Month: March 2022

Cha Cha Cohen

THESE ARE ALL I HAVE….(2)

Recently, I offered up the two songs I have by Preston School of Industry.  Today’s it’s the two songs I have, currently, by Cha Cha Cohen.

Here’s wiki to kick things off:-

“Cha Cha Cohen was a band formed in 1994 by three members of The Wedding Present — Keith Gregory, Paul Dorrington and Simon Smith. After recruiting singer Jacqui Cohen (AKA Jaqi Dulany) from The Dustdevils they released a single, “Sparky’s Note”, on Hemiola Records.”

In 1996 they released their first record on Chemikal Underground Records and in 1998 released a self-titled album when keyboard player Alan Thomas joining the group.

Here’s Chem Underground to take things forward:-

“There was a certain starstruck element to our signing Cha Cha Cohen, largely for two reasons:

1. We had bought the first Cha Cha Cohen single, released through a Leeds label named Hemiola, and thought it was tremendous.
2. We knew there was a Wedding Present contingent in the band, namely Keith Gregory, and we all loved The Wedding Present.

As luck would have it, The Delgados were asked to tour with The Wedding Present and, while we were on the road with them, discovered that their drummer Simon Smith also played in Cha Cha Cohen. Discussions were had, Simon phoned Stewart at his house one day (another surreal experience for the still relatively young, doe-eyed Weddoes fan) and Cha Cha Cohen signed to Chemikal, so early on, that their 538 EP bagged the catalogue number CHEM005, meaning they were the third band after The Delgados and bis to release on the label.”

538 EP came out in July 1996. As things turned out, the fact that Jacqui lived in Texas while the others lived in Leeds, meant that things progressed really slowly with just two more singles in May 1997 and October 1998, before the self-titled debut album came out in January 1999,after which Paul Dorrington left to be replaced by Tanya Mellott.

Work got underway in 2001 on the follow-up album, All Artists Are Criminals, but for a whole host of reasons, it wasn’t released until September 2002.  Here’s what you can find about that album vis the record label:-

“By the time All Artists Are Criminals was released, the band had fractured somewhat: Jaqui and Keith (now recently married) had moved to Australia with the other band members retiring to concentrate on individual projects. As a result, press activity around the album release was going to be limited so it was decided that the press release should have a tone all of its own. As it turned out we went for a Hunter S Thompson feel and drafted a fairly nihilistic press release that effectively signed off on the band’s career: reproduced in full for your delectation…

All Artists Are Criminals.

*Every fucking one of them: plagiarists, extortionists, narcissists, thieves, rapists and pimps – whoring a minimum of talent for maximum profit. Vanity and avarice are laudable attributes if not requisite virtues in an industry that fucks people for a living and charges for the privilege; plundering the pockets of vapid, hormonal teenagers taking precedence over any artistic message whatsoever.

Same treadmill, same questions, same fucking bullshit. Cha Cha Cohen will not be promoting this release.”

This decision not to promote the album didn’t prevent a four-start review in The Guardian:-

Behind the scenes, the world of Cha Cha Cohen is sweetly romantic: in the three years since they released their self-titled debut album, singer Jacqui Delany has married bassist Keith Gregory. Perhaps as a reaction to that, their music has become even more urgent, propulsive and fierce. Mrs Gregory doesn’t sing so much as angrily declaim: “Heavyweight,” she barks on Kodiak, “same as all the other weights.” Behind her, Mr Gregory’s elastic bassline nudges seductively at Simon Smith’s louche drums. You would never guess the two men were once members of the Wedding Present: if their propulsive, spacey rhythms are reminiscent of anyone it is the Fall, an impression consolidated by Tanya Mellotte’s jerking, electrifying, unexpectedly melodic guitar and the disjointed lyrics (“The big God quaker, the pearly white shaker, the Timbuktu retainer”). From the frantic, police-chase funk of Century Life to the sultry To the Letter, this is a relentlessly paced, thrilling album.

