Dogs Die In Hot Cars

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #75 : DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS

From wiki:-

Dogs Die in Hot Cars is a Scottish band from St. Andrews consisting of Craig Macintosh (vocals, guitar), Gary Smith (vocals, guitar) Ruth Quigley (vocals, keyboards, French horn), Lee Worrall (bass and glockenspiel) and Laurence Davey (drums and percussion).

Macintosh, Smith, Worrall and Davey all met at Madras College and began playing together in 1993 at the age of 14. After having performed under various names they settled on “Dogs Die In Hot Cars” in 1997. In 1999 they moved to Glasgow where they met Ruth Quigley to complete the line up. The band listed their influences among others as Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles and Talking Heads.

Later that year the band signed a one off single deal with EMI subsidiary label, Radiate Records. The single included the songs “I Love You ‘Cause I Have To”, “Celebrity Sanctum” and “Somewhat Off The Way”. In autumn 2003, the band signed to V2 Records and Chrysalis Publishing.

In July 2004 they released their debut album Please Describe Yourself which included the tracks “I Love You ‘Cause I Have To”, “Godhopping” and “Lounger”. “Godhopping” peaked at #24 on the UK Singles Chart and remains the band’s biggest hit. “I Love You ‘Cause I Have To” peaked at #32 on the UK Singles Chart.

In 2006, following the departure of Gary Smith, the band entered the studio to record their second album but this was abandoned. In 2008 they released 17 demos that they’d written for the second album, for people to remix and rewrite how they liked, with the intention being that of the best mixes for each song, they would compile a final record and share any potential royalties from it 50-50 with those who contributed. Nothing however, emerged from the idea.

Here’s one of their two chart hits:-

mp3 : Dogs Die In Hot Cars – I Love You ‘Cause I Have To

JC

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

WHERE SOUND BITE POLITICS ARE SERVED TO THE FASTFOOD CULTURE

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy weren’t around with us for all that long, nor did they make all that much in the way of music. A group that aimed to fuse the rap of Public Enemy and the beat poetry of Gil Scott-Heron was an exciting concept to consider and indeed for a while it really did seem they were going to be the ones who really took rap to a wider audience, thanks in part to the fact that they were happy enough to go on the road and play support to the likes of U2, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine among others.

They emerged out of San Francisco, coming to the fore at a time when America was pursuing an increasingly right-wing agenda that was creating and alienating a far larger underclass whose responses were threatening to get increasingly violent. Indeed the greatest awareness of the band coincided with the period just after the extensive rioting in Los Angeles with their debut (and only) LP Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury being released that same year of 1992. It was an album that addressed many social issues, including racism, homophobia, sexism and urban poverty. It also, rather timely, included a blistering cover version of California Über Alles, the Dead Kennedys song which many media commentators had referred to in their analysis of what had caused things to go so badly wrong in LA and the wider state.

The band was really two individuals, Michael Franti (vocals, production, misc. instruments) and Rono Tse (drums, percussion, programming), assisted on stage and in the studio by a range of talents. But Franti was on whom most attention was focussed. For one, he was a striking looking individual, standing at six-foot six inches. His life story was genuinely fascinating. He was incredibly intelligent, articulate and frank in his opinions, all of which made him a great interviewee no matter the media. His anger was a quiet, simmering and seemingly non-threatening type – where others rapped hard about injustices shouting and demanding action, Michael Franti preferred to ensure his  words could be heard, understood and, above all, to be thought about by those doing the listening.

The DHOH album is an extraordinary piece of work made possible by a wide number of contributory elements including sampling and scratching amidst playing that incorporated jazz, soul, AOR rock and pop. Franti made great use of his rich baritone singing voice but sometimes his words were softly spoken in a resigned sort of way, with more than a hint of cynicism in the tone of delivery.

Their best and most enduring song was released as a single and deployed as the opening track. It’s an unparalleled attack on mass-media brainwashing, written and delivered in a pre-internet age, but whose message still resonates 25 years on. Possibly more so in an era of so-called fake news and alternative facts:-

mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Television, the Drug of the Nation

The heading for today’s posting is taken from a line in that song.

But as I mentioned earlier, there were all sorts of social issues addressed within the album whose release was timely as it came at a time when many music journalists and media commentators were questioning whether rap should be taken seriously when so many of its exponents were proud of their homophobic and/or misogynist lyrics and whose view of all issues, literally, came down to black and white. Franti, while not ignoring race issues, was much more focussed on class divisions across American society, and again this seemed new and fresh in rap music, albeit he was merely the latest a what was already a long line of highly aware political protest singers.

mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Satanic Reverses
mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Language of Violence
mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Music and Politics
mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – California Über Alles

The album is more essential than disposable and one that I feel every music fan should have either a copy of or access to. The duo, realising that they would probably never be able to top the debut, went their separate ways in 1994, with Franti forming Spearhead with whom he still records and performs to this day. Rono Tse, judging by a lack of product on Discogs post-DHOH, appears to have drifted quickly out of the music industry.

JC

La's

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED

It is nowadays regarded as an indie-pop classic but hands up if you knew that it was the third time of asking before it become more than a cult hit……

November 1988 was the first attempt. Having considered it had been lost in the tradiotionally crazy way of record sales in the run up to any Xmas period, Go-Discs tried again in January 1989.

Then the track was given the remix treatment by star-producer Steve Lillywhite and in October 1990 this version was the one that propelled The La’s to a #13 hit:-

mp3 : The La’s – There She Goes
mp3 : The La’s – Freedom Song

Even after all these years, it still has the ability to sound fresh and fantastic.

JC

Fine Young Cannibals

REALLY FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE

Don’t worry…..I’m not trying to squeeze in another posting about the bloggers weekend or Coldplay. The image above does give the game away somewhat….

I’m not sure what the world record is for most singles lifted from an LP, but in terms of % then the 7 out of 10 associated with The Raw and The Cooked, the 1989 sophomore album from Fine Young Cannibals must be up there.

Of the seven singles, four went Top 20 and only one of them failed to chart – possibly because the record buying public really had no excuse to shell out any further. The album itself was one of the best-selling of the era – it has been certified triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in the USA – and is estimated to have sold more than three million copies worldwide.

Unusually for such a popular and huge-selling record, it has quite a bit going for it, successfully bringing together a number of genres such as pop, rock, soul and funk to good effect, albeit it also has a rather dreadful cover of a hit single by Buzzcocks.

It was actually quite surprising to see Ever Fallen In Love? on the album as the FYC version was already more than two years old having been recorded for the film Something Wild (directed by Jonathan Demme) and had been released as a single in its own right in early 1987. Indeed, film buffs might have thought that there was very little new about The Raw and The Cooked as three more of its songs had featured in the 1987 movie Tin Men (directed by Barry Levinson) in which the band appeared and performed within a film that was set in 1963…..

But I digress.

