THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

KISSING COUSINS

In June 1983, the UK dance act Freeez enjoyed their biggest ever chart success when this single reached #2 in the charts:-

mp3 : Freeez – I.O.U.

As the cover of the single indicates, as much prominence was given to the fact that the record was produced by Arthur Baker as it was a release by Freeez. It really was massive that summer, spending months in the charts and becoming one of the biggest best-selling singles in the UK in 1983. Just as importantly from the band, producer and record label perspective, it also got massive play in clubs all across the United States, thanks to its infectious and catchy chorus and repetitive but memorable beat.

At the same time as Freeez enjoyed this success, it became known that New Order had also been working with Arthur Baker to release the follow-up to Blue Monday. The band coyly dropped hints that while the new song would be a bit different from previous New Order tracks, it would somehow be familiar to many. A bit of an understatement when you listen to this:-

mp3 : New Order – Confusion

Given that it was released while I.O.U. was still in the lower regions of the British singles chart, Confusion did remarkably well to climb to #12 on its release in August 1983. Especially as it was only issued in a 12″ format. It was amazing to see so many New Order fans belatedly accept the brilliance of the disco-pop single that had driven so many of them demented in the previous months. I say this with some certainty, as I was one of them…..

This tune – and let’s face it, it is two songs with the same tune – did more than just about any other to create that indie/dance crossover, and in its way was more responsible for the development of The Hacienda nightclub than any other New Order song.

Fancy some b-sides?

mp3 : Freeez – I Dub U
mp3 : New Order – Confusion (Rough Mix)

Lay down thy overcoat and dance…..

Elastica, Stranglers, Wire

MERE COPYCATS?

As much as I thoroughly love the debut LP by Elastica, I do sometimes cringe at the fact that so many of their best tunes were total rip-offs:-

mp3 : Elastica – Connection
mp3 : Wire – Three Girl Rhumba

mp3 : Elastica – Waking Up
mp3 : The Stranglers – No More Heroes

They didn’t even begin to disguise their influences, but I don’t think anyone can argue that the self-titled debut LP from 1995 is one of the best and most enduring of the Britpop era. Strangely enough, at a time when all sorts of unforgettable acts had 45s (or more accurately CD singles as vinyl was totally out of fashion) that went high in the charts, none of the four tracks lifted from Elastica went Top 10. The album however, did hit the #1 spot.

By the time the band got over all sorts of personnel problems and released their follow-up LP in 2000, their fan base had moved on to other things and they were more or less ignored. But I reckon they still made great music, stuff that still that owed a debt to so many folk – but at least they acknowledged it this time:-

mp3 : Elastica – How He Wrote Elastica Man
mp3 : The Fall – How I Wrote ‘Elastic Man’

Enjoy

Devo

BLUE JEANS AND CHINOS; COKE PEPSI AND OREOS (Part 8)

Devo formed as far back as 1972 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. They came to notice in the new wave/post-punk era where their strange vocal delivery and heavy reliance on keyboards didn’t sound so unusual anymore; they were also helped by the fact that Brian Eno was a very early champion of their work.

Despite this, critics were often scathing of Devo and didn’t take seriously. The fact that they were among the early pioneers of the use of videos and relied on costumes while playing live led to all sorts of accusations of being non-authentic.

Slowly but surely though, the band gained a following and in the early 80s even enjoyed some mainstream success with Whip It hitting the Billboard Top 40 in 1980. The next ten years were somewhat mixed with the band seemingly wanting to turn their backs on the commercial material in the hope of being taken much more seriously and attracting the highbrow press they felt their body of work deserved in an era when electronic music was all the rage. Inevitably they fell between two stools – the records sold poorly (leading to them being dropped by their label) and the critics mostly refused to still see them as an art-school joke that had long run its course.

In 1991, after eight LPs, Devo effectively broke up for a period of six years. The reformed band however weren’t prolific with new material aside from the occasional contribution to film soundtracks but they toured extensively and played before large audiences, especially in the USA. It wasn’t until 2010 that the ninth LP was released, but like so much of their material throughout their entire career, it came out to a mixed reception – some loved it, many hated it but most were indifferent.

I wasn’t actually sure whether or not to include Devo in this short series as it has been more than 30 years since I bought any of their music. But I can’t deny that they were among the first electronic groups that I listened to and so they will always have a place in my heart. I thought I’d just shove up four tracks that were made available on an EP released in the UK on Virgin Records back in 1983…which was the last thing of theirs I bought (bar a couple of second-hand 7″ singles in recent years to replace those lost a long time ago):-

mp3 : Devo – Come Back Jonee
mp3 : Devo – Working In A Coalmine
mp3 : Devo – Satisfaction
mp3 : Devo – Jocko Homo

Enjoy.

Radkey, Razorlight, Rockers Hifi, Von Bondies

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT……ANOTHER LETTER OF CHOICE

The music industry is a fickle old business. Both within the industry itself and through the fans who support it by purchasing the music. For instance, one day you will hyped to be the next big thing after a favourable review in a cool paper, or you get some exposure on the radio or something. It all goes a bit bananas and everyone loves you. Then you get to release some records and they live up to the hype and riding on that success you suddenly are the Next Big Thing. Then you have to go away and produce something new, and everyone forgets who you are.

Take Razorlight for instance. Back in 2002 when lead singer Johnny Borrell formed the band, he was already kind of well known having supported and been part of the scene that clustered around The Libertines. Razorlight’s first gig ever, was supporting much under rated American rock band The Von Bondies (check out ‘C’mon C’mon’ from 2004 album ‘Pawn Shoppe Heart’).

I was once in a band, our first gig ever was in the school music room supporting another school band who did covers of Queen songs. 8 people saw my band. Eight. So for Johnny and Razorlight they kind of already had a crowd of people who thought that they were cool. They were also managed by an NME journalist so that probably helped. My band was managed by my brother and that was only because he knew a bloke who had the keys to a church hall.

Anyway I’m probably sounding bitter here. Razorlight in 2003 were subject of one of the biggest signing wars of recent times, every label wanted them because they were a sure-fire success waiting to happen. Their demos were already being played on XFM (indie station in London only at the time). Their records didn’t disappoint, the debut album ‘Up All Night’ released in 2004 went to number 3 in the charts, and let’s be honest here, it is a great record. It spawned at least four decent singles from it, in particular ‘Stumble and Fall’ and ‘Golden Touch’ both brilliant singles that you probably don’t play anywhere near enough.

mp3 : Razorlight – Golden Touch

After that Razorlight got bigger still when the release the single ‘America’ from their second album ‘Razorlight’. With the success Borrell’S mouth got bigger, he got the movie star girlfriend (Kirsten Dunst), then the press and the public fell out of love with them. For me it was the moment when Borrell was in some magazine with his top off, not strictly a bad thing, it’s not like he was the singer in Ultrasound or anything, but he was wearing WHITE JEANS, that rock n roll imagery he tried so hard to conjured up, just slipped away, no one in their right mind wears white jeans, let alone be photographed wearing them.

They released a third album ‘Slipway Fires’ in 2008 it says here that it got to number 5 in the charts, yet I don’t know a single person who owns a copy or will admit to buying it (it was critically panned). Borrell released a solo album last year which sold less than 1000 copies, so in around 6 years he has gone from being one of the country’s biggest rock stars to selling less records that Darius Danesh; Christ, I reckon I could record an album and sell more than a 1000 copies of it.

