THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

THE BADGERS……RE-DISCOVERED AND NOW PART OF A TOP QUALITY PODCAST

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Hopefully you’ll recall that this blog has single-handedly been responsible for the re-discovery of a band that according to one obsessed fan should have been the future of indie rock’n’roll. Read here for a reminder.

The renaissance continues thanks to the wonderful Webbie who has included Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost in a podcast whose common theme is all songs have a football title, but none of them are actually about the beautiful game. Among the acts featured are The Undertones, Glasvegas, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, The Smiths………and The Badgers.

http://www.footballandmusic.co.uk/podcast-not-football-but-music/

That’s as unlikely as Scotland ever again qualifying for a major championship.

Daintees

BEFORE THEY TOOK THE TROUBADOUR’S NAME

The other day in the 45 45s at 45 nostalgia trip, I mentioned how it had been a TV appearance that had introduced me to the talents and delights of Martin Stephenson & The Daintees.

What I wasn’t aware of at the time was the band had only just taken on the name of their singer/songwriter and had in fact previously, as a three-piece, released two singles on Kitchenware Records as The Daintees. They are interesting enough songs in their own right, with the first of them Roll On Summertime released in December 1983 followed by Trouble Town in September 1984. It would then take until May 1986 before the next material was released – the wonderful and lovely Crocodile Cryer closely followed by debut LP Boat to Bolivia.

In that period, the band had grown from a three-piece into more or less a five-piece (and incidentally losing in the process and in a completely amicable way, original keyboardist John Steel – he was to be later thanked profusely on the back of the debut LP) and they sounded all the better for it, helped no doubt by the recording process and the constant gigging which had helped establish and maintain a very loyal fan base across the UK. The early singles weren’t re-recorded for the debut LP which was quite unusual in those days, which partly reflected a desire to move on but also the fact that Martin Stephenson really felt his new material was so much stronger and relevant.

This was the utterly charming and beguiling debut with the catalogue number of Kitchenware SK3:-

mp3 : The Daintees – Roll On Summertime
mp3 : The Daintees – Involved With Love

And this was the 12″ version of Kitchenware SK 13:-

mp3 : The Daintees – Trouble Town
mp3 : The Daintees – Better Plan
mp3 : The Daintees – Jealous Mind

All of them, with the exception of the rockier and shambolic sounding Better Plan have a certain amount of charm and would not have been out-of-place on the debut LP.

Incidentally, Kitchenware would re-release Trouble Town in January 1987 to take advantage of the fact that the debut LP had fared so well in many ‘end of ’86’ critics polls. To their credit, they offered some bonus material including an alternative, but to my ears inferior, version of their best-known song, as envisaged by Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout:-

mp3 : The Daintees – Crocodile Cryer (Paddy McAloon Mix)

Enjoy

PS : At this point I was going to recommend, as idea for a Xmas present for the diserning music fan in your life, a copy of The Song of the Soul: The Authorised Martin Stephenson Biography, co-authored by Rich Cundill and Mark Bradley which was released back in 2009.

Sadly, it seems to be out of print which is a real shame as it is a really well-researched and well-rounded read with the authors, both of whom are fans, never afraid to offer constructive criticism of the singer-songwriter when they feel it is required.

Well worth tracking down a second-hand copy if you can – although on Amazon they are going for almost £30.

Jam

THE JAM SINGLES (17)

It might well have turned out to be the band’s penultimate 45 but even then it managed to achieve a couple of firsts, not least having a contribution from a female backing vocalist in the shape of Jennie McKeown of The Belle Stars (and NOT Tracie Young as many folk mistakenly believe) while the b-side had the very unusual combination of two tracks running seamlessly into one another, with the first song being a new original and the second a cover of an old R&B number….

mp3 : The Jam – The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)
mp3 : The Jam – Pity Poor Alfie/Fever

Released on 10 September 1982, it was another surprise to fans in that this was more a classic pop number in the long history of break-up songs while the new original track on the b-side immediately brought to mind the theme tune of The Sweeney, a very popular and at the time ground-breaking TV cop show in the UK from the mid-1970s.

It reached #2 in the singles chart but it couldn’t quite dislodge Eye of The Tiger…….

It was going to be interesting to see where the band went from there. But what happened next was a shock even if it had been on the cards for some time…

A couple of alternative versions are available courtesy of the Direction Reaction Creation box set.

mp3 : The Jam – The Bitterest Pill I Ever Had To Swallow (first version)

Rather different in tone and sound with much reliance on piano and no backing vocal from Jennie.

mp3 : The Jam – Pity Poor Alfie (swing version)

Totally different sounding (ie nothing like The Sweeney!!) with the bass guitar to the fore and a rather different vocal delivery. It also extends out to well over four minutes with a sax solo and major contributions on the Hammond Organ….

The Bitterest Pill wasn’t re-released in 1983 at time whan all the other old singles came out again, presumably on the grounds it was just too soon after the original release. However, it did appear again in 1997 as a CD single to promote the release of yet another compilation album where it was backed by the first version of the song together with The Butterfly Collector and That’s Entertainment.

It reached #30 in the singles chart

Enjoy

Darling Buds

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 43 of 48)

Last week’s posting on Talulah Gosh made reference to them helping pave the way for the chart success for The Darling Buds, another of the bands to feature on CD 86.

This lot formed in 1986 in Caerleon a village not far from the Welsh town of Newport. They were fronted by a young, ballsy, peroxide blonde named Andrea Lewis with Geraint Farley (guitar), Chris McDonagh (bass) and Richard Gray (drums) being the three blokes few people paid attention to.

They released their a self-financed debut single in February 1987 before shifting to the Sheffield-based Native Records and almost from the word go were branded as a cross between The Beatles and Blondie…proof, if any was needed, that lazy journalism isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. From the outset, this was a band that always had a chance of making it big for the simple fact that they made music that would sound good on daytime radio. Oh and it also helped that their singer has the sort of looks that made picture editors hearts go all-a-flutter.

It was no real surprise that they signed to Epic Records whose marketing and promotional campaigns took the single Hit The Ground into the charts and got the band onto Top of The Pops where all the watching dads went ‘wow’. The debut LP Pop Said also did well, critically and commercially, reaching #23, aided by it spawning five singles, all of which were played regularly on daytime radio.

Things began to go awry with the band became afflicted with the notorious ‘difficult second album syndrome’.

Crawdaddy was a less poppy affair altogether which had the double whammy of disappointing the label bosses yet failing to attract a broader fan base. The hit singles dried up and so too did the marketing money and promotional opportunities. However, unlike many others in a similar situation The Darling Buds weren’t dropped and a third album was released in October 1992. To the bemusement and indeed amusement of many, the band had called the album Erotica and had released it within a week of Madonna releasing her allegedly notorious album of the same name. Someone, somewhere taking the piss.

By now the band were determined to crack the American market and spent much of 1993 trying to do so through touring relentlessly. This took its toll on all concerned and by the end of the year they had disbanded.

Like many others, they have since reformed. The first time was in July 2010 for a one-off concert and then again in 2013 to play at indie festivals and shows. Such was the interest in the band from old and new fans alike that they have continued to perform on a reasonably regular basis ever since.

CD86 featured their rather splendid buzzsaw guitar debut single which was limited to a run of just 2000 copies:-

mp3 : The Darling Buds – If I Said

and here’s yer more than decent b-side which reminds me a lot of Shop Assistants:-

mp3 : The Darling Buds – Just To Be Seen

The single was re-recorded and put on the b-side of a later single and then again many years later on a de-luxe re-siisue debut album. It’s good but not in the class of the original.

mp3 : The Darling Buds – If I Said (later version)

Enjoy.

** and thanks to The Robster for correcting the two inaccuracies in the original post. (see comments for clarification!!)

Martin Stephenson & The Daintees

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (38)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WEDNESDAY 2 APRIL 2008

Younger readers (if there are indeed any – I imagine my readership is mostly the 40s and over) would be astonished to learn that up until maybe 20 years ago, it was really difficult to find music on your television screen.

