THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 5)

Today’s offering goes back to 1997 and was the second single to be taken off the LP Maladjusted.

Unusually for a Morrissey single, he’s nowhere to be seen on the cover – instead its a 1950s photo in a London street (I have to be honest when I bought the CD single that it thought the photo had been taken in the 1970s in my own home city…..)

But there is a snap of the great man himself inside, looking as handsome as ever in a grey checked jacket and white shirt, leaning against an old juke-box.

The reason I’m saying so much about the sleeve is that I really don’t have all that much to offer about the actual single which I reckon is one of the poorest and dullest he’s ever released. No tune to speak off and a completely lame lyric which relies totally on a pun. In fact, given there’s no promo video for the song, I’m guessing there was more enthusiasm from the record company than Morrissey himself.

I can just imagine some executive thinking….’maybe all those Manchester United fans will think it’s about one of their players….’

mp3 : Morrissey – Roy’s Keen
mp3 : Morrissey – Lost
mp3 : Morrissey – The Edges Are No Longer Parallel

I know there’s quite a few fans love the song Lost, but I think its nothing more than OK – although it hints at the sort of production that would dominate on You Are The Quarry some 7 years hence…

Enjoy (but I doubt it).

Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 88)

Pale Blue Eyes was released back in 1969 by The Velvet Underground. It very quickly became a favourite of buskers and would-be-rock-stars the world over and has since been given the cover treatment by countless bands and artists. If you don’t believe me, google in the words ‘Pale Blue Eyes – cover versions’ and see the results for yourself.

Just about all of the versions I’ve ever heard more or less stick faithfully to the tone and delivery of that of the original – but no doubt there is a drum’n’bass or house style out there somewhere just to prove me wrong.

In August 1984 Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins released their version as the first release on a label called Swamplands, the boss of which was none other than Alan Horne, the genius behind Postcard Records. The label was funded entirely as a subsidiary of London Records which itself was part of the multi-national Decca Records.

Here’s the 7″ and 12″ versions as well as the b-sides:-

mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes (7″)
mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes (12″)
mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Burro
mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes (Western Version)

Alan Horne had huge hopes for this record, believing it would catapult Swamplands and ll its acts to fame and fortune. It got no higher than #72 in the UK charts.

In the end, just six singles were released on the label, none of which sold well, before London pulled the plug on the venture.

SWP1 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes
SWP3 : James King & The Lonewolves – The Angels Know
SWP4 : Memphis – You Supply The Roses
SWP5 : Win – Unamerican Broadcasting
SWP6 : Paul Quinn – Ain’t That Always The Way
SWP8 : Win – You’ve Got The Power

Only Win would remain on the parent label….but that’s a story for another day.

Big Country, Bronski Beat, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

A NOVEL WAY TO CELEBRATE YOUR 45th BIRTHDAY

A guest posting from long-time reader Jim Chambers

So… the vinyl villain inspired me – he didn’t know it but I can’t thank him enough for planting this particular seed in my mind and he is indirectly reaponsible for my hangover a few weeks ago. It was his 45 45s series that got me thinking…

I’ve just celebrated my 45th birthday so I’m of the generation when a 7″ single really meant something. I threw a party – the first house party since I was a student I think. (You know the way you get slightly precious about the carpet and all that.)

I invited 45 people to my house. The only condition was they had to bring their favourite 7″ single. I hired decks, a smoke machine and strobes (it was a package – honest I didn’t get carried away)…

Everyone got into the spirit of it, bringing along some absolute classics. And everyone is a secret DJ – given the chance. Even if they want to play Remember You’re A Womble. My mates spoke about what they were going to play in their ‘set’ as if they were headlining the dance tent at Glastonbury, which was all quite amusing. The night got a little hazy after the third round of sambucas but I can remember a good friend of mine and me dancing away and shouting all the words to Lost Weekend at each other much to the astonishment of everyone else. If only I’d remembered my schoolwork as well as I could remember lyrics…

There was serious drinking, dancing, grown men hugging each other and much laughter.

And obviously when you get to ‘a certain age’ it’s unusual to see so many of your friends in the same room – it’s normally reserved for weddings etc so personally the night was a sheer delight. It wasn’t without its moments… The occasional row etc but nothing too serious. The carpet didn’t get ruined, nothing got damaged and the neighbours didn’t complain so all in all a great, memorable night.

The records I’ve chosen are all Scottish (in honour of JC) and all went down well on the night.

mp3 : Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – Lost Weekend
mp3 : Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy (12″ version)
mp3 : Big Country – In A Big Country (LP version)

So thanks JC for inspiring me and thanks for allowing me to share the story. My friends are now all looking forward to a 78s party which I expect will be a much more sedate affair.

JIM

Aztec Camera

A POINTLESS, MONEY-GRABBING EXERCISE

In 1993, the LP Dreamland was released by Aztec Camera. Three multi-format singles were lifted from it. Fans who bought the various formats hoping for new material that hadn’t made the cut for the LP were left sorely disappointed but there was some consolation prizes, initially at least.

First up was Spanish Horses. It came out in three formats and the b-sides consisted of 7 live versions of old songs appealing enough to fans to make it a worthwhile purchase. But it still only reached #52.

Next was Dream Sweet Dreams. It also came out in three formats and consisted of 6 live versions of old songs; again, these were of enough appeal that it reached #67.

