Category: Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire, Creepers, Daintees, Go-Betweens, Grab Grab The Haddock, Higsons, June Brides, Loft, Mighty Wah, Paul Haig, Red Guitars, Shreikback, Violent Femmes

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (September Pt 2)

In which I hope to have kept to my promise that this one will feature all sorts of great ‘non-hit’ singles.  The well-thumbed big red book is again being flicked through.

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria

Anyone reading this post and hearing Sensoria for the very first time in their life might have a hard time in believing it’s a song that’s 41 years old. One that takes me back to the Strathclyde Uni Students Union downstairs disco on Friday and Saturday nights, held in the space that was normally where we devoured our daily helpings of pie, beans and chips.  As I’ve said before, this is one for flailing around the dance floor with your raincoat flapping behind you like Batman’s cape as he chases the bad guys.

mp3: The Daintees – Trouble Town

The second single from a newish-band based in the north-east of England who had been snapped up by Newcastle-based label Kitchenware Records, largely on the basis of the talents of their singer/songwriter frontman.  It would take until mid-86 before the band, now called Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, to enjoy a small amount of commercial success via their albums and dynamic live shows.

mp3: Go-Betweens – Bachelor Kisses

The second and final single to be lifted from the album, Spring Hill Fair.  After Part Company had failed to wow the record-buying public, Sire Records went for a Grant McLennan composed number this time around.  The record label actually went a bit further. Believing that they had a radio-friendly number on their hands, they gave the album version to producers Colin Fairley and Robert Andrews, who earlier in the year had worked with The Bluebells, and asked them to make it just that little bit more commercial.  Robert Forster would later comment “we got new producers, more days on the bass drum, and a version of the song of no great variance to the original take.”

Money was also spent on a promo video:-

The female backing vocal is courtesy of Ana da Silva, the lead singer of post-punkers The Raincoats, and a band much loved by Kurt Cobain.  The failure of the single led to Sire Records dropping the band a few weeks later.

mp3: Grab Grab The Haddock – I’m Used Now

The Marine Girls, a trio from the south of England featuring Tracey Thorn, Alice Fox and Jane Fox, had made a small splash in the indie-pop world in the early 80s, eventually signing to Cherry Red Records and releasing the well-received album Lazy Ways in early 1983.  By this time, Tracey had relocated to Hull University where she would meet Ben Watt and form Everything But The Girl; meanwhile, Jane had recorded material with her boyfriend, the Manchester-born poet Edward Barton, with one of the songs, It’s A Fine Day later being re-recorded as an electronic dance track by Opus III in 1992 and proving to be a massive hit.  After the Jane and Barton mini-album in late 1983 had sunk without trace, the Fox sisters formed what proved to be a short-lived band called Grab Grab The Haddock who would release a 12″ single and an EP on Cherry Red in 1984/85.  I’m Used Now was the debut single.

mp3: Paul Haig – The Only Truth

The production is credited to B-Music/Dojo, otherwise better known as Bernard Sumner and Donald Johnson. How many of you wanted to shout out ‘Confusion’ just before Paul’s vocals kicked in?

One word to describe this one?  Tune.

mp3: The Higsons – Music To Watch Girls By

A band formed by students at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, The Higsons had been around since 1981, and in due course would sign for 2 Tone and release a couple of non-hit singles for the label in 1982/83.  By 1984, they were on the London-based indie-label Upright Records, who would release the band’s sole LP from which this cover version of the easy-listening 1967 hit single by The Bob Crewe Generation was the lead single.  The band broke up the following year, and lead singer Charlie Higson would find fame and fortune as a comedy actor/writer in The Fast Show, while trumpeter/saxophonist/guitarist Terry Edwards would forge a very successful musical career which continues to this day.

mp3: The June Brides – Every Conversation

The band’s second single on the newly established Pink Records somehow managed to surpass the magnificence of debut In The Rain from a couple of months earlier.  A band that would get lumped in with the C87 ‘movement’ despite all their music, in their first incarnation, all being from June 84-May 86.

mp3: The Loft – Why Does The Rain

The Loft, as with The June Brides, get lumped in with the C87 ‘movement’ when in fact they had already broken up in late 1985.  This was the debut single, and it’s an absolute belter.  The next 45, Up The Hill And Down The Slope, was even better, but singer/songwriter Pete Astor then called it a day and went on to form The Weather Prophets, a band who would release their own take on Why Does The Rain on their debut album, Mayflower, in April 1987.

mp3: Red Guitars – Marimba Jive

The third and final single of the year from Red Guitars, whose profile was fairly high after a load of well-received live shows opening for The Smiths UK tour in early 1984.  Sadly, and undeservedly, the singles failed to connect with the record-buying public, and likewise with debut album Slow To Fade which was released just before the end of the year.

