THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

David Holmes, Grant Lee Buffalo, Marc Almond

I BOUGHT THE MAGAZINE JUST FOR THIS

I’m not a great one for spending much time in the cinema, so the fact that today’s offerings come from a CD given away with a monthly movie magazine from back in 1998 is very unusual.

Neon was (and may well still be for all that I know) a magazine which focussed on new cinematic and DVD releases. The December 1998 edition also came with a free CD which will be the main reason I bought it – the other being that I was no doubt heading off on a long-haul flight and needed something to help keep my mind occupied while I ignored the in-flight movie(s). I’ve every reason to believe that the magazine didn’t even make it off the plane with me, left instead in the seat pocket to be either kept or binned by a member of the maintenance staff.

It really was all about the CD. This was an era before I went down the mp3 route and so it was a wallet full of discs and a bulky player which always accompanied me to the beach and so the following would have formed part of the soundtrack to that holiday:-

01 : Pulp – We Are The Boyz (from Velvet Goldmine)
02 : The Cardigans – War (from A Life Less Ordinary)
03 : The O’Jays – Love Train (from The Last days of Disco)
04 : Marc Alamond – One Night Of Sin (from Mojo)
05 : D’Angelo – She’s Always In My Hair (from Scream 2)
06 : Morcheeba – Killer Hippie (from Psycho)
07 : Odyseey – Going Back To My Roots (from The Full Monty)
08 : Space – Lost In Space (from Lost In Space)
09 : The Sons Of Silence – Bobby Dazzler (from The Acid House)
10 : Grant Lee Buffalo – The Whole Shebang (from Velvet Goldmine)
11 : Pete Wingfield – 18 With A Bullet (from Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels)
12 : Sunhouse – Monkey Dead (from Twentyfourseven)
13 : David Holmes – Rip Rip (from Out Of Sight)
14 : Fluke – Bullet (from Face)
15 : Madrid Symphonic Orchestra – Christmas 1970 (from Live Flesh)

The CD didn’t leave that much of an impression on me as I didn’t rush out to buy any of the full soundtracks although I would, a number of years later, pick up a copy of A Life Less Ordinary in a sale for £2.

But there are three brilliant bits of music on the CD which have subsequently been shoved onto compilation tapes and then onto the i-pod where they remain all these years later:-

mp3 : David Holmes – Rip Rip
mp3 : Grant Lee Buffalo – The Whole Shebang
mp3 : Marc Almond – One Night Of Sin

The first number is a real funky number that should get your toes tapping, your shoulders shaking and your head bopping in appreciation, It also contains dialogue from the film which starred George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez.

The second is, I think, one that will surprise any Grant Lee Buffalo/Grant Lee Philips fans out there as it is quite unlike anything else the band/he has recorded.

And finally, that Marc Almond song is an atypical offering from the sleaze-meister, and quite brilliantly done.

Enjoy

Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & The Attractions

E.C. IS GOD

(This is another posting lifted from the old blog back in March 2007 – I had intended to feature one his singles today but instead felt it worthwhile sharing the old stuff)

I like to roam around hundreds of music blogs – sometimes looking for good ideas to steal and call my own – but mostly to read what other people have to say and occasionally listen to the mp3s they put up with the postings.

Many bloggers have a section that details the names of their favourite singers and bands, and I’ve come to discover that there is a name of a great singer/songwriter that doesn’t crop up all that often, and yet if you asked music-lovers the world over whether or not they like him, you would get an awful lot more folk shouting ‘AYE’ than you would those that would whisper ‘NAY’. I’m talking about Declan Patrick McManus aka Elvis Costello.

Have a think about this man’s recording career which now spans 30 years, and how many different styles and genres he’s had a go at. There’s been New Wave, Stax/Motown, Country & Western, Easy Listening, Classical, Jazz/Swing, Folk, Cover Versions, Protest Songs, Soundtracks, Pop and Rock.

I wouldn’t even begin to try to count how many labels he’s recorded for far less calculate just how many singles and LPs he has released in various guises. And there must have been at least eight Best Of compilations over the years.

He’s also been involved in high-profile recordings with folk of the stature of Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach (and they have stature whether you’re fans or not). He’s produced umpteen bands over the years, not least The Specials and The Pogues, the latter of whom he helped turn from a cult act into a chart act. And he’s been in numerous TV and film productions, often appearing as himself. He’s written songs and whole albums for other artistes.

So quite clearly the man is a living legend.But as I said his name rarely appears in the list of favourites that you find on many blogs.

I suppose part of the difficulty in anyone automatically reeling-off EC as one of the all-time greats is the fact that he has turned his hand to so many different things, some more successfully than others, and I don’t think there can be too many who can claim to own every bit of music he’s recorded and released over the past three decades. And given how long he has been going, there will naturally have been the occasional duff LP put out, and perhaps one or two of the projects were a bit too vain, and possibly even pretentious, rather than of top-drawer quality. I don’t think even EC would say that writing for, recording with and producing Wendy James in her thankfully brief post-Transvision Vamp solo efforts would be a high point of his career.

Some bloggers might have been embarrassed by some of the daft things he has said or done over the years, such as the drunken racist comments he uttered about James Brown & Ray Charles in the late 70s. Or the fact that he has been less than flatteringly portrayed in a number of rock biographies, not least this, written by Bruce Thomas the long-time bassist with The Attractions.

But overall, there can be surely no argument that as a composer and lyricist, there are few who can hold a candle to the talents of Elvis Costello in the latter part of the 20th Century, particularly in his prime of the late 70s and throughout the 80s. I could probably post any of maybe 100 songs to illustrate my point, but instead I’ve gone for this handful including some lesser known stuff:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Watching The Detectives
mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Man Out Of Time
mp3 : Elvis Costello – Brilliant Mistake
mp3 : Elvis Costello – Little Palaces
mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Battered Old Bird

The first two were singles. Tracks 3 & 4 are on King of America. Track 5 is one of many outstanding tracks on Blood & Chocolate.

And here’s a cover version of a Nick Lowe song that he did as a b-side in 1991

mp3 : Elvis Costello – The Ugly Things

Enjoy

Black Box Recorder, John Moore, Pete Astor

GIVE ME MOORE

(A Guest Posting……from Jacques the Kipper)

Pete Astor has always been a favorite of mine.  As far as I’m concerned much of what the Loft produced and most of the Weather Prophets‘ output was criminally under-rated at the time. Since then though I have to be honest and say that I’ve heard little of him or his music.  That’s not to say he hasn’t been issuing stuff, mind. Something I discovered when I noticed that coincidentally he was playing the Lexington when I was down in London for work.

