THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 13)

In 1988, Paul Haig took a very bold and brave step by fully financing the recording of his next album himself without the safety net of a guaranteed release. He again worked with Alan Rankine and thankfully for all concerned, it was picked up by Circa Records, an offshoot of Virgin.

Hopes were high, particularly for the release of an oustanding and poptastic lead off single:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Something Good

Released in 7″, 12″ and 12″ remix form and tailor-made for radio play and an appearance on Top of The Pops. But….once again, Paul was denied by the pop gods with him again being in the wrong place at the wrong time with Madchester all the rage and synth-pop well out of fashion. And yet, when you listen to Something Good (especially the remix version), and indeed some of other tracks on parent album Chain, it’s not a million miles away from some of the less clubby tracks on Technique by New Order (e.g. Run).

Here’s the two other versions of the single:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Something Good (12 inch)
mp3 : Paul Haig – Something Good (remix)

Here’s some b-sides:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Over You
mp3 : Paul Haig – Free To Go (Public)
mp3 : Paul Haig – The Last Kiss

It was a really bitter blow for all concerned.

JC

Isobel Campbell

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #145 : ISOBEL CAMPBELL

Edited from wiki:-

Isobel Campbell (born 27 April 1976) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, cellist and composer. Campbell rose to prominence at age nineteen as a member of the Scottish indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, but left the group to pursue a solo career, first as The Gentle Waves, and later under her own name. She later collaborated with singer Mark Lanegan on three albums.

Campbell’s music has been described as either indie pop, chamber pop or singer-songwriter. Regardless of genre, Campbell makes gentle and sombre music, often using classical instruments and her bright, slightly nasal voice with bittersweet and ironic songwriting.

In 1999, Campbell released her first solo album, The Green Fields of Foreverland, on the same label as Belle & Sebastian, Jeepster Records, under the name The Gentle Waves. The follow-up to The Green Fields of Foreverland would become Swansong for You released on 6 November 2000. This album would be the last release by Campbell as The Gentle Waves.

In 2002, she collaborated with Scottish jazz musician Bill Wells on Ghost of Yesterday, a collection of Billie Holiday songs released by Creeping Bent. In 2003, Campbell released Amorino, her first solo album under her own name. Bill Wells was featured here again, along with other jazz musicians.

Her fourth studio album was released on 23 October 2006 entitled Milkwhite Sheets. It brings traditional songs from United Kingdom and songs written by Campbell. Campbell has stated that album was inspired by the works of Jean Ritchie, Anne Briggs and Shirley Collins.

In April 2004, Campell released an EP with former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer Mark Lanegan, titled Time Is Just the Same. They would later release a single entitled “Ramblin’ Man” for their collaboration album Ballad of the Broken Seas. Campbell wrote and recorded the majority of the album’s tracks in Glasgow, with Lanegan adding vocals in Los Angeles. The album was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Prize.

In 2007, the duo recorded a second album together, entitled Sunday at Devil Dirt, which was released on 5 May 2008. Three singles from the album were released: “Who Built the Road”(7”), “Come On Over (Turn Me On)” (7″) and “Keep me in mind sweetheart”(Cd, 12”). The five new tracks of the “Keep me in mind sweetheart” EP were later added as bonus tracks to Sunday at Devil Dirt.

A third collaborative album with Lanegan was released on 16 August 2010 entitled Hawk. The pair toured to promote the album, including a set at All Tomorrow’s Parties, 10–12 December 2010 curated by Belle & Sebastian. In July 2013, it was announced that Campbell and Lanegan had officially ended their musical partnership.

I’ve pulled out the lead track from The 2004 EP, Time Is Just The Same, was the first of her collaborations with Mark Lanegan in that they co-wrote one of the tracks and he sang on it, but most of the other songs were her own material, including the lead track, in which the vocals are shared with Eugene Kelly from The Vaselines, with the result being a sort of Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood style country duet:-

mp3 : Isobel Campbell – Time Is Just The Same

JC

Buzzkunst

A BELATED TRIBUTE TO THE LATE PETE SHELLEY

There were numerous tributes paid when the news of the death of Pete Shelley was announced. The vast majority of them, unsurprisingly, focussed on his achievements with Buzzcocks while others reflected on his solo career.

I may be wrong, but I can’t recall seeing any mention of an album he released in March 2002, one for which he again teamed up with his old sparring partner from the punk days, although to be fair it’s a work probably more worthy for its novelty value than being memorable for the overall quality of the music.

The album was called Buzzkunst and was released under the moniker ShelleyDevoto on Cooking Vinyl Records.

I suppose much of the disappointment around the album was that many fans from days of old were anticipating and hoping for something that was reminiscent of old school Buzzcocks, or perhaps something that was close with perhaps some Magazine fairy dust being sprinkled liberally. Instead, we got 14 songs, some of which had vocals courtesy of Howard and some of which were purely instrumental and almost completely down to Pete, with the sound being a 21st Century update of the electronica of his solo output. I don’t want to give the impression that Buzzkunst is a clunker of a record – it’s far from that – but it’s a work that has its moments but never quite manages to hit the spot – which is the way I would summarise the career of Luxuria, the duo formed by Devoto, alongside multi-instrumentalist Noko, in the late 80s.

As I mentioned in a previous piece on Pete Shelley, nobody should have been too surprised about the electronica nature of his solo output given his first love and forays into music had involved the genre at a time before it developed into such a commercial phenomenon. It’s also worth recalling that he initially bonded with Howard Devoto over electronic music and it was only the discovery of Six Pistols and their ilk that led to the strapping on of guitars. As such, the signs had always been there that the first collaboration in a quarter-of-a-century would have turned out the way it did and the fault lies in me, as a discerning listener, in failing to realise that in advance.

The record does start off strongly enough with an upbeat track which very much wears its 80s sythn-pop influences (of an alt nature) on its sleeve and at the same time provides a reminder of why so many of us enjoyed Howard’s distinctively sneering and often self-deprecating vocal style:-

mp3 : ShelleyDevoto – Can You See Me Shining?

The other real standout track is the one which was released as an accompanying single, which does seems as close to a Magazine song as we had heard in decades with a backing vocal that is reminiscent of Spiral Scratch:-

mp3 : ShelleyDevoto – Til the Stars In His Eyes Are Dead

It is only with hindsight that it is possible to see this is the track which with the past and Howard’s decision to reform the band in 2009 and to eventually release the album No Thyself in 2011.

Elsewhere, there are some OK moments on Buzzkunst along with stuff that really shouldn’t have been developed beyond the demo stage. As mentioned earlier, there are a number of instrumental numbers which hark back to Pete’s mid 80s solo output, with this, in my estimation, being the pick of them:-

mp3 : ShelleyDevoto – Wednesday’s Emotional Setup

Many critics at the time heaped praise on the work, but I feel much of this was out of reverence to the two protagonists rather than an honest assessment of the quality of the album. Any hopes some might have had that it would lead to a continued partnership weren’t realised, although it is worth noting that Pete did get a couple of writing credits on the Magazine comeback album a full nine years later, so they clearly kept in touch and continued to bounce ideas off one another.

If I hadn’t been on holiday when Pete Shelley died, I’d have likely pulled together a tribute piece on his band and/or solo years. I hope you don’t mind tha I ended up going down this particular pathway….

JC

Various

ROUNDING UP 2018 : FROM OUR SWEDISH CORRESPONDENT

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

Hi Jim,

Happy New Year and all the best for 2019!

I thought, why not round off 2018 with another Swedish EP for TVV?… It was another great year for new music to surface – also in Sweden. For accessibility I’ll stay, piu o meno, with tracks sung in English although it was a great year for music in Swedish. And I decided not to include Robyn as I assume most of you have had issues avoiding her return – the 2 singles released so far are in my opinion the two best tracks anyway so I won’t bore you with any of those here.

