Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Paul Quinn & The Independent Group, Smiths, Tindersticks

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : MAY 2007

I’ve jumped straight from March to May as looking back over the postings from April 2007 didn’t show anything that I feel worth repeating here. Thinking back, April 2007 was a very busy time at work…loads of hours being spent in the office building up to an important set of elections at the beginning of May 2007….and that would explain why a lot of the posts were hurriedly written and posted just for the sake of it.

And so onwards to May 2007….and another self-indulgent post which will hopefully provide you all with a little more of my DNA if you’re interested:-

YOU TALKING TO ME??????

Fil at the blog ‘Pogo A Go-Go’ was the first person I saw have this little bit of fun.

Then it ended up with Crash at the blog ‘Pretending Life Is Like A Song’.

And because Crash didn’t want to be Johnny no-mates that he couldn’t pass the chain onto, and I’m an all-round nice guy, I volunteered to be next. So he sent me five questions,…..

Q1. Alerius C of Tralfamadore likes the cut of your jib, and empowers you to revisit specific live performances of five songs whenever you choose. What five performances do you choose, and why?

A. How joyous to find that someone at last, after almost 44 years on this planet, likes the cut of my jib.

I have no idea how many live gigs I’ve been to since 1979 – and lord knows how many live acts I’ve seen. I could go through the record collection and work part of it out, but for every one of them, there will probably be two acts that I’ve never bought any records by.

But enough of the gibberish – it’s time to face up to the question.

(a) Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Glasgow Tiffany’s 1980. Joe Jackson had enjoyed his chart success and was about to enter into a few years of oblivion before Stepping Out went Top3. The venue was maybe 70% full and I got right down near the front for the first time in my life. This song was the encore – and Joe turned it into a masterpiece lasting the best part of 10 minutes, starting it off as a piano-led ballad before bit by bit the rest of the band (who had been in top form all night) joined in. By the end it was an angry rant keeping in spirit with the true meaning of the song.

(b) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Curse of Millhaven

Glasgow Barrowlands 2001. Mrs Villain’s favourite Bad Seeds number and one neither of us thought we’d ever see live. Another one kept for the encore and so rare in the live canon that Nick needed idiot boards to get all the words correct. The band thrashed away and Nick ranted and raved about murders and Prozac. A few weeks later he did the same again in Lyon, France and the results can be seen on the live DVD God Is In The House. But being there in Glasgow was even better.

(c) Paul Quinn & the Independent Group– Will I Ever Be Inside Of You?

Glasgow Film Theatre – October 1994. A one-off gig in a cinema. the band played as movie montages unfolded behind them. A quite incredible night topped-off when a singer from Scottish Opera hotfooted it from her performance on stage some 500 yards around the corner and provided backing vocals, still dressed in her operatic outfit, for the title track of Paul Quinn & The Independent Group‘s second LP. Truly beautiful. Truly breathtaking. And the last time that i ever got to see Paul Quinn perform on the stage. Sigh

(d) Tindersticks – Jism

Edinburgh Jaffa Cake late 90s. The hottest gig I’ve ever been at in my life. A tiny attic room that was part of an Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue more akin to hosting comedians and staging plays by undergraduate theatre groups. I’ve no idea just how the fire authorities were able to let so many folk in. So hot that the band removed their jackets. I know I’m likely to go to hell when I die – and it will be a dawdle compared to surviving that August night without passing out. The roar that greeted this epic number would have graced the winning goal of any cup final.

(e) The Smiths – Hand In Glove

Glasgow QM Union 1982. The first time I ever saw them live. The first song I ever heard them play live. A life-changing moment.

Q2. Tell us about the high points and low points of a typical working day.

The high point is lunchtime and the moments that I’m able to spend in any one of a number of half-decent (Avalanche, Fopp, Missing) or indeed rubbishy (Virgin, HMV) record stores in Glasgow city centre.

I don’t think about the low points – if I did I wouldn’t make any effort to come in. But they’re usually the result of something happening outwith my direct control but which ultimately will end up at my desk requiring immediate fixing.

Sorry it’s a dull answer, but there’s little really exciting about working in a huge bureaucracy.

Q3. You’ve been convicted of the murder of the football commentator who said they’ll be dancing on the streets of Raith tonight, and your final appeal has failed. It’s time to choose your last meal.

I wouldn’t be settling for a last meal at this point. I’d be mobilising the troops, with hopefully comrades like Toad, Colin, Simon, Liz, Crash and everyone who has a modicum of love for me (that includes you Mrs Villain) organising last minute petitions to the top brass explaining that it was a mercy killing as all football commentators on British television deserve to be garroted.

But I guess you guys will get nowhere. So I would demand, as my last request, a bowl of pasta from a magnificent Milanese restaurant called Da Ilia– to be washed down with a bottle of Valpolicella Amarone red vino. Failing that, a bowl of Kellogg’s Frosties – after all, on the eve of my execution, I will no longer be worrying about its effect on my waistline.

Q4. It’s 2012 and Scotland is to be retired in order to pay for the London Olympics. You’re responsibility is to preserve ten Scottish songs for posterity. What do you choose.

I could refer you all back to a series of earlier postings that appeared on TVV in which the choices of the personal Top 10s of myself & Jacques the Kipper for the poll at Jock’n’Roll were aired and discussed. I was only allowed one song per artist, and my list featured Orange Juice, Sons & Daughters, Bronski Beat, Bourgie Bourgie, Associates etc, etc…

But if Scotland is to be retired, then the lawmakers will inevitably deem that all good things associated with the country must be outlawed forever in order to prevent a revolutionary uprising. So all my choice of songs will come from a prescribed list of such crap that the authorities will thereby ensure that no-one in their right mind would ever want to be part of a nation once again….

Andy Stewart – A Scottish Soldier;

Neil Reid – Mother Of Mine;

Jim Diamond – I Should Have Known Better;

Darius – Colourblind;

Simple Minds – Belfast Child;

Aneka – Japanese Boy;

Wet Wet Wet – Goodnight Girl;

Gun – Word Up;

Lena Martell – One Day At A Time;

Runrig – Loch Lomond.

Ten stinkers I’m sure you agree.

Q5. We all need a bit of direction in our leisure time. What should we be watching on the telly? Something current, something from the last few years and something to buy and enjoy on dvd.

The only long-running thing really worth watching is The Simpsons. Need I say anymore?

In terms of recent stuff no longer with us, I think it has to be Our Friends In The North– the last thirty seconds of which had me blubbering away like a big southern jessie.

On DVD – make sure you get every episode of The Sopranos. It can be watched over and over again as small details emerge each episode as hugely significant for the future.

If I was to choose a DVD movie, it would be High Fidelity. I want to be as cool and handsome as John Cusack, and I want to own a record store but only if I could afford it to run at a huge loss as I would only sell records which I liked…..

So that’s what I’ve got to say in response to Crash’s five questions. If you’d like to play along, send me an e-mail and I’ll get some probing stuff over to you. Go on…you know you want to.

Oh, I suppose I better put up an mp3 given you’ve got this far:-

mp3 : Tindersticks – Jism (live, Bloomsbury Theatre)

Oh and here’s another while I’m at it. Sorry it’s not live:-

mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group – Will I Ever Be Inside Of You?

