Arab Strap

SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES

This might develop into an occasional series or I might just do this one and move on.

Some songs, as the title of the posting indicates, are great short stories. Such lyrics are always crystal-clear and open to only one interpretation. This, which can be found on the debut LP by Arab Strap, is one of my all-time favourites of the genre:-

mp3 : Arab Strap – I Work In A Saloon

I work in a saloon, pulling shit pints for shit wages
It’s a busy night tonight
And the bar is full of all the girls I’ve ever shagged, or tampered with, or kissed, or even just fancied

A pub full of conquests, knockbacks
Between the laughter I can hear my name

And then, through the gap between the swing doors and the floor, I see your feet
You push open the doors and walk in
And as always all heads turn
And the room becomes silent, except for the sound of your DMs scuffing on the floor

You stroll through the jealous gaze straight to the bar, smile, and ask me for some exotic cocktail
But I don’t know how to make it
So you just shrug, smile again, turnaround and leave

And I pull another pint

Here’s a souped-up version, as played by the full band at their first ever gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow on 15 October 1996 and as captured by a BBC outside broadcast and made available as part of the Scenes Of A Sexual Nature box set:-

mp3 : Arab Strap – I Work In A Saloon (live)

Aidan Moffat. The 20th/21st century national bard of Scotland.

JC

Super Furry Animals

BLOW ME FAR AWAY

This, rather surprisingly, is the biggest chart success ever enjoyed by Super Furry Animals:-

mp3 : Super Furry Animals – Northern Lites

It reached #11 in the summer of 1999. Now please, don’t get me wrong as I love the song. It was just that I was sure somewhere along the line they must have enjoyed at least one Top 10 hit and that it would have come via a single that was helped along by a decent promo video*; indeed I would probably have bet a fair bit of money that Golden Retriever was the biggest ever hit but it stalled at #13.

There were two high quality b-sides too, one of which made the Robster’s SFA ICA entirely of b-sides back in June 2015.

mp3 : Super Furry Animals – Rabid Dog
mp3 : Super Furry Animals – This, That And The Other

They offer up great examples of the pop and electronica sides of the band. One could easily pass for Teenage Fanclub and the other reminds me of some of the early stuff from later years by Gorillaz……

JC

* if you really want to look at what I reckon is one of the worst promo videos of all time, then just click here.

 

Prodigy

DO YOU REMEMBER THE GOOD OLD DAYS BEFORE…..?

I’ve a compilation effort on the shelf entitled Independents Day ID08. It’s a 2xCD collection, one of which has a range of cover versions from well-known and established acts while CD2 has original songs by lesser known names with each band or singer having been nominated by one of the CD1 acts of their label. It’s not the worst collection of covers that have ever been pulled together and I suppose there is something for everyone.

It opens with something which I found surprising and intriguing in equal measures.

mp3 : The Prodigy – Ghost Town

I had always reckoned this was one of those songs that was so originally brilliant that to attempt a cover was foolhardy and doomed to failure. And then I played it. I wasn’t convinced on the first couple of listens thinking that it was a bit of a lazy effort but the bit that kicks in after 2 minutes when it really sounds like The Prodigy soon reeled me in.

As far as I know, it was a song they played in their live sets for a while and had plans to issue it as a single that in the end were shelved. Not sure if it was made available elsewhere other than this compilation CD.

JC

Friends Again

LAST PIECE OF A PARTICULAR JIGSAW

It’s only taken 34 years, but at long last I’ve now got a vinyl copy of every 7″ and 12″ single ever released in the UK by Friends Again.

It all started off with Honey At The Core when it was released in May 1983 on Moonboot Records and it was completed in May 2017 when a mint copy of the 12″ release of the re-mixed and re-released Honey At The Core on Mercury Records was sourced via Discogs.

mp3 : Friends Again – Honey At The Core (long version)

All told, there were five regular 7″ singles, one double pack of 7″ singles in an EP, five regular 12″ singles and one LP, all released in an 18-month period in 83/84 before the band split up with James Grant and Paul McGeechan forming Love and Money, Stuart Kerr joining Texas and Chris Thomson making music under the name of The Bathers. The fifth member of the band, Neil Cunningham, stayed in the music industry but on the management side of things

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 18)

Mummer, the sixth XTC album, had come out to a great deal of indifference in August 1983. For the first time, there was some negative press around the band in the weekly papers. It could be down to the sort of critical backlash that tends to come the way of most bands and singers when they get to this number of recordings although another factor was likely that thet were no longer playing live/touring which meant journalists were being fed only studio material and press releases.