Here in the UK, all we had was a usually unmissable 90 minutes every Friday at 5.30pm on Channel 4 with The Tube. Other than that, it was a weekly dose of Top Of The Pops on BBC1 which, if you were lucky, might have 2 or 3 songs that you liked mixed in with a lot of dross. Over on BBC2, we had a weekly dose of The Old Grey Whistle Test which, if you were lucky, might have 2 or 3 songs that you liked mixed in with a lot of dross. And that was just about it if you don’t count bands appearing on Saturday morning kiddies shows.

In reality, I’m being unfair to OGWT, or Whistle Test as it became known sometime in the 80s. It was fronted for a few years by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth with regular contributions from Andy Kershaw as well as a woman whose name I forget but who had sort of modelled herself on Muriel Gray from The Tube (help me with a name someone please….google turned out to be my friend in 2015…her name was Ro Newton)

OGWT was a mixture of bands, promo videos and specially made short films. There was a few belters of shows – I particularly recall The Smiths unveiling Bigmouth Strikes Again and Vicar In A Tutu. Whistle Test was also where I first saw the video for Levi Stubbs’ Tears in which Billy Bragg sang live and Dave Woodhead joined in on a trumpet solo at the end, while there were a number of great one-off specials that went on for 24 hours at a time in which some of my all time heroes turned up and played live – and not always sober.

And it was Whistle Test that I first saw and heard Martin Stephenson. It was love at first sight and sound. He played a great little instrumental on acoustic guitar called A Tribute to The Late Rev Gary Davis. He then went to change his guitar for a song to be played with his band The Daintees, at which point his guitar strap gave way and he had to fumble around sorting things out. He gave a sheepish look at the camera, said ‘God Bless’ into his microphone and then strummed the opening notes of a truly gorgeous and heart-rendering song.

I went out the next day and purchased the debut LP entitled Boat To Bolivia. With eight weeks, I had to replace it as it had been played so often, usually in a drunken stupor in which I tried to play particular tracks but only succeeded in dropping the needle and causing damage and creating carnage…

It’s a truly amazing debut with all sorts of musical styles to the fore. It’s also an album that deals with a lot of personal issues for Martin, including miscarriages that his mum had suffered, his sister’s lesbianism, and his reaction to the hypocrisy of people at a his grandmother’s funeral. It was the last mentioned that he played on Whistle Test as it was also the single from the LP:-

mp3 : Martin Stephenson & The Daintees – Crocodile Cryer
mp3 : Martin Stephenson & The Daintees – Louis

It was few years later that I met the now Mrs Villain. As you do when you meet someone special with an interest in music, you pass on some of your own tastes in the hope that the special person will grow to like them. Mrs V didn’t know anything about Martin Stephenson & The Daintees. But they soon became a favourite of hers and we’ve been lucky enough to see the band, as well as Martin play solo, on quite a few occasions over the years.

Prior to seeing him live, Mrs V thought Martin was the Geordie equivalent of Leonard Cohen. She still thinks he is every bit as talented as the great Canadian singer/poet, but that Martin is a million times better looking and charismatic. And I’m not going to argue.

Oh and incidentally, the mp3 is from the original 7″ single and comes in at about a minutes less than the version on Boat To Bolivia. And above is of course the clip that got me hooked.

Bjork, Dylan Rhymes, Jesus & Mary Chain, One Dove, Two Gallants, U2

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT..WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (32)

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The Shoebox of Delights – #4a and 4b
The JBO Perspective 1988-1998/Two Gallants – What The Toll Tells

This week, I have cheated slightly, normally I just select the CD at the top of the pile – the order of the pile, incidentally changes on a daily basis, as my daughter likes to ‘look at the CD’s’ – by ‘look at’ she means throw around the room and use as plates for her teddies various tea parties.

I then try and somehow crow bar in a story from my past and tenuously (really tenuously) connect it to the CD. Top of the pile this week was ‘What the Toll Tells’ by country rock duo Two Gallants – now much as I love them and this CD, the (only) story I can connect to it makes me angry, to the point where if I talk about it too much I’ll be in a bad mood all day…….

I was given that CD by a bloke called Gareth outside Derby County’s football stadium in March 2006. I used to be good mates with Gareth but one night in 2011 he got drunk on a night out in Exeter – later than evening as we returned to my house (he was staying in the spare room as he lived some distance away) and we all retired for the night. About 2am – Gareth walked into the marital suite of the house and asked me and the wife if we fancied a threesome. He was stark bollock naked and he then vomited on the carpet. Before that moment I was interested.

I’m joking.

He was a Derby County fan, and to misquote the esteemed journalist Martin Kelner, I wasn’t about to interrupt 35 years of unblemished heterosexuality. Also he was dog ugly, when the Lord gave out looks, poor Gareth was cleaning the toilet. He left the house about seven minutes later. I haven’t seen him since – I did get a Facebook Friend Request off him about two years ago, but I ignored it. That probably makes me a bad person.

mp3 : Two Gallants – Las Cruces Jail

Other than this esteemed blog, one of my favourite places on the Internet is over at Drew’s place ‘Across the Kitchen Table’.

I love his perspective on life (and his utter hatred of ‘fucking decorating’) and the selection of music is terrific. If you haven’t checked it out – you can follow the link from T(n)VV.

One of the best features of the blog has been the series ‘It’s Friday….Let’s Dance’ – where every Friday, Drew selects a piece of classic dance music accompanied by a picture of a nubile young lady (or more often ladies) grooving. When you get to a certain age, little things like this can make your day. I think I have downloaded nearly track this year from the ‘Its Friday’ series – they sit in my own iPod in a Playlist simply called ‘Friday…’

I hope I am right when I say that Drew is a fan of the Junior Boy’s Own label – recently his blog featured a series of posts about some 12” records released on Boys Own – and it was excellent and contained some wonderful music. The CD second from bottom of the pile today – is ‘JBO – A perspective 1988 – 1998’ so I have picked that CD largely so I can wax lyrical about how good it and the label itself is – but also as a nod in Drew’s direction. Hope that is ok?

The album is not only a comprehensive selection (over two hours worth!) of JBO releases, it’s also a definitive collection of what was best about the ’80s-90s so far as dance and electronic music goes. Some of the absolute classics included on the disc are New Order’s “Everything’s Gone Green,” My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon,” The Chemical Brothers’ “Song to the Siren”, “Loaded” by Primal Scream and Underworld’s “Moaner.” It also includes some forgotten treasures such as ‘Fallen’ by One Dove and ‘Naked and Ashamed’ by Dylan Rhymes –on the negative side it includes at least one track by Simply Red – but that my friends is what the skip button was invented for. JBO was the label that took a lot of risks when they first started out and ended up being right at the front of an entire musical movement.

Enjoy

mp3 : U2 – Salome (Zooromancer Mix)
mp3 : Dylan Rhymes – Naked and Ashamed
mp3 : Bjork – Human Behaviour (Underworld Mix)
mp3 : One Dove – Fallen

S-WC

JC adds…………..

(1) I’m delighted that S-WC is appreciative of Drew’s work. His blog is one of the best and most original out there and I’m delighted that over the years, given we have some common tastes in fine music, we have been able to hook up at gigs and over the occasional social pint. He’s a top bloke….and I can vouch that he makes a very fine pasta.

(2) I love how the titles of the four tracks picked out from the JBO compilation can be linked to the tale told above

(3) I’ll say it….cos I know some of you will be thinking it and wondering if you’d get away with asking the question…..what would the answer have been if it had been OPG making the offer and not Gareth…..

Julian Cope, Teardrop Explodes

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #49 : JULIAN COPE

A debut guest posting from Strictly Rockers…..

Julian Cope is the only artist I feel remotely qualified to compile for an Imaginary Album having picked up my first Cope cassette (Fried, £3 from WH Smiths, Bristol) in 1984.

He is the artist I’ve seen live most and own more albums than any other. Following the Archdrude through thick and thin sometimes feels more ordeal than pleasure (Dark Orgasm?, Queen Elizabeth?) and his prolific output occasionally appears to shoot wide but, in his words, he is always ‘true to my metaphor’ and never fails to deliver on attitude, enthusiasm and sheer energy.

