THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

CULT CLASSICS : ‘I CAN’T CHOOSE JUST ONE’

Today’s wonderful words were typed by Friend of Rachel Worth, the talent behind the much-loved and much missed blog Cathedrals Of Sound (the final posting was May 2013 but you can still enjoy what he had to say by clicking here)

Well this has caused some angst as most of my record collection consists of stuff that I’m convinced should have outsold thriller and be hailed as a work of Sgt Pepper type genius but sold diddly squat and disappeared to find a life only on long forgotten home made compilation tapes or in the darkest corners of the internet

I can’t choose just one so have had to go with 4 bands and 5 songs that should have been massive and played regularly in school assemblies

1. Ballad of the Band – Felt

First up is by surely the ultimate cult band….Felt. Led by Lawrence with a vision of 10 singles and 10 lps in 10 years and then split up. Feted by critics and many of his peers and living in an alternative world where he saw himself as a top pop star with Felt rubbing shoulders with Madonna at the top of the charts, it never really happened as Lawrence was convinced it would. Instrumental lps and songs with long strange titles meant that they never really made it past the indie chart (does such a thing still exist?) and the festive 50.

Their best known song is probably Primitive Painters with the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser sharing vocals, however I’ve gone for a band divorce played out in a 3 min pop song. The departure of long time guitarist Maurice Deebank prompted Ballad of the Band with its lyrical riposte and the swirling Hammond organ turned up high in the mix as an added insult to the guitarist.

Where you been
Aint seen you for weeks
You’ve been hanging out with all those jesus freaks

Where were you
When I wanted to work
You were still in bed
You’re a total jerk

mp3 : Felt – Ballad of The Band

It also has a gorgeous cover.

2. Heavenly Pop Hit – The Chills

Another band built around a maverick , this time New Zealander Martin Phillipps. Not sure if they really count as they had success in their own country , but in the UK gloriously under achieved. The more culty song is probably early single Pink Frost about the death of former band mate. It is a haunting tune with a bit of early Cure thrown in.

However I love Heavenly Pop Hit which does exactly what it says on the tin .. except for the hit bit.

For about a month this single and the lp it came from (submarine bells) were championed by Record Mirror but quickly dumped when they realised they had failed to back a winner … again (always much better than NME or Sounds at spotting a lost cause or backing the wrong horse)

Its a joyous summer sound that you need a big breath to sing along to and ends with a simple offer

It’s a Heavenly Pop Hit
For those who still want it

The last line whispered / mumbled , a sad realisation of what pop would become in x factor wilderness

mp3 : The Chills – Heavenly Pop Hit

It too has a gorgeous cover

3. The Sun It Shines Here / I’ll be Your Surprise – Hurrah!

The exclamation mark is important! Hurrah! were one of the fantastic 4 (alongside The Kane Gang , The Dainties and Prefab Sprout) signed to Kitchenware records. They released a glorious set of jangly guitar singles (brought together in the lp Boxed) before being signed by a major and taking a step too close to rock (leather jackets and supporting U2 included) . The trio benefitted from the fact that all 3 were songwriters and could sing (the quality showed it wasn’t a case of letting Ringo have a go)

The first 4 singles were glorious and the debut double a side remains one of my favourite singles. It may sound like it has been recorded in a cardboard box with broken bass dial and the treble turned too high , but the guitars sparkle with a Byrds sound that at the time seemed fresh and the harmonies are spot on.

I’m not sure how on earth I got hold of a copy of the single (there was no way this made its way into Spalding Boots’ singles rack) so can only think I must have sent away for a copy
Released in 1982 (a year before Hand in Glove), at 15 they felt like my own private cult band

Later solo lps show a spiritual , religious side that has made me look back on some of the earlier lyrics , which at the time would have had me running for the hills (not that we had any hills in the fens), but for a period they seemed like the coolest band going

mp3 : Hurrah! – The Sun It Shines Here
mp3 : Hurrah! – I’ll Be Your Surprise

Fitting in with the style of other Kitchenware releases , it has a great cover

4. Indian by Eg and Alice

From one extreme to the other . Take one ex member of Brother Beyond add an ex bmx champion and model and you shouldn’t really have the makings of a cult single. This also breaks the indie label rule and is so smooth it sails close to the dinner party wind , the kind of soulless soul music that was all over the radio in the late 80s.

Somehow Indian rises above all this, it manages to be haunting and catchy at the same time, with enough going on to keep it out of the bland. It ‘s got a strange kind of emotional punch that can creep up on me when I hear it. If it pops up unawares on shuffle it is one of those songs that sneaks its way into the foreground and means I stop whatever I’m doing to listen and start remembering

Its cult because it is one of those songs that just feel like a lost classic and those that like it love it with a passion. One of the joys of the internet is finding like minded souls, and Indian is one of those acid test singles. When it comes up in conversation , if peole like it (and most who have heard it do) then I’m feel pretty safe with anything they are going to recommend

If it hasn’t washed over you the lp it comes from ,24 Years of Hunger is well trying to get hold of.

Eg is now a songwriter for hire , often with people I cant stand , however he has released 2 solo lps that are full of quirky diamonds

mp3 : Eg and Alice – Indian

The cover is pretty smart too

Apologies for being so greedy , I could go on and on !

Note from JC

Ballad of The Band and its related b-sides was one of the very last postings I ever made at TVV before google pulled the plug on it. Can’t help but agree with Friend of Rachel Worth about it being a classic….as indeed are the other tracks which until now were previously unknown to me.

It could well be that FoRW will be asked to go on and on…..I’ve only, at the moment, got two more weeks of cult classics to go as the inital flurry of e-mails when I started the series has not been followed up with many more over the festive period.

If there’s a flop 45 or 45s you’d like to bring to the attention to the few hundred daily visitors to T(n)VV, then please drop me an e-mail : thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk

Cheers

Love & Money

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 75)

From wiki:-

Love and Money are a rock/soul/funk band formed in 1985 in Glasgow, Scotland. The band was formed by three former members of Friends Again (singer-songwriter and guitarist James Grant, drummer Stuart Kerr and keyboardist Paul McGeechan) along with bassist Bobby Paterson, who replaced Friends Again’s Neil Cunningham and who had been a member of Set The Tone, a band previously signed to Island Records in 1983.

In their initial nine years together they recorded four moderately successful albums, three of which were released in the United States, and had six chart hits in the United Kingdom.

Now given that I’ve long professed a huge amount of affection for the work of Friends Again, it really should follow that I’m a huge fan of Love and Money, but it never worked out that way.

I did try. I went along to loads of the early gigs which were enjoyable enough but in a scary reprise of what had happened with Friends Again when they signed with a major label, the production on many of the records left me cold. It was almost as if the label bosses had a pre-conceived ideas in their collective heads that Love and Money could obtain the same sort of pop audience that had been attracted to Wet Wet Wet. Some very fine songs were butchered in the studio, at great expense and with big-name producers in the chairs, and all to no avail as single after single failed to dent the higher echelons of the charts.