The third and last single was Birds.

This was the opening track on the LP and seen by many as one of the best songs on a record that had received mixed reviews and hadn’t sold well. Being the third single off an LP was always going to be of limited appeal, so you’d think everyone concerned would do something special on the b-sides. Instead what we got was a pointless, money-grabbing exercise as the single was issued on 2 x CDs with the five tracks on the b-sides – Working In A Goldmine, Knife, Somewhere In My Heart, Oblivious and Good Morning Britain – all being the exact same versions of songs that had been released some years earlier. There was absolutely no incentive whatsoever to buy Birds other than for the sake of completeness.

You won’t be surprised to hear it didn’t dent the charts. In fact, I’d be surprised if sales reached four figures….

mp3 : Aztec Camera – Birds

File under rip-off.

Idlewild

B SIDES KILLERS AND FILLERS

Back in 2000, Idlewild released a hugely enjoyable LP called 100 Broken Windows.

Four singles were lifted from the LP, all of which charted – none higher than #23 and none lower than #38 when they were all deserving of a minimum of Top 10. It was an era when singles came out in multiple formats, which was usually 2 x CDs but sometimes you’d also have a 7″ single thrown in.

It’s no real surprise that many acts ended up putting remixes or different versions of previously released material to fill up all the required b-sides, while cover versions were also a popular way of doing similar.

CD2 of the third single lifted from 100 Broken Windows is a perfect example of what I mean as it featured an acoustic version of the most recent single and a cover of a track that was bound be well-known to and therefore be of appeal to most of the band’s fans:-

mp3 : Idlewild – These Wooden Ideas
mp3 : Idlewild – Actually It’s Darkness (acoustic version)
mp3 : Idlewild – Rescue

The acoustic version is quite lovely and rather fragile. Not only does it show how good a song it is but it helps display a softer and highly accomplished side of the band that is all too often neglected. The cover of the Echo & The Bunnymen track however, in the opinion of someone who is a fan of both band is rather pointless and bitterly disappointing. It just sounds like a pub covers band’s take on the song…

Enjoy…..in parts.

Randolph's Leap

CLUMSY KNOT by RANDOLPH’S LEAP

I’ve temporarily taken over S-WC’s spot this week as I want to draw your attention to what has a very strong chance of finishing 2014 as my favourite LP of the year.

Officially released yesterday, but launched at a gig last Saturday evening at a venue about a mile from Villain Towers, Clumsy Knot is the ‘proper’ debut LP by Randolph’s Leap. It has come out on a relatively new label, Lost Map, which is run by Johnny Lynch, (aka The Pictish Trail) a name which will be very familiar to fans of Fence Records, a venture which he was a huge part of until late 2013.

I was lucky enough to have been passed on an advance copy of Clumsy Knot about three weeks ago and it has been on heavy rotation ever since. While I’ve been well aware of the band for a while, not least for the fact that some of the best and most knowledgable Scottish music bloggers out there (and in particular Mike from Manic Pop Thrills and Lloyd from Peenko) have been raving about them, this was the first I had really sat down and given the music my close attention.

There are 13 tracks on the LP. Some of them are re-workings of songs previously available on a range of low-key and lo-fi recordings these past couple of years. Now I’m in the fortunate position of not having to compare the merits of the earlier home-made versions against what has now been released and so I’m coming to Clumsy Knot without any pre-conceived ideas. And I’m prepared to say that it is an exceedingly fine record with loads of moments that thrilled me in ways that are all too rare nowadays when I’m listening to new and emerging bands for the first time.

There are loads of bands out there, particularly here in Scotland, who are incredibly adept at blending folk, indie and pop in ways that are hugely enjoyable. But Randolph’s Leap have raised that particular bar just a bit higher.

It’s an album on which the talents of all eight performers can be appreciated, especially on the big-sounding, uptempo and impossible not to dance-to songs such as past single Hermit where the keyboards, violin, trumpet and trombone invoke marvellous memories of Dexy’s at the height of their powers but with lyrics that invoke the gentle humour and playfulness of Neil Hannon. On the other side of the coin, there’s a song like Weatherman, a gut-wrenching break-up song laced with a couple of wry and amusingly bitter one-liners, while Black & Blue is one which musically got me thinking about some of the acoustic material written back in the early years by Martin Stephenson.

And thinking about it further – just as Boat to Bolivia veered all over the place some thirty years ago in a way that has made it one of my favourite albums of all time, then Clumsy Knot is a record impossible to pigeon-hole given the wide range of styles employed throughout.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that, on the first couple of listens, I was also struck by a similarity that some of the songs had in sound to material written and recorded by Paulo Nutini. This observation was and remains based admittedly on a limited knowledge of the Paisley troubadours material, but given how his catchy and radio-friendly songs have earned him millions of pounds while keeping on the right side of the critics, then there’s surely enough room and interest to put the band and this new label firmly on the map.

However, my praise for this particular record and the band is not simply down to a few weeks on the i-pod.

Readers of old will know that the music snob in me holds back from giving out fulsome praise until I’ve had the chance to see if the singer or band in question can cut the mustard in a live setting, and up until last Saturday, I had only seen Randolph’s Leap-lite – i.e either frontman Adam Ross on his own or with just some of his bandmates and never as the main attraction.

