Category: Jock’n’Roll

I don’t suspect too many of you will recognise the above fab four.

There’s loads of bands listed on Jock’n’Roll who released very fine records that sold in very low numbers. A band much loved and admired by both myself and Jacques The Kipper was Foil – and that’s them pictured above.

They just missed out on my Top 10, but as you’ll see below, they’ve been placed high by JTK in his chart. And rightly so.

Signed to 13th Hour Recordings in 1996, the band recorded two very fine albums – ‘Spread It All Around’ and ‘Never Got Hip’ (which along with ‘Obscurity Knocks’ by the Trashcan Sinatras is the most prophetic song title recorded by a Scottish band).

Now you might dismiss the following as PR hype :-

‘Foil, the only band that manage to be both brutal, yet melodical in the same breath took time-out from tearing up venues around the country to present us with yet another fine single.

Their “take no prisoners alive” attitude prompted Kerrang to describe Hugh Duggie’s vocal talents as “a man capable of stripping paint through sheer lung power alone”. Phew! ‘

Reviver Gene’ is completely re-recorded and sounds like it always should have and is now backed up on the 7″ release with ‘Sedate Me’, whilst the CD version also includes ‘Hey You’ and ‘Play Dead’.

All tracks were produced by Paul Tipler, who has previously worked with the likes of Elastica, Stereolab, Scarfo and Leatherface.’

But give them a listen, and you might then make your own mind up.

One of the beauties of Jock’n’Roll is there are hundreds of bands like Foil who are mentioned in the A-Z of artists. Go in for a visit and have your memory jogged a bit.

Back to the charts

Number 4s

JC : Sunkissed – Friends Again (4:23) (mp3)

JTK : Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat (5:00) (mp3)* (**)

Number 3s

JC : Party Fears Two – Associates (5:14) (mp3)

JTK : Reviver Gene – Foil (3:48) (mp3)

Smalltown Boy becomes the first song in both of our Top 10s. But will it be the last. You’ll need to visit sometime on or after Tuesday 7th November to find out. If you can be bothered.

 

The photo above is where I used to spend loads of money. As the sign above the window indicates, it’s where you went if you wanted tickets for gigs at the Glasgow Apollo.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, this was only venue of a decent size in Glasgow for bands on tour. And if you wanted to see a band, you went to the top of Renfield Street, climbed up the steep stairs to the first floor and waited in a queue. By the time you got to the window, you just hoped that the women working behind the counter could help you out.

It was all strictly cash terms – no bank or credit cards. You said what you wanted – you were pointed in the direction of a seating plan and asked to make your choice of stalls or circle. Only in extreme circumstances (ie – there were no other tickets left) would you go for seats in the Upper Circle – ‘the gods’ as they were known. No phone hotlines. No second chances on e-bay. You got your ticket there and then. You guarded it with your life.

Another thing worth mentioning – the price on the ticket was the amount of cash you handed over. No such things as booking/processing/admin fees that the likes of TicketBastard and the rest throw at you nowadays. Legalised extortion if you ask me.

Ticket prices in the late 70s and early 80s were not much more than the cost of a new album. Certainly, the idea of paying up to four times the cost of a new CD (New Order & Morrissey tix this year have worked out at more than £40 a pop taking in all the add-on costs imposed) would probably have led to boycotts of gigs and rows of empty seats.

Innocent times indeed.

So what’s all this got to do with a posting for Jock’n’Roll you might ask??

Well, the site has a message board, one strand of which asks folk to talk about the first gig they ever attended. Mine was May 1979 at said Glasgow Apollo and was a triple-bill headlined by The Police with The Cramps and Bobby Henry in support. The cost was £2. Many hundreds of gigs have come and gone since, some better and more memorable than others.

But enough of the reminiscing and back to the music. And more from the Top 10s.

Number 6s

JC : Here We Go – Arab Strap (5:04) (mp3)

JTK : Club Country – Associates (4:50) (mp3)

Number 5s

JC : Love Song – Simple Minds (5:04) (mp3)

JTK : How Men Are – Aztec Camera (3:39) (mp3)

I’d also like to point out that you don’t have to be Scottish to vote in the poll for greatest Scottish singles ever. Get on over to Jock’n’Roll now. Just click right here.

Thank You

Continuing on the theme of this extended weekend on TVV, here’s how the folks over at Jock’n’Roll introduce themselves:-

We’ve all done it. You’re in the pub and it’s that time of the evening when we’re all tired and emotional and suddenly, out of nowhere, someone says “What’s the Greatest Scottish Single of All-Time?” and before you know it a full scale debate/discussion/fight/need for bail money breaks out.

The idea for this poll was borne out of a love of all things musical, trivial and Scottish. Let’s face it, there have been many great bands/artist who have come out of Scotland, with some going on to grace the world stage.

Many of the acts featured on this website will be unfamiliar to a lot of you. But whether it’s Simple Minds and Texas or Heavy Pettin’ and The Crows they all have their admirers and they’ve all made singles.

This is your opportunity to nail your colours to the mast and show your undying love for Sheena Easton’s “9 to 5” (that’s “Morning Train” to our American readers) or Aneka’s “Jockanese Boy”. Please use these pages as a reference point to remind you of the greatness that is the Scottish single and to pick your 10 favourites (plus the worst).

And here’s more parts of the Top 10s of myself and Jacques The Kipper:-

Number 8s

JC : Johnny Cash – Sons & Daughters (3:17) (mp3)

JTK : Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drop – Cocteau Twins (4:10) (mp3)

Number 7s

JC : Into The Valley – The Skids (3:19) (mp3)

JTK : Loneliness Shines – Malcolm Middleton (4:19) (mp3)

Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and Girls.

I draw your attention to a website mentioned in a sidebar to the blog – The Great Jock’n’Roll Single.

Dave and The Cat await your visit. All you have to do is list your all-time favourite Top 10 singles by Scottish artists. Believe me, you’ll go through hours of mental torture trying to do so. Especially when you’re only allowed to put one entry per band or singer. All the rules are on the site. Oh, and I almost forgot – you’re being asked to put your all-time worst Scottish single.

Apart from anything else, the site is very clearly a labour of love (and not in any Hue & Cry fashion), with photos of old record sleeves that will take you back to different places and make you think of different people you haven’t seen or heard from in years.

As well as spending hours, maybe days or even weeks trying to get your Top 10 into shape (and when you do, I can predict with near certainty that you will change your mind at the 11th and a half hour), there’s loads of Scottish pop facts and trivia and plenty of updates on how the voting is going so far. There’s also a Message Board which some people are using as a confessional booth.

Great Fun.

And over the next few days, the Top 10 of your humble blog-lord and that of Jacques The Kipper (someone who has left a bad smell around the blog with his random comments attached to certain posts) will be put up here. If you can be bothered, you can then let me know who has the better taste. If either of us has any taste that is.

Happy Listening.

The Number 10s

JC : Obscurity Knocks – The Trashcan Sinatras (4:12) (mp3)

JTK : Legal Man – Belle & Sebastian (2:42) (mp3)

The Number 9s

JC : Smalltown Boy : Bronski Beat (5:00) (mp3)

JTK : Loaded : Primal Scream (7:02) (mp3)