Out of all this came an unlikely minor hit with the third single lifted from the album reaching #50 in the charts. It’s a superb piece of music – not the most obvious of singles – with a gentle almost folk-like tune that sounded as if it should be the background music to some sort of classic BBC TV children’s animation show like Camberwick Green or Trumpton.

mp3 : XTC – Love On A Farmboy’s Wages

It later transpired this song was the straw which broke the camel’s back as far as drummer Terry Chambers was concerned. He has been increasingly frustrated by the lack of live shows and perhaps he was hopeful that something would happen to promote the release of Mummer. It soon became clear that no such plans would be hatched and the record label wasn’t going to insist on it either. When he was asked to play in a jazz-style for this song he refused to do so and quit there and then, leading to Peter Phipps being drafted in to join the band. Who’d have thought that one of the former stickmen with The Glitter Band would end up in XTC? Not me….

The real irony in terms of the release of Love On A Farmboy’s Wages is that it was issued as a 2 x 7″ pack and in 12″ format; the former offered one b-side lifted from Mummer along with two new recordings while the latter was a reminder of XTC as a live force, with three songs from the gig at the Hammersmith Odeon, London back in May 1981.

mp3 : XTC – In Loving Memory Of A Name
mp3 : XTC – Desert Island
mp3 : XTC – Toys
mp3 : XTC – Burning With Optimism’s Flame (live)
mp3 : XTC – English Roundabout (live)
mp3 : XTC – Cut It Out (live)

All picked up for use in this series.  Second appearance for Cut It Out as a b-side in a 2 x 7″ release.   It’s actually an instrumental version of Scissor Man, as found on Drums and Wires and under which name the Peel Session version was issued in the Towers of London double-pack.

JC

Edwyn Collins

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #83 : EDWYN COLLINS

I think I’ve said it all before so I’ll keep things to a minimum today.

But if you need evidence of the impact of Edwyn’s near death experiences, then listen to these two versions of one of his songs; the original dating back to 1997 and the new version featuring on the soundtrack to the documentary film The Possibilities Are Endless (from which the above image is taken) telling the story of his recovery from his illnesses.

mp3 : Edwyn Collins – Don’t Shilly Shally (single)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins – Don’t Shilly Shally (2014 new recording)

JC

Electronic

WHEN BARNEY MET JOHNNY AND THEY TEAMED UP WITH NEIL (remixed)

As a way of background, I’d like to refer you to this posting from back in October 2013.

Not too long ago I picked up the 12″ vinyl remix of the single with the catalogue number Fac 257r. There’s three different versions of the single (two of which are more clubby and likely to be of interest to Swiss Adam, among others) and another excellent mix of the house-style instrumental that was on the b-side of the ‘proper’ single:-

mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (vocal remix)
mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (nude mix)
mp3 : Electronic – Lucky Bag (Miami edit)
mp3 : Electronic – Getting Away With It (original version)

The first two of the remixes are the work of Mike Pickering and Graeme Park and seem quite typical of the sort of work they were doing back in 1989.

JC

David Bowie

CHARGED PARTICLES (6)

A GUEST SERIES FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

I’ve been a Bowie fan for ages. I got to see him as the lead in The Elephant Man on Broadway in 1980, and live at Madison Square Garden during the ‘Serious Moonlight’ tour. Goldie The Friendly Therapist teases me that her first ever concert was the legendary 1976 StationtoStation tour at the L.A. Forum, but only I got to see the man play one of the following three live. Guess which?

Fascination

Fashion

Repetition

Bonus: Zion. Also known as ‘Aladdan Vein’ and other working titles, ‘Zion’ is a favorite lost Bowie track for true devotees. Here’s the wiki info.

And here’s a youtube video with the somewhat completed track

JTFL

Redskins

THEIR SOLE CHART HIT

It was the passing mention of this lot in a Billy Bragg posting that got me digging this one out again.

I’ve previously written about the impact of Keep On’ Keepin’On and it remains my favourite bit of vinyl by The Redskins.  It was their next single, however, that brought them some minor chart success:-

mp3 : The Redskins – (Burn It Up) Bring It Down (This Insane Thing) (12″ version)

It was their first release after an infamous appearance on The Tube where they had unexpectedly brought on a striking miner to say some words at the start of their two song appearance.  His words weren’t broadcast with Channel 4 claiming a faulty microphone.  It has never been fully clarified whether this was a stroke of luck for the broadcaster or in fact the production team had clocked the stunt was taking place and so killed the mic.

The incident served its purpose and did cause a ruckus; it further raised the issue of the miners being given a fair platform to articulate their views – they were very much silenced on the TV news in comparison to what was being said by coal bosses and government ministers.  But it also brought The Redskins to the attention of a larger audience and there was very much a hint of solidarity in folk purchasing their next again single, albeit it is a very decent number that makes you feel like dancing.

Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : The Redskins – You Want It? They’ve Got It!

A #33 hit in June 1985.  Where have those 32 years gone?