This time it was the full thing, and despite being handicapped by a venue that was less than ideal for sound (it’s part of 100-year old former school building with a lot of echo) as well as what seemed like a bit of an below-par PA, Randolph’s Leap turned in a mesmerising, energetic and captivating performance, roared on by 250-strong audience delighted to be part of what was such a special occasion. My roars were as loud as those who have been following the band from the beginning.

It was a gig I went home from with a big daft grin on my face. One that stayed with me all of Sunday as I went through to watch my football team compete in a cup final for the first time in 20 years. The daft grin just got wider as I watched my team defy the odds and pull off what many regarded as a shock win.

Today, I went back to work and again played the album one more time. The gig and the football match are now intertwined events in my mind and always will be.

Forget the ‘strong chance’ I gave Clumsy Knot for album of the year. It’s a shoo-in………….

mp3 : Randolph’s Leap – Hermit

Clumsy Knot is available to buy here. It can also, for a short time, be listened to here.

Enjoy

Colourfield

A GREAT UNACKNOWLEDGED LP

My posting on The Specials last week triggered off a search of the archives of the old blog for something I’d done on another of The bands that Terry Hall enjoyed success with. I’ve updated and modified it slightly, but this is more or less what I said back in October 2008.

My introduction to The Colourfield came via TV, and a video commissioned by The Tube for their debut single*. It was a totally different sound from that of Terry Hall‘s previous bands – lots of acoustic guitar with a very clean production – quintessential pop music with a hint of indie in many ways.

It came as such a shock to long-standing fans and many other music critics that one reviewer was led to write:-

‘This lot have absolutely nothing going for them. No sense of humour. No glamour. No good melodies. No danceable rhythms. No excitement. No controversy. No emotion. Nothing whatsoever. They are, in short, ruddy awful’

He was of course, quite wrong, and while the band didn’t have anything like the impact or success of The Specials or Fun Boy Three, the first set of singles and the debut LP were quite exquisite and exceptional.

The debut single itself reached #43 in January 1984. The follow-up single, Take, bombed at #70. But in January 1985, a bitter-sweet pop song, started to get a lot of airplay, and gradually it started to climb the charts. Thinking Of You eventually peaked at #12 in February 1985.

Virgins and Philistines hit the shops in April 1985, by which time the morose but beautiful Castles In the Air, a single that sounded as if had come straight from the mid-60s had failed. Unsurprisingly, given that just one of their 45s had sold in any numbers, the record-buying public shunned the LP. But its their loss.

This is a record that was ahead of its time. Just four years later, Paul Heaton formed The Beautiful South and released a bundle of hit singles and albums that aren’t a million miles away from that of The Colourfield. And just after that, Ian Broudie formed The Lightning Seeds to great acclaim, and again much of the sound of his band could be traced back to The Colourfield.

Ten tracks long, and just under 40 minutes long – it didn’t include the debut single but the three follow-ups were all there. It’s a gloriously mellow piece of work, sometimes low-key, but filled with gorgeous pop music throughout – hints of Spanish guitar, synth-produced strings, woodwind instruments and keyboards all appear at different times on different songs. And there’s even a protest song – the very catchy Cruel Circus which slates animal cruelty, and in particular those creatures who are born in and confined to research laboratories.

Thinking back, I think its fair to assume that the main reason no-one took it seriously was that Terry Hall had forged a reputation as a representative of disaffected youth and having been pigeon-holed in that fashion not too many were keen to allow him to carve a different and more lasting niche.

Virgins and Philistines is an album that for years had been long deleted, and indeed when I wrote the original post it had never been given a CD release in the UK, but that was rectified some 2 years later in 2010.

As such, when I ripped the vinyl to mp3 to accompany the post, it was the first time I had played the LP in its entirety for the best part of 20 years and it remains a real favourite re-discovery that I still flick to when I’m on a bus or train journey-

mp3 : The Colourfield – Thinking Of You
mp3 : The Colourfield – Cruel Circus
mp3 : The Colourfield – The Hammond Song

* I recently picked up a copy of the debut single. It was then I noticed that the song AND the band was called The Colour Field. Two separate words. An ‘oops’ on my part back in 2008. Here is the debut:-

mp3 : The Colour Field – The Colour Field

This b-side to the single was also included on the album, as the closing track. And no wonder. If, like me, you’re a bit of a sucker for the bitterly honest and straight from the heart break-up songs – the sorts that Elvis Costello and David Gedge have often specialised in over the years – then I hope you’ll agree that this is up there with the best of them:-

mp3 : The Colour Field – Sorry

Enjoy

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 4)

Until 2013’s low-key release of Satellite of Love, the chart performance of Hold On To Your Friends back in May 1994 held the distinction of being the lowest ever position of any Morrissey single when it peaked at #47. Matters were not helped by the fact that only one song was added to the various formats (7″, 12″ and CD single) in the shape of a rather pointless cover of a song that dated back to 1961:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Hold On To Your Friends
mp3 : Morrissey – Moonriver (extended version)

His version of the Henry Mancini song, which has been covered by dozens of other artists, including the likes or R.E.M., Strangelove and The Divine Comedy (as well as just about every easy-going MOR singer you care to think of) is very very ordinary to the point of dullness. And at 9mins 39 secs in length, it could have done with some serious paring-down.

Happy Listening.

