Article 58

ARTICLE 58

I was checking something up in the Simon Goddard book when my eye was drawn to something he’s included in one of the appendices, ‘Related Releases – A Selection of supplementary titles recorded during the years Postcard was active’

It was his reference to a single by a band whose name vaguely rang a bell.

ARTICLE 58 – ‘Event To Come’ b/w ‘Echoes’/’Lost & Found’ (1981)

Bouncy single by Hamilton band released on Josef K manager Allan Campbell’s label. The only non-Postcard release to credit Alan Horne, here ‘co-producer’ with Malcolm Ross. Recorded at Emblem Sound, Strathaven (B-side ‘Echoes; recorded by Wilf Smarties). Article 58’s drummer was Steve Lironi*, later to join Altered Images

*and later to break my heart by marrying Clare Grogan.

Anyways, as I said Article 58 rang a bell and it turns out that I actually have a copy of the song that was the a-side, courtesy of its inclusion on a compilation album issued some 15 years ago by German based Marina Records.  It’s my mistake in not picking up they were Scottish as they would have featured many moons ago on a Saturday.

mp3 : Article 58 – Event To Come

A fast and frantic sounding piece of music with great guitar work from the emerging Douglas MacIntyre who, almost 40 years later remains a mainstay of the Glasgow music scene thanks to his playing with many bands and his running of Creeping Bent Records.  He’s been responsible for one of my favourite records of 2018

Going back to Article 58, the a-side of the single certainly gives a nod to Josef K……

The back of the sleeve provides a fair bit of detail.

Event To Come and Lost & Found were recorded at the same session with Ross and Horne given credit for production. The band consisted of Gerry McLaughlin (vocals), Douglas McIntyre (guitar), Ewan McLennan (bass) and Stephen Lironi (drums), although Robert McCormack is credited as the drummer on Echoes, which presumably was an earlier demo track recorded at the Edinburgh studio of Wilf Smarties  (who himself would go on to have a very successful career in writing and production in later years)

It got my interest piqued and after a bit of effort, I’ve tracked down the b-sides:-

mp3 : Article 58 – Echoes
mp3 : Article 58 – Lost & Found

Both well worth a listen, with a touch of the guitar sounds of PiL/Magazine in there; once again it’s an example of a band forming for one single before dissolving, although in this instance two of its members would go onto achieve much elsewhere.

JC

Arctic Monkeys

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #193 : ARCTIC MONKEYS

A GUEST CONTRIBUTION by TIM BADGER

SWC is sat next to me in the office to ensure ‘fair play’. KT has just disappeared off to her desk and has switched on her iPod. She has been given orders to email through from song eight – so that there is some sort of tension. SWC is fully expecting this ICA to be utter torment for me.

I’ll recap – we had a little experiment, KT wrote an ICA on the Manics chosen by SWC’s ipod. He then wrote on Mercury Rev, chosen by my iPod and now its my turn, and KT’s iPod is doing the choosing. KT’s ipod is full of chart rubbish that she pretends not to love…

“I just haven’t found the time to delete ‘Superstar’ by Jamelia or ‘Hello’ by Lionel Ritchie or everything by the 1975.” is what she usually claims.

I am worried to be honest. When the iPod gets to the 11th song that is the artist/band that the ICA is on. I sit and pray that it’s not Kylie.

About two hours or so later an email arrives from KT – It turns out she forgot to let me know what songs came on as she was ‘busy’. So she has pressed back and tells me that Track Eight Was ‘Erase/Rewind by the Cardigans (tough), Track Nine was something by a band called Riley and the Restless (tougher as they are from Teignmouth and only have a couple of tracks on their soundcloud page – I’d still recommend them to you though if you are a fan of Johnny Cash). Track Ten was ‘Around My Head’ by Cage the Elephant (tougher still) and then I take a deep breath.

Track Eleven was ‘Cornerstone’ by Arctic Monkeys. I punch the air in delight and grin at SWC as her reads the email. He presses ‘reply’ on the email and types a solitary word. “Bastard”.

We did add a rule when writing these ICA’s – no more than 4 singles on the album, and it must contain at least one B Side, remix or cover version, it can contain more if you want it to. I may be slightly hoisted by my own petard here, as I own no Arctic Monkeys cover versions (actually I own, one a live version of a Beatles song, but it is rubbish, so we’ll ignore that) and I’m fairly sure that they’ve never been remixed. But then again four of their six albums are masterpieces so I’ll be alright I think.

So, here goes, An Imaginary Compilation Album on Arctic Monkeys.

Side One

Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick (B Side to I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor)

Chun Li as all you geeks will recall was a (the first?) female character from Street Fighter whose special move was the aforementioned spinning bird kick. I’ve started with this because I think firstly it underlines the Monkeys knack for a tune (this an instrumental was nominated for a Grammy) and secondly because I think it also underlines the bands ability to get this spot on because if everything in the world was set to music, being kicked in the face by a spinning Japanese warrior (or was she an undercover agent, I never quite followed her back story) would undoubtedly sound exactly like this.

Cornerstone (From ‘Humbug’)

People say that ‘Humbug’ was patchy (it sounds way too much like the Queens of the Stone Age to be honest), but I think it’s one of the four masterpieces that I mention up top (the two that aren’t are the second album and the most recent one in case we are playing Arctic Monkeys poker at all). ‘Cornerstone’ is lovely as well, an obvious album highlight, which stood out at the very first listen. It shows off what Alex Turner is famous for, subtle and intricate songcraft. The song is packed with vivid lyrics and observation about various watering holes and females who remind Turner of someone, we never find out who, but the song is so beautiful we don’t really care.

The Hellcat Spanged Shalala (From Suck It and See)

After ‘Humbug’ the band abandoned trying to be a South Yorkshire version of the Queens of the Stone Age and returned to making beautifully wistful guitar pop and it suited them down to the ground – and you know what – I think right now, ‘Suck It and See’ is my favourite of their albums, is it their best – not sure – but I personally don’t think that they have ever sounded as confident and as sparkling as they do in this song. It’s marvellous.

Despair in the Departure Lounge (From Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?)

In between the release of the first Arctic Monkeys album and the recording of the second album, the record company wanted the band to release a third single. This was supposed to be ‘The View from the Afternoon’ but instead of doing the easy thing and just releasing the band decided to release an EP of five tracks and immediately disqualified themselves from the charts, that they called it ‘Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys’ didn’t help either. That EP is full of gems, every track is wonderful, but this is the highlight. A beautiful exploration of what it means to pine after someone or something.

I Wanna Be Yours (From AM)

The poignant side of the Monkeys I don’t think has ever been in doubt, but their most poignant moment ever, isn’t even down to them. ‘AM’ their fifth album closes with ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ which is a John Cooper Clarke poem from around 1985 that has been tweaked ever so slightly by Alex Turner. He then gives it a simple, beautiful, heartfelt delivery and when he tells us that “I wanna be your Ford Cortina/ And I will never rust,” it is utterly mesmerising.