Razorlight never split, they are back back back according to their website. In 2005 and 2006 I’m pretty sure they headlined every festival going, playing to millions. This year they headline the Plymouth Volkfest. I live in Devon about 30 miles from Plymouth and have never heard of Volksfest.

Next up something that should have been posted when I was picking CDs out of a big box – the day the CD player broke, I picked out ‘Your Smile’ by Octopus and it refused to work, so I picked out another record – it was ‘Push Push’ by dubby electronica act Rockers Hifi, that also refused to work so I knew the thing was buggered. However I did track down ‘Push Push’ and had forgotten what a good record it was – so here is the skinny on Rockers HiFi.

They were formed in Birmingham in 1992 and started out life as Original Rockers but changed the name a bit later on. They were perhaps best known for two songs, the aforementioned ‘Push Push’ which was a relatively big dancefloor smash in the 90’s and the song ‘What A Life’ which featured in the film The Basketball Diaries (starring Leo DiCaprio – well worth a viewing). They kind of fell into the trip hop genre largely because it was popular at the time.

Original Rockers were forced to change their name and the two guys behind the band decided to add an MC and formed Rockers Hifi, that is when ‘Push Push’ came to into being. It is a mish mash of sounds a bit like Tackhead in places but very much like Tricky and Massive Attack and easy to see why it was lumped in the Trip Hop category though.

mp3 : Rockers Hifi – Push Push

Finally, something a bit lively to wake you all up – Radkey.

I’ve mentioned Radkey before, they are one of a great bunch of new shouty punk bands that are around (Iceage, Metz, Cerebal Balzy, The Big Ups to name some more). They hail from Missouri and feature, three brothers with the surname Radke – the singer is Dee and his biography says this

“He hates milk and not only because of his lactose intolerance. It’s the kind of hate that comes from deep down inside, the kind of hatred you would hold towards someone that has wronged you in an unmentionable way. He does have a soft spot in his heart for cheese though”.

I mean what is not to love about that. They are also fans of the Kansas City Royals baseball team and that people is also my baseball team of choice. So there is a lot to love about Radkey. They are all under the age of 20 as well – I refer you to my earlier comments on Joey Bada$$. The brothers all had a shared love of the Ramones, the Misfits and The Who so formed a band, one that plays punk with a creeping nudge towards hardcore. The vocals are something interesting, there is a slight croon to Dee’s voice – like he should be in a Las Vegas casino but formed a punk band instead. The bands second EP Devil Fruit I think sounds like The Stooges and Black Sabbath, pretty simple and effective riff and roll territory but bloody ace with it.

mp3 : Radkey – Romance Dawns

Enjoy.

S-WC

JC adds : well, that buggers up my forthcoming piece about Razorlight!! And I’m with S-WC on their debut being more than half-decent.

oh and here’s a ps tune to the posting:-

mp3 : The Von Bondies – C’Mon C’Mon

Enjoy!!!

Sandie Shaw

SANDIE SHAW – THE JANICE LONG SESSIONS

She was born Sandra Ann Goodrich in 1947. She got her break thanks to a music contest and the patronage of then popstar Adam Faith. Re-named Sandie Shaw, she hit the #1 spot in the UK charts before her 18th birthday and went on to enjoy a further seven Top 10 hits before the 60s were over.

But by 1984, she was mostly forgotten. She had released a handful of singles in the 70s, but there was a gap of 14 years from 1969 – 1983 between albums. I said mostly forgotten, for the fact was a young emerging vocal talent called Steven Patrick Morrissey and his sidekick guitarist called Johnny Marr carried torches for her.

So much so that in April 1984, they hit upon the idea of re-releasing the debut single by The Smiths, only with Sandie singing lead vocal. This took Hand In Glove into the charts and got Sandie back on Top of the Pops for the first time in 15 years. It was a memorable performance in which the three members of the band paid tribute to her by playing barefoot – just the way Sandie had done in her prime. Sandie, to her credit, did a more than passing resemblance to a live Morrissey performance by falling to the floor and writhing around in ecstasy…

At this point in time I only knew of Sandie Shaw as someone who used to get played on the radio when I was a really young kid. I assumed she was a fair age, and so was surprised to learn that she was just 37 years old when her comeback began…..

Aiming squarely for the same market that adored The Smiths, two singles, both cover versions were released in 1986, with the b-sides being straight tributes to Morrissey and then Marr. But while they were given much critical acclaim, neither single, nor a subsequent LP released in 1988, sold well.

As you can see from the above cover, there was also a 12″ single released containing four songs recorded for the Janice Long show on BBC Radio 1. While I knew of the existence of this record, I never owned a copy of it. And I still don’t…..but I one day received a really nice e-mail from a reader of the old blog called Jason Ruff which talked about some great old songs from the 80s, and in which he attached some mp3 files and artwork.

mp3 : Sandie Shaw – Frederick
mp3 : Sandie Shaw – Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?
mp3 : Sandie Shaw – Steven (You Don’t Eat Meat)
mp3 : Sandie Shaw – Girl Don’t Come

Note the plethora of great musicians who played on this session….

Enjoy

James, Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 10)

It’s not that long ago that Morrissey was regarded by quite a few rock critics as yesterday’s man. None of the four singles released in 1991 had sold well, while even the most loyal of fans (outwith the hardcore who argue that he’s never ever recorded a duff song) were beginning to have some doubts after the release of the very patchy LP Kill Uncle.

However, the LP he released in 1992, Your Arsenal, is the one that many rock critics now say is his strongest ever collection of songs, so you’d imagine that his procession through that particular calendar year was triumphal.

Well, you can think again.

The first two singles taken from Your Arsenal hit the shops before the album was released. In the pre-internet days, it was much more difficult to pick up any tracks before the vinyl or CD was available for purchase. And the critics had a bit of field day with both singles. For instance, Andrew Collins of the NME, a man who I have long regarded as having better taste than most, said this:-

“This is by far and away the ex-Smith’s worst single – it’s the sound of five men bashing around in the darkness in search of a tune. Moz is history, and we’d all do well to learn it.”

Words that were penned this in April 1992 when reviewing this:-

mp3 : Morrissey – We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

As it happens, I disagree somewhat with Mr Collins this time, for Morrissey had released a few singles in the previous four years which were considerably worse than this (and indeed, he would record some more stinkers in the following years). But I wont argue against his description of it being the sound of five men bashing around in search of a tune…..

Thankfully, We Hate It…. was in fact one of the weaker songs on Your Arsenal which finally came out some 3 months later at the end of July 1992. It remains a strange choice for a lead-single, and I’m guessing that the main reason it was selected ahead of more obvious candidates is down to its title.

Is Morrissey singing about his relationship with the music press, or is it in fact his attack on Madchester, and in particular his view that his one-time beloved James had, to many, sold out and gone stadium rock? Either way, it doesn’t disguise that this was something that had a better title than tune….

The other thing that I remember being concerned about was the fact that the single didn’t have any new stuff to offer on the b-sides of the CD and 12″ single, instead giving us just some tracks recorded live in London in October 1991. Now I know that’s a trick pulled by just about every recording artist who has ever signed a contract, but at the time, it made me fear that 1992 Morrissey was going to be a huge disappointment.

mp3 : Morrissey – Suedehead (live)
mp3 : Morrissey – I’ve Changed My Plea To Guilty (live)
mp3 : Morrissey – Alsatian Cousin (live)
mp3 : Morrissey – Pregnant For The Last Time (live)

The rather limp guitar playing on Suedehead makes you realise just how great a job Vini Reilly had done on the original…..but the single did reach #17 in the UK charts, and was his first single in five releases to reach the Top 20.