His autobiographies (‘Head On’ & ‘Reposessed’) set the benchmark for rock reminiscence and his writing about Megalithic Europe together with his evangelical promotion of music in ‘Krautrocksampler’ and ‘Japrocksampler’ and the online ‘Unsung’ album reviews (now happily compiled in the awesome ‘Copendium’ book) are persuasive enough to promote interest in previously unexplored musical and cultural areas. And that’s before we get into his works of fiction!

Faced with the daunting job of distilling a career spanning over 35 years and over 30 albums into a mere 10 songs is a task too far for me.

This is by no means a ‘Best Of’, for that, start with the essential ‘Floored Genius’ collections and the excellent ‘Trip Advizer’.

I gave myself constraints naively thinking that restrictions might make the task easier! I first tried ‘Cope Remixed’, ‘Cope Live’, ‘Cope Covers’ and ‘Covered’* before settling on the collection you see below. Ok, I know it’s not perfect, but it’ll do for now. There’ll be another along in a moment…

*If anyone is interested in hearing any of these alternate comps, let me or JC know!

Throughout his illustrious career, both in the Teardrops and solo, one phrase has endured in the Cope lyrical canon…

Lords, Ladies, Gentlemen & Drudes, I give you:

‘Ba Ba Ba’: A Julian Cope Imaginary Album for The Vinyl Villain

Phase One: The Teardrop Explodes

1) When I Dream (Long Version) (Kilimanjaro, 1980)

Final track on Kilimanjaro. Released as a single reaching 47 in the charts

‘I go ba ba ba ba oh oh, I go ba ba ba ba oh oh’

2) The Culture Bunker (Wilder, 1981)

‘… waiting for the Crucial Three…’

Describing the growing rift between the Teardrops, Bunnymen & Wah!

Cope’s jealousy at Mac’s success inspiring the line ‘I feel cold when it turns to gold for you’

3) Passionate Friend (Wilder, 1981)

Allegedly about Cope’s brief relationship with Ian McCulloch’s sister. The single version achieved a mighty 25 and an acid-enhanced appearance on TOTP.

‘That you could ever do that thing / And never bring yourself to sing / Bah bah bah bah bah’

Phase Two: Early Solo

4) Bandy’s First Jump (World Shut Your Mouth, 1984)

What an entrance! Originally written for the Teardrops, it announced Cope’s debut solo album in fine style. As if to say ‘I can do this without you, and I’m keeping my ba ba ba’s’.

5) Greatness & Perfection (World Shut Your Mouth, 1984)

An almost perfect second single off WSYM. Failed to break the top 50!

Phase 3: Major label Years

6) Eve’s Volcano (Saint Julian, 1987)

Cope’s sanitised ‘two-car garage band’ sound. Arguably his most successful, and certainly his most commercial period. However this, the third single from St.J, only reached 41. (Also available in ‘!Volcano Lungo!’ extended version)

7) Up-Wards At 45 Degrees (Jehovahkill, 1992)

A fan favourite from the album that Island initially refused to issue. Cope was dropped within a week of its release.

8) Try Try Try (20 Mothers, 1995)

Ok… so it’s more ‘Bom’ than ‘Ba’ but WHAT a tune!

Phase 4: The Head Heritage Years

9) Untitled (An Audience With The Cope, 2000)

A word-less, unlisted final track from a ‘souvenir CD concert programme’ available during Cope’s 2000 tour. Then curiously re-released the following year with updated artwork for his 2001 tour!

10) The Black Sheep Song (Black Sheep, 2008)

The title track from Cope’s ‘musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western Culture’. Note authentic use of the ‘Baa’. The album also contained the epic ‘All the Blowing-Themselves-Up Motherfuckers (Will Realise the Minute They Die That They Were Suckers)’.

Bonus) C***s Can F*** Off (Live Recording, Village Underground, London 29/01/15)

Special festive version of an, as yet, unreleased potty-mouthed anti-capitalist live favourite. Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics: NSFW etc (From Youtube so not great sound!)

“…strictly rockers…”

mp3 : The Teardrop Explodes – When I Dream
mp3 : The Teardrop Explodes – The Culture Bunker
mp3 : The Teardrop Explodes – Passionate Friend
mp3 : Julian Cope – Bandy’s First Jump
mp3 : Julian Cope – Greatness & Perfection
mp3 : Julian Cope – Eve’s Volcano
mp3 : Julian Cope – Up-wards at 45 Degrees
mp3 : Julian Cope – Try, Try, Try
mp3 : Julian Cope – Untitled
mp3 : Julian Cope – The Black Sheep Song
mp3 : Julian Cope – Cunts Can Fuck Off

JC adds…

SR also fired over a 6-track Cope Covered EP which he thought might make a good accompaniment to his debut post. I agree….

mp3 : Death Cab for Cutie – World, Shut Your Mouth
mp3 : Spoon – Upwards at 45 Degrees
mp3 : The Frank and Walters – Elegant Chaos
mp3 : The Oscillation – Head Hang Low
mp3 : Deacon Blue – Trampolene
mp3 : Bubonique – Jellypop Perky Jean

Enjoy.

Pogues, Skids

WAR, WHAT IS GOOD FOR?

anzac_day_gallipoli_respect_to_mehmetcik

The Jam reminded us yesterday, courtesy of Edwin Starr, that the answer is ‘absolutely nothing’.

And today, of all days, these seem the right songs to post:-

mp3 : The Skids – And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
mp3 : The Pogues – And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

I can forgive Richard Jobson for all his pretentions simply for the fact that his inclusion of this song on Joy, the final LP by The Skids in 1981 was the first time I ever heard it. And it made me realise that folk music was nothing to be afraid of.

Elsewhere, the unique delivery of Shane McGowan over the gorgeous playing of his band, perfectly produced by Elvis Costello, brings a lump to my throat every single time.

Jam

THE JAM SINGLES (16)

Malice/Precious had been followed a month or so later by the LP The Gift which had given the band their first ever #1 album. The problem was the album only had 10 tracks with two of these having been the previous double-A sided single and there was reluctance on the band’s part to authorise any further releases in the UK.

However, such was the clamour for material that a single from the parent album, released only in Holland, sold in such amazing quantities on import that it reached #8 in the UK singles chart in July 1982. The demand was partly driven by the fact that its two b-sides were previously unreleased material, one being a cover that reflected Paul Weller‘s ever-growing infatuation with CND while the other was a completely new composition:-

mp3 : The Jam – Just Who Is The Five O’Clock Hero
mp3 : The Jam – War
mp3 : The Jam – The Great Depression

Can’t offer any alternative versions of any of these today….standards are slipping.

And just like That’s Entertainment, the previous import hit, this particular 45 was later given an official UK release in the UK but it didn’t break into the Top 100…..

Enjoy

Badgers, Pop Will Eat Itself

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION OF SORTS : THE BADGERS

A GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM MICKY HAZARD

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In 1994 I went to see Pop Will Eat Itself in Leeds, they were on tour promoting their latest album, I forget what it was called, it’s not really relevant to be honest. I got there early because Ash were also on the bill and I really wanted to see them as well. I was alone – my mates were all turning up a bit later and we’d made a half arsed plan to meet by the Merch stall around 8pm. The hall was about one third full – mainly full of kids awaiting Ash – everyone else was either not there or in the bar.

I got myself a pint and ambled down to the stage area. A bloke was on stage tuning a guitar and doing the “1,2, 1,2 Check” thing that they do. I remember briefly speaking to a lad I knew who dressed head to foot in Poppies gear. Then the lights went off and the opening bars of “Info Freako” by Jesus Jones blared out – and two minutes later four guys ambled onto the stage – hang on I thought, this is not Ash. Ash would have bound on stage, thrown drinks everywhere and then burst into ‘Kung Fu’. These guys picked up their instruments, and kind of just stood there.

Who are this lot then? I said to the Poppies chap next to me. “They are The Badgers”, he said, “Student band, they have won a competition to play tonight”. Oh I said taking a deep gulp of my beer. Then they started to play….

