Category: Blue Aeroplanes

bIG fLAME, Blue Aeroplanes, Pooh Sticks, The Turncoats

C86 : THE ULTIMATE SERIES (Parts 67, 68, 69, and 70 of 114)

Big Flame, or to be more precise bIG* fLAME, were from Manchester, active from 1983 to 1986 during which there were five singles/EPs, the debut on their own Laughing Gun Records in 1984 with the remainder being on Ron Johnson Records during 1985 and 1986.  They were also invited to contribute to the C86 cassette:-

mp3: New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology) – biG*fLAME

Track 7 on side 2 of the C86 cassette; Track 18, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

This 1 minutes and 38 seconds of mayhem wasn’t made available elsewhere, but was included on a post-career compilation, Rigour 1983-1986, released in 1996 by an American label, Drag City

The very title of the song should give you a hint that bIG* fLAME were quite different from everyone else on C86.  Named after a revolutionary socialist feminist grouping, they were more punk than indie, with an uncompromising sound and attitude.  I have suggested they are an acquired taste, but there are times when their music just perfectly matches my mood.

After bIG* fLAME, we go to another extreme of indie music, and possibly the most jangly indie band to ever take the piss out of the jangly indie scene while still making great music.

The Pooh Sticks are from Swansea in South Wales, initially being together between 1987 and 1995, before reforming in 2010. Their first five singles were released in 1988,  all on the locally-based Fierce Recordings, and all being single-sided on 7″ in limited numbers.  Among the titles were I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well and Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution, but perhaps their greatest two minutes and forty seconds came via this:-

mp3: On Tape – The Pooh Sticks

Track 18, Disc 2 of CD86.

I’ll stand by my words from a few years back:-

“On Tape is a brilliant record on so many different levels. It sounds as shambolic and cheaply recorded as most of the C86 tracks were, it pays homage to the humble cassette which, after all, was the medium under which C86 thrived and above all else the lyrics gently mock the trainspotter obsessiveness of so many music fans (myself included!!) with lyrics such as “I’ve got Falling and Laughing – the original Postcard version” and “I sent for the Soup Dragons single, mail-order only; £1.30 to Martin Whitehead, but it never came!”

They would later sign to labels in America, and by 1991 had changed direction to a more power pop sound, through to the 1995 break-up.  There hasn’t been much in the way of new material since the 2010 comeback, which in essence was to play at the Indietracks Festival that year, and there have been just a handful of appearances since. Having said that, main man Hue Williams is very much part of the very active group Swansea Sound alongside many other indie alumni.

mp3: One Breath – The Turncoats

Track 22, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

This has proved among the most difficult to get info on.  The Turncoats had just one release, and it was the Motor Ball Meltbeat EP on Noiseannoys Records in 1986, which was the label That Petrol Emotion had briefly set up and which saw the release of the single V2 in 1985.  If the info on Discogs is correct, then V2 and Motor Ball Meltbeat were the only two released on Noiseannoys.  I’ve also found that The Turncoats supported TPE a few times in the mid 80s.

The band members were Nick Brown, Roger Hellier, James Murray and Chris Teckkam.  I’ve since established that Roger Hellier and Chris Teckkam were later part of an early 90s band called Swimmer.

And that’s it……………………………………

The Blue Aeroplanes are a band from Bristol who have been on the go since 1983 with thirteen albums and countless singles to their name. Their debut release was an album rather than a single.  Bop Art came out in 1984 on their own Party Records. One of its tracks was later included on the expanded C86 release:-

mp3: Outback Jazz – The Blue Aeroplanes

Track 13, Disc Three of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.

It is genuinely impossible to summarise the band in a few paragraphs. Back in 2017, the comedian and writer Stewart Lee, described The Blue Aeroplanes a being “like Philip Larkin fronting Television”. Why?  Well, the band has long fused poetry and guitar-led melodies, while throwing in elements of folk. They have also been subject to almost as many changes in membership as The Fall, with some 50 different musicians/performers having at one time or other being in the band. And in Wojtek Dmochowski, they have engaged a dancer as part of their live shows since the very beginning.

Maybe it’s best I refer you to this ICA, penned for the blog by Mike Melville, a long-time fan of the band and whose own website/blog, Manic Pop Thrills, is always a fascinating read.

One final overall thought…..the foursome making up this latest edition of the series have very little in common, and as Josef K might have put it, it’s kinda funny that they all ended on up on releases associated with the C86 genre.

