Fall

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #137 : THE FALL (2)

A GUEST POSTING by JONDER

Another era in the 40 year history of The Fall has ended with the departure of Elena Poulou (who married Mark E. Smith and joined The Fall prior to 2003’s “The Real New Fall LP”. This year the band (sans Poulou) released a new album, “New Facts Emerge”. Mark E. Smith also turned 60 this year, despite the BBC’s recent report of his death.

This ICA covers the past ten years, an unprecedented period of stability for an infamously volatile group. Elena kept The Fall and its frontman fit and working, and she cowrote several of these songs (though she was neither as prolific nor as talented a songwriter as Mark’s former wife Brix Smith, who now leads a group of former Fall members called The Extricated).

ELENA’S THE FALL : SIDE ONE

1. Fall Sound – Mark E. Smith is notorious for sacking musicians, but the tables were turned when his bassist, drummer and guitarist quit en masse. Mark and Elena borrowed two members from an American band called Darker My Love, and they recorded 2007’s “Reformation TLC” (the initials signifying the “Traitors, Liars and C-nts” who deserted the band). Fall Sound is a statement of purpose, and contains a clever Smith couplet: “Only water passes my lips/ Only beer passes my throat”.

2. Wolf Kidult Man – the 2008 album “Imperial Wax Solvent” introduced new members Peter Greenway (guitar), Keiron Melling (drums) and David Spurr (bass). This lineup (with Elena on keyboards) remained intact for nine years. Mark must have been pleased with this hard rocking tune, as it became a standard on setlists.

3. Bury! #2 and 4 – one of the best Fall songs since Sparta FC, an insistent march with a memorable refrain. This is the single version: Bury Pts. 1 + 3 appears on the 2010 album “Your Future Our Clutter”. The lyric “A new way of recording/ A chain ’round the neck” is aimed at Domino Records, who wanted the band to put more time into the album.

4. Age Of Chang – Domino’s position may have been justified, as the two Fall albums that followed (“Ersatz G.B.” and “Re-Mit”) are littered with throwaways. Age Of Chang reflects The Fall’s working method. As reviewer Mark Prindle wrote, Mark’s “employees” bring him songs and he “rejects the parts he hates and fills the remaining melody-shells with noise… (He) rips them apart until they sound like The Fall.”

5. Loadstones – the band sounds exceptionally tight here, and Mark leaves the “paintwork” unmolested as he delivers an urgent but inscrutable vocal. Cryptic lyrics have always been central to The Fall’s appeal. Several websites are devoted to decoding Smith’s writing, a challenge that increases in difficulty as his diction becomes more slurred.

ELENA’S THE FALL : SIDE TWO

6. Auto Chip 2014-2016 – a classic from 2015’s solid “Sub-Lingual Tablet”. Mark wonders, “How bad are English musicians?” but the band has conjured a mesmerizing motorik groove. The album references Mark’s physical maladies, but here he sounds vigorous in spite of his “suffering”.

7. Amorator! – a song from 2013’s “Remainderer” EP. “Never forget your brain is a bubble of water/ And a blank sheet for a top-up,” Smith announces, as Keiron Melling plays a galloping Mancabilly beat (aka “Country & Northern”).

8. Dedication (Remix) – this version of the “Sub-Lingual Tablet” track Dedication Not Medication appeared on the EP “Wise Ol’ Man”. Elena’s synth and Dave Spurr’s bass are stark and discordant. I prefer this remix over the album version of Dedication, an extended whine by Mark E. Smith about “good grief bed wet pills”.

9. Wise Ol’ Man – the title track from Elena Poulou’s last record with The Fall. In an interview prior to its release, she proudly pointed to this tune as the first to feature vocals from all members of the band. The song may be a tribute to Fall promoter Alan Wise, who died in 2016.

10. Brillo De Facto – this ICA ends as it began, in the aftermath of a departure. “New Facts Emerge” was recorded by Smith, Greenway, Spurr, and Melling after Elena left. Unlike “Extricate”, it doesn’t appear to be a “divorce album”. I found the first half of “New Facts Emerge” brutal and thrilling (especially this track and Fol De Rol), but the rest seems uninspired.

BONUS TRACK:

England’s Heartbeat (Brazilian Ambush) – a 2010 World Cup song created by ex-Fall member Ed Blaney, Mark E. Smith and Jenny Shuttleworth. Blaney has remained on good terms with Smith, a feat unmatched among the scores of former Fall members. He and Mark made several records credited to “Smith And Blaney”, and Smith appears on Blaney’s 2016 album “Urban Nature”. During this past decade, Mark also guested on Gorillaz’ “Plastic Beach” and Ginger Wildheart’s “Mutations: Error 500”.

JONDER

Various

BONUS POST : CHARGED PARTICLES (14)

THE GUEST SERIES FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

 

You Say You Want A Revolution?

Revolution – Built to Spill

Revolution – Los Lobos

Revolution – Spacemen 3

Revolution – Bob Marley & the Wailers

Both dear departed Elliott Smith and briefly reunited but dearly departed again Grandaddy recorded versions of the Beatles’ song by the same name.  They’ll feature in this series down the road.

JTFL

 

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #136 : ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS

A GUEST POSTING by JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

They Said It Couldn’t Be Done…And It Can’t!

A few weeks ago JC posted Charged Particles #12, featuring a pair of songs by Graham Parker. In the comments folks got into a discussion about how the ‘angry young men’ of the era–Parker, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson–had fared since their original heyday. I observed that, while I wasn’t that fond of Costello’s genre exercises and anemic later-career albums, I rated his early LPs so highly that “I don’t think I could narrow down a 10 song ICA from just his recordings with the Attractions.” It was Brian who responded: “Nobody has had the guts to do that so far.”

Of course Brian’s right. I once made a playlist for my daughter of ‘essential’ EC songs and there were almost 100 on it. And how can you pick less than 6 or 7 from Get Happy!! alone? In the past I tried to come up with several possible Elvis ICA’s — Best guests (Green, David Hidalgo, Mick Jones, Emmylou), Best collaborations (Coward Bros., Jimmy Cliff, Bill Frisell, Allen Toussaint), Best ‘color’ songs (Red Shoes, Green Shirt, Blue Chair etc.). I even have a list of songs with my favorite Bruce Thomas bass parts (B-Movie, Pump It Up, I Stand Accused, and so on.) But they were all cowardly. No, there’s absolutely no way to have a 10-song Elvis Costello ICA.

But then I thought there’s so much crappy news these days and the world is so fraught with stress, why not pitch something distracting into the mix that people actually care about? Why deny ourselves the pleasure of a good-natured pub argument, even if we’re thousands of miles apart? In fact, as I’m writing this I’m smirking a little, picturing you lot glaring angrily at your laptops, spluttering, “How could that bastard have left out X or Y or Z! It’s an outrage!”

So, what the hell — with no discussion of the songs at all here’s an ICA of the TEN BEST songs by Elvis Costello and the Attractions:

1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Beyond Belief
3. Clean Money
4. High Fidelity
5. Man Out Of Time
6. Oliver’s Army
7. Pump It Up
8. Radio, Radio
9. Strict Time
10. 5ive Gears In Reverse

BRING IT ON, homies.

JTFL

Corn Dollies

BONUS POST : FROM THIRTY YEARS AGO (5)

The idea of this particular series is to pick out bands that were part of the C87 triple-CD set issued by Cherry Red Records last year, with the proviso that they had to be making their debut on this blog.

It’s a bit of a cheat this week as it’s turn of The Corn Dollies who were previously part of this post back in January 2014, but as it was a cover version I’m prepared to be flexible to enable a first appearance with one of their own tunes.

Track 24 on CD 2.

mp3 : The Corn Dollies – Forever Steven

Here’s what the info booklet says:-

THE CORN DOLLIES came out of the traps with their Byrds-styled, Robert Forster-produced debut single, ‘Forever Steven’, released on their own Farm label before being snapped up and re-released by Medium Cool after the Manchester label unleashed their second single ‘Be Small Again’. With their chiming guitar sound overlaid with strong harmonies, The Corn Dollies followed with ‘Shake’ which revealed a debt to Lloyd Cole, but toughened up for the more robust sound of singles ‘Map Of The World’ and ‘Nothing Of You’. The band’s debut album ‘Wrecked’ appeared on Midnight Music in 1989, in the wake of an eponymous compilation circulated to capitalise on the band’s popularity in France and Spain. After the baggy-influenced ‘Joyrider!’, the band split in 1990.

The band were a five-piece from London, consisting of Steve Musham (vocals and guitar), Tim Sales (guitar), Steve Ridder (bass), Jack Hoser (drums), and Jono Podmore (violin). They provided support to a solo tour undertaken by Ian McCulloch in 1990, so some of you may actually have caught them live on occasion.