Side Two – which is very first album heavy

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (From Whatever People Say I Am…)

When the Sun Goes Down (From Whatever People Say I Am…)

These two tracks sum up everything about the band when they first burst onto the scene. They are both essential listening and frankly without them this ICA would be useless. I’ve written about the first song before in some depth but I don’t think I have ever waxed lyrical about ‘When the Sun Goes Down’.

It is quite astonishing, both lyrically and musically. A bleak ode to prostitutes in Turner’s native Sheffield and their scummy pimps or customers. It’s astonishing in a number of ways – firstly the way that the tone changes after the line “He’s a scumbag don’t you know’ is breathtakingly mature for a band who are releasing just their second single. Then we are astonished again near the end when the scummy man arrives the prostitute becomes happy because as Turner tells us, sagely, “she must be fucking freezing, scantily clad beneath the clear night sky”. I mean that is some tragically beautiful poetry there.

She’s Thunderstorms (From Suck it and See)

This is the opening track of ‘Suck It and See’ – and was apparently actually writing during an ‘apocalyptic’ thunderstorm in New York. Although I think it’s more about the tempestuous and captivating nature of the female of the species than thunder, lightning and heavy rain.

Arabella (From ‘AM’)

I was going to mention an old blog that I use to read that hated the Arctic Monkeys with a passion and claimed that they were just peddling out the same old shit time after time, album after album. I was going to mention that he clearly could not have listened to ‘AM’ because that is so much different to all of their other albums – clearly influenced by hip hop and 70’s rock music and it contains ‘Arabella’ which is the best song ever written about a gator skin boot wearing female.

The View From the Afternoon (From Whatever…)

Lyrically, this is incredible. It’s visual trip through a town on a (presumably) Friday night. It’s full of characters, the girls at the fancy dress party in the limo, the gambler at the fruit machine, the lads with pool cues, the drunk sending text messages…It is just remarkable song and hope fully a fitting end to this ICA.

TIM

JC adds.……I’ll provide the cover version:-

mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – Put Your Dukes Up, John

A b-side on Leave Before The Lights Come On single, it’s their take on a 2005 single by The Little Flames…..one of whose members was…..Miles Kane.

Arctic Monkeys

SHALALALA

I quite enjoy writing about Arctic Monkeys.

I’m kind of kicking myself for not homing in on them for the Sunday singles series as it would have taken care of around six months of postings and featured quite a different range of sounds as the band have been really keen to develop and expand since the early material saw light of day in 2005.

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala was released, on 15 August 2011, as the second single from the fourth album Suck It And See.

The album itself had been built up in advance as the band making a return to a more indie-pop orientated sound after the harder edge product of 2009’s Humbug which had seen Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age assume production duties. The problem with making such statements is that many expected a record that would be as instant and catchy as the debut and parts of the sophomore efforts when in fact it turned out to be something of a hybrid with the occasional piece of pure pop alongside some harder and edgier numbers as well as songs which bordered on glam or psychedelia. It was a broad and ambitious effort which, for the most part, was warmly received by the critics, even if most of them were just grateful that it wasn’t akin to Humbug.

The lead single had been Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair, released about a month before the album. I’m not really sure if hopes were high as it was an unusual choice for a 45, lacking any real chorus or hook, and it certainly didn’t have the urge or youthful energy of the 45s and the songs that had rocketed the group to stardom in the UK and many other parts of Europe. It was certainly packed with clever wordplay which is something Alex Turner has consistently excelled all his career, but the sneering delivery of the title was a bit unnerving and it wasn’t tailor made for radio, so no real surprises that it had stalled at #28 in the charts, getting no higher than its first week position and dropping out of the Top 40 immediately afterwards.

The follow-up was one of the most favoured tracks on the album, if you judged things by on-line views and opinions. The accompanying video was put up on line in early July 2011, and again, there were all sorts of positive comments.

Things were set for a 45 which would likely go Top 20, until disaster struck.

Just before the release date, the warehouse in which the 7” singles were being stored in advance of distribution was hit by arsonists during the rioting which accompanied riots in parts of London between 6-11 August. Most of the stock was destroyed and decision was taken to sell what was left exclusively through the band’s website. No product in the shops meant there was little enthusiasm to promote the release and no product in the shops meant it had no chance of troubling the charts. Most fans consoled themselves that the single version, including swear word (which presumably would have been bleeped or distorted for radio play) was the same as that on the album and that the b-side was widely available as a digital download.

mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – The Hell Spangled Shalalala
mp3 : Miles Kane & The Death Ramps – Little Illusion Machine (Wirral Riddler)

Ah…that b-side. Miles Kane is probably best known as being Alex Turner’s sidekick in The Last Shadow Puppets whose debut album had been a huge success in 2008. The Death Ramps was the name adopted by Arctic Monkeys when they were using guest singers for b-side tracks. In this instance, Kane not only sung lead vocal but co-wrote the song with the band. It’s one of those songs which was wasted as a b-side.

Given how few copies made it out into the public domain, this 7” single is one of the most sought after among fans. And no, I don’t own a copy!

JC

PS : Advance warning…..more from this lot tomorrow, courtesy of a guest contribution.

Queens Of The Stone Age

WHATEVER YOU DO….DON’T TELL ANYONE

I’ve written before about deciding to write about a song and being shocked/stunned/horrified to discover that it was released much further back in time that I would have guessed.

It’s happened yet again with this:-

mp3 : Queens of The Stone Age – The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

QoSTA are a rock band, occasionally bordering on heavy but managing to cross over enough to appeal to the indie, stoner and teen brigades. They came into being in the late 90s but I didn’t pick up on them until the summer of 2000 when Lost Art….became something of a minor hit in the UK, reaching #31 in the single chart and leading me to go out and purchase parent album Rated R. It was an album that had some very exceptional moments, including the infectiously catchy chant-a-long other single lifted from it:-

mp3 : Queens of the Stone Age – Feel Good Hit Of The Summer

One listen and you’ll realise why it struggled to get air time on mainstream/daytime radio.

I think what’s really hit me is that I’ve come to a realisation that having not really kept up with much new music outside of Scotland since the turn of the century, everything I have somehow feels newish and I’ve no real focal or reference points with which to gauge things. It’s a total contrast to the late 70s and 80s where music really was the be-all and end-all and hearing many a song from that era will take me immediately back to a place, time and/or incident which can spring to mind without delay. I certainly wouldn’t have had any issue, back in 2000, coming to terms with the fact that some great song or other dated back to 1982. But I just can’t get my head around that it’s been 18 years since I went out and purchased a QoSTA album for the one and only time.

The CD I got back for my cash featured a five-track bonus disc, with one of the songs being a surprising yet enjoyable cover:-

mp3 : Queens of the Stone Age – Who’ll Be The Next In Line

I’ve long been quite fond of the 1965 original:-

mp3 : The Kinks – Who’ll Be The Next In Line

JC

Pete Shelley

THIS WAS BOLD AND BRAVE

I’ve mentioned the past couple of Sundays how Paul Haig’s solo output would go to catch a few folk out, thanks to the music being far removed from the sounds associated with his former band, Josef K.

