Pete Wylie – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

BONUS POST : ADDITIONAL WYLIE

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Not too long ago, I posted a review of the Pete Wylie and The Mighty Wah! gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow. In truth, it was a hurried review, piggybacked onto a review of a gig by Yard Act a few days later, and I didn’t really do it justice.

I’ve finally been catching up with lots of things that have been written at some of my favourite blogs these past weeks – the trip to Vienna and a few other things to deal with on my return resulted in me missing out a fair bit at the time – and I was delighted that Adam over at Bagging Area posted a much more detailed review of Pete’s show in Manchester. Please click here to have a read.

Adam arrived slightly late and missed a couple of songs, including Come Back, one of the few hits in Pete’s back catalogue, and which he seems to be airing as the second tune in the current tour. I thought, as a way of thanking Adam for his review, that I’d return to part of a TVV posting from back in October 2015, when I wrote about the three chart hits under the heading of ‘BIG, BOOMING AND MEMORABLE’

1983 : Come Back

“Pete was infamous for being a bit of a gobshite who loved to spout opinions about everyone and everything, and an unwillingness to play by the record industry rules and regulations. Nevertheless, he was regarded as such a talent that WEA, the biggest label in the world at the time, signed him up after The Story of The Blues. He delivered an album that horrified them, and they refused to release it, and in doing so nullified the recording contract.

In due course the album was partially re-recorded and eventually released on Beggars Banquet as A Word To The Wise Guy. There was a Top 20 hit single from it, released in a number of formats including this 12″ version:-

mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Come Back (The Story Of The Reds)/The Devil In Miss Jones (combined and extended)
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Come Back! (The Return of the Randy Scouse Git)
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – From Disco Dicko to A Kid in Care

This was an almighty two fingers gesture to WEA. It was the big sound they had demanded of the album but only provided after Wylie had gone to pastures new…and in the b-side version the lyrics were altered to enable a sideways swipe at WEA singers and bands who were enjoying regular chart success.”

I’ll throw in the 7″ edit of the song for good measure, along with the b-side as a stand-alone track in additional to how it was offered up on the 12″:-

mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Come Back (7″ edit)
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – The Devil In Miss Jones

The Randy Scouse Git has a biting lyric, one that Pete must have had great fun composing. I can’t find them anywhere on t’internet, but I’ve done my best to work them out, albeit there are a couple of gaps.

Well did you ever hear of hope?
A small belief can mean relief when troubles start
Well did you ever hear of faith?
Encouragement, development,
and it’s all up to you, yes it’s all up to you

Come Back! It’s been over a year
Come Back! When you’re gone I’ll be here
Come Back! Well, it is your career
Come Back
Come Back! Howard Jones can have hits
Come Back! The Pretenders have hits
Come Back! even The Truth can have hits
Come Back!

We’ll get to shoot some videos
We’ll bribe the shops ? change
Cos money talks
We’ll get you on the Sooty show
Exposure is ???
And Annabel Lamb..it’s a battering ram

There’s then an outro in which the wall of sound production makes it difficult to work out all the names being shouted, but there’s certainly mention of Aztec Camera and Yes among others.

Feel free to offer up suggestions as to who is missing (or if I’ve got things badly wrong!!!).

JC

Pete Wylie, Wah!, Yard Act

SOME LIFE-AFFIRMING EXPERIENCES ? (3)

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Tonight will see me go way out of my comfort zone.

Looking for something special to do while on this week’s city-break, we managed to pick up tickets to attend a performance of Rossini‘s Guillaume Tell at the world-famous Vienna State Opera. It’s not that I’ve never attended an opera before, but the number can be counted on fewer than the fingers of my right hand….or my left hand for that matter…..and while I’ve enjoyed the experiences, I still prefer heading along to see pop/rock shows which tend to be over and done with in slightly less than the four hours (including intervals) that’s going to be involved tonight.

