THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #200 : THE GO-BETWEENS (3)

The visit earlier this year to the cinema to enjoy Right Here led to me going on a bit of a Go-Betweens binge immediately afterwards; I even managed to slip Bye Bye Pride into a pre-matCh play list at a Raith Rovers game not too long ago.

It also got me looking again at the two previous ICAs in November 2016. I still think they stand amongst the best in the entire series, but it also made me realise just how many superb songs had been left off. This was partly down to me trying really hard to stick by my first principle of an ICA, namely that it shouldn’t necessarily comprise what I think are the ten best songs, nor should it be my ten favourites songs, but instead should hang together as a ‘perfect’ LP with five tracks on each side. Oh, and I also wanted to ensure there were five songs from each of Robert Forster and Grant McLellan.

Thus it is that the landmark 200th ICA is my stab at a third volume for possibly the greatest band to ever emerge from Australia….sometimes I do think it is them but on other days I can’t see past The Bad Seeds. This time around there’s a co-composition, which I really should have found room for previously but in looking at both volumes, I’m still struggling to see where it would have fitted in and at what other song’s expense. But there’s five lead vocals from each of them.

SIDE A

Lee Remick (debut single, 1978)

The one which made it all possible. My thinking behind it not being included on either of the previous volumes is that, by the time I made my own discovery of the band some five years later with the release of Before Hollywood, they had developed a more sophisticated and less jarring sound. Lee Remick, and indeed its superior b-side Karen, are both great little numbers but in the grand scheme of things have the feel of demos rather than finished products.

Robert’s autobiography and the documentary helped shed a bit more light on things and made me appreciate just how much of an achievement it was getting the band and new label up and running in Brisbane in the late 70s given how in so many ways the city and the state of Queensland was ridiculously insular and backward-looking, with a particularly oppressive police regime which wasn’t slow in using violence against anyone wanting to be creative in a modern way; not that Robert, Grant or record-label owner Damien Nelson ever really got caught up in such stuff, but Brisbane in the late 70s was the least likely of the big Australian cities to spawn a band like The Go-Betweens and it was no real surprise that before too long they were on the move to elsewhere in the country and then to the UK.

To Reach Me (from Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, 1986)

The fact the band had two main singer-songwriters was both a strength and a weakness. On the upside, it allowed listeners to enjoy two quite different approaches to work with Grant for the main (but not exclusively) being the arch-exponent of great pop songs, often about love and life while Robert was a bit more celebral (but again, not exclusively). This one kind of crosses the two in that it’s a love song (of sorts), set to a complicated yet catchy tune with a lyric that is almost Cave-esque with its imagery. It’s all quite magical.

The weakness? The music press, lazy in extreme, wanted a sole focus of attention for the interviews and profiles. The band didn’t play the game and lost out.

The Clock (from The Friends of Rachel Worth, 2000)

I wasn’t too sure about Robert and Grant’s decision to reform the band after more than a decade. I had my doubts about whether they were capable of recapturing the magic of the golden era, especially given that the other key members were nowhere to be seen. I certainly haven’t listened to the three final albums anywhere near as much as I did the earlier material, and indeed would still say I wasn’t wholly familiar with them in comparison in particular to Before Hollywood, Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, and 16 Lovers Lane. The binge of recent weeks, however, has seen them get more airings than any others, and while I’m still not sure about Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003), the albums on either side are now much more appreciated.

The Clock, on first, and indeed subsequent early listens, seemed a little bit inconsequential, but it’s one of those from which an exposure to repeated listening reveals a bit of musical depth, even although it is not really close to much of the 80s output.

Hammer The Hammer (single, 1982)

The band’s fifth single, but the first to feature Grant on lead vocal (and as such, the first of his own compositions to be chosen for a 45). I hadn’t until reading the book quite realised how little interest Grant had in music until he was pestered to form a band by Robert, a point also reinforced by the film. This meant that Robert, having been keen to pursue such a career had more than a head start in terms of having sufficient songs of quality to issue as early singles with Grant first of all learning the rudiments of bass and acoustic guitars before really turning his attention to song writing.

