THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

THREE TUNES FROM BLACK MARKET CLASH

Black Market Clash was a 10″ mini-LP originally released only in North America in late 1980.

The nine songs were, in the main, b-sides of old singles released by The Clash and was targeted at those fans who had come to the band via the previous year’s release of London Calling. The inclusion of a previously unreleased cover version of a Booker T & the MGs track, as well as Robber Dub, which had been intended for the what proved to be the unreleased 12″ version of the single Bankrobber, meant there was a demand for the record here in the UK despite the expense involved in paying for an import.

My own copy of Black Market Clash is a later re-release in standard 12 ” form. I can’t recall actually buying this particular record and I don’t remember receiving it as a birthday or Christmas present. I’ve a very funny feeling that one day, when someone was tidying up the various record that were strewn carelessly around the living-room of the large student flat occupied in 84/85 in the south side of Glasgow (six officially shared the space with the same again not registered at the address) this record found its way into one of the boxes that held my vinyl rather than in the box of its rightful owner. All of us over the course of the ten months in that space lost and gained singles, LPs and cassettes unwittingly and by the time we had all moved on to our next separate places of abode (mine was in Edinburgh), it was too late. For instance, would discover that I had lost a couple of Orange Juice singles that I was later able to replace…I’m hoping that whichever flatmate originally owned Black Market Clash was able to do likewise.

Enough ramblings. Here’s three tracks from the record:-

mp3 : The Clash – Time Is Tight

mp3 : The Clash – Bankrobber/Robber Dub

mp3 : The Clash – Justice Tonight/Kick It Over

The last of these is a slightly shorter edit of the dub version of Armagideon Time originally released as the b-side to the 12″ single of London Calling.

Enjoy

A Witness

CULT CLASSIC : RED SNAKE by A WITNESS

A Witness were one of many bands that briefly appeared on my musical horizon in the mid 1980s who seemed to release one or two singles then disappeared. Rather obviously it was on John Peel’s show that I heard them, and I’m sure they did a session or two as well. Today’s track, Red Snake, was released as a 12″ single, not their first but by far and away their best. A relentless rather discordant jangly-guitar sound with a half-sneering half-shouty vocal. Absolutely no idea what the song is about, quite possibly a red snake, but then again maybe not. I’m 99.99% convinced it was never on Top of the Pops, and also did not trouble the Top 30 singles charts. Which is a great pity because it is quite magnificent. PLAY LOUD

And while putting this piece together, I looked at the rather obvious online source and discovered that, tragically, founding member and guitarist Rick Aitken died in a climbing accident in Scotland in 1989. The band disbanded shortly after. Between their formation and demise, 1982-89 they released one album, I Am John’s Pancreas, and 5 EPs, and one compilation album.

mp3 : A Witness – Red Snake

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BY GEORGE FORSYTH WHOSE EXCELLENT BLOG ‘JIM McLEAN’S RABBIT’ CAN BEAD BY CLICKING HERE.

KLF

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 71)

If I was justified in my inclusion of The J.A.M.M’s in this series, then I’m surely OK with the inclusion of The KLF:-

mp3 : The KLF – Kylie Said To Jason

mp3 : The KLF – Pure Trance

A harmless and fun piece of 7£ vinyl from 1989. Little did any of us know that chart domination was just around the corner.

A few years ago I said that my ideal companions in a pun would be Tony Wilson and Bill Drummond. I would have just love to sat in their company and listened to what was being said about music, the arts and the world at large. Sadly, Tony is no longer with us but Bill still to this day, mainly through his books, continues to fascinate, amuse and entertain me.

Cure

ONE OF FAT BOB’S MORE UNUSUAL BIG HIT SINGLES

There’s been something like 40 singles released by The Cure over the years of which eleven have hit the UK Top 20 and could justifiably be called a big hit. Two of the best known are The Love Cats (1983) and In Between Days (1985) but the one single released in the period between those two was this from March 1984:-

mp3 : The Cure – The Caterpillar

It’s not an obvious hit single. It’s very unconventional and sounds in places as if it is a highly improvised and almost free-form piece of music to a lyric which in places is incredibly romantic in its imagery and at other times sounds like a childish nursery rhyme. From recollection, it got very little in the way of daytime radio exposure but such was the popularity of The Cure at the time that it soared to #14 in the singles chart.

The b-side of the single is also a strange but brilliantly gothic bit of music:-

mp3 : The Cure – Happy The Man

The 12″ version contained identical versions of those songs but with a bonus track which was altogether more poppy:-

mp3 : The Cure – Throw Your Foot

Enjoy!!

El Hombre Trajeado, Karelia, Mogwai, Yummy Fur

IN PRAISE OF GLASGOW

My home city is an extraordinary place. The local tourist board recently adopted a new marketing phrase ‘People make Glasgow’ which I was never really sure of. Too often some people in Glasgow leave me ashamed of the place. Too many indulge in sectarianism behaviour, violence, casual racism and begging to indulge their drink/drugs habits. ‘People make Glasgow’ was a phrase that could all too easily backfire.

But the reaction to the tragedy of the helicopter crash on Friday 29 November and its aftermath has ensured that the new slogan is being seen in a positive light. That so many casual passers-by rushed to the aid of those trapped inside the building without giving a thought to the potential danger they were putting themselves in was something that everyone seems to have commented on and civic leaders and other politicians were quick to associate these actions with the new slogan.

This tragic event happened when I was on holiday and it was only the next morning when I switched on the mobile phone did I pick up on what had happened. I had a genuine sick to the stomach feeling as The Clutha was a pub I had the occasional drink in and was a place that some friends were in the habit of going to of an evening. Thankfully, from my perspective, those friends were elsewhere that night although I’ve since learned that a colleague from my old workplace was inside, and while he escaped any serious physical injury he is unsurprisingly suffering from stress and is very traumatized. I wish him, and everyone who was caught up in the tragedy, a full and timely recovery.

