Month: September 2018

Ramones

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #185 : THE RAMONES

AN EPIC GUEST POSTING by Dirk

of Sexy Loser fame

Hello friends,

as I said to JC: I really think this ICA – thingy wouldn’t be complete without an entry about The Ramones, surely one of the finest bands who ever walked the earth. If you are one of those rare creatures who never heard of them: four blokes from New York, all with the same surname, equally bad haircuts, a different drummer all the time, all dead by now. And what they really say at the start of ‘Pinhead’ is: “Gabba gabba, we accept you, we accept you, one of us”: that’s all you need to know basically.

So here you are, problem though is that everything has already been said and wrote about The Ramones, there are no clever anecdotes of my own I could come with for your enjoyment! Apart from one, that is. You’ll find it at the very end of this essay. So what I did eventually just was a copy/paste – job, because I found some quotes on various sites which could turn out to be of some interest at least. You can sue me later, Wikipedia …

Also the tunes should – at least by and large – be known by heart by everybody, so big surprises cannot be expected below, I’m afraid.

So, perhaps, at the end of the day this ICA will only make those of you happy, who, like me, had the chance to see the band live a few times within the last decades. And weren’t they just marvelous each and every time?! Hearing the songs again will bring back excellent memories of their gigs, that’s for sure. At least it worked for me!

With an output of 14 studio plus a few live albums in their career, it wasn’t that easy for me to decide for ten songs only. So I went the comfortable way, as I so often do, and concentrated on the first ten studio albums and chose one song from each of them. You see, I’ve been listening to these records for – partly – 40 years now, and of course there are some songs which I like a bit better than I like others. This changes on a daily basis though.

So here are my choices for today, folks, enjoy!

01 – ‘Beat On The Brat‘ (from “Ramones” (1976): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy)

“When I lived in Birchwood Towers in Forest Hills with my mom and brother, it was a middle-class neighborhood, with a lot of rich, snotty women who had horrible spoiled brat kids. There was a playground with women sitting around and a kid screaming, a spoiled, horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever. The kind of kid you just want to kill. You know, ‘beat on the brat with a baseball bat’ just came out. I just wanted to kill him.” (Joey)

02 – ‘Suzy Is A Headbanger’ (from ‘Leave Home’ (1977): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy)

“Suzy Is a Headbanger” was inspired by the 1947 film noir ‘Nightmare Alley’, with the lyrics detailing a female involved in the punk rock scene.

Most of the songs were written in the band member’s homes, rather than at a studio; “Suzy Is a Headbanger” was written in drummer Tommy Ramone‘s loft apartment. Joey Ramone later recalled:

“I wrote most of the stuff I contributed at my apartment in Forest Hills before I left and moved back to a place in the city. I had no amp at home, just an electric guitar. I recorded it onto a cassette and played that back at rehearsal. We had better production, we were playing a little faster, and we had a lot of songs accumulated. We were in really good shape for that album.”

03 – ‘Rockaway Beach’ (from ‘Rocket To Russia’ (1977): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy)

“Rockaway Beach” was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone, and was inspired by the Beach Boys along with other surf music bands. The title refers to a neighborhood and beach in Queens which Dee Dee was a fan of, as confirmed by Tommy and Joey.

04 – ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ (from ‘Road To Ruin’ (1978): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky)

“I Wanna Be Sedated” was described by the author Brian J. Bowe as one of the band’s “most classic” pieces of music. After a show in London, Joey told manager Linda Stein: “Put me in a wheelchair and get me on a plane before I go insane”. This quote would be the chorus to “I Wanna Be Sedated”, whose lyrics invoke the stress which the band was under during touring. It is the most downloaded song from the catalog by The Ramones.

05 – ‘Danny Says’ (from ‘End Of The Century’ (1980): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky)

“Danny Says”, the third track, was a lyrical depiction of what the band constantly went through while touring—soundchecks, autograph sessions, interviews, etc. The title “Danny Says” refers to the band’s tour manager Danny Fields giving the members instructions, schedules, and demands. According to Joey, the ballad was inspired by Lou Reed, who had released the songs “Candy Says” and “Caroline Says”. Joey’s brother Mickey Leigh called the song a “masterpiece” and said it “remains one of the most captivatingly beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.”

The album was produced by Phil Spector , famous through his work with The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, The Beatles and John Lennon, among others.

During the studio work, Spector’s recording methods were different from those the Ramones were accustomed to from their four previous studio albums. The band recorded their earlier compositions in the shortest time possible for the lowest feasible budget, with a relatively low production value. With End of the Century, the band experienced Spector’s infamous perfectionism, and a budget of $200,000 to fully record and produce the album.

This method of recording caused conflicts to arise. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone wrote of Spector’s obsessive techniques: “Phil would sit in the control room and would listen through the headphones to Marky hit one note on the drum, hour after hour, after hour, after hour.” During the recording of “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”, Johnny was forced by Spector to repeat his part hundreds of times over the course of several hours. Sire Records owner Seymour Stein relates: “To Johnny, this must have been like the Chinese water torture.”

06 – ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ (from ‘Pleasant Dreams’ (1981): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky)

During early stages of the album’s development, Joey was dating Linda Danielle. After the album was released, however, Danielle left Joey and became Johnny’s girlfriend. Ramones’ road manager Monte Melnick relates: “Joey was devastated. It affected him deeply. Johnny knew it was bad and kept Linda totally hidden from that point on. She didn’t come to many shows and if she did he’d hide her in the back; she wouldn’t come backstage. He’d run out to meet her and leave as soon as they were done.” While Johnny would eventually marry Linda, Joey held a strong grudge against them both, and, though they continued to perform and tour together, the two rarely talked to each other. Joey explained that Johnny had crossed the line once he started dating Danielle, and noted that he destroyed the relationship and the band right there. Johnny defended himself by stating that had Danielle not left Joey for him, “he wouldn’t have even been talking about her and saying how much he loved her because he wouldn’t have been obsessed about it.”

Though it was long rumored that the album’s third track, “The KKK Took My Baby Away” was written about Johnny stealing Joey’s girlfriend, the song was reportedly written some time before Joey had found out about this. Joey’s brother Mickey Leigh relates: “The fluky connection between Johnny and the KKK raised a specter that keeps friends and fans speculating to this day. At the time, though, it had to be an unusual situation for him being that, as often happens with song lyrics, his words now took on a whole new meaning.”

