Indelicates

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #146 : THE INDELICATES

A GUEST POSTING by ROL

(My Top Ten blog)

I’ve wanted to do an ICA for The Indelicates for a while. I could have just written them a Top Ten over at my own blog, but I wanted a bigger audience to sing this band’s praises to, because I honestly believe they’re one of the best bands of the 21st Century, even though I’ve never heard their records played on the radio or seen them reviewed in the music press.

It’s shocking really, but after ten years, the only place you’ll see The Indelicates championed is on the internet and in the blogosphere. Well, I want to add my voice to those accolades (again) because The Indelicates have just released their 6th studio album… and it may well be their best yet. (Or at least their best since their exceptional debut, 2008’s American Demo.)

Of course, I realise The Indelicates won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. They’re a difficult band to pin down. One minute they’re indie pop, the next they’re cabaret. One minute Jacques Brel, the next Carter USM. At times Kate Bush, occasionally Victoria Wood. They also have a very distinct lyrical voice, and they’re uncompromising in that voice. Just like Jim Bob, Morrissey, or Joe Strummer: they say what they have to say and don’t care one hoot if you don’t like it… they’re certainly not bothered about upsetting the BBC with their lyrics and not getting airplay… but then again, why should they be? Not even 6Music will touch them with a bargepole. (I never understood why Lammo wasn’t all over them. Maybe Peel would have loved them. Whether they’d have loved him back is another question entirely…) Enough pre-amble. Here’s ten of their best. I hope you like them as much as I do. If you do, give them some money for them.

SIDE A

1. Plaza Ballroom (Introduction)

2. The Plaza Ballroom, Manchester, Christmas Eve, 1956

Let’s start with a couple from their brand new record, Juniverbrecher. If you’re not affected by these two tracks then I’d go see a doctor. This is an album that fearlessly tackles what’s gone wrong in my country in recent years, tracing it all back to one man: Jimmy Saville. The rot spreads from him, and we’re all to blame. I used to work in radio, and though I never met the man, I certainly heard stories. And if I heard them, so far removed, those closer to the epicentre must have been in the know. On the album, these two tracks are followed by the glam rock stomper of a “single” Top of the Pops, with its choral chant of “There’s something wrong at the B-B-C!”. The theme continues across the disc, including a savage indictment of phony nostalgia and “the Ray Davies summer” of Waterloo Sunset on “Everything English Is The Enemy”. And if that doesn’t whet your appetite, once again I suggest a medical consultation.

3. America

Like a lot of angry British songwriters, the Indelicates have a love/hate relationship with the U.S.A. Here, from their debut album – with lashings of Manics’ guitars – is a reverse of I’m So Bored Of The USA by The Clash…

When they pin me to the wall I’ll say:

I’m with America
With godless America, I’ll stand and I’ll fall
Though it cuts me to my soul that
It must be America
It must be America
Or nothing at all!

4. McVeigh

The American obsession led the Indelicates to create their 2011 album, a musical!

David Koresh: Superstar tackled the infamous Waco siege and its repercussions. Here’s Jim Bob from Carter on guest vocals, playing the part of Timothy McVeigh, the man who responded to Waco by bombing Oklahoma in 1995.

5. The Recession Song

Firmly back in the UK for this one, the bands reaction to the noughties’ recession (and its effects on the music industry in particular), playfully referencing the Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs, among others. Fuck the recession!

SIDE B

6. We Hate The Kids

I’ll start side two with what I still believe to be the best single released in the 21st Century. Beyond that, I’ll let the song speak for itself.

And nobody ever comes alive
And the journalists clamour round glamour like flies
And boys who should know better grin and get high
With fat men who once met the MC5
And no one discusses what they don’t understand
And no one does anything to harm the brand
And this gift is an illusion, this isn’t hard
Absolutely anyone can play the fucking guitar!

7. Be Afraid Of Your Parents

And now for the cabaret. Channelling Brel, Music Hall and even a little Victoria Wood… it turns out it’s not just the kids Simon & Julia can’t stand… but their parents too.

8. Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die

An early b-side that sticks a pin into pop celebrity as only the Indelicates can. Perhaps their own lack of success keeps them grounded?

9. Pubes

And here’s a song about people who insist on taking their clothes off on the internet, from Diseases Of England (2012). What else do you need to know?

10. The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll

I had to finish with this one, again from their debut. Imagine starting your career by admitting it was all over before you began…

The fanzine writers write for broadsheets
The poor men found their daughters wealthy
Rebellion shores up the market
Rebellion keeps the nation healthy
This thing I loved, this thing I worshipped
This cruel, deceptive, vicious thing
I shall leave you to die where you lie
I shall forget my dying king
This is the last significant statement
To be made in rock and roll
Farewell to Gods and to Lords and to Ladies
Religions and the soul
This is the last significant statement
To be made in rock and roll
Everything that follows is a footnote
That we can turn to when we are… old.

And if that doesn’t persuade you to give this band your ears, I don’t know what the hell will!

