Category: Various

A TWO-PART GUEST POSTING BY POST PUNK MONK

It’s always incredibly satisfying when the comments section goes into overdrive, which it is doing just now with the ICA World Cup.  I’ve always valued the community aspect of TVV, both the old and new versions, and that is why I really enjoy when a guest posting is offered up, all of which are published without prejudice or favour at the earliest possible time after anything drops into the inbox.

I’m cheating a little bit today, however, with the first of what will be a two-part series in that Post Punk Monk didn’t actually offer up a guest posting.  He did leave behind a very lengthy comment when I put up the latest ‘mixtapes’ (or whatever modern term anyone wants to apply to such efforts), that is being recycled today and again next week to provide two new posts. I’ve no qualms about doing so, especially as PPM does state that it was something he’d pulled together for a blog which no longer exists, and I really feel something this well-thought-out and written deserves some sort of fresh profile.  Here’s PPM:-

“Great B-sides are a religion unto themselves! Here’s a list I compiled for a friend’s blog [now deceased] and I still stand by this one.

20 best non-LP b-sides of all time [according to PPM]

1. Ultravox – Paths + Angles

B-side to “The Voice.” Fascinating blend of Warren Cann’s recited verses with Chris Cross singing the chorus. Midge Ure was not around the day the other three recorded this one. Killer melodic hooks are mated with typically compulsive rhythms.

2. Ultravox – I Never Wanted To Begin

“The Thin Wall” B-side. This track is jam packed with insanely compulsive rhythm programming! Once you hear this it will lodge itself in your skull for hours. The 12″ version is extended!

3. Adam & The Ants – Beat My Guest

The B-side to “Stand & Deliver.” Just our luck to have one of Adam’s best singles mated with an even better B-side! As emphasized by Marco Pirroni’s lewd guitar licks, this frolicsome ode to S & M manages to actually sound cheerful.

4. Spandau Ballet – Glow

B-side to “Musclebound.” The band invent new forms of Latinesque synth funk with this killer B-side that telegraphed their first big stylistic shift. Never better than in its 12″ version!

5. Simple Minds – New Warm Skin

B-side of “I Travel.” Another act that mated their best single with an evenly matched B-side! The rhythm track on this chilling song about plastic surgery is an example of Brian McGee at his finest. Mike McNeil’s keyboards mesh perfectly with the jarring stabs of Charlie Burchill, back when he avoided guitar clichés like the plague.

6. Japan – European Son

B-side of Japanese “I Second That Emotion” single. Quite frankly, this is my favorite Japan song of all time! It is the acme of the band’s Moroder-influenced “autobahn music.” It thoroughly smokes the actual single the band recorded with Moroder. Which was great!

7. China Crisis – This Occupation [ext. ver.]

B-side of Wishful Thinking” 12.” The 7″ version of this track is good, but the extended mix is mystical! This sounds nothing like the China Crisis we know and love. It sounds even better! Quite frankly, this resembles mid period Cabaret Voltaire, sigh!

8. Visage – Frequency 7

“Tar” B-side. I was over familiar with the not so interesting extended version of this track that turned up everywhere back in the day. It took years of having this single before I finally played the 7″ version and was blown away by the superiority of this mix. It’s night and day compared to the tedium of the 12″ mix. For starters, it’s an actual song with vocals, and some killer synth rock.

9. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Just A Memory

B-side to “New Amsterdam.” quite possibly my favorite Elvis Costello track ever, this heart-wrenching ballad was originally written for Dusty Springfield, who ultimately did record it.

10. Swing Out Sister – Fever

“Fooled By A Smile” B-side. Yet another face rave B-side by a group that normally sounds nothing like Cabaret Voltaire, yet manages to channel them brilliantly on a B-side.

POST PUNK MONK

JC adds……the remainder of this wonderful rundown will be with you next week.

Group D.   It’s possible that D was short for ‘Death’ given a lot of the bigger names and pre-tournament favourites were featured, along with some cult acts who could prove to be potential dark horses.  In such circumstances, some of the minnows, primarily singers/bands whose appearances have more or less been restricted to the ICA, were on a hiding to nothing.

35 sets of votes had been cast by Monday evening, and it was already clear that Muse, Pink Cross and The Wave Pictures had next to no chance of getting through.

At the other end of the table, Echo and The Bunnymen seemed to be getting ticked by almost everyone, picking up a remarkable 31 votes from the first 35 selections, thus ensuring, very early on, a smooth passage to the knock-out stages.  Fellow Liverpudlians, The Beatles also looked to have done enough by Monday night with 24 votes, with each of Cinerama, Edwyn Collins and The Ramones also looking comfortable while John McGeoch, after a sluggish start, were beginning to feature prominently.

There was, however, a fair old battle going on for the remaining two spots. By Monday evening (when I did a quick check on things) just five points separated 7th place down to 14th with Ballboy, Blancmange, The Blue Nile, Gregory Isaacs, Jens Lekman, Pop Will Eat Itself, Pylon and Sons & Daughters all being in with a shout of getting through.

Only a further eleven sets of votes were cast over the remainder of the week, resulting in the final top half of the table looking like this:-

1. Echo & The Bunnymen 40
2. The Beatles 30* (penalty-shoot out winners for 2nd place)
3. Edwyn Collins 30
4. The Ramones 28
5. John McGeoch 26
6. Cinerama 24
7. Ballboy 22
8. Pop Will Eat Itself 20

It was Ballboy in particular who picked up a lot of support in the final few days to clinch a spot in the knock-out phases, while PWEI also fared well late on to clinch the final spot.  The Blue Nile got 17 votes, just ahead of each of Gregory Issacs, Pylon and Sons & Daughters who all got 16 votes while.  Blancmange and Jens Lekman didn’t pick up much more support after Monday, finishing with 14 and 12 respectively; indeed there was a late burst from Muse to eventually gain 11 votes while neither Pink Cross or The Wave Pictures reached double figures.

Worth mentioning that 87% of the participants cast a vote for Echo & The Bunnymen, which is thus far the best performance in the group stages.

That’s 32 of the 64 who will participate in the knock-out stages sorted out.  And the way I’ve worked it out, all the teams in the top half of the draw (Groups A-D) will be up against one another, so you can have a look back at what’s happened already to see that some tasty match-ups are guaranteed come September when that phase of the ICA World Cup gets underway.

As ever, a song from an ICA we’ve had to say farewell to.

mp3: Blancmange – Waves (12″ mix)

JC

I reckon you’ll all know the script by now.  If not, just scroll back to all five of the Sunday postings from last month.

This week, seventeen songs are competing for your votes, with eight of them set to qualify for the knock-out stages.  As ever, all the songs, are #1 from all the relevant ICAs, and they now follow in alphabetical order of the singer or group involved.

Arctic Monkeys – Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick (ICA 193)

The Auteurs – The Rubettes (ICA 178)

Beastie Boys – Ch-Check It Out (ICA 240)

The Brilliant Corners – Rambling Rose (ICA 163)

Cats On Fire – Horoscope (ICA 314)

Chumbawamba – Give The Anarchist A Cigarette (ICA 273)

Comsat Angels – Missing In Action (ICA 252)

Amelia Fletcher – Talulah Gosh* (ICA 309)

The Go-Betweens – Lee Remick (ICA 200)

Davy Henderson – Candyskin** (ICA 306)

Hinds – Chili Town (ICA 286)

Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life (ICA 182)

Kylie Minogue – The Loco-motion (ICA 260)

Smog – The Well (ICA 192)

The Style Council – Mick’s Blessings (ICA 217)

The Who – My Generation (ICA 208)

Wilco – Box Full Of Letters (ICA 238)

*a song by Talulah Gosh – ICA 309 was a compilation of tracks on which Amelia Fletcher was involved

*a song by The Fire Engines – ICA 306 was a compilation of tracks on which Davy Henderson sang and played

This is the sort of group I was hoping that the draw would deliver.  Loads of big names, some of whom had their ICAs open up with lesser-known or weaker tracks, which perhaps makes them vulnerable when you come to cast your votes.  Once again, you can nominate up to eight singers or band to progress, but no more than that.