I’ve also fished out the second 45 referred to in the booklet, and it too pays more than a nod to the sound of the Commotions.  It’s enjoyable enough but not a patch on the splendid debut.

mp3 : The Corn Dollies – Be Small Again

JC

Lightning Seeds

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #135 : LIGHTNING SEEDS

My initial thought when contemplating an ICA featuring Ian Broudie was to come up with something on which he was only involved on the production side and not as a performer. But given that he’s done so around 50 albums and numerous singles over the years, I decided that would be a task for when I had a bit more spare time. I’ve gone for the more straightforward task of a 10-track LP, consisting of his output as Lightning Seeds with a bonus EP thrown in featuring his other bands. I make no apologies for the poppy and hits-laden nature of this ICA as the man has given us some memorable tunes over the years.

Side One

1. Pure (1989 single and Cloudcuckooland LP, 1990)

After the best part of a decade of being in the shadows, either as a producer going by the name of Kingbird or as guitarist in a band under his own name, Ian Broudie gained a higher profile after his debut single crashed into the UK Top 20 in the summer of 1989; what I hadn’t realised until looking it up is that Pure also went Top 40 on the Billboard Chart in America.

It’s a wonderful love song, set to the happiest and upbeat of pop tunes on which just one man performs. I recall seeing the promo video for this and being blown away with the realisation that Kingbird actually had a voice that perfectly matched the music he had been so involved with previously. Kind of like Dave Grohl years later coming out from behind the Nirvana drum kit and leading the Foo Fighters to rock stardom….totally unexpected but so natural.

2. Change  (Jollification LP, 1994 and single in 1995)

Jollification was the third and ultimately most successful Lightning Seeds studio album, hitting #12 in the UK and spawning four hit singles, the second of which was Change. As with just about everything that band has ever released, the key to its ability to get into your head and stay there is in the production with guitars, keyboard and percussion blending perfectly. It is an album packed with pop gems with this particular track demonstrating that you don’t need a big hooky, sing-a-long chorus to be a hit. It actually provided the band with their best ever chart performance with an original song or outside the Three Lions collaborations with Skinner and Baddiel.

3. You Showed Me (Dizzy Heights LP, 1996 and single in 1997)

Lightning Seeds weren’t afraid to offer up cover versions, often as b-sides to singles. Sometimes these covers weren’t very good, but on other occasions they were very innovative and entertaining. The fourth and final single from the Dizzy Heights LP was originally conceived as such a b-side featuring a song composed by Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark of The Byrds that was later a hit for The Turtles in 1968. But having worked some studio magic with loops and samplers, and giving it something akin to a trip-hop treatment, it was decided to include it instead on the album where it was particularly singled out for praise among reviewers.

Most of the time, any fourth single to be lifted from an album sinks without much trace, often just sweeping up all the spare b-sides/live recordings that are lying around, but I this instance it gave the band a Top 10 hit. And deservedly so.

4. Sense (from LP of the same name and single in 1992)

This was featured on the blog just a few weeks ago, the 12” single having a strange and unusual sleeve and three top-notch b-sides. As I said at the time, both it, and its predecessor single deserved much better chart performance than they experienced; they certainly have aged better than many of the other singles by other bands from that era but looking back, they suffered from being released at a time when grunge and rock were very much in fashion and pop had been elbowed unceremoniously to the side.

5. Life’s Too Short (1999 single and Tilt LP)

The fifth LP is one that is worth looking back at with the benefit of hindsight. Ian Broudie was now a household name thanks to the success of the Three Lions single that had celebrated England hosting Euro 96 when football ‘came home’ and again in a re-recorded version to celebrate the 1998 World Cup. A ‘Best Of…’ album had gone multi-platinum and the band was also enjoying positive reviews of the live shows. But the frontman wasn’t happy – success didn’t sit well with him and it would later be revealed that his personal life was unravelling somewhat.

The new album, Tilt, was a departure from the norm and was more geared towards electronica and dance music while the lyrics were less generically upbeat than previous. There was an element of self-loathing about them and there was an overtly political effort bemoaning the treatment of sacked dockers in his home city of Liverpool. The reviews were mixed, with some comparing the record to the likes of New Order and Pet Shop Boys but others expressing disappointment in comparison to previous records. The end result was the band didn’t do much in the way of high-profile promotion which meant this more than decent single has been sort of lost in the midst’s of time. Not long after the release of Tilt, Ian Broudie called time on his recording career.

Side Two

1. The Life Of Riley (1992 single and Sense LP)

‘The Life of Riley’ is a phrase that dates back to the early years of the 20th century, becoming popular in songs and literature to represent someone who was living a happy, contended, stress-free existence without having to work hard for such an outcome. Ian Broudie, at the tail end of the same century, took the phrase and turned into a song that didn’t stray too far from the original sentiments but was cleverly worded as a tribute to his new-born son who had been christened Riley.

Twenty five years on, and Riley Broudie is part of Lightning Seeds, appearing on stage alongside his dad. It must be a strange feeling to perform a song written specifically for him.

It’s a tremendous pop record that, as I mentioned in passing when featuring Sense on Side 1 of this ICA, deserved to be a much bigger hit than it was. The dream-like remixed version that was put on the 12” b-side of Sense is also well worth your time.

2. Lucky You (1994 single and Jollification LP)

Ian Broudie had enjoyed working with Terry Hall over an extended period of time, going back to producing The Colourfield as far back as 1984. In the early 90s, they co-wrote a number of songs for the Sense LP, including the title track, that was purloined for Home, the first solo album Terry Hall released under his own name in 1994. An album that was produced by…..yup…..Ian Broudie and which featured songs co-written with the likes of Craig Gannon, Andy Partridge, Nick Heyward and Damon Albarn.

And while they were in the studio making this solo LP, Broudie and Hall found time to compose this classic Lightning Seeds single, the one that would be the first lifted from Jollification that took the band back into the Top 20 for the first time since the debut single.

3. Sweet Dreams (Cloudcuckooland LP)

Joy and All I Want, the two follow-up singles to Pure flopped badly and so it did initially seem as if Lightning Seeds would be one-hit wonders.  I don’t think there would have been a three-year delay till the next chart success if this tuneful and catchy number had been picked out as a 45.

4. Marvellous (7″)  (Jollification LP, 1994 and single in 1995)

There’s a lot of clichés in the lyrics to this single but thanks, again, to an excellent production that drives it along at an incessant and enjoyable beat, is a song to be enjoyed and not endured. A good solid, somewhat atypical Lightning Seeds 45 that doesn’t get aired these days as some of the others but I for one always appreciate any surprise appearance on i-pod shuffle.

5. I Still Feel The Same (Four Winds LP, 2010)

As mentioned in the blurb on Side 1, Lightning Seeds broke up in 1999 after the release of Tilt. The next Ian Broudie LP release turned out to be a solo effort, Tales Told (2004) and it surprised quite a few thanks to it being a stripped-back, almost folk-like effort quite unlike anything he’d done before.

Five years on and Lightning Seeds were reincarnated and a sixth album, Four Winds, was released. It turned out to be more akin to the solo effort than the 90s output and wasn’t all that well received. The few press interviews given at the time indicated that it was a tough record to make as Ian had dealt with some tragic family circumstances in the first decade of the new century that had led to him re-evaluating a lot of things.

Again, using hindsight, Four Winds was an album that was packaged wrong and should really have been a solo release. Attaching the badge of Lightning Seeds led listeners to expect the upbeat happy stuff that the band had been so adept at churning out at the height of their fame. It’s full of songs that are quite forlorn and that lyrically seem quite bitter about what life has become, but then, out of the blue, the LP closes with I Still Feel The Same, a song that recalls the joyous aspects of being a singer and performer and while there are pangs of regret that perhaps he didn’t change the world, there’s a quiet satisfaction about what has been achieved in a lifetime of work .

There hasn’t been a studio album since, but given that Lightning Seeds are now part of what is a very well-established and lucrative nostalgia circuit, and indeed they co-headlined a festival not too far from Edinburgh a few weeks ago, so it would seem that Ian Broudie, having coming to terms with his pop legacy and revelling in the fact he is still giving pleasure to so many all these years later. It’s not too shabby an outcome is it?

BONUS EP

1. Big In Japan – Suicide A Go Go
2. Original Mirrors – Boys Cry
3. Bette Bright and The Illuminations – Hello, I Am Your Heart
4. Care – Whatever Possessed You

Tempting as it was to just feature Care on the bonus EP, here’s some pre-Lightning Seeds stuff that acts as a reminder of the diversity of the bands that Ian Broudie was part of.

