Dearness

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #448: DEARNESS

Today’s featured Scottish act’s song comes courtesy of its inclusion on David Cameron’s Eton Mess, a compilation album released in October 2015 on Song, By Toad Records.  This is the sixth time I’ve gone to that album, and here’s a reminder of what it was all about:-

“Almost all of the singers and bands were, at the time, unknown with very little more than a few tracks available online or via a limited physical release, most often cheaply done on a cassette. Label owner, Matthew Young, said at the time:-

“Most of the bands are friends and a lot of musicians feature on several of the album’s tracks, one of the reasons why we’ve put the compilation together. It feels like there’s this pool of really talented musicians bubbling away and all sorts of excellent music is starting to emerge from the mix. Bands are forming, breaking up, and starting again all the time. When you see a loose collection of bands connecting like this you never know what is going to happen. A few will disappear, some will do okay, some might pave the way for others, and a few of these bands could go on to do really well.”

The track from Dearness was this:-

mp3: Dearness – It’s Ok, You’re Fine

A more than decent lo-fi indie number. Dearness was the stage name used by Ryan Drever, the bass player with PAWS, for his solo material.  In addition to this track on the compilation, there was a very limited cassette/CD release of an album, Accidental Gold, also back in 2015.  It’s OK, You’re Fine is also on said album, and while the cassette/CD has long sold out, it is available digitally via bandcamp.  Click here.

JC

 

 

 

Serious Drinking

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #090

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#090: Serious Drinking – ‘Country Girl Became Sex And Drugs Punk’ (Upright ’84)

Hello friends,

to be honest to you: it took me a considerable amount of my teenage years to learn that music and, more importantly, lyrics does (or should this be ‘do’?) not necessarily always need to be deep and meaningful in order to be good, in fact sometimes all you need is a good laugh, really! It’s hard to describe, but if you had to compare, say, Joy Division or Mazzy Star to Half Man Half Biscuit or I, Ludicrous – would you be able to judge which band is better? I certainly could not do this, because all of them are great – in their own style.

Serious Drinking, despite their name, do not have to be taken all too serious, I would say – but the thing is, if I had to guess: they never expected to be taken too seriously, contrary to many other bands. And that’s an attitude I can sympathize with, to be sure!

So, a brief CV for you: Serious Drinking came from Norwich, were active from ’81 to ’85, two albums, two (great) compilations, three singles, heavily into football, girls, drinking, not consequently in this exact sequence – and that’s all you need to know really.

And should you still be wondering what I was trying to say above, perhaps the band’s humour is best shown in the title of the second album, a quote from one of those hilarious 60’s ‘Batman’ movies starring Adam West, in which Batman says to Robin: ‘They may be drinkers, Robin, but they’re also human beings …. they may be salvaged!’

I always loved this title, and this humour is drawing a more or less continuous line throughout many songs Serious Drinking wrote: ‘Love On The Terraces’, ‘Bobby Moore Was Innocent’, ‘Don’t Shoot Me Down’, ‘Baby I’m Dying A Death’. Especially the latter is ace, and I could easily have chosen it here, but no, I went for their final single instead, because it’s a song which tells a story, and mind you, it doesn’t happen often that a story as sad as this one puts a grin on my face until the needle reaches the lead-out groove … each and every time:

mp3:  Serious Drinking – Country Girl Became Sex And Drugs Punk

Perhaps I should dedicate this to SWC, because a) he lives in the middle of nowhere and b) he has a young daughter: so be warned, my friend!

For the rest of you: as always, enjoy,

 

Dirk

 

 

Book Reviews

BOOK OF THE MONTH : APRIL 2025 : ‘IN ONE EAR : COCTEAU TWINS, IVOR AND ME’ by SIMON RAYMONDE

Another music autobiography that was purchased, for the most part, on the back of reading some very favourable review, but also because I hoped to learn a great deal more about the Cocteau Twins.

The PR blurb for the book, which was published in September 2024, has been heavily used on the various websites from where it can be published, and I’m not going to buck the trend:-

“The page-turning memoir of Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, charting his life and legacy in music. As one-third of seminal band Cocteau Twins, Simon Raymonde helped to create some of the most beautiful and memorable albums of the ’80s and ’90s – music that continues to cast a spell over millions. This is the story of the band, in his words.

Beginning with Simon’s remarkable childhood and exploring his relationship with his father, Ivor Raymonde (the legendary producer, musician and arranger for acts such as the Walker Brothers and songwriter for artists including Dusty Springfield), the book will journey through the musician’s rise to prominence and his time with Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil.

It will also chart the successful career he has forged running his own label, Bella Union, for the past twenty-seven years, discovering and developing globally renowned artists like Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty and John Grant.

And the narrative will lead us back to the present day, reflecting on Simon’s most recent experiences in the music industry – all while going deaf in one ear.

A must-read for music fans, this is the incredible tale of Simon’s life and legacy.”

It really is the case that the 368 pages of text contain some incredible tales, from all aspects of Simon’s life, with quite a few of them being genuinely jaw-dropping.  I have, however, got to get something off my chest right away before getting into the meat of this review, namely that some of the stories/events/happenings feel as if they should be taken with a huge pinch of salt – I am particularly thinking of him attending a football match in Glasgow in the mid 80s and his night in a Las Vegas casino in 1991, along with the events over the next 24 hours as he made his way unaccompanied to the band’s next gig in Phoenix.

These, and a couple of other passages irritated me more than they should have, and put me in such a mood that I almost put the book to one side, vowing never to pick it up again.  But I persisted, often returning a day or two later after in the meantime read some pages of another book that was on the beside table or spent my daylight hours listening to music or blogging, and am really grateful that I did, but not for the reasons I was anticipating.

The PR blurb is, as is often the case, a tad misleading as ‘In One Ear’ is not the story of the Cocteau Twins, and at no point does Simon ever claim it is meant to be.  He is at pains to point out that he wasn’t involved in the formation of the band, and more than once reminds readers that, due to him being heavily involved with the work of This Mortal Coil, he wasn’t part of the recording of Victorialand, the Cocteau Twins’ fourth studio album, released in 1986.  He is very discreet about a number of things, not willing to going into great detail about things which were pertinent only to Elizabeth Frazer and Robin Guthrie, but he reveals just enough about life in the studio, on tour and dealing with the various aspects of the record industry to make that part of the book a fast-flowing and entertaining read.

I kind of got bogged down a bit with much of the Bella Union story, mainly as it’s a label whose acts have never really been among my favourites.  Over the years, I have paid attention to ‘end of year’ lists and gone out and bought CDs by the likes of Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, Midlake and John Grant, only to find that they end up gathering dust up on the shelves after one or two listens.  But I am clearly in a minority given that the label, founded in 1997 and initially intended as a vehicle for Cocteau Twins releases after the group’s unhappy time with Fontana, is very much still on the go all these years later, bringing a great deal of pleasure to millions of music fans all over the globe.

The book’s greatest strength, I feel, is when Simon veers away from the shenanigans of the music industry and writes about himself and his family, and in particular his relationship with his parents.  There is a superb 40-page interlude in the second half of the book which is devoted to telling the story of his father, Ivor Raymonde, a famous musician, songwriter and arranger back in the 60s and 70s.  I knew Ivor was famed for his work with Dusty Springfield, but had no idea he was involved in the work and successes of many others from the era, including Joe Meek, Scott Walker and Marty Wilde, among others.  Ivor would pass away in 1990, at the young age of 63, and many years later his son would pay tribute by compiling and issuing two volumes of songs on Bella Union.

The closing chapters reintroduce his mother, who for the most part has been a peripheral figure in the book, with Simon admitting they were never close when he was growing up.  It took until her later years for them to really form a happy relationship, and the most moving parts of the book come with his description of her final few months of life.  This was another occasion when I had to put the book down, but not for the previously cited reasons.

As these types of books go, there aren’t too many examples of name-dropping within the actual text, but it is very clear that Simon has met an incredible number of people throughout his life to whom he is grateful.  There is possibly the most-packed acknowledgements section at the end I’ve ever come across, which runs to four-and-a-half tightly spaced pages with what must be some 500 people mentioned, all of whom he says has at one time left a lasting impression on him, even if they had no idea why.

Overall impressions?  A more than decent read, let down by what feels like the occasional flight of fantasy; but then again, very few, if any, autobiographies ever offer up a straightforward and totally truthful account of events, so I shouldn’t be too harsh.

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Frou-Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires

The closing track on Heaven or Las Vegas (1990), with the book revealing that Simon wrote the music the day after his dad’s funeral, having come into the studio early as he couldn’t sleep.

 

JC

David Bowie

SONGS UNDER TWO MINUTES (13): BREAKING GLASS

An album track from 1977

mp3: David Bowie – Breaking Glass

Side 1, Track 2 of Low.  The eleventh studio album from David Bowie and the first of what is now referred to as the Berlin Trilogy, even though most of the record was  recorded in September/October 1976 at the Château d’Hérouville in France.