 

JC

Blue Aeroplanes

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #105 : THE BLUE AEROPLANES

A GUEST POSTING FROM MIKE MELVILLE

JC writes:-

I’ve known Mike a long time – way longer than either of us have been doing this blogging nonsense. He’s both an talented writer and photographer and the fruits of his labours can be enjoyed over at the consistently excellent Manic Pop Thrills. This coming Sunday, he’s asked me to join him at the Glasgow gig by The Blue Aeroplanes. I had no hesitation in saying yes but did mention that outwith a handful of mp3s I knew little or nothing about the band. He decided that a quick education in the form of an ICA would be worthwhile. So over to Mike….

With a career stretching back almost 36 years, Bristol’s The Blue Aeroplanes have just released their twelfth studio album Welcome! Stranger.

Formed in the early 1980s, the band have had a rotating cast of members over the years (reaching 48 at the last count) with the only constants being Gerard Langley (vocals) and Wojtek Dmochowski (dance). Yep – dance. Long before Bez was shaking his thing for the Happy Mondays, Wojtek was enlivening the ‘planes live show.

Initially almost as much an art collective a band the Aeroplanes put out Bop Art on their own Party Records before signing for Fire for whom they delivered two further albums Tolerance and Spitting Out Miracles. By the time of  the latter the band were becoming firm critical favourites and the record brought them to the attention of both the major labels and, the ultimate critics band, R.E.M.

First off they supported the Athens, Georgia outfit on their Green tour in the U.K. Indeed my first exposure to the ‘planes was on that tour but it must constitute the briefest ever performance I’ve witnessed. We literally saw the last chord of the last song which was followed by what seemed to be dozens of folk (including some members of R.E.M.) leaving the stage. We definitely got the feeling that we’d missed something!

Which was unfortunate since we had wanted to see the Blue Aeroplanes but they must have been on stage much earlier than supports normally were at the Playhouse. That’s my excuse, anyhow.

The band’s fourth album (and major label debut) Swagger is widely regarded as their masterpiece and arrived on new label Ensign early in 1990. The R.E.M. connection continued when Michael Stipe provided backing vocals on What It Is on the album. (BTW the influence wasn’t all one way – listen to Departure and even E-Bow The Letter off New Adventures in Hi-Fi and join the dots!)

With the clout of a major behind them and uniformly positive support from the press the BAs genuinely appeared to be on the brink of a commercial breakthrough. Lead single Jacket Hangs reached 72 in the charts and follow-up And Stones (with several dance remixes) got as high as 63.

Although ‘Swagger’ failed to provide the breakthrough, Ensign still had high hopes for the follow-up. The band were persuaded to include a cover of Paul Simon’s The Boy In The Bubble on the new LP but even that failed to hit the charts. Parent album Beatsong did enter the charts at 33.

At this stage the Aeroplanes still seemed one great song away from making a breakthrough and they were prioritised by their American company. But the company were taken overshortly afterwards and the promised support never materialised.

Moving to Beggar’s Banquet, 1994’s Life Model reached 60 in the album charts but once again didn’t produce that elusive hit although lead track Broken & Mended really should have done so.

The following year came their second, and final, Beggar’s LP but Rough Music failed to make much of an impact.

Their next release was an odd thing on their own Art Songs label – the 2 CD set mixed new songs on CD1 (all entitled Cavaliers Part X) and compiled rarities (some of which had seen service as B-sides in the mid -90s) on CD2. Apparently all the Cavaliers were intended for Altitude as a 12 minute suite but gained a life of their own.

The band next rather unexpectedly signed to another major label – this time EMI. A patchy LP Altitude in 2006 was followed by a label-inspired album of covers of bands that had been on the Harvest label. Inevitably neither troubled the charts.

The re-release of first ‘Swagger’ then ‘Beatsongs’ in deluxe editions with tours to support raised the band’s profile again and the band’s next release arrived in 2011 – a self released vinyl LP Anti-Gravity with an expanded double CD version only released the following year. Unfortunately its impact was diminished by limited promotion.

The band set out in late 2013 on a Singles tour which included a Glasgow date – their first in Scotland since the ‘Altitude’ tour. The concept of a Singles tour was a little odd as there was no corresponding album to promote! Nevertheless the dates were a success with several new songs debuted.

Which pretty much brings us up to the release of the new album. The campaign for Welcome, Stranger’ seems to be far more focussed than that for‘Anti-Gravity as the album was launched as a pre-release through a Pledge Music campaign. A 14-date UK tour has also been arranged to coincide with the release on 6 January.

The album is their most direct in years with fewer long songs than normal and plenty of crunchy guitars. In Sweet Like Chocolate they’ve recorded their best pop tune in decades even if it’s not an original but a cover of a garage hit by Shanks & Bigfoot! But it’s fair to say the band have dramatically recast the song and made it their own.

So the Blue Aeroplanes once again appear poised for take-off with Gerard even raising the possibility of a new album later in the year.