JC

Heaven 17

A BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED BREAK-UP SONG

Heaven 17 had gotten a fair bit of attention in the UK due to the fact that their debut LP, Penthouse and Pavement, released in 1981 was probably the first overtly political synth-pop album. Lead single (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang firmly nailed the colours of the band to a left-wing agenda with its lyrical attacks on Thatcher and Reagan leading to the usual pourings of outrage and anger within the British tabloids and the inevitable banning of the track by the BBC.

There were other songs on the album that were critical of the political system and the increasing shift to the ‘greed is good’ mantra that would come to dominate the decade. It was a strange album in that none of its five singles (from just nine tracks) got anywhere near the Top 40 but the LP went Top 20 and was in the charts for months. It was as if everyone who went on a peace march or other sort of demonstration, such as in support of the striking miners, was determined to get on board with this most unlikely of protest records.

What came next was a big surprise. Heaven 17 dropped the politics and went for the pop on the follow-up The Luxury Gap, released in April 1983. The change of direction paid off as it yielded two Top 10 hit singles and another that went top 20. It has to be said that the members of the group were still at pains to say that their politics hadn’t changed and they were happy to lend their support to various causes.

There was one single that preceded the release of the second album. It failed to chart at the tail end of 1982, stalling at #41, but of all the Heaven 17 songs over the years is the one that I remain most fond of.

It’s a superbly produced and moody piece of synth-pop, with a lyric that reads as if it belongs to a tear-jerking ballad.

Once there was a day
We were together all the way
An endless path unbroken
But now there is a time
A torture less sublime
Our souls are locked and frozen

Once we were years ahead but now those thoughts are dead
Let me go
All hopeless fantasies are making fools of me
Let me go
I walk alone and yet I never say goodbye
Let me go
A change of heart a change of mind and heaven fell that night
Let me go

I tried but could not bring
The best of everything
Too breathless then to wonder
I died a thousand times
Found guilty of no crime
Now everything is thunder

Daytime all I want is night-time
I don’t need the daytime all I want is night-time

The best years of our lives
The hope of it survives
The facts of life unspoken
The only game in town
I’ll turn the last card down
And now the bank is broken

Found guilty of no crime
They were the best years of our lives
I’ll turn the last card down

**I am surprised that nobody has ever taken the lyric and see how it would work with the tune slowed right down.

Having said that, maybe it’s best left alone as it is one of the most enduring and least dated of the tunes from the era:-

mp3 : Heaven 17 – Let Me Go (extended)

As ripped from a piece of vinyl that is will have its 35th birthday later this year.

JC

** after typing out the post, I learned that the band had actually done this back in 2011

mp3 : Heaven 17 – Let Me Go (acoustic version)

Not really sure about it to be honest…too much like the sort of interpretations you find on annoying TV talent shows.

Morrissey, Smiths

BONUS POST : A REVIEW OF ‘ENGLAND IS MINE’

WARNING : Negative words alert!!!!!

What follows won’t really come as a surprise to those of you who are in the unfortunate position of being able to read my Facebook posts.

Within 15 minutes of the credits rolling on England Is Mine, I was back on the train home to Glasgow. The original plan had been to head along to a post-screening reception that Mr John Greer had kindly arranged access to, but I felt I was a bit casually dressed for such a grand occasion and besides, if I had to bow to the decorum expected of such events, I’d needed to have lied through gritted teeth about my views on the film if asked by anyone involved in its making.

Instead I got to work on an instant review as the train headed west. And here’s what I typed.

“Sorry to say, but I thought the film was a real let down. The script, or lack of one, was a shocker. Anyone who went along tonight with no idea of the backstory would have been bemused and not really been able to follow it.

Morrissey was portrayed mainly as a one-dimensional character, with just one short scene with Linder showing any sense of warm humour. The world of work is populated by one-dimensional characters lifted straight from sit-com casting central; nobody understands our would be poet/writer/singer, especially his male colleagues and his boss, while his one female colleague just wants to get inside his y-fronts.

Oh and it constantly rains in Manchester too……

Soundtrack was enjoyable mind you.”

Leaving aside that I repeated the phrase ‘one-dimensional’, it’s not too shabby an instant reaction. A few other folk I know were also at the showing and some of them also gave fairly quick reactions via social media and it’s fair to say they didn’t agree with me.

The first two or three lengthy on-line reviews that followed a few hours later were also quite scathing although later opinions tended to be more favourable and offered various degrees of praise. As far as I can see, however, nobody has come out and said it’s a masterpiece.

Reflecting on things almost 24 hours on and the word I didn’t use in the Facebook review was ‘boring’ because that would have been what I’d have said if I was asked for a one-word reaction. If allowed a second word, it would have been ‘cliched’.

