THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

SOMETIMES MUSICIANS CAN PUT IT BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE

klf-itsgrimupnorth
From the back of the 12″ single:-

Having stepped from the wreckage of their 1968 Ford Galaxy American police car Rockman Rock and Kingboy D (The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu) found their ice cream van. Heading east up over the Pennine-straddling M62, they pull their ice-cream van onto the hard shoulder. Behind them to the west, they can still make out the sprawling conurbation of Greater Manchester and those surrounding Lancashire towns, proud in their decline.

Further west, somewhere beyond where Liverpool used to be, a dirty sunset sinks into the Irish Sea. To the east the sky is already dark. The Yorkshire towns seeking solace in their Pennine valleys. But up here on this unhealing gash across the backbone of England the immediate landscape is a desolate moorland, with none of the grandeur of the Highlands or the classic English beauty of the Lakes.

Three bedraggled sheep huddle for shelter in a ditch. The drizzle toughens. Then climbs to a solid rain. Heavy goods vehicles plough by. Tacographs on overload. A leaded grime smears the verges. Sodden Silk Cut packets wonder whether they are biodegrading. A crow flies north.

Through the downpour and diesel roar, Rockman Rock and Kingboy D can feel a regular dull thud. Whether this is the eternal echo of a Victorian steam-driven revolution, or the turbo-driven kick of a distant Northern rave is irrelevant.

Thus inspired, the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu climb into the back of their ice cream van and work.

mp3 : The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu – It’s Grim Up North (Part 1)
mp3 : The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu – It’s Grim Up North (Part 2)

Wiki is good for the factual info.

“Part 1 is a 10-minute composition with two distinct segueing sections. The first 7-minute section is a heavy, pounding industrial techno track, over which Drummond gives a roll-call of Northern towns, through a CB microphone. Between verses, Drummond’s processed voice urgently alerts us that “It’s grim up North”. The instrumentation is in minor key and frequently discordant, featuring synthesised sounds reminiscent of passing heavy goods vehicles or train whistles. Although the underlying rhythm holds a 4/4 time signature, several instruments keep 3/16 and 3/4 time throughout the track, including a deep second drum line – the “regular dull thud” – which juxtaposes when the 4/4 instruments and percussion drop out.

The second section is a fully-orchestrated arrangement of Jerusalem, with the sounds of brass, strings, organs, drums and choir. The instrumentation and vocals of the first section gradually diminish to nothing over a period of nearly two minutes. Following the climax of the hymn, howling wind and crow calls are heard to fade out.

Part 2 is a 6-minute reprise of the techno themes from Part 1, without the vocals and orchestra.”

All locations are in the North of England. They are predominantly in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Scarborough is the furthest north in the list and the furthest south is Nantwich. The full list of locations in the lyrics follows:

First verse

Bolton, Barnsley, Nelson, Colne, Burnley, Bradford, Buxton, Crewe, Warrington, Widnes, Wigan, Leeds, Northwich, Nantwich, Knutsford, Hull, Sale, Salford, Southport, Leigh, Kirkby, Kearsley, Keighley, Maghull, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Oldham, Lancs, Grimsby, Glossop, Hebden Bridge.

Second verse

Brighouse, Bootle, Featherstone, Speke, Runcorn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Barrow, Morecambe, Macclesfield, Lytham St. Annes, Clitheroe, Cleethorpes, the M62.

Third verse

Pendlebury, Prestwich, Preston, York, Skipton, Scunthorpe, Scarborough-on-Sea, Chester, Chorley, Cheadle Hulme (could also be interpreted as the equally valid Cheadle, Hulme), Ormskirk, Accrington, Stanley (could also be interpreted as the football club, Accrington Stanley FC), Leigh, Ossett, Otley, Ilkley Moor, Sheffield, Manchester, Castleford, Skem, Doncaster, Dewsbury, Halifax, Bingley, Bramhall.

NB : The shortened version in the video omits the second verse.

So now you’re fully primed for any relevant questions in a pub quiz.

Incidentally, ‘Grim’ was released in October 1991 and while it reached #10 this was a little short of the chart success that had been enjoyed in earlier months by The KLF.

GUMS!, Hector Collectors, Just Joans

SWEET SOUL MUSIC

gig poster
2016 has, without any question, been a terrible year so far and events have cast something of a collective black cloud above the heads of the blogging cognoscenti. The thing is, I don’t think any of those who are being mourned would want us to spend all of our time sitting in our homes recalling musical memories when there are things happening out there in sweaty clubs and venues that are worthy of our attention and which have the ability to make us feel good and happy again.

Last Friday night, I went to a gig where three bands were on the bill in what was (unfairly and very tongue-in-cheek) described on the night as a fleapit of a venue. None of the bands were exactly brand new – indeed they have been going for a number of years and all have a reasonably faithful if small fanbase – but what they were doing was coming together on one bill on the basis of all having initially begun life in the same town some 15 miles south-east of Glasgow and to support the launch of a 6-track EP, on cassette, with two songs from each band. They each played for around 45 minutes and with the exception of maybe five or six songs from the middle band whom I had caught live twice before, the music was all new to me.

And I came away firmly believing that it was a gig that will not be surpassed in terms of sheer enjoyment again this year.

The three bands on the bill, in order of appearance, were GUMS!, The Just Joans and The Hector Collectors and they have the town of Motherwell in common (maybe I should mention that Motherwell is the next stop on the train line after Bellshill which, in this previous posting, I mentioned had a good call on being the epicentre of indie-pop in Scotland. The thing is Motherwell is by far the bigger of the two towns).

The bandcamp page for GUMS! reveals they have been making music since 2012 but all of the band members have been in previous groups that achieved a fair degree of cult status in and around Glasgow over a previous fair few years. They were a four-piece on the night (although at full strength they have six members) with Martin Smith on acoustic guitar, Jack Taylor on bass, Nora Noonan on drums and Joe Greatorex on bass – with lead vocal duties shared by Martin, Jack and Nora. They delivered a set which musically reminded me of my teenage love for the sorts of fast and energetic post-punk/new wave pop that came from the likes of Buzzcocks and The Undertones but that lyrically was as amusing and enthralling as the great Aidan Moffat at his most playful and wistful best. It was the perfect start to the evening as their infectious energy and enthusiasm was picked up immediately by the 100 or so strong audience.

It was the presence of The Just Joans that had caused me to go along on the night. They have, for many years, been a very firm favourite of my dear mate and gig-going companion Aldo and he was dismayed to discover that this gig was to coincide with a long-planned weekend break he was taking in Madrid. I said that I would go along and make sure I got him a copy of the 6-track EP…oh and I suppose I should confess for the record that, in one of those crazy small world coincidences that occasionally happen, one of the band members works in the same office as me.

They have been around for the best part of a decade and indeed played at the Indietracks festival as far back as 2008. They have had a number of personnel changes over the years and are currently a six-piece with David Pope on acoustic guitar and vocals, Katie Pope on vocals, Chris Elkin on guitar, Fraser Ford on bass, Doog Cameron on keyboards, and Jason Sweeney on drums, the last-named of who was playing his first gig with the band. I describe this lot as ‘shindie’ with the first two letters being short for shambling…..but I don’t use the word in any derogatory way.

Every one of them is a talented musician in their own rights and where the GUMS have their musical roots in the late 70s, the JJs are firmly ensconced in the indie sound of the 80s and in particular C86. David is the main songwriter and his subject matters are very reflective and observant of where he and his bandmates live, play and work. His unique vocal style and delivery will never get him past the audition stage of any TV talent show – let’s just say you will never mistake him for being from anywhere other than his home town – but it is absolutely perfect for this sort of music. You only need to glance at some of the song titles – Some Boys Are Bigger Than Others, I Won’t Survive, Hey Boy…You’re Oh So Sensitive, If You Don’t Pull and I Love Me, Who Do You Love? – to realise that gentle, self-deprecating and whimsical humour are at the heart of the Just Joans. They have garnered a cult following that is well-earned and their set made everyone’s grins all the wider.

