THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #1: THE SMITHS

The first of a new series.

It’s inspired in part by the fact that a framed limited edition copy of the above print, signed by the photographer, hangs directly above the space in my house where I have the PC and where I try my best to come up with entertaining words for this blog. It was given to me a year ago yesterday as a 50th birthday present by a dear friend and occasional contributor to the old blog, Mr John Greer.

It’s strange that while The Smiths remain my all time favourite band, I don’t write about them all that much these days, albeit there is a regular series on Morrissey being re-used as filler for posts on Sundays. I thought I’d address the situation by featuring the band in the first of what will be a very occasional series in which I take one of my favourite bands or singers and list what I think would make the idea ‘Best of’ album with a few words on why. The only proviso is that I’m going to do it as a proper old-fashioned LP…10 tracks in total with an A-side and a B-side and it’s got to hang together like a proper LP and not just a collection of greatest hits. Without further ado, here’s my go at The Smiths:-

Side A

1. The Queen Is Dead (Original Unedited Version)
2. Still Ill
3. How Soon Is Now?
4. Rubber Ring
5. Asleep

Side B

1. The Headmaster Ritual
2. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
3. Accept Yourself
4. Bigmouth Strikes Again
5. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

It’s taken about three hours of humming and hawing and numerous changes of mind before I settled on the above. There are loads of songs that I can’t believe didn’t make the final cut which may well invite ridicule from other fans. But the logic is:-

1. The opening track is where any myth that The Smiths were just a singer and guitarist augmented by two session musicians is nailed once and for all….especially on this version with its extra 70 seconds or so of pulsating drums, bass and wah-wah guitar work

2. Self-deprecating and joyous; and impossible not to dance to.

3. Pride of place as the centrepiece of the all-important opening side of the album.

4. The band were better than most at recording something which, on the first few listens, sounded disposable and throwaway and yet with the passing of time revealed itself as something special. Rubber Ring is a tremendous example of this and perfectly complements what had come just before it on this imaginary LP

5. Because Asleep has to follow Rubber Ring. It is the law. And besides it’s time to show the band didn’t need guitars to be very special.

6. If the band had never written and recorded The Queen Is Dead then this was a stick-on to open the LP

7. Every LP recorded by The Smiths had its share of tear-jerking ballads. This is the one I’ve chosen, after much deliberation.

8. An early song thrown away on a 12″ b-side that has more than stood the test of time and long been a personal favourite

9. The song that marked the comeback after 18 months inactivity. It proved they still had it…and a joyous single that deserved to reach #1

10. It’s not a personal favourite but I can’t think of a better way to have a one-off record by the band beautifully fade out and leaving the listener wanting to pick up the vinyl, turn it over and start all over again.

mp3 : The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead (Original Unedited Version)
mp3 : The Smiths – Still Ill
mp3 : The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
mp3 : The Smiths – Rubber Ring/Asleep
mp3 : The Smiths – The Headmaster Ritual
mp3 : The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
mp3 : The Smiths – Accept Yourself
mp3 : The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again
mp3 : The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

That was incredibly difficult to do.

Baz Luhrmann

ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY WASTED ON THE YOUNG

From the old blog 2 years ago today:-

From wiki:-

Mary Schmich’s “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young” was published in the Chicago Tribune as a column on June 1, 1997. In her introduction to the column, she described it as the commencement speech she would give if she were asked to give one.

The column soon became the subject of an urban legend, in which it was alleged to be an MIT commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut in that same year. Despite a follow-up article by Schmich on August 3, 1997, in which she referred to the “lawless swamp of cyberspace” that had made her and Kurt Vonnegut “one”, by 1999 the falsely attributed story was widespread.

Schmich’s column, in time, was well-received by Vonnegut. He told the New York Times, “What she wrote was funny, wise and charming, so I would have been proud had the words been mine.”

The essay was used in its entirety by Australian film director Baz Luhrmann (pictured above) on his 1998 album Something for Everybody, as “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”. The song sampled Luhrmann’s remixed version of the song “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” by Rozalla. Subsequently released as a single, the song opened with the words “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of ’99”.

Luhrmann explains that Anton Monsted, Josh Abrahams and he were working on the remix when Monsted received an email with the supposed Vonnegut speech. They decided to use it but were doubtful of getting through to Vonnegut for permission before their deadline, which was only one or two days away. While searching the internet for contact information they came upon the “Sunscreen Controversy” and discovered that Schmich was the actual author. They emailed her and, with her permission, recorded the song the next day.

The song features a spoken-word track set over a mellow backing track. The “Wear Sunscreen” speech is narrated by Australian voice actor Lee Perry. The backing is the choral version of “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)”, a 1991 song by Rozalla, used in the film William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. The chorus, also from “Everybody’s Free”, is sung by Quindon Tarver.

The song was largely obscure until Aaron Scofield, a producer in Phoenix, Arizona, edited the original 12″ version into a segment of a syndicated radio show called ‘Modern Mix’. This show played many stations in the United States. In Portland, Oregon – where ‘Modern Mix’ played on KNRK — listeners began requesting the track. KNRK Program Director Mark Hamilton edited the song for time and began playing it regularly. He distributed the song to other PDs that he networked with and the song exploded in the US.

The song was a worldwide hit, reaching number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland. I for one, am often moved by the words and the music.

And as I turn 51 years of age this very day and as my body more and more reminds me that I am not the indestructable force I once believed I was, it seems an appropriate time to again share the song with you.

mp3 : Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) (edit)
mp3 : Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) (Mix)
mp3 : Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) (geographic’s factor 15+ mix)

Listen and weep….

Or rave.

Smashing Pumpkins

FROM THE G41 CORRESPONDENT……

You’ll have spotted that S-WC has switched days this week, with yesterday not only marking his contribution to T(n)VV but also his 39th birthday and the official launch of his own blog, When You Can’t Remember Anything.

He’s opened up proceedings with a cracking piece of writing about the frustrations of not quite being 18 years old and thus being denied entry into any decent local pubs and the music he’s associated with that tale comes from Smashing Pumpkins and in particular their 1992 LP Siamese Dream.