The truth of the matter is that Morrissey, from the ages of 17-24, didn’t lead a particularly exciting life and so a film biopic will always be on a hiding to nothing. The main issue for me was the poor quality of the script, but as was explained in one review, this stemmed from the screenwriters’ inability to quote anything that Morrissey was known to have said in real life for fear of being sued given the whole venture was unauthorised. As such, the few decent lines were given to other characters and Jack Lowden, in the role of our protagonist, has to rely on facial expressions and mannerisms to convince us of the depth of his character (and to be fair, he does a reasonable job). The best performance in the film comes from Jessica Brown Findlay in the role of Linder Sterling, but this is perhaps down to the fact that enough is known about the real life Linder to appreciate that the actress delivers an accurate and sympathetic portrayal of someone who, in real life, is an interesting personality in her own right.

My biggest problem was the way the other supporting characters came across. It was as if the director and scriptwriter had watched The Office and decided that the male characters who worked at the Inland Revenue alongside Morrissey should be as Brent-esque & co as possible. Maybe that was what they were really like in the late 70s but it was really dreadful, unfunny and predictable – as too were the scenes in which our hero finds himself on an enforced date with his flirtatious female colleague.

Much has been written about the influence that Morrissey’s mother had on him growing up, but for all but one scene they barely acknowledge one another. There is also little made of Morrissey’s alleged rapier-like wit that seemingly got him noticed on the Manchester scene – for 80% of the movie he is mostly an incoherent, bumbling individual bar the occasional exchange with Linder, but all of a sudden, after he has come off prescribed anti-depressant medication, only in the final 15 minutes of the movie, in which has also smartened up his dress sense and gotten a fashionable haircut, do the barbed comments start to flow.

The most pathetic scene, however, was when our hero, having had his genius denied just once too often for his liking, goes all Incredible Hulk on us and destroys his previously cave-like bedroom where everything was in a particular place for a particular purpose. Oh, and don’t get me started on Johnny Marr being straight out of the cast of the UK edition of Shameless…….

I don’t like to be negative on this little corner of the internet, but having already posted how excited I was to be going along to the premiere, I don’t think I can avoid sharing these thoughts with you.

And in the interest of balance, if anyone wants to offer a more positive review, I’d be very happy to post it.

Any excuse mind you to post the song from which the film title is taken:-

mp3 : The Smiths – Still Ill

JC

Twilight Sad

A GLORIOUS WALL OF NOISE

“Firstly, this song is not about being a whore, it’s a line from the Jean-Luc Godard film Vivre sa Vie (My Life to Live) that seemed to fit with the concept of the lyrics. I’m not sure if we shot ourselves in the foot with that title, seeing as it was the first single. For radio, it had to be called “I Became a ……..” because the word ‘prostitute’ is apparently offensive. This one came together quite easily when writing it and always stood out to be a single.”

So said singer James Graham an interview given back in 2009 when the songs on the LP Forget The Night Ahead were dissected one-by-one.

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – I Became A Prostitute

One of the most powerful and impressive singles to have come out of anywhere, never mind Scotland, in recent years. And a real tour-de-force when played live.

Here’s your b-side which is not without its merits, especially if you like music that is reminiscent of the Seamonsters era of The Wedding Present and a bloke singing in a Scottish accent:-

mp3 : The Twilight Sad – In The Blackout

When you think of all the crap that hits the charts nowadays, it really is criminal that so few people bought this single.

JC

Adam Stafford, Sacred Paws, Skids, Spook School

BONUS POST : THE NOT SO SECRET DIARY OF JC (aged 54 and a smidgin)

Wednesday 28 June : Paisley, 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Award Ceremony

The sixth year of the SAY Award and I keep my 100% attendance record. As ever, delighted to make it along and I’m in the company of Aldo. I see a few well-known faces who I manage to say hello to, some involved in the music industry, others who have become friends in recent years from this blogging lark. Someone I know happened to be talking to Stephen Pastel and so I politely barge my way in just to say thank you to the pop star for making Teenage Superstars such an enjoyable view. Turns out Stephen hasn’t seen the finished version nor indeed any of his own contributions. As ever, I come away from a few seconds in his company amazed at his modesty and the fact he doesn’t ever seem to understand how so many of us are in awe of him.

Last year’s winner Anna Meredith gets things off to a decent start before The Spook School take to the stage and deliver a 15-minute mini-set that channeled the energy and fun of Buzzcocks when they were at their peak.

mp3 : The Spook School – Books and Hooks and Movements

The next two acts to perform didn’t do anything for me so I won’t waste time writing about them.

The night ends with the announcement that the 2017 SAY Award is to Sacred Paws for Strike A Match. I’m pleased as it is a record I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of since its release back in March but it wasn’t the one from the long list of 20 and then the shortlist of 10 that I’d have put my money on.  Rachel and Eilidh were thrilled and stunned in equal measures when told they were to receive the £20,000 prize.

mp3 : Sacred Paws – Strike A Match

Thursday 29 June : Glasgow, launch of Reverse Drift by Adam Stafford

Regular readers will know how much I love the work of Adam Stafford.  There was no way I was missing out on the launch of his latest piece of work, Reverse Drift, which has just come out on the local indie label Gerry Loves Records.