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2013 Update

Q1 : I’m still happy enough with the five live renditions selected, although I know for certain that the rendition of Felicity by Vic Godard & The Independent Group just a couple of months back when they were support to the one-off reformation of Jazzateers would get in.

Q2 : Have changed job since May 2007. No longer work in Glasgow city centre, so browsing round record stores no longer the daily highlight. Truth is, walking out of train station and into the front door is the highlight as it’s the last time I will be in full control of the situation as I’ve no idea what the day will bring. Low Point? Any unexpected phone call from a journalist bringing news of an unforseen problem….

Q3 : The troops mentioned in the original answer were the small group of like-minded bloggers who were providing all sorts of support and advice on a daily basis at a tine when TVV was in its infancy. Today, I’d be confident the troops that I could muster in support would be bigger in number.

Q4 : It wasn’t the Olympics that bankrupted us….it was the fucking bankers.

Q5 : Since then, box sets like The Wire, Deadwood, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Six Feet Under would be added to the list….

Oh and I have no idea who it was I passed my own list of questions onto.

Suppose I better add some more mp3s as you’ve got this far……

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – High Fidelity (Peel Session, March 1980)

mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Curse Of Millhaven (live, Lyon)

mp3 : The Smiths – Hand In Glove (live, Glasgow QMU)

Enjoy!!!!

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : MARCH 2007 (2)

An example of the blogging fraternity in action. From 19th March 2007:-

HELP REQUIRED – APPLY WITHIN

Dear Reader,

Among my CD collection is a compilation, released in 1995, that I picked-up second-hand. It’s called A Flavour of the Label 4, and it seems to be a promo for acts who recorded, at that time, for Capitol Records and EMI Records.

I’ve heard of most of the acts on the CD, which include Supergrass, Foo Fighters, Blur, Radiohead and EMF. However, the 14th and final track is a total mystery:-

mp3 : P – Michael Stipe

Now to make it quite clear, its someone called P singing a song called Michael Stipe. Not the other way around. The scant information for the track says:-

Composer : P
Publisher : Mr Cigar Publishing
Producer : Andrew Weiss

Can anyone supply anything more?

Kind regards

Yours sincerely

JC
aka The Vinyl Villain

—————————————————

The replies were numerous and very prompt. Within just an hour I had learned that P consisted of:-

Gibby Haynes…Vocals
Bill Carter…Guitar & Bass
Johnny Depp…Guitar & Bass
Sal Jenco…Percussion

Yup…..that Johnny Depp.

I also discovered that an LP had been released on Capitol Records in 1995. It included this cover version:-

mp3 : P – Dancing Queen

So there you go…..

Blondie

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : MARCH 2007

I was thinking of posting this song up anyway without recourse to the archives, but using the words typed on 22 March 2007 tells the tale from my youthful days:-

What were you all doing in 1979? I know that some, indeed, many of you probably weren’t born. I imagine that others would be running around dressed in nappies and looking for a feed from a nipple (but what you did, and do, in the privacy of your own home is no business of mine).

1979 was a momentous year in my life. I was 16 years of age and I had passed a whole bundle of exams that would let me go back to school to take more exams that would let me get to university. Over the summer months, I got a full-time job for six weeks which gave me, for the first time, a degree of financial independency. I was able to buy loads of singles and albums, but more importantly, tickets for gigs at the Glasgow Apollo to see loads of new wave/post-punk bands.

1979 was also the year that I fell in love for the first time. But the problem was that me, and hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of others, were in love with the same person. And she didn’t really love us back. Not when she was shagging the guitarist in her band.

Debbie Harry. The voice and look of Blondie. Sigh.

So when the news came through that Blondie were to play a UK tour at the tail-end of 1979, including a gig on 31st December at the Glasgow Apollo, it was all systems go to obtain a ticket. And that meant getting out of bed at 5am and getting my dad to run me into town where I joined the queue of those who were sleeping out overnight outside the front door of the box office at the venue. It was a long drawn-out five hours with only a small radio, and a mate from school to keep me company. But we got our tickets. And from memory they were £5 which was way way more than I had ever paid for a concert ticket in my life up to that point (bear in mind, my wages in the summer job had seen me take home £26 a week…)

A couple of weeks later, the BBC announced that the Glasgow gig was to be broadcast live on television and radio as part of the special programmes for Hogmanay. I took a fair bit of stick at school, and at home, for seemingly wasting my money on something I could now be watching on the telly….but nobody seemed to understand just how important it was to actually be in the audience gawping at the love/lust of my life.

The gig was all that I looked forward to for months on end, and I played and wore out all of my Blondie singles and albums, learning every note and every word so that I could fully sing-a-long.

The night itself started off brilliantly, as I ended up speaking on Radio 1, for about 5 seconds. Millions of listeners would have heard a squeaky-voiced adolescent say he was ‘Jim from Sandyhills who wanted to wish his mum, dad, his brothers and all his mates a Happy New Year’. I’ve no idea what record was played as I was shaking with excitement at the fact I had just been live on the biggest radio station in Europe. I thought I was a star….

That turned out to be the highlight of the night, for the gig itself was a huge disappointment. The sound was poor – it was incredibly loud which I think was to try and disguise the fact that Blondie were an appalling live act. Debbie’s vocals were lost amidst all this, and the gig wasn’t helped by the fact that part of the way through the set, there was a lengthy pause to allow the TV network to come in on cue.

But until now, I never admitted any of that to anyone. To the world and its auntie, the Blondie gig was the ‘best I’d ever been to’. Thinking back on all this, it’s hardly a surprise that I have spent a large part of my working life in the dark and unsavoury world of political spin….

So here, all the way from 1979, and courtesy of a winning bid on e-bay last week, are two tracks from a 12” single, the cover of which was sellotaped to my bedroom wall.

Was it really almost 28 years ago????

mp3 : Blondie – Heart Of Glass (12″ version)
mp3 : Blondie – Rifle Range

2013 Update…………..it’s now coming up for almost 34 years since said gig!

Paul Weller, Paul Weller Movement

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : FEBRUARY 2007 (2)

I’m re-visiting this as much for the title I came up with as the posting itself:-

WELLER, WELLER, WELLER, OOOOOH (tell me more, tell me more)

In one of my earliest entries on TVV, I wrote at length about my love for The Jam, and how they remain the only band I’ve ever camped for overnight so that I could get concert tickets.

I didn’t go in a huff with Paul Weller when he broke the band up, and indeed I was soon more than happy to be buying records by The Style Council and going along to watch his new band playing live.

But somehow, I’ve never got into the solo stuff by the so called Modfather. I’ve just found most of it rather dull and dreary. Everyone tells me that his LP Stanley Road is one of the best of the 90s. I’ve tried listening to it a few times and it just bores me. There’s just nothing original about it.