And yes, it is a short post today, but then again, that’s the nature of the Songs Under Two Minutes series.  Besides, I was tired after yesterday’s offering!

 

JC

Blancmange, Bruce Foxton, Cocteau Twins, Cure, Duran Duran, Echo & The Bunnymen, Killing Joke, Malcolm X and Keith Le Blanc, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Psychedelic Furs, Sandie Shaw, Spear of Destiny, Talk Talk, Tracie

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (April)

I finished off last month’s two-part look back at the singles chart of 1984 with a degree of pessimism that 1984 wasn’t really shaping up to be a vintage year judging by the quality of new entries in the month of March.  Will the four charts to fall in the month of April offer any rays of sunshine?

1-7 April

Lionel Richie was still saying Hello, and in the very confusing promo video, asking someone…..a blind woman much younger than himself….if it was him she was looking for.  Urgh.

Ballads were seemingly all the rage among the mainstream as the highest new entry, at #26 belonged to Phil Collins with Against All Odds (Take A Look at Me Now).  Before the month was out, this one would be stuck at #2…..initially kept off the top spot by ole’ Lionel.

So far….so awful.  Thankfully, Bob and his boys offered some respite

mp3: The Cure – The Caterpillar (#31)

Or did they? Let’s be honest about things.  The Cure had given us some great singles in the early 80s and would do so from the mid-80s onwards.  But their sole 45 from 1984 is a bit meh….and indeed, the parent album The Top, is one which, while subject to positive reviews at the time, has come to be regarded as one of their less stellar offerings. The Caterpillar would spend seven weeks in the charts, peaking at #14.

mp3: The Psychedelic Furs – Heaven (#39)

Here’s one whose production values and techniques highlight it could only be from the 80s. I’ve a lot of time for a number of the early Psychedelic Furs material, but fourth album, Mirror Moves, from which Heaven was the lead-off single was where they began to lose me.  As I wrote many years ago in a previous posting on the band, I found myself wondering why it was that I once thought they were an important part of the alternative music scene in the UK in the early 80s when in fact they were really always a mainstream act bordering on the different.  Heaven would briefly break into the Top 30 the following week, and other than the later re-release of Pretty In Pink to tie-in with the film of that name, would be their best achieving 45.

mp3: Killing Joke – Eighties (#60)

I’m kind of surprised that I’ve never featured this before on the blog….but then again, it’s not actually a piece of vinyl I own.   Indeed, I don’t have too much by Killing Joke gathering dust on the shelves.  But this one, which was clearly ripped off a few years later by Kurt Cobain when he wrote Come As You Are, is a more than listenable number.  It spent five weeks in the chart, and by the look of things, sold roughly the same number of copies each and every week with chart positions of 60, 62, 61, 63 and 64.

mp3: Malcolm X and Keith Le Blanc – No Sell Out (#69)

On which samples of words spoken in speeches by the assassinated political activist were put to a hip hop beat.  The lack of radio play in the UK hindered sales, with it eventually reaching just #60.  It was, however, a mainstay of student union discos across the land.  Well, I certainly ensured it got played it on the occasional Thursday alt-night at Strathclyde.

mp3: Talk Talk – Such A Shame (#70)

The follow-up to It’s My Life which had peaked at #46 in January fared no better, staggering its way up to #49 in mid-April.  It did much better in other markets, reaching #1 in Italy and Switzerland, and #2 in Austria and West Germany.

8-14 April

I Want To Break Free by Queen was your highest new entry at #18.  I’ve nothing to add to that sentence. Next highest was from an electronic duo, many of whose earliest singles had excited me.

mp3: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Locomotion (#28)

The duo had taken a bit of a commercial battering with the singles taken from 1983’s Dazzle Ships, with one reaching #20 and the other only hitting #42.  A more pop-focussed approach was adopted for 1984’s follow-up, Junk Culture, with this lead off effort eventually peaking at #5.  I know this era of OMD has its fans, but I’m not among them.

mp3: Blancmange – Don’t Tell Me (#32)

The third 45 to be lifted from the soon-to-be released Mange Tout provided Blancmange with a fifth successive Top 40 hit, The rather excellent Don’t Tell Me would subsequently become one of their biggest, reaching #8, just one place below Living On The Ceiling, their breakthrough single back in 1982.

mp3: Spear of Destiny – Liberator (#67)

Prisoner of Love, released in January 1984, had not been the hoped-for smash for Spear of Destiny and record label Epic, only reaching #59.  Hopes were high for Liberator, but it fared even worse, coming in at #67 and not getting any higher.  The consolation was that parent album, One Eyed Jacks, released at the end of April did reach #22.

mp3: Tracie – Souls On Fire (#73)

Tracie Young was a protégé of Paul Weller. Aged 17, she had sent a demo tape to the singer when he was looking to sign acts to his newly established Respond Records.  She was immediately asked to provide backing vocals to The Jam‘s final single, Beat Surrender, in November 1982, and then became part of The Style Council as backing vocalist and touring performer.  Her debut solo single, The House That Jack Built, attributed solely to Tracie, went Top 10 in April 1983, but the subsequent solo album, Far From The Hurting Kind, sold poorly and reached just #64.

Twelve months after the big hit, an effort was made to re-start her career with a new single. Souls On Fire flopped, peaking at #73.  There was one more single later in the year….watch out for it later in this series.

15-21 April

mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – Silver (#32)

The Killing Moon had been a big hit earlier in the year, and the music press was buzzing with anticipation for the release of the forthcoming album, Ocean Rain.  It’s fair to say that the band’s manager, Bill Drummond, was really talking things up.  In many ways, Silver was something of an anti-climax; it was a decent enough tune, but it didn’t feel that the hype was fully justified.  It was the Bunnymen, but not quite as we knew them.  It came in at #32, and didn’t get any higher than #30.

mp3: Sandie Shaw – Hand In Glove (#44)

Well, well, well.

The Smiths, and Morrissey in particular, remained irked that their debut single had failed to trouble the charts.  Having talked often in the press of his love for 60s bare-footed chanteuse Sandie Shaw, he persuaded her to provide a vocal to a re-recorded version of the tune, on which Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce all played. It would eventually reach #27 and indeed offer up an enjoyable appearance on Top of The Pops, in which Sandie at one point gently sends-up Morrissey. Worth also mentioning that it was the first time in fifteen years that she had been on the show.

mp3: Bruce Foxton – It Makes Me Wonder (#74)

The first couple of singles by the ex-Jam bassist in 1983 had done OK, with debut effort Freak reaching #23.  The debut album, Touch Sensitive, was scheduled for release in May 1984 and so this further advance single was released.  Sadly, but not too unsurprisingly, as the quality was lacking, both it and the album sold poorly and Bruce Foxton would be dropped by his record label by the year-end.

22-28 April

Those of you who watched the Sandie Shaw TOTP clip and listened carefully to the presenters’ introduction would have heard that Duran Duran were coming up later on the same show.  It would be to perform their latest smash.

mp3: Duran Duran – The Reflex (#5)

An unusually high new entry for the early part of 1984. It was their 11th hit single in a row, and would ultimately provide them with a second #1  – the other had been Is There Something I Should Know? back in March 1983.  Nobody knew it at the time, as the future looked ridiculously rosy, but it was the last time they had a #1.

mp3: New Order – Thieves Like Us (#21)

Blue Monday, and to a lesser extent, Confusion, had made stars out of New Order, but they confounded many of their newly founded fans by making their next single an indie effort rather than one aimed at the dance floor.  Oh, and to make things even more perverse, it was released only on 12″, allowing for its full running time of more than six-and-a-half minutes, but there was an edited version made available as a promo 7″ to radio stations.  Thieves Like Us would reach #18 in the chart which straddled April/May 1984….and led to a live TOTP appearance in which Bernard sounded……….well, I’ll leave it you to decide!

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Pearly-Dewdrops Drop (#38)

A reminder that 1984 was occasionally capable of offering unexpected hit singles.  This would eventually climb to #29, and be the first and last time the Cocteau Twins would breach the Top 30 – not that they nor 4AD were all that bothered, as it really was about album sales.  Just a pity there was no TOTP appearance, but they had already appeared earlier in the year on another of the BBC’s programmes.

A reminder that I’ll be back later in the month with April 1984 singles that didn’t reach the Top 75.

Many thanks

 

JC

Making Marks

ONE SONG ON THE HARD DRIVE (16)

Today’s offering comes courtesy of its inclusion on the Indietracks Compilation 2013.

mp3: Making Marks – Ticket Machine

Making Marks formed in Oslo, Norway in 2012 and over the course of what was a short career would release two singles and an album for the London-based Fika Recordings and one single for a local label, Snertingdal Records.   The four band members were Ola Innset (guitar and vocals), Nina Bø (vocals and keyboards), Marie Sneve (bass) and Jørgen Nordby (drums).

