a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer
I don’t know a more indulgent man than our good host. Over the years, JC has posted every random thing I sent him. A series about New York City songs. Another series called Charged Particles where all the song titles end with “ion.” Lots of nonsense about my tenure in a country band. Song Story entries. Interviews with guys who made REM videos. And while the faithful crowd submits lovingly curated imaginary compilation albums by their favorite bands, JC never once objected to my oddball ICAs about trumpets, side projects, days of the week, presidential elections (sob), stellar basslines, songs that bands took their names from, or unconventional instruments. Not to mention my chiming in every day with unsolicited opinions in the comments section.
But, being an incorrigible and pushy New Yorker, I thought, “why not shamelessly take advantage of Jim’s good graces and try to unload even more of my musical BS on him? He knows I’m too lazy to start my own blog–could I get away with hijacking even more of his web space?” I was facetiming with Jim when I threw the idea at him and he didn’t appear to choke on anything or swear at me, even under his breath. Instead, he greenlighted Fictive* Fridays, a platform for yet more of my, er, idiosyncratic musical observations.
So, here goes. Let’s revisit some themes I posted about before, and take a look at some new ones to expect, smorgasbord style:
Charged Particles: Annihilation by Wilco. This is from the band’s most recent release, an EP from 2024 titled Hot Sun Cool Shroud. Trademark Wilco everything: clever lyric, hummable melody, arty guitars, and Jeff Tweedy‘s relaxed, friendly croon over the top.
Trumpets: Burial Ground by The Decemberists. Lead single off the 12ths last album, As It Ever Was, So Will It Be Again. The trumpet arrives around the 2:43 mark, and that’s exactly how Victor Nash played it at LA’s Bellwether when I saw them tour the LP last summer. And, yes, that is the Shins’ James Mercer guesting on background vocals.
Basslines: B-Movie by Elvis Costello & The Attractions. I get that folks don’t care a lot about bassists, but if you’re ever going to pay attention to what’s happening on the low end, this song is as good as it gets. It’s only 2 minutes long, and Bruce Thomas plays about 2,000 notes. And not one is out of place, and nothing in the line is predictable. From the spectacular Get Happy!! album, recorded 45 years ago this month.
Everyone’s Your Friend in NYC: Rockaway Beach by the Ramones. EYFINYC was a series of reminiscences about Gotham co-written with long-time contributor Echorich. We had a fun time collaborating but stopped for reasons I can’t even remember. But I found what was to be another instalment, a bit about specific NYC neighborhoods. Rockaway Beach is part of a long spit of land enclosing Jamaica Bay in southwest Queens county, not too far from the Ramones’ home base of Forest Hills. (Echorich grew up in Queens and I was born there.) There was a wooden boardwalk along the beach that lasted nearly 100 years, until it was unceremoniously destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Now the boardwalk is concrete. Some of my earliest memories are of Far Rockaway, where my great-grandma lived. Dee Dee was reportedly the only beachgoer in the band and he wrote the song. I love the couplet “Chewin’ out a rhythm on my bubble gum–the sun is out and I want some.” A banger from 1977’s Rocket to Russia.
What Is That Thing? (weird Instruments): No Surprises by Radiohead. That’s a glockenspiel Jonny Greenwood‘s playing here. Thom Yorke wanted the song to sound like a lullaby, and had Pet Sounds and Louis Armstrong‘s ‘Wonderful World’ in mind when he wrote it. You can YouTube our boy studiously malleting the thing on the Jools Holland show circa 1997.
DIY: Alone+Easy Target by Foo Fighters. DIY songs are–you guessed it–songs where the musician recorded everything by themselves. I’m not the biggest Foo Fighters fan, despite my (and JC’s) drummer Randy being a major fan, but I’m impressed that Dave Grohl wrote all the songs on the self-titled debut album and played all the instruments. This one sounds more like Nirvana to me anyway, which is a good thing.
Wiseguys: Tidal Wave by Apples in Stereo. “Smart people do a lot of things well,” the beautiful Goldie once told me. Robert Schneider founded the Elephant 6 record label, a collective of great American indie bands. In addition to the Apples, whom Schneider fronted, E6 released records by the Minders, Olivia Tremor Control, and Neutral Milk Hotel, whose classic In The Aeroplane Over The Sea Schneider produced. He’s also got a Ph.D. in mathematics and is now an assistant professor specializing in number theory and combinatorics. I met Schneider after a gig many years ago and asked about a song in the set that I didn’t recognize. It was their version of the Beach Boys‘ ‘Heroes and Villains,‘ which, he said, “is the greatest song ever written…yet.”
Who’s That Girl?: Yesterday Girl by The Smithereens. When I was in college I made a compilation tape called ‘Who’s That Girl’ which was a bunch of songs that were all titled “[something] Girl.” I ended up making quite a few of those. When my music collection was computerized I continued putting the songs in a playlist. I thought about doing an ICA, but I didn’t know where to start, since I’ve got literally hundreds of songs to choose from. But this one was an easy call–a straight up power pop classic from the Jersey boys and a favorite of my (and JC’s) lead guitarist Dr. Rigberg. Third single from the band’s 1989 LP, 11.
Jane Says: Captain Easychord by Stereolab. My daughter’s musical knowledge is astonishing. She started a Spotify playlist of songs she thinks I’d like that she adds to periodically. Artists on it include Fundkadelic, Kevin Ayers, Sonic Youth, Les Baxter, Pinback, Hole, Yusef Lateef, MF Doom, Nina Simone, David Byrne, Harry Nilsson, Kings of Convenience, Trembling Blue Stars, plus hundreds of others I’d never heard of. The playlist is about 24 hours long now. How does she know about all this music? I was an early fan of Stereolab but forgot about them until Jane dropped this into the list. From the 2005 compilation LP Oscillons from the Anti-Sun.
He Said She Said: Sometimes Always by The Jesus and Mary Chain. I was wondering how many songs I could think of where male and female singers trade verses. Not duets, mind you, but a straight up back and forth. Other folks think about the Gaza genocide or the Nazification of the US–but I wonder about things like this. I came up with quite a few, actually, but I picked this one–with Mazzy Star frontwoman/LA native Hope Sandoval singing along with the Glaswegians–in honor of my friendship with the Villain.
*JC asked me why I changed my handle from JTFL (Jonny the Friendly Lawyer) to Fiktiv. Not sure why anyone would care, but the answer is simple: I’m not that friendly and I pretty much stopped practicing law. Man, I hate lawyers.
Please stay tuned for more Friday fun.
FIKTIV
JC adds……..
Delighted to have Jonny on board, and despite his protestations, he is indeed a friendly guy, as I can very much readily testify to after he and his amazing wife Goldie hosted myself and Rachel, for more than a week, at their wonderful home in Santa Monica.
And just in case anyone doesn’t understand the references to Randy and Dr Rigberg, they are members of the Dial-Ups, a rather wonderful covers band from Santa Monica who were kind enough to have me become a temporary member one night when I joined them on stage and played cowbell…while I was wearing a Raith Rovers football jersey. A genuinely unforgettable experience.
Jonny, like anyone who wants to offer up a guest posting on TVV, is free to say go anywhere he likes. Strap yourselves in for what should be an epic ride.
# 111: Young Marble Giants – ‘Final Day’ (Rough Trade Records ’80)
Dear friends,
probably I shouldn’t even begin trying to explain the merits of Welsh outfit Young Marble Giants and/or how groundbreaking their only album, ‘Colossal Youth’, was for so many listeners back in 1980. Because, you see, for some it’s an absolute masterpiece, others will tell me to bugger off, as to them it’s just minimalistic nonsense with a severe lack of melody. I mean, those people do have a point: ‘Colossal Youth’ in its entirety certainly isn’t ‘easy listening’ and whether this chap out of Nirvana, Cobain, wasn’t pushing a bit too hard when constantly praising the album as the best thing since sliced bread, remains debatable.
In Germany we even had a band who named themselves after this album, ‘Kolossale Jugend’, pioneers of the Hamburger Schule in 1989 and led by the wonderful Kristof Schreuf, who, alas, died three years ago. Listen to their song ‘Bessere Zeiten’ and you have at least one thing to thank Young Marble Giants for!
But enough of the album, because today’s song isn’t even on it! It was a single, well, one song on a four-track-EP, also from 1980, but what the band managed to come up with within the 100 seconds the tune lasts, is remarkable! The combination of guitar and electronic rumble and Alison Statton’s (who later found fame with Working Week) naïve, genuinely artless vocals make the song so damned special. All of this, plus what she was singing about: ‘the final day’, as the title suggests. Applicable somehow, as this is the ultimate post in this series on TVV, but no, the lyrics were not written for this occasion nor are they about the end of a relationship: the end of the world they are about, not more, not less!
You see, in the early and mid-80s this was rather a hot topic – and back then I would never have thought that I’d have similar fears again some 40 years later. But to my great dismay this is the case: every morning in the bathroom when I open Google News on my mobile, I expect to be confronted with one – or both – of our two genius world leaders on either side of the Pacific having done something (to quote The Primitives) really stupid, something irreversible! Therefore I lately often find myself humming along to below song whilst shaving a few minutes later:
mp3: Young Marble Giants – Final Day
Sheer class, right?