ROL

JC adds….This is a band that I really enjoyed when they first appeared and have their first two albums and a number of early singles in the collection; I also caught them live in Glasgow a few years back and they were outstanding. Had no idea though, that they were still on the go, so huge thanks to Rol for this.

If you think that some of the female vocal contributions sound familiar then that’s perhaps down to Julia Indelicate being a past member of The Pipettes, who themselves had a guest ICA courtesy of Strangeways back in November 2016.

Feelies

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #145 : THE FEELIES

A MUCH APPRECIATED GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM DIRK

Yes, yes, I know: you think I may have drunk myself into oblivion on that weekend in Glasgow, but no, far from the truth, friends! Apparently at least small parts of my brain cells survived the gathering and I didn’t forget about The Feelies – ICA I promised to make …so finally here you are!

Reasons for the severe delay in making this ICA were many, but the main one is: for months and months I couldn’t decide which songs to abandon!

The Feelies hail from New Jersey and are without a doubt one of America’s most beloved alternative-rock bands. They recorded six albums in their career, five of which I own. I still didn’t get around to buy their last one from this year, ‘In Between’, although I’m confident that it’s mighty fine as well. I’m sure Brian will be able to confirm this.

I put all the other albums on a stick and listened to them in the car most of the time from June to August on me way to work and back again (2 x 40 minutes each day, sometimes easily 2 x 55, that’s when I have some bloody tractor with sugar beet in front of me, which more or less happens on a daily basis, and you never can overtake those because even more bloody tractors – with sugar beet on them as well – front you from the opposite direction … but I digress!) in order to decide which songs to go for… to no great avail, alas: I simply couldn’t come to a conclusion, so I put the whole project to an unsatisfying halt for quite some time.

The thing is, each and every album The Feelies ever made is stunning indeed, there aren’t all too many tunes where you can easily say: ‘ah, let’s forget about this one, it’s no good’. To make it even more difficult, within their career they also went along under the monikers of Yung Wu, The Trypes and The Willies, so in theory I could have included those releases as well, but then decided not to do so.

There were times when I thought about simply using all of their first album, ‘Crazy Rhythms’ (originally from 1980, with nine songs on it, but there is a re-issue with a bonus track, which makes ten wonderful tunes, just perfect for an ICA), but I didn’t. Also I think you all know their debut by heart, still I totally failed not to include a few tracks from it. Those of you who never heard it, if such creatures exist at all, you’ll understand why this is when listening to my choices from ‘Crazy Rhythms’:

1) Fa Cé-La

2) Loveless Love

3) Crazy Rhythms

Interestingly enough I found out that in ‘Crazy Rhythms’ (the song, not the album) the band – at 1.28 minutes – managed to include exactly the warning sound which my car makes when running out of fuel (a Peugeot 208, since you’re asking), that’s right after they included sounds of a car hitting the break whilst being right behind you at full speed … both of which shocked me enormously each and every time when listening to the song at immense volume, still half asleep in the dark morning! But again I digress …

It took The Feelies six years to release the follow-up to ‘Crazy Rhythms’.

‘The Good Earth’ came out in 1986. ‘The difficult second album’, you could argue. And rightly so, I mean, how to surpass a masterpiece such as ‘Crazy Rhythms’? Impossible, I would think. But surely that’s not the reason why the number of tracks out of ‘The Good Earth’ being included in this ICA is …. zero, no, it’s just that I like other songs better. For example:

4) What Goes On

5) The Final Word

6) Away

All of the above can be found on the band’s third longplayer, ‘Only Life’ from 1988. But coming back to ‘The Good Earth’ briefly: I think it’s important to point out that I recommend the album without any reservation at all, it’s good throughout and you should get it while you can! The same is of course true for ‘Only Life’, the three tunes I chose are only a little bit better than the remaining seven.

1991 brought us ‘Time For A Witness’ and again it blew me away! Which made it very hard to pick a specific track, but this is what I came up with:

7) Sooner Or Later

8) Decide

9) Doin’ It Again

Sheer class, I’m sure you’ll agree! Perhaps 7) and 8) are the best two of the whole lot so far, at least as far as I’m concerned, mighty songs indeed!

After ‘Time For A Witness’ The Feelies relaxed a bit and made a little pause … 20 years, to be precise! The public were told they disbanded, but then, out of the blue, ‘Here Before’ saw the light of day in 2011. And again, there was nothing wrong with it at all. Let’s be honest, there aren’t many bands that sleep for 20 years and then come back in such a form, right? From it, we have:

10) Change Your Mind

… which could easily be the title of this ICA, because if I don’t post it to JC right now without further hesitation, I could well think it all over again and change it to 10 completely different tracks!

So, and that’s about it. I do hope you enjoyed what I chose for you!

