THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

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

A new guest series by The Robster

It was St David’s Day yesterday. We should mark the occasion in a suitable fashion…

So let’s start at the beginning. Towards the last quarter of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, a myriad of Welsh bands came and went in the blink of an eye, barely noticed by anyone in the industry in this tiny province of ours, let alone the rest of the UK. Anyone remember a twee indie-pop group called Emily? No? Didn’t think so. Yet, their one-time drummer would go on to form a band with a former member of U Thant. Ring any bells yet? U Thant also spawned a guy who would team up with the drummer of punk legends Anhrefn to start a group called Catatonia. Yes – THEM.

Still with me? Now, the band formed by said ex-drummer of Emily and other bloke from U Thant were called Ffa Coffi Pawb. They soon became one of the most popular cult acts in Wales, spreading their upbeat, vaguely psychedelic sounds across the nation. After three albums, they split. A couple of them went on to form Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, who you have DEFINITELY heard of.

But seemingly by sheer fate, FCP’s vocalist Gruff Rhys and drummer Dafydd Ieuan (the moonlighting ex-Anhrefn drummer who was also still in Catatonia at the time) found themselves teaming up with two more ex-members of U Thant, Guto Pryce and Huw Bunford, along with an unknown, wannabe actor called Rhys Ifans and another musician, Dic Ben. They called themselves Super Furry Animals and started to make music together. It was largely rave-influenced to begin with, but then became more guitar-based. One or two recordings were made but not released. The very first of them was this:

mp3: Of No Fixed Identity – Super Furry Animals (1993)

Ifans quit when he realised he was a better actor than he was a singer. A good move, as it turns out – the lad’s not done bad for himself since. Gruff Rhys subsequently switched to vocals and at some point, Ben left and Daf recruited his techo-loving younger brother Cian Ciaran, who had been part of the electronic outfit Wwzz. Before long, more tracks were recorded, some of them deemed good enough to actually release to the public.

And so it was that the greatest band to ever emerge from the Land Of Our Fathers started their journey into the conscious (and often unconscious) minds of the music-loving consumer. Over the next 30 weeks (!), I will be guiding you through the thrills and spills of a curious and wonderful career. Every single released by Super Furry Animals, complete with b-sides, alternative versions and one or two little surprises to boot. We start with a record that to this day is in the Guinness Book Of Records for having the longest ever title for an EP:

#1: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod (In Space) (1995, Ankst Records, ANKST057)

As an opening salvo, this is as good an introduction to the early Furries sound as you could wish for. Quirky, upbeat, Welsh lyrics and a bit of weirdness. The EP title, in case you don’t know, is an amalgamation of the Welsh village with one of the longest names in the world, and the Welsh phrase for “in space”. Not sure why they felt the need to add the English translation at the end.

Released in June 1995, and comprising four songs pressed on a 7” playing at 33rpm on a local indie label, it was never going to be a big seller, although the meagre amount of copies pressed did sell out. What it showed was a band who knew a good tune, had a lot of energy, and didn’t sound like they were taking themselves too seriously. Listen to Gruff’s vocal on Crys Ti and tell me it doesn’t sound like Elvis on acid…

mp3: Organ Yn Dy Geg (trans: An Organ In Your Mouth)
mp3: Fix Idris
mp3: Crys Ti (trans: Your Shirt)
mp3: Blerwytirhwng¿ (trans: Interspersed? or Inbetween?)

Each side of the 7” had a locked runout groove, meaning tracks 2 and 4 could play infinitely if you let them. I’ve given you not-infinite versions: Fix Idris is from the ‘Out-Spaced’ b-sides album, and Blerwytirhwng¿ from the ‘Songbook’ singles collection, as the ‘Out Spaced’ version drags that end noise out for far longer than necessary…

The EP was later reissued on 7” and, for the first time, CD with different artwork, whereupon it reached the dizzy heights of number 151 in the UK charts. ‘Twas a more than decent debut, but there would be more to come before the year was out. Britpop was at its peak, but Cool Cymru was brewing, and its most interesting band was just getting started…

The Robster

Cloth

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #441: CLOTH

From all music:- “The project of Glaswegian twin siblings Rachael and Paul Swinton, Cloth makes hauntingly sparse songs that draw from dream pop, post-rock, and indie. The eloquent interplay between the duo’s hushed vocals and minimalist guitars — and the space around them — on 2019’s Cloth led to radio support in the U.K., but the Swintons’ music continued to evolve. Their first release for Rock Action, 2022’s Low Sun EP, boasted a fuller but still subtle sound that bloomed on the following year’s Secret Measure, an album that reflected the growing drama and complexity of Cloth’s music as well as its intimacy. Rachael Swinton (vocals, guitar) and her brother Paul (guitar) formed Cloth in 2016 and spent the next couple of years honing their sound. Equally inspired by Cocteau Twins‘ lush dream pop and the moody restraint of the xx, they wrote songs that began as notes on their phones and were ultimately recorded at Chem19 Recording Studio. Within weeks of posting their first track, “Demo Love,” Cloth signed with local indie Last Night from Glasgow which gave the song an official release in June 2018. Receiving airplay on various BBC stations and host-curated music programs, their second release, “Tripp,” was remixed by producer Wuh Oh (Peter Ferguson), and they made their BBC Radio 1 debut with late 2018’s “Old Bear.” That year, Cloth started playing live shows, including dates supporting Arab Strap. They went on to play the BBC Music Introducing stage at Latitude Festival in the middle of 2019 before returning to the studio to put the finishing touches on their full-length debut. Released in November of that year, Cloth was a critical success, making the shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year Award and winning fans including Elbow‘s Guy Garvey. In 2020, “Old Bear” appeared in the hit television adaptation of Sally Rooney‘s novel Normal People. mp3: Cloth – Old Bear By the middle of 2022, Cloth had joined the roster of Mogwai‘s Rock Action label which issued their Low Sun EP that October. To make their second album, they decided to open up their creative process. For the first time, Cloth worked with an outside producer, recruiting Ali Chant and recording at Bristol’s Toybox Studio. A more layered and polished set of songs that emphasized the electronic underpinnings and direct songwriting of the duo’s music, Secret Measure appeared in May 2023.” JC adds…… I’ve plenty of songs/tunes from the LNFG era, but I haven’t got round to picking up anything from the Rock Action era. It’s really down to, having enjoyed the debut album, I was bored rigid when I saw them play live in support of Arab Strap and lost interest.

Echobelly

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (17) : Echobelly – Insomniac

The second ever single by Echobelly popped on via shuffle on the i-pod the other day. It’s been decades since I last knowingly played it, which seems a bit of a shame. It might well be very much of its time and place, but the hooks do deliver something which is a cut above your average Britpop tune.

mp3: Echobelly – Insomniac

Released in March 1994, it got to #47.

I had no idea till doing a bit of research for this post that Insomniac had featured on the soundtrack to the hit comedy film Dumb and Dumber, which must have been a nice financial fillip to the songwriters, Sonya Madan and Glenn Johansson, who remain part of the band all these years later, still recording and performing.

The CD came with two other tracks:-

mp3: Echobelly – Centipede
mp3: Echobelly – Talent

The former makes for a good listen, although a bit like the lead track it has a real mid 90s feel to it, and it does help illustrate that Ms Madan was, and no doubt remains, a fine singer. The latter is a bit more filler than killer….reminds me of Toyah songs from a decade earlier.