mp3: Marc Riley & The Creepers – Shadow Figure

The fifth single to be recorded by the band set up by Marc Riley after he ‘took his leave’ of The Fall in January 1983, but their first following the release of debut album Gross Out back in June 1984. An unusual number in which the kitchen sink seems to have been thrown at the tune during the production process….almost chamber pop in execution.

mp3: Shriekback – Mercy Dash

The second flop single in a three months.  This one is dedicated to Post Punk Monk, one of the finest on-line writers out there, and a huge fan of Shriekback.

mp3: Violent Femmes – It’s Gonna Rain

The second and final single to be lifted from the album Hallowed Ground.  I remember at the time being a bit underwhelmed by the album, but then again, it had been an impossible task to follow the eponymous debut that had landed in the UK in late 1983.  I’ve grown to appreciate things just a little bit more as the years have passed, but it remains hard to fully embrace an album of folk/country tunes with more than a hint of Christianity sprinkled in.  It’s Gonna Rain is actually an interpretation of the Noah’s Ark story, and in places it’s not too far removed from the sort of music Jonathan Richman does so very very well.

mp3: The Mighty Wah! – Weekends

The second and final single to be lifted from the album, A Word To The Wise Guy.  And while Come Back had gone Top 20 earlier in the year, the radio stations ignored the follow-up!

Told you this month was a good ‘un.

late addendum/correction : huge thanks to those who corrected me on Jane and Barton (see the comments section).  Much appreciated.

 

 

JC

Beat, Booker T & The MGs, Cabaret Voltaire, Clash, David Bowie, Lori & The Chamelons, M, Monochrome Set

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (December)

79

The final part of what has been one of the most time-consuming series, in terms of research, referencing and cross-checking, that I’ve ever pulled together, with just short of 200 singles featuring, with the final 8 coming your way today.  As December’s releases are on the low side, especially on the non-chart side of things with the indie labels quite rightly steering well clear of the festive madness, I’m combining the usual Parts 1 and 2 into a single posting, starting with the Top 75 covering 2nd-8th December.

The highest new entry was at #56, an indication that not much was actually being released and that the record-buying public was happy to just shell out on the tunes that had been around for a few weeks, or indeed months.  I’ve picked up on three new entries at the very low end of the chart, one of which I have to admit I was really surprised to see.

mp3 : M – Moonlight and Muzak

Pop Muzik had been one of the biggest and best-selling 45s of the year. The fact it took more than six months for its follow-up to be released kind of gives the game away that nobody, including himself, really expected M (aka Robin Scott) to have enjoyed such success.  My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I’m sure that Moonlight and Muzak wasn’t actually written until after Pop Muzik had been a hit.  This one came in at #64 and peaked a couple of weeks later at #33.

mp3: The Beat – Tears Of A Clown/Ranking Full Stop

1979 was the year in which 2-Tone Records had come out of nowhere.  The first four singles on the label – Gangsters by The Specials, The Prince by Madness, On My Radio by The Selecter and A Message to You, Rudy by The Specials – had all been massive hits.   The 5th single came courtesy of another multi-racial band from the English Midlands, in this instance the city of Birmingham.

This 45 has been part of Dirk‘s superbly entertaining 111 single series, featuring back in January 2023. As he pointed out, The Beat would not only enjoy a few years of chart success from the outset, but there would also be a number of good bands that rose from the ashes of (former members of) The Beat: General Public, Fine Young Cannibals, Two Nations as well as the solo material from the late Ranking Roger.

The debut came in at #67, eventually climbing as high as #6 just after the turn of the year. It was the first of what would be thirteen chart hit singles going through to the summer of 1983.

And now….here’s the one which surprised me

mp3: Lori and The Chamelons – Touch

In at #70 and back out of the chart the following week in a ‘blink and you’ll have missed it’ style.   My surprise is that I would have bet a great deal of money that Zoo Records never had any chart success. OK, some of the band of their roster would become chart mainstays in future years, but that was after the label had folded, and they had signed elsewhere.

It was back in January 2015 that I featured all nine 45s issued by Zoo.   Touch was the label’s sixth single with the group being a trio consisting of label owners Bill Drummond (guitar) and David Balfe (bass and keyboards), along with vocalist Lori Lartey.    As I said, I had no idea it ever charted!

Moving on to the chart of 9-16 December.

