THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

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.

Kitchens of Distinction

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #55 : KITCHENS OF DISTINCTION

A GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM THE ROBSTER

kod-imcomp

Mad As Snow: An Imaginary Compilation : Kitchens Of Distinction

I love Kitchens Of Distinction. They really were one of the great overlooked bands of their period and should have received far more acclaim than they did, though what they did get was rarely less than glowing. It makes sense therefore that they should get the Imaginary Compilation treatment.

I’ve done a few of these for JC now, and I have to say this was one of the most difficult. My own Best Of KOD folder contains 30 tracks, none of which I feel I could leave out, so narrowing it down to a mere 10 to suit this remit was a real battle. As a result, there are plenty of notable omissions. I’m sure most people would have included Drive That Fast, but then I’ve never been most people. It also irks me that I’ve had to forego the likes of When In Heaven, the original 12″ mix of 4 Men, and Mad As Snow which is what I had already decided was going to be the title of the comp.

Argue away folks, I’d love to know what you’d have included. As it is, all five albums are represented, so I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done here. Well, apart from leaving out Mad As Snow. What was I thinking? Can I have 11 songs JC…?

Side One

1. The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule (from ‘Love Is Hell’)

The third single, the second track I ever heard by KOD. I still love it. It sounds like an opening track to me and shows off both sides of the band – those hypnotic, shimmering guitar sounds, but with a good strong rhythm keeping things going.

2. Quick As Rainbows [single version] (single; later re-recorded for ‘Strange Free World’)

It has to be the single version as the most read article ever on my blog explains: http://isthis-thelife.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/20-more-songs-to-take-to-my-grave-35.html

3. Japan To Jupiter (from ‘Folly’)

What a comeback. Seriously, who could have expected a song even half as wonderful as this after 18 years away? My second-fave KOD track of all time. Not sure if they have any other things planned together – I hope so – but if not, ‘Folly’ is as good an album to go out on as any.

4. Elephantine (non-LP; from ‘Elephantine’ EP)

A stunning single that marked noticeable shift towards the lush multi-layered guitar sounds the band would become known for. It has been tacked onto the end of reissues of ‘Love Is Hell’, but definitely sounds more like a ‘Strange Free World’ kind of track. It’s also one of the bands more politically overt songs, with Patrick Fitzgerald proclaiming “Every great nation ends up deserving war.” Sadly, here we are more than 25 years later and that still couldn’t be any more apt.

5. Gorgeous Love (from ‘Strange Free World’)

One of Patrick’s finest vocals here, I think. A definite standout from the second album.

Side Two

1. Sand On Fire (from ‘Cowboys And Aliens’)

‘Cowboys And Aliens’ was to be Kitchens Of Distinction’s last album for the best art of two decades. You can hear the direction they were moving down; shedding the shoegaze label that had been lazily thrust upon them, they seemed to be forging a louder, rockier sound as evidenced on the album’s opener.

2. Wolves, Crows (from ‘Folly’)

One of the big surprises from the comeback album was this monster of a track. It’s quite unlike anything else the band ever recorded, but kind of backs up what I just said about the rockier elements of the band coming to the fore. Those pounding drums! Shoegaze it most definitely ain’t.

3. Breathing Fear (from ‘The Death Of Cool’)

Remarkable isn’t it. The US of A considers itself to be the ‘Land Of The Free’, a bastion of democracy and freedom, tolerance and respect. Yet they could never accept a song about ‘queer bashing’ being released as a single. Unless perhaps it was a song that condoned such predjudice, was performed by Ted Nugent and used by Donald Trump as part of his election campaign. In the much more enlightened UK however, Breathing Fear trailed KODs third album. It’s not a comfortable listen, but musically it’s as delightful as anything the band made.

4. Prize (from ‘Love Is Hell’)

Back in 1988 I bought a double-album compilation of acts signed to the One Little Indian label. It included Prize. It was the first time I ever heard Kitchens Of Distinction, and that’s the reason it’s included here. Sure, they made better songs, but the fact Prize drew me in makes it more than worthy.

5. Now It’s Time To Say Goodbye (from ‘Cowboys And Aliens’)

While it wasn’t intended to be the band’s swan song, there aren’t many better ways to bow out. Following the release of ‘Cowboys And Aliens’, KOD began working on new material and put a single out in 1996, but nothing else materialised until 2013. If this had been their final tune though, I’m not sure there would have been many complaints. It’s the natural album closer for me.

Special bonus one-sided coloured vinyl 10″ (available with initial pressing only):

1. Mad As Snow [long version] (from ‘The Death Of Cool’)

mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Quick As Rainbows [single version]
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Japan To Jupiter
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Elephantine
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Gorgeous Love
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Sand On Fire
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Wolves, Crows
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Breathing Fear
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Prize
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Now It’s Time To Say Goodbye
mp3 : Kitchens of Distinction – Mad As Snow [long version]

The Robster

Clash

THE CLASH ON SUNDAYS (1)

So here it is. The new series for Sundays in 2016. Well, for the next 19 weeks anyway.

