Radiohead

A KIND-OF BONUS ALBUM

I had this post slated for later on in the month but have brought it forward to dovetail with yesterday’s high-quality contribution from Martin.

I’m just about to bring the series on the singles by The Undertones to a close and one of the other bands I had in mind for a similar series was Radiohead; the problem however, is that I haven’t bought any singles by the band since about 2003 and so would have been forced to spend a fair bit of money pulling together all the subsequent b-sides since that period in time; instead I’ve hit on the idea of cobbling together the various b-sides from a particular era to offer a suggested accompanying bonus album to that from which they were lifted.

It makes sense to start with OK Computer, from which three singles were lifted.  I say makes sense in as much that a number of these b-sides have already appeared on the blog thanks to a posting looking solely at Paranoid Android.

Much of the music and sounds making up these tracksare well worth a listen given that they show different sides to the band and are something of a pointer as to the road they would go down a few years later with Kid A and Amnesiac.

mp3 : Radiohead – The OK Computer bonus album

Tracklist

1. Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 mix) – from Karma Police single #2
2. Pearly – from Paranoid Android single #1
3. Airbag (live in Berlin) – from No Surprises single #2
4. Melatonin – from Paranoid Android single #2
5. Meeting In The Aisle – from Karma Police single #1
6. Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2) – from Paranoid Android single #2
7. Climbing Up The Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix) – from Karma Police single #2
8. Lull – from Karma Police single #1
9. Lucky (live in Florence) – from No Surprises single #2
10. How I Made My Millions – from No Surprises single #1
11. Palo Alto – from No Surprises single #1
12. A Reminder – from Karma Police single #1

Enjoy.

I may or may nor repeat this for other Radiohead LPs. It’s up to you guys to offer advise on whether that’s a good idea or not. I won’t be offended if you tell me to make this a one-off.

Radiohead

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #108 : RADIOHEAD

A GUEST POSTING FROM MARTIN

AUTHOR OF THE NEW AMUSEMENTS BLOG

After more than 100 ICAs, I was wondering which artist or band I could meaningfully submit a compilation for. So many of my favourites have already been done. And then it occurred to me – as yet, there has been no ICA for Radiohead.

Of course, when I sat down to try to draw up a ten track compilation it quickly became obvious why it hasn’t been done before: trying to whittle down the collected works of the Grand Old Duke of Yorke and his men to just ten songs, just one side of a C90, is practically impossible. Unless…

…unless there’s a scheme, a set of rules above and beyond those that normally go into drafting a compilation. It was at this point I realised that Radiohead have released nine studio albums. What if, I wondered, I were to limit myself to one track per album, plus a bonus closing track of my choice? That might work and, if I stuck to the albums in chronological order, it would also provide an accurate representation of how the band has progressed over the years.

Sounds a great plan, doesn’t it? Except that, in reality, even choosing just one track per album proved to be fantastically difficult (especially for The Bends, Ok Computer, Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows). Anyway, enough of my excuses, let’s get on; to assuage my guilt for omitting certain tracks, I’ll namecheck the other songs that were in contention but, for now, these are the chosen nine plus one.

Side One

1. from Pablo Honey: Creep

Sorry, it has to be. I know it’s been over-played, and certainly over-covered (if YouTube is anything to go by). It isn’t massively representative of the rest of the album, and I have even heard it described as “Radiohead for people who don’t like Radiohead”. But, and it’s a very big but, without this track there is probably a very good chance we wouldn’t be talking about Radiohead now, and certainly not in such reverential tones. The fact is that this song, aside from striking a chord with every disaffected and alienated person that’s ever heard it, every loner, every outsider, aside from all that it established the band in a way that the parent album never could. It’s quite possible that without Creep the only blog posts you’d read about Radiohead now would be of the “whatever happened to…” variety. And on top of that, it has that excellent crunchy guitar that kicks in at the start of the chorus.

Also in contention: Anyone Can Play Guitar and Lurgee.

2. from The Bends: Fake Plastic Trees

Of all the albums, choosing just one track from The Bends was the toughest choice of all. Fake Plastic Trees gets the nod though, as it brought Radiohead’s social conscious and environmental awareness to the fore, whilst also demonstrating that they could be musically subtle, delicate in a way that they hadn’t been on Pablo Honey. The clincher for me is more personal though, in that when I saw the band live in 2008 their rendition of this song gave me goosebumps on the night, and nearly broke my heart in the weeks that followed.

Also in contention: High And Dry, (Nice Dream) and Street Spirit (Fade Out).

3. from OK Computer: No Surprises

A lullaby for the suicidal, perhaps. And yet one that somehow manages to be uplifting, even in the unsettling video in which Thom looks set to drown (spoiler – he doesn’t). You can draw a straight line through Asleep by The Smiths to this song, and then… where? The parent album was, for a time, often held up as not just the band’s best but the best ever, by anyone, frequently troubling the top of the “best N albums of all time” lists that were very popular around the millennium. It is great, but I think The Bends shades it.

Also in contention: Paranoid Android (“Bohemian Rhapsody for Generation X”, as the music press all cried at the time), Karma Police and Lucky.

4. from Kid A: National Anthem

Given that The Bends are OK Computer were both excellent and successful, Kid A was always going to be a tough act to pull off. It remains the point at which Radiohead started to be non-essential, for some people. Not me though. It’s a great album, another where it is hard to choose one track. I’ve gone for National Anthem – very simple lyrically, but the music is the hook, an ear-worming loop that has, arguably, set the tone for most of everything that has followed. Like lots of the best Radiohead, this comes into its own in a car with a good stereo, in the small hours of a crystal clear night, on an open road…

Also in contention: Idioteque, Everything In Its Right Place.

5. from Amnesiac: Knives Out

As the band continued to push boundaries, willing to sacrifice transient fans to satisfy their own musical curiosity, the songs that were chosen as singles from each album became increasingly unrepresentative, and so it is with Knives Out. Led by twin guitar melodies, it’s a song that might have graced The Bends. It has brilliantly bleak lyrics too, to whit “If you’d been a dog they would have drowned you at birth.” I don’t know what it says about Radiohead (or the type of fan I am) but this and Pablo Honey were the albums it was easiest to choose only one song from.

Also in contention: Pyramid Song.

Side Two

6. from Hail To The Thief: Scatterbrain

On the face of it, a tough album to choose from, casually littered with brilliance as it is. In reality, an easy choice for me; the instrumental introduction to Scatterbrain has been my mobile phone ringtone for as long as I can remember. It is one of my absolute favourites songs, not just by Radiohead but by anybody, ever. Terrific lyrical story telling too, in which storm force winds are a metaphor for the blown apart nature of a failed relationship.

Also in contention: Go To Sleep, 2+2=5, Myxomatosis.

7. from In Rainbows: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

That straight line I mentioned earlier? Maybe its third point is here, I don’t know. For a band who have increasingly forsaken guitars (to the consternation of a good proportion of their fanbase), here’s proof that they can still overlay complementary guitar motifs better than just about anyone. And few bands give percussion a voice, rather than just rhythm and timekeeping duties, as well as Radiohead. Also, even fewer songs could hint at escape at the end and yet be so ambiguous as to whether that escape is a good thing or not.

Also in contention: Reckoner, Jigsaw Falling Into Place.

8. from The King Of Limbs: Morning Mr Magpie

The intro to this makes me think of The Police. No, wait, come back! Here’s a song that again sits at the accessible end of the recent Radiohead spectrum, and ends with the lament that “you’ve stolen all the magic, took my melody”. A proportion of the band’s fans may have thought the same thing… but this is a perfect example of a Radiohead track that rewards repeated listens, rather than chases immediacy.