Finally, there was The Hector Collectors, a band I knew of only by reputation as having formed initially about 15 years ago only to break-up with band members going on to form other groups before deciding to reform (of sorts) and then in the past few months have become a bit more active with them being the prime driving force in putting on the gig and recording the EP. Like the others on the bill, they have had band members come and go and in the studio can have as many as seven members; but the four musicians who played last Friday were Adam Smith (vocals), Ian Smith (guitar), Joe Greatorex (bass) and Gavin Dunbar (drums). They were utterly brilliant from start to finish with a set that came across as a mix of The Fall, Half Man Half Biscuit, BMX Bandits, Arab Strap and well let’s be frank, GUMS! and The Just Joans.

All of which got me thinking.

As I said at the outset, it’s been a lousy start to 2016 in terms of a number of musical icons dying or ending up in a hospital in Ireland very unlikely to recover. But we really shouldn’t be wallowing in self-pity for those who are no more, albeit it is right that we keep carrying a torch in their memory. Last Friday demonstrated just how uplifting music can be and how musicians, singers and bands have an uncanny ability to surprise, delight, enthrall and above all else entertain. No matter where you live – New York, London, Paris or Munich; Seattle, Sydney, Singapore, Stockholm or Stenhousemuir; Tampa, Tasmania, Tallin, Tupelo or Torquay; just get yourself out there and be part of an audience. You won’t regret it (unless you happen to be catching Nickelback)

I won’t post any of the songs from the new EP (my cassette is #14/100) as they are available to purchase from here.

Instead here’s some stuff from the back catalogues:-

mp3 : GUMS! – The Willow Cafe
mp3 : The Just Joans – If You Don’t Pull
mp3 : The Hector Collectors – Opposites

Enjoy.

Clash

THE CLASH ON SUNDAYS (3)

Disc 3 is Remote Control.

The debut album had been released in the UK on 8 April 1977 to great critical acclaim. Some five weeks later, CBS Records decided a cash-in opportunity was there for the taking and totally against the band’s wishes shoved out Remote Control as the second official 45.

While it had been highlighted by many as among the more accessible on the debut LP its release on seven-inch form led to it being disowned by The Clash with immediate effect.

It’s a song written by Mick Jones (but as ever attributed to the Strummer/Jones partnership) as a response to the frustrations on being caught up in all the hoo-ha around the cancellation of so much of the Sex Pistols Anarchy tour which left The Clash kicking their heels when they were desperate to get out on stage and show just what they were capable of and to win the unofficial title of best punk band in the country.

mp3 : The Clash – Remote Control

The b-side was a live mono version, recorded in Dunstable (I’m guessing at a soundcheck), of another song on the debut album

mp3 : The Clash – London’s Burning

It’s much rawer compared to the LP version and well worthy of your attention.

REMOTE CONTROL : Released 13 May 1977 : Did not chart

This was the first Clash single I bought and looking down this long list I realise that their first and last were the only ones I missed. I got it on the way home from school, green blazer, metallic purple drop-handled racing bike chained to the drainpipe and into the basement of Altrincham’s second-best record shop. All the new single sleeves used to be pinned up on the wall and those three geezers with their shit stoppers and armbands were irresistible to a boy buying all the punk he could afford in the wake of The Bill Grundy Show.

Employment, repression and the state of London town weren’t top priorities in my life but combined with civic halls, daleks, big business and the House of Lords, they were lyrical reference points that wiped the floor with The Beach Boys, my previous obsession and what’s more they sounded like they meant it, man.

Mick played a Gibson, Mick played solos, Mick was the one I listened to, the one who taught me how to play. No Clash – No Roses. The b-side wasn’t bad either, and a taste of what was to come; my first-ever gig, my epiphany, a searing, blinding, ear-splitting glimpse of the future – Manchester Apollo, October 29 1977. Ignore alien orders.

John Squire, Stone Roses guitarist and artist

Scritti Politti

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (28)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WEDNESDAY 16 APRIL 2008

I’m no connoisseur of art and paintings. I’ll see something hanging on a wall and decide pretty quickly whether I like it or not. There will even be times when one work by an artist will appeal, while another of their paintings will appal.

One thing I can’t do however, is really explain why that happens to be the case. I’m not able to dissect a work or art, nor can I really look beyond the immediate visual images that meet the naked eye for something that is more deep and meaningful. And sometimes this happens in music.

I chanced upon a brilliant piece of writing on the LP Songs To Remember by Scritti Politti. It highlights how the record, which on first listen appears to be a hotchpotch of soul, jazz, R&B and pop at its purest, is actually a very clever and subversive piece of work full of political sentiments that almost border on the anarchic.

Now I’m not saying I was never aware of the fact that Green Gartside had a strong and almost extreme left-wing ideology, but I kind of let it drift away on the wind whenever I played what has long been one of my favourite LPs of all time. There’s a lot to admire in the essay – for instance, I’d never have cottoned-on to the fact that the sleeves of the singles were a parody of the finer things in life such as cigars and Courvoisier. I also love the analysis that this was a record full of innovative acts of homage thanks to Green’s style and approach, but the use of soul would later be stolen by ‘the hideous mid-Eighties Live Aid Brigade with their own agenda’, with many of them believing ‘big hair and big volume equals soulfulness’ .

This is all very well and true, but I just can’t help but proclaim my love of the songs is all down to finding something classy sounding in among all the guitar-dominated songs that I was immersed in at the age of 18, which for some reason was of immediate appeal to my ear. Especially this:-

mp3 : Scritti Politti – Faithless (Triple Hep’n’Blue)

I loved the vocals, both lead and backing, and I loved the instrumentation and arrangement. I could never have said back in 1981, nor indeed now in 2008 that what made it so special was:-

“Proceeding at the sombre pace of a New Orleans funeral march, heavily lacquered in gospel shrieking, it is, as the title suggests, implicitly about the modern, probably white soulboy and lover addicted to the linguistic constructs of soul, the “oohs”, the “testifies”, the “I got souls” but who is disconnected from them in his contemporary, agnostic time and place – “Faithless”, indeed.”

That’s how it’s described by David Stubbs, author of the piece I was mentioning earlier. Read it in full right here.

Scritti Politti went on to be a chart success on both sides of the Atlantic a few years later when they left the Rough Trade label and signed for Virgin Records. But these later works of art, while pleasant enough in their own right, never appealed as much as the songs to remember from 1981.

M, Tricky

THE LARGELY FORGOTTEN FOLLOW-UP

I reckon that just about everyone who is from my generation will be very familiar with the song Pop Muzik, which was an absolutely massive hit for M in in the summer of 1979. It reached #1 in at least ten countries and went Top 10 just about everywhere else. It sold 1 million copies in the USA alone.

But I wonder how many remember the follow-up, which totally flopped in the States and only reached a very moderate #33 in the UK:-

mp3 : M – Moonlight and Muzak (12 inch version)

It’s another early version of synthpop, and if you have a listen to the first 45 seconds of intro you’ll find it to be very reminiscent of the sort of tunes that would bring The Human League huge success a few years later. And with the vocal delivery from Robin Scott not being far removed from many of guitar-led new wave songs that were so prevalent in 1979, a case can be made for Moonlight and Muzak being one of the cleverest pop songs of 1979 in what was a tremendous year for music.