11 pm side

1. Henric De La Cour – Kowalski Was Here.

Former front figure of Swedish indie rockers Yvonne has gone all (goth)synth and on Gimme Daggers, his third solo album, the pieces fell into place. I believe he has some of the early New Order records at home. Did I see arms in the air?

2. ionnalee – Not Human.

Brought up in my home town she started out as indie rocker Jonna Lee, transmorphed into electronic audiovisual artist iamamiwhoami and in 2018 she moved into electronic (dance) artist ionnalee, releasing the magnificent album Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten. Excellent live as well. She’s potentially the secret child of Kate Bush and Bernard Sumner.

3. Junior Brielle – Love.

A mix of Swedish and some English but I’m pretty sure this can take you all to the dance floor anyway!. Two brothers from the grim north, placing The Strokes‘ drummer in the lime light for 3 minutes. All that you ever want for your indie disco night: New Order synths, a steady beat, nice breaks, witty lyrics (the chorus goes You can always lie to yourself, but never lie to me) and some falsetto singing. Their first singles I disregarded as petty copies of now disbanded Swedish icons Kent, but second half of 2018 saw the release of a string of tracks taking that sound above and beyond their influence and into my heart.

4. Red Mecca – What Is Coming.

File under darkwave. Red Mecca is, or rather was, the duo of Jan Strandquist (formerly keyboards in 80’s post punk/new wave band Brända Barn (Burnt Children)) and young vocalist Frida Madeleine. Unfortunately Frida decided to leave after the excellent 2018 album I See Darkness In You for personal reasons. The mix of Jan’s long history in Swedish alternative music scene and Frida’s enchanting voice was a wonderful cocktail. The band continues with new vocalist Susanne and have released their first single after Frida’s departure. I have still to be truly convinced, we’ll see if they show up here in a year or not.

4 am side

1. Lykke Li – So Sad So Sexy.

She’s back four years after the monumental hit remix of No Rest For The Wicked featuring A$AP Rocky with a break-up album. So she’s become a mother and split up since last album, but she hasn’t lost her talent – just using it to get all her sorrow out of her system. Not angry, she understands how the world turns, but she needs to get history out of her mind.

2. Nina Kinert – Chapped Lips.

The album Romantic, 8 years after her PC war-game inspired last album, saw Nina Kinert churn out exactly what she said – a very romantic, ballad laden synth-pop album. And in my eyes the crown jewel is this wonderful duet with Future Island‘s Sam Herring. Some lyrical similarities with a Smiths track when you think about it.

3. Grant – Waterline.

Grant, after Cary Grant, is 25 year old Caroline who puts all of her bullied, torn and tormented youth into her debut album In Bloom. At times just a bit too much, but in Waterline she gets it all in the right places. The song about am in the end not committed suicide is very personal. I saw her performing this solo on a piano placed on a ramp just over the surface in the middle of a swimming pool in August – it was pure magic.

Bonus track:

Little Jinder – London Calling (live radio session).

Probably this will put some of you off, a lot…. I have to say London Calling is one of my all time fave tracks in its original version, so I was mildly said sceptical when I found this on YT. But as I do very much enjoy the teeny but intelligent pop Little Jinder does (only understandable for Swedish speaking) I gave it a listen, and she has actually been able to do something completely different of the song, turning it to her own. Give it a chance, live by the river.

In the same session she did a version of her own track Goldwing with a short but kind of nice homage to Joy Division. Also on YT.

Little Jinder – Goldwing

A fantastic 2019 to all of you, your faithful Swedish correspondent.

Martin

Bodega

REASONS WHY I SHOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION (3)

I’m guessing that many of you will be familiar with a number, if not all, of the other blogs listed at the this little corner of t’internet. One of them is The Sound of Being OK (TSOBO), a development from When You Can’t Remember Anything, the brainchild of two friends/work colleagues SWC and Tim, who quickly cemented themselves as being as essential as Reeves and Mortimer, Laurel and Hardy, Pete and Dud, Morecambe and Wise, Lennon and Matthau, Fry and Laurie or Spit and Bob.

TSOBO was even more special thanks to the input from KT, a female colleague of the boys, whose inspirational postings and musings quickly became essential reading, being totally different in style and content from most other music bloggers, free from pretension and any effort to appear hip and cool (similar in many ways to Rol over at My Top Ten). KT is currently on maternity leave and rightly dealing with important things in life, but the lads came up with the great idea of putting out a ‘Situation Vacant’ ad on TSOBO, leading to Ed being recruited at the tail end of 2018.

The young man (he is a mere 40-years-old) has huge shoes to fill, but he’s certainly shown a great deal of promise if his early pieces are anything to go by. Here’s one of his as part of the rundown of best albums of 2018:-

According to the popular hairgel advertising sheet, the NME, Bodega are “the most exciting band to have come out of New York since The Strokes”. They are basing this on an appearance at the SXSW festival in Texas earlier in the year. I know what you are saying – these days the singing endorsement of the NME (sponsored by VO5) is enough to finish anyone’s careers. Bodega will be another fly by night over hyped band of nobodies who look identical to the last great hopes of the indie rock world. Yup, me too…

But…

Hang on naysayers…Steve Lamacq the current Lord of Indie is on the radio and he has just played me ‘How Did This Happen?!’

And its bloody brilliant.

Bodega are according to him, the band that literally everyone wants to watch at The Great Escape in Brighton in early May. They are according to him a band that sound like LCD Soundsystem that never went clubbing.

Now I was at the Great Escape this year (I went with my mate Brian) and based on that glowing recommendation from Lammo I queued for an hour to get into the pub that they were playing in, missing Japanese Breakfast in doing so, because its Steve Lamacq and he is always right, right? So in I go.

It was sweaty and it was packed. Folks, I’m 40 years of age, I am probably told old and too married to be seen squashed up against girls more than half my age watching a rock band. But, for once, the NME appear to have got it right, they are the best band to come out of New York since The Strokes (including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). It is a breathless 30 minutes or so.

Their debut album ‘Endless Scroll’ was released at the start of the summer and it is packed full of punchy, sarky, bossy post punk tracks. Tracks like Gyrate which is definitely the best song you will hear all year about female master debating and tracks like Jack In Titanic, which is basically Pavement wearing pop music hats.

He also offered links to a number of songs from the debut album and I gave them a listen, never having heard of the band until that point in time. The following week, I went out and bought the album on vinyl, delighted to find it came lovingly packaged with a 28-page illustrated lyric booklet, indicating that they and What’s Your Rupture records cared about things.

I’m loving Bodega. Consisting of Ben Hozie (guitar, vocals), Nikki Belfiglio (vocals), Montana Simone (drums), Madison Velding-VanDam (guitar) and Heather Elle (bass), they make music which ticks all my boxes. It’s indie-guitar music packed with wit, energy and ridiculous hooks, delivered with just the right amount of American sassiness that we over here describe all too often call cocky when delivered by one of our own.

mp3 : Bodega – How Did This Happen?!

They even manage to sound good when they slow it down and get reflective, such as on this tribute to a late friend:-

mp3 : Bodega – Charlie

There is a touch of the DIY about Endless Scroll, not in terms of the production which is of a very high standard, but with 14 songs in under 35 minutes, it’s akin to the breathlessness of Glasgow’s very own Breakfast Muff who made one of the great albums of 2017 and who, like Bodega, shift between male and female lead vocals. Next month, I’ll be going, in the company of Aldo, to see the band play, what I think may well be their debut Scottish gig, when they headline the 700-capacity Glasgow School of Art.