The strange this is that having turned my back on the band after 2 LPs that were just too clinically conceived for my liking, the band then delivered Dogs In The Traffic in 1991 which was very stripped-down and almost rootsy compared to previous efforts…..but I didn’t know that for about another 10 years when I picked up a very cheaply priced second-hand copy and gave it a listen. Since then….and again back to wiki:-

Love and Money’s fourth album, Littledeath (1993) was released independently on Iona Gold records and featured the single, Last Ship on the River. Due primarily to lack of promotion, Littledeath sold 25,000, around one tenth of the sales for Strange Kind of Love and the group were subsequently released from Mercury. Bassist Bobby Paterson had split from the band to form a career in bar management and did not feature on this album, Grant himself taking on bass duties. The remainder of the band went their separate ways in 1994, although they did regroup for one, seemingly final, gig at Glasgow Barrowland on 23 December 1994.

James Grant released his first solo album Sawdust in My Veins in 1998 and has released four further albums, My Thrawn Glory, I Shot The Albatross (a collection of poetry set to music), Holy Love, and Strange Flowers. The latter was released in February 2009 and Grant premiered the tracks at the Glasgow ABC venue as part of the 2009 Celtic Connections festival. He also scored the film, The Near Room and has collaborated with Capercaillie’s Karen Matheson, performing live and writing songs for her solo records.

Love and Money reformed ‘for one night only’ for a successful sell out show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections 2011. They played the albums Strange Kind of Love and Dogs in the Traffic in their entireties and dedicated the song Walk The Last Mile to bassist Bobby Paterson, who had died in 2006. It was announced in March 2011 that the band would continue their reunion with a show at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow on 4 December 2011.

The band previewed its fifth studio album ‘The Devil’s Debt’ to a sold out show at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow on 5 May 2012. The album was released on Vertical Records in October 2012 to positive reviews.

Maybe one day I will get around to getting my hands on the later material, but I just cant really listen to the band without thinking about what could have and probably should have been. James Grant was a bit of a guitar hero of mine back in the day and I really wish the harder rock-orientated versions of the songs from those early live gigs had seen the light of day. In the meantime, here’s the debut single in all of its 12″ finery:-

mp3 : Love and Money – Candybar Express (extended mix)
mp3 : Love and Money – Candybar Express (LP version)
mp3 : Love and Money – Love & Money (dub)

As produced by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran and The Power Station. It has, I’m sorry to say, dated appallingly.

R.E.M.

ANOTHER MISUNDERSTOOD LYRIC

“This one goes out to the one I love”.

With that such simple sentiment seemingly at the heart of the song, it is easy to understand why it has become a bit of a favourite among newly married couples as the wedding waltz.

The fact that the rest of the lyrics are clearly about a failed relationship, and one that the protagonist is quite happy to boast was nothing more than a passing fancy, surely means that this is a song whose true meaning has bypassed most listeners.

mp3 : R.E.M. – The One I Love

Michael Stipe, as long ago as 1988, was proclaiming the song to be incredibly violent and was about using people over and over again – an idea given further credence when you take into consideration the background refrain sung by Mike Mills – “she’s coming down on her own again”

The single was originally released in 1987 and the 12″ contained an instrumental and a live recording on the b-side:-

mp3 : R.E.M. – Last Date
mp3 : R.E.M. – Disturbance At The Heron House (live)

This particular live recording dated from 24 May 1987, when members of R.E.M. played two consecutive acoustic sets at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica as a benefit for Texas Records. Four of the songs performed were, at the time unreleased one of which was the above. As was this, which was made available on the b-side of the 12″ of It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine):-

mp3 : R.E.M. – This One Goes Out (live)

That was the original title of the song….the subsequent re-naming has, I’ve indicated, caused untold confusion.

Oh and it’s worth mentioning that the only reason we have been able to experience these McCabe recordings is that the singer enjoyed the shows so much he carried around a cassette copy of them and insisted that they be used as b-sides on subsequent singles.

Enjoy

Wedding Present

COME UP AND SEE ME (MAKE ME SMILE)

The title of today’s posting is a deliberate mistake but it does reflect what most folk think is the title of a #1 song from February 1975.

It is one of those timeless classics that has been re-released on a number of occasions, usually to coincide with its use in a TV commercial or a film soundtrack, and on each occasion it has made its way into the UK singles chart. It is a staple of nights with the karaoke machine and it is estimated there have been over 120 cover versions recorded.

It sounds like a happy, jolly sort of song and yet Steve Harley has said he is often bemused by the widespread love there is for it given his lyric was an attack on members of Cockney Rebel – the band had more or less disintegrated the previous year with the various members being disgruntled as being seen by fans and critics alike as mere backing musicians for the charismatic frontman.

Indeed, the fact that the song has such bitter and misunderstood lyrics has led the composer to say that of all the cover versions he has ever heard only one has captured its true meaning and understood the venom in the lyrics:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)

This particular song might have had 120 covers and that can’t be far off the number of wonderful and often weird cover versions of songs recorded over the years by The Wedding Present, a band who have never shied away from the genre. Some have worked a lot better than others and more often than not, if the track was one you weren’t familiar with, you’d reckon it was something David Gedge himself might have written. Their take on Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) is an absolute belter of a cover and it’s no surprise that the composer is a big fan.

It was released in in 1991 as part of a piece of work known as the 3 Songs EP, which was the first time the band had worked with Steve Albini, a partnership that would extend into the LP Seamonsters which is reckoned by many (including myself) as their ever piece of work. Certainly, it has been the highest charting LP of their entire career, reaching #13 in the UK album charts.

Here’s the other 2 songs from the EP:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Crawl
mp3 : The Wedding Present – Corduroy

Corduroy would be re-recorded for Seamonsters:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Corduroy (LP version)

Even after all these years I can’t make my mind up which one I prefer mind you…..but the noise after about 35 seconds of the single is one of my favourite bits of music ever…..turn it up and play very loud for best effect.

Enjoy.

Buzzcocks, Orange Juice

YOU KNOW THE SCENE IS VERY HUMDRUM….

A very short but interesting e-mail arrived in the inbox on 2 January:-

I heard Rip It Up in a Starbucks of all places this weekend and now they just played it on KCRW. What the what? I live in California. no one here has EVER heard of Orange Juice. I mean it’s cool and all, but I’m scratching my head.

Eric Freeman

I’ve absolutely no idea why Edwyn & co’s biggest hit single has all of a sudden gotten airtime on the west coast of the USA….my stab in the dark is perhaps that it has somehow made its way on the soundtrack of some movie or other, but as someone who hasn’t darkened a cinema in more than six years (the last time being at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Control) I’m probably waaaay out with that guess. Any thoughts dear readers?