Also in contention: Little by Little (for similar reasons), Feral.

9. from A Moon Shaped Pool: Burn The Witch

In which Radiohead go all Camber-wicker Green. A genuinely great song and one that is, even without the video, genuinely disturbing, with its lyrics of low-flying panic attacks, red crosses on wooden doors and, most ominously, “we know where you live”. Add the sawing, minor-key string backing and this isn’t going to pack the floor at your local indie disco in quite the same way as Creep. A song for these times, where Washington has become Summer Isle or, perhaps, Salem.

Also in contention: Daydreaming, Present Tense.

10. bonus track: Street Spirit (Fade Out)

What better way to end the album? If ever a song was made to close an LP, this is it, lyrically, musically and thematically. Yes, it hankers back to a period when the band were at the peak of their commercial powers (doesn’t Thom look young in the video?) and yes, it features plenty of guitars. But not the crunchy guitars of Creep and Anyone Can Play Guitar, but beautiful, overlaid arpeggios that repeat, rise and fall to hypnotic effect. And there’s a lyrical counterpoint to some of the less cheerful themes found elsewhere on this ICA, and even in this song – for every row of houses bearing down on Thom, there’s the more positive (albeit slightly defensive) “be a world child, form a circle” and the haunting outro refrain of “immerse your soul in love”. Best of all is the way the song ends – it doesn’t fade out, of course, but the guitar arpeggio loops round and ties itself in a neat bow. The perfect finish to this or any compilation.

And there you have it. There are probably as many Radiohead ICA combinations as there are fans, and my own selection would probably be different next week (maybe even tomorrow). But, for now, I think this compilation works. What do you reckon?

Cheers,
Martin
New Amusements

Ponderosa Aces

JTFL – LIVING THE DREAM

The handsome devil playing bass guitar on the right hand side of the above picture is no stranger to these parts, although this will be the first confirmed sighting. As you may have gathered from the title of today’s posting it is an image of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer (JTFL) who has been a long-time friend of this and many other quality blogs offering his thoughts, wisdom and opinions all the way from the West Coast of the USA. But he could soon be coming close by your own ‘hood and thus offering the chance to meet in person while listening to live music. I’ll lrt the great man himself tell you all about it:-

THE PONDEROSA ACES

A GUEST ADMISSION BY JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

My name is Johnny Bottoms and I am an Outlaw Country musician. I play bass for The Ponderosa Aces. I wasn’t always this way. In fact, only a few months ago I was just like anyone else. Here’s what happened…

Goldie The Friendly Psychologist (GTFP) and I have been empty nesting since last summer. Why not get a band together? I jammed with a few friends, singing and playing guitar, trying to sort some basic tunes by The Jam, Blondie, Pretenders, Bowie. But it just wasn’t happening and I got frustrated. I thought, Screw this — I play bass, I never pretended I was any good at guitar. So I went on the local musicians network and typed in “bassist.” The first ad that came up said “Bassist Needed for Established Country Band. Gigs Lined Up.” It could have been a reggae band, a power pop band, a death metal band — whatever. The operative word was established. They were up and running and already playing out.

I should say here that up to this point I didn’t know anything about country music. I didn’t listen to it often, didn’t have much in the library beyond Elvis Costello‘s country album (if that even counts). I sure as hell didn’t know how to play country music. So I called up the lead guitarist named, naturally, Hoss. Our conversation went like this:

Hoss: So, you’re a country music guy?
Me: Sure.
– Who’s your favorite country artist?
– Don’t know if I could name just one (which was true, since I didn’t know any).
– Well, you got some favorite country songs?
– Er, do you guys need a bass player or not?
– Oh, yeah, we do! You have played bass in a band before, right?
– Of course.
– When was that?
– 1988. In New York.
– Oh. Well, can you come to a rehearsal this Thursday?
– Yes.

That was a Monday. I downloaded the band’s album on iTunes and gave a listen. I was knocked out. The songs on Honky Tonkin’ My Life Away are all originals and they’re EXCELLENT. I practiced the bass parts until I felt like I might not completely disgrace myself. On the Thursday Hoss called to apologize that he couldn’t make the rehearsal and that I would just be meeting the drummer and singer. Okay. I drove down to Long Beach with the album on repeat, trying to ingrain my parts. The drummer, Art, was a good-natured and friendly guy. I was a bit leery of Mike, the singer. It wasn’t just that they guy is pure outlaw, with a formidable foot long beard. It was that Mike wrote all the songs on the album and I hoped I could do them justice. He handed me a book with the chord charts and off we went. It must have gone okay because when we finished I handed Mike the book back and he said “That’s yours — you keep that. We got a gig a week from tomorrow, can you sit in?” Sure I could.

I had a pair of cowboy boots I bought in 1983 somewhere in the closet. I found an embroidered western shirt that looked the part on eBay. I showed up for the gig and met Hoss and Steve, the pedal steel player. Fortunately for me, Steve plays sitting down with a handy music stand to keep the charts on. I stationed myself next to him and did the best I could, peeking over at the charts as discreetly as possible. After the show, the rest of the band were waiting for me in the parking lot. Christ, I wasn’t that bad, was I? Or maybe this was the part where they said, “Hey, thanks for filling in, but our real bassist will be back from his hernia operation next week.” But that didn’t happen. Instead, I got a round of handshakes and a question:

– Are you free to travel in February and April?
– Travel where?
– Texas in February and England in April.
– Sure I am.

I had been a country musician for 8 days. I hadn’t played bass in a band in 28 years. I was going to tour Texas and England. (I am not making any of this up, by the way).

Turns out the band’s criteria for a bassist depended on five critical questions, in roughly this order: (1) Are you a complete fucking maniac that no one can get along with? (2) Can you show up on time for gigs and rehearsals? (3) Are you going to bitch about money? (4) Is your wife going to be pissed off about you spending a lot of time doing band stuff? and (5) do you own a bass guitar and know where it is?

Honestly, that’s what they were thinking, having gone through a string of bassists that were overly ornery, complained about the cash, showed up erratically and not always sober, and whose wives didn’t approve of the band. I slotted in perfectly: I can get along with most anyone, I’m punctual, I’m not bothered about money, GTFP is glad to get me out of the house, and I know exactly where my bass is! My skills weren’t the prime concern for a simple reason: the band are all MONSTER players. The aptly named Aces are such superb musicians that everything they do sounds so professional I couldn’t screw it up if I tried. And we can’t have a rehearsal without Mike introducing at least two new classic outlaw tunes. (We’ll be recording a new album later this year.)

So, now I’m Johnny Bottoms. I play all over the coast a few times a month. The guys are typical southern Californians: laid back, quick to laugh, fun to be around. The Ponderosa Aces are nominated for awards as Best Pure Country Band by the Academy of Western Artists and Best Outlaw Band by Ameripolitan, a roots country foundation based in Austin. We’re going to the Ameripolitan awards show and will play five gigs while we’re in Texas. I’m over the moon about that, never having been to Texas once. We’re sponsored by a Whiskey company (Coldcock) and I got a new stage tuner from another sponsor, GoGo Tuners.

