Today’s charged particles are brought to you by the letter C! And, let’s go head to head this time. Hands up — who prefers which (if any)?
Communication: Pete Townshend
Communication: Spandau Ballet
Conversation: Hot Hot Heat
Conversation: Gary Numan
Confusion: New Order
Confusion: The Zutons
As I said in the comments section, many many thanks for all your kind words on the occasion of my 54th birthday.
The mix of the tunes played during the first half of the recent There Is A Night That Never Goes Out event seemed to be well received. And in keeping with giving into public demand, and in particular from Neil McAllister, here’s the mix of the 43 songs that made up the second half of the night as selected by Hugh and Robert (some of them being in response to requests made on the night itself)
mp3 : Various – There Is A Night (May 2017 – Part 2)
44. This Is The Modern World – The Jam
45. A Message To You, Rudy – The Specials
46. Love Plus One – Haircut 100
47. Temptation – Heaven 17
48. Fade To Grey – Visage
49. Debaser – Pixies
50. Crash – The Primitives
51. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
52. Pretend We’re Dead – L7
53. Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
54. Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths
55. Always On My Mind – Pet Shop Boys
56. Na Na Hey Hey – Bananarama
57. Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
58. Cannonball – The Breeders
59. Kill Your Television – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
60. This Charming Man – The Smiths
61. Do You Remember The First Time? – Pulp
62. Sit Down – James
63. Geno – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
64. You Can Call Me Al – Paul Simon
65. Yes – McAlmont & Butler
66. Don’t You Want Me? – The Human League
67. Panic – The Smiths
68. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – R.E.M.
69. New Sensation – INXS
70. Animal Nitrate – Suede
71. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
72. Getting Away With It – Electronic
73. A New England – Kirsty MacColl
74. Happy Hour – The Housemartins
75. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
76. Gold – Spandau Ballet
77. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
78. Hit – The Sugarcubes
79. Faith – George Michael
80. How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths
81. There She Goes – The La’s
82. The Only One I Know – The Charlatans
83. Sheila Take A Bow – The Smiths
84. Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm – The Wedding Present
85. Sensitive – The Field Mice
86. Everything Flows – Teenage Fanclub
Poptastic indeed….
In honor of my unmet friend The Robster, it’s Reggae Charged Particles Wednesday!
To wit:
Creation: Burning Spear
Reaction: Bob Marley & the Wailers
Revolution: Toots & the Maytals
Prediction: Steel Pulse
Caution: Aswad
With apologies for those of you who were expecting and hoping for the latest instalment of the XTC series. I promise it will return next Sunday.
It’s my 54th birthday today. For much of my life I had an irrational fear that I wouldn’t reach that number. I can’t explain why and I was quite nervous this time last year just in case I wasn’t totally crazy but in fact scarily psychic. But thankfully, it did turn out I was just crazy. My state of mind was helped midway through the year by SWC and Badger inadvertently finding the real reason #53 was significant in my life – it turned out it was to do with Billy Bragg and Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
I thought I’d share another mix thing today. It’s based on something I did for an event a few weeks ago in Glasgow.
The folk who have been running Strangeways, a club night in which 90%+ of the tunes were from The Smiths or Morrissey, felt that, after more than five years, a wee change was needed. Thus was born There Is A Night That Never Goes Out.
As the poster above indicates, the idea was to go with The Smiths alongside the sort of stuff with which I tend to populate this place. The sort of night that I reckon dreams are made of. The first one was arranged for Friday 26 May but as it clashed with a number of gigs, including The Wedding Present just up the hill from the venue for Strangeways, it was decided to make it 9pm – 2am instead of the usual 8pm – 1am to allow folk to make the most of things.
I got in touch with a few suggestions, including what I thought could make for a decent 90 minute run of tunes early on in the night. To my absolute delight, I was asked if I wanted to take the slot from 9.30 – 11pm. Honoured and thrilled as I was, my overriding concern was that the date also coincided with my brother and his family being over here on holiday and I might have ended with an unavoidable diary clash. And to be perfectly honest, I was nervous about possibly making a mess of things and getting the evening off to a start that would be impossible to recover from.
So…the compromise was I’d supply the tunes on a memory stick. A full 9o minute mix in the preferred running order but with each tune in stand-alone fashion so that Robert, Hugh and Carlo from the Strangeways crew could take the temperature of the crowd and alter things if necessary.
The good news was that I was able to get along, in the company of Aldo with Comrade Colin also along for a bit of moral support. It was fascinating to stand and watch people react to the songs I had chosen and which Robert was cueing up and playing. Initially, there was a lot of smiling, nodding and quietly mouthing along to the tunes, but nobody seemed too keen to dance. It was blisteringly hot in the venue – Glasgow had enjoyed a day of scorching sunshine – and between that and folk still being sober there seemed a bit of reluctance to get on the floor. Not even a couple of Smiths songs for the regular crowd from the old format of the night did the trick.
And then, just after 10pm something just seemed to click. Almost as if everyone decided at the same time that too many good tunes were being passed up. Or maybe that’s the new witching hour. Anyways, it was a song by The Cure that was the trigger, which was great news as it provided the evidence that going with a wider selection of music than the previous Strangeways nights was the going to work out just fine.
The next four hours proved to be an absolute triumph. The crowd began to ask for requests, all of which were met. A smattering of tunes from the late 70s and the second half of the 90s were also sneaked in to keep folk happy. Everyone seemed very happy judging by the smiles on all the faces and there was a real and obvious buzz being generating; the subsequent feedback on social media over the following days only confirmed what everyone had been feeling on the night. It was an absolute triumph.
My only regret was that I had to leave just before midnight to catch the last train home as I had much to do over the weekend and needed a reasonably clear head. I’ve been asked to take part in the next night on a date yet to be determined. I’m delighted about that and incredibly excited. Never dreamed that I’d be doing such things at 54…..
The whole night contained 86 songs. I thought I’d shove up the first 43 of them in a single, downloadable mix. It lasts a handful of minutes over two-and-a-half hours all told. My set list goes from songs 9-31.
It was all predetermined before the crowd arrived; there was one addition thrown in on the night (at song #29) and another shifted from earlier in the set list to #30 as these made for better links from some goth tunes to the Postcard classic that I wanted as my closer. A couple of my initial suggestions were rightly dropped once it became clear what was going to work and what wouldn’t click with the crowd which meant in the end my ‘turn’ came in at a shade under 85 minutes that for the most part was bang on and helped set things up nicely for the main DJ acts as the space filled its 200 capacity.