I’m also a bit bemused by the re-writing of history when it comes to Paul Weller. He did not have a period in the wilderness from demise of The Style Council at the end of the 80s to his solo comeback in the mid 90s when the Britpop movement, and in particular Noel Gallagher, paid homage to him. There were a few attempts at re-igniting his career in-between, including this single from 1991:-

mp3 : The Paul Weller Movement – Into Tomorrow

If you have a listen, you’ll hear that it’s not much different from the stuff he would go on to release to great critical acclaim a few years later. It just wasn’t fashionable back in 1991……

Oh there is one Paul Weller solo single that I adore. If he had gone down this sort of route rather than re-hashing his love of the 60s, I might have remained a fan:-

mp3 : Paul Weller – Wild Wood

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2013 update

The other tracks on the 1991 12″:-

mp3 : The Paul Weller Movement – Here’s A New Thing

mp3 : The Paul Weller Movement – That Spiritual Feeling

mp3 : The Paul Weller Movement – Into Tomorrow (Original 8 track demo)

WARNING : ‘That Spiritual Feeling’ is more than 7 minutes of horrible instrumental jazz-funk that has dated dreadfully….

Blur, Carter USM, Clash, Paris Angels, Senser

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : FEBRUARY 2007 (1)

Interesting that this month saw me chastise myself for spending so much time writing live reviews and featuring stuff on CD singles. The purist in me came up with a week-long series entitled going back to my roots which would be vinyl, vinyl, vinyl all the way Here’s a summary version of each post :-

Monday 5 February

From The Cost of Living EP, a re-working of the song Capital Radio along with an additional 45 seconds tagged on at the end…..a little Clash-mercial pleading with everyone to get down to their nearest Clash showroom

So here’s all 04 minutes and 05 seconds of:-

mp3 : The Clash – Capital Radio (Cost Of Living EP version)

Tuesday 6 February

Looking in the vinyl cupboard for something to show that there’s more than just twee-pop bands and the collective works of lesser-known Scottish geniuses living in there. And I found a 12″ single which, in the true spirit of TVV, put up a fantastic remix version that was available only on the reverse side:

mp3 : Senser – Eject (Over Zealous Mix)

Wednesday 7 February

Back in 1992, I bought a 12” single from a clearance/bargain bin in a record shop in Edinburgh for 99p. While it did reach No.32 in the charts, it was a record that was deleted shortly afterwards, never to appear again. It wasn’t included on the 1993 LP Modern Life Is Rubbish, nor was it included on the CD of the Greatest Hits package Blur released in 2000.

mp3 : Blur – Popscene

Thursday 8 February

So many things were going on in my life at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s that I wasn’t able to keep up with much new music. Jacques the Kipper, aware of my fondness for what became known as Madchester, would periodically throw in my direction a rectangular box containing a cassette tape (young people – activate your google search now). Said cassette tape contained 90 minutes worth of songs, many of which I became very fond, not least today’s offering.

Fast forward to January 2007. A work colleague, on learning that I had started the blog, handed over around 15-20 records that he no longer wanted. Tucked away in the middle of the pile was this, and on the small indie label the band started out on:

mp3 : Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume)

Friday 9 February

I’m up late cos I can’t sleep. I never can when Mrs Villain is working away overnight. Right now she’s in Manchester on behalf of her company for a presentation to an important client just 24 hours after a previous presentation to a would-be client here in Glasgow who are likely to turn her down. Bastards.

So I thought I’d end my five days of postings from the original vinyl with the one song that always make me think of her.

There we were at a Carter USM gig at Barrowlands, Glasgow in the early 90s – me, Mrs Villain and Jacques the Kipper. Us blokes being experienced moshers felt it was just a bit too crazy with all those young folk being awfully lively down the front, so we were strategically placed just left-of-centre maybe halfway back.

Then the opening notes of today’s song came through the speakers.

DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-DAAAAAAAH

And before the same notes were repeated prior to the crashing guitars, Mrs Villain had gone….right down into the melee. I was gobsmacked. But I left her to it – we hadn’t long drawn up wills leaving all our possessions to one another.

5 and a bit minutes later she came back, drenched in sweat but with the most fantastic grin on her face.

So this is her song.

mp3 : Carter USM – Bloodsport For All

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Belle & Sebastian, Beta Band, Big Country, Big Dish, Bis

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Parts 16-20)

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.

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

(16) Belle & Sebastian – Legal Man b/w : Judy Is A Dick Slap b/w Winter Wooskie : Jeepster CD Single (2000)

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : JANUARY 2007 (3)

Here’s a piece I’m still proud of:-

BILLY MacKENZIE : 27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997

I’m anticipating that many a blog will be commemorating the fact that today is the 10th Anniversary of the sad death of Billy Mackenzie. I don’t know that what I’ve got to say will be all that different, but I’ll offer some facts, and then I’ll offer some thoughts.

Billy was born in Dundee, Scotland and it was just outside that city that he took his own life with an overdose of prescribed sleeping pills. As a musician, commercial success and recognition didn’t happen overnight, and when it eventually did come, it was for an all-too brief period. By 1997, he was largely irrelevant except to a loyal fanbase. As is often the case, it took death for a reappraisal, and Billy is now regarded by many critics as one of the greatest musical talents of the late 20th Century.

His life-story is told with affection in The Glamour Chase by Tom Doyle (since updated and re-issued in September 2011)

it’s a thoroughly honest, entertaining, engaging and balanced biography. The author is very obviously a fan, and yet the book is never sycophantic for the sake of it. It recognises that Billy was often his own worst enemy and far from perfect.

I mentioned above that Billy wasn’t an overnight success. It wasn’t until the release of their 10th single and 3rd LP that Associates finally had a hit. But Party Fears Two and Sulk became instant classics.

But in what was the first of many strange career moves, Associates at their most successful split-up almost immediately but while Billy maintained the name but he was more or less a solo artist with backing musicians (in the same way that Aztec Camera was simply a vehicle for Roddy Frame).

Some more singles and albums followed, but no hits. Some of his post-Sulk songs were great, some were average, and some were disappointing. There were fall-outs with record companies and unreleased LPs. In frustration, Billy dropped the moniker of Associates and started to record and perform under his own name as well as work in collaboration with other artistes. The world still didn’t pick-up on his talent.

To those of us who were long-time fans, the end was a huge shock. Billy had been completely out of the limelight for a few years, and it was almost impossible to find any Associates records as they had been long-deleted by record companies. But we had been reading that he was on his way back having just signed a contract with a new label and was busy in the studio.

It’s since become clear that a series of very sad events, not least the death of his mother, triggered-off a bout of very serious depression for Billy, but it was an illness that he hid from those who were closest to him.

Billy’s death was sad and tragic. But I think, having read The Glamour Chase, that it was an ending that was in some ways inevitable.

His legacy is a volume of work that has highs and lows, and 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’m trying to give a truly honest appraisal when I say that while Billy MacKenzie was a reasonably talented writer, his best songs came when he wrote with others.

But what he did posses, without any doubt, was a singing voice that was unique. He also had attitude and a fierce streak of independence. Sadly, he lived in a period when all that mattered were record sales and a willingness to bow-down before the powerful record industry moguls and do what you’re told.

