Month: July 2017

Edwyn Collins

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #83 : EDWYN COLLINS

I think I’ve said it all before so I’ll keep things to a minimum today.

But if you need evidence of the impact of Edwyn’s near death experiences, then listen to these two versions of one of his songs; the original dating back to 1997 and the new version featuring on the soundtrack to the documentary film The Possibilities Are Endless (from which the above image is taken) telling the story of his recovery from his illnesses.

mp3 : Edwyn Collins – Don’t Shilly Shally (single)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins – Don’t Shilly Shally (2014 new recording)

JC

Electronic

WHEN BARNEY MET JOHNNY AND THEY TEAMED UP WITH NEIL (remixed)

As a way of background, I’d like to refer you to this posting from back in October 2013.

Not too long ago I picked up the 12″ vinyl remix of the single with the catalogue number Fac 257r. There’s three different versions of the single (two of which are more clubby and likely to be of interest to Swiss Adam, among others) and another excellent mix of the house-style instrumental that was on the b-side of the ‘proper’ single:-

mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (vocal remix)
mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (nude mix)
mp3 : Electronic – Lucky Bag (Miami edit)
mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (original version)

The first two of the remixes are the work of Mike Pickering and Graeme Park and seem quite typical of the sort of work they were doing back in 1989.

JC

David Bowie

CHARGED PARTICLES (6)

A GUEST SERIES FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

I’ve been a Bowie fan for ages. I got to see him as the lead in The Elephant Man on Broadway in 1980, and live at Madison Square Garden during the ‘Serious Moonlight’ tour. Goldie The Friendly Therapist teases me that her first ever concert was the legendary 1976 StationtoStation tour at the L.A. Forum, but only I got to see the man play one of the following three live. Guess which?

Fascination

Fashion

Repetition

Bonus: Zion. Also known as ‘Aladdan Vein’ and other working titles, ‘Zion’ is a favorite lost Bowie track for true devotees. Here’s the wiki info.

And here’s a youtube video with the somewhat completed track

JTFL

Redskins

THEIR SOLE CHART HIT

It was the passing mention of this lot in a Billy Bragg posting that got me digging this one out again.

I’ve previously written about the impact of Keep On’ Keepin’On and it remains my favourite bit of vinyl by The Redskins.  It was their next single, however, that brought them some minor chart success:-

mp3 : The Redskins – (Burn It Up) Bring It Down (This Insane Thing) (12″ version)

It was their first release after an infamous appearance on The Tube where they had unexpectedly brought on a striking miner to say some words at the start of their two song appearance.  His words weren’t broadcast with Channel 4 claiming a faulty microphone.  It has never been fully clarified whether this was a stroke of luck for the broadcaster or in fact the production team had clocked the stunt was taking place and so killed the mic.

The incident served its purpose and did cause a ruckus; it further raised the issue of the miners being given a fair platform to articulate their views – they were very much silenced on the TV news in comparison to what was being said by coal bosses and government ministers.  But it also brought The Redskins to the attention of a larger audience and there was very much a hint of solidarity in folk purchasing their next again single, albeit it is a very decent number that makes you feel like dancing.

Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : The Redskins – You Want It? They’ve Got It!

A #33 hit in June 1985.  Where have those 32 years gone?

JC

Heaven 17

A BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED BREAK-UP SONG

Heaven 17 had gotten a fair bit of attention in the UK due to the fact that their debut LP, Penthouse and Pavement, released in 1981 was probably the first overtly political synth-pop album. Lead single (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang firmly nailed the colours of the band to a left-wing agenda with its lyrical attacks on Thatcher and Reagan leading to the usual pourings of outrage and anger within the British tabloids and the inevitable banning of the track by the BBC.

There were other songs on the album that were critical of the political system and the increasing shift to the ‘greed is good’ mantra that would come to dominate the decade. It was a strange album in that none of its five singles (from just nine tracks) got anywhere near the Top 40 but the LP went Top 20 and was in the charts for months. It was as if everyone who went on a peace march or other sort of demonstration, such as in support of the striking miners, was determined to get on board with this most unlikely of protest records.