It’s an LP I’ve a lot of time for…indeed the band are one of my guilty secrets. I thoroughly enjoyed them at their creative and critical peak in the 90s and in fact going to see them in Glasgow on the Mellon Collie tour marks the last time I ever threw myself with gay abandon into a mosh pit – I came out a bit battered, bruised and hard of hearing with an acceptance that having long passed into my 30s I had no chance of surviving with the young pups down the front anymore.

I’ve pulled out one of the singles from Siamese Dream for your enjoyment today.

Disarm was the third 45 lifted from the LP and rather unusually, it outsold the two earlier singles, and in reaching #11 in the UK charts was at that point in time their highest chart position for a single.

The other thing worth noting is that the single did well despite a lack of airplay on BBC Radio and an outright ban on a Top of the Pops appearance as there was unease about the lyric ‘cut that little child’.

It was, like many others of that era, released in multi-formats including 7″ vinyl and 2 x CDs. I’ve one of the CDs in the collection which, in addition to the single also has two cover versions from giants of the 70s rock industry – Fleetwood Mac and Thin Lizzy:-

mp3 : Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
mp3 : Smashing Pumpkins – Landslide
mp3 : Smashing Pumpkins – Dancing In The Moonlight

The latter is a particularly effective and lovely cover, taking a soft rock/pop song and turning into a poignant and heartfelt ballad for a lonely teenager.

Enjoy

A, Number One Cup, Schtum

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT (On his 39th birthday too)

This week two bands with remarkably stupid band names and one kind of lost classic

Let’s not be coy here, Schtum is a silly band name.

Formed in Derry, Ireland, Schtum were a four piece that played a rocky kind of indie that was probably labelled ‘post grunge’ when it first came out. This is perhaps slightly off kilter when describing their sound. They sound like an Irish Fugazi, and that people is no bad thing at all.

Like many of the bands that have been featured in the Box series, this single represents, by far, this bands best moment of music. I am going to stick my neck out and say that this is the best six minutes of music to ever come out of Derry.

Schtum revolved around the vocal talents of one Christian O’Neill. They had a minor hit in the 90s with the song ‘Skydiver’ and ‘Big Big City’ was the follow up and is a much better song. The problem with it that at just under six minutes long it was unlikely to ever get much radio play. A shame because I think this would have done quite well had popular radio at the time had the opportunity to play it. Certainly after a couple of reminder plays here this morning, I’ve been humming this ever since.

It reminds me of Whipping Boy at their angriest, that is probably the Irish accent in the vocals though. It is a sneering blast, an ode to a home town, warts and all, catchy, angry, noisy, and just ever so slightly better than brilliant.

mp3 : Schtum – Big Big City

When I pick CDs out of this box, if they are good they go in the loft, if they are bad they go in the charity shop bin at the end of the road. So despite Schtum having one of rock stupidest names, I have been able to ask myself this morning ‘Do you want to keep Schtum?’ to which the answer has to be ‘Yes’. For this is one hell of a single.

The one thing worse than the awful name is the joke name, so ladies and gents, here are a band called A. You imagine then guffawing behind the poor sap in HMV who places CDs onto the shelves, s/he finds the little grey border thing with ‘A’ written on it and s/he then gets confused because the band is called A. Oh the hours of laughing that must have caused.

A are a punky rock band, who, after playing as Grand Designs (a much better name), changed their name in1993. They originally were a prog rock band but hailing from punk rocks second home of Suffolk public attention demanded that they changed tact to sound more like Green Day, which they manage not to do, but do manage to sound like a more shouty less radio friendly Busted. Considering that nowadays singer Jason Perry is now writing songs with Busted’s and winner of ‘I’m Celebrity Give Me a Low Grade TV Series to Present’ Matt Willis, this is not that surprising.

mp3 : A – 5 In The Morning

Minor celebrity fact fans will like this bit, the original bassist in the band was a chap called Stevie Swindon, he left the band quite early on and was replaced by a chap called Daniel P Carter. Carter now presents the Radio 1 Rock Show. If that ever comes up in a pub quiz, you are almost certainly drinking in the wrong pubs.

So we come to the lost classic. This is a great record by a band that I know very little about. If I was asked to name other songs by Number One Cup I wouldn’t be able to. Wikipedia tells me that they were from Chicago and the singer was a guy called Seth Cohen. I also found out that the band were forced into a hiatus in 1998 when Cohen broke his neck playing hockey, this didn’t surprise me as hockey is bloody dangerous, twenty people running around a field armed with wooden bats and a bloody hard ball.

mp3 : Number One Cup – Divebomb

Number One Cup fit in nicely with one of themes running through this box, alt rock from America, they sound like Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom and all those other bands from the mid 90s that arrived on our shores in a post Nirvana wave. Divebomb was a minor hit and was very popular in the indie clubs in the mid 90s, the NME dubbed it a strong contender for Single of The Year, I’ve just checked their archive it didn’t make the Top 50, it should have when you consider that Back For Good by Take That was at Number 47 and Alanis Morrisette at 30. File under ‘Lost Classic’. Oh and the B Side includes a Cover Version, albeit a rather quirky one, so that is this weeks obligatory cover version track.

mp3 : Number One Cup – Joe The Lion

One last thing, from around today, this website http://wycranything.wordpress.com might be up and running. I’ve decided to give blogging a go properly. Posts will include the following: –

Bands that are Animals (dubbed the Animal Collective)

Bands that are Places (dubbed A Place With a Name)

And a series called 40 Albums YOU should hear before I am 40 (which is exactly a year from today).

I hope that I can keep this blogging lark up.

Thanks for reading.

S-WC

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 14)

One of his best but most neglected solo singles.

It was the third to be taken from the much derided LP Maladjusted and the follow-up to the rather appalling Roy’s Keen (as featured before in this series).

mp3 : Morrissey – Satan Rejected My Soul
mp3 : Morrissey – Now I Am A Was
mp3 : Morrissey – This Is Not Your Country

The single was in fact the closing track on the LP. Satan Rejected My Soul is, without question, one of the greatest song titles ever dreamt-up with the bonus of a catchy, sing-a-long tune to boot. It really was much much more deserving than the lowly #39 position in the chart and IMHO if this had been the lead-off single prior to the release of Maladjusted, it would have been a Top Ten hit, and the subsequent reviews of the LP would have been kinder.

