The Great Eastern – The Delgados (2000)

Want to read another historical spectacular fail from the NME?  Here’s how they reviewed this one:-

After two LPs (‘Domestiques’ and ‘Peloton’) named after bicycling terminology, The Delgados have named their third album after a Glasgow dosshouse. Its stern facades keep watch over the inner sleeve, and the inhabitants’ troubled spirits pass like a shiver through the album’s darker tracks.

The group’s ambitions are clearly high. It was recorded in upstate New York by friend of the glockenspiel Dave Fridmann. But while ‘The Great Eastern’ undoubtedly moves, even as it impresses, the album’s grandeur – all swooping cellos, dulcimers, clarinets, flugelhorns, vibraphones – only lays bare The Delgados‘ limitations as unorthodox pop athletes.

You would have imagined that by now, Glasgow’s most comprehensively strung would have learned to let shy tunes like ‘Accused Of Stealing’ unfold of their own accord. Instead, every graceful shoot here is instantly fenced off by woodwind, then locked in a great cat’s cradle of fussy arrangements. Their cause isn’t helped by Emma Pollock and Alun Woodward‘s two-note Swanney whistle melodies, whose very basic charms are no match for the rabid symphonics queuing up to overwhelm them.

With all the flavours on the emotional trolley, The Delgados still can’t get past bittersweet. And for all their enthusiasm for music’s vast palette, their songs all come out in monochrome. Like the institution with which it shares its name, ‘The Great Eastern’ feels haunted by opportunities missed. 6/10

Dearie me.

I do get that music writers will be tasked with reviewing a record by a band or singer they don’t like, but the very least they could do is listen without prejudice.  I also reckon it’s quite cowardly to give The Great Eastern a pass mark when the prose makes it painfully obvious that the writer never wants to hear the album ever again.

The Delgados are (and it feels so good to be writing about them in the present tense again!!) the most important band ever to come out of Scotland, whose legacy is unparalleled.  Five enjoyable studio albums of which this is the masterpiece, and one that, as the live shows a few months back demonstrated, has aged quite spectacularly.

There really shouldn’t be anything else needing to be said.

mp3: The Delgados – Accused of Stealing

Memo to NME : How the fuck did you allow your writer to describe this as a ‘shy tune’.  And don’t get me started on the album allegedly laying bare The Delgados limitations……

JC

The first gig I ever went to was, as a 15-year-old, at the Glasgow Apollo in May 1979 when I saw The Police supported by The Cramps.  Doing the maths, that’s forty-four years of watching live music, which means I’ve had the privilege of being entertained by a countless number of singers and bands.

Nothing, however, prepared me for the night of Wednesday 25 January 2023 when The Delgados ended a short five-day comeback tour with a show at Glasgow Barrowlands.

I came away, quite prepared to believe that, no matter what else happens over the next twelve months, I was unlikely to see a better gig this year.  And then I slept on it. And then I spent all of Thursday thinking about it.

I reckon I’ll be unlikely to ever come out of any gig for the rest of my life having been so utterly blown away by what I had witnessed.

I hadn’t quite been prepared for what all unfolded.  Sure, the reviews of the gigs in Brighton, London, Manchester and Sheffield had been universally positive, and having looked at the various set lists, I knew what songs to expect.  But as I said to my gig-going companions, and occasional TVV contributors, Aldo and Comrade Colin as we walked out to the iconic venue located on the eastern edge of the city centre, my worries were that it would turn into a mass community choir event from an over-excited audience.  After all, it had been 18 years since The Delgados had graced a stage in their home city, and there was bound to be a lot of excitement and anticipation to the extent of delirium among the 2,000-strong capacity audience.

We got there early and to our delight, the first person we saw was Stevie (of Charity Chic Music fame) who came and joined us.  Over the next hour and a bit before the band took to the stage, and without us shifting from the spot we had decided upon, we must have met or spotted about a couple of dozen more folk we knew, all of whom mentioned the names of other friends who were also somewhere in the building.  I reckon, if I had been able to freely wander around the cavernous venue, that I’d have bumped into anyone and everyone who is part of the local music scene as performers, promotors, writers or just regular gig-goers.  We were all in this together, awaiting the return of the best and most important indie band to come out of Scotland.