There’s a lot of references specific to their own surroundings in Brooklyn and NYC, with a wry and satirical dig at the hipsters and purveyors of gentrification. There’s the occasional use of computer-voice simulations in-between songs which made me laugh out loud more than it should have, but why not when you hear “I use my computer for everything. Heaven knows I’m miserable now.” It’s pretty much a perfect summary of modern life, which can occasionally be rubbish.

It’ll be interesting to see if Bodega are any good in the live setting – Ed certainly thought they were – and if there is life beyond an exceptional debut. But for now, I’m happy in the haze of both drunken and sober hours to enjoy them

JC

Goldfrapp

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #203 : GOLDFRAPP (remixes)

A GUEST POSTING by SWEDISH HERRING ACCIDENT

Bangin’ Ali G – The Goldfrapp ICA

Goldfrapp, a chameleon duo comprising frontperson Alison Goldfrapp and wunderkind Will Gregory, are a mind-boggling combination of sex-kitten and geeky recluse. And I’m not saying which is which – Alison Goldfrapp’s never happier than when she’s locking herself away on a creative retreat while Will Gregory’s got a very colourful musical history stretching back to the 1980s.

They’ve made seven albums between 1999’s Felt Mountain and Silver Eye in 2017. Each one is an artistic world in itself – a perfect creation encompassing persona, design, costume, dance, sounds and songs. Whether it’s Seventh Tree’s wounded nature girl, the exploration of identity in Songs of Us or the Erotic Disco Vixen in Black Cherry.

For some reason, the dancier Goldfrapp tracks lend themselves to excellent remixes. Perhaps they inspire DJs more than other acts, so Goldfrapp CD singles aren’t packed with unlistenable extended dub mixes; they often genuinely take the music further beyond the original intent.

This compilation is not a Greatest Hits tour (I’ve only taken tracks from four albums); it’s a selection of ten remixes that sum up one specific mood – Goldfrapp’s unstoppably sexy driving bass synth sound. I’ve bypassed the otherworldly ballads, overlooked the mystical goddess who wants to swim in the sea under a full moon and distilled the best of the pulsing, pounding firecracking explosives. Don’t wait until Friday. Strap in. Slap your headphones on. Get the hoover out. These tunes will help you get the house cleaned before you know it!

Side One

Twist [Schaffhäuser & Wessling Mix] (Originally from the album Black Cherry)

Twist is one that particularly gives itself to brilliant remixes. This version not only passes Rule #1 (filthy grinding bassline) but also has a hint of Alison’s Theremin work – surprisingly lewd on stage. Twist also deals with one of the ongoing paradoxes in Goldfrapp – how does such glossy metropolitan music come from someone who just wants “to run away with you, your caravan and rabbit stew?” We’re dealing with a wood-nymph here, who’s happy getting dirty (and then cleaning up with Swarfega Fingers).

Ooh La La [Phones re-edit] (Originally from the album Supernature)

Goldfrapp reviews are invariably meticulous comparisons of each song’s similarities to whatever giant’s shoulders Will and Alison happen to be standing on this time. Yet as a collection, Goldfrapp’s work has a set of sounds, themes and looks that’s distinctive and unmistakeable. You can’t say that about Rachel Stevens who, at the time of Ooh La La was clinging to Goldfrapp’s creative coat-tails with her Comic Relief single Some Girls.

Fly Me Away [C2 Rmx 4] (Originally from the album Supernature)

Here C2, shamelessly drops this mid-tempo ballad on top of Giorgio Moroder’s I Feel Love bassline, elevating it to a proper disco number. There are three C2 Rmxs of Fly Me Away on the CD single (numbered 1,2 and 4 – somewhere in an attic is number 3. They say you can hear its cries on dark lonely nights).

Number 1 [Dominatrix Remix] (Originally from the album Supernature)

Oh, this is lush, irresistible and relentless. This remix totally enriches and lifts Number 1 – popular with the live audiences. Will Gregory missed the end of the 2017 tour because half the band caught the flu – at least that’s the official line. Alison once said, “He only goes to places where they do nice food and the sun’s shining,” which would certainly rule out Brixton in November.

Rocket [Tiesto Remix] (Originally from the album Head First).

Despite the pink jumpsuit, the windswept hairdo and flamboyant delivery, Alison’s very deadpan in interviews: “I sometimes think I’m the crappiest popstar ever.” This is soaring, zooming pop elevated to heady heights by Tiesto’s second-stage liquid fuel booster remix.

Intermission

Renault Clio (Va Va Voom) Advert 2

They did an advert! Yes, this is the original Renault Clio advert from 2002. It replaced the long-running “Papa?” “Nicole?” campaign and sounds like it could have been an out-take from Felt Mountain. Its effortless elegance certainly runs rings around Thierry Henry’s later “What is Cool?” attempts.

Side Two

Train [Village Hall Mix]/ Train [album mix] (Originally from the album Black Cherry)

Because none of the official mixes are as good as these two spliced together. It’s easily to imagine that the Goldfrapp artistic partnership is split perfectly between Alison’s designs and lyrics and Will’s fine-tuned musical sensibilities. At the time of Train, he said, “I get freaked out when I think about us all sitting down at 10 in the morning in front of Logic set at 120bpm, 4/4. I think we all need something that’s our own, that you feel is special.”

Ride a White Horse [Serge Santiago remix] (Originally from the album Supernature)

Here, Serge Santiago channels Giorgio Moroder’s extended mix of Life In Tokyo by Japan. There’s a real drummer on here beating the crap out of that snare – his name is Dave Power. This mix completely lifts what is otherwise a rather plodding song about wanting to be taken “dancing at the disco” and to go horse-riding. What is this? Bianca Jagger’s 1977 Studio 54 shenanigans?

Alive [Dave Aude Remix] (Originally from the album Head First).

Altogether more dynamic, more momentum and more atmosphere. Will Gregory’s neon-drenched soundscape makes Alive sound like a musical version of Jacky magazine while Dave Aude’s remix plucks it out of the late 70s and updates it to, ooh, the mid 80s? Will’s a complex guy – one moment he’s cutting an anorak-clad, rucksack-wearing, country-dwelling figure, the next he’s on Radio 4’s Great Lives championing Irish author Flann O’Brien.

Strict Machine [Injection Mix] (Originally from the album Black Cherry).

Strict Machine has been closing Goldfrapp’s live sets lately. When Goldfrapp originally played Strict Machine live on the Black Cherry tour, Alison wore her iconic space-age air hostess outfit with thigh-length patent leather boots. I rather like to think that’s what she was wearing a few years earlier: “I moved to London at 17 and worked as a tea lady in a university. I had a trolley with this huge tea urn and went around serving the professors.”

Systemagic [album mix] (Originally from the album Silver Eye)

For once, none of the remixes are as good as the album version. Silver Eye is proof positive that Goldfrapp’s quirky, unpredictable design values never sleep. To create the imagery for this album she took herself to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands with its startling black sand beaches. The artistry is an amazing combination of colour, dance, make-up and dress. It shows how Goldfrapp rise above lazy categorisation – this album was variously described as 80s futurism, synthpop and stomping glam rock. The way this track rumbles on after the ending reminds me of Douglas Adams, “What thunder there was now grumbled over more distant hills, like a man saying, ‘And another thing…’ twenty minutes after admitting he’s lost the argument.” Thunder on, Goldfrapp – long may your basslines keep throbbing.

SHA

Chemical Brothers

A REVIEW FROM 20 YEARS AGO

Here’s a very lazy new series, inspired by the fact that I was struggling for inspiration for new ideas for 2019.

Twenty years ago, we were on the cusp of a new millennium. It’s a period which already feels like a lifetime ago but, when you turn to the music, seems to have been just the day before yesterday.

