Billy Bragg

ACTIVE WITH THE ACTIVIST (1)

JC writes

After all these years I now and again find myself struggling for something to write about. It’s one of the reasons I have deployed so many series looking at the singles from a particular group or singer as it provides a bit of discipline as well as taking care of a certain number of postings. They’ve also, for the most part, proved to be popular features with, amongst others, The Jam, The Style Council, James, Altered Images, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Morrissey and The Undertones all being given the treatment while of course I’ve recently started looking at XTC.

It seems natural to turn my attention to albums, especially when the singer or band in question has enjoyed a long career without ever really setting the singles charts on fire all that often or indeed in recent years releasing any 45s in physical or digital form. It won’t be a series that will appear on any given day….it will be sporadic and when the mood takes.

It’s going to kick off with Billy Bragg and I’m delighted to say that the series will benefit greatly thanks to some contributions from Jacques the Kipper. The love for the Bard of Barking was one of the things that really kick-started a friendship that is now heading towards the best part of 30 years and we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy one another’s company at a few of his live gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh over that time. Some of the pieces in this series may be solo but others will likely involve a joint contribution. I can’t promise it will live up to the quality of Echorich and JTFL’s efforts on NYC but we will give it our best shot.

This journey into sound will begin with Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy (1983) and end at last year’s release in tandem with Joe Henry, the well-received Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad. There will be many stops en route, occasionally including some officially sanctioned live releases, box sets and compilations. I’ll be upfront about it – there might be some stuff missing as I don’t claim to have everything he’s ever released, but I reckon looking at the shelf of vinyl, CDs and the bit of the floor where I keep the box sets, it’s on for something like 23 separate postings, although it might be a couple of these will be amalgamated.

Hope you’re up for it. So here’s part one of ACTIVE WITH THE ACTIVIST.

1983. The year during which I took leave of my teens. A time when, thanks to what was proving to be a highly educational course at University, both in terms of the lectures and the extended social mix of people I now mingled with regularly, I was becoming more acutely aware of what was right and what was wrong with the world.  1983. The year I got active in student politics taking part in my first marches, demonstrations and sit-down protests.

I began it still living at home with my parents and sharing living space with my two young brothers but my sense of adventure was growing and I was feeling confined by immediate surroundings. Looking back now, I realise that I wanted so much to happen but couldn’t quite articulate what it was, why I wanted it and how I was going to achieve it.

In August I moved into my first student flat with two friends. It was the very first time in my life that I had an entire space to call my own. I spread out accordingly, buying more records, books and an increasing number of music papers given that I could now make as much mess as I wanted and never worry about being nagged at, or, even worse, one of my younger brothers chucking something out before I’d finished with it.

I was able to absorb so much more including the increasing number of mentions of a singer called Billy Bragg. I knew he had an album out as I’d seen a few copies of it in a handful of shops in Glasgow but I hadn’t been drawn to give it a listen. Strange as it may seem, the fact it had a budget price was off-putting; my brain associated that sort of offer with poor quality recordings. I was also aware that it was just him and his guitar and quite frankly, the punk wars had been fought to get rid of the likes of those.

One day I saw a photo of Billy Bragg in a music paper. I realised that I had seen him before a few weeks earlier, albeit briefly. He had been playing on the street in Edinburgh during the annual Festival and Fringe but I had hurried past thinking he was just another busker. Looking back, I realised that he actually had attracted a more than decent sized crowd around him on that Edinburgh street but I was too enamoured with trying to find an afternoon show where there was the off-chance of a young actress taking off her clothes as part of the production to have paid him any attention.

The increasing press coverage was always positive. There were mentions of him being the perfect sort of act for the era, an antidote to the increasingly slick production values being deployed. He was then interviewed for a more in-depth feature and right away I could tell that I liked the cut of his jib. He was saying what he wanted to happen, why he wanted it and how he was going to try and achieve it. He talked of a love of The Clash and an admiration of Paul Weller which were other big plusses as far as I was concerned.

It was revealed that he was moving to a new record label with one of the first outcomes being that his debut LP would be re-released and made more widely available. By this time, the first of what would turn out to be a series of Peel Sessions had been recorded; it had been taped by someone who came visiting our flat and he insisted we give it a listen.  It turned out thayt one man and his guitar wasn’t such a bad thing after all and so I ended up getting myself a copy of Life’s A Riot with Spy vs Spy in the months leading up to Xmas 1983.

Once I got over the mistake of playing the first ten seconds at the wrong speed (it was a 45 rpm album!) I found myself warming to it very quickly. It was fairly rough and raw (but not as much as I had thought beforehand it would be) and you certainly couldn’t imagine Billy Bragg being thought of as a talented vocalist. However, punk/ new wave had taught us that it wasn’t about the singing or the playing; the emotion, energy and the attitude were all much more important and it was clear from the outset that this new kid on the block had all of those in abundance.

I wasn’t alone in falling for the record. The music papers fawned over it, particularly the NME which made it #3 album of the year, behind Elvis Costello and Tom Waits and immediately ahead of Soft Cell and Michael Jackson. Billy was soon on TV, appearing on The Tube on Channel 4 , all of which led to this debut LP, recorded at minimal cost and which hadn’t taken off for six months until its re-release, going top 30 in the charts in early 1984.

It’s an album with just seven songs that, between them, come in at under 16 minutes. It contains some of the best things he would ever release and demonstrated that he was someone equally at home writing frank and honest love songs as the political anthems which many in the music press were increasingly saying was his forte and calling in life. It’s an album with probably his best-known and most famous song but that wouldn’t come to pass for a few years yet until it was given the cover treatment by a wonderfully talented and hugely under-appreciated female singer.

The really scary thing is that so little has changed in society since he penned these words:-

Up in the morning and out to school
Mother says there’ll be no work next year
Qualifications once the golden rule
Are now just pieces of paper

Just because you’re better than me
Doesn’t mean I’m lazy
Just because you’re going forwards
Doesn’t mean I’m going backwards

If you look the part you’ll get the job
In last year’s trousers and your old school shoes
The truth is, son, it’s a buyer’s market
They can afford to pick and choose

Just because you’re better than me
Doesn’t mean I’m lazy
Just because I dress like this
Doesn’t mean I’m a communist

The factories are closing and the army’s full
I don’t know what I’m going to do
But I’ve come to see in the Land of the Free
There’s only a future for the chosen few

Just because you’re better than me
Doesn’t mean I’m lazy
Just because you’re going forwards
Doesn’t mean I’m going backwards

At twenty one you’re on top of the scrapheap
At sixteen you were top of the class
All they taught you at school was how to be a good worker
The system has failed you, don’t fail yourself

Just because you’re better than me
Doesn’t mean I’m lazy
Just because you’re going forwards
Doesn’t mean I’m going backwards

mp3 : Billy Bragg – To Have and Have Not
mp3 : Billy Bragg – A New England
mp3 : Billy Bragg – The Busy Girl Buys Beauty

Jacques’ slightly different take:-

Okay, so I’ve read what JC has said. Clearly I’m much younger than him, always have been. At least in my own head. Anyhow I have a completely different perspective on the first Bragg album. Let’s cut to the chase – musically it is RUBBISH.  Lyrically up there with the best, of that I am sure. But musically, it would take him many years to master these songs and sing and play them the way that a better musician would have intended.

But, but, BUT. That is exactly what is so brilliant about this album – the counterpoint of lyrical beauty, anger, humour, love, not to mention the politics, floating above a badly played, not that well recorded, scratchy mess of (simple) chords. Did I mention the awful singing? For me back then the reality of Billy was better than my expectation. Here was a man that sang and played it as badly on record as he did live. And didn’t care.

Listen to the mature manner in which he has reinterpreted these songs over the years. Marvel at what damn fine, all round crooned tunes these now are. I love these reinterpretations. But thank whatever Deity takes your fancy that this was not the way back in 1983. Would he now be the nation’s favourite beardie leftie had he not grabbed us by those proverbial bollocks back then with that squall of noise? I think not.

Nuff said. None of your old man extended play JC article. That’s it. Cheers and goodnight.

JC adds….

If having read that you had this particular image of the two of us in your head….give yourself a pat on the back!!!!!