Inspired by last year’s purchase of The Clash Singles Box for a bit of a bargain price.

OK, its all CDs rather than vinyl but I’m consoled by the fact that the 19 discs in the box are packaged in sleeves that are reproductions of the original singles with the CDs themselves cleverly designed to look like vinyl records, complete with grooves and a label in the centre of each disc.

Disc 1 is White Riot.

Famously written in the aftermath of disturbances at the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1976, it couldn’t be any further removed from being about a call for some sort of race war, which incredibly was what some media commentators claimed was its subject matter when it was released. It is of course, a demand/plea/call-to-arms aimed at disaffected white youth in the UK, of which there was an ever-increasing number, to take note of the fact that the black community wasn’t afraid to take direct action to get their viewpoint across.

As a debut it was incendiary, raw and quite unlike anything most of us had heard before. I’ll admit, I wasn’t yet 14 years of age and so it kind of passed me by at the time as indeed did all the initial punk songs. But when I eventually did catch on to The Clash around 15 months later, it was great to go back and discover the early material.

The single version differs from the US album version in that it opens with a police siren instead of Mick Jones counting the band in:-

mp3 : The Clash – White Riot

The b-side was an otherwise unreleased song which became a bit of a manifesto for the punk era:-

mp3 : The Clash – 1977

One of the things I’m going to do with this series is also feature the short essay that accompanies each single within the boxset.

WHITE RIOT : Released March 18 1977 : Highest UK Chart Position 38

All the Clash singles came down to White Riot. It was the first single, it wasn’t on the album, it’s got 1977 on the b-side and I’ll always remember the day I bought it – which was the day out it came out.

It was March ’77 and you could really see that the party was already over and we were rushing headlong towards the summer of hate. White Riot and 1977 really gave off that feeling of paranoia and The Clash were doing their up-against-the-wall stance in their stencilled suits and the whole thing was really fresh.

It was all about staying out in sexually deviant or heavy duty black night clubs, you know – 48 thrills, speed and massive creativity. It had a great picture sleeve and was saying ‘White riot, I wanna riot, white riot, riot of my own’

It was also a piss-take of how pathetic white people are ar standing up for their rights and having fun, whereas black people know how to do both. Both The Clash and The Pistols were masters of being completely decadent and they made decadent fun.

The essential theme behind punk wasn’t hate; it was complete contempt for the idea of the right to work or the need tp do anything. It wasn’t ignorance, it was simply ‘Fuck it. I don’t care. I just wanna have fun.’ And White Riot says it all.

Shane McGowan, The Pogues

Trashcan Sinatras

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (30)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY 14 APRIL 2008

(and reposted on 11 October 2014 as part of the Scottish singles series)

We now move into the middle third of the most self-indulgent chart run-down of 2008, and coming in at #30 will be a band probably not all that familiar to some of you.

The Trash Can Sinatras were formed in the late 80s, in a town called Irvine, which is around 25 miles or so south-west of Glasgow.

Much of the initial attention was focussed on singer Frank Reader, simply for the fact that his elder sister, Eddi Reader had enjoyed a fair bit of attention and fame, firstly as a backing vocalist with Gang Of Four, and later as the singer with Fairground Attraction who enjoyed a #1 hit with Perfect in 1988.

I suppose I first noticed the band for the simple reason that they were signed to Go! Disc Records which was the home of Billy Bragg and The Beautiful South, leading me to think the Trashies would be have some sort of political bent. I saw their debut 12” EP on sale in a record shop in Edinburgh and bought it on spec for £2. It was only then that I discovered the band were in fact more aligned with the other reasons that label boss Andy MacDonald signed acts – they wrote and sang gloriously catchy pop songs that were full of clever lyrics that demanded close listening.

In due course, I bought two follow-up EPs as well as the debut LP, all of which appeared in 1990. They were a band on heavy rotation, but I wasn’t really giving music too much close attention, as it was a time when I had not long met the now Mrs Villain and there were far more important and pressing things on my mind …….such as sorting out the divorce from the first wife…..

One day, I went to see the Trashies live in concert and came away rather underwhelemed. It was 1993 before the band released any new material, but the comeback single, like the gig a few years earlier, didn’t do much for me. And with that, I stopped taking an interest in the band.

However, I never stopped loving that debut EP, which still astounds me all these years later. I mentioned earlier about the catchy pop songs with clever lyrics…check this out:-

Always at the foot of the photograph – that’s me there
Snug as a thug in a mugshot pose
Owner of this corner and not much more

Still these days I’m better placed to get my just rewards
I’ll pound out a tune and very soon
I’ll have too much to say and a dead stupid name

Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran
Of “Oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems”
Calendars crumble I’m knee deep in numbers
Turned 21, I’ve twist, I’m bust and wrong again

Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two
Looking at my watch and I’m half-past caring
In the lap of luxury it comes to mind
Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?