As with all hit albums, it was preceded by a strong single, one that dominated the airwaves in early 1989:-

mp3 : Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy

This unusual but fine sounding single was released in the first week of January and spent almost three months in the charts, peaking at #5, setting the tone for what would be a triumphant year for the band. Just as it dropped out of the Top 75, the folk at London Records released this in April:-

mp3 : Fine Young Cannibals – Good Thing

This had been one of the songs featured in Tin Men and so it is deliberately retro sounding. It is toe-tappingly and hand-clappingly catchy but in a way that avoids becoming annoying. It spent more than two months in the charts, peaking at #7. The label then waited until August to issue the next single:-

mp3 : Fine Young Cannibals – Don’t Look Back

Unlike the previous two singles, this one has dated pretty badly. It’s a run-of-the-mill and indistinct effort that doesn’t have all that much going for it. The record buying public obviously agreed as they didn’t part with their cash in the same way – it spent just four weeks in the charts and peaked at #34.

In most instances, a poorly selling single would lead a label to decide to call it quits on that particular album and to look to persuade the singer or band that it was time to get some fresh songs out there. However, the big problem was that FYC were not the slightest bit interested in doing anything new. Lead singer Roland Gift was determined to pursue an acting career and was certainly not the slightest bit inclined to rush back to the studio – it was also the case that the band weren’t tied to any rigorous and demanding contract and so could take things at their own pace.

The pre-Xmas boost for 1989 came via a fifth single in November, one that highlighted in particular the soulful nature of the lead singer:-

mp3 : Fine Young Cannibals – I’m Not The Man I Used To Be

This spent ten weeks in the chart, peaking at #20 in mid-December.

All told, it meant that FYC had seen singles occupy a slot in the Top 75 in 33 of the weeks during 1989. The parent album, having entered  at #1 in the first week of its release in mid-February remained in the chart throughout the rest of the year, and indeed was still as high as #18 at the end of December 1989.  Sales wise, it was only out-performed by the toe-curlingly awful giants of the pop world like Phil Collins, Jason Donovan, Gloria Estefan and Simply Red.

The album would stay in the charts for a further five months – boosted by it winning Best Album at the Brit Awards in February 1990 (at which FYC were also named as Best UK band) – and only dropping out at the end of May 1990 by which time two further singles – I’m Not Satisfied and It’s OK – had been released with the former reaching #46 but the latter being a complete flop.

FYC never made another album after The Raw and The Cooked, although in 1996 they got together one last time to record two new songs to include on a 14-track ‘best of’ effort which, despite including no less than six tracks from the Raw and The Cooked, still went Top 10 and sold more than 300,000 copies in the UK alone.  On that basis, it is somewhat baffling that they never wanted to take advantage of their continuing popularity and make more records.

JC

Uncategorized

THE FIRST BIG BLOGGERS WEEKEND (CONTINUED)

It all starts a bit unusual on the Saturday with myself, Walter, Dirk, Brian, Adam and Drew walking through the town in the direction of Mono. We get there are but it’s not yet open so we wait outside watching the Germans enjoying yet another smoke. CC’s cheery face appears unexpectedly as the doors open and in we go desperate for teas and coffees to take the edge off things. It’s Hangover City.

We gather collectively round a table but not for long as Brian makes a bee-line to flick through the vinyl in a scene that was so reminiscent of High Fidelity. Except there were no cute singer-songwriters and the shop staff were wonderfully helpful, friendly and far from judgemental. The piss taking continued as the caffeine kicked-in with things going up a notch as another pop star wandered in and said hello. Brian’s face when he spotted Stephen Pastel will live long in the memory.

T-shirts, books and vinyl were handed over to the visitors as gifts and thank yous where they were crammed into bags alongside the essential purchases by all and sundry. Back into drinking mode except for Drew who only wanted Irn Bru and Brian who just wanted a bed to lie down in and dream.

Tales of Drew’s scooter days out were told in which Buckfast and Chinese punks featured heavily while Adam talked of weekenders in Blackpool where the entire luggage consisted of a toothbrush and two E’s. Brian continued to pine for a bed in which to lie down and dream.

We then split into two with the tricycle boy leading some out to his native Airdrie for the football and others went out looking for a beer garden with decent scenery and better lager than Tennent’s. A good time was had by all although my own state of mind was partly ruined by the Hibbees.

We all hooked up again in the evening at the Bon Accord where Aldo was waiting and strangeways would come along later. After 24 hours, Drew’s accent was now beginning to be partly understood and so everyone laughed as he told of Brian’s confusion on how to eat a mince pie while watching the game. Dirk mused on why the women in the beer garden had all looked like models and Walter wondered whether he had taken the wrong decision earlier. Brian still just wanted a bed in which to lie down and dream.

We went next to The Griffin where Stiff, Tank and William were waiting as yet more drink was taken and more pish was spoken. Morrissey, Mark E Smith and Phil Ramone were still getting slated. Brian saw some Irn Bru behind the counter and declared it the drink of the devil. The joys of drinking far too much after an 18 hour plane journey and no sleep had clearly turned him insane.

It was soon time for CC to take his leave at which point Brian also decided to realise his day-long ambition of a bed in which to lie down and dream. The rest of us went to Sleazy’s where we found a booth in which we could just sit and take everything in. The lights, the sounds, the décor and the beautiful young people out for the long haul. Same story as Friday – lots of hugging, lots of dancing of sorts etc. etc.

After a while Drew had to head back home and so began the first of the big sad cheerios. More drinking, more dancing of sorts and then outside together to head our separate ways. The Germans though had other ideas and after a quick smoke went back in for a final hurrah while the rest of us sought out taxis and the likes.

On Sunday I went in to make sure everyone still left in town could get to the airport on time which just left the bold Brian who was now fully recovered and refreshed after his much needed bed to lie down in and dream. There’s stories to be told from the rest of the day but they’re more suited to a Coldplay song than one by the Strap.

We met up for the weekend, it lasted for ever; got high with our friends; it was officially summer.

77,000 steps in four days said the app on the phone.  I got myself some sleep eventually on Sunday night after seeing the Blue Jays sneak an unexpected win. It was the perfect end to a perfect gathering. Meeting up soon with Aldo to recall the memories and smile about it all. Drink could well be involved.

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Peel Thing (Peel Session, 25 March 1997)

JC

Uncategorized

THE FIRST BIG BLOGGERS WEEKEND

WITH APOLOGIES TO AIDAN MOFFAT AND MALCOLM MIDDLETON

So that was the first big bloggers weekend of the summer.

Starts Thursday as usual with Brian and Walter jetting in from the ‘Dam although Seattle and Frankfurt had been the departure points. I try to do my sound bloke routine by going in with them in the taxi and then spending the afternoon and evening being a genial host. I’m glad I bothered. We did lunch in the Griffin, some culture, some drinking and a hurl on the Glasgow subway. Ended up in the Pot Still chatting to Canucks, death metal bikers from Stockholm and posh folk from the RSNO. Before long it was Friday….

From Rhine Town to  Rain Town, Dirk flew in to be met by CC  and soon we all hooked up to head out west via The Variety and The Arlington where we were joined by Comrade Colin. I was wearing my Ponderosa Aces t-shirt so in some ways Jonny the Friendly Lawyer was also part of the entourage. The sun was blazing down and so we set sail for the Kelvin and outdoor drinking at Inn Deep amongst the students, hipsters and trendies. Why is it these places only serve the worst vodkas? There was no problem getting in but there were no seats available so we stood on the walkway leaning on the fence watching people come and go. This turned out to be sound as we soon spotted Ken from The Bluebells who was kind enough to pose for a photo with Brian before he flogged us CDs of this new band he’s working with called Pronto Mama.