Albeit, I’m willing to admit that the 12″ version, of which a copy still sits in the cupboard more than 36 years later, has perhaps been stretched out by two minutes longer than necessary.

Here’s a bonus cover of the big hit from a very surprising source:-

mp3 : Tricky – Pop Muzik

b-side to his 1999 single For Real

Enjoy.

Mull Historical Society

BONUS POSTING : FOR DAVID MARTIN

mhs

I did ask yesterday if anyone wanted to hear the various b-sides to the singles by Mull Historical Society. David said he would.

mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Some You Win, Some You Lose (b-side of I Tried)
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Naked Ambition at the E.P.A. (fron CD2 of Watching Xanadu)
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Sad Old Day To Be Found (from CD2 of Watching Xanadu)
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – The Final Arrears (single version)
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Stay Something (from CD1 of The Final Arrears)
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Citizen Fame (from CD1 of The Final Arrears)

Enjoy. Some of these are rather good.

Style Council

THE STYLE COUNCIL SINGLES (7)

Oh this seems to be a good way of lifting the black cloud that’s been hanging above this blog for a few days.

The next single from TSC to feature in this series was another well-deserved hit, reaching #6 in the charts in October 1984:-

mp3 : The Style Council – Shout To The Top

It was released in 7″ and 12″ (the respective sleeves are pictured above). It had all the hallmarks of an upbeat jaunty TSC single but this time with added strings.

The reverse of the sleeves indicated a few causes that the band thought were worth drawing attention to:-

– No! To the abolition of the GLC & local councils
– Yes! To the thrill of the romp
– Yes! To the Bengali Workers Association
– Yes! To a nuclear-free world
– Yes! To all involved ion animal rights
– Yes! To fanzines
– Yes! To Belief

The single came out in the midst of an ongoing and increasingly embittered national strike by the National Union of Miners with the UK becoming an increasingly polarised country in terms of politics and Paul Weller was firmly nailing his colours to the mast of those on the left of centre. The video for Shout To The Top featured paintings representing the strike and again left no viewer in doubt which side the band were on…

There’s no difference in the versions available on 7″ and 12″ and this was the common b-side:-

mp3 : The Style Council – The Ghosts of Dachau

A haunting ballad about the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, it was as far removed from the jauntiness of the a-side as can be imagined.

There were two other tracks on the 12″

mp3 : The Style Council – Shout To The Top (instrumental)
mp3 : The Style Council – The Piccadilly Trail

The latter is a slow-paced number that was about as dull a b-side as the band had released up to this point in their career.

Enjoy.

JR Green

BONUS POSTING : NEW MUSIC FOR YOUR AURAL PLEASURE (2)

Trying to make good on my promise of the occasional bonus posting up featuring newly released (or soon-to-be released) music that I’m enjoying. Only thing is, this isn’t exactly new but it has just come to my attention.

Every January, my home city plays host to a three-week long musical extravaganza called Celtic Connections. Two nights ago, on Monday 18 January, I was lucky enough to come out in a ballot for two free tickets at which Mercury-nominated C Duncan was performing for a live BBC Radio Scotland broadcast.

He is someone who Jacques the Kipper has been raving about for quite some time and whose debut album Architect was highly quoted in many end of year reviews. The performance was a very pleasant surprise, not least for the fact it featured a four-piece band who had obviously been carefully hand-picked not just for their abilities on keyboards and bass guitar but for the fact that they have an uncanny ability to harmonise perfectly with the main man’s vocal delivery. C Duncan, on the basis of what I heard at this live gig, deserves all the plaudits that have come his way – the music was a rich mixture of influences and I could hear The Divine Comedy, Associates and Cocteau Twins among others. I’ll be buying the album soon and will return to him again in the near future.

There were two support acts on the bill, one of which was Trembling Bells for whom I have no great love thanks to their over reliance on prog within their songs; the other was a duo I had never heard of but who, in just short of 30 hugely entertaining minutes, had grabbed my attention completely and made me want to find out more. So here’s the gen on JR Green.

They are two brothers from Strontian, which is away up in the far north-west of Scotland. Jacob Green plays accordion and sings while Rory Green sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar. They play a blend of music that brings to mind the best of Frightened Rabbit, King Creosote and,despite not having an electrical instrument between them, a range of early 21st Century indie-guitar bands such as The Cribs, The Libertines and The Strokes. The boys – and this is where it is worth mentioning that Jacob is 21 and Rory is 19 – were clearly brought up on and learned to play via the traditional folk music that is best associated with where they grew up but what they have done is fuse the sort of songs and subject matters that they were listening to as teenagers to make something that is hugely entertaining and enjoyable with the best use of an accordian in a music setting since Wix did his stuff alongside Matt Johnson on This Is The Day…..

They released a debut EP entitled Bring The Witch Doctor in October 2015. As Rory has said elsewhere on t’internet:-

The four songs were all written in our shared attic-room in the remote Scottish Highlands, barely big enough for two beds, let alone two 6ft muppets and a bloody squeeze box. We wrote these four songs when I was still in school and each one will always serve as a time capsule for me no matter how many times we perform them. We hope you can take pleasure in listening to them, they mean an awful and equal amount to us and having them officially released is something we find extremely exciting.

The morning after seeing them, I sent off for a copy of the EP and while I’m eagerly awaiting on the postman doing his stuff I have been able to listen thanks to also receiving digital copies of the tunes. I’d normally of course put up an mp3 but these boys are just starting out and so if you want the music you can click here and buy it. In the meantime, here’s a link to their performance the other night (but I fear will only be available to UK viewers due to licensing arrangements)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fyprf

The final song they played was Nigerian Princess the lead song from the EP. Rory messed it up slightly – he explained afterwards in an interview with compere Vic Galloway that this was by far the biggest audience they had ever played in front of and it was a combination of nerves and the fact his hand had cramped up while playing.

The BBC folk have obviously decided to spare the young man his blushes, although he quite honestly had nothing to be ashamed of, and have edited it out of the footage they have made available. There is a promo kicking around and here it is-

Enjoy.

Mull Historical Society

MY PET HATE

mhs
Nope. I’m still in a cunt of a mood. What follows is what passes as a rant from me….

Some of the folk who read this blog will have the pleasure/misfortune to have been at gigs alongside me. They, more than any others, will know that mere words cannot get across how mad I get when someone close by decides they’d rather talk loudly to their mate/partner/total stranger standing beside them than pay attention to the live performance.

Indeed, I have been known to get violent on occasion with the worst probably being at a Malcolm Middleton gig a few years back in Glasgow when some arsehole came down towards the front of the crowd about three-quarters of the way through the gig specifically to talk to his mates who up until that point in time had been enjoying Malky and his band – I think my elbows took two of them out in due course and got them to shift away but I ended up having to punch the new arrival to get him to shut the fuck up after he’d ignored three glaring looks. I wasn’t proud of what I’d done but content that the right action had been taken to prevent the spoiling what had been a tremendous night.

Incidentally, and I’m not being sexist about it, but the problem is often at its worst when females are involved. I often get the impression that groups of females at gigs very often have one or maybe two who are there to be part of a night out rather than specifically to see the singer or band and inevitably when they get bored they start yakking. I’m not saying blokes don’t do the same but they are more likely to say to the rest of their mates that they’re off to the bar and everyone can meet up later. Females tend to try to stick together at gigs……

I suppose what I’m saying is that incessant talking at gigs is an offence that should be met with instant death.

Which is why I have great difficulty in offering any sort of praise for Mull Historical Society when in fact I’m fond of some of their material.