 

Various

78 AND COUNTING

That above is a replica of the ticket for the first gig I ever went to. There were two support acts – Bobby Henry and The Cramps. It’s coming up for nearly 38 years since that unforgettable and historic night in my life and I only wish I had been the type to have kept a journal of who I’ve seen, and where, ever since.

As it is, I’m going to try from memory to list all the Glasgow venues that I’ve ever paid money to see a singer or group perform. It could very well be exhaustive but there’s also the possibility that folk might mention somewhere in their comments and that’ll jog my memory further. Oh and there’s a reason for this particular posting that will become clear in the next 24-36 hours.

1. Apollo

Legendary venue that began as Green’s Playhouse in 1927, where Mrs JC, as a young teenager, saw David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972. A year later it changed its name to the Apollo under which banner it operated until 16 June 1985 when The Style Council became the last act to play there. I was at that particular gig but it wasn’t thought at the time that it would be the end as there had been previous false alarms about the venue closing its doors and, besides, where else was there in the city for gigs that could attract 3,500 fans?

The location is now a multiplex cinema.

2. Barrowlands

The best live venue in the world – without question.

Originally opened in 1934 but rebuilt in 1960 after a fire. It was a traditional ballroom rather than a gig venue but Simple Minds had shown what could be possible when they utilised it as a location for filming a promo video and then played live gigs at the end of 1983. The venue, with its 2,100 all-standing capacity quickly became very popular and began to draw events away from the Apollo thus leading to its eventual demise.

3. SECC

Christened ‘the big red shed’ on its opening in 1985 – and the final nail in the coffin of the Apollo. The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was built as a flexible space to host all sorts of events, including concerts, within a variety of different sized halls. The sound, for years, was absolutely appalling, as the main income was derived from the exhibition and conference market and so the building wasn’t built to the best of specifications for music lovers. I’ve been to all the different halls in the main SECC building over the years but I’ll count it as one location for the purposes of this exercise

4. Clyde Auditorium (The ‘Armadillo’)
5. SSE Hydro

Two purpose-built venues in the grounds of the SECC complex which opened in 1997 and 2013 respectively. The former will always hold special memories as it was where I saw Leonard Cohen for the first and only time back in 2008; the latter I’ve only been to once so far, and it was for a bitterly disappointing gig by Belle and Sebastian in 2015. Hated the experience so much that I’m missing out when Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds play there later in the year.

6. Glasgow University Debating Chamber

One of many student venues I’ve caught bands in over the years. The most recent was a fantastic gig by Belle and Sebastian in 2016. The difference in them playing at this intimate sized venue in comparison to the Hydro is beyond words.

7. Strathclyde Students Union – Level 8
8. Glasgow University Queen Margaret Union
9. Glasgow Technical College Students Union

#7 was where I spent almost every weekend between the ages of 19 and 22. Too many great gigs to single out one above others. #8 was where I first saw The Smiths in 1984. #9 I hadn’t been back to in years until Jacques the Kipper and myself went along to freak out to Carter USM in February 1991.

10. Tiffany’s
11. Plaza Ballroom
12. Maestro’s
13. Henry Afrika’s
14. Soundhaus
15. Barfly
16. The Arches
17. Night Moves (later changed name to Rooftops)

All of the above are no longer with us. Tiffany’s was the choice of venue for bands who couldn’t quite fill the Apollo and was where I saw many up and coming post-punk bands between 1981 (when I was old enough to get in under the licensing laws) and 1987 when it was converted into a casino.

The Plaza was where I first saw a number of bands including New Order, Suede and Blur – it was demolished and turned into flats in 1995. Maestro’s and Henry Afrika’s were discos occasionally used for gigs – can only recall being at them on one occasion and that was to see Tears for Fears and The Wake.

Barfly, I was at once to see Young Knives in 2006. I cannot recall who I saw at Soundhaus but it was to watch a band for whom the bass player was a young relative of a good friend of Mrs V’s.

Night Moves was the venue where bands played midweek as the student unions, for the most part, only hosted live gigs at weekends – my most memorable time at NM was The Fall supported by Cocteau Twins in 1982. It’s still in use but only as Victoria’s nightclub.

The Arches was a superb basement venue deep in the bowels below Glasgow Central station. It was more renowned as a club, and it was drugs-related issues within the club that led to its closure in 2015, but I was lucky enough to see a number of great performances there over the years, including British Sea Power, Lambchop, Frightened Rabbit, Aidan Moffat and Billy Bragg.

18. King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
19. Broadcast
20. Nice n Sleazys
21. Hug and Pint
22. Academy
23. ABC
24. ABC 2
25. City Halls (both pre and post multi-million £s renovation in 2006)
26. Stereo
27. Mono
28. The Garage (formerly known as Mayfair)
29. CCA
30. Classic Grand
31. Old Fruitmarket
32. 13th Note
33. Platform
34. Old Hairdresser’s
35. Glasgow School of Art
36. Cathouse
37. SWG3
38. Glad Cafe
39. Woodend Tennis Club
40. Flying Duck
41. Oranmor (upstairs)
42. Oranmor (downstairs)
43. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
44. Strathclyde Suite at GRCH
45. Renfrew Ferry (which despite its name, is a location in Glasgow)
46. St Luke’s
47. St Andrew’s In The Square

All of the above remain in use and all have been visited regularly. I make the distinction at Oranmor and GRCH as the various halls are completely different in layout and atmosphere, and in the case of GCRH, size.

48. Pavilion Theatre
49. Tron Theatre
50. Cottier’s Theatre
51. Citizens’ Theatre
52. Mitchell Theatre
53. Tramway Theatre
54. Glasgow Film Theatre

Turning now to oddities and venues that I’ve only been to either once or twice.

55. Grand Ole Opry (notionally a C&W club; have seen Lloyd Cole and The Twilight Sad on the two occasions I’ve been along)
56. Langside Hall
57. Queen’s Park Bowling Club
58. Hyndland Bowling Club
59. Titwood Bowling Club
60. Offshore Cafe
61. Berkeley Suite
62. Jeffrey Hall, Mitchell Library

(#56 – #62 have all been one-off gigs by Butcher Boy)

63. Buff Club
64. Brel
(Malcolm Middleton/Rick Redbeard/FOUND as Chem Underground triple bill in 2012)
65. Fairfield Club
(Malcolm Middleton/Phantom Band/Strike The Colours/De Rosa as part of Malky’s Burst Noel in 2008)
66. The State Bar
67. Pollokshields Burgh Hall
(LP launch by Wake The President in 2009)
68. Dennistoun New Parish Church
(Admiral Fallow/Rick Redbeard/Kobi Onyame as part of East End Social Duke St Expo in 2014)
69. Everlasting Arms Church
(King Creosote/Alexis Taylor(Hot Chip)/Siobhan Wilson as part of East End Social Duke St Expo in 2014)
70. Kinning Park Complex
(LP launch by Randolph’s Leap in 2014)
71. Glasgow Academical Sports Club
(scene of a momentous Martin Stephenson solo gig)

Some smaller venues that are no longer in existence.

72. Moir Hall
73. The Roxy (has been re-modelled and re-opened as The Hug and Pint)
74. Captain’s Rest
75. Bowler’s Bar

and finally, three outdoor venues

76. Glasgow Green
77. Richmond Park
78. Kelvingrove Bandstand

Proud to say I haven’t been to gigs at any of the three football stadia nor Bellahouston Park, despite it being on my doorstep.

#79 is on its way. Stay Tuned.

mp3 : The Jam – That’s Entertainment (live at Apollo, Glasgow)
mp3 : Echo and The Bunnymen – Never Stop (live at Barrowlands, Glasgow)
mp3 : The Smiths – You’ve Got Everything Now (live at Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow)
mp3 : Malcolm Middleton – Red Travellin’ Socks (live at Oran Mor, Glasgow)
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit – Keep Yourself Warm (live at Captain’s Rest, Glasgow)

Last of the above features James Graham of The Twilight Sad on backing vocals.

JC

Teenage Fanclub

THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TEENAGE FANCLUB

A GUEST POSTING FROM ANDREA PEVIANI

I’m very proud of the high level of social interaction generated by this little corner of the internet. The decade and a bit since TVV got off the ground has generated tens of thousands of comments and e-mails along with numerous guest contributions. It still humbles me that so many people are willing to contribute to the blog, especially when they do so in response to me asking for something specific.