As usual, voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Saturday, which is the 13th of August.

JC

It’s the first free day, blog wise, of a new month.

A few weeks ago, I thought I’d try for a mix with songs released as b-sides.  The long list proved to be very substantial, with more than enough bits of music to bring you a box set.  I ended up making two volumes.  Hope you enjoy them.

mp3: Various – Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The B-Side (Volume 1)

Bagged Out Ken – Julian Cope
Intuition Told Me – Orange Juice
La Pastie De La Bourgeoisie – Belle and Sebastian
Situation – Yazoo
Rent – Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
First We Take Manhattan – R.E.M.
Do It Clean – Echo and The Bunnymen
I Kicked A Boy – The Sundays
The Highland League – I, Ludicrous
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
The Butterfly Collector – The Jam
Even In His Youth – Nirvana
Edam Anchorman – Super Furry Animals
Temptation Greets You Like A Naughty Friend – Arctic Monkeys feat. Dizzy Rascal
Unfaithful – The Wedding Present
Life’s A Gas – Teenage Fanclub
Mars Bar – The Undertones
My Insatiable One – Suede

mp3: Various – Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The B-Side (Volume 2)

Friday Night, Saturday Morning – The Specials
Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive) – Prince & The Revolution
What’s The World – James
His Latest Flame – The Motorcycle Boy
Lipstick – Buzzcocks
I Love You, You Big Dummy – Magazine
Fantastic Life – The Fall
Shopping For Blood – Franz Ferdinand
10.15, Saturday Night – The Cure
Paninaro – Pet Shop Boys
Laugh You Out The House – Everything But The Girl
We Could Send Letters – Aztec Camera
Nice ‘n’ Sleazy – Sons and Daughters
Blank Slate – The National
1963 – New Order
This Girl, Black Girl – The Go-Betweens

Both come in just a few seconds short of sixty minutes.

JC

A GUEST POSTING by STEVE McLEAN

JC writes…..

Steve McLean has been a long time friend of the blog, having contributed a few guest postings over the years, including his take on The Last Temptation of Elvis compilation album, an ICA on Chuck Mosley, an appreciation of the Marc & Lard radio show and around this time last year, a two-part piece which paid tribute to musical theatre. Oh, and he’s also a huge fan of Butcher Boy.

He makes a living (in part) from stand-up comedy, and, with the month of August coming around, he and many others will be making his way to Edinburgh in search of an audience.  I’ve been to a couple of Steve’s previous shows and been thoroughly entertained, and was therefore more than happy to say ‘Hell, Yes’, when he asked if he could use TVV to give the show a plug.  Here he is…..

Sci fi and music go together. From 50s rockabilly in early B-movies to the cracking use of the guitar solo from November Rain in the latest Thor film. It you haven’t seen it, then it goes like this – Slow-motion Chris Hemsworth, a sackful of CGI, big riff from Slash and BOOM! A billion at the box office. Directing these days, eh? A Piece of piss. Anyone with a laptop can do it.

Sooooo, since my latest Edinburgh Fringe show is all about Sci-Fi and Fantasy and Barbie dolls (yeah I know, it’s gonna be a tough sell this year) I thought I’d scrape together a playlist of cool Sci-Fi songs. There’s a no Bowie rule as that would be too easy on account of him being an actual alien. There’s also no Dungeons and Dragons bullshit from the likes of Yes or King Crimson because it’s wank and you can pretty trace all incel culture back to it (I don’t know if that’s true, I just made it up on the spot but the more I think about it the more it seems plausible).

Magneto and Titanium Man – Paul McCartney and Wings. 

”Hey Stuart Murdoch, how did you come up with that great piano riff on The Boy With The Arab Strap?” He’ll never tell, the man is a genius. Unrelated to that listen to this great pub-rock keyboard work-out from McCartney. Paul is creating an MCU mash up years ahead of Kevin Feige but It’s a strange trio to choose to sing about. Magneto is, of course, a well-known big hitter among the fans but the other two geezers? You’d be forgiven for thinking they were just made up for the song, but both are bona fide comic book villains. They’ll probably get a Disney plus series made about them. Eventually everyone gets a Disney plus series made about them. Magneto famously got his name when writer Stan Lee was having an ice cream couldn’t chose between a Magnum and a Cornetto. He was originally going to be called Cornettnum (look it up). Can you believe this was a B-side? Stan Lee himself said the song was great. It is. Nice one Stuart MurCartney. 

Oh, and it’s a song that features Jimmy McCulloch, from Dumbarton. He was the greatest of The Wings. (Note from JC…..Steve, although London-based for many years, is from Dumbarton, a town some 25 minutes by train to the west of Glasgow, on the north bank of the River Clyde)

Freak Like Me – Sugababes 

This song isn’t about sex. It’s about being a Vampire. Watch the video and defend your virginity at all costs, except from Vampires they’re sexy as fuck and you’re only human (for now, at least). Sugababes had a habit of banging out amazing pop singles. No one out there was saying ‘oh I wonder what their new album is like’ but when it came to the top 40, regardless of their line up, they always seemed to nail it. Like a 2000s version of Supremes but with more WKD. The main sample in this is from Gary Numan‘s Are ”Friends” Electric, which is already pretty damn Sci-Fi. Numan is another one who might be an alien. The original is corking but this is so much better, even Gary thought so. Sci-Fi-tinged-vampire-sex-grit is a phrase you’d expect from something out of the demo section of the NME, not a manufactured girl group (Note for younger readers: The NME was a thing that nobody liked but were compelled to purchase until the internet came along and saved us 75p a week. To be honest most of us would still buy it if it was brought back on inky black and white sheets and featured an interview with Gedge every third issue). The Sugacubes were fucking boss. 

The Eagles – Journey of the Sorcerer

This song is one of the reasons that Bernie Leadon chose to leave the Eagles (the other being that working with cunts is really hard, just ask Stills, Nash and Young or John Deacon). You don’t get many bluegrass instrumental space odysseys and that’s probably a good thing. It goes a touch prog but not enough to get on your tits. Best known as the theme to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I’d say ‘I betcha didn’t know this was the Eagles’ but you probably did.

Clones – Alice Cooper 

The early 1980s were the ruin of many of a 1970s rocker. Heroin, pills and Jack Daniels had been replaced by cocaine, speed and Tequila Sunrises. The hairy dinosaurs had to find some way to survive until 1985 when hairspray and Bruce Fairbairn would save their careers. Led Zep fans be glad your boys didn’t make it or they’d have recorded their own Dude Looks Like A Lady (search your feelings, deep down you know it’s true).   

Alice was different though. He’d already navigated the trappings of the psych scene into solid 70s rockers with massive hits and then into a solo star. During his sober periods he wasn’t oblivious to the changes going on around him and realised he had to jump ship, at least for a short while. It’s a pity this wasn’t a bigger hit because I’d have loved to have seen more cyber-goth Cooper rather than the Rocky Horror tribute act he went on to become. 