What came next was a big surprise. Heaven 17 dropped the politics and went for the pop on the follow-up The Luxury Gap, released in April 1983. The change of direction paid off as it yielded two Top 10 hit singles and another that went top 20. It has to be said that the members of the group were still at pains to say that their politics hadn’t changed and they were happy to lend their support to various causes.

There was one single that preceded the release of the second album. It failed to chart at the tail end of 1982, stalling at #41, but of all the Heaven 17 songs over the years is the one that I remain most fond of.

It’s a superbly produced and moody piece of synth-pop, with a lyric that reads as if it belongs to a tear-jerking ballad.

Once there was a day
We were together all the way
An endless path unbroken
But now there is a time
A torture less sublime
Our souls are locked and frozen

Once we were years ahead but now those thoughts are dead
Let me go
All hopeless fantasies are making fools of me
Let me go
I walk alone and yet I never say goodbye
Let me go
A change of heart a change of mind and heaven fell that night
Let me go

I tried but could not bring
The best of everything
Too breathless then to wonder
I died a thousand times
Found guilty of no crime
Now everything is thunder

Daytime all I want is night-time
I don’t need the daytime all I want is night-time

The best years of our lives
The hope of it survives
The facts of life unspoken
The only game in town
I’ll turn the last card down
And now the bank is broken

Found guilty of no crime
They were the best years of our lives
I’ll turn the last card down

**I am surprised that nobody has ever taken the lyric and see how it would work with the tune slowed right down.

Having said that, maybe it’s best left alone as it is one of the most enduring and least dated of the tunes from the era:-

mp3 : Heaven 17 – Let Me Go (extended)

As ripped from a piece of vinyl that is will have its 35th birthday later this year.

JC

** after typing out the post, I learned that the band had actually done this back in 2011

mp3 : Heaven 17 – Let Me Go (acoustic version)

Not really sure about it to be honest…too much like the sort of interpretations you find on annoying TV talent shows.

Morrissey, Smiths

BONUS POST : A REVIEW OF ‘ENGLAND IS MINE’

WARNING : Negative words alert!!!!!

What follows won’t really come as a surprise to those of you who are in the unfortunate position of being able to read my Facebook posts.

Within 15 minutes of the credits rolling on England Is Mine, I was back on the train home to Glasgow. The original plan had been to head along to a post-screening reception that Mr John Greer had kindly arranged access to, but I felt I was a bit casually dressed for such a grand occasion and besides, if I had to bow to the decorum expected of such events, I’d needed to have lied through gritted teeth about my views on the film if asked by anyone involved in its making.

Instead I got to work on an instant review as the train headed west. And here’s what I typed.

“Sorry to say, but I thought the film was a real let down. The script, or lack of one, was a shocker. Anyone who went along tonight with no idea of the backstory would have been bemused and not really been able to follow it.

Morrissey was portrayed mainly as a one-dimensional character, with just one short scene with Linder showing any sense of warm humour. The world of work is populated by one-dimensional characters lifted straight from sit-com casting central; nobody understands our would be poet/writer/singer, especially his male colleagues and his boss, while his one female colleague just wants to get inside his y-fronts.

Oh and it constantly rains in Manchester too……

Soundtrack was enjoyable mind you.”

Leaving aside that I repeated the phrase ‘one-dimensional’, it’s not too shabby an instant reaction. A few other folk I know were also at the showing and some of them also gave fairly quick reactions via social media and it’s fair to say they didn’t agree with me.

The first two or three lengthy on-line reviews that followed a few hours later were also quite scathing although later opinions tended to be more favourable and offered various degrees of praise. As far as I can see, however, nobody has come out and said it’s a masterpiece.

Reflecting on things almost 24 hours on and the word I didn’t use in the Facebook review was ‘boring’ because that would have been what I’d have said if I was asked for a one-word reaction. If allowed a second word, it would have been ‘cliched’.