Before long it was off to the Hug and Pint where Drew came in and immediately confused the German boys with his Lanarkshire guttural although they knew right away he was very sound and very funny. Or maybe they were just being polite. The next wee surprise was David from Kid Canaveral dropping by as he was playing there that night as the support act and he too posed for a photo with Brian as well as giving him some lovely vinyl. There was a long haul back into town to Sleazy’s where Aldo had hotfooted it straight from work. By now the lack of food was taking its toll so some crisps were bought and shared although the drink still flowed very freely.

A few changes of clothing ensued with Dirk now resplendent in yet another magnificent Clash t-shirt sourced in Japan worn underneath the coolest of leather jackets. Joey Ramone eat your heart out. We sat down in Tut’s, drinking ourselves even sillier and stuffing our faces with burgers and pizzas. All except Colin who of course had to be all bourgeoisie and have the beetroot falafel….mmmmmm dead tasty. Adam got in just after 8 and so the gathering was finally complete. Beers, wines, vodkas and peach schnapps were ordered and consumed but we decided to bail out before the 350 teenagers upstairs watching Seafret came back to cram us out.

CC went home but the rest of us hit the State Bar where Dirk’s jacket drew admiring glances from the ladies and in one case a sneaky caress. By this time there was some amount of pish being talked but it only added to the fun. We decided Moz and Mark E Smith were bigger tossers than Phil Ramone but it was a close run thing. At midnight it was time to go home.

But unknown to the rest of us, four of the gang went back to Sleazy’s where I’m not sure what happened as I wasn’t there and the others can’t remember. Before long it was Saturday…………

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend

(More to come later today)

JC

Coldplay

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #122 : COLDPLAY

A GUEST POSTING FROM KC

JC writes…..

I’m thinking that I’m going to wake up feeling a bit lost as all my blogging comrades head home after what I am sure will have proven to be a momentous and unforgettable weekend. I will, hopefully, find the time soon to put up a posting or two with my thoughts and memories but for now want to start the week off with what I think is one of the best-written posts to grace these pages.

It’s a TVV debut for KC who some of you will know as the wonderful new talent to be ‘discovered’ by SWC and Tim over at WYCRA. KC has chosen to dive in at the deepest of ends today without the aid of any safety devices…

An Imaginary Compilation – Coldplay

by KC from When You Can’t Remember Anything

“So how do these Imaginary Compilation Albums work then”?

I am sitting in the kitchen at work talking to SWC and Badger as we wait for the kettle to boil.

“Do you have to wait to be invited to do one or can you just jump in and do it”?

Slowly Badger explains it to me. I learn that you can write one about any band you like, any one at all is fair game.

“I mean some idiot even wrote one about Kanye West last year”, SWC chips in as his teabags leave a trail from cup to bin.

“That was you wasn’t it?” I ask him. He nods sheepishly.

“Are you thinking of writing one then?” he asks me before telling Badger about one that he had started last week at midnight when trying to sleep on the sofa whilst his wife was poorly.

It’s my turn to nod. “I’m going to write one on Coldplay…” there is a little choking noise. It’s Badger and he appears to have a small amount of brown crumbs around his mouth. I think he has just half swallowed and half choked on a Bourborn Cream.

SWC looks at me and is shaking his head, “they will never forgive you” he says. I look at him with confusion. He sighs…“One of the unwritten rules of music blogging; Thou must not write anything nice about Coldplay, Keane, The 1975 or Mumford and Sons and never ever admit to liking them even if you do”.

Well I do like Coldplay, and I like Chris Martin, I think he is a nice guy who is doing what he loves. He has an air about of him of a man who cannot believe his luck. He’s a geeky bloke from Devon who made a few records and then married a Hollywood actress. Last year at the Radio 1 Big Day Out, Chris Martin had 50,000 people eating out of his hands, people of all ages, all sexes, all races, religions and sexuality, and yet from what I can see even the mere suggestion of liking him or his music on various blogs is enough to get sneers of derision. Well to be honest you lot need to get over yourselves.

You know what I have a theory, and I’m telling this to Badger and SWC in the kitchen unaware that four other people are now listening to me. I think secretly most of you out there own something by Coldplay, and I think you play it more regularly than you will ever admit to it (aha, a nod from Badger).

It is far too easy to diss Coldplay, mostly this is just to pass them off as shit, most people who do this have heard two, possibly three songs by them. Well fine that’s your view, but let me tell you this. Chris Martin is more relevant than that chap from The Wedding Present ever has been or ever will be. He writes better lyrics than Morrissey and is a far nicer person. Every album Coldplay have made is better than anything that LCD Soundsystem have ever recorded (and when I say this it’s SWC’s turn to choke, genuinely choke).

Chris Martin has more charisma and stage presence than nearly every other front man or woman that I can think of. Face it indie boy, he is better than you at everything and secretly you know that and that is why you hate him. If you ask me it comes down to a question of what you want from your rockstars.

So I’m tweaking the nose of convention and I’m ripping up the rulebook. Because guys, here comes my ICA on Coldplay and I’m basing it on their first three albums, all of which are great records.

Side One

Trouble – Taken from ‘Parachutes’

This is probably one of those songs that annoys you all. Yet this is a song of gorgeous regret, an apology to someone somewhere – the lyrics show this “I never meant to do you harm”. It’s a powerful song because it is so simple and so easy for everyone to understand and get, and that’s why it is so popular.

Talk – Taken from ‘X&Y’

According to SWC this is the only Coldplay song worth listening to and that is only because it samples something by someone called Kraftwerk. It’s a different kind of Coldplay song entirely, much heavier than their usual standards but still really good.

Til Kingdom Come – Taken from ‘X&Y’

My Dad loves Johnny Cash and this song was written for him (Johnny Cash not my dad) by Coldplay and he never got to record it. I imagine that Cash would have recorded it different but this is a lovely little acoustic track and one that I really like. I especially like the way you get this at the end of the album perfectly contradicting the big sounds of the earlier parts of the album.

In My Place – Taken from ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’

This is a grower I think, at first people were unsure of it, they were unsure of Coldplay’s progression as a band. But then after a few listens you realise that it is a fantastic pop single. For me it justifies my claim that they have more presence that most of the bands around today.

Low – Taken from ‘X&Y’

I’ll end side one with perhaps the most frantic song that they have ever recorded. I really like the guitars on this but I’m not going to try to describe how they sound. They sound awesome and that should be enough.

Side Two

Don’t Panic – Taken from ‘Parachutes’

I saw Coldplay live a few years back and when they played this the crowd went absolutely bananas for it. It is something of a fans favourite.

Warning Sign – Taken from ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’

Coldplay are a band that are very much in touch with their emotions which is probably why they get so much stick. Personally I think it works in their favour. The vocals on this are passionate and heartfelt and again it is so simple when Martin goes, “The truth is I miss you”. Lovely.