It’s an ambitious piece consisting of a 40-minute piece of improvised music that was recorded live in one take with no overdubs featuring just a synthesizer, a sequencer, some effect pedals and Adam’s occasional vocal, along with a 48-page book containing photos he had taken over a period of eighteen years, between 1999 to 2017, mostly of landscapes in and around his home town of Falkirk.

Adam announces that as Reverse Drift was wholly improvised on the day it was recorded, he won’t be playing any of it at the show to launch its release!  Instead we are treated to 50 minutes of new, mostly instrumental music. Just one man and his guitar, foot pedals and various effects mics and made for an unforgettable and special evening. He’s hopeful that the music will be recorded in October this year for future release. It was everything those of us who like Adam have come to expect and appreciate, but it had added anger and energy that translated the music into gothic landscapes. Something to look forward to in the months ahead. In the meantime, here’s a lovely nimber that was an outtake from his 2015 LP Imaginary Walls Collapse

mp3 : Adam Stafford – Sound Of Fear Evaporating

It’s a song that features a vocal contribution from Siobhan Wilson who herself was launching her latest album the following night in Glasgow, an event I’d have gone along to except it clashed with something else….

Friday 30 June : Dunfermline, The Skids Homecoming Show

This was a huge surprise.  The 1,500th posting on the blog a few weeks back was an ICA featuring The Skids. I lamented that I had missed their show in Glasgow as they embarked on a 40th Anniversary Tour but I hadn’t minded as it had clashed with the bloggers’ weekend and the unforgettable hook-up with Dirk, Walter, Brian, Adam and many others.

I took a call from Mr John Greer, past contributor to these pages, saying that he had come into possession of four tickets for the band’s long sold-out gig in their home town; not only that, but it was part of a package that had been bid for at a charity event that enable the ticket holders to attend the sound check and have a meet’n’greet with the band. There was also some food and drink at a nearby pub thrown in (but not with the band!!)

I was thrilled to be invited along as one of the guests, mainly as I was keen to see the band on the back of consistently great reviews on the tour, but especially for the fact I would meet a long-time hero.

Yup. In a year that is proving to provide all sorts of wonderful first-time happenings, this was right up there.

The gig could have been an anti-climax but that was far from the case. In front of a manic but brilliantly behaved 600-strong audience in the splendour of the art-deco Glen Pavilion (another new venue for me), Richard Jobson and co really did turn the clock back. As he said, in his head he was on the stage still thinking he was a 16-year old punk looking out at an audience of 16-year old punk music fans – fat and bald 16 year olds for the most part, but still determined to singalong and dance away as if there was no tomorrow.

The set-list was majestic:-

Animation
Of One Skin
Melancholy Soldiers
Thanatos
Dulce et Decorum Est (Pro Patria Mori)
Working for the Yankee Dollar
The Saints Are Coming
Scared to Dance
Charles
The Olympian
Out of Town
Hurry On Boys
Circus Games
Masquerade
Into the Valley

ENCORE

Charade
A World On Fire
TV Stars
Of One Skin

Yup….they ended with a song they had aired before as they didn’t want to leave the stage. I’ve no idea just how these old troupers managed to keep up the sort of energetic pace throughout the near 100 minute set. It was sweltering hot from the word go but not once did any of them appear short of breath. Richard Jobson remains a front man who so many could learn from – utterly charismatic, witty and performing throughout with the widest grin imaginable. It was wonderful.

mp3 : The Skids – The Olympian

Saturday 1 July : Villain Towers, Glasgow

Lazy day to recover.  Was able to reflect on a few personal things such as my parents celebrating 55 years of marriage earlier this week, my many Canadian friends today celebrating 150 years of theirs becoming a country and the fact that one of my younger brothers would have been 50 years old today if he hadn’t passed away in a car crash in 2010.  I toasted his memory as I recharged my batteries

Sunday 2 July : Edinburgh, world premiere of England Is Mine

Once again, a late and unexpected invite courtesy of Mr John Greer as the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival comes to an end with the screening of England Is Mine:-

For all that the subject matter of the film is an utter twat these days, there was no way I was missing out on this invite. I’ll be on my way east as these words are posted.

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 17)

The next single came out at the height of the summer of 1983 at a time when I was gearing up to move out of the parental home and into my own space within student accommodation. It was also when The Smiths, New Order, Aztec Camera, The The, Billy Bragg, The Style Council and The Go-Betweens were increasingly becoming the bands of choice.  XTC were old hat…..

