FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (9)

Intro from JC

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m really enjoying the weekly contributions from SWC with much of the material being new to my ears. I’m also loving that his writing is hugely entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny….and this week’s is an absolute cracker. I think it is worth mentioning that in his covering e-mail he said he wrote it in a state of delirium after a long day and a visit to the dentist…..

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The music press has in its time spouted a lot of bollocks, I think it’s fair to say. For instance they love to hype a band and then when they turn out to be the musical equivalent of a double hernia, deny any knowledge of ever mentioning them (remember Terris ?- £1.99 I’ll never get back, you utter bastards at the NME ). But occasionally they got it right (see The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and most very recently Childhood) so we forgive them and move on to the Next Big Thing.

What really, really annoys me is when the press decides that its time for a New Scene. Here is a list of some (but not all) I can remember…

Britpop (shouty blokes with guitars, mostly bland white boys who look, sound, and act, like Oasis)

Shoegaze (basically Ride for the girls and Slowdive for the boys, but posh middle class, home counties residing, university educated scensters, now making a comeback with the likes of Forest and Younghusband – who (whisper it) are actually very good)

New Wave of New Wave (a scene created so that These Animal Men could exist. White pretend working class lads taking far too much speed for their own sanity)

Lion Pop (created so that Cud could become more famous than they deserved to be – dissolved when Cud released ‘Rich and Strange’ and no one bought it)

And…getting to the point….RoMo (Bands from the mid 90s who thought it was still 1985. Championed by the Melody Maker, ignored by, well everyone else, and the single reason why Melody Maker folded). Hands Up if you can remember a RoMo band?

Orlando were the darlings of the scene, set apart from the rest by actually being quite good. The rest of them had passed me by, until this popped out of the box today.

In Aura had the idea of merging Prog Rock with New Romantic stylings and their first single was this – a sprawling eight minute, erm, epic that swoops and ooohs and aahs and rocks and then wibbles and then settles down for a little sleep before waking up again at the end. Its, frankly, ridiculous, but utterly wonderful at the same time, an eight minute debut single is a very brave thing to do. It reminds me a lot of Duran Duran, which if it was 1984 would be a terrific thing. Sadly its nearly 2014 and I’m knocking on the door of 40 and I don’t want to be reminded of Duran Duran.

A website which mentions them called them “A fine weave of dark wave electro pop and epic rock (read prog there) a mix of Nine Inch Nails (nope, not really) Suede (in terms of sheer pomposity, yes), Primal Scream (in your fecking dreams sunshine) Pink Floyd (ditto) and Porcupine Tree (who?). It also mentioned that EMI signed them and gave them ONE MILLION POUNDS to record their debut album. I say that again ONE MILLION POUNDS. So there we have it. In Aura the musical equivalent of Andy Carroll* – good for eight minutes or so, vastly expensive, and then forgotten.

mp3 : In Aura – This Month’s Epic

*For those wondering who the hell Andy Carroll is…..click here

ENJOY!!!!!!

bIG fLAME

FOR DIEHARD FANS ONLY

fROM wIKI:-

Big Flame (often rendered bIG fLAME) were a post punk/Indie rock three piece band, based in Manchester, England and active from 1983 to 1986. The members were Alan Brown (bass, vocals), Greg Keeffe (guitar) and Dil Green (drums). After a debut single (Sink) on their own Laughing Gun label, they joined the Ron Johnson roster for a series of mid-eighties singles as well as an appearance on the NME’s C86 compilation.

On the reverse of the “Two Kan Guru” compilation, it was jokingly stated that Green and Brown played in the original line up of Wham! with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley; incredibly, this was accepted as fact by many people.In addition to releasing 5 singles and a compilation EP, Big Flame also recorded four sessions for the John Peel Show.

Big Flame were a major influence on Manic Street Preachers. In a 1991 interview, Richie Edwards stated “The 80s, for us, was the biggest non-event ever, like C86. All we had was Big Flame. Big Flame was the most perfect band. But we couldn’t play their records ‘cos they were too avant garde”.

The group also operated beyond the confines of the band itself. Keeffe and Green hosted a night at Manchester’s Man Alive club which they christened “The Wilde Club” providing a useful venue for groups other than their own. This spirit was also reflected in Ugly Noise Undercurrents which was a band-swap concept conceived by Alan to provide emerging groups with a facility for securing gigs in towns and cities beyond their home base. The Allez Ugly newsletter was the primary driver for this.

After the band split in 1986, Brown joined Ron Johnson labelmates A Witness on drums, touring the UK and Europe and appearing on several records (the 12″ EP ‘One Foot in the Groove’ and Strange Fruit Double Peel Sessions) and three sessions for BBC Radio One DJ John Peel. He left A Witness in 1988 to form solo project Great Leap Forward, while Keeffe joined Meatmouth (with Mark Whittam and Nicholas Blincoe) who released “Meatmouth is murder” on Factory Records, Fac196.

After a break from music, Alan Brown teamed up with Daren Garratt (of Pram) and Vince Hunt (of A Witness) in the band Marshall Smith, releasing an album ‘Colours’ in 2006 on the Euphonium label.

In 2007 Alan Brown joined Sarandon as bass player.

Greg Keeffe is now Professor of sustainable architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds.

Dil Green is now an architect based in London.

The thing is, up until a few weeks ago I never owned any bIG fLAME music other than a couple of tracks on compilation LPs. I’d always wanted to include them on the old blog mainly as a thank you to my mate Jacques the Kipper who was and remains, even after all these years, a huge fan of the band. I can just picture him back in the days with his giant hair atop his head, held together by at least one full can of hairspray, bodyslamming his way through the mayhem of a live gig.

But then I picked up a second hand copy of the Rigour EP from 1985:-

mp3 : bIG fLAME – Man Of Few Syllables

mp3 : bIG fLAME – Debra

mp3 : bIG fLAME – Sargasso

It’s all very noisy and screechy. For those who won’t like it – and I reckon that could well be about 99% of you – each song is over and down with in no more than 2 minutes.

Go on. Give it a try…….

James King, James King & The Lone Wolves, James Yorkston & The Athletes, Jazzateers, Jesus & Mary Chain, Johnny & The Self-Abusers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Parts 61-65)

Back on 8 October 2011, I started a series called ‘Saturday’s Scottish Single’. The aim was to feature one 45 or CD single by a Scottish singer or band with the proviso that the 45 or CD single was in the collection. I had got to Part 60-something and as far as Kid Canaveral when the rug was pulled out from under TVV.

(61) : James King – Back From The Dead b/w My Reward b/w As Tears Go By : Virgin 7″ (1981)

(61a) : James King & The Lone Wolves – Texas Lullaby b/w Sacred Heart b/w Chance I Can’t Deny b/w Until The Dawn b/w Lost : Thrush Records 12″ EP (1983)

James King & The Lone Wolves embarked on a mid-80s mission to make the charts. Unfortunately, after only a couple of singles, ‘Texas Lullaby’ and ‘The Angels Know’, King split the group up in 1985. And yes, the last of the tracks on the Virgin single is that written by Jagger and Richards and made famous by Marianne Faithfull.