You’ve Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party – Beastie Boys Cover

This is recorded live somewhere the day after one of the Beastie Boys died. I wasn’t aware of the original song until I heard this. I think the sentiment and the poignancy of this are beautiful and again it is heartfelt and sincere.

Square One – Taken from ‘X&Y’

Another thing about Coldplay and Chris Martin in particular is they have a knack of writing lyrics that affect individual on a massive scale. Thousands have fallen for his songs about love, hope, loss etc and ‘Square one’ is the track that gives them more than all the others with its lyrics asking “Is the anywhere you want to go…?”

Politik – Taken from ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’

This song opens the second album ‘A Rush of Blood To the Head’ and it is quite an intense song and it happens to be my favourite Coldplay song should I actually need one. It is an exhilarating, driving blast and most bands out there would give anything to record a song anywhere near as good as this.

KC

Ruts, XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 10)

Just as Towers of London was beginning to fall out of the charts a very peculiar decision was made regards the next single in November 1980.

A film called Times Square had just been released. It was not a critical or commercial success and you can read about it here. It’s not one I imagine many people can recall.

The film was accompanied by a 2xLP of 20 songs with what was mostly a mix of new wave and chart acts, mainly from the UK but also featuring NYC acts such as Talking Heads and The Ramones, and as part of the efforts to promote the movie and the soundtrack it was decided to issue a 7″ single. The tracks chosen were by XTC and The Ruts. The strange thing being that the XTC song was one that wasn’t available anywhere else while The Ruts effort had been a Top 10 hit only a year or so previously.

mp3 : XTC – Take This Town
mp3 : The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning

That it was released while the band were in the middle of their efforts to promote Black Sea seems baffling but then again it was a track that had been given to the film project some time previously and neither XTC nor Virgin Records were in charge of the timing of the release of Times Square.

The single was a flop. It’s not the band’s finest moment and was also out of step with much of the material on their new LP, albeit there was a hint of the ‘whistling’ that had helped make Generals and Majors such an enjoyable tune.

Worth saying that the song by The Ruts is still one of the best songs of the immediate post-punk era.

JC

Django Django

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #74 : DJANGO DJANGO

Another band I hesitated about before including them in the series.

David Maclean (drummer and producer), Vincent Neff (singer and guitarist), Jimmy Dixon (bassist) and Tommy Grace (synthesizer operator) met at Edinburgh College of Art but didn’t get round to forming Django Django until they were all in London. However, David and Tommy are Scottish; Vincent is from Northern Ireland while Jimmy is a native of Yorkshire. David has a family connection to music in that his brother John McLean was part of The Beta Band.

But any doubts I had about eligibility have been smoothed by the fact that both Django Django long-playing records released thus far have been eligible for consideration for the Scottish Album of the Year Award.

Theirs is an infectiously upbeat and joyous sort of electronica that will have you up on your feet and moving around a fair bit if played at a club. They’re also a decent enough live act, albeit like many others whose music comes via machines and gadgets it’s sometimes not the most visual of spectacles – at least it wasn’t on the couple of occasions I saw them promoting the debut LP in fairly small venues…it’s probably a different story nowadays.

That self-titled debut LP back in 2012 was a very confident and assured piece of work that yielded no less than six singles, none of which actually made the mainstream charts. But the critical acclaim was wide and it was a similar story with the 2015 follow-up Born Under Saturn.

mp3 : Django Django – Default

From the debut LP….it might be familiar to some of you as parts of it were used in various adverts

JC

Wedding Present

AN IMAGINARY VERSION OF A REAL ALBUM

A GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM STRANGEWAYS

JC writes….

On the day that so many people will meet up for the first ever time it does somehow seem appropriate to feature a guest contribution from one of the number.

Strangeways, like so many of the blogging fraternity, is someone who prefers to hide his light under a bushel. It takes all sorts of arm-twisting and gentle persuasion to get some words and thoughts out of him and I’m really pleased he has given me something so unusual and perhaps provocative just in time for this special and historic day; a post and concept that might well be worth talking about over the weekend….I think just about everyone coming along is a TWP/Gedge fanatic.

Strangways muses…..

Going, Going... is The Wedding Present‘s new – well, latest (Sep 2016) – LP. And weighing in at twenty tracks, it’s a monster.

For Weddoes nuts, the record delivers some absolutely scorching songs. To these ears, phantoms from both the Seamonsters and Saturnalia albums inhabit a fair chunk of the album and there are some massive, thrilling barrages of ‘go fuck yourself’ guitar throughout.

On that musical side, for the most part, it’s hard to imagine a bigger, noisier landscape than when the ‘loud’ component of the trusted ‘quiet/loud/quiet’ blueprint kicks in (check out Wales, with its remote, staccato first half and, in a happy case of influences returning home, its epic, emotional, sock-knocking British Sea Power-ish second). But that the entire thing opens with four curveballs – a quartet of instrumentals/spoken word tracks (special mention to the elegant and otherworldly Marblehead) – indicates that for at least a time we’re in entirely new territory.

I know of some Weddoes sympathisers – think by-election-only Green Party voters – who have been a bit scared off by the number of tracks and, perhaps, also by rumours of those left-turns that open the record. So if you’ve not heard the LP, here are four tracks to give you a taste.

Bells

Elevated by some really terrific female vocals – a welcome thread running through Going, Going… – Bells is a standout. Creeping guitar makes way for one of David Gedge‘s cruellest choruses – and am I finally losing it or is there something of The Cure‘s Lovesong going on in the music?

Rachel

In another world – perhaps even in the recent past on this planet – Rachel, with its classic, killer chorus, would be the Weddoes’ Losing My Religion or Smells Like Teen Spirit. You know the song, the kind of track that makes it, somehow, beyond the borders of the bedroom and the indie disco. The one that mugs you when you’re buying corn flakes. The one that you fell, hopelessly, in love with.

But that was two months and 15,000 involuntary listens ago.

And now you can’t stand it. Anonymously, you send it foul messages in the post. And it’s compelled you to set up a hate group.

Well, with the demise of the single as ‘an actual thing’, at least that won’t happen this time.

Emporia

It took a while for Emporia to grab me. But when it did, it didn’t let go. Don’t let the really lovely, David Lynchy opening fool you. This is a song of two halves in the tradition of say Bewitched or Perfect Blue (and like Perfect Blue, I wish the generously long tail-end was even longer).

Santa Monica

The perfect closer. A lengthy fade-in recalls Seamonsters’ Blonde, whilst, underlining the sense of something ending, a pensive fade-out is reminiscent of Mystery Date from predecessor LP Valentina and also 50s, the track that slowly, reluctantly snuffed out the 2006 Saturnalia album.

Santa Monica is tinted, also, by shades of Cinerama‘s Don’t Touch That Dial and the Weddoes’ Octopussy (a fellow LP-swansong). It matches the scale of Dalliance, whilst the trickling, bending guitar work reminds me of one of the band’s most charismatic numbers: Catwoman. Listen out, also, for a line-check from A Million Miles. It’s a poignant thirty-year echo connecting this latest album with the (touring-this-year) debut, George Best.

Going, Going’s… ominous title coupled with its last line may suggest that the game is up. On this evidence, that would be a shame. It’s one thing for a band that’s all out of ideas to call it quits. Quite another when it fires out an LP that can stand alongside the best of a formidable back catalogue.

