Orange Juice

THE POSTCARD SINGLE THAT NEVER WAS….

The above photo is the reverse of the sleeve for Chance Meeting, a single released by Josef K on Postcard Records in 1981 and given the catalogue number 81-5. If you look closely or indeed magnify it, you’ll see that the opportunity has been taken to list all the previous singles, along with their catalogue numbers, as well as the anticipated next release:-

81-6 : Orange Juice
Wan Light c/w You Old Eccentric

Only it never happened. It was meant to be a 45 with both sides devoted to James Kirk songs. The band sped off to Polydor before there was a chance to issue a fifth single for the Glasgow label; indeed there would be one further 45 ever released out of West Princes Street, Glasgow and that was 81-8 : Mattress Of Wire c/w Lost Outside The Tunnel by Aztec Camera just before they signed to Rough Trade.

Wan Light was later recorded for You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever, the debut album, but it’s likely that the Postcard single would have been more like the rough n ready demo version previously recorded or perhaps the version recorded for BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the Richard Skinner Show in January 1991.

You Old Eccentric was later issued on the b-side of the 12″ version of Felicity, but again it’s likely that the Postcard version would be more similar to the version recorded for BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the John Peel show in October 1980.

On that basis, and with thanks to Auntie Beeb, here is the Postcard single that never was, 81-6:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Wan Light
mp3 : Orange Juice – You Old Eccentric

JC

Strokes

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (24)

I wrote some fawning stuff about The Strokes a couple of years back, and I think it’s fair to say that my regulars weren’t completely on my side. Indeed, some of the comments left behind contained two of the most scathing but wonderfully worded criticisms of anything that’s appeared on this blog all these years:-

“I never understood the fuss….it just sounded to me as they couldn’t be arsed. I thought they sounded like a low-rent Television’ : The Robster

“The Strokes always sounded like and came off as superficial to me. I’m grounded in a love of all things Downtown NYC since I was a teen – VU, Television, The Dolls, Talking Heads, Ramones having grown up with it. The Strokes were always like a fashion magazine update of the scene and lacked the gravitas” : Echorich

I’ll stand by my original views, namely that they were a very welcome breath of fresh air back in 2001. I was so sure I would never again get overly excited by thin young men and their electric guitars, but my first exposure to Hard To Explain changed all of that. It was, without question, a throwback to the post-punk/new wave era and it did pay its dues to NYC bands from that era, but it also managed to infuse something of the British pop ideals which made it immediately more accessible and radio-friendly than most. It wasn’t really their fault that they all looked as if they could have equally been at ease on a catwalk.

Hard To Explain was a killer debut 45. The follow-ups which also featured on the debut album – Last Nite and Someday – were every bit as good. It was that very rare instance of a new act being loved by the critics and selling the product to millions of fans.  Oh and the b-side wasn’t too shabby either.

mp3 : The Strokes – Hard To Explain
mp3 : The Strokes – New York City Cops

JC

Grinderman

THE GRINDERMAN SINGLES (3)

The self-titled Grinderman debut album had been really well received by most folk, with many of the songs being a variation of one sort or the other on Get It On and No Pussy Blues.

There was, however,one song which could just about have got played on daytime radio, being as near to a pop record as Grinderman would ever get, including a sing-a-long chorus. Rather surprisingly, it was selected in April 20007 as the band’s third 45, and like the debut, in a single-sided limited edition 7″ vinyl format, perhaps in the hope of generating some radio exposure and further sales for the album:-

mp3 : Grinderman – (I Don’t Need You To) Set Me Free

Around this time, the members of Grinderman went into the studio along with the other Bad Seeds and quickly recorded what subsequently be the latter band’s fourteenth album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! which was issued in early 2008.

Grinderman came out of the studio and onto the stage, making some live appearances in the UK before opening some high-profile US shows as the special guests of The White Stripes and then undertaking a theatre tour of Australia, opening for a Nick Cave ‘solo’ set, which consisted of the same band members.

And that was assumed to be that…a one-off 12 month project that had been fun for all concerned. How wrong we all were….

JC

Various

FIVE TO REMEMBER ON THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER

Turns out that I’ve five songs on the hard drive with an apt title for today. Can’t say that I’m proud of that fact when you see what some of them are:-

mp3 : Embrace – Fireworks
mp3 : Ette – Fireworks
mp3 : Moby – Fireworks
mp3 : Pele – Fireworks
mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Fireworks

Please make sure your pets are safe and secure tonight and do all you can to minimise the impact on their poor nerves.  In other words, don’t subject them to the Embrace song…..

JC

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 5)

The fact that Heaven Sent had flopped didn’t deter Island Records from having another stab at the pop charts a few weeks later, with a ridiculously upbeat and uptempo pop song which had been subject to all sorts of sounds, bells and drum effects from Alex Sadkin in the producer’s chair. The purists hated it….this fan loved it!!

mp3 : Paul Haig – Never Give Up (Party, Party)

I never actually bought the 7″ version and the above mp3 is ripped from the album Rhythm of Life. I still have my 12″ copy from all those years ago:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Never Give Up (Party, Party)(12 inch mix)

It’s two minutes longer, primarily as a result of a marimba solo in the middle. And unlike the 12″ version of Heaven Sent, I really like the way this has been extended out, albeit it is naff and 80s in places!

