Month: February 2022

Gorillaz

AN ALBUM WITH A PARTICULARLY STRONG FINISH

I have something of a bad habit of buying vinyl copies of some of my favourite albums that I had previously only owned on CD.  I say bad habit, but that’s only because I sometimes blind side myself as the pressings of quite a few of the albums have left a lot to be desired with the sound quality of the CD proving to be superior.

I’m delighted to report that the self-titled effort by Gorillaz, reissued as a double album in a gatefold sleeve back in 2015, has a very full and rich sound, offering a great deal of enjoyment and pleasure.

The original CD, which dates back to 2001, lists 15 tracks, but the final song extends to almost eleven minutes in length thanks to a substantial gap before a ‘hidden’ track starts to play.  The vinyl effort sort of pulls off a similar trick in that there is what is described as a ‘locked groove’ between the final two tracks on Side 4, meaning that the stylus has to be lifted and placed back down again to enable the last song to be played.

It’s a bit of a gimmick, but I suppose it does ensure that the thought-process behind the CD in that the listener has to make something of an effort to hear track 16, is maintained.

Where it does annoy me, but only to the tiniest extent, is that Side 4 of the album in its entirety is up there as providing one of the strongest ends to any album in my possession where none of the final few tracks is a well-known single, and it would be better if it flowed smoothly and with interruption.

mp3: Gorillaz – Starshine
mp3: Gorillaz – Slow Country
mp3: Gorillaz – M1 A1
mp3: Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Refix)

Starshine is a languid number, possibly the most post-Coxon Blur-type song on the album and then its closing notes seam perfectly into Slow Country whose opening few seconds always catch me out as I think Ghost Town is about to come out of the speakers, before the most sunniest dub sounds imaginable have me closing my eyes and dreaming of those old holidays I used to take in Barbados in the pre-COVID era.

There’s a slight pause before what I’ve learned is film dialogue and samples from the zombie movie Dawn Of The Dead provides an unsettling first half to M1 A1, before the kitchen sink is thrown at then tune, and it descends into the sort of noise that would get any mosh pit working up a fair bit of sweat. The one thing I would have liked is for the thrashy second half to have maybe extended for another couple of minutes, but then again to have done so would have been out of sync with the length of all the other tracks on the album.

Finally, there’s the fun-filled and energetic two-step remix of one of the album’s hit singles to round things off, and like all the very best end tracks it makes you want to go back to the beginning and start all over again.

JC

Billy Bragg

ONE OF HIS BIGGEST HITS THIS WAS….

He’ll the first to admit that he’s never really been one for trying to set the singles chart alight, but Billy Bragg must look back over his career and wonder why so many great 45s flopped in the most spectacular of manners.

He went Top 20 very early on with the Between The Wars EP, and other than a charity double-sided single with Wet Wet Wet that went to #1 in 1988, only three more of his singles ever made the Top 40, two of which came from the 1991 LP, Don’t This At Home.

One of those was Sexuality, and the other was a different version of another song originally made available on the album:-

mp3 : Billy Bragg – Accident Waiting To Happen (Redstar Version)

This reached #33 in early 1992, thanks in part to the record label going for the multi-format approach with a 7″, 12″ plus two CDs being released. You’ll have to make do with the three tracks that came with the 12″:-

mp3 : Billy Bragg – Sulk
mp3 : Billy Bragg – The Warmest Room (live)
mp3 : Billy Bragg – Revolution

Yup, it’s a cover of a Beatles song, although at less than 2mins in length it’s a bit of a trash-through than anything else. Sulk is a great ‘lost’ song of Billy Bragg – one that would have not been out of place at all on the LP. Not sure where exactly the live track is taken from – there’s no information on the back of the sleeve or on the label, but it’s from the period when Billy first toured with a band – The Redstars. I know it was an extensive and ambitious tour, and the gig I was lucky enough to see at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh was hugely enjoyable, although I recall thinking at the time that Billy seemed to often forgot that he had a band onstage with him as he delivered his ever-entertaining monologues for up to 5 minutes at a time that had the other musicians looking around for something to do in the meantime.  It’s not the greatest version as Billy’s vocal limitations are very much on display as he struggles to reach some of the high notes…..

The other hit single was Take Down The Union Jack, which reached #22 in June 2002.  It was recorded by Billy Bragg & The Blokes, originally found on the album England, Half-English.  Its success could also be put down to multi-formatting, with 3xCD singles, all released at the same time and available to be packaged up at a discounted price, in the week that Billy wanted to try and get an anti-establishment song into the charts in the week the UK was celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the reigning monarch.