Imagining Emporia…

Just to overdo things further, I thought it’d be interesting to grab half of the LP tracks and attempt to staple together a traditional ten-track album.

This is kind of an obnoxious thing to do – especially if you’re aware of the idea at the heart of Going Going… – that each track is linked, and that together, they contribute to a bigger story. It’s a bit like chopping up celluloid and gluing the strips into an under-the-counter Viewer’s Cut. Replacing the lovely sleeve (a shot from the thoughtful series of short films the band commissioned)? More blasphemy. And renaming it? Well, that’s just asking for trouble. Therefore, for those piqued enough to muck around with their LP or Spotify, here it is: Emporia – an imaginary version of a real album.

SIDE 1

Two Bridges
Little Silver
Rachel
Broken Bow
Bells

SIDE 2

Birdsnest
Bear
Emporia
Wales
Santa Monica

Bonus track: Marblehead because the third season of Twin Peaks is approaching, and this sounds like it could be on the soundtrack.

STRANGEWAYS

New Order

INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD….

Thursday 4 May 2017 is going to down in history in my home city, and not just for the fact it marks the arrival of the Walter and Brian as the first for the bloggers weekend…..

It’s also election day for the local council and without any shadow of a doubt the ruling Administration is going to be swept out of power. It’s almost unheard of for the Labour Party not to be running Glasgow City Council as they have held outright power for all but eight years since 1934. The last time there wasn’t a Labour Leader in office was a two-year spell from 1977-1979.

The Scottish Nationalists, either on their own or via a coalition with the Greens are certain to wake up tomorrow and have their first ever control of the magnificent City Chambers built as long ago as 1888. It’s a building I spent much of my career working in, for spells as an aide/advisor to some of the leading political figures in the council and so I know first-hand the complexity of the challenges in managing and delivering the vital and essential services that the residents and those working in the city are so heavily dependent on.

I might not agree with the politics of those who are going to take over but I really do wish them well in their endeavours. It will be fascinating to see how good a job they make of things and how they will cope having these new responsibilities for tough and difficult decisions, especially when there is such a lack of leadership experience. I’ve no doubt however, they will draw heavily from and lean on their colleagues who have been in charge of other political bodies in recent years.

This seems appropriate today.

mp3 : New Order – Times Change

JC

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

SAILING STRAIGHT INTO YOUR HEART

110726-shipsong

Up until March 1990, Nick Cave was best known for fierce and uncompromising music. There had been the occasional ballad but never an all-out soppy love song. His new 45 was as far removed from the goth-rock, dark- as-night singles such as Tupelo, The Mercy Seat and Deanna as you could imagine. It was the first sign of a singer-songwriter maturing as he aged and not being afraid to put his feelings down on paper.

mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Ship Song

It’s still, all these years on, seen as one one his finest ever moments, always getting a huge cheer and prolonged applause whenever he plays it in the live setting.

The b-side also had a mode of transport referenced:-

mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Train Song

Another stripped-back effort that took long-standing fans by surprise. It’s maybe not one of Nick’s greatest lyrics or tunes but it is still a sign of him looking to do things a bit differently than in the past.

JC

Echo & The Bunnymen

THE SLEEVE AND ITS CONTENTS ARE WORKS OF ART

I never bought this single. I have no idea why not as I’ve just about every other 12″ release by the band from this era. I reckon it was down to a combination being a bit skint in January 1984 and the fact that it had been bought by one of my flatmates. It certainly was a big failing on my part as the lack of purchase eliminated it from eligibility for the 45 45s at 45 series.

The thing is, I never thought about picking up a second-hand version either as I had already picked up the extended version and the live b-side when I bought the Crystal Days boxset a few years back while the album version was of course available via Ocean Rain.

Except…….I was looking at a copy on Discogs and noticed (in a rather sad anoraky sort of way) that Do It Clean on the 12″ vinyl of The Killing Moon was marginally shorter in length than that on CD4 of Crystal Days. My interest was piqued and so I looked closer – the vinyl version was from the Royal Albert Hall in London on 18 July 1983 while the CD version was on 19 July 1983.  And having now listened to both of them, there are a small number of differences in the recordings.

All of which brings me to offering up, even though they have been on the blog before, all of the three tracks on a very special record that came inside, as you can see from above, a fabulous sleeve:-

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon (All Night Version)
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – Do It Clean (live, Royal Albert Hall, 18 July 1983)

The live version incorporates vocal elements of a few other songs as the band demonstrate just what a tour de force they were in the live setting at that point in time.

JC

Uncategorized

BONUS POST : THE TIMES THEY ARE EXCITING

It’s been around 10 days since I last spent any time on this blog and it might well be about another 10 days before I can devote any real time to it again. But hey, there’s the very best of reasons why this is the case.

I initially met a golfing buddy who was over here from Canada before gearing myself up for an unforgettable weekend in which I took in three gigs in two days as well as……………………

HE’S A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY, I’M A LITTLE BIT INDIE ROCK’N’ROLL

Yup. I met Jonny the Friendly Lawyer aka Jonny Bottoms, the bassist with The Ponderosa Aces. I never imagined that anything could possibly top seeing Butcher Boy play a gig for the first time in four years but just 24 hours after that particularly momentous occasion I had the joy, honour and privilege of meeting one of the oldest friends of this blog. It was an amazing few hours that flew in far too quickly and is something I’ll return to in more detail in due course. Oh and I’ll also make time to review his band, as well as the gigs the previous day by the aforementioned Butcher Boy as well as TeenCanteen who also played a set in Glasgow as part of the celebrations of Record Store Day 2017.

The reason I’m holding off is the fact that in 72 hours time, I’ll be hooking up with more friends of this parish when Adam (Bagging Area), Brian (Linear Track Lives), Dirk (Sexy Loser) and Walter (A Few Good Times In My Life) begin to arrive in Glasgow where myself, Drew (Across The Kitchen Table) and Stevie (Charity Chic), supported by other friends of our respective blogs such as Aldo, Jacques the Kipper, Comrade Colin and Strangeways will be hooking up in Glasgow over a long weekend after Dirk decided a few months back that it would be a great idea.

I know a few others had been hopeful of making it along but logistics and other issues made it impossible on this occasion. But I’m 100% certain that Glasgow 2017 won’t be the last effort to get a group of like-minded souls together.  Spending a few hours with Jonny has not only more than whetted my appetite for this coming weekend but made me really determined to hook up with many others at some point in the future. There’s something very special about the people who frequent this little corner of the internet and its associated partners and on the basis of past experiences when the blogging mate finally gets to shake a hand a give a hug, then I know this coming weekend is going to be truly special, memorable and worth writing about.

I met Jonny in the company of a long-time mate, Ian, and it was interesting that he said to me afterwards that anyone looking at and listening to us in the Manchester pub would have never believed we had only just linked up in person for the first time given how natural and relaxed we were with one another. That’s actually been true of every blogging mate I’ve been lucky enough to meet over the years and I am hyper-excited at the idea of seeing Adam, Dirk, Walter and indeed Stevie for the first ever time (although in the case of the latter we know we’ve been in the same audience at gigs and so we might meet up and recognise one another) and a reunion with Brian who I met for a very short while back in 2012 when he came to Glasgow especially to see Big Country.

