October 2023 – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #353: ALVVAYS

A GUEST POSTING from STRANGEWAYS

Alvvays - rear sleeve

By way of a backpedalling preface, after reading the words below, maybe I’ve gone too heavy regarding my take on Alvvays’ perceived influences. But hopefully these work as very broad signposts, and might even create a bit of debate among newbies and fans. So…

Alvvays: Belinda and Bilinda – an Imaginary Compilation Album

I’ve arrived very late to the Alvvays party-proper.

That said, I was aware of the irresistible Archie, Marry Me, the 2013 sing-along single that pricked ears and turned heads in advance of the following year’s self-titled debut LP.
The mystery then, if you’re me, is why I didn’t explore beyond that one song.

Well, whatever the reason, I didn’t. And it’s therefore not in my gift or capacity to offer detailed histories of records and gigs I wasn’t experiencing. And besides, it’s likely that if you’re reading this you may well know all that stuff. Most especially if you read JC’s piece from October 2022….click here for a reminder

If you’re uninitiated though, and a bit Alvvays-curious, the Toronto-based band have variously been stapled to styles as similar and diverse as dream pop and shoegaze, power pop and twee. Genre-hoppers then, albeit beneath the blanket-descriptor of indie.
Live covers have included Camera Obscura’s Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken and Kirsty MacColl’s He’s on the Beach. Add to these Blue by Elastica, Remember This from Dolly Mixture, Trying To Be Kind by the Motorcycle Boy and the Breeders’ Divine Hammer. Plus tracks from Devo and Ramones, and a couple from the Primitives too.

Alvvays are their own band, of course, but a love of glide guitar, bending strings and diffused vocals sometimes recalls My Bloody Valentine, post-Isn’t Anything. Indeed Easy On Your Own?, from latest LP Blue Rev (2022) – named for Rev – a skull-splitting vodka/cola drink popular in Canada – feels like a way poppier, less enigmatic Valentines. Something like this track – or the phasey Pharmacist from the same record – would have brightened that band’s singles-free m b v album from way back in 2013.

Across Alvvays’ three LPs – the eponymous debut (2014), Antisocialites (2017) and Blue Rev – there’s occasionally something approaching both a Sundays jangle and the vocal delivery of Harriet Wheeler. Could the wintry Tile by Tile, again from Blue Rev, take its place on a phantom fourth Sundays album? And winding back to Antisocialites, the spirit of old-school R.E.M. pops up too, via the coda of Atop A Cake. Plus there’s no end of Scottish indiepop. To these ears the likes of Camera Obscura and Shop Assistants.

Connected to this, and in a case of JAMC’ll Fix It, in 2016 singer and guitarist Molly Rankin joined her heroes the Jesus and Mary Chain on a stage in Sydney for Just Like Honey. And Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake sings on In Undertow, the mighty Antisocialites opener.

Selected group surnames past and present even read like the morning register at your local Scottish secondary: Rankin, of course, and also O’Hanley, MacLellan, Murphy and Riley. That’s a Celtic five-a-side right there. And because we Scots can usually find a route to claim pretty much any invention and innovation as our own, you could say that there’s some corner of a Toronto field that is forever Scotland. Glasgow, specifically. And Bellshill.

Enough. Here’s Belinda and Bilinda, an Alvvays ICA with selected tracks from all of the albums.

Side 1

1. Ones Who Love You (from Alvvays)

For me, the emotional heart of the debut LP. If you don’t have time for ten tracks, this is not a bad go-to. “You know that Archie, Marry Me band?” said my friend one evening, “Well, they do this one too.” And from then on, for both of us, that was that. There’s a lovely textured guitar and bass bed on this one.

Recommended is the live take from the December 2014 KEXP session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1dQI4Gjt9I

2. Easy On Your Own? (from Blue Rev)

A frazzle of distortion/ambience opens the in-and-out-of-consciousness Easy On Your Own?. And when it rapidly explodes following the ‘college education’ line, it’s thrilling every single time. Super drumming too. One who stalks this blog considers Molly’s Rankin’s voice to be an instrument all of its own, and the range present on this song is maybe a good example to cite.

3. Lollipop (Ode to Jim) (from Antisocialites)

The oded Jim in question being Jim Reid. But don’t expect a JAMC-style number. Instead, this is magnificently fizzy and twee, with a riot of la-la-las following an intro that maybe recalls Blondie’s Dreaming.

4. The Agency Group (from Alvvays)

From its sinister-sounding title onwards, this is a brooder that draws you deeper and deeper in.

5. In Undertow (from Antisocialites)

What an intro, and what a way to open an LP. So, naturally, it closes Side 1 of this compilation. Would love to have heard an extended guitar outro to this one.

Side 2

6. Many Mirrors (from Blue Rev)

Airy and earnest, and led by a lovely Kirsty MacCollesque vocal. And if it’s Kirsty MacCollish then it’s surely also Tracey Ullmanish. And that’s OK by me.

7. Belinda Says (from Blue Rev)

A super racket, a quieter moment, then back to noise, robust glide guitar and a key-change to die for. All this, plus a Belinda Carlisle reference. Sounding every inch a single, the band performed a storming version – elevated by live strings – on The Tonight Show at the start of 2023.

8. Atop A Cake (from Alvvays)

Scrunching this ICA down to just ten tracks was especially difficult. And the desire to well-represent all three albums meant banishing songs that would have otherwise breezed in. So Atop A Cake ended up giving Not My Baby, from Antisocialites, a biffing.

This winning eighth track is from the debut record – an album that on another day could have supplied Archie, Marry Me, and Party Police too. But, searching for criteria, and not wishing to draw lots, I chose Atop A Cake partly because that early R.E.M.ish jangle might appeal to readers of this blog who engaged, in big numbers, with JC and The Robster’s epic, near-60 posts, Singular Adventures of R.E.M. series.

Plus, and perhaps less scientifically, a song with Cake in its title is pretty much going to get the nod from me on any given day.

9. Velveteen (from Blue Rev)

Possibly the most commercial-sounding take in all of Alvvays’ catalogue.

Velveteen’s flickering 80s, John Hughesy feel is made lush and lustrous, synthy and shimmery thanks to Kerri MacLellan’s keyboards. The song is decorated with elegant lyrics of banister-sliding, of closets stuffed with lace and, most notably, contains the disarming and poignant chorus ‘Who is she?/Because I know that it can’t be me’.