As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Raith Rovers Football Club and the past week has been, without any question, the darkest period in our long history.  It’s been all over the media if you want to learn more.  The chorus of Accident Waiting To Happen is dedicated to those at the club who took the decision.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 33)


Last week’s post mentioned that the new album, The Infotainment Scam, had entered the charts at #9, this becoming The Fall‘s most commercially successful record.  It also mentioned how the band were receiving good press and that there had been something of a stable line-up for the best part of two years.

The Infotainment Scam had been released in America, thanks to a tie-up with Matador Records.  This led to a 19-date tour of the USA, with an additional gig in Toronto, in August/September 1993, and coming along for the ride was none other than Karl Burns.

Yup, MES had decided a two-drummer line-up was again the way forward, and so Burns joined the band for a third time.  Prior to the tour, the band convened in Suite 16, Rochdale, to cut some new songs for a potential release later in the year…..and I’ll get to that in due course.

The American tour wasn’t a success.  MES was particularly grouchy throughout, mistreating crew members and going as far as firing the tour manager.  He picked fights with the other band members, smashing equipment on stage during the gigs.  The bad behaviour manifested itself on the return to the UK with MES walking off stage in London after just one song, leading to something of a backlash with accusations that he just didn’t care any more:-

“And the band can’t be arsed to save the day; without any spanners in the works like Brix, Marin Bramah or Marcia, they’ve settled into a terminally workmanlike R&B rumble, with the dynamics and spark removed” (NME review of The Fall, Kentish Town Forum, London on 19 October 1993).

Once again, as the band seemed to be enjoying some commercial success, MES was hitting the self-destruct button, lashing out at all and sundry in various press interviews.  Just eight months after a Top Ten album, he was asked to sum up 1993 – his reply?

‘pure cack’.

The Fall ended the year with a new single, released in two parts on 13 and 20 December, both consisting of three tracks on 12″ or CD:-

mp3: The Fall – Behind The Counter
mp3: The Fall – War
mp3: The Fall – Cab Driver

mp3: The Fall – M5
mp3: The Fall – Happy Holiday
mp3: The Fall – Behind The Counter (remix)

It’s not a single I can recall in any shape or form. It seemingly reached #75. Some of its tracks would appear on the album Middle Class Revolt that would make it way into the shops in May 1994, but that wasn’t something I bought back in the day. My first exposure to Behind The Counter and M5 came many years later, via the 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong compilation (2004), and I’ll offer the opinion that while they are decent enough songs, they are more run-of-the mill than many of the previous singles I’ve aired these past few Sundays.  In fact, I’d forgotten until listening again how there’s a bit in Behind The Counter that sounds like an out-take of a Stranglers record, thanks to the keyboard solo.

The other songs I’ve only just listened to for the first time in pulling together this piece.

War is a cover version, originally released in 1975 by Henry Cow, described on wiki as a British avant-garde group, but this sounds to my ears as if being closer to harder edge/glam rock than anything else. My initial reaction is to give it a thumbs-up, in complete contrast to Cab Driver which I find really dull, one-paced and a monotonous effort with no redeeming features.

Happy Holiday is good fun and another of those songs that feels as if MES has his tongue firmly in his cheek. It opens with a spoken word announcement, in Greek I would imagine given there’s a reference to Athens in the lyric, and there’s another spoken bit about halfway through. The words ‘Happy Holiday’ are sung with enough vigour to make them feel almost catchy and chorus-like.

JC

She's Hit

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #293: SHE’S HIT

It was 27 August 2010 when I caught sight of She’s Hit (or to be precise, in the way the band used their name, SHe’S HiT.)

I’ve actually found, from the vaults of the old blog, my first recollection. It’s fair to say I was excited.

At lunchtime yesterday, an e-mail arrived letting me know that Sons & Daughters were playing a ‘secret’ gig at the tiny venue of the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow. There were no advance tickets on sale..simply turn up at the door and pay your £7 on a first-come-first admitted basis until the venue reached it capacity of 110……

Suffice to say, it was a truly memorable gig, and I will do a full review early next week.

But I just wanted to do an extra Saturday posting to rave about SHe’S HiT, one of the support bands that played last night. Dear Readers, this is the first time in a very long while that a band I’ve never heard of have blown me away at first time of hearing….