While there’s a definite vibe of aping the electropop of the day, it’s done with love and you can tell Cooper is a fan of the genre. It’s engulfed in Orwell vibes but since the Coop was a bit of an 80s Reaganist, maybe he’s coming from another angle? ‘We destroyed the government, we’re destroying time, no more problems in our way’ Is he perhaps saying we need the enemies of society to rail against or we ourselves become the enemy? No. He’s not. It’s just a song and I’ve just put more thought into the lyrics than the writer David Carron did. Still a banger though.   

They Might Be Giants – See the Constellation

I always thought of TMBG as R.E.M.’s goofy but more fun little brother. They’ve got some proper Sci-Fi cred, if that’s not an oxymoron. Not only is this song from the album Apollo 18 released in 1992, the duo were also declared the official band of the International Space Year (International Women’s / Men’s Day is taking quite an ego bruising here. Space gets a whole year! FUCK YOU HUMANS). This song should have been a single, but they chose to release a version of the Lion Sleeps Tonight instead. The lion in that song is not in the jungle but in a spaceship. It’s on brand but it was still a fucking terrible choice when they had this riffing bad boy ready to go. They once released a version of Istanbul (Not Constantinople) as a single and no one told them to mark it, so what do you expect? Check out their kids album about science.

B-52s – Planet Claire 

Peak Sci-Fi music. The 50s B-movie vibes I mentioned earlier, the Peter Gunn guitar, the boops, beeps and the beehives. Everything about this is stellar… interstellar!  The B-52s flirted with Sci-Fi throughout their career songs like 52 Miles West of Venus, There’s a Moon in the Sky or Cosmic Thing. The B-52s are the ultimate Sci-Fi party band, when the our robot overlords finally rise up and take over I feel they’ll go easy on the B-52s. Even robots like to party.   

Geoff Love and His Orchestra – Blake’s 7 Theme

What could be better than the Blake’s 7 theme? The Blake’s 7 theme in a Disco style! This is tune is GROOVIE AF! It tries to repeat the same trick that Meco had with their disco version of the Star Wars theme. The problem of course was the while Star Wars was watched by gazillions worldwide and captured the imagination of children everywhere, Blake’s 7 was watched by a few dozen and captured the imagination of the kids who had grown out of Doctor Who but weren’t quite old enough to smoke. Tough market to sell to. Add to this, disco music was well on its way to bankrupting the music industry (seriously, read this wiki entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco#Impact_on_music_industry) Could the disco version of Blake’s 7 have saved the genre? We’ll never know, but almost certainly yes. Battle of the Loves: Geoff > Mike.

My latest Edinburgh Fringe show is called Action Figure Archive, Volume 2, WTF! It’s on at 3pm every day in Roti on the South Bridge (except Tuesdays). It’s free so if you’re visiting the Fringe and need someone to get out of the rain then I’m your guy.

STEVE

JC adds….

As I mentioned earlier, Steve’s shows are a good laugh, albeit you better be prepared for audience participation.  It’s part of the Free Fringe and so there’s no stupidly priced admission (+ booking fee!!), and in typical tradition of the buskers, you can just put some money into a hat at the end of the show.

Here’s a link to all the details

And feel free when you put your money in the hat to tell Steve that you came along after reading about it on TVV.

Yes….that is a blurry photo (accessed from t’internet) of the time when Mark E Smith read out the football results on BBC Television. It was to do with the programme segment having long used Theme From Sparta F.C. #2 as the introductory music.

I reckon MES would have been enthralled at the way Group C panned out as the outcome, outside of the Top Two, was uncertain until the final few votes came in.  The Feelies and Television got their noses out in front early on and never relinquished their positions…it was just a case of which of the two would win the group.

Michael Hall, Rainer Ptaceck and The Schramms all offered up sterling efforts, but didn’t muster much in the way of support.

This left thirteen acts battling it out for the six remaining qualifying places and a spot in the knock-out stages.  It swung one way and then another and then swung back again….and then there were a few late surges from ICAs that hadn’t picked up many early votes.  Thankfully, the top eight all gained enough votes to avoid any elimination by the cruel coin-toss, but the process was needed a few times to sort out an order:-

1. Television 21
2. The Feelies 18
3. The Dream Syndicate 14
4. Chuck Prophet 14
5. Chris Isaak 14
6. Uncle Tupelo 13
7. Queens of the Stone Age 12
8. Vic Chesnutt 12

Black Angels and Morphine got 11 votes, just one ahead of Black Keys, Son Volt and Thin White Hope. Giant Sand gained 9 votes, while The Lyres picked up 8.

The best thing of all is that my e-mail to HSP, using his home address rather than his place of employment, did get picked up, and he used the comments section to let everyone know he was fine, and to explain why he’s been quiet for so long:-

“I will be back, I hope fairly soon. COVID had a lot to do with my backing away – it effectively doubled our workload which was then doubled again by fighting our nightmare administration and its constant efforts to undo all that is good about higher education (a union man through and through, I’m also on the Academic Senate, so La Luta Continue!).

That was also the time one son was starting University, from the basement, and the other, from the upstairs bedroom and my wife was working from home and… I got a book contract to go along with the Associate Editor work I do for a rising journal.

I was working on a “post-Hoboken” Luna/Wake Ooloo ICA around that time, as well as one I was less confident about for Killing Joke. I know there’s one to be made on Deer Tick, and I think I can do one on the Ass Ponys. Onwards and upwards, hope to be back soon.”

And if nothing else is achieved from the staging of the 2022 ICA World Cup, the return of HSP will have been worth it.

This one seems appropriate today, now that we know the answer.

mp3: The Schramms – Where Were You?

JC

As mentioned before, all the postings for the initial Group stages were readied, typed up, and posted at the same time, weeks in advance.  My great fear was that folk wouldn’t respond well to it, and with the traffic to TVV being well under half of what it was back in 2018 the last time an ICA World Cup was held, I anticipated that voter turnout would be low.  I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with the responses and the results of Group C, from the ICAs provided by Hybrid Social Professor, will be revealed tomorrow.

This week, seventeen songs are competing for your votes, with eight of them set to qualify for the knock-out stages.  As ever, all the songs, are #1 from all the relevant ICAs, and they are offered up in alphabetical order of the singer or group involved.  Some of the ICAs are the work of yours truly, while others came from guest contributors.

Ballboy – Avant Garde Music (ICA 175)

The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows (ICA 244)

Blancmange – Distant Storm (ICA 251)

The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops (ICA 304)

Cinerama – Maniac (ICA 296)

Edwyn Collins – 50 Shades of Blue (ICA 298)

Echo and The Bunnymen – Rescue (ICA 225)

Gregory Isaacs – Love Is Overdue (ICA 194)

Jens Lekman – Maple Leaves (ICA 184)

John McGeoch – Shot By Both Sides* (ICA 259)

Muse – Uprising (ICA 167)

Pink Cross – Dinahmite (ICA 297)

Pop Will Eat Itself – Def Con One (ICA 234)

Pylon – Cool (ICA 282)

The Ramones – Beat On The Brat (ICA 185)

Sons and Daughters – Johnny Cash (ICA 199)

The Wave Pictures – Stay Here and Take Care of the Chickens (ICA 201)

*a song by Magazine – ICA 259 was a compilation of tracks on which the guitarist played

Good luck working your way through today’s choices, as there’s a few tough decisions to take to get the number down to the eight you want to go through.