Even better he was supporting John Moore, erstwhile of the Jesus and Mary Chain, John Moore and the Expressway, Black Box Recorder and Art Brut.   Again, a quick bit of research suggested that he hadn’t been resting on his musical laurels either, though possibly, if at all, he’s better known to non-indie fans for his role as a leading light during the 1990s importing what was at the time an almost fabled drink, absinthe, to the UK. Basically, absinthe had never actually been banned as was the accepted wisdom at the time. I’ll leave you to decide whether the country has been morally corrupted since its arrival.

Back to the gig. I turned up expecting a decent crowd of indie pensioners.   In fact, when I got to the bar downstairs us ‘civilians’ were outnumbered by the musical entertainment and their posse, more of whom later.   At least the bar bantering meant there was no chance of Pete hitting the stage upstairs without me knowing.

When he did take that stage, there were about 12 of us in the audience not obviously related to the musicians. Still criminally under-rated then.   Fair play, there were a pair of Japanese presumably C86 loving tourists there to pray at the Astor altar.  Perhaps they’d never forgiven John for leaving the Mary Chain or perhaps they preferred the Gillespie period. Maybe they’d been corrupted by absinthe. Whatever, they jumped ship after Pete’s set.

And what a set it was.  Did I recognise any of the songs?  No.   Were there any joyous proclamations of life?   No.  As he himself admitted, several times, miserable songs are where he’s at.   He also likes to include a name or three in his tunes.  Don’t let any of that put you off though.   He remains one of England’s finest songwriters, even if no-one (me included on recent evidence) is listening to his work.   I’ll happily (ironic smile) go see him again. And buy his recent stuff.   And you should too.

For those that want to track down his musical output, check in your local record shop under the Loft, the Weather Prophets, or Pete(r) Astor, or if you really must then there’s the internet. This page on Creation Records website gives you a flavour of what you might find

http://www.creation-records.com/weatherprophets/ from his earlier musical life.

You’ll find some recent musings here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyh-uvlUtgY&list=PLBA49AAC5E526AFCD

Just start with Dead Trumpets, lay back, enjoy. Then go purchase.

Back to the gig (2).

And then John Moore.  Sitting by him on a seat throughout was a ventriloquist’s dummy, who had his own ventriloquist’s dummy.  But this was no horror show.

John opened by throwing yet to be inflated balloons into the audience. There was no mention of why. He then started the show itself by reading from his book to be, Bad Light. You can help fund it through http://unbound.co.uk/books/bad-light . On the basis of what we heard, it’s well worth a punt, and for those who follow the link – who could refuse the chance to visit John’s shed for as little as £10.

Discarding the book, he began the musical entertainment with Smoking on the Cancer Ward, from his album Floral Tributes. A truly brilliant start. His second song lasted a mere couple of verses before he got bored with it and stopped.  A couple more followed in full. Lo-fi lullabies indeed. Amongst the songs he extolled the virtues of Hampstead Heath and amazed us with a tale based on his namesake. He then treated us to a couple of poems. Before he dedicated a couple of songs to the demise of Soho and Madame Jojo’s in particular.

There was then some more banter with us audience. And who should be amongst that audience and part of that posse in the bar I mentioned earlier – in fact, who was the biggest heckler in the room – none other than Luke Haines. Not to mention Sarah Nixey. They joined John on stage to ‘reform’ Black Box Recorder for an astonishingly good England Made Me.

As Luke and Sarah returned to the audience, rather worryingly John got out his saw. Yes, a saw. Which he proceeded to play with a bow. His request for requests was met with ‘tunes’ that left a lot to the imagination. Though I doubt that God Save The Queen has ever sounded so good.

The audience, including Romeo Stodart of Magic Numbers and I think Louis Eliot (now of Louis Eliot and the Embers, but previously Kinky Machine), was now probably up to about 40 in total. For such a great show this was criminal.  Which was highly appropriate as John introduced us to his planned musical on the Kray Twins – the Blind Beggars Opera, I think.  He battered out a couple of songs which suggested that lyrically this particular musical won’t be the subject of any Lloyd Weber style find-a-lead-singer Saturday evening reality show. No holds barred, guvnor. (And rather bizarre to wake up the next day to hear that Frankie Fraser had died.)

He ended with a singular look back to his days of ridiculously big hair. Then a desperate attempt to get us to blow up those balloons to complement his last song. To be honest, it was chaos by now. It truly was like having a good pal round playing songs in your living room as everyone got merry. One encore and a rousing response from us to what had been a truly memorable night.

Speaking to him afterwards I said that he really needs to find someone who will put him on in the Edinburgh Fringe. He’s up for it if someone has the wherewithal. Honestly, an hour or so of entertainment from John Moore is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. Never a dull moment, and I suspect, never the same show twice. Brilliant.

Jacques

JC adds

It was down to me to select the mp3s to do with this piece….I hope they do Jacques’ words justice:-

mp3 : Peter Astor and the Holy Road – Almost Falling In Love
mp3 : Peter Astor – Take This Longing

(the former from the LP Paradise while the latter is from a Leonard Cohen tribute LP)

mp3 : Black Box Recorder – England Made Me

James

THE JAMES SINGLES (21)

The Top 10 success of She’s A Star was followed up with the issuing of an old song.

Tomorrow had originally appeared on the Wah Wah LP in 1994 but had subsequently been re-recorded as the opening track of the follow-up LP Whiplash, released in February 1997. Now the decision was taken to release it as a single and again completists would need to fork out for three separate CDs. At which point this fan decided enough was enough.

I’d been very disappointed for the most part with the content of the new songs, live versions and remixes which had accompanied the previous single (see Part 20 for more details) and I drew the line at Tomorrow. I wasn’t even remotely tempted by the fact that in some stores you could get all three together for £5. As a result there’s a gaping hole in the collection, one that would in fact grow in the years to come as I finally got bored with James (although that situation would change again many years later).

What I have done however, knowing I was trying to get this series sorted out as best I could, is go on-line and look to track down second-hand copies for as cheap a price as I can find. Which is why I can now at least bring you these from CD1:-

mp3 : James – Tomorrow
mp3 : James – Gone Too Far
mp3 : James – Honest Pleasure
mp3 : James – All One To Me

(all of them being previously unreleased songs)

and from CD2:-

mp3 : James – Lost A Friend (live)
mp3 : James – Come Home (live)
mp3 : James – Greenpeace (live)

All recorded for the Marc Radcliffe show on BBC Radio 1 in January 1997.