I thought it appropriate to have these four songs posted today:-

mp3 : Mogwai – I Can’t Remember

mp3 : El Hombre Trajeado – Neoprene

mp3 : The Yummy Fur – Shivers

mp3 : The Karelia – New Year In New York

These tracks comprised the Glasgow EP, released on the Plastic Cowboy label back in 2000. It was one of a series issued by the label in which they took four singers/bands from a city or region and put out 2 x 7″ singles in a sleeve that had some very weird images of each place. The Glasgow EP was followed by efforts from Liverpool, Oxford, Essex and Tokyo (and came two years after The London EP which featured, among others, Hefner and Spearmint).

The tracks are, for the most part, abit experimental and ones for connoisseurs of each of the acts and not the most commercial pieces of music ever committed to vinyl, but are all worth a listen.

Mogwai are the best-known of the four, while El Hombre Trajaedo were a band that most Glasgow gig-goers will have caught at least once in their lifetime such was their level of activity and willingness to work with and support many better-known names.

The two band on the other 7″ – The Yummy Fur and The Karelia – had personnel who would in subsequent years would find fame and some fortune in Franz Ferdinand. There is a hint of FF in both of the featured tracks. The vocalist in The Yummy Fur was John McKeown who some of you might know as the frontman of the under-rated 1990’s who released a couple of very good indie-pop LPs in the latter half of the last decade.

Enjoy!!

Care, Lightning Seeds

MORE CULT CLASSICS…

I mentioned them in passing just 48 hours ago and couldn’t resist the temptation to re-tell the story.

Care was primarily a coming together of Ian Broudie and Paul Simpson.

The former is best known as the man behind The Lightning Seeds, but he’s been part of the music scene in his native Liverpool since the late 70s, initially as part of the new wave band Big In Japan (who also featured Holly Johnson who found fame with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Bill Drummond, likewise with The KLF).

I remember hearing their debut single one evening on either the David Jensen or Janice Long show on Radio 1 and being knocked out by what was then a pretty unusual and distinctive mix of acoustic guitars and synthesisers. I tracked the record down the following day.

It was on a major label – Arista Records. The production team was Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley who at the time were probably the biggest name producers in the UK. But despite considerable airplay in the evenings, it didn’t make the then crucial A-list at Radio 1 and the single faded into obscurity.

The follow-up single was a Kingbird production, which was one of the names that Broudie used. It also flopped.

Single number three did the same, despite at least one TV promo slot on the Oxford Road Show (I know this as I still have the clip on VHS tape).

Care then broke up in the summer of 1984 without bothering to release their debut album which only then saw the light of day in 1997 as a CD entitled Diamonds & Emeralds. The band were referred to as Care featuring Ian Brodie.

The cash-in was of course completely cynical as it came hot on the heels of The Lightning Seeds biggest success with the football anthem Three Lions that was adopted by the supporters of England during their hosting of Euro 96.

But if a small handful of those who were new to Broudie’s talents were drawn to this album by association, they would hopefully have found much to enjoy.

And here are the afore-mentioned three singles in the order that they were released:-

mp3 : Care – My Boyish Days (drink to me)
mp3 : Care – Flaming Sword
mp3 : Care – Whatever Possessed You

The first two are the 12″ versions.

Flaming Sword was later re-recorded om 1992 by The Lightning Seeds as the b-side to their Top 40 single Sense. And here it is:-

mp3 : The Lightning Seeds – Flaming Sword

Not much difference you’ll find which shows either the 1983 recording was ahead of its time or the 1992 recording was immediately retro. Whatever. I just think its a great pop song that should have been a massive hit.

Oh and if any of you out there have a 12″ copy of Whatever Possessed You and would like it to go to a good home alongside many other pieces of vinyl, then I’d be delighted to offer said home….

Enjoy!!

Babylon Zoo, Soho, Spaceman 3

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (11)

Two things.

Firstly I need to apologise to my sister for in the moments before writing this article I destroyed one of her most precious possessions (Probably).

Secondly I’ve cheated again. The attached song was not pulled out of the box today – but that will be revealed why and I am pretty sure you will all understand.

Now regular readers will know that back in week two I stated that someone might have been tampering with the CDs in this box. I now know that person was my sister, and that at least one of her CDs found its way into this box as it was one I pulled out today. Before that however, I pulled out two cassette singles (or cassingles as nobody ever called them – and fact fans the only ‘cassingle’ that I ever bought was Hippy Chick by Smiths sampling band Soho, and that was because it was 5p).

The two cassingles in the box also belonged to my sister. The first one was by actor turned singer turned actor turned reality TV star, Joey Lawrence, who was the least funny character in the terminally unfunny American Sitcom ‘Blossom’. He played a male called ‘Joey’ in it. I didn’t play it in fact it sits in the bin in my kitchen right now just under the latest dirty nappy that I have changed.

The second one, well the second one was and it troubles me to even write it… More Than Words by Extreme, a song so bland that it came fourth in the ‘Most bland song ever written’ contest. It’s so bland it couldn’t even come first.

It’s also a song which I detest and so in a pique of rage and utter fury I did the only thing befitting it. I placed it in the road outside and then reversed the car over it at least nineteen times. The weather this morning in Devon is wet and miserable, a bit like ‘More Than Words’. Literally. After I had finished I remembered slowly that this was in fact the first dance at my sisters wedding and a small tinge of guilt crept through me – she might have actually wanted that tape. So if your reading, which I doubt…….sorry sis.

A couple of weeks ago I briefly wrote about hyped bands and the CD underneath the tapes is a really good example of hype turning very quickly into nonsense, for it was Spaceman by Babylon Zoo – a song which featured on a Levi’s commercial and went all the way to Number One.