Today is one of those really special occasions when I’m presented with something that goes well beyond my wildest dreams. It stems from a posting on Facebook by Andrea Peviani, the author of the Conventional Records blog, in which he expressed his joy at seeing one of his favourite bands play a live gig some 170 km from his home town of Lodi, Italy. I asked him if he wanted to offer up a review of the gig and to my delight he said ‘yes’.

What follows is one of the most enjoyable postings I’ve ever had the honour of sharing with you. I’ll open with the words in Andrea’s e-mail before going straight into his memories of the occasion.

———————————

My Captain,

I know one month is a long time… but here I am with my contribution about Teenage Fanclub’s only Italian date!
I hope it’s not too senseless to publish a review about this particular European concert while they’ve already been to Japan, Australia and now they’ve begun the U.S. leg of their tour…

Anyway I had a story to tell, and despite my laziness (and some other minor issues with my home wi-fi…) I’ve completed it.

I thought that some pictures might enhance the visual understanding of what I was talking about. I hope they’re not too many!

Sorry as usual about my poor English… Please edit wherever you find mistakes or words that can be replaced with better expressions.

Thank you about your patience and kindness: when you wrote that comment on Facebook I felt honoured and stimulated… It’s been hard, but now I’m glad you asked!

Best wishes for a great springtime with lots of good records and concerts.
Andrea

A Teenage Fanclub concert in Italy is a precious thing. Last time they came over here was in 2005 and I think there weren’t many other occasions in the years before. For me it was the first time: I remember them since their beginnings and became a fan with Bandwagonesque. Then in the next 10 years I always listened to their records but not with the same passion, and in the early 00s I almost ignored them. It was only in these last 10 years that I completed my collection of their albums, buying all of them whenever I found them used and cheap. Maybe not all of them are masterpieces; anyway, you’re never disappointed. Always the same simple elements, but nobody can put them together with the same freshness and craftsmanship.

Bologna is one of the most rock’n’roll places in Italy (Skank Bloc Bologna anyone?), about 200 Km. south of Milan, so it’s the ideal place to gather people coming from every region of our long and narrow peninsula. But it was the unusual venue that deserves some explanation to non-Italian readers. Bologna’s Teatro Antoniano is the mythical place of the “Zecchino d’Oro”. Let me seek help from Wikipedia:

Zecchino d’Oro (Italian pronunciation: [dzekˈkiːno ˈdɔːro; tsek-]; meaning “Golden Sequin”) is an international children’s song festival that has taken place every year since 1959.  It is broadcast by Rai 1. It was started by Cino Tortorella, and the first two festivals were held in Milan.  In 1961, the festival was taken up by the Antoniano Institute and moved to Bologna. In 2009, Cino Tortorella left Zecchino d’Oro. In 1963, Mariele Ventre, a conductor and director of young performers, created the Piccolo Coro dell’Antoniano Children’s Choir (called Piccolo Coro “Mariele Ventre” dell’Antoniano after her death in 1995, and directed by Sabrina Simoni). From 1976 the festival took on an international perspective – each year seven Italian songs and seven foreign songs are sung by children and voted for by a children’s jury. The winning song is rewarded with the Zecchino d’Oro award.

The golden age of the Zecchino d’Oro was in the 60s and the 70s; this means that for people born in those decades there’s a canon of dozens of children songs whose verses we all can sing from start to end. Shared memories that merge with our love for the songs of Teenage Fanclub. A blurred line between pre-teenage and post-teenage music fandom.

Pre-Teenage Merchandising

Actually the venue was not in the same part of the building where they broadcast the TV Festival every year… the Antoniano Theater is a quite normal theater, so it was a seated situation, not quite right for an indie gig. I was in the second row. Gorgeous view, but unfortunately a poor sound, nobody could really understand why…

Before Teenage Fanclub, we were entertained by a short exhibition by one George Borowski. A heart warming revelation. He may be “just one of their roadies”, but he added some more intimate magic to the evening. A very talented guitar player, he played some fine acoustic songs and connected with the audience with some humble and funny talks about his love for music, supporting his daughter and her band Mora. George said something about the preciousness and value of the time we were investing in that particular evening, going there and listening to this music. Maybe a little too sentimental… but then this small band from Scotland get on stage, play Start Again and the heart fills with gratitude. We’re here. They’re here. Here.

Every song is kinda classic, those from the 90s AND the ones from last year’s album. Unfortunately only two songs from Bandwagonesque, but I’ve seen on Setlists.com that it’s been the same in the whole tour… The core of the concert are their recent tunes and cuts from Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain. The presence of Teenage Fanclub on stage is their main strength and weakness. They are far beyond understatement. Sometimes it’s awkward to look at them while they’re fiddling with guitars between songs. Then they start a new song, and everything flows effortlessly, their aged nerds image becomes impossibly cool and you’re reflecting your best self in the perfect songs of this perfect band.

Raymond McGinley was suffering from a bad cold: the amp behind him was covered with rows of paper towels and during the concert he went on exposing the used ones… We all stay seated but you can feel the climax coming: I’m In Love, Star Sign… then it’s The Concept and the whole theater rushes towards the stage. Norman Blake has a wide smile on his face and Gerard Love and Raymond also respond to the deep affection of their crowd. Singing along to that chorus and that guitar coda was something I never want to end; indeed was one of those moments I will keep forever in a corner of your soul.

The first two encores cool down a bit of the atmosphere: of course it was great that they played that Bevis Frond song, but I can’t help thinking what they could have done to me if they played What You Do To Me.  We went into orbit again with Sparky’s Dream, and of course Everything Flows is the perfect ending, another of those transcendental live moments.

After the concert you can feel the sense of harmony and happiness spread all around. A true miracle then happens before my eyes…..

Marco Sanchioni (a friend and a cult Italian indie musician, since late 80s with his band A Number Two, then later as a solo artist) is handed a set list from the stage – and given how few times Teenage Fanclub play in Italy you can realise how significant it is for him to have this piece of paper;  then he looks at the disappointed girl standing beside him and he decides to give the set list to her. I had to immortalize the moment (and the setlist), as an evidence of the “Spirit of Mariele” (the unforgettable director of the Piccolo Coro dell’Antoniano) floating in the air.

Marco Sanchioni and The Gift of the Holy Setlist

The day after the show, Marco was posting on Facebook using the the hashtag I had come up with –  #marielesantasubito (Sanctify Mariele now);  he also told a long tale of how there had been a second miracle that had blessed him.  He had somehow lost his smartphone under the seats at the theatre – all his new songs for his next record were on the smartphone and he was worried; but a man from the theatre had been in contact to say it had been found it, and now Marco was heading back to Bologna to bring it home; it was as if, again, the Spirit of Mariele was protecting everything in the surroundings…

(Saint?) Mariele Ventre

That was the next day.  But let us return to the events after Teenage Fanclub had ended the set.

Outside the Antoniano everybody is joyful and cheerful.. I meet my almost namesake Andrea Pavan, an absolutely amazing friend whose enthusiasm is always contagious.  I join him and a few other friends with the mission of meeting Norman and the others.

The night is not too cold, the company is wonderful… but time moves on and nobody is coming out of the theater. Pavan is scrolling on his iPad literally THOUSANDS of pictures he took over the years: name ANY cult hero from the British and American indie scenes of the last 30 years, he’s got a photograph with them. He’s looking to show us a specific one he took with Norman some years before at a summer festival, while he was involved in some other parallel project.

The roadies start loading the gear on the tour bus. We give a big cheer to George Borowski (for us now The Big Borowski) and he’s even sweeter on the pavement than on stage. He says we can rest assured that Norman and the others will board on this bus… he just doesn’t know when.

He thanks us for the time we spent coming to the show and for waiting to meet the guys.

(In the following weeks we connect with George on Facebook and the young but incredibly knowledgeable Monica Mazzoli has an on-line chat with him about the first song he had played in his acoustic set. She knew it had been an obscure gem she liked from a compilation of the post-punk era, “Perfect Unpop: Peel Show Hits & Long Lost Lo-Fi Favourites Vol. 1 1976-1980”. George then revealed it was a tune he had written in 1978!)

