Idlewild, Simply Thrilled

IT REALLY WASN’T A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE

It’s Friday. It’s the 13th of the month. I’ve been running a Scottish theme all week here. It’s the eve of an all-English ICA World Cup final. I feel it is appropriate to sabotage the blog.

Today’s offering is the debut 45 by the rather spendid and usually tuneful Idlewild.

Queen of The Troubled Teens was released on Human Condition Records, an Edinburgh-based indie label, but such was the small extent of the distribution that few copies got outside of the city, and as such it is highly sought after by fans (and no, I don’t have a copy; I used villainous methods to get a hold of the songs for today).

Idlewild had played their first shows in early 1996, as teenagers, and they soon earned a reputation for loud, chaotic but energetic shows. It wasn’t until February 1997 that their debut single was released by which time their bass player, Phil Scanlon, had quit to concentrate on his studies and so these three songs are his sole contribution to a band which has now released seven studio albums, three compilations and twenty-three singles in a largely stellar career.

Here’s what Roddy Woomble, lead singer and main songwriter with the band has said this about the debut:-

The thing is that it’s rubbish. I mean, for what it is – when I look back, like I do with fondness at copies of a favourite book or something – musically it’s just a bunch of 19-year-olds. Of course it’s part of the band’s history, but I think things have moved on.

He’s not wrong you know….

mp3 : Idlewild – Queen of The Troubled Teens
mp3 : Idlewild – Faster
mp3 : Idlewild – Self Healer

I can safely predict that these are unlikely to be aired at Simply Thrilled.

JC

Simply Thrilled, Vaselines

SON OF A GUN

The Vaselines are one of the best examples you can find of a band becoming more famous and influential long after they had called it a day.

Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee were romantically entwined when they formed the band in 1986. As they have said on a number of occasions, they knew they weren’t terrifically competent from a technical point of view, but they set out with the intention of the sort of music they enjoyed listening to, heavily influenced by the 60s duets of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, and the likes of The Velvet Underground, Orange Juice and The Jesus and Mary Chain who had all used grit and determination to get things going rather than worry about how perfect their sound was.

They released two EPs on a Glasgow-based independent label which was run and managed by a number of their friends, including Stephen Pastel, as well as recording an album which initially had to be shelved as the label had gone bust, albeit it was later picked up and released on Rough Trade. By the time the album was released in 1989, the band was no more – thoroughly disillusioned by the experience of crap venues, no money, no solid fan base and no media support for what they were doing. Little did they, or indeed anyone know, that their songs had come to the attention of a singer/songwriter from the north-west corner of the States who was determined that the band he fronted would pay homage by covering them when they played live.

Kurt Cobain’s love for The Vaselines brought them to a whole new audience, and more importantly, had critics reassessing things to the extent that a number of them in the UK would claim to have championed them from the outset. Eugene and Frances had become hip names to drop into any conversation….

The EPs and album had sold in such small numbers that they were tough to track down and so Sub Pop chose to reissue their entire 19-song back catalogue in 1992 on a compilation entitled The Way of The Vaselines at the same time as a Edinburgh based indie label issued something similar in the shape of All The Stuff and More, which is the piece of vinyl that I have in the collection.

The three songs that made up the debut EP encapsulate everything that made the band so different from their late 80s peers while also demonstrating how it was difficult for anyone to find a single reference point with which to compare them:-

mp3 : The Vaselines – Son of A Gun
mp3 : The Vaselines – Rory Ride Me Raw
mp3 : The Vaselines – You Think You’re A Man

The irony, of course, is that the lead track has aged magnificently, sounding really fresh and invigorating more than 30 years on, one which has no problem in filling the floor of your average indie/alt disco with even the young ones appreciating its charms.

The other original track is hilarious and shambolic in equal measures….it could be argued that it’s about someone looking forward to climbing aboard a fine looking horse and galloping around some freshly mown fields first thing in the morning…..but that argument holds no truck in Villain Towers. I really don’t know how these real life lovers were to keep straight faces when they sang this one in concert……

The final track demonstrates that the making indie music doesn’t necessarily mean leaving your wicked sense of humour and fun at the door of the studio. Where Orange Juice had often paid tribute to the late 70s/early 80s disco sound, so their descendants tipped their hats to Hi-NRG with a bizarre take on a hit single by the drag queen Divine (which, incidentally , was the first ever success for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman).

The a-side of these may well be aired at some point during Simply Thrilled….if not the inaugural night, then I’m certainly going to have it on a playlist in next time around.

JC

Ballboy

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #175 : BALLBOY

This post is dedicated to Sexy Loser

I thought it was time I tackled another difficult ICA, featuring another wonderfully entertaining and talented Scottish combo, one of the finest bands to ever emerge out of Scotland’s capital but second city.

Ballboy emerged in the mid-to-late 90s, with the various members gigging and recording around the commitments of holding down full-time careers. A few members came and went and finally things settled down in 1999 with a four-piece line-up consisting of Gordon McIntyre (vocals and guitar), Nick Reynolds (bass), Gary Morgan (drums) and Katie Griffiths (keyboards) signing to SL Records. The band would record a number of EPs/singles which were later compiled as the wonderfully named Club Anthems in 2001 before the release of a debut LP, A Guide For Daylight Hours was released in late 2002. Two more albums – The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories (2003) and The Royal Theatre (2004) very quickly followed as the band consolidated on their ever-increasing fan base, one of whom was John Peel.

By this point in time, Alexa Morrison had replaced Katie Griffiths. There was also something of a loss of momentum with the latest LP not being as well received as previous efforts and there was something of a fall-out with the label. It wasn’t until 2008 that the next album – I Worked On The Ships – was released and it was on the band’s own imprint of Pony Proof Records. There’s not actually been all that much released since then outside of a digital Christmas mini-album in 2013, but the band have been reasonably active on the live front here in Scotland, albeit rarely nowadays as a full four-piece.