The Fall are also mentioned in the final para of the band bio on the Chem Underground website:-

Cha Cha Cohen’s material was fantastic too: a mash-up of Blondie and The Fall if we were to try and sum it up in a few lazy comparisons. Both their albums remain personal favourites of everyone at the label and we continue to wish all their ex-members well: Keith and Jacqui are in Australia now and Simon Smith tour-manages (amongst others) a relatively unknown band called Moogway, Mugwump, Mogwai or something…

So, after all that, how about some music?

mp3: Cha Cha Cohen – A=A
mp3: Cha Cha Cohen – Heck Singhi

Both tracks come courtesy of inclusion on a couple of Chem Underground compilations. As it turns out, both can be found on All Artists Are Criminals….a copy of which, along with the various other CDs still in stock at Chem have been ordered.  I could have picked things up cheaper via the second hand markets, but it’s important to support the music industry, even if it is through releases which date from such a long time ago.

JC

Tracey Thorn

SOMETIMES, IT JUST TAKES TIME TO APPRECIATE THINGS

It was back in 2010 when Tracey Thorn released her third solo album, Love and Its Opposite.  I bought it at the time, but singularly failed to fall for its charms after a couple of listens, which meant it found its way onto the shelves where the CDs are kept, increasingly ignored over the years now that I concentrate almost exclusively on vinyl, old and new alike.

I do still pick up some second-hand CDs, especially if it’s a way to listen to some music that had otherwise passed me by back in the day.  One of the purchases last year was a Tracey Thorn 2xCD compilation, Solo: Songs and Collaborations 1982–2015, comprising 34 tracks across her career as a solo artist as well as many songs recorded with other artists as a guest singer. It’s a compilation I’ll be returning to in due course, as there are some very interesting things I reckon are worth drawing to your attention.

The compilation opens with a track from Love and Its Opposite, and maybe it’s the fact I’m a bit older, and I’m slowing down somewhat, but I found myself really appreciating the nuances of what was actually the lead single from the album:-

mp3: Tracey Thorn – Oh, The Divorces

The compilation also includes a number of Tracey’s cover versions, one of which was the b-side to a very limited 7″ single of Oh, The Divorces, with just 200 copies pressed up for Record Store Day in April 2010.

mp3: Tracey Thorn – Taxi Cab

The original can be found on Contra, an album released by Vampire Weekend in early 2010. Tracey’s take isn’t substantially different from the original, but it does make for a very pleasant and easy-going listen.

It all led to me giving Love and Its Opposite another listen for the first time in over a decade, and while I won’t ever hold it up as my favourite album recorded by Tracey Thorn, it certainly has some moments worth giving better attention to. Such as this:-

mp3: Tracey Thorn – Come On Home To Me

It’s another cover version, of a song written and recorded by Lee Hazelwood back in 1971. The additional vocal on this one is supplied by Jens Lekman. If you’re thinking you know this already, then that might well be down to Echorich including it in on ICA 262(b), back in September 2020.

JC

Wedding Present

THIRTY YEARS APART

WARNING : TODAY’S POST IS VIDEO HEAVY!

The excellent guest posting on The Wedding Present/The Ukrainians last week by Strangeways made passing reference to 1992 being the year that The Weddoes, via the single-a-month Hit Parade project, enjoyed twelve calendar-year top 40 hits to equal the record of one-time label-mate Elvis Presley.

Some of you might be aware that the band is doing a similar thing in 2022, albeit without expecting to be in a position to enjoy chart domination in the way they did thirty years ago.

The project, which was announced last October, is called 24 Songs, which will be released, two-at-a-time in the middle of each month, on 7″ vinyl.  It’s not quite identical to Hit Parade as the b-side to the January single was a Wedding Present original, whereas the 1992 project had covers as b-sides all the way through. Having said that, the February single does have a cover on its b-side…which I’ll come to in a bit.

I don’t think you’ll be surprised to learn that I’ve subscribed to ensure that I get all the singles delivered safe and sound to Villain Towers, complete with the specially designed collector’s box to store them in.