It all stems from when I went to see Tindersticks in the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh back in June 2001, a night much-anticipated as the aforementioned MHS were the support act. They delivered a really enjoyable set and got a great reception from the packed sell-out crowd and then we all settled down to await Tindersticks.

Now you’ll know that the main act are a band whose best moments are often of the quieter type and in the main the audience recognising that tends to be pretty reverential. Except on that night, one later arrival close by just wouldn’t shut up and the three folk he was surrounded by were hanging on to his every word. I waited till the end of one particularly lovely song that had been ruined and shuffled past a few folk specifically to have a word….only to discover to my horror and amazement that it was Colin Macintyre, the lead singer/songwriter of MHS. This only made me more angry as I explained, in what can only be described as an expletive ridden rant, that having given his band full attention and not ruined his performance by yakking throughout then I would appreciate if he’d do the same for the main band.

I couldn’t believe it when he tried to justify his behaviour on the grounds he was just telling his mates how much of a thrill it had been to perform tonight and anyways if I really wanted to hear the band I could move elsewhere in the venue. In response I swore at him again and by now, with Tindersticks about to start their next song, there were now a few anxious looks from other audience members that it was going to get out of hand…at which point Mr MHS clammed up and he and his mates headed off in the direction of backstage which is where of course he should have been having the conversation in the first place.

So that’s why T(n)VV doesn’t make much mention of a very fine Scottish indie band of the early 2000s, but since I’ve resolved to be a bit more tolerant in 2016 I thought as a nice gesture that I’d post some of their singles that sit amidst many other CDs:-

mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Barcode Bypass
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Mull Historical Society
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – I Tried
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – The Final Arrears
mp3 : Mull Historical Society – Watching Xanadu

PS : If anyone is really interested, I’d be happy to post the b-sides…..

Enjoy.

PPS : This was highlighted in an e-mail to me earlier today from a reader by the name of Duncan Elliot. 39 seconds of genius that perfectly complements all of the above:-

iLiKETRAiNS

THIS IS POSSIBLY THE DARKEST SONG ON MY I-POD

(FILE) 50 Years Since The Beeching Report Issued In The UK
Today’s posting was meant to feature The Strokes, but at the 11th and 1/2 hour, I came up with a change of plan.

You could blame it on the fact that yesterday (which is when I typed this up) was described across the media as the darkest and most gloomy day we have in the UK thanks to a combination of it being so far since Xmas and so far until most of us enjoy our next pay-day. On a personal front, I’m a bit down as a very good friend is in a really bad place just now in terms of her mental well-being and despite the best efforts from a number of folk around her, there’s a real sense of worry and concern.

You could also blame it on feckin random shuffle on t’i-pod as it through up iLiKETRAiNS while I was actually on a train, thinking about my dear friend, and this led to a few minutes where I almost started crying in public.

I think it was Comrade Colin who first brought this band to my attention. Wiki describes them as “an English alternative/post-rock band who play brooding songs featuring sparse piano and guitar, baritone vocals, uplifting choral passages and reverberant orchestral crescendos. They draw their inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view.”

The key word up there is ‘pessimistic’ and even then, that’s being generous with a description of the band, albeit they are magnificent at what they do…..someone always has to do doom and gloom y’know.

The thing is, I’m not sure what came first, the band’s name or the fact they wrote a song called The Beeching Report.

For those of you who are too young to know what that is (or maybe you are from overseas and have no idea of this part of UK socio-economic-political history), then I respectfully suggest that you do a little bit of browsing with perhaps wiki, again being your friend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beeching,_Baron_Beeching.

In a nutshell, Richard Beeching decimated large parts of the UK in a way that no-one else had managed beforehand or indeed has achieved since. The despair and angst caused by his work in the 1960s led to this suitably despairing and angst-ridden song more than 40 years later:-

mp3 : iLiKETRAiNS – The Beeching Report

Take from it any modern-day metaphor you like, even to the extent of a loving relationship that has fallen apart.

I will try to be a bit more light-hearted tomorrow.

Marc Almond

IN WHICH MARC ALMOND FORETOLD THE FUTURE

It was back in July 1995 that Marc Almond released a belter of a single that really should have been a smash hit instead of stalling at #44 and spending just two weeks in the pop charts. The first three seconds start off as an homage to The Jean Genie before it turns into a sort of Stars on 45 tribute to the glam rock that I recall from the early 70s. Great guitar riffs, amazing backing vocals, and a pumping chorus.

It was tailored made for radio,when it was released in 1995, but got absolutely no exposure on the mainstream daytime shows. Just too dark a subject matter for them y’see…..I had forgotten just how good this is:-

mp3 : Marc Almond – The Idol (Part 1)

Oh and if you did make the effort to buy the single, there were real treats tucked away on the b-side:-

mp3 : Marc Almond – Law Of The Night
mp3 : Marc Almond – Adored and Explored (Live at Radio One)
mp3 : Marc Almond – Bedsitter (Live at Radio One)

The ‘Unplugged cover’ of the Soft Cell hit is particularly wonderful. No synths – just acoustic guitars and harmonicas. And proof that Marc was a better singer than most gave him credit for.

But if you want to see how great the full version of this single was, here’s the full 9 and a bit minute version from the LP Fantastic Star:-

mp3 : Marc Almond – The Idol (All Gods Fall) (Parts 1 & 2)

I’m taking the unusual step of reproducing the full lyric. The last line might have taken 14 years to come true….but there’s no denying he got it right:-

Hail Hail the Idol
Hail Hail the Idol

Idol be bad
Idol be wild
Martyr your heart
Father a love child
We need all your kinks
And your dark attitude
We live on your sins
And your volatile moods

We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
You’re a pop up poster of a teenage dream
We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
A fur inferno on a twisted scene

Go for the gold
Never grow old
In the bed or the car
It’s the end of the star
Burn yourself out
Do yourself in
Don’t try to mend
All gods fall in the end

Hail Hail the Idol
Hail Hail the Idol

We loved you in black
We adored you in pink
Up in the dock
Or drowned in the drink
Wrapped up in foil
Anointed in oil

We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
Rip out your soul as
you’re playing the role
We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
Nail up your hands to fulfil our demands

Go for the gold
Never grow old
In the bed or the car
It’s the end of the star
Burn yourself out
Do yourself in
Don’t try to mend
All gods fall in the end

Sweet crucifixion

We hate you, we hate you
We hate you, we hate you
Watch them turn cold as you
start to grow old
We hate you, we hate you
We hate you, we hate you
Vinyl to burn as the crowd starts to turn

Go for the gold
Never grow old
In the bed or the car
It’s the end of the star
Burn yourself out
Do yourself in
Don’t try to mend
All gods fall in the end

Be what you are
In the bed or the car
In the bath or the bar
It’s the end of the star
Burn yourself out
Do yourself in
Don’t try to mend
All gods fall in the end

Fail Fail the Idol
Fail Fail the Idol
Fail Fail the Idol
Fail Fail the Idol

All gods fall in the end

Valentino the sheik was the God of them all
But his macho was dented and he took a fall
Garland sang tragedy touching our hearts
But her life was a tragedy more than her art
Fabian and Avalon gold lamed and cute
Kissed fickle fame and went straight down the chute
Elvis the cat loved us tender with youth
But what we were seeing was never the truth
Just wanted to sing but fame made its demands
And died while still young trying to please all his fans
James was a rebel that stood for an age
A drink and a drive and then death took the stage
Poor Billie Holliday paid all her dues
When her close friend the needle gave her the blues
Janis at night cruised for boys on the strip
But death by the bottle is what made her hip
Marilyn’s beauty showed age every day
But her sinister end helped her keep age away

We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you
We love you, we love you

Brian Jones had an aura that Mick soon would crave
But pills and a pool set the scene for the grave
Jim lived his life to put edge to his songs
But he died in the bath to reach where he belongs
Jimi played notes that were all heaven-sent
But the drink and the drugs made sure that’s where he went
Osmond and Cassidy records all gold
But they made the mistake of growing too old
Bolan got fat was not pleasant to see
But we loved him again when he met with a tree
Kurt was unhappy with fame and success
A gun in the mouth and one hell of a mess
And who will be next on the big cross of fame?
A white sequinned glove and a big famous name?