JC

Sex Pistols

BONUS POST : IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (3)

mp3 : Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK

It’s more than 40 years since Anarchy in the UK propelled Sex Pistols into all of our lives. Recorded on 17 October 1976 and released by EMI Records on 26 November, it limped to just #38 in the singles charts. But then again, nobody was able to hear it due to a near blanket-ban on radio and TV and many of the bigger department stores, where many folk did buy their singles and albums at the time, refused to stock it.

By January 1977, the band had been fired by their label.

There would be three further singles in 1977, all of which went Top 10, before Johnny Rotten decided he’d had enough, quitting the band, dropping his punk aka for his proper name of John Lydon and forming Public Image Ltd.

This was the b-side:-

mp3 : Sex Pistols – I Wanna Be Me

Was the debut their finest 45? I really shouldn’t have to pose that question……….

JC

Gene Loves Jezebel

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #134: GENE LOVES JEZEBEL

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

I haven’t seen anything about Welsh twins Jay & Michael Ashton here at TVV, it’s almost like it might be very uncool to like Gene Loves Jezebel. But hey, I do, there is a theatrical, almost opera-ish, touch to their music, especially the first few years, that triggers my liking. They were not the average radio band, hardly even the average indie band. I guess either you like the over the top vocals, or you detest them.

They were very productive around these 4 first albums, I own 4 LP’s (5 with the Glad To Be Alive freebe) and 14 12” singles/EP’s – so squeezing all this into a single 10 track ICA just was impossible. Hence a first ICA with album tracks, followed at a later time (as determined by JC) a second ICA with tracks lifted off their EP’s, and not featured on any of their first 4 albums (well, sort of…). Here we go!

Glad To Be… Gene Loves Jezebel – the album tracks ICA.

Side A covers the 2 albums released on Situation Two, the less accessible records maybe – but their debut album Promise hit me so hard it took a couple of more albums to shake them off. I’ve ordered the tracks chronologically to make evident the progress and evolution of their sound.

1 Influenza (1983 Promise, SITU 7)

This track is significant for me. I was, and still am, a lyrics kind of guy. Before house music came into my life instrumental music just didn’t do it, it was movie score music that underlined a feeling to a movie scene, nothing I would listen to at home. Influenza changed all that, I loved it from the first listen, and was totally overthrown by how intriguing and beautiful I found it – even without lyrics.

2 Bruises (1983 Promise, SITU 7)

A song that has shown up in many disguises as 12” b-sides, trademark GLJ rock – a fast thumping beat, guitars and the theatrical vocal delivery. A great bouncer track.

3 Pop Tarantula (1983 Promise, SITU 7)

I could basically have chosen just the full first album to do this album track ICA, but forced myself to choose tracks from all four albums I regard as ”true” GLJ records. Pop Tarantula has the dynamics, all the operatic beauty of GLJ. I’ll probably regret this choice though.

4 Worth Waiting For (1985 Immigrant, SITU 14)

Could in my eyes definitely been a single, very catchy indeed.

5 Stephen (1985 Immigrant, SITU 14)

This is typical (early) GLJ, taking an old b-side, re-record and furnish up a bit. The very theatrical Stephen first surfaced on the Influenza (relapse) 12”. Here a slightly more polished version, worthy finishing side A off.

Side B covers the move to the mother company Beggars, more money, bigger marketing resources – and higher expectations. Sound becomes more accessible, aimed at a wider audience. Still didn’t really work out quite as well as the exec’s had hoped (my guess!).

6 Desire (1986 Discover, BEGA 73)

Their biggest hit on the UK indie chart, peaking at #4, even if it never made into the regular chart. Was the start of a more dance oriented interest from GLJ with a club remix, and a special US remix as well. And above all, a great song.

7 Maid Of Sker (1986 Discover, BEGA 73)

More old school GLJ drama. ”It could be poison, it could be sheer gold – I don’t know, not at all”. Operatic grandeur.

8 Wait And See (1986 Discover, BEGA 73)

Plain pop music, and actually another great album track.

9 Gorgeous (1987 The House Of Dolls, BEGA 87)

This is pretty straight forward pop music, just not being for the charts or mainstream radio since the vocal delivery is still very much GLJ. Lyrically close to the Prefab Sprout song Cars and Girls. Is not a re-use of the old Gorgeous b-side from the Shame 12”, even if the chorus goes the same way.

10 The Motion Of Love (1987 The House Of Dolls, BEGA 87)

As close as a hit they ever got, peaking at a modest #56 in the UK charts and later at #87 in the US. Effectively produced by Jimmy Iovine to please the US audience like of arena rock, but they never really got out of the KROQ-FM league (in the US).

The rest is a messy story of re-unions and lawsuites, just as theatrical as GLJ started out…

Bonus track: The original Stephen, from the Influenza 12” single.

It took me ages to listen through all my GLJ records and choosing the tracks for this and the subsequent ICA’s, but I had a great time doing so. I hope you enjoy both show too!

MARTIN

JC writes…………….Martin did fire this over to me some time ago, but it likely got caught up in some sort of filter and didn’t get through….it was only a while later when he checked in again with me were we able to sort it all out.

It’s just to say that I’ll never turn down any submitted ICAs, unless the politics being promoted are of a horrendously right-wing nature, so if you happened to have sent something in before but never heard back from me at all, then please feel free to follow it up. Same goes for anyone who in the future fires in an ICA or other guest submission….you’ll always get an acknowledgement that it’s come in with an indication of when it might get loaded up.

This particular effort, plus the follow-up, is an absolute epic, so huge thanks to Martin.

Spandau Ballet

BONUS POST : HAD IT. LOST IT. (Part 5)

It was Friend of Rachel Worth who made the suggestion via the comments, and it’s one I agree with, but I’m sure many of you will think they were awful from the off. In fact I know of at least one regular reader who will be swearing loudly as he reads these words.

I really like like Journeys to Glory, the debut album from Spandau Ballet, and reckon that some of the follow-up, Diamond, is still listenable. The next four albums, from True through to Heart Like A Sky are horrendous, not withstanding how entirely understandable it is that Gary Kemp would be so obsessed by Clare Grogan that he would write something as soppy as True.

The songwriter is very much at the heart of the story of the band.

He had always longed for career in the music business and had spent a few years jumping on various bandwagons in an effort to get him and his mates noticed, including new wave and power pop. The move to a more electronic sound came as a result of him latching onto the sort of music that was being played in various nightclubs in London in the late 70s around which a scene was being created, primarily by the media, to counteract the rough and ready elements of the post-punk scene.

Those in the scene were christened as ‘New Romantics’ and before long, record label bosses were out there looking to sign bands associated with the scene, although it is interesting that a number of those, perhaps already established bands whom the press put in this particular limelight, such as Japan, Ultravox, Adam & The Ants and Soft Cell, were very quick to disassociate themselves from it. Not so, however, a number of new acts, three of whom – Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Visage – became core.

A lot of the criticism of this movement was based on how much of it was down to looks, image and style rather than musical substance. But the best part of 40 years on and I’d argue that all too often the music was overlooked.

The debut single from Spandau Ballet was released in November 1980. It’s up there with some of the best synth-pop of that or indeed any era, with a fabulous futuristic sounding production allied to as stomping a backbeat as you could ask for. Oh and the lead singer showed he had a fair set of pipes on him:-

mp3 : Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short

The debut album would follow in March 1981 and although it only contained eight tracks, it yielded two more hits courtesy of The Freeze and Musclebound.  There was also one othrer excellent example of electro-pop that surely would have been a hit if released as a single:-

mp3 : Spandau Ballet – Reformation

Just four months later, a new song was unleashed which heralded a brave change of direction, almost as if Gary Kemp was determined to show he was no one-trick pony aligned to an increasingly synth-pop scene:-

mp3 : Spandau Ballet – Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)

This piece of horn-driven funk climbed all the way to the Top 3 in the UK, spending months hanging around the charts and becoming a staple of every club and discotheque in the country. If a black band, say from NYC or Philadelphia, had written and recorded Chant No.1, it would have been held up as an instant classic, but instead this group of young, fashionable Londoners were accused by their critics of music by numbers. It was, and remains, a nailed-on classic that the band never ever bettered.

The next single, Paint Me Down, was a hybrid of the funk and earlier synth sounds, completed by a slapping bass sound and heavy reliance on intricate percussion to drive it onwards. It was an overly complex and ambitious piece of music but one that I’m happy to count myself as a fan of, albeit I was in a minority at the time as it was their first not to go Top 20.