There’s plenty of songs which could have made this ICA, and what follows is not necessarily my favourite 10 tracks; but taken collectively they make for what I think would be two rather splendid sides of vinyl. It also builds on this previous posting on the band from two years back.

SIDE A

1. Avant Garde Music (from A Guide for the Daylight Hours, 2002)

Every one of the band’s EPs and albums opens with a truly memorable number and it was a tough choice selecting the track with which to introduce the ICA. In the end, I’ve plumped for Avant Garde Music partly on the basis it is from the debut LP but mainly as it captures perfectly what it is that makes Ballboy such an appealing listen. It is self-deprecating, humorous, catchy and with has the most wonderful put-down line of ‘I don’t give a fuck what she says or thinks about me’. Indie attitude at its very best!

2. All The Records On The Radio Are Shite (EP, 2002)

More indie attitude at its very best. Gordon’s tongue may be slightly in his cheek when he sings that, with the exception of his own material all the music coming out of the transistor just aren’t very good, but there’s no arguing the sentiments, especially these days when an awful lot of indie music seems to be by numbers. But then again, the hipsters and youngsters probably think the stuff I like is trad and dull…..

3. Songs For Kylie (from I Worked On The Ships, 2008)

There are singer/songwriters out there who have made millions upon millions, selling out arenas and stadia the world over thanks to them having the talent to match a tear-inducing lyric with a tune that somehow can tunnel its way into every brain and stay there no matter how hard you want or try to forget it. There are even, and always have been, songwriters for hire to do the very same for those singers whose voice is the only thing creative about them. I listen to some of the ballads that Ballboy have recorded over the years and cannot but feel that Gordon McIntyre missed his true calling.

4. Something’s Going To Happen Soon (from A Guide for the Daylight Hours, 2002)

And the cellos kick in……..

Boom. Pow. Whack.  You’re In Love.

5. I Don’t Have Time To Stand Here With You Fighting About The Size Of My Dick (from The Royal Theatre, 2004)

As said previously, probably the first thing that jumps out when you look Ballboy song is the finest set of song titles since The Smiths were at the height of their fame, fame fatal fame. The titles inevitably involve a wry look at life and love – successes and failures alike – but the great thing is that the tunes are more than a match, especially on the debut album. There was a wee bit of a backlash when The Royal Theatre was released in that the production and sound had removed some of what had made the band such an essential listen over the previous five years but it is impossible not to smile at the title of this song.

There’s a real complexity about the lyric – the laugh out loud title acts as its opening line and isn’t ever repeated. The closing two lines offer up a beautiful and moving image of a loving memory. In between? Well, let’s just say it’s from the perspective of a hardened, violent criminal who just never imagined things ever going wrong….just listen and then applaud.

SIDE B

1. Donald In The Bushes With A Bag of Glue (from Club Anthems, 2001)

This was actually the lead track on the band’s first ever EP, Silver Suits For Astronauts, in 1999.

2. Kiss Me, Hold Me and Eat Me

3. The Sash My Father Wore (both from The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories (2003)

The sophomore album was a bit if a surprise in that it was quite acoustic in nature, offering up many songs in which it was just the singer and his guitar and the occasional use of a cello.. It’s a tremendously enjoyable piece of work, brave in many ways partly from it being such a bold step away from the sounds that had brought the band some indie-pop fame but also from the fact that the lyrics didn’t hold back on the sort of things that angered him, not least the title track.

Kiss Me, Hold Me and Eat Me must be the only love song about cannibalism. It muses on what cannibals who fall in love would do to one another given their all-consuming desire to consume flesh. Is there a happy ending? There’s only one way to find out…….

Type in “The Sash My Father Wore” into any search engine and you’ll be greeted with a toe-tapping tune of religious triumphalism and intolerance. Sectarianism is Scotland’s shame. It is somewhat on the wane compared to a generation ago but those Protestants who can’t tolerate Roman Catholics (and vice-versa) while less in numbers seem to be more bitter about things, angry that a certain way of life is ebbing away. It is, sadly, at its worst in Glasgow but there are also many small working-class villages and towns which have an historical association with dirty, grimy and dangerous industries, especially coal mining, where the marching season across June, July and August brings out the worst in folk.

Ballboy’s take on it all? A gentle ballad with a biting lyric which pulls no punches. Billy Bragg has rarely, if ever, been this courageous……

4. I Wonder If You’re Drunk Enough To Sleep With Me Tonight (from A Guide for the Daylight Hours, 2002)

The title sounds creepy and the sort of thought that goes through the head of a social inadequate on a night out in the company of someone they fancy, or indeed lust over. And yet and the upbeat, jaunty nature of the song opens it to other interpretations, primarily that it is really about a hopeless romantic who, while he says he won’t be put off by a fear of failure is in fact so terrified of it that he is incapable of behaving or thinking in any sort of rational way.

I’ve always thought this would make for a marvellous duet. Singer #1 would take it through to the end of the first chorus at which point singer #2 comes in and takes it through to the end of the second chorus. Then they would stare into one another’s eyes and both sing the closing section, pleading with one another to kiss them like they mean it this time……and it won’t matter if they are sober or drunk.

5. Meet Me At The Shooting Range (from A Guide for the Daylight Hours, 2002)

One of the most hauntingly, beautiful tunes of my lifetime.  I’ve wept while listening to this alone while very drunk……and it’s just a perfect way to bring ICA 175 to its conclusion

JC

Hue and Cry, Simply Thrilled

CITIZEN(S) KANE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mp3 : Hue and Cry – Labour of Love

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

Here’s yer ballad found on the b-side:-

mp3 : Hue and Cry – Widescreen

JC

Aztec Camera, Simply Thrilled

SIMPLY THRILLED

So here’s the thing……..