Take good care,

Dirk

Decemberists

SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter Six)

AS SUGGESTED BY JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

We are two mariners
Our ship’s sole survivors
In this belly of a whale
It’s ribs are ceiling beams
It’s guts are carpeting
I guess we have some time to kill

You may not remember me
I was a child of three
And you, a lad of eighteen
But, I remember you
And I will relate to you
How our histories interweave
At the time you were
A rake and a roustabout
Spending all your money
On the whores and hounds
(Oh, oh)

You had a charming air
All cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so sweet
And so she took you in
Her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul disease
As time wore on you proved
A debt-ridden drunken mess
Leaving my mother
A poor consumptive wretch
(Oh, oh)

And then you disappeared
Your gambling arrears
The only thing you left behind
And then the magistrate
Reclaimed our small estate
And my poor mother lost her mind
Then, one day in spring
My dear sweet mother died
But, before she did
I took her hand as she, dying, cried:
(Oh, oh)

“Find him, find him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave”

It took me fifteen years
To swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the street
Until a priory
Took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and neat
But, never once in the employ
Of these holy men
Did I ever, once turn my mind
From the thought of revenge
(Oh, oh)

One night I overheard
The prior exchanging words
With a penitent whaler from the sea
The captain of his ship
Who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton cruelty
The following day
I shipped to sea
With a privateer
And in the whistle
Of the wind
I could almost hear
(Oh, oh)

“Find him, find him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave

There is one thing I must say to you
As you sail across the sea
Always, your mother will watch over you
As you avenge this wicked deed”

And then, that fateful night
We had you in our sight
After twenty months, it seemed
Your starboard flank abeam
I was getting my muskets clean
When came this rumbling from beneath
The ocean shook
The sky went black
And the captain quailed
And before us grew
The angry jaws
Of a giant whale

Don’t know how I survived
The crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his teeth
But, oh, what providence
What divine intelligence
That you should survive
As well as me
It gives my eye great joy
To see your eyes fill with fear
To lean in close
And I will whisper
The last words you’ll hear
(Oh, oh)

mp3 : The Decemberists – The Mariner’s Revenge Song

 

JTFL

PS : By the way, this song is hilarious when The Decemberists play it live — they have a giant prop whale that runs around the stage and they get the crowd to scream in mock terror at appropriate intervals.

Human League

HOLIDAY 80

Back in 1980, this was the review penned in Sounds which was then one of the main weekly music UK papers:-

Too much, too late, but too good to be missed. Eighteen months ago The Human League stood on the brink of altering the course of British pop music. Their humour and conviction combined to create an aura of (until then) unknown commercial excitement. Had the Sheffield funsters swallowed their hip pride and attacked the singles charts, they would have created a devastating impact on the British pop music(k) scene.

But as always seems to happen to the originals, they failed because of their own foolish move towards dignity and ‘below ground’ obscurity. They stood back for a moment allowing the empty and dull Gary Numan to ruin their market with his one and only flash of excellence. As soon as ‘Are Friends Electric’ hit that number one spot it became clear that The Human League had lost the gamble. And the stakes were high.

So, now in the midst of ska silliness, the finest electronic band of all time finally release the goods. A double single that clearly defines to all four angles of synthesised madness. The soft beauty of ‘Marianne’, the weirdness of ‘Dance Vision’, the perfect semi-harsh statements of ‘Being Boiled’ (new version) and finally the absurd pap-poppity of Gary Glitters ‘Rock And Roll’ and Iggy’s ‘Nightclubbing’. To be taken in large doses. To be played to life.

Nobody then could have predicted that within 12 months, The Human League would be the band to redefine British music in a way that no-one else had done since the era of The Beatles as synthesisers replaced guitars as the instrument of choice on the attack on the pop charts. Listening to Holiday 80, which is as excellent a release as the Sounds critic indicates, it really is hard to imagine what would unfold in the months ahead:-

mp3 : The Human League – Marianne
mp3 : The Human League – Dancevision
mp3 : The Human League – Being Boiled
mp3 : The Human League – Rock’n’Roll/Nightclubbing

But 37 years ago???? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

JC

PS : This is an apt posting as I’m off to Lanzarote for a few days with Mrs V.  The rest of the week will be guest postings of a far higher quality than the rubbish that’s been here in recent times.

New Order

THE NEW ORDER SINGLES (Part 5)

I’ll let Discogs state the facts:-

Blue Monday :  New Order’s 5th single. A milestone, both by musical standards and by design standards. Sold over 1 million copies globally. But because at the time of release, Factory weren’t part of the BPI, there are no reliable figures nor certifications or awards.

Initial editions were released in March 1983 with die-cut cover and cut outs and a thick silver inner sleeve, designed by Peter Saville.

Cover variations: Die-cut with cut-outs, die-cut without cut-outs, plain printed.
Inner sleeve variations: Thick glossy silver, thin matte silver, thick glossy black or thin matte black.
All bear the colour code, spelling “FAC 73 Blue Monday And The Beach New Order”.

There is a common misconception that Factory lost money on the release due to the design. The sleeve did cost so much that it actually denied Factory an extra profit of just under 1 UK Pence on each copy sold. But demand and production cost and timings meant that the sleeve became progressively more simple with each repressing.

Peaked at #9 in the UK Single charts and at #1 in the UK Indie Charts.

Blue Monday 1988: New Order’s 16th single, released in March 1988. Produced by Quincy Jones with the actual remix done by John Potoker. After New Order signed to Qwest in the US, Quincy Jones saw an opportunity for their groundbreaking track to have a legitimate single release and a shot at radio airplay. In the UK it was released as 7″, 12″, CD-Single and as CD-V, featuring an alternate 7″ mix.