So Velveteen is brill – and, yes, I’ll propose it out loud: when it comes to B(e/i)lindas, this one is more Carlisle than Butcher.

10. Forget About Life (from Antisocialites)

A bit of a cheat here, as this end track takes its cue also from the Antisocialites closer. But it’s such a terrific way to lay this ICA to rest that I couldn’t resist it.

Wikipedia lists current lineup as…

Molly Rankin – vocals, rhythm guitar (2011–present), bass (2022–present)
Kerri MacLellan – keyboards, backing vocals (2011–present)
Alec O’Hanley – lead guitar (2011–present)
Sheridan Riley – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2017–present)
Abbey Blackwell – bass (2021–present)

…and past members as:

Phil MacIsaac – drums (2011–2016)
Brian Murphy – bass guitar (2011–2021)

Labels are:

Royal Mountain (Canada)
Polyvinyl (US)
Transgressive (Europe)
Pod / Inertia Music (Australia)

Thanks as ever to JC for the space, and to anyone who’s made it this far.

STRANGEWAYS

Quasi

ONE SONG ON THE HARD DRIVE (5)

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Quite a few of the songs that will feature on this occasional series will be as a result of them being included on some sort of compilation album or CD. Such as this:-

mp3: Quasi – Hot Shit

This was one of 36 tracks on Worlds of Possibility, a 2xCD release in 2003 to mark the 10th Anniversary of Domino Records. It was one of those releases that I took a punt on – I genuinely can’t recall what I paid for it, but it was considerably more than the £1 it is going for among some current sellers on Discogs.

The punt was taken because lots of goof things were being said and written about Domino, and I wasn’t familiar whatsoever with the vast majority of the bands/singers. It proved to be an ill-advised punt as very few of them ended up being explored further, such was my disappointment with many of the ‘introductory’ tracks.

Hot Shit veers all the over place far too much for my liking. A slow, dramatic almost cinematic-theme opening soon gives way to acoustic instrumentation that is deliberately out-of-tune/distorted, which makes for an uneasy listen. Next up is a drum pattern that is quite standard in terms of beat and rhythm. Electric guitars? Check. Strained vocals?? Check.

Nothing above the ordinary. Some of you, however, may very well feel differently. That’s the beauty of the comments section; and indeed, if anyone really is a fan of the band, there will always be room for a guest ICA.

As it happens, this isn’t the first time Quasi have featured on the blog. Back in March 2014, SWC was just starting out with his blogging musings and was a regular guest correspondent. He did this piece on bands with the letter Q.

Here’s an abridged bio from allmusic:-

Idiosyncratic indie rock duo Quasi paired singer/guitarist/keyboardist Sam Coomes and drummer Janet Weiss, making music that rocked hard and was joyously tuneful when they were so inclined. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Coomes and Weiss had previously joined forces in the group Motorgoat, but with Quasi they let their sense of humor inform both their lyrics and the buoyancy of their music, though they were willing to poke fun at serious subjects.

In the new millennium, Weiss and Coomes found a new label home with Touch & Go and The Sword of God appeared in 2001, marking some of Quasi’s sharpest material since their inception, and plenty of satiric commentary about organized religion. Two years later, the band’s snide sense of humor was highlighted once more on the politics-heavy Hot Shit, which called out the rise of conservatism in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In 2006, the band returned to the studio and, with the help of producer Dave Fridmann, released the rollicking and straightforward When the Going Gets Dark. After adding Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme to the lineup and moving to Kill Rock Stars, the group released its seventh album, American Gong, in February of 2010. Quasi returned to being a duo in 2011 before returning with their eighth album, the sprawling Mole City, in 2013.

They unofficially went on hiatus after Mole City, with both Coomes and Weiss devoting their time to other projects, but in 2019, a month after she left Sleater-Kinney, Weiss was involved in a serious auto accident that left her with a broken collarbone and two broken legs. She was still recuperating at home when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down any options for touring, and with plenty of time on her hands, Weiss and Coomes got together to jam, with their practice sessions helping her regain her skills after time away from the drum kit. They started writing songs together, and in April 2022 they set out on a 27-date tour. Later they booked time at Robert Lang Studios in Shoreline, Washington and in five days recorded Quasi’s first album in a decade. Breaking the Balls of History was released on Sub Pop in February 2023.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Four)

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I’m hoping that you’ll recall, from the posting just two weeks ago, mention being made of The Wedding Present playing their first ever Peel Session, recorded on 11 February 1986 and broadcast on 26 February.

Such was its popularity of the session that it was given a vinyl release before the year was out, via the Strange Fruit label that had recently been established to issue some of the best and most in-demand of the Peel show recordings.

This was among the first ten releases in the series, coming out alongside sessions by New Order (1982), The Damned (1977), Screaming Blue Messiahs (1984), Stiff Little Fingers (1978), Sudden Sway (1983), Wild Swans (1982), Madness (1979), Gang Of Four (1979), and Twa Toots (1983).

As can be seen, TWP’s session was, by two years, the most recent.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Felicity (Peel Session)
mp3: The Wedding Present – What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted (Peel Session)
mp3: The Wedding Present – You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (Peel Session)
mp3: The Wedding Present – This Boy Can Wait (Peel Session)

As you might expect, I’m a sucker for the Orange Juice cover. The Gedge sense of humour comes to the fore with the intro explanation of it being a William Shatner number.

For those who aren’t aware, Felicity was written by James Kirk (albeit Edwyn Collins sang lead vocal).

Oh, and What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted would undergo a name change not too long after, and eventually be recorded in the studio, as It’s What You Want That Matters.

JC

Win

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #379: WIN

They were on the blog just last week. It hadn’t occurred to me that they were due up in this alphabetical run-through.

Here’s wiki;-

After the dissolution of The Fire Engines, Davy Henderson formed Win with Ian Stoddart (drums, keyboards), plus ex-Fire Engine member Russell Burn (keyboards). They were joined by Emmanuel “Mani” Shoniwa (guitar/bass/backing vox), Simon Smeeton (guitar/backing vox), Karl Mariner (keyboards/backing vox), then Willie Perry (keyboards). A more determinedly pop act than The Fire Engines, they were commercially successful in Scotland, partly due to their single “You’ve Got the Power” being used in a lager advertising campaign for Scottish brewers McEwan’s.”You’ve Got the Power” appeared in the UK Singles Chart at number 95, but reportedly sold enough copies to be a hit, with Henderson stating that many copies of the record sold had been excluded from the chart data, as they (Gallup) thought the single was being illegally hyped in stores around Scotland, rather than recognising that McEwan’s was a local firm advertising in the region, with a song by a local band. However, they had another couple of hits in the UK charts with the single “Super Popoid Groove” reaching number 63 and album Uh! Tears Baby (a Trash Icon) getting to number 51 in 1987.

mp3: Win – Super Popoid Groove

Truly wonderful, if you don’t mind me saying.