In a similar vein, the former frontman of Buzzcocks stunned many, fans and critics alike, when he released his debut solo single in September 1981:-

mp3 : Pete Shelley – Homosapien

I’m certain that I would have first heard this played at a night in the Strathclyde University Student Union on the basis that it had been banned by the BBC. I do recall, vaguely it has to be admitted, one of the weekly music papers having a real go at the record and its singer, accusing him of betraying his punk roots by sliding over onto the dance floor and jumping on the bandwagon of what the writer thought would be a short-lived craze for electronic music. Long live rock’n’roll and all that….

Did I take an instant liking to the track? Truth be told, not really as I wanted Pete Shelley to somehow create MkII of his former band. But, as I grew increasingly familiar with the song, I came to the realisation that it was an absolute belter of a new-era dance track, with as catchy a hook via the synths as had been managed previously with the guitars. Indeed, it is a close cousin to the new pop-savvy sounds that were being released by The Human League, which is no coincidence when you consider that Martin Rushent was could be found in the producer’s chair in both instances.

Few people knew that Pete Shelley was in fact revisiting his first love, having dabbled unsuccessfully in electronic music before meeting Howard Devoto at college and forming one of the most important punk/new wave bands to emerge out of the UK. It was something he had kept quiet about all the time his band becoming a success; in much the same way, he’d previously stayed schtum about his bisexuality, but the release of Homosapien, with its far from subtle references (e.g. ‘Homo Superior, in my interior’) provided him with a perfect opportunity to be open about things.

It was a far less tolerant world back then, and there was a sense of a substantial number of fans moving towards disowning Pete Shelley. The excuse given was the shift in music, but there were other unsaid things at play…..

The debut album, also entitled Homospaien, was largely panned on its release, but it is one which has been somewhat reevaluated over time with many now acknowledging that, while not perhaps as instantly accessible as those of the big-hitting and chart-friendly acts such as Depeche Mode, Heaven 17, OMD and Ultravox, it certainly was a decent stab at things.

Here’s the b-side to the original release of the debut single….again it’s a bit different from the Buzzcocks without being aimed squarely at the disco floor:-

mp3 : Pete Shelley – Keats’ Song

JC

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 2)

The proper debut single was released in May 1982. Paul Haig, as mentioned last week, had signed to Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule, but his debut 45 appeared on Operation Twilight in his homeland, a label which was in fact the UK side of his Belgian operations but with some input and support from Rough Trade.

mp3 : Paul Haig – Running Away

A fairly honest update of the original written and recorded back in 1970 with synths replacing the original horns.

mp3 : Sly & The Family Stone – Runnin’ Away

Truth be told, it did feel a little bit underwhelming at the time with very few Josef K fans able to believe their ears. It’s one which has grown on me somewhat, but it does still seem a bit rudimental, almost as if Paul was himself very unsure what his next steps should be.

The b-side is quite different, and isn’t a million miles away from the sound of pre-hit Human League. Again, it took a bit of getting used to, but once it was accepted the angular guitars were now a thing of the past and the electronica had to be embraced fully, this became an early favourite of the solo era.

mp3 : Paul Haig – Time

Both tracks today have been ripped from 7″ vinyl and as a consequence are a touch lo-fi.

JC

His Latest Flame

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #133 : HIS LATEST FLAME

Named after an Elvis Presley song, and formed in the mid 80s in Glasgow, His Latest Flame were thought by many as the nearest Scotland ever got to producing an all-girl pop band akin to The Bangles, albeit many of their songs had a political kick to them. The early singles were on Go! Discs but the latter material, including their only LP, was issued via London Records.

The initial band members were Jacqueline Bradley (drums), Irene Brown (guitars), Laura Mazzolini (bass), Moira Rankin (vocals) and Tricia Reid (guitar and vocals) who all played on this rather fine but very 80s sounding debut single.

mp3 : His Latest Flame – Somebody’s Gonna Get Hurt

Tricia Reid was by far and away the principal songwriter in the band. There would be a handful of 45s and one LP, In The Neighbourhood, before they called it a day in 1990.

JC

Land of Sex and Glory

LAND OF SEX AND GLORY

Aye…..I’ve gone for a post title that might pick up casual passers-by not neccesarily trawling for music.  It’s actually a guest posting from my very dear friend Walter, over in Germany, whose A Few Good Times In My Life is an excellent read.

Hi Jim,

I embrace your offer for a guest contribution on your site in thanks. There are plenty of bands gone by that are worth to remember. As you know I feature a lot of new stuff on my own site but from times to times I grab out a record that is covered with dust and I put it on the turntable with you. Most of the times I feature the band or the singer on the blog. My first thought was to feature The Flys in a guest comment and remembered that I did this almost one year ago.

So I had to decide for another band and found Land Of Sex And Glory. It was a short living band and as far as I know released only a 12-inch mini album back in 1986 called Showdown.

I was searching the internet for more informations but you can find a lot of informations about a Munich based band that is now active with the same name but has nothing to do with the band I am writing about. Also the band’s personal is vanished and can’t be found. So what is their legacy to music? For me one of the best German bands from the mid 80’s playing a stripped down new wave sound with stoic bass lines and a guitar that gets fuzzy at the end of the song. I liked to play this song often when I was DJ-ing in my very younger days. Hope you like it also a little bit.

mp3 : Land of Sex and Glory – Drowning

WALTER

JC adds…..

Walter is right in that there isn’t much info out there.  I went onto Discogs and learned that in 1984 Land of Sex and Glory released a nine-track self-titled cassette which may have been instrumental in them being picked up by Big Store Records, a Geman independent label for whom, in 1986, there was the six-track mini-album mentioned by Walter.  There was also a sole single – (I Always Wanted To Be) Andy Warhol’s Moviestar which was backed with a cover of Ruby Tuesday, which was put out by Big Store in 1988.

Looking at the artwork available on the Discogs site, I’ve been able to work out the band consisted of Martin Popolek (guitar, backing vocals), Berthold Pesch (drums, percussion and vocals) and George Infame (bass and vocals).  The six songs on the mini-album are credited to the band.  The later single was written by George Infame who also designed its sleeve, the reverse of which gave a contact address and telephone number in Munich for Berthold.

 

Bill Callahan

INSPIRED BY YESTERDAY’S ICA

As I said when I included the original in my stab at a Leonard Cohen ICA just last December:-

Marianne Ihlen was the inspiration for so many of Cohen’s writings, songs and poems alike. They had met in early 1960, when they were both in their mid-20s, on the Greek island of Hydra. They would end up living together for the best part of that decade in Montreal, NYC and Greece. So Long Marianne, like many songs composed by others over the years, deals with a break-up. It is hugely autobiographical and its release in 1967 was a very early indication that Leonard Cohen was a different sort of songwriter and that indeed he was, at heart, a poet.

This doesn’t mope over the ending of a relationship, but instead looks back joyfully over an extended period in which two perfectly matched and compatible people had enjoyed life to the full, the ending caused by Cohen feeling he could not be content in a monogamous relationship. “You left when I told you I was curious / I never told you I was brave”. And not once did he blame her for what she did.