As usual, voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Saturday, which is the 6th of August.

JC

The 24-hour delay in bringing you the results was due to the need to get the offer of a free ticket to the upcoming Glas-Goes Pop festival out to everyone.  If you missed that, then all you need to do is scroll back or down to yesterday’s post.

It was Aldo who perhaps best nailed what was most intriguing about Group B

“First glance I thought I knew my 8, but after a listen through, half of those were discarded, and I had to whittle down.”

This proved to a group with just about everything.  The top four were neck-and-neck from the get-go, and while qualification for each of them was secured early enough, the question of who would top things went to the wire.

Two more acts secured plenty of votes early on to ensure likely qualification, which left two slots up for grabs among the rest, although Chuck Moseley/Faith No More, Clearlake and Quickspace never really looked likely.

In the end, it all came down to the very last set of votes cast by DAM with one of his choices breaking what had been, up to that stage, a tie.

1. Joy Division 31
2. Electronic 30
3. Blondie 29
4. Belle and Sebastian 27
5. Stevie Wonder 24
6. Black Box Recorder 23
7. Hot Chip 19
8. Fad Gadget 17

DAM cast a vote for Fad Gadget and thus eliminated The Siddeleys on 16.

Looking from the outside, the big shock is the failure of Blur to get through having gained just 14 votes which was the same as Urusei Yatsura, while Joe Jackson perhaps paid the price of a lesser known track being the ICA opener and was eliminated after receiving only 12 votes.  Josh Ritter got a lot of early votes and was very much in the running, but eventually proved unable to get more than 10 all told.

As ever, I’ll leave you with a song that will now be unable to make an appearance in future rounds when It may well have been something of an ace card to play:-

mp3: Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?

JC

One of the two groups with a difference.

Hybrid Soc Prof offered up 18 ICAs in a fairly short period of time, with his first being on 14 January 2019 and his last on 24 June 2020.

His alias gives away the fact that he was an academic, and if you go back through his postings, you’ll see he was based in Michigan, but that his writings covered many years of interest in music across many parts of the USA.

I have no idea what stopped HSP being such a lively contributor.  His last post came at the tail-end of the academic year and was, of course, during the time when COVID was rampaging through North America.  I’m trying not to think the worst……

All 18 songs on offer today come from his different ICAs, which means he’s guaranteed eight representatives in the knock-out stages.  My decision to devote an entire group to HSP is based largely on the fact that his offerings were on singers and bands rarely featured otherwise on TVV and I like the idea of a few lesser-known or appreciated acts being able to progress.

Once again, the songs are competing for your votes today are #1 from all the relevant ICAs, and they are offered up in alphabetical order of the singer or group involved.

The Black Angels – Currency (ICA 239)

The Black Keys – A Blueprint of Something Never Finished (ICA 246)

Vic Chesnutt – Flirted With You All My Life (ICA 232)

The Dream Syndicate – Kendra’s Dream (ICA 204)

The Feelies – The Boy With Perpetual Nervousness (ICA 218)

Giant Sand – Happenstance (ICA 213)

Michael Hall – Let’s Take Some Drugs and Drive Around (ICA 235)

Chris Isaak – Solitary Man (ICA 255)

The Lyres – You’ll Never Do It Baby (ICA 230)

Morphine – You Look Like Rain (ICA 215)

Chuck Prophet – Pin A Rose On Me (ICA 207)

Rainer Ptacek – Me and The Devil (ICA 242)

Queens of The Stone Age – I Appear Missing (ICA 241)

The Schramms* – Number Nineteen (ICA 236)

Son Volt – Chanty (ICA 207a)

Television – The Dream’s Dream (ICA 248)

The Thin White Hope – Dead Grammas On A Train (ICA 202)

Uncle Tupelo – Moonshiner (ICA 211)

*this track is actually a solo offering by Dave Schramm on an ICA otherwise consisting of songs by the group

I’m looking for you to cast votes for up to eight songs, but don’t worry if you decide to go under that number if not all the songs fully appeal to you….but every vote counts!

As usual, voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Saturday, which is the 30th of July.

Group D next week will have the normal thing of some stuff from myself and a bundle from guest contributors.

JC

A GUEST POSTING by JEZ

Hard luck, I’m back.

Late last year, I was strong-armed into joining the works Christmas Party team, a role I’m sure you can imagine I attacked with all the vigour of a substituted soccer ball player.

As is the norm with this sort of thing, our directions were that we had to come up with lots of games which would promote teamwork, which we duly did.

But about a week before the event, Covid rules changed. We should now only meet up if absolutely necessary, which this clearly wasn’t.

And so it shifted to an online, virtual Christmas Party, and we had a lot of time to fill.

“Can you knock together a Christmas pop quiz, Jez?”

At last. Here was my calling, my vocation.

But I couldn’t just do any old “What was the Christmas No. 1 in 1978?” type quiz. (Boney M with Mary’s Boy Child/O My Lord, in case you’re playing along at home), as the bloke who did it the year before had done that.

So instead I plumped for Christmas songs which you assume reached the coveted Christmas #1 slot, but didn’t. I wittily called it “The Christmas Number Two Quiz”, but decided not to include Mr Hankey, The Christmas Poo for wanting-to-keep-my-job reasons.

For those of you who don’t know me, my daytime job is working for the London Borough Council I lived in until fairly recently. In what I assume is a cost-cutting exercise, my Head of Service also performs the same role at a different London Borough Council.

She emailed me a day or so after our online Party to ask if she could use my pop quiz for the Christmas party for the other Borough. She’s my boss, what am I going to do, say no?

And so I became “Pop Quiz Guy”, not a title I have shied away from to be honest.

A couple of months ago, I was approached by one of our other managers, who was putting together a shared-service day, where employees in both Boroughs under the rule of the aforementioned Head of Service would meet up for a day of jolly training.

“Can you do a pop quiz for us, please?”

Of course, I agreed. It’s nice to be wanted, and also this manager is also my boss, what am I going to do, say no?

I dutifully prepared an “Identify the song from the lyric” quiz, fifteen songs, a point for the song, another if you got the artiste right.

And then, having attended a different training session a few days earlier, I tested positive for Covid, so couldn’t host it. I press-ganged some colleagues into filling in for me, but I felt an emptiness, a vacuum within me (by which I don’t mean I had inserted Henry the Hoover where the sun don’t shine).

Which brings us here, with extreme hot weather warnings ringing in our ears, a sort of summery mix for your delectation, you lucky people.

Named as a homage to the British media’s obsession with covering climate change by way of sending a photographer/camera person to a beach in the hope of catching a bit of tit to bolster their article about how it’s hotter here than it is in (enter any country more renowned for being warmer than the UK is), this is

mp3: Various – Phew! What A Scorcher!!