Now, when I started this nonsense (with the Akrylykz – in November ’22, remember?), I thought to myself: ‘well, let’s wait and see what people think, perhaps there will be one or two comments. If not, then you can decide whether to continue or not.’ Well, I continued, as you can tell, and this is purely because of you and your nice words. I enjoyed every single comment, regardless of their length: there were short ones, there were essays (this is to you, FFF!) – I was happy about each and every one, and this is what kept me going, by and large.
So please let me use this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ for everything you commented (I know I didn’t thank you for any comments at the time, deliberately so, I thought this would take things too far perhaps) from the bottom of my heart, friends – I mean it! In equal measure of course: thanks to our host JC for having given me the opportunity to occasionally ‘borrow’ TVV for this series: highly appreciated, mate – because I think we all know that I’d never had such a great audience over @ sexyloser, right?
And that’s it then, friends. Hope you enjoyed the majority of it, perhaps there even was someone who heard something new – and didn’t totally dislike it. As I said before: in this case I’d have fully accomplished my mission …
JC has asked me if I might contemplate to continue with something else, he says he would support it. In addition to this there are of course contractual obligations between him and me, and I think it’s fair to say that presumably you’d rather get out of the French Foreign Legion than out of this contract. So you wait and see, perhaps I’ll crop up again here in due course … I might even already have a clever idea, who knows?
Until then, take good care – and enjoy!
Peace,
Dirk
JC adds…………..
This series of 111 singles has been an absolute joy to post on the blog over the past two years. Dirk is one of my oldest ‘imaginary friends’ (as Rachel used to call the blogging fraternity) and who, through his determination a few years ago to meet up in the flesh, instigated a memorable weekend in Glasgow during which a number of imaginary friends became flesh and blood, and so I’ll always owe him a great deal.
He’s also, as this series has demonstrated, a very astute and knowledgeable purveyor of the music scene, with his tastes being as wide and diverse as anyone I know. He’s also a superbly entertaining writer, and given he does so in his second language, he puts many of us who rely solely on English very much to shame. I can’t thank him enough.
And, as ever, his timing is impeccable. The 111 singles series may have come to an end, but as it happens, a brand new occasional series is about to get underway immediately, courtesy of another long-standing friend of the blog, one that should be as enjoyable as that which has been delivered by Dirk. Hope to see you all again tomorrow.
A guest series by Fraser Pettigrew (aka our New Zealand correspondent)
#7: How Much Are They? – Jah Wobble/Holger Czukay/Jaki Liebezeit (1981)
A collaboration between two members of Can and the bass player for Public Image Ltd was bound to pique my interest in 1981, when this four-track 12” EP was released. Sometimes these kind of tie-ups fail to deliver on their promise, but on this occasion the results were highly satisfying and the EP has remained a favourite ever since.
Wobble and Czukay first met through journalist Angus Mackinnon, a friend of Wobble’s who mentioned to him during an interview that Czukay was in London at that time (late ’80 or early ’81) and arranged a meet up. Wobble had grown frustrated with PiL’s creative inertia. He had released his first solo album, The Legend Lives On… Jah Wobble in “Betrayal”, in May 1980, but his unauthorised use of recordings from the Metal Box sessions on that album ultimately led to his ejection from PiL in late 1980.
Funnily enough, it was John Lydon who was the better-known Can fan, praising them and playing the full 18 minutes of ‘Halleluwah’ during his appearance on Tommy Vance’s Capital Radio show in July 1977 at the height of the Sex Pistols’ infamy. Wobble also liked Can but as he explained, “I liked the groove stuff, I wasn’t mad on everything, but it was the stuff where Jaki got his thing going on those earlier albums that I liked.”
Wobble jumped at the chance to meet the Can bassist. Czukay hinted in a later interview that Lydon may also have been invited but passed, so it was Wobble alone who arrived at Mackinnon’s flat wielding a six-pack of beer. Given his reputation for alcohol abuse in those days, this didn’t bode well, especially since Czukay was in the surely tiny minority of German people who don’t like beer. In the end, however, only one can was consumed as the musical discussion took up all their attention.
The pair first worked together in a London studio where the track How Much Are They? was recorded. It’s the funkiest of the four tracks, and the only one that might induce you to try some restrained dance moves. Wobble then travelled to Can’s Inner Space studio near Cologne where the other three pieces were created. Wobble is also credited with the bass part on the final track of Czukay’s 1981 solo album On The Way To The Peak Of Normal, although whether this was before or after the EP recordings I can’t tell.
Despite Wobble’s admiration for Jaki Liebezeit’s phenomenal extended grooves on the early Can albums, the rhythms on this EP are driven much more by the Englishman’s characteristic reggae-influenced basslines. Jaki’s drumming is of course impeccable, but there is no reprise of ‘Mother Sky’ or ‘Halleluwah’ here. Czukay’s contribution, apart from his woozy French horn, is most prominent in the artful assemblage of the disparate parts into satisfying wholes. Long recognised as a master of pre-digital cut-and-paste tape editing, Czukay wields the scissors and Sellotape here with imperceptible precision and compositional skill. His guitar work also suggests he learnt how to play from Can’s Michael Karoli, though at times he also channels Keith Levene’s fractured and discordant PiL sound.
No one would ever mistake Jah Wobble for a gifted singer, something the critics of his “Betrayal” album homed in on. Punk and the new wave had long since abolished the idea that this mattered, however, and Wobble the singer delivers vocals for each track that sound like a drunk man making it up as he goes along, which is quite possibly an accurate summation of what happened. Or more likely, they showcase the spontaneity and willingness to give it a crack that were apparently shared points of musical approach with Holger Czukay.
‘Twilight World’ may be the title of just one of the four tracks, but it could almost serve as a description of the EP’s prevailing atmosphere. The combination of Wobble’s dubby basslines, wandering vocals, opaque lyrics and the fragmentary sounds flashing across the soundscape make for a surreal and psychedelic experience, like the kind of disorienting dream sequences in movies where our hero is waking up in a strange room after being captured and drugged by the baddies. Just my kind of scene, really.
The following year (1982) the four tracks were augmented by another two longer pieces, one called ‘Full Circle R.P.S. (No.7)’ and the other ‘Mystery R.P.S. (No. 8)’ and released as Czukay’s fourth solo album Full Circle. The two longer pieces are definitely from the same stable as the EP tracks, but feature more found sounds and radio samples typical of Czukay’s earlier album Movies (R.P.S. stands for ‘radio pictures series’). Both tracks could be described as less focused, and Full Circle has a jauntier mood that sets it a little apart.
Overall, I like to think that if you came across this music without knowing who or what it was, then you would have to describe it as sounding like a cross between Can and Metal Box, which probably accounts for its enduring appeal. Metal Box’s debt to Can did not go unnoticed at the time, even by callow youths like me, whose exposure to the German band in 1979 was limited to their first and last albums.
I didn’t notice that Wobble and Czukay collaborated again in 1983 with The Edge on a five-track EP called Snake Charmer, but having heard it recently I can tell you it’s nothing like this. It’s a very mixed bag, and with Francois Kevorkian twiddling knobs on a few of the tracks it has a much more notable dance stance. Czukay’s presence is negligible.
While I’ve enjoyed much of Czukay’s solo work I can’t say the same for Wobble’s. I heard some Invaders of the Heart and didn’t go for it, and then he disappeared from view. Recently I came across his Metal Box Rebuilt in Dub album and made the mistake of listening to it. As website The Vinyl District put it, this abomination “isn’t a reimagining of Metal Box, it’s a betrayal of the very spirit of Metal Box, and why anyone would listen to this perverse act of urban gentrification more than once is beyond me.”He is too generous. Even if you had never heard Metal Box it is still utter shit, and if you have, well it’s the musical equivalent of someone exhuming and desecrating the body of one of your loved ones. Metal Box has many fine legacies, amongst which is this excellent EP that Wobble made with Czukay and Liebezeit in its immediate aftermath. He should have left it at that.
A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.
Session #9 was broadcast on this day, 7 October 1985, having been recorded on 29 September 1985.
As if to compensate for the previous year’s dry spell, The Fall returned to Maida Vale just four months after their last session. The best sessions were on the verge of something big; this one. on the eve of the release of ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ is another classic, with Smith’s introduction suggesting “Lloyd Cole’s brain and face is made out of cow-pat – we all know that and herewith is an instrumental track”. ‘L.A.’ , Brix’s signature tune, if you will, is served clean and crisp. The Fall’s occasional visits to old material in sessions is also a joy. ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’, just two years old, felt like a rare trawl into the archive. After a vibrant ‘What You Need’, we have that special moment that only the Peel sessions could offer – work in progress. Here we have a try-out of the following year’s ‘DKTR Faustus’, then only catalogued as ‘Faust Banana’. One of Mark and Brix’s greatest joint moments, here it is much better than the muddy rendition on ‘Bend Sinister.’
DARYL EASLEA, 2005
mp3: The Fall – L.A. (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – The Man Whose Head Expanded (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – What You Need (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Faust Banana (Peel Session)
Produced by Dale Griffin, engineered by Mike Engles
Mark E Smith – vocals; Brix Smith – guitar, vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Simon Rogers – guitar, keyboards; Karl Burns – drums;
“Paul Simpson is one of the great underappreciated and underrated figures from the late 70s post punk scene in Liverpool. I highly recommend his book Revolutionary Spirit to anyone curious about that unique and fertile time frame in music. It is a perfect companion read to Julian Cope’s Head On.”
