Category: Uncategorized

WITH APOLOGIES TO AIDAN MOFFAT AND MALCOLM MIDDLETON

So that was the first big bloggers weekend of the summer.

Starts Thursday as usual with Brian and Walter jetting in from the ‘Dam although Seattle and Frankfurt had been the departure points. I try to do my sound bloke routine by going in with them in the taxi and then spending the afternoon and evening being a genial host. I’m glad I bothered. We did lunch in the Griffin, some culture, some drinking and a hurl on the Glasgow subway. Ended up in the Pot Still chatting to Canucks, death metal bikers from Stockholm and posh folk from the RSNO. Before long it was Friday….

From Rhine Town to  Rain Town, Dirk flew in to be met by CC  and soon we all hooked up to head out west via The Variety and The Arlington where we were joined by Comrade Colin. I was wearing my Ponderosa Aces t-shirt so in some ways Jonny the Friendly Lawyer was also part of the entourage. The sun was blazing down and so we set sail for the Kelvin and outdoor drinking at Inn Deep amongst the students, hipsters and trendies. Why is it these places only serve the worst vodkas? There was no problem getting in but there were no seats available so we stood on the walkway leaning on the fence watching people come and go. This turned out to be sound as we soon spotted Ken from The Bluebells who was kind enough to pose for a photo with Brian before he flogged us CDs of this new band he’s working with called Pronto Mama.

Before long it was off to the Hug and Pint where Drew came in and immediately confused the German boys with his Lanarkshire guttural although they knew right away he was very sound and very funny. Or maybe they were just being polite. The next wee surprise was David from Kid Canaveral dropping by as he was playing there that night as the support act and he too posed for a photo with Brian as well as giving him some lovely vinyl. There was a long haul back into town to Sleazy’s where Aldo had hotfooted it straight from work. By now the lack of food was taking its toll so some crisps were bought and shared although the drink still flowed very freely.

A few changes of clothing ensued with Dirk now resplendent in yet another magnificent Clash t-shirt sourced in Japan worn underneath the coolest of leather jackets. Joey Ramone eat your heart out. We sat down in Tut’s, drinking ourselves even sillier and stuffing our faces with burgers and pizzas. All except Colin who of course had to be all bourgeoisie and have the beetroot falafel….mmmmmm dead tasty. Adam got in just after 8 and so the gathering was finally complete. Beers, wines, vodkas and peach schnapps were ordered and consumed but we decided to bail out before the 350 teenagers upstairs watching Seafret came back to cram us out.

CC went home but the rest of us hit the State Bar where Dirk’s jacket drew admiring glances from the ladies and in one case a sneaky caress. By this time there was some amount of pish being talked but it only added to the fun. We decided Moz and Mark E Smith were bigger tossers than Phil Ramone but it was a close run thing. At midnight it was time to go home.

But unknown to the rest of us, four of the gang went back to Sleazy’s where I’m not sure what happened as I wasn’t there and the others can’t remember. Before long it was Saturday…………

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend

(More to come later today)

JC

It’s been around 10 days since I last spent any time on this blog and it might well be about another 10 days before I can devote any real time to it again. But hey, there’s the very best of reasons why this is the case.

I initially met a golfing buddy who was over here from Canada before gearing myself up for an unforgettable weekend in which I took in three gigs in two days as well as……………………

HE’S A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY, I’M A LITTLE BIT INDIE ROCK’N’ROLL

Yup. I met Jonny the Friendly Lawyer aka Jonny Bottoms, the bassist with The Ponderosa Aces. I never imagined that anything could possibly top seeing Butcher Boy play a gig for the first time in four years but just 24 hours after that particularly momentous occasion I had the joy, honour and privilege of meeting one of the oldest friends of this blog. It was an amazing few hours that flew in far too quickly and is something I’ll return to in more detail in due course. Oh and I’ll also make time to review his band, as well as the gigs the previous day by the aforementioned Butcher Boy as well as TeenCanteen who also played a set in Glasgow as part of the celebrations of Record Store Day 2017.

The reason I’m holding off is the fact that in 72 hours time, I’ll be hooking up with more friends of this parish when Adam (Bagging Area), Brian (Linear Track Lives), Dirk (Sexy Loser) and Walter (A Few Good Times In My Life) begin to arrive in Glasgow where myself, Drew (Across The Kitchen Table) and Stevie (Charity Chic), supported by other friends of our respective blogs such as Aldo, Jacques the Kipper, Comrade Colin and Strangeways will be hooking up in Glasgow over a long weekend after Dirk decided a few months back that it would be a great idea.