Now I Am A Was really felt as if it was a farewell song from the great man, with its lyric referring to him starting at the top and working his way down…..while This Is Not Your Country is one of the few overtly political songs in his cannon with its observations on life in Northern Ireland. In my humble opinion, one of the best things he has ever written in his whole career…..

Released in December 1997 – it would be almost 7 years before Morrissey released his next single.

Trivia fact. The 7″ version did not include This Is Not Your Country, but a limited number of sleeves were printed saying that it did. I saw the misprint on sale on-line the other day for £60.

Happy Listening.

Orange Juice

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE…….

……..will return next week. There’s a piece of plastic that should be getting featured this week but I seemed to have filed it away in the wrong place and it will take a bit of time to find it and convert the vinyl to a new mp3 (a previous conversion to mp3 is unsatisfactory as I missed the first few seconds on one of the two tracks).

In the meantime, here’s a John Peel Session to enjoy:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Dying Day
mp3 : Orange Juice – Holiday Hymn
mp3 : Orange Juice – Three Cheers For Our Side
mp3 : Orange Juice – Blokes on 45

Recorded on 3 August 1981 and broadcast seven days later. The last of these tracks is very silly indeed…..

Boomtown Rats

A BAND TONY WILSON JUST NEVER RATED

The great man once said in an interview not long before he died:-

“I get a lot of credit for the 42 bands I put on television for the first time – but, to my real credit, only I know the 533 bands I didn’t put on television. I was right about every single one of them, including The Boomtown Rats.”

It is true to say that The Boomtown Rats were a band who struck lucky when punk/new wave came to the fore for they found some fame and the fortune on the back of the movement despite not really ever being accepted by the cognoscenti as being a part of such scenes. Some of their early singles did however, have a new wave feel thanks to them being raw, fast and a bit shouty. But then again how could it really be new wave if there was a big reliance on a saxophone?

The tail end of 78 and early 79 was when the band went really big thanks to consecutive #1 singles with Rat Trap and I Don’t Like Mondays, both of which (particularly the latter) you will still hear on many retro radio stations the world over. I’ll admit to quite liking the band and they were one of the first acts I saw when I started going to gigs in 1979, although in this case it was as much to do with going along to the Glasgow Apollo as a favour to a mate.

It was however, one of the more memorable of my early concert-going experiences in as far that 35 years on much I can recall more detail from it than most – mainly because the Boomtown Rats had the idea that a gig should be more than just taking to the stage and playing the songs….there was a decent set built to accommodate the band, the stage was well-lit and the sound, surprisingly for a new wave band, was exceptionally good.

You can look up wiki if you want to know more in terms of the discography, the break-up and the 21st century comeback of sorts with a knight of the realm now on lead vocals. I’ll just leave you with two of the early rawer singles that I pogoed to in the crowd when I was just 16 years old:-

mp3 : The Boomtown Rats – Lookin After No.1
mp3 : The Boomtown Rats – She’s So Modern

Enjoy

Paddy McAloon

THE 80s PRODUCTION MASTERPIECE MINUS THE PRODUCTION IS STILL A MASTERPIECE

There are very few music fans of my generation who won’t admit to having a soft spot for Steve McQueen, the majestic LP released by Prefab Sprout back in 1985. It was eleven tracks of near perfection, thanks in part to the quality of the songs but there were also many sublime touches brought to the party by producer Thomas Dolby.

There were a load of raised eyebrows when, more than 20 years later, it was announced that the LP would not only undergo a remastering exercise at the hand of its original producer but that Paddy McAloon was going to enter into a studio and record new acoustic versions of what were regarded as the eight strongest, most-enduring and popular tracks for inclusion as a bonus CD. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking it was no more than a cynical and cheap way of making fans part with their cash for the LP for a third time, having bought the vinyl in the 80s, the CD in the 90s and now this new version in the 00s. After all how do you improve upon near perfection?

And yet, as the notes in the accompanying booklet points out, “The 80s production masterpiece minus the production is still a masterpiece.”

Paddy McAloon is famed for being a perfectionist but there is no way I would have expected that the time taken to record the eight acoustic versions would be in excess of that taken to originally record the LP. Those close to the process think it took three times as long. It’s therefore clear that this wasn’t a job where he went in and came back out in one take – there was clearly an attempt a number of different arrangements, musically and vocally, before determining which approach worked best on each song. Some are just voice and guitar, others have keyboards and others have backing and multi-tracked vocals.

Paddy was 27 years of age when he first recorded the songs – by the time he went back into the studio for the acoustic versions he was in his very late 40s and his voice was deeper and richer. This alone would naturally change the way the songs would now sound. But he was also able to bring those many more years of experience, knowledge and songcraft to the recording process and so what he ends up giving us is something truly special and more than capable of being held up as a brand new LP rather than just re-recordings in an acoustic fashion.

There is no finer example of what I am trying to get at than with the hit single from the LP:-

mp3 : Paddy McAloon – When Love Breaks Down

But of all the re-recordings, this is the one that stands out most:-

mp3 : Paddy McAloon – Desire As

The original was chock-full of poignant keyboards and wonderfully fragile harmonies and an acceptable and very understated use of saxophone. This new version opens with some tremendous Roddy Frame-esque acoustic guitar work and leads to a surprisingly strong almost angry sounding and passionate vocal. It is a totally different song than that from 1985…and whisper it…..it’s even better.

Enjoy….and feel free to differ from the above opinions.

Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins, Tindersticks

THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

I’m sure most of you will be familiar with the memorable and imaginative video where Christopher Walken is sitting slumped and tired in a chair in the foyer of a hotel only to be shaken from his slumbers by the music that is Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim. Next thing you know he is tap-dancing and flying his way through the hotel with the biggest grin on his face….and then as the song ends he finds himself sitting back in his chair with the same tired look on his face as a few minutes earlier.