There were three new entries in the Top 40, one of which was I Have A Dream by Abba, widely tipped to be the Xmas #1.  Spoiler alert….it ended up spending four weeks at #2, kept off the top by Pink Floyd!  One of the other new entries was a novelty number of the sort December charts no matter the year are full of, but the third, coming in at #23, was of some interest.

mp3: David Bowie – John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

Originally dating from 1972, the song had been re-recorded in 1974 as David Bowie was keen to come up with a soul/disco hit for the American market.  It was slated to be included on the album Young Americans, and almost certainly as a single to be lifted from that album, only to be replaced late on by Fame.  Five years on, and the record label, RCA, decided to take advantage of the increasing interest in disco and issue it in the run-up to Christmas on the back of Bowie’s success earlier in the year with Boys Keep Swinging and DJ, as well as the album Lodger.

John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) spent eight weeks in the chart, peaking at#12, and in doing so, matched the chart position of the original 1972 version.

Just outside the Top 40 was this:-

mp3: The Clash – London Calling

The band’s ninth single, that’s if you include The Cost Of Living EP.    It was released on 7 December 1979 with the album of the same name hitting the shops seven days later.   The single came in at #43, and eventually reached #11, the highest ever 45 for The Clash during the time they were actually together.  The album came in at #9, stayed at the same position the following week, fell to #21 in its third week and then back up to #9 in week 4, no doubt benefitting from the spending power of Record Tokens given to young people as Xmas gifts from grandparents, aunties and uncles.

Also coming into the chart this week, another example of why 1979 was so special and different.

mp3: Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions

It might have dated back to 1962, but this was the first time the tune had been a chart hit in the UK, with the 2 Tone movement playing a big part in its success.  It came in at #74 in mid-December, but went all the way to #7 by the end of January, as part of a twelve-week stay in the Top 75.

There were just a handful of new entries in the Top 75 in the final two charts of 1979, none of which merit even a passing mention.  And with that, it’s time for one final flick through the big book of indie singles.

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Silent Command

Catalogue Number RT 035.  The release back in June 1979 of Nag Nag Nag has the number RT018, which just goes to show how active Rough Trade had been throughout the year. It’s not one I can recall from back in the day, and I’m not sure if I would have fallen for it, given how unusual and unorthodox a tune it is.

mp3: The Monochrome Set – He’s Frank (Slight Return)

The third single from the band in 1979. The previous two had been on Rough Trade, but this one wasn’t.  Well sort of…..

He’s Frank had been the band’s debut, a self-release on cassette only.  The interest in the band in recent times led to the decision to reissue it on vinyl, via a new imprint called Disquo Blue.  It was, however, a joint release with Rough Trade.  The next release on Disquo Blue wouldn’t be until 2012, when The Monochrome Set released their tenth studio album Platinum Coils, their first in nearly seventeen years.

And with that, Shakedown 1979 comes to a close.   I’m thinking I’ll re-hash the feature in 2025, looking in depth at the singles chart from one of the years that made up the 80s.

Thanks for all your views, opinions and thoughts throughout the series.  Much appreciated.

JC

Adam & The Ants, Adverts, Cabaret Voltaire, Cramps, Devo, Simple Minds, Swell Maps, Talking Heads, Toyah, Wire

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (June, part two)

79

The chart hit single in June had some quality, but not much in the way of quantity.  What about the 45s that didn’t make it as far as the Top 75?

mp3: Adam and The Ants – Zerox

Prior to becoming a pop icon in the early 80s, Adam Ant had been part of the punk scene in London.  He had a role in Derek Jarman‘s 1978 film Jubilee, while Adam and the Ants were filmed performing the Plastic Surgery (the song, that is….not the procedure!!).    This led to a deal for a one-off single with Decca Records, but Young Parisians failed to gain traction.  London-based Do It Records signed the band, and Zerox was the first offering.  It did well enough in the Independent Chart, but didn’t sell enough copies to trouble the Official Chart, at least not in June 1979.   It was re-released in January 1981 on the back of the initial burst of Ant-mania and made it to #45.

mp3: The Adverts – My Place

The Adverts had been one of the first of the punk bands to enjoy chart success, with Gary Gilmore’s Eyes hitting #118 in September 1977. By the following year, they were on RCA Records and began making music that had more of a pop feel to them.  Critically, they were still being championed in some music papers, but none of the three singles nor the one album they made while at RCA made the charts – and, of course, they weren’t eligible for the indie charts.