Paul Quinn

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 87)

I’ve reached a great part of the alphabetical rundown. The word Paul followed by the word Quinn.

Today it’s just those two words. The next three Saturdays have the word ‘and’ to follow. I make no apologies at all. All you need to know about this talent and genius can be found at the The Punk Rock Hotel

This single has already featured on T(n)VV back in October 2013. As I said at the time, it’s from 1985, it’s on Swampland Records and it is credited to Paul Quinn alone for the reason that the song’s composer, arranger and main instrumentalist had contractual issues preventing him being fully credited as a performer. Here’s the tracks from the 12″:-

mp3 : Paul Quinn – Ain’t That Always The Way
mp3 : Paul Quinn – Punk Rock Hotel (closing time)
mp3 : Paul Quinn – Corrina, Corrina

The middle track is an instrumental by Edwyn Collins & Paul Heard. Now…..the only info I can find on any musician called Paul Heard is that he was a keyboardist with M People. Does anyone know if it is the same bloke on this track?

Oh and Corrina Corinna is a song that dates back to 1928…it has a fascinating history.

Enjoy

Specials

A LOT OF THE FOLK PICTURED ON THIS SLEEVE WILL BE GRANDPARENTS NOW…

There are loads of stats that can be thrown about from today’s offering.

– in February 1981, this became just the second EP ever to reach #1 in the UK singles charts; the first had been back in 1976 when greek crooner Demis Roussous took his Phenomenon EP to the top of the hit parade

– Too Much Too Young became the first live track to reach #1 in more than 9 years; the previous occasion had been Chuck Berry with My-Ding-A-Ling

– at 2:04, the lead track was the shortest #1 throughout the 80s

– the five tracks on the EP had ten different composers

– Terry Hall‘s dad was in the audience for the Coventry gig at which the b-side was recorded; this was the first time he’s seen The Specials perform in concert

I’ve long hummed and hawed about whether to use this 45 on the blog for the simple reason that it is record in terrible condition with all sorts of hisses and crackles. But in the end…..

mp3 : The Specials – Too Much Too Young (live)
mp3 : The Specials – Guns Of Navarone (live)
mp3 : The Specials – Skinhead Symphony (live)*
* features Longshot Kick The Bucket, Liquidator and Skinhead Moonstomp

Enjoy. And hopefully you can track down versions with a far better sound quality.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

THEY CALL HER NATASHA WHEN SHE LOOKS LIKE ELSIE

Before I get started on the music…..I just want to say that if you want evidence of how far we’ve come in terms of interior design and decor then have a look at the sleeve above. That carpet and wallpaper was incredibly representative of just about everyone’s homes in the late 70s. Nowadays, you have to go to certain pubs in certain less salubrious parts of towns and cities to get the full effect. But I digress.

From 1978. A deserved Top 20 hit for Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea

Here’s a wonderfully penned review:-

“(I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea” is a brilliant ska-inflected rocker from Elvis Costello’s debut with crack backing band the Attractions on the excellent This Year’s Model LP. The track was inexplicably left off the original American CBS release in 1978, U.S. fans having to wait to hear this bristling jolt of pop until a collection of British B-sides, Taking Liberties, was issued in 1980.

“Chelsea” features the flashy yet powerful drumming of Pete Thomas and a taught bass line from (brother in name only) bassist Bruce Thomas locked in an impressively tight groove, providing the surging engine over which Steve Nieve adds some swirling organ. Costello makes economic use of his guitar, contributing a stinging quick riff and well-placed accent chords throughout. The lyrics rain down in a torrent, Costello blurting out accusatory lines with an embittered sneer, “Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at 66/He thinks of all the girls that he’s going to fix/She gave a little flirt gave herself a little cuddle/But there’s no place here for the mini-skirt waddle/Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model/They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie/I don’t want to go to Chelsea.”

The music modulates for the chorus dropping down as Costello continues his tirade against the shallow nature of vanity and fixations on beauty: “Oh no it does not move me/Even though I’ve seen the movie/I don’t want to check your pulse/I don’t want nobody else/I don’t want to go to Chelsea,” the band slamming to a quick stop on the last line.

An excellent live version can be heard on Live at El Mocambo, recorded in Toronto in 1978. The band plays up the ska quotient, adding a kind of shuffling dance beat, the song played at a furious tempo. Costello adds back slashing reggae accent guitar. The band stretches out making dramatic use of the song’s many breaks, at one point reducing the music to two pulsing notes, Costello expertly milking the vocals for dramatic effect, squeezing as much venom from the word as possible. The band powers through a brisk syncopated finish.

Those words got me to track down said live version:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea (live)

It is rather tasty if not quite living up to the powerful review. But it was well worth the 79p download from itunes.

Chelsea was a 45 long gone from the collection but I found a second-hand copy quite recently. Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – You Belong To Me

A song with its roots in the pub rock sound that was very instrumental in paving the way for punk/new wave here in the UK. Only a b-side/album track, there’s a lot of bands of that era would have jumped all over it as a single if they had written it…

Enjoy.

Kirsty MacColl

A POP SONG THAT STAYS JUST ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF NOVELTY

I won’t insult anyone by recounting the life and times and ultimately the tragic and untimely death of Kirsty MacColl.