Levi’s PR team were very clever, because they knew the truth. The song on the advert started with a speeded up vocal and it sounded terrific, new, and exciting. Sadly when the speeded up voice slowed down and Jas Mann (for that was his name, and still is I guess) was singing properly, he had a voice which made a noise similar to the one a walrus makes when pleasuring itself………..And that, people, was the truth that Levi’s knew.

Yet they let us believe something completely different so they could sell jeans. The clever bastards. It wasn’t new, terrific and exciting it was, well, a bit shit. I thought about posting the song, I hit the rip button and it stopped at 60% and the computer just refused to copy it. My machine may be older than most of One Direction, but man it has taste. So I searched by music files and I attach something by Spaceman 3, kind of related but simply in another galaxy in terms of greatness – in my opinion, they are one of the most inspirational bands of my generation.

I had to cheat again, I was worried that the next CD might be Bad Boys Inc or worst still Bon Jovi, so I pulled out the next five and glanced at them. One (next weeks) bought a massive smile to my face, as its honestly one of the best five singles ever released there was also one record that JC will love and one that will bring a smile to the face of regular commenter The Robster. There was no Bon Jovi. Well not yet anyway.

mp3 : Spaceman 3 – Big City

Bye for now

S-WC

Note(s) from JC

#1 : Just in case some of you aren’t familiar with the sound of a walrus pleasuring itself:-

mp3 : Babylon Zoo – Spaceman

(courtesy of a CD single that was bought as a present for Mrs Villain who liked the single and fancied the singer)

#2 : Proof that a 5p cassingle can be great value:-

mp3 : Soho – Hippychick

(courtesy of the 12″ vinyl copy that sits in the cupboard – loved the idea of a Johnny Marr riff being on the dance charts)

#3 : Hit songs that I detest so much that I would gladly do as S-WC did and reverse a car over them at least 19 times…..well I would if I could drive.

Toploader – Dancing In The Moonlight

Nickelback – How You Remind Me

Keane – every fucking song they’ve ever released…..and all covers versions as well.

What about you folk out there???????

Wild Swans

SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE CULT CLASSIC……

Another start to what might turn into a regular series….but that will depend on you dear readers!

I want to invite contributions on your favourite cult single(s). I’ll leave the definition as wise as possible but ideally it should be a 45 that was released on an indie-label, from a band or singer who never enjoyed mainstream success and is a piece of music that in a parallel universe would have been a smash hit and made a fortune for the composer and/or performer(s).

All you have to do is put together a few paras and if possible, a link to where I can get a hold of the song to make it available to listen to on T(n)VV just in case it is one that I don’t have in my vinyl/CD collection. You can put your name to the contribution or you can make it anonymous. I am hoping this will capture enough of your imaginations to get the ball rolling on a lengthy series of postings that I would aim to feature on Sundays, the one day a week that I currently don’t have any postings. The e-mail details are on the right hand side of the blog.

I want to get things rolling with a single from 1982. It came out on the short lived Zoo Records which had been established in Liverpool principally as a vehicle for Bill Drummond to release songs by his band Big In Japan. Revolutionary Spirit b/w God Forbid was the final 45 released on Zoo and came with the catalogue number Cage 009. It was released on 12″ vinyl only

The Wild Swans were based around the talents of Paul Simpson (vocals) , Jeremy Kelly (guitar), Ged Quinn (keyboards), James Weston (bass) and Justin Stavely (drums). One of Paul’s mates was Pete de Freitas of Echo & the Bunnymen who was so taken by the band that he paid for the recording of this single. He also, under the alias of Louis Vincent (which were his middle names) ended up producing the record and drumming on it after the original drummer left the band (as did the original bass player).

It’s an incredible piece of music, packed with all sorts of sounds and influences that dominated indie music in the early 80s with a production that owes something to the wall of sound associated with Phil Spector. Despite Zoo Records folding not long after the single was issued (which in all likelihood contributed to the near-impossibility of finding it in any record shop outside of Merseyside), the band were asked to do sessions for different DJs on Radio 1.

Artistic differences soon led to a split – Kelly and Quinn would find a small amount of success with The Lotus Eaters who hit the Top 20 with The First Picture Of You while Simpson would team up with the then relatively unknown Ian Broudie to form Care, a band that released three fantastic but flop singles (all of which are candidates for inclusion in any series on cult singles) before calling it a day.

Kelly, Quinn and Simpson would later reform as a MkII version of The Wild Swans in the second half of the 80s, again to some critical acclaim but little commercial success, although the band members have since said the production was disappointing and more what the record label wanted than they did as musicians. But then again when you’ve recorded something as majestic and memorable as this, everything else is bound to be a bit of a letdown:-

mp3 : The Wild Swans – Revolutionary Spirit

mp3 : The Wild Swans – God Forbid

So….if any of you want to share your thoughts and memories of a cult single (and no, that doesn’t mean I want a piece on She Sells Sanctuary), then feel free to drop me a line.

King Creosote

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 70)

From wiki:-

Kenny Anderson, known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums, with his latest, That Might Well Be It, Darling, released in 2013. Anderson is also a member of Scottish-Canadian band, The Burns Unit. In 2011, Anderson’s collaborative album with Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine, was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Anderson’s brothers are also musicians: Ian Anderson (known as Pip Dylan) and Gordon Anderson (Lone Pigeon) – who is lead singer and main songwriter with The Aliens. The three frequently collaborate at live shows and on album releases.

After having featured in Scottish bands Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra and Khartoum Heroes, in 1995 Kenny Anderson launched the Fence record label and began recording albums under the name King Creosote.

Anderson founded Fence Records alongside Johnny Lynch, but stepped back from day-to-day running of the label in 2010.

