Month: August 2025

Smiths

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (27): The Smiths – This Charming Man

From wiki:-

“The earliest version of This Charming Man was recorded on 14 September 1983, in Maida Vale Studio 4, for John Peel’s radio programme (first broadcast: 21 September 1983).  Produced by Roger Pusey, and assisted by Ted De Bono, this version of the song was first included on the 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow. On 28 October 1983, the “Manchester” version was released in the UK in 7-inch and 12-inch formats, reaching number 25 in the UK charts

In December 1983, DJ François Kevorkian released a “New York” mix of the single on Megadisc records.  Kevorkian geared the song for nightclub dancefloors. The track was intended to be pressed in limited numbers for New York club DJs. However, Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis liked the mix and gave the release wide distribution in the UK.  Morrissey publicly disowned the mix, and urged fans not to purchase copies.  Travis later claimed, “It was my idea, but they agreed. They said ‘Go ahead’, then didn’t like it so it was withdrawn.” He also said, “Nothing that ever happened in the Smiths occurred without Morrissey’s guidance; there’s not one Smiths record that went out that Morrissey didn’t ask to do, so there’s nothing on my conscience.”

Of course I rushed out and bought it!!!!  I loved the way the Rough Trade logo had been bastardised for the American market.

And, it goes without saying, that I loved this remix and the instrumental version on the b-side.

mp3 : The Smiths – This Charming Man (New York Vocal)
mp3 : The Smiths – This Charming Man (New York Instrumental)

JC

Super Furry Animals

SUPER FURRY SUNDAYS (aka The Singular Adventures of Super Furry Animals)

A guest series by The Robster

#24: Lazer Beam (2005, Epic, 676 011 7)

Ten years after Super Furry Animals released their first EP, they’d come a very long way. They had forged themselves a path that had put them at the very forefront of the Welsh music scene, had stomped a huge footprint in the overall music scene in the UK, and had carved a loyal following across Europe and the USA, and all while doing their own thing and refusing to follow trends, fashions and expectations.

But things were changing. Increased digitisation in the way people consumed music meant there were so many options and all of a sudden, you didn’t have to spend stupid amounts of cash and hours in record shops to find something different. All those obscure techno, psychedelic, indie, 70s rock records were available online without a great deal of effort. All of a sudden, Super Furry Animals were not sounding as “different” as they used to.

They still had plenty of magic mind, it’s just that some of the fanbase they picked up over the previous decade was moving on, and only the most loyal remained. Us faithful were going to be rewarded a few more times, and it started with a new single and album released in August 2005.

MP3: Laser Beam

I love this one. It’s so irresistibly catchy, and it has all those hallmarks of SFA that we love. It’s also a critique of the political and social state of the word at the time (and sadly, two further decades on, still is…) Gruff’s opening lines state:

“This song is daunted by a radical new vision, no more imperial colonial bastards, no more romantic comedies, this is a fanfare introduction to a high-powered, purposeful theme.”

The words “radical new vision”, as well as other phrases in the lyrics, refer to Tony Blair’s speech at the 2004 Labour Party Conference. “I’ve nicked that wholesale,” Gruff would explain. “But I am offering a radical new vision whereas he wasn’t.”

The song is further explained by Bunf thus:

“Today’s reality is insane so we may as well make our own. It’s about aliens coming down from space and zapping humans with amazing lazer beams that make them intelligent rather than being jerks. It’s obviously a highly unlikely scenario”.

Which is a shame, because the one thing our world needs right now is an alien invasion and intelligence. With our world so-called leaders intent on blowing each other up into oblivion (or rather, blowing us into oblivion while they’re safely tucked away in their underground nuclear bunkers safe from the chaos they’ve wreaked), and the ordinary people of the world becoming so disillusioned with it all they’d rather just soak up social media soundbites and bizarre conspiracy theories spouted by weirdos and billionaires (same thing?) rather than actually THINK about what is actually going on, the world is closer to being doomed than we ever thought possible when Laser Beam was released.

Anyway, the genesis of Lazer Beam lies way back during the ‘Guerrilla’ sessions when a track called John Spex was written, demoed and even mixed, but never actually finished. An attempt to revive it for ‘Rings Around The World’ failed to take it any further. But the band felt there was something in it that was worth persevering with, and it was finally reworked and transformed into the backing track for Lazer Beam.

It was the first – and as it turned out – only single from the band’s 7th studio album ‘Love Kraft’. It was also the last single they’d release with Epic/Sony, their contract ending with this album. Maybe that was why only the one track was put out as a single – Sony couldn’t be bothered to promote an act that was leaving them. Another shame, as there are some excellent tracks to be found on ‘Love Kraft’, even if it wasn’t as immediate, or even quite as enjoyable as its immediate two predecessors.

Laser Beam was also the last time the Super Furries would grace the Top 40 singles chart in the UK, peaking at #28 in its first week of release. There were plenty of critics who loved it, describing it as “an absolute powerhouse of a song”, “acid-carnivalesque” and “like a kids TV theme heard through an acid-pop filter”. One or two critics, however, defied the general consensus, but when you consider the NME called it “the worst Furries song ever” at a time when no one took the NME in the slightest bit seriously (and to be fair, no one has ever since), I think we can brush over the negatives. But, the fact that a band so universally loved was starting to attract some less than favourable reviews comes back to what I said at the start – things were beginning to change…

Lazer Beam was released on 7” and CD formats, both of which contained this upbeat little number:

MP3: Sunny Seville

I like this one a lot, but it is so unlike everything else on ‘Love Kraft’ it was always destined to be a b-side. It sounds like it’s a cover rather than an original, it’s so unlike a Super Furry Animals song. However, it might be a hint of what was to come…

The CD also contained this:

MP3: Colonise The Moon

An acoustic track with 60s psych infused into its DNA, and some birdsong. It’s a tad longer than it perhaps should be, but otherwise, both these tracks show an improvement in b-sides over the ‘Phantom Power’ period.