07 – ‘Little Bit O’ Soul’ (from ‘Subterranean Jungle’ (1983): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky)

Johnny obtained more control over the musical style because the band members experienced conflict amongst themselves, specifically rooted in each member—excluding Johnny—facing issues with addiction. Both Joey and drummer Marky Ramone were dealing with alcoholism, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone was severely addicted to cocaine and was undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment.

In the cover photograph, Marky is featured peering out the subway window—Marky was positioned this way after Johnny asked photographer George DuBose to do so because “they were kicking him out of the band, but he didn’t know it yet.” Marky recalled that he “liked that shot, but [he] knew something was up.”

“I was lying on my bed, watching Kojak when Joey calls me and says, ‘Mark, I feel bad about this, but, uh, you can’t be in the band anymore.’ I deserved it. Joey was okay about it, but the others, forget it. No one called me after that. If it was today, Joey would’ve said, ‘Why don’t we take off for a month and you get sober?’ But I didn’t want to tell Joey or the band about my being in rehab, because I would’ve been admitting my guilt.” (Marky Ramone)

The album opens with two cover songs, the first, “Little Bit O’ Soul”, was originally written by John Carter and Ken Lewis. The second track, “I Need Your Love”, was first performed by Bobby Dee Waxman. Johnny thought that the fact that the album featured three covers (the third one being ‘Time Has Come Today’, originally by The Chambers Brothers) was a bad idea, saying, “we shouldn’t have, but I was happy with the guitar sound on it.”

08 – ‘Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)’ (from ‘Too Tough To Die’ (1984): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Richie)

The album marked the debut of new drummer Richie Ramone, who replaced Marky Ramone after he was fired for excessive drinking. The album’s lyrics were written mainly by guitarist Johnny Ramone and bassist Dee Dee Ramone, while lead singer Joey Ramone did not participate in the process as much as usual because he “wasn’t feeling well” prior to recording. Joey did, however, write the lyrics for “Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)” after receiving help with the guitar part by Daniel Rey. Johnny Ramone recalled:

“As we got ready to make ‘Too Tough To Die’, we were focused in the same direction, and it made a difference. We knew we needed to get back to the kind of harder material we’d become known for. The pop stuff hadn’t really worked, and we knew we were much better off doing what we did best.”

09 – ‘My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)’ (from ‘Animal Boy’ (1986): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Richie)

Side B begins with one of the band’s only politically based songs, “My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)”. The lyrics comprised Joey, Dee Dee, and Beauviour’s feelings while watching US President Ronald Reagan visit military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany to pay tribute to the victims of Nazism. In an interview with East Coast Rocker, Joey explained: “What Reagan did was fucked up. Everybody told him not to go, all his people told him not to go, and he went anyway. How can you fuckin’ forgive the Holocaust? How can you say, ‘Oh well, it’s OK now?’ That’s crazy!” Dee Dee also asserted that Johnny had made the band seem right winged. “It was the first time we could make a statement to show we weren’t prejudiced,” he explained. “We’d just had these skinheads at our gigs, punks walking around wearing swastikas.” Johnny disliked the song and refused to play the song live, saying Reagan was his favorite president of his lifetime.

10 – ‘Go Lil’ Camaro Go’ (from ‘Halfway To Sanity’ (1987): Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Richie)

Both the next track, “Bop ‘Til You Drop” and the fifth track, “Go Lil’ Camaro Go,” were described by True as “dire ‘fun,'” saying it sounded “as if they’ve been tossed off in a couple seconds—and probably were” and that Joey sang with a “drink-ravaged voice.” Thompson wrote that “Go Lil’ Camaro Go,” a duet with Blondie’s Debbie Harry, “had a style similar to bubblegum pop.”

At an East Hampton, New York, concert on August 12, Richie left the band due to financial conflicts; band members believed it also had to do with his love life. Joey would later state, “I felt screwed. Me and Richie were friends. He was more than just the drummer. But he was out for himself. He said he would do the New York shows for $500 a night. I’m sure he felt he had us by the balls, as our album was coming out.” Richie felt that he was not being paid enough for all he was doing with the band, and reportedly left to take a higher-paying job as a caddy.

Johnny took matters into his own hands, asking around to see if they could find a replacement drummer at least for the remainder of the tour. Clem Burke of Blondie filled in for Richie for two shows, performing under the alias of Elvis Ramone. Johnny deemed the whole situation a “disaster” because of Burke’s drumming style, commenting: “double-time on the hi-hat was totally alien to him.” Burke was criticized for playing “Durango 95“‘s fills incorrectly, and for misplaying the introduction on “Rock ‘n’ “Roll Radio”, forcing Johnny and Dee Dee to improvise on stage. He also was reportedly unable to maintain the faster tempo of the songs “Freak of Nature” and “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment.”

Because of this, Marky Ramone, who was the band’s drummer before Richie and after original drummer Tommy Ramone, was asked to return. He had been fired after “Subterranean Jungle” partially for his style but mostly because of his alcoholism. Once he was sober, however, he began playing in Richie Stotts‘s heavy metal band King Flux, as well as his own band, M-80. Within the week Marky was touring with the band again.

And that’s it, friends! There was more to read than to listen to, I hear you say. And you’re right. Although, live, the band played those ten tunes even faster.

Which brings me to the promised anecdote, so bear with me when there’ll be even more to read for you:

With the pleasure I had to be forced to join the German Airforce back in early 1991 – obviously – as a consequence of having to give up my job for a year, suddenly came a substantial lack of money. So, on the weekends, when apparently the Russians were not supposed to invade Germany, and therefore only skeleton staff had to be at the fighter bomber squadron, I tried to earn some money. Luckily I had a friend from school who had become some sort of ‘manager’ for a ska combo from Krefeld, The Braces. They, in their turn, were lucky to participate in whatever ska wave it was that was hip at the time, the third or fourth, I never can remember these things. So at their gigs and at gigs for other combos I would help to set up the equipment , do the paydesk, be a runner, organize the prostitutes, theses sort of things. No, I made the last one up. Although, and this is true, on one occasion, where I did the backstage at a festival, Judge Dredd, who was bit of a ninny I thought, really asked me to get him a prostitute. ‘Bugger off’ I told him, so he continued drinking his free drinks instead.

Either way, in the summer of 1991 The Braces got the chance to play ‘Berlin Bizarre’, rather a big festival held a bit out of Berlin in a wonderful old amphitheatre in a forest. Quite why The Braces got the chance to play there, I will never fully understand. I mean, they played along with New Model Army, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Fehlfarben amongst others … all big names, right? Perhaps I should mention they played at the very beginning of the festival, if memory serves correctly not even the sausage stands were opened at the time they entered the stage. Which sort of puts their appearance at this festival into perspective. Either way, the manager got hold of a fair amount of backstage passes, so we hired a minibus, threw in all of The Braces and their equipment plus a few close common friends of the manager and me.