Anyhow (finally) here’s a 10 track Blue Aeroplanes compilation. It’s not so much an attempt to cover the band’s whole career as to provide an accessible introduction to the band so there’s a good number of singles included.

And since it’s so new I’ve stayed clear from anything from ‘Welcome, Stranger!’, although to be honest, along with ‘Swagger’, the new album is probably as good an introduction to the band as you can get.

1. Broken & Mended (from ‘Life Model’ – 1994)

With its “Hello, how are you? How’s it going?” opening line B&M is a cracking way to open both its parent LP and this collection. One of the many ‘should have been hits’ in the back catalogue.

2. Jacket Hangs (from ‘Swagger’ – 1990)

Probably their best known original song and the first BAs’ song I consciously heard. Expecting a faster tune, the song’s pacing is genius – slower than you expect but still unstoppable. It also has the distinction of never having been dropped from the live set.

3. Veils of Colour (A-side single – 1988)

‘Veils of Colour’ is a non-LP single which preceded their final album for Fire and it’s a song which must have really flagged up their potential to the majors. Along with most, if not all, of the non-LP Fire material ‘VoC’ is included on the ‘Friendloverplane’ compilation put out by Fire after the band signed to Ensign.

4. Fun (from ‘Beatsongs’ – 1991)

It’s a BAs’ tradition that Gerard doesn’t sing every song on the LPs so one of these songs also has to be included here. ‘Fun’ is Rodney Allen’s showcase from ‘Beatsongs’ and it was also released as a single in Europe.

5. Bright Star Catalogue (from ‘Altitude’ – 2006)

Whilst I’ve stuck with the more obvious material the Blue Aeroplanes can be as experimental as the next band as ‘Bright Star Catalogue’ demonstrates. One of the best songs on the album it’s only a taster for the band’s longer material which is just as compelling as the pop tunes.

6. Bury Your Love Like Treasure (from ‘Spitting Out Miracles’ – 1987)

Another classic from the indie days which still features in live sets today, ‘Bury Your Love …’ incorporates both the band’s pop and experimental tendencies.

7. You Are Loved (from ‘The Loved’ E.P. – 1990)

Lead track from an E.P. which never made a studio album although it is included on both the major label rarities compilation ‘Friendloverplane 2’ and the ‘Swagger’ reissue. Check out that riff! Despite lacking the additional promotion offered by an imminent LP release, ‘The Loved’ E.P. did chart – albeit at a lowly 91.

8. Detective Song (from ‘Rough Music’ – 1995)

The lead single from the band’s second and final Beggars LP, ‘Detective Song’ was the latest in a run of classic singles but, sadly, another one which failed to trouble the charts. The fact that there doesn’t seem to be a promo on YouTube perhaps tells its own story.

9. Breaking In My Heart (from ‘Lover & Confidante (And Other Stories Of Travel, Religion & Heartbreak)’ E.P. – 1985)

Another Aeroplanes tradition has been the cover and over the years the band have covered a long list of acts including Wire, Deep Purple, The Smithereens, St. Vincent, CCR and the Hold Steady (who clearly owe a debt to Bristol’s finest). This was an early cover of a Tom Verlaine song which has become a live fixture as the final encore (and, yes, it was the “last-chord” song at the Playhouse gig!). There are at least 3 official live versions available which are all worth searching out.

10. Pony Boy (B-side ‘Yr Own World’ single – 1991)

Another classic ‘planes tradition is the great B-side. I have a playlist on the iPod of non-LP material from the major years which is as good as most of the albums. ‘Pony Boy’ is an out-take from ‘Beatsongs’ which Gerard has described as ‘never, really finished’. Which is more than a little scary as the version that was released is still great. Was even used to close the main portion of the live sets for a while and is available on both ‘Friendloverplane 2’ and the ‘Beatsongs’ deluxe reissue. (available here http://www.theblueaeroplanes.com/?product=beatsong-deluxe )

So that’s it. Want to find out more? The Aeroplanes’ web presence has been something of a moving target over the years but can currently be found at www.theblueaeroplanes.com

If you want a physical copy of the albums then the only officially still in print studio albums are ‘Cavaliers’, ‘Beat Songs deluxe’, ‘Anti-Gravity’ and, of course ‘Welcome Stranger’. See the band’s webstore for more details.However I think everything else is still available digitally and it isn’t too difficult to track down physical copies of the various studio albums and compilations if you are so inclined.

There’s also a couple of live CDs available from the band, ‘Live In Cheltenham’ and ‘Skyscrapers’, both of which I’d heartily recommend – particularly the latter for its epic 9 and a half minutes version of ‘Breaking In My Heart’.

MIKE