The b-side is, sad to say, six and half minutes of torture, with the a-side mixed up and strangled by a remixer called Groucho Smykle. Don’t say I didn’t warn you:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Heartache (party mix)

JC

Honeyblood

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #136 : HONEYBLOOD

Lazy effort from me this week. Relying on all music for the text:-

Glaswegian noise pop duo Honeyblood consists of Stina Tweeddale on guitar and vocals and Cat Myers on drums.

Taking inspiration from dark and cloudy ’90s indie rock luminaries like PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, and Throwing Muses, Tweeddale formed the band in early 2012 with original drummer Shona McVicar. Their gorgeously murky home-recorded two-song demo cassette quickly caught the attention of FatCat Records, which signed Honeyblood in 2013 and issued their first single, Bud, later that year.

The duo’s self-titled album, which was produced by Peter Katis, arrived in July 2014 and delivered a more polished version of Tweeddale and McVicar’s crunch-pop. Shortly after Honeyblood’s release, McVicar left and was replaced by Cat Myers. After touring with the likes of the Foo Fighters and Wolf Alice in 2015, Honeyblood returned to the studio with producer James Dring, who also worked with Jamie T and Gorillaz. The band’s fiery second album, Babes Never Die, arrived in late 2016.

I much prefer the material from the era of the first album, and while the image above is of Stina and Cat, this dates from when Shona was banging the drums:-

mp3 : Honeyblood – Bud

One of my favourite 45s from recent years.

JC

 

 

Simply Thrilled

FOUR WEEKS TONIGHT

Simply Thrilled is on its way back, once again at The Admiral Bar in Glasgow, on the evening of Friday 30 November, And you’ll see from the publicity poster, there’s a couple of guest DJs, one being a well-kent face and the other one of his best mates.

This blogging malarkey over the past 12 years has enabled a ridiculous number of incredible experiences, far too many to list and to risk mentioning as inevitably I’ll have missed something or someone out. Being able to share a stage (as such) with the nearest thing Scotland has to a living national bard is up there.

You’ll hopefully recall how much fun we all had at the debut Simply Thrilled event. It was never the plan to wait so long to get it all going again, but a few logistical and availability issues caused a bit of a delay. It’s somehow fitting that a club night dedicated to music, new and old, from singers and bands from Scotland will coincide with the feast day of our national saint, thus providing an opportunity for the tagline of a St Andrew’s Night Shindig.

Robert, Hugh and Carlo will, as ever, put together a genius plan to make the evening go with a swing, with some free stuff to hand out to the first 100 or so revellers who come through the door (nothing too fancy, it’ll be a one-off badge or the likes), while Ash is already putting his mind to some suitable and appropriate artwork, visuals and graphics for display on the walls of the basement venue. Me? As I said in the aftermath of the launch night, I’ll pull together a set list for my allocated time in charge of the laptop and hope there’s a similarly warm response as I try to take patrons of a certain age back to the days of 80s student unions and the like.

The really positive reactions to certain songs took us all by surprise last time out. A number of tunes, some which were huge hits and others which were loved locally but didn’t travel well outside of West-Central Scotland, got loud cheers from the outset. Others had folk, mostly blokes, cosying up to the booth and asking to be reminded what a particular song was and saying it was amazing to hear something again for the first time in decades. I’ll very happily take the same result again.

This one filled the floor:-

mp3 : Danny Wilson – Mary’s Prayer

The temptation is to try to play a completely different set next time around, but in the same way that bands can’t get away without playing the songs that the fans have come along to hear, those of us charged with trying to ensure the floor fills up and stays that way must air the popular tunes and requested tunes. I suspect the big hit for Danny Wilson will be aired at some point in the evening, but there should still be room for some more recent stuff such as this:-

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – I Could Give You All That You Don’t Want
mp3 : Mogwai – Party In The Dark

To my surprise, neither of these two outstanding pieces of music have been posted before.

Tickets for the St Andrew’s Night Shindig, priced just £5, are available from here.

PS : As it all this wasn’t simply thrilling enough, my dear old friend Walter from A Few Good Times In My Life is flying in from Germany to come along.  Can’t wait.

JC

Joy Division

LWTUA

Hard to believe, but I’ve never had a post dedicated to Love Will Tear Us Apart. Plenty of Joy Division stuff, including an ICA in which the song was featured, but never any sort of in-depth look or attempt at discussion.

Let’s get some of the basic facts out-of-the-way.

The song was written around August 1979 and was quickly included in the band’s live sets. It was recorded on 26 November 1979 for a session for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 which was broadcast on 10 December 2017. The producer was Tony Wilson…..but not the bloke who ran Factory Records….this particular Tony Wilson was almost part of the furniture at the BBC, heavily involved in all sorts of radio sessions and live events from the 60s to the 90s.

mp3 : Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Peel Session)

The band would make its first effort to record the song on 8 January 1980, with the location being Pennine Studios, in Oldham, a town some 7 miles north-east of Manchester, with a view to it being a stand-alone single. Indeed, the intended b-side, These Days, was also recorded that same day.

mp3 : Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine version)
mp3 : Joy Division – These Days

Martin Hannett was on production duties that day, and while the recording was in the vein of how the band had been performing the song in the live sets, the perfectionist in him meant he was far from satisfied with the outcome. As it turned out, Ian Curtis too was unhappy with the recording and was quick to agree that everyone should reconvene and try again.