Amongst those was the mighty Fatman, him and me started our apprenticeship together and worked in the same company for three years. Now, the Fatman had no interest whatsoever in indie/punk rock/alternative music/ska, he would listen to Elvis only. And I mean only. I think he owned every record that Elvis ever made. And that was quite a few, I suppose. Still we could convince him to join us, so he was put into the bus as well and off we headed to Berlin.

The festival started, and after The Braces finished the gig, a few of them decided to leave for a few hours in order to take the tram into Berlin and most of us joined them. The Fatman though was too tired, he didn’t want to go, he wanted to stay backstage and take a nap instead. And why not, I mean, the music was not of interest for him anyway (as they didn’t have Elvis on the line-up), it was a sunny day, and the backstage area was huge. Huge, and consequently a bit crowded with all sort of people who had access to it. Of course the stars had their own backstage area, even more important, set a bit deeper in the forest, the regular mortals like us wouldn’t be allowed to enter it. How we would have loved to have a few words with Iggy or one out of The Ramones, but even though our backstage passes read “Extremely Bizarre”, the security blokes wouldn’t let us come even close to the stars’ area.

Early afternoon we returned from Berlin and found the Fatman at a backstage bar in a grumpy mood. “What happened?”, I said. “Oh”, he responded, “I walked around a bit after you lot left, had a few more beers, and then I lay down in a corner on the grass to take my nap. And I just feel asleep when some idiot kicked my leg very hard, halfway fell over me and landed on my stomach. I opened my eyes, pushed him off me, shouted rude words at him and that made him disappear. He mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him. I mean, I was half asleep, only when seeing his back I realized that this must have been a girl, you know, long hair and very skinny. I felt rather bad for calling her an arsehole, but she was already a few meters away. And, worse of all, I couldn’t dose off again after that.“ “No matter, Fatman”, I said, “these things happen”.

The evening came, we had even more beers, watched Iggy from our “Extremely Bizzare Special Tribune” and waited for The Ramones to come, they – rightly so, of course – were headlining the whole event. The mighty sound of “Durango 95” blasted out of the speakers whilst the fake fog disappeared more and more and very slowly you could start to see what happening onstage. We stood there in awe, waiting for The Ramones to become fully visible in the remaining fog. Only The Fatman sat, still not even slightly interested in what was going on. The fog went away, ‘Teenage Lobotomy’ was counted in and all of a sudden The Fatman jumped up from his seat, pointed at Joey Ramone and shouted at the top of his lungs: “See, that’s the stupid slut who woke me up!!!”.

Still, even today, nearly 30 years later, I can’t come overcome the fact that Joey Ramone virtually lay on The Fatman while I was strolling through bloody Berlin in the unbearable heat. Why didn’t I decide to take a nap instead?

“Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people.”
(Marcus Garvey)

DIRK

Lloyd Cole

LLOYD COLE THE SOLO YEARS : 2002/3

Having finally cleared the decks by finally getting the old record from 1996 out to the public, not forgetting the sideways trip into electronic ambience, the next two years saw Lloyd Cole turn into something akin to a folk singer, increasingly reliant on his trusty acoustic and his voice.

In some ways it was inevitable as the live shows were nowadays almost entirely acoustic with storytelling thrown in for good measure, increasingly at ease with the aging process and acknowledging that, for the most part, his audience were doing likewise. The old songs always got the loudest cheers and applause in the live setting but there was enough of a devotion from the fans that the new material was well received, enough for Lloyd to have a go at a really stripped down record not far removed from a home recording.

Music In A Foreign Language was recorded in 2002 and released in the UK on Sanctuary Records in June 2003. It was an album I enjoyed a great deal at the time, but giving it a fresh listen again a few days ago for the purposes of this series, I found it a little bit one-dimensional and lacking in ambition somewhat. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy hearing the songs again but they have sounded better played live over the years and the ones which LC has gradually dropped from his sets can now be seen as some of his less-strong material across his career. Lyrically, it’s a fairly straight-forward and unambiguous offer, albeit there are a couple of toe-curling moments of sixth-form prose that he’d never have allowed himself to sing back in his heyday.

mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Music In A Foreign Language
mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Late Night, Early Town

The two most enduring songs on the album are a cover, and a surprising one at that, along with a wonderfully loose and stripped back version of a song he’d recorded and released with The Negatives

mp3 : Lloyd Cole – People Ain’t No Good
mp3 : Lloyd Cole – No More Love Songs

Yup, Lloyd does a fine job on one of Nick Cave‘s brooding numbers from his break-up album The Boatman’s Song. It sounds as if Lloyd is dedicating it just about everyone who he’s ever encountered in the music industry.

JC

Hedrons

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #128 : THE HEDRONS

This is another act of whom I’ve one song, courtesy of its inclusion in a free giveaway with a Scottish newspaper back in 2007.

mp3 : The Hedrons – Heatseeker

A bit of digging on t’internet reveals The Hedrons were formed in Glasgow in 2005, consisting of Soup (drums), Gill (bass), Rosie (Guitar) and Tippi (Lead Singer/Guitar), and may well be the only all-female hard rock band from these parts …I certainly can’t think of any others. They cited Joan Jett, Patti Smith, Foo Fighters and Iggy Pop as influences and for a short time of arouns six months were a bit of a flavour with three singles and an album on local label Measured Records getting a fair bit of airplay across the UK and them appearing at festivals or opening for such heavy-hitters such as Alice In Chains and Sex Pistols.

They dissappeared after the February 2007 release of debut album One More Won’t Kill Us. Lead singer Tippi, who had attempted a solo pop career prior to the band, has forged something of a career since as a session backing vocalist and as lecturer in music at a college just outside of Glasgow.

Complete coincidence, but The Hedrons are out there on You Tube performing, before what looks like a sell-out crowd at King Tut’s in Glasgow, a song that featured on the blog just yesterday:-

JC

Jens Lekman

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #184 : JENS LEKMAN

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

Jim,

Have had a couple of ICA’s in mind lately with Swedish bands (after all being the Swedish correspondent implies some duties…). One major issue is however language, with many of my fave Swedish bands performing in our native language and having lyrics as an important cornerstone they would make very little sense to most of the TVV readers. Listening to his latest record the other night I finally decided to do a Jens Lekman ICA, concentrating on his early recordings up to and including his commercial breakthrough, if you can talk about such with Jens – but at least he reached a wider indie audience with the truly wonderful Night Falls Over Kortedala album.