Ticket Machine was the debut single, appearing in October 2012. It was also included on their sole album A Thousand Half-Truths, which came out in March 2014 and proved to be their last-ever release.

The verdict from Villain Towers?   The opening notes are an absolute delight, as they are very reminiscent of the much-loved Cats on Fire.  The vocals, which come in just before the 30-second mark, wouldn’t be out of place at a lively American hoe down.  In essence, it’s a mix of indie and country, and it works really well.

JC

PS :

I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who left such kind words alongside last Friday’s posting about my late friend, Kenno.

It turned out, as expected, to be the most perfect of memorial services.  An enormous turnout, with wonderful contributions from friends, work colleagues and family members. Lots of smiles and laughs, but the tears flowed too…..especially when the songs chosen by Kenno and the family were played.  I particularly welled up when some lines from Town Called Malice were included within the tribute delivered by the celebrant.

Stop apologising for the things you’ve never done.  Time is short and life is cruel.

Indeed.

Super Furry Animals

SUPER FURRY SUNDAYS (aka The Singular Adventures of Super Furry Animals)

A guest series by The Robster

#7: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck (1996, Creation Records, CRE247)

Last week, I mentioned that a track planned to feature as a b-side to If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You had to be swapped out in favour of another track. That eschewed track did finally get a release in December 1996, but as a single in its own right.

mp3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck

I wondered how much I’d need to write about The Man Don’t Give A Fuck as I thought it had been featured by numerous members of our blogging family over the years. But when I looked into it, it appears that none of those I expected to have written about it (JC, Swiss Adam, Jez) actually had done. I could be wrong, of course, but I never found anything. It seems it was just me, back here. Unless you know better…

Demoed back in 1995, the song is built around a sample from Steely Dan’s Show Biz Kids. It wasn’t finished in time for the album, and when it was finished and mooted as a b-side, they couldn’t get clearance for the sample from Steely Dan’s Donald Fagan. Eventually, the greedy bastard Fagan agreed to allow the song to be released in exchange for 95% of the royalties! The band actually agreed to this, taking the stance that as it was unlikely ever to be played on the radio for its prolific use of the f-bomb, it was unlikely to earn them much dough anyway. This was coupled with plans to release it in very limited quantities for one week only.

The song is described by Gruff Rhys as a multi-purpose protest song which can be used against “any organisation which you feel is terrorising you as an individual, anyone who’s cramping your style”. Its release was also seen as a way of demonstrating to people how ridiculous censorship is, with Rhys claiming no one is offended by the word ‘fuck’ anymore “unless you’re in the church where it’s beaten into you that … swearing is bad.”

The Man Don’t Give A Fuck entered the UK singles chart at number 22 and dropped to number 65 the following week as the limited run of copies of all formats sold out. It set a new record for the most number of f-words in a UK chart single, an honour the band would hold onto for three years before Insane Clown Posse’s Fuck The World beat it. They did get the record back though, but that comes later in the series.

Since its release, The Man Don’t Give A Fuck has become one of the band’s most popular tracks. It was the regular set closer of their live shows for the next 20 years and always took the roof off.

The 7” was issued on blue vinyl and contained just the one track. The CD included two remixes, one of which is called the Howard Marks mix. The band’s admiration for the notorious Welsh drug smuggler was already known, and the claim was that he came into the studio to remix the track. The more accepted version of events is that, while Marks probably was in the studio, the band members themselves did the actual remix.

mp3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [Howard Marks mix]
mp3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [Wishmountain mix]

The 12” featured a third remix, and to be fair is even less worthy of your time than the other two.

mp3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [Darren Price ‘mix’]

This week’s bonus track is the original 1995 demo. Of all the demos I’ve featured so far in the series, this one is clearly the roughest and least developed. It’s really interesting to compare it with the finished version, and you can understand why it wasn’t ready for the album.

mp3: The Man Don’t Give A Fuck [demo]

And in case you’ve never heard it, here’s the song that infamous sample was taken from (at 3:52):

mp3: Show Biz Kids – Steely Dan

Next week, the ‘Radiator’ phase begins…

The Robster

David McClymont

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #447: DAVID McCLYMONT

David McClymont is probably best known as the bass player with Orange Juice between 1978 and 1983.  He played on all the Postcard releases, and the first two albums released by Polydor, with his departure being down to that old favourite, ‘musical differences’.  By 1986, he was a member of The Moodists, a post-punk band that had formed in Australia back in 1980, but had spent much of the decade living and working in London, and were indeed briefly part of the Creation Records roster in 1985.

David came in as the replacement for long-time member Chris Walsh, who had been with the band since 1981, and would play on their two final EPs, which were issued by T.I.M. Records, a short-lived London-based indie label that was in existence between 1986 and 1988.   While I have no firm knowledge of the timeline, David moved to live in Melbourne after The Moodists split up, becoming so immersed in and knowledgeable about his new home that he became one of the co-authors of the city’s very first Lonely Planet City Guide published back in 1993.

He continued to keep up an interest and involvement in music, albeit in a low-key fashion, certainly to those of us here in the UK.  In 2014, he started to release material under his own name on Bandcamp, but very much totally under the radar of those of us who remembered him from his days with Orange Juice.

He had, however, kept in contact with a few old friends from Scotland, including Stephen McRobbie (aka Stephen Pastel), whose encouragement and advice helped lead to the release of the compilation double-album, Centuries, in 2022, made up of 27 songs that had been self-recorded over a period of ten years.  The compilation was issued by Last Night From Glasgow, with the label then also electing to release, in 2023, Mountains, an album of entirely new music.

mp3 : David McClymont – Lost In Transit

There’s a fair degree of abstract/experimental music on both albums, alongside what can easily be classified as straight-forward pop songs of the low-key variety.  Lost In Transit is one of those.

JC

 

 

 

Kenno

KENNO

Today, I’ll be saying a very fond but sad farewell to David Kennedy, a very dear friend, who was taken by cancer at the stupidly young age of 59.

Kenno was what I most enjoyed calling him, as to do so would mean we were in a social setting. It was David whenever we dealt with one another over work-related issues; he was, for the best part of 30 years, the Head of Communications for the organisation which looks after the interests of all local councils in Scotland, and I, for quite a number of those years, was either a political advisor and/or spin doctor for one of those councils.  He was brilliant at his job, making it look easy thanks to his  professionalism and dedication, along with an incredible ability to get on with everyone he dealt with, be they politicians, journalists or work colleagues.  I don’t ever recall meeting anyone who didn’t like David Kennedy, the communications guru.

I got lucky.  Two of his closest colleagues at work were James and Alan – better known round these parts as Jacques the Kipper and Aldo, and through them, I got to socialise with Kenno outside the work environment, and before long, we saw ourselves more as friends than as folk who occasionally chatted about the Scottish political media.

By far, his biggest love was for his family – his wife Jane and their kids, Rachel and Adam.  He was also very close to his parents.  In later years, he doted on the family dog.  His other big passions were football and music.  His team was Heart of Midlothian FC and his pop tastes were incredibly eclectic, but his biggest idols were Paul Weller and Dusty Springfield – indeed, the puppy which came into the family home a few years back was named Dusty.  He was also something of a mod at heart, to the extent that many years ago he bought himself a scooter which he called Ruby, and they spent many warm afternoons and evenings heading out on adventures around the country roads close to where he lived, in a small semi-rural town some ten miles south-west of Edinburgh.

Kenno was brought up in what, back in the 60s, would best be described as a classic working-class family, and the traits and values passed down by his parents never left him.  He remained a committed socialist his whole life, but of the pragmatic rather than dogmatic type.  He grasped the educational opportunities afforded him and in doing so, not only ensured his career would be spent in white-collar industries rather than in any sort of back-breaking manual labour, but made his parents incredibly proud of his achievements.

It didn’t take long for us to realise and acknowledge that while we might have been products of two cities separated by 45 miles on different sides of Scotland, we really had an awful lot in common.  We even discovered our teenage years had seen us go out and earn money delivering newspapers to the houses of our neighbours, and coming to something of a realisation that this may have subconsciously led us both to our eventual careers.

In saying all that, the best times we always had would come when we weren’t being serious with one another. The occasions when I would accuse him of not really being working class as he was from snobby Edinburgh where his secondary school offered the option of playing rugby as well as football; he would retort by reminding me that I now resided in one of the poshest districts of Glasgow and indeed lived in a property (he called it a castle) which was known to all and sundry as Villain Towers. When I would accuse him of having dull and boring music tastes, on the basis that all his gigs seemed to be only singers/band who had chart-topping hits and were always in venues that were large-scale and comfortably seated, he would accuse me of not really liking all the stuff I mentioned on the blog, and that it was just a front and a sad effort to still appear hip and/or trendy.