Also reissued in 1995 with new remixes.

 

But quite frankly, nothing beats the original.  I reckon I’ve probably, over the years, danced to this track more than any other.

mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday
mp3 : New Order – The Beach

mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 1988 (single mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 1988 (12″ mix)

mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Hardfloor mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Manuella mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Andrea mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Plutone mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Brain mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Starwash mix)
mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday 95 (Hardfloor Dub)

Re these mixes of Blue Monday 95 – some were for the UK market and others for Europe and also Australia.  I’m guessing it’s all to do with whatever styles of clubs were most in fashion in whic part of the world.  There’s elements of trance, dub, techno, ambient, acid and house all to be found. A word of warning – they do get a tad wearisome rather quickly….but there will be folk out there who enjoy some and maybe even all of them.

Oh and for completeness sake:-

mp3 : New Order – Blue Monday  (So Hot Mix by 808 State)

This was done in 1988 to appeal to the Acid House market.

Took me ages to pull this post together…..I had no idea so many mixes had been commercially released.

JC

Fizzbombs

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #100 : FIZZBOMBS

As featured in the CD86 series back in June 2015:-

The Fizzbombs were a short-lived four piece from Edinburgh consisting of Katy McCullars (lead vocal), Margarita Vasquez-Ponte (guitar/vocals), Angus McPake (drums) and Ann Donald (bass). This fabulous little number was released as a single on Nardonik Records in 1987:-

mp3 : The Fizzbombs – Sign On The Line

It was the band’s only release with that line-up. They would release an EP in 1988 by which time Katy had moved on and Margarita was on lead vocal duties after which Fizzbombs were no more.

However, Margarita was a mainstay in other Edinburgh-based indie bands of the time, most notably Rote Kapelle and Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes (of which Angus was also a member), the latter having a career that saw eight singles/EPs and two LPs between 1986 and 1990 without ever coming close to any commercial success. Katy, as mentioned a few weeks back, would be part of The Secret Goldfish and Fake Eyelashes among many other great contributions to the indie scene in Scotland.

JC

Spring Boutique

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (10) : SPRING BOUTIQUE

Spring Boutique were from The Philippines and consisted of Lorelie Landavora (vocals), Anthony Agarpao (guitar) Precious Agarpao (guitar), Basil James Silva (drums) and Caleb Domingo (bass). They released their their debut album via Philippine indiepop label, Dorothy and later on via the Japanese label Quince Records in 2003.  It’s an album that contains the perfect way to end this mini-series.

mp3 : Spring Boutique – So Twee

JC

Very Truly Yours

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (9) : VERY TRULY YOURS

Twee might be best associated with the 80s and 90s, but in all truth it never went away, which to me is a good things.

One of the more recent examples of the genre are Very Truly Yours who hail from Chicago. Formed by Kristine Capua (vocals), Lisle Mitnik (guitar), Dan Hyatt (bass), and Andy Rogers (drums) in 2008 they soon began to get attention from appearances on various low-budget compilations. Katie Watkins later joined on keyboards.

From what I can gather, there then followed a split single and then a self-funded EP in 2009, an album in 2010 and a 7″ single in 2011.

Kristine and Lisle also have recorded solo projects and more recently have hooked up for an electronica band called Tiny Fireflies. I’m assuming therefore that Very Truly Yours are no more, but I’m willing to be corrected.

mp3 : Very Truly Yours – Popsong ’91 (from 2009 split single)
mp3 : Very Truly Yours – Reminders (from 2009 EP)
mp3 : Very Truly Yours – Things You Used To Say (from 2010 LP)
mp3 : Very Truly Yours – Girls Tell You Secrets (2011 single)

JC

PS

https://thesoundofbeingok.wordpress.com

It’s worth dropping by……

Grab Grab The Haddock

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (8) : GRAB GRAB THE HADDOCK

It’s well-known that, following the demise of Marine Girls, fame, fortune and an extended career in the music industry would come to Tracey Thorn. What’s maybe not so well-known is what happened next to her bandmates, Alice and Jane Fox.

They stayed with Cherry Red Records, forming the unlikely named Grab Grab The Haddock, who also included Lester Noel and Steve Galloway. A three-track EP, entitled Three Songs by Grab Grab The Haddock was released in 1984 while the following year saw one more EP, entitled Four More Songs by Grab Grab The Haddock.

mp3 : Grab Grab The Haddock – Nothing You Say… (1984)
mp3 : Grab Grab The Haddock – For All We Know (1985)

The first of the songs was written by Steve Galloway while Jane Fox was responsible for the other two tracks.

There was one more EP in 1986, entitled Four More Songs by Grab Grab The Haddock, with writing duties this time falling mainly to Lester Noel, who wrote two of its songs, with one each for Jane and Steve.

The band called it a day shortly afterwards. Lester Noel enjoyed some later success as part of Beats International, the band formed by Norman Cook after the demise of The Housemartins, and who enjoyed a #1 in 1989 with Dub Be Good To Me.