The release of the next single – She Loved Like Diamond – and the band’s second album – Diamond – were the first indications that the musical path that lay ahead wasn’t one I’d find favour with. Like the debut, it contained just eight songs, but where there had been a consistency on Journeys to Glory, the follow-up seemed disjointed, not helped by the fact that Chant No.1 stood head and shoulders above everything else. There were some experimental moments in among some bland pop which on occasion clashed messily within one tune, with the album version of Instinction being the most guilty; the production skills of Trevor Horn did later rescue the song, and in doing so got the band some attention again:-

mp3 : Spandau Ballet – Instinction (single remix)

You could therefore technically argue that Trevor Horn is to blame for all that happened afterwards. There’s a possibility that if his remix of Instinction hadn’t charted that bthe band could have imploded thanks to a lack of success, with the possibility that the record label may have torn up the contract and gone down the route of Tony Hadley being a pop singer for hire to aspiring songwriters.

As it was, the following year saw True unleashed on the general public who took the band to its collectively bland bosom and into staples of arena tours in the UK. Each of the ten singles released after Instinction charted in the Top 20. I still have a bit of love for Communication as a pop song, thanks to the handclaps and whoo-hoos in the background, but I could happily go the rest of my life without ever hearing Gold, Only When You Leave, I’ll Fly For You, Fight For Ourselves and Through The Barricades ever again.

I know the band broke up in the early 90s, primarily to let the Kemp brothers pursue other interests around acting, and then reformed back in 2009 for a world tour that sold a lot of tickets. They may even have made some new songs since but quite honestly, I don’t care. But I do hope that I have shown that for a short while, Spandau Ballet did indeed have it.

JC

Beach House

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #133 : BEACH HOUSE

JC writes….

top billing today was meant to go to the next instalment in ‘Had it. Lost It’. But this e-mail and offering has to take precedence. I’m sure I’m not the only one rejoicing:-

SWC writes…..

I got an email yesterday from the Badgers, over in Australia, it was keeping me up to date as to what they have been up to since they went off for a well deserved and extended holiday. They seem very happy, Tim painted a picture of the two of them walking hand in hand along golden beaches, eating freshly caught Mahi Mahi fish and then one section of the email made my socks roll up and down and shout ‘Golly’.

“So tomorrow, we are going on a tour, we are going around the state of Victoria and looking at ‘Big Things’. It’s a two day tour. Lorna is particularly looking forward to photographing ‘The Big Purse’ outside the Bourke Street Mall, whilst I’m excited about the Giant Koala about two hours outside of Melbourne, as far as I know there is no ‘Big Badger’ that we can find.”

Now, who wouldn’t want to take a two day tour of the State of Victoria to look and photograph ‘Big Things’ especially a Giant Koala, and having Googled Australia’s Big Things, the thing that made my socks roll up and down was the fact that on top of a Pub in the small township of Fish Creek, Victoria is a sculpture of a ‘Big Dead Fish’. Not just, a Big Fish you understand, but a Big Dead One. I mean a sculpture of a Big Live Fish would just be stupid. The concept is absurd.

The email went on. “I’ll also be photographing ‘The Giant Golf Ball’ and sending a picture of both me and Lorna standing by it to JC, talking of which, why haven’t you sent him the ICAs you were writing on our behalf”?

Erm….I’ve been busy making the world a safer place, as you well know Mr B. (JC adds…..he really has. He helped put a gang of very bad and dangerous people behind bars for an very long time) But, I’ve got a couple of hours spare, so if none of you mind….cast you mind back a few weeks or so….

I am driving The Badgers (the couple not the made up band of the early nineties) to Gatwick Airport. Their stuff is all loaded in the back of my car and we are chatting, laughing, and to be honest, if it was possible to click on a button to show a live definition of the phrase ‘Demob Happy’ it would show the two passengers in my car when you clicked on it. The music is playing away in the car, we’ve had The Cribs, SBTRKT, Beach Slang and so on, when Lorna suddenly says “How about we have two last 11th Song ICA’s just for nostalgia sakes, I mean after all this is sort of a stupid boys trip.” This is followed shortly by, “You can write them and send them in on our behalf”.

I look at Tim and he is grinning like a loon at me. This was so planned. They know that once the challenge is set I can’t refuse. I look at the ipod it’s on track 9, which is a track by Birmingham indie popstrels Peace – and I say “Go on then”. I take solace in the fact that this is at least my own iPod and very little can go wrong – although regular readers will recall an earlier Stupid Boys Trip which nearly resulted in Coldplay being the 11th track.

Track Ten is “Too Handsome to be Homeless” by Baby Bird and then Lorna nearly ruins it all by starting to talk about a particularly good ‘cycling shop’ in Honiton. Track Eleven fires up and Tim looks at me in wonder.

Its Beach House. A band that for the last year or so, Tim has been listening to pretty much every day. He loves their album ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ and was I kid you not, actually writing an ICA on them for JC. Straight up.

“Wow”. He says. “bloody brilliant”. I nod in agreement.

So for those in the dark, Beach House are a dream pop band from Baltimore consisting of Victoria Legrand on vocals and keyboards and Alex Scally on guitar and keyboards. They have released six albums (Beach House, Devotion, Teen Dream, Bloom, Depression Cherry, Thank You Lucky Stars), the last two were released in the same year. I have the last four of those albums plus a smattering of other tracks, so I’m basing this ICA on around 60 tracks.

I’ll start with if I may, Tim’s very own selection from ‘Thank You Lucky Stars’ which was the last proper studio album they released.

Side One

Elegy To The Void – taken from ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (2015)

‘Thank Your…’ was released around three months after ‘Depression Cherry’ and all the songs on it have a darker edge than its predecessor. The songs are more political and far more bleak than anything they have recorded previously. The fact that this album was pretty much constantly on the Badgers stereo for the latter part of 2016 and most of 2017 is really no surprise to me.

‘Elegy To The Void’ is the albums stand out track. It has this organ that builds up in the song which makes it sound like a funeral and then the song offers up a series of wonderful images like “a black clock looming distant” and a “Freckle Faced young virgin” and then the guitars kick in and it’s sublime.

Norway taken from ‘Teen Dream’ (2010)

‘Teen Dream’ is marvellous, a triumph of a record from start to end, if you are new to Beach House, start there (I did) and then dive in to everything else. It is their most diverse and listenable record. Think Mazzy Star backed by Galaxie 500 and you are somewhere close I think.

‘Norway’ is my favourite track on this album (although all of it is great) and the reason why it’s my favourite track is soley due to the way that the whispery ‘Ah ah ah’ sends shivers down my spine, that and the fact that it is pure ear candy.

Wild taken from ‘Bloom’ (2012)

If ‘Teen Dream’ is considered to be the bands best album then follow up ‘Bloom’ is a very close runners up. This one sounds a lot like the Cocteau Twins in places, and at times there are bits of it that sound exactly like fireworks exploding in slow motion. Perfect, unhurried, gleaming around the edges and very pretty indeed.

‘Wild’ is probably Beach House’s best song, a wonderful look at teenage boredom, broken homes (“Our father won’t come home cause he is seeing double”) and the lovely things that see you break out of that hell (basically, boys with cars). Just brilliant.

Levitation taken from ‘Depression Cherry’ (2015)

Back at the top of this (lengthy) piece I said that Beach House were a Dream pop band. This is perhaps the best example of what that means – the whole song sounds like one long dazzling daydream. It starts with a vague promise from Victoria as she tells you there is “A place I want to Take You” and then you sit and wait for her to take you there, daydreaming yourself to far away places.

All Your Yeahs taken from ‘Thank Your…’(2015)

We’ll end Side one with another track from ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ which is amongst its talk of dead flowers and rollercoasters shows that Beach House can if they are pushed do songs that you can just about, dance to. Although the dancing would have to be ‘emotive’.

Side Two

Space Song taken from ‘Depression Cherry’ (2015)

Side Two starts with the highlight from ‘Depression Cherry’ – ‘Space Song’ is utterly captivating and guys, if by the end of it you are not lost in Victoria’s voice, particularly the bit where she sings ‘Tender is the night for a broken heart…’then you are made of concrete. It’s everything you expect it to be romantic, sweeping, and as I said earlier, dazzling.

Baseball Diamond taken from ‘B Side and Rarities’ (2017)

Earlier this year, Beach House released an album of B Sides and lost tracks. Tucked away on here was ‘Baseball Diamond, a track which didn’t make the cut to ‘Depression Cherry’. I have no idea why because the vocals are heartbreaking, as she sings ‘I Want you to win’ you can sort of hear her voice crackle and with that makes this the best song about baseball ever. Yes. It. Is.

Used To Be taken from ‘B Sides and Rarities’ (2017)

Another track on this album is a new (old?) mix of the 2008 single ‘Used to Be’ which is just too good a song to leave off any Beach House compilation, this mix is quicker and chunkier than the album version (it was recorded some two years before that though – I’ve included the 2010 album version for good measure)

Myth taken from ‘Bloom’ (2012)

Yet more dreamy escapism, the very first word of this track is ‘Drifting…” which is whispered in shortly after a sequence of shimmering guitars and tinkering drums. What ‘Myth’ does and what Beach House do is they conjure up the trick that you are there on a road the sun setting on the horizon and then just before it completely disappears, they stop.