Three top blokes – Robert, Hugh and Carlo – for a decade have been promoting a club night in Glasgow called Strangeways. I’ve written about it before, and indeed chronicled my experience of being given an amazing opportunity to do a guest slot at one of the nights.

There have been a couple of spin-offs from Strangeways in which I’ve had some involvement – most recently being the Mixtape Nights – but now things are going to a slightly different, higher and really exciting level. Best if I let Robert explain:-

“It’s a round world

While it turns things go in cycles, we presented our much cherished Strangeways night for almost ten years, and we loved every night.

Putting our hearts and souls into every one with the eternal hope that you guys would love them too.

And you came back time and again, dancing and singing until you drifted off into the night, it was happy, happy times.

We decided it was time to close the doors on Strangeways this year while it was still a popular night and leave on a high. But we couldn’t just waltz off into the sunset, naw.

Time for something new and the sounds of Northern Britain are calling you, Scotland’s music needs celebrated and celebrated loudly! It’s colourful, diverse, inventive, quite frankly it’s brilliant and we want to get you dancing once more.

So say hello to ‘Simply Thrilled’ our first night will be back at the fantastic Admiral once more on the 28th of July.

And here’s the dust jacket : Simply Thrilled: Glasgow’s new club night for Songs from Northern Britain and Beyond The mission? To celebrate all that’s great about alternative Scottish music – as well as some terrific bands from beyond. With a playlist that reads like a roadmap of Scotland, Simply Thrilled will be thumbing an A-to-Z of everything from the Associates to The Zephyrs. So expect to hear Glaswegian heroes including The Pastels, Franz Ferdinand, The Royal We and Teenage Fanclub – plus the sounds of the Chemikal Underground: Mogwai, The Delgados and Bis. And, celebrating another groundbreaking label, listen out for Postcard’s Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera. Need more? Here’s more: Arab Strap, Belle and Sebastian, BMX Bandits, Bossy Love, Camera Obscura, Cocteau Twins, Frightened Rabbit, Lloyd Cole, JAMC, Primal Scream, Simple Minds, The Soup Dragons, Snow Patrol, Young Fathers… And with a glut of newer names like Sacred Paws, TeenCanteen, Spinning Coin, Modern Studies, Happy Meals, Apostille and Hairband

There’s even a wee video trailer to cast your eyes over.

Here’s the thing. The intrepid trio have invited me to join them on a regular basis. And I’m simply thrilled, honeys.

These guys really do know what they are doing and they really play to their individual and collective strengths. Robert and Hugh in particular know how to crank things up at just the right moments in an evening to take the atmosphere to new levels. I can only hope that my own contributions, in whatever shape they take and whatever hour(s) of the evening they occur, maintain that level of quality.

And to celebrate all of this, I’m going to have a short series which celebrates some of the best in Scottish music. Not sure just how often the pieces will appear as they will be built in around the ongoing stuff like the 2018 ICA World Cup, the guest postings, Charged Particles and other inane ramblings that I have in the pipeline. There’ll even be an ICA from a Scottish act which I wrote a few weeks back but never quite manage to slot in.

For today, I’ve pulled out this double-pack single which was posted on the old blog but is one which I can’t trace via my search of what archives have survived.

Oblivious had been released by Rough Trade in January 1983 and reached a reasonably respectable #47 in the charts. The album High Land, Hard Rain had come out a few months later to huge critical acclaim and the band had enjoyed a very successful summer promoting it out on the road. There was a feeling that Oblivious could benefit from a re-release which duly happened in November 1983, with a new sleeve and bolstered also by a limited edition double-pack release to entice those of us who had bought the 45 first time around.

mp3 : Aztec Camera – Oblivious
mp3 : Aztec Camera – Orchid Girl
mp3 : Aztec Camera – Back On Board (live)
mp3 : Aztec Camera – We Could Send Letters (live)

The live renditions were from a gig at El Mocambo in Toronto on 11 May 1983 which had been broadcast by a local radio station. No apologies for the fact the mp3s pop and crackle a bit….I’ve played them a lot over the years.

The marketing campaign for the re-release was a success, taking the song into the Top 20, and providing a very fresh-faced and excited Roddy Frame with his first appearance on Top of The Pops.

More Simply Thrilled induced nostalgia coming your way tomorrow.

JC

Various

A RE-POST TO BUY SOME MORE TIME (13)

WHY DID I START THIS THING?

from 26 August 2009

I get the occasional email from readers, and a couple of times recently I’ve been asked, in passing, why I started this blog.

There were loads of reasons at the time, but in the main it boiled down to the fact that having installed broadband in the house back in 2006 I could now browse the world wide web seeking out songs of old, and I decided on a whim that this was something I wanted to do myself. So Mrs Villain bought me a USB turntable and told me to stop just talking about it…

There’s thousands of music blogs out there, and on the right hand side of this page you’ll find a list of some of my particular favourites. There’s one or two other new blogs that have started up in recent times that are also proving to be royally entertaining, and they’re likely to be added to the list in the weeks ahead.

But there’s also been a number of blogs that have come and gone. For a while I kept a list of the ‘dead’ blogs, but ended up deleting this during one of the periodical clean-ups. I’ve actually lost count of the number of songs I’ve downloaded from blogs over the years. Some of them I’ve kept….

But when I do that, I will usually make an effort to track down some product and purchase something, even if it is just a legitimate mp3 download – and I hope that’s what most of you will do of and when you download something from my wee place. So, despite some folk claiming that bloggers are killing the music industry, I find I’m spending more on music now in 2009 than at any other point in my life, and am running out of space in the cupboard that holds the vinyl and on the shelves where the CDs are stacked.