Like most of you who are aged 40 and upwards, I’m guessing the first time she would have appeared on your radar was when she took this into the charts back in the spring of 1981:-

mp3 : Kirsty MacColl – There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis

Released in an era when many refused to believe the ‘King of Rock’nRoll’ had really died four years earlier, this is a humourous pop song that just stays on the right side of novelty from the pen of someone who Johnny Marr has described as one of England’s greatest-ever lyricists….and from a man who has worked so closely with Morrissey and Matt Johnson, then that has to be seen as praise of the highest order.

It’s a single I picked up cheap quite recently and outside of maybe a couple of plays on radio I haven’t heard it much over the past 33 years. Sad to say, I found myself a bit underwhelmed by it – it was a lot duller and far more mainstream that I had ever remembered and I found it all a bit disappointing.

For a long time after ‘Chip Shop’ it looked as if Kirsty was going to go down as a one-hit wonder, but thanks to her cracking cover of a Billy Bragg song she was able to kick-start her career in 1984, and while she rarely made an impact on the higher echelons of the chart, all of her records were afforded critical acclaim and respectable sales.

There were two b-sides to ‘Chip Shop’, one of which is features an alternative take on the single:-

mp3 : Kirsty MacColl – Hard To Believe
mp3 : Kirsty MacColl – There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis (country version)

Again, I was left a little disappointed by these. They are certainly not as good as the later material she would release.

Enjoy.

Jesus & Mary Chain, Stone Roses

FROM THE HUNGARIAN CORRESPONDENT – A TALE FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Greetings to everyone, my name is Laslo Friop and I live in Budapest in the suburb of Erzsebetarvos and I would like to thank Mr JC for allowing me to compile todays piece for the Vinyl Villain.

I met JC on a trip to Glasgow a few years ago and he taught me all about its quality food and music. I have tried with limited success to get fish battered and chocolate that has been fried in Hungary it does not happen. Also the radio stations refuse to play Arab Strap or Mowgai, I did manage to get some Orange Juice though but it did not go down that well, it was too commercial and there was no gypsy punks. After just one hour with the JC I can now say that Glasgow is my sixth favourite city in Scotland after Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy, Cardiff, Dumbarton, and Stranraer. Since that afternoon at the train station I have followed this blog space with passion. I love to read about early 80s bands that for years were banned from Hungary for not being communist enough. Particularly Billy Bragg and The Redskins. They would have been very happy behind the Iron Curtain.

Anyway today I would like to talk you about revolution and the inspiration of a generation through music, in fact the inspiring of a generation by one band. For years in Hungary, music was terrible, under the Russians it was largely frowned upon to listen to anything Western, I think that the Beatles were not encouraged, and anyone caught listening to progressive rock from the 1970s usually disappeared to the Saltmines of Debrecen. They did this so that you could not grow your hair and say ‘Woah Man’ a lot.

Then as the West became more acceptable the Iron Grip loosened and the free republic commenced. It wasn’t all good but in one strange day back 1999 one band changed our lives for ever. It is a well known fact that David Hasslehoff singlehandedly brought the Berlin Wall to it knees.

Yet in Hungary on that day in 1999, a lesser known musical phenomenon occurred.

In September in what is now known as ‘Victory Square’ in Budapest the crowds had started to form to chant anti-government slogans and chants, the police had been heavy handed and we screamed at them ‘Ez mind össze képtelenség’ which roughly translated into Hungarian means ‘We will be free, we will win’. At that point the skies opened and the clouds burst and it rained. Those of you who have been to Budapest will know that this happens a lot, but at that moment we felt defeated, ruined by unemployment and now the weather. All we wanted was to have the same choices as our neighbours in Austria had, and not go the same way as other neighbours Romania had gone.

Now Western Radio and music has started to become relatively popular in Hungary around this time. We were massive fans of the reggae star Pato Banton and for many the arrival of Eminem was a crucial point in our history. Or ‘Nem ez nem volt’ as we like say when we discuss Eminem. So it was not unusual to hear Western songs on the radio or being churned out from the many cafes and shops. Now as the rain pelted down on our tear stained cheeks, one song, ‘Why Does It Always Rain on Me’ by the Scottish Band Travis came on. On hearing this Hungarians found solidarity and together we rose and defied the weather, we defied the police and we defied the government. After that day, Travis became the Number One band in all of Hungary, they were so popular they even had a brand of goulash named after them, people would go into restaurants and say ‘ez a teljes lószart’ and the workers would know that you were one of them. Their songs became synonymous with the protest movement in Hungary, ‘All I want to do is rock’ became the theme to our campaign to become more western, ‘Tied to the 90s’ became an ironic song about not returning to the days of communism with its cheeky ‘Remember the 80s…’ lyric and ‘Turn’ and ‘Sing’ remain anthems for the working parties in Hungary even today.

Travis are heroes in Hungary, their concerts here are sold out mega gigs and their singer Fran Healy has recently been awarded the highest ever accolade possible for a Non Hungarian the prestigious ‘Hatalmas Hazugság’. Very few people have been awarded this in Hungary.