This time, in March 1980, they booked into one of Hannett’s favoured locations, the increasingly popular and sophisticated Strawberry Studios in Stockport, a place into which successful chart act 10cc had heavily invested in the hope and with the aim of providing a top studio in the Greater Manchester area so that they, and other local bands, wouldn’t have to head to London to work. It was a long and trying session as evidenced by drummer Stephen Morris being awakened by a 4am telephone call to his home with Hannett on the other end of the line demanding he drive back to Stockport as a fresh input on the snare drum was required.

mp3 : Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

Everyone declared themselves happy with this version and plans were put in place for it to be released in June 1980 in advance of the release of the band’s second album. Peter Savile was again engaged to come up with appropriate artwork, with his brief in keeping with previous Joy Division 45s to have different sleeves for the 7” and 12” versions, although the contents on vinyl would be the same, with the two tracks recorded at Pennine to be the b-side and the Strawberry version being the a-side. The 12” version would not be differently mixed or extended in any shape or form.

Tony Wilson (yes, THAT one and not the bloke from the Beeb) loved what he was hearing and felt the band had come up with a song that was capable of crossing over into daytime radio and persuaded them that a first ever promo video should be made. Filming took place on 25 April 1980 at the TJ Davidson studio in Manchester, an old haunt of the band from the pre-Factory days.

It’s worth mentioning that while the video has Ian Curtis playing guitar, and indeed while he did strum some chords when it was aired live, the part in the studio was played entirely by Bernard Sumner.

Less than a month later, on 18 May 1980, Ian Curtis committed suicide. What no-one outside of those closest to the band knew was that he’d previously attempted to take his life shortly after the Strawberry Studios session and in advance of the shooting of the promo video.

It’s been well documented that none of his band mates or those at Factory at the time equated the mental state of Ian Curtis with the songs he was writing and recording. Nor did they give any consideration to deviating from the timetable agreed for the issuing of the single and subsequent album. Nor did they think that the coincidental art work was in any way controversial or problematic, and to be fair nobody else said much at the time either:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Will Tear Us Apart reached the shops in mid-June, entering into the charts on Sunday 29 June where it enjoyed a 16-week stay. Yes, some of the initial sales might have been driven by the suicide but the fact it climbed all the way to #13 proved that the man in charge of the label had been right all along and that it was a bona-fide radio friendly pop song.

Next year will see the 40th anniversary of the song. Unlike many from the era, it hasn’t dated in the slightest which would indicate that Hannett got the recording spot on. The opening chords have made it instantly recognisable to generation after generation of music fans which would indicate that it is a real earworm of a tune. It has been covered in many different guises over the years, many of the versions being ghastly to the point of unlistenable. It has received the ultimate popular recognition with the tune later being adopted by football fans at Manchester United with a lyric adjustment to pay homage to Ryan Giggs, one of the most famous players in their long and illustrious history.

It constantly appears in polls – NME in 2002 proclaimed it the best single of all time, while two years later Rolling Stone magazine had it as #179 in a list of the ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’ which is some achievement for a track that wasn’t widely known or available in the USA until many years after its initial release.

Other musicians have lavished praise on it , none more so than Neil Tennant of the Pet Shops Boys – a man who has forgotten more about great pop music than many of the rest of us will ever know – who is on record as saying Love Will Tear Us Apart is his favourite ever pop song.

Me? I bought it immediately on its release, just a few days after my 17th Birthday. Loved it then, but didn’t think it was as good a record as Transmission. Nowadays, I can’t compare the two songs as they are so different sounding despite being released less than nine months apart.

Love Will Tear Us Apart is a song of great mystery, capable of so many interpretations. It sounds like no other Joy Division song. It is an upbeat and danceable number completely at odds with its lyric in which the protagonist is despairing of what life has become. Life with his loved one has gone sour – routine is biting hard, ambitions are running low, the atmosphere in the bedroom is icy cold and the complete breakdown in communication has led to a lack of respect on both sides. It really doesn’t get much more brutal and depressing than that does it?

The subsequent books and films have led to an acceptance that the song was an effort to provide an apology and explanation to Deborah Curtis over Ian’s affair with Annik Honore. But it could just as easily be interpreted as being for Annik as a way of Ian explaining that he was unable to completely give up on his wife and young daughter.

It’s also been held up as the song which drove the singer completely over the edge given its desperate nature. Again, this isn’t the recollection of those who were closest to him at the time and Ian seemed more troubled by his epilepsy than by his complicated love life.

One thing it most certainly can’t be labelled is ‘cult classic’ – it is far too well-known for that to be the case. It’s impossible to say with any certainty whether the subsequent chart success, with Ian Curtis remaining alive, would have led Joy Division to make more pop-orientated records or whether they would have retreated back into a shell to churn out the gothic and doomy anthems which found favour with the overcoat brigade. Love Will Tear Us Apart stands alone in the band’s canon, justifiably capable of being proclaimed as one of the most important and influential songs in musical history.

Who’s with me on this one?

JC

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

ONE GOOD ALBUM – FOUR GREAT SINGLES

Fifteen years now since Fever To Tell, the debut album by New York trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs hit the shops. It’s a bit of a strange record in that having made something of a name for themselves as a loud and screechy 21st century garage-rock band who occasionally tipped their hats to the heaviest of rock acts, the best moments on the debut are when they take a moment or two to slow things down.