Tomorrow, helped by the multi-formatting, entered the charts at #12 but dropped down dramatically in the next two weeks…it was now becoming apparent that singles success was almost entirely down to long-standing fans…which would be further exploited by the record label in the months to come.

It’s a single which is a big improvement on She’s A Star but I feel it is very reminiscent of Ring The Bells which, as I mentioned in an earlier part of the series is one I’m not that fond of.

Turning to the new stuff on CD1.

Gone Too Far is a frantic and unusual sounding song (for James) and one that, on the first few listens in recent weeks, I will give the thumbs-up to.

Honest Pleasure is an out-and-out rock song driven along for the most part a ‘classic’ riff that you’ll find on compilation CDs made for driving along highways – it is bloody awful.

But not as awful as All One To Me which sound not much more than a demo…

CD2?

Well, the live version of Lost A Friend is a fairly faithful representation of one of the better tracks on Whiplash.

And while I know the world could exist happily enough without James releasing yet another version of Come Home, this live version does at least try to blend the sound of the original release with the sort of electronic noodling the band were growing increasingly fond of….and it’s also unusual in having such an understated vocal delivery from Tim – he almost sounds bored.

As for Greenpeace – again it’s a faithful representation of a Whiplash tune – one which starts off sounding as if it could be a real tear-jerker but drifts into something unlistenable.

I am sorry to sya that I”m beginning to lose interest in this series…..but I will keep ploughing on.

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (39)

The original series on the old blog back in 2008-09 had 39 parts as that was the number of singles that had been released up until then. Many biographical books which go into a second or third issue in later years often have an additional chapter at the end to bring this up to date and I’m going to do the same with the Moz singles that have been released over the past 5 years. The original part 39 will however, be kept to the very end as it contains a nice tale.

It was in September 2010 that Everyday Is Like Sunday was reissued to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of the release of the Bona Drag compilation. It was the first of an increasing number of Morrissey singles that I haven’t ever bothered to buy simply as I didn’t like the sentiment of, for the sake of keeping the collection complete that I’d need to shell out for a CD single and 2 x7″ singles, all of which were full-price, with only one new track being available.

All three versions had a digital remaster of the title track (big wow!!). The CD had the previously unreleased track, November The Second, plus 2 video clips featuring the original promo plus a Top of the Pops appearance from 1989. Single #1 had a really lame live version of a New York Dolls song recorded back in 1991 while Single #2 had a live version of Everyday Is Like Sunday recorded live in 2007.

And then when you listened to the unreleased track you discover that it is merely an alternative (but not that much different) version to November Spawned A Monster.

All in all a shabby release just looking to make a quick buck with little added value. But it sold in enough quantities to reach #42.

mp3 : Morrissey – November The Second

Enjoy

Valves

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 119)

From wiki:-

The Valves were one of the early punk groups from Edinburgh, Scotland. The band, cfeatured Dave Robertson as Dee Robot on vocals, G. Dair / Teddy Dair aka Gordon Dair on drums, Gordon Scott or Pada on bass guitar and Ronnie Mackinnon on guitar. The band was originally called Angel Easy and were a pub rock group.

The Valves released three singles before breaking up:-

Robot Love” / “For Adolfs Only” (Zoom – September 1977)
“Tarzan of the Kings Road”/ “Ain’t No Surf in Portobello” (Zoom – December 1977)
“It Don’t Mean Nothing At All” / “Linda Vindaloo” (Albion – June 1979)

I’ve got a second-hand copy of the final single:-

mp3 : The Valves – It Don’t Mean Nothing At All
mp3 : The Valves – Linda Vindaloo

But if there’s one song they are most remembered for it was the b-side of their second single:-

mp3 : The Valves – Ain’t No Surf in Portobello

A new wave classic.

Some of you may very well wondering where the hell is Portobello. Wonder no more…..

Fall

BARKING OR GENIUS? I KNOW WHERE I STAND…..

A couple of weeks back one of my re-posts made reference to the occasionally oblique lyrics which flowed from the pen of Billy Mackenzie. It got me thinking a bit more about Mark E. Smith who, over the years, really has had loads of us scratching our heads at many of his lyrics, including this effort from back in 1992:-

In 2001,
A life code
It pays to talk to no one
No one!

Proliferating across the earth
Also Sprach Zarathustra,
Faction Europa

Free range

2001,
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Proliferating across the earth
Pressure guilt, grudge match
12 cm flak unit,
Range 1 stroke 35

This is the spring without end
This is the summer of malcontent
This is the winter of your mind

Free Range

By 2001,
Also Sprach Zarathustra
It pays to talk to no one
No One!
Europa, faction
Proliferating across the earth

Free range

This is the spring without end
This is the winter of your mind
A life code
2001

Free range

Insect posse
Will be crushed

Moravia, trouble
Moldavia, Europa
Every second third word
Europa, it pays to talk to no one
No one!

Free range

mp3 : The Fall – Free Range

It’s an absolute belter of a tune and while the lyric might appear somewhat nonsensical it is packed with all sorts of imagery and references from history and philosophy with a message of concern about the ever-increasing rightwards shift of politics across Europe as the free market system took an ever-increasing stranglehold on society (of which one UK Prime Minister had just a few years prior stated there was no longer any such thing), events which Mark E Smith thought would inevitably lead to warfare on a scale of that such as 1914-18 and 1939-45.

The 12″ version of the single had three other belting tracks to enjoy:-

mp3 : The Fall – Return
mp3 : The Fall – Dangerous
mp3 : The Fall – Everything Hurtz

Fact….this is the only original Fall track to reach the upper echelons of the UK singles chart, hitting #40 for one week.

Raith Rovers FC

IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY

The 1994 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 27 November 1994, at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow and contested by Raith Rovers and Celtic. Raith Rovers won the final on a penalty shootout after the match ended in a 2–2 draw.

Rovers were by far the underdogs playing in a division below the Glasgow side, albeit Celtic were going through a trophyless barren spell stretching back five years. Rovers took the lead in the 19th minute but found themselves going 2-1 behind in the 84th minute when Charlie Nicholas (now a well-known football pundit in the UK) netted from close range. The lead however lasted just two minutes as Rovers stunned the vast majority of the crowd thanks to a goal from all-time record scorer Gordon Dalziel (now a well-known football pundit in Glasgow) headed in from even closer range after an error from the Celtic keeper.

Extra time brought no goals and so went to penalties. The first 11 kicks were successfully converted before Paul McStay, the Celtic captain and regarded by all and sundry as a legend for club and country, saw his effort brilliantly saved by Scott Thomson in the Rovers goal.