And as far as your humble scribe is concerned, Texas Lullaby is one of THE great lost Scottish releases of the era – everyone of the songs is well worth a listen.

(62) James Yorkston & The Athletes – St Patrick b/w St Patrick (Vitus Mix) b/w Catching Eyes b/w Blue Madonnas : Domino Records CD single 2002

MUSIC IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Originally issued on a four-track CD back in 1993, there was a 20th Anniversary limited edition vinyl re-release to mark Record Store Day. Some of these songs were featured a few times over at the old blog. I hope there’s a least a handful of new readers to whom this will be a wee bit of a revelation:-

mp3 : The Ukranians – Batyar

mp3 : The Ukranians – Koroleva Ne Polerma

mp3 : The Ukranians – M’yaso-Ubivsto

mp3 : The Ukranians – Spivaye Solovey

The Ukrainians grew out of a project started by The Wedding Present. The group, at the instigation of guitarist Peter Solowka, decided to make one of their sessions for John Peel a Ukrainian one! Peter’s friend ‘The Legendary Len’ was drafted in as an extra member because he sang, played a scratchy, authentic village-sounding violin and was a student of Slavonic languages! The group recorded the first session and it was duly broadcast. Then Peel played it again…and again…and again!

What was intended to be a one-off bit of fun turned into a second session, at Peel’s request. This session, which included Ukrainian mandolinist Roman Remeynes, was also played numerous times. As a result, there was pressure to release these first two sessions as an album, and so Ukrainski Vistupi V Johna Peela was born. Although the band only played an 8 day UK tour to promote it, it sold almost 70,000 copies worldwide.

Fast forward to 1993. The Ukranians have by now recorded and released a debut LP and become staples of the festival circuit as well as headlining their own tours all across Europe. They went into the recoding studio and emerged with a new EP Pisni Iz The Smiths – four incredible takes on Bigmouth Strikes Again (Batyar), Koroleva Ne Polerma (The Queen Is Dead), M’yaso-Ubivsto (Meat Is Murder) and Spivaye Solovey (What Difference Does It Make?).

Enjoy!!!!

Redskins

STAND FIRM! HOLD TIGHT! AND FIGHT!

Released in 1984 at the height of what was the most bitter and confrontational industrial strike that has happened in my lifetime.

My most abiding memory of the song, aside from dancing to it in the student union, was when The Redskins gave a live rendition one Friday tea-time on ‘The Tube’ some six months into the strike.

Having just crashed their way through Hold On, lead singer Chris Dean (who also at the time wrote for the NME under the name of X Moore) introduced a temporary member of the band for Keep On Keepin On. A miner from Durham (which was the closest mining area to the Newcastle studios where The Tube was recorded) took to the stage and attempted to explain why he was on strike. His words were met with applause from the audience down at the front of the stage but they didn’t reach the ears of those of use sitting in our living rooms as the microphone had mysteriously failed.

There was uproar afterwards as Channel 4 was accused of deliberately sabotaging the performance. The TV station claimed it didn’t know in advance that the striking miner would take to the stage and had no idea that he would take to that particular mic which had actually malfunctioned during the performance of the first song. I’ve got this footage on VHS tape and it is true that when Martin Hewes was singing backing vocals on Hold On he couldn’t be heard….but it still seems to have been all too convenient.

The publicity helped get the single some radio airplay and enough sales to take it into the Top 50, but sadly not enough to ever lead to a Top of The Pops appearance.

In an era of ever increasingly bland chart fodder, I’ve no doubt at all that The Redskins would get no airplay nowadays. Indeed, even when you watch or listen to shows that look back at the music that was most synonymous with the era you’ll never spot The Redskins.

Keep On Keepin On is a cracking record, as indeed is the LP Neither Washington Nor Moscow with its heady mix of pop, soul, blues, folk, punk and left-wing politics and it’s very obvious that The Redskins were a hugely talented band who could have made and sold records for many years to come. But they didn’t…..

Where others such as Bragg and Weller could accept that there was more to the life of a musician than writing and recording agit-pop songs, it really was all-or-nothing for Chris Dean & co. They painted themselves into a corner with the interviews they gave to the music and mainstream press and in due course the sad defeat for the miners and the ever-increasing shift to the right in UK politics meant they had nowhere to go and nothing meaningful to say. For a while The Redskins had stood firm, held tight and fought. But in the end they chose to die on their feet than to live on their knees. The break-up was swift and inevitable. But they left a fine legacy:-

mp3 : The Redskins – Keep On Keepin’ On (Die on Your Feet Mix)

mp3 : The Redskins – 16 Tons (Coal Not Dole)

mp3 : The Redskins – Reds Strike The Blues!

Enjoy.

B-52s

BLUE JEANS AND CHINOS; COKE, PEPSI AND OREOS (Part 3)

Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976, and still going strong almost 40 years later, the B-52’s have rarely been taken all that seriously by music critics or indeed bloggers . I’m prepared however, to put my head above the parapet and say that I’m quite fond of a lot of their earlier material.

The B-52s were one of those bands that I first head about via the music papers but I never seemed to ever hear their songs getting played on the radio. That all changed in 1979 with them inking a deal with Island Records for the UK distribution of their material and the re-release of the previous year’s 45 Rock Lobster. At the time my musical tastes were firmly ensconced in the sounds being made by UK new wave/post-punk bands but there was just something so infectiously catchy about Rock Lobster that you couldn’t help but enjoy it.

So before too long I spent some of the money earned from the paper-round on a copy of the eponymous debut LP and learned that I could like music that wasn’t angst-ridden, bitter or angry. Music to dance to with a grin on your face as you sang along to totally nonsensical lyrics. Just 12 months or so later, the band released follow-up LP Wild Planet which musically followed the formula of the debut.

After aborting plans for a full-length LP with David Byrne in the producer’s chair, it took until 1983 before Whammy! hit the shops. By this time, the musical snob in me had seen me move on from the band and I wasn’t the slightest bit interested…..until one night I found myself dancing in the student disco to what I later learned had been one of the singles lifted from LP………and all these years later I still love Song For A Future Generation.

The next LP, Bouncing Off The Satellites, was overshadowed by AIDS-related death of Ricky Wilson. The band hardly promoted it and it more or less sunk without trace. Three years later however, they made an unexpected comeback and even more unexpectedly, they found world-wide chart success thanks to the single Loveshack.

The B-52’s of that era and since are a pop act quite unrecognisable from the songs you’ll find on the first two LPs. I don’t own anything they’ve released since 1989 but as I said at the start of this post, I am fond of some of the earlier material:-

mp3 : The B52’s – Rock Lobster (single edit)

mp3 : The B52’s – Planet Claire

mp3 : The B52’s – Give Me Back My Man

mp3 : The B52’s – Song For A Future Generation

Enjoy

Supermodel, theaudience

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST CORRESPONDENT….WHAT’S IN YOUR BOX (8)

To which the South West Correspondent throws his arms up in the air and says ‘I don’t know’. I am well and truly stumped this week. Here is a CD that I don’t remember buying. I don’t remember reviewing and I don’t remember ever listening to. I know NOTHING about this band. I don’t know where they are from; I don’t know who the singer is, whether they released anymore records or whether or not they are still going. So over to you guys….Anyone got any more info on Supermodel? By the way if you read this at work, be careful when you Google ‘Supermodel Haircut’.