Now, bonus tracks. ‘Love Kraft’ celebrates its 20th birthday this year. At the point of writing, an anniversary edition has not been announced, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It means there’s not a huge amount of bonus material to share (something that’s going to become more and more noticeable as we enter the final six weeks of the series), but at least with this single, I can turn to the various promos and collect together some bits and pieces.

MP3: Lazer Beam [radio edit]
MP3: Lazer Beam [Danger Mouse remix]

The Danger Mouse remix offers a radically different interpretation of the song, but I happen to like it. It even plays around with Gruff’s melody in the chorus. In the US, this version (listed as Lazerbeam) was released on a split 7” with a Danger Mouse remix of Easy/Lucky/Free by Bright Eyes.

Two more remixes, neither of which do an awful lot for me, especially the latter which is just rubbish:

MP3: Lazer Beam [DJ Marlboro remix]
MP3: Lazer Beam [LFO remix]

And finally, here’s the song that dates back to the ‘Guerilla’ sessions that eventually became this fine single:

MP3: John Spex [unfinished rough mix]

Next week – the post-Sony years commence…

 

The Robster

Fatherson

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #464: FATHERSON

Today’s featured band are well-loved by many in Scotland.

Fatherson hail from Kilmarnock, a blue-collar industrial town some 22 miles south-west of Glasgow.  They are, individually, Ross Leighton (guitar, lead vocals), Marc Strain (bass) and Greg Walkinshaw (drums) who came together along with a past band member Chris Beltran (guitar, keyboard and backing vocals in 2011.  The first singles between 2011 and 2013, a period in which the band toured extensively.

Debut album I Am An Island was released in 2014.  It has been followed by Open Book (2016), Sum Of All Your Parts (2018) and Normal Fears (2022) – only the debut album was as a four-piece as Chris Beltran left in 2015.

At this point, I have to confess that I own none of the albums, or indeed any of their singles or EPs. I just never took to the band, but that’s really a matter of my taste.  As I said, they are popular with many, and have won new audiences the old-fashioned way, through hard work in the studio and out on the road, where they have opened for many a big name including Biffy Clyro, Frightened Rabbit, Panic! at the Disco, Feeder, Twin Atlantic, Enter Shikari and Idlewild.

What I do have is their contribution to Whole Lotta Roadies, a charity digital album issued in 2020 with the aim of raising monies that could go members of live crews in Scotland who were facing the prospect of at least a year with no income as a result of shows being cancelled as the COVID pandemic took its ferocious grip on society.  The album featured 12 well-known Scottish bands, but with the twist that the crew members themselves would play on the songs – we’ve all been to enough gigs to know that roadies are often very talented and possibly frustrated musicians:

mp3 : Fatherson – Just Past The Point Of Breaking (Whole Lotta Roadies version)

The original version can be found on the Open Book album.

More info on Whole Lotta Roadies can be found here.

JC

 

Jam

SHOULD’VE BEEN A SINGLE ?(8)

The post-punk/new wave bands were never all that keen to lift too many album tracks as singles. Take The Jam, for example.

Many of their singles were stand-alone efforts – All Around The World, News Of The World, Strange Town, When You’re Young, Going Underground, Funeral Pyre, Absolute Beginners, The Bitterest Pill and Beat Surrender to be precise.

Most of their albums contained just one single – In The City, The Modern World, Setting Sons, Sound Affects and The Gift fall into this category, albeit the latter two did yield two further hits singles via imports.

Which leaves us with All Mod Cons.

It’s a real anomaly in that three of its songs – David Watts, A-Bomb In Wardour Street and Down In the Tube Station at Midnight, were already known to record-buyers prior to the album’s release in November 1978, thanks to the first two being on a double-A side and the latter being released as part of the efforts by Polydor to better market the band.

I recall Paul Weller, while being happy that the band was beginning to enjoy chart success, was miffed that fans were being asked to shell out for songs that were otherwise available.  So there was absolutely no way he would have agreed to this being released as a single:-

mp3: The Jam – Billy Hunt

One of the most immediate songs on All Mod Cons, I have no doubt that the record company execs would have wanted to put this into the shops on 7″ vinyl and relished it going at least Top 20, such was the popularity of the band and the way the song fitted in perfectly to the sounds of early 1979.

Should’ve been a single?   Well, let’s just say it merited such an accolade, but let’s be glad it never came to that.

 

JC

Undertones

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #103

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

# 103: The Undertones – ‘My Perfect Cousin’ (Sire ’80)

Dear friends,

for me, The Undertones simply had to feature in this series. I have always loved them very much, and even today I’d rate them as being one of my Top Five bands. Although they grew up in the punk or post-punk era, they were never ‘punk’ to me, a fabulous mixture between punk, power-pop, new wave and rhythm. The debut album from 1979 is ace, all killers, no fillers – and the second one, from a year later, is absolutely great as well. If you never listened to it in its entirety, you should do so soon!

They are often referred to as “Derry’s finest”, I know too little about the late 70s Derry music scene to be able to confirm this, but for sure they must have been somewhat special. They got together in 1974 and from 1975 to 1983 there were no personnel changes: Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O’Neill (rhythm guitar), his brother Damian (lead guitar), Michael Bradley (bass) and Billy Doherty (drums) . This may not sound very important, but do me a favor and try to remember what you were up to when you were that young: I’m willing to have small bet that you did not write, record and release an album as groundbreaking as The Undertones’ debut (from (January) 1979, as I said) when you, like them, were only 21 (Feargal + Billy), 22 (John) 18 (Damian) or 20 (Michael). An album, mind you, which included the classic ‘Teenage Kicks’ in all its greatness!