Anyway, Eric’s e-mail got me thinking it was time the song appeared on T(n)VV:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Rip It Up

Rip It Up was released as a single in the UK in February 1983 and a few weeks it reached #8 in the charts. It was made available as a standard 7″ single, as part of a double-pack (plus poster) on 7″ and as a 12″ single. The sleeve, which seemingly depicts a US P-40 Warhawk fighter plane, decorated with eyes and teeth and partially submerged, tail first, in the sea, was drawn by Edwyn Collins.

Here’s the other tracks from the double pack:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Snake Charmer
mp3 : Orange Juice – Love Sick (live)
mp3 : Orange Juice – A Sad Lament

Snake Charmer is a Malcolm Ross composition. Love Sick is a live studio recording of an old Postcard single while the 12″ version of A Sad Lament would later be included on the Texas Fever LP.

The 12″ version of Rip It Up is only marginally longer (about 10 seconds) than the 7″, with the longest version being reserved for the LP version which extends out to some 90 seconds beyond the 7″:-

mp3 : Orange Juice – Rip It Up (LP Version)

If you listen closely, especially on the LP version, you will hear the wonderful voice of Paul Quinn on backing vocals. It’s a pity that he wasn’t asked to appear with the band on Top of The Pops on either of the two occasions they appeared performing the song, although they did smuggle Jim Thirwell onto the show to play saxophone….

The other great thing about Rip It Up is the nod it gives to Boredom by Buzzcocks. Not only does Edwyn utilise some of the lyrics and proclaims it be his favourite song but there’s also a tribute to the infamous two-note guitar solo. Have a listen to see what I mean:-

mp3 : Buzzcocks – Boredom

Enjoy!!

Cud

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT…WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (15)

A tale of love lost this week…..

Remember a couple of weeks back I mentioned the cute girl from Our Price in Chatham. Well her favourite band was Cud or The Cud Band as she affectionately called them. I have her to thank for introducing me to their music. Once, in a pub in Camden Town (that’s in London folks) we were waiting to go and see Cud at the old Town and Country Club, and ‘Changes’ by Sugar came on. This features on Sugar’s seminal ‘Copper Blue’ album and I happened to say that for me Copper Blue was the greatest record of the last five years (it was 1993 I think, so better than ‘Nevermind (which it is), better than ‘Debut’ (which it isn’t) and better than the just released ‘Asquarius’ by Cud (which it definitely without question is). An argument ensued, there and then and I am pretty sure that is the only time I have been dumped for ‘musical differences’.

Cud formed in 1987, when legend has it the four friends found a drum set in a skip and then gained other instruments. They had recorded their first Peel Session before releasing a record. All seemed perfect. They signed to the indie label Imaginary and they released their first two records ‘When in Rome, Kill Me’ and ‘Leggy Mambo’ and gained a fairly big following. Then they signed to A&M records and that is where it went wrong. Their first major label album was ‘Asquarius’.

Now don’t get me wrong, Cud are, or at least were, a fine band. They have some tremendous records, ‘Robinson Cruesoe’ for example is a wonderful few minutes of indie pop not bettered by many at the time and ‘Purple Love Balloon’ is in my opinion a record that should be in everybodys record collection (a song which started life as a B Side before getting a single release of its own).

mp3 : Cud – Purple Love Balloon

Before the age of ‘Asquarius’ (see what I did there, I’m wasted in the civil service I tell you, wasted) heralded Cud’s finest moments, they were quirky, very indie and one of those ‘cult status’ bands. To some (see above) ‘Leggy Mambo’ is one of the great lost records of our generation. The singles ‘Robinson Cruesoe’ and ‘Magic’ both failed to hit the Top 75. Although in fairness ‘Robinson Cruesoe’ deserved better.

‘Asquarius’ gave them moderate success, ‘Rich and Strange’ went Top 30 and the rerecorded B Side ‘Purple Love Balloon’ followed it but A&M wanted more. Cud didn’t look like pop stars, and no amount of soft focus press releases could change the fact that singer Carl Puttnam was not that much of a looker (although others would disagree, see above, sigh).

That night in Camden Cud were supported by The Family Cat, a much better band, and they were stacks better live than Cud. Cud had turned it a Vegas act, (something which I stated in the argument which continued on the train home, it didn’t help). Flooding the room with purple balloons with ‘Love’ emblazoned on them had for me killed the band, I don’t really do gimmicks and that to me was a gimmick, Our Price Girl loved it and actually punched a man on the tube who burst her Love Balloon (it wasn’t me). It shouted ‘Look at us’ when they should have been pleading ‘Listen to us’. Then again, maybe I am just bitter?

This song is taken from ‘Showbiz’ the follow up to Asquarius, which flopped. This was the lead single and to be honest was better than most of the last album. Bit more raw and less polished.

mp3 : Cud – Neurotica

JC adds

S-WC’s tale is a sad reminder again of how things can go wrong so quickly for a young, promising and highly listenable band once they find themselves signed to a major record label. It always seems to be the case that the label bosses immediately want to shorn all the things that made such bands so promising and exciting in the first place. I’m still bitter 30 years later about what happened to Friends Again when Phonorgam got their hands on them….

Sugarcubes

REMEMBERING SUGARCUBES

I’m sure many of you know that Bjork enjoyed a fair bit of fame pre-solo career with Sugarcubes, who until the recent emergence of Sigur Ros were probably about the only Icelandic pop act many of us could name. They formed in 1986, and went onto release three LPs on One Little Indian to mixed critical acclaim.

The debut LP Life’s Too Good was almost universally praised, with most focus being on the extraordinary vocal style of the gorgeous looking female lead singer. Indeed, lead-off single Birthday, was voted #1 in John Peel’s Festive Fifty in 1987. Surely the only ever record about a love affair between a five year old girl and her 50-year old neighbour…..if the tabloids had been able to make out the lyrics there would surely have been an outcry.

mp3 : Sugarcubes – Birthday

All of this attention and focus on Bjork didn’t sit entirely well with Einar Benediktsson the other vocalist in the group. The follow-up LP Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week! featured far more of his contributions than before, a situation that led at least one reviewer to advise listeners that if they wanted to remain fans of the bands there were a number of tracks that the skip button had surely been invented for. The first single lifted from the LP brought Einar’s talents to the full:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes – Regina

The LP did climb in to the Top 20 of the album charts which created a situation where the band were in a sort of limbo…..being just too successful to be simply a cult indie band, but unable to make that leap into pop stardom via Radio 1 daytime exposure and Smash Hits magazine.

The next LP, Stick Around For Joy, took a fair bit of time and money to make…much of the recording was in an expensive studio in New York. It was far more of a pop album than any of the previous efforts and it did yield a cracking Top 20 single and an appearance on Top of The Pops:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes – Hit

Things might have turned out differently for everyone if the follow-up single had enjoyed similar success, but despite it being even more commercial than Hit, it sold dismally:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes – Walkabout

Two more flop singles followed, shortly followed by the inevitable break-up not long after. Bjork of course released a debut LP some 18 months later that turned her into a global superstar.