JC

St Christopher

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (7) : ST.CHRISTOPHER

From the band’s own website:-

St. Christopher are a British indie band formed in York in 1984, who released several records on the seminal Sarah Records label in the late 1980s, and have continued to release records since.

The band are mainly known among indiepop fans for their four singles and 10″ mini-LP on Sarah Records, although they actually have a much longer history, both before and after their time on Sarah, producing a prolific quantity of recordings on a variety of labels, from the early 1980s to the present.

The only constant member of the band during its more than thirty years of existence has been Glenn Melia, and, during this time, Melia and St. Christopher have recorded with many well-known labels apart from Sarah, including Bus Stop, Vinyl Japan, Elefant, Slumberland, Caff and Parasol. The band probably achieved greatest recognition for the single “All of a Tremble”, released in 1989.

The original line-up of the band also featured Terry Banks, who went on to lead Tree Fort Angst and latterly Dot Dash.

After a long hiatus St. Christopher began gigging again mid-2007 and have gigged intermittently ever since. 2014 saw the release of a Cherry Red 2CD, 53 track compilation ‘Forevermore Starts Here’ – the album comes with a 12 page booklet featuring band photos, memorabilia pictures, and an extensive interview with St Christopher founder Glenn Melia, providing some very interesting background info on the band’s history. 2016 saw the latest live show as well, at London’s iconic 100 club with fellow indie favourites Mighty Mighty.

It was only a matter of time before a Sarah Records band appeared in this series, and so here’s the three songs from SARAH 20, as mentioned in the above bio:-

mp3 : St. Christopher – All Of A Tremble
mp3 : St. Christopher – My Fortune
mp3 : St. Christopher – The Hummingbird

It all does bring to mind a young Tim Booth if he was fronting a jingle-jangle band.

JC

Monterey

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (6) : MONTEREY

A one-off three-track single on Matinee Recordings back in 1999. As the label says:-

Monterey was Ed, Jon, Jill, Jed and Karen and they lived in New York City. It ended all too soon but we have one sparkling 7″ to remember them always.

It may have been released just as the century was drawing to an end but these kids were going to party like it was 1986.

mp3 : Monterey – Another You
mp3 : Monterey – I Don’t Mind
mp3 : Monterey – Motorway

JC

New Order

THE NEW ORDER SINGLES (Part 4)

I’ve previously written extensively about this, my all-time favourite single, and so I won’t waste on your precious time this Sunday morning. Oh, and just to make it 100% clear….it’s the 12″ original version from 1983 that tops my all-time personal chart.

Few things to mention.

Firstly, it hadn’t occurred to me until Hooky mentioned it in his book that this was the first New Order effort without the involvement of Martin Hannett.

Secondly, the re-recording of the song for inclusion in the CD compilation Substance in 1987, is not one fondly remembered by the band. The idea was to try and make it sound more the way it did in the live setting but it ended up stripping out far too many of the lot of the subtle nuances in the 7″ and 12″ originals. It’s not one I’m keen on albeit it is the best known version thanks to its inclusion on the Trainspotting soundtrack.

Thirdly, another new version was recorded by the band in 1998.  It’s fairly similar to the earlier 1987 version, but given they didn’t like it to begin with this was perhaps an effort to rectify things. It certainly is a vast improvement but at a touch over 4 minutes is a bit short for my liking.  Was made available via the Retro box set.

Finally, a reminder that the 7″ plays at 33-and-a-third rpm and the 12″ rotates properly at 45rpm. Not knowing that caused chaos the first time I played it.

mp3 : New Order – Temptation (7″)
mp3 : New Order – Hurt (7″)

mp3 : New Order – Temptation (12″)
mp3 : New Order – Hurt (12″)

mp3 : New Order – Temptation 87

mp3 : New Order – Temptation 98

JC

Fire Engines

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #99 : FIRE ENGINES

Tempting as it was to again offer the chance to enjoy the captivating brilliance of Candyskin, I’ve decided to go with the 1980 debut single, as released on Codex Communications, the label especially formed by Angus Groovy, the band’s manager:-

mp3 : Fire Engines – Get Up And Use Me

Legend has it that the band recorded their entire repertoire in one go when they first entered the studios, and having presented them with a bill for the princely sun of £46, producer Wilf Smarties then advised on what should be the single and what should be its b-side:-

mp3 : Fire Engines – Everything’s Roses

The attention garnered by the single led to them signing with Fast Product on which  there would be two singles and one album, all  now held up as classics of their time although they bombed on release.

JC

Softies

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (5) : THE SOFTIES

You’ll have spotted that the bands featured throughout this week have all been new, not just to the the blog, but to my own ears. That’s why there’s been such a heavily reliance on the likes of wiki:-

The Softies were a musical duo consisting of Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia, who are known for their minimal approach to pop music.

Beginning in 1994, the band was intended to be a side project for both artists. Along with an eventual career as a solo artist, Rose Melberg performed with Tiger Trap, Gaze, and Go Sailor. Jen Sbragia was known for her work with the band Pretty Face. As part of the Twee Pop movement centrally located in the Pacific Northwest, they were able to meet at performances for their respective bands.