I hope you enjoyed reading this piece, I hope my English has not been too crazy, I used Google Translate and hope that if you translate the Hungarian bits back to English you will get some idea what this band means to us. I would post their tracks but I think you will already own most of them. So instead I post tracks by two of my favourite bands, the Jesus and Mary Chain and The Stone Roses. Bands that I was lucky enough to see live in Austria at festivals. They have never played Hungary to the best of my knowledge.

mp3 : The Jesus and Mary Chain – April Skies
mp3 : The Stone Roses – Fools Gold

I bid you farewell I will leave you with a good luck phrase in Hungarian

‘Mindez igaz, hogy minden szemetet. Kérlek, bocsáss meg, a normál szolgáltatás folytatódik a jövő héten’

Laslo

James

THE JAMES SINGLES (8)

Brushing off the disappointment at the failure of Sit Down, the band were certain that the single to be released in November 1989 would provide the breakthrough.

A whole album of material had been recorded for Rough Trade and with ‘Madchester’ having gripped the nation, they were being tipped by many as the ‘next big thing’ some six years after forming. The biggest tour to date was planned and then came the news that Come Home had not only made the Radio 1 daytime playlist but was going to be record of the week on one of the shows. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, this is James we are talking about – a band for whom everything had seemingly gone wrong ever since their formation. Rough Trade messed up spectacularly, failing to get enough copies into the hands of radio pluggers to take advantage of the Radio 1 situation, and more crucially, not getting enough copies out into the shops. The single, on which so many hopes were pinned crawled in at #85. The problems were exacerbated by the fact that the chart compilers at Music Week made an error in not even listing the single in the rundown……

It really was a crying shame for a track which was so brave and bold and which sounded perfect for the baggy generation while still providing so much in the way of originality for long-time fans. The b-sides were also, yet again, marvellous:-

mp3 : James – Come Home (extended)
mp3 : James – Promised Land
mp3 : James – Slow Right Down (demo)
mp3 : James – Come Home (7″ version)

Understandably angry and upset the band demanded and got a meeting with Geoff Travis. While there was some gratitude for the help he had provided in the mess the band had been in after the shambles with Sire, there was little option but to ask to be released from the contract and to buy the recorded album from the label in the hope of it being better promoted. It really was the last throw of the dice…..

Morrissey

THE MOZ SINGLES (Part 3)

Back in March 1994, Morrissey released what many believe (myself included) to be his best ever solo LP in the shape of Vauxhall And I.

Chock-full of great tunes and witty lyrics, not to mention some of his best ever ballads (and I include his work with The Smiths in that observation), it was preceded a month before its release by The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get – which gave him his first Top 10 single in the UK for 5 years, as well as his only ever entry in the Billboard Hot 100.

And deservedly so, for not only is it one of his best singles, it was accompanied by a couple of more than half-decent b-sides:-

mp3 : Morrissey – The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
mp3 : Morrissey – Used To Be A Sweet Boy
mp3 : Morrissey – I’d Love To

When the LP hit the shops a month or so later, it was a bit disappointing to initially discover that Used To Be A Sweet Boy was also included among its tracks, meaning only 9 of the songs were entirely new. However, if the quantity was somewhat lacking, fans were more than amply compensated with the quality on offer.

Strangely enough, only one more single was taken from Vauxhall and I and arguably, it was one of its weaker tracks….but that’s for next week.

Paul Haig

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 86)

A bio from all music:-

Paul Haig might be best known as the frontman of Scottish post-punk band Josef K, whose lone official record played a major role in the development of the C-86 scene that followed a few years after the group’s disintegration. Haig continued with a number of involvements in the following decades, releasing a number of records on his own in addition to issuing several collaborative efforts. The early-’80s breakup of Josef K also saw him abandon some of the anti-commercial ideals that he previously stood for, as he also aligned himself with a number of musically varied names in the process.

Haig was most prolific in the years immediately following Josef K, releasing a number of singles and full-lengths under his own name as well as Rhythm of Life. Released in 1983, the synth-based The Rhythm of Life (recorded in New York) featured the handiwork of Pere Ubu’s Anton Fier, Parliament/Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell, and the Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey. Compared to the Human League and the British Electronic Foundation, the record hardly resembled his earlier, frantically guitar-driven work, basing itself in slick pop and alienating many of his fans as a result.

A couple of 1984 singles were recorded with Cabaret Voltaire and Bernard Sumner before Haig teamed up more significantly with ex-Associate and live associate Alan Rankine. A full album was shelved due to label issues, but the recordings that followed were released as 1985’s The Warp of Pure Fun. Stylistically similar to The Rhythm of Life, Rankine remained aboard and added his mastery of electronics and production. Meanwhile, the big band and torch standards curiosity Swing in ’82 was released, which sat in the vault for three years before seeing the light of day. European Sun was issued in 1988, compiling singles and extras spanning six years. The self-funded Chain was recorded during 1988 with Rankine, with Virgin affiliate Circa picking up the recordings, but not releasing them until mid-1989.

Circa put up the money for a follow-up, enlisting the services of Lil’ Louis, Mantronix, and the Chimes. A single from the sessions went nowhere in clubs and on the charts, so the album (Right on Line) was shelved. Crepuscle eventually bought the rights to the record, releasing it in 1993 as Coincidence vs. Fate. Haig began a label of his own called Rhythm of Life, issuing a second installment of Cinematique. He also released a number of posthumous Billy Mackenzie recordings, most notably the collaborative Memory Palace, released in 1999. In 2003 LTM reissued and remastered Coincidence vs. Fate and The Warp of Pure Fun with new liner notes and bonus tracks.

