital age before I got a decent version without any lo-fi hissing.

Girls At Our Best were Judy Evans (vocals), Jez Alan (guitar), Terry Swift (bass) and Chris Oldroyd (drums) and who formed in 1979 out of two other Leeds bands, S.O.S and The Butterflies.

Getting Nowhere Fast was their debut effort, self-financed and released in April 1980 on their own label Record Records following which Rough Trade put out a second single entitled Politics in November 1980. The drummer then left the band just as they signed to Happy Birthday Records for whom there were two singles and an album, Pleasure, in 1981. The band had enough of a following for the album to reach #60 in the charts but I just can’t recall it or them at all.

According to my big book of indie songs, there was a further single in May 1982 entitled Heaven and released on God Records but there’s no listing on Discogs which means it must be very rare indeed. The band split not long after but with interest in them again on the back of the TWP cover, Strange Fruit in May 1987 would release a Peel Sessions EP that had been broadcast in February 1981.

Here’s the two sides of the debut single:-

mp3 : Girls At Our Best – Getting Nowhere Fast
mp3 : Girls At Our Best – Warm Girls

And here’s the cover, originally on the b-side of the 12″ of Anyone Can Make A Mistake:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Getting Nowhere Fast

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 15)

The third and final single released from English Settlement didn’t get anywhere near the charts. It’s a song with a sound that harks back a little while to the Black Sea era and was slightly at odds with the more acoustic and gentle material on the current album. But then again, its a tune totally befitting the tale of a nasty right-wing hooligan activist and a family who wouldn’t be out-of-place on Respectable Street:-

mp3 : XTC – No Thugs In Our House

Only released as a 7″ single, it came with elaborate packaging with the sleeve opening to form a theatre while you could utilise cartoon characters to re-enact the song lyrics which were re-produced in full on the reverse, along with to whom each line was attributed, in what was described as “No Thugs In Our House: A musical in three acts by XTC.”

You’ll also be able to make out from the back of the sleeve that three songs were made available on the b-side of the single:-

mp3 : XTC – Chain of Command
mp3 : XTC – Limelight
mp3 : XTC – Over Rusty Water

You’ll also see that the first two tracks were from the free single given away with the first pressings of Drums and Wires and therefore would already be well-known and likely owned by most long-standing fans. The last track is an ambient instrumental lasting less than 90 seconds and is, again, very much for completists.

Maybe the fact that so little of the music was new contributed to the fact that the single sold poorly.

JC

Dumb Instrument

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #79 : DUMB INSTRUMENT

A touch of good fortune with the timing this week with this post falling on the weekend on the 2017 Eden Festival which takes place on the south-west of Scotland. One of the acts performing is Dumb Instrument and there’s a great bio provided on the featival website as you will now see:-

Dumb Instrument are like a pair of old shoes that you can’t throw out because they’re just too damn comfortable. It doesn’t matter how old or smelly we get, we just keep sticking around doing a sterling job. The band formed in 2006 when songwriter and composer Tom Murray was offered a slot at T in The Park Festival on the strength of 3 songs which we had written and released earlier that year. Unaware that Tom was a one man band, and had brought his tracks to life with samples or session musicians, he quickly pulled together a band of ‘real musicians’ to play the gig which much to his delight met with fantastic reviews. What appeared to be a one-off gig led to the band appearing on BBC2’s ‘The Music Show’ soon afterwards and the band decided to stay on with Tom and a fully formed Dumb Instrument was born. Over the subsequent years they have performed over 300 gigs around the UK everywhere from someone’s living room to large festivals.

The band have co-written and released 2 albums, 8 EP’s and 2 singles. Early in Dumb Instruments career they were signed by an independent record label through which they released their first single ‘Songs Ya Bass Vol 1’. Tom Murrays lyrically gritty (often tragically funny) song writing style was rewarded shortly afterwards with the song ‘Reverse The Hearse’ (taken from the single) being chosen as Scotland’s Burnsong award winner of 2007. This resulted in the band performing live at the BBC studios for the first time.

The album ‘Nobody Know’s What It’s Like To Be Me’ followed in 2008 which met with more music industry recognition. Following live sessions on XFM Scotland and BBC Radio Scotland the band made it onto BBC Radio 1 for the first time with track ‘The Exterminating Angels’ played by Vic Galloway.