Raymond is the first to come out, but he looks quite tired and ill,; he gives us a half sleepy smile, mutters ‘Hi’ and goes onto on the bus. Gerard is even more awkward, slipping in without a word. It’s embarrassingly late, but Norman hasn’t yet come out… but we are beyond the point of no return, nobody can quit now.

Chiara Busico and Delia Burza have sore feet, but they’ve been stalking major indie stars all over the world, so they just sit down on some doorsteps. Finally he appears, a bottle of beer in one hand and his smartphone pressed to his ear. The situation is so insane that there’s nothing strange anymore with six people staring from a small distance at a guy talking (probably) to his wife thousands of miles away in a foreign country.

When Norman comes over he’s really nice and easy. Pavan has finally found THAT picture and proudly shows it to him, and he seems to remember what Andrea is recollecting. He kindly strikes a pose for pictures with each of us and all together, then he waves goodbye (some of us will see him very soon at Barcelona’s Primavera Festival).

Francesca guide us to the only place still open in Bologna to celebrate with a beer. (Francesca Sara Cauli is one of the best rock photographers around, you can see her stunning pictures of this concert here: http://sentireascoltare.com/concerti/teenage-fanclub-bologna-teatro-antoniano-2017/).

We are six very different people, of different ages. We are serious about our musical passions, connected by similar tastes and similar experiences. We come from various parts of Italy: Bologna, Roma, Firenze, Torino, even Lodi… But tonight we are all just teenagers rejuvenated by the place where our childhood heritage lies and by these Scottish pals that you instantly feel familiar with.

Norman & Andrea Pavan show Norman & Andrea Pavan

Norman & Me

Aged Teenagers

Those raw but warm pictures are memories of this simple but unforgettable night: precious visual souvenirs that I’d like to match with some solid recordings of this band at the peak of its power. I think the moment has come for a live album in their discography (maybe any other date from this tour but this one!). I have a good title: The Name of This Band is Teenage Fanclub.

mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Start Again
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Don’t Look Back
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Star Sign

ANDREA

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 3)

Two monumentally good bits of music had failed to provoke any interest in the record buying public. Nor had the debut LP, White Music, exactly set the heather alight.

The good news from the band’s perspective is that they had a record label who believed in their abilities and a number of champions within the music press consistently praising the records and giving positive reviews to the live shows.

It was the record company bosses who suggested that one of the tracks off the debut LP should be re-recorded for release as the third single. The band was teamed up with a different producer – RJ (Mutt) Lange – who at the time was relatively unknown but had some new wave credentials thanks to his work with The Boomtown Rats. As an aside, Lange would in later years become something of an uber-producer and make a fortune from his efforts with the likes of Billy Ocean, Bryan Adams and Shania Twain – but that probably don’t impress you much.

It has to be admitted however, that the results of what proved to be a one-off collaboration with XTC did result in one of the best non-hit singles of the era.

mp3 : XTC – This Is Pop?

It’s a fantastic lyric in which the point is made that, no matter the genre anyone ever tries to shoehorn a song into, if it becomes well-liked and celebrated (as was increasingly happening with punk and new wave) then by definition is has to be pop music being made by a pop band. It’s also a killer tune that somehow, once again, was ignored by mainstream radio on its release in April 1978.

Proof that Mutt Lange helped the band realise their potential can also be found in the two-minute ditty that was recorded for the b-side:-

mp3 : XTC – Heatwave

It’s not a cover of the Martha & the Vandellas song (as would be done by The Jam for the Setting Sons LP in 1979) but a Colin Moulding original which is far too catchy to have been wasted as a b-side. I don’t think I’m alone in reckoning it is similar in places to a big hit single from Elvis Costello & the Attractions.

JC

David Byrne

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #67 : DAVID BYRNE

David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland on 14 May 1952. Two years after his birth, his parents moved to Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland, in the United States, when he was 8 or 9 years old.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s good enough to give him a slot in this series.

His solo career has been a bit patchy compared to his years at the top with Talking Heads, but there’s a few decent moments on most of his records. This is from his 1994 LP which was called David Byrne.

mp3 : David Byrne – Angels

Along with Mrs Villain, I saw him play the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow when he toured this particular LP. To our great surprise and delight he included songs from his old band which made for a pretty special night.

JC

Various

JUST LIKE BUSES….

Second successive day for a one-hour mix. Apologies if they’re not your sort of thing. I promise there won’t be another for a while.

I used to have a tradition of featuring one or more songs by Irish musicians every 17th of March. I thought I’d go one better today.

mp3 : Various – Songs For St Patrick’s Day 2017

Tracklist

The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy
Shining Light – Ash
Fire On Babylon – Sinead O’Connor
Fashion Crisis Hits New York – The Frank and Walters
Blues for Ceausescu – Fatima Mansions
You Made Me Realise – My Bloody Valentine
Happy Day – Blink
More Endless Art – A House
She’s So Modern – Boomtown Rats
Something Wild – Rare
Alernative Ulster (Peel Session) – Stiff Little Fingers
In The Days Before Rock ‘n’ Roll – Van Morrison
Understand – Brian
Julie Ocean – The Undertones

JC

Haysi Fantayzee

BONUS POSTING : JOHN WAYNE IS BIG LEGGY

Right…..this bonus posting came about after a throwaway comment by Swiss Adam yesterday. He was writing about Return To Brixton, a remix version of the song by The Clash that was released in 1990 on the back of the bass line being used to propel Dub Be Good To Me by Beats International to #1 in the singles chart.

SA said:-

CBS, sensing a hit, decided to get a top dj to remix Guns Of Brixton, for the club scene. Jeremy Healy was the dj and a 12″ single with three new versions was put out. It stormed into the charts reaching number 57. I don’t remember the clubs and bars of 1990 being awash with this version either. Well done CBS, good work.

To be honest I quite like the remixes, they present the song a bit differently, give it something else. They’re not as good as the original no, and yes, they’re probably for completists and the curious only.

Jeremy Healy was in Haysi Fantayzee previous to his dj career. I’ve been watching the Top Of The Pops re-runs from 1983 this year and the January editions had Haysi Fantayzee on several times doing Shiny Shiny,a sort of pirate, nursery rhyme, tribal, glam, anti-nuclear thumper. Having recorded it, I re-watched it a few times too. Two words – Kate Garner.

The thing is I don’t recall the song Shiny Shiny, but I do remember another Haysi Fantayzee single and one which was a massive hit:-

mp3 : Haysi Fantayzee – John Wayne Is Big Leggy

The song reached #11 in the charts in August 1982, The band performed it twice on Top of the Pops and on Saturday morning children’s television. The song, with its “Shotgun, gimme gimme low down;  fun boy, okay, showdown” intro was taken to be a nonsensical novelty song about cowboys.

Only it wasn’t; and there’s a case to be made that John Wayne Is Big Leggy is one of most subversive Top 40 hits of all time. I didn’t believe that when it was put to me by someone many years later in what was a drunken discussion. But its true….

It was an allegory for the treatment which the white settlers used on the Native American Indians. However, I wrote it like John Wayne having anal sex with a squaw.

Jeremy Healy of Haysi Fantayzee.

Yup….as wiki says, it’s combination of political satire and sexual humour wrapped in nursery rhyme style lyrics. John Wayne is having sexual intercourse with a Native American female but when his bandolier restricts their intimacy, she suggests he removes it. He refuses and suggests he sodomises her instead:

So she says to him – Take off that thing, It’s getting right between us.
Now listen honey I can’t do that, not even for you my sweetness.
Now Big John, if that’s a fact, then how’d you propose we do our act?
If that’s the way it’s gonna be, get the hell out of my tepee.
Now speckled hen just stop your squawkin’, Big Bad Rooster’s doin’ the talking.
I know a trick we ought to try, turn right over – you’ll know why.

The inspiration for this surreal imagining Healy reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.

People kept saying we were writing nonsense lyrics but we didn’t explain anything because, if they knew, it wouldn’t get played

Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee

Respect where respect is due for getting it past the censors at the BBC…..