This gang made a truly amazing noise. I cant say that they’re truly original – after 30+ years of going to gigs I don’t think I’ll ever discover anything completely new – but by christ this lot are fantastic at what they do.

SHe’S HiT hail from Glasgow and consist of Div Wilson, Cammy Wilson, Mike Hanson, and Philip McLellan, four extremely young lads from Glasgow. But they took to the stage as a five-piece last night…..with Scott Paterson from the headline act now seemingly part of the band…..although he did spend most of the show over in the darkest corner of the stage away from whatever lights there were.

Wearing black jeans and stripey t-shirts beneath black leather jackets, the immediate visual image is that of a re-born Jesus And Mary Chain. And when the opening notes of their first song blast out, it almost feels as if they are no more than a tribute band…..

But it’s a feeling that lasts for about 20 seconds as the noise that comes from the stage takes me back even further in time…..was that a blast of The Cramps?? And yes, now I get it….these guys love really early Nick Cave….THAT’S where the band name comes from….of course!! It’s a ‘song’ by The Birthday Party (those who are familiar with their work will understand the use of the ” around the word song.

And it is bloody brilliant.

Over the course of a set that lasted maybe 35-40 mins, they delivered stuff that at times had me thinking of My Bloody Valentine, The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, The Raveonettes and The Pixies as well as the afore-mentioned JAMC, Bad Seeds and The Cramps.

I really didn’t think bands like this existed any more.

Over the next few months, I picked up two 7″ singles and a CD album, all released on local label Re:peater Records.  I saw them a few more times, including another support slot to Sons and Daughters on what was my first visit to SWG3, a then newly opened venue in the west end of the city, but just as quickly as they burst onto the scene, they seemed to disappear.

As it turns out, the stuff I bought back in 2011 was all that they ever recorded and released.  I did a bit of digging via their old Facebook page and learned that by mid-2013 they were now recording under the new name of Junto Club, and are still going strong under that moniker today.  It’s no real surprise that our paths haven’t crossed, as Junto Club are more on the dance/electronic side of things that I’m far too old to keep an eye on!

Here’s one of the singles…..the track that I recall really blowing me away that night in the Captain’s Rest:-

mp3: SHe’S HiT – Shimmer, Shimmer

Looking back, it really is no surprise that they made the move into the club/electronica side of things.  Their sole album, Pleasure, came with a second disc of remixes, all of which were leaning that way rather than being any sort of re-treads of the guitar noises.  It’s now clear that’s where their interests and futures really lay.

mp3: SHe’s HiT – Stare At The Sun
mp3: SHe’s HiT – Stare At The Sun (Frog Pocket Remix)

JC

Neil Young

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #303: NEIL YOUNG

There’s been a few times when I’ve started pulling together some thoughts for an ICA only to come to a grinding halt on the basis that I don’t have anything like enough knowledge, allied to the fact I don’t actually own enough of a back catalogue to do it justice.

Neil Young is probably just about the best example of this. I don’t own many of his albums, but I do know a fair number of his songs from being in the company of many people over the years who are devotees. I really do like a lot of his material, and was particularly blown away back in the early 90s by his MTV Unplugged performance and subsequent album. He was always on the list of ‘must go see him before it gets too late’ and, as it turned out, I got lucky in March 2008 when he played a show at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The only downside was that he played such a long set (breaking every curfew imaginable) that I missed the final two songs of the second set, as well as the encore, having to race and catch the final train of the evening back to Glasgow at 11.30pm. Here’s the set list from a memorable evening:-

Set 1 (Solo Acoustic):

From Hank to Hendrix
Ambulance Blues
Sad Movies
A Man Needs a Maid
Try
Harvest
After the Gold Rush
Mellow My Mind
Love Art Blues
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
Heart of Gold
Old Man

Set 2 (Full Band Electric):

Mr. Soul
Dirty Old Man
Spirit Road
Down by the River
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Too Far Gone
Oh Lonesome Me
The Believer
Powderfinger
No Hidden Path

Encore:

Fuckin’ Up
Cinnamon Girl

Swiss Adam, recently offered up this very fine post on Neil Young in which he speculated how he could narrow things down to just ten songs for an ICA. His initial list had 24 songs on it…..which only goes to demonstrate how hard a task it is. What it did do, however, was prompt me into action, but to make it as easy as possible for me, I’ve decided it will be an ICA solely consisting of songs aired that night in Edinburgh, but in doing so, I know that this is very much an ICA with room for improvement…..