The tap-dancing and aerial acrobatics were of course all in his mind – it was his imagination running away as the magic of music took his mind off whatever had been troubling or tiring him and made him ecstatically happy for a few short minutes. If it wasn’t for my self-imposed policy of not posting anything from youtube I’d have it embedded at this juncture of this post.

The point is….I had my own Christopher Walken moment on the way to work yesterday.

I was sitting on the train yesterday morning, tired and worried a bit about how much I have on my plate just now and also still trying to think what to do next with the blog feeling grateful that S-WC had come up with the goods. I’ve the music on shuffle hoping that I might get inspired but all the songs seem to be stuff I’ve written about before or else aren’t all that worthy of spending time writing about.

Then….there’s a little bit of flamenco guitar that I know lasts precisely 56 seconds for it is the intro to a song which is one of my favourites from one of my favourite bands.

I smile.

And just like Christopher Walken, I am shaken from my slumbers. The next two and half minutes of music have me imagining that I am running up and down the crowded carriage grabbing fellow passengers and getting them to dance with me; that I am singing the lyrics at the top of my voice and that when the trumpet solo comes I should be blasting it out as the train staff put down their ticket checking machines and join in on percussion. Such is the power of this:-

mp3 : Tindersticks – Her

It’s from the band’s debut release – a double album – back in 1993. It’s just one of a number of stunning bits of music that Tindersticks recorded with their first six albums after which the band broke-up. The reformed line-up a few years later saw only around half of the members get together and while it’s been decent enough in places, the music since has seemed less special.

As Her bounced around my head I knew I had a blog piece ready to go with the Christopher Walken comparison. But one thing that was different is that as my happy song came to an end, the next track on random play began. The smile didn’t leave my face as it revealed itself as one of the greatest cover versions of all time and a track which was part of the recent Saturday singles series.

mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes

I came to work feeling a lot better, switched on the PC and typed all the words you’ve just read.

Enjoy

Cable, Electronic, Heave

FROM THE SOUTH WEST CORRESPONDENT….

The Return of the Box

Some time ago, whilst sitting in a transport café just outside the drab Kent market town of Sittingbourne two friends and I set upon a challenge.

It was six in the morning, we hadn’t slept that much and we were awaiting our greasy spoon fry up, John (full English), me (veggie version, no egg) and Adrian (Mushroom, Egg, Tomatoes and Toast). We were talking about music, primarily New Order, and John likes to think of himself as a New Order oracle, he claimed right then and then to be able to list more singles and albums by the band along with Joy Division, Revenge, Monaco, The Other Two and Electronic than the rest of us.

We went to the counter and asked for three pencils and three sheets of paper, and we gave ourselves five minutes or until breakfast arrived, the winner got a free breakfast. Four minutes later breakfast arrived – so we put our pencils down, and ate up. Then we totted up the correct answers, I was last, in fact last by some distance, if it was Spiritualized, Spectrum and Spacemen 3 I would have won, but it wasn’t.

Adrian scored one more than John – and John demanded a recount and verification (at this point the truckers in the café were starting to get fed up with the manky students in the café disturbing their breakfasts). I was appointed judge and went through the lists –they were largely the same, both had missed the classic New Order single Run 2 which even I had got , but when it come to the end, Adrian had listed an Electronic single called For You and that was the difference between the two of them.

John sighed and said that he forgotten about it because it was rubbish. His grapes were sour all the way home. When we got home Adrian popped round my house and gave me this CD, he’d bought it in Woolworths two days previously for 49p – hadn’t even played it. I did play it, it’s not rubbish. It’s very pleasant indeed.

mp3 : Electronic – For You

‘For You’ was in fact the second single off of the second Electronic album, Raise the Pressure, an album which I have never heard. The single peaked at Number 16 in the UK Chart. It is well worth the price of a greasy fry up in a truckers café in Kent (about £2.99 in 1996).

———————————-

I remember getting this particular CD sent to me because it came with a promotional gun and me and my mate Chris drove around Maidstone taking pot shots at chavs with it all afternoon.

mp3 : Cable – Whisper Firing Line

Having re-read that sentence, I should make it clear – it was a water pistol, and not a very good one, as it leaked. The fun was spoiled when we squirted a big bloke and then got stuck in traffic, (Inbetweeners Bus Wankers Style) and he threatened to hit us.

Cable were from Derby and were big favourites of John Peel they released three albums in the late 90s and this was taken from their second album When Animals Attack.

They are by far the greatest band to have ever come out of Derby (come on name another one!) and probably the only one to have had their music feature on a Sprite advert (‘Freeze The Atlantic’). Whisper Firing Line is a good example of the kind of thing Cable did on each of their three albums, I’d recommend the first two Cable albums – I’ve not heard the third, but by and large, this is decent garage rock with a nod towards the punk rock of American labels such as Blast First and Dischord. The B Side comes with a nice little cover version of the Stevie Winwood song Can’t Find My Way Home which as it’s a cover version gets an obligatory posting.

mp3 : Cable – Can’t Find My Way Home

———————————————-

Getting a bit more obscure now, I can’t find much more out about Heave, I know that this single came from an album called Scaramanga which I remember being quite good, it has long since vanished from the shelves of my house though.

mp3 : Heave – Pig Pretty

They had an earlier single Suna which is terrific – kind of art rock in an Earl Brutus meets Wire kind of way (there was a cover of 12XU as the B Side). The band featured a female model and keyboardist Sharon Mew who later went on to be in Elastica. Heave I think split up around 1997.

That is it.

More next week folks

S-WC

PS from JC

This is about as close as we will be getting to a random shuffle series as S-WC digs into his long-lost box of CDs from back in the day, pulls them out three at a time and writes some fine words about each of them. I genuinely had no idea whan I did yesterday’s posting on Wire that his scheduled piece, which has been sitting unread in my inbox since 29 May, also mentioned that very fine band.