The truth of the matter is that Morrissey, from the ages of 17-24, didn’t lead a particularly exciting life and so a film biopic will always be on a hiding to nothing. The main issue for me was the poor quality of the script, but as was explained in one review, this stemmed from the screenwriters’ inability to quote anything that Morrissey was known to have said in real life for fear of being sued given the whole venture was unauthorised. As such, the few decent lines were given to other characters and Jack Lowden, in the role of our protagonist, has to rely on facial expressions and mannerisms to convince us of the depth of his character (and to be fair, he does a reasonable job). The best performance in the film comes from Jessica Brown Findlay in the role of Linder Sterling, but this is perhaps down to the fact that enough is known about the real life Linder to appreciate that the actress delivers an accurate and sympathetic portrayal of someone who, in real life, is an interesting personality in her own right.

My biggest problem was the way the other supporting characters came across. It was as if the director and scriptwriter had watched The Office and decided that the male characters who worked at the Inland Revenue alongside Morrissey should be as Brent-esque & co as possible. Maybe that was what they were really like in the late 70s but it was really dreadful, unfunny and predictable – as too were the scenes in which our hero finds himself on an enforced date with his flirtatious female colleague.

Much has been written about the influence that Morrissey’s mother had on him growing up, but for all but one scene they barely acknowledge one another. There is also little made of Morrissey’s alleged rapier-like wit that seemingly got him noticed on the Manchester scene – for 80% of the movie he is mostly an incoherent, bumbling individual bar the occasional exchange with Linder, but all of a sudden, after he has come off prescribed anti-depressant medication, only in the final 15 minutes of the movie, in which has also smartened up his dress sense and gotten a fashionable haircut, do the barbed comments start to flow.

The most pathetic scene, however, was when our hero, having had his genius denied just once too often for his liking, goes all Incredible Hulk on us and destroys his previously cave-like bedroom where everything was in a particular place for a particular purpose. Oh, and don’t get me started on Johnny Marr being straight out of the cast of the UK edition of Shameless…….

I don’t like to be negative on this little corner of the internet, but having already posted how excited I was to be going along to the premiere, I don’t think I can avoid sharing these thoughts with you.

And in the interest of balance, if anyone wants to offer a more positive review, I’d be very happy to post it.

Any excuse mind you to post the song from which the film title is taken:-

mp3 : The Smiths – Still Ill

JC

Twilight Sad

A GLORIOUS WALL OF NOISE

“Firstly, this song is not about being a whore, it’s a line from the Jean-Luc Godard film Vivre sa Vie (My Life to Live) that seemed to fit with the concept of the lyrics. I’m not sure if we shot ourselves in the foot with that title, seeing as it was the first single. For radio, it had to be called “I Became a ……..” because the word ‘prostitute’ is apparently offensive. This one came together quite easily when writing it and always stood out to be a single.”

So said singer James Graham an interview given back in 2009 when the songs on the LP Forget The Night Ahead were dissected one-by-one.

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – I Became A Prostitute

One of the most powerful and impressive singles to have come out of anywhere, never mind Scotland, in recent years. And a real tour-de-force when played live.

Here’s your b-side which is not without its merits, especially if you like music that is reminiscent of the Seamonsters era of The Wedding Present and a bloke singing in a Scottish accent:-

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – In The Blackout

When you think of all the crap that hits the charts nowadays, it really is criminal that so few people bought this single.

JC

Adam Stafford, Sacred Paws, Skids, Spook School

BONUS POST : THE NOT SO SECRET DIARY OF JC (aged 54 and a smidgin)

Wednesday 28 June : Paisley, 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Award Ceremony

The sixth year of the SAY Award and I keep my 100% attendance record. As ever, delighted to make it along and I’m in the company of Aldo. I see a few well-known faces who I manage to say hello to, some involved in the music industry, others who have become friends in recent years from this blogging lark. Someone I know happened to be talking to Stephen Pastel and so I politely barge my way in just to say thank you to the pop star for making Teenage Superstars such an enjoyable view. Turns out Stephen hasn’t seen the finished version nor indeed any of his own contributions. As ever, I come away from a few seconds in his company amazed at his modesty and the fact he doesn’t ever seem to understand how so many of us are in awe of him.