JC

Julian Cope

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (19): Julian Cope – Charlotte Anne

R-561577-1470292597-2275

Julian Cope is not a fan of his 1988 album, My Nation Underground, as can be seen from his comments in a later interview:-

“It was just me figuring I ought to do another album and not feeling sure of what I wanted to do. That was a bad time. A bad album… “Charlotte Anne” is a good song, but one good song is not enough. Perhaps it was a coherent album, but it was nothing like what I had inside me. I couldn’t put it out, I just could not get it out. If anyone thinks it’s even halfway decent then I’m pleased ’cause I was trying, blasting my mind apart.”

The afore-mentioned Charlotte Anne was the first single to be lifted from the album.

mp3: Julian Cope – Charlotte Anne

It’s a decent enough pop song with an infectious chorus. If you don’t pay too much attention, you’ll probably think it’s an ode to a girl of Julian’s dreams. But the tune actually hides the fact it’s quite a bleak and self-deprecating number, and he is most certainly not singing Charlotte Anne……

The 12″ release is quite interesting for its choice of b-sides. Two covers and an original.

mp3: Julian Cope – Books
mp3: Julian Cope – A Question of Temperature
mp3: Julian Cope – Christmas Mourning

The first being one he co-wrote with Ian McCulloch back in the days before either of them were pop stars. The Bunnymen would record it as Read It In Books while The Teardrop Explodes kept the original title. Julian’s solo effort sort of goes down the road of garage-rock.

The same sound is very much to the fore on A Question of Temperature, a song dating back to 1967 when it was recorded by The Balloon Farm, a New Jersey-based band, and Julian’s take on things is quite faithful to the original. It’s good fun.

The final song might have Christmas in the title, but I don’t think it would find its way onto all that many festive compilations. It’s a damn good song, another of those that deserved a fate much better than stuck away on an obscure b-side.

Charlotte Anne got to #35 in the singles chart.

JC

Happy Mondays

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (29) : Happy Mondays – Loose Fit

I’ve reached the stage where I own just above every piece of vinyl that I truly want. Yes, there’s still loads out there that would be nice to have, but there are no more ‘Holy Grails’ on which to ~~waste~~ spend countless hours wading through on-line sellers on the likes of Discogs.

I’ve done OK over the years when it comes to buying through Discogs. I’d reckon maybe as many as 95% of the transactions have been, at the minimum, satisfactory. with quite a few exceeding my expectations in terms of how the condition of the vinyl and/or sleeve were in on arrival. Of the few that have left me down, one was a 7″ single from the Happy Mondays, that I was keen to get a hold of as the edits were seemingly otherwise unavailable.

Within seconds of it going on the turntable, I knew it had been misleadingly sold, as there was no way it could be described as ‘Very Good +’, given how much surface noise, static and popping was coming through the speakers. Fearing damage to my stylus, it was very quickly removed. I did turn it over to the b-side, but it was almost as bad, and again the needle was quickly removed from the groove.

I have managed to get my hands on both edits, so while these aren’t from my own vinyl, given that a copy, albeit an unplayable one, is sitting here in Villain Towers, I have no qualms above featuring the songs in this series:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays – Loose Fit (edit)
mp3 : Happy Mondays – Bob’s Yer Uncle (edit)

The original versions are both on the album Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches. This was the third single to be lifted from the album, and it reached #17 in March 1991.

JC

10000 Maniacs, Biff Bang Pow!, Ian Dury & The Students, Marc Riley, Revolving Paint Dream

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (February Pt 2)

It’s now time to look at some of the 45s released in February 1984 that didn’t make enough impact with the record buying public to leave a dent in the singles charts but have proven to be of enough cultural significance to be recalled here in Villain Towers. By cultural significance, I mean I either bought a copy or danced to it to at the student disco….or perhaps actually discovered it many months/years later and kicked myself for being late to the party. Or it might well be that I think its inclusion in this piece will be of interest to someone out there who drops by this blog on the odd occasion. (and yes, that is a word for word repeat of how I opened up the January part of this series….I’ll likely stick to it for the remainder of the year).

I’ll open with one that I don’t recall hearing back in 1984….indeed it would take until 1987 and the release of the band’s third album before I became fully aware of them.

mp3: 10,000 Maniacs – My Mother The War

The band had come together in Jamestown, New York 1981, with a then 17-year-old Natalie Merchant on lead vocals. An early EP was followed by the album Secrets of The I Ching in late 1983. One of its most popular tracks, My Mother The War, was licensed by a small UK label, Reflex Records, and became the band’s first release outside of the USA.

mp3: Marc Riley with The Creepers – Cure By Choice

Having left The Fall in 1982, Marc Riley formed his own band and began writing and recording. A Peel Session was recorded in November 1983, and within three months, had been issued as a 12″ EP on Riley’s own label, In Tape. The lead song, Cure By Choice, bears more than a passing resemblance to some of the material written and recorded by The Fall, which can’t be too much of a surprise.

mp3: Revolving Paint Dream – Flowers Are In The Sky
mp3: Biff Bang Pow! – 50 Years Of Fun

Two 45s released on the newly formed Creation Records. Indeed, they have the catalogue numbers of CRE 002 and CRE 003. Footnotes in what became quite the story over the years.

Now to something which had me scouring the internet to little effect, as it was the name of an act I’d never heard of!

mp3: Ian Dury and The Music Students – Very Personal

These details are lifted from a website devoted to Ian Dury:-

In 1981 Ian Dury and the Blockheads disbanded and Ian left Stiff Records and signed instead to Polydor, who released the album Lord Upminster. This included the controversial single Spasticus (Autisticus). For this record, Dury was re-united with Chaz Jankel, and they recorded in the Bahamas with the legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. A second Polydor album, 4000 Weeks’ Holiday was released in 1984, and it was toured with a new band, Ian Dury and the Music Students.

There’s a wiki page devoted to 4000 Weeks’ Holiday, and it lists the personnel who played on the album – Ian Dury (vocals), Michael McEvoy (bass, keyboards), Merlin Rhys-Jones (guitar), Tag Lamche (drums, percussion), and Jamie Talbot (saxophones, clarinet). It also states:-

If accounts by Dury himself and Music Student member Merlin Rhys-Jones (who would continue to work with Dury and co-write songs with him until his death) from Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll: The Life of Ian Dury are correct, it would appear that it was Polydor Records who suggested and insisted on Dury working with young musicians.

Contradictorily, Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song purports that Polydor had wanted The Blockheads to play on the album, with the group rejecting the idea after learning they wouldn’t be paid due to Dury spending most of his advance on his previous solo effort Lord Upminster. Song By Song’s account is corroborated by Norman Watt-Roy (bassist for the Blockheads).

Either way, the album didn’t sell well while Very Personal, the only single to be lifted from it, failed to chart.

JC

Pixies

SONGS UNDER TWO MINUTES (10): BROKEN FACE

I’m sure we can all agree that Black Francis really did come out with some twisted and fucked up lyrics. This must be up there with the most twisted and fucked up.

mp3: Pixies – Broken Face

I got a broken face
I got a
I got a broken face
Uh-hu, uh-hu, uh-hu, uh-hu, ooo
I got a broken face
I got a broken face
I got a broken face

There was this boy who had two children with his sisters
Who were his daughters, who were his favourite lovers

I got no lips, I got no tongue
Where there were eyes, there’s only space
I got no lips, I got no tongue

I got a broken face, uh-hu, uh-hu
I got a broken face

There was this man who smashed his brain in little pieces
And then they drilled holes, and then they put ’em back in there

I got no lips, I got no tongue
Where there were eyes, there’s only space
I got no lips, I got no tongue
I got a broken face
Uh-hu, uh-hu, uh-hu, uh-hu, ooo
I got a broken face

The little thing who does my laundry
Speaks no English
But if you saw her
You’d say “isn’t she lovely”

I got no lips, I got no tongue
Where there were eyes, there’s only space
I got no lips, I got no tongue

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Sixty-Four)

I started this series on 23 October 2013. I had no idea how many parts it would entail, as I wasn’t quite sure how to actually define what had been a single. Would I count EPs? Digital only-releases? Foreign-language songs recorded for issuing on Record Store Days? Limited edition releases which had only been available if ordered direct from the band’s website or purchased at gigs during particular tours? In the end, the answer to all of the above was yes, and I do think I’ve featured everything that could conceivably be considered as a single by The Wedding Present.