It’s impossible to guess what the past 10 years would have been like if Billy was still alive. He might have found the magic touch for another hit out of the blue (a la Edwyn Collins and A Girl Like You). Most likely however, is that he would still be recording albums to be bought by just the hard-core fans, for it took his death to rekindle interest in his work and the re-release of most of his material. But as I say, we just don’t know.

I haven’t found this the easiest set of words to put together since starting up TVV. Nor did I find it easy choosing some songs to post in memory.

In the end, I’ve gone for a pre-Sulk recording, a track from Sulk, and a post-Sulk recording, together with a cover version Billy recorded in 1982 at the height of his commercial success. I apologise for the poor quality of the cover version. But I think it captures Billy’s voice at its grandest.

mp3 : Associates – White Car In Germany
mp3 : Associates – Skipping
mp3 : Associates – Breakfast
*mp3 : Billy MacKenzie – It’s Over
(from the 1982 LP Music of Songs & Distinction by British Electric Foundation)

(* far better quality copy of his incredible take on the Roy Orbison classic than I’ve previously posted on the old blog!)

If you haven’t read Tom Doyle’s book, I urge you to do so. It’s one of the best music biographies ever put to paper.

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2013 Update

I have it on very good authority that work is at an advanced stage of producing and issuing an Associates boxset….

De La Soul

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : JANUARY 2007 (2)

Looking back at my own contributions in January 2007, I can see myself growing a lot more in confidence in terms of my writing and I also started to feature songs that were outside my comfort zone of the 80s indie, jingly-jangly stuff. Like this……

IT’S I AGAIN AND THE SONG THAT I SEND….

…..is taking steps to reach your heart.

Yesterday’s title for the Edwyn Collins posting (it was headed ‘Put The Needle Into Your Groove’) was lifted from a great hip-hop record released back in 1989, which itself is the subject of today’s posting.

Three schoolfriends from Long Island, New York formed De La Soul n the middle of the 1980s. At a time when gangster-rap was in vogue, De La Soul were something totally different. Relying very heavily on samples as well as lyrics that talked of life and love rather than life and violent death, they very quickly became radio favourites on both sides of the Atlantic.

Their debut album, Three Feet High & Rising, (its title being a playful pun on a Johnny Cash song) sold by the bucket load and spawned a handful of hit singles. But the group got mired in a number of legal battles in the wake of their success – the idea of sampling was relatively new and lawyers were crawling out of the woodwork demanding royalties for their clients.

A thoroughly disillusioned De La Soul changed direction for their second album in 1991 – De La Soul Is Dead – with less reliance on samples and lyrics that were socially aware of circumstances without ever advocating the use of violence. It was critically acclaimed, but radio stations didn’t play the singles, and the album didn’t sell anything like as well.

And that was indeed the story of the 90s for the group – constant critical acclaim but ever-decreasing sales. But against all odds, De La Soul kept on recording throughout that decade and into the 21st Century, and were often quoted by many new rap acts as having been a huge influence on their development.

In 2005 they made another appearance in the UK charts thanks to their fantastic vocal contribution to Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz.

Someone who has reviewed the release of a Greatest Hits package back in 2003 has said De La Soul are hip-hop’s Prince, widely praised for things they did years ago, with their new work subjected to unfairly slanted comparisons with their debut. I think that’s pretty accurate.

And here in all its 12″ glory, is one of the fantastic singles from the debut album

mp3 : De La Soul – Eye Know

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2013 update.

The full title of the a-side is Eye Know (The Know It All Mix). And here’s the other two tracks on the b-side not originally featured on the original posting:-

mp3 : De La Soul – Eye Know (The Kiss Mix)

mp3 : De La Soul – The Mack Daddy On The Left

Enjoy!!

Delta 5

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : JANUARY 2007 (1)

I was clearly enjoying myself. 41 posts in total during January 2007 but not all from from my own fingertips as Comrade Colin agreed, having killed off the very blog that had inspired me to get things going, to dip his toe back in the water with contributions to TVV. That was the next stage of what has become a very important friendship on my part…one that began with exchanges of e-mails for a long long time before we finally met up…but that wasn’t to be for a further 12 months despite the fact we lived and worked in the same city. But I’m getting ahead of myself now.

Colin contributed four posts during the month, all penned in that singularly idiosyncratic style of his. He featured Delta 5, Airport Girl, The Hair & Skin Trading Company and The Apple Scruffs. Here’s one of said posts;-

Alex: After you drink to love and happiness forever!

Oh, here we go. If I don’t start with something I’ll end with nothing. Me, embarrassing myself again. It’s late, I’m kind of drunk on cheap champagne (a ‘ This Life +10′ thing – insert a massive-fucking-sigh about here – did it make u cry as much as me?) and I’m nostalgic for a time I can’t really remember (’79-’81). So, a perfect moment, really, to post my first song at TVV (my humble thanks to our host, JC, for inviting me to ruin, shame, spoil and depress all things TVV (1). More words and songs later, from me, when I’m a bit more capable (that is, more drunk, more sober, more ‘me’). But, for now, some Delta 5… where, exactly, did they get to? Was it traffic? Honestly, I can do contemporary as well, but when the past is this good why not bring it back to the land of the(neo-liberal, late-capitalist) dead? Punk-funk-fucking-tastic I say! (*collective-cringe*)

mp3 : Delta 5 – Anticipation

Footnotes
(1) My contributions, my remit, for TVV is an open one so expect: a) lots of sad songs, b) lots of Scottish songs, c) lots of words that may encourage you to switch off, d) lots of black and white pictures of a colourful world) and d) nothing but the honest truth, m’lud.
–
ps.im.sorry.about.the.title.but.ive.been.saying.no.preaching.this.a.
lot.recently.in.the.hope.some.love.and.happiness.might.actually.
come.my.way.for.a.brief.fucking.moment.even.(please).

—————————-ends—————————————–

2013 update. It took a while, but some love and happiness did come Colin’s way in due course. More than once – the first time was short-lived but now it looks like the full-blown thing…

Delta 5?? Read more here….

Enjoy!!

Billy Bragg & Hank Wangford

A POLITICAL PROTEST SONG (3)

It’s being away on holiday that has prevented me featuring more of the excellent contributions from readers. But I promise they will all get an airing in due course. Here’s another:-

Hi Jim

Not only have the government been sending a billboard around London saying ‘darkies go home’…

,,, they’ve also deployed officers of the border agency police to carry out spot checks on people of colour in London train, bus and tube stations.

I thought I didn’t do this kind of thing any more but sometimes things still force your hand.

Of course the right songs to play with this are the protest songs of the far right – the National Front’s take on the ‘Oi for England’ movement of the late 70s and early 80s, but this will do too – quiet despair might be all there is left.

mp3 : Billy Bragg & Hank Wangford – Deportees

Cheers

Adam

Haircut 100

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? (Slight change of plan)

I got bored copying those 2006 postings so it must be worse for you guys reading them. Time methinks for a quick change of tack….