Which brings me to a couple more short reviews of gigs that took place just a week apart in Glasgow – one from a should-have-been superstar whose biggest hits are from the 80s and the other from a band whose best days may still be ahead of them.

Friday 8 June : Pete Wylie & The Mighty Wah! – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut

Pete Wylie backed by three younger and talented musicians, rolled back the years with his latest tour. He’s out there promoting Teach Yself Wah! a 20-track compilation comprising the hits, near misses, the flops and a number of songs that really ought to be much better known.

He was on stage for over two hours. He played just 13 songs, an indication of just now often, and for how long, he was talking. The thing is, there was every bit as much enjoyment to be had from the music as there was the talking, much of which was akin to stand-up comedy along with personal recollections of a lifetime in an industry that has never been sure of how to deal with him.

Wylie is a naturally gifted entertainer, but he’s also someone who has devoted an astonishing amount of time and energy into fighting all sorts of social injustices, to the extent that any prospect of him having an extended period in the limelight as a pop/rock star was certainly compromised. Not that he’s overly concerned about how it’s all turned out for him – he’d very much prefer to be remembered for his campaigning efforts as he is for tunes such as these.

mp3 :Wah! – Story Of The Blues
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful

Friday 15 March : Yard Act – Glasgow Academy

The Yard Act gig at Glasgow Barrowlands back in April 2023 was a real highlight of the year. It was one of the final shows the band played in celebration of the success of debut album The Overload, and it was a night of manic energy and exhilaration up on the stage and amongst the audience.

Almost a full year later and they return to the city for one of the first shows to support and promote the newly released LP, Where’s My Utopia? The album was on solid rotation prior to the gig, and at this early juncture, it is a strong candidate to be at the top of my ‘year end list’ if I can be bothered to do such a thing come December.

And yet…..the gig turned out to be one that I could give no more than 3 stars. If I hadn’t been at the Barrowlands last year, I’d certainly have scored it higher, but it is really difficult, if not impossible, not to a gig and compare it with previous shows, especially when there’s not really been that much time between them.

The thing I most feel bad about being so frugal with the marking is that it wasn’t all down to the band. Yes, it’s a totally different kind of show than 2023, complete with backing singers/dancers whose contributions are spectacular, but whose involvement means the gig is more co-ordinated than it is spontaneous. The Barrowlands show had the band and audience feeding off one another’s energy in a way that wasn’t the case this time.

My main issue was with the venue. The Academy is a cavernous venue, a converted former picture house with a huge ceiling and balcony, which hosted its first gig in 2003. I’ve seen many acts of all genres over the decades, but very rarely have I come away fully happy as the sound usually ranges from passable to unlistenable. Maybe it’s the very height that makes it so difficult to get right, but it comes nowhere near that of the Barrowlands. It’s not as if converted cinemas elsewhere haven’t worked – the late and lamented ABC in the city centre, which burned down in 2018, was a great place to see and hear bands – but it’s always a feeling of dread when I find myself having to traipse to the Academy. This was my first time back since the pre-COVID days and I had hoped there may have been improvements in that period, but on the basis of last Friday, sadly no.

The Yard Act album is too new to be offering up any mp3s. Here’s a couple of videos instead.

The latter has a co-vocal from Katy J Pearson. It is insanely catchy. It also ends with a Shakespearian monologue courtesy of the always amazing David Thewlis which is insanely superb.

JC

Pete Wylie

THE LARGELY FORGOTTEN FOLLOW-UP TO THE BIG HIT

It’s a last-minute change of plan as Khayem‘s suggestion of having each of The Crucial Three feature on consecutive days is a sound one.