Oh and I think Andrew Weatherall might have noted the title of the b-side:-

mp3 : Haysi Fantayzee – Sabres of Paradise

As I said earlier in the week, you do learn something new every day.

JC

Various

WHAT IF IT DIDN’T MATTER THAT NO-ONE WAS TUNING IN?

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I’ve come to enjoy cobbling together the one-hour mixes these past few months. Up until now, they’ve tended to have some sense of purpose to them, whether for essential listening for lengthy plane journeys, offering a take on the outcome of the US presidential elections, Xmas, my young brother’s birthday or just a way of saying hello to someone.

In some ways this latest offering did have a purpose in that I thought I’d simply play a tune and without any advance planning try and come up with a song that either complemented it or offered something of a contrast. I imagined myself as a DJ on an local internet station, broadcasting around 3am when nobody is tuning in and offering no opportunity for listeners to interact. And here’s what emerged over 60 minutes:-

mp3 : Various – Working the Graveyard Shift

TRACKLIST

A Brighter Beat – Malcolm Middleton
I Wonder Why – The Heart Throbs
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – R.E.M.
Jo-Jo’s Jacket – Stephen Malkmus
Erase/Rewind – The Cardigans
Shimmer Shimmer – She’S HiT
Red Right Hand – Arctic Monkeys
Evil (Silver Alert Remix) – Grinderman feat Matt Berninger
She’s Lost Control (extended version) – Grace Jones
New England – Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Don’t Fence Me In – David Byrne
One Horse Town – The Thrills
Christ for President – Wilco
Hairstyle – Goldblade
Nirvana – Juliana Hatfield
Everything’s Ruined – Faith No More
Theme from ‘Batman’ – The Jam

I think you’ll see that around the 45 minute mark, I got temporarily distracted by reading something on social media about the latest alternative facts offered by the Donald. I hope you get as much out of listening as I did putting it together.

JC

New Bad Things

BONUS POSTING : NEW BAD THINGS

Yesterday’s posting on Government Administrator by Eggs attracted this comment from Wirey:-

Amazing. Was in John Peels Festive 50 in 93. Great tune. Seek out ‘I Suck’ by New Bad Things from the same Festive 50, if you haven’t done so already.

And so I consulted one of my reference books – the one that deals with Peel’s Festive Fifties – and found something really interesting:-

1993. The first ever festive fifty to be broadcast in one show, on Christmas Day evening.

One of the undoubted highlights of the chart came with the appearance of New Bad Things with ‘I Suck; at number 16. Although the record would gain an official release (with different, and nowhere near as good, lyrics) in the following year, the original release proved impossible to track down in the UK even on import and, as Peel mentioned in the broadcast, it became commonly accepted that he possessed the only copy in the country , which suggests that those who voted for it here had either taped it from the radio or simply had it lodged blissfully in their memories, which would be understandable, or that the votes all came from abroad. There were, after all, 610 copies of the disc somewhere in the world. Anyway, it was a gratifyingly high placing for a unique record and one of those occasions where an entry genuinely reflected what the Peel Show was really about. The applause after the singer reveals he doesn’t have a job , incidentally, was sampled from Cheap Trick’s Live At Budokan album.

Next stop was wiki and here’s what it says:-

New Bad Things (later No Bad Things) were a Portland, Oregon indie rock band active during the 1990s. They recorded for Candy Ass Records, Rainforest Records, Lissy’s Records, Pop Secret, Punk in my Vitamins Records, Kill Rock Stars, and Freewheel Records.

The band formed in 1992 for a one-off opening set at a Sebadoh concert in Portland, and initially comprised Matthew “Hattie” Hein, Luke Hollywood, “Prince” Mattie Gaunt, Jasin Fell and Dave French. Their first single was “I Suck” (backed with “Concrete” and “Knott St.”), which was picked up by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, and reached number sixteen in the 1993 Festive 50. They recorded their debut album, Freewheel! in 1992, released on the local indie label Candy Ass Records. The album was described as having a “sloppy charm”, and drew comparisons with the likes of Beat Happening. Second album Society followed in 1994, released on the United Kingdom label Lissy’s. Ennui Go was released in 1997, by which time the band’s sound was more pop-oriented, and in the same year Hein left to pursue a solo career. An album of previously-unreleased and rare tracks, C-sides, was released in 1999, containing tracks ranging chronologically from their earliest recordings to their latest. Later band members included: Christine Denkewalter, Lars Holmstrom, Eric von Borstel and Andrew Leavitt. The band toured Europe twice and recorded John Peel sessions for Radio One in the UK each time. The band name changed to No Bad Things in 2001.

And then I went searching….and to my genuine surprise found the version of I Suck that was played by Peel was available via i-tunes

mp3 : New Bad Things – I Suck

It’s a superb five minutes of slacker pop.  Made me think musically of Violent Femmes and Pavement and lyrically could be linked to Half Man Half Biscuit (with a nod to Public Enemy about halfway through);  I don’t think they were entirely serious……

I also discovered that in 1997, their then label Lissy’s had issued a split single with one of Glasgow’s finest (albeit I don’t think it’s one of said Glasgow’s finest finest-ever few minutes)

mp3 : The Delgados – Sacré Charlamagne
mp3 : New Bad Things – Down
mp3 : New Bad Things – Caravan

Thanks for the head-up Wirey.  What’s most interesting is that the song which ended up in the Festive 50, and therefore arguably their best known bit of music, was actually the b-side of the debut single.

You learn something new every day!

JC

Wire

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #113 : WIRE

A GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM MIKE MELVILLE

Wire. A British rock institution rapidly approaching the 40th anniversary of their first gig as a 4 piece. And, after all that time, still making great albums.

Yet, funnily enough, they were a band who remained on the periphery of my experience for so long. Definitely someone I knew I should check out but hadn’t actually managed to properly do so until a few years ago. Fair to say, since I did, Wire have belatedly become something of an obsession.

For much of their lifespan, Wire have featured only four members – Colin Newman (guitar/vocals), Graeme Lewis (bass/vocals), Robert Grey (nee Gotobed) – drums) and Bruce Gilbert (guitar).

Yet, despite a remarkably stable line-up, intra-band tensions have always played a huge part in the Wire story. Wilson Neate’s book ‘Read & Burn: A Book About Wire’ is a superb telling of their history portraying it as a struggle for control between principally Newman and Gilbert.

Of course, the outline of Wire’s story is fairly well known. The late 70s produced three classic LPs in ‘Pink Flag’, ‘Chairs Missing’ and ‘154’ on which the band pretty much invented post punk. This purple patch however was curtailed by an acrimonious split with songs written for a fourth album.

Perhaps surprisingly after several years apart the band came together again in the mid 80s. Their 80s/90s output is less well regarded than the original trilogy but almost any band would consider the run of records from the ‘Snakedrill’ E.P. to ‘The First letter’’ to constitute a decent career.

Having lost drummer Gotobed during the band’s second incarnation, the internal dynamics of the remaining three members meant that they ceased activity for a second time in 1991.

Unexpectedly the band reconvened for live shows and to produce another LP ‘Send’ in the early Noughties. Since then, although Gilbert left the band for good after ‘Send’, the band have enjoyed the most active phase of their career releasing four albums and a mini-LP since 2008 with another album due at the end of March.

After a period of operating with three official members the band finally recruited guitarist Matthew Sims as a permanent member in time to record 2013’s ‘Change Becomes Us’.

Selecting a 10 track ICA from the band’s entire career would be next to impossible for two reasons. Firstly, any career long compilation is going to feel bitty and incomplete because there’s so much to choose from and the records cover such a lot of ground. Secondly, given how short some of the earlier material was, it would be a fairly short album! Perhaps JC will give special permission for a 16 or even 20 track 70s Wire ICA at some point.

(JC adds….Yup!!! Watch this space……)

So, for those reasons I’ve concentrated on 21st century Wire with the second aim of perhaps alerting some folk to the fact that Wire remain a potent creative force.

1 Doubles & Trebles (from ‘Change Becomes Us’)

Released in 2013, CBU is something of an oddity as the majority of the songs were actually written in the early 80s for the band’s planned fourth album. That record was never made because of the band’s first split although many of the songs were captured in rudimentary form on live albums ‘Document & Eyewitness’ and ‘Turns and Strokes’. What’s remarkable is that how recognisable many of the songs on CBU are from these scratchy live recordings.