Cue bedlam.

This was one of the biggest days in the history of the Rovers and was by far the biggest occasion since I had started going to watch them some six years earlier when my best mate had signed for them. But on 27 November 1994 I was thousands of miles away on a beach in Antigua, a holiday which had been booked some three months earlier when nobody ever imagined my team would make the final.

That particular Sunday was right in the middle of two-week break and while I did try to get it rescheduled through the travel agent it was going to be far too expensive. I might have made more of an effort if my mate hadn’t suffered a serious Achilles injury some six weeks earlier and was therefore never going to be fit for the game, and so I had to make do in that pre-internet age of continually phoning my mum and dad for updates from a beach bar and then watching the re-run on video when I got home a week later.

I did however, celebrate furiously on the day on the beach wearing my replica shirt very very proudly.

This is the song most belted out that day by the Rovers fans and I make no apologies for breaking my self-imposed non-google rule

Enjoy

PS : As is customary at this time of year, the Villains are about to go off on holiday as from 30 November; as such the postings for the next few weeks have been written well in advance and I’m sorry to say that I’m unlikely to be able to read any blog related e-mails or deal with any queries from the postings until mid-December.

mp3 : Orange Juice – Holiday Hymn

House of Love

BETTER LUCK SECOND TIME AROUND

Back in 1986, the demo tape from The House Of Love led to the band getting a deal with Creation Records. The first single was Shine On, a cracking bit of indie-pop, almost goth-like, which really should have taken the charts by storm when it was released in May 87.

mp3 : The House of Love – Shine on (Creation Records)

Three years later, and despite a lack of commercial success, the band were considered worthy of a punt from Fontana Records based on the really well-received debut LP and so a lucrative deal was inked. However, the devil was in the detail of the contract and the band and label were soon at loggerheads on what sort of sounds should be getting recorded and released. The tensions weren’t helped by the fact that the first two singles for the new label stalled at #41 and then by founder member and lead guitarist Terry Bickers deciding he’d had enough.

The solution? Take the re-recorded version of the debut single and try again. This time it got to #20, by far the best performing 45 in the band’s initial six-year career.

mp3 : The House Of Love – Shine On (Fontana Records)

A tad more polished and therefore more acceptable to those who determined what could and should get onto the playtime lists of daytime Radio 1 and the various commercial stations. And while the original is rightly acknowledged as the ‘better’ version, only the very worst music snob would say they were appalled by the remix and begrudge the band the long overdue chart success.

The remix was released across a multitude of formats (a very common thing for bands on Fontana as those of you following the James singles series will be aware), but I’ve only got one of the 12″ singles in the collection and here’s the b-sides from that:-

mp3 : The House Of Love – Allergy
mp3 : The House Of Love – Scratched Inside

Enjoy

Kevin Rowland

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

I’ve never hid my love for cover versions so you can imagine that I was quite excited to read that Kevin Rowland was working on an album’s worth of them and that the project was being bankrolled by Alan McGhee and Creation Records.

This was back in 1999 and the LP was going to be released more than eleven years after the debut solo record, a period in which the former Dexy’s frontman had dealt with all sorts of issues in his personal life and battled with addiction issues. What was there not to look forward to?

The thing is, I never did buy the album having been put off by the near-universal mauling it received from critics and fans alike. I remember one mate of mine telling me had bought it on the day of release from his usual record shop and the owner warning him it was actually worse than the reviews had indicted….so much so the owner offered my mate a 24-hour trial of the CD with a no quibbles, money-back back guarantee if he was proved right. My mate got his cash back….which I suppose is ironic given now that it is one of those CDs that is quite hard to track down and sells for upwards of £30-£40 on the internet.

I don’t think the value is anything to do with the quality of the songs, but more the fact that Dexy’s Midnight Runners have had a brilliantly received comeback in recent times and many folk are keen to plug the gap in their collection.

I’ve read variously that the LP is pompous, bizarre, schmaltzy rubbish, a tragic mistake, self-pitying, self-indulgent and laughable. But equally, there are more than a few folk willing to stand up and count it as something very special using words like inspired, passionate, provocative, emotionally honest, sublime and utterly unique, with many arguing that it was the controversial cover of Kevin in drag which led to such a negative reaction

I can base my own reaction only on the second-hand single that I picked up the other week:-

mp3 : Kevin Rowland – Concrete and Clay

It’s rather awful….it’s musically very dull and akin to the sort of bloke who entertains folks drinking in bars on holiday on the Costa del Sol or the Canaries with his mixture of bad jokes and less than average singing.

Here’s the instrumentals which were on the CD single:-

mp3 : Kevin Rowland – Concrete and Clay (instrumental)
mp3 : Kevin Rowland – I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top (instrumental)

Enjoy??

Richard Hawley

AFTER MENTIONING HIM YESTERDAY

I really have tried but Richard Hawley just doesn’t do it for me.

Jacques the Kipper is a big fan and I’ve usually been smitten by just about everything he’s brought to my attention over what is a friendship stretching back quarter of a century but not on this occasion. I can’t really even explain why. Anyime I’ve read his interviews in the press I’ve found myself agreeing with many of his views and sentiments and let’s face it, the types of songs he writes and performs really should be right up my alley.

I’ve even seen him live, albeit unexpectedly as he was the support act for Tindersticks at a London gig back in October 2003 at a time when his critical acclaim was beginning to grow and a couple of years before the release of Coles Corner got him on the shortlist for the Mercury Prize and brought to the wider attention of the music-buying public. He was OK, although there was one track which stood out for me, and which remains the one song of his I remain fond of:-

mp3 : Richard Hawley – Something Is……

It’s the opening track of the 2001 LP Late Night Final.

I’m not sure if it is possible to try too hard to like someone’s music but I do genuinely feel that I’ve approached Richard Hawley’s work with an open mind but have just felt underwhelmed on each occasion. Maybe the solution lies in the hands of any reader who is a big fan of his….why not suggest what would be the ideal 10-track compilation LP from him and maybe I can try it that way? I’m actually flying out on holiday this coming Sunday and will be putting together some new playlists to enjoy under the Caribbean sun and I’m prepared to try one more time.

Over to you folks.

Morrissey, Nancy Sinatra

THE MOZ SINGLES (38)

Just over ten years ago (11th October 2004 to be precise) Morrissey released his 27th solo single. It was called Let Me Kiss You and was the third lifted from the LP You Are The Quarry.