I know a few others had been hopeful of making it along but logistics and other issues made it impossible on this occasion. But I’m 100% certain that Glasgow 2017 won’t be the last effort to get a group of like-minded souls together.  Spending a few hours with Jonny has not only more than whetted my appetite for this coming weekend but made me really determined to hook up with many others at some point in the future. There’s something very special about the people who frequent this little corner of the internet and its associated partners and on the basis of past experiences when the blogging mate finally gets to shake a hand a give a hug, then I know this coming weekend is going to be truly special, memorable and worth writing about.

I met Jonny in the company of a long-time mate, Ian, and it was interesting that he said to me afterwards that anyone looking at and listening to us in the Manchester pub would have never believed we had only just linked up in person for the first time given how natural and relaxed we were with one another. That’s actually been true of every blogging mate I’ve been lucky enough to meet over the years and I am hyper-excited at the idea of seeing Adam, Dirk, Walter and indeed Stevie for the first ever time (although in the case of the latter we know we’ve been in the same audience at gigs and so we might meet up and recognise one another) and a reunion with Brian who I met for a very short while back in 2012 when he came to Glasgow especially to see Big Country.

I’m almost 54 years of age and I feel like a kid in the last few days before Christmas, including an inability to sleep properly!!

mp3 : The Lemonheads – It’s About Time

JC

Folks, how was your weekend?

I certainly hope it was bit less stressful and worrying than it was for my young brother SC, a long-time friend of this blog who pops in every day and leaves the occasional comment – especially when I’ve said something nice about Simple Minds.

The photo above was taken by SC on Saturday afternoon as he and his family (including the dog) were hurriedly evacuating their home not far from Orlando, Florida as a brush fire closed in very suddenly. It was a fire that, at its height, covered 165 acres – and an acre is the size of your average football pitch – so it was a big and dangerous motherfucker.

SC’s home was in serious danger of being burned to the ground, thus the urgent evacuation. The flames got to within 15 feet of the property but thanks to the skills and talents of the Seminole County firefighters, and the deployment of helicopters to pour down huge amounts of water from a great height, the danger was narrowly averted

SC was out of his home for nearly 24 hours before being allowed to return. He tells me, unsurprisingly, that there is very severe smoke damage to the house while it took a pounding from the water that was being dropped from the chopper – his solar panels are goosed while ash from the flames has created holes in the roof. And that’s just for starters.  The clean-up will take months and a lot of dollars.

The cause of the fire will be investigated but it is possible it was caused by a discarded cigarette that set flame to a grassy wooded area that was bone dry from months of no rain. Words fail me that someone could be so careless.

But the purpose of this additional post is just to say a huge thanks to the brave men and women who tackled the blaze over the weekend – and indeed are still on-site as 48 hours on it is still only 90-95% under control – and indeed for the public service they put in each and every single day of the year.

JC

I’ve just upgraded to a paid plan with the lot who host this little corner of the internet.

The main thing that you should notice is no more adverts when you visit the site and read the posts.

The domain name has now changed to thenewvinylvillain.com but you should still get here if you use the old address of thenewvinylvillain.wordpress.com

All part of what I hope will be an improved look and feel to the blog in the coming months.

JC

Sorry for the lack of a posting today.  Been a bit busy at work and things on over a few evenings recently that I couldn’t quite keep on top of things.

I’ve been in Birmingham today on work stuff and will soon be boarding a train back to Glasgow, during which time I will do a bit of catching up including posts for the rest of the week and hopefully reading and enjoying all the stuff that other bloggers have been posting at their place.

Just one thing to add.  Was lucky enough to see The Pixies at Glasgow Barrowlands last Friday.  They were, as the saying goes, the dog’s bollocks.

Late addendum at 11pm

I got reasonably near the front at one point last week….

I’ve subjected you to a couple of songs these past two days that have extended out to ridiculous amounts of time.  I’ll make it up to y’all by delving into the i-tunes and finding some really short stuff with the qualification that they need to be full songs and not just extracts. Oh and they also need to be of quality:-

mp3 : Half Man Half Biscuit – Vatican Broadside
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Old Mother Reagan

Both clock in at just 30 seconds.

mp3 : Wire – Brazil

You’ll need your full powers of concentration to get through its 40 seconds.

mp3 : Elastica – Annie
mp3 : Talulah Gosh – Break Your Face
mp3 : The Style Council – Mick’s Blessings
mp3 : Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Let Her Go Into The Darkness
mp3 : The Vaccines – Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra)

All at less than 80 seconds.

Enjoy.

This a true tale, the revealing of which was inspired by Badger‘s revelations of ‘humiliation’ while singing on stage.