Last year’s winner Anna Meredith gets things off to a decent start before The Spook School take to the stage and deliver a 15-minute mini-set that channeled the energy and fun of Buzzcocks when they were at their peak.

mp3 : The Spook School – Books and Hooks and Movements

The next two acts to perform didn’t do anything for me so I won’t waste time writing about them.

The night ends with the announcement that the 2017 SAY Award is to Sacred Paws for Strike A Match. I’m pleased as it is a record I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of since its release back in March but it wasn’t the one from the long list of 20 and then the shortlist of 10 that I’d have put my money on.  Rachel and Eilidh were thrilled and stunned in equal measures when told they were to receive the £20,000 prize.

mp3 : Sacred Paws – Strike A Match

Thursday 29 June : Glasgow, launch of Reverse Drift by Adam Stafford

Regular readers will know how much I love the work of Adam Stafford.  There was no way I was missing out on the launch of his latest piece of work, Reverse Drift, which has just come out on the local indie label Gerry Loves Records.

It’s an ambitious piece consisting of a 40-minute piece of improvised music that was recorded live in one take with no overdubs featuring just a synthesizer, a sequencer, some effect pedals and Adam’s occasional vocal, along with a 48-page book containing photos he had taken over a period of eighteen years, between 1999 to 2017, mostly of landscapes in and around his home town of Falkirk.

Adam announces that as Reverse Drift was wholly improvised on the day it was recorded, he won’t be playing any of it at the show to launch its release!  Instead we are treated to 50 minutes of new, mostly instrumental music. Just one man and his guitar, foot pedals and various effects mics and made for an unforgettable and special evening. He’s hopeful that the music will be recorded in October this year for future release. It was everything those of us who like Adam have come to expect and appreciate, but it had added anger and energy that translated the music into gothic landscapes. Something to look forward to in the months ahead. In the meantime, here’s a lovely nimber that was an outtake from his 2015 LP Imaginary Walls Collapse

mp3 : Adam Stafford – Sound Of Fear Evaporating

It’s a song that features a vocal contribution from Siobhan Wilson who herself was launching her latest album the following night in Glasgow, an event I’d have gone along to except it clashed with something else….

Friday 30 June : Dunfermline, The Skids Homecoming Show

This was a huge surprise.  The 1,500th posting on the blog a few weeks back was an ICA featuring The Skids. I lamented that I had missed their show in Glasgow as they embarked on a 40th Anniversary Tour but I hadn’t minded as it had clashed with the bloggers’ weekend and the unforgettable hook-up with Dirk, Walter, Brian, Adam and many others.

I took a call from Mr John Greer, past contributor to these pages, saying that he had come into possession of four tickets for the band’s long sold-out gig in their home town; not only that, but it was part of a package that had been bid for at a charity event that enable the ticket holders to attend the sound check and have a meet’n’greet with the band. There was also some food and drink at a nearby pub thrown in (but not with the band!!)

I was thrilled to be invited along as one of the guests, mainly as I was keen to see the band on the back of consistently great reviews on the tour, but especially for the fact I would meet a long-time hero.

Yup. In a year that is proving to provide all sorts of wonderful first-time happenings, this was right up there.

The gig could have been an anti-climax but that was far from the case. In front of a manic but brilliantly behaved 600-strong audience in the splendour of the art-deco Glen Pavilion (another new venue for me), Richard Jobson and co really did turn the clock back. As he said, in his head he was on the stage still thinking he was a 16-year old punk looking out at an audience of 16-year old punk music fans – fat and bald 16 year olds for the most part, but still determined to singalong and dance away as if there was no tomorrow.