PS : In 2016, Cohen learned that Marianne was dying from leukaemia. He also knew, at this time, that his cancer was likely to result in his death. He was able to compose a final letter which was read to her, by a friend, as she lay on her death-bed.

“Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and for your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.”

If that doesn’t bring moisture to your eyes, then there really is no hope for you.

And here’s one of my favourite cover versions of the song….

mp3 : Bill Callahan – So Long Marianne

JC

Smog

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #192 : SMOG

A GUEST POSTING by RICHARD

I don’t know why, there’s no reason for it and I can honestly offer no explanation … but for a few weeks every year, I’ll binge listen to Smog. And I mean really binge. A total, all-consuming obsession descends on me for 2 or 3 weeks (normally around February or March). In that time, I’ll fill my ears with Bill Callahan’s wry, dry, baritone and nothing else. There’s no other band or artist I do it with on such a regular basis and, as quickly as the urge comes over me, it passes. It’s happened for the past few years and no doubt it’ll happen again.

The reason I’m telling you this, is that I don’t want to fool anyone into thinking I picked Smog as the subject of my ICA because I’m some kind of obsessive super fan who listens to them constantly. I’m not. If you asked me to name my favourite bands off the top of my head, I very much doubt that Smog would spring immediately to mind. Yet when I stop and think about it, Smog is one of the most consistent acts in my record collection. One that I often overlook but consistently return to.

So if you’re looking to know every last detail about every single song that Bill Callahan has ever put out under that moniker, you’re looking in the wrong place. I’ve simply got enough Smog albums and enjoy them enough to be able to offer a fairly decent introduction to those who don’t.

Besides which, it just kind of seemed like an obvious choice. Without being an actual obvious choice. I could easily have gone with Radiohead or Nick Cave or The Smiths or Suede any other band that I would consider myself a big fan of. But I think most of those have either been done already or most people know enough about them, that an ICA seems a little pointless. Whereas Smog… well Smog don’t seem to get that much of a mention in many places.

As I suspect with most ICAs, picking the actual songs wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. Looking back at the final selection now, I could easily swap out a bunch of the songs and still be happy with it. That’s how good Smog are/is, so seriously, delve deeper if you like what you hear.

But before we get to the music, a little disclaimer…

I started my blog years ago. Back when I was a recently single twenty-something with plenty of spare time on my hands. I updated it regularly and really enjoyed writing about the thing I’d been obsessing over since I heard ‘This Charming Man’ blaring out of my brother’s university room when I went with my parents to collect him one wintery Friday. Then births, deaths and marriages happened (the only reasons to get dressed up, if you’ll allow me to misquote Aidan Moffat slightly) and writing about music just didn’t seem quite so important anymore.

So the dust settled on the blog. I tried occasionally to start it up again but the impetus and motivation wasn’t there. Nor was the time. Not in the way I felt would make it a worthy venture. I can’t tell you how I admire JC and many of you guys reading this now for how you’ve managed to continue where I couldn’t. The commitment it takes is admirable. The quality you maintain is truly impressive. But enough of the gushing… what I’m trying to say is that I haven’t really written about music in such a long time, that I’m not entirely sure I still can. There’s a good chance that this may just descend into a list of songs with little more comment than, ‘I like this because it sounds good’. So don’t go expecting too much in terms of insight or quality. Not from me anyway. The quality is all from Smog.

Oh and in case you don’t know… Smog was essentially a solo project of Bill Callahan. Sometimes with parenthesis, sometimes without. He released 13 albums under that name between 1990 and 2005 (of which I have 8) and since then he’s been releasing records under his real name. Given the deceptively simple, repetitive nature of his music and his deep voice and glib, morose half spoken, semi crooned delivery, it would be easy to label his sound as depressing. Dig deeper and there’s a great deal of complexity and sardonic humour in his writing. Indeed, his lyrics are a wonderful thing to lose yourself in. I hope you enjoy.

SIDE A

The Well (from A River Ain’t Too Much To Love)

The Well is track 3 on its parent album but I’ve always thought it could easily have been an album opener. Indeed, I went through a phase where I included it as the opening track on every mixtape (should that be mix-cd) I made. It’s a track that sets out Smog’s stall from the off. A simple repeated musical refrain that grows and builds and dips and builds again as the protagonist comes across a well deep in the woods. It’s a song that could easily be part of JC’s feature about songs that could be short stories. If you like this, chances are you’ll enjoy the 9 tracks that follow.

Truth Serum (from Supper)

Track 2 is another 7-minute song. And what a doozy it is. A duet of sorts that sounds so gentle and relaxed and unrushed and mesmerising and hazy as it reveals the answers to the big questions of life and love in the way that only drink and drugs usually do.

Dress Sexy At My Funeral (from Dongs Of Sevotion)

As far as songs about eulogies go, this is an oddly romantic one.

Bathysphere (from Wild Love)

For years I was more familiar with Cat Power’s cover than Smog’s original version and honestly it’s a tough call as to which I prefer. With its lo-fi drums and cheap sounding keyboard stabs, this version has a bit of an 80s feel to it as Bill shows how easily and cruelly dreams can be crushed.

I Break Horses (John Peel Session) (from Accumulation:None)

The original studio version of this track isn’t a patch on this version. That one is a mostly solo acoustic affair with Bill singing at a slightly higher register than normal. Compared to this version from a Peel session, it’s frankly a little underwhelming. This version is slower, longer, more morose and utterly, utterly compelling.

SIDE B

I Could Drive Forever (from Knock Knock)

This is the first Smog song I ever heard. It came on a free CD with Uncut magazine and sounded so other worldly compared to the sort of indie bands I was listening to at the time. A song about escaping that doesn’t sound like you’ll ever escape what you’re trying to escaping.

Blood Red Bird (from Red Apple Falls)

This is one of those songs where I couldn’t really tell you what it’s about or why I love it but it’s a fucking great song. While it doesn’t really go anywhere, it takes you all sorts of places.

Butterflies Drowned In Wine (from Supper)

A chugging insistent track with probably my favourite Smog title ever. It feels like a skewed version of a blues track that switches to a gentle country lilt before hitting you again with it’s chug-chug rhythm.

Permanent Smile (from Dongs Of Sevotion)

Is this a prayer? A cry of despair? A meditation on death? Probably all of the above and more. Musically it leans on a Spector-esque drum beat that’s been slowed to a funereal pace and sprinkled with a twinkly piano and jingly guitar.

I Feel Like The Mother Of The World (from A River Ain’t Too Much To Love)

An anti-war song that’s trying it’s hardest not to be an anti-war song. In today’s world, its message feels ever more prescient and necessary. ‘Just stop fighting’ indeed.

RICHARD

JC adds……Richard was one of the guys I turned to a great deal in the very early days of the original blog for help, advice and the occasional piece of support.  I’ve long been a fan of his writing and am genuinely thrilled that he’s made this superb contribution to the ICA series.  I’ve long wanted to feature Dress Sexy At My Funeral round these parts, so thanks amigo.