In one of my recent rummages around places where there’s second-hand vinyl I found this poptastic hit for just 10p:-

mp3 : Haircut 100 – Love Plus One (12″ version)

It’s a slightly extended version from that which was all over the radio stations in 1982 when it hit #3 in the UK. Dismiss it as lightweight pop all you want, but this wasn’t far removed from the sort of sound that the record bosses were trying to get out of Orange Juice and many other of the Scottish pop bands of the day. The fact that singer Nick Heyward was a teeny-bop pin-up idol meant that most musos dismissed this and the other hit singles as disposable and having no depth, but I’ll willingly hold my hand up and say I love it.

I’m sorry I can’t bring you the b-side on the 12″ as it was badly damaged. Looked as if something had been spilled over it and taken out some of the grooves.

Enjoy!!

2006

A LOOK AT BACK AT MY REVIEW OF 2006

(Originally posted on 31 December 2006)

I’ve put together a selection of some of my favourite tracks from throughout 2006 that would fit nicely onto a single CD if you were that way inclined. I’m not going to say that the final 20 are by definition the best songs of the year – I’ve hummed and hawed my way through about ten previous drafts that have seen some great tunes come and go because my mood at that particular moment had shifted. I’ll also admit that having spent a lot of the past few months looking back over old music, I’ve not listened to as much new stuff as I should have, so there will be some great songs from 2006 that I haven’t yet discovered.

But for what it’s worth……here we go:-

Track 1 : Razorlight – In The Morning (3:42)

An unashamedly populist opening number. Razorlight are a band that seem to divide people on a love/hate basis largely based on whether you think the lead singer is a twat. I think he is, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating a fabulous pop song. But all year I’ve been trying to remember where the guitar rift is stolen from. Help me out dear readers….*

From the LP Razorlight.

(*The dear readers then came up with the answer – Coming Up, a single from 1980 by Paul McCartney)

Track 2 : The Young Knives – Here Comes The Rumour Mill (3:41)

My good friend Jacques The Kipper doesn’t get TYK. I’m quite sorry about that. I reckon they’re the latest in a fine line of English bands in the mould of The Kinks, XTC and Blur – great tunes with a bit of social commentary, often laced with wit and black humour. They’re also a very good live act.

From the LP Voices of Animals And Men

Track 3 : Albert Hammond Jr – In Transit (3:32)

A continuation of the upbeat mood.

Now the last LP by The Strokes wasn’t all that bad, but they should be kicking themselves for rejecting this track. An impressive, and consistent debut record was followed by a superb live show in venues that Albert won’t have set foot in for many a long year. For me, the most pleasant surprise of 2006.

From the LP Yours To Keep

Track 4 : Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rise Up With Fists!!! (3:38)

I first became aware of Ms Lewis when I heard the truly wonderful Potions For Foxes by Rilo Kiley some 18 months ago. Her 2006 LP features highly in most End of Year reviews in magazines and across blog-land, and deservedly so. Mrs Villain disagrees – she doesn’t go for women-led bands nor for most music with a country or folk twinge. But we still live together happily enough.

From the LP Rabbit Fur Coat

Track 5 : Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (2:58)

It was everywhere during the Summer. I didn’t take to it immediately, but it was a real grower and proof the general populace (I’m sure it spent 9 weeks at No.1 in the singles charts) sometimes pick up on things which are in the best possible taste. I thought it would fit in rather nicely on the imaginary disc at this particular point.

From the LP St Elsewhere

Track 6 : Alexi Murdoch – Song For You (4:38)

Now’s the time to drop the tempo just a little bit.

I have only just picked up on this track in the last week or so, and have hardly stopped playing it since. There’s something truly beautiful about this guy’s voice, and I’ve already pledged to make his album one of my first purchases in the new year. Gorgeous.

From the LP Time Without Consequence

Track 7 : Belle & Sebastian – Sukie In The Graveyard (3:02)

Was this from the best album in the career of B&S? The purists might go for Tigermilk, but for sheer consistency I reckon the 2006 release has been a bit of a highpoint in the band’s career. I could have gone for any one of half-a-dozen perfect pop songs from the band, but in the end went for the one that makes me most think of my home city.

From the LP The Life Pursuit

Track 8 : The Dears – Whites Only Party (3:10)

A band I didn’t know anything about until someone put a song from a previous album on a home-made compilation CD. People make Morrissey comparisons – and if you visit their website and read the regularly updated blog/diary, you’ll see that they are great fans of the great man. But I hear quite a bit of Damon Albarn in the vocals and bits of The Go-Betweens in the music. I really regret not being able to go and see them live a few months back.

From the LP Gang Of Losers

Track 9 : Lloyd Cole – Woman In A Bar (3:37)

I’ve been a big fan of Lloyd Cole for more than two decades, and it was great to see him live on stage alongside Neil Clark from the Commotions a few months back.

He was supposedly promoting his new album, but bizarrely chose to play just three or four songs from it. This was a bit of a pity, as many of the new songs match up to most of his previous solo offerings.

When you think of the number of male singer-songwriters that were set loose on the public in 2006 in the wake of the James Blunt phenomena of 2005, it’s sad that Lloyd doesn’t get decent radio and that his fan base is largely the same as it was when the Commotions were going strong.
From the LP Antidepressant

Track 10 : Arctic Monkeys – When The Sun Goes Down (3:20)

DO believe the hype. Great LP, tremendous in concert, and the follow-up singles featuring new material were every bit as excellent. Oh, and the videos were also some of the best made in 2006.

From the LP Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Track 11 : Jarvis Cocker – Tonite (3:56)

From the newest Sheffield Superstars, to probably the greatest talent to ever come out of the Steel City.

It was a real joy to have some new Jarvis material to listen to – he’s been missed in recent years. But in saying that, the album is a bit of a mixed-bag. When the songs are anything decent – they are truly magnificent. But there’s a couple of duff tracks as well.

I really wanted to put on the hidden or secret track – Running The World – but have made do with this great commentary on 21st century society.

From the LP The Jarvis Cocker Record

Track 12 : Morrissey – Life Is A Pigsty (7:22)

The most epic song of 2006. The LP was hugely enjoyable on its release, but strangely enough, I fear it has dated a bit over the months. This was a truly majestic live track – especially in the confines of venues with capacities of 700 as was the case in Stirling and Greenock. I’m still of the view that Morrissey, having got the critics onside once again, should give serious consideration to bowing out following the highs of the past two and a bit years. The backlash awaits – no matter how good his next record is. It’s the way of the world….

From the LP Ringleader of The Tormentors

Track 13 : Arab Strap – Dream Sequence (4:15)

It starts off with the sort of piano-playing that Chris Martin has deployed on many a Coldplay record. But please don’t let that put you off.

Another wonderfully consistent LP with not a bad track on it. Maybe they knew it was all coming to an end – or maybe Aidan wanted to release something as playful and catchy as Malcolm’s solo record of 2005 – but whatever the reason(s) it made for a fantastic 35 minutes. Again, I could have taken my pick from around half-a-dozen, but this makes it mainly because it is so un-Strap like.

From the LP The Last Romance

Track 14 : The Decemberists – Summersong (3:31)

Happiness personified. I now know they’ve been on the go for a few years, but it was only surfing around the Internet and reading various blogs that allowed me to discover this band. I’ve got a bit of catching-up to do, and getting a hold of the back catalogue is a priority in 2007.