But I went for something different today, one which perfectly shows what made The Undertones so very special: they were more into teenage angst and heartbreak than into politics, you see. They came up with very clever lyrics most of the time, put into shape by Feargal’s distinctive voice. We have their sixth single today, and as far as I know it’s the one that charted the highest. But don’t let that put you off, I could have chosen any single preceding this one, this is no chart-pop nonsense, this is The Undertones in top form:

mp3: The Undertones – My Perfect Cousin

Enjoy,

Dirk

 

Fleetwood Mac

‘STEALING’. A FOUR-PART GUEST SERIES IN BOOK FORM : #1 FLEETWOOD MAC

A guest series by Steve McLean

First up…..the Prelude

In October last year, I sat down to write a blog for this site about the story of The New Deep Purple, a band that toured in 1980, causing much controversy with the fans.

As I pulled more at the thread of the story, it became apparent there were multiple tales like this dotted around the music world. “Oh great” I thought. I’ll do a series of blogs. I always wanted to do a series of blogs with a common theme.

I started finding all sorts of murky tales involving bands like The Zombies, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly and even Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

By the end of May..2025 I’d written about 80,000 words, but most of the story was about Deep Purple, I’d accidentally written a book*. Which is lovely, but I didn’t know what to with the rest of the work.

So I’ve decided to ask the lovely JC to carry the blogs as a series after all…what follows, across today and each of the next three Wednesdays, will be posts which are a lot longer than what you would normally find on TVV.

JC and I, very much, beg your indulgence…..

Stealing…. Fleetwood Mac

Most music fans are aware of the nostalgia circuit; One member of the Bill Haley’s Comets supported the Original Herman’s Hermits featuring the drummer with the show opened by one of The New Seekers billed as The New New Seakers . There has always been a market, not a massive one, but a market nonetheless for bands who will keep a name alive with only the flimsiest connection to the original group.

On paper, Fleetwood Mac are probably the biggest band ever to have the ‘New’ prefix. It’s worth keeping in mind though that Fleetwood Mac have been multiple different bands during their existence; The blues rock pioneers, cult favourites, the 1970s and 80s cocaine fuelled behemoth, the 90s Dave Mason led version that played Butlins (probably) and finally the We-Love-Money-More-Than-We-Hate-Each-Other festival headliners that featured Tim Finn of Crowded House. Tim Finn! Truly the glory years. On a side note, whenever Lindsey Buckingham has left Fleetwood Mac he’s been replaced by two people, make of that what you will.

In 1973 Mac fit very snuggly into the second category, attracting college students and die-hard blues fans who remembered the hits like Oh Well and Rattlesnake Shake. Christine McVie and Bruce Welch had done a lot to drag the band into the radio friendly mid-70s but it’s safe to say that most people didn’t care about Fleetwood Mac. That aside, the song Hypnotised from 1973 was something of a radio hit and might be considered the start of FM’s 1970s ascendancy.

mp3 : Fleetwood Mac – Hypnotised

The current Mac roster consisted of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie plus Bob’s Weston and Welch. Weston was the relative newcomer. He’d replaced Danny Kirwan and had contributed to both albums they’d recorded in 1973, Penguin and Mystery to Me.  His most visible musical contribution was probably dueting with Christine on Did You Ever Love Me.

mp3 : Fleetwood Mac – Did You Ever Love Me

But his biggest contribution to the legacy of the band is without a doubt his shrewd career move to have an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife, Jenny Boyd.

“Bob Weston had an affair with Mick’s wife and Mick found about it and just left. He was absolutely distraught, their marriage wasn’t going very well. Mick was really in a bad way for a while” Christine McVie, Off The Record, 1986

Fleetwood and Boyd had been on and off childhood sweethearts for fifteen years and had been married since 1970 (they would divorce, re-marry and divorce a second time). In the 1980s she married King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace. Honestly, marrying one drummer can seem like a mistake but two? At some point you have to just assume the lady had a thing for mopping up drool.

Once Fleetwood found out about the affair the group soldiered on for a few weeks, but ultimately they fired Weston and went on hiatus. The band cancelled the rest of the dates and had binned the upcoming US tour in the new year.  Cliff Davis, Mac manager and former Brian Epstein apprentice went fucking nuts. He would be liable for a hefty legal bill, and his reputation would be in tatters with promoters.

“The manager said do you realise what you’ve done, “we’re gonna be sued for millions.” I mean we wouldn’t have been. The way Mick wasn’t it wouldn’t have been possible for him to play. He was really in a bad way. So we all went back home again”  Christine McVie, Off The Record, 1986

Cliff Davis decided that he alone owned the name to Fleetwood Mac and set about putting together a new band.

“I want to get this out of the public’s mind as far as the band being Mick Fleetwood’s band, this band is my band. This band has always been my band.” Clifford Davis, manager of Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac Flak: Manager Takes Name, Not Members, On Tour, Rolling Stone February 28, 1974

While it’s true that Mick Fleetwood was the only remaining member of the band that recorded their first single as John McVie joined after their debut release, it was often assumed that the Fleetwood and the Mac in the band name was due to the ownership group. Not according to Davis;

A lot of people over the years have misconstrued the Fleetwood Mac as Fleetwood and McVie. ‘Fleetwood Mac’ was a song written by Peter Green when he was with John Mayall.” Clifford Davis, manager of Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac Flak: Manager Takes Name, Not Members, On Tour, Rolling Stone February 28, 1974

What happened next is where the tale gets murky, depending on who you talk to. Davis did this with Mick Fleetwood’s consent or Mick Fleetwood had absolutely no knowledge of this happening. Davis hired former Curved Air member Kirby Gregory and built a group around him and vocalist Elmer Gantry from Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera.