In recent years, Anderson has teamed up with Domino Records who have co-released some of his albums. He also spent some time on Warner subsidiary, 679, which gave him major label backing for the first time. His increasing frustration with the music industry and how digital recordings are becoming throwaway commodities led him to release his material in small, vinyl only runs which were largely only available at concerts.

To this end, KC Rules OK was re-released in 2006 with different versions of some songs, and a version of the album called “Chorlton and the Wh’earlies” recorded with The Earlies was available with some purchases. Bombshell was released with an additional disc, a DVD film of King Creosote and friends on tour.

In a June 2008 interview on BBC 6 Music, mistakenly introduced as “King Creole”, he told Tom Robinson that he’d like to play a festival every weekend this summer and then return home for the weekdays.

In the 2007 film Hallam Foe two of his songs, “The Someone Else” and “King Bubbles in Sand”, were featured.

In late 2009, Anderson released a new studio album Flick the Vs, and crafted a performance only album, entitled My Nth Bit of Strange in Umpteen Years. Anderson also contributed to the Cold Seeds collaborative album along with Frances Donnelly of Animal Magic Tricks, and Neil Pennycook and Pete Harvey from Meursault; which was released on the Edinburgh-based indie label Song, By Toad Records. Anderson, Donnelly and Pennycook all wrote songs for the project, which all four performers then recorded together; each singer often taking the lead vocal role on a song written by another of the artists. The album was given a special limited release at the Fence Records Homegame Festival in Anstruther, Fife in March 2010, before a general release was announced for June 2010.

In 2011, Anderson attended the SxSW Music Festival and played a number of shows, two of which featured fellow Scottish attendees Kid Canaveral as his backing band. The same year, Anderson released Diamond Mine, a collaborative album with electronica composer Jon Hopkins, to critical acclaim. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize, with Anderson stating, “It feels like this is the beginning of something. And to feel that so far down the line, after putting out forty effing albums, oh my God! It means, I can still do this, it’s not over.” The duo subsequently released an EP, Honest Words.

In 2013, Anderson released That Might Well Be It, Darling, a full-band re-recording of his limited edition vinyl album, That Might Be It, Darling.

And from the 679 era back in 2007:-

mp3 : King Creosote – You’ve No Clue Do You?

mp3 : King Creosote – Faux Call

7″ single. Catalogue # NAMES 27.

Enjoy.

Happy Mondays

LAZING IN LANZAROTE WEEK : STUFF FROM THE OLD PLACE : FRIDAY

From July 2008

BETTER THAN W.B YEATS AS A POET?

Tony Wilson once made the claim that Shaun Ryder was a better poet than William Butler Yeats, and that in the fullness of time, he’d come to be regarded every much as talented a genius as Mozart.

I’m sure my dear friend Greer, who, in addition to making fabulous weekly contributions to the Contrast Podcast, writes an equally fabulous poetry blog called A Sweet Unrest, would be horrified at such a comparison, but I do suspect Tony’s tongue, and not for the first time, was parked right into his cheek.

Having said that, the opening four lines to Kinky Afro, in which a dad directly addresses his young offspring, are as good as any representation of misogynist and unreconstructed man I’ve ever read in my life:-

Son, I’m 30
I only went with your mother cos she’s dirty
And I don’t have a decent bone in me
What you get is just what you see, yeah.

And as much as I love Kinky Afro, not just for the lyrics but the catchy tune that immediately makes me want to get off my backside and dance, there is no better Happy Mondays song than the opening track to their 1989 LP, Bummed:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays – Wrote For Luck

A truly astonishing bit of music, and the only thing that stopped it making the 45 45s at 45 rundown the other month was that I missed out on it when it originally appeared as a single. I only heard it a couple of months afterwards courtesy of it being included on a compilation tape made up for me by my old friend Jacques the Kipper (older readers might remember that JtK often left comments in the early days of TVV…he’s now too busy being a modern dad to stop by and say hi…..)

But having missed out first time around, I made sure I picked up the single when it was given the remix treatment and re-released a few months later. And as much as I love the original, produced to perfection by Martin Hannett, there are days when I prefer one or other of these mixes:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays – W.F.L. (the Vince Clarke Mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays – W.F.L. (Think About The Future)

Vince Clarke is of course, the electro-pop superstar who had made the Top 10 with four different acts – Depeche Mode, The Assembly, Yazoo and Erasure – as well as releasing a single with the mighty Paul Quinn.

Think About The Future was a mix made by an up and coming DJ and mixer called Paul Oakenfold, who went on to become one of the biggest phenomena of the 90s – maybe ctelblog at Acid Ted can fill us all in properly….

Anyways, the inspiration for this posting is merely that on the train to work yesterday morning, feeling a bit low as I was going to be stuck indoors on one of the few warm and dry days we’ve had in Glasgow this past month or so, the original version of Wrote For Luck came round on shuffle on the i-pod.

Instant happiness without the need to ingest drugs or alcohol.

Oh and I got up from my seat, stood near the exit door and did a little dance (in my head it was a big dance – all Bez moves and shapes – but in reality I only sort of moved my head from side to side and tried hard not to sing along in case I scared the passengers).

Maybe Tony was slightly wrong about Shaun’s poetic abilities, but alongside his brother and his mates in the band, you can’t argue against the claim that he was one helluva songwriter…..

2013 Update

Shaun Ryder has since come to the attention of a much wider audience thanks to his exploits in the 2010 TV reality series ‘I’m A Celebrity….Get Me Out Of Here!’. His autobiography. Twisting My Melon, was the published to great critical acclaim in 2011, acclaim that was entirely justified.

mp3 : Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro

Enjoy.