Go-Betweens

BONUS POST : RIGHT HERE (A FILM REVIEW)

I attempted to get an ambitious new series underway a few months back in that it was to involve a lengthy look back at the career of The Go-Betweens via separate chapters in Robert Forster’s excellent autobiography, Grant and I. The series stalled, not through any lack of enthusiasm on my part, but simply that I really couldn’t do the series justice as all too soon I had run out of superlatives for the contents of the book and the songs of the band.

I fully intend at some point in the future to have an extended look at the band, and indeed the solo careers of the two principal songwriters, most likely via a long-running Sunday series, although I’ve also been thinking that I might devote an entire month to the subject matter….

In the meantime, I wanted to reflect on Right Here, a documentary which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival as far back as June 2017 but which has, for various logistical and financial reasons, taken until now to get a cinema airing around these parts.

I went along to the Glasgow Film Theatre for the early evening showing just last Friday, accompanied by Rachel aka Mrs Villain. We unexpectedly bumped into our old friend Comrade Colin in the cinema café – I say unexpectedly but then again, the Comrade is as huge a fan of the band as myself and so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that he was also going to be in the audience. The surprise though was that he had been to the earlier matinée showing just a couple of hours previously but was so taken by the work that he wanted to have a second and immediate viewing on the back of him posting these words on social media:-

“I’d seen this brilliant Go-Betweens documentary, ‘Right Here’ (Dir : Kriv Stenders), before, via a questionable WWW link, but I still wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact of watching this on the big screen, with a proper sound system. There were moments of pure joy, utter elation and dark humour, but also tears, sadness and anger, especially when hearing from Lindy and Amanda on life after ’16 Lovers Lane’. And, well, the ending that we all know is inevitable. Grant’s tragic death at the age of 48.

“The film is an incredible monument to a story, or rather, a set of competing narratives and ego performances, about yet another band would should have and could have. And they did, in a way, and against all the fucking odds. But they did this very much in their own way, to their own tune. That striped sunlight sound lives on but only in the records we have in our collections (“The Go-Betweens were…” run the final credits). Lindy’s still clearly mad about Robert, but also mad *with* Robert. Heartbreaking. Grant is missed by all, especially Amanda. And Robert too of course, his best friend, his muse.

“This is simply one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen about a band that are ingrained into my fabric and DNA. A band who had no hits. A story about a band in the middle. 10/10”

He’s quite right you know……

Relationships were essential to the band moving in the direction that it did between 1977 and 1989 and complicated, ever-shifting relationships at that. It’s testament to the skills of the director that he elicits really positive contributions from all past members, clearly proud of the contributions they made to that initial run of albums, while also enabling them to vent what, in many cases, appear to be pent-up anger and frustrations at how they were, to all intent and purposes, cast aside by Grant and Robert. The Comrade has already given his take on Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown, but there’s also some very telling testimonies, particularly from ex-bass players Robert Vickers and John Willsteed and, on reflection afterwards, also from early drummer Tim Mustapha, who was cast aside in a way which really did give an early indication of what would remain an almost undetectable ruthlessness on the parts of the two main principals.

The documentary has benefited immensely from the 10 year gap between Grant’s death, by heart attack, and the filming getting underway. It’s a period in which Robert has been able to reflect fully on things, including him exorcising a number of demons through the writing of his book. I think it’s also enabled him to come to understand that, on occasions, some of both his and Grants’ behaviour and their attitudes towards their band colleagues were less than stellar and any offered excuses centring around the temperaments of creative geniuses don’t really wash. There’s certainly a sense of lingering regret in a number of his contributions, particularly towards the end of the film, very much in contrast with the first hour or so in which there is a real and deserved celebration of the band’s legacy, wonderful contributions from a diverse range of talking heads including musicians such as Mick Harvey, Lloyd Cole and David McClymont, friends and family such as Sally McLennan, Clinton Walker (a well-known and highly regarded cultural figure in Australia who almost steals the show) and Damian Nelson, and those involved with the band professionally such as Bob Johnson and Roger Grierson. Oh, and the archive footage of videos, TV appearances and still photographs is an absolute joy….as, of course is the music which is constantly in the background or the forefront of many scenes.

I’ll just echo the Comrade – Right Here is simply one of the best and most all-round satisfying music documentaries I’ve ever seen. Informative, engaging, entertaining (there were many moments which resulted in a smile or a laugh, often when Clinton Walker was offering his thoughts) and ultimately very moving with it abundantly clear that Grant is still missed each and every day. It also made me more determined than ever to get myself to Australia, ideally to catch Robert play a solo show in Brisbane.

mp3 : Go Betweens – Right Here

JC

Ponderosa Aces

HE’S A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY…..

A GUEST POSTING by JOHNNY BOTTOMS

Those of you who might be new(ish) to this little corner of the internet might like to have a read at this post from February 2017 and then this post from May 2017 to get the back story…..

Greetings, Jim.

A little while back you asked for an Aces update. So as not to bore you to tears I’ll try to sum up everything that’s happened since our fateful April 2017 meeting in Manchester, bullet-point style:

The England trip was truly amazing and we got a nice write up about it when we got home: https://www.ocweekly.com/whats-it-like-for-an-outlaw-country-band-touring-the-uk-8099980/

* We started recording an album in fall of 2017
* In October Hoss reluctantly left the band for family reasons
* Marty Beal, formerly of the Lisa Marr Experiment, agreed to join the band as lead guitarist
* The album was mixed and mastered earlier this year
* We planned to self-release the record and did all the photo shoots, cover art and graphics etc.
* To our surprise we were contacted by At The Helm Records, a UK label, who said they wanted to release it for us overseas
* At The Helm is the home of Ags Connelly, whom you may remember opened for us in England
* This pushed the release of the album to early 2019
* We are excited about the label’s interest because we are hoping they’ll bring us back for another tour
* The album will be titled No Particular Way
* The first single, ‘Come Around’, has just been released and is available on iTunes, CD Baby and similar digital sites!

So, at long last, new Ponderosa Aces music is available and a lot more is coming soon. ‘Come Around’ marks the first time I’ve been in the studio for 30 years.

Johnny Bottoms

JC adds….

Johnny also provided a copy of the new single and said that he didn’t mind if it was posted on the blog to download for a while, but that he really wanted to encourage folks to buy the single independently. As he points out, the band aren’t going to make any money from record sales but the big hope is that if enough people download it may convince the label to bring them back for another UK tour.

So….no link from me except to here and here where it can be downloaded.  I’ve done so already and it’s a mighty fine sounding tune.  Please find it in your hearts to spend 99p or 99 cents or whatever your currency is!

In the meantime here’s something with an apt title from the band’s back catalogue:-

mp3 : The Ponderosa Aces – Play The Game

JC

Fall

LET’S ALL MEET UP ON THE POST 2000

The original Vinyl Villain musical extravaganza was born on 30 September 2006 and in a little under seven years managed to feature somewhere in the region of 2,500 posts before it was cast out into t’internet wilderness by the evil people at blogger.com.

The (new) Vinyl Villain was born on the day the old blog died – 24 July 2013 and today marks it’s 2,000th posting.