Not that anyone would have known this would be the case given that the first single to be lifted from the album was as frantic, fast, ferocious and fearsome as anything that had come out on earlier EPs:-

mp3 : Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Date With The Night

It’s the sort of song made for a bit of body slamming on the dancefloor….and has, of course, to be listened at a volume which will make your ears bleed profusely.

The follow-up was along similar lines, coming in at a damn-near perfect two minutes in length, which is about as much as much as my then 40 year-old body could cope with as I gyrated around the living room scaring the bejaysus out of the cats.

mp3 : Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Pin

(Pin actually came up on random shuffle early the other day and the fact that it brought a smile to otherwise miserable face on my daily commute indirectly led to this posting)

The third single to be lifted from the album was rather different.

mp3 : Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps

It’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Karen O delivers a vulnerable yet powerful vocal which is reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux at her very best while her two band mates do their utmost and provide a jaggy and pounding accompaniment. I’d be happy to start a debate that this is as superb an indie pop/rock love song as there has ever been, particularly from just about the two-minute mark when the guitars really kick in.

There had been a seven-month gap between the release of Pin and Maps, with it not being released until February 2004. It was likely the fact that the album was now the best part of a year old and had sold in decent quantities in the UK which prevented Maps doing better than #26 in the charts, and so it was something of a surprise that a fourth track, out of eleven on the album, was issued as a 45 later on that year:-

mp3 : Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Y Control

Many of the initial reviews of the album had picked out Y Control as being a particular highlight, one which had loads of 70s and 80s influences and yet managed to sound ridiculously fresh and so 21st Century.  It’s a very fair assessment of things but at the same time it’s not the most commercial or radio-friendly of tunes and so it didn’t seem to the most clever of ideas to put it out as a single some 15 months after it had appeared on the album.  No surprises then that it was something of a flop.

JC

 

Prince & The Revolution

THE KIND YOU FIND IN A SECOND HAND STORE

Another thing which often causes surprise when I’m looking for some background on a song that I’m intending to feature on the blog is learning that it was either a much bigger chart hit than I ever recalled or, conversely, it was a comparative flop.

Prince really took off here in the UK in 1983/84, with a run of top ten singles lifted from the albums 1999 and Purple Rain. There was, inevitably and naturally, huge interest I what he was going to come up with next but very few were prepared for something as odd as this:-

mp3 : Prince & The Revolution – Raspberry Beret

By odd, I mean different. It was, unexpectedly, a pop tune, far lighter and less funky than many of the songs which had propelled him into the stratosphere. It was a happy, almost carefree song with a chorus that seemed not to be too far removed from a nursery rhyme. Prince had this reputation as a dangerous basdass mutha, with a raw sex on legs persona, who didn’t want to know what love is, but here he was writing and recording a song reflecting on the loss of innocence.

It was a tune that, more than anything else of the stuff I had heard up until now, convinced me that Prince was capable of living up to the hype. None of Little Red Corvette, Let’s Go Crazy, I Would Die 4 U and the afore-mentioned 1999 and Purple Rain had done anything for me and I wasn’t at all familiar with his back catalogue. The new single just oozed class and style right out of the radio with every play seeming to offer something new to the listening ears, such as the perfect interplay with the backing vocalists, the lush instrumentation that had a sort of world music feel to it or the fact that the lyric was, in places, just about as filthy as previous offerings – “They say the first time ‘aint the greatest / But I tell ya, if I had the chance to do it all again / I wouldn’t change a stroke.”

It’s a song written from the perspective of a hopeless romantic, with the sort of storyline that wouldn’t have been out-of-place on a Springsteen album. Puny little boy in dead-end job in a shop, with a boss who wasn’t fond of him, has his world turned upside down by the unexpected appearance one day of a confident female who is wearing an extremely bright and stylish hat….he knows immediately that she is trouble as she came into the shop through the out-door!

You can just picture the insecure and inexperienced boy cowering behind the counter as the girl in the raspberry beret makes a beeline for him – “Built like she was, she had the nerve to ask me / If I planned to do her any harm” – but his bravado leads him to call her out and the next thing you know, he’s got her on the back of his bicycle and he’s pedalling furiously to a barn on a nearby farm, trying hard to get there before the rain starts pouring down.

Next thing he knows, she has made a man out of him. And he’s fallen madly in love. He certainly will always remember his first time….with the overpowering image being the hat which doesn’t appear to have been removed throughout the tryst. It’s completely bonkers but at the same time completely brilliant.

For years, I only knew the 7” and radio version of the song. It was over on someone else’s blog (and apologies for nor recalling whose) that I was exposed to the 12” version in which the funk, and a nod to the blues, bookend the pop tune. It’s even more brilliant than the version with which we are most familiar.

mp3 : Prince & The Revolution – Raspberry Beret (12” mix)

Let me take you back to my opening gambit about the extent of chart success.

Raspberry Beret only got to #25 in the UK in August 1985. I wouldn’t have thought that.

JC

Cocteau Twins

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #195 : COCTEAU TWINS

A DEBUT GUEST POSTING by SHA (aka Swedish Herring Accident)

Wandering round the recent exhibition Rip It Up: The Story of Scottish Pop at the National Museum of Scotland, it hurt my very soul that Cocteau Twins barely got a mention. Maybe they’re not pop, I said to myself. But now I see that we’ve reached almost 200 ICAs and not got around to addressing Cocteau Twins, I’m thinking something’s amiss. Maybe no-one’s brave or naive enough to have a crack at it – that’s a real possibility. It is, after all, a daunting body of work to reduce to a single album. But then, maybe it’s better to have a half-baked attempt than none at all. I’m definitely capable of that.