One of the nicest surprises about joining the Aces is the discovery that loads of people I wouldn’t have guessed LOVE country music. I knew my wife was a Patsy Cline devotee, but had no idea our own daughter was a huge Dolly Parton fan. My buddy Ronnie can do a perfect Bob Wills “Aaa-haah!” Driving down the coast a week ago my buddy Kevin — pure Malibu royalty that is such an OG surf punk that he actually drummed for The Surf Punks — amazed me by jumping in on the chorus of ‘Dang Me’, an obscure Roger Miller tune from 1964. I almost drove onto the beach! Nearly everyone I know has a favorite song by Willie, Tammy, Waylon, Merle, Loretta, EmmyLou, or Hank — and my own country library is growing all the time.

In my last NYC post with Echorich I wrote that my modest music career ended after I took the bar exam in July 1988. No longer true: now I’m playing regularly and WE ARE COMING TO TOUR ENGLAND! I wrote JC to tell him all about it in the hope that some of the formidable Vinyl Villain community will come out to see us and, of course, our man was happy to help out a friend. This is the tour schedule:

Sat. 22 APRIL – THE STABLES, Milton Keynes
Sun. 23 APRIL – GULLIVERS, Manchester
Mon. 24 APRIL – JUMPIN’ JACK’S, Newcastle
Tue. 25 APRIL – THE MUSICIAN, Leicester
Thu. 27 APRIL – THE BORDERLINE, London
Fri. 28 APRIL – FAT LIL’S, Witney
Sat. 29 APRIL – BILLY BOB’S SALOON, EuroDisney, Paris
Sun. 30 APRIL – THE HAUNT, Brighton
Mon. 1 MAY – THE PRIORY, Dover

And here are some songs from the album, Honky Tonkin’ My Life Away:

mp3 : The Ponderosa Aces – Judgment Day
mp3 : The Ponderosa Aces – Make Things Right
mp3 : The Ponderosa Aces – Roadside Shrine
mp3 : The Ponderosa Aces – Hit The Door

So, a surprising but happy story. I hope you’ll be able to come out and see The Ponderosa Aces in just a couple months’ time. This blog’s readers are an amazing crowd I like to think of as old friends, and it would be great to finally meet some of y’all in person.

Johnny Bottoms, the country bassist

 

Undertones

THE UNDERTONES SINGLES 77-83 (Part 12)

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

That would seemed to have been the thinking behind the decision to record a cover version for the next single, released in March 1983.  Pop music with a bit of soul was what was beginning to dominate the charts – Culture Club and ABC had been two of the big breakthrough UK acts in 1982 while Paul Weller was also following the well-trodden path with his new band The Style Council.  Perhaps writing something original was just too difficult, so why not test the waters by taking a song by The Isley Brothers and giving it a go?

mp3 : The Undertones – Got To Have You Back

You can tell that a great deal of energy and hard work went into this 45 with Feargal Sharkey delivering a strong vocal performance while the rest of the band willingly gave up the sound that they had become best known for in an effort to appease the record label and to re-engage with the record buying public.

It didn’t work as the single stalled outside the main charts at #82.

Looking back, this is not that bad a record, but nobody could take it seriously as an Undertones record; indeed it seemed that unless they were prepared to go back and come up with a variation on Teenage Kicks then nobody was going to give the band the time of day.  The writing really was on the wall….

This was the b-side:-

mp3 : The Undertones – Turning Blue

Written by John O’Neill, it is again a million miles removed from the earlier material; it’s a decent enough song for a b-side or as an album filler but not all that memorable

The single came out in 7″ and 12″ format but only difference on the latter was the inclusion of this additional b-side, again written by John with the help of Michael Bradley:-

mp3 : The Undertones – Bye Bye Baby Blue

Two songs with the word ‘blue’ in the title – maybe it was a subliminal message as to the overall mood the band were finding themselves in.  This is actually a decent sounding track featuring some very fine harmonies and backing vocals and it certainly is stronger and more accessible than the sole track on the 7″. It is also one of the few tracks on any of their singles that ever went over three minutes in length.

Enjoy.

Copy Haho

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #62 : COPY HAHO

I previously gave a mention to Copy Haho over on the old blog and in a later re-run at this place in October 2013 when I said:-

A four-piece outfit originally from the town of Stonehaven which is just a couple of train stops south of Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland. I saw Copy Haho as a support act at King Tut’s a few years ago and was impressed enough to buy a bit of vinyl on the night. Turns out it was their debut 7″ Bookshelf which came out in a limited run of 500 back in 2006. Since then I’ve picked up a further two 7″ singles that were released in 2008 and 2009 but not their debut LP which came out in 2011.

It would appear from a lack of activity on various parts of social media that the band called it a day at the end of the year that the album came out. I do recall them getting a reasonable amount of positive coverage from local press and some bloggers when the album came out and it’s a pity, like so many other decent enough but not outstanding bands (albeit they have way more talent than I could ever muster!), they just couldn’t ever break out of cult status.

Here’s another of their singles – one of four they released in their career – this dates from 2008

mp3 : Copy Haho – You Are My Coalmine

Enjoy

Housemartins

THIS ONE’S FOR LORNA AND TIM

Those of you (and I would imagine that’s almost all of you) who wander over to WYCRA for the latest musings from SWC and Tim Badger will be aware that their blog is temporarily and understandably closing down for a bit. Tim’s wife, Lorna, is in hospital after a very serious car crash and writing about music in that wonderfully idiosyncratic and hilariously entertaining style of theirs is the last thing on his and SWC’s minds.

I’ve never met Tim or SWC or either of their wives, but I feel I’ve got to know them well enough over the past four or so years since we first hooked up to regard the boys as good friends and I’d like to think the girls have shared the occasional laugh at some of the music and words that have been exchanged via postings, comments and e-mails. I was deeply affected on hearing of Lorna’s accident and although I’m supposed to be the sort who can find the right words for any occasion, I really struggled to do so yesterday.

Like everyone else who has left a message over at WYCRA, my thoughts and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery are with Lorna, Tim and their entire family and circle of close friends. It’s one of those times when I wish I could do something more meaningful and worthy than simply dedicate a song to them. But it’s all I can think of today:-

mp3 : The Housemartins – Lean On Me

True fact. Today’s post was originally going to be a Housemartins ICA. It will appear soon.

Eighties B-Line Matchbox Disaster

REALLY….YOU’D BEST STICK TO FLOWERS AND CHOCOLATES

Do not, under any circumstances, deign to include this on any mix tape for your mum.

mp3 : The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Celebrate Your Mother

It’s a rollicking, crashing beast of a tune – reminiscent of The Cramps at their very best or worst depending on your pre-conceived point of view, sung by someone who sounds like the lab offspring of mixing up the sperm of Nick Cave and Joey Ramone. The parental advisory sticker is there for a reason as one of the screamed lines is about wanting to fornicate with your mother and then a few seconds later there’s a suggestion that he’d do similar with your dad.

This most American sounding of bands in fact hailed from Brighton on the south coast of England, mostly active around the turn of the century although they didn’t officially break up until 2013. Five of their singles did make the Top 40 in 2003/04 but not this particular effort which stalled at #66 in September 2002.

Here’s the two other tracks on the CD single:-

mp3 : The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Return December
mp3 : The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Torrential Abuse

The former is reminiscent of The Birthday Party at their very best or worst depending on your pre-conceived point of view. It will also annoy the hell out of your neighbours if you play it very loudly.

The latter is what I’m expecting to rain down on me today from most regular readers.  Don’t get too annoyed – all three tracks are over in under 8 minutes.

Enjoy.