A lot of those have come from the brains of many friends and guest writers, a situation which has given me great pleasure over the years. It’s the guest postings together with the contributions which come through the comments section that make me determined to keep things going, particularly on the increasing number of occasions when the inspiration seems to be a long way away or I’ve a general feeling of fatigue or fed-upness about it all.

Thank you so much friends, comrades, amigos and compadres.

I had a great chat with Drew a few weeks back….I’ve been so wrapped up in issues of my own that I’ve failed to keep up with the blogging activities of my friends over recent times and had totally missed that he had temporarily brought things to a halt over at his place, although it’s great to see he’s slowly getting back into the groove.  I’m not going to go into huge detail about what we talked about, suffice to say we both felt a lot better after a couple of hours. We also agreed a particular photo should be used to illustrate the 2,000th post on T(n)VV on the basis that it brought me to a stop when I saw it on the streets of Galway a few months ago….and also that he laughed when I showed him it as we jointly imagined the theatre show was really about Mark E Smith (RIP) going to Cape Town and trying to recruit local kids for his band now that he’d burned his bridges with every single indie musician in the UK.

We also agreed this should be the song for today:-

mp3 : The Fall – Lost In Music

Not sure if I’ll get to 3,000 posts….but rest assured I will be back tomorrow.

JC

Paul Haig

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF PAUL HAIG (Part 1)

I’ve decided that Paul Haig should be the next subject for the Sunday singles series. I realise that many of you won’t be that bothered over the next few weeks and months given that he’s far from a household name and indeed could almost be the perfect definition of a cult artist; but I’m a huge fan and feel that his body of solo work, now stretching back the best part of 40 years in which he has continually tinkered and altered his sound, is very worthy of being put under the spotlight.

Paul first came to prominence as the lead vocalist of Josef K, one of the four bands to release material on Postcard Records. They split up in August 1981 and it is fair to say that, like many others, their legacy and impact was only fully realised many years after when the next generation of musicians began to name check them as key influences. His solo career began almost immediately,  but not in any straightforward fashion, signing to a Belgian-based label – Les Disques Du Crepuscule – while opting to also adopt the moniker Rhythm of Life Organisation (RoL) under which he intended to release experimental material, much of which would be far removed from the post-punk, angular guitar sounds associated with his former band.

Indeed, it was as RoL that the first solo 45 was issued, and not on the label to which he had signed.

mp3 : RoL – Soon

Ok….the pedants among you might argue this is NOT a Paul Haig solo record, given that the credits are:-

Stephen Harrison : voice, guitar & lyrics
Paul Haig : other instruments & voice

But it’s an important staging post for what would follow in the succeeding years which is why I’m using it to open the new series.

Soon was issued jointly via Rational Records and Rhythm of Life Records and given two catalogue numbers – RATE 6 and RHYTHM 1 (these things were really important to those of us smitten by how Factory Records were keeping stock of the things they were involved in). Rational was a short-lived label, owned and run by Allan Campbell, who had been the manager of Josef K and would remain a key player in the Edinburgh music scene for a long while to come.  The label would release eight pieces of plastic all told, including the follow-up by RoL, a double-sided single entitled Uncle Sam/Portrait of Heart, both written and performed by the late Sebastian Horsley with Paul’s role restricted to keyboards, bass and second guitar; as such I’m not intending to include it in the series.

Here’s yer b-side of Soon, and it isn’t a cover:-

mp3 : RoL – Summertime

Boths songs are a tad on the light side, very pop-orientated with a sound that wouldn’t have been out of place a short while later on Zoo Records, the label which would launch the careers of so many 80s musicians in Liverpool.

JC

Hipsway

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #132 : HIPSWAY

Hipsway were formed in Glasgow in 1984 featuring ex-Altered Images member Johnny McElhone on bass, Grahame Skinner (vocals), Pim Jones (guitar) and Harry Travers (drums). They were quickly signed up by Mercury Records and and after two flop singles, struck payola in March 1986 with this fabulous piece of pop, which reached #17 in the singles chart:-

mp3 : Hipsway – The Honeythief

They toured a great deal in 86/87, including as openers for Eurythmics and Simple Minds, and by the time it came to make a follow-up album, McElhone had quit, going on to form the multi-million selling Texas.  The remaining three members went into the studio and presented the label with an album called Scratch The Surface, but there were delays in getting into the shops and in the interim the band split for good.

Skinner and Jones continued to work together on other projects for a number of years before also going their separate ways, although they each remained active in the Scottish music scene.

The duo decided to get back together as Hipsway to play some gigs to mark the 30th Anniversary re-release of the self-titled debut album and were pleasantly surprised to sell out a number of shows at decent sized venues in Glasgow.  This led to them reforming on a more permanent basis, writing and recording new material, with the album Smoke and Mirrors due for imminent release before an extensive Scottish tour this coming December, including a gig at the Barrowlands.

JC

Carla J Easton

A CONTENDER FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Regular readers will know that I rarely give plugs to new records….it’s just not my kind of thing and it’s not really that kind of blog. Exceptions, however, are occasionally made when I come across an exceptional piece of music.

Such as today as I want to draw your attention to the immediate release of Impossible Stuff, the latest album by Scottish singer-songwriter Carla J Easton who first came to prominence as one-quarter of all-girl Glasgow band TeenCanteen. Adopting the name Ette, she recorded and released the album Homemade Lemonade a couple of years back; to say I kind of liked the record would be an understatement. I called it out as my favourite album of 2016, enjoying greatly ten memorably catchy tunes that brought to mind all sorts of all genres and influences, such as the girl-groups so beloved of Phil Ramone, along with Clare Grogan, Kate Bush, Kylie, 80s synth bands, bubblegum, rap and the occasional hint of folk-rock that so many bands from Scotland are proving so adept at.

Hard to believe, but I reckon Carla has now gone and topped the debut which she recorded in Montreal with the help of producer Howard Bilerman who, among others, has worked previously with Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen and, closer to home, British Sea Power. The results are quite spectacular and there has been a deserved buzz already with huge acclaim for the two singles which have preceded the album, firstly this in January 2018:-

And then her release for Record Store Day which sold out in a ridiculously short period of time, but thankfully has been included on the new album rather than being limited to those lucky enough to have snapped up the vinyl a few months back:-

mp3 : Carla J Easton – Wanting What I Can’t Have

Most recently, a fun video was made for another track on the album – Dreamers On The Run – in which Carla is imagined as representing Scotland in the Eurovision Song Contest…with a suitably drawl commentary provided by none other than Aidan Moffat:-

The album, out today, is on Olivegrove Records, one of the best small labels here in Scotland, under the direction of Lloyd Meredith, who has long been one of the unsung heroes of our local music industry in Scotland.

https://olivegrove.bandcamp.com/products

It would be great if you could use the above link to purchase the album, but at the same time I won’t object if you order it from your local, friendly independent record store!!