Both Kirby and Gantry (real name Dave Terry) had recently been in a band called Legs, their single So Many Faces is something of a lost freakbeat classic.

mp3: Legs – So Many Faces

According to the new members, the legalities of the band at this point were certain, Davis had the paperwork and the contracts and Fleetwood was on board. They were told that while Fleetwood wasn’t going to start the tour with them, he would join them partway through after he had rested.

“I just decided it was time to change the band, certainly onstage, and that’s what I did. I’ve always been sort of the leader. I’ve always sort of picked who was going to be in it and who wasn’t. I decided to keep Mick.” Clifford Davis, manager of Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac Flak: Manager Takes Name, Not Members, On Tour, Rolling Stone February 28, 1974

The members of the new band all corroborate the story; they were told that Fleetwood would be in the band eventually, even claiming to have met them beforehand

“Mick Fleetwood came to our house and we talked through the new band, and it all seemed fine. Mick said, well, I can’t actually come and rehearse with you, it was fairly imminent going to America to tour, but if you get [a temporary] drummer, I’ll join you for the tour.” Elmer Gantry, The New Fleetwood Mac Member, BBC Radio  2017

As with a lot of these stories, multiple versions are told and there are various versions of truth, Legend has it that the band played poorly and the audience were upset with the shows, but this doesn’t quite line up with some first-hand accounts.

“[The New Fleetwood Mac] were really good. I don’t know if the crowd was just really stoned or didn’t know what Fleetwood Mac looked like,” Rich Engler, Promoter ‘Behind the Stage Door,”

While you would expect such a quote from a show’s promoter, press reviews were mixed. Once again, the negative shows rise to the top. The band and their peers were happy with their output;

“Joe Walsh told me at one gig in Florida that despite Mick Fleetwood not being there, he thought we were rockin’ with the best of ’em. I don’t recall any major hostility towards us either. Elmer and I just thought: ‘We are stuck with this so let’s make the most of it’ – and we gave it all we had.”  Paul Martinez, The New Fleetwood Mac bass player, Classic rock Classic Rock 168, in March 2012.

When Davis’ Mac where on the road they were sometimes billed as The New Fleetwood Mac or Fleetwood Mac’s New Band but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest it wasn’t the con that history has declared it to be. A prefix of ‘THE NEW’ on a band poster rarely means original members but it doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of the performance. just ask the New Yardbirds. This isn’t the case for The New Kids on the Block, who were definitely shit. It should be noted that ‘THE NEW’ was doing some pretty covert work on some of the Fleetwood Mac posters

(Advert for The New Fleetwood Mac.. spot ‘The New’)

Eventually the tour starts to break down. As news of the stunt spreads around the music press, the shows suddenly start to suffer. In a self fulfilling prophecy, the band who were playing well, start playing badly when a crowd turns up and expects them to play badly.  That’s the problem with the court of public opinion, it rarely changes its mind after the initial decision.

At this point Mick Fleetwood starts to decry the actions of the Davis & Co, at least publicly. However, it was Bob Welch who took the lead and flew back to England to meet Fleetwood and the rest of the actual members.

“It is a rip-off. The manager put together a group real fast using the name Fleetwood Mac before we had a chance to do anything about it.” Bob Welch, Fleetwood Mac Member, Fleetwood Mac Flak: Manager Takes Name, Not Members, On Tour, Rolling Stone February 28, 1974

Welch stepping up to the plate is a weird move. He wasn’t an original member of the group and he was pretty burned out from the constant tour-album-tour regime. Could it be that Welch was the focal point for the legal action because he was the least informed member of Davis’ plans. Davis and The New Fleetwood Mac have always claimed that Mick knew and approved of his plans. It would be naïve to believe that at least the McVie’s didn’t also. According to Bob Brunning’s book Rumours and Lies, John McVie sent Clifford Davis a postcard from Haiti saying ‘Good luck with the new band’.

“I was making practical arrangements for auditions and rehearsals for the ‘New’ group in the middle of December 1973. I met John in a pub in Chelsea. John asked me whether or not Cliff would ‘get away with’ what he was doing. I asked him what he meant and he said ‘Putting completely different names on stage and calling them Fleetwood Mac’ I said I did not think he’d be wasting his time doing so if he thought it would not succeed’ Phil McDonnell, Bob Brunning, Rumours and Lies.

Regardless, if the band had agreed to the plan and then later changed their mind or if Davis was making a grab for the name, lawfully it was a murky water.

The problem for the group was the precedent set with multiple line-up changes plus Davis involvement in the band’s formation. He might actually have a legal case. The law generally considers a band as a company rather than a work of art and doesn’t care too much about who the founding members are or who has been in the band the longest. It tends to just notice who signed the contracts and who holds the purse strings. To make matters worse, it seemed that the band’s record label where none-the-wiser as to who exactly that it was that they had a record contact with; Fleetwood and McVie or Davis.