Also on the 11th October 2009, Nancy Sinatra released her version of Let Me Kiss You, also on the Attack label that was Morrissey’s home at the time.

Both singles charted. Morrissey’s reached #8 (giving him a third successive Top 10 placing for the first time since 1989). Nancy Sinatra’s version hit #46, but was her first appearance in the UK charts in well over 30 years.

The fact of the matter is that Morrissey, along with his sidekick Alan Whyte, originally wrote the song for Nancy Sinatra to record and then, understandably, decided it was such a strong track that it should be included on his own LP. It really is one of the best ballads the great man has done during the solo years:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Let Me Kiss You

One of the reasons the single did so well, despite being the third lifted taken from You Are The Quarry, is again down to the inclusion of previously unreleased tracks that could easily have fitted on the LP:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Don’t Make Fun Of Daddy’s Voice
mp3 : Morrissey – Friday Mourning
mp3 : Morrissey – I Am Two People

Trying to be objective however, only Friday Mourning, with its great lyric, fine arrangement (once you get past the first few seconds where it sounds like a late 80s Elton John tune) and heartfelt Morrissey delivery is a truly special song, with the other two tracks being let down somewhat by dull tunes – but this is in the context of all the other songs that Morrissey had released in 2004. They still are a million times better than most of the content of the late 90s LPs.

The rather fetching cover photo (how does he still get such a quiff at his age?) was taken by Hamish Brown, who has worked with some major league pop and sports stars in his time….

Oh and Nancy’s version.

Well, it isn’t all that different really from the great man’s:-

mp3 : Nancy Sinatra – Let Me Kiss You

And to round things off here’s Nancy’s b-side:-

mp3 : Nancy Sinatra – Bossman

Trivia fact. The harmonica on Bossman is played by Richard Hawley.

Enjoy

Urusei Yatsura

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 118)

From wiki:-

Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら) is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1978 to 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were published in 34 tankōbon volumes. It is the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien Lum, who believes she is Ataru’s wife after he accidentally proposes to her. The series makes heavy use of Japanese mythology, culture and puns. The series was adapted into an anime TV series produced by Kitty Films and broadcast on Fuji Television affiliates from 1981 to 1986 with 195 episodes. Eleven OVAs and six theatrical movies followed, and the series was released on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc in Japan.

(oops wrong extract!!!)

Urusei Yatsura were a Glaswegian alternative rock, indie rock band.

Founding members Fergus Lawrie and Graham Kemp met in the summer of 1993, whilst attending the University of Glasgow. They recruited Elaine Graham as bassist, and the line-up was completed with the subsequent addition of Elaine’s brother, Ian Graham, on drums. They took their band name from the manga Urusei Yatsura, written by Rumiko Takahashi, and contributed their first recording, Guitars Are Boring, to a compilation album released by the Kazoo Club. This was based in Glasgow, and run at one point by the future Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos. This record in turn brought them to the attention of the BBC Radio DJ John Peel, who brought them in to do a session.

Over the years they released three albums: We Are Urusei Yatsura (1996), Slain By Urusei Yatsura (1998) and Everybody Loves Urusei Yatsura (2000). Albums in America and Japan were released under the name of Yatsura for legal reasons. The band had one Top 40 hit single, 1997’s “Hello Tiger”, which reached #40 in the UK Singles Chart. Other singles released by the band include “Strategic Hamlets” and “Slain By Elf”.

Urusei Yatsura split in June 2001, leaving Kemp to work on solo material and the other band members to form Projekt A-ko. In 2011, Lawrie formed the three piece band Angel of Everyone Murder with Sarah Glass and Lea Cummings on bass, and released a self-titled double album on Kovorox Sound. The release featured six drone compositions of 15-20 minutes each, made with self modified guitars he called HALO guitars. In 2012, Angel of Everyone Murder 2 was released.

I’ve a number of their releases in the collection. I thought however, it would be just as well sharing the one that so nearly got them fame. Released on 2 x CD singles, it’s a belter of a 45 with equally enjoyable b-sides (and there’s no doubt Alex Kapranos and the rest of Franz Ferdinand were paying attention) while the two other songs from the Peel Session occasionally hint at a slightly more expirimental side of the band:-

mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Hello Tiger
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Vanilla Starlet
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Vent Axia
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Hello Tiger (Peel Session)
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Dice, Nae Dice (Peel Session)
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Everybody Hang Out (Peel Session)

Enjoy

Go-Betweens

A LETTER TO ALL TVV READERS

Dear Friend

I am respectfully asking that you take a few moments to have a read over this very distinguished list of songs:-

Cattle and Cane
Man O’Sand to Girl O’Sea
Bachelor Kisses
Part Company
Spring Rain
Head Full of Steam
Right Here
Cut It Out
I Just Get Caught Out
Bye Bye Pride
Streets of Your Town
Was There Anything I Could Do?
Love Goes On!

The songs have a few things in common:-

– every one of them was a single released by The Go-Betweens in the UK between 1983 and 1989
– every one of them was a flop with the best performing stalling at #80
– every one of them is a fantastic and timeless piece of music that shows no sign of dating
– every one of them is 80s indie-pop at its best

Sometimes I just don’t get it.

Yours

JC
————–

mp3 : The Go-Betweens – Spring Rain
mp3 : The Go-Betweens – The Life At Hand
mp3 : The Go-Betweens – Little Joe

This was the first single (and rather wonderful b-sides) lifted from the 1986 LP Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, arguably the band’s most consistent album in terms of quality. Nearly 30 years on and I am still bemused as to why neither Spring Rain nor Head Full Of Steam, the other single lifted from the album, didn’t get the band an appearance on Top of The Pops.

Oh and while I’m here, I’m asking for your indulgence to post another non-single from the album on the basis that there are times when I hear it and think is my favourite ever Go-Betweens song:-

mp3 : The Go-Betweens – The Wrong Road

The addition of cello, violins and viola take this way out of indie-pop territory and into something quite epic.

Enjoy

Primal Scream

THREE CRACKING BITS OF MUSIC ON THIS ’45’

This, the second single lifted from what turned out to be the final ever LP released on Creation Records, is a mighty fine piece of music.

XTRMNTR had caught out a lot of folk. It was a full-on, in your face aggressive and angry record which didn’t make for easy listening. It had received a huge thumbs-up from the critics who almost universally lauded Primal Scream for having the balls to do something so brash and unexpected while the band had a large enough loyal following to take the LP into the Top 3. But unsurprisingly, the singles lifted from the LP never really got much in the way of radio play and all three of them stalled outside the Top 20.