1. Ceremony – Galaxie 500
2. Oblivious – Aztec Camera
3. Obscurity Knocks – Trashcan Sinatras
4. A Better Ghost – Butcher Boy
5. Round and Round – New Order
6. Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack
7. What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths
8. Everything Counts – Depeche Mode
9. Let’s Dance – David Bowie
10. Don’t Talk To Me About Love – Altered Images
11. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side – The Smiths
12. Take The Skinheads Bowling – Camper Van Beethoven
13. Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh
14. Bye Bye Pride – The Go Betweens
15. Still Ill – The Smiths
16. Blister In The Sun – Violent Femmes
17. Driver 8 – R.E.M.
18. In Between Days – The Cure
19. Age Of Consent – New Order
20. Girl Afraid – The Smiths
21. Waiting For The Winter – The Popguns
22. Our Lips Are Sealed – Fun Boy Three
23. A Song From Under The Floorboards – Magazine
24. Speed Your Love To Me (extended mix) – Simple Minds
25. Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
26. I Want The One I Can’t Have – The Smiths
27. Hong Kong Garden – Siouxsie & The Banshees
28. This Corrosion – Sisters Of Mercy
29. April Skies – The Jesus and Mary Chain
30. When All’s Well – Everything But The Girl
31. Blueboy – Orange Juice
32. Sparky’s Dream – Teenage Fanclub
33. Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? – The Wedding Present
34. Here Comes Your Man – Pixies
35. Ask – The Smiths
36. It’s The End Of The World…. – R.E.M.
37. Rise – P.I.L.
38. Street Life – Roxy Music
39. She Bangs The Drums – The Stone Roses
40. Connection – Elastica
41. Homosapien – Pete Shelley
42. Enola Gay – OMD
43. The Cutter – Echo & The Bunnymen
Feel free to recreate Strangeways in the comfort of your own home or garden.
mp3 : Various – Studio 54
I believe it’s TVV pal Jacques the Kipper who sometimes rolls his eyes at our, er, nostalgic appreciation of bands gone by. I’m guilty of that — I did contribute an ICA about Spoon, who are still active, but the first ones I wrote were about XTC and the Stranglers, bands that began in the 1970’s. So here are a handful of contemporary charged particles just so’s you don’t get the impression that I’m not paying attention to what’s happening musically these days.
Ascension: Gorillaz
Migration: Bonobo
Stimulation: Preoccupations
Tesselation: Mild High Club
Calcination : JLin
Everything But The Girl enjoyed a #13 hit in 1992 with the Covers EP, four songs that, unsurprisingly, were their takes on some classic songs originally released by Mickey & Sylvia, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Elvis Costello.
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – Love Is Strange
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – Tougher Than The Rest
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – Time After Time
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – Alison
I thought I’d do something similar today to commemorate the current Singles on Sunday series:-
mp3 : Joe Jackson – Statue of Liberty
mp3 : Charlotte Hatherley – This Is Pop?
mp3 : Nouvelle Vague – Making Plans For Nigel
mp3 : Erich Sellheim – Sgt Rock (der wird mir helfen)
And finally a filthy little mash up in which XTC meet Tweet (feat Missy Ellliot)
mp3 : Go Home Productions – Making Plans For Vinyl
My goodness, is that the time? Can’t believe tomorrow sees us reach June.
Thought it might be worth it 24 hours on, for a bit of fun, to try and pull together all the b-sides from the tracks featured on the Diving For Pearls compilation album.
mp3 : Department S – Solid Gold Easy Action
Originally released as b-side on 7″ of Is Vic There? Demon Records, 1980
mp3 : Stone Roses – Here It Comes
mp3 : Stone Roses – All Across The Sand
Originally released as b-sides on 12″ of Sally Cinammon. Revolver Records 1987. These versions from the 1989 re-release.
mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Burro
Originally released as b-side on 7″ of Pale Blue Eyes. Swampland Records. 1984
mp3 : Kirsty MacColl – Patrick
Originally released as b-side on 7″ of A New England. Stiff Records 1984
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – Feeling Dizzy
mp3 : Everything But The Girl – On My Mind
Originally released as the b-sides on 7″ of Night and Day. Cherry Red Records. 1982
mp3 : Red Guitars – Paris France
Originally released as the b-side to the second issue of Good Technology. Self Drive Records 1984
mp3 : Sugarcubes – Birthday (Icelandic)
Originally released as the b-side of Birthday. One Little Indian Records. 1987
mp3 : Spacemen 3 : Just To See You Smile (Honey Pt 2)
Originally released as the b-side of Hypnotized. Fire Records. 1989
Mari Wilson – Rave (live version)
Originally released as the b-side of Cry Me A River. The Compact Organisation. 1982
mp3 : The Monochrome Set – Love Goes Down The Drain
mp3 : The Monochrome Set – Noise (Eine Kleine Symphonie)
Originally released as the b-sides of Jet Set Junta. Cherry Red Records 1983. Both tracks from a February 1979 session for the John Peel Show
mp3 : The Au Pairs – Diet
Originally released as one of two ‘A’ sides alongside It’s Obvious. 021 Records/Human Records. 1980.
mp3 : Robert Wyatt – Memories Of You
Originally released as the b-side of Shipbuilding. Rough Trade Records. 1983
Sorry if you desperately wanted the Mari Wilson track.
My good lady Rachel has long referred to the folk I correspond with through the blog as my imaginary friends.
But over the years I have been lucky enough to meet up with a fair number of great people whom I first got to know through interacting via e-mail around TVV – Comrade Colin, FiL, Ctel, Drew, Ed, Matthew, Brian, Tricia, Lis, Lloyd and Aye Tunes Jim all spring to mind. Next month, I get to hook up for the first time with some more friends in the shape of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer and Swiss Adam – the former being in Manchester on Sunday 23 April as bassist with The Ponderosa Aces and the latter living in that great city and intending (all being well) to hook up on the day.
That’s exciting enough, but early May is going to be genuinely special.
Dirk Huppertz was the first overseas reader to latch onto TVV in as much that he posted loads of comments and sent over e-mails of encouragement as I gingerly stumbled into the blogosphere. He had a great ability to make me laugh and we seemed to have a great deal in common in terms of musical tastes – I just found it incredible that someone from Germany was so knowledgable and enthusiastic about new wave and indie music.
For over ten years I’ve been wanting to buy Dirk a drink to say thank you. And at long last I’m going to get the opportunity…….
Dirk has been really keen for a while to try to get various bloggers together but his efforts have been in vain – it’s just been impossible for 15-20 folk to find the same day or weekend when they have no prior commitments through work or family. So he decided that he would set a date that suited him best and make his way to Glasgow with an open invite for folk to join him. I was delighted at long last I was going to meet him and geared myself up for the two of us, with maybe a couple of other local bloggers in tow, to have a few beers on the first weekend of May 2017.
But then a few others said they would also come long, although sadly a few others just could not make it for very good reasons. Others at this stage some five weeks out are still thinking about it. My other great German blogging friend – Walter – is flying in. Brian, whom I met and had a great day in Glasgow a few years back, is seriously contemplating coming in from Seattle**. Swiss Adam is coming up from Manchester. Drew is going to make a night of it in the city. I’m also going to meet Charity Chic for the first time (although when we see each other I’ve a feeling we’ll recognise one another from being at the same gigs). Friends of the blog such as Jacques the Kipper, Aldo and Comrade Colin are going to come along and I’m hopeful too that a couple of others might be able to make a late call to be part of what will be an incredible experience.
I’m excited about it, but nervous too. Not from meeting everyone as I’ve never yet hooked up with a previously imaginary friend and been disappointed – if anything they’ve all proven to be even more handsome, gorgeous, witty, charming and delightful in real life than they come across via the typed word. I just don’t want to let anybody down by choosing the wrong bars, restaurants and places of interest and they end up going home slightly underwhelmed by it all.