I’m almost 54 years of age and I feel like a kid in the last few days before Christmas, including an inability to sleep properly!!

mp3 : The Lemonheads – It’s About Time

JC

Arctic Monkeys, Smiths

30, 20, 10 (Part 1)

Something new that I’m going to try to do on the 1st day of each month (or as close to the 1st if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday). And that’s bring the songs that were #1 in the UK Indie Charts 30, 20 and 10 years ago to the day. Unless they are pish and only qualified for the Indie charts thanks to a distribution quirk. So here we go with 1 May 1987, 1997 and 2007 respectively.

mp3 : The Smiths – Sheila Take A Bow (Rough Trade)
R. Kelly – I Believe I Can Fly (Jive Records)
mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – Brianstorm (Domino Records)

I’m actually quite pleased about it being these three. The Smiths and Arctic Monkeys are two of the biggest and best known bands who can be thought of as classic indie – i.e. guitar based bands on small, independently owned labels. R Kelly on the other hand shows up how ludicrous the chart was for a good number of years.

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. Thus a single that was part of the soundtrack to a Hollywood film and which had enough clout to pick up 3 Grammy Awards thanks to it being on Atlantic Records in the USA, was eligible to take the #1 slot in a chart that it really shouldn’t have been any part of.

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.

I’m sure this intended regular feature will throw up some howlers as time moves on, particularly in the 90s and 00s.

Oh and I meant to add that I was astounded that the Arctic Monkeys had a #1 on the chart as long as ten years ago from what was their second LP. I never thought they had been around that long. It’s a belter of a single too.

And as I just happen to own some vinyl, here’s the b-sides from the 12″ release in 1987 and the 10″ release in 2007:-

mp3 : The Smiths – Is It Really So Strange?
mp3 : The Smiths – Sweet and Tender Hooligan
mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – If You Found This It’s Probably Too Late
mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – Temptation Greets Like A Naughty Friend
mp3 : Arctic Monkeys – What If You Were Right The First Time?

Temptation features a cameo vocal contribution from the wonderful Dizzee Rascal.

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 9)

Black Sea had been released to high critical acclaim at the same time as Generals and Majors was denting the charts. Virgin Records decided to strike while the iron was hot by quickly releasing a second single from the album. It was a slight gamble in that it was going to have to be an Andy Partridge composition as he was responsible for nine of the ten tracks that were still a possibility; after all, none of his previously penned 45s had made the charts. It turned out to be sixth time lucky….

mp3 : XTC – Towers of London (single version)

As with many of the other singles, it was a slightly abridged version compared to the LP, this one being about 50 seconds shorter.

It later transpired that the band’s first stab at the song was a much slower, more acoustic and mournful take appropriate to the subject matter of the tens of thousands of unsung heroes whose blood, sweat and toil had shaped London in the Victorian and Edwardian era when so much of its infrastructure was laid and so many of its landmark buildings had been erected. It’s a version that would surface on Coat of Many Cupboards, a compilation LP of unreleased tracks and demos issued in 2002.

The b-side of the single was a live version of a song from the band’s debut LP White Music as captured by the BBC for an In Concert broadcast from The Rainbow Theatre in London in September 1979:-

mp3 : XTC – Set Myself On Fire (live)

The initial copies of the single came with a free 7″. One of the tracks on the free single was a live version of Battery Brides, a track on the band’s sophomore album Go2, and again recorded at the gig at The Rainbow. Sadly, I don’t have a copy of the free single and so can’t provide that particular song.

The other track was a Peel Session version of a track on the band’s third album Drums and Wires. The modern miracle of file sharing and the fact that so many folk do like to put Peel Session versions of songs out there means I have been able to track it down:-

mp3 : XTC – Scissor Man (Peel Session)

For my money, this faster and more frantic version is superior to that recorded for the album.

JC

Dick Gaughan

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #73 : DICK GAUGHAN

Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan (born 17 May 1948, Glasgow) is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.

He has been making music most of his life, with his first LP dating back to 1972 since which time he has released at least 26 records either as a solo artist, as part of a fully-fledged band or in collaboration with other performers.

His is a style of music with which I’m not too familiar and indeed although I had heard his name mentioned many a time over the years as someone who was incredibly important and influential in the story of modern music in Scotland, the first I ever knowingly heard anything he had been involved in was when Billy Bragg covered his song Think Again on the Help Save The Youth of America EP in 1987 and then again three years later when the two of them worked together on the recording of The Red Flag for Billy’s LP The Internationale LP.

I finally saw and heard Dick Gaughan many years later, and again it was courtesy of Billy Bragg as the two of them co-headlined on a gig at the annual Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow in January 1997. There were a few left-wing anthems such loudly that night……

Drew who of course writes so brilliantly at From Across The Kitchen Table is an admirer of Dick Gaughan and it is from his place that I first heard and downloaded this song:-

mp3 : Dick Gaughan – No Gods and Precious Few Heroes (live)

It’s not a Gaughan original – the words and lyrics are by Brian McNeill.

If you like the sound of today’s featured artist and want to find out more, I think his official website is the perfect place to start.

JC

Wondermints

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #121 : WONDERMINTS

A GUEST POSTING FROM BRIAN
http://lineartrackinglives.blogspot.co.uk/

JC writes:-

I really hope you’ve all enjoyed this past week of guest postings.  I’ve a couple more ICAs of my own in the pipeline which I’ll eventually get round to.  In the meantime, it seems appropriate to have Brian round things off given that he got things going so fantastically a few days back.

Following up The Sugarplastic with one more L.A.-based power-pop band from the ’90s. You probably know Wondermints as the backbone of Brian Wilson‘s talented band. You may also know keyboardist Darian Sahanaja as the maestro that helped Wilson reconstruct the most famous lost album of all time, ‘SMiLE.’ He was the perfect man for the job, too. Sahanaja and fellow Wondermint Nick Walusko had been obsessed with the album since the early ’80s, but I digress. Wondermints were seemingly born to back Brian, but before all of that, they were pop purveyors in their own right, releasing four fantastic indie albums and a few self-released tapes I’ll attempt to sum up here.

Side 1

“And Penny Knows”

In the early ’90s, Sahanaja and Walusko were sharing a four-track, passing it back and forth and playing their projects for each other. Like many unsigned bands at the time (Pixies come to mind), Wondermints made color-coded cassettes of their songs that made it into the hands of fans and labels alike. Many of the songs on ‘The Purple Tape,’ ‘The Green Tape’ and ‘The Blue Tape’ would appear on their first album. “And Penny Knows” didn’t make the cut and wouldn’t get a proper release until the odds ‘n’ sods album ‘Kaleidoscopin’: Exploring Prisms of the Past’ in 2009. Sahanaja certainly got the most out of a basic piece of recording equipment with this one.