On 17th November 2006, Sugarcubes reformed for a one-off concert in Reykjavik to mark their 20th Anniversary. At the time, in a posting over at the old place, I did express a hope that maybe in 2011 for the 25th Anniversary they might briefly reform and tour. It didn’t happen and I’m guessing Bjork has a big enough pension fund to ensure it never will.

Sigh.

Television Personalities

CULT CLASSICS : PART TIME PUNKS by THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES

I’ve recently finished reading Alan McGee’s autobiography Creation Stories, a book that recounts the story of his involvement with bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub and inevitably Oasis but which also manages to devote some time to less widely known acts such as The Television Personalities, who McGee first saw live in 1982 in London, a show where Joe Foster ‘sawed Dan Treacy’s Rickenbacker in half! It was maybe a grand’s worth of guitar. They were only getting paid about £50 for the gig!’

From that moment on, McGee was hooked and he soon started heaping praise on them in his Communication Blur fanzine as well as booking them to perform at his Communication Club on a bill that also included the Nightingales and Vinyl Villain favourites the Go-Betweens.

Significantly, the TVP’s pop art label Whaam! in part inspired McGee to set up Creation Records and one of the first ever releases to carry the name Creation (as Creation Artifact) was a flexidisc distributed with the second issue of his fanzine that featured two tracks by the TVPs.

Alan McGee wouldn’t the last high profile fan the band would attract. At Kurt Cobain’s insistence they were invited in 1991 to support Nirvana and more recently Pete Doherty and MGMT have declared themselves admirers, the latter titling one track Song for Dan Treacy on their critically acclaimed Congratulations album.

Despite the high profile recommendations though, mainstream success has never materialised for the TVPs and this is likely down to the fact that Dan Treacy, the sole consistent member of the band since its inception, is one of those mercurial talents who are completely ill-suited to fame – even many of his devoted coterie of fans might find it difficult to disagree with the theory that he has repeatedly and deliberately sabotaged his own career over the years.

Despite this, Treacy has continued to make fascinating and innovative music over a period of decades that have also seen him suffer periodic breakdowns and homelessness. He’s also been imprisoned four times; battled long term drug and alcohol problems and, in 2011, he ended up in a critical condition in hospital that required an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain, the singer having to be induced into a coma for some time afterwards.

His band, who can claim to be massively influential on what has become known as ‘indie’, first surfaced in 1978 with a ramshackle DIY debut single 14th Floor, which they put out themselves on GLC Records.

John Peel was highly encouraging, he played the track and read out a letter that Treacy had sent him that listed the band members as Hughie Green, Bob Monkhouse and Bruce Forsyth; Peel also mentioned them in his weekly column in Sounds, where he connected them to another pivotal independent act, the Swell Maps whose Read About Seymour was another big Peel favourite of the time.

The next TVPs release, the Where’s Bill Grundy Now? E.P would again be on their own label, this time named King’s Rd Records – Treacy being largely brought up on the 7th (rather than the 14th floor) of a King’s Road high-rise. The only other release on this label would be another E.P, We Love Malcolm by ‘O’ Level.

Here’s Part Time Punks from the E.P, a satirical dig at the tabloid inspired new wave masses who would descend on Chelsea at weekends to pose, and if you had never understood the following references in the song’s lyrics before, you do now: ‘They’d like to buy the ‘O’ Level single, or Read about Seymour, but they’re not pressed in red, so they buy The Lurkers instead.’

mp3 : Television Personalities: Part Time Punks

And here’s Shadow, a 1977 single by the Lurkers, that was the first ever track released on the independent imprint Beggars Banquet and which was pressed in black, white, blue and, of course, red vinyl.

mp3 : The Lurkers: Shadow

(as submitted by Jamie H)

Fancy adding your own contribution the series? All I need are a few words and an mp3 copy of the tune, fired over to thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk

Go on, draw attention to an underground classic that’s close to your heart…..

Lord Cut-Glass

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 74)

From wiki:-

Lord Cut-Glass is the current stage name of Alun Woodward. He is a singer-songwriter from Motherwell, formerly of the influential Glasgow based band the Delgados. The name, Lord Cut-Glass, comes from a character in the Dylan Thomas radio play Under Milk Wood.

His first full-length album, self-titled Lord Cut-Glass, was released on 22 June 2009.

He has, furthermore, contributed two other tracks under the moniker of Lord Cut-Glass. The first, “A Sentimental Song”, released in March 2007, was part of the Scottish indie/folk compilation Ballads of the Book with lyrics written by the author Alasdair Gray. It was released by record label Chemikal Underground which, as part of the Delgados, Woodward helped create in 1995. He also served as the record label’s director. Woodward has subsequently released one further track, “Maybe”, as part of the compilation Worried Noodles.

In 2007, The Guardian wrote of his performance for Ballads of the Book: “He is whispery, tremulous in the extreme, and his fragile folky melodies are bolstered with cello and violin; a definite trope in the Glasgow music scene.”

He played his debut solo set as part of Tigerfest in Dunfermline on 16 May 2009 where he premiered material from his first solo album.

In reviewing his self-titled album, The Scotsman called the work “unconventional yet strangely compromising, one of the year’s best.

The Scotsman reviewer was spot on. It’s a very quirky but incredibly listenable album, quite different from the often straight-forward indie-pop of The Delgados. There were a number of tracks that would have been excellent choices as singles, but just the one cut was lifted and made available on 7″ plastic and I’m delighted to offer it and its b-side as Part 74 of this series:-

mp3 : Lord Cut-Glass – Look After Your Wife
mp3 : Lord Cut-Glass – Over It

Enjoy!!!

Colorblind James Experience

BLUE JEANS AND CHINOS; COKE, PEPSI AND OREOS (Part 5)

The Colorblind James Experience were formed in 1980 but it took nearly a decade before they were ever heard of here in the UK.

The band centred, for the most part, around the talents of Chuck Cuminale whose stage name was Colorblind James, and the music they played was a mix of rock’n’ roll, country, polka, jazz, blues and rockabilly. They were renowned as an incredibly entertaining live act, first gaining success on the west coast of the States before Chuck moved back to his roots in Rochester, New Jersey in 1984. The stage successes however, did not transfer into them getting any meaningful record deal – the music was just too weird for American radio stations as it didn’t comfortably fit into a single genre and there was no real market for maverick talents such as Cuminale.

In 1987, the band scraped enough cash to record and print 1,000 copies of an LP, one of which was sent to the UK and into the hands of John Peel. Unsurprisingly, Peel fell for their talents and played the tracks again and again and again. They were picked up by Cooking Vinyl and for a few years were regulars on the UK and European touring circuits, but they never got beyond cult fame and placings on the Indie Charts.