“I’m in the midst of trying to find out who has exclusivity on the name,” Don Schmitzerle, executive director, Warner Bros label management,

One major issue, when a band is treated as a brand or a franchise it that the Brand Manager could hire different musicians every single show and not care about the quality of the performance. They may not even be too concerned about the songs the outfit played or the style they are played in. In other words, the people who paid to see Fleetwood Mac may well end up seeing a Jazz Trio playing under the name Fleetwood Mac. That would be an issue for a court to consider. Welch summed it up neatly;

“To the band’s thinking that’s kind of beside the point. If he [Davis] has the rights to the band’s name, theoretically he can put anybody there. He can put four dogs barking on a leash and call it Fleetwood Mac. Basically what it boils down to is the manager flipped his lid. We’re going to take legal action as soon as we know where we can take it from.” Bob Welch, Fleetwood Mac Member, Fleetwood Mac Flak: Manager Takes Name, Not Members, On Tour, Rolling Stone February 28, 1974

To play devil’s advocate for Davis’ plans; he was seemingly convinced that the band were breaking up and not just going on hiatus. Christine McVie was starting a solo project, John McVie was making noises about going to LA and Fleetwood was making noises about moving to Kenya. Clifford had contracts that needed fulfilled before the band wound up, or the lot of them would be in financial ruin for years. As a reputation saving move, it would seem like an okay idea

The legally dubious point comes if the hypothetical Jazz Trio include a musician who is recognised to be Fleetwood Mac and has given their blessing. It appears the legal case against Davis hinged on whether or no Mick Fleetwood was actually involved in the project.

“For a while we believed that Mick would show. However, when he never appeared and we were later branded in the press as imposters, I felt a rage towards him that has taken decades to subside – even slightly. We desperately wanted out, but we were convinced that we had to do the gigs or end up in court in the States, so we carried on.” Elmer Gantry, ‘The New Fleetwood Mac’  Classic Rock Magazine 168, in March 2012.

The closing bell tolled for The New Fleetwood Mac after only about 15 shows. The band were due to perform to the assembled press at Howard Stein’s Academy of Music. Stein had decided to offer refunds to anyone not satisfied with the show as long as they left within the first fifteen minutes. It was announced that Mick Fleetwood wouldn’t be there and the band would be playing an instrumental only set. It seems Elmer Gantry’s voice decided not to play ball that evening, so the band played a set full of vocal-free boogie-woogie numbers, much to the crowd’s annoyance.

The Welch led legal case proved fruitful. Eventually the high court in England found in favour of the Mick Fleetwood and co for an injunction, but not before Davis himself had pulled the plug on the tour. He couldn’t stop the avalanche of bad press, regardless if the band played well or not. Eventually Davis Vs Fleetwood Mac was settled out of court with neither side being too keen to comment on who got what and how much… and importantly it’s never been revealed as to who in the Fleetwood Mac camp knew what and when they knew it.

“Davis split with the original band of course, and I believe an ‘accommodation’ was reached. Cliff certainly didn’t seem to be any poorer for the experience.”  Elmer Gantry, ‘The New Fleetwood Mac’  Classic Rock Magazine 168, in March 2012

It seems strange that Davis was keen to protect his reputation as a manager and music industry professional and yet would risk throwing it all away with a stunt like this. It could have been ego but it also could have been that he believed himself to be telling the truth. Certainly, Gantry is still convinced that the band had official blessing from Fleetwood;

“If Mick had at any point said to us that he had changed his mind, or simply didn’t want to do it, we would never have gone to the States, I don’t know what his motives were and I’m not going to guess, but I can say, despite all the lurid claims, we never were required to go to court.” Elmer Gantry, ‘The New Fleetwood Mac’  Classic Rock Magazine 168, in March 2012

Gantry wasn’t alone in this assessment;

“I think Mick Fleetwood, in a moment of despair over his wife’s infidelity, agreed to do something that he later regretted, and to save face with his fellow bandmates he denied having made any agreement. It’s regrettable that he was not man enough to admit his mistake and come clean with everyone. So as far as I am concerned, he not only lost his wife, he lost his honour too – not to mention his hair!”  Paul Martinez, The New Fleetwood Mac Bass Player, Classic Rock Magazine 168, in March 2012

The aftermath of the event was notable for both parties. The members of The New Fleetwood went on to form a funk rock band Stretch who hit the charts with the song ‘Why Did You Do It?’ reportedly about Mick Fleetwood agreeing to hire them.

mp3: Stretch – Why Did You Do It?

“The line that says: ‘The only ones who know the truth/Man that’s him, me and you,’ was about the fact that me, Elmer and Mick sat in our Tooting flat and discussed the new Fleetwood Mac” Kirby Gregory , The New Fleetwood Mac, Classic Rock Magazine 168 in March 2012

While Mick Fleetwood’s stance has remained consistent and one of total denial;

“To this day, I don’t know the names of the musicians involved and I don’t wanna know.”  Mick Fleetwood; in the book ‘Fleetwood’ (1990)

Which to anyone familiar with the Watergate story, it sounds a little like a ‘non-denial denial.’ Indeed it seems to be a tone that the whole band followed, a ‘party line’ as it were’;

“Mick had no thought of going back to America with this whole bogus band” Christine McVie, Off The Record, 1986

The whole chapter could have been considered closed until in 2012 Classic Rock Magazine published an excerpt from the court case that seemed to imply that Fleetwood had at least met with Gantry and Kirby;

“On 13 November, as the plaintiff’s own evidence discloses, the plaintiff Fleetwood alone went to see the third and fourth defendants [Gantry and Gregory] and discussed the position and did not object”. Court Transcript

This comment has since been repeated by Gantry on the record;

“It wasn’t until about three years ago that somebody sent me anonymously some court papers where in court in the seventies Mick admitted he’d been to our house and discussed Fleetwood Mac” Elmer Gantry, The New Fleetwood Mac, BBC Johnny Walker’s Sounds of the Seventies 2017

The April 1974 confidential settlement that saw Davis relinquish his rights to his name may have actually been a canny bit of business, if you ignore what Fleetwood Mac would go on to become later in the decade.