‘Doubles & Trebles’, with its air of paranoia and 70s spy craft, went by the name of ‘Ally In Exile’ for most of the intervening 30 years between its conception and its eventual recording. Its basic riff has also spawned at least one other close relative from the ‘Send’ era in ‘I Don’t Understand It’.

2 Comet (from ’Send’)

A brutal return, ‘Send’ was constructed by Newman and Gilbert largely through cut and paste sampling (‘12XU’ is apparently liberally sprinkled throughout the record!) with Lewis’s and Grey’s parts emailed in. Frantic, punk rock filtered through the Young Gods, ‘Comet’ is a black story about the astronomer who discovers a comet that will obliterate all life on Earth.

3 Smash (from ‘Red Barked Tree’)

Although ‘Red Barked Tree’ is the album that opened up possibilities for Wire, ‘Smash’ is another relentless crash and bang tune. For my money RBT, which along with ‘Send’, is probably the best 21st century Wire album.

4 Split Your Ends (from ‘Wire’)

Are there many band that self-title their FOURTEENTH album? A typically perverse Wire move for an album that refines rather than redefines their sound.

‘Split Your Ends’ is one of the poppier moments off the album yet it’s a tune that still builds up a fair head of steam. Its essence is unmistakeably Wire.

5 Red Barked Tree (from Red Barked Tree’)

Wire have always had a dirgy side to their music and ‘Red Barked Tree’ fits in even if it deals in more organic textures than the band would normally use. Newman has said that this song was a big influence in plotting a way forward for the band.

6 One of Us (from ‘Object 47’)

The first post Gilbert album opened with the chorus ‘One of us is going to rue the day we met each other’. A coincidence?

With its driving bassline, ‘One of Us’ is a propulsive opening which signifies that Wire could escape the darkness and claustrophobia of ‘Send’.

It has to be said despite being littered with great moments, ‘Object 47’ isn’t not the most convincing record overall. Yet it was a critical record proving to the remaining three members that they could take Wire forward without Gilbert.

7 Spent (from ‘Send’)

More claustrophobia from ‘Send’ with its principal riff locked into a savage loop. An unexpected encore at the 2013 Tut’s show.

8 Desert Diving (from ‘Read and Burn 03’)

In deciding what to do with the tracks that the band had worked on around Gilbert’s departure, a decision was taken to put those songs that he had had the most influence on out as a four track E.P. keeping the remaining tracks for ‘Object 47’.

In truth the album might have benefitted from a couple of the E.P. tracks although the two records do have distinguishing characteristics with the E.P. having a more languid sound. Indeed, lead track ’23 Years Too Late’ is nearly 10 minutes long!

9 Fishes Bones (from ‘Nocturnal Koreans’)

Although last year’s mini-LP ‘Nocturnal Koreans’ originated from the same sessions as ‘Wire’ it is nothing like a record of cast-offs. Rather it demonstrates that the band hasn’t lost its sense for quality control.

The band differentiated the two records by virtue of the fact that ‘Wire’ was designed to be played live whereas NK features far more studio effects.

‘Fishes Bones’ is a typically off kilter Wire tune.

10 Harpooned (from ‘Wire’)

If ‘Split Your Ends’ comes from the more accessible end of ‘Wire’ then LP closer ‘Harpooned’ is coming from the opposite direction. Musically as harsh a song as anything they’ve done post ‘Send’ ‘Harpooned’ is an addictive black hole sucking everything into it. It’s also utterly astonishing live.

Bonus track:

11 Drill (live) (from ‘The Black Session’)

The only song Wire have played at the three shows I’ve seen them play since 2011. This version is taken from a show recorded for French radio around the time they toured ‘Red Barked Tree’.

MIKE

www.manicpopthrills.wordpress.com

Eggs

A SONG SORT OF APPLICABLE TO MY LINE OF WORK

Given the title of this song and the fact its about the banality of life in the American civil service, it seems sort of appropriate that Eggs hailed from Washington DC.

mp3 : Eggs – Government Administrator

The four-piece released two albums and five singles between 1992 and 1994. I only know of them from this song being included on a Rough Trade compilation CD a few years back. I’ve managed to track down it’s b-side:-

mp3 : Eggs – Sugar Babe

Two decent enough without being truly outstanding songs.  They’ve not to be confused at all with yesterday’s featured band.

JC

Simple Minds

BONUS POSTING : THE MISSING LINKS

I had a go recently at providing all the 12″ versions of Simple Minds singles in the period before they went all stadium rock on us. I was missing two of the bits of vinyl but regular reader and occasional contributor David Martin dropped them off via e-mail last week. Makes sense to post the missing links:-

mp3 : Simple Minds – Promised You A Miracle
mp3 : Simple Minds – Waterfront

Both were chart hits, reaching #13 in May 1982 and December 1983 respectively. Both are marginally longer than the album versions but not on the scale of some of the other 12″ releases from this period.

Big thanks to David. I know my wee brother in Florida will really appreciate hearing these again.

JC

Lovely Eggs

ONE OF THE UK’S MOST BELOVED UNDERGROUND BANDS

I’ve lifted the following from the bio page on the official website:-

“The Lovely Eggs are an underground punk rock duo from northern England.

They have a fierce punk rock ethos that music should have no rules.

For Holly and David being in a band is a way of life. True to this, they live the way they play. Fiercely, constantly in search of the good times.

With observational and often surreal lyrics about life The Lovely Eggs have a powerful stripped down sound: one vintage guitar amp, one Big Muff distortion pedal, a guitar and a drum kit.

With releases in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan, The Lovely Eggs have played hundreds of gigs around the UK, USA and Europe supporting the likes of Half Japanese, Shonen Knife, The Slits, Young Marble Giants, The Television Personalities and Art Brut as well as a two month tour of America and a string of dates at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

The Lovely Eggs have recorded sessions for BBC Radio One, BBC 6 Music and XFM as well as being played by a host of UK DJs including Radio One’s Huw Stephens and Rob da Bank and 6 Music’s Marc Riley, Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Gideon Coe, Chris Hawkins, Tom Ravenscroft and XFM’s John Kennedy.

Holly (guitar/vocs) and David (drums/vocs) have also worked with comedian Graham Fellows (aka John Shuttleworth) as well as Jad Fair from the seminal Texas band Half Japanese. Their songs appear in Canadian film Molly Maxwell and have been sampled by Zane Lowe for Scroobius Pip. The pair also feature on a Radio 4 Richard Brautigan documentary, presented and in discussion with Jarvis Cocker contemplating the influence of the American surreal author on their music.

They have produced four albums.

The first ‘If You Were Fruit’ (Cherryade Records, 2009) ranked in the top 40 records of the year by Artrocker Magazine and was nominated for XFM’s ‘Debut Album of the Year’.

The second ‘Cob Dominos’(Cherryade Records, 2011) has gained widespread critical acclaim, with ‘Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It)’ (featuring a video with guest appearance from John Shuttleworth) fast becoming an internet hit.

Their third album ‘Wildlife’ (Egg Records, 2012) featured the Gruff Rhys-produced single Allergies, originally released on 7″ on the Too Pure Singles Club label. The track (which sold out before release day) won the BBC 6 Music Rebel Playlist – with 82% of the public vote, was declared winner on Steve Lamacq’s 6 Music Round Table and was Artrocker’s single of the month. The song featured a death-shaped psychedelic spectacular promo vid featuring a special guest appearance from Gruff Rhys.

With a 4 Star review in Record Collector, ‘Wildlife’ also contains the singles ‘Food’ which was remixed by Cornershop’s Tjinder Singh for release on his Singhles Club Label as well as ‘I Just Want Someone to Fall in Love With’. Both songs received much support from BBC 6 Music.

The Lovely Eggs have become well-known for their live performances and have played everywhere from Amsterdam squats and Los Angeles scrap yards to steam trains in Ripley and charity shops in Leeds.

In April 2013, the pair had a baby but true to their ‘no rules’ philosophy they bundled their newest member in the van and took him on tour with them, racing round the UK with family and friends like a tripped out version of On The Buses with two fingers up to conventional family life firmly out of the window.