Days of Candy taken from ‘Depression Cherry’ (2015)

I think this is the only Beach House song to feature a Community College and contains a 24 part harmony and I like that. I also like the fact that’s it’s a hell of way to end an album and yes I should have included ‘Sparks’ somewhere. Sorry.

SWC

Jens Lekman, New Order

BONUS POST : 48 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE

I’ve been the very lucky recipient of a load of guest contributions in recent days and in normal circumstances it would take a few weeks to get round to featuring them, especially as I’ve been busy with a few musings of my own that are scheduled to appear.  The solution is some unpaid T(n)VV overtime with a week of bonus postings to help keep things moving.  I hope you don’t mind.

And I hope you don’t mind that I’m kicking things off with one of my own.  One that is ridiculously fresh as it’s detailing events that have just happened.

Thursday 30 August

A few months ago, I wrote about a Jen Lekman gig in Glasgow that had to end after about half the anticipated set due to the illness of the Swedish singer-songwriter.  I mentioned that a plan was in place to get to see him again later in the year…well, Thursday 30 August was the date for that.

The gig was taking place in Hebden Bridge, a town some 220 miles south of Glasgow, located close to the Yorkshire/Lancashire border and fairly equidistant between Leeds and Manchester.  It’s home to Hebden Trades Club, a venue with an amazing history, originally built-in 1923 as a joint enterprise by local trade unions and brought back to life in 1982 as a socialist members club and music venue. It has attracted a great range of acts over the years, many of whom wouldn’t normally stop in a town with 4,500 inhabitants and a venue that accommodates not much more than 200 folk.  It’s a venue that’s long been on my bucket list, and that of Aldo, and so we set off by train early in the morning for what we were sure was going to be an adventure.

Hebden Bridge is quite something else.  We arrived on a gloriously sunny late summer’s day and were immediately struck by how laid-back and bohemian it all seemed to be.  The local tourist website, for once, isn’t guilty of hyperbole:-

Hebden Bridge has been voted as “the greatest town in Europe” by The Academy of Urbanism, is officially the best small market town in the UK (winner of the best Small Market Town and People’s Choice categories in the 2016 Great British High Street Awards) and was described in British Airway’s ‘High Life’ magazine as “one of the world’s funkiest towns” .

Hebden Bridge’s people have been instrumental in creating and maintaining the town’s character. Possessing a strong community spirit, the town is renowned for its creative culture, with a fascinating history and a mission for sustainability. Unique double decker “over and under dwellings” hang on the leafy green hillsides above the town. Houses were built in terraces with 4 to 5 storeys because space was limited by the steep valleys and lack of flat land. The upper storeys face uphill while the lower ones face downhill, with their back wall against the hillside, each with separate entrances.

Hebden Bridge’s 18th century core and Victorian streets spread from the 16th century packhorse bridge over the Hebden Water that gives the town its name. The wavy steps, leading to Hebden Water alongside the bridge are a great place to stop and feed the ducks! Stroll along the Rochdale Canal, linking the Railway Station to Calder Holmes Park, the town centre, Little Theatre and Alternative Technology Centre. Try one of the Walkers are Welcome routes up to the National Trust Hardcastle Crags, and the sustainable Gibson Mill. Sample the vast array of great independent shops or the pavement cafes, a result of the award winning pedestrianisation scheme.

There’s also this on-line article by the BBC dating back to 2012 which reflects on why Hebden Bridge has become known as the lesbian capital of the UK.

The fact I’m typing so many words before even getting onto the gig itself will hopefully give you an indication that this is a place that is well worth a visit and look round… we didn’t mange too much walking as we were busy enjoying the pubs and saving our energy for the evening, but we vowed we would return.

Jens Lekman was in magnificent form, no doubt encouraged by a wonderfully appreciative and respectful audience.  Nobody chatted loudly to their mates while the band were on stage and the bar staff didn’t clatter about making noises with glasses, bottles and ice. It was an energetic, happy and classy performance lasting a shade under 90 minutes with the material split between his latest LP, Life Will See You, (released earlier this year) and his other EPs and albums all that way back to the earliest recordings in 2003. He really did cut the mustard. (and he was more than happy at the end of the night to chat to two very happy Scots)

One final comment about the venue.  It genuinely is a co-op; I had a chat with the ‘promoter’ on the night (i.e. someone from the committee whose turn it was to be in charge of the door) who said that the venue doesn’t look to make money on the gigs but enjoys the increased takings via the bar and that the idea is to make it a unique and memorable experience for the musicians and audience alike.  There’s no sign of any heavy-handed stewards – again it’s all the club members who look after things – and at the end of the night there’s no great rush to get everyone out of the door. It was just all so perfectly civilised.  Can’t wait to go back.

Friday 1 September

Worth mentioning that Hebden Bridge has a few really decent real-ale pubs; not that I’m bothered as I’m a spirits/wine sort of fella, but Aldo did imbibe both pre and post-gig.  And paid the price the next morning as we had to get away earlier than expected due to a train strike that left a drastically reduced service. We had to take our leave at 10am and make our way to Manchester where a couple of items were in the pipeline.

I have to give my travelling companion full credit.  He had an appalling hangover, the sort that would have had me flat-out for the day.  But after his miracle cure of an 11am pint of cold and cheap cider, he was raring to go once again!

First item of the day, after the bonus of an unexpected early check-in at the hotel, was a visit to Manchester Art Gallery to enjoy True Faith, the temporary exhibition devoted to Joy Division and New Order.  Sadly, the exhibition closes the day this posting appears, as it’s one that comes highly recommended.  OK…there’s some conceptual stuff that went a bit over my head but the chance to look at some images, posters and artefacts from back in the day, as well as enjoy watching and listening to live footage and old promo videos, was a huge treat.

It was also great to be able to visit the more permanent parts of the gallery and take in some terrific works of art, including the unrivalled collection of works by LS Lowry.  The two hours inside the gallery seemed to fly in.

Believe it or not, things got even better as we were joined just after 2.30pm by none other than Swiss Adam, doyen of Manchester and the font of all knowledge about its taverns and ale houses, particularly those that are not situated on the main drags.  For eight hours we traipsed across the city, veering in all directions, all the while maintaining a running dialogue about music, football, politics, family life, work, Manchester, Glasgow, blogging, bloggers and sundry other items.  It was really just a continuation of the weekend we had enjoyed earlier this year in the company of Dirk, Walter, Brian, Drew, CC and the rest.  The gig and exhibition had been memorable, but the crawl around Manchester in the company of someone who is so passionate about his city and its people, took it a whole new level.

It was all over and done with by around 10.30, partly as we had just about hit our limits – Aldo was keeping track and there were 14 stops along the way.  And besides, I had stuff to do the following day that necessitated an early start.

I haven’t got round to mentioning that I have a new voluntary job on Saturdays and the occasional Tuesday evening. It was this new job that saw us have to leave the hotel before 8am to get ourselves back up to Scotland, so thanks Aldo for being so understanding when a long lie-in was what you most wanted/needed.

It’s a bit a of a dream job. And one I’ll get round to writing about at some point in the future.  It’s one in which I assist with things most days but occasionally have to do the whole thing myself…and Saturday 2 September was one of those solo days.

I’m the match-day announcer at Stark’s Park, Kirkcaldy, home of the mighty Raith Rovers FC.  Let’s just say, it’s been a while since the crowd were treated to a mix of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, R.E.M., Go-Betweens, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Echo & The Bunnymen and The Smiths in the run-up to kick-off (although it’s likely to be a one-off as the club often encourage fans to make requests in the week leading up to a match).

In the meantime, these are, respectively, for Aldo and Adam:-

mp3 : Jens Lekman – To Know Your Mission
mp3 : New Order – Ecstacy

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 25)

It took a long time for the any new material to be released, but once again the alter-egos were busy with a second Dukes of Stratosphear album and single appearing just a month after Dear God in the summer of 87:-

mp3 : The Dukes of Stratosphear – You’re A Good Man Albert Brown

Maybe it was the fact the Dukes were getting more praise from many quarters, but the next XTC single and album come January/February 1989 were quite different in sound and look than any recent releases. There were more than a few hark-backs to 60s pop and psychedelia……..

The lead off single from what would subsequently the double-album Oranges and Lemons took the band back into the UK Top 50 for the first time in almost six years and would also provide them with their biggest chart success in the USA:-

mp3 : XTC – Mayor of Simpleton

It’s a real pop number with a catchy sing-a-long chorus. And a fine moment in the band’s history.