So here’s my offering. I’ve steered away from some of the more dissonant early stuff – not because it isn’t great, but because I wanted to create an album with a single sound, rather than a variety pack compilation. An album that captures the unmistakable mellifluous Cocteau Twins sensation that hovers between fluffy and deeply meaningful. Or caterwauling nonsense as my wife would put it. (JC adds….as would my wife!)

You’ll no doubt disagree with my choices – I disagree with them myself. I’ve murdered my darlings and made some unspeakably cruel omissions. I’ve also not shied away from popular/ obvious stuff just to prove that I’ve got Peppermint Pig or Moon And The Melodies. That said, this is no Best Of. Oh shut up now; just let the music flow over you.

Side 1.

Lazy Calm (from Victorialand).

An amazing and daring way to start an album, especially one as short as Victorialand. For a long time, I wasn’t certain that this wasn’t two tracks. The first half of this would form a perfect introduction to any other Cocteau Twins song. There was always a moment of tension between getting hold of a new Cocteau Twins album and playing it for the first time. “Have they lost it?” “Will it still be wonderful?” I should have never worried – within the first few moments of every Cocteau Twins album Liz’s voice would wash over me with a soothing wave of relief. None more so than this from 1985.

Love’s Easy Tears (from Love’s Easy Tears ep).

Got this from Probe in Liverpool the day it came out. I played it all evening until the others in my hall of residence asked me to stop. I thought I was the only person in the world who Liz and Robin could commune with. Then I read an interview in which Liz said this ep was some kind of tribute to 60s singers like Sandie Shaw and Dusty. That hadn’t occurred to me – not what I thought we were communing at all!

Carolyn’s Fingers (from Bluebell Knoll).

After Treasure, the wait for another album seemed interminable. Robin constantly claimed that each new offering wasn’t the real thing. Victorialand wasn’t a real album because it was just him and Liz messing around; Echoes in a Shallow Bay/ Tiny Dynamine wasn’t a real album because it was just some out-takes they’d polished up; Moon and the Melodies wasn’t a real album because it was a side project with Harold Budd. After all this methadone, when were we going to get a proper dose of the good stuff? And boy, when it arrived, Bluebell Knoll was the good stuff. And what’s this? Thank The Lord! A drummer! Carolyn’s Fingers is like a hug across the void.

In Our Angelhood (from Head Over Heels).

Head Over Heels is amazingly energetic – very little clue of the languid silkiness to come. Back when Cocteau Twins were still deciding who they wanted to be, bursting with creative spark, they put out songs like this with confidence and style.

Lorelei (from Treasure).

This is around the time the music press stopped trying to bracket Cocteau Twins – no more Siouxsie or Kate Bush analogies. They had found a voice and a sound of their own. Simon’s turned up with his safe hands on the rhythm section and his “Hyeah – I’m the bassist now” flourishes. For a while, this was head and shoulders the most exciting song I had ever heard. I thought it would need a whole Barnum and Bailey’s circus of performers to do it any justice on stage and at least three separate singers (I’m thinking twin sylph-like angels for the verse and a prowling vixen for the chorus). I still like to think that Cirque du Soleil should one day come to their senses and do a Cocteau Twins show. And when they do, this will be the opener.

Intermission

Fruitopia Commercial 1. They did an advert! It was two TV spots for Fruitopia, the Coca-Cola Company’s short-lived attempt to compete with the likes of Oasis and Snapple. I like to think that Robin finds discarded snippets like this in the bottom of his sock drawer and sells them off to passing art directors in 30-second stings.

Side 2

Bluebeard (from Four-Calendar Café).

In 1993 I was fed up with all the music in my collection and was listening to the radio in search of something new to get into. The moment I heard the gleaming guitar riff on this intro, I thought “That’s the one for me, I’ll go straight out and buy this.” By the time Liz’s vocals started, it was clear that everything I knew was true and that the world was spinning smoothly on its axis. Robin once said he couldn’t stand those Pink Floydy guitarists who can play all six strings at once; I think he manages at least three on this.

Sultitan Itan (from Tiny Dynamine).

Everything I read about Liz Fraser made her seem less real. Her favourite drink was Babycham and brandy. She cooked strawberries. Both of these were disgusting and expensive.

Heaven Or Las Vegas (from Heaven Or Las Vegas).

I chose nine out ten of these tracks without worrying about what anyone else was going to think. And then I had two problems – we need something from Heaven Or Las Vegas and we need one of those epic Side Two Showstoppers to propel us onwards.

Pur (from Four-Calendar Café).

In the natural order of Cocteau Twins albums, this is the where there’s a slow nebulous calm before the epic ending storm. With Pur, it’s fragile vulnerability erupting into velvet self-confidence. Sometimes, it pays not to listen to the words, just the voice. You risk getting a glimpse like this (and Bluebeard earlier) into an unhappy and crumbling relationship.

A Kissed-Out Red Floatboat (from Bluebell Knoll).

And this is how I want to die – this song is a Chinese lantern in the sunset. Let these exquisite twinkling harmonies, these shimmering tones lift you away into the ether like dandelion clocks in the breeze. Or caterwauling nonsense – you choose.