Folks, every now and again a band comes along that changes your life. For some it is the attitude, the swagger, the coolness. For others, it’s the tunes, the lyrics, the way the music takes a hold of you and pulls you in. For some it’s the way the singer stands, or the way the guitarist seems otherworldly or the way the drummer, erm, drums, actually its never the drummer is it, forget that bit. The Badgers had all that and then some. I knew right there and then I was watching rock history. In hundreds of years time, people would talk about this gig – and with any luck The Badgers would come to be worshipped in a Bill and Ted ‘Wild Stallions’ style future life. I was there people. I was there.

I stood open mouthed as the band rattled through a couple of songs, there was no interaction with the crowd, just song after song, each one an absolute belter. The singer had this voice that held your attention, but for me it was the guitarist that made this band – in a way that Oasis were nothing without Noel Gallagher or The Smiths were just a pub band without Johnny Marr. He was slightly older, ok, noticeably, older than the rest of the band and his hair was atrocious. He wore stone washed jeans with massive rips in the knees – he was so uncool, but man he could play guitar. You know that song ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ when the devil challenges Johnny to a ‘fiddle contest’ and Johnny kicks his arse – if the devil challenged this chap to a guitar slinging contest – he would get just as roundly beaten. He was the John Noakes of guitar playing and I stood there and wildly applauded him.

Twenty minutes later the singer spoke. “Thanks” he said, “This is our last song, its called “Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost”. This was the only song that they had said the name of. “We are The Badgers, and this is our last ever gig”.

What?????!!!!!

Wait – you are the future of rock, what do you mean its your last ever gig. I was gobstruck. I stood there – a band who I had just discovered, were now just walking away, into the dark corners of the Student Union at Leeds University without a word. You can’t let a guitarist like that just walk out and go and do something else like sit in an office. In years to come this chap should be the Minister for Music, not standing in some crumbling building messing up tea orders for people and then sitting at a desk playing solitaire for three hours solid.

‘Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost’ is everything a song should be, over seven minutes long, full of swirling guitars and a catchy chorus of simply ‘Let’s Get It On, Yeah’. It also contains the greatest guitar wig out at the end of a song ever. Better than ‘I am the Resurrection’, and certainly better than the last track of ‘Picture Book’ by Simply Red, something I never thought I would ever type.

Then that was it, they walked off stage, to a blur of lights and the polite applause of about forty people. I was incensed, they don’t deserve polite applause, they deserve cheers and a clamour for an encore you morons. I leapt on stage YOU HEATHENS! I shouted, YOU IDIOTS I shouted, THIS BAND, THIS BAND…I never finished as the security guys grabbed me and threw me against a wall and slightly bruised my shoulder – but the crowd, they knew, they knew.

I didn’t see Ash or Pop Will Eat Itself, largely because I was thrown out of the venue, but actually I didn’t need to, I had seen the future of rock. I didn’t care about Ash anymore. Though I tried and tried to track down some of The Badgers music – I failed, largely because they were a student band who’d never recorded anything. But I never gave up hope. I tried at University to find out who was in the band, but they’d vanished. I thought once that I saw the guitarist once in Leeds City Centre but then realised it was a street cleaner and I was mistaken.

So I turned my back on indie rock music that minute because no matter how much of it I listened to – none of it came close to The Badgers, I mean Reef came very close to matching The Badgers style and passion, but ultimately I decided that they were just as shite as all the others. I threw myself into the comfort blanket of Radio 2 friendly pop, I embraced bands like The Lighthouse Family, and particularly Simply Red (who I’d already liked to be honest) and I was happy. I appeared on Popmaster with Ken Bruce and got 17 points. I didn’t the 3 in 10 though. It was the Manic Street Preachers and I hated them.

Then about two weeks ago – twenty one long years later. I was on line looking for something else and there it was ’Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost’. I bought it immediately and played it. It all came back, that swirling guitar, that massive drumming, that earwormy chorus.

You know what I did, I deleted everything from my iPod, no more ‘Jenny from the Block’, no more ‘Lifted’ , no more ‘Wonderwall’, I toyed with the idea of keeping ‘Fairground’ by Simply Red but ultimately I didn’t need it. I had every song ever recorded right there in that perfect seven minutes of music.

So there is no Imaginary Compilation, you don’t need one – you just need this one song – you just need ‘Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost’. Do what I did – delete your music collection, and just have this.

mp3 : The Badgers – Glenn Hoddle’s Ghost

If anyone know what happened to The Badgers, particularly the guitarist, please contact me through JC.

Thanks.

JC adds……

Given that this was the main act of the night, I couldn’t let this post pass without including this:-

mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself – Karmadome

It’s a tune much loved by a mate whose birthday just happens to be today.

Talulah Gosh

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 42 of 48)

And finally, we reach the point in this series where the focus is put on the band that I personally associate with C86/twee indie than any other on the planet.

Talulah Gosh were a five-piece group from Oxford consisting originally of Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar) Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff (lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals), although Pursey would depart after just three gigs to be replaced by Chris Scott. The legend goes that the band formed when the two girls met at club in their home town in 1985 having gotten talking to one another on the back of them each wearing a Pastels badge and that they took their name from a quote that had been given by Clare Grogan in an interview with the NME a few years earlier.

They signed to the Edinburgh-based 53rd & 3rd label but their blend of the Velvet Underground and 60s style girl pop groups divided opinion. There were some who saw them as amateurishly pretentious while others thought this was a great leap forward for pop music with an indie bent. Their first two singles – Steaming Train and Beatnik Boy -the band to be replaced by Eithne Farry.

The next single appeared in May 1987 and it is that piece of music which was has been included on CD 86:-

mp3 : Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh

There were two more singles before they broke up in the Spring of 1988, commemorated originally only by a compilation LP that brought all the singles together.

Amelia Fletcher would release a solo single while Peter Momtchiloff would briefly join The Razorcuts, another of the bands to emerge from he C86 movement. Come 1990 the two of them, together with Mathew Fletcher and Rob Pursey would form the nucleus of Heavenly who, for the next six or so years would release a number of singles and albums on Sarah Records in a style that was initially very akin to that of Talulah Gosh but as the years moved on transformed increasingly into a more standard indie-guitar outfit that didn’t sound too out-of-place amidst the Britpop movement.

The tragic suicide of Mathew Fletcher at the age of 25 in June 1996 brought an end to Heavenly but the other members of the band, as well as those associated with Talulah Gosh, have enjoyed remarkable success in their chosen careers and professions.

Elizabeth Price in 2012 took the £25,000 Turner Prize for a piece of video work which blended Sixties pop with footage from a 1979 Woolworths fire; Amelia Fletcher completed a degree at Oxford University and is a senior figure in commerce; Rob Pursey works as a producer in television; Peter Momtchiloff, is a senior commissioning editor in the world of publishing; Eithne Farry is a published author and has been a literary critic for a number of publications.

Everything the band recorded, plus demo tracks and live tracks can be found on the compilation 2 x LP Was It Just A Dream? released on Damaged Goods Records. It includes the b-sides of Talulah Gosh as well as a radio session version of the single:-

mp3 : Talulah Gosh – Don’t Go Away
mp3 : Talulah Gosh – Escalator Over The Hill
mp3 : Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh (radio session)

Enjoy

Style Council

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (39)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON TUESDAY 1 APRIL 2008

After the glory and majesty of XTC at #40, it’s another little bit of pop magic from a fantastic songwriter that comes in at #39.

I won’t insult your intelligence by going into great details of the story of Paul Weller and how he spilt up The Jam to form The Style Council in 1983.

He may have taken a lot of flak for the move, but surely no-one can now argue that it wasn’t the right thing to do.

He was no longer an angry young man who wanted to write guitar-laden anthems for a three-piece. He wanted to write dreamy love songs with lush arrangements that relied on jazz-style drumming and keyboards and the occasional burst from a horn section. He was very successful at doing so, and before long he started incorporating some politically motivated stuff into his work with his new band. Hell, he even found love with his stunning backing singer who soon became Mrs Weller…

What more could anyone really ask for???

Looking back, TSC were very much a product of the times. Record companies no longer wanted sweat and toil – image was everything. Weller played the game magnificently, going all the way to wearing pastel shades of sweaters tied around his neck.

Hell, I was even caught up in the mood for a while and stopped dressing purely in black over that long, gloriously warm summer of 1984 as I enjoyed what I knew would be the last extended holiday period in my life as I faced up to my final honours year at University. I was now living away from home for the first time, I had a couple of great flatmates and was, or so I believed, seriously in love. But that’s another more private story….