The January single was We Should Be Together, a duet with Louise Wener of Sleeper that was originally included on the excellent and worthy Locked Down and Stripped Back album, released in February 2021.   Its b-side was ridiculously good, demonstrating that the band can still rock out all these years later:-

The February single sort of continues along a similar theme:-

And there’s a brave stab at a new wave classic for its b-side:-

If you’ve had your fancy tickled by all of the above, then it’s not too late to get on board and pick up the vinyl, either individually or as part of the subscription.  Click here for more details.

In the meantime, here’s a throwback to March 1992, and the third single released by the band that year.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Three
mp3: The Wedding Present – Think That It Might

The b-side cover on that occasion was one of the more obscure ones chosen for the Hit Parade project, being a really alternative take on an Altered Images song, originally released in 1982 on the album Pinky Blue.

mp3: Altered Images – Think That It Might

Three entered the UK singles chart at #14 on 8 March 1992.  And for the purposes of showing how much David Gedge (like all of us) has changed in thirty years, here’s the Top of the Pops appearance to round things off.

Oh, and both Weddoes mps3 are ripped from the original vinyl from all those years ago.

JC

Various

LOVE IS….

A GUEST POSTING by JEZ

JC writes:-

This time last week, I offered up a sixty-minute mixtape comprising seventeen songs with the word ‘love’ in the title.  In doing so, I said that I was going to make a fresh one at the start of each month during 2022, but would willingly make space for a guest posting if anyone out there wanted to have a go.

To my absolute delight, the mighty Jez from A History of Dubious Taste was very quick off the mark.   Here he is…..

Hello. My name is Jez and I am addicted to making playlists.

It has been three days since I put together my last playlist.

I’ve done mixes – compilation tapes, CD-mixes, playlists – for years now, always managing to find spaces where they could be heard: when I was younger, there were compilation tapes in the 6th Form common room, or in the motorway ‘restaurant’ I worked in during the holidays at 6th Form and at college (and for a year after I graduated). I would craft a new tape every other evening to take in the following day with which to wow my friends and work colleagues. Like snowflakes (the old usage of the term), no two were ever the same.

Becoming a DJ at college was almost inevitable and my plans for world domination moved on at pace: I started off by taking over the fortnightly Indie Night, before also becoming the regular DJ at the retro-80s night (which, incredibly, started in 1990), occasionally hosting the retro-60s & 70s night, playing between and after the bands on live music night, and eventually even the coveted Saturday night “Chartbuster” gig. (The fact that I was the Social Secretary and decided who got paid to DJ which nights was *coughs* entirely coincidental.)

After I graduated, I worked in a video shop for a few years, which only had a cassette player to play music through, so the compilation tapes kept coming. But as technology progressed I willingly followed, creating CD-mixes and then iPod playlists to soundtrack many a Friday night in with my flatmates, when we were too skint to go out, but between us could afford the ingredients to make several pints of White Russians until one of us inevitably fell asleep in the bathroom. This was the birth of the Friday Night Music Club which I’ve recently resurrected over at my place, A History of Dubious Taste (a link for which you can find over in the sidebar should you care to investigate further).

And of course, there was the far-more-frequent-than-I-care-to-admit compilation tape or CD-mix lovingly prepared for a young lady I was trying to impress. If you’ve ever read Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, (and if you’re reading this, then I would be extremely surprised if you haven’t) then you’ll know, if you didn’t already, that there are rules one has to observe when making such a thing.

For example (and I’m paraphrasing here):

• Thou shalt not include the same artiste more than once in the same mix; and
• Thou shalt bury a particular song which you want the recipient to hear somewhere towards the end of the mix (but not within the last three songs, and definitely not the final track) – mid-way through the second “side” of a C-90 compilation tape should be about right.

As you’ve probably guessed, it’s my love of putting together playlists which brings me here today. For last week, whilst laid up with a touch of the Covids and trying to decide what could feature in this week’s mix at my place (which is now last week’s mix, do try to keep up), the latest missive from our host dropped. It included a playlist, which, as one would expect from such an eminent source, was rather fine, featuring a load of songs with the word love in the title.