JC

Ian Dury & The Blockheads

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #036

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#036– Ian Dury & The Blockheads – ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’ (Stiff Records ’78)

Hello friends,

a further history lesson, this – at least a bit of it. Why? Well, when doing my researches for this tune, I found some interesting facts which I didn’t know about yet. Of course, you might have been familiar with them forever, who knows? In this case: just proceed to the download link.

Over the years I have always had quite a fair interest in Ian Dury. I remember having seen him performing ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’ in the very early 80’s (not live in person, I was too young, obviously, but on the telly here in Germany!), and said performance blew me away more or less. His outfit was great, and he was an interesting bloke to watch, and one with a great voice, too. But still it took me quite some years to get a copy of an early repress of 1977’s ‘New Boots And Panties!!’, I admit.

I also have to admit that this first album didn’t blow me away as much as the aforementioned performance did. There were a few good songs on it, yes, but nothing spectacular. Then the internet came up, youtube came, lyrics became available, and I delved a bit deeper into Ian Dury & The Blockheads. I even got hold of both ‘Handsome’ and ‘Wotabunch!’, the two albums he did with Kilburn And The High Roads before he accompanied The Blockheads. They were too much pub-rock for me, something I couldn’t really cope with back then (this has changed by now though!).

So, as years passed by, I nearly forgot about ‘New Boots’. I think it was some 15 years ago when I found it again when searching for something else in the collection. I put it on and – wow, it wasn’t as uninteresting as it used to be. Broadened mind perhaps, who can tell? I searched for early Blockheads-performances in the net, found them, and suddenly I remembered what was so unusual about the performance I had seen so many years ago (don’t get me wrong: apart from its strength and brilliance musically, that is): it was Dury’s handicap, the left part of his body was somewhat paralyzed and he looked a bit strange. He stood there on stage with a walking stick, which was a bit odd to me back then. Apparently Dury, unbeknownst to me of course, contracted Polio when he was seven.

Now, ‘New Boots & Panties!!’ may not be the best album in the history of the world ever, but there is one song on it, which made it into the singles box as the B-Side of a German release:

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mp3: Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Sweet Gene Vincent

And this is where the history lesson finally starts, you’ll be relieved to hear: Gene Vincent, he of 1956 ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’-fame, was handicapped as well: his left leg was shattered in an auto crash in 1955, he refused to have it amputated, and consequently he had to wear a steel sheath as a leg brace for the rest of his life. In later biographies it was said that there never was such a car crash, instead he was wounded in combat in Korea (which is an excuse I often use myself when women want me to dance with them, so I cannot blame Gene here, I suppose).

Back to Ian Dury, who had a lifelong admiration for Vincent, so much so that he very much copied his style and his outfit, he would talk almost poetically about him. I don’t know if this can be believed or not, but Dury always said he didn’t even know that Vincent was also crippled when he started becoming a fan as a teenager. ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’s’ lyrics are full of references towards Vincent and Vincent’s songs: ‘Blue Gene Baby’ = ‘Blue Jean Bop’, ‘Who, who, who slapped John?’ = ‘Who Slept John’, ‘And you lay that pistol down’ = ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ and also ‘Uncanny Annie is the one with the flying feet’ = ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’. Also the song has two sections which are entirely focusing on Vincent’s outfit, the typical black and white dress including the gloves (= ‘black gloves, white frost, black crepe, white lead, white sheet, black knight, jet black, dead white’).

I love this record. Not necessarily because of the clever historical background, I’m way too simple for such things, I suppose. Me, I just love how it paces up into breakneck speed … that and Ian Dury’s voice, of course!

Enjoy,

Dirk

Rachid Taha

ONE SONG ON THE HARD DRIVE (4)

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The one song I have from Rachid Taha is courtesy of its inclusion on this free CD given away with Mojo magazine in November 2008.

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It is a piece of nonsense that his name wasn’t included on the cover of the CD sleeve, given that Rachid Taha is every bit as important and influential as those who are listed.

He was born on 18 September 1958 in Algeria, and he died in a Parisian suburb on 12 September 2018, just a few days short of his 60th birthday. He had moved with his parents to France when he was ten years old, settling in Lyon. By the age of 17, he was holding down a menial job in a factory but working as a DJ at night, playing Arabic music, rap, salsa, funk and, as he put it in a later interview “anything else that took his fancy.

In 1981, along with Mohammed Amini, Mokhtar Amini, Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer, he formed the Arab-language rock group Carte de Séjour whose music combined Algerian raï with funk and punk rock. Rachid was a big fan of The Clash, and prior to one of their gigs in Paris, he met the band and handed them a copy of a demo tape by Carte de Séjour. He later, in 2013, told The Guardian newspaper:-

“They looked interested,but when they didn’t get in touch, I thought nothing of it. Then, a few months later, I heard Rock the Casbah. Maybe they did hear it after all.”

The group didn’t enjoy much success, and in due course Rachid moved to Paris to launch a solo career in the early 90s. It took time, but he became an increasing success in France and further afield, always looking to being new ideas to his music. He was revered by many musicians across the world, and was able to play shows in front of 20,000 fans in his adopted country.

In the mid-2000s, he decided to record a cover version of Rock The Casbah, one which was later used in The Future Is Unwritten, the 2007 award-winning documentary film about Joe Strummer that was directed by Julien Temple. His take on things was then included on that Mojo compilation a year later:-

mp3: Rachid Taha – Rock El Casbah

It’s really to my eternal shame that I’ve never since got out to discover more about his music. If anyone out there has more knowledge and wants to offer a guest posting, then I’d be honoured and thrilled to have it appear on the blog.

JC

Adam Ant, Bauhaus, China Crisis, Cure, Duran Duran, Joy Division, Lotus Eaters, This Mortal Coil, Time UK, XTC

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (10)

Lots of comments last month…..my huge thanks to everyone. I didn’t quite realise there would be such love for New Song by Howard Jones. Who am I going to dismiss with such impudence this time???

Chart dates 2- 8 October

Late September 1983 must have been a time when record labels had all their promotional folk go off on holiday. The highest new entry in the first chart of October was all the way down at #38. I won’t bore you with the details…..