SIDE A

1. From Hank To Hendrix (Live, Edinburgh 3 March 2008)

Yup, I’ve got a bootleg of the Edinburgh gig. Spread over two CDs and running to 160 minutes all told. The original version is on the 1992 album Harvest Moon, and while I’ll never really claim this is one of his ten greatest or best songs, it’ll always be important as being the first song I ever heard him sing when I was in the audience.

2. Heart Of Gold

I spent a lot of time in the Student Union of Strathclyde University between September 1981 and May 1985. The Games Hall on the first floor had a few full-sized snooker tables, some pool tables and arcade games, all slightly cheaper than their equivalent elsewhere in the city centre. It also had a jukebox that sounded as if hadn’t been updated in years, mainly as it was the domain of the few hippies still hanging around with that distinct smell of weed and patchouli oil. Neil Young always seemed to be getting played, particularly this song, which I also recall as being a huge favourite of buskers going back to when I was a kid. From the 1972 album, Harvest.

3. Fuckin’ Up (live)

This ICA has just been a wee too quiet thus far, hasn’t it?

Ragged Glory, released in 1990  was when Neil Young and Crazy Horse went back to the heavy rock sound they had last toyed with in the mid 70s. The emergence of grunge owed a big debt to Neil Young, a fact acknowledged throughout the remainder of the decade by Pearl Jam, both in terms of them playing live with him and covering Fuckin’ Up on many an occasion. This version is from the 1991 live album, Weld.

4. Mr Soul

If I wasn’t restricting myself to the songs aired in Edinburgh, then it’s almost certain that in compiling the ICA, I’d have put the Buffalo Springfield era to one side. From the 1966 album Buffalo Springfield Again, it’s been a staple of the live sets over the years, but with Young opting to adopt different styles and offer different interpretations of one of his best-loved songs.

5. Oh, Lonesome Me

Another that I became familiar with as I attempted, without success, to pot more than three balls in a row on the snooker table in the student union. I had absolutely no idea that it was a cover version, as it just sounded so in tune with the other songs on After The Gold Rush, released in 1970. The bootleg from the Edinburgh gig reveals that this was one of the best received songs of the entire evening.

SIDE B

1. A Man Needs A Maid

Another from the album Harvest, the biggest selling album in the USA in 1972 despite it being given a less than favourable review by the critics at the time of its release, perhaps influenced by the fact that a couple of songs made use of the London Symphony Orchestra to much surprise, and dare I say it, horror. This particular love song was the one which attracted much of the flak, especially as it had a simple arrangement when played live, with just Young and his piano, but I think it’s fair to say it has stood the test of time.

2. Down By The River

Nine minute long tracks aren’t usually my bag, especially when there’s a bit of noodling involved. This is very much an example of a song I’d have shunned for many years, as it took me a ridiculously long time to become appreciative of any sort of country rock and its variants. I wouldn’t have heard this until 2005 or thereabouts when I picked up a cheap copy of the 2xCD compilation Decades, described on the sleeve as ‘The Very Best of Neil Young 1966-1976 that covers not just the solo work and the Crazy Horse albums, but also some Buffalo Springfield as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Originally released on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, recorded with Crazy Horse.

3. Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)

‘It’s better to burn out than fade away’, a line made (in)famous for being part of Kurt Cobain‘s suicide note, originally penned by Neil Young in the late 70s as part of the lyric to the closing track on Rust Never Sleeps, a part live, part studio album released in 1979. This was the first album that I became familiar with, thanks to a tape of it being part of the rotation in the 5th Year school common room, and while it didn’t fully appeal to my post punk/new wave sensibilities, it didn’t offend them. Indeed, I was surprised to learn that Neil Young was a rocker as I had assumed, on the basis of the songs of his that were most played on the radio (ie, Heart of Gold), that he was a folkie/hippy.

4. After The Gold Rush

This, above all else, is the song I most associate with the Student Union Games Hall. The line about getting high is the one which stuck most in my head back in those days, that and the ending seeming to be something out of a sci-fi movie soundtrack. It didn’t occur to me that I was listening to a plea for the planet, one that probably resonates even more than 50 years after it was written.

5. Cinnamon Girl (Live, Edinburgh 3 March 2008)

The ICA started with the first song from that Edinburgh show I was lucky enough to get good seats for  – about 12 rows back, centre-left in the stalls;  the photo at the top is not my actual ticket, but a photo of one I found on t’internet. I thought it would be a nice touch to close it off with the final song in the encore….not that I heard it as my train was probably a good 20 minutes out of the city, racing through the darkness back to Glasgow. This version, including the faded-out applause, is just under six minutes in length, while the original, shorter take can be found on the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere mentioned above.