Kenno was, as you might expect from a man with such a great grounding in communications, a very early adopter and user of social media.  His Facebook postings to his well over 600 friends were always worth reading. He championed loads of causes, and he wrote of his admiration for those who achieved political and social change in an unjust world.  He was also an incredibly witty and funny person, capable of sending himself up something rotten.  He was forever posting the most ludicrous betting tips;  every time Hearts took the field, Kenno would be urging you to place a bet on them winning, coming up with two or three other equally unlikely suggestions for an accumulator that invited ridicule – and he got it in spades.  Oh, and he was forever reminding everyone of what was the best day of any week, doing so with some sort of photo of Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren as they appeared in the 1980 film, The Long Good Friday.

A few years ago, we were out having a few drinks and laughs when Kenno mentioned that, despite his surname and the fact he loved a pint of Guinness, he had never set foot in Ireland.  Making a mental note of said fact, it would later lead to me hatching a specific plan as part of what I intended to be a year-long run of events to celebrate my 60th birthday.

Seven of us, including Jacques and Aldo, ended up spending an unforgettable weekend in and around Westport in County Mayo back in May 2023.  Kenno, more than anyone, relished the occasion, incredibly happy that he had made it across to Ireland and that it had gone beyond his wildest expectations. Such was his infectious personality that he instantly became friends with a good number of people in the town, all of whom told him to hurry back.  He was keen to take them up on their offers, determined the next time to take Jane along so that she could see for herself just what made the town and people of Westport so very special.

Sadly, it never happened.  Kenno, until maybe a year or so ago, had lived a very healthy and untroubled life, and then he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that was already at an advanced stage. He fought his illness as hard as anyone could, undergoing a nine-hour operation, six cycles of chemo, six rounds of radiotherapy and two lots of targeted drug therapy.  But the bastard disease claimed another victim.

Jane, Rachel and Adam are determined that today will very much be a celebration of David’s life, and I have no doubt it will be.  Just about every one of those Facebook friends will be there, along with as big a number again who don’t use social media.  We will come from all corners of Scotland (and beyond) and all walks of life, and we will pay a full and deserved tribute to an extraordinary man.

Rest in Peace, mate….and be assured that you really did make the world a better place for those of us lucky enough to have known you.

mp3 : The Jam – A Solid Bond In Your Heart (demo)

Better known as a hit single for The Style Council, this early fully-worked-up demo take also includes a few lines that would later be used as part of Beat Surrender, the final 45 released by The Jam.  And in the TSC video, Paul Weller can be seen riding a scooter………

 

JC

Fatboy Slim

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (19) : Fatboy Slim – Praise You

Praise You proved to be the only #1 hit for Fatboy Slim.   I could have sworn there were a couple of others, but The Rockafeller Skank peaked at #6 while Right Here, Right Now, despite coming into the chart in April 1999 at #2, never managed to dislodge one of Westlife‘s forgettable numbers from the top.

It’s a single which cannot be unbuckled from its accompanying video, one I’m sure everyone of a certain age has seen loads of times, in which Spike Jonze and the fictional Torrance Dance Group deliver a guerilla-style flash-mob performance outside a cinema in Los Angeles, much to the bemusement of the members of the public queuing to get into the screening of whatever film they had bought tickets for. The whole thing is brilliantly captured, with quite a few of those watching-on clearly enjoying what they were seeing, and there’s some gentle booing when a member of staff, in an attempt to end the performance, switches-off the portable cassette player, the source of the music for the dance.

I’d like to think Praise You was good enough to find favour with the general public and would have been a huge hit even without the water cooler moments created by the promo.

mp3: Fatboy Slim – Praise You

There were two additional tracks on the CD single.  The first was otherwise unavailable, while the other was a remix of an earlier hit.

mp3 : Fatboy Slim – Sho Nuff
mp3 : Fatboy Slim – The Rockafella Skank (Mulder’s Urban Takeover Mix)

The former has a sample from one of those annoying one-hit singles that I can recall from my very early teen years. What I didn’t know until looking it up while writing this post was that the writer of Jeans On is actually a member of the British aristocracy.  Seriously!!!!

JC

Simple Minds

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (21): Simple Minds – I Travel

R-51248-1214583426

Today’s 12″ offering is from 1983, and it features the re-release of a song that hadn’t charted as a single on two previous occasions, in 1980 and 1982.  It’s also kind of appropriate as I’m actually out and about just now, hitting Manchester for a couple of days, during which time I’ll have the privilege of hooking up with Swiss Adam for a long-overdue catch-up.

mp3: Simple Minds – I Travel

The 1980 release was on 7″ only, and was an edited version (about a minute or so shorter) of that which was on Empires and Dance, the album released In September 1980.  It was the band’s final album for the Arista label.  It was the failure of both the single and album that led to the end of the relationship with the label, and the move to Virgin Records for all releases of new music up until 1998.

The long-awaited chart success for Simple Minds after the move to Virgin led to the folk at Arista feeling they had a chance to cash-in, which is why the compilation album, Celebration, containing ten tracks from the first three albums, appeared in February 1982.  I Travel was also reissued as a single, this time on both 7″ and 12″, with the latter being a magnificently extended version.  The single didn’t bother the chart compilers, but the compilation album did reach #45 during a six-week stay.

This irked the folk at Virgin, and their response was to acquire the entire back catalogue and take control of all future releases.  It meant that the Arista pressings of Real to Real Cacophony, Life In A Day and Empires and Dance, as well as Celebration, were withdrawn and replaced in the shops in 1983 by pressings on Virgin Records.  And as part of the marketing campaign, I Travel was given a third release as a single, but this time on 12″ only.

The b-side to the 1983 re-release was this:-

mp3: Simple Minds – Film Theme

An instrumental that had originally been included on Real to Real Cacophony. It gives a great insight to how much the band’s sound had evolved in such a short period of time.

 

JC

Düsseldorf, Various

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #387: DUSSELDORF

A guest posting by Dirk

Dear friends,

Yes, I know – it’s a bit like one of those old jokes, you know: „three guys walk into a bar …“, but here it is, for once, not a priest, a Rabbi and an Imam – it’s a drummer and two guitarists, in fact.

The bar is the Ratinger Hof, Ratinger Strasse 10 in Düsseldorf. We are talking very early 70’s here when the Ratinger Hof still was a cosy pub, you see – with a starry sky painted onto the ceiling, little carpets on the desks, a jukebox – and mainly Hippie students and local wannabe artists went there. Not a place you’d like to be in today, I assume, but this venue’s importance cannot be highlighted enough. Why? Well, two of the guests, above drummer and above guitarist # 1 in fact, one fine day came to the conclusion to co-found a band: you might have heard from them perhaps, Kraftwerk. And this is where it all starts, at least the first part of of our journey does:

Kraftwerk – ‘Kometenmelodie 2’ (’74)

Of course all of you know Kraftwerk and their importance for modern music, there isn’t pretty much I can add to that. By all accounts the two ‘main’ members, Hütter and Schneider, were not the easiest chaps to work with, so after a short while Rother and Dinger left and formed Neu!. Now, like Kraftwerk, Neu! are regularly being cited when it comes to innovation within German music of the time, Krautrock, Kosmische – you name it. Dinger invented the ‘motorik’ beat, which quickly became a trademark for the music of the time:

Neu – ‘Für Immer’ (’73)

Neu! split in 1975 and Dinger formed La Düsseldorf – again this was a band which is always being mentioned as having been highly influential for many artists, even today.

Now, back to our cosy pub and fast forward a few years, to 1976. The ‘Hof’, as it’s by now being referred to, has new owners, Ingrid Kohlhöfer and Carmen Knoebel, wife of Imi Knoebel, a minimalistic painter and sculptor. Imi remodelled the cosy pub radically, all walls were white and there were neon lights all over – the change was too much for the old Rockers and the Hippies, so they stayed away – but the Hof quickly attracted other guests, their musical tastes were a bit different though. One thing led to another and fairly soon local punk bands were given the opportunity by Carmen Knoebel to rehearse in the Hof’s beer cellar at daytime, whereas in the evenings bands like 999, Wire, XTC, Pere Ubu and Dexys Midnight Runners would perform there, plus by and large all of the local punk bands.

You see, people always talk about the famous Sex Pistols gig in the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976: basically everybody who was there formed a band, it’s always said. It’s questionable whether this is true or not, but as for the Ratinger Hof, 1971’s Dinger/Rother-history repeated itself in 1977 in the form of Franz Bielmeyer, aka Mary Lou Monroe – our second guitarist mentioned in the beginning. And this is where the second part of the journey begins:

Bielmeyer founded Charley’s Girls (and I always thought this was a clever take on Charles Manson‘s female killer gang, but in fact it’s just connected to a Lou Reed tune, I mean: how boring is this?). Anyway, as my little diagram above shows, it’s fair to say that hadn’t Franz Bielmeyer started Charley’s Girls, Düsseldorf’s – and Germany’s – music scene would have turned out to be much poorer indeed! Let’s prove this, shall we?