The set-list was majestic:-

Animation
Of One Skin
Melancholy Soldiers
Thanatos
Dulce et Decorum Est (Pro Patria Mori)
Working for the Yankee Dollar
The Saints Are Coming
Scared to Dance
Charles
The Olympian
Out of Town
Hurry On Boys
Circus Games
Masquerade
Into the Valley

ENCORE

Charade
A World On Fire
TV Stars
Of One Skin

Yup….they ended with a song they had aired before as they didn’t want to leave the stage. I’ve no idea just how these old troupers managed to keep up the sort of energetic pace throughout the near 100 minute set. It was sweltering hot from the word go but not once did any of them appear short of breath. Richard Jobson remains a front man who so many could learn from – utterly charismatic, witty and performing throughout with the widest grin imaginable. It was wonderful.

mp3 : The Skids – The Olympian

Saturday 1 July : Villain Towers, Glasgow

Lazy day to recover.  Was able to reflect on a few personal things such as my parents celebrating 55 years of marriage earlier this week, my many Canadian friends today celebrating 150 years of theirs becoming a country and the fact that one of my younger brothers would have been 50 years old today if he hadn’t passed away in a car crash in 2010.  I toasted his memory as I recharged my batteries

Sunday 2 July : Edinburgh, world premiere of England Is Mine

Once again, a late and unexpected invite courtesy of Mr John Greer as the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival comes to an end with the screening of England Is Mine:-

For all that the subject matter of the film is an utter twat these days, there was no way I was missing out on this invite. I’ll be on my way east as these words are posted.

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 17)

The next single came out at the height of the summer of 1983 at a time when I was gearing up to move out of the parental home and into my own space within student accommodation. It was also when The Smiths, New Order, Aztec Camera, The The, Billy Bragg, The Style Council and The Go-Betweens were increasingly becoming the bands of choice.  XTC were old hat…..

I will however, say in defence of this Colin Moulding composition, is that I should have bought it back in the day as it would have fitted beautifully onto the compilation tapes that I was making at the time…it’s a gentle and lovely song that has dated fairly well.  But at the time, having only heard it once via radio, I dismissed it immediately and didn’t seek it out.

mp3 : XTC – Wonderland (single edit)

My first exposure to the b-side came as I put this posting together.  It’s certainly a big improvement on the tracks on the previous single and initially I thought it was nothing that I’d come back to all that often.  But three or four listens and it is growing on me.  It’s a good solid b-side.

mp3 : XTC – Jump

I think this was the first XTC single to be issued on Picture Disc.

JC

 

 

Edinburgh School For The Deaf

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #82 : EDINBURGH SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

Edinburgh School For The Deaf (taking their name from a famous landmark institution in that city) were a four-piece band much admired by a number of Scottish based music bloggers. The band came to prominence in 2010, emerging in part from the ashes of St Jude’s Infirmary in which two of the members had played.

Consisting of Ashley (vocal and “sweet” guitar), Jamie (drums), Grant (shouting and bass) and Kieran (vocals and “sourer” guitar) they gigged a lot, particularly in Edinburgh and to a slightly lesser extent in Glasgow and Dundee, but for some strange reason I never got to see them. I was told in particular by Mike (Manic Pop Thrills) and Matthew (Song, By Toad) that I was missing out on something that was quite distinctively Scottish but which drew upon all sorts of influences from all sorts of eras. If you look up various reviews from their time together you will come across name checks for the likes of Interpol, My Bloody Valentine and The Delgados. Their own description of their sound was “deathjangle” and “noise pop”.

I bought a copy of their debut LP New Youth Bible on its release in 2011 and to be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced. But its an album which slowly grew on me after multiple listens, although it’s not one I have gone to all that often since its release.

However, I did listen to it in full again the other week for the first time in a while and found myself more immersed in it than ever before. Maybe, like much of the rest of the world, I wasn’t quite ready for Edinburgh School For The Deaf back in the day and it’s their continued absence over the past five years that makes me miss them somewhat.

mp3 : Edinburgh School For The Deaf – Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness

JC