And there, at the end of the post, JC had written these words: if anyone out there wants to have a go, I’ll willingly make space for a guest posting.

Now, one of the things I love about doing a mix is trying to make a theme of it, but drunken flatmates would inevitably roll their eyes when I started to grill them as to what the theme might be each week, so I try to shy away from them these days (themes, that is: I got rid of all the flatmates years ago).

But here was an invitation to create just such a thing, so I knocked this mix together and sent it to JC.

As with most of my mixes, it’s predominantly Indie Disco but with a fair smattering of pop tunes chucked in for good measure:

(Love is…also not caring that neither of you appear to have genitals…unless it’s just cold there….)

mp3: Various – “Love Is…”

• Squeeze – Labelled With Love
• Sandie Shaw – Long Live Love
• Erasure – Victim Of Love
• Sub Sub feat. Melanie Williams – Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)
• Little Boots – Love Kills (Buffetlibre vs Sidechains remix)
• Icona Pop featuring Charli XCX – I Love It
• The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
• Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
• Kim Wilde – Chequered Love
• Echo & The Bunnymen – The Back Of Love
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Love Burns
• The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
• The Bluetones – Autophilia Or ‘How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Car’
• The Wedding Present – Give My Love to Kevin (acoustic)
• Half Man Half Biscuit – I Love You Because (You Look Like Jim Reeves)
• The Beautiful South – Love Is…

My usual Friday Night Music Club disclaimer applies: any skips and jumps in the mix are down to the mixing software I use; any mistimed mixes are down to me; all record choices are mine.

*****
It turns out that I had rather misunderstood the request, and JC wasn’t asking for playlists on the same theme as he had created.

Doh!

Still it’s done now, so you may as well give it a whirl.

At the very least, if you’re not familiar with my place it gives you an idea of the sort of stuff I usually post (along with sentences which are far too long and have waaaay too many brackets and semi-colons in them): stuff you’ll know; stuff you might not; stuff you’ve forgotten and are pleased to be reminded of; some you wish had stayed forgotten – all posted under the Where There’s No Such Thing as a Guilty Pleasure banner, which gives me carte blanche to post anything I fancy.

See?

Feel free to drop by sometime.

Oh, and: more soon

Cheers,

Jez

JC adds.………

A few things worth mentioning.

Jez has incorporated at least four songs I had on my shortlist when pulling together the previous mixtape, and it’s great to hear them surrounded by others I wouldn’t have thought of.

Jez has also plucked out some songs I know nothing or very little about – Little Boots and Icona Pop/Charli XCX are certainly making their debuts on TVV – and I can’t ever recall hearing that Kim Wilde number before.

Jez has also included The Smiths.  This will be the first time since December 2017, when ICA 150 was put together, that a Smiths number which isn’t an instrumental has been featured on these pages. I’m still not quite ready to make time to knowingly listen to The Smiths, and by that I mean pulling out a single or album and placing it on the turntable, but I won’t go out of my way to fast-forward a mixtape or hurriedly switch to another radio station if a song comes on.  It was really lovely to hear ‘Last Night….’ once again.  Maybe it’s the beginning of me being softened up…I certainly had to resist the strong urge, after coming home the other Sunday from an open mic event, to not play Rusholme Ruffians, having enjoyed listening to an old punk from Ayrshire offer his take on His Latest Flame.  Who knows?   If I do end up digging out some Smiths songs to listen to, I’ll be sure to write about it.

All of which is a bit of a side issue.  I really hope you enjoy Jez’s contribution – there’s a few cracking pop songs in there that are most unusual for TVV, but that’s exactly why I really value guest contributions. It would be a bit monotonous if it was just my own musical preferences on display every day.

So… who’s next for a mixtape?  I’m sure there’s a bit of Jez in all of us……..

New Order

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Fifty: TRUTH

I thought, for the fiftieth entry in this series in which a song is ripped direct from the vinyl and made available at a higher resolution than is normally the case, that I’d lean on FAC50.