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag

Having turned down an offer from Factory Records, the Sheffield-based Cabaret Voltaire signed with Rough Trade, with their debut EP being released in late 1978.   The first actual 45 was released in June 1979, and has since been acknowledged as one of the most pioneering 45s of the era, but back then it was largely dismissed as being too arty and weird.

mp3: The Cramps – Human Fly

London-based Illegal Records, founded by Miles Copeland III, issued Gravest Hits, a 12″ EP bringing together tracks that had featured on the first two singles released by The Cramps back in 1978.  The other songs on the EP were The Way I Walk, Domino, Surfin’Bird, and Lonesome Town.   It would take a further 11 years before The Cramps ever made it into the UK singles chart, by which time Miles Copeland III was enjoying the riches from the success of his next label, I.R.S. Records, home to early R.E.M. among others (including, for a short time, The Cramps).

mp3: Devo – The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise

The men from Akron, Ohio continued their run of failure. Come Back Jonee had flopped back in January, and while the album Duty Now For The Future did chart at #49, its lead-off single did nothing

mp3: Simple Minds – Chelsea Girl

There were really high hopes among the band for the follow-up to Life In A Day which had sneaked into the lower echelons of the chart.  Such hopes were dashed…..the harpsichord-like sound produced by Mick MacNeil on keyboards failed to capture the attention of the radio pluggers, and the 45 disappeared without a trace.

mp3: Swell Maps – Real Shocks

The second single from Swell Maps issued by Rough Trade in 1979.  I didn’t know about this back when I was 16 years of age. If I had, I’d most likely have bought it and driven my parents crazy.

mp3: Talking Heads – Take Me To The River

Talking Heads were, pardon the pun, much talked about in 1979.  The previous year, they had enjoyed a hit album with More Songs About Buildings and Food, and there was near universal acclaim for their live shows.  Fellow New Yorkers Blondie were flying high, and it really only seemed a matter of time before The Heads were equally popular.  As we know, they did eventually become a household name, but in June 1979 the record label was reduced to releasing a single from the previous album as their way of trying to get a cash-in on a prestigious gig that month in London. The cover of the Al Green number was issued as a 2 x 7″ release (for the price of a standard 7″) along with art work in the shape of a Talking Heads family tree as designed and drawn by Pete Frame.  It didn’t chart.

mp3: Wire – A Question Of Degree

The story of how Outdoor Miner had been a minor hit, but should have been a major hit, was told a few months back.  Harvest Records, keen to atone for the errors made with the previous single, threw their weight behind another track lifted from the 1978 album Chairs Missing, but nobody was interested…which is a shame, as It’s a belter of a single

mp3: Toyah – Victims Of The Riddle

This piece started with a member of the punk scene who appeared in Jubilee, and now finds itself ending the same way.  Toyah Wilcox‘s first foray into the performing arts was as an actor, but with a number of her early parts involving singing, it led to her wanting to have a parallel career in music. She ended up fronting a five-piece band – all the other musicians were male –  with everyone content that it take its name from the lead singer, given how unusual it was.  London-based Safari Records signed the band, and Victims of The Riddle was the debut.  The band would remain with Safari over the next six years, going on to enjoy more than a fair degree of chart success.

JC

Cabaret Voltaire

THE MONDAY MORNING VINYL RIP : Part Thirty Three : YASHAR

Up till now, every song in this series has been ripped from a piece of vinyl via the turntable in use at Villain Towers. I only own a digital copy of today’s song, so you will, I’m sorry to say, have to make do with a lo-res rip.

Middle Age Man dropped me a line last week:-

“With the sad news this week of the passing of Richard H Kirk I thought it would be great if you could feature the 12′ version of Yashar released on Factory Records ( the John Robie remix),

For me, it is the pivotal CV release as it signifies their move from industrial to the dance floor and sums up their blend of 1980’s cold war paranoia and the dance floor. And on a more personal level, it was the first time my wife would let me play CV without her passing me the headphones.”

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Yashar (12″ version)

Yashar is a remix of a track originally issued on the 1982 album 2×45, which came out on Rough Trade. The single was issued in May 1983 on Factory Benelux (FBN 25) and Factory Records (FAC 82). It features a sample “The 70 billion people of Earth — where are they hiding?” from the Outer Limits episode “Demon with a Glass Hand”.

JC

Cabaret Voltaire

SOME THING MY TEENAGE MIND COULDN’T GET TO GRIPS WITH

I could say that back in June 1979 I found this single, issued by Rough Trade Records, to be hugely inspirational and essential listening:-

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag

I could say that but I would be lying.

It was a period where I was beginning to get exposed to more electronic music and in due course, if perhaps a little slowly, would fall for its charms. But I never took to what many claimed at the time was one of the breakthrough examples of the genre. It was just too weird, unconventional and difficult for my tastes, and although years later I can now hear it as not being too dissimilar in approach from any punk/new wave songs of the era, it remains a piece of music that grates on me rather than me being able to declare it as great.

It would be another five years before I heard a Cabaret Voltaire song that I could really enjoy and appreciate:-

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria

Much more accessible thank you very much.  One for flailing around the disco floor with your raincoat flapping behind you like Batman’s cape as he chases the bad guys.

JC