Just to say that S-WC will next week feature on the Monday, a day earlier than normal. Tune in and all will be revealed why…………

Wire

AN APOLOGY TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU

Standards have been slipping badly in recent weeks.

There’s been too many stupid errors creeping in with one of the the worst examples being when I forgot to uploads the links to the tunes. Many of the posts have been lazy rehashes of old material and there’s barely been an original though shared with you in weeks. I could blame it on being busy at work or the fact that much of whatever little spare time I’ve had has been taken up with things away from the PC – for instance the shedload of great gigs I’ve been lucky enough to attend in recent weeks (something that is of relevance to this blog) while the weekend just passed was spent with a crowd of long-time mates playing golf and drinking till all hours in the same way we have doing at a weekend in June every year since 1989 (something that is of no relevance to this blog – but which you are going to hear a little bit about…).

I’ve just got home on Sunday evening and I’m dead beat. My powers of recovery from a weekend of golf combined with over-indulging in alcohol and getting very few hours of sleep in a strange bed are not what they used to be. I wanted so badly to come in and get inspired as I sat looking at the screen with my fingers poised above the keyboard. But nothing is coming. So you’ll need to make do with another old posting….from November 2009 as part of a series entitled The Class of 79:-

There’s just no way I could ever claim to have bought this back in 1979. I listened to John Peel occasionally, but not every night. And his was the only show that played any songs by Wire.

And although I became aware of them during my students days in the early 80s, I didn’t rush out and but any of their albums. Indeed, I think the first thing I ever owned was a John Peel Sessions CD released in the early 90s (and it was courtesy of a birthday or Xmas present from my amigo Jacques The Kipper)

But in recent times, with the records of old being repackaged and reissued, I’ve got a hold of all three of the albums that were released in the 70s and now realise just how important and special they were.

The band also released six singles in the 70s, of which this was the nearest to a hit, reaching #51 in January 1979:-

mp3 : Wire – Outdoor Miner
mp3 : Wire – Practice Makes Perfect

The single was actually a re-recorded and extended version of a song that had appeared on 1978 LP Chairs Missing.

And it is quite wonderful.

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 13)

The second single taken from Your Arsenal surely contains one of the laziest ever Morrissey lyrics:-

You’re the one for me, fatty
You’re the one I really, really love
And I will stay
Promise you’ll say
If I’m in your way

All over Battersea
Some hope
and some despair

Repeated umpteen times with the occasional Buddy Holly impressions (a-hey) thrown in for padding.

It preceeded the album by three weeks and had me a bit worried about how it was all going to turn out. As it was, Fatty was one of the poorest tracks on the LP and was soon a candidate for frequent use of the skip button on the CD player.

Sometimes disappointing singles get rescued by decent tracks on the b-side, but sadly these efforts are quite forgettable.

mp3 : Morrissey – You’re The One For Me, Fatty
mp3 : Morrissey – Pashernate Love
mp3 : Morrissey – There Speaks A True Friend

At least the cover was a cracker…..another Linder Sterling photo taken at a concert in Chicago in 1991.

But my opinions weren’t shared by the general public….it was a single that climbed higher in the charts than any of those taken from Kill Uncle, hitting #19 in July 1992.

Happy Listening.

Rezillos

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 95)

From wiki:-

The Rezillos are a punk/new wave band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976. Although emerging at the same time as other bands in the punk rock movement, the Rezillos did not share the nihilism or social commentary of their contemporaries, but instead took a more light-hearted approach to their songs, preferring to describe themselves at the time as “a New Wave beat group”.

Their songs are heavily influenced by 1950s rock and roll, 1960s English beat music and garage rock, early 1970s glam rock, and recurring lyrical themes of science fiction and B movies, influences that mirrored those of US bands the Cramps and the B-52s who were starting out at the same time. The Rezillos’ biggest hit in their home country was the UK Top 20 single “Top of the Pops” in 1978, but they are best known outside the UK for their cover version of “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight”, which featured on the soundtrack to Jackass: The Movie in 2002. Since the Rezillos recorded it, the song has been covered by other punk bands, including Youth Brigade and Murphy’s Law.

Released in July 1978, the Rezillos’ only studio album Can’t Stand the Rezillos is now considered a classic album of the first wave of British punk, but the group split up four months after its release, following internal arguments about their future direction.

After the Rezillos split the band’s guitarist and principal songwriter Jo Callis briefly joined a couple of unsuccessful Edinburgh post-punk groups, before being invited to join The Human League. He went on to co-write some of The Human League’s best known songs during their most successful period, including their biggest worldwide hit, “Don’t You Want Me”.

The Rezillos’ vocalists Eugene Reynolds and Fay Fife formed the Revillos, a group with an ever-changing line-up that continued where the Rezillos left off. The Revillos split up in 1985, briefly reforming in 1994 for a tour of Japan, and again in 1996 for a UK tour. In 2001 the Rezillos reformed after being invited to play at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, and have continued to play live ever since, as well as releasing new singles occasionally.

And, straight from the cupboard full of vinyl, here’s the tremendous follow-up single to the big hit:-

mp3 : The Rezillos – Destination Venus
mp3 : The Rezillos – Mystery Action

Enjoy!!

Blur

A LONG WAY REMOVED FROM PARKLIFE

In 1993 and 1994 it was all a bit ‘cor blimey guv’ and catchy upbeat sing-a-long numbers driven along by the classic sounds made by a line-up consisting of singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer.

Things had changed a lot by 1997….

To be fair, Blur released a lot of great songs in 93 and 94, many of them being introspective and sad ballads, hat have aged a lot better than the likes of Parklife and Country House. And yes, it wasn’t always down to the use of the guitar-genius of Graham Coxon to make these songs memorable – some of their best and catchiest somgs used keyboards – e.g. Girls and Boys.

But very few fans were prepared for the self-titled 1997 LP. It sold less in the UK than more recent albums but sold far more in other countries. Blur and Britpop had parted forever….indeed their turning their back on the sound and movement that had brought them immense fame and fortune was the beginning of the end. That and it being endorsed by politicians.