But enough rambling. The idea of today’s post is to bring you some of the more obscure and wonderful things I’ve downloaded over the past three years…and here’s to more of the same going forward:-

mp3 : Coin Op – Hey Uri
mp3 : Arab Strap – Here We Go (live acoustic session)
mp3 : Jens Lekman – You Can Call Me Al
mp3 : Elle S’Appelle – Little Flame
mp3 : Paris Motel – Mr Splitfoot
mp3 : Blur – Close

JC

ICA WORLD CUP

BONUS SERIES : THE ICA WORLD CUP : SEMI-FINAL (2)

It appears that there is an actual football world cup causing much excitement across parts of the planet, but surely it isn’t anywhere near as important as the competition which has been dominating the Saturday pages of this little corner of t’internet these past few months……………it’s perhaps a pity that neither The Wannadies or The Cardigans had an ICA eligible to begin with…..just imagine the fun we could have had if they had been still standing at this stage and ready to play today against one of the titans of late 20th century contemporary England……

You all know from last week that The Clash and The Jam are going to square up for place in next week’s final….and I’ll get to that in just a moment. First of all, here’s the outcome of the first semi-final in which Babies was pitted against Between The Wars:-

Pulp 16  Billy Bragg 18

It was a titanic struggle. One in which nobody was ever more than three ahead at any time….and going by the responses, many of you had a real tough time with your eventual choice in a match-up that would have made a great final.

Dirk (aka Sexy Loser), not for the first time in this tournament, perfectlly captured the dilemma facing many of you:-

This sucks. And it’s a bit like when someone asks you “Would you like to have a glass of ice-cold beer, a German one, or one from Belgium – not a British one? Or would you like a glass of real good Shiraz from Australia instead”?

The point I’m trying to make is: you cannot compare the two drinks, can you really? Personally, I’d like to have BOTH of them, in exactly that sequence! Then again I say that about almost every alcoholic drink being offered to me … but, if I HAVE to choose, at the end of the day, the decision would depend on the mood I’m in, I think.

The very same is true for the two songs in question. Let’s say Bragg = beer and Cocker = Shiraz. And as it’s already 30 degrees Celsius in this bloody office (and it’s not even 11 AM my time!), I’d currently favour the cold beer …

Follow that Joe/Mick/Paul/Topper/Paul/Bruce and Rick……..

THE CLASH v THE JAM

The home side have long been seen as the firm favourites for the overall tourney while the away side have, in some ways, defied incredible odds to get this far given that the ICA selections are restricting them only to album tracks as the 45s had been featured in their entirety in a separate series. However, the home side may have one weak spot in an otherwise stellar line-up of songs and it may be exploited in this semi-final.

Capital Radio 2 v To Be Someone (Didn’t We Have A Nice Time)

The Clash track was used to close the ICA. In doing so, I wanted to find a way to bring out the humorous side of the band and to demonstrate that the very best ICAs aren’t always the greatest or most admired 10 songs but the tracks which hang well in a particular sequence. Capital Radio 2 was the fourth and final track on The Cost Of Living EP. The original was something that I only had on tape….and it was a poorly recorded low-quality effort straight from the radio. I loved the idea of getting my hands on the new version which is why I was desperate to but the EP the day it hit the shops….indeed I played this track before any of the others.

As I said in ICA 12, the fact that it came with an outro that spoofed the sort of ads you could hear on the actual radio station was, to my ears, a stroke of genius. I spent a few hours back then wondering whether this or Train In Vain should close the ICA….if it had been the latter and it was your option today, then I think it could edge towards a landslide win. As it is, this is perhaps the one song which might not appeal to everyone, especially considering the opposition.

The Jam had to wait until ICA 52 but this was down to the fact that they had been appearing each week via a singles series. As I said at the time, it was self-indulgent to pull together an ICA without any of the songs that ever appeared on the 45s and extending that to excluding songs which had been live tracks on b-sides (thus no appearance for Away From The Numbers). The quality of the album tracks has been such, however, that the band has fairly coasted to this stage, albeit they have had a fairly kind draw….so you could say they are doing it the quintessential English way!

This track was slotted into the ICA following on from Saturday’s Kids and in advance of Man In The Corner Shop. It did seem strange to have it slightly out of context with it not being preceded by the title track of All Mod Cons, but it worked perfectly as far as I was concerned. I still find it incredible that this was written by someone who was barely out of his teens at the time with the world at his feet and not by some crinkly, ageing old has-been who was jealous of the new wave who were breaking through. I hung on every word Paul Weller was saying at that time….and if he was warning me that there was a huge downside to being famous and rich, then I was going to take heed.

So there you have it….two incredibly personal songs that I wanted to, needed to and ultimately did include in two early ICAs. Which one will take their performers into a match up with Billy?

JC

Landscape

A SMALL PORTRAIT OF LANDSCAPE

The bloke who sat in the producer’s chair and helped propel Spandau Ballet to initial fame was Richard James Burgess. What many folk probaly don’t realise (and I include myself in that vast number) is that way before the Kemps put their band together, the man in the producer’s chair was a wannabe pop star.

Landscape formed in 1974, playing pop and jazz tunes and released a couple of low-key EPs in the late 70s. They turned to synthesisers and electronica in 1979 but with little commercial success….until Burgess’ name became famous thanks to his imprint on the Spandau Ballet singles and other emerging acts like Visage.

Cleverly cashing-in on the fame, Landscape then enjoyed some minor success in 1981 with a Top 5 hit in Einstein A Go-Go and a Top 40 hit with follow-up Norman Bates. Subsequent singles and LPs were not hits, and by 1983, Landscape had split-up.