But I’m sure that won’t happen. Fingers crossed.
mp3 : Orange Juice – Simply Thrilled Honey
mp3 : Buzzcocks – Friends of Mine
mp3 : The Wedding Present – You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (Peel Session)
** Update : Brian IS coming all the way over from Seattle.
Wow.
That above is a replica of the ticket for the first gig I ever went to. There were two support acts – Bobby Henry and The Cramps. It’s coming up for nearly 38 years since that unforgettable and historic night in my life and I only wish I had been the type to have kept a journal of who I’ve seen, and where, ever since.
As it is, I’m going to try from memory to list all the Glasgow venues that I’ve ever paid money to see a singer or group perform. It could very well be exhaustive but there’s also the possibility that folk might mention somewhere in their comments and that’ll jog my memory further. Oh and there’s a reason for this particular posting that will become clear in the next 24-36 hours.
1. Apollo
Legendary venue that began as Green’s Playhouse in 1927, where Mrs JC, as a young teenager, saw David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972. A year later it changed its name to the Apollo under which banner it operated until 16 June 1985 when The Style Council became the last act to play there. I was at that particular gig but it wasn’t thought at the time that it would be the end as there had been previous false alarms about the venue closing its doors and, besides, where else was there in the city for gigs that could attract 3,500 fans?
The location is now a multiplex cinema.
2. Barrowlands
The best live venue in the world – without question.
Originally opened in 1934 but rebuilt in 1960 after a fire. It was a traditional ballroom rather than a gig venue but Simple Minds had shown what could be possible when they utilised it as a location for filming a promo video and then played live gigs at the end of 1983. The venue, with its 2,100 all-standing capacity quickly became very popular and began to draw events away from the Apollo thus leading to its eventual demise.
3. SECC
Christened ‘the big red shed’ on its opening in 1985 – and the final nail in the coffin of the Apollo. The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was built as a flexible space to host all sorts of events, including concerts, within a variety of different sized halls. The sound, for years, was absolutely appalling, as the main income was derived from the exhibition and conference market and so the building wasn’t built to the best of specifications for music lovers. I’ve been to all the different halls in the main SECC building over the years but I’ll count it as one location for the purposes of this exercise
4. Clyde Auditorium (The ‘Armadillo’)
5. SSE Hydro
Two purpose-built venues in the grounds of the SECC complex which opened in 1997 and 2013 respectively. The former will always hold special memories as it was where I saw Leonard Cohen for the first and only time back in 2008; the latter I’ve only been to once so far, and it was for a bitterly disappointing gig by Belle and Sebastian in 2015. Hated the experience so much that I’m missing out when Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds play there later in the year.
6. Glasgow University Debating Chamber
One of many student venues I’ve caught bands in over the years. The most recent was a fantastic gig by Belle and Sebastian in 2016. The difference in them playing at this intimate sized venue in comparison to the Hydro is beyond words.
7. Strathclyde Students Union – Level 8
8. Glasgow University Queen Margaret Union
9. Glasgow Technical College Students Union
#7 was where I spent almost every weekend between the ages of 19 and 22. Too many great gigs to single out one above others. #8 was where I first saw The Smiths in 1984. #9 I hadn’t been back to in years until Jacques the Kipper and myself went along to freak out to Carter USM in February 1991.
10. Tiffany’s
11. Plaza Ballroom
12. Maestro’s
13. Henry Afrika’s
14. Soundhaus
15. Barfly
16. The Arches
17. Night Moves (later changed name to Rooftops)
All of the above are no longer with us. Tiffany’s was the choice of venue for bands who couldn’t quite fill the Apollo and was where I saw many up and coming post-punk bands between 1981 (when I was old enough to get in under the licensing laws) and 1987 when it was converted into a casino.
The Plaza was where I first saw a number of bands including New Order, Suede and Blur – it was demolished and turned into flats in 1995. Maestro’s and Henry Afrika’s were discos occasionally used for gigs – can only recall being at them on one occasion and that was to see Tears for Fears and The Wake.
Barfly, I was at once to see Young Knives in 2006. I cannot recall who I saw at Soundhaus but it was to watch a band for whom the bass player was a young relative of a good friend of Mrs V’s.
Night Moves was the venue where bands played midweek as the student unions, for the most part, only hosted live gigs at weekends – my most memorable time at NM was The Fall supported by Cocteau Twins in 1982. It’s still in use but only as Victoria’s nightclub.
The Arches was a superb basement venue deep in the bowels below Glasgow Central station. It was more renowned as a club, and it was drugs-related issues within the club that led to its closure in 2015, but I was lucky enough to see a number of great performances there over the years, including British Sea Power, Lambchop, Frightened Rabbit, Aidan Moffat and Billy Bragg.
18. King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
19. Broadcast
20. Nice n Sleazys
21. Hug and Pint
22. Academy
23. ABC
24. ABC 2
25. City Halls (both pre and post multi-million £s renovation in 2006)
26. Stereo
27. Mono
28. The Garage (formerly known as Mayfair)
29. CCA
30. Classic Grand
31. Old Fruitmarket
32. 13th Note
33. Platform
34. Old Hairdresser’s
35. Glasgow School of Art
36. Cathouse
37. SWG3
38. Glad Cafe
39. Woodend Tennis Club
40. Flying Duck
41. Oranmor (upstairs)
42. Oranmor (downstairs)
43. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
44. Strathclyde Suite at GRCH
45. Renfrew Ferry (which despite its name, is a location in Glasgow)
46. St Luke’s
47. St Andrew’s In The Square
All of the above remain in use and all have been visited regularly. I make the distinction at Oranmor and GRCH as the various halls are completely different in layout and atmosphere, and in the case of GCRH, size.
48. Pavilion Theatre
49. Tron Theatre
50. Cottier’s Theatre
51. Citizens’ Theatre
52. Mitchell Theatre
53. Tramway Theatre
54. Glasgow Film Theatre
Turning now to oddities and venues that I’ve only been to either once or twice.
55. Grand Ole Opry (notionally a C&W club; have seen Lloyd Cole and The Twilight Sad on the two occasions I’ve been along)
56. Langside Hall
57. Queen’s Park Bowling Club
58. Hyndland Bowling Club
59. Titwood Bowling Club
60. Offshore Cafe
61. Berkeley Suite
62. Jeffrey Hall, Mitchell Library
(#56 – #62 have all been one-off gigs by Butcher Boy)
63. Buff Club
64. Brel
(Malcolm Middleton/Rick Redbeard/FOUND as Chem Underground triple bill in 2012)
65. Fairfield Club
(Malcolm Middleton/Phantom Band/Strike The Colours/De Rosa as part of Malky’s Burst Noel in 2008)
66. The State Bar
67. Pollokshields Burgh Hall
(LP launch by Wake The President in 2009)
68. Dennistoun New Parish Church
(Admiral Fallow/Rick Redbeard/Kobi Onyame as part of East End Social Duke St Expo in 2014)
69. Everlasting Arms Church
(King Creosote/Alexis Taylor(Hot Chip)/Siobhan Wilson as part of East End Social Duke St Expo in 2014)
70. Kinning Park Complex
(LP launch by Randolph’s Leap in 2014)
71. Glasgow Academical Sports Club
(scene of a momentous Martin Stephenson solo gig)
Some smaller venues that are no longer in existence.