This new series celebrates those circumstances by delving into the archives to re-post a review from the period, to be followed by some thoughts of my own a full two decades on.

#1 : SURRENDER by THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS (Q Magazine, July 1999 – Ian Gittins)

So it’s 1999 and the best music around, both chart and credible, is being made by hedonistic studio wizards and pop alchemists with nary a guitar or rhythm section in sight. Unsurprisingly, given their magic digits, they are also the most in-demand remixers currently extant. Their names are The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim and they are our indubitably perfect pre-millennial pop stars.

The Chemical Brothers are ace remixers because – as Manic Street Preachers, Prodigy, Primal Scream and Charlatans may testify – they bring the best out of everyone they work with. Now Surrender, their third album, sees them bringing the best out of themselves.

It’s a move away from the big beat frenzy and amyl nitrate-soaked party monster anthems of 1997’s thunderous Dig Your Own Hole towards more considered terrain. Amiable DJ/rave boffins Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands have woken up, shaken bleary heads, and realised there’s more to life than block rockin’ beats. Where most of Dig Your Own Hole evoked lager’n’pills messiness down the Heavenly Social, much of Surrender belongs in a chill-out room.

The piledriving, Kraftwerkian opener Music: Response shows they can still churn out big beat floorfillers by the yard, but the pair truly shine when they introduce poignancy and nuance to the mix, as on Out Of Control, which features Bernard Sumner, Bobby Gillespie, and a vintage disingenuous idiot savant Sumner lyric: “It could be that I’m losing my touch/Or do you think my moustache is too much?”

Noel Gallagher happens along to wonder aloud – somewhat ungrammatically – “How does it feel like to wake up in the sun?” on Let Forever Be, essentially an update on their joint 1996 Number 1 single Setting Sun, but then they hit comedown mode. The Sunshine Underground is melancholic and sparse, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval lends spectral vocals to the haunting Asleep From Day and the broken lullaby Dream On, featuring Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue, is unspeakably lovely. Only the jaunty single Hey Boy Hey Girl reverts to their usual hi-energy jollity.

Surrender is The Chemical Brothers’ quantum leap into the wild blue yonder, away from their trademark slapstick delirium. It looks like there is life after big beat, after all.

JC writes……

Dig Your Own Hole had brought the duo to much wider attention. As is often the case, many of those who had been fans from the outset felt ‘betrayed’ by the move towards a more commercial sound but their numbers had been dwarfed by those whose first contact with The Chemical Brothers was thanks to a guest vocal by Noel Gallagher. There was a fair bit of intrigue as to which way things would go with the third album.

As the above review indicates, Surrender was no simple re-tread of Dig Your Own Hole as can be seen from the fact that the singles lifted from it reached #3. #9 and #21 respectively, as opposed to the two #1s and #17 hits from the previous album. Despite this, the sales of Surrender in the UK were double that of Dig Your Own Hole, which perhaps reflects that many radio DJs were playing a number of the album tracks on the basis of them sounding commercial enough for non-twilight shows. It wasn’t as if album sales were boosted by some sort of sensational and memorable Festival appearance which had been broadcast to the nation –The Chemical Brothers at Glastonbury in 1999 restricted themselves to a DJ-only set in the Dance Tent that year – so what you got was a dance album of immense appeal to many people who wouldn’t normally buy anything associated with the genre.

I’m happy to lump myself in with that description, but thinking back to 1999 I can also recall enjoying and buying albums by Fatboy Slim, Underworld and Basement Jaxx as well as a couple of compilations at the end of the year on the basis of having, at a late stage in my life, gone on a boys-only golf holiday to southern Spain for the first ever time and where I found myself falling head over heels for the beats I was hearing in night clubs. It was a time when Primal Scream had gone full-on with the hard hitting beats and even The Fall, with Touch Sensitive, were making dance music of sorts. But being in my mid-30s, my energy levels were such that I needed as much comedown music as I did the higher energy stuff, and so what Surrender offered seemed perfect being part of a wider landscape which I was thoroughly enjoying and in which The Chemical Brothers were masters of their art.

It’s still a piece of work that, 20 years on, I’m very happy to listen to from start to end without use of the skip button. In summary, it’s a late 20th century masterpiece.

mp3 : The Chemical Brothers – Music:Response
mp3 : The Chemical Brothers – Out Of Control
mp3 : The Chemical Brothers – Asleep From Day
mp3 : The Chemical Brothers – Dream On

JC

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 13)

Paul Haig seemed to disappear somewhat after the release of The Warp of Pure Fun but it turned out that he had hoooked up with Billy Mackenzie to work on some ideas. The duo also appeared live together (sadly, I never caught any of the low-key gigs) and then stole the show on a live TV programme on New Year’s Eve 1986:-

In late 1987, having been unsuccesful in finding a new label to sign to, Paul went back to Brussels and to Crépuscule with a 12″ EP, Torchomatic, being recorded and released.

Now, this is where I let you down. I don’t have a copy of this single, although I do have the lead track courtesy of it being included on a later compilation album:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Torchomatic

I do have an mp3 copy of one of the b-sides, an instrumental which is way better than the lead track. It brings to mind New Order, Cabaret Voltaire and that Factory club sound of the time. Be interesting to see what Swiss Adam makes of it…

mp3 : Paul Haig – Beat Programme

The connection with Crépuscule would come to its conclusion the following year with the release of the compilation album European Sun featuring previously rare and unreleased tracks.

It wouldn’t be too long, however, before he was back on a new label with yet more classy pop tunes that were more than worthy.

JC

Indian Givers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #144 : INDIAN GIVERS

Today’s offering comes via a download from somewhere else a few years ago….where and when I can’t say for certain – having noted the track was from the late 80s by an Edinburgh band I had never heard of, I shoved it onto the hard drive.

To be honest, I wasn’t too enamoured by it, being very much of its time….synth-pop that’s very easy on the ear. Kind of appealing to fans of Danny Wilson was the thought. Or indeed those who love Jordan The Comeback by Prefab Sprout, the sort of sound that didn’t annoy me so much that I’d delete the file.

Doing a bit of research for this posting and it turns out that Indian Givers did support Danny Wilson on one of their major UK tours and so are perhaps remembered by some. The band consisted of Nigel Sleaford, Simon Fraser and Avril Jamieson. They were signed to Virgin Records and released two singles and an album over the summer of 1989, follwoing which they seemed to just disappear….there’s certainly not too much out there about them.

This was their debut single and the pic above is the reverse of its picture sleeve.

mp3 : Indian Givers – Hatcheck Girl

Animals That Swim

INDIE SCHMINDIE IN 1993

The NME, particularly in the late 70s, 80s and 90s, was seen as the weekly bulletin of all things indie-music. It was their championing of the music to be found on small labels that helped lead to the establishment of the UK Independent Singles and Albums Charts in 1980 and for many years these listings did mirror the contents of the paper as well as much of what you’d also find in Melody Maker, Record Mirror and Sounds (albeit the latter did lean more towards rock/metal than the others).