Jens started out as Rocky Dennis, based on the boy in the film “Mask”, but when Jens realized the character was based on a real person he dropped the alias and started to use his given name instead. Jens has always been very “local” in his lyrics, referencing places in his hometown, Gothenburg (Göteborg), and using his imaginary friend Lisa throughout his recordings.

Into This And That – a Jens Lekman ICA.

Side A.

1. Maple Leaves – First recorded as Rocky Dennis and then later re-released as Jens Lekman. Wonderful track with a typical Jens lyric, “I thought she said maple leaves”.

2. I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration.

3. A Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill. Both from the “Julie” EP, where there is also a track called “Anorther Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill” – Hammer Hill being a direct translation of the suburban (problem) area Hammarkullen in Gothenburg. Jens grew up in one of the so called “problematic” suburbs, this showcases another side of the story – a happy party song among good friends, and then of course the second version is a sad, sad story… As reality is rarely just black or white.

4. Rocky Dennis’ Farewell Song (To The Blind Girl). From the Rocky Dennis In Heaven EP. There is of course also a “Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song To Rocky Dennis” on the EP, but this is the stronger one in my mind. Very sweet melody.

5. And I Remember Every Kiss. A stunning opener of the “Night Falls Over Kortedala” album, and a great closing song of this side. Grand music, sad lyrics and an old fashioned Volvo 240.

Side B.

1. Your Arms Around Me – When accidentally cutting your finger becomes a beautiful love song. Also from NFOK. Kortedala is by the way another not so fancy part of Gothenburg where Jens lived for some time.

2. You Are The Light (By Which I Travel Into This And That) – From Jens’ first album, When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog, a quirky love song with an upbeat melody.

3. Sipping On The Sweet Nectar – He can do songs to dance to as well! From NFOK, sweet as honey – or maybe sweet as nectar. There is a great club remix as well by Bogdan Irkük.

4. Someone To Share My Life With – From the first Jens Lekman EP, Maple Leaves, and a song very similar to Someone by Depeche Mode in many aspects. And this leads us nicely to the ending of this ICA

5. Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig

It means Maybe I’m In Love With You. A truly wonderful love song from NFOK, which is very special on a personal level. Around the time NFOK was released I was going through a divorce, one day while driving to a conference playing the CD in my car I got a text from a woman I had met a couple of times through work. She was also going there and wondered if we would meet. This track was played on repeat after reading the message…(And yes, she is now Mrs.)

Bonus track: Lönnlöv – The Swedsih version of Maple Leaves (lönnlöv are maple leaves), where the misintepretation is “Hon sa allt var lönlöst, men jag tyckte hon sa lönnlöv” – which translates to the slightly more desperate ” She said all is meaningless, but I thought she said maple leaves”.

Ironically as I lived many years in the same city as Jens, I have seen him in town several times but never caught him playing live. A true shame actually, which I know JC can confirm. (JC adds….. indeed I can….he’s a truly wonderful live act and was very generous with his time after this gig last year).

Enjoy.

Martin

JC adds (again)…….this exceptional run of ICAs will continue into next week.  Three more ridiculously wonderful guest contributions – from Dirk, Craig McAllister, SWC and finally one from myself to round things off, wrapped around a piece of tinned fruit on Wednesday.

I’m actually off to Toronto for 8 days after tomorrow, so any daft errors in upcoming postings which are pointed out won’t be corrected immediately…shit quality control I know, but it’s what happens when costs are cut to the bone.

 

Iggy Pop

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #183 : IGGY POP

A GUEST POSTING by SWISS ADAM
http://baggingarea.blogspot.com/

Iggy Pop-Just A Modern Guy

An Imaginary Compilation Album

Since 2016’s Post Pop Depression album, a record made as if to book end his career with a Berlinesque sounding set of songs, Iggy Pop has given the impression he’s winding down his activities. A radio show here and there, the odd guest vocal, but not much more. Then, out of the blue in summer 2018, Underworld announce an ep with Iggy providing vocals to four new songs, two, maybe three, of which sound like late-career classics. So, I thought an Iggy Pop ICA was in order. Part of me then thought that looking back at a back catalogue which can easily be described as patchy, the safest ICA would be to cherry pick 5 songs from each his pair of 1977 albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life, his solo career high points. Iggy has seemed to struggle to meet the sounds and standards of these two albums ever since. But that seemed a bit reductive so I’ve tried to limit myself to only two songs from each of the Bowie/Berlin albums and cast the net for the rest of the ICA a little wider.

Iggy has been part of my life since 1988. Dimly aware of his 1986 hit single Real Wild Child and his connection to Bowie I went to a basement bar in the student’s union of Liverpool University, only a few weeks into my first year there, in October 1988. It was deserted apart from two men playing the records, both of whom looked like they could have been members of Birdland (the late 80s indie band not the New York jazz club). I stood near a wall with a pint and shortly the opening chords of 1969 blared out. And that was that, at a time when Iggy Pop was a long way from the centre of popular culture, acid house and Manchester, indie and hip hop. It took me a long time to put the various pieces together. In the pre-internet, pre-cd reissue culture age, getting hold of records was a matter of searching, dedication and luck. In 1996 Trainspotting thrust Iggy back into people’s faces, the film opening with Lust For Life and suddenly Iggy was in the spotlight again (and finally getting paid). His music began to be used for adverts, he came over the UK for Tv and chat shows- his appearance on Channel 4’s The White Room in see through PVC trousers being a memorable television encounter.

For this ICA I’ve kept to the post-Stooges albums. The Stooges require and deserve an ICA of their own (for what it’s worth, it would might something like this- 1969, I Wanna Be Your Dog, No Fun, Real Cool Time, Loose, Dirt, TV Eye, Search And Destroy, Gimme Danger, Death Trip). Iggy Pop’s solo years are a different animal and his back catalogue has records to love and records to file away quietly and not return to. I’ve also not included anything from his very recent Teatime Dub Encounters record with Underworld but I think that given time one of the four songs on it would force its way onto a rewritten ICA in summer 2019. I haven’t forgotten his album with James Williamson, Kill City, recorded as a demo in 1975 and then polished a little and released in 1977. I just didn’t think anything from it, even the title track, was good enough. The other song missing from this ICA is Repo Man, title track from the Alex Cox film of the same name. A decent enough stab at 80s punk rock, written and recorded in 20 minutes. It just didn’t quite make the cut. If you want it as a bonus track, I posted it recently at Bagging Area. So, with Tony Sales’ drums thumping out Iggy’s calling card intro, we begin….