Oh and of all the covers ever used on Morrissey singles and albums, this is probably my favourite cos it’s a dead ringer for my mate Rod…..

It was taken backstage by Linder Sterling just before a gig in Santa Monica, California on the Kill Uncle tour.

Oh and it’s worth mentioning that around the same time, Moz pulled out of a headline slot at Glastonbury and was replaced by none other than James who, totally toungue-in-cheek, opened the show with a plodding number:-

mp3 : James – We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (live)

Enjoy.

Positive Noise

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 93)

From wiki:-

Positive Noise were a new wave and synthpop band from Scotland who had a number of indie hits in the 1980s. They released three albums and several singles and were together for over five years.

The band was formed in 1979 by Ross Middleton (vocals), his brothers Graham Middleton (keyboards, vocals) and Fraser Middleton (bass guitar, vocals), Russell Blackstock (guitar, vocals), and Les Gaff (drums).Their first released material was two tracks (“Refugees” and “The Long March”) on the Statik label compilation album Second City Statik in 1980, and they followed this with two singles on Statik in 1981, both of which were top-ten hits on the UK Independent Chart. Début album Heart of Darkness was released in May 1981, after which Ross left to form the short-lived Leisure Process, with Blackstock taking over on lead vocals. Heart of Darkness peaked at number four on the independent chart, and the band’s second album, Change of Heart (1982), also charted, reaching number 21. They released a third and final album, Distant Fires, in 1985, now with John Telford on drums and John Coletta on guitar, but their earlier success was not repeated and they split up shortly afterwards.

Ross Middleton had earlier worked as a music journalist, writing for Sounds under the pen name Maxwell Park.

And here’s the two sides of the debut single:-

mp3 : Positive Noise – Give Me Passion
mp3 : Positive Noise – Ghosts

Enjoy.

Sundays

MY IDEA OF THE PERFECT LOVE SONG

With a squeeze and a sigh and a twinkle in your eye as the sunshine banishes the dark.

mp3 : The Sundays – Summertime

A deserved Top 20 hit from 1997, a full eight years after The Sundays had first come to prominence with the indie kids. I’m more than happy admit that Summertime is more mainstream than indie but I don’t care. It’s as perfect a love song as has been written and recorded by anyone.

And that’s all I have to say today.

Sparks

40 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK…

….I probably first set my eyes on the then scariest looking man in pop music.

The singles chart of 11 May 1974 had a new entry by a new band at #27.

mp3 : Sparks – This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us

I’d be not far short of my 11th birthday. Pop music on the telly was more or less restricted to Top of The Pops and given that Sparks were just one of two new entries that week (the other being Alvin Stardust singing Red Dress) then I’m assuming they got on the show a few days later. If so, then that was the first time I saw the really creep, scary man with the staring eyes and the Adolf Hitler moustache sitting behind the piano. He gave me more nightmares than any monster brought to life by the writers of Dr Who.

There’s no doubt that Sparks first appearance on telly got the nation talking. Most of the talk would have been about the keyboard weirdo, but then again I’m sure that much of the female population were equally as wowed by the good-looking man in the tight trousers with the high-pitched voice.

The effect of this incredible appearance can be seen from the following week’s chart. Sparks were the biggest climbers up 18 places to #9 – compare and contrast with poor old Alvin whose efforts saw a rise of just one spot to #10. In those days, you didn’t get on the show two weeks running unless you were #1, but that didn’t stop the momentum of This Town…which hit #3.

Another TV performance saw even more people buy the single and in its fourth week on the charts it hit #2, which is also where it stayed on week 5, sadly kept off the top spot by Sugar Baby Love by The Rubettes.

By the sixth week it had fallen down to #5….and the Top of The Pop rules were that no song falling down the chart would feature.

There’s many who at the time predicted Sparks would be one-hit wonders and remembered as a novelty act. That they were back in the charts a few months later came as a shock to those who hated them:-

mp3 : Sparks – Amateur Hour

But even their biggest fans would have laughed out loud if you’d said they’s still be making critically acclaimed music 40 years on……..

As I was too young to really appreciate and understand Bowie, then it’s fair to say that Sparks were the first weird and different sounding band that I ever fell for (once I realised that Ron Mael wasn’t really the bogeyman). And I’m happy to argue all day and all night that the two singles which first brought them fame and fortune are timeless classics.

Enjoy

James

THE JAMES SINGLES (11)

1990 had been a very good year for James.

The LP Goldmother had received very favourable reviews as had a performance at that summer’s Glastonbury festival. The band was gaining a very formidable reputation as a live act, and it was no surprise that they were being asked to play as special guests at outdoor gigs as they did with both David Bowie and The Cure (the former being at Maine Road, the then home of Manchester City FC where James stole the show from the headliner).

It was decided that a new single should be released just prior to Christmas and with a mini-tour taking in Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester to help with its promotion. The popularity of the band in their home town could be seen from the fact that they sold out two consecutive nights at the 10,000 capacity G-Mex and could probably have done the same again if the time had been available. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a ticket for the Glasgow Barrowlands gig, but I am reliably informed by someone who was there that it was amongst the best ever at the famous old venue.

The new single was a belter as well. Maybe it was the time of the year when the band thought fans might be a bit skint, but the multi-formatting approach was abandoned. It still came out on 7″, 12″, cassette and CD but you didn’t have to buy all versions to get all the songs:-

mp3 : James – Lose Control (7″ version)
mp3 : James – Lose Control (extended version)
mp3 : James – Sunday Morning
mp3 : James – Out To Get You

The extended version is two and a bit minutes longer than the 7″ . The b-side common to all formats is a tremendous cover in which the lyrics are amended with the addition of all sorts of song titles and lines from other Velvet Underground songs, The bonus b-side is such a great bit of music that it was later resurrected and re-recorded some two years later. If you’re only familiar with the version that appears on Laid, then I hope you appreciate this gentler sounding effort – I think it represents one of Tim’s loveliest and most tear-jerking vocal performances.

Enjoy

Pavement, Primal Scream, Public Service Broadcasting

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….P DIDDLING

The Robster chose the letter P

Difficult. Is one way to describe the letter P. So many decent bands begin with P. I’ve discounted Portishead, Placebo, Pure Morning (although I truly recommend you seek out ‘Scum’ from their debut album), Pop Will Eat Itself, Procul Harum and the Pixies, to name but six. I also was tempted to talk about Panjabi MC, as I have a great story about him at a wedding in Chennai, but I would definitely get sued. Anyway, there is only one place to start when talking about bands beginning with P.

Imagine the scene if you will, it 1994, it’s the Reading Festival and a relatively drunk S-WC (evening meal vodka and a falafel burger, the food of a king) and his mate who we shall called Chris (as that is his name) are hitting on two wee Scottish girls from ‘the twee village of Blairgowrie’(their words).

It is Saturday evening and we are trying to talk the two girls into coming to see Madder Rose with us, as Chris really likes them and besides we want to catch Compulsion and Elastica who were on before them. They say no, they want to see Primal Scream, the problem is on before Primal Scream is Ice Cube who no really likes but they are willing to put up with that in order to get a good spot. Personally I’m not fussed either way, as long as I see Compulsion I don’t care. Also the girls were nicer to look at that Chris, so I was probably swaying in that direction.