After Tiger Trap disbanded in January 1994, the pair formed The Softies and recorded the four-song “Love Seat” 7-inch single for Slumberland Records. Calvin Johnson later produced their “He’ll Never Have To Know” single and the band’s debut album It’s Love on the K Records label. They released an eponymous EP on Slumberland Records in 1996. Within months, they would record the full-length Winter Pageant in Melberg’s childhood home in Sacramento, California. In 2000, they released their final collaborative work, Holiday in Rhode Island. It is sometimes speculated that their albums correspond with the seasons of the year as follows: It’s Love (Summer), The Softies (Autumn), Winter Pageant (Winter), Holiday in Rhode Island (Spring).

The Softies almost exclusively use two electric guitars and harmonizing vocal melodies for their recorded tracks and live performances. Their lack of accompaniment, inexcessive production, and brevity of their songs are recurring characteristics of their work throughout their three full-length albums.

The band undertook a few tours, including as an opening act for singer/songwriter Elliott Smith.

Here’s some fine tunes:-

mp3 : The Softies – Love Seat
mp3 : The Softies – I Love You More
mp3 : The Softies – Write It Down

And finally, possibly the most twee and excruciating thing I’m ever likely to post:-

mp3 : The Softies – Together Forever

Yup. It’s a cover of a Rick Astley smash hit!

JC

Summer Suns

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (4) : THE SUMMER SUNS

This fantastic sounding record from 1986 is completely new to me.

I only found it from shoving the words ‘summer’ and ‘twee’ into a search engine to hunt out stuff for this series.  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good…cos it’s more indie-pop than twee….although the cover star is twee personified.

The Summer Suns were from Perth, Australia. They have been described perfectly as playing a melodious blend of ’70s influenced pop and ’60s folk rock.

These are the a and b-sides of their mesmerising and hypnotic debut single.  I’ve a feeling my dear friend Aldo will love these; hopefully he won’t be alone:-

mp3 : The Summer Suns – Honeypearl
mp3 : The Summer Suns – Rachel-Anne

JC

Honeybunch

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (3) : HONEYBUNCH

From wiki:-

Formed in Providence, Rhode Island in 1987 by Jeffrey Borchardt (aka Jeffrey Underhill) (vocals, guitar), with Peter Reilly (bass, vocals), Christine Jansky (drums), Chris Adams (keyboards), & Claudia Gonson (drums). The band’s debut release was the “Hey Blue Sky!” single on Bus Stop Records in 1989. The band then moved on to Slumberland Records, who issued the next two singles in 1990-1991. Several more releases followed on Summershine, and Four-Letter Words, with the last on K Records.

A compilation of the band’s work was issued in 1997, Time Trials 1987-1995 on Summershine in the US, and Elefant in Spain.

The band were a major influence on many American indie pop and “cuddlecore” bands that followed, with Allmusic stating “their smooth, minimal three-piece pop approach and independent aesthetics served as a template for countless other scenes and projects”.

The band continued on with a new line-up of Jeffrey Underhill (vocals, guitar), Lisa Underhill (vocals, keyboards) and Rafael Attias (guitar), for a new EP on Bus Stop in 2003. The EP was described by the Boston Phoenix as “vintage pop, with flourishes of rootsiness, the Association, and the early electronic pop of Depeche Mode”.

Here’s the debut single along with one of the other early songs that would be released as a 45 in 1991:-

mp3 : Honeybunch – Hey Blue Sky!
mp3 : Honeybunch – Mine Your Own Business

The single seems very reminiscent of The Goon Sax while the two minutes of the second track certainly channels the sound of Bellshill.

JC

Shermans

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (2) : THE SHERMANS

From all music:-

The Shermans formed in December 1997 by Mikael Matsson and Torbjorn Thorsen after the dissolution of the band Red Sleeping Beauty. They tapped the shoulder of bassist Chrisster Nilsson and began performing their brand of jangley pop in Sweden. Torbjorn left the band to form Aerospace. Ingela Karlsson then joined as the Shermans’ new vocalist.

The Japanese label Quince soon offered to release a Shermans album. Compiling all of their early singles and compilation tracks, along with new songs, the band released Casual in 1999. Also in 1999, the Shermans were recruited by Shelflife to release their music in the United States. The 2000 release of the album In Technicolor was their first full-length American release. In early 2001, Shelflife re-released Casual for an American audience.

The band continued to experiment with their mixture of modern indie pop, soft rock, and Motown influences. In the spring of 2001, Shelflife released the Falling out of Love EP as a split release with California’s Sky Blue Records. In the fall of that same year, the Happiness Is Toy Shaped CD was released, again on Shelflife.

This is from the 1999 LP Casual:-

mp3 : The Shermans – Summer In Your Heart

While this is from the 2001 LP Happiness Is Toy Shaped:-

mp3 : The Shermans – July In London

Told you I was doing my best to escape November!!

Just dance.