Richard James Burgess worked with quite a number of successful chart acts in the early-mid 80s, and also released some more jazz-influenced material. He is highly respected in the world of academia thanks to his pioneering work with electronica when it was just emerging, and has taught and lectured in a number of high-profile educational establishments in the USA. But most of us I suspect know him best through this:-

mp3 : Landscape – Einstein A Go-Go

Note the recording and mixing of various telephone calls in the opening part of the mp3, which I’m sure must have been one of the first such examples of sampling on any record. Interestingly, the info on the record label advises that the song is 3 minutes in length, but the intro is 32 seconds long….thus allowing radio DJs to cue the record up properly so that listeners got to hear only the actual music.

JC

Stereolab

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #174 : STEREOLAB

A GUEST POSTING BY ALEX G

https://wewillhavesalad.wordpress.com/

Presenting a selection from the premier Anglo-Australo-French London-based situationist krautrock exotica group, Stereolab. For this ICA, it was pretty much a straight pick of six or seven favourites I always return to, and then using the remainder to fill any obvious gaps. I felt confident that French Disco and Ping Pong would be popular choices, but that I might be alone in selecting the unrepresentative minimal disco groove of Margerine Melodie or the joyous but essentially throwaway Heavy Denim. It was only after I’d come up with a tracklist that I looked up other people’s “best of” lists online to see if there was anything really obvious I’d missed out and found that none of them remotely agreed with mine… or with each other. Everybody’s got different favourites – they’re just that kind of band.

On the other hand, it should be said that this isn’t really my personal “best of” – that would be far too difficult and probably focus more on the mid-90s albums (for a start, there would definitely be more than one track from Emperor Tomato Ketchup). It’s more of a beginner’s guide for people understandably overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of material Stereolab turned out. One effect of this is that it’s considerably more song-oriented than groove-oriented, though I did make sure to include one long “statement” piece. Of their non-imaginary non-compilation albums, both Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements and Dots and Loops were released as 10-track double-albums in a 3+3+1+3 configuration (several others also had one side taken up with a single track), and that’s what I’ve gone with here. I’ve also thrown in a bonus 7” with two instrumentals.

All songs on the main album are written by the constant core duo, Tim Gane (guitar, keyboards) and Laetitia Sadier (vocals, guitar, keyboards, a bit of everything). There were a lot of line-up changes along the way, but other key long-runners were Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar) and Andy Ramsay (drums). Stereolab do have a reputation for just doing the same thing for 20 years, but I don’t think that’s true, and there’s quite a bit of diversity on display in the ten tracks here. If it weren’t for Sadier’s voice, you wouldn’t necessarily think all these tracks were even by the same band.

Side one

French Disco (B side of Jenny Ondioline single, 1993)

Seems to be the Stereolab song that people most latch onto, and as good a place as any to start. Presented here in its original, longer and correctly-spelled B-side form.

Self Portrait With ‘Electric Brain’ (Chemical Chords, 2008)

Chemical Chords was Stereolab’s last “proper” album (a companion out-takes volume, Not Music, emerged two years later) and is the most focused, least noodly of the lot. For some fans this is a bad thing, but personally I like it. The backing track here could be Saint Etienne, though of course Saint Etienne would probably use it to write a song that scans and generally makes sense.

Margerine Melodie (Margerine Eclipse, 2004)

Stereolab go disco! Well, sort of. As you will hear on this track, the Margerine Eclipse album has a gimmick of being mixed so everything is either completely to one side, or dead centre. It works a lot better in practice than you would expect.

Side Two

Ping Pong (Mars Audiac Quintet, 1994)

Mars Audiac Quintet was a huge leap forward for Stereolab, the first album on which they really integrated their love of lounge, exotica and bubblegum with the familiar krautrock grooves half-inched from NEU! and Can, and this was its most accessible song. Indeed, probably the group’s best-realised attempt on mainstream pop ever.

The Free Design (Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night, 1999)

I’m not sure this would necessarily have made the cut but for a feeling that there ought to be something here to represent the Dots & Loops / Microbe Hunters / Cobra & Phases period. Some may have more tolerance for the noodliness of mid-period Stereolab than I do, but I’ll just stick with this relatively focused and structured track which was pressed into service as the lead single for Cobra & Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night.

Lo Boob Oscillator (single, 1993)

Some facts, thoughts and fancies about Lo Boob Oscillator:

This song has always struck me as needing to be placed at the end of an album side, and annoyingly it never has been. Until now!

The title is supposedly a numbers-to-letters rendering of a noisemaker called the L0 800B Oscillator. But I can’t find any evidence of its existence beyond being used as an explanation for this title. They couldn’t have made up the story, could they?

This is the only full-on French-language track on the compilation, and there probably ought to be more. Cybele’s Reverie (which was the only chanson Français to appear as a general-release single rather than a limited edition like Lo Boob Oscillator) would have been my #11 pick, I think.

Maybe I’m making connections that aren’t there (and nobody else seems to have advanced this hypothesis) but it’s very tempting to see this as an answer record to Sleeping Satellite the huge hit for Tasmin Archer in the autumn of 1992 and a song bemoaning the Apollo programme’s appropriation of mankind’s dream of space travel for short-term political gain. Then one writing and recording cycle later, along come Stereolab with a song reaffirming the moon’s traditional role as “symbolique de quelque visions imaginaire”. Hmmm.

On the original single, “Oscilator” is spelt with one “l”. But it’s always been spelt the correct way since, so presumably that wasn’t deliberate.

Apparently Lo Boob Oscillator appears in the film High Fidelity. I’ve never seen High Fidelity so I didn’t know this. On the soundtrack LP, it’s placed at the start of side four, which is so, so wrong.