I don’t own anything other than the self-titled debut LP from 1987. It has ten tracks, some of which are sung, some are spoken and some are a mix of singing/speaking. There’s a lot of self-deprecating humour on the record and while there’s a couple of tracks that are a bit hit’n’miss there are some well worth a listen:-

mp3 : The Colorblind James Experience – Fledgling Circus
mp3 : The Colorblind James Experience – A Different Bob
mp3 : The Colorblind James Experience – Considering A Move To Memphis

The last of these tracks is a genuine classic, much loved by Mr Peel.

Despite the lack of success, the band continued to record and perform, mostly in the States, throughout the 90s (with ever-changing line-ups) but it all came to a sad and sudden end in July 2001 when Chuck Cuminale died of heart failure at the age of 49.

If ‘Memphis’ had been released as a single, then I’m sure it would have featured in the Cults series. As it is, I’m more than happy to list CBJ as among my favourite American acts.

Enjoy

Paul Haig

HERE’S SOMETHING GOOD

It’s exactly as it says on the tin. An outstanding but inexplicable flop 1989 single:-

mp3 : Paul Haig – Something Good (10″ mix)

Enjoy. I certainly do.

Altered Images

WELCOME TO 2014

2014 (MMXIV) will be a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2014th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 14th year of the 3rd millennium, the 14th year of the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2010s decade.

It’s likely to be one of the most significant years in history if you come from my part of the planet. In July/August, my home city will be the focus of the XX Commonwealth Games, the biggest multi-sports event that we could ever dream of hosting (we simply don’t have the infrastructure to host an Olympics), while the following month will see the people of Scotland go to the polls and decide if they would like to be an independent country and so break away from the United Kingdom of Great Briatain & Northern Ireland.

I may or may not return to such subjects in the months ahead, but for now, I’m content to just stick to the music. Here’s a very short message from Clare and the boys:-

mp3 : Altered Images – Happy New Year

And to you dear readers, here’s hoping all that you want from 2014 is realised.

Bis

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT…WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (14)

Ah Bis. Or so the advert so nearly said. For about five and a half minutes back in 1996, Bis were everywhere, the cover of the NME, first unsigned band on TOTP, Blue Peter, your local branch of Tesco (ok perhaps not that one).

This was largely down to the song ‘Kandy Pop’ from their first proper single ‘the Secret Vampire Soundtrack’. This was a catchy shouty pop song that the Nation, took to its hearts. It remains staple indie disco fodder to this day, although I haven’t been to an indie disco in roughly four years so that might be bollocks (and then I stayed for 27 minutes and left in huff when they played Pearl Jam).

It was official, Bis were ‘The Next Big Thing’. Four months later, they were no longer that fashionable, I think Embrace had turned up by then or the Bluetones or someone. Bis however became superstars in Japan, largely thanks I think to the presence of Manda Rin, the singer who had, people thought, a passing resemblance, perhaps, unfairly, to a Powderpuff Girl, at the time the most popular cartoon in Japan. Bis, also later recorded the exit music to the Powderpuff Girls Cartoon, which I don’t think helped.

Their popularity in the UK had waned a little, not helped by ‘The New Transistor Heroes’ what was described as being a distinctly average debut album, but that may have been helped by the burden of hype and expectation surrounding them.

This is Fake DIY was the follow up single to ‘Kandy Pop’ and is largely following the same progam. A catchy shouty pop song with a fuzzy garage disco feel to it. I rather like it. I always thought Bis should have been the Next Big Thing, and in Manda Rin, there was a likeable person, who seemed comfortable with perhaps being a spokesperson for a geeky generation.

mp3 : Bis – This Is Fake DIY

The last time I read anything Bis and in particular Manda, she was making a comfortable living selling and manufacturing badges. So today for the first time in I don’t how long I googled Bis (I think, ever) and they are unrecognisable from the cartoon 18 year olds that turned up in 1995. They still play live, regularly seen in Glasgow, London and some of the festival circuits. They are releasing new material – which is probably a good thing.

S-WC

Note from JC

Bis were due to play a gig in Glasgow on 4 August 2013 ..and to quote from their own website, it was to feature a VERY pregnant Manda Rin.

That gig never went ahead as Manda went into labour that very same day, and in the early hours of 5 August she gave birth to a two-month premature boy. But I’m delighted to pass on the news that her son, who has been named Denny, is doing very well…….

Curve

REMEMBERING CURVE

It took me a long while to write about Curve over at the old blog, and when I did it was as part of an occasional series on cover versions. It was a post which attracted a fair number of comments and it is fair to say that there’s a few folk out there who remember the band with much fondness and who have never got over their lust for lead singer Toni Halliday.

For the uninitiated, Curve, comprising said Ms Halliday and multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia, came together in Manchester in 1991. At a time when the Madchester sound (Happy Mondays/Stone Roses/James etc) was very much in full flow, Curve were something a bit different. The first few releases were EPs. The music press loved them, and they were championed by John Peel.

And yet….they didn’t ever quite turn the critical praise into popular acclaim and really meaningful sales, albeit the debut LP in 1992, Doppelganger, reached Number 11, while the follow-up, Cuckoo, went Top 30.

I love an awful lot about Curve, but especially the sound of Toni Halliday’s voice. In many places it reminds me of Elizabeth Fraser, and there’s no doubt that Shirley Manson of Garbage owes a lot to Toni.

Many fans consider that they never surpassed Blindfold, which was their debut EP:-

mp3 : Curve (feat. JC001) – Ten Little Girls
mp3 : Curve – I Speak Your Every Word
mp3 : Curve – Blindfold
mp3 : Curve – No Escape From Heaven

It was an astonishing debut in so many ways and while I can understand some folk thinking they never quite hit those heights again I’m willing to stand by a number of their later releases and say that they were equally as good – especially this track:-

mp3 : Curve – Fait Accompli

Going back to the March 2007 posting, here’s the two covers that were featured:-

mp3 : Curve – I Feel Love
mp3 : Curve feat. Ian Dury – What A Waste

The first song originally appeared on the NME album Ruby Trax (which got a mention as part of a recent piece on Inspiral Carpets), and is a quite fantastic cover of the disco classic written by Giorgio Moroder and sung by Donna Summer. Evidence, if any were needed that dance music need not be mindless pap.

The second song was recorded with Ian Dury himself, as part of a project called Peace Together that raised money for young people in Northern Ireland.

Enjoy!!

Concrete Bulletproof Invisible

CULT CLASSICS – BIG TEARS by CONCRETE BULLETPROOF INVISIBLE

(Submitted by Phil, from the non-musical blog ‘The Corn Poppy’)

Is there an implication that a bunch of people actually liked a bona fide cult classic? I’m not sure anyone else ever heard this. But here’s a disc that in that parallel universe would have been a smash – Big Tears by Concrete Bulletproof Invisible. CBI were actually Doll by Doll with Glen Matlock on bass. Wikipedia says:

Doll by Doll were a London based rock band formed by Jackie Leven in 1975. They came to prominence during the New Wave period but were largely ignored by the music press of the time – their emotional, psychedelic-tinged music was judged out of step with other bands of the time.