Ten musicians took to the stage – Alun Woodward, Emma Pollock, Paul Savage and Stewart Henderson were joined by a keyboardist, a flautist and a string quartet.  The roars were tumultuous.  And then something quite beautiful happened…….

mp3: The Delgados – Everything Goes Around The Water

The opening notes of the opening song are played on a flute.  The audience responded by falling into a hush.  Alun started singing and the band started playing.  Emma came in, on cue, on co-vocal and the string quartet joined in.  The audience, certainly in the area where we were located, halfway back and in the centre, looked on in awe and with utter respect.  Nobody was singing out loud, and nobody was talking excitedly to the persons in the immediate vicinity.  The song ended and the audience erupted.  Not a word was said from the stage.  It was straight into this:-

mp3: The Delgados – Accused of Stealing

A song which has slow bits, fast bits, quiet bits and loud bits.  A song which openly invites crowd participation of the wrong kind.

It didn’t happen.  Just a few minutes in, and the satisfying feeling that this was going to be something unique, with a band on top form and an audience prepared fully to stand and appreciate what was unfolding in front of them – there proved, all night, to be respect and hush throughout during the slower or more intense songs with releases of energy when the faster indie-classics were aired.

The interaction from the stage was for the most part kept to a minimum.  Alun restricted himself to a just saying ‘thank you’ at the end of any song he’d taken lead vocal on. Emma said a little bit more on maybe five or six occasions, but there was always a real flow and tempo to the set.  Near the end, there was a little bit of back and forth between Alun and Emma as the other musicians were introduced – ‘the people on stage without whom this would have been shite’ – as well as thanks to the folk on sound and lights whose contributions were equally invaluable.

The lack of chat enabled the band to get through 23 songs in not too far short of two hours,  including an encore that was every bit as joyful, classy and perfect as the entire night had been. There had even been a little nod of appreciation midset to Robert Burns, the national bard of Scotland whose birthday is celebrated on the very day The Delgados were at The Barrowlands.

Emma mentioned that it wouldn’t be too long before they would be back, perhaps to a certain bandstand in the city; the refurbished Kelvingrove Bandstand in the west end of Glasgow is the venue for a two-week long festival of outdoors gigs in the summer months when it’s supposed to be dry, although seeing The National there a few years ago was on a night when the rain was of biblical proportions.

It was more reasons for smiles, as those words from Emma meant The Delgados weren’t just getting together for this handful of dates and then going back into hibernation or retirement.  And with that, it was time to make an exit from the wonderful old venue, and as I made my way down the stairs, I couldn’t help but going all High Fidelity on myself and thinking where, in the Top 5 of all time Barrowland gigs this would find itself.  By the morning, I was thinking where in the Top 5 of all gigs in any location.

JC

Tomorrow night at Glasgow Barrowlands, I’m going to be one of a couple of thousand incredibly excited and incredulous fans utterly transfixed by the sight of The Delgados.

It’s been eighteen years since they called it a day, seemingly having decided that raising families, embarking on solo careers, running a record label, producing other musicians’ records, organising cultural festivals to commemorate Glasgow being host city to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and managing a very busy recording studio was enough to be getting on with.

But, last June, came the news that I, and many other fans had long given up on hearing.  A five-date tour of the UK, taking in Brighton, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Glasgow.  I’m typing this up having read reviews and seen footage of the first three shows, all of which have been incredibly positive.  The photo at the top of this post was taken at the Brighton show by none other than David Gedge who simply said they ‘sound amazing.’

I’ve spent much of the last week refamiliarising myself with the back catalogue of the five albums released between 1996 and 2004, and it feels like the right thing to come up with an ICA to mark the occasion.

The thing is, I’m not going to feature any of the ten songs that Charity Chic included on his Delgados ICA back in September 2018.  The thing is, CC took the interesting approach to have two tracks from the five studio albums in chronological order on both sides of the ICA as it allowed him to demonstrate the band’s evolution, and in doing so he included some of the most obvious choices if you were to canvass the opinions of the fanbase.