There’s a great bit in the film where Robert describes the song writing issue it as being akin to him driving a car, and he’s away ahead of Grant, but out of nowhere his friend appears in the rear view mirror, getting ever closer and eventually passing him, which he felt happened with the writing and recording of Hammer the Hammer, and which would continue thanks to the likes of Cattle and Cane, That Way and Dusty in Here, all of which were among the strongest and most enduring songs on the band’s sophomore LP.

Robert’s response was to seek to up his own game and start penning songs that would have him catch up……………….

Part Company (single, 1984)

The band had been very unlucky timing wise with the debut album. Rough Trade had been very enthusiastic but then along came The Smiths and the label decided to put all its eggs into that particular basket. The Go-Betweens were offered to, and accepted by Seymour Stein at Sire Records. It proved by a poor fit, with the label not quite sure exactly how best to pitch the band to the record buying public. An expensively produced album, Spring Hill Fair, was recorded in rural France but it wasn’t a terribly happy experience for all concerned. Despite this, the album still manages to incorporate some of their finest moments, including Part Company, which was Robert’s attempt to compose a song that was more literate than before and the first stage in catching-up to the quality of the songs of his mate. But it was bonkers of the label to have it as the lead single.

Robert still plays this at solo gigs….and it never fails to be met with huge acclaim.

Side B

Head Full Of Steam (From Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, 1986)

Don’t Let Him Come Back (new version, 1986)

The opening track to side-B of this ICA is one of the great long-lost singles of the 80s. The bitter experiences around the recording of Spring Hill Fair had made the band determined to get it right next time around, which they more than did with Liberty Belle….the album which was certainly the high point of the band’s time as a four-piece. They also brought in a few friends to assist on some songs, and Tracey Thorn supplies a wonderfully understated backing vocal which perfectly complements that of Robert, whose deadpan performance is just perfect.

The b-side to the single was a real treat. It was a superb re-recording of a very early song, originally issued as the b-side to 1979 single People Say, and in which Grant, Robert, Lindy and the other Robert give us something which could easily be held up as the definitive indie-jangly song of the era.

Apology Accepted (radio session 1986)

The original version closes Liberty Belle….and as much as I loved it when I first heard it in the mid 80s, nothing prepared me for just the majesty of this radio session, broadcast on the Janice Long Show on BBC Radio One in May 1986 and made available when the parent album was released in an expanded 2-CD form in 2004. It has a slightly faster tempo than the original, but for me its the way that the piano solo in the middle of the song is brought to the fore that makes it the superior version….but it was a close run thing.

Bachelor Kisses (from Spring Hill Fair, 1984)

The NME review of this, when it was released as the second 45 from the album stated:-

“Song of the week. Only when we’re confronted with a song so perfectly turned, lines so finely balanced and a melody so achingly sweet as Bachelor Kisses are we forced to notice how hollow most contemporary pop rings.”

High praise indeed, particularly when you recall that for the NME in 1984, contemporary pop in their eyes had an indie-bent and included bands such as The Smiths, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Scritti Politti and Prefab Sprout. I’m not sure I’d go as far as the NME reviewer did as I’ve long felt that Bachelor Kisses gravitates towards soft-rock territory in some ways but it’s a song of which I grew increasingly appreciative of in later years as bitter-sweet love songs came to mean something in my life.

Finding You (from Oceans Apart, 2005)

If nothing else, reading the book and watching the film brought the realisation that I had been so wrong to have dismissed Finding You simply as a mid-tempo piece of sombre sentimentality.

It wasn’t widely known, but at the time Grant was battling all sorts of demons in his life. The Go-Betweens had reformed but, and this comes out especially in the film, he was a desperately unhappy and lonely man. It’s really little wonder that it was tunes and lyrics such as this which were pouring out of him, although it did take a contribution from Robert to provide the final touch, thus delivering one of the few genuine Forster/McLennan compositions.

And its chorus captures my own issues with this blog after all these years….don’t know where I’m going, don’t know where it’s flowing…………but the thing is, these ICAs, and in particular the stuff it has enabled me, and hopefully you as readers, to find over the now 200 efforts, makes it worth it.