Since when…..(adapted from wiki)

In 2007, Paul Haig’s first single for 14 years, “Reason” (a BBC Radio 2 single of the week), was released and made available via download and on 7-inch vinyl. This was followed soon after by his first new, non-Cinematique release since 1993’s Coincidence Vs Fate, Electronik Audience.

2007 also saw his first live appearance in many years when he joined Subterraneans onstage at the Billy Mackenzie tribute concert in London.

Yet another new album, Go Out Tonight was released in April 2008. Go Out Tonight saw Haig return to his guitar-roots and tracks such as “Trouble Maker” are very reminiscent of early solo recordings such as “Chance”.

Haig also embarked on his first tour since 1989 when he promoted both old and new tracks in Scotland and selected dates in Nottingham and London in April 2008.

December 2009 saw the release of the critically acclaimed album, Relive, a new studio collection that featured the song Trip Out The Rider, later remixed for a 7″ single release by Lemon Jelly founder Fred Deakin. The track ‘Ambition’ also appeared on the 2011 compilation, After Twilight, issued on LTM Records.

And bringing this totally up to speed…..In October 2013 yet another critically acclaimed album Kube was released showing that after more than 30 years in the music business, Paul Haig still has an uncanny ability to surprise, delight and entertain in equal measures.

There’s so many singles in the cupboard that it was a very tough choice. In the end, I went for a 7″ in which the A-side was produced jointly by B-Music/Dojo (Bernard Sumner and Donald Johnson) while the flip side was a cover of a Suicide song that had Alan Rankine at the helm. It also gives a great indication of how varied Paul’s music can be:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – The Only Truth
mp3 : Paul Haig – Ghost Rider

Enjoy!!!!!

Associates, Billy MacKenzie, Haig/Mackenzie, Paul Haig

MAYBE

Oh come on……after the past two postings you knew this was inevitable (at least Jimdoes did!!).

Sadly, I’ve only one song with that as the precise title:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Maybe

It’s the rather ordinary and throwaway b-side to a decent single from 2007:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Reason

If you look up the dictionary definition of ‘maybe’, the word often offered as an alternative is ‘perhaps’. And there’s one song in the collection with that as its title:-

mp3 : Associates – Perhaps

The title track of the 1985 LP that was the first Associates record released after Alan Rankine had quit.

I genuinely had no idea that when I decided to follow-up McAlmont & Butler with posts entitled ‘No’ and ‘Maybe’ that I’d end up with something that featured both Paul Haig & Billy Mackenzie. I had absolutely no recollection of that particular Pail Haig b-side until I looked it up.

It makes sense I suppose the to finish it all of with the rather stunning opening track from their on-going collaboration throughout the 90s that received a posthumous release in 1999 as Memory Palace two years after Billy’s tragic suicide:-

mp3 : Haig/Mackenzie – Thunderstorm

PS : You won’t believe whose turn it is to feature in the Scottish Singles feature tomorrow…..who do you think might just come after Pastels in the alphabetical list??????

Associates, Rezillos, Wedding Present

NO

A quick count tells me I’ve got 118 tracks in my i-tunes collection that begin with the word ‘No’. Of these, 115 have at least one more word afterwards, which leaves three as the complete opposite to yesterday’s McAlmont & Butler tune.

mp3 : Associates – No
mp3 : The Rezillos – No
mp3 : The Wedding Present – No

They’re all LP tracks, taken from Sulk (1982), Can’t Stand The Rezillos (1978) and Bizarro (1989) – and all three of them are cracking songs in completely different ways.

Gedgey & Co spoiled what would have been a cracking bit of trivia by placing the track as the third song on the LP…..No is the second song on both of the other LPs.

Enjoy.

McAlmont & Butler

YES

I’m hoping none of you saw the title of today’s posting and thought I was writing about the prog-rockers that so many loved or loathed in the 70s.

Nope. This is about one of the most incredible sounding singles of the 1990s or indeed any other decade. It’s a song that I didn’t realise was as brilliant sounding as it was until I heard it played at high volume, over a sensational sound system, at one of the Little League nights in Glasgow. It is joyous, glorious, anthemic and wonderful to dance to:-

mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – Yes (full version)

It’s the duo’s debut single, released in May 1995 and which went all the way to #8 in the singles chart. To paraphrase S-WC from a few weeks back, I’m shocked that there 7 songs were better than this in that particular week’s rundown….

Both David McAlmont and Bernard Butler had departed from their previous bands in very bitter circumstances. Butler has since explained how this particular song came about:-

“It was the first piece of music I wrote after I left Suede. I wrote it as an instrumental. Everything was in place, but it didn’t have the voice… Everything I’d done in the past six months had been really dark. I’d come out of a very sad situation and lost a lot of friends, so it was a very liberating song. I met David at the Jazz Café in Camden and said, ‘I’ve got this song, do you want to try it out?’ He came back to me two days later and sang the first verse. He had no second verse, so I just said ‘Sing the first one again’… I wanted it to be like a great piece of ’60s vinyl.”

Sadly, and despite the title of this blog, this is a song I don’t have on vinyl but I do have the 2 x CD singles. The one with the blue sleeve has the full length version of Yes along with these two:-

mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – What’s The Excuse This Time?
mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – Disappointment

The other single had slightly shorter version of Yes (about 53 seconds worth of music was cut out, and I’m guessing this was the version made available to radio stations) and it too had two other songs:-

mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – Yes (edit)
mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – Don’t Call It Soul
mp3 : McAlmont & Butler – How About You?