So what do I know about it and them… well I can tell you is that this not the Australian/New Zealand band of the same name doing the rounds at the moment (thankfully). Secondly, the song is quite good, in the punky pop style that was big for about a week in 1995/6 (see 60ft Dolls, Three Colours Red and China Drum for other examples). Thirdly, the bands previous single was called ‘Penis Size and Cars’ and that bizarrely was covered by Sophie Ellis Bextors old band ‘theaudience’ who have their second reference in this column in two columns. Finally, this record appears to have been a hit in Finland. So big up to the Finns, when I say hit, it may have got to Number 34 in the Finnish Charts and sold 9 copies.

mp3 :Supermodel – Haircut

a PS from JC

I found the sleeve of this single on t’internet:-

I was able to find out they were signed to Fire Records. The discography consisted of three singles and one LP:-

Penis Size and Cars – BLAZE 96

Haircut – BLAZE 99

No Second Coming – BLAZE 104

Clumba Mar – BLAZE 56

According to the entry on last fm:-

Supermodel were a lo-fi band from Staines, United Kingdom who were signed to London’s indie Fire Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia in the United States.

The NME described their Teenage Fanclub-style debut Clumba Mar as a “brand new invention, ELO-fi”, and the band toured by running their own nights called ‘The Apple Club’.

Guitarist, Wolsey White and singer/guitarist Triani went on to forge successful careers as producers, whilst drummer Lindsay Jamieson and bass player Chris Anderson went on to play in Departure Lounge.

More recently Jamieson has been a member of Ben Folds and Anderson performs as Crayola Lectern.

Any readers able to add more?

Oh and here’s theaudience version referred to above:-

mp3 : theaudience – Penis Size and Cars*

*blatant attempt to drive up traffic by attracting the casual perverts.

Cats On Fire

PRIME INDIE MUSIC

To listen to Cats On Fire is to step back in time to an era when my jeans had a waist size in the high 20s and my t-shirt labels didn’t feature the letter L far less one or more or the letter X.

But to simply suggest that Cats on Fire are a pastiche of the fabulous jingly-jangly guitar pop of the 80s would be doing them a huge disservice. Yes, they take the very best bits of bands like The Smiths, The Go Betweens, Felt along with others who emerged from C86 movement but somehow they also sprinkle their own fairy dust to the sound and deliver something that is incredibly fresh, important and special. It is prime indie music influenced by the prime indie music era. Cats on Fire make a noise that is magical, exciting. melodic, joyous, infectious and incredibly danceable. I close my eyes and once again I’m wearing skinny jeans, hipster trainers and a t-shirt that sits flat over my stomach.

I have no idea why the world has singularly failed to take notice of this wonderful band nor why the world’s media don’t hang on every utterance from lead singer and main songwriter Matthias Bjorkas who is one of those ridiculously intelligent, charming, talented and good-looking musicians that boys and girls fall in love with in equal measures. He should be the 21st Century equivalent of Moz or Jarvis and yet he’s barely known even in his home country of Finland or in the neighbouring territories that make up Scandanavia.

The band took their first tentative steps as long ago as 2001 and have gone through some personnel changes over the past 12 years or so. To begin with it was singles and EPs with the debut LP not appearing until 2007. All told, there’s been around 60 songs of the highest quality you could ask for :-

mp3 : Cats On Fire – I Am The White-Mantled King

mp3 : Cats On Fire – Letters From A Voyage To Sweden

mp3 : Cats on Fire – 1914 And Beyond

mp3 : Cats On Fire – My Friend In A Comfortable Chair

Taken respectively from The Province Complains (2007), Our Temperance Movement (2009), All Blackshirts To Me (2012) and Dealing In Antiques (2010) – the latter being a compilation that gathers up many of the early singles/EPs that are now almost impossible to find in their original formats. All of these releases really do deserve your attention and can be ordered from a number of places across the internet. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Why not ask Santa to bring them to you next month??

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, Hey! Elastica, His Latest Flame, Idlewild, Jack Butler

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Parts 56 – 60)

I’ll catch up soon enough by featuring 5 or more at a time from the archives..

(56) Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie – The Rattler b/w Here Comes Deacon Brodie : Capitol Records 7″ single (1989)

Read more about Goodbye Mr Mackenzie here

(57) Hey! Elastica – Eat Your Heart out b/w Clay Hips (1st Movement) : Virgin Records 12″ single (1982)

From Edinburgh and part of the glorious age of Scottish pop that rode on the back of the critical acclaim afforded to the likes of Orange Juice. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved them. And discovered many years later that so did my good mate Jacques the Kipper.

Four criminally ignored singles and one LP before Virgin cut their losses and dropped the band. Hugely energetic and entertaining live, if not, it must be admitted, the most accomplished. This is the debut single

(58) His Latest Flame – America Blue b/w Tongue Tied : London Records 7″ single (1989)

Formed in the mid 80s in Glasgow and regarded by many as the nearest we ever got to The Bangles, albeit many of the records had a political kick to them. The early singles were on Go! Discs but the latter material, including their only LP, was issued via London Records. Tricia Reid has a mighty fine voice……..

(59) Idlewild – No Emotion b/w Lookin’ For A Love b/w No Emotion (Caucasian Dub – Trance Mix) : Sequel Records 2 x 7″ singles (2007)

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : TEMPTATION by NEW ORDER

As posted on 18 June 2008……

I’m not sure how many singles are released in the UK every week. Let’s guesstimate at 200.

If so, this would mean that since 1 April 1982, there have more than 250,000 bits of product originally designed to rotate on a turntable at 45rpm made available to the great British public. And not one of them has been as majestic as the work of art and genius that is Temptation by New Order.

Yup, that’s the song I consider to be my all time favourite 45 on the very day that I turn 45. And given it has held down the position for 26 years, 2 months and 18 days, its likely to hold the coveted slot for quite a while yet. At least till I’m 78 I reckon….

I’ve loads of great memories associated with this song.

My then closest friend called me up one day to say that he’d gotten his hands on the latest New Order single. He said that it wasn’t like any of the previous two releases – Ceremony and Procession – but it was something that had to be heard to be believed. I immediately got on my bike and cycled the couple of miles to his house for a listen. My mate handed me the single and invited me to place it on the turntable. He then left the room and said he’d be back in a minute or two but I was to give him my initial impression.

I thought it was appalling. There was something just not quite right about it, and who was this new vocalist that had been drafted in with his helium-like voice? My mate came back in and asked me what I thought. I looked him in the eye and asked him if he’d gone off his head as it was dreadful. It was then he burst out laughing and let-on that the single was to be played, not at 45rpm, but at 33 and 1/3 rpm….

Which I did…..and immediately fell in love with the hypnotic and robotic rhythm pulsating from the cheap speakers. This was the New Order that Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton had been promising us for so long – and the song that finally got them to emerge from the shadows of Joy Division and stand on their own eight feet.