JC

Twa Toots

TEN DAYS OF TWEE (1) : TWA TOOTS

The onset of November means cold, dark and depressing days. I’ve a cunning plan to deal with it, certainly for the first two weeks, and it’s going to be through the power of twee-pop. Songs so light and airy that are totally out of place with the mood that normally envelopes me at this time of year.

I’m totally indebted to Sterling Cale from the now, very sadly, defunct Maggiot Caviar, for the bio on the first band in this short series. He penned these words back in July 2012:-

Here’s a band so obscure they’ve even managed to elude the all seeing eye that is Wikipedia.

Often linked with Trixies Big Red Motorbike, not only because they were considered to be mining similiar musical territory, but through a number of unusual coincidences: both groups were duos inhabiting small islands off the UK’s southern coast (in Twa Toots case the Isle of Sheppey); both groups rarely played live (if at all); both groups emerged at around the same time to record sessions for John Peel after sending him demo tapes; both groups faded back into the obscurity from whence they came soon after.

But unlike Trixies, Twa Toots were known to emerge from their bedrooms on more than one occasion to record their songs in proper studios on the mainland.

The group – Sarah Brown (vocals, guitar, bass, piano), Phillipa Richmond (guitar, vocals) – recorded their debut (and only) Peel session in 1983, augmented by Will Cassell (drums) and Sarah’s dad Frank on trombone. But it wasn’t until the latter part of 1986 that this seven track mini lp quietly slipped out on the Crystal Clear label (Cat. No. CC103) in a pressing of just 250 copies.

Long before the Stone Roses adopted a similiar ploy, it would be followed up five years later by a single, Don’t Send Me Flowers, on the Rootin’ Tootin label, which in turn would be followed up in 1996 by a 15 track compilation album of the same name (featuring mostly previously unreleased material) on the Accident label (who also simultaneously released a Trixie’s comp – more coincidences).

Four of the songs on this lp were not included on the Accident album. The title track and It’s A Lovely Day (both recorded for the 1983 Peel session) were eschewed in favour of alternate demo versions. Shoe Bop and Bewitched have, to my knowledge, never been commercially available since this release.

The opening track is on a cassette somewhere in a big box underneath the spare bed.  It’s one of dozens of compilation C90s put together by Jacques the Kipper back in the early 90s when we first hooked up via work and I keep telling myself I should pull the lot out and feature them in a series.  Maybe next year….

mp3 : Twa Toots – Please Don’t Play A Rainy Night In Georgia (Peel Session)

And here’s the two tracks from the 1988 single:-

mp3 : Twa Toots – Nobody’s Fool
mp3 : Twa Toots – Don’t Send Me Flowers

There’s nine more similar style posts in the pipeline.  Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

JC

New Order

THE NEW ORDER SINGLES (Parts 2 & 3)

Today’s first half is lifted from a posting back in May 2016:-

New Order had released a belter of a debut single in Ceremony. The follow-up hit the shops in September 1981:-

mp3 : New Order – Procession

It was quite similar to a number of the tracks on the debut LP Movement and it wasn’t a huge shift away from the Joy Division sound albeit it did highlight that with Bernard Sumner was a completely different sort of vocalist from Ian Curtis.

I bought the only copy of this single that my local record shop had and it came in a cardboard sleeve with a strange green design which I thought alluded to the title of the b-side. I soon discovered that it had been released in nine different coloured sleeves (as illustrated above) and while I wanted to own every single one of them, there was no way an 18-year-old student, who that month had just started university, was going to waste valuable vodka money on something as unworthy as a 7″ bit of plastic.

The b-side was a precursor to what New Order would become within a few months – a band of their own right delivering electronic dance-music.

mp3 : New Order – Everything’s Gone Green

This is ripped right from vinyl folks and is a bit shorter than the versions generally available on compilation LPs, so please forgive the fact that there’s also a wee skip and a jump about 3mins in…..

Second Half

In December 1981, Factory Benelux would release a 12″ version of Everything’s Gone Green, backed by two completely new tracks.  This merely added to the mystique of the original release with some considering it was a double-A single.  The import was ridiculously expensive compared to other 12″ singles of the day, but I still went for it. It was later re=released in 1985 and again in 1986, but I have the original with the solid gray/white label, blue type, and cat number of FBNL 8.

I’ve included all these images as the labeling caused confusion for years. The track names of the B-sides are correctly identified on the label, but, if you look at the sleeve, they are the wrong way round. This would lead to their being misidentified on subsequent releases; for example, the track identified as “Mesh” on the CD version of the Substance CD compilation is in fact “Cries and Whispers”.

mp3 : New Order – Everything’s Gone Green (12″ version)
mp3 : New Order – Cries and Whispers
mp3 : New Order – Mesh

Two hugely enjoyable and much underrated b-sides no matter what name they were given! And better than some of the cuts that were included on Movement.

JC

Orange Juice

DOING PENANCE

I’m barging the Saturday series out-of-the-way today so that I can follow-up after the welcome and varied responses to ‘True Confessions.’

First of all, as ever, a huge thank you to everyone for taking the time to fire over your view, thoughts and opinions; as I’ve said on so many occasions, it’s the quality of comments and guest contributions that make this venture all worthwhile. I had a feeling the idea of slaughtering a few sacred cows would prove controversial and so it sort of proved.