It was released in a number of formats here in the UK. This is the 7″ b-side:-

mp3 : XTC – One Of The Millions

A track that would also be included on the parent album on its release a month later. As a 7″ release, this makes for a high quality offer. Here’s the extra track from the 12″:-

mp3 : XTC – Ella Guru

This had originally appeared on the compilation LP Fast and Bulbous – A Tribute to Captain Beefheart released in June 1988. Not being a fan of the Captain, I can’t comment on how faithful or otherwise it is to the original. But I won’t be playing this version again after today. Made my ears hurt.

There was a second 12″ version also issued but all of its b-sides were previous singles – Dear God, Senses Working Overtime and Making Plans for Nigel.

A CD single was also available to buy. It contained two other tracks:-

mp3 : XTC – Living In A Haunted Heart
mp3 : XTC – The Good Things

Two demos, the first being by Andy and the second from Colin, recorded at their homes on four-track machines, much the same as the b-sides on the 12″ of The Meeting Place as featured in Part 23 of this series.

Neither song got developed any further.

JC

Ette

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #90 : ETTE

With no apologies for doing a cut’n’paste from a post of a few months back….

JUST REALISED…..……that it’s the end of the first month of 2017 and I never ever got round to sharing with you my favourite record of 2016.

For the first half of the year, I had assumed it was going to be Adam Stafford who would have taken the honour for his wondrous work Taser Revelations which was without any doubt my most played album across the entire year; there was also going to be an honourable mention for Emma Pollock whose In Search Of Harperfield was as classy and enjoyable as anything she had ever recorded in her time with The Delgados and was way superior to her previous two solo efforts.

But in mid-July, Ette released their debut LP Homemade Lemonade which in due course proved to be the one that I fell most for last year. I wasn’t alone as a number of other Scottish-based bloggers and professional writers (i.e. those who get paid by magazines and newspapers for offering their opinions) also gave it the highest possible praise.

Ette is sort of the solo project of Carla Easton, one of the four members of the all-girl Glasgow band TeenCanteen. She teamed up with multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer Joe Kane and in just five days they recorded a damn-near perfect, diverse and intelligent pop album. All ten tunes are memorably catchy, tipping their hat to all sorts of all genres and influences – I hear, among others, the girl-groups so beloved of Phil Ramone mixing it up with Clare Grogan, Kate Bush, Kylie, 80s synth bands, bubblegum, rap and the occasional hint of folk-rock that so many bands from Scotland are proving so adept at.

I was also delighted that it came out on Olive Grove Records, a label that has been on the go for a few years now thanks to the hard work and dedication of Lloyd Meredith, one of the real unsung heroes of the music industry in Scotland; at long last, his label has what I hope is proving to be a reasonably decent selling record after so many top-quality releases over the past five or so years have sold in relatively small numbers.

(Last time round there was no mp3 as I wanted to encourage folk to buy the album. The fact that it is sold out means I’m happy now to offer one up today)

mp3 : Ette – Fireworks

JC

Smiths

30, 20, 10 (Part 5)

The latest installment in the monthly series looking back at the songs which were #1 in the indie charts on the first day of the month 30, 20 and 10 years ago.

Last month gave us what you would imagine to be an atypical trio of indie hits over the decades with New Order, Oasis and Arctic Monkeys featuring. September 1987 continues in a similar vein but the #1s from the following two decades are as far from indie as you can imagine….especially 2007.

1 September 1987 : mp3 : The Smiths – Girlfriend In A Coma

Some four weeks prior, the UK weekly newspaper NME had exclusively revealed the break-up of The Smiths just as the band were preparing to promote the first single to be lifted from their fourth studio LP although details were hazy.  The story was followed up a week later with the revelation that guitarist Johnny Marr had left the band (or been sacked depending on the spin you believed) but that a replacement was being sought to allow things to carry on as normal.  It was a bizarre time for fans of the band and things weren’t really helped with the first exposure to the new single which, at just over 2 mins in length and with a nonsensical lyric over a lightweight tune, isn’t easy to fall in love….well, not until repeated exposure and then you realise there is some wonderful guitar playing within it as well as the hints of strings, albeit synthetically reproduced thanks to electronica. It’s grown on me over the years but I still think it is one of, if not the, weakest single the band released back in the day.

1 September 1997 :  Tina Moore – Never Gonna Let You Go

I have no idea what this sounds like…can’t recall it at all.  Nope.  Think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard it.  It’s ghastly.  Turning to wiki:-

“Never Gonna Let You Go” is a single by American singer Tina Moore. Originally released in 1995, the song reached #27 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 1997, a UK garage remix of the song by Kelly G was released and became a Top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at #7 on the UK Singles Chart.

DJ Magazine ranked it number 62 in their list of Top 100 Club Tunes in 1998. MTV Dance placed “Never Gonna Let You Go” at #92 in their list of The 100 Biggest 90’s Dance Anthems Of All Time in November 2011.

If you must listen…..

It qualified for the indie charts via that loophole I mentioned in an earlier posting;

“Inclusion on the indie chart was always about distribution. Initially, the record needed to be delivered by a distribution service that was independent of the four major record companies: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group and the genre of music was irrelevant. The major labels however got round this by setting up subsidiary labels and outsourcing the shipping of those singles to smaller distribution services.

It took until June 2009 to close this loophole when the industry altered the rules so that in addition to distribution criteria a single was only eligible for the Indie Chart is it was on a label that was at least fifty per cent owned by an entity that was not one of the main four record companies.”

Tina Moore was on a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

But here’s probably the best possible example of the rules being bent….

1 September 2007 : Elvis Presley – My Baby Left Me

If you look this up, you’ll find that it’s a song that dates back to 1950 and that Elvis Presley recorded and released it in 1956 as a b-side to I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.  I have no idea why it was released as a single in 1997 – it was of course the 20th anniversary of his death and it could well have been related to that.  It was put out on Memphis Recordings but let’s face the facts….Elvis was really part of RCA Records most of his career up until his death and so all recordings can be traced back to whichever multinational was in ownership of the songs in 2007 (I think it was Sony).

Much more of these outcomes and I’ll be dropping this series for breaching trading standards descriptions.

JC

PJ Harvey

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (2)

I’ve often mentioned how picking up a single or album and looking at the release date has an ability to make me feel old and/or provided a jolt to the system when you realise just how long ago it was.  I did it again yesterday, and today’s offering is perhaps the ultimate for that particular sensation.

PJ Harvey’s debut single was released in October 1991.  That’s 26 years ago.  That’s the best part of half of my lifetime. And yet I still think of her as a relatively new kid on the rock’n’roll block………..

It’s worth recalling that Dress, along with all the other songs that made up the first two albums, were the work of an acknowledged trio that worked under the name of their enigmatic yet charismatic frontwoman.  Rob Ellis on drums and Ian Olliver on bass were the players on the debut single , although the bassist would soon be replaced by Stephen Vaughan in advance of the recording of the sophomore single and debut album. There was also a double bass contribution to Dress from Ben Groenevelt.

The years haven’t diminished the impact of Dress as a calling card by an unknown band.  It’s big, bold, booming, boisterous and bloody brilliant. It’s memorable, mesmerizing and magnificent.  It’s delightfully danceable.  It’s phenomenal.

mp3 : PJ Harvey – Dress

I have to hold my hands up and admit that I missed out on its release.  My first exposure to PJ Harvey came, as so many things did in those days, via Jacques the Kipper when he included Sheela-Na-Gig on one of his regular compilation tapes, a tune that made such an impression on me that I bought the CD album the very next day and that would have been the first time I ever heard Dress which stood out even among an album of astounding songs.

The version of Dress on the album is the same as that released as a 45 a few months earlier – that much can be deduced from the credit given to Ian Olliver.  It was released on CD and in 12” format with the latter now fetching around £20 on the second-hand market.  Even the CD can attract the best part of £10.

The two tracks on the b-side were Water and Dry; the former would appear on the debut LP released in March 1992 while the latter, despite being the title of said debut LP, would turn up on the follow-up Rid Of Me the following year after which the trio would split up and PJ Harvey would become a solo project, albeit Rob Ellis would remain an essential part of the new set-up.  The credits on the sleeve of Dress indicate that its b-sides were recorded and produced by PJ Harvey and so are different versions to those that would appear on the albums.  So I’m guessing they were demo versions and I’ve only been able to source one of them:-

mp3 : PJ Harvey – Water

But is Dress the finest 45 from PJ Harvey?

IMHO…………..Yes.

JC

PS : If I’ve got it wrong about the b-sides, then I apologise. If someone out there does have rips of the actual b-sides than I’d happilly receive copies and give you credit right below here….

Sugar

THE PASSING OF TIME SCARES ME…..

Yesterday I mentioned, cheekily, that Mrs Villain was now just a year away from her bus pass. I suppose I should have provided a translation for those of you who have no reliance on public transport nor any knowledge of rules/regulations here in the UK, but you qualify for free travel on our buses when you reach 60 years of age.