I previously had a feature on the blog which looked at past #1 singles in the Indie Chart from 10,20 and 30 years past, but gave up on it when it became clear too many of the best sellers were actually on major labels taking advantage of loopholes around the definition of an indie label. It’s just as well I never got round to focussing on 1993 as there’s barely a guitar or a floppy fringe to be found:-

2 January – 12 January : The Shamen – Phorever People
23 January – 29 January : The Beloved – Sweet Harmony
30 January – 26 March : 2 Unlimited – No Limit
27 March – 7 May : Snow – Informer
8 May – 21 May : 2 Unlimited – Tribal Dance
22 May – 16 July : Inner Circle – Sweat (a la la la la long)
17 July – 30 July : The Levellers – Belaruse
31 July – 6 August : Stan – Suntan
7 August – 27 August : Daniel O’Donnell – Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love
28 August – 3 September : Ian Wright – Do The Right Thing
4 September – 24 September : 2 Unlimited – Faces
25 September – 1 October : Depeche Mode – Condemnation
2 October – 22 October : DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Boom! Shake The Room
23 October – 29 October : The Prodigy – One Love
30 October – 3 December : The Goodmen – Give It Up
4 December – 10 December : Bjork – Big Time Sensuality
11 December – 17 December : 2 Unlimited – Maximum Overdrive
18 December – 24 December : New Order – Spooky
25 December – 18 February 1994 : K7 – Come Baby Come

And yes, the indie #1 of 28 August 1993 is the work of ex-footballer Ian Wright….. …..I can’t ever recall hearing it and really don’t want to. The most astonishing thing about the song isn’t that Wright penned the pun-laden lyric but that the tune was composed by Chris Lowe, one half of the classy and stylish Pet Shop Boys.

Thankfully, the paper didn’t rely on the charts when it came to it listing the best 50 singles from 1993 with the roll-call featuring a fair smattering from those who have graced this little corner of t’internet as well as some from the dance/pop genre:-

Animals That Swim, The Auteurs, Belly, Bjork, Blur, The Boo Radleys, The Breeders, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Collapsed Lung, Compulsion, Cornershop, Credit To The Nation, The Disco Evangelists, Dodgy, Done Lying Down, East 17, Elastica, Huggy Bear, Ice Cube, The Juliana Hatfield Trio, Leftfield/Lydon, The Lemonheads, M People, Manic Street Preachers, Naughty by Nature, New Order, One Dove, Paul Weller, Pet Shop Boys, R.E.M., Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Sabres of Paradise, Secret Knowledge, Senser, Shaggy, Shara Nelson, Smashing Pumpkins, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Spiritualized, St Etienne, Sub Sub, Suede, Tindersticks, Ultramarine.

I had to look up some of those listed, including the first in the alphabetical list.

Animals That Swim are still, seemingly, kicking around having had an on/off career over the past quarter of a century. The band has always been centred around three brothers – Hugh Barker, Hank Starrs (born Jeffrey Barker) and Al Barker, along with Del Crabtree whose trumpet playing has always been central to the sound. They have gone through bass players in a way that is reminiscent of the way a struggling football club gets itself new managers, with the best-known being Terry de Castro (2000/01) either side of her membership of Cinerama and The Wedding Present.

The single which featured in the NME 93 rundown was just their second release, and it took the form of an imaginary conversation with the ghost of a famous singer:-

mp3 : Animals That Swim – Roy

Having tracked it down, I found myself beguiled and delighted by it. More so when I stumbled across this review of debut album Workshy from 1994:-

“Literate, trumpet-assisted indie-pop for the left brain; shaggy-dog songs that concern fleeting alco-epiphanies and dying pensioners; when Starrs writes a love song (Madame Yevonde), it is to an obscure photography pioneer of the 20s and 30s.”

It really does sound very interesting. Any reader out there able to shine a further light and offer a guest post?

JC

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 18)

Today’s offering tells the story of a birth taking place in the middle of one almighty thunderstorm. The date is 8 January 1935 and the location is a small house in a town in Mississippi.

Looka yonder! Looka yonder! Looka yonder! A big black cloud come! O comes to Tupelo. Comes to Tupelo

Yonder on the horizon. Stopped at the mighty river and. Sucked the damn thing dry. Tupelo-o-o, O Tupelo. In a valley hides a town called Tupelo.

Distant thunder rumble. Rumble hungry like the Beast. The Beast it cometh, cometh down. Wo wo wo-o-o. Tupelo bound. Tupelo-o-o. Yeah Tupelo. The Beast it cometh, Tupelo bound.

Why the hen won’t lay no egg. Can’t get that cock to crow. The nag is spooked and crazy. O God help Tupelo! O God help Tupelo!

Ya can say these streets are rivers. Ya can call these rivers streets. Ya can tell ya self ya dreaming buddy. But no sleep runs this deep. No! No sleep runs this deep. No sleep runs this deep. Women at their windows. Rain crashing on the pane. Writing in the frost. Tupelos’ shame. Tupelo’s shame. O God help Tupelo! O God help Tupelo!

O go to sleep lil children. The sandmans on his way. O go to sleep lil children. The sandmans on his way. But the lil children know. They listen to the beating of their blood.

They listen to the beating of their blood. The sandman’s mud! The sandman’s mud! And the black rain come down. Water water everywhere. Where no bird can fly no fish can swim. Where no bird can fly no fish can swim. No fish can swim. Until The King is born! Until The King is born! In Tupelo! Tupelo-o-o! Til The King is born in Tupelo!

In a clap-board shack with a roof of tin. Where the rain came down and leaked within. A young mother frozen on a concrete floor. With a bottle and a box and a cradle of straw. Tupelo-o-o! O Tupelo! With a bundle and a box and a cradle of straw.

Well Saturday gives what Sunday steals. And a child is born on his brothers heels. Come Sunday morn the first-born dead. In a shoe-box tied with a ribbon of red. Tupelo-o-o! Hey Tupelo! In a shoe-box buried with a ribbon of red.

O ma-ma rock you lil’ one slow. O ma-ma rock your baby. O ma-ma rock your lil’ one slow. O God help Tupelo! O God help Tupelo! Mama rock your lil’ one slow. The lil one will walk on Tupelo. Tupelo-o-o! Yeah Tupelo! And carry the burden of Tupelo. Tupelo-o-o! O Tupelo! Yeah! The King will walk on Tupelo! Tupelo-o-o! O Tupelo! He carried the burden outa Tupelo! Tupelo-o-o! Hey Tupelo! You will reap just what you sow.

mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tupelo

I wasn’t sure whether to include this in this series given that the lyric is very much based on an actual event, namely that of the stillborn birth of Jesse Garon Presley, the elder twin, by 35 minutes, of the later to be crowned king of rock’n’roll. But there is a huge amount of imagination in the lyric given that the thunderstorm which engulfed Tupelo wasn’t until April 1936 when more than 200 people died after a deadly tornado tore through the city.

Nick Cave’s brilliance in forging these two events creates a tale of gothic horror, one which is made all the more spine-chilling thanks to the rollicking and memorable music, written by Mick Harvey and Barry Adamson, in which the sound effects of claps thunder and lightning bolts are fully justified.

This is from when Nick Cave was more Birthday Party than latter day Bad Seed. There is more than a nod to the blues with the opening line referencing Black Betty by Leadbelly (which itself would later be covered by The Bad Seeds) and the wider lyric being based on an old number by John Lee Hooker, who himself had written and recorded a song entitled Tupelo all about the deadly storm and the havoc it had reaped.

JC

Violent Femmes

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (26)

Gone Daddy Gone was the debut single by Violent Femmes back in 1983. It also appears on one of the finest of all debut albums.

It’s a reminder that many of the songs were written by Gordon Gano when he was an angtsy teenager, one for whom life wasn’t going smoothly or according to plan. Especially when it came to landing himself a girlfriend. His pain is even more palpable from the fact he actually had wooed the girl of his dreams, only for her to call it off and disappear out of his life, to where, he says, he can only guess.

But then again, given some of the other crazy thoughts and lyrics that Gano would bring our way in subsequent releases, it could well be the case that the reason his love has gone away is that he has killed her and put her in a shallow grave or the likes…….