I’m going to do it a bit differently, but ensuring that the ICA will be made up (with one exception) from the 21 songs that were played at the comeback gig in Brighton.  The fact that 8 of the t had previously featured on CC’s ICA was not a problem, as I intend to demonstrate.

SIDE A

1. The Arcane Model (Peloton, 1998)

The Delgados had burst on to the scene in 1995, and much of the early material, including most of the debut album Domestiques (1996) was, to use CC’s description, loud and thrashy. They were part of an emerging local scene in which bands like bis and Urusei Yatsura took the influences of the likes of the Pixies, Pavement and Sonic Youth and offered a West of Scotland twist.  It was all quite wonderful at the time, but there was always a nagging doubt of whether it was truly sustainable.

The Delgados got ahead of the curve very early on with their second album.  They chose Tony Doogan, who had worked on many of the early Belle & Sebastian releases to be the producer, and many of the new songs utilised strings, woodwind and piano.  Peloton was the album that really got me on board.  The Arcane Model starts off as almost indie-pop by numbers, but by the time of the first chorus and second verse, we are entering a whole new world.

2. The Light Before We Land (Hate, 2002)

The opening track on the fourth album.   Orchestral pop at its very finest.   No wonder that David Gedge, during his Cinerama phase, asked Emma Pollock to sing on a couple of his songs.

3. Sucrose (Domestiques, 1996)

The only track on this ICA that wasn’t played in Brighton (or indeed London or Manchester) but given the band have said they intend to alternate the sets a little bit, I’m crossing my fingers that they might delight the local audience tomorrow night with this very old favourite that was also released as a single.

4. American Trilogy (The Great Eastern, 2000)

The third album was the one that took the band to new heights in terms of the critics.  It was short-listed for the Mercury Prize and featured very highly on many end of year lists, albeit all the wonderful words that were written didn’t translate into sales, given that The Great Eastern got no higher than #72 in the UK charts.  But it has proven to be one of those ‘word of mouth’ records that has found its way into many a collection over the years.  The band brought in thirteen additional musicians to play on the album…..which leads nicely to….

5. Thirteen Gliding Principles (The Great Eastern, 2000)

This closes the first side of the Great Eastern and is perfectly suited to do similar with the ICA. One of the few Delgados songs in which Alun Woodward and Emma Pollock do call and response vocals, rather than one or the other being the sole lead.  Gear yourself up for how quickly this one comes to an end.

SIDE B

1. Everybody Come Down (Universal Audio, 2005)

What proved to be the final album was a bit of a curveball.   As mentioned above, The Great Eastern and Hate had been full of additional musicians, but there was a conscious decision that the next album had to be stripped back somewhat and so, other than the occasional flourish of a guest keyboard player, it was all the work of Emma, Alun, Stewart Henderson (bass) and Paul Savage (drums).

Everybody Come Down was the comeback single.  It was The Delgados reimagined, with a song that was perfect a dance down at the indie disco.  It even got some exposure on mainstream and daytime radio stations and in a perfect world it would have been a huge hit, much better than the #56 it peaked at.

2. Come Undone (Universal Audio, 2005)

Universal Audio wasn’t all sunshine-pop.  We weren’t to know it at the time that it was to be the last album, but the good news is that Come Undone would prove to be an early indication of how Emma Pollock’s solo albums would sound. (There’s been three so far, with another in the pipeline).

3. Child Killers (Hate, 2002)

At 6:42, this was the longest song the band ever recorded, and not a single second is wasted.  Alun’s vocal style often bordered on fragile, but in a way that perfectly suited the music, as is very much the case on a song that was the centrepiece of Hate.

4. The Actress (Peloton, 1998)

One of my all-time favourites.  As I said at the beginning of the ICA, Peloton was the album with which I first fell in love with The Delgados.  The opening five tracks are stunning – CC had two of them on his ICA, and I’ve added another two to this effort, and combined they just happen to be the four songs from that album the band have included in the set list for the comeback tour.  No wonder I’m excited.