2015 saw The Lovely Eggs return with their fourth self-produced and self-recorded album ‘This is Our Nowhere’: a title which sums up their celebration and love of a scene which doesn’t exist in the eyes of the manufactured mainstream. Ironically the record received 8/10 in the NME.

Lead single ‘Magic Onion’ (made in collaboration with artist and video director Casey Raymond and released as a limited edition 7″ on the Cardiff-based D.I.Y. Flower of Phong label) was accompanied by a handmade book of psychedelic/nightmarish proportions and included a B side version of the song with Sweet Baboo, who joined them in an acoustic and decidedly pickled duet. The single gained much support from BBC 6 Music and a sell out tour of the UK followed.

The second single to be released from  the album ‘Goofin’ Around in Lancashire’ was released in November 2016 on ltd edition 7″ “fried egg” vinyl. With an accompanying video by Casey Raymond, again it sold out immediately and gained much support from BBC 6 Music, with 6 Music’s Marc Riley declaring it one of his top tracks of 2015. To promote the release, the Eggs embarked on another tour of the UK, with many sold out dates and in 2015 alone were invited to perform two live sessions for Marc Riley’s BBC 6 Music show.

The Lovely Eggs live in Lancaster, England.”

And my good friend Aldo is a big fan of theirs.  Understandably so when you listen to these:-

mp3 : The Lovely Eggs – I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too
mp3 : The Lovely Eggs – Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It)
mp3 : The Lovely Eggs – Allergies
mp3 : The Lovely Eggs – I Just Want Someone To Fall In Love With
mp3 : The Lovely Eggs – Magic Onion

Indie-pop with more than a hint of cheek and fun.  No wonder they’ve had so many influential people say good things about them.

JC

XTC

THE XTC SINGLES (Part 2)

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In early 1978, there was a fair bit of excitement in the music press around XTC with some journalists boldly claiming that they were the sort of band that would have a future beyond that of many of their peers thanks to their ability to knock out the sort of catchy, upbeat tunes that had been evidenced on their debut single and which were very much to the fore on the follow-up.

Only problem though, was that the BBC Radio 1 refused to play it for reasons that, 40 years on, seem ridiculously petty, especially given the lyrics that freely get aired nowadays.

As Andy Partridge later observed, “A certain radio station banned it for its ‘risqué’ line ‘I sailed beneath your skirt’, whilst they played ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ in which Lou Reed’s characters are busy shaving their legs, changing their sex and giving each other head.”

Indeed.

mp3 : XTC – Statue of Liberty (single edit)
mp3 : XTC – Hang On to the Night

The single is about 30 seconds shorter than the version later included on the debut LP White Music. The b-side is another very fine new-wave number that would have got any audience all hot and sweaty as they pogoed away down the front. The two tracks between them barely scrape four and a half minutes.

JC

Danny Wilson

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #66 : DANNY WILSON

From wiki:-

Danny Wilson were a Scottish pop group formed in Dundee, Scotland. The band are best known for their 1988 UK number 3 hit single Mary’s Prayer.

The band served as a launchpad for the career of Gary Clark, who also played in the 1990s bands King L and Transister before becoming a successful songwriter for other artists including Natalie Imbruglia, Liz Phair, Nick Carter, k.d. lang and former Spice Girls Melanie C and Emma Bunton. Other former members of the band have played in Simple Minds, Deacon Blue and Swiss Family Orbison.

The band released three albums between 1987 and 1991 but only enjoyed limited chart success with The Second Summer of Love being their only other hit single in 1989. I was tempted to throw up one or other of the two chart singles but was inspired instead, from comments left behind a few weeks ago (see I do read them!!), to seek out what I was informed (correctly) was a very fine cover:-

mp3 : Danny Wilson – Kooks

It was on the b-side of the 12″ remix version of the re-released Mary’s Prayer in 1988 – the one that went all the way to the Top 5.

JC

Dub Sex

ANOTHER GREAT RECORD THAT INITIALLY PASSED ME BY

I’ve said on a number of previous occasions that the period from late 87 through to mid 90 wasn’t one when I kept up with much of what was going on musically. My immense gaps have been filled in over the years, initially by Jacques the Kipper and increasingly so from the many fine bloggers who were immersed in things at the time and write so eloquently about it these days.

One of the finest songs from that period was this 1989 single from a Manchester band:-

mp3 : Dub Sex – Swerve

Dub Sex were a band seemingly impossible to pigeon-hole. They made raw, angry sounding music with a pop bent to it and nothing at all like so many of their peers and neighbours who would go on to enjoy, and in many cases waste, fame and fortune. There wasn’t all that much released – one flexi disc, four singles, one LP and one compilation between 1987 and 1989 . After the inevitable split, vocalist Mark Hoyle and bass player Cathy Brooks formed Dumb but again with no signs of obvious success.

The years have been kind to Dub Sex. By all accounts they were a blisteringly good live act fondly remembered by many who caught them back in the day; I think there’s also a great deal of goodwill towards them with the fact that their music has dated much better than many of the tunes which were better known back in the day. Swerve, which also had the distinction of making the Peel Festive 50 in 1989 (at #39), is a tremendous record in which Mark growls to his audience that ‘the choice is yours’ driven along by a tune that wouldn’t have been out-of-place on a Pixies release.

The band did get back together a few years back, playing shows to sell-out audiences in 2014 along with a new 7″ single specially put together for Record Store Day. That’s about as much as I can fill you in on – there will be, I’m sure, readers who can say a lot more. Here’s the two hugely enjoyable and still fairly contemporary sounding b-sides to Swerve:-

mp3 : Dub Sex – I Am Not Afraid
mp3 : Dub Sex – The Big Freeze

And here’s how I first heard the band – courtesy of its inclusion on a Peel Sessions compilation CD.  This version is about a minute longer than the single version:-

mp3 : Dub Sex – Swerve (Peel Session)

JC

Love & Money

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (AND MONEY)

My one previous mention of Love and Money was as part of the Scottish Singles series back in January 2014. It was always likely that the next mention would have been when it was their turn to feature in the Scottish songs series currently running every Saturday but given that I’ve only just hit the  letter ‘D’ after 64 weeks it would have been a long wait.

But there were a couple of admiring mentions in the comments section accompanying the recent birthday tribute to my young brother and so I’ve decided, in a Going Underground sort of style, to ensure (some of) the public gets what the public wants.

Love and Money rose from the ashes of Friends Again when three members of the latter decided to continue to work together while drafting in a new bass player. The fact that I had been such a huge fan of Friends Again should really have meant that I’d fall for the charms of this new combo but in all truth it never quite happened. It wasn’t for a lack of effort on my part as I went along to a lot of the early gigs in Glasgow and bought the singles and then the debut LP (All You Need Is….Love and Money) almost as soon as they were released. But the purchases were often out of a feeling of loyalty to James Grant (vocals/guitar), Paul McGeechan (keyboards), Stuart Kerr (drums) and Bobby Paterson (bass) as the music was just a bit too clean and antiseptic for me, certainly in the form it was released on vinyl, although they remained at all times a formidable and entertaining live band with a great mix of pop, soul and funk to get your feet moving.

They were part of what seemed to be a movement based around Glasgow in the mid-80s. The success, critically, of Orange Juice and Aztec Camera in the early part of the decade had seen the A&R departments of all the major labels send their foot soldiers north of the border with the mission to sniff out and sign the next big thing. The indie aspect of things from the Postcard acts were however to be just a minor element of what was to be scouted out and so the likes of Hue and Cry, Hipsway, Wet Wet Wet, Fiction Factory and Deacon Blue would sign deals and have hit singles while the likes of The Big Dish, The Silencers, The River Detectives, Fruits of Passion and Sunset Gun joined Love and Money (and others) as getting advances but no big hits.

In Love and Money’s case they were signed to Mercury Records who first of all teamed the band up with Andy Taylor (Duran Duran and The Power Station) and then with Gary Katz, a producer who had done much to popularise Steely Dan.They even sent the band to Los Angeles to make the record.

As Friend of Rachel Worth astutely observed in a comment last time round, this all led to a very expensive 2nd LP – Strange Kind Of Love (1988) where all the rough edges were smoothed out. The singles should, by the formula they followed, have been huge hits on both sides of the Atlantic but it just never happened.