And here’s your track-listing, with ICA style sleeve notes where required (and rest easy regulars at my place, Chas & Dave don’t feature (although Quo very nearly did):

1. Super Furry Animals – “Hello Sunshine”

2. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – “Patio Song”

Parts 1 & 2 of the Welsh contingent of this playlist

3. Spanky Wilson – Sunshine Of Your Love

Nobody does a cover version like Spanky. And heaven forbid I would be compelled to include the original, sung by the right-wing “God”

4. Belle And Sebastian – Legal Man

Safe to say that, with its “Get out of the office and into the springtime” refrain, it won’t be featuring on Walter Softey tribute act Jacob Rees Mogg’s Desert Island Discs selection

5. The Kinks – Rainy Day In June

Reality check. No matter how great the weather is, or is forecast to be, you can rely on one thing: it’ll start pissing it down the second you unfurl your picnic blanket. If the wasps and ants don’t get you, the weather will

6. The Alarm – Rain In The Summertime

Here’s the 3rd of our Welsh contingent, a record which, up against some very stiff competition, manages not to be their worst single. Still, props for trying to put a positive spin on shit weather. Which is especially commendable when you imagine how pissed off you’d be to have rain ruin all those hours of furious back-combing and industrial levels of application of hairspray

7. The Delgados – Mr Blue Sky

Because I’d never get the original past JC’s watchful eye

8. Weezer – Island in the Sun

True story: I once had a brief dalliance with a young lady once; she flicked through my record collection and asked me to put together a mix CD for her. She’s the one, I thought. I duly obliged (in more ways than one, knowwhatImean?), she made this her ringtone on her phone and then ignored me for the rest of eternity

9. Dinosaur Jr. – Take a Run at the Sun

A record I will forever associate with my dear departed buddy Llyr. We used to make mix CDs for each other, I would never provide a track-list, preferring to see how he reacted to what I had put together (and, if I’m honest, check he’d actually listened to it). There is no greater joy than receiving a text which just reads: “Take a Run at the Sun!!!”. And because J Mascis trying to be Brian Wilson: what’s not to like here?

10. Barracudas – Summer Fun!

Because I thought an ad break was due. And because it’s chuffing brilliant. Bonus points for the inclusion of an exclamation mark.

11. The Undertones – Here Comes The Summer

Because no summer playlist is complete without it

12. Ramones – Rockaway Beach

Because the idea of four goofy NY dudes in black leathers hanging out at the beach is inherently ridiculous

13. Supergrass – Sun Hits the Sky

If you were fortunate enough to catch their recent life-affirming Greatest Hits set at Glastonbury, you’ll know there’s no such thing as a bad Supergrass tune

14. Squeeze – Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)

You’ll be aware that JC writes a wonderful series about songs which tell a story. This tale of a seaside coach trip’s journey home being delayed because one of the group is off shagging is ripe for inclusion at some point. This, or pretty much any other song from Squeeze’s canon

15. Kirsty MacColl – He’s On The Beach

It was a close call between this and the Lemonheads version. Kirsty wins, as she always should

16. Martha & The Muffins – Echo Beach

Quite simply, one of the greatest escape-from-the-daily-grind summer records ever

17. Fatboy Slim – Sunset (Bird of Prey)

Featuring Jim Morrison on guest vocals, spouting 6th form poetry, with his knob out (probably). This is the end.

JC adds..

This really should have been posted up earlier this week when the UK was experiencing record-high temperatures…and to be fair to Jez, he did fire it over in advance of things, but I had been too busy to look at the TVV inbox.

And for those of you not all that familiar with the sort of things Jez comes up with on a daily basis, then you really should take a leisurely stroll over to A History of Dubious Taste.

I’ve already got my own mixtape ready to roll when August comes around, but if anyone else wants to put something together, then there will always be a spot available.

And finally for today, a link to a guest posting I pulled together for SWC over at No Badger Required.  Click here for musings on Toronto and its baseball team.

I was away from home all of last week (up in St Andrews with a group of Canadian visitors over for the golf) and couldn’t keep up with the blog all that much.  I was stunned, thrilled and, yes, over-the-moon-David, to see the number of responses to the opening Group of the ICA World Cup 2022.

I got home to Glasgow yesterday and immediately started tallying the votes.  I did feel when the draw emerged that Group A didn’t bring together too many of the so-called ‘big guns’ and wouldn’t make for too much excitement.

How wrong could I have been?

OK, it was clear from quite early on that six of the eight qualifying spots were destined for Cocteau Twins, Buddy Holly, The Jam, Nirvana, Iggy Pop and Roxy Music, while the likes of Dum Dum Girls, The Fall, Luke Haines, Robyn Hitchcock, Iceage and Mudhoney never really got going.

Of the others, Say Sue Me and Tracey Thorn faded after decent starts, which left Ash, Dinosaur Jr. and Jazz Butcher battling out in a tight contest for the final two spots.

The final tallies at the top of the table:-

1. Iggy Pop 39
2. Roxy Music 37
3. Buddy Holly 30
4. Cocteau Twins 28*
5. The Jam 28
6. Nirvana 24
7. Ash 19
8. Jazz Butcher 18*
9. Dinosaur Jr. 18

In football terms, there were two penalty shoot-outs – which in reality was a toss of a coin. Cocteau Twins snatched 4th place in the group, (which may be crucial in terms of the draw for the knockout stages),  but also saw Jazz Butcher progress to the next phase instead of Dinosaur Jr.

It is, I have to admit, a very cruel way to be eliminated. Especially when this song was likely to make an appearance at some point:-

mp3: Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene

JC

All the postings for the initial Group stages are being typed up, readied and posted at the same time, weeks in advance, and as such I have no idea how well (or badly) folk responded to Group A.  I’ll be going forward in any event, certainly for the next seven weeks, but like a gig or festival which is cancelled late on due to poor ticket sales, I’ll be keeping a close watch on things as they head towards the knock-out stages.

Once again, sixteen songs are competing for your votes today, with eight of them set to qualify for the knock-out stages.  As mentioned last week, all the songs, in the group stages, will be #1 from all the relevant ICAs, and they are listed below in alphabetical order of the singer or group involved.

Belle & Sebastian – The State That I Am In (ICA 165)

Black Box Recorder – Child Psychology (ICA 179)

Blondie – X-Offender (ICA 198)

Blur – Crazy Beat (ICA 189)

Chuck Mosley/Faith No More – We Care A Lot (ICA 247)

Clearlake – Almost The Same (ICA 279)

Electronic – Getting Away With It (ICA 205)

Fad Gadget – Back To Nature (ICA 231)

Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor (ICA 216)

Joe Jackson – One To One (ICA 196)

Joy Division – Digital (ICA 160)

Quickspace – Friends (ICA 263)

Josh Ritter – Snow Is Gone (ICA 162)

The Siddeleys – Sunshine Thuggery (ICA 265)

Urusei Yatsura – Siamese (ICA 268)

Stevie Wonder – Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday (ICA 233)

With all respect to Group A, this week’s mix is one to get the juices flowing, with a few big names coming out of the hat, and not all of them certain to get through.  Bernard Sumner makes two appearances this week, again by chance.  He’s been denied the hat-trick as there’s no eligible ICAs from New Order or Bad Lieutenant.

As usual, voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Saturday, which is the 23rd of July.

JC

Welcome to the first week of the ICA World Cup 2022.  Are you excited or totally indifferent?

Seventeen songs are competing for your votes today, with eight of them set to qualify for the knock-out stages.  All the songs, in the group stages, will be #1 from all the relevant ICAs, and they are listed below in alphabetical order of the singer or group involved.