Bill Bailey & Billy Bragg, Billy Bragg

LAZING IN LANZAROTE WEEK : STUFF FROM THE OLD PLACE : THURSDAY

One of the things I was most proud of at the old place was just how many folk were prepared to respond to my requests for guest postings. I’m intending to dig out a number of these over the upcoming Christmas/New Year period as there were some really fabulous bits of writing and fantastic tales that should be shared again. For now, I’m going back to February 2008 and a wonderful contribution from ctel who is best know for the blog Acid Ted.

His blog must be just about the best out there in terms of his knowledge of and passion for dance music and club sounds. But his tastes in music are waaaaaay wider than he writes about on Acid Ted. Here’s some evidence:-

TVV and I have a shared love of the Bard of Barking – Billy Bragg. If there were any justice on this world, Billy would be the UK’s Poet Laureate. But there isn’t, so he isn’t.

A favourite live track is his track A13 – an unlovely road running from East London to the Essex Coast. This is done in a combination of the music of Route 66 and the romanticism of early Bruce Springsteen. The V&A site even has an article from Billy about the A13. Worth reading in full.

But here is an extract:

One of the fondest memories of my childhood concerns the time my father let me drive his green Morris Oxford very, very slowly across the field that served as a car park behind the beach. It was my first ever driving lesson and it ended abruptly when I nervously stamped the brake pedal down to the floor and father banged his head on the windscreen.

I must have been about twelve years old yet I can still feel the leather of the driver’s seat warm on my bare back and hear the bonk as father, sitting half-sideways and caught unawares, hit the Triplex hard. What great days. Every visit we would buy a plastic football and lose it before we went home and sometimes, if the tide was out, my little brother and I would walk almost to Holland it seemed, watched over through parental binoculars as we jumped in the puddles all the way back.

Shoeburyness. That name brings back memories of days spent far away from the cares of home, when everything was fun except bedtime. The beaches are still there but the green Morris Oxford has gone the way of so many precious things and I shall never see it again. Me and my dad have joined the Saxons and the Peasants Revolt in history but the A13 is still there, rolling through a Springsteenesque landscape in which riverine Essex takes the place of the New Jersey shore, a tarmacadam trail to the Promised Land.

Billy is a witty performer and not above poking fun at his own earnest reputation. A favourite is Unisex Chipshop with Billy and Bill Bailey performing at Glastonbury 2004 what Billy clams is his son’s favourite track.

“I used to buy my chips from an oppressive chip shop regime.

The girl who worked there she seemed happy but I knew it was not what it seemed

“Do you want salt and vinegar?” was what they made her say

But in the language of the ghetto that means “Help! I’m a woman in chains”

I used to see her. In my dreams I would see her running naked through the woods round Rainham

If I had some tigers I’d train them.

To protect her. From the sexual fascism that was lurking…

round the gherkins!

I leaned across the counter and we would talk.

I carved her name – Debbie – on a little wooden fork

But into the shop came a skinhead gang

They snatched the fork from my hand

Debbie she looked at me

To assert my masculinity

I said “OI!”

They said “WHAT!”

I said “…nothing”

You can buy BB themed stuff from his website

mp3 : Billy Bragg – A13, Trunk Road To The Sea
mp3 : Bill Bailey & Billy Bragg – Unisex Chip Shop (live – Glastonbury 27 June 2004)

———–

I added my own PS to that post:-

ctelblog has just captured what I, and so many others love about BB. If you don’t already own it, then The Progressive Patriot, his book about Englishness is essential reading, as is the hugely-readable and often enlightening BB bio by Andrew Collins.

And here’s a (formerly) hard to find version of the song ctelblog has brought to everyone’s attention:-

mp3 : Billy Bragg – A13, Trunk Road To The Sea (Peel Session, 27 July 1983)

Enjoy.

Aberfeldy, Belle & Sebastian, Smittens, Talulah Gosh

LAZING IN LANZAROTE WEEK : STUFF FROM THE OLD PLACE : WEDNESDAY

A little bit of background to today’s piece of nostalgia.

It was written in September 2007 at a time when I was around halfway through a four month work secondment to Toronto. I had planned to keep the old blog update on a daily basis but found that having messed up copying files to a back-up drive that I had very few songs with me that I could link to. I was only managing a post every three or four days at best but it was a great trade off for what was turning out to be the experience of a lifetime.

WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD

Although the hours are long, I’m still enjoying the work I’m doing over here in Toronto, and trying not to get depressed by thinking too much about going back to the dead-end job awaiting me in Glasgow.

I’ve also become aware that an old (but not in the age-sense) friend is also having some work concerns of her own which I hope are resolved to her satisfaction ASAP. In the meantime, I’ve had an idea which may solve both of our work-related dilemmas. I’ m sure she and many of you regular readers out there will want to come a join me in a new venture – one that will one day rival and indeed surpass the popularity of Hard Rock Cafe.

Ladies and Gentlemen. Homos, Hetros and Metros. Why not spend some of your cash at Tearooms Most Twee??

Forget oversize steaks, burgers and king-size french fries. Put away your desires for sundaes and free refill sodas. Come to Tearooms Most Twee for cakes, cucumber sandwiches and french fancies. Feast your eyes on trifle and pots and pots of tea of all varieties, all served on antique wooden tables covered with the finest of lace.

The walls will not be covered with garish memorabilia. Only the finest of wallpaper from the catalogues of Laura Ashley.

Your ears will not be assaulted by the shrieks and wails of long-haired men wearing ultra-tight spandex backed by ugly folk pulling faces as their fingers move up and down the fretboard of their guitars. Instead, an old fashioned Dansette record player will be used to bring you sounds such as these:-

song : Belle & Sebastian – Dog On Wheels
song : Tallulah Gosh – Beatnik Boy
song : Aberfeldy – Summer’s Gone
song : The Smittens – Doomed, Lo-Fi & In Love

At least once a week, Tearooms Most Twee will have a live acoustic performance from Duglas BMX Bandit. Occasionally, it will also have theme nights – maybe something for The Goths where the music will be different and there will a DVD of Batman Begins on show. But the Laura Ashley wallpaper and lace-covered tables will be permanent.