One thing I want to make very clear is that I’ve never liked the idea of using the blog to be negative and over the past eleven and a bit years, the percentage of posts that don’t celebrate music has been tiny. I’d even like to think that the ‘Had It. Lost It’ series is in some ways celebratory in that the idea is to reflect on how good, and indeed great, a singer or band had been only for it to go awry.

The concept behind ‘True Confessions’ was similar. This series, if it was going to be as such, was intended to look at one song in isolation by an act that I otherwise liked or admired; it also had the rider that the act had to come from a past era so that I couldn’t simply give the finger to something that was contemporary on the basis that I ‘didn’t get it’. I chose The Model on the basis that I have enjoyed a lot of the music produced over the years by Kraftwerk but had never warmed to their best known and arguably best-loved song, certainly among the general public.

If this comes across as conceited to some of you, then I’m truly sorry. But I do think there has been a slight misunderstanding of what I was hoping to achieve.

In essence, it was like trying to recreate an on-line version of an argument down the pub between folk who care and are passionate about music. This was never just to carp about a bad song as I don’t believe there is such a thing as a bad song – but there are quite a lot of songs that I don’t care for; indeed there are many more songs that I don’t like or enjoy than I have in the vinyl, cd and digital collection inside Villain Towers, but I have no intention of spending time or energy writing about them just for the sake of it.

I’ll try and illustrate this with an example from the comments. Alex considered that “the worst song ever in the history of songs has to be Paul Simon “You Can Call Me Al” which is from the “acclaimed” Graceland album.” I’m not sure if it is quite the worst ever in the history of songs, but it is one that I’ve never taken to. But at the same time, I’ve never really taken much to Paul Simon’s solo career and so don’t feel that I’m qualified to post a negative piece on You Can Call Me Al as I can’t consider it any sort of context.

It was also the case that any song that fell under the microscope for the series had to be one that was, on the face of it, universally acclaimed. As such, I’d never entertain the idea of any Oasis song featuring or the suggestion of Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds; in the case of the former, this was a band that divided opinion from Day 1 and in respect of the latter I think it’s fair to say that, despite its millions of worldwide sales, most Simple Minds fans don’t regard it as the band’s finest moment.

I agree wholeheartedly with Moz’s comment that “one person’s caviar is another’s fish paste sandwich, and we should all respect that”. The key word here is ‘respect’ and that was, I think, what C was alluding to when she said “I like the sound of this series….don’t mind the idea of interspersing the large number of posts about things we like with some about the things we don’t….want to understand the basis behind the opinions I don’t agree with …..as long as it doesn’t become too personal of course”.

Having weighed things up, and slept on it all overnight, I’m going to keep the feature going as an occasional series and will take guest contributions as long as they fit the criteria. That rules out CC doing anything on U2 and SWC is barred from frantically writing why The Smiths suck….but don’t worry too much buddy as I’m likely to make a confession about one of their songs.

One more quick visit to the box by me to wrap things up.

I could very happily go the rest of my life without ever hearing both sides of a particular 45 by Orange Juice. It doesn’t sit easy with me given how much I’ve written about the band over the years and that I was given a namecheck in the credits of the Coals to Newcastle boxset (such things should really be reserved for those who have blind faith!).

As I said in my OJ ICA ,

“The old adage of ‘musical differences’ had been was cited when Steven and James left the band after the debut album but in this instance it was the truth. This had left Edwyn and David to take things forward, augmented by the fantastically talented Malcolm Ross and a Zimbabwe-born drummer called Zeke Manyika but the initial fruits of their labour – the double-sided single of Two Hearts Together/Hokoyo – was a huge disappointment and nothing like any of the old songs. It was a worrying time.”

I actually understated how much I disliked this particular single that was released in August 1982. It sounded as if the band wanted to spend the rest of their careers somewhere down the bill on WOMAD festivals. The songs are a real mishmash of influences, none of which had been part of any of the Postcard era or the debut album. I wasn’t ready for it and to be quite honest, I’ve never ever steadied myself to fully accept it as an Orange Juice recording. It’s really strange as the work Zeke puts into the songs, particularly on Hokoyo, would later be replicated in parts on Soul Mining by The The, and that’s an album I will never allow a bad word to be said about. Maybe it’s about time and place.

mp3 : Orange Juice – Two Hearts Together (7″ version)
mp3 : Orange Juice – Hokoyo (7″ version)

So there you have it. Orange Juice getting slated on T(n)VV.

Who’s next for the confessional box?

PS

Echorich indicated that he liked the idea of B-Side Gems. The old blog was full of such postings – indeed it was launched with the intention of offering up unknown and rarely heard b-sides on a regular basis at a time when the back catalogues of many 80s and 90s artists were obsolete. One of my first postings was a Lloyd Cole track which was impossible to get a hold of without having a 12” single – it’s since surfaced on a boxset of rarities.

mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Butterfly (Planet Anne Charlotte mix)

I’ll try and dig out some b-side postings from the archives and put them up over the upcoming festive period.

JC