Side Three

Jenny Ondioline (Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements, 1993)

Probably the apex of Stereolab’s early shoegazer-friendly “layers of noise” phase. A remixed extract was released as a single, though it got rather overshadowed by its more popular B side, French Disco. Because going on for a very long time (preferably with as few chord changes as possible) is also one of Stereolab’s major traits, here you get the full 18 minute album version.

Side Four

Nothing To Do With Me (Peel Session version) (ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions, 2002)

Side four features three songs which showcase the interplay between Sadier and second vocalist Mary Hansen, starting with probably the funniest song Stereolab ever recorded (though admittedly the competition for that title is not particularly fierce). It’s just Laetitia and Mary quoting lines out of context from Chris Morris‘ Blue Jam but since it was that sort of show anyway, it actually kinda works.

Tomorrow Is Already Here (Emperor Tomato Ketchup, 1996)

Although Sean O’Hagan left Stereolab after Mars Audiac Quintet to concentrate on his own band The High Llamas, he frequently returned as a guest to add his trademark exotica tinges, particularly lashings of vibraphone. This particular track was originally demoed as Reich Song since they reckoned it sounded a bit like the work of minimalist composer Steve Reich.

Heavy Denim (B side of Wow And Flutter single, 1994)

They are here to disrupt, to have the time of their lives. An absolute blast.

Bonus 7”

A: Symbolic Logic of Now!

AA: Iron Man

I think we’d be talking about a box set before either of these tracks had a hope of making the proper album, but it struck me that if this compilation were issued on vinyl, it’s quite likely that it would include a bonus 7”, and this is the sort of thing I imagine they’d choose to put on it – in fact both tracks made their original appearances on limited 7”s. The A side is a “nu jazz” workout, typical of the Dots And Loops period (and it does have some vinyl crackle I’m afraid, but hey, it’s a free 7”, what do you expect?). The AA side would be great background music for a chart rundown.

ALEX G

Auteurs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL MY FRIENDS WAY OVER YONDER

mp3 : The Auteurs – American Guitars

And just to avoid any confusion, Luke Haines was NOT having a dig at grunge as many have long believed (including myself). He said this in an interview a few years back:-

Totally misunderstood. I thought all those Seattle bands Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad etc. were great. (I thought Teenage Fanclub were great but for some reason I never would have admitted it at the time) I thought the British slacker imitators were weak. I thought all those British bands that came before (MBV, Slowdive etc) were fundamentally simple minded and weak. The Auteurs were not weak.

JC

Various

30, 20, 10 (Parts 14 & 15)

I completely forgot about this series last month – what’s more disconcerting is that nobody dropped a line asking whatever happend to it!  It’s probably on its last legs…..but for now, here’s two months worth in one go.

1 June 1988 : mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 88

As featured not long ago in the New Order singles series.  Not the best remix of the song but not the worst.

1 June 1998 : mp3 : The Tamperer featuring Maya – Feel It

An Italian dance music group consisting of Italian record producers Mario Fargetta and Alex Farolfi, and American singer Maya Days.

Feel It was their first release and it went massive right across European dance clubs in the summer of 98. Heavily reliant on a sample of a song by The Jacksons.

1 June 2008 : mp3 : The Pigeon Detectives – This Is An Emergency

Indie band from Leeds.  Formed in 2004 and still going strong today.  I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never knowingly heard any of their songs.  There’s only so many skinny boys with guitars that you can cope with in a lifetime before it gets dull and repetitive….but there will be folk of a younger ilk than me who will, rightly, be fond of this lot and laugh in my face with my championing of 80s stuff.  This one starts off a bit like Interpol and then gets a tad anthemic but I suppose it is easy to see why folk do like them.

1 July 1988 : mp3 : The Timelords – Doctorin’ The Tardis

Drummond and Cauty demonstrate how following a formula can get you a #1 hit….they even wrote a book about it and then got serious with The KLF.  Genius.

1 July 1998 : mp3 : Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank

One interesting point you may or may not know. Fatboy Slim got no royalties from this track, with the monies going to the writers of all the songs which had been sampled; then again, given how much he was coining in from the live appearances at the time, it wouldn’t have been too tough a situation to have been in.

1 July 2008 :  Sukie – Pink-A-Pade

Indie band from Kettering.  Formed in 2006. Looks like they released one single which went to #1 in the UK indie charts and then they broke up.  Had a listen to it on-line and wasn’t impressed enough to purchase it, so it’s a no-show here.

JC

Kid Creole & The Coconuts

A RE-POST TO BUY MORE TIME (12)

SKELETONS IN MY CLOSET (Part 9)

originally posted on 24 June 2009

I may have thought I was really cool back in 1982 with my ever expanding record collection full of great indie music, but every now and again I fell for the charms of sheer radio fodder.

Blame it on the hormones as I couldn’t take my eyes off the telly screen whenever the bikini-wearing Coconuts were there doing their stuff on backing vocals to Kid Creole.

But let’s be honest listen to the sax playing on ‘Wonderful Thing’ and accept its not far removed from that which appears on Rip It Up…..

From seemingly out of nowhere (although it turned out he had been part of band or production teams for a few years), August Darnell hit payola with his alter ego as Kid Creole & The Coconuts had a triumphant year in 1982. Three Top 10 singles in the UK and a Top 2 LP that hung around the charts for some nine months, and loads of TV appearances in the days when we had just the three terrestrial channels in the UK.

mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – I’m A Wonderful Thing Baby
mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy
mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Stool Pigeon

Ha cha cha cha……

Don’t worry too much folks, I never adopted the bright shirts or zoot suits as a look…..I still wore my raincoat as I danced to this lot.

JC

ICA WORLD CUP

BONUS SERIES : THE ICA WORLD CUP : SEMI-FINAL #1

This has been fun hasn’t it?   But now we are getting into the really serious part of the competition.