JC

PS : ICA 201, a guest contribution, will appear tomorrow.

Clash

TODAY I FEEL LIKE LISTENING TO THIS LOT

Normal service is resumed after the holiday.

They’ve had the singles treatment over 19 consecutive weeks, an ICA and a handful of songs featuring on other postings. So here’s an imaginary 4-track EP with stuff I’ve not played here before:-

mp3 : The Clash – What’s My Name (live at Belle Vue, Manchester 1977)
mp3 : The Clash – Guns On The Roof
mp3 : The Clash – Brand New Cadillac
mp3 : The Clash – Rock The Casbah

Track 1 is lifted from a TV clip that was filmed for inclusion on So It Goes, the weekly music programme devised and presented by Anthony H Wilson (or plain Tony as he was known in those days). That’s why you get the added lyric of ‘here we are on TV…..‘in the middle. It’s a far more raw and energetic version than appears on the debut album.

Track 2 takes the riff from Clash City Rockers, which itself ripped off the 1965 single, I Can’t Explain by The Who, and has Joe pontificating on state-sponsored terrorism while taking its title from an incident closer to home when Paul, Topper and a bunch of hangers-on ended up in trouble for shooting at pigeons from the roof of their rehearsal rooms having been mistaken for terrorists shooting at passing trains.

Track 3, lifted from London Calling, is the well-known and well-loved cover of the 1959 song by Vince Taylor which The Clash considered to be one of the first and best British rock’n’roll records

Track 4. Nope, this version hasn’t been featured before. It’s lifted from the album that never was – Rat Patrol From Fort Knox – recorded by the band and fully produced by Mick Jones over a three-month period between November 1981 and January 1982. It would likely have been a double album, which coming on the back of London Calling and Sandinista was too much for CBS to accept, but even worse was that the rest of the band, along with newly re-instated manager Bernie Rhodes, rejected it feeling some songs were too long and others had too many overdubs and samples.

The songs were then given to Glyn Johns to rework and remix into what became Combat Rock….it was only years later when the Rat Patrol sessions were released in bootleg form did many folk come to the realisation that the strive for commercialism had been at the expense of the beginning of the break-up of the band with Mick Jones utterly devastated by what had happened.

Bonus Track

mp3 : The Clash – The Beautiful People Are Ugly

This would have been the opening song on Rat Patrol if it had been allowed to see the light of day. A touch on the pop side perhaps, but again it was Mick trying to prevent the band from pigeon-holed by critics and fans alike.

JC

Durutti Column, Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 11)

Really kicking myself that this couldn’t have been held back till next Sunday, which is just 48 hours before Christmas. From wiki:-

“Scottish Christmas” was a one-off Christmas 1985 release from Les Disques Du Crepuscule/Factory Benelux. Its A-side is “Scottish Christmas” by Paul Haig and its B-sides, “Christmas for Pauline” and “Snowflakes” are by The Durutti Column.

It’s quite a rare artefact with the sole copy available via Discogs looking for almost £40….and it’s from a seller in France. And no, I don’t own a copy. I’ve been able to get hold of two of the tracks, courtesy of their inclusion on the Crepuscule compilation, Ghosts of Christmas Past.

mp3 : Paul Haig – Scottish Christmas
mp3 : Durutti Column – Snowflakes

Paul’s instrumental track is kind of festive sounding I suppose……

JC

Hussy's

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #142 – THE HUSSY’S

The Hussy’s were the band formed by James McColl after the break-up of The Supernaturals in 2002. They were an act which seemed to be heavily reliant on MySpace to get info and product out there, and with the relevant page(s) not there any more, info is quite scant.