Clash

THE CLASH ON SUNDAYS (2)

The_Clash_-_Capital_Radio_(EP)

Disc 2 is Capital Radio.

This was a 7″ EP released on 9 April 1977 but was only available to readers who sent off a coupon printed in the NME plus the red sticker found on the band’s debut studio album.

It contained four ‘tracks’ in as much as there were four separate listings:-

Side 1

1. “Listen” (excerpt)
2. “Interview with The Clash on The Circle Line (Part 1)”

Side 2

3. “Interview with The Clash on The Circle Line (Part 2)”
4. “Capital Radio”

It was a limited pressing and before too long, with demand having greatly outstripped supply, copies were changing hands for silly money. Even now, a tattered and battered second-hand copy will fetch £20-25 on the second-hand market.

mp3 : The Clash – Listen (excerpt)
mp3 : The Clash – Interview with The Clash on the Circle Line (Part One)
mp3 : The Clash – Interview with The Clash on the Circle Line (Part Two)
mp3 : The Clash – Capital Radio

The interview was with Tony Parsons of the NME who also contributed the essay for the box set:-

CAPITAL RADIO : Released as an NME give away April 1977

On the day of the interview that appears here, me, Mick, Paul and Joe met on a tube station on the Circle Line. I had a big bag of speed. I’d met ’em before and it was a great way to het to know ’em. I really loved the band. I think they thought this guy’s our ally. The main thing I remember is the four of us in the photobooth on Liverpool Street Station taking the speed and a policeman trying to get in. It was early ’77, a fantastic time because it was all taking off. They could see the great adventure unfolding before them. We went back to Mick’s gran’s by the Westway and then we went to the Speakeasy. We were turned away for not being famous enough.

The next day, Julie (Burchill) and I went down the studio for the recording of Capital Radio as it was going to be an NME single, first 25,000 readers got one or something. We spent all day at the studio, watching them work. They were a band with three leaders, at the time they clearly loved each other like brothers do.

They had Terry Chimes on drums at that point, he was a good drummer but he was too ordinary, he didn’t realise the history of what was happening, he kept saying ‘There’s a Bing Crosby film on tonight.’ And I remember Mick Jones being shocked by this.

I remember Strummer improvising. ‘Don’t touch that Dial’. They knew then all the dreams were gonna come through. They were a great band, live, in the studio, great together, they looked like superstars walking down the street.

We were too tired to go to bed that night, and the Pistols played ar Screen on the Green really late. We walked in and Strummer was there, holding a baby. He joked, ‘This is mine!’ It seemed an impossibility that any of us would ever have children or grow up. Magical days.

Tony Parsons, novelist and former NME journalist

Underworld

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (29)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON TUESDAY 15 APRIL 2008

I sometimes listen to stuff other than jingly-jangly pop tunes with an indie bent. But not often.

And while I’m not a huge fan of the dance-music genre, every now and again, something special lodges in my brain and taps away incessantly.

I own a few singles and LPs by Basement Jaxx and Chemical Brothers, but none of their stuff has made this self-indulgent chart. Sometimes I look at the list and wonder if that’s a glaring omission, but then I recall just how many other great bands or acts missed the cut.

And while within the dance genre I have a preference for the two acts I mentioned above, it is another fine combo who delivered what I think is as good a four and a bit minutes as good as anything in my record/CD collection:-

mp3 : Underworld – Born Slippy (Nuxx)

Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy. That’s the four words that to me best describe this single.

Now if you’re an indie-kid like me, you might be interested to learn that this finally became a hit nearly two years after its initial release. Born Slippy was originally a genuine techno record in that there were no vocals, while Born Slippy (Nuxx) was a vocal remix stuck away on the b-side.

It was only when it appeared on the Trainspotting soundtrack that it was again picked up by Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong who began a campaign for the single to be re-released. Which is what happened, and why its become so well-known.

You might also be fascinated to know that Born Slippy was one of three tracks on the Underworld LP, Second Toughest In The Infants, named after greyhounds that ran at the Romford dog track….

Read all about it here

Incidentally, as much as love Born Slippy, I don’t think I’ve ever danced to it outwith the confines of my living room. Clubs and raves are for young folk….and I was already getting past it back in 1996 far less having the energy for it in 2008 (or even more so in 2015!!).

Radiohead

IS THIS THE REAL LIFE OR IS THIS JUST FANTASY?

It’s been some week in blogworld. I’m one of those who, due to pressures of time, put quite a few posts together well in advance so that I can do my best to offer up daily postings and then something totally unexpected and mind-blowing such as the death of David Bowie changes everything. Just want to say a big thank you to everyone for dropping by, for reading what was said in the two postings and also for reading the other things that were put up as I tried to keep some semblance of order.

I had a wee think about what sort of good thing musically might have, if I’d been a blogger back at the time, led me to drop everything and want to ask ‘did you see or hear that???’ There’s been plenty but most have been where I’ve found something new or a particular favourite have come up with something astounding. Amd then I thought I’d go with this…..

I don’t reckon I’m alone with my first exposure to Paranoid Android being when Radiohead appeared on the late-night BBC music programme Later, presented by Jools Holland, in May 1997. The person who would years later post the clip on YouTube said it was one of the greatest performances ever to grace the stage of that show. And they’re not wrong:

It was something totally unexpected. Yes, the band had released a cracking LP in The Bends a couple of years previously that had brought them to the attention of the wider public and also got them positive reviews from the rock meeja. But this was something else entirely…..

The single had in fact been released a few days before the TV performance and had been aired a fair bit within the various early-evening shows on Radio 1 and was already being described by some journalists/broadcasters as the Bohemian Rhapsody of the 90s. But to me that’s just a lazy description based on the fact that the song has different and distinct sections and at more than six minutes in length is not anything like your average single.

Paranoid Android is a strange, complex and twisted bit of music that really shouldn’t work, but somehow it does.

Maybe its the fact that we’re all lulled into a false sense of security with its opening of acoustic guitars over Thom Yorke‘s high-pitched vocal. And for about three minutes we can sing along, tap our feet and move our head of work from side to side enjoying a song that is that is not all that indistinguishable from other admittedly top-quality indie pop/rock.

But then it gets all strange as Jonny Greenwood batters the shit out of his guitar before it suddenly comes not quite to a halt but to the pace of a real tear-jerking ballad except instead it sounds like a hymn at which point Thom Yorke comes back in with a pleading vocal that seems to challenge his God to take out his anger on him. Then, just when you thought that would be it…there’s about 45 seconds or so of a guitar solo and backing music that wouldn’t have been out of place on a heavy metal album from 15 years or so earlier….certainly something that air guitarists would get awfully excited about.

As I said, it shouldn’t work, but it does.