I Ludicrous

THE MINISTRY OF SILLY SONGS

For some reason or other, I was absolutely certain that the EP featuring today had been the subject of a previous posting on this blog. But the fact that I, Ludicrous are not listed within the extensive list of bands and singers over on the right hand side would indicate that my recollections aren’t what they should be. Blame it on old age. It must have been over at the old blog………..

This lot have been kicking around since the mid 80s and are probably best known for the song on their debut flexidisc which was voted in at #11 in John Peel’s Festive Fifty of 1987:-

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – Preposterous Tales

I’m sure we all know and tolerate someone like Ken McKenzie……

An EP purchased back in 2008 is the only I, Ludicrous recording I physically own. It has five songs that sound like a cross between The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit, covering subject matters as diverse as

launderette etiquette

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – Argument In The Launderette

allegedly funny comedy writers

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – The Ruby Wax Song

everyday people going on to television shows and having fights and meltdowns

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – Chav It Up With Jeremy Kyle

the secret past of a close friend

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – Finding Things Out About John

But the sole reason I bought the EP was its inclusion of a song that name-checked, what was at the time of release, all 15 clubs who take part in the most northern-based semi-professional football league in the UK (the league has since expanded to 18 teams). It is a brilliantly bonkers number that also pokes great fun at the sort of traditional accordion/fiddle tunes that are also greatly associated with the Scottish Highlands.

mp3 : I, Ludicrous – The Highland League

At the point of putting this piece together, Buckie Thistle, who hail from the small fishing town in which both Jacques the Kipper and MJ were raised, are top of the table, banging in the goals for fun but still locked in a three-way battle for supremacy with the two teams called Rangers – Brora and Cove. There’s no Celtic sides in the Highland League, but it’s worth mentioning that Buckie play in green and white hoops. (that’s a throwaway line for those of you who have any inkling about Scottish football – the majority of you are free to ignore it)

Enjoy.

Pelts, Randolph's Leap

DID THEY CUT THE MUSTARD IN 2017? : #1 : RANDOLPH’S LEAP and PELTS

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As I’m not expecting to get to anything like the same number of gigs in 2017 as I have in recent years I’m going to make more of an effort to share my thoughts on any live experiences. My only worry is that I’ve never really liked the idea or concept of the blog being used to rubbish something – that’s why when a new release or a gig has not lived up to my expectations that I don’t mention it at all rather than offer some derogatory observations. But I promise to be honest and be brutal, should the need arise, throughout this series.

My first gig in 2017 only came about from being badgered by MJ, a mate of many years standing and whose interests in music occasionally dissect with my own. MJ does like his indie music – indeed he was saying on the night we met up how much he had enjoyed Echorich’s ACR ICA as it brought back happy memories of seeing and then meeting them backstage in Aberdeen in the mid-80s when it took a great effort not to do his fan-boy thing and ask all about Joy Division/New Order/Factory Records. MJ however, also has a predilection for some of the traditional folk material that has been the mainstay of Scottish music for centuries and so he has always been a huge supporter of the Celtic Connections festival that takes place in Glasgow each January/February.

He was insistent that we go to a gig together this year and he gave me free rein to choose and I plumped for something on the final night of the 2017 event with Randolph’s Leap headlining at Broadcast, supported by Pelts. I did so on the basis that I thought MJ, knowing very little about the Leap, would find something enjoyable in their music and performance. I’ll come back to that in due course…..

First of all though, I want to give a thank you to Pelts for getting 2017 off to a decent start in terms of live music. I knew nothing about the band in advance and deliberately didn’t seek out any info beforehand as I wanted, as dear old George Michael advised, to listen without prejudice.

There were six members of Pelt on stage last Sunday – seemingly there is a magnificent seventh who plays a little bit of horn but who was otherwise professionally engaged and unavailable. That left us with two vocalists (one of whom doubled up on rhythm guitar), a lead guitarist, bassist, keyboard player and drummer. They were neither young nor old (although compared to your 53-years of age scribe almost everyone else inside the 200-capacity Broadcast was young) – the sort of folk who you could picture being  decent and popular work colleagues; and nor could I help but think such was their technical abilities and lack of nerves that most, if not all of them, had been performing in bands for quite some time.

They played a set of maybe seven or eight songs, most of which started off quietly and then gradually built up a wall of sound to which all the musicians contributed impressively while the contrasting styles of the two vocalists – Graham and Natasha – suited perfectly. The set included a number of past singles, one of which they were rightly proud to inform us had been praised on social media by the comedian Johnny Vegas, before they brought things to a close with the two songs that were making up their latest double-A sided single that had been released specially to coincide with the gig. Maybe it was the fact that the band was naturally less familiar with the newer material but the two new songs didn’t quite seem to have the punch and instant appeal of some of the material, but again, maybe that’s as much to do with me having really enjoyed the opening 20-25 minutes and then thinking the eventual final running order didn’t quite work. But on this first exposure, I’d certainly be happy enough to go see Pelts again, as indeed I imagine would most of the those present, judging by the appreciation shown throughout the gig (nobody was talking during the quiet moments) and the loud applause at the end.

Here’s where you can read more about them as well as listen to some music. Here’s one of the past singles which dates back all the way to July 2013 :-

After a quick turnaround, all eight members of Randolph’s Leap came on stage for what was their first show of 2017. It was an occasion when they had asked fans in advance to make suggestions via Facebook and so it was odds-on that some old favourites would be aired for the first time in ages. Over the piece they delivered with aplomb, thanks to a 19-song set that leaned for the most part on the two studio LPs Clumsy Knot (2014) and Cowardly Deeds (2016) but which also delved into the earlier lo-fi releases that had earlier brought the talents of frontman Adam Ross to the attentions of many across the Scottish blogging community.

It was as confident, vibrant, self-assured and as tight a performance as I’ve ever seen from the band albeit we had the amusing and highly unusual sight of Adam forgetting one or two of the lyrics along the way. There was a great rapport with the near-capacity audience who, as with Pelts previously, behaved impeccably and showed great respect during the quieter moments. It would be great to think the rest of the gigs I head out to in 2017 will be similar….but I know it won’t work out that way.

MJ came away very impressed at what he’d seen. This was his sixth Celtic Connections gig of 2017 and it made enough of an impression that he raced to the merchandise stall to buy a CD before picking up a wonderful souvenir as the band, thanks to the help of manager Lloyd Meredith, put each of their signatures to the promo poster.

I know Randolph’s Leap don’t perform all that often outside of Scotland which is a real shame for those who do live further afield for they make for a great night out with the live versions of the songs achieving that rare and difficult trick of proving to be better than they are on record – and given that I went on record that Clumsy Knot was the best LP of 2014 you can tell I’m not offering the live observation as any double-edged sort of compliment.