The focal point of a Dumb Instrument song is most definitely the lyric, with diverse subject matter negotiated in each record, from wheelie bin theft to mortality. Stylistically the band weave hints of disco, ragtime, gypsy or even latin through the lyric and, in a live playing sense, the band will take to the stage as an 8 piece.

Recently Dumb Instrument won ‘The Billy Kelly Song Writing Award’, which has enabled the band to release their most recent album ‘The Silent Beard’. The single ‘Suffering From Scottishness’ taken from the album has helped to popularise the band further after having been adopted by the Scottish referendum’s YES campaign amongst others. Last year the band played numerous radio session’s including 2 BBC sessions one of which was live from Potterow on Janice Forsyth’s Culture Studio as part of the BBC’s Edinburgh Festival coverage. Dumb Instrument finished the summer in style by headlining the Verb Tent at last years Belladrum Festival in Inverness. The band have recently started releasing a new EP on the first day of each month.

———————

They were the band at which myself and Comrade Colin first finally met up in January 2008.

If you’ll indulge me, here’s the story as posted before on the this and the old blog:-

Dumb Instrument will always have a special place in my heart for it was their gig on 3 January 2008 at the 13th Note in Glasgow that I finally met Comrade Colin in the flesh. The bloke who had been the single-biggest inspiration for me starting up a blog has invited me alongs to catch a live set from an act he had included the song ‘Reverse The Hearse’ in his best of run-down for 1997. As I blogged this next day….

“To be honest, I was initially more excited about finally, after all this time, hooking up with Colin (previous attempts to meet and blether had fallen through) than the gig itself. I’m delighted to reveal ladies and gentlemen, that Colin is indeed a true comrade in arms – every bit as witty, erudite, charming and entertaining in the flesh as he is in print – and I reckon we would have been quite happy just sitting in the bar talking about all sorts of things (but mostly music).”

The gig also turned out to be a hugely enjoyable event and I bought this single on the night.

Dumb Instrument describe their output as ‘Jakey Rock’ – and state that it fuses the ideals of ‘Jakeys’ and ‘Rock’ into one nice genre which is accessible to all.

Overseas readers might wonder what ‘jakey’ means. Well, it’s a bit of Scottish slang which has two meanings – it is used to describe a down and out homeless person or alternatively a particular type of alcoholic – one who is found wandering the streets drinking anything (including methylated spirits) to put him/her in severe state of inebriation. Oh and they’re often of course also a down and out and/or homeless.

While jakey-rock might sound unappealing, it is most certainly not the case. The band consists of keyboardist Mikey Grant, bassist Kieron Campbell and vocalist Tom Murray.

Without being at all disparaging to the others, it is Tom Murray who holds most attention. He doesn’t sing or rant like a scary drunk. He has a really sweet almost angelic voice. His lyrics are just astonishing. I don’t mean it as an insult to say that he is more a poet than a songwriter – each songs unfolds like a short story. Visually, he looks like a cross between a son of Scottish artist and playwright John Byrne and a cousin of Scotland’s other great bearded bard – Aiden Moffat.

A few years later I lost my young brother and then my best mate within a short period of time. My other great cyber-mate, ctel, stepped in and took over the blog on both occasions and there were some amazing guest posts which really meant so much to me at a time of sorrow. Sadly, most of those posts have been lost forever thanks to the bastards at google. Comrade Colin’s contribution was Reverse The Hearse by Dumb Instrument. He knew it would make me smile….

I’ve previously featured Reverse The Hearse so today I’ll go for a song from the debut LP that made it onto Radio 1:-

mp3 : Dumb Instrument – The Exterminating Angels

JC

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

CHARGED PARTICLES…..HERE’S JONNY!!!!!! (2)

THE GUEST SERIES FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

Today’s charged particles come from the same act, from the same album. It’s everyone’s favorite wordy old uncle, Elvis Costello, serving up a pair of tracks from his 1980 ‘Motown’ LP with the inimitable Attractions, Get Happy!!

Temptation: From EC’s liner notes to the 1989 Rykodisc reissue:“Another drunken composition (or is it decomposition). On the run from a cleverly isolated Dutch studio, we sought excitement in a small cafe. Sure enough I started to fall ‘in love’ with the waitress, but was hustled back to work before the trouble began. I began my protestations of desire in the taxi, and although other grim thoughts came to mind, the song was ‘complete’ by the time we reached the studio. Naturally we recorded it right away and in a childishly literal gesture I insisted on playing organ (very badly).”