We consume more vodka and I think I manage to eat a doughnut to soak up the alcohol, in 1994 eating wasn’t cheating. The two girls by the way had drunk way more than us and were absolutely far more sober than either me or Chris. In the end in ways that only girls can they ‘persuaded’ us to watch Primal Scream with them, we caught Compulsion first (who were great) missed Elastica and hot footed it over to Primal Scream. I should point out that the persuasion was not as seedy as I have made it sound, I think they produced another half bottle of vodka and that swung it.

End result, Primal Scream in 1994, was the best live performance I have ever seen, perhaps it was the drink, the company and the atmosphere but standing in a field at 1030pm listening to ‘Higher Than The Sun’just about does it for me. The four of us woke up the next morning in the same tent (clothed, you filthy minded buggers, although I do remember being disappointed) with two of us having the mother of all hangovers, but it was really worth it. I have to say I have never listened to Madder Rose since that festival.

mp3 : Primal Scream – Come Together (Farley mix)

Since then I have seen Primal Scream live more than any band, they are pretty much the only band I would now travel to see outside of the South West to see live and they just get better and better live. I saw them at a place called the Eden Project a few years back now, down in Cornwall, they played ‘Screamadelica’ in full and it was truly amazing. I love their energy, their passion, and in Bobby Gillespie they have a frontman who will I think go on for ever. For those who haven’t heard it, ‘Screamadelica’ is the greatest record ever made. Period. No arguments. Forget what is written about ‘The Queen is Dead’ or ‘Pet Sounds’, they don’t even come close.

A couple of years ago I went to a wedding it was pretty dull, until the party afterwards. I was sat at the bar recovering after having a boring conversation with some bloke who drove buses in Chester. Which took up the ENTIRE MEAL. Everything I spoke about he managed successfully to bring in buses to the equation. What do you think about David Cameron’s view on Syria? Well funny you should say that, in Chester on the buses we use engine parts made in Syria…that kind of thing.

Anyway, at the bar there was a couple of blokes who didn’t fit in, they looked cool and out-of-place. I kind of nodded at them and we did the how do you know the bride and groom thing. Turns out they were related, or one of them was. They were in a band, and that band was Public Service Broadcasting. One of the two (and I have to be careful as they use pseudonyms) said we have a mantra we aim to teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future. What they do is trawl through old film archives, and use snippets of voices and then set them to music. It sounds weird but it really works. If you have a long musical memory then you might remember Paul Hardcastle tried something similar with the song ‘19’ and perhaps even Big Audio Dynamites ‘E=MC2’ but PSB do it excellently and without the feel of a gimmick. They had me the minute they told me their mantra and I hadn’t heard them. When I did what I got was the sound of 1930s announcements set to a whirl of indie guitars and electronica and I was gobsmacked at what they had done. The problem is and I never told them, is what are they going to do next?

mp3 : Public Service Broadcasting – Spitfire

Finally an oldie but a goldie, a record that is in my top ten tracks of all time. Probably, I keep changing it. I post it as an advert really, because right now on Amazon every Pavement album is available on download for £2.99 and if that is not an excuse to buy them all then I don’t know what is.

Whenever I move house – which isn’t that often these days, but I have stretched the rules to whenever I stay in a hotel, the first song I listen to in that house, room, suite whatever is ‘Summer Babe’ by Pavement. I don’t have a reason, when I moved into students halls for the first time I plugged my stereo in and the first record out of the box was ‘Slanted and Enchanted’ and I put in on and turned it up. Within ten minutes, my new neighbour had knocked on the door and asked me if I fancied a beer and that he loved Pavement and did I have anything by the Wedding Present. After that it just stuck. These days I normally listen to it on tinny speakers on the laptop but I have this feeling that one day the person in the room next door will knock and say ‘is that pavement?

mp3 : Pavement – Summer Babe (winter version)

Next week – R. but lets have some more letters please

S-WC

Eddie & The Hot Rods, Jam, Specials, Whipping Boy

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Here’s something else Dick van Dyke posted over at the old place back in June 2009:-

Is it me, or is ‘Friends ReUnited’ (and a hundred sites like it) a vacuous world of eavesdropping and one-upmanship? I mean, why, oh why, would you want anyone to know that you are now “Married (To Tracy) with 2 kids, a lumbering great mortgage and a hamster with terminal alopecia”?

And why pray tell, 20-30 years on, would you wish to be re-united with a ‘friend’ who boasts online (with photos) of his 13 foot dinghy, a Thai bride, and a timeshare in Playas de la Scunthorpe? (Bet he still has the ‘Scwewy Wabbit’ speech impediment though. Hah!) I mean, you thought the bloke was a complete cunto at school, so why would you wish to know of his subsequent adult success in the rowdy revolutionary world of soft furnishings?

Or of Maxine’s … ‘Divorced twice, 5 kids (left home). Now living with Trevor (as if you know him personally) and enjoy weekends at Dump Truck conventions in and around Caerphilly’.

Mildly curious? Christ no…

mp3 : The Jam – Burning Sky*

So anyway, in my worst midnight post-cheese-on-toast nightmare, I can just see me now – meeting up at ye olde Smegma Comprehensive School for their ‘20 Somethingth Anniversary Re-Union Night’. ….

Pissing down with rain on a bleak Tuesday in late February. I deliberately park my 14 year old Nissan Gusto a full 800 yards away. The invite said 7.30, but I thought I’d sneak in unannounced at about 8.15.

Like a prize twat, I Pull instead of Push the heavy front doors. I wonder how I might get back home in time for the 2nd half of the Champions League game on TV. Then I hear Eddie & The Hot Rods from the Disco in the gym … and crack a half smile.

mp3 : Eddie & The Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do

I was 16 when I last scuffed my shoes through these corridors. I didn’t have a past that could catch up with me. My mind wandered back. ‘You Boy. Keep to the left,’ growls the rampant Deputy Head – Leggy Hargreaves. ‘And tuck your shirt in, you insignificant little wretch’. Funny how the smell of rancid over-cooked cabbage still remains. Even though I still had my ‘life to live’, I recall just how dog-tired I felt with it all even then.

By the cloakroom, I catch my reflection in the glass of a near empty Trophy Cabinet. Belly-bulging Fred Perry over my ‘best’ jeans. Ever expanding forehead shining. Jowls like Deputy Dawg.

“Who the fuck is that?” I ask myself.

I’m collared by ‘Northern IT Guru of The Year 1989’ – Kevin Holdsworth – who is loud and proud and sporting a Devo T-shirt and inane greying goatee.

“I’m still that post-punk science fiction surrealist you know and love” he snorts. A trickle of adhesive saliva stays put in his beard.

“Did you know Basher Briggs was in prison?” Kevin announces.

“Remember how he never paid for his school dinners?” he continued. “Sneaking past dinner lady Doreen on her weaker left side; the side where she’s had the minor stroke and couldn’t see properly?”

“Oh, and remember when he smacked that effeminate lad who dressed as Ziggy Stardust?” Kevin bellows so much, his man-boobs quiver.

“Bust his nose he did. Covered his ginger quiff in blood and snot and purple make-up”.

I see a resplendent Miss Goodyear over by the rack of medicine balls. She was about 26 in 1979 and quite unrecognisable from the portly Molly Sugden figure she now cuts. Did she realise I wonder, just how attractive she was back then? As she flounced around the Art Dept caressing her coffee mug with both hands whilst wearing such unfeasibly tight trousers? Of course she bloody did! The camel toe which launched a thousand wanks. I wonder if she misses that long lost power which she held in the palm of her hand? Do Kate Bush, Agnetha, Debbie Harry et al still miss the teenage boys’ sea of .. adulation?