I also had no idea that the series would take a welcome break, thanks to strangeways offering to pen a series on all the singles released by Cinerama – and it was his forensic approach to that particular era of the career of David Lewis Gedge which set the standard for how I went about the second half of the TWP series. Before getting to the final single and it’s b-side, here’s a reminder of what has already featured:-

1. Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy (1985)
2. Once More (1986)
3. You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (1986)
4. Peel Sessions EP (1986)
5. My Favourite Dress (1987)
6. Anyone Can Make A Mistake (1987)
7. Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm (1988)
8. Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? (1988)
9. Radio 1 Sessions : The Evening Show (1988)
10. Kennedy (1989)
11. Brassneck (1990)
12. The 3 Songs EP (1990)
13. Dalliance (1991)
14. Lovenest (1991)
15. Blue Eyes (1992)
16. Go-Go Dancer (1992)
17. Three (1992)
18. Silver Shorts (1992)
19. Come Play With Me (1992)
20. California (1992)
21. Flying Saucer (1992)
22. Boing! (1992)
23. Loveslave (1992)
24. Sticky (1992)
25. The Queen of Outer Space (1992)
26. No Christmas (1992)
27. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (1994)
28. It’s A Gas (1994)
29. Sucker (1995)
30. The Mini EP (1996)
31. 2, 3, Go!(1996)
32. Montreal (1997)
33. Interstate 5 (2004)
34. I’m From Further North Than You (2005)
35. Ringway to Seatac (2005)
36. The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend (2008)
37. Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk (2008)
38. Santa Ana Winds (2008)
39. Holly Jolly Hollywood (2008)
40. You Jane (2012)
41. Club 8 aka Metal Men (2012)
42. 4 Chansons EP (2012)
43. Journey Into Space (2012)
44. 4 Lieder EP (2013)
45. Two Bridges (2013)
46. 4 Cân EP (2014)
47. The Home Internationals EP (2017)
48. Huw Stephens Sessions EP (2018)
49. 7777777 (joint release with Cinerama and featuring White Riot) (2018)
50. Davni Chasy (2019)
51. Jump In, The Water’s Fine (2019)
52. Shaun Keaveny Session EP (2020)
53. We Should Be Together (2022)
54. I Am Not Going To Fall In Love With You (2022)
55. Go Go Go (2022)
56. Monochrome (2022)
57. X Marks The Spot (2022)
58. Once Bitten (2022)
59. We Interrupt Our Programme (2022)
60. Each Time You Open Your Eyes (2022)
61. We All Came From The Sea (2022)
62. Astronomic (2022)
63. Science Fiction (2022)

I’ve only just realised, the way I’ve gone about this task means there were 32 singles prior to Cinerama forming and there have been 32 since The Wedding Present reformed, thanks to this being the last in the 24 Songs project, released in December 2022:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – The Loneliest Time Of The Year (7″ version)

It’s a Christmas song. A proper Christmas song. Complete with a video.

You’ll possibly recall that the previous effort to compose and record a Christmas song, Holly Jolly Hollywood, had left me quite cold when it was released at the tail end of 2008. It doesn’t help that Christmas records, by their very nature, have a ridiculous ability to annoy me to the extent that I have something of a gag reflex with most of them.

But…………..there’s something about The Loneliest Time Of The Year which doesn’t provoke such a reaction.

Sure, it’s got a kind of soap opera feel to the lyric with the protagonist basically saying that his other half shouldn’t leave because not only is it Christmas, but the snow has started falling. It’s the sort of plea that’s made by someone who really has reached rock bottom, and what’s more, the musicians have come up with a tune that is equally tear-jerking, with Melanie’s choir-like vocal contribution being nigh-on perfect….oh, and let’s not ignore the casual way the sleigh bells close things off (although you don’t get to hear that in the 7″ edited version as it fades out about a minute or so before the end, but watch the video version for the full effect).

It’s something quite different from the norm in terms of what The Wedding Present have long been feted for, and as long as there’s a promise that any new material will revert to the fast and frantic style with which we have all become accustomed, then I’m more than OK with it.

The b-side?

mp3: The Wedding Present – Memento Mori

I’m sure someone once said that all TWP songs sound the same…..but then again, when they’re all this good, why worry?

I think that’s an apt way to close this series off.

A huge thanks to everyone who has dropped by for a browse over the past 15 months, and an extra thanks to those of you who have offered up your views, thoughts and opinions via the comments section along the way. And an extra special word of thanks to strangeways for providing loads of inspiration.

Oh, and I think it’s now that I can reveal that later this year, all being well, myself and Rachel will be seeing the band outside of the UK for the very first time. A major tour of North American tour is scheduled from 16 May–7 June, opening in Austin before heading to Dallas, Atlanta, Columbia (South Carolina), Durham (North Carolina), Washington DC, Brooklyn, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Montreal, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Saint Paul, Seattle and San Francisco, before the tour ends in Los Angeles….which is where we will catch them, courtesy of being invited to visit and stay at the home of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer (aka fiktiv) and Goldie the Friendly Therapist.

Can’t wait…….let’s just hope that I don’t suffer another unexpected bout of ill-health at the 11th hour that stops us travelling.

Circle Meets Dot

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #440: CIRCLE MEETS DOT

After a week’s break to accommodate the latest instalment of The Fall‘s Peel Sessions, it’s a welcome return to the Scottish Song series. It’s quite incredible that this is the 440th different singer/band/act to feature – and a reminder that they must have at least one song on the hard drive of the Villain Towers laptop to qualify for inclusion. I’m going full cut’n’paste from Bandcamp this week for a song dating from March 2020:-

“Made up of the impressive component parts of indie folk luminary Jo Mango, and Californian troubadour, A. Wesley Chung (The Great Albatross/ Boris Smile), Circle Meets Dot is a meeting of minds, sparking with energy blending Scottish folk Californian alt-country to form something truly magical.

“Despite having been friends for a number of years, and both having been high profile collaborators (Mango with the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Norman Blake, Admiral Fallow, RM Hubbert; and Chung with Avi Buffalo, Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It and Kate Grube of Kittyhawk) it took a songwriting weekend away teaching others to set the first embers of Circle Meets Dot smouldering. Having set others the challenges of writing their own song, the pair soon thought – “why don’t we?”. After squirrelling themselves away in a corner of the kitchen, carefully crafting every word and note of melody together, they formed their first song ‘Two Tiny Builders’, which is also the lead track from their debut EP.

“With Chung wanting to explore more of his country and American folk influences and Mango hankering to be in a band where she “didn’t have to cart about 25 different wee instruments” to her shows, the pair relished in the opportunity to work on a project with no pressure or expectation; something that could just be fun. Despite forming Circle Meets Dot as something for themselves, the duo’s early demos caught the attention of Lloyd at Olive Grove, who was so impressed by what he heard that he begged them to be part of the series of Archipelago EPs. Thankfully they agreed and in late 2019, Mango and Chung recorded their debut EP with Paul Gallagher at Glenwood Studio in Glasgow.