72. Moir Hall
73. The Roxy (has been re-modelled and re-opened as The Hug and Pint)
74. Captain’s Rest
75. Bowler’s Bar
and finally, three outdoor venues
76. Glasgow Green
77. Richmond Park
78. Kelvingrove Bandstand
Proud to say I haven’t been to gigs at any of the three football stadia nor Bellahouston Park, despite it being on my doorstep.
#79 is on its way. Stay Tuned.
mp3 : The Jam – That’s Entertainment (live at Apollo, Glasgow)
mp3 : Echo and The Bunnymen – Never Stop (live at Barrowlands, Glasgow)
mp3 : The Smiths – You’ve Got Everything Now (live at Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow)
mp3 : Malcolm Middleton – Red Travellin’ Socks (live at Oran Mor, Glasgow)
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit – Keep Yourself Warm (live at Captain’s Rest, Glasgow)
Last of the above features James Graham of The Twilight Sad on backing vocals.
Second successive day for a one-hour mix. Apologies if they’re not your sort of thing. I promise there won’t be another for a while.
I used to have a tradition of featuring one or more songs by Irish musicians every 17th of March. I thought I’d go one better today.
mp3 : Various – Songs For St Patrick’s Day 2017
The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy
Shining Light – Ash
Fire On Babylon – Sinead O’Connor
Fashion Crisis Hits New York – The Frank and Walters
Blues for Ceausescu – Fatima Mansions
You Made Me Realise – My Bloody Valentine
Happy Day – Blink
More Endless Art – A House
She’s So Modern – Boomtown Rats
Something Wild – Rare
Alernative Ulster (Peel Session) – Stiff Little Fingers
In The Days Before Rock ‘n’ Roll – Van Morrison
Understand – Brian
Julie Ocean – The Undertones
I’ve come to enjoy cobbling together the one-hour mixes these past few months. Up until now, they’ve tended to have some sense of purpose to them, whether for essential listening for lengthy plane journeys, offering a take on the outcome of the US presidential elections, Xmas, my young brother’s birthday or just a way of saying hello to someone.
In some ways this latest offering did have a purpose in that I thought I’d simply play a tune and without any advance planning try and come up with a song that either complemented it or offered something of a contrast. I imagined myself as a DJ on an local internet station, broadcasting around 3am when nobody is tuning in and offering no opportunity for listeners to interact. And here’s what emerged over 60 minutes:-
mp3 : Various – Working the Graveyard Shift
A Brighter Beat – Malcolm Middleton
I Wonder Why – The Heart Throbs
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – R.E.M.
Jo-Jo’s Jacket – Stephen Malkmus
Erase/Rewind – The Cardigans
Shimmer Shimmer – She’S HiT
Red Right Hand – Arctic Monkeys
Evil (Silver Alert Remix) – Grinderman feat Matt Berninger
She’s Lost Control (extended version) – Grace Jones
New England – Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Don’t Fence Me In – David Byrne
One Horse Town – The Thrills
Christ for President – Wilco
Hairstyle – Goldblade
Nirvana – Juliana Hatfield
Everything’s Ruined – Faith No More
Theme from ‘Batman’ – The Jam
I think you’ll see that around the 45 minute mark, I got temporarily distracted by reading something on social media about the latest alternative facts offered by the Donald. I hope you get as much out of listening as I did putting it together.
The final part of The Undertones series will have to wait another seven days. It’s my young brother’s 51st birthday today. I know he pops in here every day, firing up his laptop while soaking up the sun in Florida, and so as a wee bit of surprise for him I’ve put together an 80s mix tape jammed with stuff I know he likes.
mp3 : Various – Songs for a Handsome Devil
Speed Your Love To Me (extended) – Simple Minds
Sit Down – James
Kiss This Thing Goodbye – Del Amitri
Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart – Marc Almond/Gene Pitney
Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths
Prisoner of Love – Spear of Destiny
Cath – The Bluebells
Tinseltown in the Rain – The Blue Nile
Hallelujah Man – Love and Money
To Cut A Long Story Short – Spandau Ballet
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) – Haircut 100
Rip It Up – Orange Juice
The Honeythief – Hipsway
Pride (In the Name of Love) – U2
And, believe it or not, the whole thing comes in at 60 mins and 00 seconds – more by chance than design!!
Have a great day young fella and I’ll see you doing your dad dancing to all of this when you come over in the summer.
Not too long ago, I shared with you some of my on-going concerns in life and how they were combining to impact on my ability to get fully motivated this year. Those of you who know me in any shape or form will have immediately realised that throwing in Trump and Raith Rovers was just my way of clouding what was really on my mind, namely Mrs Villain being unwell and requiring a couple of hospital visits over the festive period.
The emerging and good news is she has nothing that is life-threatening; she does have some issues with a lung which is likely to make her susceptible to infections, some which will be worse and more painful than others (the 2016/17 strain is a belter in that regard) but nothing that can’t be fixed in the medium-long term with medication and a degree of rest. Given there is a history of fatal lung diseases in her family, there was a real fear gripping Villain Towers for a while.
Thank you for all your very kind words and thoughts after that particular posting – they meant a great deal and were hugely appreciated. Here’s my way of showing said appreciation; don’t read anything into the choice of songs – it was just me having a bit of fun and thinking this would make a good hour of listening:-
mp3 : Various – Breathing That Sigh of Relief
Love Vigilantes – New Order
Did You Evah? – Iggy Pop & Debbie Harry
Kelly’s Heroes – Black Grape
Waking Up – Elastica
Penelope Tree – Felt
My Love Is Like A Gift You Can’t Return – The Man from Delmonte
Radio Radio – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Amateur Hour – Sparks
Sheila Take A Bow – The Smiths
Bye Bye Pride – The Go-Betweens
Fait Accompli – Curve
Setting Sun – The Chemical Brothers
Come Home (original version) – James
Sweetheart Contract – Magazine
The Model – Kraftwerk
Lost Weekend – Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh
Final Day – Young Marble Giants
Worth mentioning that my football team are still struggling to win a game – the last victory was in late October – but we did a well merited draw in a cup tie last Sunday against a team from a higher division. Maybe it’s a sign that things will begin to improve on that front.
Cheers.
Really finding it hard to get motivated right now. Maybe it is the cold weather and the eternally dark mornings and nights. Maybe it is the growing sense of unease and anger at the fact Trump takes over the White House in seven days time. Maybe it is the fact my favourite football team are in a slump at the moment and show no signs of emerging back into winning ways. Maybe it is down to worrying about Mrs Villain being unwell just now and awaiting soon the results of some tests carried out last week at the wonderful NHS hospital just up the road from here.
More than likely its a combination of all of the above.