Ash – Jack Names The Planets (ICA 190)

Cocteau Twins – Hazel (Peel Session) (ICA 310)

Dinosaur Jr. – The Wagon (ICA 312)

Dum Dum Girls – Jail La La (ICA 287)

The Fall – Crap Rap/Like To Blow (ICA 171)

Luke Haines – Rock’n’Roll Communique #1 (ICA 180)

Robyn Hitchcock – Kingdom of Love (ICA 190)

Buddy Holly – That’ll Be The Day (ICA 285)

Iceage – Hurrah (ICA 221)

The Jam – Pretty Green (ICA 152)

The Jazz Butcher – Next Move Sideways (ICA 158)

Mudhoney – In n Out of Grace (ICA 283)

Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (ICA 222)

Iggy Pop – Lust For Life (ICA 183)

Roxy Music – Virginia Plain (ICA 250)

Say Sue Me – Let It Begin (ICA 227)

Tracey Thorn – It’s All True – Escort Extended Remix (ICA 262)

As I said last week, the draw has been designed to split up contributions from various guest contributors, with each group also having a handful from my own ICAs.  Group A is quite eclectic, and many of the so-called ‘big hitters’ didn’t get drawn out, so it sets up for some tastiness in the remaining groups.

Voting closes at midnight on Saturday, 16th July.  Voting must be done through the comments section.

AND JUST TO AVOID ANY POTENTIAL CONFUSION, I’M HOPING EVERYONE COMING ON TO VOTE WILL MAKE UP TO 8 CHOICES FROM THE ABOVE LIST.

I KNOW……I’M ASKING A LOT!!!  BUT IT WILL GET EASIER ONCE WE REACH THE KNOCK-OUT STAGES!!!!!!!

Cheers.

JC

A GUEST POSTING  from JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

Thanks to everyone who commented on the Trumpets ICA and especially all the folks who accepted the invitation to suggest their own favourite tunes.  More than enough for a second eleven, with selections by:

Bill: Prefab Sprout – Billy.  Not only does this tune prominently feature a lead trumpet, but the whole tune is about trumpets!

Friend of Rachel Worth: Pale Fountains – Longshot For Your Love.  This was a new one to me.  Seems like the Fountains came and went, but not before releasing “…From Across the Kitchen Table,” presumably the namesake of Drew’s blog. (JC adds…..it sure is!!)

Rol:  Feargal Sharkey – You Little Thief.  There might be a saxophone happening underneath, but this song’s really got the trumpet working.

Conrad: Bowie – Jump They Say.  Impressive how Bowie (David) was always looking for interesting folks to record with.  Bringing in Lester Bowie, a straight up jazz dude and co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, was a genius move.

The Swede: Housemartins – Think for a Minute (single version).  I never heard this version, but it’s ten times better with the trumpet.  Great call by the Swede.

DAM: Manic Street Preachers – Kevin Carter.  This was on a list of songs I sent to JC to see if anyone suggested ones other than my choices.  Very impressed with DAM for picking this one and the TVV crowd for coming up with so many stellar ideas.

FlimFlamFan: Allez Allez – Flesh and Blood.  I wasn’t familiar with this Belgian 80’s outfit so I found a clip on YouTube.  In their live performance, the horn part was played by a sax, but on the record it sounds like a trumpet.  (Might also be a synth, but it’s a great tune, so let’s go with it.)

JC: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubb’s Tears.  Probably should have included this classic by William Bloke, but it’s just so sad.

Mark: Eric Matthews – Fanfare.  This song made the whole experiment worthwhile.  I knew Matthews from Cardinal but was otherwise unfamiliar with his recordings.  ‘Fanfare’ is an absolute killer—my new favorite song.

Khayem: Julian Cope – Beautiful Love.  I had to decide between this one and the Teardrops song, so cheers to Kieron for making sure this one got in the mix.

Walter: Chumbawumba – Tubthumping.  Is there any reason not to play this infectious, banging song at every possible occasion?  No, there is not.

JTFL

JC adds……

There’s been quite a few more suggestions since Jonny fired over this second edition.  I’m surely not alone in asking that he come up with Volume 3?

23 July 2018 when The Jam won the first ever ICA World Cup, beating Billy Bragg in the final.

If you weren’t reading all my nonsense back in 2018, I best explain.

The ICA World Cup was the idea of occasional contributor, jimdoes.

“…so I’ve had a thought… there’s 130 different teams in the ICA’s… what if there was a world cup between them to find which one was the best…?? it would all be very arbitrary but it might work…”

It got underway in January 2018, and it finished on 23 July 2018, the date of the actual final of the FIFA World Cup.  It was done on a straight knock-out basis, with 129 teams being whittled down round after round.  (A certain Manchester solo artist was excluded on the grounds of his abysmal human rights record).

The ICAs eligible were from #1-#150, but the reason for there being fewer than 150 ‘teams’ was that singers/band with more than one ICA weren’t permitted multiple entries.

For the 2022 World Cup, the ICAs from #152 – 314 are eligible – from The Jam (ICA #152) on 25 January 2018 to Cats On Fire (ICA #314) on 31 May 2022.

There remains the caveat on multiple entries, as well as excluding ICAs on themes, such as record labels, genres and producers (which is why ICA #151 about Factory Records is excluded).  It all means that 135 singers/bands can take part.

That number, however, is far too large to have a straight knock-out competition in the time available – the final of the FIFA World Cup 2022 takes place on Sunday 18 December, which is the day I’ll be aiming for the ICA World Cup to end.

To achieve this target date, there’s going to have to be a very severe cull from the group stages to the knock-out phase :-

GROUP A – 17 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 10 July

GROUP B – 16 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 17 July

GROUP C – 18 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 24 July

GROUP D – 17 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 31 July

GROUP E – 17 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 7 August

GROUP F – 17 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 14 August

GROUP G – 17 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 21 August

GROUP H – 16 teams (8 to qualify) : Sunday 28 August

Round of 64 : Week 1 (4 matches) : Sunday 4 September

Round of 64 : Week 2 (4 matches) : Sunday 11 September

Round of 64 : Week 3 (4 Matches) : Sunday 18 September

Round of 64 : Week 4 (4 matches) : Sunday 25 September

Round of 64 : Week 5 (4 matches) : Sunday 2 October

Round of 64 : Week 6 (4 matches) : Sunday 9 October

Round of 64 : Week 7 (4 matches) : Sunday 16 October

Round of 64 : Week 8 (4 matches) : Sunday 23 October

Round of 32 : Week 1 (4 matches) : Sunday 30 October

Round of 32 : Week 2 (4 matches) : Sunday 6 November

Round of 32 : Week 3 (4 matches) : Sunday 13 November

Round of 32 : Week 4 (4 matches) : Sunday 20 November

Round of 16 : 8 Matches : Sunday 27 November

Quarter-Finals : 4 Matches : Sunday 4 December

Semi-Finals : 2 Matches : Sunday 11 December

Final : 1 Match : Sunday 18 December

The arrangements for the draw, like all things in modern football, became a bit complicated as I tried to ensure a fair spread across the eight groups from the different contributors.  Of the 135 ICAs included, I’m responsible for 35 of them, and these will be spread evenly and randomly across six of the groups – A, B, D, E, G and H.

Group C, which has 18 teams, consists entirely of ICAs contributed by Hybrid Social Professor (HSP), who rather sadly seems not to have contributed at all to the blog since June 2020 having been ridiculously prolific up to then.

Group F has 17 teams, and consisting of six ICAs by Alex G, five ICAs by Middle Aged Man and six ICAs by Khayem.

All the remaining guest contributions have been spread out so that almost nobody will find themselves with two teams in the same group – for instance, JTFL has four teams and these will be placed in Groups B, E, G and H.  The almost nobody exception is SWC, who has seven entries spread across six groups, with one doubler (I warned you it was complicated!!!)