5. Make Your Move (The Great Eastern, 2000)

This closes the Great Eastern.  I’m really hoping the Barrowlands goes silent when this achingly beautiful ballad gets played.  I’ll let you know when I make the time to pen a review……

JC

I never imagined that The Delgados would get together again.  But, at the beginning of last month, it emerged that a five-date tour across the UK has been pulled together for January 2023.

Here’s the thing…..some eight or so months ago, I happened to be in the kitchen area that partly doubles up as the offices of the studios of Chemikal Underground, helping with the packing and posting of a Mogwai re-release on which there had been a larger than anticipated mail order.  Emma Pollock and Paul Savage were working next door in the recording area, laying down some vocals for what is intended to be Emma’s next solo album, and when they took a break and came in for a coffee, I took the opportunity to cheekily ask what I always ask when I bump into them, or indeed anyone associated with the band.

“Any chance of you doing the same as Arab Strap and getting back together for some live shows?”

The answer was the same as always.  A polite but firm ‘No’, with the added reminder that Alun Woodward and Stewart Henderson were now pursuing post-music careers and professions that wouldn’t enable them to find the time to devote to playing and performing again.  The four friends had loved their time as a band, but the decision to break-up in April 2005 was never going to be revisited.

Except…….it now has emerged that as far back as 2019, the four of them had started to talk about the possibilities of reforming for some gigs.  It may well have been that the pandemic put a spoke in the wheels in terms of how and when such a thing might happen, but it also led to a situation where this reformation was one of the best kept secrets within the Scottish music scene.  Nobody seemed to have an inkling until that recent social media announcement about the tickets going on sale later in the same week.

A lot of music fans of a certain age in Scotland were genuinely giddy with excitement.  The Delgados are one of those bands who never got the recognition they truly deserved over the ten years they were active, but who have become appreciated more greatly since they stopped recording and performing.  Part of this is down to the ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ cliche, but there’s also been an acknowledgement that many Scottish musicians who have made a name for themselves in the 21st century owe a debt of some form or other to The Delgados.  The Barrowlands show promises to be quite an emotional homecoming.

All of which lead to the Monday Wednesday hi-quality vinyl rip.  The first track on the second side of The Great Eastern, the album nominated for The Mercury Prize in 2000, losing out to Badly Drawn Boy‘s The Hour of Bewliderbeast.

It is six-and-a-half minutes long. It is a complex song which changes shape and tempo on more than one occasion.  It is a quiet-loud-quiet-loud type of song, but to reduce it to that would be to overly-simplify things.  It begins as a haunting and fragile ballad and comes to an end as a frantic piece of indie-rock, all the while offering strings, woodwind and hints of brass tucked away subtly in the background.

It is grandiose.

It is epic.

It is majestic.

mp3: The Delgados – No Danger

JC

Under Canvas Under Wraps was the third single to be released by The Delgados, back in June 1996, on their own Chemikal Underground label. But it was the first to have a promo video made:-

There’s a superb description of the video, courtesy of the band:-

As rare as hen’s teeth, this is the first video The Delgados ever filmed, for the Evening Session favourite “Under Canvas Under Wraps”. Cobbled together with ridiculously little money, the idea was to recreate a Lynchian dystopia and although we tried our best, it came out as us dressing up in a hotel and acting like tits.

Nothing wrong with that though, and trivia fans may want to know that the room Alun and Emma are in was the same room used for the ‘London drug deal’ location in Trainspotting…

I finally got my hands on a second hand copy of the 7″ vinyl and here’s all the tracks for your enjoyment:-

mp3 : The Delgados – Under Canvas Under Wraps
mp3 : The Delgados – Een Telf
mp3 : The Delgados – Bear Cub
mp3 : The Delgados – Strathcona

The last of these is a very short acoustic track, recorded in Alun Woodward‘s living room, and about as lo-fi a song as I’ve ever heard.