Given that I quite liked The Supernaturals, I really should have paid attention but the band totally passed me by. I’ve done a bit of digging and found an on-line piece from back in 2007 from which I’ve cobbled this:-

The Hussy’s are a 6-piece band from Glasgow. Their songs recall the quirkiness and the pop hooks of amongst others, the vastly underrated Supernaturals. It will therefore come as no surprise to learn that head Hussy James McColl indeed used to be The Supers singer and songwriter. The Hussy’s however are not a rehash of McColl’s former band with a female singer, they have a sound, which is all their own, but one that is not afraid to draw on many influences. You could hear a dash of Madness in one track, a touch of Kirsty MaColl, or even a nod to Polly Styrene in others! Trying to pin down a style is difficult as the Hussy’s’ don’t seem to sit still for too long, compare “Tiger” to “We Expected” or listen to the quirky “Rock Concert”, and in terms of style, they could be by different bands, were it not for Filli’s distinctive vocals giving it that “Hussy” factor.

The Hussy’s released their debut EP ‘Tiger’, in September 2005, and their second EP in March 2006; both on their own label Fat Cheerleader records. In May 2007 the band released the fabulous “We Expected” as a single in the UK. The band have also released an album in Japan and have had their song “Rock Concert” used on a nationwide advert for very comfortable, stylish yet affordable, shoes in the USA. They will release their excellent new EP “Sunday Morning” later this year.

The only track I have of theirs is, again, courtesy of its inclusion on a compilation CD fired over a few years back by Phil Hogarth:-

mp3 : The Hussy’s – Snowboard

It’s a track from the four-track debut EP Tiger.

JC

Various

BEACH BUMMING (10/10)

Heaven Help You Now was released on 7″ and 12″ on Les Disques Du Crepuscule in September 1985, with once again Alan Rankine involved in the production side as well as contributing keyboards.

It was the precursor to what would prove to be an excellent album, The Warp Of Pure Fun, the contents of which consisted of around half of what had been a proposed album which Island Records decided not to release, together with some newer material. As such, the album ended up being recorded periodically in five different locations and with different contributing musicians.

It’s another excellent, if very 80s sounding single, and its failure to get anywhere near the charts must have been a sore one for Paul to take, given that many inferior tunes and acts were enjoying fame and fortune:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Help You Now (extended)
mp3 : Paul Haig – World Raw
mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Help You Now
mp3 : Paul Haig – Chance

World Raw (which was on both the 7″ and 12″) can be categorised under ‘experimental’ while Chance (only available on the 12″) sounds demo-like for the most part…and the version on offer today is the full near six minute take. Probably only of value to collectors.

JC

Human Don't Be Angry

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #141 : HUMAN DON’T BE ANGRY

This review from The List magazine back in March 2012 sums it up best:-

In the bowels of a radioactive pop bunker somewhere between Glasgow and Falkirk, Malcolm Middleton has spent 18 months incubating a (super) heroic alter-ego.

We all thought we knew the mild-mannered Middleton – sublime melodist with Arab Strap; acclaimed creator of solo albums like A Brighter Beat and Into The Woods – but behind the smile and modest beard, there throbbed the fluorescent brain of an ambient 80s overlord. He was hatching a plan for interplanetary domination, as soundtracked by the Art of Noise, Tangerine Dream, Whitesnake and Top Gun, and his plotting has borne brilliant fruit in the guise of Human Don’t Be Angry.

From the gorgeous alt-MOR swell of ‘Monologue: River’ to the lambent riffs and glimmering krautrock of ‘First Person Singular, Present Tense’ – not to mention the discombobulating art-pop thrill of ‘1985’ – Human Don’t Be Angry is a captivating, drum-embracing beast. It is fortified by guitar-fuelled instrumental adventures (‘The Missing Plutonium’), Frankie Goes to Hollywood homages (‘After the Pleasuredome’) and a fitting widescreen leitmotif (‘HDBA Theme’).

Recorded in 1982, but not released until 1985, this is arguably the strangest of the Paul Haig solo releases.

It had been laid down in the studio for Crépuscule in Brussels but, as was mentioned in earlier parts of this series, the licensing deal with Island led to a number of planned releases being shelved in favour of work commencing on Rhythm of Life.

A magazine interview given by Paul does throw some light on the thinking behind it all.