Possession: More liner notes: “This started out as a holier-than-thou snipe at a VERY FAMOUS ROCK STAR, who I imagined to be breathing his own artificial atmosphere. However by the time we came to record it I’d had a good lungful of the same poison, but had also located that slippery addictive feeling that you get just before giving in to something wicked. It proved to be the saving of the song, together with a few pints of beer and a riff borrowed from Booker T and the The MGs.”

JTFL

JC adds…

Given this is going to be a regular series, I asked Jonny for some thoughts and ideas for an image or photo to illustrate his posts (they’re not all going to be single artists like today’s effort).

We settled on the above for now; it is the handiwork of Sam, the Friendly Artist. Some of his other creations may feature in due course.

Everything But The Girl

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #127 : EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL

This is an ICA with a difference…and it will likely also come as a surprise to the individual who inspired it.

A few weeks ago, Brian from Linear Track Lives put up a series of great postings featuring Everything But The Girl as he had reached them in his alphabetical runthrough of singers and bands from his extensive vinyl collection. It wasn’t the first time he’d featured the band or indeed Tracey Thorn or Ben Watt as solo artists, and it’s quite clear from the passionate and intelligent way he writes about them that he’s a real fan.

So I thought I would go into Brian’s archives, without him knowing, and, with just a small touch of judicious editing, use some of his best stuff from over the years to create an ICA. I think it works…..

SIDE A

1. Everything But The Girl – Night and Day

It’s an old story. Girl meets boy at university. That’s about as far as you can take the “old story” label. While in Hull, during the first calendar year away from home, Tracey Thorn puts out albums with Marine Girls, Everything But the Girl and as a solo artist. There is a Peel Session and a single of the week in NME with Marine Girls. Don’t forget the cover of Melody Maker and interview after interview with all of the music mags. Then there is checking the same publications to see how all of your various entities are being reviewed and moving on the indie chart, even having two slots in the top 10 at the same time! Meanwhile, your partner in Everything But the Girl and in life, Ben Watt, is releasing an album with Robert Wyatt and having his own run with the music magazines. Oh, and there is that whole trying to earn a degree thing.

Sounds a lot like your first year of college, right?

Elvis Costello and Martin Fry reviewed this first single by Everything But the Girl for Radio 1’s “Roundtable” program. They, of course, loved it. Thorn remembers in her book ‘Bedsit Disco Queen’ that the two “threatened to steal the show’s copy afterwards.”

The shadowy cover of the single said it all, really. Guitar and voice that would work perfectly in a smoky downstairs jazz bar. The A-side is Cole Porter‘s classic. Even U2 couldn’t ruin this song (although they gave it a good run!).

2. Ben Watt – Some Things Don’t Matter

The stripped-down sophisti-pop found on Everything But the Girl’s first single was already in the shops by the time Watt’s solo album joined it on the shelves, but the same laid-back jazz-guitar that made “Night and Day” a hit also filled the slightly less appreciated ‘North Marine Drive.’ This song has been quite a fine companion on many a sleepless night.

3. Tracey Thorn – Plain Sailing

Thorn’s ‘A Distant Shore’ (1982) was reportedly recorded for a mere £138. It’s a quick listen… eight songs clocking in at 23 minutes. For me, it’s a mood piece best listened to in its entirety. In fact, I don’t ever remember spinning it for just one song. Thorn plays guitar and sings. That’s it. There is no other instrument or artist. You’ll find no studio wizardry. In a word, it’s beautiful. I love the album cover, too. It was drawn by Jane Fox of Marine Girls. I have spent quite a few hours admiring the art while listening to the record. Thorn wouldn’t record another album as a solo artist until 2007.

4. Everything But The Girl – Each And Every One
5. Everything But The Girl – Native Land
6. Everything But The Girl – Laugh You Out The House
7. Everything But The Girl – Riverbed Dry

Two singles from 1984 by Everything But the Girl and the first one is my absolute favorite from the band. Both of these singles appeared on what is my favorite album by them, the U.S. release simply known as ‘Everything But the Girl.’ Unless you were a lucky and deep digger in the import bin, debut album ‘Eden’ was nowhere to be found in these parts. What we got instead were six of the 12 songs from the UK release, plus two additional UK singles and four B-sides.