The original line up was Jackie Leven – vocals and guitar, Jo Shaw – vocals and guitar, Robin Spreafico – vocals and bass, and David Macintosh – vocals and percussion. This line up only recorded one studio album Remember before Spreafico was replaced by Tony Waite (1958–2003). In this configuration they released the albums Gypsy Blood (produced by John Sinclair) and the eponymous third album, Doll By Doll, before the band split up.

At the time of final LP Grand Passion, only Leven was left of the original line-up, joined by Helen Turner (vocals and keyboards) and Tom Norden (vocals, guitar and bass) with a number of guest musicians, including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Mark Fletcher (bass) and Chris Clarke (drums) played with the group live. Doll By Doll finally fell apart in 1983, though Leven, Shaw and Macintosh plus ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, released a single Big Tears under the name “Concrete Bulletproof Invisible” in 1988. Leven became a prolific solo artist, releasing a series of albums featuring more folk orientated material.

In 1983 Jackie (from the Kingdom of Fife) had been mugged and half strangled leading to him losing his voice for a time and giving up singing all together. There were no more Doll by Doll albums and nothing else from Jackie until the mid 1990s when he started to release a string of albums which gave him a genuine cult following. But this one single did sneak out.

Big Tears was a Matlock song, on the b-side was Braid on my Shoulder, written by Leven. These are a cracking pair of songs with all the punch of Matlock’s best powerpunk swagger and Jackie’s still powerful voice. There was a UK 12″ version which added Good Thing and a US 12″ with Love Kills. this was Concrete Bulletproof Invisible’s only record but the name was used as the title of a John Foxx instrumental (the song is credited to Foxx/Leven).

Jackie Leven had a chequered career often on the verge of greater success, never quite grasping it. Sometimes it seemed like deliberate sabotage on his part. In 2000 or thereabouts he settled in the Hampshire village of Botley, just opposite the pub, often popping out for a pint (usually with a vodka in it) or to tour Germany or Norway. A friendship with crime author Ian Rankin led to Rankin naming his last two novels after Leven lyrics. He died in November 2011 six weeks after releasing one of his best albums (Wayside Shrines). One day a song of his will be used in a car advert and suddenly everyone will love him.

mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Big Tears
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Braid On My Soulder
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Good Thing
mp3 : Concrete Bulletpoof Invisible – Love Kills

Note from JC

Jackie Leven was very much a cult artist with many fans from around these parts. I can’t confess to knowing all that much about him, but many other bloggers whose work I have admired have written about him in glowing terms, and I thought it might be worth drawing your attention to the piece from April 2010, on the now defunct Helpless Dancer blog:-

http://thehelplessdancer.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/new-music-jackie-leven/

Enjoy.

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 73)

As the series is alphabetical, it should come as no surprise following his appearance last week that Mr Cole is back, this time with the backing band that first brought him to the attention of the public.

From wiki:-

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions were a British pop band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1982. Between 1984 and 1989, the band scored four Top 20 albums and five Top 40 singles in the UK. After breaking up in 1989, Cole embarked on a solo career but the band reformed briefly in 2004 to perform a 20th anniversary mini-tour of the UK and Ireland.

The band were formed whilst Cole (who was born in Derbyshire, England) was studying at the University of Glasgow. They signed to Polydor Records; their debut single “Perfect Skin” reaching number 26 in the UK charts in Spring 1984, while the second single “Forest Fire” reached 41. The first album, Rattlesnakes, was released in October 1984. Produced by Paul Hardiman and featuring string arrangements by Anne Dudley, the album peaked at No. 13 in the UK and was certified Gold for sales over 100,000 copies. NME included in its Top 100 Albums of All-Time list, and the title track was later covered by the American singer Tori Amos. The Welsh band Manic Street Preachers included the album amongst their top ten list.

Due to the insistence of their label[citation needed], the follow-up album, Easy Pieces, was produced by Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley (who had previously produced Madness, The Teardrop Explodes and Elvis Costello and the Attractions). Released in November 1985, the album was a much quicker commercial success than its predecessor (entering the UK album chart at No. 5 and certified gold within a month). The singles “Brand New Friend” and “Lost Weekend” were the band’s first and only UK Top 20 hits (reaching No. 19 and No. 17 respectively).

Two years later, the band released their third and final album, Mainstream. Produced by Ian Stanley (former writer and keyboard-player of Tears for Fears), the album peaked at No. 9 in the UK and was also certified gold, but contained only one UK Top 40 single, “Jennifer She Said” (No. 31).
In 1989, the band decided to split up and released a “best of” compilation, 1984-1989, which was their fourth Top 20 album (UK No. 14) and fourth Gold certification. Following this, Cole embarked on a solo career with the release of his self-titled album in 1990.

On the first two Commotions albums, Cole was the band’s main songwriter (though he co-wrote several songs with various bandmembers). The third album is credited to the band as a whole, though Cole remained the sole lyricist. Particularly notable were Cole’s knowingly pretentious lyrics (he was studying philosophy at the University of Glasgow when the band started) and namedropping the likes of Norman Mailer, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Lee, Grace Kelly, Truman Capote, Simone de Beauvoir, Nancy Sinatra, and Eva Marie Saint as well as referring to Sean Penn (somewhat sympathetically) as “Mr. Madonna”.

Post-breakup careers

Cole moved to New York City and later to New England to pursue a solo career with Polydor/Capitol Records and later appeared on Rykodisc, before establishing self-published entities in the United States. His solo career has found him collaborating with the late Robert Quine, Fred Maher, Dave Derby and Jill Sobule.

Clark continued working with Cole on almost all of his solo releases and full band tours. He was also a member of the short-lived group Bloomsday, with Irvine (of the Commotions) and Chris Thomson of The Bathers.

Cowan collaborated with Cole and his new backing band in New York on Cole’s first two solo albums. He played with Del Amitri, Paul Quinn and the Independent Group, the Kevin McDermott Orchestra and Texas but is today an IT-specialist at British Telecom.

Donegan is a journalist and an author – he is a golf journalist and Scotland correspondent for The Guardian and published several non-fiction titles, including No News at Throat Lake and Four Iron in the Soul.

Irvine joined former bandmate Clark in Bloomsday and, as a session musician, worked with Del Amitri, Etienne Daho and Sarah Cracknell. He is also managing artists and bands.

Don’t know about the rest of you, but the fact that Lost Weekend was their biggest hit was a surprise to me. It was one of the few songs that bassist Lawrence Donegan gained a writing credit, and in one of his excellent books he acknowledges that the the tune has more than a passing resemblance to The Passenger by Iggy Pop.