Again, I’ll leave it to the band to review the single:-

The first Delgados single to make any kind of impact on national radio, Under Canvas Under Wraps was to become Single Of The Week on Steve Lamacq & Jo Whiley’s Evening Session on Radio 1 which in turn led to the band being offered a high profile support slot with Elastica. The origins of the track are relatively hazy except for the fact that we wanted the song to start at a really breakneck pace and then get progressively faster. Problem was that after we released it as a single, we went into the rehearsal room to practice it and discovered that we were shit at playing it – it survived the early tours (out of necessity) and then got dumped from the sets, never to reappear again until towards the end of our career.

The song was backed by a song called Bearcub, which we felt was a real progression for the band – we were right too as it still stands up now as a really interesting song with what for us then was a rather peculiar arrangement. The other B-Side Een Telf (or Teen Elf if you’re feeling slightly less obtuse) was another shouty number – the type of song we would write and record less and less as the band’s career developed.

Crayon artwork by the talented Mr Woodward…

Pointless piece of trivia: The shouting at the start of the song was recorded by Stewart who basically stood in the middle of the live room and screamed gibberish for 10 seconds. Nothing new there then…..

I do so wish they had reformed at some point…..but they didn’t and they never will.

Pointless piece of trivia: Stewart is now a fully fledged fire fighter, having passed all the tests and qualified some two years ago. I wonder if his colleagues have ever seen the above video?

JC

A GUEST POSTING BY CHARITY CHIC
http://charitychicmusic.blogspot.com/

JC writes…..I had vowed to keep the ICAs down to one per week on the basis that they tend to be labours of love and lengthy pieces which require a great deal of time and energy to be enjoyed fully. But, I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of guest ICAs in recent weeks and I really don’t want anyone having to wait what could be a couple of months before seeing their work make an appearance.

I also think the quality of what has been offered up will lead to what we will, in due course, all agree is a particularly golden period for the series as the band selections and the writing which accompanies the chosen songs are outstanding.

So, I’m going with a near full week of guest offerings (Wednesday is a pre-prepared post for what will become an obvious reason)….and I’m kicking off with something from a long-time reader and friend who I’m pleased is bailing me out as I’ve been too cowardly to take on the task of compressing the career of Alun Woodward (vocals, guitar), Emma Pollock (vocals, guitar), Stewart Henderson (bass), and Paul Savage (drums) into a 10-track ICA. Over to CC….

All You Need is The Delgados

“Quite simply, the most important group to ever have come out of Scotland whose legacy has brought so much joy to so many people over the years”

Not my words but those of our illustrious host JC. And who am I to argue?

I’ve checked and double checked and unless I am very much mistaken an ICA extolling their virtues has yet to grace these pages.

There are others more far qualified than me to carry out this task but I’ll give it a go and hopefully will do them justice.

A band that only released five studio albums between 1996 and 2004. I was pretty late to the party only coming on board around the time of Hate which was album #4. I’ve since got round to filling in the blanks.

There are so many excellent tracks to choose from but I have decided to feature tracks from the five studio albums in chronological order on both sides to show the band’s evolution.

Here goes

Side 1

Track 1 – Under Canvas Under Wraps (from Domestiques, Chemikal Underground 1996)

When they were loud and thrashy. A splendid racket with a brilliantly abrupt ending The Chemikal Records website (http://shop.chemikal.co.uk/acatalog/CHEM009.html) mentions that the front cover of the album is of a cinema in Muirhead , Glasgow now converted to luxury flats.

I’m thinking it my actually be the Toledo in Muirend, which I frequented as a youth, but am happy to be proved wrong.

Track 2 – Everything Goes Round the Water (from Peloton, Chemikal Underground 1998)

Peloton is a recent acquisition and the last piece in my Delgado’s jigsaw. One I’m still exploring but again the opening track seems to be one of the standouts. Others clearly agree as it reached number 9 in the Peel Festive Fifty of 1998

Where the strings begin to kick in.

Track 3 – Accused of Stealing (from The Great Eastern, Chemikal Underground 2000)

Considered by many to be their greatest album it was shortlisted for the Mercury Music prize losing out to Badly Drawn Boy for fuck sake!

Lovely vocals and a relentless beat

Tell me all your confessions. Let me be the ears to all your sins

Track 4 – All You Need is Hate (from Hate, Mantra 2002)

The only album not to be released on their own Chemikal Underground album and the one where I come in.