For much of my teenage years, I didn’t even know ‘Eden’ existed. By the time I did pick up a copy of the import, ‘Everything But the Girl’ was so much a part of me that I thought ‘Eden’ seemed inferior in every way. When does that ever happen? In my experience, the UK version of an album is almost always better, but the addition of five of the six songs from these UK singles below really beefed up the U.S. release. I even liked the album cover of the U.S. version better. That’s probably sacrilege to some fans since artist Jane Fox created the cover for ‘Eden.’

SIDE B

1. Everything But The Girl – Angel

From the 1985 album ‘Love Not Money,’ this is the second of two singles from that album. Incidentally, the first was “When All’s Well,” a perfect piece of horn-driven pop that raced up the chart to… No. 77. Ridiculous.

Neither single made any noise on the big countdown, but I do think “When All’s Well” and “Angel” were fine choices for radio. They weren’t, however, the best songs on the album, and the LP managed to sell more than 100,000 copies without a hit on it.

2. Everything But The Girl – Easy As Sin (version)

There were three songs on the B-side of the 12″ of “Angel,” and none of them came from ‘Love Not Money.’ Much appreciated. There was an alternative version of “Easy as Sin,” a song that first appeared on the 1984 U.S. self-titled release. This take was much longer than the original, and Ben took the vocals this time around.

3. Everything But The Girl – Come On Home (extended)
4. Everything But The Girl – Draining The Bar

Although I didn’t keep up with the duo during the ’90s, I think I have just about all there is to have by them in the ’80s. I fell in love with Thorn’s voice when she sang “The Paris Match” for The Style Council in ’84. For much of the rest of the decade, I searched high and low for everything I could get my hands on that featured those pipes.

A four-track 12″ from 1986. “Come on Home,” as well as much of the music on ‘Baby, the Stars Shine Bright,’ was Everything But the Girl going for it. In Thorn’s memoir, she explains the music that was influencing EBTG at the time:

“Our watchwords at the time were Spector, The Shngri-La’s and the album Dusty in Memphis. Peter Walsh from The Apartments moved into our flat for a while, and introduced us to Charlie Rich records.”

Ben Watt worked tirelessly on string arrangements, and a full orchestra and choir was brought into Abbey Road with Mike Hedges producing. Thorn called it “a grand gesture of a record.” When Geoff Travis (their A&R man at the time) visited the studio and heard a finished mix of one of the songs for the first time, he said, “Well, it’s very good, but is there possibly a little too much going on in there?” Just what you want to hear after all of that labor, I’m sure.

The extended version of “Come on Home” is a minute longer than the album version and has a lovely prelude. “Draining the Bar,” written by Thorn, had to have been influenced by those Rich records. Hearing pedal steel was quite a shock in ’86, but I love the song, especially lyrically.

5. Tracey Thorn – Oh The Divorces!

Posted on Linear Track Lives at the halfway point of 2010. It was the perfect excuse to make a list, and you know how I like assembling these things. Here are the caveats: I won’t include a band more than one time (so that She & Him don’t take up 10 spots), and preview songs are acceptable even if the album won’t be out until later this year. It’s always fun to compare this list with the one done at the end of the year. Last year’s lists turned out to be quite different. For now, Tracey Thorn is at #19.

6. Everything But The Girl – I Don’t Want To Talk About It (instrumental)

In 1988, Everything But the Girl released ‘Idlewild,’ the band’s fourth long player. To coincide with the album, the duo released the cover “I Don’t Want to Talk About It.” Oddly, the single didn’t appear on the album, at least initially, but this was how I was introduced to ‘Idlewild,’ as the 12″ contained two songs from the album. The single performed its duties admirably. Based on the strength of “Oxford Street” and “Shadow on a Harvest Moon,” I bought ‘Idlewild’ immediately.

The Danny Whitten-penned tune was made somewhat famous in the mid-’70s (and again with a rerecorded version in 1989) by Rod Stewart. As a youngster, Tracey Thorn and her family were fans of Stewart’s, and I’m sure it was a warm and nostalgic moment for her when EBTG recorded it. Thanks to that last sentence, now you will get a result when searching for Rod Stewart’s name on my blog. I digress. The song was a smash and EBTG’s first UK top 10 single, peaking at No. 3.

I discovered just today that many editions of ‘Idlewild’ released after this single included “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” even going so far as to make it the album opener. As a 25-year listener of ‘Idlewild’ and an owner of this cherished single, I cry “foul!” The lovely piano of “Love Is Here Where I Live” will always be the way ‘Idlewild’ should open. Period.