I’ve a few Lloyd Cole & The Commotions singles in the collection and have decided to go with the biggest hit….mainly becuase it has one of the strangest intros of any record (it sounds as if it is playing at the wrong speed!) and also for proof that more doesn’t necessarily mean best as the compact 7″ version is by far superior:-

mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Lost Weekend (Extended Version)
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Big World
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Nevers End
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Lost Weekend (7″ version)

Enjoy!!

Arab Strap

SCENES OF A SEXUAL NATURE – EVEN MORE OF A TURN-ON THAN I’D EVER IMAGINED

With apologies to those of you who don’t like Arab Strap and those of you who can recall the TVV piece from back in May 2010 which forms the basis of today’s posting.

Up until a the spring of 2010 I had never spent £70 on a single bit of music. Indeed, it had never crossed my mind that I’d even ever consider spending such an amount of money on a single bit of music until the day that I read Chemikal Underground were putting together a box-set of Arab Strap material.

My original plan has been to place an order directly through the excellent website of the record label but then came news that the release date had been brought forward to support Record Store Day 2010 (which was Saturday 17 April) and so I changed tack and decided to buy it over the counter.

The thing is, I’ve never been a fan of Record Store Day and prefer to go back to the shops a few days after to pick up things if they happen to be left over rather than try to deal with the mania of dealers who swamp the stores buying things they believe they can make a killing on in later times, thus in one fell swoop defeating what should be the main purpose of the day.

Come Monday morning, I dropped into my favourite wee indie shop in Glasgow to be met with the news that it had sold out of its copies of Scenes of A Sexual Nature but with Chemikal Underground being located just a short distance away, more stuck was due to be delivered. I returned 48 hours later and so ensured that Wednesday 21st April 2010 would go down in history as the day I handed over more money than I ever dreamed I would for a single bit of music.

Actually, I didn’t hand over money. I paid with a bit of plastic. And actually, it wasn’t for one piece of music when you look through the contents of the boxset.

OK, I already owned copies of the LPs The Week Never Starts Around Here and Philophobia. And I had a copy of the various singles etc released between 1997 and 1998 which were available on a specially compiled CD. But what I didn’t have previously were:-

– a copy of the first ever Arab Strap gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow in October 1996;
– a copy of the gig at T In The Park (aka Nedstock) in July 1998:
– ten demo songs, some of which never saw the light of day in the recording career; and
– seventeen other bits of music, made up of rare recordings, John Peel Sessions and an old unreleased track specially recorded in late 2009 for inclusion in the box set.

And on top of that, there were sleeve notes from Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton that were royally informative, enlightening, entertaining and very fucking funny (c’mon, its Arab Strap I’m writing about here….I can use an expletive).

Was it value for money?

Well, I reckon so. I’ve often scoffed at people who bought all sorts of box sets and limited edition material released by well established musicians on major labels on the basis of them being fools for further lining the pockets of moguls. This purchase felt different…and still does all these years later.

Chemikal Underground is a label that has put a lot more back into the music scene in Glasgow than they have ever taken out. Nobody has got obscenely rich via Chemikal Underground and indeed throughout its existence the label has tried prices as low as possible with one way being to keep profit margins very tight. I was more than happy to pay £70 in this instance for what, when I counted them up were 43 new, live or different versions of songs that I hadn’t previously been in the collection.

As it turns out, the limited nature of the boxset (there were just 1,000 made available) and the demand for it worldwide has led to all sorts of silly money being demanded for copies – just looking on ebay as I type this reveals that two are on sale with bidding starting at either £250 or £360.

I’d hope that one day, Chemikal Underground might counteract such behaviour by making the limited edition material available to buy on digital form on an individual basis. OK, as Brian from Linear Track Lives said in a comment the other day, even when he/she has copies of certain tracks in their collection, most music fans will still obsess over owning a physical copy and so there will always be somebody likely to pay well over the odds for things like the Arab Strap boxset.

When I first put up a posting about Scenes of A Sexual Nature, I did make two of the ‘new’ tracks available and make no apologies for doing so again.

The first is a different version of the band’s famous debut single that was re-recorded for a John Peel Session. To quote from Aidan’s sleevenotes:-

…..a new version of our debut single in which the lyrics were rewritten to document the most recent weekend and the trip down to London to do the session. Unfortunately, these new lyrics are shit. Also, for some reason – probably legal – they omit the highlight of the trip, an incident at our horrible hotel involving the cheapest cider we could find mixed with even cheaper cherryade, Malcolm’s head, a charity shop oil painting and some gaffer tape.

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Peel Thing

And from a different Peel Session, an incredible version of one of the most amazing songs to open any album.

mp3 : Arab Strap – Packs Of Three

Yes, it is a slightly sanitized version so that it could go out on the radio, but again to quote Aidan’s notes:-

…we were a much more focused and sophisticated group – the difference between this Peel Session and the last is quite dramatic. I can’t imagine a better document of the 1998 four-piece Arab Strap sound than the tracks from this session and, if you may permit me a modicum of gentle hubris, I think they sound quite brilliant.

There was just one thing that disappointed me about the box-set and that was Aidan’s closing words after describing how well he and Malcolm had got on when they had turned an old instrumental into a new song in the Autumn of 2009 – he simply says ‘There are no plans to reform properly, in case you’re wondering.’

I said at the time that I harboured hopes they would get together for at least one more gig. Well, didn’t they just do that in November 2011 to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the opening of Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, one of Glasgow’s most celebrated concert venues…..and the tragedy was that I didn’t get myself along. Sigh.

I really can’t recommend this boxset highly enough. I know it was an awful lot of money to splash out, but at £70 it was still an awful lot cheaper than most of the hundreds of pairs of shoes and handbags that Mrs Villain stows away in various cupboards. And while I’m here, I may as well add a third track:-

mp3 : Arab Strap – Daughters of Darkness

This was the instrumental turned into a full song for the box set and to the best of my knowledge, remains the only place it was ever released.

Happy Listening.

Alternative Christmas 2009

THESE SURE BEAT BAND-AID, MARIAH, SHAKEY & SLADE (and the rest of them)

Back in 2009, an Edinburgh-based record shop persuaded many of Scotland’s finest underground/indie acts to record and donate songs for a charity CD with the proceeds going to good causes at home (Sick Kids Hospital, Edinburgh) and overseas (Street Invest – Helping Street Children in Africa).

It really is an excellent compilation, and I really can’t argue with this review from The Skinny back in the day:-

Compilations like Avalanche Records Alternative Christmas are vitally important. Their necessity will be emphasised repeatedly over the next few days: they will provide solstice-solace when even mordant irony can’t get you through looped Wizard and their dreams of eternal festivities; they’ll help salve the post-colonial guilt bruises caused by constant celeb-slapping; and they’ll sooth those caught idly humming Another Rock n’ Roll Christmas then anxiously fretting about the Glitterism.