As you can tell, this is really depending on a decent level of audience participation, especially in the group stages, where you will be asked to submit eight songs to enable a singer or band to progress.  In the event of ties, the rolling of a dice will determine which side(s) progress.

Tune in next week for details of Group A. Voting will open as soon as the posting appears and will close at midnight, UK time, the following Saturday. All votes will be through the comments section – I had an e-mail option last time around, but it proved difficult to keep a track of, with some responses going into the junk folder and not being counted.

I’ll finish off this week with a very fine World Cup theme tune to get you in the mood:-

mp3 : The Scottish World Cup Squad 1982 – We Have A Dream

Featuring John Gordon Sinclair, of Gregory’s Girl Fame.

I’ll hopefully see some of you here next Sunday…..otherwise I’ll have a huge flop on my hands!!!

JC

It’s the first of a new month.  This mix was almost called ‘Let’s Hug It Out’.

mp3: Various – Thank Your Lucky Stars

Theme from ‘The Persuaders’ – John Barry
Goodbye Joe – Tracey Thorn
Safari – The Breeders
Purple Zone (extended version) – Soft Cell/Pet Shop Boys
Dreaming Of You – The Coral
Shut Up And Let Me Go – The Ting Tings
Natural Blues  – Moby
Grumpus – Lambchop
Easy Money – Johnny Marr
Hey Ya!- Outkast
Fidelity – Regina Spektor
Chelsea Hotel #2 – Lloyd Cole
Who Can Say – The Horrors
It’s For You – The Wedding Present
Never Fight A Man With A Perm – IDLES
The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock’n’Roll – The Indelicates
The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman – Half Man Half Biscuit

Twenty seconds beyond sixty minutes.

JC

PS : A small plug for a series that is warming up nicely in a blog curated some 450 miles south-west of Villain Towers. I’m referring of course to No Badger Required

SWC has come up with the quite magnificent idea of a rundown of the best 100 songs with one-word titles.  Where many of us would have gone about this in a dictatorial manner, he recruited a group of peers and got folk to vote on things.  I was one of them, and I know that some of the TVV cognoscenti also offered up opinions.

Part One of the prelude is here.

Further later musings are here, here, and here.

I should also mention that while it isn’t immediately obvious, it is possible to leave comments at No Badger Required.  You do have to click on the title of a particular post, and it will open in a separate tab with a comments box at the foot of the new page.

A GUEST POSTING (and Invitation) from JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

I love the sound of a trumpet in rock music.  Yes, there are plenty of songs and bands we all love that feature a full brass section, or at least a trumpet accompanied by a sax or whatnot.  But I’m not talking about those.  I mean just a trumpet, either as part of the instrumentation of a song, or as the featured lead instrument.  So here’s an imaginary compilation of my favourite songs with a trumpet.  All the tunes are by bands that would typically show up over here at JC’s place.  Otherwise, there’d be way too many to list.  (So our host will have to do without ‘Penny Lane’ this time out.)

Cake: Short Skirt/Long Jacket.

Cake are sort of an acquired taste, but I acquired it.  Groovy bassist, solid drummer, ace guitarists, and Vince DeFiore on trumpet.  If you’re okay with John McCrea‘s vocals, you’ll probably like the band, too.  This is a single from the band’s fourth album, Comfort Eagle, released way back in 2001.

The June Brides: Every Conversation.

This one’s the only song I know by this band, which was included on some anorak-Postcard-Creation compilation or other.  It’s a fun track played in a lovably amateurish way that I still like to listen to almost 40 years on.

Beulah:  Gene Autrey.

Anyone remember Beulah?  They’re a forgotten favourite of mine.  Kind of the equivalent of Clearlake, whom I thought were genius and no one ever heard of (see ICA #279).  Beulah were from San Francisco and released four great albums to no acclaim whatsoever.  The idea for this post comes from this song, incidentally.  I have it on a playlist and was driving around (that’s what we do in LA) and all of a sudden the trumpet solo erupted out of the speakers.  You wouldn’t know it’s coming from the beginning of the tune, and then–bam!  Magnificent music.

The Teardrop Explodes: Reward.

Bless my cotton socks, it’s the arch-druid and his band’s biggest hit, a non-album single from 1981.  I read someplace that the band included the trumpet because they were inspired by Love‘s 1967 psychedelic classic, Forever Changes.

Calexico: Alone Again Or.

Speaking of which, here’s a version of the lead track from Forever Changes. Calexico are in fine form here.  It’s loose, the hand-claps give it kind of a flamenco vibe, and the trumpet solo is perfect.  Loads of bands covered this song, including the Damned, but I had other plans for them.

The Damned: Grimly Fiendish.

Is this where the Damned went Goth, or was that just the album cover?  Not sure, but we’ve moved quite a bit forward from New Rose with a jazzy trumpet solo.  This was released as a single in 1984.  Christ, I’m old.

Belle & Sebastian: Dress Up In You.

Here are some truly insulting lyrics, sung very sweetly.  Like our friends Cake and Calexico, Belle & Sebastian had a trumpet player on board for most of their career, including this track from 2006’s The Life Pursuit.  Toss up between this song and Stars of Track and Field.

Talking Heads: Houses in Motion.

Everyone’s played it straight so far but not, of course, the Heads.  This tune, from 1981’s Remain in Light, features fourth world pioneer Jon Hassell on a trumpet solo given the full Eno treatment.

Sloan: Everything You’ve Done Wrong.

I don’t know too much about Sloan, except that they’re from Canada and have had the same lineup for over 30 years.  ‘Everything’ is a straight-up radio-friendly pop tune wearing its trumpet on its sleeve.  This song was released in 1996, and I’m beginning to wonder if trumpet is just out of style nowadays?

The Beta Band: Dry the Rain.

Another 90’s highlight.  This song always seemed to me like an indie Hey Jude.  Goes on for a while and ends with a sing-along chorus with trumpets over the top.  I only saw the band once, and they were fantastic, but I can’t remember if they did this number.

Elvis Costello: Shipbuilding.

EC’s best ever lyrics, according to the man himself.  Shipbuilding really is a monumental song.  It would have been a classic before jazz legend/tragedy Chet Baker got into the studio, but his trumpet part is one of a kind.  If there’s a “best trumpet solo in rock” it’s this one.

Honourable mentions:

The Who: 5:15.

The ‘oo were my favourite band growing up, and Quadrophenia was and still is my Favourite Album of All Time.  This would have been top of the list, except Entwistle‘s playing a french horn, not a trumpet.

Sublime: Wrong Way.

A great song by doomed ska-punk luminaries Sublime, with a funky trombone solo.

The Cows: Heave Ho.

Oh, man, the Cows were a riot in action. This raucous number typifies their sound, right down to the singer’s trusty bugle.

XTC: That Is The Way.

This was going to be in the mix until I read the liner notes and saw that it’s Dick Cuthell (Specials, Madness, Pogues, Eurythmics) on flugelhorn.

…and now, the Invitation.

It took me ages to narrow this list down to just ten songs.  That’s why it’s eleven songs.  But I’ve got a whole second set, which I sent to JC.  I’m curious to see if anyone else shares my interest in trumpet in rock and, if you do, which songs you’d pick for an ICA.  So, I invite the TVV crowd to suggest some songs in the comments.  Let’s see if they include the rest of mine or, even better, are trumpet songs I haven’t heard yet.

JTFL

A GUEST POSTING by flimflamfan

In recent days, JC has entertained us with 8 Days of Indietracks Compilations and it’s been an enjoyable journey from this ageing indiepop kid.