It’s 1990. I’m out with Mrs Villain (Rachel) to see the new stage show that has been put together by the outrageously camp and very funny Julian Clary. The venue is Glasgow Pavilion and the show is being performed in front of a sell-out audience of 1,500, the majority of which it is safe to say are either female or gay. Mrs V adores Julian – she’s always had a thing about camp/glam blokes dating back to her love for Bowie and Bolan as a teenager. She warns me before we leave that, if possible, she is going to get on stage with her hero during the section when there will be the inevitable audience participation – she’s certainly dressed for the occasion wearing an incredibly tight t-shirt and skinny jeans combo and looking as great as I’ve ever seen her.

The show is very funny. Julian is as outrageous as you’d hope – full of OTT one-liners and tales that were too risqué for television. He then tells us that it is audience participation time and it’s going to be a live version of his TV game show, Sticky Moments, that had aired on Channel 4 back in 1989 and 1990.

I say game show….but as wiki states:-

the questions, answers, challenges and cheap prizes were deliberately off-centre, and rife with gay innuendo and double entendres, played for laughs rather than actual competition.

Julian tells us that the competition is to be a shoot-out between a straight and gay couple. He asks if perhaps there are any gay couples in the audience and if so to raise their hands. He then spends a few minutes wandering up and down the aisles within the stalls, wise cracking his way through as to why he was ruling willing participants out until he finally finds the two blokes he most fancies. They take to the stage to huge applause.

Julian then announces that he’s already decided who his straight couple are going to be….and immediately I know what’s coming next. Mrs V had already made all sorts of eye-contact with him as he strolled through the auditorium while I had made the cardinal error of trying to look wholly disinterested. He grabbed Mrs V by the hand and said something along the lines of her being so gorgeous that her other half will have no choice but to follow….

There are loud cheers and a few wolf whistles…which Julian is keen to explain are very much for me. He admires my t-shirt which is emblazoned with The Wonder Stuff on the front….he askes me what it means…I foolishly try to explain its the name of a band….he makes a biting retort about it being some sort of gay sex position. It’s clear my role tonight is to be the fool whom the audience laughs at….

To be honest I don’t mind at all. Mrs V is in heaven right now, a smile lighting up her face as she gets up close to an idol.  Julian explains that he will ask one half of each couple three questions, all to do with the likes and habits of their partners, and the couple who comes up with best matching answers goes home with the prize. Of course, I’m not to answer the questions – they are to be about me – and so while I’m blindfolded and made to put on headphones to listen to music, Mrs V and one half of the gay couple get talking and answering.

I can sense that the audience is rocking during this section and that the piss is being ripped royally out of me. I should also have said that Julian, when asking my name and being told Jim, said there was no way he could go with anything as common as that nor could he use Jimmy as that would just pander to stereotyping men from Glasgow. I was going by my proper name of James and he was revelling in delivering that word in as camp a fashion as he could.

“Right James. Here’s your first question. Rachel says that you’re very much a boxer shorts sort of man and so I#m not going to ask you what type of underwear you have on tonight….if any. But if you are, can you tell us the colour please?”

“Red and White stripes”

“Are you sure? Rachel is certain she saw you in black before you left the house….”

I pull up the waistband of my boxers to show that they are indeed red and white. We are now 1-0 down.

“Question Number 2 James. I think this one is quite easy. What was it that first attracted Rachel to you? Was it you larger than life personality, your larger than life pay packet or your larger than life penis”

I look at Rachel. She is trying hard not to laugh out loud. I’m trying hard to work out what answer she would have given. Surely she didn’t want to add to my humiliation……

“Julian, I would say it’s my larger than life pay check as after all my other half is a bit of a Material Girl”

“No James….It seems you have a big dick”

The audience at this point is ending itself collectively as I look at Rachel who is smirking. We are now 2-0 down.

“Final question James. Now I know you can’t win and that really is such a shame.  But you can go home with a consolation prize if you get this one right.  And you should do as it’s about music and we all know you love music what with your fabulous t-shirt. So the question….what did Rachel say you would sing if you were on a karaoke stage?”

Ya beauty! I’d only ever at this point in my life once done karaoke and it was for a laugh at a works night out. I had performed one song very badly and I distinctly remember telling Rachel about it.

“That’s easy Julian. My karaoke song is I Will Survive.”

More laughs from the audience and Rachel looks over to me in a bit of shock.  WTF?  Does this mean we are going home empty-handed and all this has been for nothing??

“James, are you sure you and Rachel aren’t on a blind date? You don’t seem to know one another very well.. She told us it would be something by Morrissey or The Smiths.”

I genuinely don’t know what to say. The idea of a Morrissey or Smiths song being an option at a karaoke night back in the early 90s just didn’t seem possible. They would have been the last answer I’d have given.

Julian turns to me and says: “James. I can tell that you don’t want to disappoint Rachel, so I’m going to give you one last chance to pick up a prize. Would you care to sing your karaoke number for us here on stage?”