JC

Nits

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #191: NITS

A GUEST POSTING BY ALEX G

From We Will Have Salad blog

Here’s one for those who like their pop literate, quirky, sometimes a bit mysterious, with a gung-ho approach to genre. Sounds like a pretty easy sell round these parts, but for some reason Amsterdam art-rockers Nits have never quite broken into any of the major English-speaking markets. In theory, they should fit right in: they are typically compared to British acts, especially XTC and Elvis Costello, with whom they share a similar career trajectory of early new wave-ism swiftly diversifying into artier, genre-blind territory; they’ve always performed in English, and Henk Hofstede’s lyricism suggests there’s some truth in the old joke that the Dutch speak English better than the Brits do.

But you have to wonder whether CBS were really trying during the 20 years or so they had Nits on their books. The group’s UK discography is not extensive: one LP, three singles and a sampler CD for an album that never saw a full British release. That leaves a lot of imports and downloads to explore.

By the official count, Nits have 19 full-length albums to their name, but various mini-LPs, live albums and collaborations nudge the total closer to thirty. They’re not all consistently great; I think there’s an argument to be made that Nits belong in the “Had It, Lost It” series, though there’s still some good stuff on the later albums – just a lot of filler too. They also took a while to “get it” in the first place – their first few albums suffer from an excess of experiments that wind up being indulgent-weird rather than interesting-weird. If you want a recommendation, well… I could easily have filled one side of this ICA with songs from 1987’s “In The Dutch Mountains” and the other with songs from 1990’s “Giant Normal Dwarf”, both wonderful, imaginative and evocative albums I return to a lot. I managed to avoid that temptation, but for this imaginary compilation, I have stuck to songs from what would generally be considered Nits’ golden age, which co-incides with keyboard player Robert-Jan Stips’ original tenure with the group, 1983-96. (He returned in 2003 and is still with them today.) Other members have come and gone, but the recognised core trio comprises Stips, singer/guitarist Henk Hofstede, and drummer Rob Kloet.

Side one

The Panorama Man (In The Dutch Mountains, 1987)

I imagined this song as being about a travelling showman, sometime around the 1900s, with a projector and a collection of film reels. Which is just the sort of thing The Nits (as they were at the time) would write a song about… but they didn’t.

As it turns out, it’s actually about a man delivering a magazine called Panorama to the young Henk Hofstede’s house. If I’d realised that the first two lines refer to postwar comic strips, I’d have worked that out sooner. Oh well, it’s all good.

The fact that this song – and the whole album it comes from – is a live-in-the-studio recording, taped directly to two-track without edits or overdubs, is simultaneously impressive and strangely irrelevant. The quartet responsible (Hofstede, Kloet, Stips and bassist Joke Geraets) represents arguably the greatest of Nits’ many line-ups, and they were such a skilled live band that they could do this sort of thing on demand, yet never sound over-drilled.

There From Here (Giant Normal Dwarf, 1990)

Simply a beautiful song about waking up from a nice dream. This song never makes the cut for their compilations, so in a small way I get to redress the balance by including it here!

Bike In Head (Henk, 1986)

It stands to reason that a bunch of Amsterdamers would come up with one of the greatest songs ever written about cycling. Mark Ronson can keep his “I’m gonna ride my bike until I get home”; I’ll take the cinematic magnificence of “On a shadow lane between big trees / Bike chain spins and frame freezes”. To head off potential mondegreens, that line in the middle eight is a reference to the Amsterdam zoo, ARTIS – not “I just bought an elephant today”, which I’ve seen some people quote it as. It’s not quite that surreal.

In The Dutch Mountains (In The Dutch Mountains, 1987)

This is probably (The) Nits’ best known song, and in its simultaneous mocking and celebration of Dutch stereotypes it essentially does for the Netherlands what Men At Work‘s “Down Under” did for Australia. It was one of the three singles that got a UK release (the others were the new wave blast of “Tutti Ragazzi” in 1979 and the dramatic “Nescio” in 1983) but as you will have guessed, it did nothing here. It did do reasonably good business across the continent, though (it reached number 3 in Austria) and has a tendency to turn up on European “hits of the 80s” compilations.

Sleep (What Happens To Your Eyes) (Henk, 1986)

“Henk” reminds me a lot of OMD‘s “Crush” from the previous year. Two underrated synth-based albums which followed up enjoyable but one-note predecessors (“Adieu Sweet Bahnhof” and “Junk Culture” respectively) with slightly bonkers collections mixing up lots of different styles, often within the same song. For example, this: it builds up mysteriously with synth bloops and then turns into… Schubert’s “Erlkönig”. Alright then! What I’d really like is a 12″ extended version of this that carries on building for a few more minutes, but sadly this is all there is.

Side two

A Touch Of Henry Moore (Omsk, 1983)

Not many bands showcase percussion to the extent that Nits do. That’s mainly because other bands have drummers; Nits have Rob Kloet, who is basically the Evelyn Glennie of art-rock. And speaking of art and rock, on this track Kloet and Stips (the latter making his debut as a full member, though he’d already been the unofficial “fifth Nit” for a few years) bring on a mixture of live and sampled percussion to evoke the sounds of stone sculpture, not as a novelty, but as a suitable sound-world in which to pay sincere tribute to somebody whose work they admire.

This is the oldest item on the ICA, and the only one for which co-founding guitarist Michiel Peters was still in the line-up, though I’m not sure he’s actually on the track. There’s a chiming riff in there which could be a guitar, or guitar doubled with something else, but I think it’s just keyboards.

By the way, it occurs to me that although Nits have a reputation for travelling a lot and writing about the places they visit, this ICA is very much based in the Netherlands. Even this tribute to a British artist is inspired by pieces in the grounds of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Giant Normal Dwarf (Giant Normal Dwarf, 1990)

I think of this sweet and witty song as being in the same ballpark as The Magnetic Fields‘ “Book Of Love”, and I fear that someday it’s going to suffer the same fate of being picked up and covered by a succession of awfully serious people who crush the humour out of it.

Cars & Cars (Ting, 1992)

“Cars & Cars” is the only Nits song I have ever heard in any context where it wasn’t me who chose to put it on, that context being the quintessential interesting-if-there’s-nothing-else-on documentary series “Coast”. About halfway through the very first episode from 2005, there’s an aerial shot following a train along the coast (natch) somewhere in the south-east of England, and the accompanying music is the orchestral version of “Cars & Cars” from Nits’ 1992 collaboration with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, “Hjuvi”. A particularly surprisingly choice given that Nits have quite a few songs referring to trains, including one actually called “The Train”. I recall Cars & Cars popping up again a few epsiodes later, backing a piece about a lighthouse in… Gwynedd, I think(?). And then never again. Anyway, this isn’t the orchestral arrangement, just the basic trio version.

Typist Of Candy (version) (Quest, 1995 – recorded 1986)

No idea what this one’s about… if it’s actually about anything at all! This version is a lot busier and (synth-)brassier than the album version on “Henk”, and eventually came out on “Quest”, the bonus CD of B-sides and demos issued with early copies of their first proper “best of” collection, “Nest”.

Dapper Street (live) (Urk, 1989)

While Nits are frequently compared to XTC, one obvious difference is that Nits tour. A lot. And they don’t just play the songs as they appear on the records, but surprise their audience with new arrangements – sometimes to accommodate the skills and preferences of whoever’s in the line-up at the time, but often just because they can.