I don’t know how many times we played that record back-to-back that night, but a few hours later, I was back on my bike on the way home singing different snatches of the song, a cassette recording in my pocket and looking forward to buying my very own copy the following day after I’d borrowed some money from my mum.

I was lucky enough to go into a record shop which had an assistant who asked ‘Do you want the 7” or 12” version?”, and my choice of the 12” turned out be inspired.

It was quite unlike the 7” which was by now so familiar to me. The sleeve was slightly different, it had a different introduction and it rotated on the turntable at 45 rpm. It also sounded, to my ears at least, a perfect recording whereas the 7″ seemed now to be something spliced up to come in at under 5 minutes for radio play….

Now it was my turn to phone my mate and get him on his bike down to my house, where he grudgingly accepted that the 12” version was superior.

It was all a bit disappointing that Temptation didn’t make the band instant superstars – I was a bit worried that having made such a masterpiece that did next-to-nothing, New Order would soon either choose to break-up or maybe just fade into obscurity..

Instead, the band just got bigger and better in so many ways over the next 10 years or so.

And with the inclusion of a new version of Temptation on the phenomenally successful soundtrack to the film Trainspotting, the song finally got some long-overdue recognition and acknowledgement.

Which brings me to another story (if you’ll indulge me…)

I’d like to think that this series has highlighted how important my time at University was in terms of really developing a passion for music. Most of my weekends between late-1981 and mid-1985 were spent in various parts of the Students Union at Strathclyde University – be it Level 8 for gigs and the ‘popular’ indie-disco, or the smaller downstairs converted dining-room for the more obscure stuff mixed in with the Goths.

Upon graduating, I moved to Edinburgh to live and work and I reckoned that I’d never set foot in the building again. Which I didn’t……

………until 12 years later when I accompanied a local dignitary who I worked for as he had the task of giving a welcome speech as part of an event for the fresh intake of students in September 1997. The location was the newly refurbished Level 8 of the very building that I had spent so many happy nights. I was a bit unsure of myself as I got into the lift to go up the 8 floors of the building where maybe 300 or so students were patiently waiting for the formalities to begin. As I stepped into the space, my jaw visibly dropped at how different it all looked….the makeover had changed the old haunt beyond recognition……but the real shock was to hear that the song coming over the speakers was Temptation. I was a bit spooked to say the least…

It turned out that the CD to the Trainspotting soundtrack was what was being played, but to have arrived at that moment as Barney was singing about grey eyes, green eyes and blue eyes was really disconcerting…

But it’s not just the stories and memories that makes this song so very special.

The 12” version of this song is so joyously infectious that you can’t help but sing along. It’s so incredibly catchy that you can’t stop yourself dancing. It’s also a track that has often been a live tour-de-force at New Order gigs. The early 90s documentary ‘New Order Story’ has got an especially incredible version recorded live at Montreux in Switzerland…

I don’t know how many times I’ve played Temptation. It was a near staple inclusion on all the compilation tapes I used to make, and I still include one version or another of it on many of the playlists compiled for the I-pod. I have never ever grown bored by it, and know that I never will.

And…..as I mentioned above, there’s also the fact that it did so much to establish New Order as an act in their own image, and not just three seemingly nondescript blokes and a shy girl looking to carry on where Joy Division had left off.

I’ve never seen anyone quite like you before. No I’ve never heard anyone quite like you before.

mp3 : New Order – Temptation (12 inch version)
mp3 : New Order – Hurt (12 inch version)

Bonus track:-

mp3 : New Order – Temptation (live at Montreux, 1993)

T(n)VV returns to normal as of next week…..thanks for hanging around during the repeats.

Clash

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : (WHITE MAN) IN HAMMERSMITH PALAIS by THE CLASH

I’ve repeatedly said that I was never a punk, but just someone who loved an awful lot of the punk-sounding records. However, the early singles and debut LP by The Clash weren’t things that I was initially fond of – they were just too raw and raucous for my tastes, which at that time were still evolving.

As with most teenagers, I got some money from my mum and dad and aunties and uncles for my 15th birthday, and so I traipsed up the road to the record shop. I can’t actually remember everything that was bought…there’s every chance I bought a bundle of disco stuff as Saturday Night Fever was all the rage and all the girls wanted someone who danced like John Travolta.

I do distinctly remember buying my first ever single by The Clash with some of the money – it was on prominent display in the shop having just been released a couple of days previously. The reason I remember all this is down to a sort of hero-worship of a guy called Mick. Not only did he work in a record shop, he also had his own mobile disco with lights and everything….and Mick said that day that if I wanted to buy something special for my birthday then it should be this new single called (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.

When I told him that I didn’t really like The Clash, he asked me if I had ever really listened to them. I had to admit that I hadn’t other than what I had sometimes heard on the radio. He then offered to play the single for me there and then. Of course in order to retain any degree of coolness, I was always going to say it was fantastic…..

So I took the record home, but I was nowhere near convinced. This certainly was nothing like love at first sight. But like all new records, it continued to get spins on the turntable all the time, and within a week or so, after a number of listens, I realised, in a sort of Road To Damascus conversion moment, the song was something really different and special. And with that I felt I could classify myself as a Clash fan – one of the best decisions I ever made as the band and their music became a sort of secret password for getting on so well with people in the years to come.

The first example of this was a year later when I took on my first ever summer job, over a period of six weeks or so, at the age of 16. It was in a city-centre store that sold car accessories. I was easily the youngest member of staff – the rest of them were dead old being at least 19, while the store manager was ancient at the age of 25. I wasn’t able to do the sort of things they did, such as go out to the pub after work on a Friday night. But one other worker was interested in the fact I bought Melody Maker every week – although his own preference was for the NME.

That’s when I learned his taste was for punk/new wave, his favourite being The Clash. The fact that I liked the band was a big factor in me being accepted in the workplace.

A few years later, the time had come to move out of the family home and into a student flat. It was a case of trying to find folk you would be compatible with, and the deal with the two lads who I was eventually to move in beside was sealed when we all said that White Man…was our favourite Clash single. So much so in my case, that by this time (1983) I had learned to play it note-for-note on a Casio keyboard which I demonstrated one evening in a drunken stupor while another of the flat mates played bass and the other sang. The girls we had back that night were far from impressed.

I always thought I was in a minority with my love for this single over all others by The Clash. I was certain that White Riot, London Calling or even the cover of I Fought The Law would win out in any popularity contest. But no, there was some sort of poll a few years back which revealed that the most popular and enduring song was the one released in June 1978:-

mp3 : The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
mp3 : The Clash – The Prisoner

It was unusually slow and melodic for a punk/new wave band. You could even make out a whole lot of the words without the need for a lyric sheet. It was also a song that lended itself to the use of your badminton racquet masquerading as your guitar….and it’s a song that has aged magnificently, sounding every bit as fresh, exciting and vibrant today as it did 30 years ago.

It’s hard to recall that all those years ago, the release of White Man… caused a bit of an uproar among the hardcore fans of the band. It was a radical departure from the short, sharp, loud and angry songs that had symbolised everything punk/new wave was supposed to be. It was, looking back, the earliest indication (notwithstanding Police & Thieves) that The Clash were no one-trick pony but in fact a quite extraordinary band capable of producing top-quality songs influenced by all sorts of genres.