It reached #3 in the UK singles charts on its release and remains the biggest hit 45 Radiohead have ever enjoyed. There were two CD singles available to buy, and the b-sides are well worth a listen as they show different sides to the band, but they wont be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact some of you might find them downright irritating. But in a week when we celebrated the diversity of Mr Bowie’s musical output it seems appropriate to head into the weekend with these :-

mp3: Radiohead – Paranoid Android
mp3: Radiohead – Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
mp3: Radiohead – Pearly
mp3: Radiohead – A Reminder
mp3: Radiohead – Melatonin

Enjoy

Beautiful South, Housemartins

A LONG LOST AND FORGOTTEN CONTRIBUTION FROM GERMANY

I found this the other day while digging through the archives I was able to rescue when google took down the old blog without any warning. It was a lovely reminder that for a long time now I’ve been very fortunate to have such fantastic feedback and contributions from folk who drop by.

It was posted originally on Tuesday 7 September 2010

I received a very nice email the other week from a reader in Germany – Sven Deurkhop – along with a very nice attachment (more about that later).

In thanking Sven, I asked if there was anything he’s like to see featured on TVV. In reply, he said:-

A post or even a series about The Housemartins or The Beautiful South would be nice.

I think, especially The Housemartins are often overlooked when it comes to British 80s music. If there wouldn’t have been Morrissey I’m sure that Paul Heaton were considered the most talented and witty lyricist in British music of the last 25 years.

Take for example gemstones like “The light is always green” (“We dig our models with the brains the size of models”) or the sheer and blunt political statements like in “Get Up Off Our Knees” or “The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death”. All those angry and sharp lyrics well-clad in harmonious and highly addictive pop-tunes – what’s not to like?

The same with “The Beautiful South” – especially their first two albums. The pure beauty of “Let Love Speak Up Itself”, again the wrath of “I’ve Come For My Award”, the irony of “Straight In At 37” or “Love Is” leave me amazed again and again. Paul Heaton has just finished his second solo record and toured the UK by bike (!) last spring. He played only pubs, which made me (again) regret not to live in the UK.

It is quite strange that while the cupboard and shelves have both of the original LPs released by The Housemartins and the first three CDs by The Beautiful South, I’ve not really given them much exposure on TVV. Can’t really offer up a reason why other than I did get a wee bit fed up with TBS after a while, and stopped listening to them. I haven’t even put much of their stuff onto the i-pod. But the 1988 Housemartins compilation Now That’s What I Call Quite Good is something I give the occasional listen to – especially on long bus or train journeys as it seems to pass the time away quite quickly. But I cant bring myself to listen to the acapella smash that was Caravan of Love. Hated it then. Hate it still.

But Sven is quite right to praise the talents of Paul Heaton. He enjoyed a barrow load of hit singles and albums in the 90s, and I’m guessing that if that hadn’t been the case, he would be one of those songwriters bloggers would be writing about every day. Instead, we ignore him because he was a friend who became successful. And as someone else once wrote, we hate that….

So looking back over the stuff that I own by both bands, here’s five tracks that I still enjoy:-

mp3 : The Housemartins – Flag Day
mp3 : The Housemartins – Get Up Off Our Knees
mp3 : The Housemartins – Five Get Over Excited
mp3 : The Beautiful South – Straight In At 37
mp3 : The Beautiful South – I Think The Answer’s Yes

And to round things off, here’s the attachment Sven sent over:-

mp3 : The Beautiful South – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

Enjoy. I certainly did. And if by chance you’re reading this Sven, once again a huge thank you.

New Order

WHEN JOHN DENVER WENT TO IBIZA…..

Run212Uk
My effort come up with an ICA for New Order last June placed Run as the final track on Side A when I said:-

Run is one of the most outstanding songs on the album and rather bravely the band went for an edited single release in due course in which about 45 seconds are chopped off and by editing down the dreamy instrumental finish to the song and replacing it with more of the re-recorded vocal with Barney’s voice given more prominence than the original mix. It’s a decent enough mix and does a job of giving us enough changes to think of it as a new song altogether but it’s not a patch on the original.

The remix was in fact worked on alongside Scott Litt who at tht point in time was known for having worked on couple of LPs by R.E.M. The fact that he would also work on the multi-million sellers Out Of Time and Automatic For The People albums in the 90s and become one of the most talked about producers of that era was all in the future…..

Run 2 is really quite a different version. To expand on what I said in the ICA piece, the long instrumental section at the end of the original is replaced by a repeat of the chorus while there’s also greater prominence given to Bernard’s vocal and guitar and Hooky’s bass lines in an effort to make it more appealing to radio stations. Despite this, Factory Records didn’t press up all that many copies and it wasn’t the easiest thing to find in the shops.

The record stalled at #49 in the UK charts which was the poorest showing by a New Order single in a long while. But this where the fun really started…..

After the release, John Denver (or more accurately John Denver’s lawyers) sued the group, claiming that Run 2, in particular the instrumental part, sounded too similar to his hit Leaving On A Jet Plane. The case was settled out of court, and as a result the single in it’s remixed form was, for a very long time, out of print save the original few thousand copies made available in 1989.

As a result, Run 2 was a bit of music much sought after by fans, especially outside the UK (it was never made available at all overseas). There was much anticipation when Run 2 was listed on the track lists of compilation LPs released in 1994 and 2005, but in fact it was always the original version from Technique that was included.

But finally in 2008, a deluxe edition of Technique was released that included the extended mixes of Run 2 and the track MTO that had been on the b-side of the 12″. But even now, the regular mixe of Run 2 and minus mix of MTO are otherwise unavailable.

Unless someone rips them from vinyl:-

mp3 : New Order – Run 2
mp3 : New Order – Run 2 (extended mix)
mp3 : New Order – MTO
mp3 : New Order – MTO (minus mix)

Oh and nowadays, the credits for all newly released versions of Run are attributed to Sumner, Hook, Morris, Gilbert and Denver.

Enjoy

Farmer's Boys, Higsons, Popular Voice, Serious Drinking

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #56 : THE SOUND OF YOUNG NORWICH

A GUEST POSTING FROM STRICTLY ROCKERS

Norwich Cassette (1)

Just to prove that it’s not all Cope, Cope, Cope chez Rockers, here’s an Imaginary Compilation Album on a totally different tip.

Way back in the early 1980s the talk was all about the mythical ‘Norwich Sound’, a scene allegedly created by John Peel centring on the University Of East Anglia (UEA) and peopled by the likes of Gee Mr Tracey, The Fire Hydrant Men, Screen 3, Popular Voice, Serious Drinking, The Higsons and The Farmer’s Boys. These were bands linked not by musical style but by postcode. Two bands in particular, The Higsons & The Farmer’s Boys, teetered on the verge of major success, recording a total of seven Peel sessions and a joint ‘In Concert’ programme for Radio One but, despite major-label backing, never quite made the jump to the big-time and, by the mid 1980s, the A&R men were focussed elsewhere.

The Higsons formed in 1980 at UEA, Norwich. An energetic, brassy, punk/funk band influenced by the New York ‘No Wave’ bands and often referred to as the ‘British Talking Heads’. Colin ‘Bilko’ Williams played Bass. Simon ‘No Nickname’ Charterton, Drums. Switch ‘Charles Aznovoice’ Higson did ‘Singing’. Stuart ‘Radar’ McGeachin played ‘One Guitar’ and Terry ‘Individual’ Edwards did ‘Everything Else’. They first recorded two songs for the now legendary ‘Norwich: A FIne City’ compilation, designed to give exposure to local bands. John Peel picked up on the album but only played the Higsons’ songs!

My introduction to them was through a friend who played me his precious copies of their first three singles. I persuaded him to let me borrow them so that I could tape them but conveniently ‘forgot’ to give them back until two weeks later. Happily I now have my own copies that still receive regular play. Their excellent first album ‘The Curse Of The Higsons’ is now available as a deluxe 3-CD set (‘The Complete Curse…’) with extra singles, b-sides and two incredible live sets. Highly recommended!