The well-regarded live album “Urk” features the “In The Dutch Mountains” line-up and in the absence of a Greatest Hits album at that time, its 29 tracks provided a more-than-decent overview of the group’s work up to that point. This particular song originally appeared on the 1983 mini-album “Kilo” but I prefer this version, shorn of its more harshly synthetic elements. Apparently, “Dapper Straat” by JC Bloem is one of the most loved poems in the Dutch language, and this English adaptation is not a direct translation, but an attempt to capture the sense and mood of the original. I can’t speak for the poem, but the song is lovely.

ALEX G

Belated update from JC : Anyone who, understandably, would like to obtain much superior quality downloads of the songs featured in this ICA should go here, where Alex G has made a zip file available.

Marc Almond, Momus, Scott Walker

CUTE….IN A STUPID ASS WAY

La Chanson de Jacky is one of Jacques Brel’s best known compositions, certainly here in the UK, thanks to the fact it has twice been taken into the singles charts in 1967 and 1991, both as cover versions:-

mp3 : Scott Walker – Jackie
mp3 : Marc Almond – Jacky

Both versions are an absolute hoot, both have much to offer in terms of enjoyment and style and both are well worth a few minutes of your time for a listen. If pushed, I’d say I preferred Marc Almond’s version for the bravado shown by him and the production/arrangement/mixing cohorts of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and Youth in throwing absolutely everything at it to turn it into a genuine camp classic which has stood the test of time.

Having said that, it is worth noting how Scott Walker’s version, which of course I’m way too young to recall, was banned by the BBC because of words like ‘queers’, ‘virgins’ and ‘opium’, and yet such was his popularity at the time that it sold enough copies to reach #22 despite next to no airplay.

A wee snippet of trivia for you.

The b-side of Scott’s single was one of his own – the writing credit is given to Scott Engel which was the name he was born with – and is a wonderfully OTT effort complete with the singer bringing in the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra to give him the sound he was looking for:-

mp3 : Scott Walker – The Plague

What many perhaps hadn’t noticed when Marc took Jacky to #17 is that five years earlier he had included this on his covers EP, A Woman’s Story:-

mp3 : Marc Almond – The Plague

Oh and I also discovered while doing my research that Jacques Brel had also, in 1986, been given the cover treatment by the eccentric and occasionally brilliant Nick Currie, who records as Momus, and in doing so offered his own twisted and very personal and incredibly clever take on things :-

mp3 : Momus – Nicky

Cute…..in a stupid ass way

JC

Dead Hope

IT’S ALWAYS THE GOOD GUYS WHO GO EARLY

It was around three years ago that Basil Pieroni of Butcher Boy handed me a demo of some tracks that had been recorded by Dead Hope, a three-piece band based in Glasgow. He was doing so on the basis that he thought I’d really like the tracks but also as a favour to his lifelong mate, Keith Martin, who was the drummer with this new band.

The demos were really good and it was really pleasing to be able to pick up a copy of their debut album, Songs From The Second Floor, released in September 2017 which offered ten tracks over 34 minutes of music that, while never groundbreaking was the sort which has never ever really gone out of fashion. It’s a blend of new wave and hard rock with the occasional hint of a catchy pop riff…the sort of stuff that seems to be the accompanying music to action shots in countless film and television programmes. I previously tried to sum it up by describing the songs as being in debt to Black Flag but in the way that the sound was later refined for radio consumption by such as Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr.

Live, the band proved to be truly dynamic, but that was hardly a surprise given that Keith, and his band mates Scott McCluskey (vocals/guitar) and Andy Crone (bass), had all been around the local scene for a while and weren’t a group of image-conscious youngsters worrying about looking cool. Their songs were played occasionally on BBC Radio 6, but the fact that the debut album was self-funded and self-released and, for the most part, only available via a bandcamp site prevented them being better known outside of this city and its immediate environs where every gig was a sell-out in front of really appreciative audiences.

Sadly, Keith Martin passed away a couple of days ago after a long and very brave fight against cancer, a fight that was kept quiet to most. It has been a real blow to his many friends.

I only knew Keith through others and wasn’t in his company all that often, but on those few occasions it was immediately clear to see why he was so highly thought of.  Many of those who grew up with him In Ayrshire or have gotten close to him in more recent years have taken to social media to reflect both on how influential he was and to offer their own personal memories and thoughts on a man who was highly intelligent, well-read and the most terrific of conversationalists. One of his oldest and closest friends has summed Keith up best:-

“Fiercely intelligent, tough, tender, hilarious, sometimes scary, socialist, loyal, a guy who would always stand up for what he believed in. He was all of those things but most of all he was a good pal…I’ll miss him and that wee glint of mischief in his eye.’

There’s a lot of sadness around just now, understandably so.  Mine stems partly from the fact that he’s been taken away just as his band was really gaining a head of steam, with genuine talk of one prominent indie label expressing interest in re-releasing Songs From The Second Floor and most likely providing the platform they really deserved. Keith Martin would have provided loads of great copy if he had been able to spend time in the limelight; as it is, only those fortunate enough to have been close to him during his cruelly cut-short life will have been able to fully appreciate just how poorer the world is today for his passing.

mp3 : Dead Hope – Pigs
mp3 : Dead Hope – Truth Be Told
mp3 : Dead Hope – Swordz

JC

A Certain Ratio

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (23)

The debut single from A Certain Ratio sounds unlike anything else they would ever release during their recording career for the simple reason that it doesn’t feature Donald Johnson on percussion or drums. Indeed, this September 1979 release is one which will be of huge appeal to the raincoat-wearing brigade, particularly those whose tastes encompassed Joy Division or Bauhaus, featuring that brooding guitar sound which producer Martin Hannett was beginning to refine in his work with the former and a vocal that was goth-lite.

mp3 : A Certain Ratio – All Night Party

Echorich, very bravely, had this open up his ACR ICA back in February 2017 and I don’t think there’s any way of topping (pun intended) his description of it:-

“All Night Party has a soulless urgency that just builds and builds until it stops. It is certainly night music, but the only party it would soundtrack would likely occur in a mausoleum.”

FAC5 confounded the critics, albeit Jon Savage in a review in Melody Maker said the band displayed ‘rudimentary skills with more panache and imagination than most since the Sex Pistols’

Here’s yer equally downbeat, brooding, industrial and funkless b-side:-

mp3 : A Certain Ratio – The Thin Boys

Neither track was helped much by the cheap pressing afforded to the recording but such has become the modern-day demand for vinyl of this vintage that you can expect to pay £50 for a copy of a 7″ single that’s in decent nick as only 5,000 were pressed….there’a a lot of Factory obsessives out there you know.

The addition of the new drummer and percussionist, allied to the other members own tastes, took them down a road in which funk, dub and disco played their parts in making them quite unlike any other on the Manchester label. It’s hard to imagine they would have lasted that long if they hadn’t shifted direction, but there’s just something I find alluring and very appealing about the debut.

JC