From the LP The Crane Wife

Track 15 : The Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes (3:35)

Ah…..a great song from what was, to my ears, a hugely disappointing LP. When this was getting heavy airplay and was never off MTV2, I had great hopes for the latest project of Jack White. But…..maybe now that he’s got it out of his system he’ll go back to what he does best.

From The LP Broken Boy Soldiers

Track 16 : Bettie Serveert – Hell = Other People (3:50)

As with Track 14, my knowledge of this act is all down to the Internet. Once again, I’ve got a lot of catching-up to do, but I’m looking forward to it.

From the LP Bare Stripped Naked

Track 17 : Stuart A. Staples – That Leaving Feeling (4:02)

I was saddened to hear that Tindersticks were taking a break from recording and touring to allow the band members time to concentrate on solo projects. In my experience, that is industry-speak for the band actually calling it a day.

But this was, in some ways, a real eye-opener. I was expecting something completely different – what I got was a Tindersticks LP in all but name. And a very good one at that. I can offer no higher praise.

From the LP Leaving Songs

Track 18: Regina Spektor – That Time (2:39)

This is another album that has a lot in common with that of Jarvis Cocker – there are some brilliant songs to be found alongside others which, quite frankly, are just too self-indulgent for my liking. But having said that, there were three or four other contenders for inclusion on the compilation; I don’t think the chosen track is the best on the LP, but it fits in well at this point on the imaginary CD.

From the LP Begin To Hope

Track 19 : The View – Superstar Tradesman (3:18)

The next Arctic Monkeys? Quite possibly…..

But from what I’ve heard on record, seen on TV/video and most importantly, caught live in a very small, hot and sticky Glasgow venue, they cut the mustard. By March 2007 it will be the 2000+ capacity venues in a huge UK tour, by July they’ll be headlining some of the Festival stages, and by October, it will be the arenas. Trust Me.

From the single Superstar Tradesman

Track 20 : Jenny Owen Youngs – Fuck Was I (3:30)

We’ve all been at this particular juncture at some point in our lives – whether in relationships, in the workplace or looking back over some dodgy favourite songs from two decades back!!

This song made me smile when I first heard it – again courtesy of someone’s blog – and is the perfect ending just in case you disagree with anything I’ve written above.

From the LP Batten The Hatches

The whole thing comes in at 74 minutes and 06 seconds. Handy enough for a single CD.

———————————ENDS——————————————

2013 Update

It was only be reading other folks end of year round-ups and listening to what they were recommending did I realise that I had missed an awful lot of great stuff in 2006. I’m cringing now at opening up any compilation with the one-trick pony that was Razorlight, while my further dabblings with The Decemberists brought nothing but disappointment, And I was waaaaaaay wrong about The View……seven years on and they’re playing the same venues they did at the start of their career.

Oh well.

Associates, Aztec Camera, Baby Chaos, Ballboy, Bathers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Parts 11-15)

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

(11) Associates – 18 Carat Love Affair b/w Love Hangover : WEA 7″ (1982)

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE – DECEMBER 2006 (2)

I thought you might be interested in the posting which, at the time got more comments than any other. From 8th December 2006:-

MUSIC : RESPONSE

I’ve been accused in the past of being a musical snob – a charge I vehemently deny. Ok, I can’t abide manufactured crap – particularly the boy and girl bands aimed at the adolescent market or the ‘talents’ that emerge from the 21st century equivalent of ‘Opportunity Knocks.’ I also have an aversion to most wimpy blokes with acoustic guitars – and yes I am talking about the intrinsic evil that is James Blunt – and the copy-cat acts that record labels have been throwing at us throughout 2006. And just don’t get me started on heavy-metal….But it’s not all white-boy indie-music with an emphasis on the early 80s rotating on the turntable here in Villain Towers. I’ve already confessed some of my vices on other blogs and I’m not ashamed of anything in my collection – I’ll be able to provide a legitimate excuse every time. Admittedly, some of the excuses will be on the lame side. But I can sleep easily at night.

Something I saw today got me thinking about music. And the shallowness of anyone who slags off any song as ‘shite’ just because they, as a person, don’t like it, the singer or the band.

My organisation holds an annual Christmas party for around 200 young kids with physical handicaps or learning difficulties. A load of our staff get dressed up in costume as cartoon characters; we bring along all sorts of kid’s entertainers; and of course at the appropriate magical moment, Santa makes an appearance.

But the mainstay of the three or so hours that the party goes on is the disco. And believe me, song after song after song after song would normally have had me screaming in agony and racing for the nearest exit.

The thing that stopped me was the sheer joy on all of these kids’ faces. They were on the dance-floor having a real blast. Most of them needed help and support from the adults, whether it was the folk in fancy-dress or the teachers/parents/volunteers who are with these kids every day. Many of the kids were wheelchair-bound, but that didn’t stop them making their way onto the dance-floor.

Now if the DJ had spun something that I was wanting, there is no question he would have cleared the room, far less the dance-floor. He knew his audience, and he gave them exactly what they wanted. And they loved him for it.

Music is there to be enjoyed. If what you or I hear every day on the banal radio stations or on prime-time television, we can always find an alternative station, or turn on the PC and surf for a while.

But let’s not just have a go at someone else because their taste is wholly different from ours.

Here’s one that filled the dance-floor earlier today. I had to ask a colleague who and what it was and then I found it on Limewire.

mp3 : Girls Aloud : Something Kinda Oooh

It’s superb pop…….

———————————– ends —————————————–

Sadly, the archiving site which is enabling me to salvage these posts isn’t able to keep the 8 comments that were left behind. But I do recall just about all of them appreciating the sentiments I was trying to convey even if my choice of band left something to be desired.

And Limewire…..there’s a place I haven’t visited in years.

Morrissey

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE – DECEMBER 2006 (1)

I must have really been bitten by the blogging bug on my return from holiday as I put up 34 posts across the month of December 2008.

It began with something marking World Aids Day and ended with a my take on the music of 2006 and in-between contained all sorts of nonsense including an enthusiastic review of the last ever Arab Strap gig in Glasgow, the first of what would become many mentions of The Fall (much to the disgust of ctel who has never hidden his lack of love for Mark E Smith and his merry bunch of troubadours), the beginning of what would become a Xmas Day tradition and this the 67th posting on the blog on 17th December:-

THAT DECEMBER SPAWNED A MOZZA…

Hard to believe that I’m up to 67 postings and this is the first to feature Morrissey (aside from a sideways reference on Johnny Marr’s 43rd birthday).

I was 20 years of age and living in my first student flat in early 1983 when The Smiths came to the wider attention of the world. I simply couldn’t get enough of them, whether on record, in session on Radio 1, in print (there were 4 weekly music papers in the UK at that time), in concert or on television.

My love of the band was driven more by Johnny’s tunes than Steven’s lyrics, but in fairness, they were a perfect combination. So when the break-up came in 1987, I was not as interested in the singer’s solo career as most other fans of the band. Indeed, with an early version of his solo backing band containing everyone from The Smiths bar Johnny, I was pretty pissed-off about the beak-up, and was I stubbornly determined not to pay too much attention to him.