Care to join me?

2013 Update

The scary thing is that there’s a couple of places opened up in Glasgow this past 18 months or so whose business model isn’t all that far removed from that I suggested for Tearooms Most Twee – albeit they do also have licences to serve alcohol. These establishments seem to be doing very well which means I really have missed a trick…

Oh and just to clear things up. I returned to Glasgow in December 2007 and to that dreadful dead-end job. Luckily, I was rescued by an alternative offer just a couple of months later for something much more satisfying. I’m still there now and can see me being there for many more years to come.

Enjoy.

Arrested Development, Jazz Butcher, Psychic TV, Rockingbirds

LAZING IN LANZAROTE WEEK : STUFF FROM THE OLD PLACE : TUESDAY

STEP BACK IN TIME (First posted in April 2007)

From L-R : Andy Rourke, Morrissey, JC and Johnny Marr.

If only………..

It’s actually the cover of a quite brilliant birthday present given to me back in 1993 by Jacques the Kipper.

At the time in our lives, we were in the habit of exchanging C90s around every two months, made up of stuff that we thought the other would like, or old things that we were listening to again after a period of time.

Mostly, it would involve handing over a tape with nothing written on it, and an A4 sheet of paper that contained cryptic clues (e.g. – Vodka was the single word for Smells Like Teen Spirit which JtK shoved on a tape a good two months before it went massive).

But for the momentous occasion of my 30th birthday, and to mark the day when I felt I was officially old, my mucker got me honorary membership of my favourite band and typed out the full track listing without testing my knowledge:-

Reggae Kray Do You Know My Name side

1. Candy Everybody Wants – 10,000 Maniacs
2. Godstar – Psychic TV
3. Pleasantly Surprised – The Soup Dragons
4. Half Of Everything – Lloyd Cole
5. Dollar Bill – Screaming Trees
6. Wish You Were Here – Darlingheart
7. Message In The Box – World Party
8. Jonathan, Jonathan – The Rockingbirds
9. Fire Away – James
10. Doomed – Julian Cope
11. Summer Fun In A Beat-Up Datsun – Cornershop
12. Grey Cortina – Tom Robinson Band

That Toke Isn’t Funny Anymore side

1. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Little Big Band
2. The Mating Game – The Monochrome Set
3. Southern Mark Smith – The Jazz Butcher
4. Circle Line – Rodney Allen
5. You’ve Got Me Thinking – The Beloved
6. For What It’s Worth – Oui 3
7. People Everyday – Arrested Development
8. Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) – Digible Planets
9. Call It What You Want – Credit To The Nation
10. Who Do You Think You Are? – Saint Etienne
11. Birthday (Tommy D mix) – Sugarcubes

The thing that I’ve just realised is that at the time, I was making a serious attempt to pass my driving test (unsuccessfully), and JtK has thrown in a couple of motor-related bits of fun at the end of the first side.

I probably listened to this tape right through on a daily basis for the best part of a month – it was in the days when I was commuting daily from Glasgow to Edinburgh with only a Sony Walkman to keep my sanity, and there were only so many tapes you could keep in your suit pockets.

As with the mp3s that I download nowadays, I took the view that if I really liked a song on a JtK tape, then I’d go out and buy it, and I reckon I’ve probably got 14 out of these 23 tracks on CD or vinyl. But of the 5,000 or so songs that I’ve now got on the i-pod, I reckon there’s only three of these, and none of them are on any favourite especially made playlists.

I suppose the point I’m trying to clumsily make is that back in 1993, I listened to these songs a helluva lot, but nowadays they hardly feature – although I still like just about everything on the tape. As such, I’m equally certain that much of the new stuff I’ve been buying in recent weeks will hardly be listened to in 2020 (assuming I last that long).

But I do hope that somehow, by the time I’m approaching my 60th birthday in 2023, I’ll still be a regular in music stores such as Avalanche and Fopp, buying what’s fresh, lively and new, having heard it first on whatever it is that has replaced music blogs…..

And now, for your amusement, here’s some of the stuff I was listening to in June 1993:-

mp3 : Psychic TV – Godstar
mp3 : The Rockingbirds – Jonathan, Jonathan
mp3 : The Jazz Butcher – Southern Mark Smith
mp3 : Arrested Development – People Everyday

It hasn’t always been jingly-jangly pop my whole life you know……(but then I sort of gave that away with yesterday’s blast from the past)

Beloved, Wonder Stuff

LAZING IN LANZAROTE WEEK : STUFF FROM THE OLD PLACE : MONDAY

By the time this post appears. I’ll have been in Lanzarote enjoying what I hope will been a few days in the sun with Mrs V. Not due to get back to Glasgow till late on Thursday night, so for the rest of this week as I won’t be able to check in on the blog I thought I’d re-post some of the stuff that has been retrieved from told place (probably got about 20% of the 2,500 posts). From December 2006:-:-

WHO WANTS TO BE THE DISCO KING?

Hey ho it’s Monday Morning.

Now I haven’t taken any artificial substances or stimulants to keep the happy posts going (my secret for this one is to type it out on Sunday night and hold it as a draft till the morning – it’s well-known I’m incapable of human interaction on Mondays for at least 4 hours after wakening up).

As a young teenager, I loved disco music – Earth, Wind & Fire, Donna Summer, Chic and all the rest of it. I loved getting out of the chairs at the side of the local church hall and getting on to the floor that doubled up as a badminton court on other nights.