Things weren’t helped in the case of Kill All Hippies as the band released it in the exact same format as the version which opened the album which means it doesn’t really take off for over a minute which really was commercial suicide when it comes to radio play which, back in 2000, was still very important as the digital internet age in terms of music consumption was really still around the corner.

mp3 : Primal Scream – Kill All Hippies

The second track is a Massive Attack remix of one of the gentler and easier listening tracks on the album. The original version of Exterminator is great but this remix is just stunning…especially when listened to through an expensive set of headphones. There’s just so much going on.

mp3 : Primal Scream – Exterminator (Massive Attack remix)

The single as a whole was dedicated to Curtis Mayfield who had died just a few weeks earlier. The third song was especially written by Primal Scream as a tribute to him and it is funky as fuck:-

mp3 : Primal Scream – The Revenge Of The Hammond Connection

If you’re not dancing around the room having played that last track there is something seriously wrong with you.

Colourfield, Echo & The Bunnymen, Pete de Freitas, Wild Swans

PETE DE FREITAS : AN APPRECIATION

I received a really nice e-mail the other day from Scott who asked if it would be possible to re-post something from the old blog.

It was a piece from 14 June 2009 and it’s title can be found in the first line……

—————————————————————

I cannot believe it was all of 20 years ago…..but it is.

14th June 1989 when the life of Peter Louis Vincent de Freitas ended as the result of a motorcycle accident.

He was 27 years of age. And he was the first dead pop star I ever shed a tear for.

Born in 1961 in Trinidad, Pete de Freitas was a bit of a posh boy, educated at a famous Roman Catholic public school near Bath, England, and while he was far from dim, he was never keen on pursing an academic career. So by the age of 19, he was living in London, sharing digs with another lad from his old school, and both of them dreaming of forming a band.

Pete’s flatmate had a big brother who was involved in the music industry, part of an ever-growing new scene on Liverpool. That big brother and his close mate started staying overnight at Pete’s place whenever any of the bands they were involved with played in London. Pete would sometimes go along to the gigs, which is what he did one August night in 1979.

Pete’s flatmate’s brother was David Balfe, and his mate was Bill Drummond. The band they took Pete to see at the YMCA on Tottenham Court Road was Echo & The Bunnymen – a three-piece act backed by a drum machine. The drum machine was in fact ‘Echo’, the humans were ‘The Bunnymen’ – Ian McCulloch (vocals), Les Pattinson (bass) and Will Sargeant (guitar)

The band were getting a lot of attention, but it was widely felt that they would sound a lot better with a real drummer. Within 12 months of seeing them for the first time, Pete had that gig, just in time for the recording of the band’s second single, but their first for a major label.

From 1980 – 1986, Echo & The Bunnymen were one of the most entertaining bands on the entire planet. All four band members contributed to the songwriting, which showed in the magnificently tight unit that was the guitarist, bassist and drummer, while up front they had a hugely charismatic singer who was not slow in offering his opinions on any subject under the sun. They attracted a huge following, many of whom dressed in identical clothes and wore their hair in the same way as their idols. They enjoyed Top 30 success with seven of their singles, but it was their LPs which found them at their best, all four of them going Top 10.

Live, they were truly electrifying, with shows that stretched out for well over two hours featuring not just the hits, but great and unusual versions of album tracks as well as a handful of covers from many of their own influences.

Many people associated with the band, not least their larger than life manager and the frontman had predicted massive things for the 1984 LP Ocean Rain. And while it sold in impressive numbers, it didn’t conquer the world….

The band began to drift apart in some ways. First of all, McCulloch recorded a solo single. The others started producing and appearing on records by other bands. And in 1986, Pete de Freitas left the band.

Along with two members of the Bunnymen road crew, he took himself off to the USA to form The Sex Gods. The idea was to take the money he had made from his time as a Bunnyman, head off to places like New York, New Orleans and Jamaica, filming themselves as they went along living a truly hedonistic life. It was a bender to end all benders.

There were drunken rows, drug busts, near fatal car crashes amidst the chaos. Later on Pete de Freitas would admit he was going insane. He was eventually brought back to the UK by Bill Drummond.

He was temporarily replaced as the drummer, but the rest of the band soon realised how much they needed him, and he was allowed to re-join.

Echo & The Bunnymen released an album in 1987 called The Game – this time with very little hyperbole, and although it went to #4 in the UK charts, critical reaction was lukewarm. This time it was singer Ian McCulloch who decided that enough was enough, and he quit in 1988, intent on the solo career.

The other three decided to keep going, on the basis that having failed to really crack America with Mac at the helm, they could maybe succeed with someone different, unlikely as it might seem. The new recruit was Noel Burke, ex-frontman of St Vitus Dance….and someone who sort of looked and sounded like Mac….

The new line up were in rehearsals in Liverpool in June 1989, and Pete de Freitas was on his way there when he crashed his motorcycle on a back road near Rugely in Staffordshire. As I mentioned earlier, he was just 27 years old.

Years later, Les Pattinson in an interview with a music magazine said that he still thought of Pete every day. At his funeral, the three remaining original Bunnymen cried their eyes out….albeit McCulloch could not bring himself to speak to Pattinson and Sergeant for what he considered a betrayal in replacing him as singer.

I remember reading about Pete’s death in a newspaper the next day. My eyes welled up and my throat tightened. The man who I thought was the coolest man on planet pop was no more.

Quite a few years earlier, not far from my school, I had seen a motorcycle accident when the unfortunate rider was hit by a bus whose driver couldn’t have seen him. It was an incident that I hadn’t thought about much since, but it was the vision that flashed before my eyes as I read the paper, and it was something that gave me some sleepless nights over the next few weeks. Even as I type this, I can see that accident from over 30 years ago….all triggered off by the premature and sad death of a pop star.

You’ll see from the photo above that Pete was a good-looking man. He was someone who just about everyone I ever went out with during my years at University would admit to fancying. When you heard about the way he lived his life, you just wanted to be him.

He was only two years older than me. And while I have had a great and memorable almost 46 years on this planet, there’s still a part of me that wishes that I had lived his life for just one day…as long as that day wasn’t June 14th 1989.

R.I.P. Pete de Freitas. I still think of you every time one of your songs comes on my i-pod….

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – All My Colours
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – Nocturnal Me
mp3 : The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit
mp3 : The Colourfield – Take
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen – Do It Clean (live – 1983)

Footnote

There were a lot of really nice comments left behind after the piece appeared, many of them thanking me for such a heartfelt tribute.