Pete Wylie has had fitful success in terms of his music selling to the masses with just fours singles cracking the Top 40. Most folk, of an age, will recall Story Of The Blues (#3 in January 1983), Come Back (#20 in July 1984) and Sinful (#13 in June 1986.) Only the die-hard followers would be aware of this:-

mp3: Wah! – Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me)

It was the follow-up to Story of The Blues and reached #37 in April 1983. It’s anthemic, albeit at a much slower pace than the big hit, not really ideal for radio play and this lack of exposure probably goes a long way to explaining why it has become so easily forgotten; Pete would, however, later incorporate the ‘I Wish You’d Believe Me’ refrain into the lyric of Come Back.

Here’s the b-side of the 7″. It’s another more than decent offering:-

mp3: Wah! – Sleep

I thought it would be worth concluding today’s offering with a couple of unusual tracks that our main man has been involved in:-

mp3: Big Hard Excellent Fish – Imperfect List (original uncensored version)

This had been written as a piece of spoken word/music as part of a 1989 show by the modern ballet dancer Michael Clark, later released as a single on One Little Indian Records in 1990. It sees Josie Jones, who had been part of Wah! in the 80s, divulge a list of 64 of things which anger, offend or just annoy her – the list was put together in collaboration with Pete Wylie and the track was produced by Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It was later remixed by Andrew Weatherall but arguably its biggest exposure came in 2004 when the Manchester racist used it as the opening gambit to his live shows, nicely working up his audience into a fit of frenzy before he and his band took to the stage.

As for the other track, it also dates from 1990. The KLF (Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty) were intending to pull together two pieces of work called The Black Room and The White Room – in the end, only the latter would be fully realised. The first part of the Black Room did, however, see light of day via a very limited release with a track credited to The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu:-

mp3: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu – It’s Grim Up North (Club Mix)

It’s a very strange, but typical, offering from the JAMs. The lyric is simply a list of cities and towns located in the north of England read out over over a hard, pounding and noisy techno tune. The narrator is Pete Wylie.

After the KLF had enjoyed huge commercial success with The White Room, It’s Grim….would be re-recorded and re-released with a Bill Drummond vocal, reaching the Top 10 in November 1991.

Watch out for a posting on the KLF on these pages over the next few weeks.

JC

Ian McCulloch, Pete Wylie

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #43 : PETE WYLIE; plus BUNNYMAC SOLO MATERIAL

A very late change of plans at Villain Towers.

Echorich picked out ten great tracks that would make a tremendous Pete Wylie compilation and given that postpunkmonk has said he wished that he had picked up on more of the material back in the day, well I think it’s worth posting something up. For those of you who don’t perhaps read the comments, here’s what echorich had to say:-

Pete Wylie is my favorite Rock Star of ALL TIME…Probably because he’s the only one I’ve gotten drunk with until 7am in a New York Nightclub 4 nights on the trot, and definitely because he NEVER attained Rock Start status but was always prepared for it.

JC, you’ve picked the three songs which earned him the rank of a great artist. But I will add three that I just can’t live without, and one is among my 10 favorite songs of all time.

The first, and one which first blew my socks off and sucked me into WAH!’s aural vortex was Seven Minutes To Midnight. There might not be any more urgent Post Punk song ever written.

The second, and the one which if count as an all time favorite is Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me). To this day, this song sends chills up my spine and makes me quite emotional every time I play it.

The third is If I Love You. Again, Wylie’s straining, pleading singing just grabs the listener and won’t let go.

And as for an Imaginary WAH!/Wylie Album, here’s mine:
A
1. Better Scream
2. Seven Minutes To Midnight
3. Remember
4. Story Of The Blues
5. Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me)
B
1. Weekends
2. Come Back
3. Sinful
4. If I Love You
5. Heart As Big As Liverpool

All of the tracks selected by echorich can be found on this long-deleted compilation CD which, if you see any second-hand copies kicking around, I would recommend you splash out on it.