But as time when on, I got more and more interested in Morrissey’s solo output, simply because he was releasing some cracking songs. In saying that, there were still a number of pretty poor records being committed to vinyl or CD. What turned me into a fully-fledged fan however, was the live experience and getting along to the first major solo tour 1991 to a stunning gig at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

I’ve been along to see him on numerous occasions since – usually along with Mrs Villain. Even when he was releasing poorly received records, I still tried to always get along when he was in town. That changed after an absolute stinker of a gig at the Barrowlands in 1999 – the choice of set was self-indulgent, the security was over-zealous and the band played as if they were Guns’n’Roses with all sorts of guitar and drum solos. A very disheartening experience.

So I didn’t bother trying hard to get tickets for his 2002 tour. The reviews of those gigs were mixed – and given that he had no recording contract, or even the prospect of signing any deal, I assume I had seen the last of Morrissey.

But his return to form over the past three years has been something to behold.

Irish Blood, English Heart as a single was an astonishing return to form. You Are The Quarry had brilliant tunes and lyrics and an overall consistency that I didn’t think he had in him. Morrissey was back, and I fell in love with him all over again.

I was very very lucky to pick up two standing tickets for his birthday gig at the M.E.N. in 2004 and it remains one of the most intense and euphoric live experiences that myself and Mrs Villain have ever enjoyed.

I’ve since managed to see him in a number of small venues in Paisley, Stirling and Greenock – and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. But given that I’ve now been spoiled in getting up close at gigs, I chose not to go to the cavernous SECC the other week – and going by the reaction of a few folk I’ve spoken to since, it seems it was a good decision. Not only was the sound quality poor, but the performance was at best, perfunctory with little interaction with the audience.

I reckon that Morrissey is now at another crossroads in his career.

His last two albums have been among the best in his career.

But he has never yet made three good albums in a row. The novelty of playing live again with a new band seems to have worn off, and a severe critical backlash is due. He’s also now in his late 40s, and what else has got to prove? I don’t know if there will be a new record in 2007 or 2008.

And at this moment in time, I don’t really care. I personally think he should call it a day and go out on a high……we can then look back on a largely magnificent career without it being soured by a lack of quality at the end. But I’m sure there’s many out there who disagree.

Here’s a few tracks from the solo career that I’ve particularly enjoyed:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Girl Least Likely To
mp3 : Morrissey – Disappointed
mp3 : Morrissey – Now My Heart Is Full
mp3 : Morrissey – Satan Rejected My Soul

—————————————-ends——————————————-

2013 Update

Since I typed those words, Morrissey has released just the one new studio LP – Years of Refusal in 2009 (so I was right when I said I didn’t think he would release anything in 07 or 08) . This LP wasn’t as well received as his 2004 and 2006 efforts. There’s been yet another best-of compilation but the flame has been kept burning, certainly here in the UK, by imaginative tours that have taken him to lovely Town Halls and old concert venues in the most unlikely of places rarely visited by an other pop stars.

Having said that, he has let down many fans in the USA and South America with tours that have ended very early on due to continuous ill-health and lots of folk have been left badly out-of-pocket trying repeatedly to see him on stage with no success.

Morrissey stands at a similar crossroads as that of 2006. No record deal and nothing imminent. There’s new material out there as he’s aired things at his live gigs which haven’t yet been put down for release, but being honest, none of it has jumped out as being superior to what he’s give us before.

However, he has repeatedly, throughout the length of a career than is now in excess of 30 years, pulled off surprise after surprise, and on that basis something will likely happen over the next 18 months which will leave us all with our jaws hitting the floor. That long-promised autobiography??

Maximo Park

TURNING 50 HAS BEEN A BLAST

Those of you familiar with the nonsense posted on the old blog will be all too aware that I turned 50 years of age a couple of months back. It’s an event that I’ve marked in a number of ways, including a couple of firsts such as a trip to see El Clasico and a short break with Mrs V to Berlin.

Tomorrow marks the start of a trip that has been a year in the planning and the one geared towards the centrepiece of the birthday celebrations. I’m off again to Toronto….

My love for the city began six years ago when I went to work there for a number of months on a secondment. I met loads of great people and I’ve kept in touch with them ever since. I’ve been back very briefly just the once but this time it is planned to be a bit special. I’ll be taking off from Glasgow in the company of my dear friends Jacques the Kipper and Aldo and we will be joined in Canada by my young brother SC who is flying up from his home in Florida. Over the weekend, we are taking in baseball and football with the best seats in the house(s) and meeting up with a crowd of the boys I used to work with for some drinking, eating and sightseeing. Come Monday morning, I set out on a 10-day golfing holiday in Canada, all of which has been put together by friends based over there and which promises to be memorable. All told, I’m away for more than 2 weeks…..and I can’t wait.

T(n) VV won’t quite be put into cold storage but what I am going to do is a series of posts looking back at the historical stuff on the old blog as well as the efforts to try and catch-up with the Saturday singles series. I hope you’ll find enough of interest to keep dropping by while I’m away…..if possible I will pop in every now again and respond if there’s any comments left behind.

I’m hoping also that I will get to catch some live music while I’m away. Toronto was the scene of a number of great gigs in 2008, none more so than seeing Maximo Park play a blinding gig at a venue around one-fifth of the size they were then selling out back home in the UK. Seems appropriate today to feature some of the material played that night:-

mp3 : Maximo Park – Graffiti

mp3 : Maximo Park – Apply Some Pressure

mp3 : Maximo Park – Going Missing

mp3 : Maximo Park – Books From Boxes

mp3 : Maximo Park – Girls Who Play Guitars

Enjoy!!

Department S

IS VIC THERE?

Department S were a short-lived post-punk band from London.

They formed from an outfit called Guns For Hire who began as an imaginary band – one that existed only in the form of badges and posters and hype in some papers. Eventually, with that joke beginning to backfire (i.e. hipsters extolling their virtues and abilities), those involved did pick up instruments and learn to play. A record was released and gigs were played – and to the amazement of all concerned the reviews were almost universally positive.

Deciding it was time to get serious, the band changed name to Department S and decided to have a go at become famous and rich. A deal was inked with Demon Records and debut single Is Vic There? was released in December 1980. The band was being talked about as the next big thing by the likes of Paul Weller, all on the basis of a stand-out debut single which was re-released a few months into 1981 when it climbed the UK singles chart all the way to #22.

mp3 : Department S – Is Vic There?

Just the other week I got my hands on a good quality vinyl copy of the 1980 release. The b-side was a cover of a T-Rex song:-

mp3 : Department S – Solid Gold Easy Action

Listening to the b-side you get an idea of why the band never did anything memorable beyond the debut single – where the a-side was a classic, the b-side is a clunker and betrays all too easily their joke beginnings just a few months previously.

History records that Department S would release two subsequent singles in 1981 and while a debut LP would be recorded it would be unreleased for more than 20 years, an event that wouldn’t be experienced by Vaughan Toulouse, the man who supplied the distinctive vocals, as he died of an AIDS-related illness as long ago as 1991.

Not withstanding there might not have been much more to them, Is Vic There? remains one of the most unique and catchy singles of the new wave era and still sounds wonderful more than 30 years on.