The words of drskridlow last month when responding to Dirk‘s posting of the Wild Swans 45 from which the book takes its name. And while I agree that it is a perfect companion to the earlier autobiography by Julian Cope, it is a book that more than stands on its own merits. Indeed, I’d be happy enough to say that is one of the best of any rock autobiographies……but it’s a story that I was a bit wary of reviewing, as I’ll explain a bit later on.
In many ways and across many of its pages, Revolutionary Spirit is a love letter to Liverpool, and more specifically, to the Liverpool of the 1980s. And yet the book begins, rather unexpectedly, in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, in September 2011 where Paul Simpson and one of the bands he played in, The Wild Swans, are feted as superstars. The band is on a nine-day trip and is due to appear on national television and play two gigs that, with the hoped for/anticipated accompanying merch sales, will finally give this impoverished musician a small degree of financial security. The only problem is that their arrival coincided with the city and country being hit by a massive cyclone, which throws everything into a state of chaos and uncertainty. It sets the scene perfectly for all that follows, as Paul takes us on an epic ride from his 60s’ childhood to the completion of the book in 2022.
There is a great deal of self-deprecating humour, much of it drawn from the fact that Paul in later years came to acknowledge just how ridiculous it was that he so often self-sabotaged his career:-
“I’d been living in a bubble for so long that I hadn’t realised that I had acquired a reputation. In 1979, I’d left the band most likely, The Teardrop Explodes, to work in a city-centre tearoom. In 1984, I’d walked out of Care, my collaboration with Ian Broudie, after a hit single. And as far as the world was concerned, The Wild Swans had had their moment and blown it. Twice. What I had viewed as perfectionism in myself was interpreted by the industry as a self-destructive streak.”
But there is also a huge amount of poignancy and pathos, which reveals itself early on when Paul writes about his family, and in particularly his fraught relationship with his father, which is more than compensated for through the love and encouragement offered by his mother. By his late teenage years, and having been friends from a very early age with Les Pattinson, he begins to meet those with whom he would later play such a significant role in the musical renaissance of his home city. Like so many other people, he begins to properly form emotionally and intellectually once he has left school and, in his case, gone to a Further Education college to ‘study’ advertising and exhibition design, and where he falls in love for the first, but not the last time, all the while becoming something of a music and clothes obsessive. All of this across what really is a rivetting 88 pages of prose taking us up to December 1976 and his first visit to Eric’s in Matthew Street, the venue making a name for itself as the place in the city for those with an interest in the emerging punk rock scene.
And from there the book rolls along at an incredible pace, with a cast of dozens, many of whom have been mentioned frequently and lovingly on this blog over the past 19 years. What is most striking is just how many people become close friends with Paul, which is a fair indication of how affable, amenable and approachable a person he genuinely comes across as. Or maybe the drugs that he and everyone indulged in had a lot to do with it…..
His recollections of his response to the news that his ex-flatmate Pete de Frietas had died in a motorcycle accident will resonate with anyone who has lost a dear friend unexpectedly and at a tragically young age. His tales of the way that Courtney Love caused absolute havoc when she arrived unannounced and unexpectedly in Liverpool will resonate with anyone who has been in the orbit of a disruptive force whose levels of self-awareness are next to non-existent. And maybe that’s what lies at the heart of why I really fell for the charms of this book – it is very much the tale of a man and his place in a musical scene of a city at a particular point in time, but there is much in his life that we can all relate to, no matter how seemingly mundane, dull or ordinary our own existence may appear on the surface.
Paul Simpson should have been a superstar in so many other places other than the Philippines. His book offers up explanations as to why it never came to pass, and at no point in time does he ask readers to feel sorry for him. This is a frank, honest and above else, hugely engaging autobiography.
mp3 : The Wild Swans – God Forbid
mp3 : Care – Flaming Sword
From an appearance by Care on the BBC’s Oxford Road Show, which was broadcast direct from Manchester between 1981-1985. I’ve a copy of this on VHS tape somewhere, and a huge thanks to parkhill62 for taking the time to transfer his copy across to youtube.
Oh, and the reason I was wary or indeed reluctant to review the book stems from the fact that Adam, from Bagging Area, did so in September 2024, and I can only dream of matching his way with words. Adam called Revolutionary Spirit ‘a delight…..that he can’t recommend highly enough.’. I’m more than happy to echo those sentiments.
WITH THANKS TO MARK LEE, WHOSE PHOTO ABOVE I’VE ‘BORROWED’ FROM FACEBOOK
The newly arrived Sunday series has taken its name from the tour currently being undertaken by Edwyn Collins, his likely last lap before a well-deserved retirement.
The tour arrived in Glasgow one week yesterday, Saturday 28 September. I had a ticket, but for reasons that I won’t bore you with, I didn’t go along, and thus missed out on the partial reunion of Orange Juice Mk1, as James Kirk and Steven Daly played with the band on the final two songs of the encore. The only reason David McClymont couldn’t make it is all down to him now living and working in Australia.
While it was a sore one to take, I was more than consoled by the fact that two days later, Monday 30 September, I’d be seeing Edwyn and his band at Buxton Opera House, having secured just about the best seats possible (three rows from the front and in the centre), and there was the bonus of Rachel coming along with me as we made it an overnight stay in the Derbyshire market town. It also ticked off another from the bucket list, as the Opera House had long been on the list of places I’d wanted to see a gig.
This is a bonus post, so I won’t make it too lengthy. Buxton itself was a lovely place to visit, particularly the gardens and pavilions area on a pleasantly sunny autumnal afternoon. There should have been plenty of options for food and drink, but it seems to be a town where many of the restaurants are closed on Mondays, and just as we were beginning to panic as we hadn’t booked anywhere in advance, the good folk at Lubens, a small and independently owned bar not far from the Opera House came to the rescue with the offer of the last free table they had at 5pm. The establishment is named after its 30-something owners – Lucy and Ben – and proved to be the perfect way to get the evening underway. If any member of the TVV community ever happens to be in Buxton, you’re guaranteed great food, great drink and a ridiculously warm welcome at Lubens.
The 900-capacity Opera House itself more than lived up to expectations. Built in 1903, it may have undergone a number of refurbishments since 1979 but it retains all of its original class and charm – I think the word ‘delightful’ was invented just to describe the exterior and interior of the building.
The gig is one that will stay with me for a very long time. In many ways, it was simply a continuation of the sort of shows Edwyn has been putting on sporadically since returning from the debilitating stroke of 2005, with four of the five band members having both played and recorded with him for many years. The difference this time, for me certainly, was knowing this was going to be the last time I get to see the great man on stage, allied to the fact that it proved to be a setlist of dreams.
Being up so close to offered us a view of just how hard Edwyn has to work each night he takes to the stage. It remains something of a miracle that he is able to sing his songs fairly fluently when his speech is severely restricted. It has always been noticeable how occasionally, but briefly, he gets lost on stage, struggling perhaps with memory, and he gets flustered with his inability to articulate himself in the way he wants to. There will never be a perfect Edwyn Collins show nowadays – he admits there are notes he can longer reach and there are times when he will, in his own words, fuck up the lyrics, but the sheer bravery and determination on display will always more than compensate. I can’t have been the only one with tears in my eyes as he ended the show, as he often does, by standing up to lean on his cane during the final two numbers, only to find myself welling up again when he used his one working hand to pick up and play the harmonica during a song in the encore.
Twenty-two songs all told, of which twelve dated back to the Orange Juice era. Three of the four Postcard singles were aired. He also leaned heavily on his most successful solo album, Gorgeous George, with five of its tracks being performed. There was a duet with his son Will – and again being so close to the stage meant we could see just how much love and affection was on dad’s face as he watched his son give everything to his performance. It was a perfectly paced and perfectly judged set, one which reminded everyone just how many great songs Edwyn has written over the years.
But don’t just take my word for it.
Rachel has never really been a big fan of Orange Juice or the solo career, but she came along to the show knowing how much it was going to mean to me, as well as liking the idea of visiting Buxton as she had read it was a lovely town and the train journey went through nice scenery. She grabbed my hand as we left the Opera House and said, ‘that was very special.’
It sure was.
mp3: Edwyn Collins – Make Me Feel Again
JC
Quick and belated PS. Khayem over at Dubhed has written up a more detailed review of Edwyn’s show in Bath that took place the night after Buxton. As you’d expect, it’s an excellent read. Click here.
#2: Blue Boy/Lovesick : Orange Juice (Postcard 80-2, 1980)
Having been embittered a bit by the experience in the Strathaven studio with the debut, the band, in April 1980, headed east to Pencaitland, a village some 16 miles south-east of Edinburgh and home to Castlesound studios. This time, Alex Fergusson, who had been part of various bands from the mid-70s onwards, including punk act Alternative TV, was in the producer’s chair. The session delivered two songs for a double A sided effort, including what many consider to be Orange Juice‘s most enduring song:-
mp3 : Orange Juice – Blue Boy
Released in September 1980, on the same day as Josef K‘s Radio Drill Time, which was just as well as the two singles shared doubled up picture sleeves. These were black and white, with the plan being to have them hand-coloured individually, using pencils. The members of Josef K were meticulous in their approach, carefully adding relevant colours to a pair of shoes and a pot plant.