In the early autumn of the same year, the band were back on tour. Listings found the line up Welch, McVie, McVie and Fleetwood listing them as ‘The Real Fleetwood Mac’

(Gig listings for The Real Fleetwood Mac)

Mick Fleetwood or any other member of Fleetwood Mac haven’t spoken about the event in years. Give the passage of time and the clouding of memories plus the fact that we all carve out our own reality from the truths we tell ourselves, who are the mere onlookers to call anyone a liar? But since no one from the official Fleetwood Mac camp seems to want to acknowledge the existence of The New Fleetwood Mac, it’s seems only fair to give the last word to Gantry;

“It’s not been contested because it’s absolutely true and it’s in court papers”Elmer Gantry, The New Fleetwood Mac, BBC Johnny Walker’s Sounds of the Seventies 2017

If taken on his word then it seems that Elmer and the rest of The New Fleetwood Mac were all victims, either of a duplicitous scam or a bad idea going wrong. However, Kirby and Gantry weren’t the only victims in this affair. The ripples of the venture touched a lot more people than just the main players. The band Silverhead supported The New Fleetwood Mac on a few dates before the ill-fated tour was brought to an early end.

“The gigs got pulled one by one. We had to go back to LA to regroup and find another tour maybe, but it was too late as everyone had schedules already out on the road. So, we sat in LA for weeks and all the money we earned was used up on fees and travel and we had to go home.” Pete Thompson, Drummer, Silverhead

Silverhead were signed in 1972 to the record label set up by Deep Purple called Purple Records. Unfortunately, the group weren’t just dropped from the tour though. Purple Records were desperate for the band to ‘break America’ and to do that they needed to be playing high profile shows. Since they were not able to promote their album via their Fleetwood Mac support slots, the label found it hard to bankroll them.

“(The tour collapsing) led to Purple records dropping us. Silverhead broke up soon after sadly and set me on the road to severe depression along with others in the band.” Pete Thompson, Drummer, Silverhead

Pete did eventually make a name for himself, becoming one of the most sought-after rock drummers around. He worked with (among others) Robert Plant and Robin Trower. His colleague Nigel Harrison would later join Blondie. Eventually, in Pete’s own words ‘It all worked out’.

For Fleetwood Mac, everything was set to go back to normal. Two albums a year and near constant gig schedule with respectable crowd numbers in the high hundreds and albums that straddle to US top 50. It was a very good living. Welch recorded one last album and performed one last tour. The Heroes Are Hard to Find album saw the band crawl ever closer to what they were about to become.

mp3: Fleetwood Mac – Heroes Are Hard To Find

As often the case, there was an unintended outcome to the event. Bob Welch, is often referred to as the man who saved Fleetwood Mac, found the whole affair incredibly draining and mentally taxing so he eventually quit the band. It had been one hurdle too many for a band that had been delivering on a punishing schedule of eight albums in five years and near-constant touring with only relative success to show for it. His marriage was breaking down and he was tired of essentially ‘running the band’. He managed to see out the rest of the year and jumped ship for a solo career at the end 1974.

The court case had been instrumental in convincing Fleetwood Mac that they needed to move to the USA (that and the fact they couldn’t get arrested in the UK). With Welch gone they needed a new guitarist and front person, so they turned to Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. and superstardom was on the horizon.

It’s strange to think that that Bob Weston’s poor life choices would ultimately give the world some of the best rock music ever produced. In honour of that wonderous period of clouded judgement I’d like to close this blog with a salute to his solo career…… HAHAHAHA nope….

mp3: Fleetwood Mac – Monday Morning

 

I’d like to thank Pete Thompson for answering my emails.

 

STEVE McLEAN

* JC adds

Steve is far too modest to push his book on to you, but I’m more than happy to do so.  Click here to order.

I’ll admit to not knowing the foggiest about Deep Purple, far less the tale of how there was a counterfeit band on the go for a bit, and so I’ve already put in my order.  Might end up being reviewed on the blog in due course….

Book Reviews

BOOK OF THE MONTH : AUGUST 2025 : ‘YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD : 2 WOMEN, 5 BANDS, ’80s EDINBURGH by SASKIA HOLLING

I don’t have too many regrets in life.  I’ve been incredibly lucky with every big decision I’ve ever had to make, personally and professionally, and as I move disgracefully into my 60s, I grow increasingly grateful for everything with each passing day.  But, as I turned the pages of this wonderfully written newly published book about the growth, development and the death of the indie-music scene in Edinburgh in the 80s, I did get the occasional pang of ‘what if?’

Please allow me to explain.  I moved to Edinburgh to live and work, at the age of 22, in the summer of 1985, eventually moving back to Glasgow in early 1990.  I arrived in the capital with a love of music that had been with me all my life, but really ignited by the arrival of post-punk and further nurtured by meeting like-minded souls throughout my university years.  I was convinced that Glasgow was still the place to be for music, particularly the live scene, and I spent many weekends travelling back west doing my best to keep up with things, but before too long, I got tired of this and looked around Edinburgh for things to get involved in.

In due course, I hooked up with some lovely people who were hoping to make a name for themselves in the creative arts through acting, dancing and stand-up comedy, and soon found myself immersed in the world of community theatre. It was great fun, and I can look back with pride on some of the shows I was involved, including being part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and ‘acting’ alongside people who would in due course make a name for themselves in film, TV and professional theatre.