The result of the final game in Round 5 was:-

The Jam 23 Lloyd Cole & The Commotions 11

The score doesn’t quite reflect how decent a contest this was and it really is quite amaxing that Weller, Foxton & Buckler are still going despite their ICA featuring just album tracks and no singles or b-sides.

Here’s who is still standing….Billy Bragg, The Clash, The Jam and Pulp.  Not too shabby a line-up and I’m thinking that many of you will have had initial thoughts that they could all go a long way depending on the vagaries of the draw…talking of which…..

Semi Final 1 : Pulp v Billy Bragg
Semi Final 2 : The Jam v The Clash

PULP v BILLY BRAGG

Babies v Between The Wars

Blimey……this offers a tough choice between two very different types of songs.

The Pulp ICA was compiled by Tim Badger

After about ten years the wilderness, Pulp emerged with this tale of teenage tea time obsession. It begins innocently enough with Jarvis talking about afternoons with girls in bedrooms – before he goes well a bit perverse and then delivering this withering punchline “I only went with her ‘cause she looked like you!”

and the track on offer from Billy was on an ICA stitched beautifully together by Walter.

With no backing band but his own electric guitar, Billy Bragg sang ‘Between the Wars’ as a first-person narrative of a miner hoping his hard work would be rewarded by care from the government his efforts helped support. Another song about the miners in the 80s and maybe one of his most emotional ones.

Both are outstanding pieces of music and very representative of what made both acts such essential listening. Which one are you prepared to give the nod?  A place in the ICA World Cup Final is at stake…

JC

BOB

CONVENIENCE

A short time ago, I put up a posting celebrating the single What A Performance by the 80s indie band BOB. It was a well received effort, but what I was most taken by were comments from folk whose views I really respect pointing me in the direction of another single by the band:-

Friend of Rachel Worth : Love Bob, was planning an ICA as felt they had a lot more creativity and variety than most. Convenience is the hit that got away.

Strangeways : Also agree about ‘Convenience’ – what a song

Nev : Convenience has to be in my top 20 of 45s of all time – love it!

I’ve now tracked down said 45, and am happy to confirm that the contributions were bang on:-

mp3 : BOB – Convenience

Released on 7″ and 12″ on House of Teeth Records in 1989, the lead track was voted in at #31 in that year’s Festive Fifty (which itself was of vintage quality as I hope to demonstrate quite soon). It’s a tremendous little pop song that I’m only sorry I didn’t pick up on back in the day.

Here’s the wonderfully named b-side of the 7″

mp3 : BOB – I Fall Upon The Thorns Of Life! I Bleed!!

JC

Breeders

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #173 : THE BREEDERS

a guest posting BY jimdoes

The Breeders have got a new album coming out next week (JC adds……well, they did have back in February when jimdoes sent this over!!) and to commemorate it I thought I’d do a quick ICA (if there is such a thing)

First up I’m a big fan of Kim Deal and did think about a Kim Deal ICA as she’s guested on quite a few records as well as made some formidable music with The Breeders – in all their various guises. I’ve tried to include something from each of their albums (they’ve been around for 20 years!) – otherwise there might be more songs from Last Splash. And I know The Breeders are more than just Kim Deal but she’s the singer and it’s her band, so I’m going to talk about the music and her. She’s the coolest Kim in music (sorry Kim Gordon, it was a close one) and The Dandy Warhols even wrote a song about her – which I’ve always thought of as a bit weird because they could never be as cool as Kim Deal and the song isn’t anywhere as good as anything by The Breeders.

SAINTS (From ‘Last Splash’)

There’s something about Kim Deal that makes me smile – maybe it’s because I imagine her smiling whenever she’s performing. Anyway, this is a track that I always put on compilation tapes that I gave to people in the Spring. “Summer Is Ready When You Are” – what a great line.

PACER – The Amps (From ‘Pacer’)

I’ve included The Amps as part of The Breeders because they pretty much were – when The Breeders went on hiatus, Kim Deal formed The Amps – as she’d done when Pixies had some down time. And they still play a few Amps songs live. Kim Deal could always write a good pop song and this is one of my favourites.

BANG ON (From ‘Mountain Battles’)

Here’s one you can do a sort of shuffling dance to (honestly) – it’s got a great beat. And Kim Deal is still smiling. And I love the way it ends – “missing gah”.

OFF YOU (From ‘Title TK’)

Kim gets all sensitive and introspective – but does it with such grace. Possibly the closest she gets to not smiling.

IRIS (From ‘Pod’)

I’ve been obsessing about this song recently. It’s so good. One of the things I’ve always loved about The Breeders is you not one song sounds like it could have been a Pixies song – they just seem so apart from that bit of Kim Deal’s legacy. This one is maybe closest as it does have that LOUDquietLOUD thing going on though. Pod is one of my favourite albums but it’s always been one that I listen to in it’s entireity – it always seemed a shame to delve in to one track, but if you don’t know it this is a good starting point.

CANNONBALL (From ‘Last Splash’)

The hit single. Impossible not to include this on an ICA. One of the best songs of the 90s. One of the best songs of all time. My daughter loves it.

SAFARI (From ‘Safari’ ep)

Released on an ep after Pod, a belter of a track. It wouldn’t have been out of place on Last Splash.

I AM DECIDED – The Amps (From ‘Pacer’)

Considering that Pacer is such a rough and raw sounding album, it contains some of Kim Deal’s poppier moments – to my ears anyway.

FORTUNATELY GONE (From ‘Pod’)

More pop music. More smiles. Sugar sweet. Ba-Ba-Ba-Baa.