For a song about Hate it is absolutely beautiful and it’s simplicity is it’s strength

Hate is everywhere
Look inside your heart and you will find it there

Track 5 – I Fought The Angels (from Universal Audio, Chemikal Underground 2004)

Back to Chemikal Underground for their final studio album and another really strong opening track but one I feel that is equally fitting to end side 1

Side 2

Track 1 – Big Business in Europe (from Domestiques)

Emma’s voice seems to be at odds with the music but somehow it works. Magnificently

Track 2 – Pull the Wires From the Wall (from Peloton)

Their first hit single peaking at number 69!

But more importantly number 1 in the Festive Fifty and rightly so.

It’s easy to see why Peel was such a huge fan.

Starts slowly and builds brilliantly

Track 3 – No Danger (from The Great Eastern)

Quite possibly my favourite Delgados track and Alun is quite definitely not singing out of tune!

Track 4 – Coming In From The Cold (from Hate)

If No Danger is the best then this one is the best with Emma on lead vocals

Track 5 Is This All That I Came For? (from Universal Audio)

Apparently so

It was a toss up between this and Everybody Come Down but this seemed more fitting.

Over to you to tell me what I missed out and which ones you would replace

CC

JC adds…..given how CC has gone about his task with two tracks from each album there’s some songs I’d have included that are missing, but overall this really is a superb collection he’s pulled together.

I have, however, been shamed enough by CC to have a go at my own. It’ll appear in due course.  In the meantime, please come back every day this week for some very special bits of work.

 

Quite simply, the most important group to ever have come out of Scotland whose legacy has brought so much joy to so many people over the years.

The Delgados were more than a band. They were, and remain, an institution thanks to the establishment of Chemikal Underground.

Five studio LPs, sixteen singles, one live CD and a Peel Sessions collection is what they left behind on their own account.

Arab Strap (and solo careers for Moffat and Middleton), Mogwai, The Phantom Band, Bis, Aereogramme and RM Hubbert are just a small sample of those singers and groups who owe just about everything to Alun Woodward, Emma Pollock, Paul Savage and Stewart Henderson.

I’ve tried and failed miserably at least four times to come up with an ICA. Maybe I just need to feature them in depth at some point in the future.

mp3 : The Delgados – Accused of Stealing

From The Great Eastern LP, released in 2000. One of THE great Scottish albums of all time.

JC

The past few weeks have been a celebration of some of the best blogs and bloggers out there but I wanted to extend the concept by one more day in an effort to persuade someone to return to his keyboard.

This is the bloke who almost single-handedly got me started on this adventure all those years ago.  I had just been removed from what was regarded by quite a few folk as a high-pressure and high-profile job – at the time I was incredibly bitter but looking back it was one of the best things to ever happen to me as it led to so many unexpected and new opportunities coming my way.  One of the first was having a bit more free time and I found myself scouring the internet searching out what was at the time a huge explosion of music blogs.

One of these was the work of someone who lived and worked in Glasgow. It was called Let’s Kiss and Make Up and it was a combination of quality writing, photography and tunes.  After a few weeks of stalking the author, I plucked up the courage to send him an e-mail asking for advice on how best to set up a blog. A few weeks later, as a bit of a thank you, I left a 12″ single for him at his place of work, but without warning him I was going to do so. The e-mail exchanges increased but then out of the blue his blog disappeared.

A few weeks later I got an e-mail saying that he had ‘killed’ the blog for personal reasons but was starting again, this time calling it And Before The First Kiss.  We made tentative plans to hook up but before either of us knew it, I was off to Canada to work for a few months.  This delayed us meeting in the flesh until January 2008, a full 15 months after we had first been in contact by e-mail.  We hit it off immediately….to a level way beyond what either of us dare hoped for….and we are now the closest of friends having shared many a great night out at many a great venue in Glasgow.