Alternatives are essential. Nothing from this collection will supplant Noddy and co from next year’s Christmas adverts, of course; fewer still will wind up sound-tracking office parties (though X-Lion Tamer’s Little Drum Machine Boy might sneak in at the end of a more liberal shindig). But they’re sure to find a place in many a heart, even post-yule when the tree stands naked and detinseled and the Quality Streets are reduced to wrappers.

In fact, the only real disappointment is that so many have ignored Half Man Half Biscuit’s sage advice (It’s Clichéd to Be Cynical At Christmas), choosing gloom over joy. But they sure do blue well: Frightened Rabbit donate 2007’s (and 2008’s) It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop, a majestic plea for goodwill that ends defeated with the cry “next day life goes back to its past self”; The Savings & Loan’s Christmastime In the Mountains’ maudlin moroseness is presumably not a tale of skiing in Aspen; Withered Hand’s It’s A Wonderful Lie (as in, “this used to be a holy day but now…”) turns its glum pun into a typically witty but self-deprecating waltz; while Meursault’s playful retitling of Phil Ochs’ No Christmas in Kentucky (rechristened Christmas in Kirkcaldy) is no less serious for its east coast relocation. Ballboy, Eagleowl and Broken Records, meanwhile, recycle existing material (some with a fairly tenuous tie to the holidays, truth be told), but when the tracks are as good as Shallow Footprints In The Snow, Sleep The Winter and All So Tired, frugal redistribution is nothing to fret over.

And it’s not all coal-in-stocking/turkey-dinner-for-one depression either: There Will Be Fireworks open with a characteristically panoramic swell which just manages to stay dry skating over the thin ice of Snow Patrol, while Zoey Van Goey’s spoken word In Scotland It Never Snowed, In Canada It Did engrosses with its simple tale of childhood rebellion. And at £5 with proceeds going to charity, it sure beats block-buying Rage Against the Machine.

All I want to add (simply because the reviewer didn’t mention it) that the track by Money Can’t Buy Music is another which is well worth three minutes of your time.

Alternative Christmas is a seasonal release like no other. And nowadays it is damn near impossible to get a hold of. So I thought I’d make it available in its full form….with a request that if you download some or all of the songs that you make some sort of donation to the charity or good cause of your choice.

mp3 : There Will Be Fireworks – In Excelsis Deo
mp3 : The Savings & Loan – Christmastime in the Mountains
mp3 : Rob St John – December & Whisky
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit – It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop
mp3 : Pictish Trail – But Once a Year
mp3 : Eagleowl – Sleep the Winter
mp3 : Withered Hand – It’s a Wonderful Lie
mp3 : Meursault – Christmas in Kirkcaldy
mp3 : Emily Scott – Holy
mp3 : Money Can’t Buy Music – Atoms
mp3 : Saint Jude’s Infirmary – Xmas in New York
mp3 : Broken Records – All So Tired
mp3 : Ballboy -Shallow Footprints in the Snow
mp3 : X-Lion Tamer – Little Drum Machine Boy
mp3 : Zoey Van Goey -In Scotland it Never Snowed, In Canada it Did

Thank You.

Sultans Of Ping

MERRY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS

This was the traditional posting on the old blog on 25 December. I don’t see any reason to change things:-

mp3 : Sultans of Ping – Xmas Bubblegum Machine

It was one of the b-sides on the 12″ picture disc of this most enjoyable single:-

mp3 : Sultans of Ping – Michiko

Keep tuning in over the festive period for some more tidings of comfort and joy.

David Holmes, La Roux

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (13)

If my maths is correct, today is Christmas Eve. So I’ve swapped my choices around. This was supposed to be a missive about Bis. Instead it’s a little homage to the remix with a choice of track that I think will make JC happy (hopefully). See it as my Christmas present to you, JC. Actually, thanks for giving me the chance to do this series, I’ve really enjoyed it. Rediscovering songs that you had forgotten ever existed is strangely, therapeutic. Remembering that the reason I gave up writing for a living was because my punctuation is at best shocking, is not so therapeutic.

Anyway – I was listening to my iPod last week and ‘Carmella’ by Beth Orton came on. Now I don’t like Beth Orton her voice grates me and I’ve never really got why a lot of people love her music (see also Muse, Blur and countless others). However, this version of Carmella was the remix version by Four Tet, who I love and will hunt down and buy anything that they /he do/does and argue to the death that Kieron Hebden is an unsung genius. The remix is so good it made me consider listening to Beth Orton a bit more – consider – I stress.

That is the power of a remix, some remixes are so good that they change a song completely (the dubstep remix of ‘In for the Kill’ by La Roux for instance). Some take the catchiest bit and loop it until its just a song featuring that catchy but (‘Come Home’ Andy Weatherall Mix perhaps) and some change it or cover it and call it a remix. Recently The XX did that with ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Florence Griffith Joyner and the Machine. So it became a cover of a cover and the best of the bunch.

In 1997 David Holmes release ‘Don’t Die Just Yet’ a single which came from his ‘Let’s Get Killed’ album. This song in itself was a ‘reworking’ (read cover)of a Serge Gainsbourg record, the title of which I forget right now. What Holmes then did was remixed the buggery out of the song and invited others into the studio to do the same with it.

The best version of it was I think this weeks track remixed and called ‘the Holiday Girl’ by Arab Strap (although I also recommend the Mogwai version). This was my first ever experience of Arab Strap, another one of these bands that I don’t really get, yet somehow I was and still am enchanted by this record. I don’t know why, but just works. It I think it sounds effortlessly cool. It made me check out other works by Arab Strap and like I said I didn’t get it. I recently revisited ‘Philophobia’ just to see if it was an age thing – nope I still don’t get it. So I’m leaving Arab Strap for now. This however, I will play again and again.

mp3 : David Holmes – Don’t Die Just Yet (The Holiday Girl) (Arab Strap remix)

Merry Christmas.

S-WC

Note from JC

Judging by the number of visitors and the comments left behind, S-WC’s weekly musings have proved to be hugely popular with everyone. I’m personally quite touched that he switched things so that his Christmas Eve offering was related to one of my favourite acts, but believe me that I understand not everyone will ‘get’ Arab Strap. It took me a while but I’m now more than ever convinced that messrs Moffat and Middleton are bona fide genii whose contributions to music will still be getting discussed, debated and disected many years from now.

Incidentally, S-WC also added a second mp3 to this week’s posting and said “There is a second track as well but if you haven’t heard it then enjoy, if you have it already, then you probably should have posted it already as its ruddy marvellous. :-)”

By jove, he’s right:-

mp3 : La Roux – In For The Kill (Scream’s Lets Get Ravey Remix)

Just to say that T(n)VV will NOT be closing down over the festive period. Feel free to drop in tomorrow and right through the festive period.