No regrets at all about how I spent my leisure time in my adopted city, but as You and Me Against The World details across more than 400 hugely enjoyable pages, my short time as a luvvie coincided with Edinburgh experiencing a vibrant music scene of the type that was really up my street, if only I’d been paying attention.  The ‘what if’ stems from wondering what might have happened if I’d met up socially with the musicians rather than the actors?

I’ve actually long been aware of what I missed out on, thanks in part to a friendship with Jacques the Kipper who, not long after we met in 1989, began to fill me in on what I’d been missing across the indie-scene in Scotland and further afield.  Gaps in my music collection were gradually filled in, but have been accelerated greatly in recent years from the release of a number of compilation albums and box-sets whose liner notes offer some excellent background.  The growth of the internet, and in particular blogs and fan-based sites, has also been a godsend.

There’s loads of info out there, and Saskia Holling has done a remarkable job in knitting this particular story together, and the book goes way beyond what it is suggested via its title.  I make no apologies now for pinching a few paras from Saskia’s introduction. as there’s no better way to explain her achievement:-

“So, here he have the story of five bands whose fates were reliant on each other: Rote Kapelle, the Shop Assistants, Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes, The Fizzbombs and The Motorcycle Boy. The story is told through Margarita Vazquez Porte and the late Alex Taylor, whose voice I have attempted to make heard via extracts from music papers and other media interviews. These two women were musically involved, sometimes only briefly, with four out of these five bands. Both dealt with the experiences that involvement brought in different ways.

“This book is also the story of Margarita and Alex’s bandmates: Ian Binns, Chris Henman, David Keegan, Malcolm Kergan, Michael Kerr, Katy Lironi, Angus McPake, Johnny Muir, Fran Schoppler and Andrew Tully, along with Janie Nicholl and Allison Young of another Edinburgh-based band alive for a short burst in the 80s, The Vultures. These stories take us on a journey from school days to post-punk teenage years, to people meeting and making music in a small local independent scene.  Along the way, we uncover the ‘shambling’, ‘anorak’, ‘cutie’ and ‘blonde’ representations of the national DIY independent music scene in the UK press and how that played into each band’s story”

The extent of Saskia’s research can be measured by her ‘References section’ with more than 100 articles from the contemporary music press quoted in some shape or form, and a further fifty online sources, including print, audio and visual, being sourced along the way.  Oh, and on top of that, there’s the extensive interviews she did with many of the protagonists.

The thing that comes across more than anything, certainly for me, is that across a discography of more than 30 singles or albums released during the decade, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number which were commercially successful.  All the bands at some point in their careers had their champions in the music press, albeit the same publications would, as happens with all singers and bands who are around for any length of time, come to disown or dismiss them as irrelevant, often on a whim.  The sinister thing that comes through, however, is how sexism and misogyny, particularly within the UK music press of the era, played a significant and horrific part in things; even worse, but unsurprisingly, is that record label moguls were equally guilty of such behaviours.

You and Me Against The World really did give me a great deal to think about, but at the same time, it made me want to put aside all other music playing here in Villain Towers and listen again to the bands and musicians whose stories are so well told. I’m not going to claim that every record was wonderful and should be in the collections of anyone serious about indie music, but there’s more than enough to warrant the sort of Imaginary Compilation Album with which this blog has been associated with for many years. But maybe for another day.  In the meantime, here’s a few singles:-

 

mp3: Rote Keppelle – These Animals Are Dangeroos (In Tape Records, 1986)
Andrew Tully (vocals), Margarita Vasquez-Ponte (vocals), Chris Henman (guitar), Ian Binns (keyboards), Malcolm Kergan (bass), Jonathan Muir (drums)

mp3: Shop Assistants – Safety Net (53rd & 3rd Records, 1987)
Alex Taylor (vocal), David Keegan (guitar), Sarah Kneale (bass), Ann Donald (drums), Laura McPhail (drums)

mp3: Jesse Garon & The Desperados – The Rain Fell Down (Narodnik Records, 1987)
Fran Schoppler (vocal), Andrew Tully (guitar/vocal), Kevin McMahon (guitar), Stuart Clarke (guitar), Angus McPake (bass), Margarita Vasquez-Ponte (drums)

mp3: The Fizzbombs – Sign On The Line (Narodnik Records, 1987)
Katy Lironi (vocal), Margarita Vasquez-Ponte (guitar/backing vocals), Ann Donald (bass), Angus McPake (drums)

mp3: The Motorcycle Boy – Big Rock Candy Mountain (Rough Trade, 1987)
Alex Taylor (vocals), Michael Kerr (guitar), Dave Scott (guitar), Eddie Connelly (bass), Paul McDermott (drums)

 

The book is available direct from Spinout Publications for £17.99 plus P&P.  Click here to do so.   Trust me, you’ll have a fine time, not just reading all that Saskia has to offer, but going down the inevitable rabbit holes listening to the music.

 

JC

Fountains Of Wayne

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (25) : Fountains Of Wayne – Radiation Vibe

Most of the singles appearing as part of the CD Lucky Dip are from the mid-90s, with many of them being picked up long after the time of their release via bargain bins or as cheap second-hand offerings.   My copy of the debut single from Fountains Of Wayne has a 99p sticker on the front, but not from any easily identifiable shop or store, which means it was likely one of those found in Missing Records, a vast second-hand emporium in Glasgow whose location has shifted around a few times over the decades.  It’s a shop I used to love browsing in, but in recent years it has annoyed me more often than not thanks to its practice of charging silly money for a large part of its second-hand vinyl, taking advantage of the hipsters and younger consumers eager to get their hands on original copies of singles and albums.