I no longer have this single in the collection – another victim of the Edinburgh debacle of 1986, but by then it wasn’t a bit of vinyl that could have safely gone on the record player.

It was a record that had been played to within an inch of its life – it was worn out, full of scratches and jumps courtesy of it being shoved on more than once in a drunken stupor in which I bumped against the turntable. And because I imagine that’s how everyone who ever owned the single behaved with it, I’ve never pursued a copy via e-bay as the vinyl will be in a far from pristine condition. Instead, I’ve relied on an antiseptically clean copy that I have within the 3-CD box-set of Clash on Broadway.

2013 Update

I’ve since picked up a 7″ copy of the single and I’ve also got my hands on alternative recording of White Man as made available on a compilation LP for Rock Against Racism.

mp3 : The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais (alt version)

Tune in tomorrow for a reminder of my all time #1 45

Orange Juice

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : FELICITY by ORANGE JUICE

From January 1982.

It reached the giddy heights of #63 in the UK pop charts.

This is the sound of happiness. On a double A side 7″ single.

I really don’t think I need say anymore….

mp3 : Orange Juice – Felicity
mp3 : Orange Juice – In A Nutshell

The irony here is that my favourite Orange Juice single, while sung by Edwyn Collins was in fact written by fellow band-member James Kirk.

Hence the William Shatner reference in this cover version:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Felicity

Many years later, James did his own great version of the song:-

mp3 : James Kirk – Felicity

The The

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : THIS IS THE DAY by THE THE

It was back in 1983 that I plucked up the courage to move out of the family home into a student flat in time for my third year out of four at university. And aside from a couple of times when I’ve returned to mum and dad’s place to sleep on a spare couch, numerous flatmates (and two wives) have been the ones that have had to put up with my mood swings for quarter-of-a-century. They’ve also had to put up with my taste in music, although thankfully, just about everyone (bar wife numero uno) who ever lived under the same roof as me liked what I was playing.

This particular song is the one that I most associate with my first flat.

‘Well you didn’t wake up this morning cos you didn’t go to bed’ – as an opening line seemed to capture what every weekend was designed for.

‘This is the day your life will surely change’ – as a chorus seemed to capture what the hope of every Friday and Saturday night was going to be about as I set out in the hope of finding a true soul mate.

This particular song is the perfect companion piece to How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths, yet another great hymn of the 80s dealing with angst, loneliness and a desire to belong. And while the genius guitar work of Johnny Marr was at the heart of what made his band’s song so special, so the accordion work of someone simply called Wicks turns This Is The Day into an instant classic.

Matt Johnson is probably the most under-rated and unappreciated singer/songwriter of my generation. He started off using The The as just another name for his solo efforts augmented by hugely talented guest musicians, including Jools Holland (who contributes a memorable piano solo on the LP version of Uncertain Smile) and Zeke Manyika who gave the drums one hell of a pounding on most of the LP Soul Mining, in a style that was completely different from his work with Orange Juice.

Then Matt decided that The The needed to become a band, primarily for touring purposes – and lo and behold, he unveils Johnny Marr as his lead guitarist. Strange as it may seem, Johnny was actually a member of The The longer than he was in The Smiths….

From 1983-1992, The The released four LPs at regular intervals. Three of these – Soul Mining (1983), Infected (1986) and Dusk (1992) remain among my favourites by any band. And while Mind Bomb (1989) is a bit more patchy, it did spawn a couple of great singles, including the astonishing and controversial Armageddon Days Are Here Again, the first few seconds of which are a tribute to 70s glam rock band The Sweet, before turning into a fantastic tirade against those who use religion to justify war and violence.

Just when I thought The The could do no wrong, Matt dissolved the band as it was, and in 1995 unleashed Hanky Panky an LP consisting solely of covers of songs by Hank Williams. It’s pretty awful with few redeeming features……

It was another five years before the next The The LP – Naked Self – which was very much an understated production but a fabulous return to form. Since then, all of the old LPs have been remastered, remixed and re-issued, as well as the release of a ‘Best Of’ with very little in the way of new songs being available in the shops. However, Matt remains very active in the things that most interest him, and much of his energy is focused on a truly stunning website which can be found here. And that’s where you’ll be able to hear some new songs……

But returning back to This Is The Day……

I was sure this was a minor hit back in 1983 – I certainly recall seeing the promo on the telly as well as Matt making at least one appearance on a Channel 4 chat show performing the song. And yet it barely scraped the Top 75. Maybe that’s why the song was given a radical makeover in 1994 as the main track of the Dis-Infected EP which did hit the Top 20 and saw the band appear on Top Of The Pops.

The 1983 single was yet another 7” single that was lost for many years, but now I have a copy back in the collection. The version I owned was a limited edition double-pack, and it’s that which I picked up (at some expense) on e-bay a couple of months back. And here are all the songs in their full glory…

mp3 : The The – This Is The Day (single version)
mp3 : The The – Mental Healing Process
mp3 : The The – Leap Into The Wind
mp3 : The The – Absolute Liberation

I bet the b-side and the other two tracks weren’t what you would have expected given the pop brilliance of the single……each of them were culled from an unreleased LP called The Pornography of Despair.

Bourgie Bourgie

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : BREAKING POINT by BOURGIE BOURGIE

And so to the second appearance for Paul Quinn on this particular chart*, which is not bad going for someone who never troubled any chart when he was a recording artist.

I don’t want to bore regular readers with a blow-by-blow account (again) of the Paul Quinn story and repeat my oft-said opinion about him being the greatest pop singer ever to have come out of Scotland. So here’s the short version…

He was initially the lead singer with the first line-up of Jazzateers, but was relegated to backing vocals while his role was taken on by Graeme Skinner (later to find success with Hipsway) when the material was recorded and released. Then in 1984 came Bourgie Bourgie, an act signed to a major label in the shape of MCA Records and of whom great things were anticipated. Sadly, it only amounted to a couple of majestic singles – Breaking Point and Careless, although I believe there are some tapes in circulation of stuff that was recorded in demo form for an unreleased LP (and if anyone has a copy…….you could get in touch and make me a happy blogger).**

Around the same time, Paul recorded some vocals for Orange Juice, and his efforts can be heard on Tongues Begin To Wag, a b-side to the single I Can’t Help Myself as well as Mud In Your Eye, a track on the LP Rip It Up. Oh and he also does some backing vocals (uncredited) on the hit single of that name…..

1985 was a bit of a prolific year for Paul.

There was a solo deal with Swamplands Records which produced two bits of magic. First there was a duet with Edwyn Collins covering Pale Blue Eyes. Paul sang while Edwyn strummed and plucked his guitar. It’s a song that has been covered by many an artist, but the Quinn/Collins effort is, in my opinion, the definitive version, including that of The Velvet Underground. Then there was a solo single called Ain’t That Always The Way, a song that was also recorded and released as a b-side by Edwyn…

Neither Swamplands single made the charts.