I hesitate. The audience cheer and scream. Rachel looks at me imploringly. I have no choice……

As Russell Churnley, the long-time musical collaborator of Julian Clary hits the distinctive opening notes on the piano, I close my eyes and go for it. Big style.

I don’t know if I was any good or not…I don’t even know if I got the correct words out. But I gave it my all and the crowd loved it, clapping along in whatever sort of time I was keeping. One verse and one chorus and that was it. Thankfully.

Julian gave us the prize which was a plastic replica of Fanny the Wonder Dog (Julian’s pet whippet who had been part of his earliest stage and TV shows) and a bouquet of flowers. But Rachel also got a kiss and I got a hug. We went back to our seats and within seconds I realised I was shaking thanks to a ridiculous rush of adrenalin that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced again.

And that was that. Or so I thought.

Firstly, Julian sang a song in the second half of the show and dedicated it to me (see below)

Secondly….the next day, I boarded my usual 7.30am train from Glasgow to Edinburgh where I worked at the time. I sat down in the my usual seat up in the very front carriage. Another of the regular commuters looked across at me and smiled. She got out of her seat, walked towards me and leaned in close whispering ‘red and white boxers….I wouldn’t have imagined!’

With a wink and a wave she went back to her seat.

Fame, fame, fatal fame….

mp3 : Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
mp3 : Julian Clary – The Leader of The Pack
mp3 : Morrissey – Get Off The Stage

Enjoy

The sleeve above is of a 1992 single, on Go! Discs, by a band called Anna.

I won’t go into details, but I’m urgently looking to source an mp3 of the song Masonic Youth.

Anyone able to help?

If so, please pass it on via thevinylvillain@hotmail.com

Cheers

JC

There’s been a great level of interest in the competition to win £50 of merchandise from the on-line shop of Chemikal Underground and I’m thrilled, honoured, delighted and excited by the fact that company MD and ex-Delgado, Stewart Henderson, has agreed to make the draw next week.

BUT…..some of you may have submitted an entry but not, as yet, have been put into the hat.

I’ve learned from three different folk over the past 48 hours that e-mails which had been sent to the hotmail address at various times haven’t reached me. I’ve no idea how widespread the problem was – the original emails were never re-directed to spam and none of them had content that would have caused an issue. Indeed, one of them was from someone entering the competition who I happened to bump into the other day. I mentioned that I was surprised he hadn’t entered only be told he had!

(one of the other missing e-mails I now know about was from Italy offering something for use on the blog while the other was someone responding to an e-mail I had sent them….so there’s no obvious rhyme or reason as to why things weren’t getting through)

The thing is, everyone whose name I’ve already put in the hat will have received a reply e-mail from me by now.

If however, you have sent in an e-mail with the answer to the question asking for the names of the members of Aloha Hawaii but haven’t yet heard back from me, then please, please, please re-submit as and when you’re able and certainly no later than 29 February as that is the closing date.

Cheers folks

 

The left hand photo was taken when Stephen Clark (born in Glasgow, Scotland on 19 February 1966) was around 21 years old – he’s in the middle flanked by two of his best mates – Gerry on the left and Paul on the right – all clad in identical U2 t-shirts.  One of the very few photos that none of them happen to be holding lager.

The right-hand photo was taken much more recently, and he’s with his son Liam who is resplendent in his Raith Rovers replica strip and Orlando City FC scarf.

I suppose like many other siblings, we weren’t hugely close as we grew up.  The three years age difference felt like a huge gap at times, and it wasn’t really till Stevie reached the age of 18/19 and I’d done my four years at university and was away working in Edinburgh that we really began to bond properly.  By this time, he’d become a dad at the age of 17, devoted to his son (also called Stephen) although he and the kid’s mum were far too young to ever stand a chance of staying together.

In the very early 90s,  he decided that there was little happening for him in his home country and so he upped sticks and moved to seek a better life in the USA, landing in Orlando where he ducked and dived for a bit, doing all sorts of work like cleaning out swimming pools, working in bars and driving distribution trucks, all the while financially looking after his son back in Glasgow.

In due course, he would meet a lovely Welsh lass who was also living and working in Orlando.  Adele had used her nursing qualifications to launch a career in healthcare in the States and they first got together soon after she had arranged for Stevie to be treated in hospital after the daft bugger had done himself an injury playing football.  Romance blossomed and in due course they would end up getting married in 2000.

That’s the Reservoir Jocks on the day of the wedding in Florida. My late brother Davie is on the left and I’m on the right on one of just two occasions that I’ve donned a kilt. Stevie is in the middle flanked by his very bald mate Paul (who you can see with the full head of hair in the U2 photo above) and his son Stephen who by this point in time was 16 years old.