It’s all the way down into the 60-somethings before there’s anything worthy of particular mention

mp3: Time UK – The Cabaret (#63)

It had been almost a year since The Jam had broken up. Paul Weller had continued to enjoy success via The Style Council, while Bruce Foxton had released solo material. Rick Buckler had formed Time UK with two members of Masterswitch ( me neither!), and two other musicians who had previously played with the Tom Robinson Band and Sparks. A record deal was secured, and The Cabaret was the debut single. #63 was as high as it reached….neither of its two follow-ups or parent album did anything. I’ll be honest….I don’t recall this 45 at all.

Just slightly lower in the rundown was this.

mp3: The Lotus Eaters – You Don’t Need Someone New (#64)

Debut single, The First Picture Of You had been one of the songs of the summer, and in reaching #15, seemed to provide a good platform for The Lotus Eaters to become chart staples. This was the rather enjoyable follow-up, but it only ever crawled its way to #53, and that, more or less, was the last time the UK record buying public spent money on the band.

Chart dates 9-15 October

I think I have to run through some of the acts hanging around the Top 20 this week to give an idea of how awful the singles charts exactly 40 years ago.

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon (#1)
David Bowie – Modern Love (#4)
Howard Jones – New Song (#5)
George Benson – In Your Eyes (#7)
UB40 – Red Red Wine (#8)
David Essex – Tahiti (#10)
Rocksteady Crew – Hey You The Rocksteady Crew (#11)
Black Lace Superman (Gioca Jouer) (#12)
Paul Young – Come Back and Stay (#13)
Peabo Pearson & Roberta Flack – Tonight I Celebrate My Love (#14)
Nick Heyward – Blur Hat For A Blue Day (#15)
Lionel Ritchie – All Night Long (#16)
The Alarm – 68 Guns (#17)
Kajagoogoo – Big Apple (#18)
Genesis – Mama (#19)
Ryan Paris – Dolce Vita (#20)

In what is a particularly awful list, I will single out that Black Lace song for a special mention. Look it up on YouTube if you dare.

Oh, and the four who were trying hard to shore things up were Tracey Ullman (#2), Siouxsie & The Banshees (#3), Public Image Ltd (#6) and New Order (#9).

It wasn’t much better further down the charts…with worse to come as Billy Joel‘s Uptown Girl came in at #54 for the first of what would be a 17-week stay in the Top 75, all the way through to February 84, including five weeks at #1.

Once again, the 60-somethings offer some respite:-

mp3: China Crisis – Working With Fire and Steel (#66)

I’ve never been a fan, but a previous mention on the blog did throw up some love as well as a guest ICA from Martin, our Swedish Correspondent, although this particular single (which would eventually peak at #48) didn’t make his cut.

mp3 : XTC – Love On A Farmboy’s Wages (#67)

The band’s 8th Top 75 hit (from their first 17 singles) eventually went to #50. It would until January 1989 for XTC to again get higher than #50, and it came through Mayor of Simpleton (their 24th single and 10th to go Top 75).

Chart dates 16-22 October

I was going to pass completely on this particular chart. Nothing of merit whatsoever. Apart from

mp3: This Mortal Coil – Song To The Siren

I was stunned to spot that this had made the Top 75 back in the day, as I was sure it was just a cult song. I was even more stunned to spot, in the summary, that it went on to spend 13 weeks in the chart, but a closer inspection tells the true story, with the chart at the time being considered as the Top 100.

22 October – 12 November : 4-week stay at #66, #72, #77 and #75
3 December : 1-week stay at #98
14 January – 11 February 1984 : 5-week stay at #97, #98, #82, #85 and #83
25 February – 10 March : 3-week stay at #97, #80 and #93

Given that it wouldn’t have received any radio airplay beyond that from Peel, it’s hard to figure out why it spent so much time around the very lower ends of the chart. I wouldn’t imagine that even in the weeks it wasn’t in the Top 100 that it sold 0 copies, which means it sold in small numbers across the UK for at least a five-month period, while wiki reveals that Song To The Siren enjoyed a run of 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts, one which ranks fourth in the 1980s behind Bela Lugosi’s Dead (131 weeks), Blue Monday (186 weeks) and Love Will Tear Us Apart (195 weeks).

Chart dates 23 -29 October

Any DD fans out there?

mp3: Duran Duran – Union Of The Snake (#4)

Their 9th single since February 1981, but their first in six months, with the previous effort Is There Something I Should Know? giving them their first #1. The record company would no doubt prove to be disappointed that Union of The Snake, would stall at #3.

Two feline-related songs made their entries into the charts this week:-

mp3: Adam Ant – Puss’n Boots (#21)
mp3: The Cure – The Lovecats (#23)

I don’t like the Adam Ant single. But I’m posting it to remind you that, just a few years after he’d emerged from the punk world into mainstream pop with his Ants, he was now pursuing a solo career in which Phil Collins had been engaged to produce the songs as well as contribute his drumming skills. This one would eventually peak at #5

I do like The Cure single, albeit there’s a real novelty feel to it. Anyone who fell for the quaint charms of The Lovecats and raced out to buy any of their earlier albums probably recoiled in horror at what was coming out of the speakers. Maybe Robert Smith was trying his best to be subversive.

The Lovecats reached #7, which would be the biggest hit for the band until Lullaby reached #5 in mid-1989.

A rather unusual release entered the singles chart this week at #52.

The Singles ’81-’83 was a six-track release by Bauhaus, that I’ve seen described as a mini-LP and an EP. It seems, for the purposes of chart positions, it was considered as an EP. The six tracks were The Passion Of Lovers, Kick In The Eye, Spirit, Ziggy Stardust, Lagartija Nick and She’s In Parties. Here’s Track 1 on Side A:-

mp3: Bauhaus – The Passion Of Lovers

A re-release entered the charts at #71:-

mp3: Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

It would spend seven weeks in the charts, making it all the way to #19 in mid-November, which wasn’t too far behind the #13 spot it had reached in July 1980.

OK, so it took some old songs being re-released to really perk up the charts back in October 1983. The question is…..did it set things up for a decent November? Tune in next month to find out……

JC

Hamish Hawk

RECOMMENDED LISTENING FROM 2023 (Volume 6)

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The sixth of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.

This is actually a bit of a two-for-one effort, as this year also saw me make a purchase of the artist’s previous album that was released back in 2021.