Rachel (to give Mrs V her proper name) is a very sprightly and active person. She also has retained a degree of youth in terms of looks and could easily pass for a decade or more younger. But it does feel weird that she is close to hitting a number that, when I was growing up, seemed to mean you likely didn’t have that long left to live. It didn’t help that my childhood neighbourhood was an area that has historically been a statistical time bomb for early deaths in Glasgow that that no academic study has ever really gotten to the bottom of. My family does seem to be defying the stats – dad is 82 in a few days time and mum is the youngest 77-year old on the planet in terms of her wonderful attitude to life. But we all, and I include myself in this, increasingly suffer from the aches and pains of bodies whose halcyon days have come and gone.

Aside from thinking about people’s ages, the other thing that makes me realise that time is marching on at a scary rate is looking at the year a song came out and refusing to believe what the number adds up to. Like this tremendous Top 30 tune:-

mp3 : Sugar – If I Can’t Change Your Mind

It remains the only time that Bob Mould has ever cracked the singles charts here in the UK, and he did it in 1993. The year I became a 30-something and thought I was middle-aged. I’m in total denial about what I am now. I’m certainly not thinking I’m old.

I bought this on CD and you’ll see that the sleeve calls it a limited edition. Not that limited as you can still get it on Discogs for 39p; having said that, the non-limited version is going for 1p. Nobody seems interested in CDs nowadays, so expect them to become hip again in 2029. Here’s tracks 2,3 and 4.

mp3 : Sugar – The Slim (BBC)
mp3 : Sugar – If I Can’t Change Your Mind (BBC)
mp3 : Sugar – Where Diamonds Are Haloes

The BBC tracks were recorded for a session for the Mark Goodier Show that was broadcast on 24 August 1992. Yup, more than quarter-of-a-century ago.

JC

Various

FIVE FANTASTIC HOURS

There are times when I know that I’m an incredibly lucky fella.  Last Saturday was one such occasion.

I wangled my way into helping out at the latest Strangeways event and ended up doing the 9pm-10pm slot where the hope is you gradually build up the atmosphere for the later part of the evening. What I didn’t know until I got there was that my set would be followed immediately by the main guest DJ for the night , a bona-fide indie-pop star in the shape of Gavin Dunbar, bass player with Camera Obscura and drummer in the live rendition of Ette.  Happy to report that there were folk dancing by the time Gavin took over but he took it to a whole new level which was then maintained all the way through to the end thanks to Hugh and Robert, who make the whole thing look effortless.

Here’s the full playlist for the evening…..the change in colours is where someone took over….first hour was Carlo, then myself…and as indicated Gavin did 10-11 before handing over to the mainstays for the final two hours.

The First Big Weekend – Arab Strap
My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon – The Siddeleys
Push – The Cure
Like A Daydream – Ride
Little Baby Nothing – Manic Street Preachers
Sixty Eight Guns – The Alarm
The Eton Rifles – The Jam
Her Jazz – Huggy Bear
Atta Girl – Heavenly
Don’t Talk, Just Kiss – The Wedding Present
Really Stupid – The Primitives
Thorn – MBV
Surfin’ USA – The Jesus & Mary Chain
Orange Appled – Cocteau Twins
Hounds Of Love – Kate Bush
And She Was – Talking Heads
Bring On The Dancing Horses – Echo & The Bunnymen
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side – The Smiths
Theme From S’Express – S’Express
Love Vigilantes – New Order
Picture This – Blondie
Pulling Mussels From The Shell – Squeeze
The Look Of Love – ABC
Reward – The Teardrop Explodes
Give Me Back My Man – B52s
There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis – Kirsty MacColl
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville – R.E.M.
Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths
Ask Johnny Dee – The Chesterfields
What’s The World – James
Crocodiles – Echo & The Bunnymen
Domino Dancing – Pet Shop Boys
Don’t Go – Yazoo
What! – Soft Cell
The Boy Wonders – Aztec Camera
William, It Was Really Nothing – The Smiths
Atomic – Blondie
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Debaser – Pixies
Party Fears Two – Associates
Boys and Girls – Blur
Do You Remember The First Time? – Pulp
Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
Last Nite – The Strokes
Sparky’s Dream – Teenage Fanclub
Blue Monday – New Order
Something For The Weekend – The Divine Comedy
Baggy Trousers – Madness
Tears Of A Clown – The Beat
Gangsters – The Specials
Blue Boy – Orange Juice
Dirty Dream #2 – Belle and Sebastian
Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken – Camera Obscura
He’s On The Phone – Saint Etienne
West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys
Raspberry Beret – Prince
Tainted Love – Soft Cell
Inbetween Days – The Cure
Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
Young Americans – David Bowie
Pretty In Pink – Psychedelic Furs
Don’t You Want Me? – Human League
Rock Me Amadeus – Falco
Crash – The Primitives
Enola Gay – OMD
Love Plus One – Haircut 100
Last of The Famous International Playboys – Morrissey
Here Comes Your Man – Pixies
Road To Nowhere – Talking Heads
Public Image – Public Image Ltd
A New England – Kirsty MacColl
Getting Away With It – Electronic
The Night – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
Sheila Take A Bow – The Smiths
Trash – Suede
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
Just Like Heaven – The Cure
Girl From Mars – Ash
Lust For Life – Iggy Pop
I Am The Resurrection – Stone Roses
I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor – Arctic Monkeys
Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order
Cannonball – The Breeders
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
At The Indie Disco – The Divine Comedy
Nothing To Be Done – The Pastels

I had my set together in advance, but ended up dropping one song so that Gavin would come on as planned bang on 10pm…it was running very slightly behind schedule and besides, I felt that Really Saying Something by Bananarama, which was due to slot inbetween Pet Shop Boys and Yazoo, might have reduced the dancing numbers a bit….the synth-pop just seemed right at the time.

But here’s the full 60 minutes in a continous mix.

mp3 : Various – Enjoy This Trip

 

JC

PS : Happy birthday to Mrs Villain. 52 weeks away from her bus pass……

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 24)

You’ll hopefully remember that two weeks ago I mentioned that a b-side to Grass had later been released as a 45 in its own right.

mp3 : XTC – Dear God

Picking up a few bits’n’bobs from wiki and elsewhere, it would seem that Dear God was intended to be included on Skylarking but was left off as some folk at Virgin Records were concerned that the album was too long and that the song, being one which is critical of religion and christianity, would be too much for certain audiences, principally in America, and feared certain stores may have refused to stock the album. Seemingly, Andy Partridge went along with the idea as he felt it wasn’t quite a strong enough take on the subject matter.

Thus it was on the b-side to Grass; but then a number of DJs, principally across US College stations, began to pick up on the b-side and give it some airing and it began to climb the Billboard rock chart. It was subsequently added to later pressings of Skylarking, replacing the track Mermaid Smiled, and issued as a 45 here in the UK in June 1987, some nine months after its initial appearance as a b-side. It flopped despite being issued in 7″, 12″ and, for the first time for an XTC single, on CD (the latter brought together in one place all the Homo Safari recordings from earlier years)

Worth mentioning too that the first verse and closing line are sung by eight-year-old Jasmine Veillette, the daughter of a friend of Todd Rundgren.

The b-side has already been made available as an album track on Skylarking:-

mp3 : XTC – Big Day

The 12″ had a bonus track:-

mp3 : XTC – Another Satellite

It’s a different version of another song from Skylarking. It was recorded live for a BBC TV show – well liveish, in that the band put down a pre-recorded track with a drum machine and then sang over it.

JC

Errors

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #89 : ERRORS

Adapted from wiki:-

Errors formed as a bedroom electronic-based project in Glasgow 2004 by members Simon Ward, Greg Paterson and Stephen Livingstone, and were signed by Post-Rock band Mogwai to their Rock Action Records imprint who released a limited run 7″ single “Hans Herman” which sold out quickly.

The band followed up their debut with the ‘How Clean is your Acid House? EP in 2006. Following the release of the EP the band recruited former Multiplies and Dananananaykroyd drummer James Hamilton, who had been performing as a live member of the band, to the band as a full-time member. In summer 2007 they supported UK dance band Underworld on a UK tour.

Their debut album Its Not Something But It Is Like Whatever was released on Rock Action records in June 2008 and the band also toured extensively throughout 2008 and 2009. In 2010 they released their second full-length album Come Down With Me on Rock Action records and spent the Spring and Summer touring extensively throughout the UK and Europe before releasing a remix album titled ‘Celebrity Come Down With Me’, featuring remixes of tracks from their previous album by artists including Gold Panda and Ceephax Acid Crew.