“After listening to lots of Sinatra records I became aware of these fantastic old songs. I think the music and the lyrics are absolutely incredible – especially the lyrics. The ‘swing’ side starts with The Song Is You, then All of You and Let’s Face the Music and Dance. The ‘dream’ side is Love Me Tender, The Way You Look Tonight and Send In the Clowns. I think the first side is around 1938, with songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, people like that. The second side is slightly more modern.”

“The basic instrumentation on side one is just drums, double bass and piano, with the addition of string synthesiser on side two. We had to try about three sets of musicians before we found these old session musicians that had been playing jazz all their lives. The plano player must have been 70 years old! The drummer was quite young, in his mid twenties, so it was quite a challenge for him to keep pace with these brilliant jazz musicians, as it was for me too. I’m sure they thought it was a joke. I remember I turned up at the studio the morning they arrived. They said, ‘Are you the singer? The producer?’ They looked at each other in disbelief.”

As menationed at the outset, Swing in 82 belatedly emerged in 1985, but with with the original six tracks whittled down to five:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – The Song Is You
mp3 : Paul Haig – All Of You
mp3 : Paul Haig – Let’s Face The Music and Dance
mp3 : Paul Haig – Love Me Tender
mp3 : Paul Haig – The Way You Look Tonight

JC

Hue and Cry

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #140 : HUE AND CRY

A re-post from just five months ago….

Here’s a single which is kind of like a skeleton in my closet in that I don’t admit to many folk that I like it; indeed it is one I rarely play given nowadays given that I’ve never transferred it or anything else by the band onto the i-pod or i-phone.

Just as I’m finding it really hard to listen to anything involving Morrissey, so it has been for some 30 years with Hue and Cry. For those of you who perhaps aren’t familiar with the group, (which I imagine will be the case with almost all the non-UK readers), it is basically a duo, formed by brother Pat Kane (vocals) and Greg Kane (everything else!) in the mid-80s.

After a debut single in 1986 on a small Glasgow-based independent label, they came to the attention of Virgin Records who signed them to a subsidiary label Circa for whom there was immediate success which was sustained for a few years with a number of chart singles and two albums which went Top 20. They were incredibly popular in Scotland, emerging at a time when a number of others acts across the country were embracing that late 80s big-sounding production with big vocals and big social statements to match, selling out much bigger venues up here than anywhere else.

It soon became apparent that Pat Kane was never going to be content with being a mere pop star.

He made use of his fame to promote himself as something of an intellectual, penning newspaper columns and appearing on television programmes in which he never shied away from airing what he considered to be left-wing credentials. He was also a very strong advocate for independence for Scotland and, to be fair, his arguments and viewpoints did make for interesting reading, gaining more than enough traction to ensure his success when he stood in an election in 1990 for the post of Rector at Glasgow University, which in effect is the highest office that can be held by a non-academic person at that particular seat of learning.

There was seemingly nothing on which Pat Kane didn’t have an opinion, and there was seemingly nothing on which his opinion was wrong. I don’t think I was alone in growing very bored of him very quickly, switching the telly over any time he appeared and completely by-passing any articles I came across in any newspapers. There was an arrogance about him that jarred and, looking back, it is clear to see that he was one of the first ‘champagne socialists’ who would rise to power in later years, albeit at the UK level of politics rather than in Scotland.

All of this made it tough to enjoy his music anymore, but to compound things, he and Greg announced that having enjoyed the rewards from two hit albums they were now going to embrace their lifelong love of jazz, which was my cue to bail out entirely.

Hue and Cry are still on the go today and Pat Kane still has something of a profile as a journalist and political activist but I continue to pay no attention.

But….and this came from looking deep for stuff that might go down well at the Simply Thrilled night(s)….there’s no denying that the duo did write and record an absolute belter of a radio-friendly tune back in 1987:-

mp3 : Hue and Cry – Labour of Love

This was the second single lifted from the debut album and it climbed all the way to #6 in the UK charts. It’s big, bold and brassy with a defiant message. Yes, it could be interpreted as a break-up song with someone telling their other half that the love they had endured for seven years was now over; but let’s not kid ourselves – this was very much an open letter to a right-wing government which was causing havoc to so many communities, including many in and around where the Kane brothers had been brought up. If Billy Bragg had penned this lyric, we’d be still celebrating it as genuine classic.