Movement was the debut album by New Order, released in November 1981, a few months after it had been recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Martin Hannett, as he had been for both Joy Division albums, was behind the production desk.

I think it’s fair to say that the album received, at best, something of a mixed reception back in the day.  Looking back, there was a ridiculous amount of expectation, and with it being neither wholly a clear and direct continuation of the former band, nor something moving in a new direction, it was inevitably going to disappoint.  In saying that, it’s an album which has undergone a great deal of revision, from fans and music writers alike, especially as the legacy of New Order became increasingly apparent in later years.

But that was all for the future.  Just a year after it’s release, the majority of band members were still far from convinced of its merits, as evidenced by an interview given at the time by Peter Hook:-

“We were happy with the songs, not all happy with the production. We were confused musically … Our songwriting wasn’t coming together. I don’t know how we pulled out of that one. I actually liked Movement, but I know why nobody else likes it.

A lot of the misgivings are around the final production.  The band wanted to move increasingly into the field of electronic music, while Martin Hannett felt they were best suited by not deviating away from the sounds of Joy Division, and while synths had a place, it should still be primarily about guitars.   It would prove to be the last record on which they worked together, and it’s fair to say that New Order never really looked back.

This is taken from a piece of vinyl which is now more than forty years old.  It’s in better condition than most from those days, as I didn’t play it too often.  But I did give it a full spin a few months back, shortly after I returned from a trip to Manchester, the main purpose of which has been to visit Use Hearing Protection, an exhibition dedicated to the early work of Factory Records, and specifically all the items in the FAC catalogue from 1-50.  I was surprised that the cardboard sleeve on display for Movement was in a shabbier condition than my own.

The picture above is taken from the specially designed inner sleeve, and again my copy is in excellent condition….as indeed is the vinyl as you can hopefully tell:-

mp3: New Order – Truth

I came away from the exhibition with a gift to myself, a box set containing facsimile editions of the first 10 numbered Factory items – four records, three posters, an 8 mm film (now on DVD), some stationery and a design for an egg-timer! There was also a wonderfully produced 60-page book, complete with photos, together with two CDs containing a previously unreleased interview involving Joy Division, Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, conducted in August 1979 by the journalist Mary Harron.

I’m intending to return to the contents of the box in the coming weeks, particularly the vinyl, so keep an eye out for those.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 37)

I know I said a few weeks back that I’d get this series down to basics, and then last week I offered up a lengthy tale of horror.

But I think that was all necessary as it cleared the decks for more or less the 21st Century version of The Fall, one in which all traces of the band’s roots and beginnings were done away with and it became a vehicle for MES and hired hands, albeit in due course he would come to find a settled line-up again.

Work on the next album got underway in late 1998 and carried over into early 1999.  The musicians involved beyond MES and Julia Nagle on keyboards were Neville Wilding (guitar, backing vocals), and Tom Head (drums), while Karen Leatham and Adam Helal were both tried out on bass.  Indeed, the final few gigs of 1998 had seen the band experiment with two bass players on stage at the same time, but seemingly it only delivered a great deal of chaos. In the end, it was Helal who was kept on as the full-time member once the band took to the road to promote the release of the album The Marshall Suite, which hit the shops on 19 April 1999, once again via Artful Records.

Some four weeks earlier, a single had been released, on 12″ vinyl and CD:-

mp3: The Fall – Touch Sensitive
mp3: The Fall – Antidote
mp3: The Fall – Touch Sensitive (dance mix)

It reached #90 in the charts and largely unknown outside the confines of fans of the band until 2003 when this advert for a car started being aired on the TV screens here in the UK:-

Hey Hey Hey……The Fall were suddenly famous!!