He also recorded One Day, which was a single with Vince Clarke, which was in effect the follow-up to the Top 3 single Never Never by The Assembly (which had featured Fergal Sharkey on vocals). Sadly, it flopped.

Next came the formation of Paul Quinn & The Independent Group on the reincarnated Postcard Records at the beginning of the 1990s. This was a Glasgow super-group of sorts (check out the #37 entry in this chart for more info). Again, there was next to no commercial success…

Aside from an appearance (on backing vocals and with a writing credit) on the 2001 LP You Can Make It If You Boogie by James Kirk, nothing has been heard from Paul in 10 (now 15) years or so as his life became a battle against a particular severe case of Multiple Sclerosis.

I’m not sure why Bourgie Bourgie imploded after just two great singles – whether it was a case of the record company losing faith in the band, or the band just deciding they couldn’t continue, I really have no idea.

Of all the singles I lost in the infamous Edinburgh incident (one on which I lost boxloads of 7″ records), the two by Bourgie Bourgie were missed more than most, and I had to rely on cassette copies for many years. But now, thanks to some burrowing around e-bay, I have both of them in 7” and 12” form. Of the two, Breaking Point remains my firm favourite, and as you can see from its position on this chart, is a song that I think is one of the best of all time – something that should be owned and cherished in millions of households the world over.

It’s not just the stunning vocal performance that makes this such an outstanding record – listen to the fantastic production that sees some great guitar and keyboards work beefed-up by a cello and strings that aren’t a million miles away from the sound that would appear years later on Monkey Gone To Heaven by The Pixies. And wouldn’t you know that Breaking Point was a Kingbird Production…..one of the names used by the soon to be famous Ian Broudie……

mp3 : Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point (Extended Version)
mp3 : Bourgie Bourgie – Apres Ski (Extended Version)

The band appeared on The Tube one Friday evening with a specially made film of them performing this single. I’ve had the clip on VHS tape for years, but thanks to the great folk who contribute rare and wonderful stuff to youtube (in this case it’s someone calling him/herself parkhill 62), you’ll find it there……

Oh and finally (as I could go on all day and night about this song, band and singer) Breaking Point was almost the name of the blog formerly known as The Vinyl Villain…….

2013 Updates

* Paul Quinn & The Independent Group had featured in the run-down but outside the Top 10

** has since happened!!!!

For one of the best fan-sites out there….click here and spend hours reading absolutely everything that’s ever been written about Paul Quinn.

SORRY ABOUT EARLIER COCK-UP……LINKS NOW ACTIVE.

And here’s a bonus for Keeping It Peel:-

mp3 : Bourgie Bourgie – Little Red Rooster

As taken from said NME cassette.

Enjoy.

Friends Again, Frightened Rabbit, Geneva, Gentle Waves, Glasvegas

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Parts 51-55)

I’ll catch up soon enough by featuring 5 or more at a time from the archives..

(51) Friends Again – Honey At The Core b/w Lucky Star : Moonboot Records 7″ single (1983)

MY ALL TIME TOP TEN SINGLES : TRANSMISSION by JOY DIVISION

Joy Division, as a band, caused me huge problems. There I was, 16 years of age raving about them in the 5th Year Common Room when somebody threw an article from a music paper that declared the band and their followers to be Nazi/Fascists. How could this be so?

At that age, I wasn’t clever enough to argue my case….I just took it on the chin, and stopped admitting that I love the band. The records were hidden away in the style that other teenagers would hide porno mags – out of sight and only brought out when it was safe to do so. They were certainly never around when any mates came by.

Then one day, Ian Curtis hanged himself. The music papers were full of it. At school, it was suddenly OK to talk about the band again – they were now a chart success thanks to the posthumous release of Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Everyone rushed out and bought that single and then the LP Closer.

‘No wonder he killed himself if that’s the sort of music he was writing’ was the common consensus of the playground cognoscenti.

At the time I kind of believed it myself as nobody at that time, even within the confines of the group, really understood just how tortured he was trying to juggle his life, wife, child, mistress, illness and his music. I had the albums – and they were really dark and sometimes difficult to listen to. They were certainly no good for putting on at parties and hoping to ‘get off’ with a female classmate.

But everyone I knew adored LWTUA….it was something you could dance to. It was pop…it passed over quickly when you just absorbed its catchy chorus.

Was I the only one who realised that it was about pain and misery? The sort of pain and misery that hit you when, after spending what seemed like hours (but was probably only 10 minutes) trying to connect with the girl of your dreams at a party, only to later see her that evening ‘get off’ with someone else and then the news spread on Monday that she and the boy were ‘an item.’

Why didn’t I make a move?? Why didn’t I try to talk to her a bit about Joy Division and the other great records that no-one knew about – songs which were just so unlike anything else in yours or anybody’s record collection. Why hadn’t I made myself seem interesting???

LWTUA has always been a song to remind me of ‘what might have been’….

If I hadn’t been so quick to bow to peer pressure and ‘disown’ the band in public, would I have become the cool kid in class? Probably not…

If Ian Curtis had known how big this song was going to be, would he have taken his own life?? Sadly, I think he would have….

If this song hadn’t made so much money, what would have happened to Tony Wilson and Factory Records??? They probably wouldn’t have been solvent in 1982…

If Ian Curtis hadn’t written LWTUA, would some other tortured soul have come along a few years later and said the same thing??? Now that is a question of conjecture…..but I actually think someone would have. Who??? I have no idea….but someone, somewhere in time would have….David Gedge?

And yet….despite all of this, I still don’t think LWTUA is the best single that Barney, Hooky, Ian and Stephen (not forgetting Martin) released on an unsuspecting public. That honour belongs to this bit of plastic:-

mp3 : Joy Division – Transmission
mp3 : Joy Division – Novelty

Hooky’s basslines grab you in, Stephen’s drumming sets a beat that makes you want to jump out of your seat while Barney’s guitar work reminds you of the punk ethos when anyone could pick up an instrument and play.

But it’s THAT voice that sets this track apart. It’s the sound of someone reaching deep inside his own soul and then straining it through every nerve in his body before hitting the listener hard in the chest with its power and authority. And just as you think he can hit you no more he screams…

‘And We Can Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance’.

I did. As did many others.

Things were never the same ever again.

Smiths

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : HAND IN GLOVE by THE SMITHS

The position of this song in the chart down at #7 will come as a shock to many regular readers and to those who have known me for many years. There’s at least one mate who tipped it to be #1….

I was fortunate enough to be around when The Smiths first came to prominence. They remain my all-time favourite band, and I don’t think they will ever lose that particular mantle however long I manage to live.

I was present at their first ever gig in Scotland – at the Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow on Saturday 2nd March 1984. This was a truly astonishing night in a small student-venue that was packed to the rafters. It was very hot, sweaty and tightly-packed and it is probably the nearest I’ve ever came to passing-out at a concert.

The Smiths had not long cracked the Top 20 with their third single What Difference Does It Make?, while their recently-released debut LP had gone Top 10. So they were hardly a secret.