Probably Bielmeyer’s masterpiece was to recruit the mighty Peter Hein, aka Janie J. Jones, who quickly changed from bass to vocals. Two or three of Charley’s Girls’ recordings exist, but of poor sound quality, so let’s proceed with what became of Charley’s Girls one year later, Mittagspause:

Mittagspause – ‘Herrenreiter’ (’79)

Peter Hein is no Pavarotti, I think we can agree on this. But then again, nor is Billy Bragg. And even if you don’t understand a single word of Hein’s lyrics, believe me: he is one of the great German wordsmiths. So you better get used to his singing, because after Mittagspause he invented Fehlfarben, who issued their debut album in 1980, ‘Monarchie und Alltag’. You may believe I am exaggerating again, but this record changed everything over here! I don’t think there is anyone who would not regard it as t.h.e. influential German album. Eleven songs, and not a bad one on it, for sure. Consequently I could have chosen any of them, but I went for this:

Fehlfarben – ‘Ein Jahr (Es Geht Voran)’ (’80)

I’m willing to have small bet that both Walter and [sk] are right now shaking their heads in disbelief as on why I picked exactly this song. The thing is, you see, their record company took it and released it as a single in 1982, unbeknownst to the band, in order to jump onto the Neue Deutsche Welle-train, where almost everything sung in German apart from Schlager was labelled young, stylish and cool, regardless of the songs’ intentions. Also it became a hymn for German squatters, something Hein always strongly objected to, because what he wanted to express in the song was the mood in Germany in the late 70’s: terrorism, recession, cold war. Even today this song is constantly being played on daytime radio and therefore there is a chance that even some of you non-German readers may have heard it somewhere. If not, give it a go, if you want to do yourself a favour!

Let’s continue with Peter Hein, after Fehlfarben came, in ’81, Family 5, equally brilliant, surely because of the genius that was Xao Seffcheque on guitar. Their first proper album did not come before ’85 though, ‘Resistance’. Some described it as „the better ‘Monarchie und Alltag’“ at the time, I’m not quite sure about this though …

Family 5 – ‘Du Wärst So Gern Dabei’

So, finally enough of Peter Hein’s remarkable voice for you – although he returned to Fehlfarben in 1991 and they are still going strong: in fact they are playing a venue near my village next Saturday, but a) I’m already attending another gig in Aachen and b) nearly € 40,- is a bit steep, I thought.

Right, back to Mittagspause then. They wouldn’t have been complete without Thomas Schwebel on guitar, he left S.Y.P.H. for Mittagspause and, in fact, Fehlfarben, and for Kurt Dahlke, who left Mittagspause for S.Y.P.H.

As complicated as all of this might possibly be, again we are talking about a band which was highly praised in and around Düsseldorf: S.Y.P.H. Their early 80s punk stuff made them well known in the region, but I always thought this from a few years later was their absolute highlight:

S.Y.P.H. – ‘Der Letzte Held’ (’85)

And with Dahlke (aka Pyrolator) we have the next important figure within the Düsseldorf scene, because before S.Y.P.H. he was a founding member of DAF, or, if you’d rather, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft … the name might ring a bell … the grandfathers of Techno, anyone? ‘Der Mussolini’? Ah, just listen to them, you youngsters, but make sure to turn it up good and loud:

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft – ‘Verschwende Deine Jugend’ (’81)

I’m sure you have already looked it up above, the road from DAF leads us to the next awesome Düsseldorf combo, and our driver is DAF’s keyboarder, Chrislo Haas. He and Beate Bartel (out of Mania D) became Liaisons Dangereuses, you’ll surely can sing along to their outstandingly brilliant ‘Los Ninos Del Parque’. And because you already know it by heart, I’ll have something else from them now, not too shabby either, I would have thought:

Liaisons Dangereuses – ‘Etre Assis Ou Danser’ (’81)

If you are still reading this nonsense, we might as well return to S.Y.P.H. briefly, because they had a guy on the synthezisers called Ralf Dörper – who found, after joining Die Krupps (with Xao Seffcheque) fame and fortune by founding Propaganda – you’ll remember Susanne Freytag and Claudia Brücken, if you remember nothing else:

Propaganda – ‘Jewel (Cut Rough)’ (’85)

If you haven’t fallen asleep by now, you may or may not remember that you learnt about Charley’s Girls an hour so ago. Charley’s Girls’ bassist was Peter Stiefermann and in 1978 he gave a party, among the guests were Thomas Peters (aka Tommi Stumpff) and Klaus-Peter ‘Trini’ Trimpop. The two of them founded KFC, another punk band of quite some importance. KFC carried on for quite some time, in 1979 they recruited the 16-year-old bassist Ferdinand Mackenthum (aka Käpt’n Nuss) – who later went to play for Family 5!

So, Käpt’n Nuss joined the band- and Trini Trimpop left it. What did become of him, you are asking? Well, he became the drummer for Die Toten Hosen, and later their manager – which a) probably made him a multi-millionaire and b) finally, you’ll be relieved to hear, closes a long and probably very boring circle!

I have on various occasions expressed my disinclination for Die Toten Hosen, or rather what became of them. But to be fair, their very first records were really good, especially this one, their second single:

Die Toten Hosen – ‘Reisefieber’ (’82)

Let’s return to where we came from, to the Ratinger Hof: in the spring of 1981 a big German magazine, the Stern, had an article about the venue in which it was advertised as ‘a secret spot for all things punk’, this happened at about the same time when the aforementioned Neue Deutsche Welle began to mutate into a huge Tsunami – which very quickly flushed everything away in an immense vortex: you could no longer tell which band was still good (as in: true to their roots) and which one was crap.

Now, I assume you can imagine what happened then: the Hof was soon flooded with tourists who wanted to see those oh so dangerous punks and listen to some of their strange music. Of course it all went downhill from then on and the Hof closed a few years later …

So, that’s Düsseldorf for you, friends – a city to listen to, for sure … but not necessarily one to visit, if you ask me: some say that the best thing in Düsseldorf is the motorway to Aachen.

Well, I cannot disagree …

Enjoy,

 

Dirk

selecter

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #089

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#089: The Selecter – ‘Too Much Pressure’ (Chrysalis Records ’79)

Dear friends,

yes, it’s Ska-time again, whether you like it or not. Then again: what’s not to like about Ska, right? I mean, how can anyone resist, I think it’s fair to ask.

Probably not only to me, three bands were really important when it comes to British Ska in 1979, The Beat, The Specials and …. not Madness. It may be a bit unfair, but poor Madness never really counted somehow, did they? They were quickly being put into the more funny corner of the genre, whether this was the right thing to do or not remains questionable. No, the third important band were of course The Selecter! Led by the wonderful Belinda Magnus, or, as you and I know her better, Pauline Black. It’s often the case that a frontman/frontwoman overshadows the band, and most of the time it’s unjustified, still it happens to be the case – and perhaps The Selecter were a prime example for this.

But I think it must have been very hard at a Selecter live show back then not to concentrate on Pauline, but on other members of the band. Quite obviously this lady delivered a presence that is hard to beat, even these days. I am too young to have witnessed The Selecter when they were still going, but I once attended a Ska-allnighter with Pauline Black on the bill in the late 80s: an awesome experience, I can tell you!

The Selecter fought hard to gain success, they played their hearts out in small clubs – at a time ABBA were the big thing, mind you. By and large there wasn’t any success before the release of the first single on the famous Two-Tone label, ‘On My Radio’, in 1979. The debut album followed a year later – and if you’re new to Ska or contemplate getting into it, this one is a must-have for you, for sure.

After said debut and its success the band signed with Chrysalis – but only one year later it was all over already, The Selecter disbanded. I think a major reason for this was that the music scene changed so damned quickly 45 years ago: what was big big big in 1979 (Punkrock, Ska, Disco, Funk) was already totally obsolete in 1981, fully being replaced by electronic stuff, Synthpop and New Wave … a tough surrounding for a band like The Selecter, too tough in fact, apparently.

So, what remains is, as I said, a fantastic debut album, which sounds as fresh as it did upon its release and a handful of wonderful singles. Today’s tune is the flipside of the very first one (although my copy is a French Chrysalis-pressing):

 

 

mp3: The Selecter – Too Much Pressure

Now, you might be wondering why I praised Pauline Black’s greatness all the time above … and then chose a song sung by Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson.

Well, first it’s bloody brilliant, that’s why – and secondly, as ace as ‘On My Radio’ is, I think you hear it everywhere, constantly. Nothing wrong with this, but I always thought ‘Too Much Pressure’ deserved more attention.