“Slow, considered melodies weave their way throughout Circle Meets Dot’s debut, with meditations on aspects of time, pondering on the future and the past. Mango expands: “a lot of them explore difficulties of love – the challenges of building a life with or without someone. They mostly aim towards hope and encouragement and rebuilding though.”

“Given their different musical backgrounds, it should come as no surprise that Mango and Chung’s approach to writing songs together was different each time, giving each song their own unique feel. The partnership saw Chung generating the starting point of a harmonic idea, with Mango then bringing in the lyrical ideas. ‘The Walnut and the Hammer’ is just one example of their perfect pairing with Chung having written a harmony and melody for a song which just happened to fit perfectly with lyrics that Mango had in waiting.

“On Circle Meets Dot’s debut, Mango and Chung have managed to produce something spellbinding in its elegance and virtuosity; we’re lucky to have them.”

mp3: Circle Meets Dot – Two Tiny Builders

It’s rather lovely, don’tcha think?

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #084

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#084: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – ‘Hollow Eyes’ (Red Rhino Records ’84)

Hello friends,

again, a very special record today – special to me, of course: not necessarily special to you, I assume.

Growing up in the middle of nowhere on the cold and foggy plateaus of West Germany in the early 80s meant that you had to endure people at your age who listened to nothing else but late 70s Prog Rock – Heavy Metal – Hard Rock stuff. They had never heard of, say, Joy Division or The Cure – and when they had to go to the next town to see the doctor, and they would see a Goth or a Punk there in the distance, they returned with feverish eyes, as if they had experienced the pure evil, shook their long hair in disbelief … and quickly returned to their Led Zeppelin collection! And me, I was trapped in the middle of this musical hell, all alone basically.

But thankfully one day I happened to encounter Robert, the brother of a chap who I went to school with. Robert (long dead alas, by the way – drugs) probably was the prototype for an introvert, and we would constantly talk about “different” music: he totally adored Felt, for example – I still have all the Felt-album-cassettes he gave to me. One day Robert told me about a radio program he had heard about, some guy called ‘John Peel’, all in English, but perhaps we should try it out nevertheless?

So, to come to an end with all this, we did … and I was instantly hooked. Peel turned out to be my only source for non-mainstream music in those pre-internet times, so basically you can thank Robert for this series and this wonderful essay: if it weren’t for him, I would probably just sit here now and caress my new Twisted Sister-tattoo.

On November 25th 1984 Peel ended the first song he played that night with the words “Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, getting our program on the way, with ‘Hollow Eyes’” – and this was the very first of many thousand songs I taped from his BFBS show. So, this is one reason it’s special to me, another one is that back then Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (despite their stupid name) from Leeds were just terrific. I even had the chance to see them live a year later, one of the first “real” gigs I went to, with a moshpit and Goths and Punks and everything – great!!

As you know, people tend to put bands into genres, for some reason. And exactly this happened to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – they were quickly styled as ‘Goth’, and throughout their career they never managed to get out of this corner they had been painted into. To me, they were more Wire than Bauhaus, I always thought. Then again, a) I didn’t know Wire back then and b) I’ve never been a friend of categorizing bands – I never really saw the point of that.

What counted for me was the music, and although The Lorries certainly have never been the most sophisticated band on earth, I really loved them when I was 16/17. This is their fifth single, along with ‘Spinning Round’, an absolute highlight in their back-catalogue:

mp3: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – Hollow Eyes

You see, there is not always an urge for fragility and Dylanesque lyrics: sometimes a numbing guitar drone, a powerfully throbbing bass, a pounding drum machine and cavernous vocals is all you need.

Well, at least I do.

Enjoy,

Dirk

Book Reviews

BOOK OF THE MONTH : FEBRUARY 2025 : ‘TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG : THE 2 TONE RECORDS STORY’ by DANIEL RACHEL

First published, to much acclaim, in hardback in 2023, an updated paperback edition was printed and issued by White Rabbit Books in April 2024. Here’s the blurb from the publishers:-

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national consciousness as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born.

2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism.

The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid. The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing £700, the label’s first record featured ‘Gangsters’ by The Specials’ backed by an instrumental track by the, as yet, unformed, Selecter. Within two months the single was at number six in the national charts. Dammers signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation. However, soon infighting amongst the bands and the pressures of running a label caused 2 Tone to bow to an inevitable weight of expectation and recrimination.

Still under the auspices of Jerry Dammers, 2 Tone entered in a new phase. Perhaps not as commercially successful as its 1979-1981 incarnation the label nevertheless continued to thrive for a further four years releasing a string of fresh signings and a stunning end-piece finale in ‘(Free) Nelson Mandela’.

Told in three parts, Too Much Too Young is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British culture.

So…the question that arises. Is it the definitive story?

I think the answer has to be a resounding ‘Yes’, and indeed none other than Pauline Black, the lead singer with The Selecter says the same thing in her foreword to the paperback edition. She describes the book, the hardback edition of which appeared when a remastered copy of the 1981 film Dance Craze, along with its accompanying soundtrack had been released as a ‘….comprehensive, cautionary, but nonetheless celebratory saga of the 2 Tone label.’

It rightly focusses on the life and work of Jerry Dammers, but it really benefits from giving voice to a cast of many dozens who were involved, be they musicians, producers, band management, promotors, tour organisers, fans, journalists or record company execs. It also benefits from fantastic research by the author with countless quotes given at the time to the various music papers and magazines being used to shape the narrative.

The book, despite being almost 500 pages in length, rattles along at a fast pace. 2 Tone was an instant success, with Gangsters by The Specials reaching #6 in the summer of 1979, and before the year had ended, each of Madness, The Selecter and The Beat would also hit the charts with singles released on the label.

As the publisher states, the book is in three parts, the first of which will be the best known, taking in those early hits, the subsequent departures of Madness and The Beat as well as the signing of The Bodysnatchers. It genuinely is incredible to be reminded of just how much happened in that short period of time, not just in terms of a new and highly successful record label emerging out of nowhere, but that it was all done against a troubling background where the idea of mixed-race bands didn’t go down well with many elements of society, while the punk element of the music, also attracted the wrong sort of attention.

The story of the 2 Tone Tour, in which The Specials, Madness, and The Selecter crisscrossed the UK from September through to December (during which time all three appeared on the same edition of Top of The Pops) seems beyond belief, not least how the musicians and their entourage faced up to the constant fear and worry of crowd violence from racist right-wing thugs, all of which sadly came to a terrifying crescendo at gig in Hatfield on 27 October. It was reading about such violence that led to me deciding not to use the ticket I had for the show in Glasgow the following month – a decision I came to regret as the show passed without incident and by all accounts was one of the best nights that the now long-closed venue of Tiffany’s had ever seen.

The second part, which takes in events from late 1979 through to the autumn of 1981 when Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple left The Specials to form Fun Boy Three, was the section of the book I found to be most fascinating. The mix of contemporary quotes/ interviews given to the press and subsequent recollections from many of those involved paints a complex picture of the issues and problems facing the label, its bands and indeed the individuals within the bands, along with the increasingly- thorny relationship with parent label Chrysalis Records. The deliberate effort by Jerry Dammers to move away from what was the atypical 2 Tone sound, culminating in the songs to be found on More Specials, the band’s second album released in September 1980 and the single Ghost Town, released in June 1981, caused all sorts of friction, and while some think it was just bloodymindedness on his part, others believe it was the mark of his unique talent and genius. The author leaves it to the individual reader to make their own mind up.