Lust For Life

The best Iggy Pop solo song and the only way to open an Iggy compilation (in fact more or less any compilation), Lust For Life is a raison d’etre, a justification, a celebration of survival, a middle finger to the doubters and the cynics. Bounding in on that huge, sped up Motown beat, a rhythm based on the Armed Forces network call signal and then Bowie’s guitar riff (written on a ukulele), Lust For Life is a guaranteed floor filler, an irresistible party song. The lyrics were partly inspired by William Burroughs, clearly partly autobiographical and also very funny. Trainspotting launched it into mainstream culture but it has survived many cover versions and TV tie ins because it is the very stuff that rock ‘n’ roll is made of.

I’m Bored

1979’s New Values gave us seven good Iggy pop songs, more than any Iggy album would for a long time afterwards- the title track (which has a very tail end of punk lyric, from one of punk’s progenitors, ‘I’m looking for one new value but nothing comes my way’), the strutting, cocksure Five Foot One, The Endless Sea, Girls, Don’t Look Down (later covered by Bowie), the album opener Tell Me A Story and this one, I’m Bored. The jerky guitar riff is the base over which Iggy gives us his latest message, ‘I’m bored, I’m the chairman of the bored’. Once you’ve written that line, the rest of the lyric takes care of itself. Two former Stooges, James Williamson and Scott Thurston contribute with writing, playing and production and Iggy was still rolling from his ’77 albums at this point, signed to a major label and with some record company clout behind him.

I Need More

A moment of clarity from Iggy. ‘I need more intelligence… more culture… don’t forget adrenaline’. Despite his dum-dum Iggy persona, James Osterberg is an intelligent and well-read man. Iggy is the persona that performs the songs. This one, co-written by Glen Matlock, rattles along at the start of the 80s, a decade which would be pretty dismal for Pop. I Need More was also the name of his 1982 autobiography, now out of print and going for silly money second hand. If you ever see it cheap, buy it. The album I Need More was off, Soldier, came out in 1980 on Arista (for whom Iggy recorded three duff-ish albums). There was conflict throughout the making of it, between James Williamson and Bowie and between Bowie and Glen Matlock (whose guitars allegedly went missing off some songs in the final mix). Simple Minds were recording next door and ended up doing backing vocals on Play It Safe. The only other song off Soldier you might consider worth keeping, to these ears, is Loco Mosqioto which has a fairly chaotic sound and Iggy naked in the bath in the video.

Sister Midnight

Sister Midnight opens The Idiot, an Iggy/David Bowie/Carlos Alomar co-write and deeply entrenched in the Chateau d’Herouville and Berlin sessions that would deliver not just Iggy’s best pair of solo albums but also three of Bowie’s (Low, ‘’Heroes’’ and The Lodger). Sister Midnight opens with a lurch and Iggy’s vocal, a numbed out, reverb drenched rasp- ‘calling sister midnight, you got me reaching for the moon’. The synths and rhythm keep the song grounded, the beat dragging slightly behind the music, and the sound is wonderfully murky, a three-note bassline pushing things along. Iggy sounds like he’s singing from a hole. ‘What can I do about my dreams?’ he pleads. I’d love to include Nightclubbing here as well, a song which is so well recorded, so detached and so cool, so Iggy, that it deserves a place but I’m trying to avoid including multiple songs from the 1977 high points.

The Passenger

A killer riff, the perfect punk rock ‘n’ roll riff, written by Ricky Gardiner. Iggy, narrator and punk outsider, riding around Mitteleuropa in David Bowie’s car, seeing the city’s ripped backside, the hollow sky and everything else, through the window of the car. Little touches can make such a difference in recordings- note the bell ringing at the start. I read somewhere that The Passenger is Johnny Marr’s favourite song. A song that is both impossibly exciting and as numb as it can be.

Gardenia

The comeback. Joshua Homme sought Iggy out and they corresponded by letter and postcard before meeting at a studio at The Joshua Tree to record an album. Gardenia is a tribute to a stripper that both Iggy and Allen Ginsberg were ogling, decades earlier. The band were totally simpatico with an aging Iggy, who suddenly sounded tuned in and was making a record he wanted, needed, to make. Somehow, there’s as much James Osterberg in the voice on this album as there is Iggy Pop. Other songs off Post Pop Depression could easily take this one’s place- American Valhalla, Panama, Break Into Your Heart. Iggy saw this album as the end. ‘I feel like I’m closing up after this’ he said, a 68-year-old man still expected to take his shirt off every night on tour and throw himself into the crowd.

Bang Bang

A 1981 single, from the album Party, co-written by guitarist Ivan Kral. There’s some tension here, Iggy sounds engaged and focussed on what seems to be a song about girls. New Wave keyboards and some organ flesh out the song while Kral contributes some squealing guitar parts. The best thing on a pretty ropey album that doesn’t sound much like a party. Not one you’d enjoy being at anyway.

Funtime

Funtime, also from The Idiot, is a must for any Iggy compilation. Another Bowie co-write with the Thin White Duke playing guitar, synth and providing backing vox. Funtime was inspired by the Sex Pistols cover of his own No Fun and by Neu!, plus Bowie playing a riff borrowed from The Rolling Stones. All this combines to make Funtime a blast of Motorik tension. ‘Hey I feel lucky tonight’ Iggy sneers, ‘I’m gonna get stoned and run around’. Sounds like fun. Bowie’s guitar is part deranged. The room at Hansa Studio never sounded so good.

Avenue B

In the late 1990s post-Trainspotting, Iggy discovered a new way of singing, much deeper, almost crooning and made a different kind of album. Eventually this would lead him to make a jazz album based around Michel Houellebecq’s The Possibility Of An Island, in French in 2009. Before that, in 1999, he put out Avenue B which had several songs in which Iggy unpicked the end of his marriage to a younger woman and concluding that it wasn’t her, it was him. The album split opinion but it is much overlooked and showed Iggy a way out of cool, dumb fun. And while the album is on the whole reflective, melancholic, laid back, and a response to divorce and turning 50, it also has some rockers, a song in Spanish, a cover of Shakin’ All Over and a song called Nazi Girlfriend.