So enjoy,

Dirk

 

JC adds……..

A very important heads-up…..this is the first of two successive days on which the blog will be handed over to Dirk.

You may recall that a few weeks ago, there was a suggestion that he might want to offer up a Düsseldorf ICA for our collective enjoyment.

Well, I’m delighted to say that the fruits of his labour will be posted tomorrow, and I really hope everyone will have a read and offer up their thoughts as our great friend really has surpassed himself by combining a ten-song ICA with an informative and entertaining piece of writing offering up a short history of Düsseldorf music from 1973 to 1989.

I really do think it’s one of the best things ever written for this blog, going all the way back to 2006.

Super Furry Animals

SUPER FURRY SUNDAYS (aka The Singular Adventures of Super Furry Animals)

A guest series by The Robster

#6: If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You (1996, Creation Records, CRE243)

As was the way back then, some months after an album was released, singles continued to be churned out from it. A fourth single from ‘Fuzzy Logic’ was put out in September 1996, and it’s fair to say it was probably the weakest of the lot. I’ve never been overly fussed about If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You. I can’t say why for sure – it’s pleasant enough in many respects, a nice tune, a string section, it kind of ticked a lot of Britpop boxes. Maybe that was the reason – it was all a bit ordinary, and the one thing Super Furry Animals never were was ordinary.

mp3: If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You

It also bugs me how, as the song reaches its natural conclusion, it actually starts to fade out. In fact, you can hear the actual ending before the fade finishes. I never saw the point of that.

Released in the usual three formats, it equalled their top chart position to date – number 18, the same as its predecessor. The picture on the sleeve tells a story. As Wikipedia puts it:

“The band spent their promotional budget for this single on a tank. [They] had the tank painted bright blue and used it to arrive at music festivals. A photograph of the tank is featured on the cover of this single, with the title painted on the tank gun barrel. The tank was later sold to Don Henley.”

Super Furry Animals selling a tank to an Eagle! That’s not a transaction you’ll come across on any wildlife documentary, I can tell you. Another quick tank fact – painted across the front of the gun turret was the phrase “A oes heddwch?” which means “Is there peace?” Anyway – the b-sides. All formats contained this raucous little number:

mp3: Guacamole

“I need a revolution because I can’t afford the price of cake” is one of the best lines ever written, don’t you agree? I love this one, it’s a lot of fun. Thing is, Guacamole nearly didn’t see the light of day – it wasn’t the original planned b-side. Early CD and cassette promos featured a different track that had to be replaced at the last minute. We pick that story up next week… The CD single also included a third track:

mp3: (Nid) Hon Yw’r Gân Sy’n Mynd I Achub Yr Iaith

This one was penned for a free single-sided 7” given away at a benefit gig in North Wales for the Welsh Language Society. The title translates as This Is (Not) The Song That Will Save The Language. Thing is, while they may be right about that, the Furries, along with some of their Welsh compatriots riding the crest of the Cool Cymru wave, probably did more for the advancement of the Welsh language than any political campaign achieved in decades. It took the language out of the province and into the consciousness of music fans across the UK, many of whom probably didn’t even realise Wales had its own language (like someone – a grown adult, no less – I once actually knew…)

For my money, both b-sides beat the a-side hands down. You are free to disagree, of course. If you do, then you’ll enjoy this week’s bonus track – it’s the demo of the title track, recorded in October 1995. Note the alternative (better?) lyrics in the chorus…

mp3: If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy To You [demo]

Next week, that discarded b-side I mentioned above finally makes its appearance.

The Robster

Dancer

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #446: DANCER

A short while back, myself and Aldo headed along to catch The Bug Club play a gig in Glasgow.  One of the support acts on the night was Dancer, a band that had been picking up a great deal of positive press round these parts, not least for being included in the list of Top 20 best albums of 2024 as chosen by highly influential and important record-shop, Monorail.

“For a short while, Dancer felt like our city’s own little secret. The group, made up of Glasgow DIY mainstays (from the likes of Current Affairs and Order of the Toad), released only a few singles but gigged often at Bloc and the Old Hairdressers before their debut full length 10 Songs I Hate About You. The 10 songs in question are a sonic mash-up of melodic warmth and perfectly crafted pop songs with crunch. There’s a similarity to Life Without Buildings in Gemma’s vocal delivery and Chris’ erratic-slash-melodic guitar work, but there’s also, at times, a more chaotic and experimental storm brewing under the surface. A record which takes left turns into new territory every so often when it’s least expected; Gemma cackles, Gavin’s hi-hat taps out a new rhythm, Dancer is no longer a secret. I couldn’t be more glad”

They proved to be an excellent watch and listen in the live setting, and I subsequently went out and bought the debut album, which was released back in March 2024.  It was preceded by a couple of EPs and has been followed by a couple of split releases, an EP with Portland-based Whisper Hiss and a 7″ single with R.Aggs, who is better known perhaps as being one half of Glasgow’s Sacred Paws, whose debut release Strike A Match, was given the accolade, and associated prize-money, for being named Scottish Album of the Year in 2017.

The band members are Gemma Fleet (vocals), Chris Taylor (guitar), Andrew Doig (bass) and Gavin Murdoch (drums)

mp3: Dancer – Bluetooth Hell

The opening track on 10 Songs I Hate About You.

 

JC

Revenge

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (31) : Revenge – Slave

By the time New Order were celebrating the success of #1 single World In Motion in the summer of 1990, the various members were already working on or planning various side projects – Gillian and Stephen were The Other Two, Bernard had teamed up with a few superstars to form Electronic, while Hooky chose to form Revenge.

Initially, it was a trio with Hooky (vocals, bass, keyboards) being joined by Davyth Hicks (guitar and vocals) and Chris Jones (keyboards).  The debut single, 7 Reasons, was released, on Factory Records in 1989, and the following year saw an album One True Passion, from which the singles Pineapple Face and Slave were lifted.  I’ve copies of all three singles on either 7″ or 12″ vinyl, all bought many years after the event for not a great deal of money.  They might all be on a cult label, and feature a member of one of the most influential and important bands of the late 20th Century, but that doesn’t mean there’s ever been much demand across the second-hand market.

There’s a straightforward explanation as to why this is the case – Revenge aren’t all that good.  Here’s the third and final single lifted from the album:-

mp3: Revenge – Slave

It sounds like a minor hit for New Order as imagined on one of those cheap Top of The Pops albums where session musicians did their best to mimic the stars and hitmakers of the day.

The b-side was a cover.  A very obscure cover, with the original being found on John Cale‘s 1970 album, Vintage Violence.

mp3: Revenge – Amsterdam

Revenge did tour the debut album across Europe, America and Japan, and for the live shows, they were supplemented by David Potts (bass and guitar) and Ashley Taylor (drums).  Shortly after returning from Japan, Hicks quit, citing the perennial ‘musical differences’.  There would be one further EP in 1992, Gun World Porn, after which Hooky returned to New Order for the recording and promotion of Republic, released in 1993.

 

JC

April Showers

ANOTHER SLICE OF LOVELINESS

Inspired by yesterday’s remarkable ICA from strangeways, I thought it was time, again, to offer up what I think is one of the loveliest tracks of all time.

I’ve written about Abandon Ship a couple of times before.  It was the only single ever released by April Showers – and yes, the turning of the calendar into a new month got me thinking about things, too.  A Glaswegian pop duo comprising Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin who had met and formed the group while at Glasgow University. Jonathan has subsequently forged a career for himself in recent years over in his native America as an author and screenwriter. Beatrice, sadly, passed away from cancer in 2019 at the age of 55, having led a full life in the creative arts, working in radio production and then journalism, before becoming an award-winning author and playwright, as well as a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde.

It’s a single I regret not buying back in the day, relying instead on listening to it from the collection belonging to a flatmate.  In due course, I was able to add the song to my own collection thanks to its inclusion on the compilation CD, 10 Years Of Marina Records, released in 2004.

Now, at long last, I have a copy on vinyl after Pete Paphides included it on the superlative Sensitive pop anthology recently released on his Needle Mythology label.  It’s not only a beautifully and lovingly compiled collection, but it comes with extensive sleeve notes courtesy of Pete, which alone are worth the cost of the double album.  Here’s some of what he has written about Abandon Sip:-

Prior to Beatrice’s arrival, Jonathan hadn’t been able to interest any labels in his demos. That changed when she sang ‘Abandon Ship’ and Chrysalis heard the result. Enter Anne Dudley. This being 1984 – the year in which she arranged strings for Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Lloyd Cole And The Commotions – it’s not as though Dudley could have sone with the extra work, but she clearly heard something here that left her powerless to refuse.