But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself
Is the kind of fate I never contemplate
Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind

Know what it’s like
To sigh at the sight of the first quarter of life?
Ever stopped to think and found out nothing was there?

They laugh to see such fun
Playing Blind Man’s Bluff all by myself
And they’re chanting a line from a nursery rhyme
“Ba Ba Bleary Eyes – Have you any idea?”

The calendar’s cluttered with days that are numbered..

Now have a listen:-

mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras – Obscurity Knocks

It was a song that struck a chord with me. Just a short time earlier, I had been in a rather unhappy marriage. I had a job, but it was far from fulfilling. I did seem to know what it was like to have sighed at the first quarter of life. And I wasn’t sure if I had any real idea….

Thankfully, things changed for the better in the early 90s…..oh and there will be further chapters about my life this countdown continues.

I still have the EP in the collection, and here’s the other tracks:-

mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras – The Best Man’s Fall
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras – Drunken Chorus
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras – Who’s He?

Tune in next week for something you might not have expected at #29…..

Jo Mango

BONUS POSTING : NEW MUSIC FOR YOUR AURAL PLEASURE (1)

I promised the other day that I’d put the occasional bonus posting up featuring newly released (or soon-to-be released) music that I’m enjoying. The first act in the series is from round these parts.

One of the hardest working folk in the Scottish scene is Lloyd Meredith who does all sorts of things, not least running a great wee label called Olive Grove Records. One week from today will see the first release of 2016 in the shape of Wrack Lines, an EP by the folkish singer-songwriter Jo Mango. There are five tracks on it, with four of them being collaborations with other Scottish artists in the shape of Rachel Sermanni, RM Hubbert, Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) and The Pictish Trail.

Here’s a link to the track that Jo and Rachel have put together:-

https://soundcloud.com/olivegrove/rachel-sermanni-and-jo-mango-bitter-fruit-1

The thing is,this is an EP with a bit of a difference. As Lloyd so eloquently puts it in the media release:-

The germ of the idea formed back in 2007, when Jo, while on tour with cult singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan, found herself sitting on her third aeroplane of the day in a holding pattern above an American city at which point she had a revelation about the potential impact of her itinerant job on the world and on herself. That moment led to some serious decisions about her lifestyle and an ongoing fascination with exploring the unsustainability of the musical life.

The EP’s title is an extension of those thoughts into a project for which Jo enlisted the help of the other singer-songwriters and their work together explores a gamut of emotions related to travel, the environment and music. The EP will be released on CD and on digital format through Olive Grove Records on 15 January 2016 and the artists will celebrate its launch with a one-off performance at Platform in Glasgow on 21 January 2016 as part of Celtic Connections.

All profits from the sale of the EP will go to the charity Creative Carbon Scotland in their work to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland.

See, I told you it was an EP with a difference.

Here’s some more Jo Mango.

mp3 : Jo Mango – The Black Sun

Enjoy.

Roxy Music

ARE YOU CUSTOMISED OR READY-MADE?

At the age of 15, going on 16, one of the things that attracted me to Roxy Music were the LP covers as they featured stunning looking ladies in various states of undress. You have to remember folks that semi-nude women were a real rarity in those days outwith pornographic mags or X-rated movies, and having a bit of a baby face and being a bit of a short-arse, I could neither buy such mags nor get into such movies.

The music however proved to be pften be rather good, but then again by this stage in my life they were a band who had come and gone, leaving behind a lead singer with a solo career that had sometimes caught my attention but at other times left me stone cold, although there was no denying he had a distinctive and alluring vocal delivery.

The thing is, in the late 70s I just didn’t ‘do’ old bands……but then it turned out that after after a four-year hiatus Roxy Music announced they were going to reform. I found myself attracted to their slightly strange-sounding and incredibly short comeback single which I heard getting played on Radio 1 a few times. I bought it on its release, and was disgusted to find just a few weeks later that it was in countless bargain bins as it had been a flop, peaking at just #40 in the charts. Records were relatively expensive in those days and given I was reliant completely on the proceeds of a paper round to pay for them, it didn’t do to find you could have bought something for less than half the price if you had shown some patience.

mp3 : Roxy Music – Trash
mp3 : Roxy Music – Trash 2

It’s a single that has been largely forgotten about as the two follow-ups, Dance Away and Angel Eyes were given the disco treatment, including extended mixes, which helped make them Top 5 hits and at the same time change the way that Roxy Music went about their business, with every release thereafter aimed very much at the pop rather than art end of the market, culminating with a rather appalling #1 in 1981, the cover of Jealous Guy, released in tribute to the recently murdered John Lennon.

In other words, for me, Trash was their last great and essential bit of plastic in the 45 form.

All of which is a precursor to say that I recently picked up some original Bryan Ferry solo LPs from the 70s and may well burn some tracks and feature them here in the coming weeks and months. Or is he too much of a twat nowadays to give time to?**

Enjoy.

** I know…..the irony of me asking that question when this blog has and will no doubt continue to rely on the work of Morrissey for postings……