So when I got in from work a couple of hours back I just wanted to find solace in some old songs and in doing so wanted to pull something together that I can listen to on trains and buses this next few days without having to concentrate too much such is their familiarity. Feel free to listen in.
mp3 : Various – The Musical Equivalent of Comfort Food
This Is Pop? – XTC
Asylums In Jerusalem – Scritti Politti
Candyskin – Fire Engines
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Only Love Can Break Your Heart – Saint Etienne
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
I Wanna Be Sedated – Ramones
Town Called Malice – The Jam
Don’t Talk To Me About Love – Altered Images
Felicity – Orange Juice
No Bulbs – The Fall
Common People – Pulp
Everyday Is Like Sunday – Morrissey
Ladykillers – Lush
Kennedy – The Wedding Present
Ain’t That Enough? – Teenage Fanclub
Enjoy.
I know I’ve tested a fair few patiences these past two weeks with the abundance of cover versions, but it was a way of letting me ease off a bit at a time when, traditionally, the number of daily visitors tails off somewhat as those who perhaps fit a visit in as part of a routine quite rightly find themselves with other and better things to do.
As as a way of expressing my gratitude to those of you who have continued to drop in, I’ve pulled together another mix of music lasting around the hour mark – 59:58 to be precise – that I think hangs together reasonably well. The title, as is becoming a habit, lifts from one of the songs making an appearance.
mp3 : Various – Directing Traffic On The Disco Floor
Water (Peel Session) – PJ Harvey
There There – Radiohead
The Decision – Young Knives
If I Can’t Change Your Mind – Sugar
Safety Net – Shop Assistants
Good Shit – Cornershop
White Love – One Dove
Last Train to Transcentral – The KLF
The Shy Retirer – Arab Strap
Two Timing Touch and Broken Bones – The Hives
Taste the Last Girl – Sons & Daughters
Everybody Knows The Monkey – Mighty Mighty
Shine On – House of Love
Date With the Night – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Breakdown – Buzzcocks
These Things Take Time – The Smiths
Driver 8 – R.E.M.
Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure
Warning : There’s a wee swear word (surprise, surprise) within the Arab Strap song. Just in case you’re thinking of playing the whole thing in the presence of young kids or those who may be offended.
This was a late change of plan. There was originally going to be a posting on Crass as they were about as far removed from the usual jolliness and frivolity of the festive period as I could come up with. But that’s been filed away for use on another day sometime in 2017.
Instead, I’ve pulled this together:-
mp3 : Various – A Drunk Father Christmas and The Antichrist
The title is taken from a line in one of the featured songs. The sentiments are driven by the fact that once again, decent music has helped me through some hard times. As it does with all of us…with nothing better to exemplify that than the #1 song in the WYCRA 200….
It’s two days before Xmas and I’m going to be travelling by train 230 miles south of Glasgow to attend the funeral this afternoon of a dear friend who died very suddenly and very unexpectedly some 12 days ago. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it has affected me greatly. My moods have been swinging violently but more often that not I’ve been low and down and pretty crap company. Last Saturday night was the occasion of the six-monthly Little League event that I’d been looking forward to since the last one in June on my birthday. I was in two minds about going, but the husband of my late friend reminded me that life goes on and you’ve got to do what you can when you can to make the most of it. I ended up, unsuprisingly, having a great time in the company of Aldo and many other folk who over the years I’ve been lucky enough, through the club, to get to know and love. For sure, it was a wee bit emotional at times…..but as the night worked towards its 1am curfew and after a lot of dad-dancing, yes, I did feel better, I felt alright.
A small number of the songs on this latest compilation were aired last Saturday and indeed I’ve ripped off two in a row that were played in the same sequence (Smiths and Nirvana) and confirmed that our resident DJ is a genius at these things. I am a mere novice but I like to think some things work. It runs to 62:30 exactly. It’s a wee bit iffy quality wise with variations in volume but that’s the nature of old vinyl.
The Distance – Cake
I Speak Your Every Word – Curve
All The Records On The Radio Are Shite – Ballboy
Big Blonde – Aidan Moffat & the Best-Ofs
Shoppers Paradise – Carter USM
A New England – Kirsty MacColl
Girl Afraid – The Smiths
About A Girl – Nirvana
Cut Your Hair – Pavement
Basement Band Song – The Organ
Bouncing Babies – The Teardrop Explodes
The Cutter – Echo and The Bunnymen
Suffragette City – David Bowie
Left To My Own Devices – Pet Shop Boys
Another Girl, Another Planet – The Only Ones
The Look Of Love – ABC
Yes – McAlmont & Butler
Roadrunner – Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Oh and Merry Christmas everyone. I will be here over the weekend with the usual offerings in the long-running series for Saturdays and Sundays and then doing some cover version stuff all next week and the same again for the following seven days. I also intend to catch up with my reading – I’ve been neglecting too many friends over on the right hand side for far too long.
Yesterday’s piece was put together late on Sunday night. It genuinely was meant as my first and last words on the American election. But it was catching up on a few in-depth weekend pieces in the media that got me thinking just how crazy and momentous the result was and how, in political terms, things will never ever be the same again.
I’ve worked closely for the past 30 years with many politicians in Scotland – most of whom have been incredibly gifted and talented while a small number of others have been the complete opposite. The ones in the former camp often had to work hard over a long period of time to obtain those gifts and talents – being a skilled political operative, no matter the colour of your rosette and the spectrum in which your prevalent views hold sway, isn’t something that comes naturally to anyone.
Reading again so many of the statements attributed to the President-elect over the past 30+ years since he became a household name hammered it home to me that he is not a politician by any stretch of the imagination. If any form of recruitment process had been applied as it would when folk look to land a job or take a step forward in a career then he would never have made any short list. As I was reading the pieces, I began to think of a few songs whose titles made sense and that got me thinking of a playlist.
I then put it together immediately before going to bed. It had started off cynical and twisted but then I tried to have it lift me out of my funk and so went a bit upbeat before getting cynical again, then going a bit loopy as I was getting too morose before eventually ending it in the way I had started. I wasn’t sure about sharing it with you, but 24 hours on, well why the hell not. Especially when my use of fade out on the second last track ensured I could nail it at 60:00 exactly!!
mp3 : Various – And The Public Gets What The Public Wants
Idiot Country – Electronic
Help Save The Youth Of America – Billy Bragg
Honest Mistake – The Bravery
Accidents Will Happen – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
I Wish – Stevie Wonder
24 Hour Party People – Happy Mondays
He’s On The Phone – Saint Etienne
Really Stupid – The Primitives
Clampdown – The Clash
The Headmaster Ritual – The Smiths
Toxic – Britney Spears
Where’s Me Jumper? – Sultans Of Ping FC
I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys
Ballad Of The Band – Felt
Waking Up – Elastica
Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag – Pigbag
Running The World – Jarvis Cocker
For those of you who don’t know the final song, I should warn you that the main refrain is repeatedly preceded by the words ‘Cunts are still…’
Make of it what you will.
And I promise. That is my last words on the matter.
When you’ve been doing this sort of nonsense for as long as I have, it pays to take a short breather every now and again, and as I mentioned in the additional posting I shoved up on hearing the news of the death of Leonard Cohen, this recent period has been one of them.
I was very fortunate in that, during the time I was planning exactly what to do with the blog while I was tuning out for 2 weeks, I could turn to four ridiculously good guest posts in quick succession. The fact that readers could enjoy Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Martin Stephenson, The Pipettes and JAMC over four days demonstrates exactly the variety and quality entertainment that I want to bring to this place. My thanks to Badger, Rich, Strangeways and S-WC for filling the void with such panache.