The CD version of this single will set you back about £2 on the second-hand market.  The 12″ single goes for more than £50……

JC

Siobhan Wilson

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #297: SIOBHAN WILSON

An edited short bio from the artist’s own website (https://www.siobhan-wilson.com/)

Singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, library music producer, Siobhan Wilson was born in Elgin, Scotland, UK. She is a trained cellist from St Mary’s Music School of Edinburgh and pianist, guitarist, and composer. Her 2017 album ‘There Are No Saints’ was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year.  In subsequent years, she toured the UK, USA and Canada supporting the likes of Suzanne Vega and The Proclaimers and as well as her own sold out headline tour.

The Departure (LP) and Plastic Grave (EP) were released in 2019 on her own D.I.Y record label Suffering Fools Records, which is also the home of her newest album, Survivre, released in November 2021.

As I said, on the previous occasion I mentioned Siobhan Wilson, when I posted a review of a Song, By Toad showcase gig in 2017, the word haunting was invented to provide a one-word description of her act, with her voice and gentle guitar playing totally captivated the audience. She is real talent.

mp3: Siobhan Wilson – Marry You

From the 2019 album, The Departure.

JC

Bodysnatchers

THE FORGOTTEN BAND OF THE 2 TONE SUCCESS STORY

I can’t put it any better than what you can find over at 2-tone info.

This is slightly edited down to concentrate on the music and leaves out details about some TV appearances, and stops the story at the band’s break-up, although there’s some very interesting stuff beyond that I might return to with a future posting.

“The main instigator behind The Bodysnatchers was fruit and vegetable seller Nicky Summers. Nicky had caught The Specials at an early gig at the Moonlight Club in London and was totally bowled over not only by the music but also by the fact that the crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves so much. So impressed by The Specials was Nicky that she immediately set about forming a band. She placed an ad in the music press for like-minded musicians (The famous story of the replies to the Rude Girls Wanted ad has become a fable within 2 Tone circles) and things soon started to gather pace.

At first the band was a 4 piece but soon expanded to a 7 piece. Among the line-up were a civil servant, a fashion designer, a lifeguard, a secretary, a freelance illustrator and a schoolgirl. As wide and varied as this group of people may have been they did have one thing in common; they could either just about play their instruments or for others it was as case of not been able to play them at all. Of those who could just about manage a few notes they were either self-taught or were given the occasional lesson by boyfriends etc and for those who couldn’t play at all they just “learned to play as they went along”.

Rhoda Dakar Vocals
Nicky Summers Bass
Stella Barker Rhythm Guitar
SJ Owen Lead Guitar
Pennie Leyton Keyboards
Jane Summers * Drums
later replaced by Judy Parsons
Miranda Joyce Saxophone

Now that the line-up was complete, there was the matter of a name for the group and what material to play. They decided on the name Bodysnatchers because they said “the music is body snatching” but deciding on what material to play was less straightforward. Although they had taken inspiration from The Specials, and it was indeed their intention to play ska in its new 2 Tone form, they found the pace of ska was too much for such an inexperienced group of ‘musicians’. Instead, they opted for a slower style in the form of rocksteady. Now that the band had found a style of music within their somewhat limited capabilities, they collected together a number of songs, which would give the band a set to play live. They choose some old reggae/ska songs to cover such as Monkey Spanner, OO7 and a song, which was to become their first single, Let’s Do Rocksteady. Also, among their early set lists was a reggae version of London Bridge Is Falling Down. Once they were confident enough, they composed their first original song, ‘The Boiler’.

The band got their first gig in November 1979 at the Windsor Castle pub in London and at only their second gig were asked by The Selecter to support the band on their forthcoming tour. By the end of 1979 the nation was well and truly in the grip of 2 Tone fever, and it wasn’t longer before the music press was suggesting that The Bodysnatchers would be the labels next signing. So with only a few months experience behind them, they were indeed signed to the label. Their signing didn’t exactly meet with universal approval within the 2 Tone camp, with some voicing concern about what lay in the future for such an inexperienced band. Here was a band that by their own admission were not competent musicians, and they were about to jump under the media spotlight, which was waiting patiently for the label’s first failure.