A few months later I received the most wonderful e-mail from Pete’s daughter. Lucie-Marie de Freitas was a very young girl when her father died, of an age before she could develop any memories of him.

Her e-mail explained that the treasure trove of songs, articles and videos have helped her learn so much about her father and the incredible impact he had in his short time on earth. She thought it was remarkable and moving that so many people still remembered him after all those years and she thanked me for the tribute I had made.

Talk about leaving me speechless.

Marching Girls, Sounds Like Sunset, Stemms

G’DAY FROM OUR ANZAC CORRESPONDENT : DOOZIES FROM DOWN UNDER (4)

Australia_New Zealand_Red UK_APT_2012 2013

Craig sent this over at the beginning of the month with the intention of it appearing on Tuesday 4 November. The only problem was that I was too busy at the time to deal with blog related things (including e-mails) and so his clever idea of linking it directly to a hugely important date in the Australian sporting/social calendar doesn’t quite work….but it’s all down to me. Anyways…..

The first Tuesday in November means it’s Melbourne Cup time here in Australia. A cause for great celebration for many reasons, “the (horse) race that stops a nation” is an event that is looked forward to by millions all round Australia, and the rest of the world too (not least the international pickpocketing communityapparently!)

Many people in Australia have it marked in their calendar as ‘Melbourne Cup weekend’, as the Tuesday is a public holiday, so no point going to work/school on the Monday is there? or for some, the Friday prior to, and/or the Wednesday as well.

Run over 3,200 metres, in Melbourne, in Springtime (the weather is often either really hot, or raining, or a bit of both), the race is notoriously hard to pick a winner, so i’m giving you three ‘firsts’ as my picks this year – ‘

mp3 : The Marching Girls – First In Line
mp3 : The Stemms – At First Sight
mp3 : Sounds Like Sunset – First Time

The Marching Girls are from NZ while the others are both Australian.

Hope you enjoy these… we’re off to the beach for a few days

Cheers

Craig

James

THE JAMES SINGLES (20)

With apologies for the past two weeks of repeat postings.

There are occasions when pressures of work and other commitments mean I can’t devote all that much time to the blog. I always try to have at least a week’s worth of postings ready in advance to cover eventualities but I had just about emptied the well quite recently and as I can load up about 5 old posts in the time it takes me to compose a single new post I bought myself a bit of breathing space.

So here I am back with the series on singles from James.

It had been three years since James had last unleashed any new material on the public.

The band had come very close to breaking up at the tail end of 1995 thanks to a combination of tensions among members exacerbated by a very unexpected and very large tax bill covering a period when they had first tasted success.

There were was a degree of profile as Tim Booth had worked with composer Angelo Badalementi, and with contributions from Bernard Butler, an LP entitled Booth and The Bad Angel had surfaced in 1996 including a hit single in I Believe.

The following year the band, but without Tim, began to re-visit some material previously recorded with Brian Eno as well as start work on new songs in a studio in Wales. It wasn’t an easy or seemingly an enjoyable experience, certainly in the initial stages, but very slowly the semblance of a new LP began to be knitted together with Tim sending vocal contributions from New York.

When Tim returned back to the UK the band and record label decided it would be an idea to finish things off by bringing in uber-producer Stephen Hague to deliver a commercial radio-friendly finish. The first material anyone got to here was this single in February 1997:-

mp3 : James – She’s A Star

It became a Top 10 hit in the UK, helped by the fact that the band were willing to go out on the telly/chat-show circuit to give it maximum possible publicity. It also came with a stylish and expensive video.

There was one really annoying thing though for band completists, namely that the single came in 3 x CD versions, although there was no vinyl issue. The first CD featured live versions of two very old James songs as recorded the Alton Towers gig back in 1992, the second CD offered three new songs and CD 3 had two remixes of She’s A Star, plus – and I’m certain this was done by the record label out of spite to piss off fans who had moaned about remixes – the Weatherall mix of Come Home which was its third(!!!) appearance as James b-side.

mp3 : James – Stutter (live)
mp3 : James – Johnny Yen (live)
mp3 : James – Chunney Chops
mp3 : James – Fishknives
mp3 : James – Van Gogh’s Dog
mp3 : James – She’s A Star (Dave Angel’s PAT Mix)
mp3 : James – She’s A Star (Andrea’s Biosphere Dub)

The big problem for me is that She’s A Star is a really disappointing 45 particularly compared to the pre-fame and fortune material. While I hadn’t liked the stadium-rock material of the Sound era I could understand in some ways what the band were setting out to do and they had made a great comeback with Laid. But for the first time ever, I found myself using the word boring to describe a James single. And I haven’t changed my mind all these years later,

Turning to the other tracks.

The two live songs are fine but both are drawn out to almost 7 minutes in length and while I’m sure this it must have been a real treat for fans who went to Alton Towers they don’t match the intensity of the live versions released many year previously on One Man Clapping. (It was also the second time Stutter had been released as a live b-side having done so on Come Home a number of years earlier)

The new songs contain some of the worst bits of music the band have ever released and in days of yore would surely have been consigned to the bin.

The first minute and a half or of Chunney Chops is really instrumental bland synth-pop that just gets on my nerves. It is the sort of music that Genesis began to make when Phil Collins talked them out of being a prog band and into the pop charts in the mid 80s. Yup… that bad. And and while the remaining three and a half minutes do feature what sounds like a half decent Tim vocal it is mixed low behind an awful bit of annoying music.

The third track – Van Gogh’s Dog actually opens with a great deal of promise. A slow number with a bit of noodly synth music in the background…something a bit different appears to be coming our way. And then, just a minute or so into the song it becomes almost a lazy pastiche of With Or Without You by U2…made worse by Tim doing a bit of falsetto singing that would get him booed off most stages if he was a support act.

Which makes it such a shock that the middle track of the new songs – Fishknives – is so bloody brilliant. Yup it is more electronic than James fans were used to but it has a soundtrack quality to it that brings to mind some of the work of David Holmes.

The remixes? Well it’s 12 minutes of music that is supposed to resemble She’s A Star. The Dave Angel mix for the most part doesn’t as so that’s a blessing. But it is , like the Jam J stuff, an acquired taste.

The other mix, which was produced by Norewagian electronics wizard Geir Jenssen, turns out to be the release’s true saving grace. All the bombast of the single is replace by wonderful keyboard noises backing a most gorgeous and understated sounding vocal from Tim…..it’s only when you listen closely that you realise it is the same vocal as the single but here it seems to find its rightful place.

Totally unexpected and so out of place on what really is a sub-standard release.