Adele and Stevie now have two incredible kids of their own….one of whom was born a matter of months after Stevie’s first grandchild was born here in Glasgow.

My wee brother has really made a great life for himself, becoming a fairly successful self-employed floor fitter and also obtaining American citizenship. He’s also not changed a bit in all the years….not withstanding the hair loss…..and he’s still the laid-back, easy-going bloke who’ll always put others well before himself at all times. A genuine all-round good guy.

We of course don’t see each other all that often nowadays but we speak plenty enough and all these years on, he’s my best mate and as well as my only surviving brother.   And I can’t quite get to grips with the fact that he turned 50 today.  These are for him, all from bands I know he’s loved over the years:-

mp3 : U2 – Two Hearts Beat As One
mp3 : Del Amitri – Kiss This Thing Goodbye
mp3 : Spear of Destiny – The Wheel
mp3 : Hipsway – The Honeythief
mp3 : Hothouse Flowers – Don’t Go
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes

Have a great day young ‘un.  Hope to see you soon.

You’ll recall from this posting that I submitted a Top Ten albums, as chosen by the blog’s readership, as part of the 2016 BAMS.

Our top ten was:-

10.The Spook School – We Try To Be Hopeful
9. Miaoux Miaoux – School Of Velocity
8. Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space
7. Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool
6. Belle & Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance
5. John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
4. Blur – The Magic Whip
3. Lonelady – Hinterland
2. New Order – Music Complete
1. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

The overall outcome was:-

1 Kathryn Joseph – Bones You Have Thrown Me, And Blood I’ve Spilled
2 Mioux Miaoux – School Of Velocity
3 C Duncan – Architect
4 Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men
5 Chrvches – Open Every Eye
6 Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
7 Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
8 Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
9 Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool
10 Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space
11 Belle & Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want to Dance
12 Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness
13 Best Girl Athlete – Carve Every Word
14 Lonelady – Hinterland
15 FFS – FFS
16 Garden Of Elks – A Distorted Sigh
17 CARBS – Joyous Material Failure
18 STOOR – STOOR
19 Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
jt 20 Prehistoric Friends – Prehistoric Friends
jt 20 The Cathode Ray – Infinite Variety

Overall, we were one of 31 sites to cast a vote. 160 different albums were nominated.

The folk who compiled everything provided a few interesting stats including the fact that six #1 nominations didn’t receive votes from any of the other twenty-five bloggers!

The winner (pictured above with her prize) has also given a lovely interview in respect of the award.

Singer/songwriter Kathryn Joseph has become the seventh winner of the annual BAMS Award (Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites) after her exquisite album “Bones You Have Thrown Me, And Blood I’ve Spilled” topped the poll.

“Bones You Have Thrown Me, And Blood I’ve Spilled” turned out to be a convincing winner after early challenges from C Duncan’s ‘Architect’ and Young Fathers’ ‘White Men Are Black Men’ although in the end both were pipped for second placed by Miaoux Miaoux’s ‘School Of Velocity’.

2013 winners Chvrches again had a strong showing finishing just behind the leading group in fifth.

In all 31 writers this year voted for 160 albums with 11 selecting Kathryn in their top 10s.

Although Scottish acts filled the BAMS’ top 5 slots the remainder of the top 10 was very much an international affair.

When contacted by the BAMS with news of her win, Kathryn was delighted.

Kathryn, congratulations! bones you have thrown me blood I’ve spilled is the winner of the Scottish BAMS Award for 2015! How does it feel?

“It feels amazing! Thank you so much!”

Previous winners include the likes of The Twilight Sad, CHVRCHES, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat. Good company to be in?

“Yeah the best company! I can’t believe I get to sneak in with my fellow bams!”

Last year was a really exciting year for you. As well as the BAMS award, your album was also the Scottish Album of the Year as well. What have been the highlights of 2015 for you?

“Pretty much every single gig we’ve played!

“The SAY Awards night was just the most beautiful ever. I keep saying even if we hadn’t won it would still have been the best night ever because it was just such a beautiful atmosphere and the dancing afterwards was great, and Halina from Podcart played the most amazing records. And Suzie from Happy Meals was dancing around our heads, it was amazing!

“But yeah it has honestly been the best year of my life. All of the things I’ve got to do, all of the people I’ve got to meet, and all of the other music I’ve got to hear. It’s been amazing. Even if nothing good happens this year I won’t mind because I have that.”

Speaking of that, what other music where you enjoying last year?

“Live wise my first obsession last year was Babe. I saw them firstly at GoldFlakePaint’s festival at Glad Cafe and just begged them to play at our single launch. They make a perfect and beautiful noise.

“Bossy Love also. Best live woman in the world. I’m going to say that now before anyone else does. She [Amandah Wilkinson] is incredible. They all are. They are just an incredible band, the atmosphere that they create and how they make other people feel is beautiful.