I will however, say in defence of this Colin Moulding composition, is that I should have bought it back in the day as it would have fitted beautifully onto the compilation tapes that I was making at the time…it’s a gentle and lovely song that has dated fairly well.  But at the time, having only heard it once via radio, I dismissed it immediately and didn’t seek it out.

mp3 : XTC – Wonderland (single edit)

My first exposure to the b-side came as I put this posting together.  It’s certainly a big improvement on the tracks on the previous single and initially I thought it was nothing that I’d come back to all that often.  But three or four listens and it is growing on me.  It’s a good solid b-side.

mp3 : XTC – Jump

I think this was the first XTC single to be issued on Picture Disc.

JC

 

 

Edinburgh School For The Deaf

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #82 : EDINBURGH SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

Edinburgh School For The Deaf (taking their name from a famous landmark institution in that city) were a four-piece band much admired by a number of Scottish based music bloggers. The band came to prominence in 2010, emerging in part from the ashes of St Jude’s Infirmary in which two of the members had played.

Consisting of Ashley (vocal and “sweet” guitar), Jamie (drums), Grant (shouting and bass) and Kieran (vocals and “sourer” guitar) they gigged a lot, particularly in Edinburgh and to a slightly lesser extent in Glasgow and Dundee, but for some strange reason I never got to see them. I was told in particular by Mike (Manic Pop Thrills) and Matthew (Song, By Toad) that I was missing out on something that was quite distinctively Scottish but which drew upon all sorts of influences from all sorts of eras. If you look up various reviews from their time together you will come across name checks for the likes of Interpol, My Bloody Valentine and The Delgados. Their own description of their sound was “deathjangle” and “noise pop”.

I bought a copy of their debut LP New Youth Bible on its release in 2011 and to be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced. But its an album which slowly grew on me after multiple listens, although it’s not one I have gone to all that often since its release.

However, I did listen to it in full again the other week for the first time in a while and found myself more immersed in it than ever before. Maybe, like much of the rest of the world, I wasn’t quite ready for Edinburgh School For The Deaf back in the day and it’s their continued absence over the past five years that makes me miss them somewhat.

mp3 : Edinburgh School For The Deaf – Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness

JC

Blur, Jack Penate, Soup Dragons

30, 20, 10 (Part 3)

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.

Thus far, it has shown decent enough stuff (for the most part) in 87 and 07 while demonstrating that 97 was a year in which the major labels took dross to the top of the indie charts thanks to the exploitation of a loophole around distribution.  R. Kelly and The Rembrandts cannot, by any definition, be classed as ‘indie’.  Third time lucky perhaps?

1 July 1987 : mp3 : The Soup Dragons – Can’t Take No More

The band’s fifth release and their first, and indeed only 45, to take the top spot in this chart. It was probably helped a bit by the fact it was released in three different vinyl formats – 7″, 12″ and a live 12″ , the latter which included a rather appalling version of Purple Haze.  It’s all a long way removed from the baggy/dance stuff that took them into the proper charts a couple of years down the line.

1 July 1997 : mp3 : Blur : On Your Own

Food Records by this time were completely owned by EMI and so Blur were only eligible for the chart via that loophole referred to above.  It’s actually one of my favourite tracks of theirs from that era – it’s since been said by Damon Albarn that it was one of the first tunes he wrote with Gorillaz in mind. It climbed as high as #5 in the UK singles chart, again helped by the fact that it was released on 7″ vinyl and well as 2xCD singles with a number of b-sided that had all been recorded live at John Peel‘s home studio at Peel Acres and broadcast on his show on  8 May 1997. Here’s some bonuses for you to celebrate this series featuring that very set:-

mp3 : Blur – Popscene (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Song 2 (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Chinese Bombs (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – Movin’ On (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – M.O.R. (live at Peel Acres)
mp3 : Blur – On Your Own (live at Peel Acres)

And now, especially for those of you who like the electronic sort of stuff:-

mp3 : Blur – On Your Own (Walter Wall Mix)

It’s a 15 minute remix courtesy of William Orbit.

1 July 2007 : mp3 : Jack Penate – Torn On The Platform

I was working in Canada ten years ago and hearing this makes me glad of that. This is my first exposure to this particular singer/songwriter.

He was on XL Recordings which that same year also released albums by Radiohead and M.I.A. I’m guessing it was the late teens/festival goers who took him to the top of this chart and to #7 in the UK singles chart. Wiki tells me he was popular in 2006/07 but his second LP in 2009 sort of sunk without trace. His fifteen minutes of fame had come and gone.

JC

Orange Juice

THE FAREWELL SINGLE IN ALL ITS GUISES

Orange Juice signed off with a flourish with their final single having the very tongue-in-cheek title of Lean Period. It was issued in 7″ and 12″ formats in a brown paper bag (the reverse side of the 7″ version is pictured above), a 12″ format with a printed sleeve and a limited 7″ edition that came with an additional flexi disc with two live tracks.