The final part, with a satisfying and welcome amount of detail, covers the final five years of 2 Tone’s existence, with chapters devoted to Rhoda Dakar, The Appollinaires, The Higsons and The Friday Club. It might well be a long way removed from the happy times of the opening chapters – I certainly had a feeling of melancholy as I turned the pages – but again, praise has to be given to the author for the skilful way he navigates his way through the turbulent waters.

The 2 Tone legacy is far greater in quality than quantity. There were just 29 singles, 6 studio albums and 2 compilations across the six years. Just twelve of the singles were released between 1982 and 1986, and only one of them was a chart hit. But it’s the voices of the people involved that make this such great, engrossing and essential read. The author, in his acknowledgements at the end, offers ‘an enormous thank you to all the contributors who generously gave their time to talk to me’. It’s a list which runs to over 100 names all told, which in itself tells you how deep the research has been.

I’ll just about leave the last word to Suggs.

‘Daniel Rachel has bagged the whirlwind of 2 Tone with joy, honesty and compassion.’

He sure has.

mp3: The Specials – Ghost Town (12″ version)

JC

Fanatica Indie (Chile), Various

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #384: FANATICA INDIE, CHILE

A guest posting by SWC (No Badger Required)

An ICA compiled by the best Radio Stations in the world– Part 1 – Fanatica Indie, Chile.

Recently, I have been having a recurring dream, no not that one involving Helen Baxendale and Usagi from Alice in Borderland, another one. In this dream, I am in the desert, walking blindly towards the horizon. My water bottle has pretty much run out, my feet are sore, I have a beard, and my hair has grown long and straggly.

As I stumble in no particular direction, I see something to my right, half buried in the sand and I stagger towards it, and then I dig using my hands and reveal a radio, an old crappy transistor radio like what my grandad used to listen to the racing results on, in fact it’s probably the same radio.

Then I usually slump on to the ground, exhausted and switch the radio on. There is nothing, so I whack it on the side and a stupid amount of sand falls out of it. Then I play with the volume and the tuner, there is static, then a crackle and then from nowhere there is the faintest chime of music, I turn the tuner a little more and the sound becomes clearer. Then I realise it’s the music of Ed Sheeran, and so I retune but every radio station that I find is playing the same sodding Sheeran song, and then I wake up shaking and covered in sweat. Man, its horrible.

Luckily, thanks, mainly to the Internet, or in my case an App on my phone, there are actually thousands of radio stations that we can now listen to and the chances are that at least one of them won’t be playing Ed Sheeran if you tune into them. I love the radio, and I often find myself tuning into radio stations from across the world for an hour or two just because I can.

Sometimes these radio stations are incredible, for instance there is a radio station broadcasting out of Debrecen that has a live gypsy punk band session every Wednesday evening at around 9pm (UK Time). There is another somewhere in deepest Alabama that only (or seems to) plays heartbreakingly beautiful acoustic country songs sung by females. It’s great because you simply don’t know what you are going to hear.

So, I have decided to do write something about the thrill of listening to brilliant music on the radio in the form of an ICA. I have asked my daughter to pick a number from 1 to 17 (that’s how many radio stations are on my favourites list) and whichever one she chooses I will make an ICA from the first ten songs that it plays. So, it could be awful, it could be amazing.

She picks number 8 – which has Fanatica, Indie written next to it. Fanatica Indie is based in Chile and I have written over at my own blog before about how great it is – you can find it on the Internet – it comes recommended. Here’s what it was playing between 8pm and 9pm (UK Time) on a Wednesday evening.

Side One – Made up of the first five tracks

High Pressure Days – Units (1980, 415 Records)

This kind of what I was talking about when I mentioned the thrill of the unknown, because I’ve never heard of Units before. Google tells me that they are synth pop pioneers from San Francisco. They are sort of brilliant as well. They sound a bit like Devo and a lot like OMD if that helps you out. ‘High Pressure Days’ comes from the debut album ‘Digital Stimulation’ and that too is excellent, as I have found out in the last few days.

Breakfast – Anteros (2015, Distiller Records)

Another band completely new to me. Anteros are an indie band from London and ‘Breakfast’ is taken from their second EP, which was also called ‘Breakfast’. They sound like Wolf Alice, which is no bad thing; most of the female fronted bands that emerged in the teenie decade sounded like Wolf Alice.

World Is The One – Bel Air Lip Bombs (2023, Third Man Records)

A third new sound in a row. The Bel Air Lip Bombs are from Australia and they play a punchy, hook-laden brand of indie rock, and they are really really good. I’ve just listened to their debut record ‘Lush Life’ and it’s great, like what The Strokes would have sounded like if they had PJ Harvey fronting them

Telephone Baby – Delights (2021, Modern Sky Records)

The new bands keep on coming, this one though is not so great. Delights are from Manchester and they play radio friendly indie pop. They want to be Snow Patrol but they sound like Athlete.

Tripped – Whipping Boy (1995, Sony Records)

Side One ends with the best song played so far (although Units runs it close). I adore Whipping Boy and ‘Tripped’ is taken from their second album ‘Heartworm’ which just happens to be one of the best albums of the nineties. Totally ace.

Don’t you just love the radio.

Side Two – made up of the next five tracks.

Doomsday Prepper – Adult DVD (2024, Self Released)

Side Two starts with a relatively new track from Adult DVD. Now those of you who read my own nonsense of a blog, No Badger Required, will know how much I rate Adult DVD. They are put simply one of the finest new bands to have emerged in the last five years. To hear them being played on a radio station broadcasting in Santiago is just mind blowing.

One Thing – China Drum (1997, Mantra Records)

Next up we have China Drum. I love China Drum, but for some reason the choice of song annoys me. I think it’s because the Drum’s first album was just so good and their second (from which ‘One Thing’ is taken) just wasn’t.

Painting of My Time – Floodlights (2023, Self Released)

This is getting weird. Floodlights are an Australian band, they are excellent. Their music is post punk but with a dark pop edge. I really like them. What’s weird is that in November I saw them live on the same night as I saw Adult DVD and now here I am listening to them both in the space of eight minutes on a Chilean radio Show. It’s like they have tapped into my Amazon algorithm

Rain – Wunderhorse (2024, Communion Group Records)

Wunderhorse are next up, they are another rising indie rock band who released their second album ‘Rain’ last year. They have been compared to bands like Fontaines DC and early Radiohead. That sort of holds up. This has been a very good hour indeed (Delights and dodgy China Drum album track asides).

Laid – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (2011, Painbow Records)

Yup, its that ‘Laid’. It’s a great version of it as well – it’s quite loyal to the original but hearing it sung by a female voice gives it something different and unique. Brilliant way to end the hour.

And there you have it. All things said, not a bad way to spend an hour on a wet Wednesday evening. I hope you enjoyed the music, because, well I’m doing the whole thing again next week, but then the music will come from a Belgian radio station that specialises in ‘Electropop’ – expect lots of Soulwax then.

SWC

Billy Reeves

A LATE ADDITION TO THE BEST SONGS OF 2024

Back in early January, I headed over to The Big Blue, aka the headquarters of the label Last Night From Glasgow (LNFG), to pick up a whole load of vinyl that was part of my long-standing membership/subscription, consisting of albums released on the label in the latter months of 2024. As ever, there were a few things I knew very little about, and such was the amount of vinyl I had gathered over the festive period, these tended to be put towards the bottom of the pile for listening purposes.

One of those albums was When Lord God Almighty Reads The News, the third album on the label from Billy Reeves.

If the name seems familiar, but you can’t quite fully recall, Billy Reeves formed Theaudience in the mid-90s, a London-based indie-band who enjoyed a couple of minor hit singles but who later became better known for being the first band of singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor. When Theaudience broke up, Billy moved on to a number of other projects, including performing, producing and running a club in London.