The Dandy Livingstone song, Let’s Do Rocksteady, was the choice for the band’s debut single. For the b-side the band selected an original composition, Ruder Than You and producer on both tracks was Roger Lomas who was working with Bad Manners at the time. While the band were on tour with The Selecter, the single entered the charts at number 44 and peaked at number 16 which earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

The band had signed a two-single deal with 2 Tone and for the second release an original was selected, Easy Life, and this time a cover version would appear on the b-side. The track chosen was Winston Francis’ Too Experienced and the resulting track stayed faithful to the original. Although the band were pleased with the single, and it certainly deserved a higher position chart than it received (50), by this stage of 1980 2 Tone was beginning to lose its appeal with the record buying public.

The Selecter had announced that they were quitting the label as they felt that 2 Tone had lost direction and with the label’s next signing The Swinging Cats becoming the first 2 Tone single to miss the charts completely it was obvious that the label was no longer the force it once was. The band soldiered on regardless and managed a short headlining tour of their own and picked up the support slot on the Toots and the Maytals tour but by October 1980 the band had played their last gig at Camden’s Music Machine in London. The band cited ‘musical differences’ for their decline, with some wanting to take a more political stance while others wanted to follow a more pop orientated career.”

Here’s all the songs from the two singles:-

mp3: The Bodysnatchers – Let’s Do Rock Steady
mp3: The Bodysnatchers – Ruder Than You
mp3: The Bodysnatchers – Easy Life
mp3: The Bodysnatchers – Too Experienced

JC

Various

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #308: THE SOUND OF VIOLENCE

A GUEST POSTING by OUR SWEDISH CORRESPONDENT

Jim,

The other day when driving my daughters to school it so happened that my phone, connected to the audio system of the car, even if in shuffle mode played 3 songs in a row that all contained the word “violent” or “violence” in the title, and this struck me as a topic for an ICA – even if not necessarily presenting anything new to the TVV crowd. The current situation along the Ukraine border had an uncanny touch to the sudden appearance of so much violence from my media library…

Rules were simple, I had to have the music myself, and it was the song not the artist that should contain a form of the word violence. So no Violent Femmes included.

Side A:

Violently Happy – Björk.

Violence as a reinforcement for feelings. No further introduction needed.

Violence – Grimes feta. i_o.

A bit ambiguous lyrics, somewhere in-between good and bad I guess. Makes me want to dance, from her latest album, Miss Anthropocene.

Violent Delights – CHVRCHES.

IMHO the best new thing out of Scotland this last decade, with a patent sounding track about being left with just haunting dreams.

A Violent Noise – The xx.

IMHO maybe the best new thing out of England this last decade, with a patent sounding track about being left with just haunting longing. Am I repeating myself?

Shining Violence – Chromatics.

Like an extension of the two preceding tracks, words are unnecessary.

Side B:

Lost In Violence – Siglo XX.

The Belgian cold wave act heavily influenced by Joy Division. Dark and moody, the influences are not exactly subtle.

Violent Playground – ionnalee.

2020 saw ionnalee release a compilation (Kronologi) of re-recorded tracks from her 10-year career as iamamiwhoami and ionnalee. This was one of the oldest tracks on the album (and a bit of a joker in the deck) dealing with men’s violence.

Quiet Violence – Hante.

French darkwave artist Hélène de Thoury delivers a haunting vision of hiding quietly in the dark, waiting for something bad to happen.

Violence Of Truth – The The.

Matt is upset. Matt makes great music when he is upset.

Violent Playground – Jonna Lee.

You guessed it, this is the original version by Jonna Lee which is her given name, and the only track on the aforementioned Kronologi album originating before the two electronic monikers of hers. Her two albums as Jonna Lee, 10 Pieces, 10 Bruise & This Is Jonna Lee, are much more traditional guitar based indie records. This track was however only released on a compilation album by her then label, Razzia Records.

Love & Peace

Martin

Ukranians, Wedding Present

DLYA UKRAYINY

A GUEST POSTING by STRANGEWAYS


Amid no little incidences of pearl-clutching and cries of ‘sell out’, in 1989 The Wedding Present moved from their own Reception Records to a major: RCA.