Set List

Deep Blue Sea/Not Thinking/Real Anymore/Goodbye/Back Of My Mind/Under the Sun/Isle of Love/Microcosm/Psychic/News/Hermit/Like A Human/Nature/Counting Sheep/I Can’t Dance To This Music/Crisps

Encore

Weatherman/Indie King/Light of the Moon

The band also revealed that they will be next on stage in Glasgow on Saturday 1 April, headlining what will be the fifth of their own special curated festivals of music and comedy under the banner ‘Can’t Dance To This Music’. The other acts on the bill will be announced over the coming weeks, but given that these were the previous musicians, you can guarantee quality:-

I Can’t Dance To This Music 1 : July 2014 (daytime event): Randolph’s Leap/BMX Bandits/The State Broadcasters/Skinny Dipper/Neil Pennycook (Meursault)/David MacGregor (Kid Canaveral)/Vic Galloway (DJ set)

I Can’t Dance To This Music 2 : November 2014 (evening event) : Randolph’s Leap/TeenCanteen/Ballboy/CARBS/Adam Stafford/Chrissy Barnacle

I Can’t Dance To This Music 3 : February 2015 (two-part all-day event): Randolph’s Leap/Tigercats/Withered Hand/Henry & Fleetwood/Eagleowl/Viking Moses/Prehistoric Friends/Kate Lazda (Kid Canaveral)

I Can’t Dance To This Music 4 : October 2016 (two-part all-day event): Randolph’s Leap/Kathryn Joseph/James Yorkston/Ette/Spare Snare/Book Group/Life Model/

Keep an eye out for tickets for edition #5. It will be a grand day out

mp3 : Randolph’s Leap – Hermit

More stuff available here

Enjoy.

Public Enemy

THIS 30 YEARS AGO THING IS REALLY SCARY

Later this year will see the 30th Anniversary of the first time that Public Enemy cracked the charts.

30 years. A whole generation has passed since Rebel Without A Pause sneaked in to the singles chart at #37 during an eight-week stay at the end of 1987 and into the early weeks of 1988. It was interesting that their commercial break-through came over here and not at home, but then again, the new-style black rap acts were scaring the shit out of the establishment in their home nation and radio stations (as Chuck D astutely observes) just wouldn’t play them.

I owe my real appreciation of rap to Jacques the Kipper. I did own some of the more poppy side of rap such as the tunes released by Grandmaster Flash and The Sugarhill Gang but I had no real appreciation of Public Enemy, Ice-T, NWA or the likes until JtK started incorporating them into his many compilation tapes. These, the four tracks that make up the 12″ version of that first hit single, are dedicated to him:-

mp3 : Public Enemy – Rebel Without A Pause (vocal mix)
mp3 : Public Enemy – Terminator X Speaks With His Hands
mp3 : Public Enemy – Rebel Without A Pause (instrumental mix)
mp3 : Public Enemy – Sophisticated Bitch

Enjoy, while feeling very old.

Undertones

THE UNDERTONES SINGLES 77-83 (Part 11)

The Undertones, by 1982, were at a crossroads.  They had grown tired of making the fast, spiky post-punk music that had brought them chart success and led to the the lucrative deal with EMI.  The problem however, was that the sort of music they were now leaning towards was not what the label bosses were looking for.

There was also the fact that the band, having gigged extensively from the outset, had spent much of the year back home in Derry trying to find the magic formula that would provide more hit singles and critically acclaimed albums, and their absence in the live setting created a bit of a void among many of their fans.  It took a full eight months after the flop of Beautiful Friend before the next single was released in October 1982:-

mp3 : The Undertones – The Love Parade

Again, it was a million miles away from the sound with which they were most associated but unlike the previous single this had something going for it.  There was a real sense of it sounding as if it had been made with radio play in mind with all sorts of ooh-ooh backing vocals over a soulful, almost Motown, type of tune.  The problem though, was that the record label more or less disowned it and didn’t put any real effort into promoting it and so, like its predecessor, it sunk without trace, stalling at #97 in the charts, despite, in what was a first for the band, it also being released in an extended 12″ format with an extra 90 seconds of music:-

mp3 : The Undertones – The Love Parade (12 inch version)

The b-side is, sorry to say, a rather unremarkable bit of music which sounds as if it never got much beyond its demo version:-

mp3 : The Undertones – Like That

Just two more weeks left in this particular series.  Does anyone have a band or singer they particularly want featured  next? But please bear in mind that I’ll need to have the majority of singles already in the collection with what I don’t have being easy enough to get my hands on.

Or indeed, does anybody want to take on the mantle of doing the next series themselves?

I’m in your hands.

 

Conquering Animal Sound

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #61 : CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND

I don’t own anything else other by today’s featured band other than this 2013 single. It was bought on a whim as it had come out on Chemikal Underground, a label which is not afraid to take risks but more often than not over the years has called it right. I’m not so sure on this occasion however as it didn’t tempt me to buy the LP….but I’ve no doubt there will be folk more than prepared to put the case for Conquering Animal Sound.

mp3 : Conquering Animal Sound – The Future Does Not Require

A brief bit of background cribbed from wiki:-

Conquering Animal Sound is a Glasgow-based electronic duo consisting of Anneke Kampman (vocals/music) and James Scott (music). Gizeh Records released their debut album Kammerspiel, recorded and mixed via a lo-fi approach in Kampman’s flat. It was widely praised in print and on-line with Drowned In Sound stating that it “simultaneously managed to capture on record the full depth of their creativity and imagination, as well as the inherent beauty of their sound”.

The success of the debut led to the interest from Chemikal Underground and the band went into the label’s Chem 19 studios to mix their second album On Floating Bodies. Again, it was well received, being included in the Top 10 albums of 2013 by The List magazine which praised its “daring and gloriously rich palette”; an intereseting BBC online review said the album is “not always comfortable, but consistently engaging … persist and there’s real beauty to be found in its digitised designs” while a local paper called it “cosmic, disorientating and sublime”.

I’m not too sure if the band are still a going concern – for instance the official website is no longer maintained and its been a year since the twitter account was last activated.

Enjoy.

David Bowie, Tindersticks

DELIBERATELY LATE

 

There were many fine tributes paid to David Bowie a few weeks back on the first anniversary of his death and/or what would have been his 70th birthday. Some of the best could be found within the pages of the blogs listed over on the right hand side and knowing this would be the case I decided to hold off paying my own small tribute until now.

Many of the tributes rightly focussed on the incredibly diverse styles adopted by Bowie throughout his stellar career and it was fascinating to read so many lovingly crafted words paying homage to a fan’s favourite song or album. I don’t ever expect to see a David Bowie ICA in the long-running series as it genuinely is impossible to narrow things down to ten tracks to make up the perfect sounding LP. I was tempted to have a go myself and wait with interest what the likes of The Robster and Echorich (among others) would say in response, but in the end I came to my senses.

Instead, I thought I’d settle for posting a song that I’m rather fond of along with a reasonably rare cover version taken straight from my vinyl copy (albeit I’m willing to admit it is far removed from being one of the essential Tindersticks recordings).

mp3 : David Bowie – Kooks
mp3 : Tindersticks – Kooks

The well-known story behind its composition back in 1971 is that Bowie wanted to write a song especially for his new-born son, one which would capture his feelings of excitement and nervousness about becoming a dad. It seemingly ended up being a pastiche of the sort of songs Neil Young was writing and recording at that time for the simple reason that Bowie was listening to the great Canadian when he learned his son had been born. Now I appreciate that very few folk would say that Kooks is one of his greatest compositions in the grand scheme of things but there’s just something very touching about the lyric that over the years must have put smiles on the faces of many new sets of parents.

Enjoy.

Leftfield

A CHART HIT THIS TIME 21 YEARS AGO

My only prior knowledge of Leftfield at the time of the release of the album Leftism in January 1996 was the single Open Up, the collaboration with John Lydon at the tail end of 1993. It wasn’t so much a lack of enthusiasm that prevented further learning and exploration, more a matter of time as I was in a demanding and high-pressure job that meant any spare time was spent keeping up with the indie guitar stuff that has always been my go to music in times of stress.