This is a version of “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” from my crackly 12″. I know what you’re thinking: “What’s the use of this song without Thorn’s engaging vocals? Just give it a listen. Ben Watt co-wrote a beautiful string arrangement for the instrumental mix, and it’s a very different experience than the single. Simply beautiful.

7. Everything But The Girl – Almost Blue

Finally, here’s a little bonus. Enjoy Tracey Thorn’s beautiful voice on a cover from Everything But the Girl. I have this one on the compilation ’82-92 Essence and Rare.’

BRIAN

Public Image Limited

AND NICELY FOLLOWING ON FROM THE PREVIOUS TWO POSTS

Yesterday was Malcolm McLaren and two days ago was Cabaret Voltaire with me admitting that my 16-year old self struggled to enjoy Nag Nag Nag, a situation that hasn’t changed in 2017.

Back in 1979 I also struggled to understand and appreciate much of the output of Public Image Ltd, albeit I adored debut single Public Image. The follow-up Death Disco freaked me out and went way over my head as indeed did the next single Memories.

The difference, however, is that today I can listen to early PIL and really enjoy what I’m hearing with probably no better example than said third single:-

mp3 : Public Image Ltd – Memories (12″ mix)

I think it was being exposed to the emerging Associates and listening out more for bands who sounded similar to Joy Division that made me come to fully appreciate PIL. I had actually forgotten that the single version of Memories, was a totally different mix from that which appeared on Metal Box. It’s about a minute or so shorter in length as well. I feel it’s the superior version as Jah Wobble‘s bass playing is much more to the fore and John Lydon‘s vocal feels more focussed and angry as he rants about how nostalgia for the old days of punk is a waste of time and energy.

mp3 : Public Image Ltd – Memories (album mix)

Here’s the b-side of the single:-

mp3 : Public Image Ltd – Another

Those of you familiar with Metal Box will have spotted that this is a version of an instrumental track from that LP – Graveyard – but with vocals and a bit more bass action.

JC

Malcolm McLaren

INSPIRED BY YESTERDAY’S POSTING

The inspiration was not from Nag Nag Nag but the fact that listening to Sensoria reminded me of The Art of Noise which bizarrely made me think of this Top 10 hit from 1982:-

mp3 : Malcolm McLaren and The World’s Famous Supreme Team – Buffalo Gals

Here’s the story as told elsewhere on t’internet:-

“Buffalo Gals” is a traditional song that dates back to the 1800s, where it was often played at minstrel shows. The “Buffalo” refers to the city of Buffalo, New York, but the lyrics were altered to fit the place where the song was performed. McLaren changed the refrain from “Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight” to “Buffalo gals, around the outside.”

McLaren was the manager of The Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow, leading them to the forefront of the British Punk scene. Ever the opportunist, when McLaren heard rap music emerging from the US, he capitalized on the opportunity and released this song, which featured McLaren calling lyrics in a Square Dance style.

This was credited to “Malcolm McLaren And The World’s Famous Supreme Team.” In the 1984 BBC documentary Beat This! – A Hip Hop History, McLaren explains that he was in New York looking for a support act for Bow Wow Wow when he went to an outdoor concert (known as a “Block Party”) by Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu Nation. This is where he was exposed to Hip-Hop for the first time and discovered the scratching technique he would use on this song.

In the liner notes for the LP Duck Rock, McLaren wrote that this track was “recorded with the World’s Famous Supreme Team and Zulu singers backing them up with the words “she’s looking like a hobo.” The performance by the Supreme Team may require some explaining but suffice to say they are DJs from New York City who have developed a technique using record players like instruments, replacing the power chord of the guitar by the needle of a gramophone, moving it manually backwards and forwards across the surface of a record. We call it scratching.”#

This song was groundbreaking because it helped introduce the UK to Hip-Hop culture. Not only did it sound like Hip-Hop (but with a white, British MC), but the video showed breakdancing (courtesy of the Rock Steady Crew) as well as rapping, scratching and graffiti.

It was really the input of Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley that made this bit of music work. The following year they formed The Art of Noise and when I first heard that group’s music I was immediately reminded of what had been done in tandem with Malcolm McLaren. OK, it has dated somewhat and sounds way more gimmicky than it did back in the day, but there was no denying that it was different and that it did act as a gentle introduction to hip-hop for millions of folk living a long way away from its spiritual home.