Orange Juice did things a bit differently. The band, and a few of their friends held a ‘colouring-in party’ at 185 West Princes Street in Glasgow, home of Alan Horne and the de facto HQ of Postcard Records at which, having discovered that doing things carefully and properly would take an incredibly long time, they all just scribbled lines, shapes and the occasional words randomly, meaning that no two sleeves were the same. This Discogs page has a quite a few of the examples…just click the ‘More Images’ link.
mp3: Orange Juice – Lovesick
The flip side is also a bit of a belter.
In 1993, Postcard Records would be temporarily reactivated, and Blue Boy/Love sick was released as a CD single, along with a limited edition on 7″ vinyl (catalogue number DUBH 934), complete with a fully coloured sleeve:-
The CD would come with two additional and previously unreleased versions of Poor Old Soul, a single which will actually feature later on in this series:-
mp3: Orange Juice – Poor Old Soul (French Language Version)
mp3: Orange Juice – Poor Old Soul (instrumental version)
The worldwide lockdown in the wake of the outbreak of the COVID pandemic meant musicians had to be a lot more innovative in how they went about their business and tried to make a living.
Glasgow-based singer/songwriter Louise Quinn and producer/musician Bal Cooke, with the support of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund to sustain creativity during lockdown, teamed up remotely with producer/ DJ Scott Fraser (London), producer/ DJ Kid Loco (Paris) and film/art director Tim Saccenti (New York) to form Gates of Light for the release of an eponymous album of what was described as a psychedelic, dream-pop glitch landscape of future folk, and which was released on Shimmy Records, a New York label owned by Mark Kramer, a veteran of the music scene.
The experience proved to be an enjoyable one, and the idea behind Gates of Light continued into the post-pandemic age, with three digitally released EPs that were rooted in different cities – Glasgow, Paris and London – which were then collated and released as Gates of Light II by Last Night from Glasgow in February 2025.
# 110: Yazoo – ‘Nobody’s Diary’ (Mute Records ’83)
Dear friends,
synth-pop is a dangerous thing, I always thought. You see, your approval for it falls and stands with your age, more specifically: when you were 14, 15, 16, developing a serious interest for music – was it 1983 then or was it 1993? The point I’m trying to make is: in 1983, 1984, at least here in Germany, there was nothing else but synth-pop by and large, you were flooded with it everywhere: radio, TV, clubs (well, ‘clubs’ in a sense: we are talking rural village gatherings here, you see – those venues you could get into when you were an adolescent, a club bouncer in town would just laugh at you and send you away).
In addition to this the media was still desperately trying to reanimate the dead horse that was called „New (German) Wave“ over here, basically this was awful synth-pop, albeit sung in German. There were positive exceptions, but very limited ones, believe me, the vast majority was total crap.
So, the point I’m trying to make is: you were battered with new romantic synth-pop all day long, sung in English and sung in German – there was no escape! Please get me right: the new bands were not bad per se, 99% of their synth stuff was much more enjoyable than the 12-minute-guitar-solo-prog-rock-stuff we constantly had to listen to in the aforementioned “youth clubs“ before. Why? Well, because the DJs there were always either old hippies or hard rock fanatics, always much older than you … and you would not argue with them when you were 14, that’s why! But eventually they could not close their eyes any longer, the demand got too big, or the requests too many, I suppose – soon synth pop had found its way into those youth clubs as well.
Now, coming to the essence of all of this: you might already have gathered it, but of course only the mainstream stuff got played there, just like on the radio – Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Heaven 17, Human League, Icehouse, Tears For Fears, you know the lot!
But there were quite some bands which flew below the radar, undeservedly so, because what they offered was superb: clever, thoughtful, special. Three totally underrated bands stood out here, one and two were – in my humble opinion – Blancmange and Soft Cell and the third was Yazoo. We can have endless discussions about which single to go for by Yazoo, ”Only You“, „Don’t Go“, „Situation“, „The Other Side Of Love“ – or my absolute favourite, this:
mp3: Yazoo – Nobody’s Diary
The tabloids back then were more uncertain than me, apparently:
Smash Hits: “Strong on emotion and weak on melody but the combination of ringing synths and bluesy singing is still a winner.”
Number One: “It sounds like all the rest, and yet, it doesn’t! Somehow they keep coming up with enough hit variations on their theme. Can’t fail.”
Melody Maker: “quite like[s]” the song, but would “like to hear a different kind of backing track” for Moyet’s “wonderful” vocals as Yazoo’s “synthesized sound doesn’t have very much depth”. Still it would be a big hit and that Moyet “sounds very different on this, a bit restrained, a bit deeper”.
Contrary to the music papers, there is nothing at all which I miss from or would add to this single – it’s just perfect the way it is!
What the hell, indeed? My first ICA was on PWEI in January 2020. That took me two years to write. This second one has taken nearly six years. I’m not sure I can really explain why. But here we are with an ICA that moves more firmly into dance territory with the fantastic Orbital. All tracks are in the Spotify playlist below and there are a few videos to enjoy as well.
Orbital are brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll from Kent. Legendarily, the band’s name is taken from Greater London’s orbital motorway, the M25. The M25 was central to the early rave scene of the 80s, as ravers ended up playing a cat and mouse game with the police waiting at service stations for news on where the next rave was located.
Live is where they’ve really shone, with their semi-improvised sets that twist and stretch originals into new thrilling shapes. They’ve played one of the iconic Glastonbury sets in 1994 and also appeared at the Royal Albert Hall (twice).
They’ve had a few compilations over the years, including Work 1989-2002 (2002), 2Twenty (2009) and A Beginners Guide (2024). All of these are decent resumes of their best moments, so this ICA takes a slightly less travelled path.
Side A
This side is a non-chronological trawl through a few of their more danceable moments.
Chime Extended (1989)
This is featured on all their compilations, but there really wasn’t any other place to start. Chime from 1989 is their breakthrough track. This was recorded under the stairs on their father’s 4 track tape deck, which they released on DJ Jazzy M‘s Oh Zone Records in December 1989. It was re-released on FFRR Records in 1990. The track reached number 17 in the UK charts, and they appeared on Top of the Pops wearing anti-Poll Tax T-shirts and with their equipment visibly not plugged in.
The heart of the track is the stabby piano chord allied to a chunky bass and of the time percussion. I’ve included the full 12 minute version to give you the full ‘lost at the rave’ experience. It’s a classic close to my heart but unsurprisingly for something that’s 35 years old it does sound a bit dated.
Impact USA (The Earth Is Burning) (1993)
Taken from their second album, known as the Brown album, this is an in your face climate change anthem. Orbital have always been awkwardly principled and this track pushes the environmental concerns to the fore.
The track offers their usual tumble of break beats along with almost symphonic brass synths. The samples that pepper the track talk about “A cry for survival”. Live this builds and builds and is immense.
Octane (2003)
Jumping forward to 2003, here’s Orbital showing their ability to do a soundtrack for an indie film Octane. This was done just before they split up in 2004. It’s a largely beatless track but employs a spooky keyboard and a dark bass line to offer that horror vibe.
As for the film, Octane (released as Pulse in the United States) is a 2003 horror film directed by Marcus Adams and starring Madeleine Stowe, Mischa Barton, and Norman Reedus. The film follows a divorced mother and her teenage daughter on a late-night road trip, and the mother’s battle to find her daughter after she gets caught up with a bizarre cult of young criminals at a truck stop.
Where Is It Going? (feat. Stephen Hawking) (2012)
Orbital reformed at the end of 2008 and ended up creating this absolute classic using a track from the album Wonky. One of my all-time favourite tracks this manage to be magisterial in its opening, awe-inspiring in its use of Stephen Hawking’s vocal and utterly danceable.
Orbital appeared at the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, performing “Where Is It Going?” live with Stephen Hawking delivering a speech about the Large Hadron Collider. “Transform our Perception of the Universe.”
Tiny Foldable Cities (2017)
Orbital split up again in 2014 and returned in 2017. Tiny Foldable Cities was their first release in this new period, ahead of their Monsters Exist album (2018).
The track has a woozy fairground organ as its centrepiece. This is all very English and is happy to remain strange even when the beats and synths arrive.
Funny Break (One Is Enough) Full Version (2001)
Taken from the album The Altogether this shows how adept Orbital are at marrying their music to ethereal vocals. The vocals are from Naomi Bedford of Jonah Hex whilst the lyrics are by Naomi together with fellow band member Andrew Bramley.
Unusually for Orbital this track includes trumpet and sax from Michael Smith and Dominic Glover. They offer additional support to the vocal, allowing it to really soar within the track.
Taken from their Radicchio EP this features a line from Scott Walker’s Next. It’s a doomy bass heavy track that offers only pleasures in the next world, not this. It’s a largely instrumental track that pounds along from start to finish.
Side B
This side is another non-chronological trawl but with a more chilled come down feel.
Halcyon + On + On (1993)
Originally released on the Radicchio EP, this version is another that’s taken from the Brown album. But also another stone classic. The repeating refrain, the thrummed synth and the use of the Opus III sample from Kirsty Hawkshaw all combine into a total anthem.