Following the post for 2013 I wondered, as I sat on the beach, if I had transferred any indiepop compilations to my phone. I wasn’t too surprised to learn that I had, hello CD86 & Scared To Get Happy. Hmmm…. what’s this lurking in shadow of indiepop compilations, why it’s Pick ‘n’ Mix. At this point you’re most probably thinking “Pick ‘n’ What? Never heard of it.”

Torn between CD86 and Pick ‘n’ Mix (Scared To Get Happy, over 5 CDs requires considerably more commitment), I chose Pick ‘n’ Mix. I hadn’t listened to the compilation in over a decade. I nestled into my perch, stared longingly over the sea and hit play.

Felix D’ Arcy – Pictures From The Pavement

About 45 minutes later, CD1 was complete. I may have forgotten to mention Pick ‘n’ Mix is a 2 CD compilation. 13 songs that I hadn’t heard in the longest time, all of which seemed instantly recognisable – like bumping into an old friend in the street. That’s actual, real people, on tarmac streets (litter optional).

Leaving Mornington Crescent – Seventeen

Memories, fast, furious and welcome popped into my head: club nights, gigs, popfests, launch nights and late nights. Lots of late nights. Phew!

My intention was to listen immediately to CD2. However, the weather had other ideas, and I was rained off. On my speedy and damp walk back, I promised myself I’d listen to CD2 the following day. I did. I experienced the same rush: faces, places and any other word that will fit here to make up UK government health advice…races? No, that doesn’t make sense. Not making sense never stopped the UK government, but I digress…

I made a bold statement to myself that I’d write something up for TVV. To my utter astonishment here it is…

Hyperbubble – I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too

Pick ‘n’ Mix was released in 2009 by Bubblegum Records, Glasgow.

Glasgow is often regarded as a supportive hub for musicians/artists etc. but that hadn’t been my experience, or that of those behind Bubblegum, at that time back in 2009 as Glasgow ran mostly as a closed shop.

The same people owned numerous venues many espousing ‘independence’ despite being owned by large companies with relatively tight control of venues. Pay to play was rife – even in the ‘cooler’ establishments.

Zipper – Cosa de Artistas

When Bubblegum began it had lots it wanted to achieve. Key among those achievements was to challenge pay to play and to change negative perceptions of indie and indiepop. It seemed others agreed, myself included, yet Bubblegum was largely derided by the Glasgow ‘scene’. It seemed no matter what the label did, or did not do, in its brief existence, it just wasn’t good enough. Some examples…

When Pick ‘n’ Mix was launched (what a great night that was) free copies were given to the first 50 people alongside all of the previous releases, a fanzine and vegan sweets etc. The next 50 ‘only’ received free copies of Pick ‘n’ Mix, a fanzine and vegan sweets. Not good enough.

The label put on a staggering number of bands. There was, in most cases, an agreement that the bands would be paid a specific amount of money. Even if the gig ran at a loss, the band got their agreed amount. No band ever paid to play. Not good enough.

Probably the most generous food and drinks rider most of the bands had received. Not good enough.

Managing Glasgow Popfest – covering all costs on a DIY no sponsorship basis. Not good enough.

It put on free Indietracks warm-ups gigs. The line-up included bands appearing at Indietracks or bands whose members would be attending Indietracks. Not good enough.

For reasons unknown to those close to the label, and to the label itself, the animosity seemed inexplicable. Apparently, it was twee. Twee was somehow perceived as a threat?

Hari and Aino – On My Usual Catch Up With Celia

A little backstory can, I think, be helpful, but now to the matter in hand.

Pick ‘n’ Mix contains 27 songs. The label was advised by close friends – some in bands – not to release a compilation “they don’t make money.”

Undeterred by financial loss, Bubblegum put out an over-reaching call to a number of bands fully expecting a high percentage of rejections – due in part to the exceptionally tight timescale to get the CD completed for the hoped for launch date. Few rejections were received, which meant the original idea of a single CD compilation became a 2 CD compilation.

The roster for the CD is a real globetrotter: Brazil, Sweden. USA, Wales, Spain, France, Norway, Scotland, Indonesia, England, Australia & Japan (thanks, internet).

Le Ameida – Nunca Nunca

All indiepop sounds the same? Here’s another list to confound that theory… ska, pop, synthpop, twee, indiepop, rock, girl-group, bubblegum punk & shoegaze. Why have I left this excellent compilation languishing in the dark? I have no idea.

It’s so evocative of a specific time when a small group of people really did try to do things a little differently. Obscurity knocked (did you see what I did there?) as it has for many small DIY labels over the years.

I recall that at the Pick ‘n’ Mix launch I had a wholly stilted dance where I thought I must look like someone’s dad. I’m now only too aware that in the intervening years dad would be replaced by grandad. Where’s my dancin’ shoes?

Amphetameanies – Nothing’s OK

JC has written about Bubblegum before (here and here). On those occasions, I have been transported to thoroughly enjoyable times. Indirectly, the Indietracks compilations, stirred something in me and I’m delighted to have re-found Pick ‘n’ Mix and the memories it holds. Thanks, JC.

Does anyone else have experience of a local, relatively unknown DIY label that they hold in regard?

P.S. In an attempt to get ‘facts’ straight I sought support from the internet. For some bizarre reason some streaming sites have I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too as The Lovely Eggs. Although written by The Lovely Eggs it is in fact a cover version by Hyperbubble. However, pop fact, The Lovely Eggs did play 2 Bubblegum gigs.

Helen Love – Oh Sugar Candy

flimflamfan

Sorry if you’ve popped by thinking you’ll find Jonathan Richman hanging round the front porch……

mp3: Various – That Summer Feeling

Town Called Malice – The Jam
Graffiti – Maximo Park
So When You Gonna… – Dream Wife
The Overload – Yard Act
Senses Working Overtime – XTC
Pictures Of You – The Cure
Road Rage  – Catatonia
Atomic – Blondie
I Love Myself and I Always Have – Robert Forster
Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair – Arctic Monkeys
Portions For Foxes – Rilo Kiley
Wrecking Bar (ra ra ra) – The Vaccines
With Handclaps – Y’all Is Fantasy Island
Slow Train To Dawn – The The
He’s Frank (Slight Return) – The Monochrome Set
Being In Love – Wet Leg
Bankrobber – The Clash

Five seconds beyond sixty minutes for the second successive month.  Don’t be fooled by the title….it’s simply down to it being June’s offering.

JC

It’s a new month.  You know the drill by now…….

mp3: Various – This One Is Different

Slow Hands – Interpol
Brand New Cadillac – The Clash
Hand In Glove – Christian Kjellvander & Lise Westzynthus
Time For The Rest Of Your Life – Strangelove
Too Drunk To Fuck – Nouvelle Vague
Love Me Like You Do – The Magic Numbers
Keep On Keepin’ On (Die On Your Feet Mix) – The Redskins
Orgasm Addict – Buzzcocks
Caught Out There – Kelis
Doers – Bodega
The Black Hit Of Space – Sarah Nixey
Stereotypes – Blur
A Song From Under The Floorboards – The Wedding Present
There There My Dear – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Date With The Night – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Age Of Consent – New Order
R U A Feminist? – Breakfast Muff

Five seconds beyond sixty minutes. Quite a few cover versions (5) this time around.  I’m still very willing to take guest contributions for June and beyond if anyone can be motivated.

JC