I was thinking all this the other day when a stunning remix of one of the tracks on Blur came on the i-pod shuffle. The song that to me was their sign-off from Britpop. Something that I had not quite forgotten how good it was, but for the first time I was listening with a decent pair of headphones and I turned it up loud. Sorry it’s the usual shitty mp3 low-fi quality on offer. But you should get the drift:-

mp3 : Blur – Death Of A Party (12″ Death)

It’s taken from a Japanese CD called Bustin and Dronin’ although it may well be available elsewhere. As I said, it’s stunning…..it’s more than 7 minutes long ….it’s a mix by Adrian Sherwood and it’s miles from the poppy stuff – it’s almost reminiscent in places musically of Ghost Town – and it has a chorus Mozza would have been proud of:-

Another night
And I though well well
Go to another party
And hang myself
Gently on the shelf.

Feel free to sing along girls and boys.

PS : I make no apologies for this particular re-post from October 2012 as it features a cracking piece of music that might surprise those of you who normally have no time for the band.

D.C. Lee

DAMNING WITH FAINT PRAISE

Released in October 1985, See The Day by D.C. Lee sold more than 250,000 copies and climbed to #3 in the UK singles chart. This was at a time when The Style Council were at their most popular having enjoyed a run of hit singles and two top selling albums in Cafe Bleu and Our Favourite Shop.

D.C. Lee was an integral part of The Style Council, and indeed by 1985 was the partner and soon to be wife of Paul Weller – it was all a long way removed from her first brush with fame as a backing singer with Wham!

At the time, I wasn’t all that impressed with See The Day. I thought then that it was a lumpen, messy and over-produced ballad, and so it wasn’t a single that I set out to get a hold of. But I couldn’t resist paying 99p for it in a second hand shop a few years back and giving it a spin almost 25 years on to see if I had changed my mind. I hadn’t.

mp3 : D.C. Lee – See The Day

I’ve a feeling a lot of TSC fans bought this single because of the b-side. It featured all the other members of the band performing one of their most popular tunes – a song that had previously featured vocals by Tracey Thorn on the Cafe Bleu LP and then by Weller himself on the b-side to Long Hot Summer – and now it was the turn of Diane Catherine Sealy:-

mp3 : D.C. Lee – The Paris Match

Musically, it’s not far removed from the version which featured Weller on vocals, but overall, all it does is confirm for me that while she is a fine singer, she isn’t truly instinctive enough to stand out from the crowd. I’m probably damning her with faint praise to say that if she was waiting to be discovered nowadays, she would probably get a fair way on the X-Factor…..but not be the winner.

Incidentally…..time to help further nail a wee bit of an urban myth. I’ve read in some places that Paul Weller played drums on See The Day. He didn’t. Instead it was Paul Waller, who was a member of jazz-pop combo Animal Nightlife….

Enjoy.

Streets

A TRULY-WORLD CLASS RAPPER FROM THE U.K.

A couple of weeks back I decided to have a first listen in ages to Original Pirate Material, the debut LP by The Streets. It has aged very well…..but I was astonished to look at the back of the CD and realise that it dates back to 2002.

In essence, The Streets are/were a vehicle for the Birmingham-based rapper Mike Skinner and in much the say way as De La Soul had done on the late 80s, he wanted to release a rap LP that was a bit different from the mainstream and which relied on some different and unusual influences. The result was something I shouldn’t really have had any time for – it was linked closely to the genre of UK garage (which I had very little time for) and much of its subject matter was based around clubbing (which is something I had no time for). But somehow it clicked with me.

Part of it was the music – I never expected to hear a rap LP which drew on ska influences – while part of it was down to the delivery of gritty lyrics in an accent that you rarely heard on mainstream radio. I was almost 40 years of age and so I couldn’t claim to be in touch with the issues that Skinner was rapping about, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t listen with a degree of empathy with the thought that for young folk, not much had changed in the two decades since I was struggling to get to grips with what life was throwing at me.

It’s an LP which sold by the bucketload in 2002 and yet two years later achieved an even higher chart position as the follow-up LP spawned a ballad – Dry Your Eyes – which went very mainstream and brought The Streets to a whole new audience who were happy enough to delve into the limited back catalogue which the record label were quick to capitalise on with a re-launched marketing campaign.

The mainstream chart success inevitably saw many of the band’s original fans turn their backs on The Streets, especially as the gigs went from being in small clubs and venues to arenas. It was interesting that success changed the way Mike Skinner looked at the music industry – in much the same way as it had affected Jarvis Cocker a decade or so earlier – and later LPs were more introspective and melancholy, but all the while having a commercial edge which ensured mainstream interest. And while they all have material of merit, none of them match what was released on the debut:-

mp3 : The Streets – Let’s Push Things Forward
mp3 : The Streets – Has It Come To This?
mp3 : The Streets – Don’t Mug Yourself
mp3 : The Streets – Too Much Brandy

Enjoy

LCD Soundsystem, Leather Face, Local Natives

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT …AN L of A DAY

Last week I told you that my iPods are always set to random. The big iPod has nearly 9500 songs on it these days, I am worrying about it breaking as it now 4 years old. Weirdly the Top 25 most recently played songs on my iPod are not all bad. At Number 5 is ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes, at Number 4 is ‘Sun Hits the Sky’ by Supergrass, at Number 3 is ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ by the National, at Number 2 is ‘Leave Them All Behind’ by Ride, these are chosen randomly by the iPod remember. At Number 1, the most frequently picked song on my iPod is ‘Someone Great’ by LCD Soundsystem. What. A. Song.

I love LCD Soundsystem and right now they are the only band I regret never catching live. To be honest apart from Primal Scream and perhaps PJ Harvey, there hasn’t ever been anyone better than LCD Soundsystem. The way that James Murphy blends disco, dance, rock and punk together to produce tune after tune of effortlessly cool anthems is nothing short of genius. ‘Someone Great’ is taken from their second and probably most well received album ‘Sound of Silver’. It contains this wonderful lyric:

“The worst is all the lovely weather, I’m stunned, it’s not raining. The coffee isn’t even bitter, because, what’s the difference?”