The inspiration for the track is Phil and Paul Hartnoll’s mother, who was addicted to the tranquilliser Halcion (Triazolam) for many years. As Phil explained “my dad was working really hard and was rarely at home while our mum was freaking out on Halcyon (a then-popular prescription tranquiliser)… Don’t get me wrong, mum was always very loving and caring. But they prescribed her this drug and she just kept on doubling the dose.”
Live, Orbital were famous for adding Belinda Carlisle (Heaven Is A Place on Earth) and Bon Jovi (You Give Love A Bad Name) half way through. This was a cause of many mass singalongs. In recent years they’ve sadly dropped Belinda and Bon Jovi, but it’s still a wonderful track.
Kein Trink Wasser (1994)
Taken from the album Snivilisation and meaning non-drinking water, this is another of those built around a set of arpeggiated piano chords. It bursts with exuberance that eventually turns into some of Orbital’s favoured break beats at the half way mark. There’s something quite Mozart about the piano.
The Box – Part 2 (1996)
Imaginary spy theme for an imaginary compilation. The Box is taken from the In Sides album. The version released on In Sides is in two parts, a slow downbeat Part 1 and a faster upbeat Part 2 of the same song. The track has a wonderful darkness to it.
Paul Hartnoll told the NME that the song was based on a recurring dream he had about the discovery of a mysterious wooden box in the Welsh countryside, but that he would always wake up just at the point he was opening the box, so he never found out what was inside it.
One Perfect Sunrise (2004)
A classic chillout track taken from the Blue Album. This has ethereal vocals from Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance. They dominate the track and help it manage the assertive breakbeats.
The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (1996)
The final track on this ICA is another low-key one. It’s also a movingly poignant one as it was dedicated to the memory of photographer Sally Harding, who died in 1995. The track was recorded using electricity from a Greenpeace solar power generator.
It opens with a heartbeat sound focusing in on our life essence. It’s then followed by one of Orbital’s most classic and heartfelt keyboard riffs that recurs throughout the track. The beats are less prominent than many Orbital would do to allow the melodies to hold the centre stage.
Bonus 12”
Belfast – David Holmes Remix
Perhaps the track that deserves to be Orbital’s best known. Originally released in 1991 the track uses a sample of soprano Emily Van Evera performing “O Euchari” (a vocal composition by Hildegard von Bingen) from the Gothic Voices album A Feather on the Breath of God. It’s a spiralling sprawling mix of the classical vocal and dreamy synths and beats. This version is a David Holmes remix from 2024.
As for its genesis. Paul Hartnoll said “I decided to make an ambient song,”He explained, “It was a rainy melancholy mid-week kind of afternoon. I got the chords first and just went from there.”
Then Orbital went to Belfast to play at David Holmes’ Sugarsweet club. “So, after the gig, in David’s Mum’s house’s spare bedroom, David asked if we had any demos. Two weeks later, David rings up and tells me that him and his friends all love the second track on the tape. We called it Belfast after the brilliant time we had there. The track was named after, and dedicated to David and all his friends.”
EMF – It’s You (13½% Extra mix) (1992)
To end, a curiosity but one I love. Orbital have done relatively few remixes (they did do a not very good one for Madonna BITD).
They did this one for EMF in 1992. No idea why. It takes fuzzed guitars and marries them to a string drenched start and a one note piano line to die for. There’s a wonderful naivety that comes through.
As promised…….the entire ICA on Spotify. Click here.
Total and very happy coincidence this dropped into the Inbox just as I was finalising stuff for the blog’s 19th birthday.
For those of you who perhaps don’t know the back story, Acid Ted has been the blog’s longest-serving guest contributor – his first guest posting would have been in 2007– but so many of his pieces were lost when Google removed the old blog. AcidTed was also the first non-Glasgow blogger I ever met face-to-face, as far back as October 2009. And above all else, he was the person who stepped in back in 2010 and 2011 when a couple of deaths, firstly to my brother and then my best friend, meant I had to take a couple of extended breaks.
He, along with Rachel (Mrs Vinyl Villain) and Comrade Colin (ex-blogger from Glasgow), are the folk who I’ll always be most indebted to for getting things going and established, but there are also many dozens of others who have been incredibly supportive and whose help has been invaluable over the years.
Once again….and I’ll never get tired of saying this……..THANK YOU!
Port Sulphur (feat Vic Godard) – Fast Girls and Factory Cars
Buzzcocks – Love You More
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Green Shirt
Violent Femmes – Gone Daddy Gone
Heavenly – Modestic
Kim Deal – Are You Mine?
Working Men’s Club – Widow
Follytechnic Music Library – Fined
Happy Mondays – W.F.L (Vince Clarke mix)
McAlmont & Butler – Falling
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday (‘Searching For The Now’ version)
Sonic Youth – Kool Thing
The Futureheads – Decent Days and Nights (radio mix)
Urusei Yatsura – Super-Fi
The Motorcycle Boy – Big Rock Candy Mountain (velocity dance mix)
The Wedding Present – Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm
Truth be told, I forgot I’d already pulled together a monthly mix for October, and I couldn’t be arsed putting this on the shelf for another 31 days. You don’t need to listen, arms are never twisted round these parts.
The Wedding Present – Corduroy (single version)
Half Man Half Biscuit – Jack’s Been To The National
The Spook School – Gone Home
The Monochrome Set – He’s Frank (Slight Return)
Beck – Devil’s Haircut
Dream Wife – Hey! Heartbreaker
Luke Haines & The Auteurs – Showgirl (orchestral version)
Butcher Boy – Profit In Your Poetry
The Luxembourg Signal – Take It Back
The Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
New Order – True Faith
Neutral Milk Hotel – King Of Carrot Flowers (Part 1)
The Delmonas – Comin’ Home Baby
Magazine – I Love You You Big Dummy (Peel Session)
Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires – Might Not, Might Not Have
Scritti Politti – Lions After Slumber
The Raveonettes – Let’s Rave On
19 years in the business. Let’s Rave On indeed. There’s more a wee bit later on today….
30 September 2006 was the date of the very first posting on The Vinyl Villain. A site hosted by blogger until unceremoniously being taken down on 24 July 2013. My own fault I suppose for not paying attention to the threatening emails from technocrats unhappy about what they termed as abuse of copyrights.
A few hours later, and WordPress became the home of The (New) Vinyl Villain. WordPress has proven to be a much more sociable and friendly host, albeit there have been a couple of bumps in the road over the past twelve years in terms of some technical changes that have affected how the site is laid out.
I never imagined, when I started out, that I’d still be doing this all these years later. It really is all down to the support offered by everyone who is part of the TVV community, and by that I mean those who frequent this place, be that occasionally or regularly. I never take anything for granted, least of all those of you who leave comments and/or go that little bit further with guest contributions.
The stats tell me that there were approx 2.300 posts on the old blog (I can’t be totally precise) and that today’s offering should be #4,632 using WordPress. Almost 7,000 posts all told, albeit some of them, maybe a couple of hundred or so, have been reposts.
There’s a stats thing that comes with the package I use for the blog. It tells me that the average length of a post going back to 2013 is 626 words. Which means that the approx total number of words going back to 30 September 2009 is….drum roll…………..4.381 million.
In comparison, the widely-accepted longest novel of them all, In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, (1913-1927), extends to 1.3 million words over its seven volumes.
All I can say is thank you for allowing this self-indulgent little corner of t’internet to prosper in the way it has. And happy birthday to all of us.
Take it away, Lloyd.
mp3: Lloyd Cole – Old Enough To Know Better
The birthday celebrations will continue into tomorrow and indeed the day after, with a guest contribution from someone who was one of the first to get right behind the blog and who has, over the years, been an inspiration and life-saver.
In which I hope to have kept to my promise that this one will feature all sorts of great ‘non-hit’ singles. The well-thumbed big red book is again being flicked through.
mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria
Anyone reading this post and hearing Sensoria for the very first time in their life might have a hard time in believing it’s a song that’s 41 years old. One that takes me back to the Strathclyde Uni Students Union downstairs disco on Friday and Saturday nights, held in the space that was normally where we devoured our daily helpings of pie, beans and chips. As I’ve said before, this is one for flailing around the dance floor with your raincoat flapping behind you like Batman’s cape as he chases the bad guys.
mp3: The Daintees – Trouble Town
The second single from a newish-band based in the north-east of England who had been snapped up by Newcastle-based label Kitchenware Records, largely on the basis of the talents of their singer/songwriter frontman. It would take until mid-86 before the band, now called Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, to enjoy a small amount of commercial success via their albums and dynamic live shows.
mp3: Go-Betweens – Bachelor Kisses
The second and final single to be lifted from the album, Spring Hill Fair. After Part Company had failed to wow the record-buying public, Sire Records went for a Grant McLennan composed number this time around. The record label actually went a bit further. Believing that they had a radio-friendly number on their hands, they gave the album version to producers Colin Fairley and Robert Andrews, who earlier in the year had worked with The Bluebells, and asked them to make it just that little bit more commercial. Robert Forster would later comment “we got new producers, more days on the bass drum, and a version of the song of no great variance to the original take.”