Even as I moved on into the world of white-boy indie guitar bands, I still had a notion to shake various parts of my body in darkened dens of iniquity on suitable occasions. Or even just at the annual works Xmas party – and I know you’ve all got David Brent images in your head just now but I promise it wasn’t like that.

For a while, I even organised and ran the music at annual office parties – and I was therefore able to get maybe 20 minutes of the night where I could play stuff that I really liked. And I remember playing this and enjoying the moment as the floor emptied save for myself and one other single male colleague. Strange thing is, a woman in the room was so entertained by his performance that they soon got hitched and are now happily married with 2 great kids.

Me?? I was coming out of a messy separation and was rejoicing in my first Xmas with a new love in my life. She became Mrs Villain and even now forgives my forays into dance and disco music.

mp3 : The Beloved – Up, Up & Away (Happy Sexy Mix)

I must have been a lot fitter back in the early 90s – the song goes on for more than 7 minutes – I’d most likely damage a hamstring muscle if I danced to this in 2006.

For Jazf, Anna, Clara & Grace. Great friends for so many years.

2013 Update

Still great friends with Jazf and his family – indeed I’d go so far to now say he’s my best mate and we’ve had loads of great times, particularly at gigs and football matches for well over 20 years now.

Jazf would later take up my pestering and become a regular contributor to the old blog under the moniker of Jacques the Kipper.

Bonus song from where I stole the heading for the post:-

mp3 : The Wonder Stuff – Who Wants To Be The Disco King?

Enjoy.

King Biscuit Time

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 69)

King Biscuit Time is the name under which Steve Mason of The Beta Band released his solo material. The No Style EP is typical of what one writer described as “a combination transmogrified of Psychedelic, House, Dancehall, Pop, Folk, Hip-Hop and electronics into Mason’s his wide-screen, surround-sound international around-the-world-in-a-day Dada pop that exists in isolation to everything outside his own planet.”

The lead-off track is quite magnificent and dancey while the other two vocal tracks are quite lovely and soppy. The instrumental track (Untitled) is just a wee bit too noodly for my liking though but overall it’ll be a well worthy 15 minutes of your to take a listen:-

mp3 :King Biscuit Time – I Walk The Earth

mp3 : King Biscuit Time – Untitled

mp3 : King Biscuit Time – I Love You

mp3 : King Biscuit Time – Time To Get Up

CD single released in 2000 by Regal Recordings.

Delgados

IT’S COVERS WEEK ON T(n)VV : DAY 5

Lots of bands used John Peel sessions to record cover versions. Many of these would later appear on b-sides under license from the BBC but in recent years there’s been a trend towards some of the bands most frequently invited into the studio to release all such material on CD album or within boxsets – The Fall, The Wedding Present, PJ Harvey and Magazine all spring to mind. As do this lot:-

mp3 : The Delgados – Mr Blue Sky

mp3 : The Delgados – California Uber Alles

mp3 : The Delgados – Matthew and Son

mp3 : The Delgados – Last Rose of Summer

Stewart Henderson used the sleeve notes of the CD release to explain:-

The next session was scheduled to coincide with the release of ‘Hate’ and was recorded on 15 September 2002. This on was going to be a departure from previous sessions because we had decided to do four cover versions – we would choose three and John would be allowed to pick the fourth. John’s choice was ‘Last Rose of Summer’ by a Jamaican vocal group called The Symbols (also known as The Masters). This was a really enjoyable session to do although we all had individual problems with the songs that were chosen – Alun hated’Mr Blue Sky’ from the beginning and it took us forever to work out the outro; Paul had a nightmare doing the drums on ‘California Uber Alles’ and ‘Matthew and Son’ was a pain in the arse for me to play but overall the versions came out really well (for Alun’s sins we ended all our ‘Hate’ shows with ‘Mr Blue Sky’)

Oh and I’m with Alun Woodward on this. I really hate the song Mr Blue Sky…..ok, I hate the original ELP version…The Delgados make it more than listenable. And it’s a really good take on the Dead Kennedys classis as well.

Enjoy.

Billy Bragg, Bis, Boo Radleys, Divine Comedy, Frank & Walters, High Llamas, Placebo, Smiths, Supergrass, Therapy?, Trashcan Sinatras

IT’S COVERS WEEK ON T(n)VV : DAY 4

S-WC outlined all sorts of reasons why cover versions are recorded. As he mentioned, sometimes it can be for a tribute album. From wiki:-

The Smiths Is Dead is a tribute album to the 1980s’ English alternative rock band The Smiths, released in 1996. It was compiled by the French cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles and released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of 1986’s The Queen Is Dead. The album was released at the height of the Britpop phenomenon and contained covers by many popular Britpop acts such as The Boo Radleys, Supergrass, Bis and Placebo.

It’s very much a mixed bag and I think it’s accurate to say that none of the covers improve at all on the originals, but that would have been a near impossibility to begin with. The other biggest problems are that too many of the tracks fail to digress all that much from how The Smiths themselves recorded the songs or that the band asked to do the cover do so in a way that even Morrissey’s backing band would have been embarassed by the efforts. However, an honourable mention must go to Boo Radleys for what is a hugely different take on the title track…..one that too me many years to really appreciate but nowadays is the only one I have on the i-pod :-

mp3 : Boo Radleys – The Queen Is Dead
mp3 : The High Llamas – Frankly, Mr. Shankly
mp3 : The Trash Can Sinatras – I Know It’s Over
mp3 : Billy Bragg – Never Had No One Ever
mp3 : The Frank & Walters – Cemetry Gates
mp3 : Placebo – Bigmouth Strikes Again
mp3 : Bis – The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
mp3 : Therapy? – Vicar in a Tutu
mp3 : The Divine Comedy – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
mp3 : Supergrass – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

Enjoy.