“And yeah A Mote of Dust is my most recent falling in love with something. The first two tracks of that album made me cry. It’s just perfect perfect beautiful music.

“There’s too many though. I could go on and on about all the people I’m in love with!”

Also on the BAMS list we had music from the likes of Miaoux Miaoux, Sufjan Stevens, Kendrick Lamar, C Duncan, CHVRCHES, Courtney Barnett. An amazing year for music wouldn’t you agree?

“Yeah, I mean Sufjan Stevens record is the most beautiful piece of music ever. For me that is the most beautiful record of last year.”

In regards to the album, when you finished recording it, did it match up to your expectations?

“I don’t think I had any expectations! I remember that moment of Marcus playing back what he’d done, and it just being like yeah ok that’s what I wanted it to sound like. But I still managed to convince myself that it wasn’t that great and then it took me another three years to think yeah maybe someone else would want to hear it.”

Obviously this is the Bloggers and Music Sites Award. How important to the success of the album have blogs and music sites been?

“Oh god, it’s massive. I mean that’s how anyone hears it or reads about it. At the very beginning to get any feedback at all is amazing. And then to realise that’s how other people discover it. And those are the people you want to like it and who matter.

“Weirdly for me, the people who did write about the record in the first place, and who did interview me in the first place, have ended up being some of my very best friends of this year. For me it’s been personally I’m so lucky to know these humans! And you are all amazing. And how much effort you put into listening and caring about it. It would be absolutely pointless if no one was going to listen and care about it.”

Now sadly our award doesn’t come with a £20,000 cheque, but you do get the infamous BAMS Award bottle of Buckfast. I hope you enjoy it, and enjoy 2016!

“Who needs money! No, thank you so much, and thank you to all the beautiful BAMS.”

And once again, my thanks to everyone who got involved in the T(n)VV vote. Let’s do it all again next year!

I’ve pulled myself out of a bit of a nosedive in time to do one last post for 2014…although for some readers in far-off lands the year of 2015 will already be a few hours old.

The last 25-30 posts were all put together in a burst of activity before I headed off on holiday a few weeks back, mostly as an insurance policy in case I ran into problems with motivating myself on my return although I usually find that relaxing on the beach gives me some fresh inspiration and leads to all sorts of new postings and long-term features.  But this time I came back devoid of ideas and then just before Xmas I learned of three separate deaths over three successive days which affected the families of some of my very closest friends. To put it mildly, I was on a bit of a downer and although Xmas with Mrs Villain was enjoyable enough, I haven’t been motivated enough to return to the keyboard. Till now.

First of all….a huge thank you to those of you who said such lovely words on the occasion of the 500th posting on T(n)VV – they were hugely appreciated.

Secondly….apologies for those of you who were looking for the Morrissey links from last Sunday’s post – a slight technical hitch has emerged (i.e. – I can’t find three of the five tracks as I appear to have deleted a batch of downloads at some point in time and only have those that I got from the purchase of the vinyl; I’m planning to try to rectify things by this weekend)

Thirdly….apologies in general if some of you have dropped an e-mail to me in recent weeks. The malaise around the blog has extended to the e-mail account which hasn’t been opened in nearly four weeks. I’m going to get round to it again soon.

The strange thing is that, from a musical perspective, 2014 turned out to be hugely enjoyable in many ways, primarily from the number of tremendous and unusual live shows that I managed to get along to. Glasgow’s hosting of the 2014 Commonwealth Games also saw it host a diverse cultural programme, within which sat something called the East End Social (click here) which was single-handedly responsible for some of the most unforgettable moments in what is now 35 years of going along to gigs.

Other highlights in my home city included Aidan Moffat at the Barrowlands, the Cairn String Quartet (with all sorts of special guests) at Platform, Johnny Marr at the O2 and Randolph’s Leap at the Glad Cafe while the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh brought great joy on a few occasions, not least the last ever gig by Meursault (not that I was happy the band were splitting up but they really went out in style)

The year was rounded off by something special too, namely getting to see The Twilight Sad at the Tolbooth, a 200-capacity venue in Stirling, when the band demonstrated just how strong and memorable their new songs are while somehow also making the old favourites sound better and more powerful than ever before.

I’ve also got into the habit in recent years of holding back on some of the music I’ve most wanted to buy so that Santa can bring me joy on Xmas Day. 2014 was no exception and this past week has seen me really appreciate the work of Honeyblood, The War on Drugs, Owl John, Roddy Frame and the wonderful soundtrack that Edwyn Collins put together for The Possibilities Are Endless film.

2015 will hopefully turn out to be half-decent. I’ll do my very best to keep T(n)VV ticking over. Thanks for being part of it.