Money was also spent on a promo video:-
The female backing vocal is courtesy of Ana da Silva, the lead singer of post-punkers The Raincoats, and a band much loved by Kurt Cobain. The failure of the single led to Sire Records dropping the band a few weeks later.
mp3: Grab Grab The Haddock – I’m Used Now
The Marine Girls, a trio from the south of England featuring Tracey Thorn, Alice Fox and Jane Fox, had made a small splash in the indie-pop world in the early 80s, eventually signing to Cherry Red Records and releasing the well-received album Lazy Ways in early 1983. By this time, Tracey had relocated to Hull University where she would meet Ben Watt and form Everything But The Girl; meanwhile, Jane had recorded material with her boyfriend, the Manchester-born poet Edward Barton, with one of the songs, It’s A Fine Day later being re-recorded as an electronic dance track by Opus III in 1992 and proving to be a massive hit. After the Jane and Barton mini-album in late 1983 had sunk without trace, the Fox sisters formed what proved to be a short-lived band called Grab Grab The Haddock who would release a 12″ single and an EP on Cherry Red in 1984/85. I’m Used Now was the debut single.
mp3: Paul Haig – The Only Truth
The production is credited to B-Music/Dojo, otherwise better known as Bernard Sumner and Donald Johnson. How many of you wanted to shout out ‘Confusion’just before Paul’s vocals kicked in?
One word to describe this one? Tune.
mp3: The Higsons – Music To Watch Girls By
A band formed by students at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, The Higsons had been around since 1981, and in due course would sign for 2 Tone and release a couple of non-hit singles for the label in 1982/83. By 1984, they were on the London-based indie-label Upright Records, who would release the band’s sole LP from which this cover version of the easy-listening 1967 hit single by The Bob Crewe Generation was the lead single. The band broke up the following year, and lead singer Charlie Higson would find fame and fortune as a comedy actor/writer in The Fast Show, while trumpeter/saxophonist/guitarist Terry Edwards would forge a very successful musical career which continues to this day.
mp3: The June Brides – Every Conversation
The band’s second single on the newly established Pink Records somehow managed to surpass the magnificence of debut In The Rain from a couple of months earlier. A band that would get lumped in with the C87 ‘movement’ despite all their music, in their first incarnation, all being from June 84-May 86.
mp3: The Loft – Why Does The Rain
The Loft, as with The June Brides, get lumped in with the C87 ‘movement’ when in fact they had already broken up in late 1985. This was the debut single, and it’s an absolute belter. The next 45, Up The Hill And Down The Slope, was even better, but singer/songwriter Pete Astor then called it a day and went on to form The Weather Prophets, a band who would release their own take on Why Does The Rain on their debut album, Mayflower, in April 1987.
mp3: Red Guitars – Marimba Jive
The third and final single of the year from Red Guitars, whose profile was fairly high after a load of well-received live shows opening for The Smiths UK tour in early 1984. Sadly, and undeservedly, the singles failed to connect with the record-buying public, and likewise with debut album Slow To Fade which was released just before the end of the year.
mp3: Marc Riley & The Creepers – Shadow Figure
The fifth single to be recorded by the band set up by Marc Riley after he ‘took his leave’ of The Fall in January 1983, but their first following the release of debut album Gross Out back in June 1984. An unusual number in which the kitchen sink seems to have been thrown at the tune during the production process….almost chamber pop in execution.
mp3: Shriekback – Mercy Dash
The second flop single in three months. This one is dedicated to Post Punk Monk, one of the finest on-line writers out there, and a huge fan of Shriekback.
mp3: Violent Femmes – It’s Gonna Rain
The second and final single to be lifted from the album Hallowed Ground. I remember at the time being a bit underwhelmed by the album, but then again, it had been an impossible task to follow the eponymous debut that had landed in the UK in late 1983. I’ve grown to appreciate things just a little bit more as the years have passed, but it remains hard to fully embrace an album of folk/country tunes with more than a hint of Christianity sprinkled in. It’s Gonna Rain is actually an interpretation of the Noah’s Ark story, and in places it’s not too far removed from the sort of music Jonathan Richman does so very very well.
mp3: The Mighty Wah! – Weekends
The second and final single to be lifted from the album, A Word To The Wise Guy. And while Come Back had gone Top 20 earlier in the year, the radio stations ignored the follow-up!
Told you this month was a good ‘un.
late addendum/correction : huge thanks to those who corrected me on Jane and Barton (see the comments section). Much appreciated.
#1: Falling and Laughing : Orange Juice (Postcard 80-1, 1980)
Earlier this week, Edwyn Collins embarked on The Testimonial Tour, a last lap of live shows around the UK before what can only be assumed is a well-deserved retirement. The timing, last Sunday, of the end of The Robster‘s epic series on Super Furry Animals I felt offered the perfect opportunity to now turn this particular day of the week into a real nostalgia-fest by looking back at all the singles Edwyn has released over the years encompassing Orange Juice, the solo career and the occasional collaboration along the way.
I make no apologies in advance if much of the series proves to be retreads of material used on the blog before, which can’t some as a surprise to you given how often he has featured over the years. But it will offer the opportunity to eventually have everything in one place under a new entry within the index system.
His debut appearance on vinyl launched a label as well as a career now spanning 45 years and counting.
mp3 : Orange Juice – Falling and Laughing
Recorded in December 1979 in a tiny studio in the town of Strathaven, some 25 miles south of Glasgow. The studio owner, John McLarty, despite having little experience in the sort of pop music the band intended to lay down, insisted on handling the production duties. As a sop, he did allow Malcolm Ross, a friend of the band who had already been involved in making a single with his band Josef K, to sit in on the session and make some suggestions.
Edwyn sings and plays guitar, James Kirk plays guitar, the bass is courtesy of David McClymont and Steven Daly is banging the drums. Legend has it that 963 copies were pressed up, with a free flexi-disc and an actual Postcard being included inside what was a strangely shaped folding sleeve rather than the standard type into which a record would fit.
Two tracks were included as b-sides:-
mp3: Orange Juice – Moscow Olympics
mp3: Orange Juice – Moscow
They are the same tune, with the latter being particularly rough and demo sounding while adding a few additional chants of the word ‘Moscow’, courtesy of Alan Wilde (a name adopted by the band’s manager Alan Horne) and Steven Daly.
In June 2023, I finally obtained a copy of the single, a 60th birthday present from Rachel, without whom this blog wouldn’t have got off the ground. It was also fitting that the online sale of the single was drawn to our attention by our dear friend Comrade Colin, without whom this blog wouldn’t have got off the ground. It came with the flexidisc and a postcard, and it was in mint condition.
mp3: Orange Juice – Felicity (live)
As recorded at an early gig in April 1979 by the aforementioned Malcolm Ross.
For a eighth time in this series, I’m grabbing something from David Cameron’s Eton Mess, a compilation album released in October 2015 on Song, By Toad Records.
As I’ve written before:-
“Almost all of the singers and bands were, at the time, unknown with very little more than a few tracks available online or via a limited physical release, most often cheaply done on a cassette. Label owner, Matthew Young, said at the time:-
“Most of the bands are friends and a lot of musicians feature on several of the album’s tracks, one of the reasons why we’ve put the compilation together. It feels like there’s this pool of really talented musicians bubbling away and all sorts of excellent music is starting to emerge from the mix. Bands are forming, breaking up, and starting again all the time. When you see a loose collection of bands connecting like this you never know what is going to happen. A few will disappear, some will do okay, some might pave the way for others, and a few of these bands could go on to do really well.”
The track from Froth was this:-
mp3: Froth – The Rat
The Bandcamp page describes Froth as ‘Glasgow Musical Fiasco’ and lists Paul Docherty, Keith Harcus, Izzy Rose, Simone Wilson, Grant Simpson and Eilidh McMillan as its members. There are five digital releases available to download for £1 each….and none of them are The Rat.
Simone and Eilidh would, along with Cal Donnelly, later form the rather splendid Breakfast Muff whose 2017 debut, (and thus far only), album Eurgh! is an absolute lo-fi classic.
I’d gone a long time since pulling this one down from the shelf and giving it a spin on the turntable. It’s not that I don’t love the song, but it, along with many others, has fallen victim to me having too much vinyl and not enough time in my life to listen to all the good stuff.
I’d picked it out after looking at the i-phone with its near 50,000 tunes and finding out that, for whatever reason, but entirely down to human error, I had either never actually made an mp3 copy of Crash to transfer on to any portable device, or had managed somehow to delete the file. Either way, I couldn’t listen to it on this particular journey.
Do any of you disagree with the statement ‘Crash is one of the great indie-pop tunes of any era thanks to its two-and-a-half minutes of perfection’
It’s one that found favour far beyond the indie-cognoscenti, going all the way to #5 in March 1988, easily outperforming all the bands The Primitives were being lumped in with. Sadly, for all concerned, that was as bright as the stars ever shone for, and while it is the case that the band is still on the go today, having reformed in 2009 after what had been an 18-year hiatus, they are more or less just known for the majesty of their big hit.
mp3: The Primitives – Crash
The 12″ comes with three other tracks
mp3 : The Primitives – I’ll Stick With You
mp3 : The Primitives – Crash (demo version)
mp3 : The Primitives – Things Get In Your Way
The two other songs kind of highlight that much of the material just didn’t match the brilliance of Crash. The demo version dates from October 1985. The signs are there that something pretty special is being worked up, but there is no question that all the bits which came together in the studio, such as the backing/additional vocals, are what took it to the great heights.