This 12″ EP had come out 12 months earlier, but, along with the LP Café Bleu, it was rotating heavily on the turntable in 1984 :-

mp3 : The Style Council – Long Hot Summer
mp3 : The Style Council – Party Chambers
mp3 : The Style Council – The Paris Match
mp3 : The Style Council – Le Depart

Happy days indeed. Was it really more than half a lifetime ago???

Incidentally, I now own this particular recording on 7″, 12″ and CD…..and you dare to call me obsessive???

Tindersticks

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #48 : TINDERSTICKS

I’ve decided to take on another huge challenge with today’s Imaginary Compilation as it features one of my all-time favourite bands whose recordings go back more than 20 years and encompass nine studio albums, six official live albums, four film soundtracks, a double CD of BBC sessions and almost 30 singles/EPs, most of which contain music only released in that format. Welcome to the wonderful world of Tindersticks.

The band’s career and output can be broken up into three distinct periods. The first takes in the material from when they first appeared on the scene in 1993 through to the end of 1997 during which there had been three albums (two of them doubles) and 15 singles/EPs the majority of which had been recorded for UK specialist indie label This Way Up. These recordings were expansive and very rich in nature utilising a wide range of instruments and relying on complex and often fascinating and unexpected arrangements.

The second period covers 1999 -2005 in which three albums would be released featuring music that, while still lush in nature, was increasingly influenced by elements of soul and jazz. On record, these songs didn’t quite grab your attention as much as the early material but they really came alive in the live setting and along with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, with whom in many ways there are comparisons, they were the most fascinating and powerful live band of that era and it’s no surprise that the official bootlegs released from that particular period are among the best things the band have ever put out on the marketplace.

There was a three-year sabbatical and by the time they returned in 2008 it was with a much-changed line-up which, in my opinion, has suffered from the loss of key musicians and contributors. They might still carry the name Tindersticks but it just isn’t the same.

All of this preamble has a purpose in that I feelvery strongly that to do any real justice to Tindersticks compilations there would need to be three volumes. But for now I’ll go for Volume 1 covering that initial burst of activity and reserve the right to come back with more later on.

One final bit of explanation. Tindersticks emerged at a time when I was fully embracing CDs and while they did put their albums out on vinyl I’ve always felt their releases were written and recorded to max out the 70-odd minutes available on a standard CD. So that’s what this compilation is going to do. But it’s strictly a one-off.

1. El Diablo En El Ojo (Mark Radcliffe Session version, March 1995)

As if it wasn’t audacious enough to announce yourselves to the world with a double album debut, the band decided that the follow-up should follow the same format – even to the extent that, like its predecessor, it would simply be entitled ‘Tindersticks’. Most fans and critics add the II at the end to differentiate.

The opening track was a bit of a curveball as, by not employing the vocal delivery of Stewart Staples they forewent one of their most distinguished and distinctive parts of their sound. Instead it was the talents of multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchcliffe which delivered this creepy lyric over a tune that begins in an eerily quiet fashion and builds up in a way in which the strings, keys, guitars, drums and horns all join in on what might appear to be a freeform style but in fact is a fantastically arranged piece of music. It set the tone for what I feel was the band’s best and most enduring album.

But the version they recorded for Mark Radcliffe – who incidentally was the DJ who more than anyone else brought them to the attention of a wider public in the UK – and which was aired just a month before the LP was released is even more powerful and captures the band at their best with Staples and Hinchcliffe sharing vocal duties and additional musicians on trumpet, french horn and vibraphone addding to the magnificent cacophony.

2. A Night In (Tindersticks II, 1995)

This is the second track on Tindersticks II and as such I’m always waiting for it to come on straight on the back of El Diablo; it feels such a natural and perfect fit that it has to slot in at this point in the compilation . Lyrically, this packs one heck of a punch as our selfish protagonist knows what he’s about to do is so wrong and cannot ever be justified, but while he has a guilt complex it’s not enough to lead him to apologise. The tune hits the listener just as hard.

3. Her (Peel Session version, April 1993)

A song of two halves, the first involving an acoustic guitar being played in the style of a classically trained musician as far removed from pop or indie music as can be imagined with the second half cranking right up thanks to a Duane Eddy style driving it along at a frantic but magnificently controlled pace. I’ve gone for the Peel Session, while it loses the horns that appear on the albume vesrion, offers an energy and vibrancy that lifts it to a higher level.

4. Jism (from Tindersticks, 1993)

If this was a real album that was whizzing around the CD player then as the last notes of Her faded out I would be looking to lock myself into a world of my own where I would not want to be disturbed for the next six or so minutes.

Jism is a song like no other in my entire collection in that I feel I always have to, and indeed want to, give it my 100% concentration while it is playing. On one occasion, it came up on random shuffle while I was waiting patiently on a train to take me to work but I was so transfixed that I looked around at its end and realised my fellow passengers had boarded and departed without me realising. I get completely lost in it every single time….the downside being however, that if it does pop up on shuffle and I have to concentrate on something else then I have to hit the fast forward button to the next song. Please don’t ask me to put into words why this is as I don’t have the vocabulary to do my feelings justice. The fact that the lyric comes from the viewpoint of a psychopath who isn’t the least bit concerned about using domestic violence only adds to the power and emotion of what I consider to be one of the most outstanding few minutes of music ever written.

5. Bathtime (single version, 1997)

Now it’s time to take to the dancefloor and lose yourself in a different way. Yup, this lot have made records that you can shake your shoulders and all other parts of your anatomy to as can be testified by anyone who comes along to the Little League nights in Glasgow as our genial host John Hunt gives Bathtime a very welcome spin almost every time we gather. The original version was on the LP Curtains released in June 1997 but was given a slight remix for its release as a single a few weeks later. Indie dance music rarely sounds this classy.

6. Travelling Light (from Tindersticks II, 1995)

The country and western genre tends to specialise in the sort of duet where the man sings a few verses about the state of his mind and behaviours and then his woman responds with a ‘well that ain’t quite how I see it buster’. This fabulous little number, which was also released as a single, would fit that mould perfectly. Stuart Staples, while acknowledging he has some problems to overcome thinks he’s doing fine as he has an easy approach to life but his other half, in the shape of guest singer Carla Togerson from The Walkabouts patiently but wearily tells us that he is in fact a total fantasist and indeed by the end there is a realisation that she is about to walk out of his life forever. I often think that this is the revenge song from the woman who was on the end of the treatment dished out in Jism….

7. She’s Gone (from Tindersticks II, 1995)

……while this is the sad sounding song that brings it home to the psychopath that he’s on his own.

8. Snowy In F# Minor (from Tindersticks II, 1995)

A short, bouncy little number which I assume is written in the key of F-Sharp Minor. Its insertion here is deliberately designed to turn the mood a bit more jovial as we reach the midpoint of the CD…..but don’t worry as normal service will quickly be resumed.

9. Marbles (from Tindersticks , 1993)

As I’ve often said, you never forget your first time and Marbles was my introduction to the band.

I had been reading a lot about them in the press in 1993 especially when they featured in a lot of end of year polls. If I had been in the habit of listening to Mark Radcliffe or John Peel on Radio 1 then I’d have got to hear their music but this was an era when I was travelling a lot to back and forth between Edinburgh, keeping my sanity with compilation tapes, and thus not really having the inclination to listen to music at nights after I got home.

In early 94 I bought a newly released CD entitled NME Singles of the Week 1993 which compiled 18 of the song that had been given that accolade by the paper in that calendar year. I knew and liked about half of the tracks beforehand and quickly fell for the charms of many of the others….but in particular track 6 which was this very strange yet intriguing sounding song. I spent months trying to decipher the half-sung, half-spoken lyrics but failed miserably thanks to getting immersed in the haunting music and eventually gave up. I was now hooked, and in the coming years would try to gather every available recording and see the band anytime they came to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

10. Kathleen (single 1994)

The best covers tend to be those where a band take a song and make it sound like one of their own. The only way I could tell that Kathleen wasn’t one of their own was the fact that the writing credit was to someone who wasn’t in the band, but I’ll be honest and say that at the time I had no idea who Townes van Zandt was or the fact that his own original recording of the song was wonderful to listen to. But the Tindersticks version is majestic in all ways and gives an indication as to why so many film directors in the 90s were keen to have them write and perform soundtracks.