It’s a tremendous debut, sung with just the right sound of puzzled desperation over a tune which, as its highlight features a xylophone solo. Not too many tunes in the history of rock’n’roll can make that sort of boast.

mp3 : Violent Femmes – Gone Daddy Gone

Also worth noting that bluesman Willie Dixon would later on, long after the single was released, receive a co-writing credit, thanks to the lyrics including a verse from his 1954 song “I Just Want to Make Love to You” which was originally recorded by Muddy Waters but is probably most famous in the UK for its use in a Diet Coke advert in 1996 with a vocal by Etta James.

The UK version of the Violent Femmes debut 45 came with a superb b-side, one which is arguably even better than the single, and a track which can also be found on the debut album:-

mp3 : Violent Femmes – Add It Up

Copies of this 45, which came out jointly on Slash and Rough Trade Records, are quite rare and the only one for sale on Discogs is looking for in excess of £50. (and no, I don’t own a copy!!)

JC

Grinderman

THE GRINDERMAN SINGLES (4)

Grinderman was put on hold in 2008 while The Bad Seeds got working on and subsequently toured Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! In late 2009, once again via social media, word began to leak that Grinderman had recorded a second album of guitar-based uncompromising songs which would likely be taken out on the road.

In July 2010, the new single was made available via soundcloud with some words offered up via pitchfork:-

It’s the first single from the second album from Nick Cave’s balls-out Grinderman project. It’s swampy and bluesy and you may feel like you need a wash after listening to it. The “Heathen Child” single is out on limited edition 12″ colored vinyl September 6 and features another version of the song– dubbed “Super Heathen Child”– with an ear-blasting guitar solo from the one and only Robert Fripp (David Bowie, King Crimson).

Word also soon got out that long-time video collaborator, John Hillcoat, had been involved in the promo side of things, but the alleged controversial nature of the film meant you were never likely to catch it on any television screen.

Heathen Child was issued on red 12″ vinyl. It came with an old-fashioned sexist poster featuring a naked woman. If Grinderman were keen to get folk talking, they certainly succeeded:-

mp3 : Grinderman – Heathen Child
mp3 : Grinderman – Star Charmer
mp3 : Grinderman & Fripp – Super Heathen Child

The most surprising thing was that the b-side was a quiet and gentle ballad, giving some evidence that the new album which was due for release just a week later, would be less one-dimensional than the debut. The extended cut with Robert Fripp has his unmistakable guitar licks, quite akin to the Scary Monsters-era Bowie.

Oh and as this isn’t a television station:-

JC

Thin White Rope

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #202 : THIN WHITE ROPE

JC writes….

I sneaked out a couple of ICAs just before Xmas, which was a bit stupid of me as they may well have been missed by some of you who only pop in when from your place of employment or education. #200 was a further volume by myself on The Go-Betweens and can be found here, while #201 was an excellent debut offering from Phil H and featured The Wave Pictures, one of the UK’s most long-standing cult indie acts; click here to enjoy.

Today’s ICA is another first-time effort, from an American friend who wishes to contribute under the rather splendid name of Hyrbrid Soc Prof. So without any further delay:-

That Band I Chose Not to See… FAIL

A GUEST POSTING by HYBRID SOC PROF, our Michigan Correspondent

A lot of us have that one band we really wish we had gone to see when we had the chance… but didn’t. Thin White Rope is that band for me. It was the autumn of 1992 and my now-wife had taken a job in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prepping to follow her East, I moved from Santa Cruz to Berkeley and was finishing my dissertation research from a tiny apartment on the Oakland border.

I’d wanted to see TWR since discovering them in 1988 when their label sent In the Spanish Cave to KZSC, the almost-freeform university radio station at UC Santa Cruz where I had a late night indie rock program. However, like most of the bands I’ve loved, Thin White Rope had a larger following and had more success touring Europe than the US, so they rarely played in the San Francisco Bay region.

In preparation for a global tour, TWR – from Davis, CA, 90 minutes east in the Central Valley – played the University of California student theater. I was really excited – I mean these guys were not only my favorite rip roaring guitar band but they’d performed naked at least once and, well, top that! – but I’d just gotten back from a trip to California’s Imperial Valley, had a ton of interviews to transcribe, needed to be able to get to the archives with a clear mind and was worried about getting all the things I needed to get done before moving completed. So I didn’t go.

They broke up after that tour.

Some time in the mid-80s, I’d read a review by Robert Palmer in the New York Times – I can’t remember the band being assessed – and in that review Palmer described a number of groups with twin lead guitars who, to his mind, all secretly wanted to be Television. They wanted to make their own Marquee Moon. If Palmer wasn’t writing about Thin White Rope, he could have been (If Wikipedia is any guide, The Rough Guide to Rock agreed with this reading of the band…) There are a number of great examples of this but, while it’s not here on this list because the live version – that is here – is even better, Take it Home (Long Version) off of Moonhead (1987) remains one of the songs I blast loudest in the car or in the living room (when no one’s home).

While they seriously chafed at being called “Desert Rock” (there’s not a darned thing “desert” about Davis, or associated with LA’s Paisley Undergound (there’s very little retro-60s about the band), these categories sorta work as descriptors. There’s definitely independent, if not outlaw, country in the music, but the Stooges are in there as much as Television. I think, long before Joe Banks’ 30 year retrospective review of It’s OK (included here) from In the Spanish Cave brilliantly describes the experience I had of the band:

It starts with those guitars again, weaving around each other like a distant fire on the horizon, slowly fading up, approaching, getting near, and then… JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY, what in God’s name is that? It’s the opening riff of ‘It’s OK’, spewed forth with one of the dirtiest, ripped-from-the-bowels-of-hell guitar sounds ever. There’s a pounding drum roll, and then we’re off on a throbbing, trance-inducing, space-rocking ride that still brings the hairs up on the back of the neck.

I didn’t find out that they’d broken up until I was in a Newbury Comics store in Nashua, New Hampshire, and came across the double CD, The One that Got Away, a recording of their last show in Ghent. I was furious with myself… and then blown away by the CDs, and then more furious with myself.

Some years later, I was part of the now defunct listserv tied to Howe Gelb and the/his band Giant Sand (I’ll probably generate an Imagined Album for them in coming months) and a musician friend in Milwaukee wrote what I, long ago, needed to have learned. Paraphrasing him: “ALWAYS GO TO THE SHOW! I mean it! ALWAYS GO TO THE SHOW! If there’s a single moment of music transcendence or wonderful connection with your friends, you’ll never forget it. ALWAYS GO TO THE SHOW. If there’s nothing special about the show, you’ll never remember “that day I was tired at work.”

If you like this and are looking to buy music, I’d start with either Moonhead (1987) or The One that Got Away (1993), from there In the Spanish Cave (1988) and The Red Sun EP (1988) and then on to Sack Full of Silver (1990), Exploring the Axis (1985) and The Ruby Sea (1991).

Guy Kuyser, lead singer and guitarist, is now working as a PhD soil scientist. He was in the short-lived band, The Mummydogs for an album before giving up music completely. My favorite of their songs is Paul of the Jungle. Roger Kunkel, the other lead guitarist, helped form Acme Rocket Quartet, and they recorded two records. Neither, sadly, did much for me.

SIDE A

Dead Grammas On A Train (from Exploring The Axis, 1985)
Astronomy (from In The Spanish Cave, 1988)
Triangle Song (from Sackful of Silver, 1990)
The Man With the Golden Gun (from The Red Sun EP, 1988)
Hunter’s Moon (from The One That Got Away, 1993)

SIDE B

Red Sun (from Red Sun EP, 1988)
It’s Ok (from In The Spanish Cave, 1988)
Take It Home (from The One That Got Away, 1993)
Tina and Glen (from The Ruby Sea, 1991)
Burn The Flames (from When Worlds Collide compilation album 1994)

HSP

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 12)

After the distracting fun of the 1985 Xmas single, there was a further effort to boost Paul’s profile with the release, in February 1986, of a third single from The Warp of Pure Fun:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Love Eternal (12″ version)

It’s a fine piece of music, with a particularly strong vocal, albeit there’s no mistaking the era it was made in. There were many instances from the mid 80s of inferior offerings making the charts and making pop stars out of far less talents than Paul Haig, and so it must have been a sore one to take.