# 109: X-tal – ‘An Old Colonial’s Hard Luck Story’ (Alias Records ’90)
Hello friends,
right, you knew this was bound to happen, didn’t you? I mean, just look at the last posts: Wedding Present, Wild Swans, X-Ray-Spex (with their most fragile tune ever, no question about that!) … you have been pampered with the MOR stuff you like so very much – but today it’s obscurity-time again, I’m afraid. And, as usual, I can only give the advice not to skip this just because you don’t know it – it’s extraordinarily good, this! Special, yes, but good – believe me!
X-tal hail from San Francisco, they started out in ’83 and called it a day in ’96. Their story is nothing different to other unknown leftist bands’ sad stories, I’d reckon: many changes in the line-up over the years, one or two tracks on a compilation of local bands, finally an album which only a handful of folk admired at the time.
In X-tal’s case it were a few albums even, five, from ’90 to ’96 to be precise – none of which I ever heard, I’m ashamed to say. Perhaps I should change this, I mean: today’s single is in the box for a reason – because it’s simply brilliant, of course – so who knows whether the albums are not too shabby either?
Anyway, back to the single. Knowing you lot, I can imagine that a song’s lyrics are as important to you as its music. And let’s be brutally frank: is there anyone of you who did not have the lifelong desire to enjoy a song which broaches the all-important issue of the self-pity of Rhodesian exiles?!
Oh well, fear not – your day has finally come, friends:
mp3: X-tal – An Old Colonial’s Hard Luck Story
Wonderful stuff, I’m sure you agree. Lyric sheet instead of back sleeve for you today, as a special service, see above!
A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.
Session #3 was broadcast on this day, 24 September 1980, having been recorded on 16 September 1980.
Arguably the greatest Fall session, this is the occasion, according to Riley, where producer John Sparrow’s pipe had gone out, and he’d fallen asleep. Returning with newcomers Scanlon and the Hanley brothers, this is the first truly great Fall Peel Session. The definitive recording of ‘New Puritan’ (with the Ur-Smith lines “I curse the self-copulation of your record collection – New Puritan says ‘coffee table LPs never breathe'”), the fresh and quick ‘Container Drivers’ and the extended ‘New Face In Hell’ offer glimpses of past and present, while ‘Jawbone And The Air Rifle’ offers the first tart taste of ‘Hex Enduction Hour’, still some 18 months away.
DARYL EASLEA, 2005
mp3: The Fall – Container Drivers (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Jawbone And The Air Rifle (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – New Puritan (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – New Face In Hell (Peel Session)
Produced by John Sparrow
Mark E Smith – vocals; Marc Riley – guitar; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Paul Hanley – drums;
I know these blogs are supposed to be about music, but this story is a fucking doozie. My name is Fleming, Ian Fleming and I got caught ripping off my mates….
Cast your mind back to 1983 and the summer of the ‘Battle of the Bond Films’ – Octopussy versus Never Say Never Again.
Octopussy was the ‘official’ Bond film (official because it was produced the Bond rights holders EON). Never Say Never Again was produced by Jack Schwartzmann and saw Sean Connery return to the role he originated for the big screen.
Octopussy gets a bit of stick for Roger Moore being old enough to be the creepy grandfather of some of the supporting cast, but generally it’s an okay film with Steven Berkoff over-egging the pudding for maximum results. The film is based on a Fleming short story of the same name which serves as background to film’s narrative. While Rita Coolidge delivers up a cracking Bond theme (All Time High) via John Barry and Tim Rice (check out the Pulp cover version too).
mp3: Rita Coolidge – All Time High
mp3: Pulp – All Time High
Never Say Never Again is actually a remake of Thunderball (1965) and is a great lesson in not nicking the work of others or (depending on your point of view) not allowing others any kind of claim on original work.
In 1957, long before Bond was officially adapted to the big screen Fleming started work on some scripts with film maker Kevin McClory (working titles include SPECTRE and James Bond of the Secret Service).
By 1959 Fleming was beginning to lose interest in the project since it had no real backing and McClory’s current film ‘The Boy and Bridge’ had flopped at film festivals. McClory was tenacious if nothing else and took the rough drafts to Ealing Studios writer Jack Whittingham. Together they crafted a script based on McClory and Fleming’s ideas and presented it back to Fleming with the working title of ‘Longitude 78 West’.
Fleming reportedly said the work was ‘very good’ and did very little re-writes himself, save from retitling the work ‘Thunderball’. As negotiations with MCA were ongoing to produce the movie, Fleming began work on the novelisation of the script which he decided he was taking full credit for. McClory and Whittingham thought ‘fuck no’ and went to the high court. Whitingham had already sold his rights to McClory and so only served as a ‘principle’ witness’
Fleming and McClory ultimately settled out of court, the result was McClory was given screen rights to the film and Fleming could publish the book under his name with the caveat of “based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and the Author” McClory was also credited to co-authorship of ideas and characters; Spectre and Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
In the official EON produced documentary ‘Everything or Nothing’ there is some staunch defence of Ian Fleming’s behaviour. The talking heads take great care to mention the alcohol consumed by Fleming and McClory during their writing sessions and how ‘no one could be sure who came up with what characters’ and other hazy comments. It’s all very partisan and perhaps rightfully so. One thing the film heavily implies (through talking heads) is that the court case against McClory was the thing that caused Fleming’s fatal heart attack. This claim would carry more weight if didn’t come a few minutes after a segment that documented his heavy problem drinking and his 70-a-day cigarette habit.
Fast forward to 1964, when the production company EON had the James Bond license and delivered three hit films through the studio MGM. Thunderball had been a massively popular book, so EON struck a deal with McClory to adapt it into a film that allowed him to act as producer and with the rights returning to him after a decade.
Before the franchise launched it was apparently intended to be the first movie of the series. EON producers were so confident in the story that they commissioned a script to be authored long before they spoke to McClory. They even used the script to lure Connery into the role;
“The first James Bond film which I was hired for was Thunderball, for United Artists… The first script I was given to read by Broccoli and Saltzman’s company was Thunderball”Sean Connery, Undated Letter from the EON Archives
The film version of Thunderball was massive, it earned $141m worldwide on a $9m budget (times it by 10 for the 2025 value). The theme tune was originally supposed to be Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by Shirley Bassey who had scored a massive hit with the title song to the previous film, Goldfinger.
After recording, the track was found not to be long enough for the opening credits so was re-recorded. Unfortunately, Bassey wasn’t available for the second session so Dionne Warwick was tasked with delivering a version. Ultimately the producers wanted a song with the film name in the title and given that neither Warwick or Bassey were available, they went with the next best thing, which was clearly Tom Jones.
mp3: Shirley Bassey – Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
mp3: Dionne Warwick – Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
mp3: Tom Jones – Thunderball
As popular as James Bond was, no one would have predicted the decades long British institution it would have become, even in 1965. The McClory deal, on paper, seemed like a good one for Fleming. Ten-year franchises didn’t really exist outside of Hammer Horror films and Sherlock Holmes. Who would be interested in a Bond film in 1975?
Even as late as 1969, many industry people thought the Bond bubble would eventually burst. George Lazenby was advised not to sign a seven-picture deal because he was told that the arse would drop out of cold war spy films in the hip 1970s.
“I had advice that James Bond was over anyway. It was Sean Connery’s gig and, being in the ’60s, it was love, not war. You know, hippy time. And I bought into that,” George Lazenby, The Guardian 2017.
Shrewd.
By 1974 McClory announced a film called ‘James Bond of the Secret Service‘ while Cubby Broccoli and EON were struggling with the critical flop of The Man with the Golden Gun;
“Amid the general lack of gumption, Roger Moore’s large rigid figure appears to be wheeled about on tiny casters” The Times, December 19, 1974
In order not to have their product damaged any further, they hit McClory with a massive lawsuit. Realising that he doesn’t have the financial clout to counter the MGM backed producer, McClory backs down…… for now.
As the late 1970s approach and McClory now has the rights to ten unfinished Bond scripts that he had worked out with Fleming, and he has the backing of Paramount pictures. Once again there’s legal action to stop or delay him but this time it’s less successful. By 1981 Paramount Pictures have backed out but Warner Bros via Jack Schwartzmann (an entertainment attorney and Mr Talia Shire) are on board. Schwartzmann licenced the rights from McClory and set about producing his first film.
In the early 1980s, Sean Connery was not exactly a massive box office draw, in fact he had spent a decade trying to get away from the Bond image. Unfortunately, he’s also been in a fair few flops (including Zardoz which is a science fiction head fuck about a society that worships the Wizard of Oz and finds Sir Sean in knee high fuck-me boots and a red bikini combo; Objectification isn’t so sexy now is it? How do you like it, Sean? Eh?… seriously though, you would)
Earlier McClory had pulled off a genius move; Connery had previously said he’d never play Bond again. Playing on the actor’s ego McClory brought him on board to help with the script re-drafting and as a consultant, in fact a de-facto co-producer.