The venue was woefully inadequate for the demand for tickets, and there were dozens of folk outside pleading for the lucky few to sell for way over the cost (which I can’t recall, but was no more than £4 or £5). The level of expectancy was enormous, and the build-up to the band taking the stage bordered on insane hysteria. I’d never experienced anything like it beforehand, and never again since (although the first five minutes down the front of the Morrissey ‘comeback gig’ at the MEN Arena in 2003 came awfully close).

Steven, Johnny, Mike and Andy took to the stage to a crescendo of noise – I was worried that the crowd was so loud that we wouldn’t hear anything above it. The opening notes of Hand In Glove were struck – if anything this only cranked up the atmosphere. The one song that those of us who had been in from the start adored above all else – the song that had been the flop single with the controversial nude male on the sleeve – and the song that seemed more than anything to sum-up what was a truly unique relationship between the band and its fans.

And that is why Hand In Glove is my all time favourite single by my all time favourite band.

And because it is my favourite, I was prepared to pay a fair amount of money to pick up a mint copy of the single on e-bay as a replacement for the one lost all those years ago in Edinburgh. Let’s face it, the b-side, which to my knowledge has never appeared on any subsequent compilation, is every bit as amazing:-

mp3 : The Smiths – Hand In Glove
mp3 : The Smiths – Handsome Devil (live at The Hacienda)

As with The Wedding Present, there would have been multiple entries for The Smiths in this chart were it not for the one single per artist rule that I set. In fact as much as one-quarter of the chart could have been a Morrissey/Marr compilation.

I surprised myself when I identified six other 45s that were even more of a favourite than this.

You’ll soon learn what they are over the coming days, but I suspect that many of you will be beginning to narrow it down pretty accurately.

Enjoy.

Wedding Present

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : KENNEDY by THE WEDDING PRESENT

I came late to The Wedding Present.

I didn’t listen to their early stuff simply because everyone in the press was touting them as the natural successors to the recently disbanded The Smiths, and I just didn’t want to know. I was able to do so, simply because the band got next to no radio play other than late at night, and this was a period of great change in my life when I was never listening to the likes of John Peel.

So, for the best part of four years, my knowledge of the band was restricted to what I read and not what I heard. I do remember being amused that a band from Leeds would release an LP named after the greatest footballer ever to wear the shirt of Manchester United, given the animosity between their fans and those of Leeds United. Still didn’t make me buy it though..

Sometime in 1989, on one Sunday evening, the radio was on as the latest singles chart was being rundown. That was when I first heard a song by The Wedding Present. It was called Kennedy, and it was (as I’ve since discovered from research) a new entry at #33. It was loud, it was frantic, it was joyous and it was something that I immediately fell in love with.

And with that, I became a convert to the church of David Gedge, and I’ve been a faithful member ever since. I’m a regular attendee at the places of worship (ie gigs), and I’ll also contribute as and when required to the coffers (ie records, t-shirts, videos, CDs, etc).

There can’t be all that many indie-bands still going strong 20+ years after their initial formation. OK, so I know that TWP took a short break and turned into Cinerama, and also that for a substantial part of their career they were on major labels such as RCA and Island Records. But you can’t really categorise them as anything other than indie…

There have been 37 singles and 9 original LPs, as well as 15 compilation/live LPs over the years (info correct as at June 2008!!!).

That must be something in the region of 300 songs – and very few of these, even the most obscure of b-sides, have ever been total duffers. They’re also a band with a love for cover versions, with around 50 or so being widely available now thanks to the relatively recent release of all the Peel Sessions in a boxset. And every one of those covers, whether it’s a pop, soul, blues, rock, country or disco classic sounds instinctively like a Wedding Present original.

But I still don’t think they’ve ever bettered the song that first made my ears prick up and listen. Even now, almost 20 years on it remains a live favourite, although David now always follows it up with a slow-tempo number so that the old folk jumping around down the front get their breath back and avoid the risk of a permanent injury. None of us are as young or fit as we once were, and pogo-ing up and down is, at best, achievable for a maximum of 5 minutes at one stretch.

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Kennedy
mp3 : The Wedding Present – One Day All This Will All Be Yours
mp3 : The Wedding Present – Unfaithful
mp3 : The Wedding Present – It’s Not Unusual *

* Yes, the Tom Jones song…..

Incidentally, if this series didn’t have the restriction of one song by one act, there would have been at least another 4 TWP singles right in there…

Associates

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : PARTY FEARS TWO by ASSOCIATES

Dave and The Cat, the two bright lads behind the Jock’n’Roll website came up with the brilliant concept a couple of years back to try and find out what was the best ever Scottish single by asking folk to send in their Top 10s by e-mail.

The idea proved incredibly popular as sad blokes like me sent in lists that made the case for long-forgotten tracks by equally long-forgotten acts. The rules were pretty easy and straightforward – the songs in question had to have been a single and the act had to have been Scottish.

This didn’t stop your humble scribe falling foul of the rules – I was certain that Musette and Drums by The Cocteau Twins had been a single or at the very least part of an EP, and so put it forward within my particular 10. I was completely wrong – it was only ever an LP track, and so I was invited to re-submit.

As for whether an act was Scottish or not, this was entirely down to Dave and The Cat. For instance, Lloyd Cole (born in Derby) was allowed in on the basis that the remainder of the Commotions were Scottish. Rod Stewart (born London) was not allowed in despite most Americans believing he was the most famous Scottish singer on the planet.

Before long, some newspapers and radio stations picked up on what was happening and the boys began to began to be interviewed about things. What seemed to most get the attention of the media was the fact that the song destined to be #1 was wholly unexpected.

I’m not sure if the majority of those who voted in the Jock’n’Roll poll actually chose Party Fears Two as their all time #1 Scottish single. However, I would place a very large wager that maybe as many as 75-80% of voters will have found a spot for it somewhere in their Top 10 thus giving it more than enough votes overall to take the top position.

There’s just something about Associates and Billy MacKenzie that makes people get all nostalgic and proud that they and he came from Scotland. When the band seemingly burst onto the scene out of nowhere in 1982, it was with songs that were genuinely unlike anything else you had ever heard. Even all these years later, the stuff still sounds incredibly vibrant, fresh and unique, and very difficult to categorise. It’s just so much easier to have a listen to the breakthrough single and its b-side (which is a different version from that on the LP Sulk) :-

mp3 : Associates – Party Fears Two
mp3 : Associates – It’s Better This Way

Billy had a mischievous wit and charm that endeared him to his fans. He always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye whenever he was on TV. This was a band that seemingly wanted to put fun back into pop music without diluting its quality. The appearances on Top Of The Pops soon became must see affairs, culminating in one time where Alan Rankine turned up with a chocolate guitar (£2,000 from Harrods) and broke it up into pieces to give to the audience while Billy and the others mimed away trying to avoid getting a fit of the giggles.

And although the band were based out of necessity in London, Billy in particular seemed to love just taking the piss out the capital and talked lovingly of his home country, and in particular his home city of Dundee.

You couldn’t help but like Alan and Billy as people – the fact that they were making incredible music was an amazing bonus.

Having discovered them via the hit singles, it was easy to see by delving into the back catalogue that the poppy stuff wasn’t typical of the band. Where they went from here was always going to be interesting. Sadly, 1982 with its hit singles and the consequent masterpiece LP was the last Associates work that the duo produced.