So, there you have it. A lazy stab at a Neil Young ICA as it would have been too difficult to cut his 55-year career down into his ten best or most significant songs. Anyone out there fancy the challenge?

JC

Various

THE BEST OF SWEDISH MUSIC IN 2021

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

Hi JC,

It’s the time of the year when I try to summarize the Swedish musical year just passed, this time I confess I dreaded my self-given task… Another year working from home in isolation, I have continued to play through my vinyl collection, which has been kind of an introvert exercise. Not quite sure if it was only me not paying much attention to the outside world, or if the output continued to be hampered by COVID restrictions, artists in the same kind of isolation as myself.
So when I finally got myself around to see what new, Swedish, music I had purchased (or at least enjoyed) from 2021 I thought I’d be at best able to come up with a split 7″ for the annual update – and admittedly it might not have been the richest year in terms of releases, but it did bring some of the best releases so far by a couple of favorites around my corner of Stockholm. Potentially due to the isolation, the artists or my own, this year probably has a softer, more pop oriented direction. Or I’m only getting old and soft, I can’t tell…
Breaking the golden rule of only one track per artist, I put together an album’s worth of the best Swedish music from 2021, according only to yours truly.
A1. Thåström – Papperstunna Väggar  (Paper Thin Walls) feat. Titiyo. Thåström,
As some might remember from my Swedish Girls ICA, once punk Royale over here, now I would say he is our Leonard Cohen – a storyteller in a dark and moody way. One of our best artists, with untouchable integrity, that made one of his best albums ever (in my eyes). He exchanged more or less all of his old band to new musicians to get new inspiration, the album having less guitars and more keyboards – still unmistakably Thåström the poet. This song has several hints of recognition to the Swedish (disbanded) band Kent, they sung about paper thin walls in a similar way, hearing what is going on next door, and they have also recorded a duet with Titiyo (who by the way is sister to Neneh Cherry).
A2. Makthaverskan – Lova (Promise). Makthaverskan (approx. Lady Of Power)
Surprised us all not only by releasing new material, but to abandon their normal album naming tradition – after releasing the albums I, II, and III they last year released “För Allting” (For Everything) and also moved slightly away from their punk-ier sound for something more melodic and pop-ish. As usual though they name some of the songs with Swedish titles, but they always sing in English. A band in the tradition of Thåströms first band, punkers Ebba Grön.
A3. Badlands – Feel Like You.
Badlands is composer, musician and soundscaper Catharina Jaunsviksna, and last year saw her release her second album, Djinn. A dark, moody, electronic record based in her sorrow of her mother’s tragic passing in 2017. Lyrics centered around loss, departure and letting go.
A4. Augustine – Fragrance.
Debut album from Stockholm based multi-instrumentalist Augustine. High pitch voice, combining 60’s falsetto soul with retro synthpop, his album is a real soother for a year in COVID-restricted isolation. An album I’ve played frequently in the background during endless meetings since it’s release.
A5. First Aid Kit – If It Be Your Will.
Some years ago they put up the show Who By Fire for two nights in Stockholm paying tribute to Leonard Cohen, so I tie together this side’s first and last track neatly. Spring 2021 saw the release of the music from the show, recorded live. I confess not being a huge fan of Mr Cohen, but I’ve seen him live once, and it was great – and I attended the first of the shows FAK did, this is my personal favourite of their versions. The exchange of Leonard’s dark, almost spoken delivery to the crystal clear voices of Klara and Johanna is striking.
Time to get out of that chair and flip…
B1. ionnalee – Machinee.
ionnalee continued to be pretty active, first performing a live broadcast from a tiny island outside her childhood’s village, with remote, live and direct, contributions by collaborators as Zola Jesus and a few others. This was also released as an album, and then she released 2 singles, the first Machinee b/w Anywhere I Roam – another really good ionnalee release. Then she released a song in Swedish about her upbringing, later translated in English and released as a single with both tracks. This however didn’t float my boat as much as this one.
B2. Makthaverskan – Maktologen.
Their album closer about the wrong guy, lies and empty spaces in a just slightly slower pace than their normal full throttle.
B3. Thåström – Mamma (Mother).
Another track from Thåström’s album, telling the story of how his mother as young left her countryside small town and moved to Stockholm, and how he had wanted to see her back then. Very touching, if you know Swedish…
B4. Badlands – Fantasma I & II.
Ending the album with an epic, beautiful, track which has become one of my absolute favorites from last year. On the vinyl release these two where segued into one long, epic, track whilst the CD have them as 2 separate tracks. To me they are inseparable and I include here the close to 10 minutes vinyl version.
All the best, again from the dining table (aka office desk).