In 2001, he was almost killed when his car was hit at high speed by joyriders, with the accident leaving him in a coma, followed by a number of operations over an extended period in hospital. After recovering, he chose to go into writing, broadcasting and radio production, including award-winning shows on BBC London. His love for Brentford FC has led to him commentating on the club’s matches for their in-house social media channels as well as writing articles for the match day programme. (something that he and I have in common as I fulfil both those roles for Raith Rovers!!)

In due course, he made a return to writing and performing, initially through various bands, and eventually in 2022, releasing his first solo album, Nostalgia For the Future on LNFG, followed two years later by Steve, again on LNFG. I’ve copies of these albums, and while both provided some good moments, they were, by my reckoning, the sort which get 3-star reviews and with so much vinyl here in Villain Towers, weren’t given too much attention beyond the initial couple of listens.

I thought it would be much the same with this third album, especially with it landing just a few months after his previous effort, but I’m delighted to report that When Lord God Almighty Reads The News is a fine listen, and indeed contains a song which has easily nudged its way into my list of favourites that were released in 2024, for the simple fact that in today’s increasingly polarised political environment, Billy has come up with an electro-pop anthem with an important message.

mp3: Billy Reeves – Never Cross

In saying that, Never Cross isn’t my favourite track on the album. There’s the fun and joy of the sweary one.

mp3: Billy Reeves – Bstrds!

Copies of the album can be ordered online from LNFG, but it’s also likely to be available in your local indie record store.

JC

Edinburgh Carnival Against The Nazis 1978, Various

CARNIVAL AGAINST THE NAZIS

A guest posting by Fraser Pettigrew (aka our New Zealand correspondent)

There’s a social media meme knocking about that says, succinctly, “If you’ve ever wondered what you would have done in Germany in the 1930s… you’re doing it now.” It’s a brutally accurate summary of our impotent inactivity in the face of 21st century fascists taking over the most powerful nation on the planet. Opportunities to resist seem absent.

Was it otherwise before? It may not qualify as much more than the equivalent of modern-day liberal hand-wringing, but in the late 1970s in the UK there was a thing called Rock Against Racism. It did what it said on the tin, got people out to enjoy some music while making their intolerance of racism loud and clear. RAR was formed in response to Eric Clapton’s obnoxious onstage racist outburst in 1976, and alongside the rise of the white-supremacist National Front in English politics.

RAR developed a strong connection with the Anti-Nazi League when the latter was formed early in 1977. Essentially a front organisation for the Socialist Workers Party, the ANL pulled together trade unions and community organisations to mobilise against the National Front, mounting counter-demonstrations that occasionally resulted in the actual shit being kicked out of actual fascists.

Given the typically self-satisfied and apolitical torpor of the musical old guard and the sometimes highly political new wave, it’s little wonder that RAR gigs were a roll-call of punk bands as well as the best in UK reggae. In April 1978 the RAR/ANL Carnival Against Racism in London saw over 100,000 march from Trafalgar Square, led by Misty in Roots on the back of a lorry, to Victoria Park in Hackney where The Clash, Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson Band and X-Ray Spex performed.

In July, a similar event took place in Manchester, and in August, Edinburgh’s branch of the Anti-Nazi League decided to ride the wave while Scotland’s elusive summer was still notionally operative, with a march and free gig at Craigmillar to be headlined by The Clash and primo reggae group Aswad, supported by various local bands.
I was then a spotty 15-year old with one gig under my belt (The Boomtown Rats) and the opportunity to see The Clash (for free!) was an irresistible lure. The politics were fine too, but the name of The Clash on the bill was what Rock Against Racism was all about, using the power of the music to get people out and pogo round the anti-fascist rallying post.

When Saturday 5th of August arrived it was a Scottish meteorological miracle – a fine, warm day! Before heading into town I had to make some adjustments to my embarrassingly flared jeans. I plundered my Mum’s sewing box for every safety pin I could find, turned my Wrangler loons inside out, pinned up the inside leg seam and turned the jeans back out again – voila! Instant drainpipes! An old waistcoat of my Dad’s was adorned with my meagre collection of punk button badges and off I went.
The crowd outside the Scottish Trades Union Congress offices on Hillside Crescent was not of London or Manchester proportions, a few hundred rather than thousands. There were a couple of big trade union banners and a small forest of SWP-standard blocky red and black printed placards saying down with that sort of thing and all the rest of it.

The shortest and most obvious route to Craigmillar was down the Bridges and Dalkeith Road but the police had other ideas, and we were routed around the far side of Arthur’s Seat, thus avoiding any chance of being seen by all but a tiny minority of Edinburgh’s population. Can’t have the good burghers exposed to filthy communistic propaganda such as ‘don’t be racist’ or ‘no nazis here’. They might take it personally.

It was a long walk on a hot day through mysterious parts of the city including the Craigmillar housing scheme, a notorious zone of poverty and social exclusion, or thugs and vandals to Edinburgh’s bourgeoisie. Residents spectated curiously as organisers with megaphones tried to get the crowd chanting lefty slogans as we neared our destination.

The venue was a small park, then known as Peffermill School sports ground, where the stage sat with a scruffy scaffold and tarpaulin roof on it, fronted with a big ANL banner. The park was about the size of two or three football pitches, a couple of food vans parked at the edge. Glastonbury it was not.

At this point people began breaking out of the march to nip through the numerous holes in the vandalised fence, rather than carry on via the gate which was acting as a bottle-neck and slowing everyone to a standstill. The SWP marshals tried to get everyone to stick together as one impressive column of anti-fascist determination. “Stay on the road! Solidarity comrades!” shouted one of them through his megaphone as the Clash fans flooded past him. Fuck solidarity, this is rock’n’roll, mate…

I was more concerned about rehydrating after the long march (nobody carried water bottles in those days), so I may have been queuing at one of the skanky food vans when the first band, Deleted, came on. I have no recollection of them, though I have discovered that in 1979 they changed name and became rather better known as The Visitors. At any rate, I was fully present for second act, The Freeze. I remember being impressed, the lead singer’s striking mop of blond curls cutting a distinctive figure, the music an intriguing step ahead from standard punk thrash, hinting at something more sophisticated and moody.

I never saw them live again, although I realise now that I was at another event they played the following summer in Ironmills Park in Dalkeith, with a bunch of local bands on the back of a single flat-bed trailer. Apparently The Freeze was one of them, but I must have run off home for my tea before they came on.

It was JC’s recent post on what became of that mop-haired singer that dredged up memories of this whole event. Until I read about Cindytalk I had no idea that The Freeze had any kind of afterlife. I found a download of one of their Peel sessions a while ago, but I always assumed they were amongst the multitude of musicians that simply had their brief moment and then went back to the day job.

I was thoroughly enjoying the next band too, more edgy, angular, post-punk strangeness. The singer was dressed all in pink and was even more provocatively weird than The Freeze.

This was Scars, and they were too provocative for the troglodyte hardcore punks who just wanted to skip straight to The Clash. Projectiles started flying towards the stage, full cans of juice and beer forcing some evasive action and bringing the MC onto the stage to call for calm. They tried to start again, barely three or four songs into their set. The bombing continued and regretfully they decided to depart. The drunken mob was not to be messed with.

Sadly, I never saw Scars again either, despite much gig-going in subsequent student years in Edinburgh. They were followed on stage by The Monos (from London) and then The Valves, both sufficiently robust and trad-punk in a pub-rock power-pop sort of way for The Clash fans. There was still some light-hearted projectile-throwing, but only filled rolls, one of which was deftly caught by the lead singer of The Monos who promptly munched into it. “Yum, cheese and onion, my favourite!” he quipped.