Hamish Hawk is an Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter. He’s been making music since as far back as 2014, but it is really only over the past few years that he’s come to greater prominence. He’s someone I had previously dismissed out of hand, all as a result of seeing him as a support act for Arab Strap back in October 2021. His performance that evening was a solo show, and while there were a couple of times when I thought there was a decent song or vocal coming from the stage, he didn’t do enough to keep my attention for more than a few minutes.

The songs he played that night were mostly from the album Heavy Elevator, a record that many folk in Scotland were talking up as being an exceptional release, with references to The Divine Comedy, Pulp and Scott Walker very much to the fore. Reference was also made to the involvement of Rob Jones from Idlewild on the production and management side of things, but I really felt, based on that performance in Paisley, that Hamish Hawk wasn’t for me.

At the end of last year, SWC over at No Badger Required selected a new Hamish Hawk song as one of his favourites of 2022. SWC is someone whose taste in new music is usually bang-on, so I gave it a listen:-

Yup. This ticked a lot of boxes. Maybe I had been a bit hasty….this was quite different from what I’d been exposed to some 14 months previously in Paisley.

The new album, Angel Numbers, was released in February 2023. Once again, there were loads of very positive reviews kicking around various Scottish-based websites and publications, but I still didn’t bite.

My ‘Road To Damascus’ conversion came about in a slightly strange but ultimately very rewarding way. A short-break to Berlin was on the agenda in mid-October for myself and Rachel, and I had a look to see if there were any gigs worth seeing while we were there. It turned out that Hamish Hawk would be in the city on our first night, at a small venue not far from our hotel. Given that he’s on his way to likely selling-out Glasgow Barrowlands early next year, we decided it would be worth taking in the Berlin show.

I went out and bought a copy of Angel Numbers, determined to listen without prejudice.

I’m so glad I did, as It’s a truly outstanding record from start to end. I already knew Think Of Us Kissing, which proved to be the most accessible and immediate of the tracks, but after just a couple of listens, in which I was able to fully appreciate how fabulous a wordsmith he is, I had to hold my hand up and admit that Hamish Hawk is quite a unique talent, and someone who is fully deserving of the plaudits and acclaim being heaped on him. Oh, and his band, all of whom are credited as writing the music, provide the perfect accompaniment to his prose and poetry.

mp3: Hamish Hawk – Elvis Look-alike Shadows

This led to me going out to find a copy of Heavy Elevator. It’s an equally enjoyable listen, and while I recognised a few tunes from that Paisley show of October 2021, they sounded so much better when delivered by a full band.

The former has become a huge favourite. Watch out for it, and a few others, appearing on some of the hour-long mixes that pop-up round here on the odd occasion.

Oh, and I should, for the sake of completeness, say that the show in Berlin was a delight. I picked up an as yet unreleased 12″ EP of four cover songs that have previously been available on Bandcamp, and had a brief chat with Hamish post-gig in which I told him that I’d been a late convert and why.

He wasn’t the least bit offended by what I was saying, and indeed he offered a bit of moral support by saying he remembered the gig in question, and he felt afterwards that he hadn’t fully clicked with the audience. He signed the EP with a very lovely message, and I promised him that both myself and Rachel would make it to the Barrowlands next year. It should be quite the show.

JC

Wild Indians

MORE WILD INDIANS !

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Just over a week ago, the second 45 by The Wild Indians featured on the regular Saturday series.

That very same morning, I received a very pleasant e-mail from regular reader and occasional contributor, Leon MacDuff:-

Hello there!

Noting your regret at having no other tracks by The Wild Indians to share… happy to help! There’s nothing else to threaten the status of “Penniless” as their magnum opus but here are the three tracks from their previous single (and of course you may share them!).

I downloaded and listened to the three songs, and to my complete amazement, I immediately recognised Maybe, one of the tracks on the b-side of what was a 12″ only release. But I had never heard the a-side before……….

Was it one that Jacques the Kipper had included it on what is now a long-lost C90 tape? The thing is, I was more fairly sure that I knew a slightly different version of it. Has someone I know covered it on record or played it live? I certainly don’t seem to have any other version of it among almost 50,000 bits of music on the hard drive, so it’s something of a mystery.

It’s a wonderful wee tune, as indeed are the other two tracks kindly sent over by Leon.

mp3: The Wild Indians – Love Of My Life
mp3: The Wild Indians – The Biggest Man
mp3: The Wild Indians – Maybe

I hope it all helps to make your day the way that Leon did for me last week.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Three)

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It’s still 1986, and we’ve reached the release of the third single, one which came out on 7″ and 12″ on Reception Records. Let’s deal with the 7″ first of all:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends
mp3: The Wedding Present – This Boy Can Wait

There’s no indication on the sleeve or labels as to which of the two songs is the A-side. The Scopitones website, which really is the go-to place for all things related in any shape or form to The Wedding Present and Cinerama, lists ‘Friends’ as the lead track.

But, the recently published book, All The Songs Sound The Same, contains this contemporary review:-

The Wedding Present – This Boy Can Wait (Reception)

A frenzied guitar ushers in a breathless vocal and neither goes away throughout this prime slice of Leeds indie pop, free at last from the Gang Of Four hangover that has dogged so many of that city’s favourite sons, and now veering more towards a deranged folkies-on-speed extravaganza that overstays its welcome by just about the right amount.

The B-side is called ‘You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends’ which is sound advice and again it’s like some sort of folk music gone mad with lots of room for the omnipresent guitar to clang about in. If I had enough to drink I think I would probably die watching this band play live.

The there’s the 12″, with the slightly different coloured sleeve:-

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It has This Boy Can Wait on one side, with two tracks, one of which is ‘Friends’ on the other, which would naturally make anyone think there was a clear A-side in terms of the 7″. But it doesn’t matter as both have proven to be timeless and part of the set lists all these decades later.

Here’s the other track on the 12″:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Living and Learning

Just under three minutes of something which is fast, frantic and, if danced to, would leave even the fittest of persons gasping for breath. An excellent song by any stretch of the imagination, but not one that many fans would have high up on their lists of favourites, such has been the quality over the years.

JC

Wilderness Children

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #378: THE WILDERNESS CHILDREN

I’ve three songs by The Wilderness Children on the hard drive, all of them courtesy of compilations. It turns out that the blurb in the booklets for Big Gold Dreams and C88 are near-identical.