Schwartzmann kept that deal going and he also involved him in casting choices making sure that he saw a lot of below-par actors for the role. Ultimately this led to Sir Sean being swayed towards the part.
“(Kevin McClory) knew I wasn’t interested in playing the part but would I consider writing a screenplay with Len Deighton. I worked with Len… six months nearly and the script was coming on rather well and I was discussing it with my wife and she said ‘well if it’s going so well why don’t you play the part’ Sean Connery, Film ’83 with Barry Norman
Maybe Connery was duped or manoeuvred into the role but personally I think Schwartzmann gave him a reason that he could use to publicly change his mind after so many years of saying he’d never do it again.
With the help of re-writes from Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (The Likely Lads, Porridge and Auf Wiedersein, Pet!) the film was ready to go by 1983. For all intents and purposes, it was a Bond film. It had great set piece stunts, gadgets, half naked ladies and not one but two (!) Johnny Foreigner bad guys.
MGM then try to tie up McClory in more legal trouble but this eventually worked in his favour with EON having to remove elements of Spectre and Blofeld from any upcoming films, but the flip side of the court ruling was that any film McClory made couldn’t deviate from the Thunderball template.
“Because of the threat of litigation they were told at some point ‘you can only use original dialogue from the book’ it’s impossible to write a screen play where you only use dialogue from a book. Everything had to be checked by the producer, the director, by Sean and then by the insurance company who were insuring the company against litigation. There were four sets of people checking everything we wrote which was extraordinary” Dick Clement – uncredited writer Never Say Never Again. The Big Gamble; The Making of Never Say Never Again 2009
As for the cast; Edward Fox adds a star to the ratings as an excellent middle-management version of ‘M’, Barbara Carrera massively upstages Kim Basinger as Fatima Bush. Rowan Atkinson plays every Rowan Atkinson character that isn’t Blackadder or Mr Bean and Pat Roach rocks up as a baddie (that’s living alright).
Peter Hunt, who directed On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (and had been an editor on many other Bond films) was offered the chair but turned it down;
“I would have offended Cubby if I had done it. That whole situation was very poor in their thinking, and I think if I had done it, they would have thought that I was a traitor. We had talks about it, but I wouldn’t have taken it for that reason” Peter Hunt, Retrovision 1998
After shopping the job around for a few months, Irwin Kirschner eventually accepted the job. Kirschner had recently smashed Empire Strikes Back out of the park then turned down Return of the Jedi to work on this film….. and that’s why we have Ewoks. Plank.
(Advert from Smash Hits January 1984)
The film was released to a massive fanfare, mainly that of ‘Sean is BACK!’ and it should be taken literally when I say reviews were ‘mixed’. As in some found it to be amazing and other found it to be amazingly average. The headline from the Chicago Tribune seems to be a tad too inflated for what they themselves say is a 3.5 star film, Be consistent, guys! (Since writing this I’ve been informed that the Tribune’s reviews are actually out of four stars. I’m not fucking changing what I’ve written, even though it’s now wrong. Four stars? Who the fuck does that? The phrase FIVE STAR REVIEW is there for a reason you fucking bellends)
Success is relative. A multitude of middling 6 or 7 out of 10 reviews ignore the fact that the film is highly watchable and fun against all odds.
The film essentially had three producers all of whom had different ideas on what the film should look like. As well as Warner Bros management, there was Jack Schwartzmann, Sean Connery and Kevin McClory who all had something to say. Plus there were lawyers all over the place, making sure the Thunderball scripts were being stuck to. The multiple checks and balances each script and shoot went through left a bitter taste in the director’s mouth. The script changes required multiple re-shoots to make up for cut dialogue;
“We had some pick up shots in the caves. I was bored with shooting this kind of thing….I never had a moment of pleasure after that. I was tired of the way the picture had to be made, in pieces with different writers, with holes in the script that had to be filled on the set” Irwin Kirschner, The Big Gamble; The Making of Never Say Never Again 2009
There are multiple stories of Connery not liking Jack Schwartzmann to the point that Schwartzmann would leave the room if Connery entered. Clement later claimed that Schwartzmann was scared of Connery.
“Sean and the producer just didn’t get along at all. They hated each other.” Barbara Carrera, 007 Magazine, 2007.
In Schwartzmann’s defence he was spending a lot of time in court and had no time for the job of actual producer. He was the man doing everything and nothing himself.
The soundtrack is a big part of any Bond film and unfortunately Never Say Never Again film had no access to any of John Barry’s previous work. Like most Bond soundtracks, the production has two vocal songs among the instrumental music. Never Say Never Again by Lani Hall starts with the hallmarks of a Bond theme but then just sorted fizzles out. Like they got the introduction and thought ‘that’ll do, that’s Bond enough’. Slightly better is the song Une Chanson D’Amour by Sophie Della but even then it’s only good by comparison,
mp3: Lani Hall – Never Say Never Again
mp3: Sophie Della – Une Chanson D’Amour
Ultimately both sound like an A.I. was asked to write an 80s James Bond tune and the AI said ‘Do I have to? For fuck’s sake, will this do?’
According to Bonnie Tyler, she was approached to sing the theme but took a hard pass
“They just asked me. Would I like to do a song? And they sent me the song. “Never Say Never (again)” and I listened to it, and I thought, “Ugh! Shit! I don’t like it.” I had to turn it down. Now how many people turn down a Bond song? I don’t know. But I turned it down because I didn’t like it. And I was proved right. Because I think out of all the songs… I can’t even remember it.” Bonnie Tyler, The Bat Segundo Show 2008.
A song that was too shit for someone who once recorded a duet with Shakin’ Stevens. Blimey.
The soundtrack does have some gems of music though. Most of the great tunes in a Bond film are hidden in the incidental music and Never Say Never Again is no different. Michel Legrand who composed the score delivers this beauty;
mp3: Michel Legrand – Felix and James Exit
It’s s a nice piece of 80s cop funk that wouldn’t be out of place on Miami Vice.
Apparently it was Connery himself that enticed Legrand to work on the film.
“Sean’s warmth and enthusiasm persuaded me,”Michel Legrand, Jon Burlingame’s The Music of James Bond
As with most Bond films there’s a passed over tune that didn’t make it ( among others; Johnny Cash turned in a tune for Thunderball, Blondie had a stab at For Your Eyes Only and Alice Cooper composed The Man With The Golden Gun… honestly that’s a different blog for another day; Run, James, Run by Brian Wilson deserves a whole page to itself…..
‘Never Say Never Again’ By Phyllis Hyman could have done wonders for the film’s press.
In the battle of the Bond soundtrack, Octopussy wins hands down. When it comes to the reception of the films, it’s probably a tie. Never Say Never Again was generally well received. Both are three out of five 80s action mehhhs. I think the best description of the work lies in the title of the reformed New York Dolls album; ‘One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This’
For Connery it would be the last time he would play Bond. The film drained him to the point that he was happy to complain about it publicly.
“It should have been a great deal more pleasure than it was. What I’m thrilled about is the huge success that it’s had…But it’s unfortunate that yet again one has had to carry someone incompetent” Sean Connery, Film ’83 With Barry Norman
He was a few years away from the massive success of Highlander, The Untouchables, The Hunt for Red October and many others as his career got a second wind.
McClory ended up trying to cash in on the Bond resurgence of the mid 1990s; he’d hawk a script around Hollywood called Warhead 2000 which again was another remake of Thunderball. Timothy Dalton. Liam Neeson and Sean Connery were all attached to the role of Bond at some point. Sony took the plunge and in 1997 they released this press statement
“Columbia Pictures, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company (SPE), today announced a new association with producer/director Kevin McClory and his company Spectre Associates Inc. to make a series of new James Bond feature films. These movies will be based on original works created by McClory, James Bond novelist Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham” Sony Press Release Oct 1997
MGM said nope. They sued and Sony counter sued, and in 1998 a court ordered the production of the film halted until it could be sorted out. Ultimately both sides came to a settlement. And by that I mean Sony probably ran the numbers and found that the court case would triple the budget of the film, and they had no idea if that film would even recoup its costs let alone that of the legal trial. They didn’t want to be into the third sequel before they made a profit.
In 2001 McClory had one last stab at some Bondage. He claimed he had a portion of the ownership rights of the character since so many of his idea were adopted into the franchise. The 9th Circuit Court that oversaw the case said he’d left too long to make that charge and was he out of his fucking mind? Okay they didn’t say the second bit.
Eventually Sony obtained MGM as a company and with it was able to merge the Bond franchise with their rights to Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again (and supporting creative works), which is why we eventually got a proper Casino Royale and a return of Blofeld.
I feel we should take a moment here to adore the glorious Burt Bacharach soundtrack to the 1960s Casino Royale;
mp3: Dusty Springfield – The Look Of Love
mp3: Burt Bacharach – Hi There, Miss Goodthighs
mp3: Burt Bacharach – The Big Cowboy and Indian Fight at Casino Royale
Since the MGM acquisition the Bond community are still split on the film. Some even sent hate mail to McClory when he was alive. There are multiple fan edits of the film including this on which adds a ‘Gun Barrel’ intro and includes John Barry music
Hardcore Bond fans still argue over whether Never Say Never Again should now considered an official film in the series but those arguments will almost certainly stop once they find someone who will fuck them.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 