“Proto-Pretty”

From 1993, the first proper single was a clear-vinyl 7″ via Pop Psycle Records out of Studio City, Calif. Outside of their work for the first Austin Powers movie, this is arguably the band’s most heard song. Only a handful were pressed, but the song would eventually become their debut-album opener and would appear on a popular 1997 power-pop series Rhino released called ‘Poptopia!‘

“Silly Place”

The B-side to “Proto-Pretty” was written by Brian Kassan, a bassist briefly with the band in early days. He would go on to form the catchy power-pop outfit Chewy Marble. Kassan said of the song, “[I]t came to fruition in a way that I thought was a culmination of all the years of piano lessons, listening to my parents’ records – wanting to be a great songwriter, but not sure how to get there.”

“Tracy Hide”

Brian Wilson’s influence is never far away, but this one could have been one of the lost tracks from the ‘SMiLE!’ era. If I could only have one song by Wondermints, this one would be it. First appeared on the self-titled debut album in 1995.

“Carnival of Souls”

Just about any song from the debut could have been chosen for this slot, but the fellas throw everything at this, the album closer. The bassist at the time, Jim Mills, must have had a blast with this one.

Side 2

“Porpoise Song”

It probably won’t surprise you Wondermints are big in Japan. The debut album got its initial release on Japanese label Toy’s Factory before Big Deal put it out in America. Toy’s Factory released a follow-up covers album in 1996 that never got a domestic release, and I paid a fortune for it back in the day. As you would expect from a band that has an encyclopedic knowledge of rock and pop, covers have always been a huge part of their repertoire. My favorite is their take on “Xanadu” (see it on YouTube), but their version of the Goffin-King penned “Porpoise Song,” made famous by The Monkees in 1968, is a close second. Other songs on ‘Wonderful World of Wondermints’ include “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Barbarella.” I would be remiss if I didn’t add the multi-talented Probyn Gregory joined the band at this point.

“Arnaldo Said”

More label shifting followed before the release of 1998 album ‘Bali.’ Another one bought as an expensive Japanese import. For once it was worth it because ‘Bali’ took years before it got a domestic release. It’s more terrific power pop with a retro feel, but I find it to be the least Wilson-influenced of their three original studio albums. A couple of songs, like “Arnaldo Said,” are downright hard. This album fits in well with early Apples in Stereo and other Elephant 6 releases that wear ’60s influences on their sleeves.

“Chris-Craft No. 10”

“Cellophane” was released as a single in Japan. If I was the suit behind the desk chomping a big cigar, this would have been the single from ‘Bali.’ Beautifully crafted pop.

“Another Way”

It would be four years between ‘Bali’ and the next album, ‘Mind If We Make Love to You.” What took so long? In 1999, Wondermints played “This Whole World” at a tribute to Brian Wilson in Hollywood. Wilson heard the song while backstage and flipped. The band has backed the Beach Boy ever since. ‘Mind If We Make Love to You’ is Wondermints grown up. The album is less power pop and more of the chamber variety. You’ll hear oboe, recorder, violin, viola and, of course, theremin.

“So Nice”

The last song on the last album. Wilson helped arrange the vocals on this one, and he lends his voice too. It has been 15 years since we have had something new from Wondermints. My hunch is that wasn’t planned. Sahanaja has said he couldn’t have imagined back in ’99 the gig with Wilson would have lasted so long. Members of Wondermints have been in high demand from other artists, including Eric Carmen, the Zombies, the Beach Boys, the Granite Shore and on and on. I will be forever grateful for what Wondermints did for Wilson. Having said that, when Brian decides to retire for good, I hope Wondermints decide to follow up ‘Mind If We Make Love to You.’

BRIAN

Magnetic Fields

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #120 : THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

A GUEST POSTING FROM ROL HIRST

My Top Ten Blog

JC writes:-

This is a thrill for me.  

Rol’s blog is one of the most imaginative out there – always superbly written and there’s usually great follow-ups of immense quality (unless I’ve thrown in my tuppence worth).  He’s also written about a band that I’ve had recommended to me many times over the years but never been sure where to start.  Cheers mate….

Being invited to compile an ICA by JC is, as far as blogging goes, one of the ultimate accolades. It’s like being invited to the palace for a knighthood… except I won’t turn it down.

I’ve been following The Vinyl Villain almost since the beginning. My original blog, Sunset Over Slawit, wasn’t set up as a music blog, but reading JC (and a few other music bloggers from that era, many of whom are no longer part of the blogosphere) convinced me to dip my toe in the water. The problem was, my tastes were always a little too unhip. Yeah, I liked most of the artists JC featured – many were among my favourites – but I also loved a bunch of far less “cool” musicians. Queen. Meat Loaf. Billy Joel. Neil Dia… I’ll stop there, shall I?

Despite this, JC was always immensely supportive of my efforts and, unlike some other bloggers, he never went out of his way to ridicule the stuff I liked that he really didn’t. I’ll always be grateful to him for that (although I still wish ICA #069 wasn’t an April Fool’s gag).

Anyway, The Magnetic Fields.

I featured a track from their new album box set, 50 Song Memoir a couple of weeks ago, and JC popped up in the comments with that offer I couldn’t refuse. I was beginning to think I’d missed the boat – most of the suitable bands I like have already been covered by others. That said, I’ve admired The Magnetic Fields for a long time, and although they probably wouldn’t make my all-time Top 50, Stephin Merritt and co. have certainly produced enough outstanding material for a 10 track Imaginary Compilation Album… or ten.

Side 1

1. Papa Was A Rodeo (From ’69 Love Songs’)

How many truly great double albums can you name? I bet you can count them on one hand. Most have a truly great single disc trapped inside, screaming to drag itself up above the so-so tracks that have padded out disc 2 side 2.

How about triple albums? Can you even think of one truly great example?

I can. But only one.

1999’s 69 Love Songs is The Magnetic Fields’ masterpiece. Three discs. 69 songs. All (or at least 60 of them) magnificent. The hardest part of compiling this ICA was not just choosing ten songs from that album.

Papa Was A Rodeo is (arguably, of course) the greatest song on 69 Love Songs. It’s a country song at heart (if that puts you off, more fool you) which begins with a barroom conversation and turns into a sweet (if extremely sardonic) love song that flashes forward in the final verse to reveal a 55 year relationship still going strong. And the chorus is lyrically perfect.

2. Too Drunk To Dream (From ‘Distortion’)

I haven’t had a drink in over 16 years, but this song makes me want to crack open the Jack…

Sober, life is a prison
Shitfaced, it is a blessing
Sober, nobody wants you
Shitfaced, they’re all undressing
Oh, sober, it’s ever darker
Shitfaced, the moon is nearer
Sober, you’re old and ugly
Shitfaced, who needs a mirror?
Oh sober, you’re a Cro-Magnon
Shitfaced, you’re very clever
Sober, you never should be
Shitfaced, now and forever

3. Acoustic Guitar (From ’69 Love Songs’)

Stephin Merritt isn’t always the voice of the Magnetic Fields. He knows when best to give his songs to sweeter, less dry and world weary vocalists, one of whom is Claudia Gonson, who makes beautiful work of this bittersweet ode to the most romantic of instruments.