Success

Breaking my rule about only having 2 songs from an album, I had to include Success (from Lust For Life), an ad-libbed, on the verge of falling apart song. Another Pop/Gardiner/Bowie co-write, Iggy apparently made the lyrics up in the studio and the backing singers were told to just follow what Iggy did- which they did, brilliantly. The idea that Iggy Pop would see success in 1977 must have appealed to his and Bowie’s sense of humour but having been rescued from a mental hospital, moved to Berlin to clean up and having little in the way of support, financial or otherwise, the sheer glee in Iggy’s singing, the backing vox and the band’s playing, is success in itself.

Bonus Track

Aisha

Iggy has contributed guest vocals to various tracks over the last few years, Peaches and the group currently calling itself New Order for example, but the starting point was back in 1999 with Death In Vegas and their Contino Rooms album. I’d like to have found room on the ICA for Iggy’s guest vocal on Aisha where he dons the role of a serial killer. When Iggy growls ‘Aisha I’m confused, Aisha I’m vibrating’, he sounds completely believable. If you only have one guest vocal track, it’s this one.

SWISS ADAM

Simply Thrilled

BONUS POSTING : SIMPLY THRILLED IS RETURNING SOON….WITH BELLS ON!

Hopefully, some of you will recall that I got rather excited to be asked to get involved in the launch of Simply Thrilled, a new club night in Glasgow at which all the songs to be played over a five-hour period would be by Scottish singers or bands.  I even posted a review of it on this very blog….click here if you like.

A lot of folk seemed to enjoy themselves and so the real brains behind the night – Robert, Hugh and Carlo – have been working hard in recent weeks on plans for the second event.

The good news is that Simply Thrilled will be returning to the Admiral Bar in Glasgow on Friday 30 November to celebrate all that is brilliant about Scottish Alternative Music.

Our November night is going to be particularly special for a number of reasons..

Firstly, it just happens to coincide with St Andrew’s Day, the feast day of Saint Andrew and an official national day in Scotland with a number of government bodies having the day off work.

Secondly….and you’ll have to excuse me as I pinch myself to find that I’m not dreaming….we will have two very special guest DJs joining us – Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap fame will be playing some choice tunes alongside his partner in crime and fellow raconteur Noj.

It will be a genuine WTF?????? moment in my life and I can guarantee that I’ll not a get a wink of sleep in the days leading up to it due to excitement.

It would be great if some of you could manage to come along and hopefully help make the night a sell-out.  Tell your pals who live around these parts about it.  Tickets are priced at just £5 and can be obtained from

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/448926

There can only be one song to go with this posting….

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend

JC

The The

IT’S VERY DEPRESSING THAT SO LITTLE HAS CHANGED SINCE 1986

Beneath the old iron bridges, across the Victorian parks
And all the frightened people running home before dark
Past the Saturday morning cinema that lies crumbling to the ground
And the piss stinking shopping center in the new side of town
I’ve come to smell the seasons change and watch the city
As the sun goes down again

Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter waitin’ for utopia
Waitin’ for hell to freeze over

This is the land where nothing changes
The land of red buses and blue blooded babies
This is the place, where pensioners are raped
And the hearts are being cut from the welfare state
Let the poor drink the milk while the rich eat the honey
Let the bums count their blessings while they count the money

So many people can’t express what’s on their minds
Nobody knows them and nobody ever will
Until their backs are broken and their dreams are stolen
And they can’t get what they want then they’re gonna get angry

Well it ain’t written in the papers, but it’s written on the walls
The way this country is divided to fall
So the cranes are moving on the skyline
Trying to knock down this town

But the stains on the heartland, can never be removed
From this country that’s sick, sad, and confused

Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter waitin’ for utopia
Waitin’ for hell to freeze over

The ammunition’s being passed and the lords been praised
But the wars on the televisions will never be explained
All the bankers gettin’ sweaty beneath their white collars
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar

This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.

And in the next few months, as we steer towards the madness of Brexit, it is only going to get worse.

Heartland was one of the biggest hits enjoyed by The The, reaching #29 in August 1986.

mp3 : The The – Heartland

The 12″ version had two formats, both featured this short instrumental/spoken word which was a reminder of how vile and racist the South African regime was in that apartheid-governed era.

mp3 : The The – Born In The New S.A.

One format had a track that was very reminiscent of the songs which had made Soul Mining such an essential listen a few years previously:-

mp3 : The The – Flesh and Bones

The other format had what was at the time a new track but which would appear in a shorter version, and with a different mix, on the LP Infected:–

mp3 : The The – Sweet Bird Of Truth

I’m off to see The The tonight. It’s one of my most anticipated gigs in many a year.

JC

Manic Street Preachers

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #182 : MANIC STREET PREACHERS

A GUEST POSTING by KT

from The Sound of Being OK

I have been meaning to write an ICA for a while, the last time I did one it was on Coldplay and it was like I’d spat in the faces of the indie glitterati in doing so. I had somehow managed to stab David Gedge, give Stuart Murdoch a wedgie and dish out a Chinese burn to the drummer from Teenage Fanclub all at the same time. So I’d backed away for a little bit.

I’d started one a while ago on the Strokes but never finished it and then partly as a joke I’d started one on McFly but again never finished it. I stopped because it was getting semi serious and Dom reminded me that there was no way that McFly could ever win the ICA World Cup.

So when Badger had the latest one of his great ideas, I signed up. His idea was that we the TSOBO three write an ICA each but the subject of that ICA is chosen by someone else. Which is why I am sat in the office kitchen about to roll a dice.

The plan is simple – If I roll an odd number the subject of the ICA will be chosen by Badger’s Ipod. This is the best case scenario, he has better music taste than SWC, and by better I mean less obscure and less reliant on bands from California who no one apart from him like (and yes I mean Death Grips) or are signed to something called Saddle Creek Records. If I rollan even number it’s the worst case scenario and SWC’s iPod. So I roll and it’s a two. SWC grins, usually never a good sign. I swear under my breath.

Part two of the idea is that as usual for some reason as yet explained to science, whoever the 11th song on the ipod is by, is who we have to write the ICA on. Badger’s rules go on to say that the ICA must ‘contain no more than 4 singles, at least two B Sides, Cover versions or remixes and no less than 4 album only tracks. Nice and easy then.

An hour or so later an email pings up on the screen.

“you lucky thing – track nine was a band called Childhood and track ten was Panjabi MC which would have been ridiculous. Track 11 is ‘Ocean Spray” by Manic Street Preachers.

Well that’s not too bad I say to myself.

I have seven albums by the Manic Street Preachers although I would imagine this album will be largely made up of tracks from their first five (after which, according to SWC, they went a ‘bit Phil Collins’).