The two songs made available on the b-side were new cuts:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Trust
mp3 : Paul Haig – Dangerous Life

Both are more than listenable, with the production techiques of Alan Rankine very much in evidence.

JC

Idlewild

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #143: IDLEWILD

From allmusic.com

The Scottish alt rock group Idlewild formed in Edinburgh in late 1995, originally comprising singer Roddy Woomble, guitarist Rod Jones, bassist Phil Scanlon, and drummer Colin Newton. A year of steady touring preceded the release of the band’s 1997 debut single, “Queen of the Troubled Teens,” which immediately found favor with Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq. The resulting media exposure brought Idlewild to the attention of Fierce Panda, and the London-based label agreed to issue their sophomore single, “Chandelier,” which doubled as their first recording with new bassist Bob Fairfoull. A mini-album, Captain, followed in early 1998, and as word spread of their chaotic live shows (described by one U.K. magazine as “a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs”), the group signed with Food Records and released Hope Is Important in late October. 100 Broken Windows followed in early 2001, with a subsequent U.S. tour launching later that spring.

The next year, Idlewild issued The Remote Part. “American English” and “You Held the World in Your Arms” were massive hits in Europe, making the album Idlewild’s most successful project to date. Not everyone in the band was happy, though, and bassist Fairfoull was kicked out of the lineup after an Amsterdam show in September. Guitar technician Alex Grant stepped in to fill his shoes for the remaining European dates. Gavin Fox (bass) and Allen Stewart (guitar) were added permanently to the lineup early the following year, just prior to the American release of The Remote Part in March.

Warnings/Promises followed in 2005, featuring songs that had been written during an inspired four-month session in the Scottish Highlands. Fox left the band the following spring and was replaced by former Astrid bassist Gareth Russell, who made his debut on the 2007 album Make Another World. Meanwhile, Woomble made his solo debut with My Secret Is My Silence, an intimate acoustic album featuring background vocals by Kate Rusby, and joined folk musicians Kris Drever and John McCusker to record the collaborative Before the Ruin in 2008. One year later, Idlewild bucked convention by releasing their sixth album, Post Electric Blues, as a free, fan site-only download; a traditional release followed in October. In 2010 the band went on a hiatus which was to last three years. During that time, Jones launched a solo career and formed the side project the Birthday Suit, while Woomble released two further solo albums. Idlewild reconvened in 2013 on the Isle of Mull to start sporadic work on their seventh studio album, with new bassist Lucci Rossi replacing Russell. The album was finally finished and set for release in February 2015. Entitled Everything Ever Written, it was produced by Jones and self-released through PledgeMusic. The grungy lead single “Collect Yourself” saw the band exploring a new direction, with a distinct funk influence.

I’ve enjoyed much of what the band have released over the years and they never disappoint in the live setting. Here’s a single from the 100 Broken Windows era:-

mp3 : Idlewild – Little Discourage

JC

Goon Sax

A BAND WITH A FULL HEAD OF STEAM

It was back in April 2016 that The Goon Sax, comprising Louis Foster, James Harrison and Riley Jones released their debut album Up To Anything. It was a charming and engaging effort, musically channelling the likes of The Modern Lovers, Orange Juice and yes, The Go-Betweens with whom Louis’s father had found fame. It has to be said that the lyrics were a tad on the rudimentary side, but then again they were the product of a trio whose average age was just 17 and not everyone at that period in their life can be a Roddy Frame or an Alex Turner.

It cannot be denied that much of the early interest in the band for many, myself included was through the Go-Betweens connection – and to think that I used to slate folk for being interested in the career of Sean Lennon just because they hoped some of his father’s talent had been passed on through the genes. But, as I said, the debut album charmed me and I was really pleased to discover that the trio could more than hold their own in the live setting, as I mentioned on this little corner of t’internet in June 2017.

The sophomore album, We’re Not Talking, was released in September 2018 and it’s one that I’ve played a lot over the past few months. I’m delighted to offer the opinion that the band have developed very nicely and given us another charming and engaging album which surpasses the quality of the debut for all sorts of reasons, not least that Riley Jones, for the first time, takes her turn alongside the boys on lead vocals, sounding in many places like Juliana Hatfield.

The production is crisper and more polished, thanks in part to the involvement of two members of Architecture in Helsinki, and the playing and singing seems far more confident and less hesitant than before. I say singing, but quite a lot of the vocal, certainly when James Harrison is involved, is of the spoken/singing style (think of an Aussie accented Jonathan Richman) which makes for a very fine contrast and allows the album to flow in unexpected directions.

The band’s sound has also developed to include keyboards and there’s even the sporadic use of strings and trumpet to add further depth to a number of the songs, not least the jaunty opener which is deserving of the term ‘indie classic’:-

Not all of the other eleven songs on the album are as immediately catchy and danceable but this is actually a strength when it comes to repeated listens, as is the fact that the three of them have such different but complementary approaches to singing leading to harmonies which border on perfection.

The highlight of the album, however, comes on the penultimate track….one which always makes me smile in the realisation that the sounds of my own youth in the early 80s won’t ever go completely out of fashion

mp3 : The Goon Sax – Get Out

The Goon Sax have come a long way in a short period and it’s quite frightening to think that they are not yet out of their teens. Part of the attraction thus far has been that they sound so innocent and sincere, with cynicism being a trait that is lacking, but as they mature and develop as individuals, and as a recording and performing band, it will be fascinating to see what comes next. Hopefully, it will be more of the same – perhaps the onset of their 20s will lead to a genuinely classic album which will stand the test of time. Time will tell, but on the basis of what they’ve given us so far, it’s a reasonable bet that they will.

JC

Simply Thrilled

BONUS POSTING: SIMPLY THRILLED #3….OMFG

Those of you who pay attention to what’s happening around these parts will be well aware that I was chuffed to bits with the way the second Simply Thrilled night panned out.

The St Andrew’s Night Shindig was an overwhelming success, selling out in its entirety and providing a very special and unique atmosphere in the basement of The Admiral Bar as those in attendance danced their socks off to all sorts of great tunes, especially over the closing couple of hours when guest DJs Aidan Moffat and Noj took control.

Among those who dropped in were The Twilight Sad, long-time friends with our guest DJs, and who wasted no time whatsoever in getting straight into the groove on the dancefloor and on the decks. As a long time fan, I couldn’t think of any more surreal or dream like event since I started all this nonsense back in 2006, never thinking it could ever be topped.

But guess what……it’s about to be, and by some measure.

The third Simply Thrilled night is taking place on Saturday 2 March, once again at The Admiral. This time, it is doubling up as the aftershow party for The Twilight Sad’s gig at Barrowlands that same evening and we have again attracted a very special guest DJ who is another friend of the band – none other than the legendary Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai.

I’m still coming to grips with it all. There’s a lot of hard work been put in behind the scenes to pull this together and for the band to give us their blessing for the event, and for Stuart to agree to come on board, is so unbelievable that I can’t actually believe it’s actually happening.

And you, dear readers, can take advantage of the pre-sale, with access to Early Bird tickets, costing £5, available from https://www.wegottickets.com/sct/9jzYdwGvmD

Doors will open at 11pm and the event will go on until 3am.