Despite all this, it staggered around the nether region of the charts but as this was a time when the charts were measured on a Top 100 it meant, in official terms, that Lean Period actually spent three weeks in the official rundown – entering at #78, rising to #77 and then leaping, salmon-like to the giddy-heights of #74 in October 1984.

mp3 : Orange Juice – Lean Period
mp3 : Orange Juice – Bury My Head In My Heads
mp3 : Orange Juice – Lean Period (12″ dub version)
mp3 : Orange Juice – Rip it Up (live)
mp3 : Orange Juice – What Presence?! (live)

The flexi disc recordings are very lo-fi, ripped as they are straight from those fragile and flimsy bits of plastic and so you’ll have to turn the volume right up. There are superior versions available via the Coals to Newcastle boxset but I thought I’d stay true to the blog’s principles.

JC

Propaganda

THE SECOND ONLY MAKES YOU WONDER

Back in July 2015, I wrote about Propaganda and their debut single Dr Mabuse, released in February 1984. The piece made passing reference to the fact that the follow-up single, Duel, didn’t get released until much later largely as a result of ZTT having to concentrate on the phenomena that was Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I always meant to do a follow-up posting but never quite got round to it until now.

Duel is a lovely bit of electro-pop that fitted in just perfectly with so many of the other musicians I was developing a love for in the mid-80s, and in particular Pet Shop Boys. There was also something quite erotic about the vocal delivery of Claudia Brucken, but visually it was the other female in the band – Susanne Freytag – who really did it for me. The band actually were on UK telly quite a bit around the time of Duel, including a couple of live songs that were aired on Whistle Test on BBC 2 during which they proved, as a live act, they could cut it, albeit there were some backing tapes involved. It was also interesting to see Derek Forbes, formerly of Simple Minds, making an important contribution to the live sound.

It turned out to be the band’s best-selling single in the UK reaching #21 in May 1985 but I always felt the group never got the success it really deserved as the media by now were setting out on a ZTT backlash, sick to the back teeth of FGTH, and arguing that their success was down to the production skills of Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson and the hype-skills of Paul Morley rather than any talents the musicians might have.  It seemed to be implied that Propaganda were no different despite the fact that anyone who saw them perform on Whistle Test and indeed The Tube on Channel 4 would know these were bona-fide musicians and singers.

The band toured for much of 1985, promoting debut album A Secret Wish. A remix album was issued just before Christmas but the band were strangely absent throughout 1986 and out of the blue came the news that Claudia Brucken was leaving to pursue a solo career.  It turned out that the group had been taking legal action against ZTT as they were unhappy with the details of the recording contract and the label had counter-acted with action that prevented them going elsewhere.  The new-look group did get a move to Virgin Records in 1988 but without the sort of attention foisted on them when they first burst onto the scene,

The 7″ version of Duel appeared on the debut album:-

mp3 : Propaganda – Duel

The 12″ had an extended version along with an industrial version on its flip side:-

mp3 : Propaganda – Duel (Bittersweet version)
mp3 : Propaganda – Jewel (cut rough mix)

JC

Basement Jaxx

HIPS SWAYING

It was back in the Autumn of 1999 that I first came across Basement Jaxx, thanks to two of their singles being played in all the pubs and clubs I found myself traipsing into on the Costa Del Sol while on a golfing holiday with a crowd of mates.

Now I’ve never been someone who has dismissed dance music as ‘not for me’, but to be honest I don’t have that much of the genre in the collection. But Red Alert and Rendez-Vu had become such an integral part of the week that I set out to track them down on my return to Glasgow.

In the end, I bought the LP Remedy and found that there was an awful lot to like about this lot. Indeed, not long afterwards they played a show at Glasgow Barrowlands and I dragged Mrs Villain along and we had a right good time despite being among the oldest folk in the venue, and that more than anything else convinced me that Felix and Simon were well worth keeping an eye on.

Since then, we’ve gone along to see them on a few more occasions and never been disappointed, although it’s fair to say that the shows at the Barowlands outshone those at the Academy, mainly due to the sound at the latter venue often being problematic. They’re an act that always get me off my seat and onto the dance floor – as can be testified by a good friend of ours who, somewhere, has video footage of myself and Mrs Villain dancing to Red Alert at his 40th Birthday party a number of years ago….the icing on the cake being it was a fancy dress bash and we were there as Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell.

I’ve also picked up cheap second-hand copies of the two singles that made such an inital impression; I flipped a coin on which to feature – the image at the head of this picture gives away which song won..as do the mp3s:-

mp3 : Basement Jaxx – Rendez-Vu (single edit)
mp3 : Basement Jaxx – Miracles Keep On Playin’ (Red Alert Remix)
mp3 : Basement Jaxx – All U Crazies

Also forgot 2 Many DJs took a Basement Jaxx number and mashed it up with something by The Clash; it was made available on a bonus disc when the Jaxx released a Greatest Hits CD:-

mp3 : Basement Jaxx vs The Clash – Magnificent Romeo

JC

Teenage Superstars (documentary)

BONUS POST : TEENAGE SUPERSTARS

Two years ago, I was lucky enough, courtesy of Jacques the Kipper, to find myself at the world premiere of Big Gold Dream, a documentary film that told the story of the Scottish post-punk scene. Some of you may even recall my review of the film. It can be found here.