In 2011 Errors were invited performers at the South By Southwest festival in March and in the same month released a limited edition 7-inch picture disc single featuring new tracks ‘Magna Encarta’ and ‘Ganymede’. In April/May 2011 Errors embarked upon a tour of the United States and Canada supporting Mogwai. In December 2011 Errors played their last full show with guitarist and founding member Greg Paterson, supporting Mogwai at Glasgow’s Barrowlands (Paterson would later re-join the band onstage at a secret show in their native Glasgow, the band’s only live date during a year-long hiatus in 2013)

In 2012 the three piece Errors released two albums, Have Some Faith in Magic and an eight track mini-album New Relics which was released on a limited edition VHS cassette, and embarked upon an extensive touring schedule of the UK, Europe and North America.

In 2014 the band played their first shows in Japan, supporting fellow Glaswegians Chvrches and playing the Hostess Club Weekender in Tokyo and began work on their fourth full-length studio album “Lease of Life” which was released on 23 March 2015.

They are a band I’ve seen a few times and while enjoyable, I’ve never been persuaded enough to part with hard cash for product although I doI have a couple of their tracks via compilation albums, including this decent enough take on a New Order song:-

mp3 : Errors – The Village

JC

Emiliana Torrini

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #132 : EMILIANA TORRINI

A GUEST POSTING from C

https://sundriedsparrows.blogspot.co.uk/

This is new to me. I‘ve nothing but admiration for anyone who’s ever contributed one of these much-celebrated ICAs. Now I’m delighted and honoured to present one too but, ohh – it’s so hard! Where to begin without tripping breathlessly over my words like an overexcited child? How to edit to just ten tracks? And then there’s the all-important running order!

I so want to do my chosen subject justice, to ‘sell’ her to you if you’re unfamiliar or undecided. I’m sure you know the feeling: when you really like someone, and you just want to share them and for everyone to love them as much as you do. Well, perhaps not everyone, not the masses, not those with indiscriminate tastes, as that might spoil the sense of being in on a special, precious secret. But I want us to share that secret.

I’m flitting – reminding myself of intros, outros. Will it flow? This one? Or that one? Scraps of paper with titles scribbled out, then scribbled back in. Adjectives jotted down, a Thesaurus by my side. I hadn’t realised how tough it is to really write about music rather than just present it and merely say it’s “great”, so hats off to all who do it regularly. How do I get across the effect it has on me, which I hope it will on you? I don’t know, but I’ll try. I trust the songs to do the rest.

So, I first heard Emiliana Torrini about 14 years ago, when a friend passed on a copy of the 1999 album ‘Love In The Time Of Science’ which they’d picked up (in a cheapie bin – sacrilege!) It wasn’t Emiliana’s first album, but neither of us had heard of her before – probably because her previous ones had only come out in her native Iceland. ‘Love In The Time Of Science’ was, however, the first to be released internationally as Emiliana had been signed up by our very own One Little Indian label, home to another Icelandic songstress, Björk.

And certainly when I played it the first time, I thought of Björk . There are similarities, as you might expect, in accent/intonation, plus a kindred playfulness in some songs and a darker, slightly creepy edge in others. Emiliana’s voice is sweeter and warmer, though, and she doesn’t push it to the extent that Björk does. (This sounds weird, but I visualise the way Emiliana sings her notes as being like pegging washing to a line, whereas Björk puts hers in the tumble dryer. Does that make sense?!) The more you listen, the more you hear that difference.

Even if you haven’t heard Emiliana’s name before, it’s very possible that you already know her voice from somewhere – she featured on Thievery Corporation’s ‘The Richest Man In Babylon’ album, collaborated with Steve Mason and Toy, she’s the vocalist on ‘Gollum’s Song’ from ‘Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers’ and several of her songs have been included in TV series such as ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’. And did you know she co-wrote Kylie Minogue’s ‘Slow’? (No, me neither, until I started this…)

But let’s begin at the beginning, with the first song I ever heard…

Side 1

1. To Be Free (from ‘Love In The Time Of Science’, 1999)

“Who is Emiliana Torrini?” I thought as I pressed Play. I couldn’t tell anything from the cover (a close-up of her lovely, freckled face), nor from the name. But the moment this opening track started I was intrigued and hooked. There’s something surreal about it, especially in the delivery of its slightly odd lyrics. Listening to this again nearly 20 years after its release, I’m more aware of the trip-hop rhythms (I’ve also seen it described as ‘progressive house’) yet the song is unconventional and infinitely enduring. A No. 1 in Iceland, it was released as a single in the UK but only reached No. 44.

2. Lifesaver (from ‘Fisherman’s Woman’, 2005)

This isn’t a chronological ICA – I’m going purely for an aesthetically pleasing order! – so I’m fast-forwarding 6 years. The trip-hop/electronic sound has gone and ‘Fisherman’s Woman’ is an album steeped in subtle, acoustic nuance in which Emiliana’s songwriting has been likened to a female Nick Drake.

‘Lifesaver’ is quiet, understated, yet full of atmosphere… the inclusion of the rather eerie sound of a creaking boat is inspired.

3. Tookah (from ‘Tookah’, 2013)

I didn’t know what a ‘tookah’ is either, so I looked it up (it’s not a bird.) Emiliana made this word up to describe the ‘core’ of a person “… before life decorated you like a Christmas tree with all the baggage”. I appreciate what she means (and we all know how heavy those baubles can be, let alone chocolate penguins). This is one of those darker, slightly creepy songs I mentioned; a little unsettling. When she stretches out that word ‘tookah’ she puts me in mind of Siouxsie.

4. Wednesday’s Child (from ‘Love In The Time Of Science’, 1999)

Written by Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears (he also produced this album with Alan Griffiths, who sadly died earlier this year), there’s a hint of soul groove about this track, a bit of a Hammond organ sound going on and some retro “pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa…”s – but then it throws you off with a few lines of spacey synthesized vocal as well. Extra love for including the delightfully descriptive word ‘scatterbrain’.

5. Speed Of Dark (from ‘The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini’, 2017)

Emiliana is currently touring with Belgian duo, the Colorist, and they’ve just released this live album, in which a selection of songs from her back catalogue are given new treatment with orchestral backing. I adore the original version, but my ICA (which comes in imaginary purple vinyl, by the way) is going to end Side 1 with this updated rendition because it’s an epic track to finish on before you flip it over, hopefully leaving you satisfied on the one hand, but looking forward to a mood shift on Side 2. If you like The The’s wonderful ‘Giant’ I think you’ll like this.

Side 2

6. Nothing Brings 0Me Down (from ‘Fisherman’s Woman’, 2005)

I promised a mood change and Emiliana’s vocal is breathtakingly pure in this languid, seductive song. It’s charged with the heat of a Summer evening and understated sensuality. If you’re male, Emiliana is singing just for you. And if you’re female, then right now you are her, in a flimsy cotton dress and bare feet, lying in a hammock on a wooden porch with your glass of Pinot Grigio, a little tipsy and…. well, there’s something undeniably erotic about the line, “my love for you is ready”…

7. When We Dance (from ‘The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini’, 2017)

A completely new track from the Colorist collaboration. It’s enchanting with a lilting chorus, some double-tracked vocals and lush orchestration; my current earworm!

8. Caterpillar (from ‘Tookah’, 2013)

This makes me cry. That’s a good thing. To my ears it’s just exquisite. I love the little bass motif that appears only twice, once in the middle and once at the end, both times just so briefly before it hangs. One of my favourite songs ever (even with tears).

9. Unemployed In Summertime (from ‘Love In The Time Of Science’, 1999)

It’s funny how you can often tell when someone’s smiling when they talk or sing even if you can’t see their face, so I can imagine Emiliana grinning throughout this joyous paean to friendship and those carefree Summers of our youth. It’s playful, feminine and evocative, with references to getting drunk, getting sunburned, waking up with make-up all over your face and doing the sex quiz from your friend’s magazine – we’ve all been there. (Haven’t we?) This could almost be a Saint Etienne song – it’s in the same league of classy, honest pop with unpretentious lyrics.

10. Summerbreeze (from ‘Love In The Time Of Science’, 1999)

Not to be confused with the other Summer Breeze! There is something so timeless about this, something quite traditional. A sweet (but not saccharine) and wistful love song, what better way to end an imaginary compilation album? An imaginary me in an imaginary world wants to sing this to an imaginary someone.

There are so many others I could have chosen, like the immense Bond theme-like ‘Telepathy’, and two personal favourites ‘Sunny Road’ and ‘Autumn Sun’,but sacrifices had to be made! I do hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

C

JC writes…..This contribution emerged from an e-mail in which C made the observation that there weren’t many female artists among the ICAs and that she was willing to address the situation. I’ve long been an admirer of what C does over at her own place and was thrilled to receive such an offer. The result is one of the best and most interesting ICAs I’ve ever had with the artist in question being completely new to me.