—oOo—

Mix and Match Bonus Session: These are the other songs I considered for track three on side two before chickening out and choosing Heaven Or Las Vegas:

(i) The Spangle Maker (from Pearly Dewdrops ep) – in the end this track is too big to be an album track. Leave it where it is with a whole side to itself;

(ii) Summerhead (from Four Calendar Café) – did they come full circle? This would have fitted on any Cocteau Twins album from Head Over heels onwards.

(iii) Squeeze-Wax (from Four-Calendar Café) – late period willowy breeziness at its very best.

Simply switch out one of these, according to taste. Other Sonic Cathedrals are available.

SHA

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 4)

Paul Morley, of New Musical Express (NME) was one of the most influential opinion-formers of the early 80s.

He was, certainly at one point in time, a huge fan of Paul Haig, suggesting in July 1982 that he, Billy Mackenzie, Jim Kerr and Martin Fry were the potential saviours of pop music. There’s no doubt that Morley was prone to exaggeration but his words and thoughts didn’t do Paul any harm.

Paul had continued to work in Belgium, recording material which ended up being shelved for a while, but not for reasons that the label didn’t want to issue it. Things were moving fast around Paul, thanks in part to his name being mentioned by Morley and others, and Crépuscule elected to accept an offer from Island Records for a licensing deal which resulted in a change of plans that stopped the release of a new single and an album of swing tunes.

Instead, in late 1982, financed by Island, Paul Haig found himself in New York, working with producer Alex Sadkin whose track record had included Grace Jones but was now primarily involved with The Thompson Twins, which perhaps gives an indication of the market where the label was intending to push Paul towards.

There were big expectations from Island for the first single through the new arrangements. It was an update on a track dating back to the Josef K days, although such was the work in the studio that it proved to be unrecognisable:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Sent

Released with an Island Records catalogue number (IS111), it was a huge favourite at Strathclyde Students Union, possibly because myself and a few mates consistently asked for it to get played and we always ensured we got up and danced to it, and as time went on, so did many other regulars. It got a fair bit of radio play, certainly in Scotland, but the record-buying public didn’t take to it and it stalled at a bitterly disappointing #74.

The b-side of the 7″ was a remix of the cover of Running Away. The 12″ version of Heaven Sent is soooooo 80s, with all sorts of production tricks thrown at it and it extended out to not far short of double its length.

As I’ve said before, I’m not actually all that fond of the 12″ cut as the extra three and a bit minutes veers to being a tad self-indulgent. The b-side was also extended with a segue into one of Paul’s own songs:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Heaven Sent (12″ version)
mp3 : Paul Haig – Running Away/Back Home

If you want to learn how different it was to the Josef K days of not much more than 18 months previously:-

mp3 : Josef K – Heaven Sent

JC

 

Hollow Horse

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG :#135 : HOLLOW HORSE

I’ll begin by repeating the opening of a post from September 2017:-

I’ve been very fortunate in the near eleven years that this and the predecessor blog have been functioning to have been on the receiving end of a number of wonderful pieces of correspondence, most often by email but occasionally by post.

An example of the latter was when reader Phil Hogarth sent me over 3 x CDs, containing a total of 55 songs, that he thought I’d find entertaining. The songs were, for the most part, from Scottish singers and bands, some of whom I’d heard of but the majority of which were new to me. Those CDs arrived in 2009 or 2010 and I recall thinking to myself at the time that I must get round to posting a bundle of the better songs. But for one reason or another, I never got round to it….so what I’m going to do is fish out individual songs for inclusion in this series as and when the singer or band’s turn comes up.

It’s time again:-

mp3 : Hollow Horse – Forget The Girl

I’ve been able to establish that it’s the opening track of an album called Beggarstown, released in 2005,  Hollow Horse are a Glasgow quartet, comprising Kenny Little, David Wotherspoon, Ian Stevenson and Kevin Devlin, which formed in 2001 One reviewer has said of them “Sort of Crowded House meets Paul Weller with a twist of Roy Orbison and a subtle hint of Elvis Costello.”

There’s been three albums and more can be gleamed from here.

JC

Underworld

AND THESE ARE MY INTENTIONS

Push Upstairs was the single which accompanied the release of Beaucoup Fish, the third studio album by Underworld released in March 1999.

It was an eagerly awaited moment, the band having not released any new material since 1996 and in the intervening period having become a household name thanks to Born Slippy (Nuxx) being one of the many great songs associated with the hit film Trainspotting.

It doesn’t disappoint whatsoever, offering again the big, throbbing and pounding beat and the near impossible to make out stream-of-conscious lyric while providing the bonus of an imaginative and superb use of a house-style piano loop. Once again, I found myself listening to an Underworld song and wishing I was a wee bit younger, wanting to head into a nightclub with some confidence and dance myself stupid until my legs gave way from under me, instead of feeling rattled and scared by those who patiently but loudly stood in the long snaking queues, often underneath leaden and damp skies in my home city.

mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs

I heard this again for the first time in a long while, thanks to a random appearance via the shuffle feature. It is genuinely outstanding…..

Here’s the two remixes made available on CD1:-

mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs (Roger S. Blue Plastic People Mix)
mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs (Adam Beyer Mix 1)

There may well be some of you who like these remixes but they simply act as a reminder of why I have my struggles with a lot of dance music and why it is that I prefer Underworld under their own steam to most others.