Terry Edwards now fronts his own band and is a prolific session player having played with the likes of Gallon Drunk, Tindersticks, Spiritualized, The Blockheads, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Julian Cope (http://www.terryedwards.co.uk).

According to Wiki, Simon Charterton is in Camden based ‘The Aftershave’ and both Stuart McGeachin and Colin Williams have now got ‘proper jobs’ but I wonder what happened to ‘Switch’…???!!!

Farmer’s Boys were BazFrogMarkStan (formerly trading under the name Bang Goes My Stereo). A very British ‘country’ band with, as one reviewer put it, ‘a lack of musical prowess thinly covered by a mask of superficial humour’.

‘I Think I Need Help’ was released in April 1982 and received plenty of evening-time plays on wonderful Radio One which is where I heard John Peel play them. The DIY nature of the band showed especially in the live shows where their battered Casio keyboard/drum machine would be supported, front-of-stage, on an ironing-board. Two further singles followed in 1982 and the third, ‘More Than A Dream’ was re-released by EMI when they signed the band at the start of 1983. They released two albums but essentially were a great singles band. Their cover of Cliff’s ‘In The Country’ awarded them their highest chart position (44!) and a promised TOTP appearance, only to be replaced at the last minute by one-hit-wonders Alphaville with ‘Big In Japan’.

The band split in 1985, Baz, Mark & Stan continued to gig variously as ‘The Avons’, ‘The Nivens’, ‘Dr Fondle’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’ and currently play the Norwich area as The McGuilty Brothers. Keyboard player/guitarist Frog (K.R. Frost) found a home with Julian Cope’s band between 1986 and 1994 (from Saint Julian to Autogeddon). Their first album, ‘Get Out & Walk‘ is available with extra tracks and a compilation of their session tracks (‘Once Upon A Time in The East’) is still available from The Farmer’s Boys ‘official unofficial website’: http://www.thefarmersboys.com.

Serious Drinking formed at UEA in 1981 and included an original Farmer’s Boy, the Higson’s drummer and occasionally, Mr Terry Edwards. They were another Peel favourite, recording 4 sessions of songs about football, love and drinking — often combinations of all three. Their debut EP, ‘Love On The Terraces’, produced by Bedders from Madness, was followed up by an album ‘The Revolution Starts At Closing Time’ and a retrospective, ‘Stranger Than Tannadice: The Hits, Misses And Own Goals Of Serious Drinking’.

Popular Voice were a well-polished indie/funk band, active between 1980 and 1983 often seen gigging with both The Higsons and Farmer’s Boys (where I saw them in support at Bristol Polytechnic). They released two singles in 1982 on Backs and seem to have totally disappeared.

Just to prove I’m not making this all up, here’s a documentary on the ‘Norwich Sound’ (featuring a very young Charlie ‘Switch’ Higson): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmTEq-Sfxqk

OK, so I lied… it IS all about Cope:

• Nick Rayns, the Entertainments Manager at the UEA, responsible for putting on gigs by all the Norwich bands, was the ex-Road Manager for The Teardrop Explodes.
• Colin ‘Bilko’ Williams was part of the late-70’s Liverpool scene and played guitar in an early version of Wah! before studying at UEA.
• Frog (K R Frost) is married to Jill Bryson (out of Strawberry Switchblade) who appears on the cover of Cope’s ’20 Mothers’ album.
• As well as playing with Julian Cope, Terry Edwards has also played with Robyn Hitchcock who wrote a song entitled ‘Listening To The Higsons’ and covered Cope’s ‘Charlotte Anne’.
• The Farmer’s Boy’s cover of Cliff’s ‘In The Country’ follows in the rich line of Bah-Bah-Bah songs.

‘The Sound Of Young Norwich’: An Imaginary Album for The (new) Vinyl Villain

The Higsons Side:

1) I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys (Single, 1981) ‘Hoop Hup / Be Doobie Doobie Doobie / Hoop Hup Be Du Du Doo!’ If there is a better start to any single, I don’t know it! Sheer genius.

2) It Goes Waap!! (Single, 1981) The theme song for their own label.

3) Conspiracy (Single, 1982) ‘Who Stole My Bongoes?’

4) Tear The Whole Thing Down (Single, 1982) Originally titled ‘Burn The Whole Place Down (Before The Yanks Come)’ their first single on 2 Tone.

5) Run Me Down (Single, 1983) Their second, and final, single on 2 Tone backed by the marvellously-titled ‘Put The Punk Back Into Funk (Parts 1&2)’

The Farmer’s Boys Side:

1) I Think I Need Help (Single, 1982) FB’s debut. Released on The Higson’s Waap label

2) Whatever Is He Like? (Single, 1982) Swift follow-up single on the Backs label originally titled ‘Funny Old Mr. Baz’

3) More Than A Dream (Single, 1982) Re-released as their debut single on EMI. With ‘Thanks to the Terry Edwards Brass Experience’

4) Apparently (Single, 1984) The highly polished sound of the major label FB’s with their own horn section and ‘real’ drummer. Reached a staggering #98 in the charts!

5) In The Country (Single, 1984) Curse you Alphaville! ‘Bah, Ba-ba-ba-baaaa!’

Bonus 7″:

A) The Popular Higson Boys – Can’t Get Next To You (A bonus track from the ‘Touchdown’ compilation, 1982) A great cover of the Temptations’ classic featuring the massed bands and vocalists of Popular Voice, The Higsons and The Farmer’s Boys. The compilation is named after the B-side of the Higsons’ ‘Conspiracy’ single and also featured various indie/jazz/funk misfits such as Maximum Joy and Pinski Zoo.

B1) Popular Voice – Home For The Summer (Single, 1982) A beautiful single released on the Backs label. I can find little information about it.

B2) Serious Drinking – Love On The Terraces (Single, 1982) ‘Love’ – check. ‘Football’ – check. ‘Drinking’ – check!

mp3 : The Higsons – I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys
mp3 : The Higsons – It Goes Waap!
mp3 : The Higsons – Conspiracy
mp3 : The Higsons – Tear The Whole Thing Down
mp3 : The Higsons – Run Me Down
mp3 : The Farmer’s Boys – I Think I Need Help
mp3 : The Farmer’s Boys – Whatever Is He Like?
mp3 : The Farmer’s Boys – More Than A Dream
mp3 : The Farmer’s Boys – Apparantly
mp3 : The Farmer’s Boys – In The Country
mp3 : The Popular Higson Boys – Can’t Get Next To You
mp3 : Popular Voice – Home For The Summer
mp3 : Serious Drinking – Love On The Terraces

ENJOY!!

David Bowie

ONE FINAL PIECE ON DAVID BOWIE

David Bowie and Mick Ronson's infamous Starman performance.

My best mate Jacques is a tremendous writer who keeps his talents far too well hidden for my liking. Occasionally, he will leave behind a nugget of a comment but more often his best stuff comes in texts and e-mails.

This morning he posted a comment in response to the original piece on David Bowie that I typed up as I heard the news yesterday morning. It is far too good to be left there in the hope that some readers may stumble on it and so I’m reproducing it is a stand-alone piece. I think it will resonate with many.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

I found it tough to write anything sensible about the passing of DB yesterday. I was truly stunned by the suddenness of it, just as we’d been discussing elsewhere his 69th birthday and the merits of another new album. As with everything the great man did, he moved on to some other cosmos with both style and dignity.