4. 100,000 Fireflies (From ‘Distant Plastic Trees’)

And here’s Susan Anway, taking lead vocal on the very first Magnetic Fields single, from way back in 1991. My favourite early Fields number, I just discovered I’m not alone in admiring it. Iffypedia calls it “the ultimate staple of indie mixtape culture during the 1990s”. Well, how hip am I? (Answer: Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, etc. etc.)

5. I Don’t Want To Get Over You (From ’69 Love Songs’)

We’ll close side one with the return of Stephin Merrit, at his most drolly maudlin. Is drolly a word? Maudlinly droll? Like Morrissey, Jarvis and Neil Hannon rolled into one, with a sprinkling of John Grant…

I could dress in black and read Camus
Smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth
Like I was seventeen
That would be a scream
But I don’t want to get over you

Side 2

1. The Book of Love (From ’69 Love Songs’)

Stephin Merritt has, on occasion, been compared to a modern day Cole Porter for his wit, wordplay and occasional bouts of bittersweet cynicism. The Book of Love sounds like prime Porter: a song about how boring people in love can be… unless you’re one of them. It’s been covered by lots of people, from Peter Gabriel to Zucchero (who translated it into Italian), The Airbourne Toxic Event to South Park.

2. I Don’t Believe You (From ‘i’)

If you haven’t guessed so far, I’m a big fan of clever, witty or storytelling song lyrics. Stephin Merritt is well regarded as one of the premier lyricists of his generation (hence that Cole Porter comparison), and he’s also the king of the killer rhyming couplet, as this cut from his 2004 album ‘i’ (all the track titles began with the 9th letter of the alphabet) proves most eloquently…

I had a dream and you were in it
The blue of your eyes was infinite
You seemed to be
In love with me
Which isn’t very realistic

He also manages to get the word ‘ampersand’ into this song. You’ve got to give him a prize for that.

3. Come Back From San Francisco (From ’69 Love Songs’)

Another of Merritt’s female collaborators is Shirley Simms, who takes leads vocals on this gorgeous love song, featuring the best invitation to visit the Golden Gate state you’ll ever hear…

Come back from San Francisco
And kiss me, I’ve quit smoking
I miss doing the wild thing with you

4. ’85 Why I Am Not A Teenager (From ’50 Song Memoir’)

The latest Magnetic Fields album is a thematic follow-up to 69 Love Songs: a five disc autobiography in song to celebrate Merritt’s 50th birthday, one song for each year. 1985 was the year he hit 20… not a great year to be a young gay man in America, it turned out. Still, at least he wasn’t a teenager anymore…

All that money they got
They don’t give you a shot
This is why I am not a teenager

When you never get paid
And you never get laid
And you’re full of these stupid hormones
And just then they come out with AIDS

5. How Fucking Romantic (From ’69 Love Songs’)

There’s no better way to close this ICA: it says everything you need to know about Stephin Merritt in under one minute. Can we say ‘genius’ now?

ROL

Deacon Blue

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #119 : DEACON BLUE

A GUEST POSTING FROM DAVID ASHLEY

JC writes:-

Dave has been contributing to the blog for many years, mostly through comments but with the occasional guest posting.

It turns out that BACK in June 2016 he fired over an e-mail with a guest ICA but for whatever reason I never received it.  Or if I did, I accidentally deleted it.  Honest!

Luckily, he had a copy of his e-mail and a recent posting as part of the Saturday series saw him get in touch and resubmit his ICA.  As I’ve said before, I never refuse an ICA submission (and would only do so if I thought that he band/singer’s music or viewpoints were offensive) and so I’m more than happy to have this appear today.  So over to Dave….

Hi Jim

Just read your Deacon Blue post and it struck a chord. I loved Raintown (and still do) and when they toured with it thought they were fantastic live (I remember seeing them play Leeds Poly and the crowd refusing to leave with the house lights on and the band eventually coming back again for the 3rd or 4th encore and sheepishly admitting that they had run out of songs to play). I despaired at the follow-up ,with its awful 80s production all big gated drums and stabbing synths. Luckily I missed the more political Ricky Ross ( think even he realised preaching independence to an English audience wasn’t the best career move) , I just sensed he was a bit worthy, and well a bit boring , both of which were forgivable. As a result I stuck with them. I realise that they might well be one of those bands you love to hate for a lot of regular readers, but there have been diamonds in the dirt. Here therefore is a post-Raintown compilation.

Side 1

Rae (from Homesick)

Deacon Blue have a tendency to start an LP with something understated and as a result some of their best songs are tracks 1. This is from Homesick (one of the “comeback “LPs) . When you strip away the bombast they can hook you in with a simple tune and this has a chorus melody to die for.

Love and Regret (from When the World Knows Your Name)

The 2nd LP was a bit of a car crash from the title onwards. There were a couple of shining lights and this is one of them . When he gets it right Ricky Ross can write a fine lyric and this is one of my favourites . It chugs a long a bit but is one of the few tracks that isn’t drowned out in over production and is allowed to breathe a bit. Reading the notes from the recent re released box sets there is a sense of a band not fully in control of their own destiny.

The Hipsters (from The Hipsters)

After a 10 year break they suddenly reappeared in 2012 with their best LP since Raintown. A radio friendly song that didn’t really get any radio play.

A New House (from A New House)

A couple of years after the Hipsters came A New House. A major disappointment , mainly down to the production which swamped the songs. This is one of the best things on it.

Back Here in Beanoland (from Viva Las Vegas)

The band always put a bit of effort into their b sides and Viva Las Vegas pulls together a lot of the post Raintown b-sides and various other bits and bobs. This I think is a “love” letter to Dundee where old ladies wrote letters to the local press complaining about a busking Danny Wilson.

Side 2

James Joyce Soles (from Fellow Hoodlums)

The 3rd LP felt like a conscious attempt to return to the feel of Raintown, helped by the fact they returned to Jon Kelly for production . However it all felt like they were trying too hard ( every song seemed to have to have a Glasgow street mentioned in it) However Twist and Shout is a great pop song and this is an ache of a song.

Laura From Memory (from The Hipsters)

Could have been any number of songs from the Hipsters LP but I like the way the words tumble over each other and the abba-esque piano

Your Town (from Whatever you Say , Say Nothing)

By the 4th LP (with yet another awful title) there was a whiff of desperation as Steve Osborne was drafted in to produce. The lead off single was a blast of fresh air but the LP didn’t really herald a brave new direction but instead often lapsed into stodgy rock. This is still a great track though.

The Outsiders (from The Hipsters)

Another big radio friendly song that was about 20 years too late.

Sad Loved Girl – long version (from When the World Knows Your Name )

The short version appears on the LP as a kind of not quite as good Born in a Storm. However in its full version on the re-release brings things to a low-key end.

Bonus – the piano songs

I recently saw Ricky Ross tour playing various songs across his career using only a piano a backing and met him afterwards for a quick chat. He was still a bit worthy , but whether age or comfortableness with life he was also full of self depreciating humour. It was good to hear one of their worst offending songs come alive in the stripped down version

Wages Day piano version
Circus Lights piano version
Bethlehem’s Gate piano version

I am pretty sure the above isn’t going to convert anyone and it isn’t really a case for the defence, more of a recognition that post-Raintown they could produce some stuff I love.

DAVID