Sons & Daughters

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #199 : SONS & DAUGHTERS

From wiki:-

Sons and Daughters were a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland formed from 2001 to 2012. Its members were Adele Bethel (vocals, guitar, piano), David Gow (drums, percussion), Ailidh Lennon (bass, mandolin, piano) and Scott Paterson (vocals, guitar).

Conceived while on tour with Arab Strap in 2001, Sons and Daughters was initially Adele Bethel’s creation. The band’s line-up at first comprised Bethel, David Gow and Ailidh Lennon, and the band began recording. After the later addition of Scott Paterson as a second vocalist, the band played a number of successful concerts. Their debut release, the twenty five minutes-long Love the Cup was financed by the band and initially released on Ba Da Bing Records label in 2003, and later re-released when Sons and Daughters signed to Domino Records in 2004.

Their second album, The Repulsion Box was released in June 2005. In February 2006 the band were invited to tour with Morrissey on the first leg of his UK tour. Their third album, This Gift, produced by Bernard Butler, was released on 28 January 2008.

After a few years of relative inactivity the band released a free download, “Silver Spell”, accompanied by a trailer for their new album, Mirror Mirror, which was released on 13 June 2011.

On 2 November 2012 the band announced that they would no longer continue as a band bringing an end to 11 years of their career.

They were a band I had an awful lot of time for, and not simply from the connections with Arab Strap. They made music that was unlike most of their Glasgow contemporaries – you would certainly never mistake them for Belle & Sebastian or Camera Obscura – consisting of a blend which tried to fuse post-punk, blues, folk, rockabilly and goth. A more tuneful and slightly less menacing 21st century Birthday Party if you like…..

I’ve long been meaning to pull together an ICA, so here goes. Oh and it has 12 tracks as the normal 10 tracks would have been short a running time.

SIDE A

1. Johnny Cash (from Love The Cup, 2004)

One of my favourite songs of all-time, earning a place in the 45 45s at 45 rundown back in 2008. And the only song by a Glasgow band that I’ve ever heard being played on commercial radio while hanging around a clothes shop on the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

The song was my introduction to the band. I had been told to look out for them by a few who were ‘in the know’ but I had never got round to buying anything. The video to Johnny Cash, played by Zane Lowe on MTV2, immediately caught my ear, thanks to its riff, beat and growling, almost menacing, vocal. And then Adele came in on backing/joint vocal for the chorus and I was mesmerised. I went out and bought the CD the following day.

2. Dance Me In (single version, 2005)

Love The Cup was a calling card, more a seven-track EP than a full-blown album. It was after signing to Domino Records that they went into the famous Conny Plank’s studio in Cologne in January 2005, with Victor Van Vught (who had previously worked with, among others, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey) in the producer’s chair, with the end result being a blistering and frantic 10-track record that was barely 30 minutes in length.

The album had been preceded by the release of a new single, one which had been recorded in August 2004 at Westheath Studios in London, with owner Edwyn Collins in the producer’s chair and his sidekick Sebastian Lewsley on engineering duties. I’m not entirely sure why Edwyn didn’t go on to produce the whole album – it may well have simply been he didn’t have the time – but his version of Dance Me In comparion to that which appears on the album is just that little bit more dynamic and danceable.

3. Chains (from This Gift, 2008)

A kind of second cousin to Dance Me In, thanks to the now trademark duel lead vocals and the whoa-whoa-whoas which Adele and Scott delivered like no others. By now, if you’ve really entered into the spirit of things, you should have sort of gyrated yourself dizzy….so it’s time to slow things down just a tad.

4. Rama Lama (from The Repulsion Box, 2005)

Sons & Daughters did record an awful lot of murder ballads, and so it was no real surprise that they eventually appeared on Mr Cave’s radar with him asking them to open for the Bad Seeds at what was, at that point in time, their biggest UK show at the Alexandra Palace, London in August 2005. I had no idea until I got to the venue that they were the support act and so it made for a very special evening.