The album was purchased on its release in early 1995, and before I knew it, I had fallen head over heels for Original, the track to which Toni Halliday of Curve contributed a stunning vocal. It took a while for me to really get into the remainder of the songs but in due course found myself increasingly playing the CD at home of an evening, glass of vodka in hand as I tried to wind down after another tough day working alongside and for the politicians who were governing my home city.

I was however, bemused to read that the band were intending to lift the opening track of Leftism as yet another single in January 1997, a full year after the album had hit the shops, especially given that so much of its near eight minutes, while being a tremendous blend of dance and reggae, seemed just too trippy and languid to be tailor-made for radio:-

mp3 : Leftfield – Release The Pressure

A couple of weeks later I caught the video for the new single on the Chart Show on the telly one Saturday morning and found myself staring at the screen as it sounded very different from the album version. Even through the rubbish speaker on the television I could tell something a bit special had been done to it, and so I went out and spent £1.99 on the single (I only know this as the sticker is still on the case – I bought it from the Virgin Megastore).

mp3 : Leftfield – Release The Pressure (single version)

Edited down to just under four minutes and with the hip-hop beat being maintained constantly throughout amidst additional vocal ad-libbing, it had been transformed into a bona-fide classic of appeal to fans of many genres and went on to hit #13 in the charts, matching the placing of Open Up.

What I didn’t know for many more years was that Release The Pressure had in fact been previously released by Leftfield on vinyl back in 1992 and so in fact was one of their oldest songs being given a makeover for the LP and again for the single. I’ve never heard the original version or the mixes found on its b-side, but I’m guessing that much of it would have sounded in places much like the other four versions made available on the 1996 CD single:-

mp3 : Leftfield – Release One
mp3 : Leftfield – Release Two
mp3 : Leftfield – Release Three
mp3 : Leftfield – Release Four

I particularly enjoy playing these bits of music loud through the headphones while sunning myself on a faraway beach. But that’s not to say they can’t be fully appreciated in the depths of winter.

Enjoy.

A Certain Ratio

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #107 : A CERTAIN RATIO

A GUEST POSTING FROM ECHORICH

“Hi JC,

Well I took the bait and here is my ACR ICA, or should that be ACR:ICA?

I’m afraid I just couldn’t whittle it down to just 10 tracks and do ACR any real justice, so I have given you a Baker’s Dozen of 13 tracks.

I hope Adam also takes up the challenge as I hope and really expect we will take different approaches as well as choose different tracks to give ACR the justice they deserve as a 40 year survivor.

ECHORICH”

In every music fan’s collection, there’s a band that they cherish; a band that went unsung during their time or, if they still soldier on, have managed to persevere without breaking through in a sense that is considered successful. These bands become that much dearer to their smaller numbers of fans because they take on a very personal connection with the music and its makers. Some of those fans become proselytizing acolytes, some never mention “their band” to anyone.

For me, A Certain Ratio is one of those bands. And I am a proselytizer! I will take any chance I can to turn people on to ACR. To my mind, they were the middle child at Factory Records. Loved by their label but pretty much left to fend for themselves as big brother New Order and the baby, Happy Mondays were given all the love and attention. This led to a band with a mission and a sound that grew much more organically than that of those brothers.

A Certain Ratio’s roots are in the darker, brooding sound of Post Punk circa 1978 -79, but they found rhythm and beat and incorporated it into their initial sound fairly quickly. Their sound can be a bit difficult to pin down to a single genre – Post Punk – definitely, Funk – but more of the Fractured kind, Jazz – well certainly informed by Jazz and Jazz Fusion, but they know a great pop song when they hear one. In the end, it’s best to approach ACR by following the development of their sound over 40 years.

Now on to the personal… I first heard ACR in late 1979. I was 16 and Hurrah Nightclub was my music mecca. To this day I appreciate the lax enforcement of age restriction at clubs in NYC. All Night Party, their first single, was played along with other broody Post Punk tracks during dj sets. These were the days when a DJ didn’t have to worry about BPMs, or alienating the crowd by switching things up. You went to Hurrah FOR that switch up – to be surprised. I bought All Night Party and then the cassette only The Graveyard And Ballroom at the beginning of 1980. By the summer of that same year, alternative NYC radio and the dance clubs were pumping the follow up and their milestone, Shack Up. This was miles away from All Night Party, but was right in the groove of the sound that was taking over Manhattan. Fractured Funk with a bass sound that could destroy masonry.

But it was on September 26, 1980 that my fandom was signed and sealed. A Certain Ratio was in NYC and headlining at Hurrah – with a new band, New Order, as their opening act. This is one of those magical nights that is almost impossible to remember without giving it an even bigger legend that it already has. Suffice to say, memories of that night still fly in and out of my middle aged mind and cause me to smile that smile of experiential satisfaction.

A Certain Ratio – From The Graveyard to Mickey Way – a Baker’s Dozen ICA

1. All Night Party

This one always brings back memories of hanging out in the deeper recesses of Hurrah watching the dancers sway too and frow on a dark lit dance floor. All Night Party has a soulless urgency that just builds and builds until it stops. It is certainly night music, but the only party it would soundtrack would likely occur in a mausoleum.

2. Do the Du – From The Graveyard And The Ballroom

Amazing what can happen in a year or so. But I suspect that their heart and feet were never far from the FUNK. But where All Night Party was a night ceremony for the ghoul in us all, Do The Du was like a waking from the dead. With still disembodied vocals, ACR now seemed intent on defibrillating it’s audience with a bass sound that just took over. It’s said (by Jez Kerr) that when ACR opened for Talking Heads on their Fear Of Music tour, that David Byrne was on side stage every night, seemingly taking mental notes. I think that’s a fair assumption when you hear much of Remain In Light.

3. Shack Up

The song any music fan of the early 80s will know from A Certain Ratio. Here the band decides the best way to change the world is to work together, live together, sleep together. Pop sociology with thumping bass, manic guitar and horns straight off of J.B.’s charts. You can’t help but move to this. Played loud enough, the ground below you will force it upon you. I remember Shack Up being one of those songs DJ’s would wait to play at the peak hour in Hurrah, Peppermint Lounge or Danceteria for years. It never failed to get the crowd to the next level.

4. Felch – from To Each

To Each is an experimental masterpiece. Recorded in East Orange, New Jersey at the legendary Eastern Artists Recording Studio (EARS) with Martin Hannett, It is an album so many personalities, it could have text books written about it. Post Punk, Punk-Funk, Latin street rhythms, and lots of free form Jazz. Hannett, away from Manchester and Tony Wilson, was able to let freedom reign and put so much passion into the production of To Each that it remains among my favorites of all his productions. Oh and the album cover is an illustration by Ann Quigley of Swamp Children with art coordination by Peter Sleazy Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle.

5. Lucinda – from Sextet

Here is the stand out track from my favorite A Certain Ratio album. Sextet amps up the funk and the dark backroom Jazz with an undercurrent of urban decay. No pastoral English countryside here. There’s a sort of Apocalyptical urgency to these rhythms – like the band playing in an underground bunker while the city above devolves in flames. Martha Wilson takes on the vocals here adding a new dimension to ACR’s aggressive funk.

6. I’d Like To See You Again – from I’d Like To See You Again

I’d Like To See You Again was the band’s second album of 1982. On the surface it’s a more approachable album than Sextet, but it is still an album with little to no compromise. It features Brazilian rhythms, lots of Jez Kerr’s funky bass and jazz workouts, but the title track managed to have a pop purity mixed into all that and it was really something that stood out to me. The album would be followed by a stand alone single, Need Someone Tonite, six months later that further explored pop as another aspect of the band’s sound.