Evidently, in the year of Our Lord 2009, Miss Goodyear’s spottily cravatted and ‘distinguished’ husband Malcolm is Skipper at the Dewsbury Sailing Club. She says he’s trying to get Brotherhood of Man to perform at the annual Spinnaker Ball. Oh yes, he has contacts y’know; mostly through the KBC – the monthly networking Kidderminster Breakfast Commerce get-together. “And he’s a martyr to his IBS you know”.

“I wonder how he shits in a schooner when caught short?“ I hear myself thinking. Visions of him baring his arse to the choppy lake as his bowels rage are conjured up.

“Sorry, must move on. Work the room ha ha”.

mp3 : The Specials – Do Nothing

Sidle up to the sad fucker who basks openly in his own mediocrity.

“Ey up Colin. How’s yer mum?”

“She died”.

“Oh .. right”.

As I grab a handful of ‘nostalgia inducing’ Monster Munch, I see Sharon across the room. Her once long chestnut hair is now a thinning grey bob. Once bright, sparkling eyes are now dull, bespectacled and moon-stomped by crows. Pert breasts now spaniel-eared and spent. Should I pretend I haven’t seen her? Perhaps she will do the same?

The fact remains that hers was the very first errant hand in my underpants. Nonetheless, I can’t approach her now; not after all these years. Too much water under the bridge of sighs. Or as Sharon would no doubt put it, ‘Too Many Walls have been built in between us.’ I had to wash my own corduroy trousers that night – much to my mother’s puzzlement.

Dignity and embarrassment. Plus ça change ..?

I hear from a heavily tattooed love-god Dave, that 4th Former ex-‘bike’ Tricia Walsh has found Jesus – whilst she was working down at ‘Mr Bubbles’ Launderette. I also heard that Delroy – her skunkweed salesman boyfriend – has ‘found’ Wormwood Scrubs in the meantime. She prays for his rehabilitation. He continues to exchange Crack from the East Wing.

I check my watch as Blue Oyster Cult are introduced to the Steve St. Claire Disco decks. Mike Riley (aka Mavis) tells me that Tanya Wilcocks lost her circus acrobat husband last year in a bizarre trapeze accident. Her face is free from any colour and she visibly carries a wrung-out anger and bitterness which seems to be gnawing at her poor, empty soul. Why, she could crush that glass of Vimto with a single squeeze of her liver-spotted hand. Since the somersault tragedy, he tells me with added relish, she hates God and has rejected all religion.

“Best she keeps away from ex-bike Tricia Walsh and her freshly bashed bible” I whisper, as I sip on my can of warm Skol.

“Still a cynical fucker then, Dick?”

“No mate, not me. … Not me.”

mp3 : Whipping Boy – When We Were Young

*Note from JC : I’ve included the demo version of the song that was made available on the Extras CD from 1992. It has a sound and feel that seems more appropriate to the posting…

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 9)

Of the most recent singles, this is probably the one that is most popular among fans.

It will always have a special place in my own memory, given it was the song that opened his 45th birthday gig in Manchester back in 2004, during which both myself and Mrs Villain hung onto one another for dear life as we willingly got dragged into a mosh pit down the front. We then showed a huge amount of common sense by retreating some 20 yards from the stage where we watched the rest of the show in a bit more comfort and a great deal more safety.

And yet…..when you compare it to many of the early Morrissey singles, it’s a tune that’s really quite ordinary, albeit it’s a song that has a catchy enough chorus:-

mp3 : Morrissey – First Of the Gang To Die

It was the second single taken from You Are The Quarry, and while it didn’t match the Top 3 position of Irish Blood, English Heart, its performance in reaching #6 in the UK charts meant at the time it was his third-highest single chart position, and more incredibly, First Of The Gang To Die became the best-performing follow-up single he had released in his solo career.

It’s a song that clearly means a lot to Morrissey as he’s performed it live more than any other.

But as I mentioned earlier, while it is one I have fond memories of, I don’t rate it as one of my all time favourite Morrissey tunes, although I do love his Buddy Holly impression near the end when he sings ‘he stole all hearts away-a-hay-a-hay-a-hay….’

The single was released on vinyl and CD, and there were three tracks which, in old money, would be called b-sides:-

mp3 : Morrissey – My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye
mp3 : Morrissey – Teenage Dad On His Estate
mp3 : Morrissey – Mexico

The first of these is one of the very best-ever Morrissey b-sides, and a song that is arguably superior to some of those which appeared on You Are The Quarry. However, I feel that while Mexico has a nice enough melody, it is somewhat let down by an unusually dull lyric, and while Teenage Dad… has an engaging and sarcastic lyric, it is very badly let down by a pedestrian and plodding tune.

But I’m sure there will folk out there prepared to tell me that I’m well wide of the mark with such observations.

Incidentally, the photo used on the sleeve would appear to have been taken the same day as the photo that features on You Are The Quarry as the suit, shirt and tie combo appear to be identical.

Enjoy.

Popup

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 92)

From last fm a few years ago:-

Popup are from Glasgow. They are Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas. Some might say that they’ve worked up a storm – others might say that Scottish weather is too turbulent to notice.

They rehearse in a drafty old tobacco factory near the River Clyde where they sit close together to keep warm. This is how they write their songs – by sitting close together until an idea sneaks in through a crack in the wall. There are many cracks – things break – guitar strings, drumsticks, amplifiers, hearts and tempers, and so Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas have nowhere to hide – no option but to be honest. They can only be themselves or be Popup. And so Popup simply sound like popup – like Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas from Glasgow, and without a word of a lie.

They have played a few hundred shows in the UK, Europe and the USA. Some highlights include sets at T in the Park, Latitude, The Wickerman Festival, The Borderline (London), The Paradiso (Amsterdam), The Knitting Factory (New York) and at SxSW 07 & SxSW 08. They have released two singles and one album on Art/goes/pop records in the UK, and one album on Team Love Records in North America.

You can see that they were once fairly active. A couple of really goof indie-pop singles were released back in 2006 and then the debut LP appeared in 2008. In 2010/11 they were seemingly hard at work writing and recording a follow-up but I can’t ever recall seeing that it was ever released. The band’s twitter account has been inactive since December 2012 which would indicate they have broken up. Which is a bit of a pity, cos I really enjoyed them on the couple of occasions I caught them live. Here’s the second of their singles (which as you will spot makes more than a nod to early Franz Ferdinand):-

mp3 : Popup – Chinese Burn
mp3 : Popup – Stagecoach

There’s a few clips of Popup kicking around on YouTube. They’re well worth a bit of your time.

Cars

MY FIRST EVER PICTURE DISC

There was a while when picture disc singles were all the rage. This was the first one I ever bought. A single that hit the charts in February 1979, peaking at #17.

The thing was, nobody meaningful in the UK seemed to take The Cars all that seriously, (by that I mean music journalists – the fact they got a couple of Top 40 hits means enough people liked them to buy things – or maybe we were all suckers for the picture discs).

They did however, do quite well over in their own country. I suppose that we Brits had enough of our own home-grown new wave singers and bands to talk and write about that we could ignore what was happening over on the other side of the big pond. Maybe it was also the fact that the early releases were produced by Roy Thomas Baker who had a close working relationship with Queen. But they were never really hip or trendy in the UK despite the early singles and LPs being a great mix of spiky guitars and pop-orientated synths.