But back in the late 90s, it was very much a shop stacked with CDs, a medium that has had far fewer examples of vastly inflated prices being attached to the stock, and it was good fun rifling through the shelves looking for things.

I remember seeing the video for Radiation Vibe on television one day, back when it had just been released in 1997.  I’m sure it was on one of the early editions of Top of The Pops 2, which went out on BBC2 and featured a mix of old performances from days gone by along with some promo videos from new singers and bands who were tipped to have some upcoming commercial success.  I remember quite liking the song, but not enough to rush out and buy it immediately for whatever silly price CD singles were going for in early 1997.  Handing over 99p a few months later was quite sufficient.

mp3; Fountains of Wayne – Radiation Vibe

There were three other songs on the CD.  I can say in all honesty that airing them in preparation for this post would be the first time they have been played in the best of 30 years and I had no idea what they would sound like:-

mp3 : Fountains of Wayne – Karpet King
mp3 : Fountains of Wayne – Janice’s Party
mp3 : Fountains of Wayne – Imperia

The first of them reminded me a bit of the mellow side of Teenage Fanclub in places.  The others merely annoyed me.

JC

Super Furry Animals

SUPER FURRY SUNDAYS (aka The Singular Adventures of Super Furry Animals)

A guest series by The Robster

#23: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck – Live (2004, Epic, 675 304 6)

This week’s episode is short and sweet. Not because I’m getting bored, but because there’s not much to write about. The song in question was originally released in 1996 and thus has already been covered in this series back here, but here’s a version that was released as a single in September 2004:

MP3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [live at London’s Hammersmith Apollo]

I’m pretty sure that since 1995, there has not been a SFA live show where they haven’t performed this song. In fact, it became their de facto set closer. Essentially, the standard song would be played for around 5 minutes, before all but Cian would leave the stage. He would then continue the track in his own inimitable way with an extended electronic wig-out for as long as it took for the others to change into yeti costumes and bound back onto the stage to conclude the show for the final couple of minutes.

On this occasion at the Hammersmith Apollo (sorry, LONDON’s Hammersmith Apollo as it is stated on the sleeve, just to remind us what the most important musical city in the world is… Thanks BPI!), Cian’s solo part was extended even more than usual, the result being a version of The Man Don’t Give A Fuck lasting 20 minutes in length!

The original version set a chart record for the most number of f-bombs in a chart single. This was beaten a couple years later by Insane Clown Posse’s Fuck The World. The Furries’ title was reclaimed with this release, though I’m not sure how many times the word is used. Feel free to count them yourself and post in the comments if you have nowt better to do…

It was put out as a single to tie in with the impending release of ‘Super Furry Animals Songbook’, a compilation of the band’s singles a few weeks later. The studio version of The Man… was included on that album, not this live version, which itself was only produced in limited numbers. Only two formats were released in the UK, a 12” and a CD, both of which contained just the one track, no b-sides. Promo CDs, however, contained two edits – one with the swear words, and one, rather hilariously, without!

MP3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [live – edit]
MP3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [live – radio edit]

The lack of b-sides this week means I kind of feel like you’re being cheated, so I’ve dug out something from a bootleg I have. In 2004, Gruff and Bunf did some promotional performances while the band was on tour in the US. While in Denver, Colorado, they stopped by Twist & Shout Records to play an instore show. Included in their rather informal set was a song dating from the same period as The Man Don’t Give A Fuck, so I’ve decided to throw this one in today out of the kindness of my heart.

MP3: Gathering Moss [live in-store at Twist & Shout Records]

Next week, one of my faves.

 

The Robster

Father Sculptor

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #463: FATHER SCULPTOR

It really was careless of me to feature Father Sculptor just a few weeks ago, given that their turn to be part of the alphabetical run-through (second time around) of Scottish music on the hard drive happens to be today.

I won’t repeat what I said about this wonderful band who really should have been, and nor will I post any of the songs issued on their own physical release, the Faith & Violence EP.  The band hailed from the SoundCloud era, and many of their earliest material was made available, in digital form, over there, including the two songs which made up the debut single:-

mp3: Father Sculptor – Ember
mp3: Father Sculptor – Blue

From 2012, if my memory serves me correctly.

I had forgotten just how wonderfully derivative Blue is.  It’s so catchy and danceable.

JC

 

Various

LIFE IS TIMELESS, DAYS ARE LONG

One of my best mates turns 60 tomorrow.  He occasionally hangs around this little corner of t’internet where he goes by the name of Jacques the Kipper.  He isn’t one for having big celebrations… there was nowt for him turning 30, 40 or 50….he may have had an 18th or 21st, but as I didn’t get to know him until 1989, so I can’t say one way or the other, but I’ve a fair idea he had quiet ones.

I’ve decided, if you don’t mind, to have this month’s mix made up of songs that he is rather fond or perhaps are related to some of the shenanigans we’ve got up to over the years..  And as he likes to holiday in a certain European country and its various islands…….Feliz aniversário!

mp3: Various – Life Is Timeless, Days Are Long

Intro (8 seconds)
Buzzcocks – Sixteen Again
The Wedding Present – Shatner
Half Man Half Biscuit – Mr Cave’s A Window Cleaner Now
M.I.A. – Paper Planes
Prince – Raspberry Beret
Public Enemy – Fight The Power
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
The Pixies – Debaser
Paul Quinn & The Independent Group – Stupid Thing
Edwyn Collins – Keep On Burning
Dum Dum Girls – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Mcsleazy – Don’t Call Me Blur
Pet Shop Boys – Domino Dancing
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Bloodsport For All
Jay Z ft Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
The Jam – When You’re Young

JC