The b-side of the 7″might well have influenced Kevin Rowland a little bit:-

mp3 : Malcolm McLaren – Buffalo Gals (Trad Square)

JC

Cabaret Voltaire

SOME THING MY TEENAGE MIND COULDN’T GET TO GRIPS WITH

I could say that back in June 1979 I found this single, issued by Rough Trade Records, to be hugely inspirational and essential listening:-

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag

I could say that but I would be lying.

It was a period where I was beginning to get exposed to more electronic music and in due course, if perhaps a little slowly, would fall for its charms. But I never took to what many claimed at the time was one of the breakthrough examples of the genre. It was just too weird, unconventional and difficult for my tastes, and although years later I can now hear it as not being too dissimilar in approach from any punk/new wave songs of the era, it remains a piece of music that grates on me rather than me being able to declare it as great.

It would be another five years before I heard a Cabaret Voltaire song that I could really enjoy and appreciate:-

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria

Much more accessible thank you very much. One for flailing around the disco floor with your raincoat flapping behind you like Batman’s cape as he chases the bad guys.

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 14)

In last week’s look at Senses Working Overtime, I made the suggestion that its parent double-album English Settlement had a little bit of filler, a line that led Echorich to, rightly, ask me to justify such a view.

What I would like to say at the outset is English Settlement is a wonderfully and occasionally eccentric record packed with great, idiosyncratic and beautifully crafted songs. All these years on, I reckon it’s the best of the first five albums released by XTC in terms of how it has really stood the test of time since its release back in 1982. Of its fifteen tracks, there are maybe four that I haven’t ever quite taken to – All Of A Sudden (It’s Too Late), Fly On The Wall, Down In The Cockpit and Snowman – but at the same time they’re not the sort of tracks that I ever skip on the few occasions I listen to the album these days (and it is one I have on vinyl and CD).

The reason that I suggest its the best of the first five albums and not the best ever XTC album is simply down to me not being in a position to express any opinion as, sad to say, I don’t actually own copies of any LPs they released after this…but that’s something I’ll come back to in a future point in this series.

The success of Senses Working Overtime removed any pressure to have a hit single which is probably just as well as not all that many of the rest of the songs on the album were really the poppy sing-a-long sort you’d expect to hear much on daytime radio stations; one of the exceptions was this catchy sounding ditty which castigated urban development:-

mp3 : XTC – Ball and Chain

Turned out to be the first real flop single attributed to Colin Moulding, only reaching #58 in March 1982. Unusually, the single version was no different from that on the album. It was released on 7″ and 12″ formats and these were your b-sides:-

mp3 : XTC – Punch and Judy
mp3 : XTC – Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass
mp3 : XTC – Cockpit Dance Mixture

Neither of Punch and Judy and Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass would have sounded out-of-place on the parent album but I’m guessing the thinking was that some new songs had to be kept back for b-sides….in this case very superior and enjoyable b-sides.

Cockpit Dance Mixture was the extra track on the 12″ and is an experimental take on the album track Down In The Cockpit. One for the curious and completists.

There’s a short postscript required today…..

It turned out that the folk at Virgin Records, having heard early versions of the new material had been really keen to have Ball and Chain, together with Punch and Judy, released as an advance double-A sided single but felt the band should work with uber-producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley for the optimum results. The group and producers entered into the studio in March 1981 but within a few minutes sparks began to fly and Langer walked out on the recording leaving Winstanley behind to try to salvage something.

The results were deemed more than acceptable but by the time they went into the studio with Hugh Padgham to record the other songs for English Settlement it was decided it wouldn’t make sense to have a one-off single with different producers standing out like a sore thumbs and so both tracks were re-recorded.

The Langer/Winstanley versions eventually saw the light of day on a 4xCD compilation box set released in 2002 that pulled together demos, rarities and live tracks amlongside some band favorites.

mp3 : XTC – Ball and Chain (Langer/Winstanley version)
mp3 : XTC – Punch and Judy (Langer/Winstanley version)

Andy and Colin both feel these versions are superior to those which were released back in the day. It’s fair comment as they are punchier and more radio-friendly.