11. Tiny Tears (from Nenette et Boni soundtrack, 1996)

If there’s a list out there of the most compellingly beautiful songs about troubled and failing relationships then I would think this would sit at its head or at least be very close to the top of the pile. Those of you not totally familiar with the band but who are fans of top quality television might well recognise it as it was used to accompany Tony Soprano’s complete and utter nervous meltdown in Episode 12 of the first series of one of the greatest series ever made. There’s a number of versions of this songs kicking around various live albums as well as two BBC session efforts, all of which would fit in perfectly as this point in the imaginary compilation. This however is my favourite thanks to the sparse opening which really lets you appreciate just how great a singer the band have while the orchestral arrangment that comes in just after the three minute mark is just perfection. And don’t get me started on how wonderfully it all comes to an end…

12. City Sickness (from Tindersticks, 1993)

Once again it’s time to get yourself on the dancefloor and shake your stuff. This was initially released as a single in September 1993 just a couple of months prior to the debut double album. The single use of the f-word towards the end of the song would have stopped it getting any airplay, but then again I’m sure producers would also have been scared to suggest to their presenters that they play a 45 which tells the tale of a man masturbating to block out the memory of a failed relationship. The band’s unwillingness to compromise can be seen from the fact that they never recorded it for a Peel or Radcliffe session at the BBC as the rules of the day would have meant either a bleep-out or a word change.

13. (Tonight) Are You Trying To Fall In Love Again? (from Curtains, 1997)

The title can mislead you into thinking this will be a downbeat and gloomy number when in fact it is one of the jauntiest and uplifting tunes the band have put down with a fabulous strings thrown in for your aural pleasure. It’s inclusion at this juncture in the compilation is to set-up the final wonderful 1-2 combination………………….

14. A Marriage Made In Heaven (from Donkeys 92-97 : a compilation of rare recordings)

In March 1993, the band had released a limited edition 7” single which featured Niki Sin from Huggy Bear on joint vocals. It told the tale of a doomed love affair between a singer and an actress.

He (the singer) believes the attraction was all down to the emotion and power of his voice and can’t understand what has gone while she (the actress) thinks it hilarious that he fell for her when all the while she was just again performing a role. It’s a more than decent song but the re-make in 1997 complete with full orchestral input and a vocal contribution from Isabella Rosellini is the definitive version as her fragile and edgy delivery really bringing home the point that our singer is just a stupid romantic fool.

15. Raindrops (live in Lisbon, 2001)

I wrote in some depth about Raindrops in November 2014 saying that it was a contender for the saddest song ever written. It’s a heart breaking and emotional extension of a subject matter covered many a time in song – your baby doesn’t love you any more, it’s over.

The original version was on the debut LP but this version came from an amazing gig at the end of a short but incredibly ambitious European tour in 2001 involving 19 dates playing each concert with a local string orchestra, meeting on the day, rehearsing in the afternoon and performing with them in the evening. After 10 dates, the band found themselves in Berlin without a drummer who had needed to return to the UK having fallen seriously ill. And while there wasn’t ever a question of replacing him, Tindersticks took the brave decision to continue the tour, rebuilding the set and sound as they went along. They admit that the Berlin concert was fraught and difficult – but by the time they got to the final night of the tour in Lisbon on 31st October, they knew they had gained something new and that some of the songs with the new arrangements could never be bettered.

mp3 : Tindersticks – El Diablo En El Ojo
mp3 : Tindersticks – A Night In
mp3 : Tindersticks – Her
mp3 : Tindersticks – Jism
mp3 : Tindersticks – Bathtime
mp3 : Tindersticks – Travelling Light
mp3 : Tindersticks – She’s Gone
mp3 : Tindersticks – Snowy in F# Minor
mp3 : Tindersticks – Marbles
mp3 : Tindersticks – Kathleen
mp3 : Tindersticks – Tiny Tears
mp3 : Tindersticks – City Sickness
mp3 : Tindersticks – (Tonight) Are You Trying To Fall In Love Again?
mp3 : Tindersticks – A Marriage Made In Heaven
mp3 : Tindersticks – Raindrops (live in Lisbon)

Please remember that I’m not claiming these are the best 15 songs written and recorded in that initial six-year period but instead it represents what I think makes a more than decent compilation CD that will never have you reaching for the fast forward button.

Enjoy

Saint Etienne

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #47 : SAINT ETIENNE

A GUEST POSTING FROM THE ROBSTER

Don’t Forget To Catch Me: An Imaginary Saint Etienne Compilation

Saint Etienne is one of those bands who always give me a lift. How can you possibly be glum when listening to a Saint Etienne record? They epitomise what proper, honest, creative pop music should be about. All their songs could (should) easily be played on mainstream radio, but at the same time there’s something quirky and original enough about them to ensure they never get tarred with the same brush as your average fly-by-night pop stars who wouldn’t know one note on a synth from another.

Saint Etienne’s second album ‘So Tough’ remains one of my faves of all-time, but I don’t think they’ve really made a duff record. Sure, some are better than others, but in general pretty much everything has been above average, if not better. So I present a career-spanning collection of 10 songs which I think represents why Saint Etienne are so special.

I attempted one of my podcast-type things for this, even creating some segues to drop between the tracks just like Saint Etienne did on their early records. Trouble is, I’m really not skilful enough to pull off anything so clever. I have therefore decided to present each track separately in conventional 10-track LP fashion. The ‘podcast’ mix however, has also been dropped in just in case anyone is curious.

SIDE ONE

1. How We Used To Live (2000, from ‘Sound Of Water’)

‘Sound Of Water’ is possibly the band’s most difficult album to get into. Not because it’s not very good – on the contrary, it’s one of their most intriguing records – but because it doesn’t contain the obvious pop tunes of its predecessors. It’s more laid back and experimental in its approach. By way of introduction, How We Used To Live was released, in full, as its lead single. It’s a nine-minute suite that shows off some of the moods and directions the album took.

2. Popular (2012, from ‘Words And Music By Saint Etienne’)

A song about finding kindred spirits through music. I do find a good in depth discussion about music is incredibly therapeutic, providing the people I’m in discussion with know what they’re talking about. That’s not to say I have to agree with them. Some of the most satisfying debates I’ve had with people have been when we are in fundamental disagreement. But, in the words of the late great Brian Clough: “I’ll listen to what they have to say, we’ll talk about it and then decide that I was right!” ‘Words And Music’ was an astonishingly good album, their best in more than a decade, I would venture.

3. Who Do You Think You Are (1993, double a-side single)

Originally recorded by Candlewick Green, this wonderful, wonderful song was updated some 20 years later by Saint Etienne. It’s definitely one of my fave tracks of theirs, and it makes up possibly their best single as a double-A with…

4. Hobart Paving [single version] (1993, double a-side single)

Stops me in my tracks this one. This version beats the album version hands down thanks to that lovely, mournful French horn solo. As close to perfection as it’s possible for a pop song to get.

5. Avenue (1992, from ‘So Tough’)

One of the band’s strangest singles maybe, but that doesn’t make it any less glorious. There’s all sorts of things going on in its seven minutes, not all of them obvious to a commercial pop single. But that’s Saint Etienne all over, isn’t it. In the interest of running time, I’ve included the 7″ radio edit here which, while slightly unfulfilling, still contains the essential elements.

SIDE TWO

1. Teenage Winter (2005, from ‘Tales From Turnpike House’)

‘Tales From Turnpike House’ was Saint Etienne’s concept album. Most of their songs stem from observations of real life, but this was all about people living in a block of flats, loosely based on where the band members themselves once lived. I adore this track. Kind of makes me want Sarah Cracknell to read my favourite books to me.

2. He’s On The Phone (1995, from ‘Too Young To Die: Singles 1990-1995’)

If Sarah fronted the Pet Shop Boys, it might have sounded like this. An utterly brilliant single, pop music at its best. It remains Saint Etienne’s highest-charting single, reaching number 11. Guaranteed none of the top ten that week were even in the same class as this.