This was at a time when, for many pop fans, indie as a state of label mattered just as much as indie as a state of mind. The Weddoes had been canny though, negotiating terms that saw the band retaining full artistic control over the songs they recorded, how they sounded and which would be released (to the point that if RCA refused a release, the band – very well-versed in the DIY route – could put the thing out themselves without breaching contract).

It did seem like a best of both worlds affair: the group would keep on keeping on, but was now backed by the power – distribution, marketing, promotion and press – wielded by the label that had once been the home of Elvis.

But hang on. Remember that bit about the band on RCA sounding precisely as you’d expect them to? Scratch that. Because the first release on the major – due, admittedly, to the recent collapse of the Red Rhino distribution network – was a collection of Ukrainian Peel sessions.

This was a project inspired by Weddoes-guitarist-at-the-time Peter Solowka’s Ukrainian family heritage. The sessions featured an invited cohort of musicians connected to Ukraine, including the Leeds-based singer and violin player the Legendary Len Liggins. The songs? Across the three sessions, they were raucous and romantic, often played at a furious pace and at high volume. Not so terribly different then from your regular Wedding Present output.

And speaking of regular output, the RCA years (’89- ’92) would become something of a golden era for the band. Bizarro (1989) and Seamonsters (1991) remain feted LPs, and between these a couple of EPs ushered in a darker, more distorted sound: one that began a roll-call of Top of the Pops appearances. Then, in 1992, via the single-a-month Hit Parade project, twelve calendar-year top 40 hits equalled the record of… one-time label-mate Elvis Presley. But that’s another story and already I’ve veered off course.

As readers will have guessed, the terrible events currently occurring in Ukraine have inspired this post. And hopefully it’s received as it’s intended: as a very small acknowledgement both of what’s going on thanks to Putin and his act of war, and the ability of music to unite rather than divide.

There are loads of ways to send help to those whose lives have been turned upside-down by this tragedy. Collections of cash have of course been called for, and so have donations of clothing, blankets, towels and toiletries. Just have a search online if you’re inclined.

The Wedding Present announced just the other day that sales, from the band’s website, of their Ukrainian-related re-releases would be donated to causes supporting the Ukrainian people. It’s heartening to see that these items sold out in short order.

To the music. Here’s probably the most well-known track from the sessions:

Davni Chasy, first broadcast on 15 March 1988 as part of the group’s fifth Peel session.

The song itself will be better remembered by many as the single Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin. Wikipedia tells us that in 1968, this was a number 1 hit in the UK, and only the Beatles’ Hey Jude stopped it doing the same business on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. Coincidentally, Hopkin’s single was produced by… Paul McCartney.

Also on offer: a 1993 Smiths cover from The Ukrainians, the band Peter Solowka put together post-Wedding Present.

Thanks, as ever, to JC for the opportunity to post this.

strangeways

Various

MOST FOLK DO THIS SORT OF THING IN MID-FEBRUARY

A smidgen under sixty minutes of music in one large file.

As I said last time around, I’m going to try and make a fresh one at the start of each month during 2022.

mp3: Various – It’s A Love Thing

Love Gets Dangerous (Peel Session) – Billy Bragg
Do You Love Me? (single version) – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Love Plus One – Haircut 100
The Greatness and Perfection of Love  – Julian Cope
Tattooed Love Boys – Pretenders
The Man Who Took On Love (and Won) – The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross
Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) – Spiller
Bizzare Love Triangle (7″ version) – New Order
Love And A Molotov Cocktail – The Flys
The Magic Piper (Of Love) – Edwyn Collins
California Love – 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman
Love Detective – Arab Strap
White Love – One Dove
South of Love – Friends Again
Baby I Love You – Ramones
Only Love Can Break Your Heart – St. Etienne
You Say You Don’t Love Me – Buzzcocks

As always, if anyone out there wants to have a go, I’ll willingly make space for a guest posting.

JC