As with any support acts in a venue as cavernous as the Ally Pally with its 10,000+ all standing capacity, they struggled to get everyone’s attention and there was far too much chattering. What I do recall, however, is that a group of about a dozen folk close to where myself and Mrs V were standing did shut up for a few minutes having been drawn in initially by the punch-to the-guts bass notes opening to Rama Lama and then by the gory and disturbing story which unveiled over the next five minutes. Adele’s spine-chilling vocal back-up to Scott’s deadpan, near spoken delivery, was that of someone who sounded as if she was possessed by something not of this world. Old Nick put on a great show that night, but he and his band didn’t get close to the brilliance of this.

5. Rose Red (from Mirror Mirror, 2011)

If I’m being brutally honest, the final album just before the break-up was something of a disappointment in comparison to what had come before. The band lost much of their edginess, possibly in the hope of getting some overdue commercial success, but the songs just weren’t there. The energy had largely been sapped which was all too apparent in the live setting of a packed hometown gig at SWG3 where a disappointing set was saved towards the end with some oldies before Rose Red, something of a highlight on the new record, brought the night to an end. No encore was given but none was really wanted by the audience. It was no surprise that they break-up was just a matter of months away.

6. Nice’n’Sleazy (b-side, 2005)

Yup…..it’s a cover of The Stranglers song………..and a bloody good one at that. The bass lines and keyboard solo may not be in the class of the original, but Adele’s breathless vocal delivery goes a long way to compensate.

SIDE B

1. Medicine (from The Repulsion Box, 2005)

The opening track on The Repulsion Box opens with what can only be described as a hoedown stomp on speed and sets the tone for much of what was to follow. Oh and it features the best use of a mandolin on any piece of music since….well I’ll come to that a bit later on.

2. Red Receiver (from The Repulsion Box, 2005)

There have been quite a few songs written over the years about being jilted at the altar….but none as good as this.

3. Gilt Complex (from This Gift, 2008)

Another album opener. It was released on 7” and digital download in advance of the album with hopes that it would get airplay and lead to some commercial success. Domino Records had drafted in Bernard Butler to add finesse and polish to the band….it would later be revealed that the recording process wasn’t easy and created a lot of unhappiness for the band…and while the results were a bit mixed there is no question that Gilt Complex was everything that the label was looking for. It must have been a sore one to take when it disappeared without trace. I should mention that the b-side of the 7” was a cover of Killer, the #1 hit for Seal….but having mentioned it, I’ll say nothing more other than it stinks the house out.

4. Fight (from Love The Cup, 2004)

The third track on this side of the ICA which had originally provided the opening to an EP or album. In many ways, it is the archetypal Sons & Daughters track with great vocal interplay between deadpan Scott and excitable Adele while the talents of David and Ailidh see things driven along at perfect pace and without either of them seeming to break sweat. Oh and it features the best use of a mandolin on any piece of music since Losing My Religion…..thanks Ailidh.

5. Broken Bones (from Love The Cup, 2004)

Just as I always expect Red Receiver to follow on immediately from Medicine (see above), so do I always expect Broken Bones to follow on immediately from Fight. This was the first of the Murder Ballads to be put down on vinyl and is one of their most enduring.

6. Awkward Duet (from Love The Cup, 2004)

I realise that by using the closer from Love The Cup to close the ICA, I’ve leant heavily on the EP with four of its seven tracks making the cut. There was just something almost other-worldly about the debut material which was recorded at Chem 19, just outside of Glasgow in the summer of 2003 and which was initially put out on a very small indie before Domino came calling. It is certainly more basic than all the successor works, but by no means is it lo-fi. Sometimes, a minimal amount of tweaking works best of all, as can be heard on Awkward Duet which, at times, almost collapses in on itself such is its fragility. It’s an unexpected piece of maudlin, coming-down type of music at the end of a record which had been truly dynamic and utterly different.

And that, dear readers, brings ICA #199 to an end.