3. Former Lover [single mix] (1994, original from ‘Tiger Bay’)

Earmarked as a single from the band’s third album, Former Lover is a great example of the more acoustic sound Saint Etienne incorporated into their sound. The electronics weren’t ditched entirely, but there were more folk instruments and orchestral arrangements than they had used before. This version of Former Lover remained unreleased until the 2006 fan-club release ‘Nice Price’.

4. Join Our Club (1992, single)

Another great pop single that dropped in between the first two albums. It’s all about finding your ‘tribe’ through music, particularly at a time when rave and grunge were dominant. It does, however, reference pop music through the ages and how it brings people together. It’s a subject they would revisit on more than one occasion.

5. Only Love Will Break Your Heart [Weatherall’s Mix of Two Halves] (1990, original from ‘Foxbase Alpha’; this version released on 12″ of the single)

Saint Etienne have long been a remixer’s dream. Weatherall was one of the first to pick up on this, turning the band’s debut single into a dub masterpiece. I considered only including the second half here, but thought Swiss Adam may never forgive me if I did. He’d probably be right as well…

mp3 : Saint Etienne – How We Used To Live
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Popular
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Who Do You Think You Are?
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Hobart Paving
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Avenue
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Teenage Winter
mp3 : Saint Etienne – He’s On The Phone
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Former Lover
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Join Our Club
mp3 : Saint Etienne – Only Love Will Break Your Heart

mp3 : Saint Etienne – The Robster’s podcast mix

Enjoy

Jam

THE JAM SINGLES (15)

So there I was, on the back of Absolute Beginners full of fear for what the first single of 1982 might offer up. I was also bemused by the fact that it was to be released in two formats including the first ever 12″ single by The Jam. The music papers advised that the 7″ format would have two standard studio versions of what was officially a double-A side 45 while the 12″ would be a live version of one of the tracks and an extended version of the other.

It was a brave or perhaps foolish move to issue a live version of an as yet unreleased song wasn’t it?

7″
mp3 : The Jam – Town Called Malice
mp3 : The Jam – Precious

12″
mp3 : The Jam – Town Called Malice (live)
mp3 : The Jam – Precious (extended)

The single went straight in at #1 on its release on 29 January and caused a bit of a row with other record labels complaining that fans were buying both versions of the single and that it was this use of multi-formatting that had lifted to straight into the top slot. That argument might have held water if the single had immediately dropped down the following week but it stayed at #1 for three weeks, helped by the band being the first in something like 15 years to be asked to perform two songs on the same edition of Top of The Pops. And arguably, Malice remains the most instantly recognisable song by The Jam nowadays and is very much a staple of the golden oldies slots on UK radio.

All of which disguises that many fans were bemused and indeed some were appalled by Precious which was a straight-up funk/soul effort as far removed from In The City just five years earlier as can be imagined. It took me a while to get used to it, but I fell in love with Malice immediately

The live version had been recorded just a few weeks previously on 14 December 1981 at a gig at the Hammersmith Palais in London. Five days later it would also be captured in the live setting at the fanclub gig at Golders Green Hippodrome

mp3 : The Jam – Town Called Malice (live at Golders Green)

as indeed was the other side of the release:-

mp3 : The Jam – Precious (live at Golders Green)

And finally, from the Direction Reaction Creation boxset here’s a demo version:-

mp3 : The Jam – Precious (demo)

When the decision was taken in 1983 by Polydor to re-release all the old singles it was only the 7″ version that was made available. It reached #73.

Enjoy

Fiction Factory, RB's

FROM JtK’s COMPILATION CASSETTES (1)

I mentioned yesterday that a lot of gaps in my musical knowledge of the very late 80s and early 90s were plugged by Jacques the Kipper and his amazing compilation tapes. They currently sit, along with about 1000 other cassettes, in boxes under a bed in the spare room to which I delved in last night and pulled out two at random.

One of them is simply called ‘Tape’ and would have been one of the very first things he passed on to me…while the other is entitled ‘Shut Up Young Man’ and is dated August 1993 – I’m sure he made that one up after yet another incident at work where my motormouth would have gotten me into a bit of bother with the bosses.

The tapes didn’t just fill in gaps from the period when I’d lost touch with music; they also contained some stuff from earlier in the decade that may have passed me by – it was the sort of thing that I was doing in reverse with cassettes that I was compiling for him.

Side A of Tape opened up with The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott Heron and its third track was the fabulous Hang Ten by The Soup Dragons; this was sandwiched in between:-

mp3 : The RBs – Uruguay

The RBs were a Scottish act and have been described as ‘the missing link between Bad Manners, The Police and The Beat’.

Discogs reveals one LP and two singles – the track in question (and apologies for its poor quality but it is ripped from a you tube clip of a TV appearance) is a 45 from April 1982. The RB’s was the shortened version of The Rude Boys and the band consisted of Kevin Patterson (bass/vocals); Gordon McQuillan (drums/percusion); Tony deWinton Pullar (guitar/vocals); Eddie Jordan (keyboards); Stan Pelc (saxophone); Chick Medley (trombone/vocals) and Grant Taylor (trumpet). The single wasn’t included on their sole album, the sleeve of which I’ve used to illustrate this post.

If the names and faces are familiar to some of you then that might well be down to the fact that four of them – Messrs Patterson, Jordan, Medley and Taylor – would subsequently form Fiction Factory and enjoy a synth-based MOR Top 10 hit in December 1983:-

mp3 : Fiction Factory – Feels Like Heaven

More stuff from JtK’s tapes in the weeks and months ahead on an occasional basis.

(NB : I must point out that JtK did NOT ever include the Fiction Factory song on any of his compilations, nor is it one in my collection; both songs featured today have been sourced from t’internet).

PS (added on the morning of 3 November)

Was lucky enough last night to catch McAlmont & Butler play a blinder of a gig at the Glasgow ABC, Twelve folk were on stage for much of the time including five string musicians.

Sad thing was, that despite it being one of just six in a short tour taking in Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester (tonight), Birmingham (Thursday), Bristol (Friday) and London (Saturday) it was a fair way short of a deserved sell-out….probably about two-thirds full. If you’re in the vicinity of any of those cities over the rest of this week, then you should seriously think of heading along. You won’t regret it, especially if you appreciate real singing and/or enjoy a masterclass in guitar work.

Reminder of what they’re capable of:-

https://thenewvinylvillain.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/yes/

Beloved

HAPPINESS AND BLISSED OUT

I missed out on the club scene of the late 80s and early 90s. You could put it down to me having gap years as a result of getting married and trying to settle down (only for the best laid plans and all that to be blown out of the water by meeting the now Mrs Villain just a few months after my first wedding day).

Indeed, if it wasn’t for Jacques the Kipper and his very welcome C90 mixtapes then there’s every likelihood that I’d have no knowledge at all of some 2-3 years worth of really decent indie and dance music including the tremendous pieces of work that are Happiness and Blissed Out by The Beloved.

The former was released in March 1990 and was the first release by the band since it had slimmed down to a core of Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington. The synth sound was still there but was now increasingly influenced by acid house and techno, and the duo were able to fuse the sounds with some fabulously catch pop tunes and so take the music out of the clubs and onto the airwaves of popular daytime radio and in due course into the singles charts:-

mp3 : The Beloved – Your Love Takes Me Higher
mp3 : The Beloved – The Sun Rising
mp3 : The Beloved – Hello
mp3 : The Beloved – Time After Time

The first of these singles was a flop first time round in January 1989 but its re-release in March 1990 saw it hit the top 40.

The increasing attention the band were attracting led to a decision to record and release Blissed Out in the summer of 1991, it was a series of remixes of songs from Happiness Some worked better than others:-

mp3 : The Beloved – Your Love Takes Me Higher (Calyx of Isis)
mp3 : The Beloved – The Sun Rising (Norty’s Spago Mix)
mp3 : The Beloved – Hello (Honky Tonk)
mp3 : The Beloved – Time After Time (Muffin Mix)

But having said that, the remix album also provides this great tune:-

mp3 : The Beloved – Up, Up and Away (Happy Sexy Mix)

Now if that doesn’t cheer you up on what is likely to be a dull, cold and dreary November Monday morning then there’s no hope for you.***

Enjoy.