China Drum, Futureheads, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis, Streets, Wedding Present

IT’S COVERS WEEK ON T(n)VV : DAY 3

With thanks to SWC for mentioning these yesterday. Covers of songs that are so well-known that I can be lazy and not provide background notes:-

mp3 : China Drum – Wuthering Heights

mp3 : Futureheads – Hounds Of Love

mp3 : Oasis – I Am The Walrus

mp3 : The Streets – Your Song

mp3 : Manic Street Preachers – Umbrella

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Back For Good

Enjoy.

Gaslight Anthem, Honeyroot

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (10)

It’s still covers week on T(n) VV:-

Whats in Your Box Part 10

Stanford Prison Experiment – ‘Cansado EP’

In reality this is a cover version special, but first a little word about Stanford Prison Experiment as their CD inspires today words. Stanford Prison Experiment were a hardcore/punk band from California who released a couple of albums in the mid 90s. They were signed to World Domination Records (see Part 6 for more on that) and were led by a certain Mario Jiminez. Their second album The Gato Hunch was supposed to be their breakthrough record but they split soon after its release.

Cansado is taken from that album and to be honest it’s a bit forgettable and for the first time I haven’t posted the main song of the CD. It is standard American punk in the vein of but not as good as Fugazi and Black Flag. What stands this EP out from the rest of the crowd is its selection of B sides. All of them are cover versions. I have included one as the posting , which I have cunningly disguised to see if anyone out there can guess which song it is. Remember this is an LA Punk Band who were around in 1995. A bit of the clue, the song features on an Album which JC included in his recent 50 at 50 series (I think, or was it over at 17 Seconds, I forget). Anyway, cover versions. Everyone loves a good cover.

There are I think, five types of cover version and I will do my best to demonstrate my theory here.

Number One – The make the song your own – Best example I can think of is Wuthering Heights by China Drum. A cover version so good, that I now associate that song with them, rather than with Kate Bush. See also I suppose Hounds of Love by The Futureheads and I am The Walrus by Oasis.

Number Two – Do it for a Film – Difficult because its either going to be ironic, terrible or a cover of a great song. The best example I can think of here is Love Will Tear Us Apart by Honeyroot from film Red Road. Already a brilliant song and few would dare to cover it, but Honeyroot took it and stripped it bare and wrung every last inch of emotion and heatbreak out of It, making it even more beautiful and if you’ve watched the film, you’ll know why. It is in my opinion ‘The Best cover version Ever’. Heck, I thought I’d post it as well as it is so great, but if you don’t already own it, shame on you.

mp3 : Honeyroot – Love Will Tear Us Apart

Number Three – The Radio One/Aren’t we wacky/Tribute Album – You are in a ‘Live Lounge’ and you have to do a cover. So you do something awful and make it slightly less awful. Nearly every cover version recorded in Radio One’s Live Lounge is terrible. The only exceptions I have ever heard are Your Song by The Streets (which I put in category 1 now) and The Manic Street Preachers doing Umbrella. Other radio stations are not immune from this (I’m looking at you Six Music, although you are forgiven for The Wedding Present‘s version of Back for Good). See also ironic covers of crap songs by Punk Bands and almost anything on a tribute album.

Number Four – The Why Bother – You do a song and IT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE THE ORIGINAL. Pointless. I was listening a few weeks ago to Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem and after track 12 or something Sliver by Nirvana came on. I assumed the album had finished and had gone into a random shuffle. It took me a full half and hour to realise it was a cover version. It is EXACTLY the same as the original and if you don’t believe me I’ve posted it in all its pointless glory.

mp3 : The Gaslight Anthem – Sliver

Which brings us to Number Five – The Was that what I thought it was – Cover versions that you listen to and go – hang on that was such and such wasn’t it and you have to play it again to make sure. I have an ambient version of Michael Jackson’s Stranger in Moscow that bears no resemblance to the original what so ever. This is where Stanford Prison Experiment come in. So what do you think they have covered – post in the comments section your answers and how long it took to guess, no googling the answer either. It took me to one minute 45 on the second play. JC will get it after 45 seconds or something but good luck.

mp3 : Sssh…..what is it

Have a good week one and all.

JC Update

After 30 seconds….I thought it was a particular song….after 45 seconds I changed my mind as it then reminded of something else….after 65 seconds I went back to my original thought….after 75 seconds yup….I stuck with my original thought and was duly rewarded.

It was SW-C’s post that got me thinking about doing a full week of covers so big thanks to him.

Edwyn Collins

IT’S COVERS WEEK ON T(n)VV : DAY 1

I’ve never hidden my love of a good cover version. The old place used to have the occasional week’s worth of postings that were all about cover versions. I thought I’d so similar here in my new abode.

One of the things that I think makes a particularly good cover is when a singer or band take a song and do it in their own inimitable style so that unless you knew the original version you’d be hard pushed to realise it is not an original you’re listening to. Edwyn Collins has managed this on a couple of occasions:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins – Ding a Dong

mp3 : Edwyn Collins – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans

The first of these is a cover of the winning entry in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. The original was by a band called Teach In who were from the Netherlands and on its release as a single in the UK, Ding a Dong reached #13 . Although would be their only success in the UK, Teach In were well-known in their native land – indeed their participation in Eurovision came after a number of hit singles in 1974 – and released 5 LPs and around 20 singles in the 70s.

The second song dates from 1971 and was written and recorded by Redbone, an American band that enjoyed a fair bit of critical and commercial success in the States in the 70s. The Witch Queen of New Orleans was also a hit in the UK, reaching #2 in October 1971, a position it kept for four successive weeks but kept off the top spot by Rod Stewart singing Maggie May. Given that Edwyn would have been 12 years old at the time, I’m guessing his love for Witch Queen stems from him watching Top of The Pops and wishing that somehow the song would get boring old Rod off the show for at least one week….

Enjoy.