Side One

So let’s start here

A Design For Life (Stealth Sonic Orchestra Mix) – Single

The first time I heard this (not this version) I was sitting in a café in a small place called Chudleigh which is just outside Exeter and I was waiting for my sister to come back from the dentist. I was fifteen (going on sixteen) and it was played on Radio 1. I love every second of it from the opening bit about “Libraries giving us power” to drums, the strings and the twinkly bits at the end. The remix I love even more, especially the way the strings are brought to the forefront and the emotion of James Dean Bradfield’s voice is wrung out to devastating effect.

Black Dog on My Shoulder – From This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

The Manics have always come across an intelligent band who are well read. Here the band turn their hand to depression, a subject very close to their hearts – I mean obviously you have all the stuff with Richey Edwards, which I’m going to do my best to skirt over, largely because it is still so desperately desperate sad, but also it appears that other members of the band have struggled (particularly Nicky Wire) with. In this track they use Churchill’s battles (“Melodrama here in my kitchen sink”) to give us a beautiful subtle track.

Archives of Pain – From The Holy Bible

‘The Holy Bible’ is easily the Manics album which my two colleagues rate the highest. Me – it’s a close third. But I’m probably being harsh because my sister claims it is the best album ever made (when she’s not going to Ed Sheeran live that is). ‘Archives of Pain’ is a real highlight from it though. Besides any song that samples the wonderfully crazy ex Corrie battleaxe Ivy Tilsley is just fine by me.

Wrote For Luck – from ‘Roses In the Hospital Single

My very first Manic show was in 1996, I was nearly 17. About halfway through their set Nicky Wire (bedecked in a very fetching pink boa and red and black frock) told the crowd that this was a song by a band who “you lot don’t love anywhere near as much as you should” and burst into ‘Wrote for Luck”. Frankly if the Happy Mondays version was anywhere near as good as this version we would have still loved them, but it isn’t.

4st 7lb – From The Holy Bible

One of the gloomiest songs ever recorded and therefore an obvious way to end Side One. It is also if you ask me Richey Edwards’ finest five minutes, if that’s even the right way to put it. It is put simply a gut wrenching, tear jerking lament about Richey’ struggles with anorexia that tell us that wants to be “So skinny that I rot from view”. It is magnificent but Christ its bleak.

Side Two

You Love Us – From ‘Generation Terrorists’

The thing that first made the Manic Street Preachers interesting to me was a review in the NME which referred to them as ‘Part Cardiff City Centre drag act, part the Clash”. I was never into either of these things but they sounded fascinating. This review sums up their debut album (and this track particularly) perfectly if you ask me. More than 25 years from its release it has barely aged. It is still angry and slightly contrived but most of all it has lost none of impish brilliance.

Patrick Bateman – B Side to La Tristesse Durera (Scream to Sigh)

“If you are putting a B Side in, it has to be ‘Spectators of Suicide’” says SWC on the same email which tells me I am writing an ICA on the Manics. Well, no actually, I’m putting this in instead. A six minute rant themed around notorious ‘American Psycho anti hero’ Patrick Bateman. Apparently most Manics fans hate it.

Motorcycle Emptiness – From ‘Generation Terrorists’

Let Robeson Sing – From ‘Know Your Enemy’

I think I have two singles left so I’ll use that to post two of my personal favourites – firstly ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ is put simply six minutes of utter perfection. It is seductive, compassionate, elegant and heartbreaking. For the first time you hear James Dean Bradfield sing, or croon, rather than shot, and the guitar solo, is just wonderful.

‘Let Robeson Sing’ is another example of a song in which is a simple out and out pop song, that showcases Bradfield’s talent for actually singing. It’s remarkable and a fitting tribute to a wonderful individual.

SYMM – From This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours

If ‘The Holy Bible’ shone a torch into the darkest depths of Richey Edwards soul, then ‘This is My Truth…’ kind of does the same for Nicky Wire (who has always been my favourite Manic). I’ll highlight this one and again it’s not a happy subject to end on but Nicky Wire manages to take a subject as dark and depressing as the Hillsborough Disaster and make it feel personal and that is a skill only a very talented writer can achieve.  JFT96.

Thanks for reading.

KT

Delgados

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #181 : THE DELGADOS

A GUEST POSTING BY CHARITY CHIC
http://charitychicmusic.blogspot.com/

JC writes…..I had vowed to keep the ICAs down to one per week on the basis that they tend to be labours of love and lengthy pieces which require a great deal of time and energy to be enjoyed fully. But, I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of guest ICAs in recent weeks and I really don’t want anyone having to wait what could be a couple of months before seeing their work make an appearance.

I also think the quality of what has been offered up will lead to what we will, in due course, all agree is a particularly golden period for the series as the band selections and the writing which accompanies the chosen songs are outstanding.

So, I’m going with a near full week of guest offerings (Wednesday is a pre-prepared post for what will become an obvious reason)….and I’m kicking off with something from a long-time reader and friend who I’m pleased is bailing me out as I’ve been too cowardly to take on the task of compressing the career of Alun Woodward (vocals, guitar), Emma Pollock (vocals, guitar), Stewart Henderson (bass), and Paul Savage (drums) into a 10-track ICA. Over to CC….

All You Need is The Delgados

“Quite simply, the most important group to ever have come out of Scotland whose legacy has brought so much joy to so many people over the years”

Not my words but those of our illustrious host JC. And who am I to argue?

I’ve checked and double checked and unless I am very much mistaken an ICA extolling their virtues has yet to grace these pages.

There are others more far qualified than me to carry out this task but I’ll give it a go and hopefully will do them justice.

A band that only released five studio albums between 1996 and 2004. I was pretty late to the party only coming on board around the time of Hate which was album #4. I’ve since got round to filling in the blanks.

There are so many excellent tracks to choose from but I have decided to feature tracks from the five studio albums in chronological order on both sides to show the band’s evolution.

Here goes

Side 1

Track 1 – Under Canvas Under Wraps (from Domestiques, Chemikal Underground 1996)

When they were loud and thrashy. A splendid racket with a brilliantly abrupt ending The Chemikal Records website (http://shop.chemikal.co.uk/acatalog/CHEM009.html) mentions that the front cover of the album is of a cinema in Muirhead , Glasgow now converted to luxury flats.

I’m thinking it my actually be the Toledo in Muirend, which I frequented as a youth, but am happy to be proved wrong.