This was the final few minutes of a look back at 2014 which went out on BBC2 in the UK last night. I can’t think of a better way to end the year.

mp3 : Charlie Brooker and The Blockheads – Reasons To Be Fearful ’14

Enjoy

There will be some, possibly the vast majority of you, looking at the sleeve of single #113 in this series and thinking that I’m having a laugh or taking the piss.

Not at all.

I saw Travis a few times in Glasgow as they made their way up the ladder of the music world. They were an enjoyable indie-rock band who all seemed to be decent guys and nobody would begrudge them having some success. They were best-known for a long time as a band who rehearsed in the daytime in the upstairs part of a famous Glasgow city centre pub that has been a favourite of mine ever since I could legally drink.

They got two big breaks. Firstly, they were taken on as support act to Oasis for an arena tour where their performances were tight, quick and consistent in contrast to what the Mancunians were doing as they showed the first signs of what would be a gradual decline in quality from their first two albums.

Secondly, they got themselves onto the Festival circuit during one of the most miserable summers in living memory and their new song Why Does It Always Rain On Me? became the sing-a-long anthem for the masses and took Travis to a whole new level.

I happen to think that Writing To Reach You is a lovely little song. Yes, it owes an awful lot to Wonderwall by the aforementioned Oasis which in itself is a classic pop song. And I know that in many people’s eyes the rise of Travis led to the later emergence of the likes of Coldplay and Keane but that’s more to do with the music industry than the band itself.

mp3 : Travis – Writing To Reach You
mp3 : Travis – Green Behind The Ears
mp3 : Travis – Only Molly Knows

The single, which reached #14 in the UK charts, was released in March 1999, a couple of months prior to the LP The Man Who which would go on to win the BRIT Award for best album.

I’ve added a new ‘Categories’ section to the right-hand side. It’s basically a list of all the bands who have been featured across all the postings. It acts as a sort of index if anyone drops by and wants to just read about a particular singer or band.

While it will be of some use to readers old and new, I’ve introduced it to help me improve the service on offer. I realised it was necessary when I drafted a post on Therese by The Bodines only to discover I’d posted on them not so long ago and that I’d also given them a mention via one of the old posts copied over from the extinct blog.

Enjoy.

I was standing next to Mike from Manic Pop Thrills all the way through this gig. I’m sure he wont mind that I’ve pinched his photos and all his text as this is an instance where I agree with every single word he has typed.

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Meursault / Plastic Animals – Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh – Wednesday 13th August 2014

So that’s it then. Meursault are done and dusted. And it’s no exaggeration to say that last night’s show at the Queen’s Hall marked the end of a significant chapter in recent Scottish music history.

Over the last few years there is no doubt that the band, led by Neil Pennycook, have been one of Scotland’s most innovative and restless bands. So over the years we got uncompromising recordings (‘All Creatures Make Merry’ in particular) and we got gigs loaded with new songs.

That meant that, occasionally, I admired some work a bit more than I liked it. But, as they evolved and changed at a rapid pace, Meursault were never anything less than intriguing and, much more frequently, rather wonderful.

The nature of the show though indicated that this really is a full stop. For a band that was always looking forward, it was significant that they played “the hits” (as Neil promised MPT (and itm?) last month). As a consequence the main set featured most of the band’s singles as well as select cuts from all three LPs.

That meant that we got to hear many songs for the first times in years and it proved a revelatory experience. Simply put, if that perpetual forward motion had been slowed to just a little extent, it’s not hard to imagine Meursault crossing over to a far wider audience. Not hard at all. And yet, then, they wouldn’t have been the Meursault that we knew and loved. (The past tense is still a bit of a wrench).

So songs like ‘Flitting’ and ‘Settling’, played by a tight band who were clearly having the times of their lives, just sounded massive whilst ‘William Henry Miller Part 1’ was simply joyous.

The SUPERMOON Comedy Club

Mid set the band were joined by guest backing vocalists for both William Henry Millers. First up was Bartholomew Owl (for Part 2) and, as Neil called him on stage, he clearly had no idea what Bart was wearing (a knee length harlequin onesy!). The look of sheer incredulity on his face when he saw Bart for the first time will stay with the audience for a long time.

The expanded band were then joined on stage by Dan Willson for ‘WHM Part 1’ with Dan apparently taking his cues from notes on a sheet of paper stuffed into his pint glass. One of which he fluffed!

Yet, even if the set was principally about the old stuff, two of the stand-outs were songs that Meursault never recorded. ‘I Will Kill Again’ was taken early on at almost Ramones speed whilst ‘New Boy’ (a song I first heard in the very same venue two years ago) sounded like the pinnacle of the ‘Something for the Weakened’ era of songs. Truly the hairs were standing up on the back of my neck for that one.