#200 has already been written and held in reserve for that particular occasion. But as I’m going off on holiday next week and as I’m using that particular period for something specific (tune in on Monday for more), you’ll all have to wait a bit.

In the meantime, I’m set to enjoy myself at Simply Thrilled tonight…..

JC

Coldplay

MUM’S THE WORD

It’s after 2am and I’m pulling this piece together just a few hours before publication.

This is most unusual as I’m the type who has things written up weeks in advance, rarely deviating from a planned schedule. But in truth, the posting for 29 November 2019 was always going to be about a blogging friend but I wasn’t sure until now just how I was going to approach it.

The past wee while has been strange in terms of blogging. A crisis of confidence (of sorts) has led to me not reading other people’s stuff over the past six months – I was genuinely scared of visiting places and discovering so many amazingly well-written posts which I had no chance of matching that I’d end up using them as the excuse to give up entirely.

It’s been a selfish thing to do, especially given that I rely often on guest contributions. It’s also been a stupid thing to do as I’ve missed out on things that have been happening to friends – some good things, some bad things, some sad things and some happy things – and my life has been the poorer for it.

I can say that with some certainty as I’ve just spent much of the past three days, whenever I’ve had some spare time (of which there hasn’t been much and thus this particular late shift), catching up with SWC, Tim Badger and KT over at The Sound of Being OK.

There’s a number of reasons why theirs was the first to go back to after all these months – one being that I have received a few e-mails from the trio asking after me and they were kind enough to accept my excuses for not visiting and indeed being very understanding in so many ways. The main reason, however, was because Tim and SWC supplied me with info and news which was very much in the public domain through their blog but which, of course, I had missed out on, namely that KT and her husband Dom were going to become parents around the end of this calendar year.

I don’t know how many of you are regular visitors to their place – I do know from their own comments section that a number of the regulars to T(n)VV are fans of TSOBO, something which is hardly a surprise given the quality of writing to be found over there.

The month of November has been a particular joy to read as TSOBO has been more or less handed over in its entirety to KT to allow her to say a few things before she takes her leave (hopefully temporarily). Tomorrow is her last day and will see her reveal something about her #1 song/singer/band of all time.

But today, KT will talk about #2 and I have it on good authority it will feature Coldplay. And I have promised the boys that, in her honour, and as a way of saying both thank you and good luck, I will have this blog do likewise. Eventually…..

KT previously provided an ICA on Coldplay. It was a wonderfully written and high-quality piece as you would expect, albeit most of the songs were unfamiliar to me, which in itself is not unusual with most guest ICAs.

However, in this instance, there was a badly judged effort on my behalf to take the piss out of the band, one in which I shamefully encouraged others to join in. It was meant to be funny but the joke wore thin rather quickly and KT would have been well within her rights to call me all the names under the sun.

The fact that she didn’t shows what a class act she truly is…..and I’ll always be grateful to her for being so magnanimous.

TSOBO is the follow-on from an old blog which was known commonly as WYCRA, something which the authors collectively deleted sometime ago.

KT (or KC as she was for much of WYCRA) was introduced to us on the back of an incredibly personal posting about how her world had collapsed around her without warning….it was one of the most remarkable pieces of writing I’d seen anywhere, in hard physical copy or digitally. Over the succeeding weeks and months, Kay (for that is her given name) took us on a rollercoaster of a journey through the life she had lived, introducing us to so many great people who surround her, be they family or friends. Oh, and she also threw out the most wonderful titbits that revealed very funny things about SWC and Tim Badger….

Kay is a ridiculously talented writer – as indeed are her two male sidekicks… and I’ll likely focus on them some other days. Today is all anout the mum-to-be, someone who is going to be missed by many, and no doubt by SWC and Tim more than any others, and I’m really looking forward to reading her final two contributions today and tomorrow.

I’ve never heard the song I’m posting today….but an internet search of ‘What’s the happiest Coldplay song?’ threw it up as a suggestion…..and the title seemed appropriate.

This one’s for you missus…..and I want to wish you, Dom and your soon-to-be-born daughter all the happiness in the world.

mp3 : Coldplay – Adventure of a Lifetime