My own break was partly enforced from the fact that I was away visiting two very dear friends – a husband and wife – over an extended long weekend to celebrate them turning 50 years of age and throwing a party in their home town in Hampshire. I hadn’t been able to make the family celebration they had held up here in Glasgow earlier in the year as it coincided with my trip to Toronto, but I was determined to make sure I didn’t miss out the second time. It was always going to be a drunken few days – I don’t see them as often as I’d like and when we do get together it is always very messy that would always end in tears-stained nostalgia if we didn’t continually rip the piss out of one another.
This particular mate was my best man when I remarried in the mid 90s. By then, he was already forging an incredibly successful career doing things and being in situations that very few of us could ever imagine. The nature of his job is such that he can’t say too much about it and I’m therefore not going to give anything away – I’ll simply confirm that he’s not a spy or anything like that but that a great deal of his work is of utmost national and international security.
He once, many years ago, had to spend nine months away from his family in a very dangerous place; while we were talking over the long weekend he reminded me, and I’d completely forgotten about this, that I had given him a box of home-made C90 cassettes to take with him as his musical accompaniment. Not only did I supply the cassettes but I typed out something like 25 pages of notes on many of the songs with a lot of asides about why they were important or personal to one or other or both of us. I genuinely couldn’t recall doing this and was stunned when he brought out said box and notes and let me read over them.
This was all done back in 2003, and while I’m not claiming that my thousands upon thousands of words were worthy of any literary prize, I was proud of them in that they, and the songs, had seen him through some tough and lonely times; I could also see that this, in some ways, was my first ever stab at blogging albeit such a thing hadn’t been invented at that particular time. I was tempted to bring the notes back up the road with me and reproduce them here, stopped only by the fact that much of what was written was relevant to the particular situation and circumstances ny mate would find himself in and even now, thirteen years on, neither of us would want to put into a wider, more public domain. But reading my written words again, having forgotten that they existed, was a highlight of the year so far.
Which is just as well given the lowlights that would unfold over the next few days.
My political leanings can be worked out easily enough from the words and songs that have featured on this blog over the years so it’s fair to surmise that the ascension of Donald Trump into the White House doesn’t sit easily with me. But hey, if that’s what the voting system used in the States brings about, then so be it.
It’s been fascinating to watch the reactions to this outcome, just as it was when the Brexit vote and Scottish Independence results came through in recent times. Particularly on social media where so many folk on the losing side then seem to make a mad rush to ‘unfriend’ those who voted the other way. This seems just completely the wrong thing to do – if you surround yourself only with those whose views and opinions are completely in line with your own, then you’re not really going to get much of a perspective on life and society.
I am distressed and worried about what the future holds; I’m not envious of those with children whose fears must be even greater. But I’m not going to stop talking to any friend – in real life or in cyberspace – for the ‘crimes’ of either voting a madman into the White House or putting an X in a particular box which then gave the outside world the impression that the little island I happen to live on is populated by racist bigots.
Life is way too important for that.
But I won’t ever talk to anyone who phones in and votes for an act on the X Factor………..
You’ll be pleased to know that things round here will return to normal from tomorrow. I just wanted to come back sharing a few things that were on my mind.
mp3 : The Psychedelic Furs – President Gas
mp3 : The Presidents of The United States of America – Bad Times
mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury
mp3 : Chumbawamba – Mouthful of Shit
Onwards and upwards. Starting with going over to read some of my favourite blogs. I’ve missed you guys and gals.
Manhattan seems like a huge place but the actual acreage is minuscule — you’re constantly traversing the same routes. Live there long enough and you establish a regular orbit limited to a couple of square miles that you might not stray from for months at a time. That’s okay: turns out there’s a magic spell, lucky charm and pot of gold hidden every ten steps in the city. For this reason, particular streets, blocks and even corners have more happening than your average American suburb. Also for this reason there are as many songs about single streets as anywhere else in the world. Here are some of our favorites.
1. 14th St. Beat – Sylvain Sylvain.
JTFL: When I finally moved to Gotham it was into a studio apartment at 7 W. 14th Street, just off 5th Ave. (\For those unfamiliar with Manhattan, 14th street runs straight across Greenwich Village, river to river; Fifth Avenue bisects most of the island from the top of Central Park at 110th down to 8th Street. From my front door you could see the Lonestar Cafe on the corner of 13th, with its 30-foot iguana on the roof. (That block was later torn down to make way for the magnificent facilities of The New School). Westward to the corner of 14th and 7th Ave. was The Homestead, an infamous mafia steak house. Cadillacs parked three deep and pinkie rings the size of golf balls on display. If you headed east a few blocks past Union Square to 14th and 3Rd. Ave. you’d find the Palladium, one of the best music venues in the city. (That’s the stage of the Palladium on which Paul Simonon is smashing his bass on the cover of London Calling). I moved in August 1, 1981 and turned 18 two weeks later. It was like going to heaven. Or Oz. Sylvain Sylvain had already written the soundtrack two years earlier.
ER: Sylvain was always my favorite Doll. He always looked the most comfortable in rouge and lipstick and seemed to walk with much more ease in stilettos. This was not only a college radio favorite in 80-81, but crossed over to FM Rock radio a bit. The sound of subway trains pulling into 14th street stations brings back so many memories of Saturdays spent traveling in from Queens and rising from the subterranean other world of NYC Transit to the bright sunshine and ever growing blight that was Union Square back in those days…I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything…
2. 17th St. – Gil Scott-Heron.
JTFL: Still down in the Village. “If you’re looking for excitement you may need only look next door/if you thinking’ bout the Spirit an’ you want to get near it/c’mon c’mon and get down down down. Any questions?
ER: 17th Street on the far Westside is the land of the Fulton Houses and on the Eastside it’s the entrance into Stuyvesant Village. These massive complexes housed families in need of lower income housing, artists, musicians and all the hangers on that The Projects attract to its streets and courtyards. Gil Scott-Heron’s tribute captures the wonderful cultural and artistic mix you could find in these places, the latin, jazz and rock sounds coming from open windows Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Sure, you might take your life in your hands if you didn’t belong and stayed too long, but these places, 40 years later, are still a microcosm of NYC.
3. 53rd & 3rd – Ramones.
JTFL: Here’s the corner where Dee Dee supposedly turned tricks to support his heroin habit. Not sure if that really happened, but the spot was verifiably notorious as the city’s site of male prostitution. Which is weird, come to think of it, because it’s in mid-town — not the west Village which was the epicenter of gay NYC. It’s close to the 59th St. Bridge off ramp so maybe it was easy to get away from? Dunno — I only sell my ass as a lawyer!
ER: A Ramones Classic for me. When I first heard 53rd & 3rd I will admit I didn’t realize it was about hustlers turning tricks on what was NYC’s most notorious Rough Trade pick up location. This is probably one of Ramones most self-deprecating song, and some of Dee Dee’s most infamous lyrics.