Put it all together and it is a fairly stunning way to introduce yourself to the record buying public and to stick two fingers up at your former bands….

Enjoy.

Family Cat, Paris Angels, Superchunk

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT…THREE SLICES OF PERFECTION

Last week, JC posted an excellent piece about Manchester which praised the efforts of some of the less well known bands in that particular scene. So I thought as it was still current I would mention one more, they also have a song which I think is a classic.

The Paris Angels were a seven piece band that hailed from Ashton Under Lyme, which I’m told is near Manchester, and they formed in 1989. They quickly got lumped into the Manchester scene and you can understand why. They mixed indie guitars with a ravey electronic sound and sounded heavily influenced by the acid house scene that was massive in Manchester at the time.

The band revolved around Paul ‘wags’ Wagstaff whose Ian Curtis style vocal can be heard on many of their records. Wags went on to feature in Black Grape and the reformed Happy Mondays when the Paris Angels eventually gave up making records (largely because was Virgin was sold to EMI) In 1990 they released the first of todays picks, ‘Perfume (All on You)’ – this combined a sound that many of the also ran Manchester bands like Northside and Rain had been looking for (and ultimately failed to produce). A sound that perhaps combined the bits of Joy Division and New Order that we all loved with that more traditional baggy sound that the Happy Mondays were doing so well.

Now the ‘Madchester’ scene (that is the only time I am typing that) produced some terrific records, ‘Fools Gold’, ‘Wrote For Luck’, ‘Commercial Rain’ to name three brilliant examples but none of them, come anywhere close to this record.

It sums up everything about that era.

Everything.

And if you need more evidence, other than just listening to the bloody record and realising it there and then, there is a video of this song kicking around on You Tube (other less evil streaming services are available). It’s basically the band in what looks like an empty classroom playing this song whilst their mates and a few hangers-on stand around, by the end everyone is dancing. There is a shot about half way through where the camera pans to the face of the female singer (Jane Gill?) and she is just grinning like a loved up Cheshire Cat. She knows that what she is doing as she dances (pretty badly if I’m honest, and that is rich coming from Kermit in a Blender Man) and shakes her maracas (not an euphemism, watch the video, you filthy minded buggers), I know exactly what she is thinking and that is ‘Yes’.

This record peaked at Number 55 in the UK chart. ‘Take 5’ by Northside got to Number 40. ‘The Only Rhyme that bites’ by MC Tunes and 808 State went Top 20 for goodness sake. There is no justice.

mp3 : The Paris Angels – Perfume (Loved Up)

Moving on, and on a similar vein to ‘grunge’, or American alt rock as its properly called.

Like the Manchester scene there were loads of great records from that era that perhaps now define the sound. Most notably Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Pearl Jam’s dreadful ‘Alive’ (in fact anything by Pearl Jam is dreadful, over rated pile of cock if you ask me), but the one record that should have got the worlds attention and didn’t (apart from Buffalo Tom) was ‘Hyper Enough’ by Superchunk.

Superchunk were formed in 1989 and came from the same town as Ben Folds Five if my memory serves me correctly. The lead singer and main guitarist was one Mac McCaughan and were originally named Chunk (the legend has it that the drummers’s – Chuck Garrison – name was spelt as Chunk Garrison in the phone book and it kind of stuck – brilliant if true).

They were made to change it by the well-known avant jazz band of the same name (yeah, I can’t stop playing avant jazz records by Chunk today) so they added the word ‘Super’. After the release of their first album Mac McCaughan left the band and new vocalist James Wilbur came in – ironically drummer Chuck Garrison left shortly after as well.

In 1995 they released ‘Hyper Enough’ and it perhaps that they released their best moment after the grunge fad had died down that they didn’t achieve the massive success that they deserved. It comes from the album ‘Here’s where the Strings Come In’ which I think is the bands most commercial release, considering their first single was called ‘Slack Motherfucker’ that isn’t hard.

mp3 : Superchunk – Hyper Enough

‘Hyper Enough’ is the sound of band enjoying themselves, it has the catchy riff running through it that gels the song together and it has a vocal yelp that half screams half pleads with you to scream along with it. The band’s website has loads of older Superchunk stuff available for free download if you like what you hear, I’d recommend you pay it a visit.

Finally we come to a band that I have mentioned before, a band that I love and have struggled to pick one song that should have been a springboard to superstardom. This is mainly because every single one of their records should have been a Top 5 hit at the very least and I will not listen to any arguments. I will literally be here all day if I sit and write about this band, a band so under rated and criminally ignored that you can’t even download their songs on Amazon.

A band that were once described by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth as the Best Band Britain has ever produced (he obviously never heard Leatherface).

A band who once got threatened with legal action by Michael Portillo.

So I’m not going to say anything at all.

Apart from Ladies and Gents, this is ‘Steamroller’ by The Family Cat and it is very nearly seven minutes of absolute perfection. (the link is to the original scratchy vinyl version of Steamroller – I hope its ok, if not comment and I’ll post the CD version which is probably better next week).

mp3 ; The Family Cat – Steamroller

Thanks for reading

S-WC