7. Life’s A Scream

1984 and A Certain Ratio had become a leaner, tighter unit with the previous departures of both Simon Topping in 1983 and Peter Terrell at the end of 1982. Life’s A Scream was one of two stand alone singles (Brazilia was the other) in which the band could be heard to on a new journey into pop and dance – one that was sharp and focused, less freeform. This is a bright and airy ACR. Life’s A Scream that could be found on dozens of mixtapes I made in the mid 80s. A poppy, feel good track to make the subway ride to work an easier affair.

8. And Then She Smiles – from Force

Force should have been massive. Fact. Unfortunately, for ACR, their wasn’t a budget at Factory Records in 1986 to promote both New Order and, well, anyone else… Critics took to Force in a big way, and they scored some airtime as well. But that groundswell needed something to push them over the top from their record company. Unfortunately they were busy pushing New Order on a global scale with little time for anything else. (Yes, opinions may vary on this…) And Then She Smiles best exemplifies the band’s new found “slickness.” Jez is almost plaintive in his vocals and the overall sound has an emotional dreaminess about it. It remains to this day a song that moves me when I hear it.

9. Mickey Way – from Force

But all was not gone from ACR’s funky bag of tricks. Mickey Way is a razor sharp funk workout that incorporates samples sounds and words, punchy brass and tight driving bass in possibly the band’s cleanest, clearest production to date. Some fans may have lamented the loss of gritty, chaotic muscular funk of their past, but for me Mickey Way and Force overall kept ACR relevant.

10. The Big E

ACR would persevere over the next few years, releasing singles like the wonderful Bootsy off Force and an EP called Greeting Four made for the Italian market which included one of the bands gems in The Runner.

They resurfaced on vinyl in 1989 with a new record label – A+M – and a sound which was obviously influenced by House and Balearic sounds. But the album, Good Together was preceded by a single which absolutely floored me.

The Big E was this island of pure, soulful pop music surrounded by the burgeoning UK House and Madchester scene. It owes much to the previous, And Then She Smiled from Force, but it went another level in its execution and power. The strong bass and jazz influence was still there, but as a counterpoint to the beauty of the pop music at the song’s core. I consider The Big E to the song that closes my 1980’s musically. It even has an ending that darkens a bit like a reminder of times passed.

Many will pass over The Big E for the remake/remodel version which would be known as Won’t Stop Loving You which featured sported remixes by Barney Sumner and Norman Cook, but for the dancified remixes pale in comparison to the original songs beauty.

11. Spirit Dance – Four For The Floor EP

Now ACR was not about to ignore a sound that was growing out of the clubs of Manchester in 1989. House was more than just a trend and the band knew it early on. Right on the heals of the Good Together album, A Certain Ratio released the Four For the Floor EP. It contained the recent album acid-y title track with Barney Sumner and Shaun Ryder on vocals, and three other tracks which showed how their sounds of the past fit in well with the experimentations of House Music. Of those tracks Spirit Dance was the one which seemed to sum up A Certain Ratio’s position as a direct influence on the sounds of late 80s – early 90s dance music. It is spooky, and entrancing music with Jez’s signature growling bass and Donald Johnson’s machine like drums. All the songs from the EP would feature on ACR:MCR, which was put out to take advantage of the dollar power of House/Dance music. But ultimately, ACR would be let down once again in the marketplace.

12. Sister Brother – from Change The Station

ACR:MCR saw the end come to the band’s time with A+M Records and a move to former New Order manager Rob Gretton’s Robs Records.

I will admit I find the two albums the band put out at this time Up In Downsville and Change The Station to not have had any real immediate impact on me. In the intervening years though, I have grown to enjoy the return the band would gradually make back to a freer and funkier place musically.

Sister Brother is a perfect example of this return to their roots. It has a jazz funk musical bed with some gorgeous singing and scatting from Corinne Drewery and Denise Johnson. Andy Connell also returned to the band for this song, as he did for one track on Up In Downsville, making the track a sort of ACR/Swing Out Sister collaboration. It’s a muscular workout.

13. Mind Made Up – from Mind Made Up

Some 31 years after the original lineup of A Certain Ratio first got together, A Certain Ratio released Mind Made Up in 2008. In the wake of former manager and Factory Impresario Tony Wilson’s passing, Kerr, Johnson and Moscrop, along with the players they had been recording and gigging with since 1996, found it was time to get back in the studio and lay out another phase in A Certain Ratio’s history. They managed to entice original members Simon Topping and Peter Terrell into the studio to contribute on some tracks as well. It’s an album that smacks of A Certain Ratio acknowledging their past while looking firmly at the world around them and the future.

The title track is, for me, the stand out track. Jez Kerr pounds his bass while singing like a man who’s gained the knowledge of 30’s years experience. Donald Johnson keeps a strict time and Martin Moscrop plays some massively funky guitar riffs.

Mind Made Up is dark and lovely – especially with the distinctive soaring vocals of Denise Johnson. Mind Made Up is an album that I’ve played constantly now for nine years – it’s that good. I believe my patience will be rewarded later this year with an new ACR album.

Enjoy.

Ette

JUST REALISED…..

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

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

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

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

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

https://olivegrove.bandcamp.com/artists

No mp3s with this posting – I encourage you all to spend your money on this very fine record which comes in eye-catching pink vinyl (or digitally if you prefer things that way).  Here’s a promo for one of the songs.

I was lucky enough to see Ette at a tiny venue in Glasgow for the gig that launched this album – and had the privilege of actually working on the merchandise stall that night as an Lloyd needed an extra pair of hands given that just about everyone who was at the gig also bought the album such was the quality of the performance from Carla, Joe and the band they had put together for the evening.

Enjoy.

New Order

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #106 : NEW ORDER : VOL. 3

They were #20 in the series back in June 2015 and I went with these tracks:-

Side A

Age Of Consent
The Perfect Kiss (12″)
Lonesome Tonight
Temptation (12″)
Run

Side B

Love Vigilantes
True Faith
Ceremony
Blue Monday
Leave Me Alone

Just six weeks later, a second New Order ICA was offered up as #28 in the series, courtesy of a guest posting by Martin Elliot from Sweden, that had been a work in progress when my own offering appeared:-

Side A

Blue Monday
1963
Round & Round (KS club mix)
Regret (Sabres Slow n Low)
Age Of Consent

Side B

True Dub
Someone Like You (GD Vocotech dub)
World (Brothers in Rhythm)
The Perfect Kiss (12″)
Ceremony

I happened to put New Order on shuffle on the i-pod the other week and was quickly reminded just how many great bits of music they had put out, particularly in the early part of their career, so much so I thought a record-breaking third ICA would go down well. The only rule being all ten songs this time can’t have been featured at all in any shape in either of my own or Martin’s postings from 2015. Let’s Go……

SIDE A

1. Love Vigilantes (from Low-Life, 1985)

If it wasn’t for the fact that Age of Consent is such a stunning opening to Power, Corruption & Lies than I would reckon many of us would argue that this is as fine an opening, not to just to any New Order LP, but to any LP as there has been. It’s a tremendous bit of pop music and one of the finest ghost stories that anyone could ever sway their hips to.

2. Confusion (rough mix) (single, 1983)

Let’s stay up there on the dance floor with the song that paid tribute to the changing face and sound of NYC nightclubs and hatched the idea for The Hacienda. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, it wouldn’t have happened without the production work and values of Arthur Baker as clearly demonstrated by its similarities to the earlier hit single I.O.U. by Freez, but it was a sound and a technique which New Order were already exploring, the conquering of which would make them as important as any band that has ever emerged from the UK.