Fast forward two years and once again JtK has come up trumps and gotten his hands on tickets for Teenage Superstars, the second part of the filmmakers’ project. This time round, it focussed on how the scene developed from the end of Postcard Records through more than a decade to when Britpop came into being. It was an era of some of the finest ever music to come out of Scotland; indeed it could be argued that a ten-part series would be required to do full justice to the subject matter and so trying to squeeze it into a 110-minute long feature was a tall ask.

The director Grant McPhee, co-producers Wendy Griffin and Erik Sandeberg and editor Angela Slaven skilfully get round things by focussing in the main on the Glasgow/West of Scotland scene and the music which emerged from the brain of Steven Pastel and from the mining town of Bellshill. As with the earlier film, it proved to be a hugely entertaining watch, filled with great humour from just about everyone who was interviewed but also made room for the occasional piece of pathos from those who were an important part of the story but who were ditched before their bands made it big.

It is also incredibly informative. Who knew that the BMX Bandits based part of the design of the sleeve of their debut single on something they literally ripped off the back of a Sigue Sigue Sputnik 12”? Who had any idea that, of all the individuals to come out of Bellshill at the time, Sean Dickson of the Soup Dragons would be the one who was the most creative and most driven to be a success? Who would have thought Douglas Hart of the Jesus and Mary Chain would prove to be full of gentle, self-deprecating humour about his time working with the Brothers Reid? Who  realised that over the years, there have been 28 different members working alongside mainstay Duglas T Stewart in the afore-mentioned BMX Bandits; or that Eugene Kelly, having brought an end to The Vaselines, was so down on his luck that he worked as a barman on the same street as where I had lived for the first 9 years of my life (it’s a big street, admitedly).

Others would certainly have known this, but it was news to me that the reason AGARR came into use as the catalogue prefix for all the singles on the 53rd and 3rd record label was that it was short for ‘As Good As Ramones Records’

Oh, it wasn’t all surprises – other parts merely confirmed what you thought, including that Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love are three of the most intelligent and lovely blokes ever to venture into pop music.

All the way through this world premiere, I thought of my Seattle-based friend Brian from Linear Track Lives who would have reckoned this just about the perfect night. There were wonderful  shots of modern-day Glasgow dotted throughout the film interspersed with original footage that belonged to one or more of the contributors, including all sorts of stills and videotape of them in locations such as the house belonging to Norman Blake’s grandmother (where many rehearsals took place), busking to a large but bemused crowd outside Marks & Spencer in Glasgow (where, on a good day, Sean, Norman and Duglas would make enough money to buy a baked potato each before going home on the train) and inside the legendary Splash One club where so many of the bands would make their live debuts (and which your humble scribe missed out on as I was working and living 45 miles east in Edinburgh).

Oh and the film was followed by a Q&A before decanting to a nearby venue for live acoustic sets from Eugene and Duglas – although with an 11.30pm start to the gig, there was no way I could stay on without getting overnight accommodation and then up really early to be through at work in Glasgow the following morning.  I’m really sorry that I can’t include a review of that here for you.

It is a documentary for music obsessives, lovingly filmed and edited, getting across that those who were interviewed really enjoyed reminiscing; there weren’t too many scores settled, although it is fair to say that Bobby Gillespie gets a bit of criticism at various times, and it’s interesting to note that neither he nor Jim Reid and William Reid from the Mary Chain took part;  on the other hand, there is regular use of Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth as a talking head, and he make it very clear just how important and influential every single one of these Teenage Superstars turned out to be in the pantheon of modern music towards the end of the 20th Century.

The film will be getting a second screening on 1 July in Edinburgh as part of the international film festival.  After that, who knows?  I’m sure it will air at some point in the future in Glasgow but it really does deserve to be seen much further afield.

Inevitably, I’ve spent the weekend listening again a few of the timeless songs that popped up during the film.

mp3 : The Pastels – Truck Train Tractor
mp3 : BMX Bandits – E102
mp3 : The Vaselines – Molly’s Lips
mp3 : The Soup Dragons – Hang Ten
mp3 : Shop Assistants – Safety Net
mp3 : The Jesus & Mary Chain – Upside Down

PS : The original review contained a link to Velocity Girl ; however, it, and indeed no Primal Scream songs were actually used in the documentary and so, to avoid any confusion or potential problems to Grant & co., I’ve removed the link.

JC