The single reached #12 and remains the band’s best-performing 45 chartwise outside of the big hit.

JC

Pulp

SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 16)

The seven minute epic which closed the breakthrough album, His’n’Hers, back in 1994.

We made our way slowly down the path that led to the stream,
Swaying slightly,
Drunk on the sun, I suppose.
It was a real summer’s day.
The air humming with heat whilst the trees beckoned us into their cool green shade.
And when we reached the stream I put a bottle of cider into the water to chill,
Both of us knowing that we’d drink it long before it had the chance.

This is where you want to be,
There’s nothing else but you and her,
And how you spend your time.

Walking to parties whilst it’s still light outside.
Peter was upset at first but now he’s in the garden talking to somebody Polish.
Why don’t we set up a tent and spend the night out there?
And we can pretend that we’re somewhere foreign,
But we’ll still be able to use the fridge if we get hungry, or too hot.

This is where you want to be,
There’s nothing else but you and her,
And how you use your time.

We went driving.

This is where you want to be,
There’s nothing else but you and her,
And how you use your time.

The room smells faintly of sun tan lotion
In the evening sunlight and when you take off your clothes,
You’re still wearing a small pale skin bikini.
The sound of children playing in the park comes from faraway,
And time slows down to the speed of the specks of dust
Floating in the light from the window.

Summer leaves fall from Summer trees.
Summer grazes fade on Summer knees.
Summer nights are slowly getting long.
Summer’s going so hurry soon it’ll be gone.

So we went out to the park at midnight one last time.
Past the abandoned glasshouse stuffed full of dying palms.
Past the bandstand down to the boating lake.
And we swam in the moonlight for what seemed like hours,
Until we couldn’t swim anymore.

And as we came out of the water we sensed a certain movement in the air,
And we both shivered slightly and ran to collect our clothes.
And as we walked home we could hear the leaves curling and turning
Brown on the trees,
And the birds deciding where to go for Winter.
And the whole sound,
The whole sound of Summer packing it’s bags and preparing to leave town.

Oh but I want you to stay.
Oh please stay for a while,
Oh I want you to stay,
Oh I want you to stay.

mp3 : Pulp – David’s Last Summer

JC

Fat Tulips, Rosehips

THIS CAPTURED MY ATTENTION……

I was copying the text from the C88 booklet for last Saturday’s posting on Holidaymakers, when my gaze was attracted to words elsewhere on the same page:-

Hailing from Nottingham, Fat Tulips announced themselves on a shared flexi, where ‘You Opened My Eyes’ – ringing guitars courtesy of Mark D and lilting vocals care of Sarah C – shared space with a Rosehips cover of ‘Ask Johnny Dee’

The C88 song from Fat Tulips was the very one featured on the flexi, and given that Ask Johnny Dee is one of my all time favourite singles of the period, I really had to track down this cover:-

mp3 : Fat Tulips – You Opened Up My Eyes
mp3 : Rosehips – Ask Johnny Dee

You couldn’t really ask for anything more derivative of what many associate with C86/87/88 than these two totally DIY, fragile and near amateurish pieces of music…everyone involved sounds as if they are on the very edge of their abilities, concentrating hard to make sure nothing falls apart before the final notes are struck or sung.

The booklet goes on to offer a reminder that Fat Tulips, after a number of line-up changes, would release a single which paid homage(?) to a pixie-like and gorgeous pop star of the early 80s:-

mp3 : Fat Tulips – Where’s Clare Grogan Now?

There’s an excellent website devoted to Fat Tulips – they seem to have been a band who enjoyed what they did without ever getting hung about fame or fortune.   Click here for more.

JC

Gregory Isaacs

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #194 : GREGORY ISAACS

A GUEST POSTING by THE SWEDE
from UNTHOUGHT OF SOMEHOW blog

In a career spanning over 40 years, Gregory Isaacs was a highly prolific recording artist – you’ll be on pretty safe ground picking up absolutely anything by him, up to and including the ‘Night Nurse’ LP released on Island in 1982. Thereafter, his prodigious output continued, but, with the exception of one or two stand-out moments, the quality was never quite the same. It was a long and painful decline, exacerbated by ill-health and drug dependency issues until lung cancer claimed his life in 2010, aged just 59. Here are ten choice cuts from the glory years of The Cool Ruler. If you enjoy these, I encourage you to dig deeper.

1) Love is Overdue (1974)

Covered by Keith Richards in 2015. I love you Keef, I really do, but some tunes should just remain untouched. Gregory’s original was produced by Alvin Ranglin and released on Ranglin’s own GG record label.

2) All I Have Is Love (1974)

Released as a split 7″ with Pat Kelly‘s ‘Summertime’ in Jamaica in 1974. When this beauty finally saw the light of day in the UK the following year, it was bafflingly relegated to the b-side of the inferior ‘Help Us Get Over‘. Produced by Phill Pratt.

3) Ba Da (1975)

Produced by Winston Holness, aka Niney the Observer. Sparse, dubby and mysterious. You’ll find nothing else quite like this in Gregory’s catalogue.

4) Mr Cop (1976)

Produced at the Black Ark by the great Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, ‘Mr Cop’ shows Isaacs calling for overzealous police to cease their harassment of weed smoking dreads. ‘…we’re just sipping a cup and having some fun and it’s better than in the streets bashing guns…’ Hopes for a longstanding musical partnership between The Cool Ruler and The Upsetter came to nothing – this song was their only meaningful collaboration.