“Someone Great” is Murphy’s lament to a lost friend, lover, associate or child. The way that Murphy has I think, deliberately never revealed who or what the song is about I think adds to its brilliance. It is obviously about loss but in these eyes loss sounds beautiful, almost heavenly. There is a synth sequence running through this song that is kind of angelic and that corresponds with the lyrics which suggest someone who could do nothing bad, it is a lovely lovely record. One that should be sitting somewhere in your most frequently played songs on the iPod. The irritating thing is that this, this wonderful piece of music, is probably only their third or (possibly) fourth best song.

mp3 : LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

I have a claim to fame.

In 1992 I saw Leatherface in the Melody Maker tent at the Reading Festival it was Friday afternoon, two days before the whole tent sunk under a biblical deluge of water. They were amazing, incredible, a performance that fitted a band at the peak of their musical powers. They were just becoming something, their (fourth?) album ‘Mush’ was gaining cult status and with the stand out song ‘Not Superstitious’ they had a song that was sort of crossing over. Singer Frankie Norman Warsaw Stubbs (his actual bonafide real name) possessed a voice that was as soft as sandpaper – he more growled down the speakers at you – but there was/is something beautiful in the way he did it. Musically it was kind of punk rock but there was a bleak humour about it. I urge you all now, if you haven’t got or heard ‘Mush’ to download it today. I promise you won’t regret it.

The claim to fame?? Oh, standing behind me at that festival performance was John Peel. I knew he was there, I was 17, he was like a hero (he smelt very nice by the way), and at the end he tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘What did you think of that then?’ I laughed and said ‘Mr Peel, that was shit hot and anyone who missed them should be ashamed’. He nodded and smiled and wandered off saying that he had to introduce some bunch of idiots on the main stage in five minutes but thanked us for our brief review.

We wandered over to the main stage the idiots were Public Image Limited. John Peel came on over the tannoy just before they wandered on stage. His opening words, ‘I’ve just seen Leatherface, they were, shit hot, if you missed them, then shame on you. Right then, here’s Johnny Rotten and his mates…’

mp3 : Leatherface – Not Superstitious

Finally for the letter L I struggled to find something that could compete with LCD Soundsystem and Leatherface so I did the random thing, the iPod chose ‘Breakers’ by Local Natives, this is taken from their much under rated album from last year ‘Hummingbird. They originate from Silver Lake in California. ‘Breakers’ was the lead single from ‘Hummingbird’ and it sounds a lot like Arcade Fire and the National.

Well perhaps a younger less grizzled National and less stadium friendly Arcade Fire.

mp3 : Local Natives – Breakers

Next week the BOX IS BACK.

S-WC

Sea Urchins

A VERY VALUABLE PIECE OF PLASTIC

If you own a mint copy of today’s single, then make sure you continue to look after it lovingly. And maybe think about adding it to an insurance policy.

The first ever single release on Sarah Records was by The Sea Urchins. From wiki:-

The initial line-up of The Sea Urchins was James Roberts (vocals), Simon Woodcock (guitar), Robert Cooksey (guitar), Mark Bevin (bass), Bridget Duffy (tambourine, organ), and Patrick Roberts (drums). Their first two releases were flexi discs given away with fanzines in 1987. Bevin soon left, to be replaced by Darren Martin.

Their “Pristine Christine” single was the first Sarah Records release, and is highly coveted among vinyl record collectors. With the following year’s double-A-side “Solace”/”Please Rain Fall” they began to show more mod-rock influences. Both singles were successful in indie terms, but Sarah Records were unwilling to commit to an album, and Duffy and Martin left.

Woodcock took over on bass, with James Roberts adding guitar. The band released one more single for Sarah (“A Morning Oddyssey” in 1990), but disagreements about the next single saw them move on to Cheree Records, who issued “Please Don’t Cry” in 1991. The band split up in summer 1991. Two albums were subsequently released; Sarah Records issued a compilation of the band’s material for the label, including the flexi-disc tracks, as Stardust in 1992, while Fierce Recordings issued a live album in 1994.

James Roberts, Cooksey, and Woodcock later formed the band Delta. James Roberts, Patrick Roberts, and Robert Cooksey also formed The Low Scene.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the record is ‘highly coveted’ with the only available copy on Discogs having an asking price of over £300. I don’t own a copy, and while it would be nice to, I’m happy enough that I have the song via one of the many CD86 style compilation CDs that have been released over the years:-

mp3 : The Sea Urchins – Pristine Christine

On thing to note is just how young all the band members were at the time this single was released – all of them were with just 17 or 18 years of age. When I look around today at similarly aged kids of a number of friends, I find it a scary thought that such fresh and innocent faces would be capable of such works of class.

Enjoy

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 12)

It is sometimes easy to forget that there was no new Morrissey music released between 1997 and 2004 – a period of time that was well in excess of his career with The Smiths.

The disappointment of Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted (although I don’t think the latter is as poor an LP as is often perceived), combined with the fact that only one of the last ten singles had ever cracked the Top 20 led many to write off Morrissey once and for all. He had been signed and dropped by a number of labels in the 90s and it looked as if his recording days were over.

But this period of inactivity at the end of the 20th Century coincided with many writers and journalists getting all nostalgic and acknowledging his importance to pop music, mostly in partnership with Johnny Marr. It also coincided with a fresh interest in indie-music as it came back into vogue one more time, and many of the singers and songwriters now being profiled in magazines, newspapers and within these new-fangled things called blogs started namechecking Morrissey all the time.

In 2002, he undertook a three-month long world tour, partly as a reminder that he still existed, but mainly to air a number of new songs that he had written over the past five years in the hope that some label would come in with an offer that wasn’t insulting. The tour got a lot of positive publicity, with many reviewers commenting that much of the new stuff sounded as good as anything he’d ever released and many alos wrote that they hoped these would see the light of day on a forthcoming record.

It was also noted that many of the new songs had a contemporary feel to them – ie indie-pop – that would find favour with a brand new audience, many of whom hadn’t been born when The Smiths formed and to who Morrissey was a mysterious figure that loads of their mums, dads, aunties and uncles held in high esteem.