He’s someone who claims he is only capable of writing at his best when he is unhappy or troubled….and as he sets very high standards and is currently very happy with his lot, then you’ll understand why his own blog has been on an extended vacation since June 2013.  But he has very kindly penned something for this blog, and I’m delighted to again offer the opportunity to enjoy the words and thoughts of Comrade Colin:-

“When our mutual friend asked me to come out of retirement, for a brief moment, and scribble a few words over at his place he said I had a ‘blank page’. Oh how he cruelly mocks me. You see, I used to keep a music blog (of sorts) but have been rather distant for some time now (I note that, indeed, June 2013 was the last update. Oh dear.). It’s the usual excuses of life, work and family; too many distractions and other things to attend to. It’s a familiar story. Also, I suppose, the 140 character ‘thing’ happened and I just got a bit lazy. For me, a post would always usually begin with a photograph I’d taken. At other times, it might be something I’d read in the newspaper, a conversation I’d had with a friend or an ‘encounter’ on public transport. Not usually the music, oddly enough. The words would come out of the ether and sometimes reflect upon what the photograph was presenting (to my mind, at least) or what the song was about, but not always. I wasn’t entirely sure to be honest. But, I enjoyed the challenge and made time for it. I built ‘blogging’ into my routine and would always be thinking ‘what comes next?’ Anyway, that was then. I don’t really have much else to say right now. I mean, the bottom line is I used to write a music blog but now I don’t. Motivation and enthusiasm are vital in keeping you going and I was found severely lacking. I lost the habit too easily, too quickly, with a few false endings and bumpy starts along the way. This is why the heroic day-to-day efforts of JC are to be applauded. It’s a tough gig, for sure. That’s what The Rolling Stones say at least.

This photograph was taken on February 11th, 2007 at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. It was a writing day for me. Back then, the Mitchell was one of my regular haunts (working, but away from the office). I noticed this adorable couple (or are they brother and sister?) and I was struck by how comfortable they seemed with each other, within themselves; cups of sweet tea and good books surrounding them. As soon as I took the photograph I immediately thought of this song. To this day I’m still not sure why but there you go. But one thing I do know: I miss The Delgados an awful lot.”

—

The Delgados – ‘Reasons for Silence (Ed’s Song)’

—

Thanks Comrade.   I hope you’re inspired enough to either get things going again over at your own place or else become a regular contributor here.

This post is dedicated to another dear mate of mine…..one who just never ever ‘got’ the type of music I enjoy so much….he was so mainstream it was scary.  RC would have been 50 years old today if leukaemia hadn’t cruelly claimed him a few years back….there’s rarely a day goes by that I don’t think of him.

Lots of bands used John Peel sessions to record cover versions.  Many of these would later appear on b-sides under license from the BBC but in recent years there’s been a trend towards some of the bands most frequently invited into the studio to release all such material on CD album or within boxsets – The Fall, The Wedding Present, PJ Harvey and Magazine all spring to mind.  As do this lot:-

mp3 : The Delgados – Mr Blue Sky

mp3 : The Delgados – California Uber Alles

mp3 : The Delgados – Matthew and Son

mp3 : The Delgados – Last Rose of Summer

Stewart Henderson used the sleeve notes of the CD release to explain:-

The next session was scheduled to coincide with the release of ‘Hate’ and was recorded on 15 September 2002. This on was going to be a departure from previous sessions because we had decided to do four cover versions – we would choose three and John would be allowed to pick the fourth. John’s choice was ‘Last Rose of Summer’ by a Jamaican vocal group called The Symbols (also known as The Masters). This was a really enjoyable session to do although we all had individual problems with the songs that were chosen – Alun hated’Mr Blue Sky’ from the beginning and it took us forever to work out the outro; Paul had a nightmare doing the drums on ‘California Uber Alles’ and ‘Matthew and Son’ was a pain in the arse for me to play but overall the versions came out really well (for Alun’s sins we ended all our ‘Hate’ shows with ‘Mr Blue Sky’)

Oh and I’m with Alun Woodward on this.  I really hate the song Mr Blue Sky…..ok, I hate the original ELP version…The Delgados make it more than listenable.  And it’s a really good take on the Dead Kennedys classis as well.

Enjoy.