JC

Draymin

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #78 : THE DRAYMIN

Once again this is a band whose inclusion in the series rests with the fact a song was included on a compilation CD, in this instance one given away with a sunday newspaper back in 2007. I’ve had to dig deep to find info and this is adapted from a piece in a newspaper that covers their hometown:-

INDIE rockers The Draymin have vowed to go out with a bang after announcing their headline performance at Weekend Revolution will be their final show.

The Rosyth five-piece of Fraser Penman, Craig Penman, Gec Livingstone, Gary Louch and Cal Nicol will bow out after 10 years together at the one-day music extravaganza in Dunfermline on 3rd October 2015.

Their gig at Lourenzos will bring to an end a memorable decade that has taken them to T in the Park, RockNess and the South by Southwest festival in Texas, as well as attracting interest from recording giants EMI.

Although a record deal eluded them, The Draymin won an army of fans but any hope that they could reunite – as they did in 2009 after a year apart – was put to bed by guitarist Craig, who told Press:ON, “We’ve had enough reunions now I think – how many do you do? This is our last one ever as The Draymin, although we’ll probably find that we’ll still go for a jam together or some of the guys might go on and do their own thing. It’s difficult to get all five of us together for practice; times change with kids and work. We gave it a good bash and we’re happy to go out on a high.

The band have come a long way from their first gig at Rosyth Dockyard Club in 2005 and Craig, who revealed the band have produced a final single called ‘Dangerous Door’, reflected, “We put the video together for the new tune and it’s a montage of photos of gigs we’ve played and places we’ve visited, and there’s been a lot of good times and laughs. A lot of the stories you couldn’t print though!

“Getting to play T in the Park twice was something else, and going to RockNess and South by Southwest were great experiences. We went to the EMI recording studios for a week which was great, even though we weren’t quite what they were looking for in the end. We took it all in our stride and kept our feet on the ground; they were great times and it didn’t matter if we were signed or not.

“It’s easy to look back and think ‘what if’, but there’s no point because it’s outwith your control. We could easily have been signed but quickly dropped, so you can never tell. We just enjoyed making and performing music and although you can’t rule anything out, we can’t go on forever – unless you’re the Rolling Stones!

I’m thinking that there will be thousands of examples of The Draymin the world over. Huge in their home town and immediate surroundings but never quite having that something to take them to a wider audience. Fair play to the boys for keeping it going for so long.

mp3 : The Draymin – Rise Up

JC

Joy Division

CHARGED PARTICLES…..HERE’S JONNY!!!!!! (1)

A NEW GUEST SERIES FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

CHARGED PARTICLES

I don’t have a music blog of my own but I gather I have something in common with JC and the regular contributors that do: Like you lot I was always the guy people asked to make mix tapes (and, later, playlists) for parties, trips, birthdays, etc.

One of the categories that people liked very much was called Charged Particles. These consisted of songs with one word titles ending with ION. That was the only thing they had in common. Turns out there are tons of them; I’ve got nearly 200 in my iTunes library and they always seem to combine interestingly. I mentioned doing something with the list when I met JC in Manchester and he said, ‘Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?’

My thinking was that he could plug in a charged particle post when he was away or busy or couldn’t be bothered that day to put up a new one. The posts would be short and sweet and let the music do the talking. JC liked the idea okay and correctly guessed the songs I had in mine for the first one.

And here it is. Remember the only guideline is a single word ending in ion. Can it end in ‘ionS’? No, so no ‘Complications’ by Killing Joke. Does it count if you cram a bunch of words together like ‘StationtoStation’? Nope. How about if the word is preceded or followed by a phrase in parentheses? No, not that either. (Unless I feel like it.) Hyphens? Sure, why not.

Right, here we go: Today’s charged particles are by Manchester’s best or second best band, depending on your preference, in honor of the town where I got to meet the Vinyl Villain, at last:

Joy Division: Transmission
Joy Division: Auto-suggestion
Joy Division: Isolation
Joy Division: Incubation

JTFL

Gaye Bykers On Acid, Pigeon Detectives

30, 20, 10 (Part 2)

It was genuinely pleasing to get such a positive response to the idea of using the 1st day of each month (or as close to the 1st if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday) to throw out the songs that were #1 in the UK Indie Charts 30, 20 and 10 years ago to the day. I genuinely have no idea what is going to come up until the day I start putting the piece together. Fingers crossed….