In 1990, a third LP was rejected by the label but they provided enough finance for another release the following year. I never bought Dogs In The Traffic at the time and indeed it took me till about two years ago to finally pick up a copy. It’s a long way removed from the first two releases and all the better for it, but I’m not sure if it is really as good as the critics would have you believe with a number of appraisals many years later proclaiming it to be among the best albums ever released by a Scottish band and something of a lost classic.

The band was dropped  in the early 90s and eventually released one more LP on a local indie label before calling it a day. James Grant still writes and performs to this day, having successfully reinvented himself as a solo artist of some note and critical standing with a large following in his home city meaning his gigs tend to sell out decent sized venues in short amounts of time. And deservedly so….what I have heard of the stripped back versions of the Love & Money material demonstrate he’s always been a highly talented singer, songwriter and guitar player who ought to be better known further afield.

Here’s one song from each of the three LPs released on Mercury:-

mp3 : Love and Money – Love and Money
mp3 : Love and Money – Strange Kind of Love
mp3 : Love and Money – Looking For Angeline

JC

Friends Again

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #112 : FRIENDS AGAIN

With apologies to readers of old as today’s posting features an element of cut’n’paste from a piece in the 45 45s at 45 series.

It would have been 1983 when I first heard Friends Again, catching them live at the Students Union at Strathclyde University. As it turned out, this was the first of many times that I would be lucky enough to be at their gigs, venturing down on one occasion to London on the day of the show and then back up immediately on the overnight bus. There was so much to like about how this band looked and sounded with guitarist James Grant and keyboardist Paul McGeechan sounding fbeing far more accomplished than many of their peers while the stylish and ultra-cool frontman Chris Thompson had a vocal style that was a cross between Motherwell and Memphis. And like all great bands, they had a deceptively brilliant rhythm section with Stuart Kerr on drums and Neil Cunningham on bass.

It is baffling that they would endure a career of such poor record sales and never getting beyond headlining the student circuit in the UK ( the London gig I went to was at the London School of Economics where they shared top billing with Fad Gadget). But theirs is an all-too familiar story of a label interfering and seeking to control the artistic and performance side of things, with bosses insisting on certain production values that diluted rather than strengthened how the band’s sound came across on record.

In short, they were stifled at every turn, including for a rare and important live TV appearance where somebody came up with idea of adding two female vocalists despite the band never having worked with any backing singers at any point in their career in the studio or on stage.  Utter madness.  And when success didn’t come with the first LP and the record label asked questions the band did the sensible thing and broke up, leaving the individual members to go off and do their own thing.

Friends Again were highly talented. On stage, they delivered sets that meshed the best of the Postcard bands with all sorts of folk, soul, blues and pop undertones depending on the rhythm and tempo of a song. I’ve come to realise that in some ways they were a bit ahead of their time in that a few years later there was a bit of a craze for rock/pop bands to demonstrate the strength of their songs and their playing abilities through ‘unplugged’ performances. Friends Again would have blown folk away if they had been given such a stage.

Their first three singles were largely self-produced but hadn’t yielded the results that Phonogram Records had hoped for. Big name producers were brought in as hired guns, particularly Bob Sargeant who had delivered chart success to the likes of The Beat and Haircut 100, but also Tom Verlaine, best known as part of legendary US art-rockers Television. The fact that two such diverse individuals with different approaches to production and indeed differing production values surely is all the evidence you need to realise that the label didn’t know what to do with the band.

In due course a debut LP, Trapped and Unwrapped, did eventually emerge after many painful and difficult sessions in the studio. Twelve songs that required the input of four different producers behind the desk although three-quarters of the album is credited alone to Sargeant. Worth mentioning that whatever work was done with Verlaine was obviously deemed unsatisfactory as only one track from those sessions made the cut.

Three of the songs on the LP were also re-recordings of earlier singles or b-sides and in each case were vastly inferior. A band who, on stage, were such an exciting and vibrant presence had recorded an album that was bitterly disappointing with the best moments being the acoustic numbers that hadn’t allowed themselves to be subject to the kitchen sink approach from the production desk.

More than 30 years on and I have calmed down a lot. I listen to the record and sort of enjoy it but still think of it as a missed opportunity. So maybe I can rectify it by offering up a Friends Again ICA as an alternative LP to that which was released, compiled from the album and the songs that appeared on the six singles released during their all-too-brief career.

SIDE A

1) Honey At The Core (original version and the debut single)
2) Sunkissed (12″) (original version and the second single)
3) Swallows In The Rain (album track and only one produced by Tom Verlaine)
4) Lullaby No. 2  (lead track on the EP/ fifth single, also on album)
5) Tomboy (album track)
6) Dealing In Silver (b-side of Sunkissed single)

SIDE B

1) Lucky Star (original version and b-side of Honey at The Core)
2) State of Art (12″) (third single and later remixed for album and EP)
3) Vaguely Yours (album track)
4) South Of Love (fourth single and album track)
5) Thank You For Being An Angel (b-side to Lullaby No.2)
6) Moon 3 (closing track on album)

And here’s the two sides of the ICA in LP sized chunks :-

Side A
Side B

JC

Simple Minds

BONUS POSTING – ASK ME, I WON’T SAY NO (HOW COULD I?)

Alex left behind this comment yesterday after I posted the 12″ of The American:-

Used to stare longingly up at the section of the Union St Virgin Megastore wall stocked with Simple Minds 12 inch singles thinking I will get them all one day. I never did but bought all the albums.

Even though they have sucked for so long, listening to one of these vintage tracks like this one (in extended form for first time) it’s like being transported back to a happy time.

They are still in this phase my spirit band.

Thanks for the post, JC. If you want to put up any others you may have……(he asks hopefully)

Happy to oblige.

The first Simple Minds single to get the 12″ extended treatment was I Travel. For the purposes of this posting there were a further ten singles released through to those lifted from Sparkle In The Rain, and all with the exception of Love Song were extended in some way from the album versions.

I don’t have all of them with both Promised You A Miracle and Waterfront missing; but here’s the others as requested (with the exception of The American and Speed Your Love To Me as these were posted very recently).

mp3 : Simple Minds – I Travel (12 inch version)
mp3 : Simple Minds – Celebrate (12 inch version)
mp3 : Simple Minds – Sweat In Bullet (12 inch version)
mp3 : Simple Minds – Glittering Prize (club mix)
mp3 : Simple Minds – Someone, Somewhere In Summertime (12 inch version)
mp3 : Simple Minds – Up On The Catwalk (12 inch version)

JC

Orange Juice, Squeeze

THIS ONE’S FOR JOHNNY BOTTOMS

The day is drawing ever closer when our dear friend Jonny the Friendly Lawyer (JTFL) aka Johnny Bottoms, the country bassist, will cross the Atlantic with his fellow Ponderosa Aces to begin the tour of English cities and towns. I’m delighted to say that I’ve made arrangements to get myself down to the gig in Manchester on Sunday 23 April, and all being well I might get to hook up with another dear friend of this parish, the mighty Swiss Adam of Bagging Area fame.

If anyone cares to join us, then feel free to come along for the ride. To paraphrase one Adam Ant, country music is nothing to be scared of.

As evidenced by this #4 hit from October 1981:-

mp3 : Squeeze – Labelled With Love

A sad and melancholy single lifted from the excellent East Side Story LP, on which Elvis Costello did a sterling job in the producer’s chair, it was the band’s final ever entry into the Top 10. It’s a very fine example of a talented band, fronted by incredibly gifted songwriters, demonstrating that they can turn their hand to any genre.

The b-side was a bit of throwaway fun:-

mp3 : Squeeze – Squabs on 45

It’s a medley of earlier singles akin to what was a fad at the time in the UK where excerpts of hit songs, sometimes from one act but more often than not from a variety of artists, were spliced together as a 45. Very scarily, an act called Stars on 45 enjoyed four Top 20 hits in the UK in 1981/82 by employing such a technique. And yes, Squeeze were making a point about how awful these medley efforts were – everything reduced to one simple beat and rhythm.

Orange Juice also did something similar as a piss take for a Peel Session:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Blokes on 45

JC