An uncomfortable, restive atmosphere persisted. I don’t know why, but there was a feeling that something was up. After The Valves, the MC came on stage and announced that a couple of members of The Clash had been arrested in London the previous day, had been unable to travel and therefore the band would not now be playing. As you can imagine, the response was not good. Missiles flew again. The MC braved the bombardment, tried to blame it all on the ‘fascist pigs’ and urged everyone to give it up for the next band. The punks were having none of it and steamed for the exit as briskly as they’d rushed through the fence a few hours earlier.

I wonder now if the timing of the announcement was cleverly tactical. The next band was Aswad, and perhaps the organisers feared for their treatment by the punks as the hour of The Clash neared. Spilling the beans meant they all pissed off and left the rest of us to enjoy a brilliant performance by the reggae stars. They must have wondered what the hell they were doing in the middle of such a shit-show, but they were utter professionals and we loved them.

For years afterwards I conflated in my mind the Clash’s non-appearance with the infamous pigeon shooting ‘guns on the roof’ episode, stupidly ignorant of the fact that the latter event took place months earlier. All the same, I wasn’t surprised when I finally learned that the whole story of an arrest and last-minute let-down was a complete load of bollocks made up by the organisers before the festival even happened. The Clash were never going to be there, and may never even have been invited. Their name was shamelessly appended to the bill just to get people to come on the march, to make a big show of support for the Anti-Nazi League and get a few more members signed up for the SWP.

It was an idiotic ploy, but perhaps in the end it served its purpose. Like all of RAR and ANL’s activity, it made people feel they were actively opposing racism and fascism and the visibility of the events bolstered the sense of a wide popular groundswell against the National Front. For all that the SWP were largely a bunch of dogmatic saddos, with the Anti-Nazi League they can at least be credited with building and driving a genuine surge against the far right. Undoubtedly that’s something we could sorely do with right now.

mp3: The Freeze – Psychodalek Nightmares
mp3: Scars – Adult-ery
mp3: Valves – For Adolfs Only
mp3: Aswad – Back To Africa

Fraser

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Sixty-Three)

The 1992 run of monthly singles included Flying Saucer and The Queen of Outer Space. It kind of felt inevitable that some sort of sci-fi title would find its way into the 2022 series, and so it proved for the November release:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Science Fiction (7″ version)

A break-up song. It’s also a ballad, of sorts, in that it begins very slow and quietly, but it then builds over the next few minutes in pace and noise. It’s rather beguiling, partly from the rather lovely backing vocal provided in places by Melanie Howard. It’s one of the tracks from the 2022 project that I enjoyed from the get-go, and indeed have grown increasingly fond of over the past six or so months, and that’s got a lot to do with a very enjoyable live rendition at last year’s Edge of The Sea festival, where it more than survived Melanie not being on stage to sing her part. The fact it was placed in the set list immediately after Corduroy and prior to My Favourite Dress towards the tail end of the gig, demonstrates just how much David Gedge thinks of it, and the fact it maintained the momentum of the show just highlights that it is a good tune.

The disappointing aspect of the 7″ version is that it fades out when there really was no need for it. The full-length version included on the later 24 Songs album/box set is just 18 seconds longer, and comes to a perfect halt, and so I’m kind of bemused as to why an edited version was issued.

The b-side is quite different in sound and tempo.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Plot Twist

There’s a catchy riff at the heart of the tune. Even after all this time, I can’t make my mind up if it is inspired or irritating. It’s a song which is unmistakably The Wedding Present with the sort of wry lyric about the end of a relationship that David Gedge has delivered on countless occasions over the decades.

But for once, he’s not at the centre of the tale….he’s very much an interested observer. There’s a couple of lines at the 2:15 mark, just after an instrumental break, which are guaranteed to bring a smile to one’s face.

They used to send each other Fall songs
She tried to teach him Spanish
But then he waited for much too long
She just seemed to vanish

We’ve all, at some point in our lives, sent mixtapes or the likes to someone we’ve been trying to impress in the would-be-love stakes. It wouldn’t really have occurred to me to include too many Mark E Smith compositions – he wasn’t really renowned for his romantic streak.

Next week will see the 64th and final part of the series. I hope you’ll tune in.

Fall

ON THIS DAY : THE FALL’S PEEL SESSIONS #15

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

Session #15 was broadcast on this day, 15 February 1992, having been recorded on 19 January 1992.

Although not one of their greatest sessions, imminent single ‘Free Range’ is tight and focussed; and the group’s version of The Creators’ ‘Kimble'(a not-too-distant relative of the following year’s ‘Why Are People Grudgeful?’) is both rich and amusing. Smith covering Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry has got to be worth the price of admission, two great music eccentrics, etc. ‘Immortality’ and a low-key ‘Return’ round off what was a barren period in the group’s existence

DARYL EASLEA, 2005

mp3: The Fall – Free Range (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Kimble (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Immortality (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Return (Peel Session)

Produced by Dale Griffin, engineered by Mike Engles & James Birtwistle

Mark E Smith – vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Dave Bush – keyboards; Simon Wolstencroft – drums

JC

Red Guitars

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #083

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#083: Red Guitars – ‘Good Technology’ (Self Drive Records ’84)

Dear friends,

the 111 singles box mostly contains of records which I have in my possession for a long time indeed, if I had to guess, I’d reckon this is true for about 60% or so. Then there are quite a few songs which I always loved, but never really had the chance to spend money on. This changed when I quit smoking, I mean: basically you could well say about this box that Lucky Strike’s loss now is your profit, folks!

And then, when the series was already alive, there were a few singles which I chose to replace in favor of other ones, like „hold on, this MUST be included!“. But this became more difficult the deeper I dived into the alphabet, because obviously I could not let those go that had already featured here.

So, to cut a long – and boring – story short, today’s single might probably be the last one that came so late to the party, I mean, we are into the „R’s“ by now, and the chances that I wake up tomorrow in order to (spoiler alert!) replace my song of choice by Leeds’ finest band starting with a „W“ by, say, Ziggy Marley are pretty remote.

So, Red Guitars. The name was always vaguely familiar to me in the early 80s and I think I remember them having had something to do with this Billy Bragg/Paul Weller ‘Red Wedge’ thingy back in 1985. But I don’t know whether they were pro or contra ( I remember The Redskins were contra), and perhaps my memory fails me and they weren’t involved at all, who knows? Those ‘bloody Reds’ were everywhere these days, you really had to be careful – it was all rather confusing!

Either way, it must have been around this time when today’s record came to my attention: their second single and by then already two years old. It’s one of those songs that are always with you, I’d say, always somewhere deep down in the back of your mind, but never really too present – hard to describe, really.

Perhaps this is because the tune is so simple: three chords, a kick drum and a bass unchanging throughout the whole song. Nothing all too spectacular, not really comparable to, for example, „Anarchy In The UK“ really. But, then there are the lyrics, and boy, what lyrics! It’s all there: the power of the internet and social media, environmental catastrophe, reality TV, the fast food industry and an ever more grotesque arms industry:

mp3: Red Guitars – Good Technology

And it was written in 1981, although not released before 1983, when there were a mere 100 McDonald’s in the UK. The new technology promised a brighter future for all. Life would be easier. Culture Club were at number one.

Now, 44 years on, and the promise, like many countries, is broken. Public services have been hollowed out to the barest shells. Levels of poverty are unprecedented since Victorian times, people who are working minimum wage jobs are struggling to survive Europe-wide.

Today there are more food banks in the UK than McDonald’s.