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Parts 36 & 37)

(Back in the original airings of this series in 2008/09 I was simply intending to feature what was, up until that point in time, just the 37 UK singles. But then I decided I’d also feature two single released only in the USA)

It really is quite strange that both Tomorrow and Now My Heart Is Full are among the best tracks Morrissey has recorded in his solo career and way superior to many of the singles that have been inflicted upon us in the UK.

Tomorrow is the closing track on the 1992 LP Your Arsenal, and once you get past the plodding guitars of the opening 20 seconds you will find the great man delivering one of his most pleading lovelorn lyrics over a tune that does give a reminder of by The Smiths. I’m assuming that having already lifted three singles from the ten tracks on the LP it was just a step too far for the record label to bring this out, but I reckon it would have been a single that would have gotten radio play and appealed to non-Morrissey fans.

mp3 : Morrissey – Tomorrow

One of the b-sides was Pashernate Love which had already been released in the UK as one of the b-sides to You’re The One For Me Fatty, but Let The Right One Slip In was a new song, a more than decent track that features a really understated vocal delivery and that was probably worthy of a place on Your Arsenal – although with its rather abrupt fade-out it was perhaps thought not to be quite the finished article. And until the re-release of Viva Hate in 1997 as part of the centenary celebrations of EMI Records, it was a track only available on the import single:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Let The Right One Slip In

Now if it was a mistake not to release Tomorrow as a single, it was a despicable crime worthy of hanging for the failure to put Now My Heart Is Full out as a 45.

The opening song on the 1994 LP Vauxhall And I.

It’s my long-held view that this is one of the finest tunes and lyrics that Morrissey has ever produced in his solo career that now stretches back some 20 years…

There’s gonna be some trouble
A whole house will need re-building
And everyone I love in the house
Will recline on an analyst’s couch quite soon
Your Father cracks a joke
And in the usual way
Empties the room

Tell all of my friends
I don’t have too many
Just some rain-coated lovers’ puny brothers

Dallow, Spicer, Pinkie, Cubitt
Rush to danger
Wind up nowhere
Patric Doonan – raised to wait
I’m tired again, I’ve tried again
And now my heart is full
Now my heart is full
And I just can’t explain
So I won’t even try to

Dallow, Spicer, Pinkie, Cubitt
Every jammy Stressford poet
Loafing oafs in all-night chemists
Loafing oafs in all-night chemists
Underact – express depression
Ah, but Bunnie I loved you
I was tired again I’ve tried again,
And now my heart is full
Now my heart is full
And I just can’t explain
So I won’t even try to

Could you pass by ?
Could you pass by ?
Will you pass by ?
Could you pass by ?
Could you pass by ?
Oh … Now my heart is full
Now my heart is full
And I just can’t explain
So … slow …

It’s those three lines about friends…and not having that many that bring a lump to my throat just about every time I play this song. I know many people think a lot of Morrissey’s lyrics are autobiographical – and that may well be true. But in my mind, this song belongs to the same protagonist who just a decade earlier was crying out that he was human and needed to be loved in How Soon Is Now?

Remember how that protagonist had the club where he liked to go, where he stood on his own, and he left on his own and he went home and he cried and he wanted to die? Well…I reckon one day he just plucked up the courage to go to the club and actually meet the someone who really loves him. The problem is, that 10 years later, that the love is dying……slowly and painfully. And our protagonist is left with just a bunch of memories and reference points…..

Or maybe I’m just talking bollocks???

mp3 : Morrissey – Now My Heart Is Full

The UK record label thought Hold On To Your Friends would be a better single – they were clearly correct given that it reached a magnificent #47 in the charts and remains, even to this day, the lowest place any of his singles have ever reached.

The US label included Moonriver as a b-side (as it was with Hold On To Your Friends) but it also added a great live song taken from a concert in Paris in 1992:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Jack The Ripper (live)

You’ll hopefully recall that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the live versions of Jack The Ripper have always been much better than the studio version issued on the Certain People I Know single. Well, now you have the proof.

Chemikal Underground Records, Unwinding Hours

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 117)

The Unwinding Hours are part of the wonderful array of acts who are signed to Chemikal Underground records wwhich, without any question, is the most important and influential independent record label to ever have come out of Scotland for a whole range of reasons.

Here’s what the label website has to say about today’s featured act:-

For those laid low by the untimely and cruel demise of Aereogramme, raise your voices to the heavens and thank the stars for a new Aereogramme-esque incaranation: The Unwinding Hours. Comprising of Craig B and Iain Cook from the much-missed Glaswegian outfit, The Unwinding Hours was the product of a patient and deliberate birthing process, Craig B venturing into Iain’s Alucard Studios to work up songs he wasn’t entirely sure would ever see the light of day.

As time marched on and the recordings progressed, so too did the realisation that they were rather fucking impressive and lo…The Unwinding Hours was/were born. Where did the name come from? Well, hawk-eyed (and we do mean hawk-eyed) fans of The Shining may well recognise them as the advertised ‘house’ band at The Overlook Hotel.

The band have released two tremendous LPs – the self-titled debut in 2010 and Afterlives in 2012. The digital single featuring today is from the latter of these records, and again this is from the label website:-

Bookended by two emphatic drum workouts, ‘Wayward’, the first single from The Unwinding Hours’ long-awaited second album ‘Afterlives’, is unequivocal in its disdain for time-wasting. A bit rich perhaps, coming from a band who took two and a half years completing the follow-up to their self-titled debut, but closer inspection reveals that, while hours may have unwound, they certainly weren’t wasted.

Having emerged from the ashes of cult Glasgow band Aereogramme, The Unwinding Hours are a labour of love for Craig B and Iain Cook: a project afforded whatever time is deemed necessary to produce songs as powerful and affecting as ‘Wayward’. Recalling the turbo-charged melodicism of Bob Mould’s Sugar and the melancholic verve of Mark Eitzel’s American Music Club, The Unwinding Hours new single is a powerful reminder that time spent getting something right, can never be time wasted.

mp3 : The Unwinding Hours – Wayward

The other track on the single is otherwise unavailable….

mp3 : The Unwinding Hours – Isaac

If you like what you’ve heard, may I please suggest that you click here and visit the Chemikal Underground online shop where you can have a browse around the tremendous stuff that is available to listen to and then to purchase. You can opt for digital copies (waaaaaay superior to that offered via this blog) or go for physical product in the shape of vinyl or CDs or indeed things from the t-shirt collections.

Why not treat someone this Christmas? They’ll love you all the more……