Just What I Needed had in fact been the band’s first success in the States in 1978, but was only released over here as the follow-up to My Best Friend’s Girl. After that, more or less nothing. But back home, they continued to greatly outsell the likes of Blondie and Talking Heads, both of who had emerged around the same time, but both of who enjoyed great critical and commercial acclaim in the UK and across Europe.

Most people nowadays think of the hit song Drive when any mention is made of The Cars, which is a dreadfully dull and dreary song that conquered the charts, not once but twice, both pre and post-Live Aid (the second time being when when it was used as the soundtrack to a particularly emotive video appeal associated with the fundraising)

The Cars broke up in 1988. While most of the lead vocals on their songs were handled by guitarist Ric Ocasek, it is bassist Benjamin Orr, who died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 53, who sings on this great wee bit of pop:-

mp3 : The Cars – Just What I Needed

There’s no way I’m not going to make any case for The Cars being a band that should be in everyone’s record collection, but I will defend the greatness of their early hit singles in the UK. They sound a bit like Squeeze…….

(Originally posted in June 2009)

Airborne Toxic Event, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Paul Haig

EVERY MUSIC FAN’S BETE NOIRE?

Triggered off in part by that XTC posting the other day featuring a photo of a concert ticket from 1979….here’s a re-post of a rant from August 2009, together with the various comments folk left behind…..

I’m guessing almost everyone who read this blog likes going along to see live music, in all its shapes and forms, whether it is unknown, unsigned bands in tiny sweaty venues or the weekend-long music festivals that dominate the summer months (or what passes for summer these years in the UK) and all points in between.

Sadly, there are certain companies we have to deal with when trying to get our hands on many of these valuable bits of paper that will gain us admission to the venue. Its changed entirely from my early concert going days in the late 70s and early 80s where you basically went along to the box office at the venue, handed over cash and got a ticket in return. The amount you handed handed over was the price on the ticket.

Nowadays, its usually over the internet or at a centralised booking office and it never reflects the price of the actual gig.

Music fans – and indeed fans wanting tickets for the theatre or sports events – have been getting robbed by these faceless tossers for years, and other than actually taking the drastic action of not going to the gigs at all, there’s very little we can do. If you google the word ‘Ticketbastard’ you’ll quickly get hours of horror stories to cast your eye over.

In the end, its not been an outrageous mark-up that’s got me pissed off, but instead something so small and insignificant that I almost didn’t notice. But when I thought of how many times this small difference would add up to a huge profit, I thought it worth mentioning.

Now, we all know that the ticket agencies levy their service charges somewhat in proportion to the price of the tickets. So, for a sports event later this year at £67.50 a ticket, the service charge is £6.08 per ticket, while a gig ticket at £18.50 gets hit with £2.25 service, and a £9 ticket gets £1.25 (interesting that the music levy is more than 10% of the face value while the sport ticket is marginally below it).

But….there is also a processing fee on top of this…..and it was the amount charged for the music gigs that annoyed me.

On 10th October 2009, I’m off with Mrs Villain to see Jonathan Richman at the Oran Mor in Glasgow, while exactly one month later, we’re off the see Airborne Toxic Event at the ABC in the same city. It was £18.50 per brief for the former, and £9 per brief for the latter, plus that service charges I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Both sets of tickets were ordered the same day, using the same credit card and over the same PC with the same email address. Both sets of tickets were posted out on the same day, and both arrived on the same day, in identical envelopes and with identical packing.

And yet…..the Jonathan Richman tickets cost 65 pence more to process.

Why? Anyone out there know the reason???

OK, its only 65p, but as I said earlier, add up all the 65 pences and you soon get a fair whack of money for fuck all. And there’s no logic….my Morrissey tickets earlier this year were a whacking £32.50 each, with £4.50 service charge on top. But the processing fee was less than that applied to the Jonathan Richman tix.

Feel free to use the comments section to vent your own frustration.

mp3 : Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Roadrunner (Twice)
mp3 : The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On?

I’ve a funny feeling this posting might just end up with a dmca notice….so I hope you’re onto this quickly swissadam. Thanks for asking for it yesterday:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Ghost Rider

Happy bitchin’.

11 RESPONSES TO “EVERY MUSIC FAN’S BETE NOIRE?”

Mona Says:

August 6, 2009 at 5:39 am
Indeed all those early morning hikes to the (Glasgow) Apollo to get in line back in the 70’s, I was invariably the first but at least I would get a ticket! we have the same shit out here in Australia and what exactly is all this money for…the recent gigs by I think it was The Police had the front seats auctioned off by the promoter, which is just scalping under a different name…I could go on…Regards/
Ed Says:

August 6, 2009 at 7:54 am
When it’s people who do it as a small business (see Ripping Records in Edinburgh, for instance) I’m sympathetic for a couple of quid, but Ticketmaster are just ripping us off left, right and centre. Another of my rants wuold be tix going on sale at times that mean you can’t get there; it’s one thing skiving school if you are a student (that that I condone this) BUT if you work for living like most of us do, then you may not be able to access the internet site from work or spend a small fortune on your mobile trying to get through…GRRR!
Coop Says:

August 6, 2009 at 8:24 am
A new development that really cheeses me off is that some venues/companies now ask you to print the tickets of yourself and charge you a fee still for the pleasure off wasting your own fucking ink. Unbelievable!
JC Says:

August 6, 2009 at 8:51 am
Ed, Like you, I have no problems with Ripping Records or other small shops in cities and towns who sell the tickets incl the booking fee. Its the big boys with their hidden and inconsistent charges that really get to me.
swissadam Says:

August 6, 2009 at 10:23 am
Thanks for the Paul Haig re-post. Agree completely about tickets- extortionate and booking fee system makes little sense. What pisses me off is tickets go on sale at say 9.00 am, 2 mins later all sold out, then re-appear on ticket selling websites, double price and upwards. When the Specials sold tickets for the Manchester Apollo gigs back in June standing tickets immediately jumped to £65, within minutes of them selling out.
condemnedtorocknroll Says:

August 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I have had my fair share of ticket problems (mainly to do with tickets selling out superhumanly fast and then reappearing for crazy prices on auction sites, or selling out because apparently everyone but me had some pre-sale code). And I agree that we are all being burned being slaves to the Ticketmaster. I miss the old days of lining up and first come, first serve. Thankfully, quite a few of the bands I see just aren’t popular enough to sell out quickly. I dread to think what would happen if I wanted to see David Bowie live again – I’m thinking I won’t get third row again.
Jim Says:

August 6, 2009 at 2:53 pm
That’s one thing that really pisses me off about King Tut’s. If you want to get a ticket online, you need to go through Ticketmaster. A recent gig I’d planned on going to was only a fiver, by the time Ticketmaster added their booking fee and a bonus charge for me picking up the ticket at the bar, the price had nearly doubled. I’m off to see Beerjacket in Tut’s on Saturday and he is so pissed off at Ticketmaster – apparently he’ll see no money from any tickets sold through them – he’s been arranging to meet people and sell them tickets himself, for the proper price. That’s great for me, not a problem to go meet him and get some tickets, but sucks for both people who are buying online and then for him when he doesn’t even get their cash.As Coop said, the new trend for charging you an extra couple of quid to print the ticket yourself – and I’ve seen a few times where this has been the ONLY option – is another kick in the nuts.Booking fees really get my goat. And I don’t even have a goat!
a Tart Says:

August 7, 2009 at 1:48 am
I live literally less than 10 blocks from the venue where Yo La Tengo will play and I cannot get tickets other than by online via TicketBastard who will take a $23 dollar ticket and after all their fucking service charges and fees end up taking $38 off me! That’s FIFTEEN FUCKING dollars of FUCKING FEES!!!! I am literally screaming at my computer and my wife is looking at me rather horrified even after I’ve explained why. Yes, welcome to ‘merica, land of the free to rape you in every way we possibly can. /rantthank you sir, for the space, love as always, xoxo
Agnes Says:

August 7, 2009 at 6:17 am
I’m with Mona, here in Oz ticket prices are scandalous. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re so bloody far away from everywhere else and it costs more to get here, but if that’s the case then I object! That’s a geographical fee that is, and it’s not our fault we’re at the end of the bloody world! Rubbish.Example ticket cost: $83 AUS to see Sigur Ros at Festival Hall which is basically a big barn with plastic seats and old wooden floors. Hardly a palace. That reminds me of merchandise costs too – $45 for a shirt as well! The sad thing is that I write this and I’m still thinking to myself “yeah but it was worth it”. That’s how they get us in the end.
Mona Says:

August 7, 2009 at 10:16 am
Indeed how do they justify these prices, upcoming Ry Cooder + Nick lowe @ Palais in Melb $140, that is 70 quid and that is before the extra’s. pearl Jam advertised as a value for money $99!!!Regards/
Ah Fong Says:

August 10, 2009 at 8:21 pm
whats with the same fee to pick up at the venue OR have them posted? and does anyone remember buying at the door with no booking fee? or am i just an auld bastart?do venues/promoters get cash from these companies, or does it just relieve them of the hassle(?!) of printing and selling themselves?ticketmaster are the ryanair of music.any chance of richmans ‘into the mystery’?

Violent Femmes

IT’S MEANT TO BE A TUNELESS TAKE DUMBASS….

The bio of Violent Femmes in the on-line edition of the magazine Rolling Stone says:-

“..too bad the Violent Femmes‘ tuneless take on Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” actually makes you pine for Boy George”

It’s such sentences that remind me irony isn’t always a strongpoint of Americans.

At the risk of stating the obvious…..IT’S MEANT TO BE A TUNELESS TAKE DUMBASS.

Personally, I never did care much for the music of Culture Club. That’s one of the reasons I have a great deal of fun listening to a wonderfully bitter, twisted, and yes tuneless, cover version:-

mp3 : Violent Femmes – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? (7″ edit)

The original took the world by storm. It was #1 or #2 in twelve different charts around the world selling who knows how many millions of copies. But that doesn’t make it a good song.

It’s trite, it’s inspid and, well boring is the word that springs to mind. It’s also wholly unrealistic.

The protagonist is heartbroken because a love affair has come to an end. And he’s willing just to let it slip away and take all the agony, pain and heartbreak imaginable without wishing any ill on the other person. The lyrics are sickly, syrupy and unreal:-

You’ve been talking but believe me
If its true you do not know
This boy loves without a reason
I’m prepared to let you go

If its love you want from me
Then take it away
Everything is not what you see
It’s over today

Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?

Gordon Gano on the other hand, with just a few little word changes here and there, ends up turning into a quite shocking tale of someone revelling in the hurt, pain and misery of a break-up:-

I’ve been talking but believe me
I know that its true now that there no more
I’m in love and loves the reason
I’m not prepared to let you let me go

So if it’s love you want
Then take all of me
It’s this love I want
I can finally see

Do I really want to hurt you?
Do I really want to make you cry?
Yes, I suppose I want to hurt you
You told the truth but it was still a lie

Methinks the man from Rolling Stone didn’t actually listen to this re-interpretation before making his ill-advised comments.

C’mon…..whose take on the song is closer to reality????? Here’s the other tracks on the CD single:-

mp3 : Violent Femmes – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? (full length)
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Dance Motherfucker Dance!
mp3 : Violent Femmes – To The Kill (live – November 1990, The Palace, Melbourne, Australia)

Enjoy

(Originally posted on 7 August 2008)

Quasi, Queens Of The Stone Age, Quickspace

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT…..Q-TIPS

Dirk aka Sexyloser chose the letter Q

Before I start a note to my sponsor – Just for the record ‘Graham’, I’m not trying too hard (see Jay Talkin’ two weeks ago), what you read is a mixture of wit, talent and arrogance some of us have it, some of us don’t and jealousy is really bad attribute to display publicly. Whilst I’m on the subject of talent, what I type is nothing compared to the daily brilliance of the JC, and the likes of Drew over at ‘Across the Kitchen Table’and countless other bloggers who really should be doing this stuff professionally. The reason I don’t do a blog daily is because by Friday no one would be reading anymore (that and having an 18 month old takes up most of my spare time, I write this as she naps). Some people don’t like certain types of music, other people do like it. Don’t call me an idiot just because I was nasty to one of your heroes. Get over it, or start your own blog dedicated to what you like – I’ve even thought of a name for it for you ‘Killing the Bland’ (that’s a relatively obscure Prolapse song that I hope features in Saturdays Scottish Single sometime soon). You can thank me when you have one million readers.

Anyway…Welcome to the letter Q. I have three bands on my iPod who start with Q. Which is lucky. None of them are Queen, Queensryche or strangely, Quicksand, as I do own an album by them. It’s not the Quads either Dirk, sorry.

I’ll start with the obvious… Formed from the ashes of stoner rock band Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age revolve around the genius that is Josh Homme. Their best record is perhaps ‘Rated R’ which features the classics ‘Feel Good Hit of the Summer’ and ‘Lost Art of Keeping a Secret’. The former is a three minute blast which name checks various narcotics and substances and very little else, but we all know that. If you don’t download it…Now…and then come back and finish reading this.

I think I said previously that the most recent album (their sixth?, I forget) by QOTSA’…Like Clockwork’ was my favourite of last year. Considering that for most of his career Josh Homme has crafted a fine knack of not giving a shit, ‘…Like Clockwork’ is as close to perfection as you can get. I’ll start by mentioning ‘If I had a Tail’ a track so damn sexy is pretty much rubbing itself against as you listen to it. The song features Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys but I’m buggered if I know where. Much of this record wouldn’t sound out of place in a sleazy bar, it’s a dirty, filthy kind of record, and that is great. But it has its tender moments, ‘The Vampyre of Time and Memory’ is a very low key, piano led ode to memories which I think wouldn’t sound out of place on the last Daft Punk album. It is a simply stunning record, from probably the greatest balls out rock band on the planet right now.

mp3 : Queens of The Stone Age – If I Had A Tail

Following the rock trend, next up we have Quasi with ‘Repulsion’which is taken from the 2010 album ‘American Gong’. I’m kind of hoping that most readers will be aware of Quasi, but if you may have missed them here’s the brief…they are a male and female duo who both grew up in South California, moved to Portland to make music, got married and then divorced, the two of them also feature on many Elliot Smith records and the odd Sleater Kinney album. They started recording in 1993 and I think American Gong is their ninth studio album.

It was a bit of change of direction for them as it was their first proper rock record, usually concentrating on drum centric keyboard pop records. It was also their first as a three piece, as they added someone to play bass, whose name I forget but was in Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.