4. Avenue B – Major Thinkers.
JTFL: I have a super soft spot in my heart for Avenue B because my band, Chronic Citizens, shared an AWESOME rehearsal space at 4th and B with a bunch of downtown scenesters: Ritual Tension, Film at 11, the Honeymoon Killlers–who would morph into the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion–and the Reverb Motherfuckers. The space was like a submarine: long, narrow and airless, the walls lined to the ceiling with amps and, for no good reason, a poster of Ace Frehley swinging a smoking Les Paul. Before every rehearsal we’d go the bodega on the corner and buy two El Presidente beers for $1 and a string of Santeria beads if we were feeling unlucky. Up the block on the corner of 7th and B the Horseshoe Bar still sits; it was used as a location for the movies ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Five Corners’. (Almost got killed in there once, but that’s another story.) Iggy Pop and Gogol Bordello both have songs called Avenue B, but this track by the unheralded Major Thinkers gets the nod because it hit the clubs in 1981 just when I got there myself. The Thinkers later became Black 47.
ER: The sound of Downtown Manhattan was changing rapidly in 1980 and 1981. Rap, Hardcore, Synth music were all making inroads in what was, for the most part, a really straightforward Rock and Punk scene on the surface. The DIY culture was in full bloom and younger artists and bands began to stretch the boundaries of sounds. Taking a simple drum machine pattern, throwing some layers of polyrhythmic live drums and a bone crushing bass with a Ventures guitar riff and a Terrace Shouting lyric and Major Thinkers had a perfect Pogoing classic on their hands.
5. Avenue A – The Dictators.
JTFL: Yer basic rock ‘n roll from another downtown stalwart, the Dictators. I have an even softer spot for Avenue A because it was the location of my only (modest) musical triumph: a record release party. It’s cool to have played CB’s and the Knitting Factory and everything, but everyone played those clubs at some point. Our gig at the Pyramid Club, on Avenue A and 7th at the southwest corner of Tompkins Square Park, was a different story — coveted Thursday night headline slot, full house, great show, people singing along — we even made money. (Followed by a weird episode in an S&M club, but that’s also another story.) Two weeks later I took the NY bar exam and that was the end of my music career. Two weeks after that the Tompkins Square Riots took place. The cops came in swinging batons, name tags removed and badge numbers covered. I dipped out when the bacon arrived on horseback, but they beat up a bunch of my friends who couldn’t get out fast enough.
ER: Metal Gods in their minds – well certainly in Handsome Dick Manitoba’s mind, and in reality Proto-Punks that had the respect of Rockers and Punks alike when I was growing up in NYC. My favorite Handsome Dick story involves one two many Jack + Cokes and a short staircase down from the VIP Room at Limelight. Missing the first step, he managed to staircase surf down two landings without planting his face on the floor. THAT takes experience.
6. Great Jones Street – Luna.
JTFL: A quieter number by a quiet band about a quiet street. Great Jones is actually 3rd street between Broadway and the Bowery. The term “Jonesing” supposedly comes from this short stretch of turf, which used to be a junkie precinct. That may be an urban legend, although it’s true that Jean-Michel Basquiat OD’ed at number 57, a converted stable owned by Andy Warhol. Across the street at number 54 the Great Jones Cafe is still up and running. It’s just a little block with a lot of character; somehow peaceful and isolated despite sitting between two major North-South throughways. Don Deliilo wrote a novel called Great Jones Street and that’s what Luna’s song is about.
ER: Luna have a knack for taking their brand of Dreampop and infusing it with an arty Downtown NYC vibe that really REALLY has its origins in the sounds of The Velvets. Hell, they even supported the reformed Velvets between their first and second albums. They took it to the next level by having original VU member Sterling Morrison guest on guitar on Great Jones Street. The lyrics of Great Jones Street really speak to the “walking in place” that many artists and musicians find themselves doing when they get to NYC chasing their muse, searching for fortune or fame. But it’s also about how the simple things become so important and desirous when we find love. Setting the piece on the rooftops of Greenwich Village is simply romantic and truly bohemian.
7. St. Marks Place – Earl Slick.
JTFL: St. Marks is another stretch of blocks: 8th Street between 3rd Ave. and Ave. A. It had the best pizza place in lower Manhattan, Sounds record store, the Holiday Lounge, Trash & Vaudeville and countless other hipster shops, bars and tattoo joints. (It’s kind of the equivalent of King’s Road in London.) The cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti shows 96 and 98 St. Marks — Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh are sitting on the stoop of these exact buildings in the video for the Stones’ ‘Waiting on a Friend’. The back cover of the NY Dolls’ first album shows the band standing in front of the Gem Spa at the corner of St. Marks and 2nd Ave. I wonder how many folks recognize that Earl Slick is a NY pun: “earl” would be how you pronounced “oil” in Brooklynese. Frank Madeloni is, in fact, a Brooklyn boy, and made good as one of many guitar heroes that recorded with Bowie. You can hear him giving it the full StationtoStation as he just burns down the lead on this track. He’s joined on vocals by the Motels’ Martha Davis.
ER: Of all the places to hang out and grow up in Lower Manhattan, no other street had the magnetism that St. Mark’s Place did. St. Marks from Cooper Square traveling east was a young teen Punk/New Waver’s Mecca. We prayed in the direction of Trash & Vaudeville Boutique – where I bought my first pair of Doc Martens and a silver shark skin suit to graduate high school, sat on the steps of No. 96-98 St. Mark’s Place making fun of the fact that Led Zeppelin captured the building on the cover of Physical Graffiti – any Punk Teen’s least favorite album (except for maybe Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon). I used to hang around Manic Panic as a 15 year old helping owners Tish and Snooky unpack boxes and set up shelves. My favorite record store was on Second Ave. just around the corner from St. Marks – Freebeing Records. The owner seemed to be the most unapproachable, hardcore, punk/ex-con, but in reality he was a really affable, knowledgeable music lover who seemed to have on Tuesday what was released on Monday in the UK. Like every neighborhood with its own micro-culture, by the late 80’s “high street” stores like The Gap and Crunch Fitness started popping up. But my favorite experience on St. Mark’s Place was a summer afternoon with a few friends. I was walking backwards so I could talk to them about something that had me excited. Oblivious to where I was going, I saw my friends begin to slow down and mouths open as I was still at my walking/talking gait when I suddenly crashed into someone knocking them to the ground. I turned around immediately to find I had just knocked Patti Smith flat on her back. I was frozen, SHE was dazed, and my friends rushed to her aid. She got herself up, literally brushed herself off and walked up to me and said sorry TO ME! I immediately went into an apology babble which I have still not quite lived down and by the end of it all, Patti was asking US what we were up to and where we were going. She told us to walk down to Avenue B to have lunch at a little Polish diner – which we did and thus a legend was written.
8. Ludlow Street – Julian Casablancas.
JTFL: I never understood why The Strokes were seen as rock’s new saviors when they arrived. Their songs are kind of basic and they suck in concert. I do like Casablancas’ voice, however, and he uses it nicely on this track, even if he still hasn’t figured out how to program that sorry drum machine. Ludlow was one of the city’s hippest streets on the lower east side. In the mid-80’s, before the neighborhood became insufferably gentrified, my sister waitressed at The Hat – a Mexican restaurant on the corner of Ludlow and Stanton. She said the yuppies tipped better if you were rude to them. As Soho became more posh, the scene moved further downtown and Ludlow was the new ground zero of an artist’s community (which has since moved to the outer boroughs). I’m not too nostalgic about it, despite the fact that all four of my grandparents were born just blocks away from there. Pretty good panoramic view of the corner of Ludlow and Rivington on the cover of the Beastie Boys’ LP Paul’s Boutique.