If you’re an arranger listening to a song for the first time, you’re also listening to the beginnings of your own arrangement for it. To hear those strings rush in to help launch that first chorus skywards is like experiencing an early version of augmented reality.  And while none of this was possible without an achingly pretty song at the centre of it. Imagine ‘Abandon Ship’ without those strings and what’s left is a bittersweet song of resignation, from a protagonist who can no longer pretend that life hasn’t overwhelmed them.  Those strings give Beatrice’s vocal an added shot of energy : ‘Why don’t you come on in?/The water’s lovely!

mp3 : April Showers – Abandon Ship

At long last, a vinyl rip.

 

JC

Butcher Boy, Camera Obscura, Jam, Pipettes, Pogues, Primitives, R.E.M., Ride, Ronettes, Smiths

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #386: TEN LOVELY TRACKS

A GUEST POSTING from STRANGEWAYS

Ten Lovely Tracks : An Imaginary Compilation Album

Welcome to a lovely Imaginary Compilation Album. That’s not me bigging-up this mix, but rather offering a literal description, for this is an ICA of songs deemed to be ‘lovely’ in nature. Immediately this business of a song being lovely is subjective of course. But the closest I got to a criterion was including tracks that, when you hear them, kind of wrap their arms around you.

It should be stated that this list is very, very far from exhaustive; the mountain of should-have-rans continues growing.

Side 1

1. The Ronettes: Walking in the Rain (single A-side, 1964, Philles)

I won’t attempt to add too much to the weight of words that must have been written about this song since The Ronettes released it in October 1964. I’m really not qualified, so to do so would be like writing about lofty cultural fixtures like the Mona Lisa or Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

That said, a thunderclap kicks the track off and immediately we’re in a dreamland co-created of course by an ace Phil Spector production. With its references to shyness, its grown-up assertion that ‘sometimes we’ll fight’, its fondness for wishing on stars and of course its championing of rain over sun you could say that thematically Walking in the Rain gifted a bit of a blueprint to the indiepop genre that would emerge fifteen or so years later.

The track is just super, and so far as its inclusion here is concerned, its sheer loveliness fought off the likes of Past, Present and Future by the Shangri-Las, Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby by Sharon Marie and A Lover’s Concerto by The Toys.

Loveliest line: ‘Walking in the rain and wishing on the stars up above, and being so in love… ’

2. The Jam: Wasteland (Setting Sons LP track, 1979, Polydor)

I am really no Jam expert whatsoever. It’s daft, of course, that I haven’t explored beyond the singles and a couple of LPs. Moron. But the album I know best is Setting Sons. And the track I love most is Wasteland.

That Paul Weller was only, what, 21 max when he wrote the elegant words of Wasteland is astonishing to me. Listing the wasteland’s decorations – including punctured footballs, ragged dolls and rusting bicycles – he conjures up the grimy props of a world in which ‘to be caught smiling’s to acknowledge life’ as two lovers? Ex-lovers? Never-were lovers? Just friends? sit amid the trash and stoke over the past. Certainly if the theory that Setting Sons was intended – but not realised – as a concept album concerned with the lives of three childhood friends, the relationship could well be platonic. The reference to hand-holding though perhaps hints at something else.

Adding to the overall loveliness of this track are notes from a recorder – an instrument, in the UK at least, recalling tuneless school music classes. Here though, sounding not unlike the calls from a bird on high, it puffs out an innocent intro and pops up again at a key line.

Finally, that Weller gets so much detail of his wasteland – ‘meet me on the wastelands, the ones behind the old houses, the ones left standing pre-war, the ones overshadowed by the monolith monstrosities councils call homes’ – to even scan properly is remarkable.

Loveliest line: ‘Meet me later – but we’ll have to hold hands… ’

3. R.E.M.: At My Most Beautiful (Up LP track, 1998, Warner Bros.)

Of all the bands selected to populate this ICA, R.E.M. gave me the most trouble. In surveying the songs I know of them – and to be fair that although it’s not 100% knowledge it’s not by any stretch horrendous either – it rapidly became apparent that you could, before breakfast, create an ICA of ‘Lovely Songs Just by R.E.M.’.

So what to do?

That’s easy – choose a total slushfest, and from an unfancied LP, that will annoy the readers of this blog. So apologies to the exalted likes of Perfect Circle, Wendell Gee and The Flowers of Guatemala, plus Half A World Away, Nightswimming and Electrolite. Here instead is At My Most Beautiful, from 1998 album Up.

I seem to remember that at the time a common brickbat chucked at this song was that it was ‘R.E.M. trying to sound like The Beach Boys’. It is. And I further remember thinking ‘great’.

Sure, it’s kind of saccharine and soppy, but the overall result is lovely – which is of course what we’re after here. Added to this, the words of this big value track also provide…

The Grand Indie Boy or Girl’s Guide to Snagging a Partner

Three sure-fire ways to reverse the joy of solitude:

1. Read bad poetry into their machine (or, for the less ancient, their mobile phone)

2. Save their messages just to hear their voice – (perhaps keep this one to yourself)

3. Count their eyelashes, secretly (and for bonus points, with every one whisper ‘I love you’)

Loveliest line: ‘You always listen carefully to awkward rhymes, you always say your name like I wouldn’t know it’s you, at your most beautiful.. ’

4. The Pogues: Lullaby of London (If I Should Fall From Grace With God LP track, 1987, WEA)

The Pogues are probably at their best when they’re rocking the furious likes of Boys From The County Hell and Sally MacLenanne, or Turkish Song of the Damned and Bottle of Smoke. But grand as these are, you could hardly call any of these breathless beauties lovely. That’s a job instead for Lullaby of London, from the revered 1987 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

Here, Shane MacGowan takes us on a kind of stroll located by a river and in the springtime. On this jaunt, in the main, his words are mystical and supernatural (ghosts and haunted graves and angels are present). But he ambles also in the urban: and despite noting the absence of a cry from a lonesome corncrake – any twitcher will tell you i) that’s a bird and ii) its binomial nomenclature is Crex crex – he seems satisfied enough with the sounds of cars and bars and laughter and fights.

This is a song that feels older than it is or, to put it more delicately, could be of another age. Were it not for that reference to motor cars, the whole expedition could be taking place a century-and-a-half ago. Remove the pubs and you spool back even further. Laughter and fights though have surely been with us since the first caveman cracked an off-colour joke and instigated a brawl.

Enough. All that’s left to say is that if the words to Lullaby of London are remarkable, the band is totally on point too, especially via the lilting mandolin that quietly matches the lyrics for sheer emotional punch.

It’s odd, but a speck of dust always lands in my eye whenever I hear this track.

Loveliest line: ‘May the wind that blows from haunted graves never bring you misery, may the angels bright watch you tonight and keep you while you sleep… ’

5. The Primitives: We Found a Way to the Sun (Really Stupid 7” single B-side, 1986, Lazy Recordings)

Somewhat inevitably the band with the LP titled Lovely was always going to make it onto this ICA. And, also somewhat inevitably, the song selected here does not in fact feature on that album. Instead, it’s We Found a Way to the Sun – curiously styled, on the subsequent Lazy 86-88 compilation, and other anthologies that followed, as (We’ve) Found a Way (to the Sun).

Bracketed or not, it is just one of several absolutely killer formative Primitives B-sides. Delivered inside yet another early Prims sleeve to die for,

this smasher popped up in 1986 on the Really Stupid 7” single and, on 12”, alongside Where the Wind Blows. That gem of a fellow B-side, set at the witching hour and chockful of associated imagery, is the one I’d actually started writing about for this post. But that was before the handbrake turn you’re now reading.

Why the switch?

The truth is that either track could have made it, but the distorted, beautiful intro and subsequent melody of We Found a Way to the Sun just pipped Where the Wind Blows to the post. Add to these Tracy Tracy’s wide-eyed and hurt-sounding vocal, and we really do achieve Primitives perfection. Also, there’s a curiosity to celebrate: no chorus is offered – just one bewitching verse followed by repetition of the song’s title.

Loveliest line: ‘But it’s all too good to be true, I don’t know just what I should do, I love everything about you… ’

Side 2

1. Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career (My Maudlin Career LP track, 2009, 4AD)

This title track to Camera Obscura’s fourth LP is both eminently huggable and a real bruiser. Its opening twenty-five seconds could be mistaken for a Wall of Sound production as keys and strings and brass add layer after layer of sock-knocking assault. And as the late Carey Lander’s incessant, trebly keys heroically wrangle it all into a followable structure, Tracyanne Campbell’s words speak of a relationship – the maudlin career of the title – going wrong (perhaps best distilled in the lines ‘we were love at first sight, now this crush is crushing’).

Despite the tale of a partnership on the skids, this is yet another lovely song from a band that specialises in them.