“This defiantly lo-fi Dundee four-piece were fronted by singer Andrea Reid, surfacing first in 1987 on a self-released two-track flexi (There’s A Good Time A-Comin b/w On The West Coast). The gloriously-titled EP, We’re A Council House Punk Band, on Doss Records, boasted the messy fuzz of Mrs Susan Spence (name borrowed from a dentist!)

mp3: The Wilderness Children – Mrs Susan Spence

The jangly If You Love Him, Let Him Go duly appeared on scenester Alan Wood‘s Magic Bus label in 1989,

mp3 : The Wilderness Children – If You Love Him, Let Him Go

, before hot on its heels, a return to Doss threw up the immortal Plastic Bag From Tescos 7″. A final release – the EP Paint A Picture For Me – appeared in summer 1990.”

The third song I have is from that final EP and is included as part of the Make More Noise : Women In Independent Music 1977-1987 box set. Andrea Reid offers an evocative and far from rose-tinted reflection of the times, reflecting on just how hard it was to try and make any sort of breakthrough, never mind a living, via the music industry, and how hope was just about what everything seemed to be built on. Lots of touring in tiny venues, with almost everything arranged through phone box calls in the pre-mobile era. It ends with:-

Different times, the winter always a bastard on our jeans, we were fucked up and going nowhere but burning with dreams, desires, rage and, above all, love.

The box set included one from the original flexi:-

mp3: The Wilderness Children – There’s A Good Time A-Comin’

As Dirk would say, enjoy!

JC

Win

THE SAD COMPLETIST IN ME HAD TO HAVE IT….

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You’ve Got The Power, a single released by Win back in 1985, has previously had a couple of mentions on the blog. It’s a tremendously upbeat, catchy and fun number, admittedly very much of its era in terms of production, but anytime I hear it, I’m taken back to dancing around at various house parties across Edinburgh, as everyone seemed to have a copy.

I was delighted to learn a few weeks back that …Uh Tears Baby, the debut album by Win, is going to be re-released on Past Night From Glasgow in the near future, with a bit of remastering work involved, and it may well also come with a few bonus items such as demo versions, b-sides and re-mixes that went out as 12″ releases.

I thought I had everything from the era, but it turned out there was a 12″ remix out there which wasn’t present and correct in Villain Towers. Thankfully, it was available via Discogs for what I would describe as a bargain price.

mp3: Win – You’ve Got The Power (Chocolate Thrills Mix)

It’s the simple things that often make me the most happiest.

JC

Devo

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (8)

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A band who have seemingly been around forever, but are currently on a farewell tour that is marking their 50th anniversary. There was a show in Edinburgh a couple of months back, but I gave it a miss on account of the ticket prices being too high and that the venue, the O2 Academy (formerly the Corn Exchange) is one of the worst there is.

Although Devo came together in 1973, it took until 1977 before they released any recorded material with the debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, appearing in August 1978, on Warner Brothers in America and Virgin Records in the UK.

It was recorded at Conny Plank‘s studio in Cologne, and Brian Eno was in the producer’s chair.

This was their fourth single,

mp3: Devo – Come Back Jonee

Its release was tied-in to the release of the album. The single only got to #60, but the album went to #12, which is the perfect indication that while Devo got a fair amount of positive media coverage, their songs weren’t played much across radio stations.

Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : Devo – Social Fools

A nice reminder of new wave music from the era. Surprisingly left off the debut album.

JC

Eyes Of Others

RECOMMENDED LISTENING FROM 2023 (Volume 5)

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The fifth of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.

This is one for which the thanks have to be given to Swiss Adam, as he was the one who mentioned it over at his place and got me intrigued. It’s an LP that came out on Heavenly Recordings back in May.

Eyes Of Others is the name used by Edinburgh-based musician, John Bryden. It’s to my eternal shame that I haven’t picked up on his work until this year, as he’s been doing his stuff across Scotland since at least 2017 when the Stimulus EP was released. There’s since been a number of other EPs and singles over the years, all leading up to the release of the eponymous debut album.

Adam mentioned it at that point in time, on the back of him seeing a live performance in the confines of the rather wonderful (and small) Castle Hotel, which is in the heart of the Northern Quarter in Manchester. It’s a place myself and Aldo always call into when we are visiting the city for whatever reason, but we’ve yet to go to a gig in the tiny backroom.

Here’s how Adam piqued my interest:-

Eyes Of Others is John Bryden, an Edinburgh musician who makes ‘post club music for people who can’t get into clubs’. Synths and drum machine rhythms, swirly psychedelia with detours into 808 acid house, bits of guitar, handclaps and lyrics that suggest an underlying sense of disquiet and unease, the sense that living through late stage capitalism hasn’t quite lived up to the promise.

The set is lovely, songs played and sung with only a few elements but fully realised and affecting, lots of space, slightly trippy, melodic and affecting. John is a little like a more subdued David Byrne, dancing on the spot and caught up in the act of performing, using different singing voices and catching you unaware at times- there are shades of early Beta Band on show too.

I wasn’t long removed from seeing Steve Mason on stage playing songs mostly from the stunning Brothers and Sisters as featured in volume one of this series, and so I was really intrigued by what Adam was saying.

I headed over to bandcamp, which is where I saw exactly how long Eyes of Others has been on the scene. The opportunity to make a direct purchase from the musician was on offer, with the promise that it would come signed on the cover, which is why my copy came to arrive courtesy of my hard-working postie.

It wasn’t the most appealing of covers, featuring a close-up of a cow against a psychedelic background with the two ear tags saying ‘logging in for your daily meditation’ and ‘have you forgotten your password?’, both of which went right over my head. The back of the sleeve gave the titles of the ten songs/pieces of music. The inner sleeve had little information other than the words and music were written by John Bryden, along with production, mixing and mastering credits. It was all quite minimalist, which meant no distractions while the album was playing….unless, of course, you found yourself hopelessly attracted to the artwork in which case, you could gaze at the poster inside the sleeve which offered it at 48×48 size…..

The music? Well, it proved to be something quite extraordinary, but in ways I wasn’t anticipating. I suppose I was expecting some sort of Beta Band tribute some 25 years after the fact, and while there are nods to what they were doing back then, this particular album goes into many other territories and happenings, most of which were out of my immediate comfort zone. I was never a clubber, and I certainly was never anyone who felt a great need to reach out and find myself some sort of comedown record from overindulging myself the night before….such things didn’t, as far as I was aware, really exist back in the early 80s. I don’t really have anything else in the expansive collection with which to compare it to, but then again, I am a total novice when it comes down to the likes of Adrian Sherwood or Andrew Weatherall, both of whose influences have been cited by a number of folk who have given the record the thumbs-up.