Martin

JC adds..…As I’ve said before, I always look forward to Martin’s end of year round-up as there’s inevitably something in there that grabs may attention, and this year is no different.

Everything But The Girl

HEY, I’VE GOT NOTHING TO DO TODAY BUT SMILE

Early 1993.  Everything But The Girl announce plans for a ‘Best of’ compilation covering material from the Blanco y Negro years, going back to Each and Everyone, released as the first single on the that label in 1984.

Like most albums of this nature, some new and previously unreleased songs, to be released as singles to help with promotion, are cut in the studio.  In April 1993, a cover of a Paul Simon song becomes the band’s twentieth single/EP.  I presume the decision to go with a cover was based on the fact that the only two previous times they had managed to ride high in the UK singles charts had been courtesy of covers  – I Don’t Want To Talk About It (#3 in 1988) and Love Is Strange (#13 in 1992).

mp3: Everything But The Girl – The Only Living Boy In New York

It doesn’t quite work as it stalls at #42, but there’s no harm done to the wider marketing efforts as Home Movies, as the best-of album would be titled, does go Top 5.

As covers go, it’s a fairly faithful interpretation of the original, with a gentle acoustic guitar at the heart of the music.  Where it is a bit different from most EBTG singles is that Ben Watt‘s vocal is more prominent than Tracey Thorn‘s, but what this enables, and really brings out, is just how fantastic the duo were when it came to harmonies.  They are heavenly and go a long way to help nudge this one up there as one of all-time favourite pieces of music  by EBTG.

The three other songs on the CD single consisted of:-

mp3: Everything But The Girl – Gabriel
mp3: Everything But The Girl – Birds
mp3: Everything But The Girl – Horses In The Room

All three songs might, on the surface, show a lack of ambition in that they consist of a simple acoustic guitar or piano with singing. But it mustn’t be forgotten Ben came close to death in 1992, suffering from a rare vasculitic auto-immune disease which necessitated a number of life-saving operations, and more than two months in and out of intensive care, during which time he lost 50lbs of his body weight, and let’s face it, he wasn’t the biggest of blokes to begin with. The very fact that he was able to get back into a studio was a miracle to begin with, and if the duo’s ambitions didn’t stretch beyond keeping it simple, then who could blame them.

Birds is a cover of a Neil Young song, as recorded for his 1970 album, After The Goldrush. The other two are original compositions.

Oh, and why haven’t I got nothing to do today but smile?  Well, it just happens to be my mum’s 83rd birthday.

JC

Various

IT’S BEEN A LONG WHILE SINCE ONE OF THESE

Sixty minutes of music in one large file.

I’m going to try and make a fresh one at the start of each month during 2022.  As always, if anyone out there wants to have a go, I’ll willingly step aside to make room for a guest posting.

mp3: Various – I’ve Come To Learn How To Dance

Fire – BooHooHoo
She’s Attracted To – The Young Knives
Scratchyard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning
5 O’clock World – Julian Cope
Honey, Baby – Grrrl Gang
Living Well Is The Best Revenge – R.E.M.
Here Comes Comus – Arab Strap
Chaise Longue – Wet Leg
Thou Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
In Bloom – Nirvana
Up The Bracket – The Libertines
Stay Free – The Clash
Basement Band Song – The Organ
Ritchie Sacramento (The O.T.Mix) – Mogwai
Attack of the Ghost Riders – The Raveonettes

Quick mention of the excellent Grrl Gang.  I’ve been meaning to write-up something substantial, but not yet got round to it.

My love of Say Say Me and Otokobe Beaver, both of whom are signed to Damnably Records, led to me to look at their labelmates.

Grrl Gang are from Indonesia.  The one girl/two boy trio of Angeeta Sentana (vocals & guitar), Edo Alventa (guitar) and Akbar Rumandung (bass) have been together since 2016.   The track on this particular compilation was issued as a 7″ single around twelve months ago, while there’s also a nine-track LP, Here To Stay!, dating from February 2020 which is packed with what I can only describe as essential pop-tunes of an indie-bent. You’ll not be surprised to learn that the trio are fans of the Bellshill scene and Sarah Records.

JC