Take good care,

Dirk

Various

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY

I’m a week late with these birthday greetings as it was Thursday 6 February when Chemikal Underground Records turned 30 years of age. The celebration was low-key, just these few lines via social media.

Thirty years ago today copies of ‘Monica Webster’ started to fly out of a small kitchen on Cartside Street in Glasgow, Scotland. This was the debut single of a fresh-faced new band, The Delgados, and the maiden release of Chemikal Underground, a brand new independent record label. Three decades, many seminal LPs, and a multitude of hangovers later, it seems only right to mark this landmark milestone with a few bits and bobs over the next 12 months. Keep your eyes peeled (sign up to our mailing list) for announcements over the coming weeks…

Those of you who have been following this blog over the years will be well aware that I’m of the view the label is the singular most important thing to have happened to the Scottish music scene in my lifetime. Things have slowed down a little bit in recent years, but the release of excellent albums from Broken Chanter and Chrysanths during 2024 illustrates their ongoing commitment to working with talented artists.

The recording studio, Chem 19, located on an unassuming industrial estate in Blantyre, a small town some 15 miles south-east of Glasgow, has been the location where some of the best and best-selling music to come out of Scotland in the 21st Century has been and continues to be made. There are still many chapters to be written in the Chemikal Underground in the years to come.

If you do want to take up the suggestion of signing to the mailing list, the best way would be to head over to the website. Click here.

In the meantime, I’ve pulled together my own small tribute, with a mix of songs that have been released on the label over the 30 years. It’s just under an hour long, but if you hang on till exactly the hour mark, you will come across a hidden track.

Enjoy!!!

mp3: Various – Happy 30th Birthday C.U.

Human Don’t Be Angry – H.D.B.A. Theme
Zoey Van Goey – Foxtrot Vandala
De Rosa – All Saints Day
Miaoux Miaoux – It’s The Quick
The Phantom Band – Throwing Bones
Mother and The Addicts – Oh Yeah, You Look Quite Nice
Arab Strap – The Shy Retirer
Emma Pollock – Parks and Recreation
Cha Cha Cohen – A=A
Malcolm Middleton – Loneliness Shines
Lord Cut-Glass – Look After Your Wife
Aidan Moffat and The Best-Ofs – Big Blonde
RM Hubbert – Buckstacy
The Delgados – Everybody Come Down
Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat – The Copper Top
Broken Chanter – So Much For The End Of History (I’m Still Here)

JC

Bananarama, Bourgie Bourgie, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, Madness, Orange Juice, Sade, Soft Cell, Style Council, Tracey Ullman

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (February)

January 1984, with thirteen chart hits, got this series off to a handy enough start. Would February prove to be just as interesting, or was it all a false dawn? The first chart is actually spread across two calendar months, covering the period 28 January–4 February.

There were ten new entries into the Top 75. The list is rather depressing…….

Queen – Radio Ga Ga (#4)
Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday (#12)
The Thompson Twins – Doctor Doctor (#18)
Swans Way – Soul Train (#41)
Rockwell – Someone’s Watching Me (#52)
Slade – Run Runaway (#54)
Nena – 99 Red Ballons (#58)
Hot Chocolate – I Gave You My Heart (Didn’t I) (#59)
Van Halen – Jump (#60)
Truth – No Stone Unturned (#73)

I’m not averse to offering up the likes of Duran Duran or The Thompson Twins, but neither of those particular 45s hold much appeal, certainly in Villain Towers. Best if we fast-forward to 5-11 February.

The highest new entry this week was from a band enjoying a hit single for the 18th successive time, going back to 1979.

mp3: Madness – Michael Caine (#26)

It was the lead single from what would be their fifth studio album, Keep Moving. It was quite a departure from many of the previous 45s, being a slower number with a very serious subject-matter, telling the tale of an informant living in Northern Ireland, with the lyrics suggest a state of paranoia and mental disintegration. It was written partly by Carl Smyth, who took the lead on the song, with Suggs happy enough to do the backing vocals. The vocal samples from Michael Caine himself were recorded for the song, and being a repetition of him introducing himself by name, is based on his role in the 1965 film The Ipcress File, in which his character, Harry Palmer, repeats his name while trying to stay sane under torture.

It didn’t do quite as well as most previous Madness singles, peaking at #11 and becoming just the third of the eighteen not to reach the Top 10. Despite this, I think it is one of their finest 45s.

One of the UK’s pioneering synth bands, Ultravox, came into the charts this week at #37 with One Small Day. I genuinely couldn’t recall this song and looked up the video on YouTube. The tune was awful, sounding nothing like the band, with a dreadful guitar lick all the way through.

The various other new entries were just as annoying – with a special mention to Genesis and Illegal Alien in which Phil Collins adopted a faux-Spanish accent throughout. The video is beyond belief…….

The chart, however, was saved by this bona fide classic coming in at #74:-

mp3: Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel – White Lines (Don’t Do It)

This would prove to be one of the most incredible stories of the singles chart in 1984. In at #74 on 5 February, it would take 21 weeks to climb its way gradually into the Top 10, eventually peaking at #7 in the chart of 22-28 July (and staying there the following week). It took until 28 October before it fell out of the Top 75, meaning it had enjoyed a stay of 37 weeks, and was placed at #13 in the end-of year chart in terms of total sales.

Moving on now to 12-18 February, 19-25 February and 26 February- 3 March.

mp3: The Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods (#8 on 12 Feb)
mp3: Soft Cell – Down In The Subway (#38 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Sade – Your Love Is King (#59 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Orange Juice – Bridge (#67 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Tracey Ullman – My Guy (#46 on 26 Feb)
mp3: Bananarama – Robert De Niro’s Waiting (#48 on 26 Feb)
mp3: Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point (#64 on 26 Feb)

A right mix of tunes!! I can’t deny that I really liked that Sade single, albeit its jazz-tinged nature is the sort of stuff I’d usually run a long way from, but it was reflective of a lot that was going on in early 1984, and given that I was listening to The Style Council and Everything But The Girl a fair bit (amongst others) then it’s impossible to deny Sade.

Tracey Ullman gets a mention for changing the sex of the song and taking a Madness number back into the charts – it would eventually peak at #23, not quite as good as My Girl which had reached #3 in 1980.

Bananarama appealed to the pop side of my nature, and I can’t deny that I would dance to this (while wearing my Bunnymen raincoat at the Student Union disco thinking I was being really ironic when in fact I probably looked like an idiot!!).

And what a joy to be reminded that Bourgie Bourgie‘s debut single (and one of THE greatest 45s of all time), did actually have an impact on the charts, eventually reaching #48 during the month of March……but it really deserved much more. Paul Quinn on Top of The Pops would have been a sight to behold.

JC

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SORRY ABOUT THE TECH ISSUES….

I noticed a couple of comments left earlier today consisted of a single letter, which I found incredibly unusual.

Looking at the IP addresses associated with the comments, I noticed they were from a couple of people who regularly leave comments – flimflamfan and chaval – and this bemused me.

I sent FFF an e-mail who replied that ‘the box opened up to allow a comment to be typed, but there was no text to be seen. I did try to leave it again, but no luck on either phone or laptop.’

I’ve been in touch with the helpful folk at WordPress to ask for some assistance in sorting it all out. A few attempts were made at their end, and I eventually received this reply:-

“This looks like a wider issue affecting multiple sites. I am reporting this to our developers. The developer reports are typically addressed on severity. As these issues can be somewhat complex, investigating will take some time. We appreciate your patience and understanding in the meantime.”

All I can do for now is wait, and apologise that nobody is seemingly able to come on to the blog to offer their views, thoughts and opinions.

mp3: Randolph’s Leap – Technology

Here’s hoping normal service is resumed soon.