Repulsion was the first single to be released from ‘American Gong’ and it’s a lot of fun. It reminds me of early Dinosaur Jr records, which is no bad thing, the voices of the main two people Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes sound lovely together. This was my first experience of Quasi and from this I downloaded ‘American Gong’, but if you are curious then the tremendous music streaming site Epitonic has some more free stuff of theirs.

mp3 : Quasi – Repulsion

Finally we come to Quickspace, who were formed in 1994 and were originally Quickspace Supersport. Singer and founder Tom Cullinan was formally in Th’ Faith Healers but formed Quickspace to develop a more tuneful and experimental band. The first review of Quickspace that I remember called them ‘the Stereolab that rocks’ that is no bad thing at all. It’s not strictly true, as they favour a more drone rock style but y’know still good.

Quickspace are one of those band that I think a lot of people would find it hard to like, I think they are the nearest contemporaries that The Fall have, perhaps slightly more tuneful. In the late 90s they shunned big money offers from major labels and instead set up the Kitty Kitty Label and that is where they released most of their records. These include the terrific singles ‘Friends’ and ‘Rise’ both of which were minor indie hits thanks largely to radio play by uber fan Steve Lamacq. In 1998 they released their second album proper ‘Precious Falling’ to much critical acclaim and it featured perhaps their best known songs ‘Hadid’, and ‘Quickspace Happy Song #2’ . Personally I love them.

mp3 : Quickspace – Quickspace Happpy Song #2

S-WC

Dukes Of Stratosphear, XTC

THIS IS POP…

Today is going to be one of the highlights of the week’s golf in Hilton Head as I’m scheduled to play over a course which has, for years, hosted a tournament on the PGA Tour. I thought it would therefore be appropriate to feature an old posting from someone who will be with me today – Mr John Greer – and given that some words on XTC a few weeeks back proved to be one of the most popular ever to feature on the blog, I’ve gone back to what he said on 7 June 2009:-

I remember the first time I ever saw XTC it was in 1978 on the music show Revolver; I was in the bar of St Andrews University, I worked for the University , I wasn’t a student.

Revolver was an ITV music show, which preceded Channel 4’s The Tube; it only ran for one series of 8 episodes and had Peter Cook as the manager of the fictional nightclub where the show was being filmed.

XTC played their single This Is Pop and the following Monday I had to buy it. It seemed to be totally different to any of the other singles of the day with a very angular sound. Their appearance on Revolver can be seen on youtube if you have a search.

The previously released single Statue Of Liberty had been banned by the BBC for having the line “sail beneath your skirt”, this song showed off the band’s great early sound which was a hybrid of punk, reggae and ska. Andy Partridge preferred to call their style of music ‘New Pop’ rather than ‘New Wave’.

mp3 : XTC – Statue Of Liberty

1979 saw the release of the band’s most successful album Drums and Wires, with the wonderful single Making Plans for Nigel. It was during the accompanying tour that I saw them for the one and only time at The Odeon in Edinburgh.

Lead singer Andy Partridge had always suffered from stage fright, but he struggled on until he suffered a breakdown on stage during one of the first concerts of the English Settlement tour in Paris in 1982. It was reported that his wife had thrown away his supply of Valium. According to the band’s biography, Andy had the drug prescribed to him as a teenager during his parents’ divorce and over the subsequent years, having never been withdrawn from the drug he had become overly-dependent on it.

The European and British dates were cancelled and after one show, the U.S leg was also abandoned, and in due course XTC withdrew from live appearances and became almost exclusively a studio band, only occasionally performing live on radio shows.

As with most people my music buying changed with age, marriage and becoming a father and the subsequent 5 albums passed me by, but I did buy the occasional single found while trawling in record shops.

I also did with hindsight, a very stupid thing; I sold all my vinyl albums, 12-inch singles and singles. I thought CDs were easier to store and transport when we moved house, – and on a few occasions on this blog JC himself has talked of the agony of and woes of losing many classics in a change of address.

Indeed it was JC, who gave me the compilation CD, Fossil Fuel as a birthday gift, that started my interest in listening to XTC again. The early singles were as good and fresh as ever and I liked the newer material.

Over the years XTC have influenced many bands, it’s hard not to listen to The Futureheads without hearing a similar sound, and I recently read an article where Coldplay credit Andy Partridge’s writing as being a major influence.

In 2003, I heard a single on Radio 2 and thought it was pure XTC; it turned out to be aband from my own Kingdom Of Fife – indeed they were from my old stomping ground of St Andrews – Dogs Die In Hot Cars, with their minor hit I Love You Cause I Have To.

On Boxing Day 2007, I was standing doing the dishes in the kitchen, feeling quite sorry for myself, as I’d been down to Berwick to see Raith Rovers suffer an unexpected defeat to Berwick Rangers, when Bob Harris played, again on Radio 2, a track that lifted my gloom for a wee while.

It was the wonderful Wrapped in Grey by XTC. At that moment I thought it was a new track but I later found out it was from their album Nonsuch. It prompted me to download the album. I had the singles from Nonsuch on Fossil Fuel but I’d never heard this track.

mp3 : XTC – Wrapped In Grey

I read recently the band felt it was one of their finest moments and would be perfect to release as a single; they loved the Pet Sounds feel to it. But the band were in dispute with Virgin Records and after pressing thousands of singles, they were recalled and destroyed.

During their long career, XTC have also released material under a variety of pseudonyms, including two albums of psychedelic outings as The Dukes of Stratosphear, a Viz comic’s promotional single as Johnny Japes and his Jesticles, and a Christmas-themed single as The Three Wise Men.

My younger brother had also been a XTC fan and I think the concert in Edinburgh in 1979 was the only gig we ever attended together. He did have the The Dukes Of Stratosphear albums and the track I always loved was Vanishing Girl. The albums were a homage to 60’s pop and psychedelia. If you were to listen to Vanishing Girl alongside the Small Faces it wouldn’t seem out of place.

mp3 : The Dukes of Stratosphear – Vanishing Girl

As recently as 2007 XTC were still releasing new tracks via their own online streaming webpage.

As a footnote, a very good friend of mine and reader of this blog, Iain Fenton always hated XTC, after Andy Partridge made a statement to the NME or Sounds that “ all the Scots were good at, was growing ginger hair!!! …… At this point, I have to explain that when I still had hair it was ginger ( well….. strawberry blonde)….

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 8)

Now, this is just a hunch, but I reckon that in any poll of 1,000 fans asking for a list of their Top 10 favourite Morrissey singles, there will be at least 999 who include this. And the one who doesn’t is a liar.

Released in June 1988, Everyday Is Like Sunday has proven to be one of the most enduring songs of the solo career, having being played on most of the solo tours, particularly those since the 2002 comeback. The single went to #9 in the UK charts which is a hugely impressive achievement given that the song had been available on the LP Viva Hate for a few months beforehand. And while I imagine that many fans would have bought the single for the sake of keeping up the collection (that was certainly my reason at the time), the fact is that the three extra tracks provided on the b-side of the 12″ single are as good as anything else Morrissey had released as a solo artist at that time in his career.

It was like a throwback to his early career with The Smiths when the release of a new single was every bit as eagerly anticipated for the b-sides as well as the ones you would see them perform on Top of The Pops.

mp3 : Morrissey – Everyday Is Like Sunday
mp3 : Morrissey – Sister I’m A Poet
mp3 : Morrissey – Disappointed
mp3 : Morrissey – Will Never Marry

The lead track (but not its b-sides) was once the subject of a dmca. It’s been filed differently this time.

Enjoy.