Alan chose to leave the band but Billy carried on, drafting in other musicians to work alongside.

It’s all too evident more than 25 years later to realise just how integral Alan was to the sound and look of Associates. There was also a particular chemistry between him and Billy that was never ever recaptured in full, despite an awful lot of the post-Sulk recordings being tremendous pieces of work with some amazing vocals from Billy.

January 2007 was the 10th anniversary of the death of Billy Mackenzie, and I paid a long tribute to the man in the pages of this blog. At the time, I said his legacy is a volume of work that has highs and lows, albeit one that is dominated by that 1982/83 era of Sulk. Even if that had been the only LP he had ever made, Billy would still be a legend in pop music. I stand by that statement……

2013 Update

I’ve since been fortunate enough to get myself along to Little League, the club nights organised by John Hunt of Butcher Boy and quite often he brings the five hours of his perfectly constructed set-list to an end with Party Fears Two. It always fills the floor and it’s quite clear that it is regarded by many whose tastes go beyond mere X-Factor and karaoke type acts as being the greatest and most original single ever to have come out of Scotland.

I’ve also since picked up a 12″ version of the single:-

mp3 : Associates – Party Fears Two (12″ version)

Friends Again

MY ALL TIME TOP 10 SINGLES : SUNKISSED by FRIENDS AGAIN

With apologies to readers of old….

Back in 2008 over at the old place I put together something called 45 45s at 45 in which I listed, in some detail, my all time favourite singles culminating in the #1 being revealed on the day of my 45th birthday. The only rules were that I had to have bought the single on its release and that each act was restricted to a sole appearance in the rundown

I recently went back and had a look at the series and decided that, five and bit years on, the Top 10 hasn’t changed at all. There have been some great 45s released in recent years but they’ve said nothing to me about my life and so haven’t cracked the higher echelons of my personal chart. And so, for the next 2 weeks, partly to allow me to put up a bundle of advance postings while I’m really really busy at work and getting home so late that I’m unable to do much with the blog, I’m re-posting the Top 10 in its entirety.

Which means I must also offer a huge apology to fans of the South-West correspondent as his series goes on hold for 2 weeks….but believe me, his comeback post is an absolute belter.

Anyways as I was saying:-

I spent four years of my life at University at the start of the 80s. I suppose I did what I was supposed to do in that I ended up with a degree that got me into meaningful employment, but I also was able, to use the ad man’s phrase, live life to the max and broaden my horizons in many aspects of life. Including music.

The band that I most associate with those happy days are in the chart at #10.

Friends Again weren’t around for all that long, forming in 1982 and breaking-up in 1984, having released just a handful of singles and one LP, and never making the breakthrough that so many fans and indeed their major record label expected.

I first came across the band when they played a gig at the Students Union at Strathclyde University. I was immediately grabbed by the sound of the band, and in particular the guitar playing of James Grant and the talents of Paul McGeechan on keyboards. And then there was front-man and vocalist Chris Thompson – cool as fuck was the phrase that came to mind, with a vocal style that was a cross between Motherwell and Memphis. Stuart Kerr on drums and Neil Cunningham on bass were a more than half-decent rhythm section too.

Before long, I was tracking down their singles, as indeed seemed to be just about everyone else I socialised with. Their initial single, Honey At The Core, was released on a local label, and sold in more than enough quantities to entice Phonogram Records to offer the band a deal.

Those of us who had seen the band a few times were delighted with the song chosen for the second single, Sunkissed, as it was always the highlight of the live set. It surely wouldn’t be too long before the boys were regulars on Top of The Pops….

But it flopped. As did a third single called State of Art.

All three singles had been more or less produced by the band themselves, and Phonogram decided that it needed to bring in someone who had a track record in the production stakes. So the boys were teamed up with Bob Sargeant who had worked with the likes of The Beat and Haircut 100, and went to work on the debut LP. The label also brought in Tom Verlaine ex- main man of legendary US art-rockers Television to work with the boys, while also allowing them to produce some stuff themselves. It was all a bit of a recipe for disaster as it turns out…

The early singles and the live performances showed Friends Again as a band who could throw in all sorts of music into the mix and sound fresh. There was some jingly-jangly stuff so reminiscent of the Postcard bands, there was a bit of funk/soul, there were more than a fair amount of country/folk songs with acoustic guitars, and of course there was a bunch of hugely dynamic and catch pop-songs that had so enticed the record label.

Sadly, the LP which emerged blinking into the bright sunlight – Trapped and Unwrapped – spectacularly failed to capture all of this. In this case, it is very easy enough to put the blame on the record label. Three of the twelve songs on the LP were vastly inferior re-recordings – Honey At The Core and Sunkissed, as well as Lucky Star (originally the b-side to Honey At The Core). Many of the other songs, loved and adored in the live setting, seemed stripped of their vitality. The acoustic songs were the only ones that escaped unscathed – proof that this was a record that was quite literally, over-produced. There was even a horn section deployed on some of the songs…

There is no doubt the band were bitterly upset at what was foisted on the record-buying public. Two further singles taken directly from the LP also flopped (the highest chart position reached was a very lowly #60), so the label, in desperation, re-released a remixed version of one of the earlier singles. It also flopped.

The band was very obviously despondent about the ways things had turned out – live shows became less dynamic and they seemed to be going through the motions. The buzz surrounding them had also gone, and where venues had once been packed, they were now half-empty.

I was at the last gig that Friends Again played, although I didn’t know it at the time. It was at a very small students’ union at Bell College in Hamilton, a town some 12 miles south-east of Glasgow, and not that far from where the band members had grown up. It was another lacklustre affair, not helped by a lack of chemistry on stage. Here was a band seriously pissed off with life and seemingly with one another. It might even have been the following day that Friends Again broke up…

James Grant and Paul McGeechan quickly went on to form pop/soul act Love and Money , while Stuart Kerr was soon on TOTP as the stickman in the first version of Texas with their massive hit I Don’t Want A Lover. Neil Cunningham went into artiste management.

Chris Thompson to all intent and purposes became a solo act under the name The Bathers, and ploughed a lone furrow akin to the softer side of Friends Again to much critical acclaim but little commercial success. Interestingly enough, when Love and Money also failed to really hit the big-time, James Grant embarked on a solo-career that was based on acoustic folk/country songs…

There are many hundreds if not thousands of bands with a story that is similar to that of Friends Again. They quickly get a local following that is hyped a little, they soon sign a deal with the devil and then are discarded when success isn’t immediate.

For years, the recordings by Friends Again were very difficult to get – it was mostly just vinyl as Trapped and Unwrapped initially had a limited CD release. And if it was available, it tended to be second-hand, or on import and expensive. But back in 2007 it was given a budget re-release, with the bonus that it contained the original recordings of Honey At The Core and Sunkissed instead of the re-recorded versions which means it’s bit easier to get a hold of the song that is #10 in the rundown:-

mp3 : Friends Again – Sunkissed

And for a bit of fun, here’s the b-side and the 12” extended version as well:-

mp3 : Friends Again – Dealing In Silver
mp3 : Friends Again – Sunkissed (12″)