ER: Ok, so I have to shake my head here. I am in the “I HATE THE STROKES” camp and I’m probably in an even bigger “No Time For Julian Casablancas” detractor. So let’s talk about Ludlow Street. Of all the streets on the Lower East Side, Ludlow is one that boasts the highest percentage of artists and musicians that I can think of. Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison all lived on Ludlow, recorded on Ludlow as well. A few of Warhol’s Superstars found apartments on Ludlow. It was also the center for New York’s No Wave scene. But what Ludlow is most important for in my mind is the location of Katz’s Deli at the corner of Ludlow and Houston Street. It is the palace of kosher Pastrami and hot dogs. It’s where Sally faked an orgasm for Harry and it’s where I seem to find myself every trip back to NYC.
9. Eighth Avenue – Hospitality.
JTFL: I’m expecting folks won’t be too familiar with newish Brooklyn outfit Hospitality — as this series progresses I hope to introduce music that’s not so well known. I like how Amber Papini’s high, breathy voice floats over the song and I like the pretty acoustic passing chords. In the song she walks 20 blocks to 44th and Eighth Avenue, which would be where Hell’s Kitchen approaches the theater district. She plays cards on the roof (naturally). It’s kind of a sentimental picture that shows how you can be alone and reflective in the middle of all the action.
ER: This track brings back a certain nostalgia I have for “the old” Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen. It was the time before Rudy Giuliani sold off midtown to Disney and the area lost all sense of itself. The Eighth Avenue of my youth was a seedy mix of prostitutes and young hustlers in tight jeans and Converse sneakers. It was a land of seedy dive bars and hole in the wall restaurants. The street was filled with yellow taxis and delivery trucks. Anyone driving up Eighth Avenue in their car was obviously not from NYC. I would eventually end up working on Broadway and 44th Street after college and Eighth Avenue was a bit of an afterwork playground.
10. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue – Mick Ronson.
ER: Tenth Avenue slices Manhattan’s West Side from the Meat Packing District until it morphs into Amsterdam Ave at 59th Street. It is a thoroughfare that is a main artery through Chelsea and Times Square. It is that special mix of tenements, storefront businesses, manufacturers and warehouses that defines many neighborhoods in lower half of Manhattan Island. It can be gritty, soulful, dangerous and familial. It is a perfect slice of New York City. Ronson named his first solo album after the song/dance sequence from the 1930’s On Your Toes. He is faithful to the Richard Rogers original in capturing the allure of the hustle and bustle, the dangers and darkness of this most urban section of NYC. Ronson, with the help of Mike Garson and Trevor Bolder, adds some of the Glam dramatics so deftly provided to David Bowie to this epic instrumental.
JTFL: Agree 100% with ER; 10th Ave. remains one of the most essential NYC north-south strips despite the constantly changing nature of the town. The action in the 1930’s musical concerns a murder on the upper west side. But 10th means something different to me. From the windows of my 11th floor apartment in Chelsea I could see a stretch of disused elevated rail tracks, rusting in place since the 1940’s. Over time that little strip, twenty feet above the street, developed its own ecosystem and wildlife. Somebody smart turned it into The Highline, an open air promenade with a view of the Hudson and now a major city park and tourist attraction, on par with the Arch in Washington Square.
5th Avenue – Gold Panda.
An electronic number for those in the TnVV crowd that appreciate this sort of thing, like my kids.
M79 – Vampire Weekend.
M79 isn’t a street; it’s a bus route. This is the bus you’d take going back and forth from the upper east side, through Central Park to the upper west side, then back again. Everyone knows that the subway is the fastest way to get around town (Take the ‘A’ Train!). But, after daily journeys crammed into the electric sewer with a million of your sweaty, agitated neighbors, sometimes it’s a luxury to take a little extra time and ride the bus. You get a unique view of the streets, perched up a good six feet off the pavement. The different perspective and more leisurely pace engenders daydreaming, especially if you’re riding through the park, and that’s what’s going on in this tune.
Readers will notice that all of the songs in this post concern the little/big island of Manhattan. ER and I aren’t ignoring NYC’s four other boroughs, just getting ready to sing their songs a little down the road…
Jonny and Echorich
Enjoy.
I’ve always been amazed and humbled that this blog, and its predecessor, has managed to attract so many regular followers from all parts of the planet. One of the first to latch on to what I was trying to do was Jeff from Chicago with whom I exchanged a few e-mails about music and sport.
We got talking on one occasion about football and Jeff informed me that as he watched a lot of matches from the UK via satellite, he had gotten each of his kids to adopt a side to try to get them interested in things. It had worked to some degree but he wanted to do something different for his youngest daughter and so he asked for some info on my team, Raith Rovers, as he thought it would be neat (and I’m sure that was the word he used) for her to have them as her team of choice.
One thing led to another, and before long Jeff was actually making his way to Scotland to watch Raith Rovers play in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup in April 2010 where he met up with a number of my fellow friends including two contributors to the blog, Mr John Greer and Jacques the Kipper.
We’ve all continued to stay in touch with Jeff over the years – he often sends texts and messages on Saturday afternoons looking for live updates from the Rovers games. He’s nowadays a long way from Chicago, having taken a job that saw him and his family move to North Carolina, and so when he leaves comments nowadays on the blog it is usually just as plain old Jeff.
He did something really nice last week. Like many of the rest of us of a certain age, it can take time to master the techniques of social media but once he worked out how to do a certain shortcut for posting on Facebook he gave a big plug to this blog, adding that there are great ‘mixtapes’ to download. Almost immediately one of his friends (hi Elizabeth!!) said ‘totally made my Saturday night. Great site. Thanks for sharing.’
Now that the Blue Jays have been eliminated from the baseball, I finally have a bit more free time on my hands and one of the first things I wanted to do was this, a sort of companion piece to the earlier ‘One Hour Indie Disco’ of which he is a fan:-
mp3 : Various – This One’s For Jeff
Track Listing
Why Can’t I Be You? – The Cure
Hit The Ground – The Darling Buds
World Shut Your Mouth – Julian Cope
What Went Wrong This Time? – The Siddeleys
Song For A Future Generation – The B52’s
Union City Blue – Blondie
Winter In The Hamptons – Josh Rouse
Tears In Your Cup – Cats On Fire
French Disko – Stereolab
Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
Start! – The Jam
Cruiser’s Creek – The Fall
Ask – The Smiths
Come Saturday – The Pains Of The Pure At Heart
Gouge Away – The Pixies
The Sun A Small Star – The Servants
Oblivious – Aztec Camera
Fell In Love With A Girl – The White Stripes
Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft – The Wedding Present
Another Girl, Another Planet – The Only Ones
Forty seconds over the allocated time. But I just couldn’t fade out the final song.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 