Loveliest line: ‘I’ll brace myself for the loneliness, say hello to feelings that I despise… ’

2. The Pipettes: A Winter’s Sky (We Are the Pipettes LP track, 2006, Memphis Industries)

Oh crumbs, not again. Look, I know I included this track on the Pipettes ICA I scribbled several years ago, but it’s just too lovely a fit not to revisit it. And what I wrote then remains, so I won’t deviate from it. The harmonies. The shimmer. The warm pootle of brass before the little Smithsy sound effect that chills the closing line ‘the last we saw of her, it came too soon’.

This is only ever played in our – that’s me and the furniture – house during winter (official three/four-month winter, I mean, not the Scottish one).

Loveliest line: ‘Underneath a winter’s sky, her eyes were bright, tonight he finds her underneath a winter’s moon… ’

3. Butcher Boy: I Could Be in Love With Anyone (Profit in Your Poetry LP track, 2007, How Does It Feel To Be Loved?)

A bit like R.E.M., there are loads of Butcher Boy songs you could tag as lovely. ‘Poetic’ is kind of a lazy descriptor for John Blain Hunt’s lyrics, but that doesn’t stop it being any less accurate. He’s a master of fastidious and forensic observation, and an expert in uplifting and championing the ordinary: pebbledash and paper chains, chimes and chewing gum.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the sheer quality that threads through Butcher Boy’s three LPs so far, this is a band that adheres stoically to a less-is-more philosophy. Releases are sporadic – bookended by years that meanwhile continue their business of totting up births and marriages and deaths. Gigs, at best, the same. World Cups occur more regularly. Plus, in spite of heavyweight patronage from names including Stuart Murdoch and John Niven, Ian Rankin and Peter Paphides (whose Needle Mythology label released the 2021 BB compilation You Had a Kind Face), there remains a Sundays-like reticence to seek the limelight. As listeners, we’re the losers in these arrangements of course. But you kind of wouldn’t really have it any other way.

To the song though. Winning out for this compilation is I Could Be in Love With Anyone, the fourth track on the first Butcher Boy LP Profit in Your Poetry.

Lyrically there’s a little of the celestial in this tale of a character who visits in dreams and flies around the walls of a room. Amid some good intentions there seems to be selfishness too, characterised by a title that could be delivered with a shrug, and also by the delight taken in ‘breaking hearts for fun’. From hearing this treasure years ago I quickly, and surely wrongly, settled on the idea that the words are describing my own favourite antihero Peter Pan.

Loveliest line: I’m actually going to reproduce the song entire for this entry, and hope you agree that choosing just one lovely line would be something of a disservice.

Listen, please don’t close your eyes
I don’t know how I know what you’re thinking but I

I’ve never felt so far away
Blood is chiming bells through you

But listen, that’s OK ‘cos I’m frightened too

And tenderly I write today

That I could be in love with anyone

I’ve been breaking hearts for fun


Listen, tell me what’s gone wrong

And I will come in dreams and I’ll bleed into songs

So you can sing them back to me.
Sun suspends my days in dust

If my love made you lonely I’m sorry but

The feeling flowed so easily

But I could be in love with anyone

I’ve been breaking hearts for fun

Glass reflects my eyes and skin

But still my lips will crumble like ash when we kiss

So cynically I shift the blame
I could fall upon this house

Or fly across these walls with your heart in my mouth

But honey I would rather stay


Where I could be in love with anyone

I’ve been breaking hearts for fun

4. Ride: Vapour Trail (Nowhere LP track, 1990, Creation)

This is probably the song that inspired the whole ICA. I’ve always struggled to find a better word than ‘lovely’ to summarise the romantic Vapour Trail, the track that closes Ride’s debut LP Nowhere.

Vapour Trail is dreamy and delicate and from its wispy intro to its choppy string-laden exit lifts you into a whole other place. Best of all, the words – describing total adoration and beguilement – feel like they were scratched onto a jotter during double geography, a carefully crooked arm shielding them from the ridicule of the class bully.

Loveliest line: ‘You are a vapour trail in a deep blue sky… ‘

5. The Smiths: I Won’t Share You (Strangeways, Here We Come LP track, 1987, Rough Trade)

After – literally – decades of internal debate and agony I concluded some years ago that My Favourite Smiths Song is this: I Won’t Share You, the very last track on the very last LP.

I mention its placement on Strangeways, Here We Come deliberately as it is crucial to its victory. That’s thanks really to Simon Goddard’s 2002 book Songs That Saved Your Life (Reynolds & Hearn Ltd.) – a painstaking track-by-track analysis of the band’s discography (and so dippable it should be sold with a lollypop and inside a poke of sherbet). There, Goddard notes that I Won’t Share You melts out with the subtlest little breath of faded-out harmonica. It’s an addition so brief and gentle in fact that it’s essentially drowned at birth. But, and here’s the kicker, Goddard – who beautifully and correctly describes the song as ‘a deeply affecting lullaby’ – cleverly connects this sigh of a coda with the band’s first offering, the Hand in Glove single, which begins with, amazingly, a faded-in harmonica.

This, the writer states, returns The Smiths full circle, pinging them from 1987 back to 1983, and all without a DeLorean and flux capacitor in sight.

You can call this proposed loop a reach of course, and it’s an unashamedly romantic way to view the band’s birth and death (and perpetual rebirth-by-harmonica). Amid these gymnastics after all is the troubling and inconvenient fact that The Smiths’ actual last recordings occurred in May 1987, a month after Strangeways had wrapped. These were created at a B-side session whose content and atmosphere so browned-off the already irritated Johnny Marr that it’s not dramatic to state it contributed significantly to the band’s ending.

So for fans of Cluedo, you could say it was the Cilla Black cover, in the studio, with the microphone wot did it.

Even so, the harmonica yarn is a notion I utterly subscribe to and, throughout that years-long agitation across which any helpful criteria was welcome, it earned I Won’t Share You my top spot.

Prettifying the number even further there is of course the debate regarding its lyrics. Specifically, this is concerned with whether or not they constitute Morrissey’s farewell to Johnny Marr. The song would have been completed just a few months before the group dissolved, then released just weeks after the split. It’s widely thought the singer disliked the idea of the guitarist collaborating with others, or even getting close to essential associates like managers and producers. Against those assumptions it’s easy to make a case for the disputed possibility that I Won’t Share You is the sonic equivalent of a note left upon the kitchen table (or, for Smiths trainspotters, perhaps pinned beneath a windscreen wiper).

Whatever the truth, and whether or not you buy the Magic Harmonica Theory and/or the potential Dear Johnny nature of the lines, it’s a song that’s a worthy last word on both The Smiths – it was surely the only serious track ten candidate – and on this collection of lovely songs, which I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about and maybe visiting/revisiting.

Loveliest line: ‘I’ll see you somewhere, I’ll see you sometime, darling… ’

Thanks as ever to Jim for the space and opportunity, and to you for reading.

 

STRANGEWAYS

Various

ANOTHER VOLUME OF UNRECONSTRUCTURED RUBBISH

First midweek day in April.   What else could I do?*

mp3: Various – Another Volume of Unreconstructed Rubbish

The Jesus and Mary Chain – April Skies
Lloyd Cole – Fool You Are
Pet Shop Boys – I Started A Joke
Everything But The Girl – Laugh You Out The House
The Smiths – The Headmaster Ritual
The Bug Club – Pop Single
Felt – Penelope Tree
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – We Call Upon The Author
Siouxsie and The Banshees – Metal Postcard
Massive Attack – Blue Lines
The Prodigy – Firestarter
The Big Moon – Trouble
Soulwax – NY Excuse
Billy Reeves – Never Cross
The Frank and Walters – Fashion Crisis Hits New York
Say Sue Me – B Lover
The Clash – 1977

* I did think about re-posting this previous offering from the date of 1 April in which a bit of fun was had.  I try not to take things too seriously too often on the blog.

JC

 

Fall

ON THIS DAY : THE FALL’S PEEL SESSIONS #4

A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.

Session #4 was broadcast on this day, 31 March 1981, having been recorded on 24 March 1981.

Another truly great recording, (Mojo listed it as the greatest Fall session in the wake of Peel’s passing); packed full of light and shade, comedy and chat. The recording highlighted only one song from the soon to be released ‘Slates’: the anti-football hooliganism rant ‘Middlemass’, which had now been in the group’s repertoire for five months.  The abandonment of Grotesque’s ‘C’n’C’ for the spot-on parody of Coast To Coast’s ‘Do The Hucklebuck’ after Smith’s announcement that comic Arthur Askey had been shot demonstrates the acute sense of humour near the group’s surface. The session is notable for the debut of Smith’s signature tune ‘Hip Priest’, as well as a tentative run through of ‘Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul’.

DARYL EASLEA, 2005

mp3: The Fall – Middlemass (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Hip Priest (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – C’n’C – Hassle Schmuck (Peel Session)

Produced by Dale Griffin, engineered by Martyn Parker

Mark E Smith – vocals; Marc Riley – guitar; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Paul Hanley – drums; Dave Tucker – clarinet

JC