1 June 1987 : Nosedive Karma : Gaye Bikers On Acid (3rd of 3 weeks)

1 June 1997 : I’ll Be There For You – The Rembrandts (2nd of 4 weeks)

1 June 2007 : I’m Not Sorry – The Pigeon Detectives ( 1 week)

Oh dear. The middle one alone is making me have second thoughts about this series….

But back first of all to 1987.

Gaye Bikers On Acid. One of the greatest band names of all time. Just a pity that I cannot for the life of me recall any of their songs.

Wiki tell us they were an English psychedelic rock band from Leicester, and one of the founder members of the Grebo music scene. They later released both thrash punk and dance music albums under various aliases and consisted of:-

Mary Byker (Ian Garfield Hoxley) – vocals
Tony Byker/Phlegm Lubricant/Tony Shuttleburger/Sven Eleven- (Tony Horsfall) – guitar
Robber Byker (Ian Reynolds) – bass guitar
Rocket Ronnie (William Samuel Ronald Morrow) – turntablist
Kev Byker/Cubehead Buffalo Hyde/Gavina Hyde/Kenny Pride – (Kevin Hyde) – drums

Their first two releases – the single Everythang’s Groovy and the Nosedive Karma EP – were both recorded with the help of Jon Langford of The Mekons, and released on the InTape label which was run by Marc Riley (then merely an ex-member of The Fall and not yet one half of a terrific radio duo).

The success of these releases led to them signing to Virgin Records and releasing the albums Drill Your Own Hole in 1987 and Stewed to the Gills in 1989. Initial quantities of the vinyl version of Drill Your Own Hole was pressed without a hole in the centre, so it was necessary to literally drill your own hole to play it.

They also played gigs (dressed in women’s clothing) under the name ‘Lesbian Dopeheads on Mopeds’, supporting themselves, and thus getting paid twice. They also performed as a fictitious East German thrash punk band “Rektüm” (they claimed to have jumped over the Berlin Wall), recording an LP Sakredanus and an EP Real Horror Show under the name.

However management problems and poor sales meant that they were dropped by Virgin in 1989. They subsequently released the album Cancer Planet Mission on their own record label, Naked Brain. They also recycled and used the band name ‘The Purple Fluid Exchange’ (PFX) to release their dance cross-over material. It was at this time that Rocket Ronnie joined the band as DJ, sample player and dance advisor.

In 1990 they released Pernicious Nonsense, their last studio album, again recorded with Jon Langford . Poorly attended tours in the US and UK caused friction and the final blow came when Rough Trade, who distributed their Naked Brain recordings, went bankrupt owing them and many other bands considerable amounts of cash.

A band who, understandably, generated a loyal following who revelled in the fact they were far from predictable and by all accounts a bonkers and ocasionally brilliant live act.

mp3 : Gaye Bykers On Acid – Nosedive Karma

Fast forward ten years.

As with R Kelly last month, this single exploited a loophole to qualify for the indie charts. The Rembrandts were part of Atlantic Records but the music came out on the East West imprint. This song was a massive hit thanks to it being the theme tune for the show Friends.

Fun fact. Barely believable but true. I’ve never seen a complete episode of Friends. I hated the idea of it back in the days just reading its premise and vowed to avoid at all costs. I’ve managed to do so more than 20 years on after it began airing. In keeping with the spirit of this belligerent attitude, the theme song ain’t getting on this blog.

And so to 2007.

The Pigeon Detectives are a band whose name vaguely rings a bell but again, I’ve no idea what any of their songs sound like.

Wiki informs that they came together in 2004 in Leeds and three years later issued their first singles and albums. They are still going strong today, racking up five albums in total, including two that went Top 5 in the UK. They were everywhere back in 2007, doing that thing where the music was initially released online to fans before becoming commercially available, thus building up a buzz of anticipation. They are on the label Dance To The Radio of whom I do own some releases by the likes of iLiKETRAiNS, and ¡Forward, Russia!.

It also says that over the years they have played on the largest stages at music festivals and headlined all sorts of tours, even selling out the 8,000 capacity Alexandra Palace in London. But nope, I still can’t say for certain if I know any of their tunes:-

mp3 : The Pigeon Detectives – I’m Not Sorry

Having listened….I have to ask myself why they made it big when a contemporary band like The Rakes flopped.

Catchy pop with an indie bent to it. I can see why they appealed so much to folk of a certain age (and their target market) back in the day.

More such nonsense on Friday 30 June (as 1 July falls on a Saturday)