In the meantime:-

mp3 : Wah! Heat – Better Scream
mp3 : Wah! Heat – Seven Minutes To Midnight
mp3 : Shambeko Say Wah! – Remember
mp3 : J.F. Wah – Story Of The Blues
mp3 : Wah! – Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me)
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Weekends
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Come Back
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful
mp3 : Pete Wylie – If I Love You
mp3 : The Mighty Wah! – Heart As Big As Liverpool

Echorich also made some great observations on the solo career of Ian McCulloch:-

Candleland is the stand out, but there are some excellent moments on Mysterio – Pomegranate, Magical World, Dug For Love – which beats many of his contemporaries at the dance/rock emerging at the time and his gorgeous reading of Leonard Cohen’s Lover, Lover, Lover. In fact I’d say his version of the last song is as beautiful and seminal as Jeff Buckley’s career turn on Hallelujah. My favorite McCulloch song – it’s a b-side to Candleland’s Faith + Healing single – Rocket Ship. It’s an exuberant track with a heartfelt love song built-in.

I’m with him on Lover, Lover, Lover as being a tremendous cover version. Feels right that this week of nostalgically looking back at the class of Liverpool early 80s style should come to an end with these culled straight from the vinyl:-

mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Candleland (The Second Coming) (Extended Version)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Dig For Love (12″ version)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Lover, Lover, Lover (Indian Dawn Mix)
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Lover, Lover, Lover
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Faith & Healing (The Carpenter’s Son Mix)

while these are from CDs:-

mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Rocket Ship
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
mp3 : Ian McCulloch – Suzanne

The latter two are more great takes on Leonard Cohen originals – and incidentally, it was Mac’s love for the Canadian bard that turned me onto his songs many years after I had initially ignored them on the grounds of him being hippy-dippy and ultra depressing.

Enjoy

Pete Wylie, The Mighty Wah, Wah!

BIG, BOOMING AND MEMORABLE

Pete Wylie didn’t do things by half. The three occasions that he managed to enter the higher echelons of the UK pop charts left us with magical and timeless bits of music.

I did consider having a go at pulling together an imaginary compilation album featuring his best moments but in all honesty while I have some albums and this fairly comprehensive compilation CD that brings together most of his best recordings I didn’t think my words could do him justice. My cop-out is therefore just to dig deep into the cupboard and pull out the three hit singles in 12″ form as well as a double-pack of 7″ pieces of plastic from his last Top 20 effort:-

1982 : The Story Of The Blues

This climbed all the way to #3 in the charts and is probably the best known of the hits. To my young(ish) ears it sounded like no other record that had ever been released at that point in history. To my old(er) ears it still sounds like no other record that has ever been released in history. Oh and the b-side on the 12″ is a new version of an earlier and much-loved flop single.

mp3 : Wah! – The Story of The Blues (Parts I and II)
mp3 : Wah! – 7 Minutes Live(ish)

1983 : Come Back

Pete was infamous for being a bit of a gobshite who loved to spout opinions about everyone and everything, and an unwillingness to play by the record industry rules and regulations. Nevertheless, he was regarded as such a talent that WEA, the biggest label in the world at the time, signed him up after The Story of The Blues. He delivered an album that horrified them and they refused to release it and in doing so nullified the recording contract.

1986 : Sinful!

Almost thirty years on and this still sounds amazing when it blasts out of the radio. It reached #13 but was worthy at least of Top 3 to match his biggest ever hit. The 12″ Tribal Mix goes on for more than eight minutes and while it does occasionally betray its age thanks to the rather dated production techniques and tricks of the day, it is still hugely enjoyable and a fine commentary on the social injustices imposed on society by the Tories and Republicans in the first half of the ‘greed is good’ decade.

mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful! (Tribal Mix)
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sinful!
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – I Want The Moon, Mother

This was another single released in a multitude of formats and quite recently I had the good fortune to get my hands on the 2 x 7″ release of the single and here’s the two tracks that weren’t otherwise on the 12″ ( a word of warning…..they’re really only for completists):-

mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – Sophie’s Sinful! (for Maurice or Isabelle)
mp3 : Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks – The Joy Of Being Booed

Enjoy