Eyes Of Others sounded immense coming out of the speakers, but where it really hit home was listening to it via the headphones on a slow bus journey up to the football one Saturday late-morning. I’m normally using music on such journeys as a way to pass time, a gentle diversion on the way to the main attraction if you like, but this was proving to be something else. It demanded, and it got, my full attention – no glancing at phones for any incoming messages or updates on what was happening in early kick-offs. I was totally immersed in all that was going on.

Here’s how the album opens up:-

mp3 : Eyes Of Others – Once, Twice, Thrice

I’ll make one prediction…..even if that song didn’t tickle your fancy, I know you’ll be humming that little bit of keyboard music which underpins it for the rest of the day. It’s a real earworm.

This is one of those occasions when I really cannot find the words to do justice to a particular album. I know it’s a long way removed from the sort of things that are normally featured on the blog, and it probably won’t be to everyone’s taste. But head over to this bandcamp page and give things a go. And while the vinyl is now sold out, there will be copies out there in the very best of record shops….but you could always go digital!

JC

Husker Du

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #035

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#035– Hüsker Dü – ‘Sorry Somehow’ (WEA Records ’96)

Hello dear friends,

again a band everybody knows and loves: what is wrong with me, I wonder?

Hüsker Dü were of course one of America’s finest exports, no question about this. And with all their massive output, it is very hard indeed to number it down to one specific song. To me, Hüsker Dü – most of all – have always been those who managed to blend punk and pop in a most perfect way: “just because it’s punk does not mean it cannot be melodic”.

This ability, plus mostly witty lyrics is why I am so fond of them. It is often forgotten these days that before ‘Candy Apple Grey‘, their 1986 album distributed by a major company (Warner), they already had six (!) albums on independent labels, mostly on SST records. Also, at the time, they were one of the first indie bands to sign with a major label (bands like Sonic Youth, for instance, would do this five years later).

Probably already with ‘Zen Arcade’, but certainly with the release of ‘Candy Apple Grey’ the absolute dedication to speed and hard hitting fuzz was mostly dissipated. In its place was a slower paced, more textured sound that relied more on pop melodies than ever before. The lyrics had also become much more introverted, personal and rarely anything less than very serious.

‘Sorry Somehow’ has always been my favorite from ‘Candy Apple Grey’, by a mile. A bitter anti-apology song with fine lyrics (when it comes to the “I’d give you everything in the world just to get it out of the way” – bit, it still sends shivers down my spine each and every time I hear it, believe me), but also with a structure which is just as simple as it needs to be plus a naturally flowing melody – can you really expect more from a song? Yes, of course you can, an accordingly good delivery!

Which brings us to Grant Hart: he, as far as I’m concerned, would rank very very high if there were a list of singers being able to implement pure desperation into their voices. ‘Sorry Somehow’ is a prime example for this, perhaps this is why I love this song so much:

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mp3: Hüsker Dü – Sorry Somehow

A true masterpiece, this, as so many of their songs have been. It’s a massive shame that the three of them fucked it up so mightily in the end, they could have become really big, I suppose.

But either way, still, just a few punk bands left a footprint as heavy as Hüsker Dü, and somewhere, there’s a kid who’s about to hear the group for the first time.

I envy that kid.

Take care, friends,

Dirk

Teenage Fanclub

SHOULD’VE BEEN A SINGLE ?(5)

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Teenage Fanclub have quite a lot of songs that really should have been singles. The issue over the years is the fact they have tried to be democratic about things, splitting things up between the three main songwriters – Norman Blake, Gerry Love and Raymond McGinley.

1995 was the year that the album Grand Prix was released. The first indication of the quality of the new material was the advance single, Mellow Doubt, which appeared in March. A Norman Blake number, it was a lovely, acoustic almost-ballad like effort which reached #34, which wasn’t too shabby for a band whose best position in the singles chart up to now had been two years previously when Radio reached #31.

Next up was an absolute classic, one that is well up among the all-time favourites of anyone who has ever had an interest in the band. Sparky’s Dream, written by Gerry Love, is a fantastic piece of pop music, one that surely sounded great coming out over the airwaves, but for whatever reason, it didn’t chime with the general populace, entering the charts at #40 in late May and then disappearing from view.

Grand Prix was released a week after Sparky’s Dream. It went in at #7, giving Teenage Fanclub their first ever Top 10 album , so it might have been the case, in an era when CD singles weren’t cheap, that a few fans held on to their cash to buy the album.

The third single to be lifted from the album came in August, and was Neil Jung, another of the Norman Blake-penned songs (he had 5 on the album while Gerry and Raymond each had 4). It’s another exquisite number that should have had daytime radio producers screaming out to have it included on playlists, but it wasn’t to be. It barely dented the charts, coming in at #62, but its release did help tease Grand Prix back into the lower end of the albums charts, as it had dropped out after in mid-July after just five weeks.

It was now a pointless exercise to go with any fourth single from the album, given that there was clearly an aversion of some sort to play Teenage Fanclub outside the evening slots on Radio 1. I don’t know if there were any plans in place if any of the three previous singles had been hits, and it may well have been that it was Raymond’s turn to have a single, in which case album opener About You was the likely contender.

All of which means that this, another of the Gerry Love songs, was never given the honour of being a stand-alone 45 (or whatever the phrase would be in the era of CD singles):-

mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Don’t Look Back

Actually, that’s not quite 100% the case.

In December 1993, to round off what had been a triumphant year as far as the critics were concerned, it was decided to release Teenage Fanclub Have Lost It, an EP containing acoustic versions of four songs, one from each of the albums released on Creation Records, with the lead track being this:-

mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Don’t Look Back (acoustic)

Somehow, in a week when Christmas songs were selling plenty of copies, the EP did enough to reach #53. A quiet sort of triumph for good music.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Two)

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It took around nine months after the debut before the second 45 from The Wedding Present was available to buy. The remainder of 1985 has been spent playing live as well as writing new material. 1986 got off to a bit of a dream start, as 11 February saw them record their debut session for John Peel, with it being broadcast on 26 February. It consisted of three original TWP songs plus a blistering and frantic cover of Felicity, the single released by Orange Juice back in 1982.

Shortly afterwards their own second single was released, again on 7″ via Reception Records

mp3: The Wedding Present – Once More
mp3: The Wedding Present – At The Edge Of The Sea

There’s occasionally a bit of confusion as to when the single came out, as the 3500 copies which were pressed give a copyright date of 1985 on the labels, but this relates to the date of its recording and not its release.