Enjoy!!

Duran Duran, Specials

A POLITICAL PROTEST SONG (2)

Many many thanks to those of you who responded to the request to submit your favourite political song. I will get round to posting all of them over the coming weeks but felt this is the one that should start things off. Here’s the e-mail:-

Hello over there JC.

Glad to see T(n)VV on WordPress. (I am a WordPress expert so if you
ever have q's let me know).
I looked at seeing if there was a way of extracting the archive of
TVV, even after deletion, but sadly there wasn't.
Luckily there's the wayback machine.

I'm dropping you a line about your latest post though.
A few months back I created a cousin to F&M called Politics and Music:
http://politicsandmusicblog.wordpress.com/

I got bored of it very quickly though.

I would like if more than five people read it so I wondered if you'll
post the first entry from P&M, which isn't really about a political
protest song, it is more at a look at how the political protest song
is viewed.

If you don't like this one please feel free not to use it - or if you
want to post one of the other two articles on P&M.
Either or I'm not bothered. It's your gig and you decide.

Cheers,
Webbie.

I’ve always been someone who values the contributions to my blog(s) whether in the shape of comments or guest postings, so how could I refuse Webbie…..indeed all of his articles on P&M will appear here in due course although of course I’m hoping may of you will follow the link over there in advance. Here’s the first article:-

———–starts————————————————-

I am an 80′s throwback. Born in the mid 60′s but the period when music began to resonate with me was from 1981 onwards. Why that particular year ? I don’t know. On Top Of The Pops everybody was having fun, having a party. I wanted to be invited.

It was also around this period that I was only a year away from the harsh reality of Thatcher’s Britain – No parties, just the dole. But watching these bands on the telly, in their bright colourful clothes, with the ballons, with the streamers. It took you away from the grey world outside.

At that time I was living in Liverpool. Only a few months before with my best mate Walter, we sat on some steps and watched the Railto burn.

As mentioned I wasn’t long for the unemployment line and soon became one of the 3 & half million signing on. Things were grim. Strikes, picket lines and where I lived – the riots. Switch on the TV, take your mind away…

The country was unhappy. Toxteth I witnessed. There was also Brixton and more.

History is slowly beginning to repeat itself with the Tory government (yes I know coalition but the Lib Dems are just puppets) with benefit cuts, cuts to the NHS, high unemployment and recession once again. An unpopular leader leading the country down another dark path.

These days there are many outlets to express our anger and frustration about the Tories, so the outrage is spread out and looks thin on the ground. Back then it was more concentrated. There were only four TV channels and everybody watching them. It was actually easier for some to get there word out. To vent their feelings, to raise those issues.

Music can reflect what people are thinking and feeling. The musicians like the rest of us suffered unemployment and then wrote about it. The most famous example in 1981 was The Specials with Ghost Town. A perfect reflection on the state of things. It captured the mood perfectly.

mp3 : The Specials – Ghost Town

The Specials obviously weren’t the first with social commentary. This has been going on every since popular music began. But to me it seemed that in the earlier part of the 1980′s there was an increase in these type of songs.
There was easily enough material for the songwriters. Thatcher and her battles with everybody. The dockers, miners, steelworkers… even the unemployed. Lots of misery and poverty around but also the open, raw capitalist greed.

Many bands attempted to raise awareness of fascism, racism, politics and the constant threat of a nuclear war. Even the established and well loved artist Paul McCartney sang about giving Ireland back to the Irish. But the single (as you will see from that link) was subsequently banned. Other acts such The Police and yes, even Spandau Ballet also sang about that always touchy subject.

Every time a musical act does a take on one of these issues though, they are criticised. How dare these pop stars talk about politics. They should mind their own business.

The argument is always there whether they should get involved or stay out of it. The thing is that sometimes it works and sometimes not. There are a few instances when it became a force for good – such as with Band Aid and the eventual Live Aid concert. But sometimes the song becomes a bit of an embarrassment. The chart pop stars of the 80′s addressing a current plight somewhere. Their smooth, popular image then dented when they cry about war. It’s like a stand up comedian suddenly stopping midway through his act to do a slideshow on the African famine. Sometimes an uncomfortable act for us to witness.

A sample of potential embarrassment was with this line in a song, which was met with much derision when first heard:

“Don’t say you’re easy on me, you’re about as easy as a nuclear war…”

It was a throw away line, with the original message of the song not about a holocaust, but of relationships.
The rest of the lyrics in the verse before that line:

“People stare and cross the road from me
And jungle drums they all clear the way for me
Can you read my mind, can you see in the snow
And fiery demons all dance when you walk through that door”

Jungle drumming, snow visions, mind reading and to top it off – the demons:

mp3 : Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know

The line is remembered and brought much unwanted attention to Duran Duran. A fan misheard the lyric and wrote to Simon Le Bon to ask what “you bad azizi” meant.

This inspired them to create an experimental B side for a single released in 1990:

mp3 : Duran Duran – Yo Bad Azizi

From a potentially embarrassing lyric – another song. But they still didn’t compose this about the actual event of a nuclear war. It was just a riff on a letter they received. And as far as I’m aware Duran Duran have never done any protest songs, have never tried to raise awareness for the rainforests or poverty… or anything like that. Correct me if I’m wrong though.

Webbie, 9 January 2013

——————–ends————————

Note from JC

Webbie’s original posting linked to stuff on you tube instead of mp3s. Given that you tube is owned by Google, who are also the owners of Blogger from which the original TVV was unceremoniously removed, readers will hopefully understand why I wont be posting you tube content at the new place.

Gorillaz

A FINE SONG FOR SUNDAYS

This popped up on shuffle the other day and I thought to myself that it makes for a great tune to slowly get your day in gear…one when you have no need to rush out of bed and race down to the railway station in a state of dishevelment.

And seeing Sunday is a day for lazing (although I’ve got to get myself round to the golf course for a competition that starts this side of 8am), I’ve decided to cut’n’paste from the first time the song got featured at the old place, but given that was five years ago I’m hoping most of you will have forgotten by now.

One night back in late 2000, while suffering from insomnia, I caught a glimpse of a cartoon video of on MTV. It must have been around 3am or something. My ears immediately picked up on a great tune and what sounded awfully like the vocals of Damon Albarn. But quite clearly, this was not anything by Blur.

Unusually, no information on the video came up at the end. But I was determined to track it down. By pure chance, I was in a favourite record shop in Glasgow a couple of days later and amidst my browsing, I saw something which had a title that was awfully like the mystery track.

So, I asked the guys in the shop to let me hear it. And I was right. So I bought it, and waited on it becoming a massive hit. But nothing happened. And just when I thought Gorillaz was simply going to be a one-off single, other stuff came out maybe four or five months later, and they did go on to become a worldwide phenomena.

But in my view, they have never bettered this:-

mp3 : Gorillaz – Tomorrow Comes Today

That was the only song I shoved up in September 2008 so to bring it up to date, here’s what else was on the CD single:-

mp3 : Gorillaz – Rock The House

mp3 : Gorillaz – Latin Simone

mp3 : Gorillaz – 12D3

Enjoy!!