5) Hand Cuff (1978)

Self-produced, socially aware standout from the ‘Mr Isaacs’ LP, featuring an all-star cast including the engineering prowess of Ossie Hibbert, The Heptones on backing vocals and musical accompaniment from The Revolutionaries. ‘…hey mister Babylon, take the cuff from off the bredren’s hand…’

6) Poor and Clean (1979)

Initially released as a single in Jamaica and subsequently on the 1980 ‘Lonely Lover’ LP in the UK. Features contributions from Sly & Robbie, Gladdy Anderson and Errol ‘Flabba’ Holt.

7) Soon Forward (1979)

Sublime title track of Gregory’s second Front Line Records LP. A Sly & Robbie production.

8) Once Ago (1981)

Closing cut on the excellent ‘More Gregory’ LP.

9) What a Feeling (1981)

A terrific single, released only in Jamaica and belatedly added to the CD reissue of ‘More Gregory’ in 2002. ‘…liquor a sip, herb a smoke and the dancehall tight…’

10) Cool Down the Pace (1982)

From the ‘Night Nurse’ LP, Gregory’s commercial peak. The title track was released as a single and later famously later covered by Simply Red (credit where it’s due, Mick Hucknall was a massive reggae fan who helped establish the crucial Blood and Fire label in 1993). The lilting ‘Cool Down the Pace’ was also pulled from the album as a single.
Another LP, ‘Out Deh’, followed on Island in 1983. It was a weak effort and from then on, despite releasing dozens of further albums for a bewildering variety of labels, The Cool Ruler never hit quite such creative heights again.

THE SWEDE

 

Grinderman

THE GRINDERMAN SINGLES (2)

The second Grinderman single is an absolute hoot.

It’s garage-rock with a tune and lyric The Cramps would have been proud of which opens with a middle-aged Lothario singing about his face and body failing him and how he’s reduced to self-love. He then goes on to explain how this state of being has come about, namely that he has been reduced to doing a range of demeaning things in an effort to persuade a woman to have sex with him.

He’s tried changing the sheets on his bed, combing his hair to hide the bald patches and sucking in his gut, all to no avail. He tries poetry, DIY repairs and even petting a revolting pet that she dotes on, but still with no progress towards his goal. In the end, he comes to the conclusion to he ain’t going to get any and it’s given him the blues.

mp3 : Grinderman – No Pussy Blues

All of this could have made for an uncomfortable listen, a song filled withy bitterness and bile, full of misogyny and sexist language; but in the hands of a happily married in real-life composer, it becomes something hilarious and as memorable as any of the weepy ballads that had brought Nick Cave to the attention of a wider public.

The b-side turned out to be a track originally considered for inclusion on what would become the debut Grinderman album but left off at a late stage.

mp3 : Grinderman – Chain of Flowers

As time would demonstrate this was the lightest and softest song that would be recorded under the Grinderman badge – it really should have been kept back for the next Bad Seeds album.

JC

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 3)

The first essential single of the solo era. Released on 12″ vinyl on the dance-orientated Interference imprint of his Belgian label, this was Paul Haig making a fabulous synth-driven pop song, with perfect backing vocals from Giles and Samantha of Hey! Elastica who were featured just a few weeks back in the Saturday series.

mp3 : Paul Haig – Blue For You
mp3 : Paul Haig – Blue For You (version)

It seemed really exotic to go into a Glasgow record shop to purchase a piece of vinyl pressed up in Belgium that featured musicians from Edinburgh. I still play this record on a regular basis these days.

Paul would later perform Blue For You in a very rare live TV performance. The backing vocals in this instance are from session singers:-

The song would later be re-recorded for Paul’s debut LP, but this early version is the definitive version.

JC

Holidaymakers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #134 : HOLIDAYMAKERS

I’ve one song by this lot, courtesy of it being in the Cherry Red C88 box set that was released in June 2017. Here’s the words from the booklet:-

The short-lived Holidaymakers, part of an Edinburgh scene spawned by the likes of the Shop Assistants and Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes were Adrian Smith (vocals/guitar), Neil Craig (guitar), Mark Cunningham (bass) and Richard Guy (drums). The jangly ‘Everyday’ graced the first Whoosh flexi (sharing honours with The Nivens’ ‘Let Loose Of My Knee’) and was followed by the majestic ‘Cininatti’, (Whoosh 004, 1988) two minutes or so of chiming guitars and assured, smouldering vocals that equalled Paul Simpson in The Wild Swans at his best. Alas, there was just one further release, 1989’s ‘Skyrider’, on the Gay Cowboy Recording Organisation, before the band rode off into the sunset.

mp3 : Holidaymakers – Cincinnati

Cincinnati is a good song, but the vocal delivery is nothing like that of Paul Simpson and this the description in the booklet is a bit misleading. I lived in Edinburgh from mid 85-mid 88, but it was a time I didn’t take much to do with music and I certainly have no recollection of Holidaymakers. Indeed, I can’t even recall seeing the sleeve in any record shops, despite me still spending many a lunchtime browsing those indie stores which weren’t too far from my city centre office.

I have managed to track down the b-side of the single:-

mp3 : Holidaymakers – Seventh Valley Girl

JC