*** see what happens when you draft things days in advance?? It is far from a dull, cold and dreary day here in Glasgow. Indeed, it is positively as unseasonal as can be imagined!!! Still, the music should cheer anyone up no matter the circumstances.

Mighty Lemon Drops

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 41 of 48)

I mentioned last week that Dan Treacy of The Television Personalities had founded Dreamworld Records in 1985. Today’s lot, from Wolverhampton in the heart of the English Midlands, made their breakthrough on that very label.

The Mighty Lemon Drops debut single went to the top of the indie charts in April 1986 shifting almost 15,000 copies. They were much championed in the music press with many a comparison made to early-era Echo and The Bunnymen which is what got me interested in the first place; but having given them a listen, I didn’t see the comparison and I quickly lost interest in the band.

They were a four-piece classic line-up with vocal, guitars, bass and drums. The sales of the debut single led to a bidding war and by the following year they were on a subsidiary of Chrysalis Records in the UK while Seymour Stein had snapped them up for Sire Records over on the other side of the Atlantic. Big things were expected…..but in the end nothing really happened beyond very minor chart success and one Top 40 album from the three that were recorded.

By 1992 they had called it a day.

Thinking back, this was a band who were hyped to the nth degree by the press to such a ridiculous extent that the music could never live up to it. They were decent enough but they weren’t brilliant nor did they really stand out from the crowd. But their debut single on Dreamworld has stood the test of time better than many and it was the once chosen to feature on CD86:-

mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Like An Angel

Here’s yer b-side of the 7”

mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Now She’s Gone

While here’s the two b-sides of the 12″ version which had actually come out six months prior to the 7″…

mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Something Happens
mp3 : The Mighty Lemon Drops – Sympathise With Us

Enjoy

XTC

A LAZY STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE : 45 45s AT 45 (40)

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY 31 MARCH 2008
(also resurrected and featured on 21 April 2014)

There’s a terrific little song from the late Ian Dury called Their Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards in which a number of folk from the entertainment industry are given a loving name check. I’d like to think that if anyone was around willing to update the song, they would have a go at including the name of Andy Partridge.

He is of course best known as the guitarist and main songwriter for XTC. However, he’s also recorded songs under a string of aliases and worked with dozens of other acts either as producer, songwriter or performer. Away from music, he’s been an agony-aunt on a Radio 1 show, a panelist on quiz shows and he’s written a series of comedy sketches that have appeared on television in the UK. Oh and in doing some more research, I learned that he’s also had an uncredited one-off appearance as a cricket commentator in the cartoon series Family Guy.

Not bad for a guy who suffered from such appalling stage-fright that he insisted his band give up touring just as they were becoming famous – a decision which in all likelihood cost them a place at the top table of the very best of British pop groups as the opportunities to grow the fan base was limited to radio and the odd TV appearance.

And yet it may have been the ability to concentrate entirely on studio output rather than a live sound that made XTC so special to so many people as they released one excellent album after another over a fifteen-year period up to the early 1990s. And every album produced at least one humdinger of a single, even if many of them failed to trouble the higher echelons of the charts.

They first came to prominence in late 1979 with Making Plans For Nigel, a song on which the lead vocals were taken by bassist Colin Moulding, thus leading many newcomers to thinking that he and not Partridge was the main driving force behind XTC. The two follow-up singles in the early months of 1980, Ten Feet Tall and Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down were Partridge compositions and vocals, but both flopped. At this point in time, it would have been fair to think that the band could have quietly faded away having enjoyed their brief flirt with fame.

But later that year came the release of the LP Black Sea, a truly stunning and wonderful piece of work of which just about any of the 11 tracks could have been a hit single. In the end, four singles were released by Virgin Records, of which the biggest hit was, at long-last, a Partridge number – Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)

With no tours to concern them, the band were soon back at work in the studio with Partridge promising that the next LP would be the one they would be best remembered for. The first taste of what was to come appeared in January 1982, with the release of the single Senses Working Overtime, which went Top 10. The LP followed a month later. Sadly, it didn’t quite live up to Partridge’s pre-release claims.

Maybe the problem was that it was a double LP which was a bit of a rarity in the post-punk days (London Calling notwithstanding), with some songs stretching out to over six minutes in length, which again was unusual for the period in question. The follow-up singles Ball and Chain, and No Thugs In Our House also flopped.

Never slow to cash in on one of their acts having some time in the limelight, Virgin Records put out Waxworks, a collection of singles spanning 1977-1982 just in time for the Xmas market.

The band then recorded and released the LPs Mummer in 1983, The Big Express in 1984 and Skylarking in 1986 to little or no fanfare. But 1987 saw another upturn in their fortunes with the song Dear God, which began life as a b-side but was later resurrected as a single (shades of The Smiths and How Soon Is Now?). This period coincided with MTV in America picking up on the band, and the 1989 Double LP Oranges and Lemons, as well the singles King For A Day and The Loving sold as well as anything in their career.

Another double LP, Nonsuch, was released in 1992 at which point in time the band fell out with Virgin Records. As a consequence, it would take until 1999 before the next XTC album came out, although the intervening period was filled with yet more collections of hits and rarities.

I’m a big fan of just about any of the singles XTC released between 1977 and 1992. They were lyrically clever and the tunes were more often than not different from most of the pop fodder that was kicking around. Neither did the band didn’t stick with one particular sound throughout that period in time.

You should have spotted from the picture that accompanies this post that the song I most like is :-

mp3 : XTC – Senses Working Overtime

I love the really quiet acoustic opening and the gradual build-up in tempo and sound all the way to Andy Partridge calling out 1-2-3-4-5 and then the infectious chorus. There’s just so much to enjoy in this song with all sorts of instrumentation going on in the background. It’s fantastically produced and it has aged magnificently. I dare you to listen and not sing-along. I’m almost disappointed in myself that it only reached #40 in this particular rundown….

Three b-sides to enjoy:-

mp3 : XTC – Egyptian Solution
mp3 : XTC – Blame The Weather
mp3 : XTC – Tissue Tigers

Jam

THE JAM SINGLES (14)

We have now reached 16 October 1981 and the band’s fourteenth single. And the first since I had fallen head over heels with them that left me disappointed.

I didn’t quite understand at the time that it was impossible for any musician or and to maintain incredibly high standards in their career and that at some point in time there has to be a dip in quality. It would happen in due course with almost every other band that sustained any sort of lengthy career without a break but as this was the first time I’d seen it happen to one off mine I just didn’t get it….

In addition to fourteen singles The Jam had also released up to this point five studio LPs and all in a little over four years during which time they had toured almost non-stop on those occasions when they weren’t in the studio. And Paul Weller had barely passed his 23rd birthday….

mp3 : The Jam – Absolute Beginners
mp3 : The Jam – Tales From The Riverbank

I much preferred the b-side but still thought it inferior to many earlier b-sides and album tracks that were unknown to the wider public. Little did any of us know at the time that the band were going through a bit of a crisis at the time in terms of future musical directions that would only become apparent over the next twelve months….

The first alternative version today again comes from the Studio B15 live show on 25 October 1981. This time you have to tolerate 17 seconds of jingles and DJ waffle before the song kicks in

mp3 : The Jam – Absolute Beginners (BBC live version)

and then sadly, there’s more waffle from the DJ in the closing few seconds.

From the same show, and again spoiled somewhat by chat at the start and end:-

mp3 : The Jam – Tales From The Riverbank (BBC live version)

The band would play both songs at the Golders Green gig at the end of December 1981:-

mp3 : The Jam – Absolute Beginners (live)
mp3 : The Jam – Tales From The Riverbank (live)

And finally…..a version recorded in November 1981 and issued the following year as a flexidisc to fan club members (and no, I never did sign up and join….for some reason or other I never did that with any singer or band that I liked)

mp3 : The Jam – Tales From The Riverbank (flexidisc version)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention. The single did reach #4 on its original release and then #83 when it was part of the batch of 1983 re-releases.

Enjoy