Track 2 – Everything Goes Round the Water (from Peloton, Chemikal Underground 1998)

Peloton is a recent acquisition and the last piece in my Delgado’s jigsaw. One I’m still exploring but again the opening track seems to be one of the standouts. Others clearly agree as it reached number 9 in the Peel Festive Fifty of 1998

Where the strings begin to kick in.

Track 3 – Accused of Stealing (from The Great Eastern, Chemikal Underground 2000)

Considered by many to be their greatest album it was shortlisted for the Mercury Music prize losing out to Badly Drawn Boy for fuck sake!

Lovely vocals and a relentless beat

Tell me all your confessions. Let me be the ears to all your sins

Track 4 – All You Need is Hate (from Hate, Mantra 2002)

The only album not to be released on their own Chemikal Underground album and the one where I come in.

For a song about Hate it is absolutely beautiful and it’s simplicity is it’s strength

Hate is everywhere
Look inside your heart and you will find it there

Track 5 – I Fought The Angels (from Universal Audio, Chemikal Underground 2004)

Back to Chemikal Underground for their final studio album and another really strong opening track but one I feel that is equally fitting to end side 1

Side 2

Track 1 – Big Business in Europe (from Domestiques)

Emma’s voice seems to be at odds with the music but somehow it works. Magnificently

Track 2 – Pull the Wires From the Wall (from Peloton)

Their first hit single peaking at number 69!

But more importantly number 1 in the Festive Fifty and rightly so.

It’s easy to see why Peel was such a huge fan.

Starts slowly and builds brilliantly

Track 3 – No Danger (from The Great Eastern)

Quite possibly my favourite Delgados track and Alun is quite definitely not singing out of tune!

Track 4 – Coming In From The Cold (from Hate)

If No Danger is the best then this one is the best with Emma on lead vocals

Track 5 Is This All That I Came For? (from Universal Audio)

Apparently so

It was a toss up between this and Everybody Come Down but this seemed more fitting.

Over to you to tell me what I missed out and which ones you would replace

CC

JC adds…..given how CC has gone about his task with two tracks from each album there’s some songs I’d have included that are missing, but overall this really is a superb collection he’s pulled together.

I have, however, been shamed enough by CC to have a go at my own. It’ll appear in due course.  In the meantime, please come back every day this week for some very special bits of work.

 

Lloyd Cole

LLOYD COLE THE SOLO YEARS : 2001

2001 rolled around and quite incredibly, Lloyd Cole released two CDs worth of music on XIII Bis Records, the label that had ensured The Negatives material got to see the light of day the previous year.

Both albums were released on the same day but they couldn’t have been any more diverse.

Etc. was, more or less, the lost album of 1996 which had been caught up in the record label wrangles I referred to a couple of weeks back. It’s an acoustic, at times folksy/country album, consisting of fully realised songs, demos and covers. Lloyd’s voice had rarely sounded more impressive, almost as if he was determined to make it as much of an instrument within the sounds he was creating, never straining for notes and delivering every word in a clear and concise manner. It’s a beautiful record, one which reflected the way he was now earning his living as live musician, touring solo with just a couple of guitars…no support acts, splitting his sets into two halves with an interval for the audience to enjoy a drink, loads of entertaining stories in between the music as he reminisced about his career and giving his audience the songs that most had come along to hear – the Commotions hits reinterpreted in an Unplugged fashion.

mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Old Enough To Know Better
mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Memphis
mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Fool You Are (demo)

The middle track is a cover of the song written by the actress Karen Black that she had performed in Nashville, the 1975 hit movie directed by Robert Altman. Lloyd’s version features Matt Johnston of The The on backing vocals.

The other CD was Plastic Wood, consisting of 19 tracks of ambient electonica across 45 minutes, with all keyboards played by Lloyd himself. It was totally unexpected and unsurprisingly it divided opinion.

I don’t listen to enough music of the genre to determine if it’s very good or an amateurish effort when compared to the acclaimed masters. It’s an album I’ve rarely returned to over the years and indeed I went as far as deleting it from the i-tunes library so as to prevent the tracks getting in the way of any occasion when I wanted a Lloyd Cole mixfest. It is worth, however, drawing your attention to this allmusic review of Plastic Wood with the writer very keen to offer praise.

I looked for but couldn’t find the CD where it should be on the shelf which means I’ve either filed it in the wrong place (and I’ve neither the time nor energy to search for it) or I’ve forgotten about loaning it out to someone at some point.  If it’s the latter and you’re reading this, then I’ll willingly take it back without the imposition of a fine.

JC

Hector Collectors

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #127 : THE HECTOR COLLECTORS

I’ve written previously about The Hector Collectors – here, when they part of a hugely enjoyable night at the Old Hairdresser’s in January 2016 and again last year, here, when I gave a deserved plug to a free release of old material they had put out on bandcamp.

The boys are back in town, with a recently released single and an album due out later this month, with the superb title of “Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You wont believe what they sound like now!”

The mainstays of the band are Iain and Adam Smith (no relation) who burst on to the Glasgow music scene as long ago as 2001 with their first home recorded album Straight Outta Comprehensive. It’s a record that drew understandable comparisons with early Half Man Half Biscuit thanks to its lo-fi and basic production and some wonderfully written piss-takes and/or tributes of the local and national scenes with such song titles as The Day The Supernaturals Went To The 13th Note, Steven Pastel’s Blues, Gie’s A Blast O’Wonderwall Mate, and Talking To Another Psychopath.

The live shows, in their own words, were erratic and gained them more notoriety than fame. Unsurprisingly, John Peel had time for them.

They initially split up around 2004 in the wake of the release of a new 7″ EP with band members then going off to
pursue other projects, including The Just Joans, Danananakroyd, the Plimptons and Camera Obscura. Over the past decade or som they have reformed sporadically for occasional gigs and recordings….but 2018 is going to be different.

Up until now, all the albums have been digital releases but the new release, on Puzzled Ardvark, will be on vinyl, in a limited run of 200, at the bargain price of £10….(evidence that, no matter what format we choose to buy our music, we always pay over the odds).

Here’s the lead off single:-

mp3 : The Hector Collectors – Edgelords

Just like HMHB’s most recent releases, the rough edges are no longer in evidence and there’s a fine pop tune with a chrus tgar will have your toes tapping and you singing along in the shower.

The album will be released on 29 September and can be ordered in advance right here.

Here’s the promo:-

The current lineup of the band sees Adam and Iain backed up on drums by Gavin Dunbar (Camera Obscura) and on bass by Joe Greatorex (The Hussy’s, The Martial Arts, Colin’s Godson). They’ll be playing live again soon….I intend to be there.

 

JC