Musically he touched me deeply over the years and he was responsible for a, probably the, genuinely seminal event in my musical education. Starman truly was a magical moment that night it appeared on TOTP. So weird and wonderful that it had many of us kids arguing about it as we played in Primary School the next day. (So memorable, this is one of only 3 or 4 moments I can vividly recall from school in those early years). Of course it wasn’t so much the music we analysed, it was essentially the acceptability of a man looking a bit like a woman, the bending of gender. Fair to say that the argument split along the line of me and the girls versus the farmer boys. The die was cast for me – being a bit weird was okay. (And for the record, if ever I really was doing a Desert Island Discs, Starman is in there first, because that’s where the music began for me.)

It was a formative moment, but I’m not going to pretend that I totally “got” the music then or suddenly became a devotee. Hey, I was seven. But it had made a big impression and I always looked out for that weirdo over the next few years, buying the odd single and wishing the north of Scotland of the time was just a bit (well, a lot) more cosmopolitan.

During the punk years, I made a new friend, let’s call him Graham. He was a music collector the likes of which I had never known before, and he had copies of all the Bowie albums. For the first time, I could enjoy the full breadth of his back catalogue. And what breadth. Genuine pop majesty.

Again though, I still wasn’t a devotee. Loved pretty much all that he’d done at that point, but was ever keen to broaden my musical knowledge and experience, and wasn’t going to waste my life listening to the same old stuff over and over. It’s only now that I look back that I realise just how much of my record/cd collection is influenced directly and indirectly by Bowie. Without whom and all that. He’s always been there – a friendly uncle to turn to in times when you need something reliable, something you can trust to still be the friend you always knew. Something, let’s be honest, brilliant.

I never saw him live. I’m not sad about that. By the time I could, he was mostly playing to massive barns or stadia. Not for me.

And I’ll happily stand by the fact that, FOR ME, he hasn’t made a decent album in 30 years. But those 1970s ones are pretty much perfect. And for that I will always truly love him.

The Queen is dead, long live the Queen.

Style Council

THE STYLE COUNCIL SINGLES (6)

Back in 1974, Gladys Knight & The Pips enjoyed what at the time was their biggest chart success in the UK with a soulful version of a country and western song called You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me. Their cover was never off the radio for months on end and even now, more than 40 years on, despite me never owning a copy physically or digitally I can still very clearly recall the way that Gladys majestically soars across the sentimental message at the heart of the song while her backing vocalists do a killer job in driving it along at a perfect pace.

The thing is, if I can remember it that well from the perspective of an 11-year-old than I’m sure someone with a great interest in music such as the then 16-year old Paul Weller will have taken even more notice and in due course, as he himself falls head over heels, harnesses his talents into delivering something just as special. As indeed he would do with subsequent TSC singles….be patient and all will be revealed!!

And so it proved ten years on when once again radio stations up and down the country never got tired of playing this wonderful ballad:-

mp3 : The Style Council – You’re The Best Thing

It was certainly one of my songs of the summer of 1984. It was also one of the songs of the summer of my then girlfriend as we travelled across Europe on cheap student railcards visiting cities that previously had only been figments of our imagination including Paris, Nice, Monte Carlo, Milan, Florence and Venice where eventually the money ran out and we had to quickly re-adjust our plans and head home leaving the likes of Munich and Amsterdam for other times. Our relationship was a happy one for a decent enough time but sadly it turned sour before 1985 was over by which time we had been to see The Style Council in concert and enjoyed the experience of ‘our’ song beimg played live. I’ve always felt that particular ballad was all about that particular relationship and so even when I’ve been wooing subsequent girlfriends with compilation cassettes that showed off my musical tastes I never once included ‘Best Thing’ on any of them.

The single, which was released just before my 21st birthday, was in fact a double-A side but thinking back I don’t recall ever hearing the upbeat other half of the 45 ever aired on daytime radio:-

mp3 : The Style Council – The Big Boss Groove

It reached #5. Little did we know that TSC wouldn’t ever get that high in the singles charts ever again……..(although they came close!)

Here’s the other track on the 12″ single:-

mp3 : The Style Council – You’re The Dub Thing

Enjoy

David Bowie

DAVID BOWIE

David Bowie in 1973

It was a stunning and wholly unexpected start to the morning to wake up to the news that David Bowie had passed away at the age of 69. There will be many more people better qualified than I am to pen an appropriate tribute including many of those whose blogs are listed on the right hand side of this corner of the internet but I want to give it a go.

I was a fan, but not a devoted one. As a teenager, I liked his music….as I got older I came to realise that what I had liked I should have loved. The first album of his that I was musically mature enough in my own development to appreciate was Scary Monsters and that LP remains my favourite to this day.

I did get to see him play live once in the 90s when he was touring the release of a greatest hits effort. It was in a dreadful venue at Ingliston in Edinburgh – a barn of a place with dreadful acoustics – but it did mean that another musical ambition had been realised. Mrs V was with me, but by then she was a veteran of seeing the cracked actor, with her first being as a mere 14 year-old back in 1972 at the old Green’s Playhouse in Glasgow. Between the great tours of the 70s and the stadium/arena things she went to in later years (not forgetting she was also at Live Aid) she was in his presence on maybe eight or so occasions and she remained a fan for life. Indeed, we were only talking some 48 hours ago about her being at the Ziggy Stardust tour and how the memories of that gig were still so fresh in her mind. She’s pretty shaken up today.

His was a body of work that surpassed just about everyone who is/was part of the modern music industry. Of course it is not without flaw – no-one who makes music for almost 50 years will be any different – but right now it is much much easier to recall the great songs rather than the few clunkers. The fact that in the first few hours since the announcement that so many different tributes on social media have highlighted so many different songs is testament to the quality of his work.

It is a very sad day.

PS : BBC Radio 6 is a doing a tremendous job with the tributes being paid.

PPS : I mentioned that many other members of the blogging fraternity would likely make their own personal tributes…here’s some links (which I will endeavour to update as and when I can)

Drew : http://acrossthekitchentable.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/and-scattered-stardust-trails-between.html
Swiss Adam : https://baggingarea.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/freak-out-in-a-moonage-daydream/
CC : http://www.charitychicmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/starman.html
The Robster : http://isthis-thelife.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/bowie.html
Kaggsy : https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/goodbye-david/
Post Punk Monk : https://postpunkmonk.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/david-bowie-1947-2016/
The Swede : http://unthoughtofthoughsomehow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/nothing-to-say-blue-blue.html
Alex G : https://wewillhavesalad.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/dave-bowie-the-chameleon-of-rock/
Rol : http://histopten.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/my-top-ten-david-bowie-songs_23.html
Jonny G : https://myvinyldreams.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/david-bowie-1947-2016/
Phil Spector : http://plainorpan.com/2016/01/11/a-crack-in-the-sky-and-a-hand-reaching-down-to-me/
GBU : http://goodbadunknown.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-111-best-dreams-by-david-bowie.html
Jamie : https://formalcontentsonly.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/goodbye-david-bowie/
singing bear : http://flyingdownzedalley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/david-bowie-rip.html
Andrea : https://conventionalrecords.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/david-bowie-1969-2016/
Ed : http://17seconds.co.uk/blog/2016/01/12/david-bowie-remembered/
Andrew : http://www.armagideon-time.com/?p=11165
London Lee : http://www.londonlee.com/2016/01/goodbye-spaceboy.html

And a special mention to Echorich, a really dear friend of this and many other blogs who is one of the biggest Bowie fans there is and for whom today must have been awful and difficult to get through. He wasn’t alone mind you…Mrs Villain ended up working from home today so that she could shed tears as and when she needed. She tells me that BBC Radio 6 continued to surpass itself all day.

Tomorrow will be another difficult day for many. I’ve decided however, to make it business as usual and to stick with the post as I had scheduled and to do likewise for the rest of the week and beyond. Will understand if folk can’t be bothered to read and/or comment.