3. Thieves Like Us (single, 1984)

I had the b-side to this on the original ICA and while I stand by my claim that Lonesome Tonight is the better song there’s no getting away from the fact that this is a hugely under-appreciated single which in many ways ticks all the boxes – great bass line, unusual and catchy drum beat, the one-fingered keyboard solo and a nonsensical lyric that, by somehow hanging brilliantly together, makes perfect sense. And as an added bonus it has Barney singing in and out of tune….

4. Shame Of The Nation (7″ version) (b-side 1986)

While he’s no Weller or Bragg, I’ll doff my cap to Barney for having a go at writing a political protest song at the height of Thatcherism. It was a single that was widely ridiculed upon its release and which, to be honest, hasn’t date all that well , but the additional work on the b-side, for which producer John Robie is attributed a credit, means it is more than salvageable thirty years on. As far as I know this particular version has never been made available in any other format than the original 7″ vinyl. It’s clearly been edited down from the full-length format with some unwieldy edits but it’s included here given that any Volume 3 of a release needs some sort of rarity to make it appeal….

5. Dreams Never End (from Movement, 1981)

This is inspired by Martin who, in his New Order ICA, pointed out that a brilliant LP opener – Age Of Consent – can also work just as effectively as a closer to a side and make you want to flip the vinyl over without any hesitation. The one where Hooky had a go at being lead vocalist and the one that you know would have made a great Joy Division single.

SIDE B

1. Your Silent Face (from Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983)

This was the one track that I just couldn’t find the room for back in June 2015 which was painful as it is one of my all-time favourite NO songs, but my rule of thumb for an ICA is that it has to hang together as an album and not merely be a collection of tunes. It opens up Side B of PC&L and this is perfectly place right here.

2. Bizarre Love Triangle 94 (from Best Of, 1994)

The rapid advances in production techniques were such that Stephen Hague could take what was one of the band’s most recognisable numbers and make it even more New Order-sounding than the band had managed back in 1986. It was one of four tracks that he worked on for this particular release and helped make it something worth purchasing with the nice little fade out at the end allows a nice lead-in to….

3. Paradise (from Brotherhood, 1986)

The band’s fourth album was something of a disappointment in comparison to the other work that came immediately before and shortly afterwards. It certainly suffered from the decision to put five guitar-based songs back-to-back on side A with the flip side being the more electronic based numbers. I’m not going to argue that all ten tracks are essential but it certainly isn’t as duff a record as I first thought.

4. Vanishing Point (from Technique, 1989)

I’ll long argue that Technique is the band’s finest LP, It’s strange because it came out at a time when I was missing out on so much music and I wasn’t buying much, but as a long-standing fan and having just about everything in the collection I made sure I picked it up when it was released. It came across as such a happy and triumphant record that I fell for its charms on first listen – it seemed to have everything I wanted the band to do with its mix of guitar and electronica with so many that you just wanted to dance to…and yet the tracks that really seemed to stand out early on was this resigned sounding mid(ish)-tempo number. Maybe it was that I was feeling my own life was no holiday and I had personally reached the point of no return. Imagine that…a New Order lyric that proved to be philosophical.

5. Ruined In A Day (from Republic, 1993)

I’m closing things off with a track that I’ve come to love and appreciate only in recent years. I was never fond of much of the parent album and thought it was a sad ending (as it appeared at the time) to the band’s career. I also hated the promo video that accompanied the release of Ruined In A Day as a single and struggled to disassociate the two. But a few years ago, this came up via shuffle while I was lazing out in the garden on one of the few sunny days we get in Glasgow and it just sounded quite lovely through the headphones. It would probably have made a superb Electronic record….just imagine Johnny Marr adding a guitar solo in the middle of it and it would be damn near perfect.

So there you have it. A third volume, and while it is easy to bemoan the lack of some classics, I think it hangs together pretty well.

Bonus track today. It’s featured before on the blog in video form. If you do like this, then I urge you to go and purchase it along with the other four versions that are available:-

mp3 : Mike Garry & Joe Duddell – St Anthony : An Ode to Anthony H Wilson

Just when you thought Your Silent Face couldn’t be bettered. Buy here.

Enjoy

Undertones

THE UNDERTONES SINGLES 77-83 (Part 10)

The next single was released in February 1982.  I’ll hand over to Michael Bradley from the band to offer his take on it:-

“A strange one : probably the first song we didn’t have live. We hadn’t properly played it before going into the studio. There’s a sort of sequencer or synthesiser type thing going on there. It was a big departure for us. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea. But it came at a time when, commercially, we were down. We were very vulnerable to someone saying ‘This is shite.’ Our confidence had been weakened because Julie Ocean didn’t get into the Top 40, Positive Touch wasn’t as successful as Hypnotised and It’s Going To Happen! was a bit of a disappointment, too. Beautiful Friend was a good song, and we enjoyed it as a development, but it was never going to set the charts on fire, as they say.  The whole new romantic thing was happening, suddenly we were passe. People weren’t interested in boys from Derry playing guitars.”

mp3 : The Undertones – Beautiful Friend

To say it bombed would be an understatement.  It didn’t sell enough copies to scrape into the Top 100, this from a band who less than two years previous had enjoyed a run of Top 20 singles.

It was the first of their singles I didn’t buy.  I thought it was dull and uninspired and I haven’t changed my mind all these years later.

The b-side was a reworking of Life’s Too Easy, a song on Positive Touch.  Here’s Michael’s take on it:-

“Another strange one.  It was contrived. Again, it was us doing something different, possibly for the sake of doing something different. I wasn’t happy with that one.”

mp3 : The Undertones – Life’s Too Easy

(apologies for the poor quality of this track – I had to source it from somewhere else on t’internet – it’s not worth paying 99p for via i-tunes).  Worth mentioning too that Michael was a co-writer of Life’s Too Easy so his criticism of the new version has to be seen as very valid.

The band, on a new label with bosses having high expectations, were at a crossroads.  The new material for the fourth LP was going to be crucial….

 

Communards

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #60 : COMMUNARDS

I wasn’t sure whether to include Communards in this series – but using the same logic as I did with Bronski Beat then I’m more than happy to do so.

They formed in 1985 after Jimmy Somerville left his band behind to team up with classically trained musician Richard Coles who was best known as a pianist although he was already familiar to Bronski Beat fans thanks his clarinet solo on the hit single It Ain’t Necessarily So.

Pursuing a left-wing political agenda in their lyrics while making hi-energy dance music proved to be a successful formula. The duo gradually expanded, incorporating, among others, Sarah Jane Morris on vocals and June Miles Kingston on drums, and would go onto enjoy nine hit singles, including a #1 with a cover of Don’t Leave Me This Way and two Top 10 albums.

There was an acrimonious split in 1988, sparked seemingly by the instrumentalist lying to the singer that he had contracted HIV/AIDS.

Jimmy Somerville would subsequently embark on a solo career which has been sporadically successful while  Richard Coles firstly pursued a career as a journalist before training as a priest, eventually being ordained in 2005, all the while maintaining a writing career combined with an increasing number of radio and television appearances, often in the area of light entertainment but increasingly on religious issues.  He’s actually better known and more famous these days than his former sidekick.

This was on the b-side of their debut single back in 1985.  It’s sadly still as relevant and poignant more than three decades on.

mp3 : Communards – Breadline Britain

Enjoy