The single actually featured recently as part of the Lucky Dip series. My copy is not from 1986, but instead is the Optic Nerve Records pressing, on white vinyl, from 2020.

Two excellent songs, with the latter, as I said last time out, not being immediately obvious as a Wedding Present number, but within fifteen seconds a more familiar sound comes to the fore, followed shortly after a lovelorn lyric about being happy with someone while visiting a coastal town. It’s one of my favourites of theirs and of course has given its name to the annual music festival which David Gedge organises in Brighton every August.

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Later in 1986, with both of the first two singles being nigh-on impossible to find, Reception Records issued a 12″ single entitled Don’t Try and Stop Me Mother, consisting of all four songs.

There’s a wonderful review of the 12″ in one of the UK weekly music papers (I’m not sure which one), which, among other things says:-

Oh, so glorious. A beacon of brilliance in a swamp of a thousand disposable singles. Charming, vivacious guitars blitzing through all those old glories of Buzzcocks.

Indeed.

JC

Wild Indians

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #377: THE WILD INDIANS

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mp3: The Wild Indians – Penniless

The Wild Indians featured previously back on 5 March 2020 thanks to me loving the song of theirs that had been included on the Big Gold Dreams boxset. Here’s the blurb for the booklet within the boxset.

The duo of vocalist Fiona Carlin and guitarist Kevin Low made two singles as The Wild Indians, on which Pop Wallpaper’s rhythm section of bassist Myles Raymond and drummer Les Cook played. The second, a 12” made up of three tracks of designer pop, was produced by John McVay of Visitors and engineered by Chic Medley of Perth-based electro-pop band Fiction Factory, with whom Carlin would sing with on their second album track, Victor Victorious. As a designer, Low’s work went on to grace many a record sleeve, including ones for The Delmontes and The Blue Nile. Low worked as a theatre photographer for many years, and is now a painter of note.

I added these thoughts back then.

“Beyond this, it is quite hard to track down any further info – they are one of the few Scottish bands from the era who don’t get listed in The Great Scots Musicography by Martin C Strong, published in 2002, and to which I have turned on many an occasion to fact-check/confirm or indeed get the basics!

Looking at Discogs, it seems that Penniless was the band’s second and final single, on 12″ only, released in 1986 on Rosebud Records. The only other single seemingly released on the label was Strawberry Letter 23 by Pop Wallpaper, which featured as Part 249 of this series back in March 2021.

The debut single by The Wild Indians was Love Of My Life, again as a 12″ only and released on the Hullabaloo! label in 1984. As this appears to be the only single from that label on Discogs, it may well have been set up specifically for the purposes of that particular single.

Short of paying a minimum of £20 for either single on Discogs, I’ve not been able to find any way of getting more Wild Indians songs to share with you. Sorry.

JC

Johnny Cash

SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 63)

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I don’t condone gun violence or cold-blooded murder.

But this is a tune and a lyric. And no chorus either…..

I hear the train a-comin’, it’s rolling ’round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when
I’m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin’ on
But that train keeps a-rollin’ on down to San Antone

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, “Son
Always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns”
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowin’, I hang my head and cry

I bet there’s rich folks eatin’ in a fancy dining car
They’re probably drinkin’ coffee and smoking big cigars
Well, I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free
But those people keep a-movin’, and that’s what tortures me

Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine
I bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom prison, that’s where I want to stay
And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away

mp3: Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues

JC

Alison Eales

RECOMMENDED LISTENING FROM 2023 (Volume 4)

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The fourth of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting. This one will come as no surprise to anyone who is a regular visitor to TVV and has been paying attention. It’s an album that came out in March on Fika Recordings.

The debut album from Alison Eales is an absolute doozy, twelve wonderfully crafted and delivered musical gems which draw from the many genres in which this superbly talented musician has been involved over the years.

She is best known as the keyboardist in Butcher Boy, one of the best and most underrated bands to emerge out of Scotland in recent times, but she is also a long-standing member of the Glasgow Madrigirls, a choral society whose live output encompasses a huge range of music such as classical, medieval, world, folk and chapel. The Madrigirls grew out of an initiative at Glasgow University, and Alison is a bit of an academic too, having gained a doctorate thanks to a ground-breaking thesis on the history of the Glasgow Jazz Festival, which earlier this year enjoyed its 37th edition.

There was every chance that Mox Nox was going to be an album of quality, and so it proved. I did review it on release (not something I’m in the habit of doing, but I will make exceptions for friends) and mentioned that the publicists at Fika had suggested it would likely appeal to fans of Saint Etienne, The Magnetic Fields, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stereolab, Jake Thackray and Kirsty MacColl, all of which gives an indication of the depth of influences that have impacted on the songs and the ways they have been recorded and arranged.

It’s an album which, from the opening notes of its first song, grabs and holds your attention throughout.

mp3: Alison Eales – Rapunzel

The voice is angelic, the instrumentation is of the utmost quality and the production, courtesy of Paul Savage of The Delgados, is perfection personified. It’s the beginning of what proves to be a genuinely captivating album.

It’s an impossible task to put this record into a single category. There are a number of examples of chamber-pop, not least on Ever Forward in which Alison sings while accompanied by a string quartet, while the track selected as lead-off single Fifty-Five North has the catchiest of choruses to a tune that many an indie-pop band would kill for.

It must also be one of the few songs to have been inspired in part by the Glasgow Subway, the city’s underground rail system, which opened in 1896 (third-oldest in Europe after London and Budapest) and has never expanded beyond its initial design of a 10.5km loop around the city, but only taking in the west end and south side.

It’s a gentle-paced album for the most part and a couple of the ballads, including the title track, are examples of songs that just seem to grow in stature with every listen.

Alison’s sense of self-deprecating humour shines through on a few occasions, not least in the album closer Come Home With Me, a jaunty number, in which the art of seduction finds itself reeling in the face of candidness:-

I don’t have much to offer in my flat
I can’t tell the cobwebs from the cracks
The kitchen’s full of rotting fruit
Up we crawl and then it’s all downhill to ill repute

Part of the reason for pulling this mini-series together is to perhaps offer up some ideas for Christmas gifts, either for yourselves or to buy for someone who you think might really enjoy the sort of music being suggested.

If Mox Nox is of appeal, then please feel free to click on this bandcamp page.