I first heard the comeback single courtesy of MTV2. I wasn’t actually paying all that much attention at the time when the first notes were struck – I was reading the sports section of a newspaper – but then I realised that this was a voice with which I was very familiar. The focus of my attention immediately shifted…..

I was stunned. At long last, Morrissey sounded important again. Here was a single that was wasn’t all that different from the sounds being churned out by the popstars of the moment, but his presence on it – his vocal delivery, his charisma within that video, his ability to come up with a great singalong chorus without it being something dumb – made it something truly special.

The other great trick was that we were getting to see the video some 4 weeks before the actual single was available in the shops, so that with every showing and listening, we realised how exceptional a song it was, especially compared to recent Morrissey songs. Some old fans might have bought the single out of habit, but many more came back to Morrissey for the first time in a over a decade, and along with an army of new fans bought it because it was something worth owning.

And despite it getting very little support from Radio 1 in the UK, the comeback single entered the UK charts at #3 which was easily the highest position in his entire career. If this single had been a stinker and a flop, then I guess Morrissey would have had no option but to retire from music, so in many ways, this was probably the most important record of his career:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart
mp3 : Morrissey – It’s Hard To Walk Tall When You’re Small
mp3 : Morrissey – Munich Air Disaster 1958
mp3 : Morrissey – The Never-Played Symphonies

What initially struck me when I bought the two CD singles was that the other songs were actually more than half-decent tracks and that in being able to issue them as mere b-sides, Morrissey must have great confidence in the dozen or so that he was going to issue on his comeback LP, You Are The Quarry.

His confidence wasn’t misplaced, as it is a very fine recording, ….but I’ll argue that it could have been a truly great album if some of the tracks that he kept back as b-sides (four singles were eventually issued) had replaced some of the less memorable tunes on the album.

But that’s Morrissey for you…..he never really does things the easy way.

PS

A few weeks back, as Part 8 of this re-posted series, I mentioned that the single Everyday Is Like Sunday had previously been the subject of a dmca complaint but that I had filed it differently this time to avoid a repeat situation.

I’m guessing someone out there decided to have a laugh at my expense. This e-mail arrived during the week:-

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

MyBox/Morri$$ey – Everyday…(is like a certain day of the week).mp3
MyBox/Marion – Violent Men.mp3
MyBox/Morrissey – Sister I’m A Poet.mp3
MyBox/Morrissey – Disappointed.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

Sincerely,
The Box Team

Totally bemused.

(1) the person making the complaint will have to have spelled out to box, that the artist had two dollar signs in the middle of his name rather than the usual double s.

(2) the person making the complaint has thrown in a Marion track from a different posting

(3) the person making the complaint didn’t extend it to Will Never Marry, the fourth track on the 12″ of Sunday which was also part of the posting at the beginning of May.

Ho hum.

Irvine Welsh, Primal Scream

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 94) (take two)

This should have appeared last week…..but I forgot to transfer the text over from a word doc. Apologies.

I’ve reached the stage of this incredibly long-running alphabetical series where it is time to feature Primal Scream. So many great things to choose from but I thought I’d go with something a bit different and one probably not so well-known to readers from overseas.

The summer of 1996 was to feature a major football tournament. It was the European Nations Championship, conveniently shortened to Euro 96, and the host nation was England. Being just over the border, there was huge interest in whether Scotland could also make it through the qualifying stages which we did reasonably comfortably, although it has to be said we did have an easy group (Russia, Greece, Finland, Faroe Islands and San Marino) as well as some half-decent players at the time.

It was inevitable however, that having qualified with a bit of ease that the footballing gods would deal us a cruel hand in the actual tournament which is why we ended up drawn against Holland, Switzerland and the hosts.

The fact we were playing such an important match against our oldest and deadliest rivals created all sorts of interest and in the tournament not to mention weird spin-offs. One of these was the release of a very unofficial single by Primal Scream.

It was a collaboration with the Scottish author Irvine Welsh who just three years earlier had shot to fame and infamy with the publication of his debut novel Trainspotting, as well as the team at the English-based On-U Sound, a record label best-known for dance and dub releases. The end result is everything as crazy, imaginative and offensive as you’d imagine.

Is it any good though?

Well….as a huge fan of much of what Irvine Welsh has written over the years, I’m prepared to say that this is a tremendous release. As with any bit of writing by Welsh, it is OTT and then some. There’s a fair bit of black humour mixed in with some excellent social observation and commentary although it will not be to everyone’s taste. And again, as with any bit of writing by Welsh, there’s loads of gratuitous swearing, so be warned when you click on the mp3s.

The full title of the release was Primal Scream, Irvine Welsh and On-U Sound present….The Big Man and the Scream Team meet the Barmy Army Uptown. There were two musical versions made available along with a spoken word track featuring Welsh alone.

mp3 : Primal Scream et al – Full Strength Fortified Dub
mp3 : Primal Scream et al – Electric Soup dub
mp3 : Irvine Welsh – A Jake Supreme

Released by Creation Records on 3 June 1996 on the eve of the tournament, this reached #17 in the UK charts despite, to the best of my knowledge, never receiving a single airing on radio….such was the pulling power of the Scream and Welsh.

As to the tournament itself…….Scotland didn’t disappoint by doing what we always do and that is being eliminated in the most ridiculous of ways. We drew with Holland and then lost that important game to England – a match in which the decisive and brilliant second goal by Paul Gascoigne came a few seconds after we had contrived to miss a penalty.

In the final matches, played on the date of my 33rd birthday, Scotland beat Switzerland 1-0 but had to rely on England pulling off the most unlikely result of a four-goal win over Holland. Unbelievably, they were within 12 minutes of pulling off that very feat when Holland scored to make it 4-1 meaning Scotland were eliminated on the rule of having scored less goals over the three matches than the Dutch.

It was very cruel way to bow out – and our hope of a re-match in the final against England was cruelly dashed!

But such is the way of being a fan of Scotland. At least we don’t have the torture of the upcoming World Cup to distract us.

Enjoy