The encore illustrated both sides of the band’s nature. A heartbreaking ‘A Small Stretch of Land’ was delivered solo by Neil and his guitar before he was joined by the band for a scalding wig out of ‘Was Ist Das?’ which made the ‘Organ Grinder’ version look timid in comparison.

It’s a mark of how good the show was that, even at 90 minutes, it still felt too short. And I doubt that I’m alone in thinking that.

For a last ever gig, the amount of sadness on display was surprisingly limited. Perhaps the knowledge that Neil will continue to work with this band mitigates against grief as the predominant reaction. And that’s a good thing – this show simply didn’t need any mawkishness to make it a truly special event.

Interestingly the whole occasion seemed framed by the song lyrics – with “We moved away” from ‘Flittin’‘ bookending the main set and ‘I Will Kill Again’ a declaration of continued intent. It was entirely appropriate too that the first line on the last song “There was a time when all this felt right” wrapped things up – even if few in the audience would agree. But, given that this was the last original song on the last Meursault record, perhaps its significance was overlooked earlier in the year.

Listening back to the three albums side by side in the wake of the show, there are two things that jump out at me. Firstly, whilst the records all unquestionably have an indefinable Meursault-ness, to the untutored ear they must sound like they were recorded by entirely different bands. And secondly despite, no, BECAUSE of their range of approaches and membership deployed, you never got the full Meursault story unless you saw the live shows. In that context last night was the final, fitting piece in an impressively complex jigsaw.

Plastic Animals

A support slot at a show like this is something of a double edged sword. Whilst it offered Plastic Animals a decent sized audience, the truth is that it’s almost impossible for the support to make an impact in the face of the import of the occasion.

Yet Plastic Animals gave it a good shot and certainly registered with MPT. My uninformed impressions of what they sounded like beforehand (slightly messy rock band) were certainly off the mark. Instead they sounded very much like an early 90s guitar band in the Kitchens of Distinction vein. There’s something else familiar in there too but my synaptic database is refusing to make the correct connections.

Nevertheless if the maximum that can be accomplished in such a slot is to get noticed then Plastic Animals achieved that to my satisfaction.

Meursault played:

1. Flittin’(solo/piano) 2. I Will Kill Again 3. The Dirt and the Roots 4. Salt Part 2 5. Settling 6. What You Don’t Have 7. William Henry Miller (Part 2) 8. William Henry Miller (Part 1) 9. Dearly Distracted 10. Crank Resolutions 11. New Boy 12. Song for Martin Kippenberg 13. Flittin’ (band)

Encore
14. A Small Stretch of Land (solo/guitar) 15. Was Ist Das?

(Think that’s about right – had slight problems with my notes at one point!)

P.S. Given the constant references to how hard it was for people to get the Meursault name correct, I’m not sure if the spelling of “Meursalt” on the ticket was an ironic joke or simply a mistake on the part of the venue!

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I did feature Mike as part of the Friends Electric series the other week and this is a great example of the high standard of writing (and photos) that he brings to his little corner of the internet.

Much more available at www.manicpopthrills.wordpress.com

JC

I’ll be there for most of this…………..

“Born to the strains of ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’, and with the hippies giving way to the glam rockers, a humble kid began his exploration of life with music in his blood, his head and his heart.

This is his story.”

That’s the synopsis of a brand new blog that comes VERY highly recommended on the basis of the first two posts alone. It’s a unique blog that begin with Lou Reed and then the following day gives you The Rubettes, The Bay City Rollers and The Wombles………..

But then again, The Robster is a unique blogger prepared to talk equally about the skeletons in his closet as about the cool music he’s enjoyed in a way that will be  magnificently entertaining and educational.

Click here for the link and then bookmark the thing. 

JC

Some of my recent postings have hacked off someone judging by three e-mails that all arrived in my inbox within a few minutes of one another on 18 November:-

#1

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

MyBox/Joy Division – Transmission.mp3
MyBox/Joy Division – Novelty.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

Sincerely,
The Box Team

—————————-

#2

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

MyBox/Echo & The Bunnymen – Heads Will Roll (Summer Version).mp3
MyBox/Echo and the Bunnymen – Heads Will Roll.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

Sincerely,
The Box Team

————————————–

#3

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

MyBox/The Smiths – Hand In Glove.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

Sincerely,
The Box Team

—————————-

It’s all just a bit sad and depressing. Can’t think there’s too many folk who drop by here who didn’t already have all of the songs concerned.

Sorry folks.

The posting on Fatima Mansions was in draft form and shouldn’t have been published

The links to to the Abbey Road EP were mistakenly left off.

Blame tiredness.  Oh all right then, blame carelessness….that’s really what it was.

Hope I didn’t ruin anyone’s day.