DIVINE HAMMER (From ‘Last Splash’)

And if this one doesn’t make you smile too, then I give up.

jimdoes

Rosemary's Children

ANOTHER FROM THE C87 BOXSET

The booklet for the C87 boxset has this to say:-

“Rosemary’s Children only left behind a legacy of one single and a mini-album but remain a high point of pioneer Mike Alway‘s idiosyncratic el label.

Southern Fields, released in July 1986, was an absolute gem, the sublime folf-rock half of a release that also included the more psychedelically strained (Whatever Happened To) Alice?.

Mini-album Kings and Princes (1987) followed – ‘a royal treat spiced with exotic landscapes, folk follies and direct Englishness’ according to one critic – a mix of noisy post punk, folk and jangly pop. Band member Dave Pearce went on to pioneer exprerimental lo-fi music with Bristol act Flying Saucer Attack.”

My own take is that the single and its b-side are decent enough without being classics but I can see why so many folk recall it in glowing terms about it. It’s perfect if you really do look back at the 60s as THE golden era of pop music, from which so many that have followed can trace their roots. There’s no denying the summer of love had a huge influnce on this particular combo. Even the name of the band screams 1967……

mp3 : Rosemary’s Children – Southern Fields
mp3 : Rosemary’s Children – (Whatever Happened To) Alice?

JC

Human League

SOUNDS

It is now more than 37(!!!) years since the April 1981 release of the 45 which took the new-look The Human League into the charts and onto our television screens via Top of the Pops. Synth-pop had duly arrived with a bang.

The Sound of The Crowd was an extraordinary single that still sounds superb all these years on. It was full of catchy little chants such as ‘Get Around Town’ and ‘Arse Around’ (sorry that should read ‘Pass Around…but I’m sure the way it was put down on record was deliberate) and yet it was impossible to fully sing along to without making an idiot of yourself thanks to phrases like ‘Make a shroud pulling combs through a backwash frame” which I’m sure is one that Ian McCulloch has always wished he’d come up with.

This was the first release in which Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall featured as backing vocalists to Phil Oakey. There can be no argument that their contributions were every bit as vital as the tune itself in creating the pop hooks which made it such a natural tune for daytime radio.

The visual element they brought with them was also a huge factor in raising the profile of the band – if you want evidence for that claim then just look at the fact the first TOTP appearance came when the band was sitting outside the Top 50 ; the show’s producers obviously believed that the contrast between these two young and attractive teenagers and the bloke with the funny haircut would get people talking.

Further evidence that TOTP saw the band as naturals for the show? The second appearance came a few weeks later when the single was at #15….having dropped down from #12 the previous week, thus breaking the rule-of-thumb on the show in those days that you would only be invited to perform if your song was rising up the charts.

I’m sure that many who had been interested in the band from the early days would have been appalled at the apparent sell-out. The Sound of The Crowd was a million miles away from Being Boiled and about half that distance from Empire State Human but there were no grumbles from me as the song became part of the soundtrack of my final few weeks at school and its follow-ups were aired at the student union disco nights as I found my feet at University.

Here’s some cuts straight from the 12″ vinyl:-

mp3 : The Human League – The Sound Of The Crowd (Complete)
mp3 : The Human League – The Sound Of The Crowd (Instrumental)

JC

Foo Fighters

CHARGED PARTICLES (V2) : Part 3


Pleasant Surprise

I can’t stand the Foo Fighters. No, that’s not exactly right. It’s more correct to say that I like everything about the Foo Fighters except their music, which I find to be boringly ordinary emo. Fake anthems.

By all accounts, though, Dave Grohl is a great guy that’s nice to everyone. My friend’s daughter saw him at the mall and told him she was a drummer and he grabbed her phone and took a selfie with her. He organized and performed at a tribute to Bob Mould of Husker Du. He plays benefits all the time. Yeah, he’s a good guy and a monster drummer, I just never liked his kind of music.

So anyway, I’m at the gym where there’s a kid called Chris I’m friendly with who really knows his music. No matter what comes on the radio he knows it. We quiz each other about songs in a good natured way. When I told him I was going on tour in England last year (where I met JC!) and would be traveling around in a van, he laughed and said, “Have fun. I know what that’s like.”

Really?

Chris looks like he’s about 20 years old but, come to think of it, he’s pretty heavily tattooed.

“Dude, you tour around in vans?”

“Well, not that much anymore. Sometimes if I’m doing solo stuff.”

Not anymore? Solo stuff? Who was this guy? Turns out he’s Chris Sheflett, Foo Fighters’ lead guitarist. I’m still not crazy about the band’s music but I like when internationally successful musicians, selling out stadiums of 80,000 people, turn about to be regular folks that are fun to talk to.

Congregation – from the band’s 2014 LP Sonic Highways

JTFL

Wonder Stuff

A RE-POST TO BUY MORE TIME (11)

From 5 January 2010

DON’T GIVE ME LOVE, OH NONE OF THAT STUFF COS……….

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – It’s Yer Money I’m After Baby

This was the fifth single by The Wonder Stuff and the first to trouble the charts, sneaking in for the one week at #40. But 13 out of their next 14 singles all hit the Top 30 in the UK, including a #1 hit with Dizzy, a collaboration with comedian Vic Reeves in October 1991.

It’s easy to forget nowadays just how massively popular this lot were at the beginning of the 90s…..at one point they headlined a gig with almost 20,000 in attendance at Walsall football stadium near their own home town. It’s also a scary thought to realise that this bit of vinyl is now more than 20 years old.* (it’s actually 30 year old now!!!)

Even if you’re not a fan, have a listen to one of the b-sides for its inspired attack on the pop-tastic machine that was Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Poor little Rick Astley…….

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Astley In The Noose
mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Ooh, She Said
mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Rave From The Grave

Happy Listening

JC