All proceeds are going to a very special charity, the Scott Hutchison Fund, which, in the words of the members of Frightened Rabbit, will “form the basis for a Mental Health Charity to be set up fully in the coming months….able to help others the way Scott did with kindness, empathy and hope.”

It would be great to see some of you there. It really does have the makings of something incredibly special.

JC

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

REASONS WHY I SHOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION (2)

From wiki:-

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, also sometimes known as Rolling Blackouts C.F., is an Australian indie rock band. It was formed in Melbourne in 2013 by singer-guitarists Fran Keaney, Tom Russo & Joe White. The band’s five members are Keaney, his cousin Joe White, Tom Russo, his brother Joe Russo (bass guitar), and Marcel Tussie (drums). Their debut EP, Talk Tight, was released in 2016 on Ivy League Records. It was followed by their second EP, the French Press, which was mixed by Doug Boehm and released in 2017 on Sub Pop Records. Their debut full-length album, Hope Downs, was released on 15 June 2018 on Sub Pop.

It was around the time of the debut album that I first came across them, thanks to a profile in the Guardian newspaper which made reference to them ‘breathing excitement back into a too often uninspiring indie scene’. Comparisons were made to The Go-Betweens which I took to be just lazy journalism until I went scouting around t’internet and found myself understanding where the thought had come from (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever don’t rely on one lead vocalist) albeit I thought their material was a bit too one-paced for it to be totally valid.

I also found there was more than a touch of 80s R.E.M. about them in terms of the tunes, albeit the production was clearer and crisper and then there was the NYC influences of the likes of Television and early Strokes. In short, there was much to appreciate, albeit none of it seemed to be life-changing.

It was an album which I put on the longlist for Xmas, albeit it was still six months off.

I’ve now been listening to it for a few days and regretting my decision to wait as an early purchase would have made me want to go catch them live, albeit as it turns out they had already been to Glasgow in advance of the release of the album – but there was a later show in September at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto which actually coincided with a trip over there for some golf and baseball but I wasn’t paying attention. I’m kicking myself very very hard right now.

If, buts and maybes…..I don’t have too many of them these days, but missing that show is one of them.

mp3 : Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Exclusive Grave
mp3 : Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Talking Straight

The rest of the album is just as good.

JC

Adam Stafford

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS OFTEN A CRUEL ONE

While it has its moments, this blog has never been the best for delivering new or breaking news….it’s far too retro in style and scope for the most part. One of the consequences is that you’ll rarely find reviews of freshly released albums but another is that, all too often, something of significance will have occurred and I’ll have fail miserably in providing the sort of coverage the event deserves.

It was Mike over at Manic Pop Thrills who carried this snippet of news back on 14 November 2018:-

“Talk about burying bad news on a busy news day.

As half the country was fixating on Brexit and how many resignations might happen as a consequence, around 5 pm this evening Falkirk based musician/film maker Adam Stafford was announcing a different type of resignation on Twitter:

Thanks folks, that’s it. I’m finished with releasing and performing music. There was a bunch of Y’all is Fantasy Island reunion and solo shows booked for the new year, but I’m cancelling them this afternoon…

it’s been a weird year but it’s all getting mentally draining now and there is only so long you can throw everything into something and get so little back, only so long you can play to half empty rooms to muted applause…

only so long you can slavishly obsess over an LP that no one particularly wants or needs. So thanks to everyone who has been kind over the years, especially to @gerryloves & @SongbyToad & @CreativeScots . So long for now xo”

Mike went on to pay a very fine tribute to Adam….which can be read in full here….and I can’t better these particular words that he used:-

“Even if Adam was only playing to half a dozen people, he still put in a mesmeric performance as he was never less than fully committed to the moment on stage.

On record, with the assistance of long term collaborator, Robbie Lesiuk, he always strived for the imaginative, often meshing what on the face it would appear to be contradictory styles into something wonderful and cohesive. Over a trilogy of albums for Song, By Toad he veered at will from abstract soundscapes to accessible pop gems, yet all the time sounding only like himself.

And that’s not to mention the ‘Reverse Drift’ soundtrack to his book of photos on Gerry Loves Records or even the ‘Torments Through Supernatural Flogging’ EP only available through his own Bandcamp.

His final album, this year’s astonishing ‘Fire Behind The Curtain‘, is a remarkable, all-instrumental double album, arguably his defining statement. It’s incomprehensible that this record won’t be in every Top 10 list for 2018 – other than for the fact that most people simply won’t have heard of him.”

I never got round to reviewing Fire Behind The Curtain, partly on the basis of rarely reviewing new LPs (which itself is based on not wanting to post mp3s of new material), but also for the fact that I know my love for Adam’s music isn’t widely shared among regular readers. Although it comes nowhere near as close to Adam’s frustration about playing to empty rooms and making music that nobody wants to hear, it is frustrating to put together a lovingly crafted blog post and find it achieves no feedback and very few hits and so there ‘why bother’ conclusion is reached.

Adam’s final album was an astonishing and deep piece of work but had an ambition that was unlikely to bring him many new fans who were previously unaware of his genius, a description I’ve often applied to him in the past and will continue to do so in perpetuity. The album, if it does indeed prove to be his last, is a tremendous swansong not just for the artist but also the label Song, By Toad which wound down last year after ten incredible and innovate years.

mp3 : Adam Stafford – Sails Cutting Through An Autumn Night

The news of his quitting the music business was difficult to absorb and even now, some two months on, I’m still quite bitter about it – not at Adam, but for the fact that so many who are lauded daily have less talent in their entire body than Mr Stafford has in his pinky-nail. But then again, that’s the cruel and unjust nature of the music industry.

The signs that he was nearing the end of his tether can be gleaned from some of the media interviews he gave in May 2018 to accompany the release of the new material. He admitted that the second half of the album was written during ‘a horrendous bout of bad mental health – and the music reflects that.’ He also added:-

“I’ve created all of my output suffering from depression; it’s just now I’m having more guts to discuss it openly. I hope in some small way I can help reduce the stigma because I have friends who really struggle with it too but are too proud to talk about it.”

It is alarming to realise that those words appeared in The Scotsman just 24 hours before the discovery of the body of Scott Hutchison, someone who was well known to Adam given that his own first band, Y’All Is Fantasy Island, were often on the same bills as Frightened Rabbit back in the days when the latter were setting out. Adam’s interview would have been given before Scott’s initial disappearance and there’s no question that the grim outcome would have shaken him to the core.

I have been fortunate enough to get to know Adam Stafford a little bit over the past few years, stemming back to him accepting an offer to support Butcher Boy at a gig that I promoted back in 2011. I’ve seen him live on numerous occasions at all sorts of venues. He cared passionately about his art and on every single occasion, whether there were just a handful of paying punters or the venue was packed and hot, he never failed to give it his all, ending every show drenched in sweat and on the verge of seemingly physical exhaustion.

I’ve learned over those years that he is a very modest and unassuming individual, someone who is genuinely grateful when anyone comes up to him to offer thanks and/or congratulations. I think I can just about get away with calling him a friend, and my hope is that over the coming weeks or months, however long it takes, I’ll hook up with him for a sit down and a gab. I’ve made the offer and said that I’d be happy to keep music off the agenda – so with a bit of luck he can educate me on aspects of his other passion, movies and film-making.

I’m going to end this with another opportunity to enjoy a criminally neglected 45 from the Y’All Is Fantasy Island era, one which would have sounded superb blasting out of the transistor radio during the daytime and as part of chart rundowns. It formed part of my set at the last Simply Thrilled Night and I’ve every intention of airing it again next time around:-

mp3 : Y’All Is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

One day, I’ll find time to pull together an ICA.