THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

Beat, Booker T & The MGs, Cabaret Voltaire, Clash, David Bowie, Lori & The Chamelons, M, Monochrome Set

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (December)

The final part of what has been one of the most time-consuming series, in terms of research, referencing and cross-checking, that I’ve ever pulled together, with just short of 200 singles featuring, with the final 8 coming your way today. As December’s releases are on the low side, especially on the non-chart side of things with the indie labels quite rightly steering well clear of the festive madness, I’m combining the usual Parts 1 and 2 into a single posting, starting with the Top 75 covering 2nd-8th December.

The highest new entry was at #56, an indication that not much was actually being released and that the record-buying public was happy to just shell out on the tunes that had been around for a few weeks, or indeed months. I’ve picked up on three new entries at the very low end of the chart, one of which I have to admit I was really surprised to see.

mp3 : M – Moonlight and Muzak

Pop Muzik had been one of the biggest and best-selling 45s of the year. The fact it took more than six months for its follow-up to be released kind of gives the game away that nobody, including himself, really expected M (aka Robin Scott) to have enjoyed such success. My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I’m sure that Moonlight and Muzak wasn’t actually written until after Pop Muzik had been a hit. This one came in at #64 and peaked a couple of weeks later at #33.

mp3: The Beat – Tears Of A Clown/Ranking Full Stop

1979 was the year in which 2-Tone Records had come out of nowhere. The first four singles on the label – Gangsters by The Specials, The Prince by Madness, On My Radio by The Selecter and A Message to You, Rudy by The Specials – had all been massive hits. The 5th single came courtesy of another multi-racial band from the English Midlands, in this instance the city of Birmingham.

This 45 has been part of Dirk‘s superbly entertaining 111 single series, featuring back in January 2023. As he pointed out, The Beat would not only enjoy a few years of chart success from the outset, but there would also be a number of good bands that rose from the ashes of (former members of) The Beat: General Public, Fine Young Cannibals, Two Nations as well as the solo material from the late Ranking Roger.

The debut came in at #67, eventually climbing as high as #6 just after the turn of the year. It was the first of what would be thirteen chart hit singles going through to the summer of 1983.

And now….here’s the one which surprised me

mp3: Lori and The Chamelons – Touch

In at #70 and back out of the chart the following week in a ‘blink and you’ll have missed it’ style. My surprise is that I would have bet a great deal of money that Zoo Records never had any chart success. OK, some of the band of their roster would become chart mainstays in future years, but that was after the label had folded, and they had signed elsewhere.

It was back in January 2015 that I featured all nine 45s issued by Zoo. Touch was the label’s sixth single with the group being a trio consisting of label owners Bill Drummond (guitar) and David Balfe (bass and keyboards), along with vocalist Lori Lartey. As I said, I had no idea it ever charted!

Moving on to the chart of 9-16 December.

There were three new entries in the Top 40, one of which was I Have A Dream by Abba, widely tipped to be the Xmas #1. Spoiler alert….it ended up spending four weeks at #2, kept off the top by Pink Floyd! One of the other new entries was a novelty number of the sort December charts no matter the year are full of, but the third, coming in at #23, was of some interest.

mp3: David Bowie – John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

Originally dating from 1972, the song had been re-recorded in 1974 as David Bowie was keen to come up with a soul/disco hit for the American market. It was slated to be included on the album Young Americans, and almost certainly as a single to be lifted from that album, only to be replaced late on by Fame. Five years on, and the record label, RCA, decided to take advantage of the increasing interest in disco and issue it in the run-up to Christmas on the back of Bowie’s success earlier in the year with Boys Keep Swinging and DJ, as well as the album Lodger.

John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) spent eight weeks in the chart, peaking at#12, and in doing so, matched the chart position of the original 1972 version.

Just outside the Top 40 was this:-

mp3: The Clash – London Calling

The band’s ninth single, that’s if you include The Cost Of Living EP. It was released on 7 December 1979 with the album of the same name hitting the shops seven days later. The single came in at #43, and eventually reached #11, the highest ever 45 for The Clash during the time they were actually together. The album came in at #9, stayed at the same position the following week, fell to #21 in its third week and then back up to #9 in week 4, no doubt benefitting from the spending power of Record Tokens given to young people as Xmas gifts from grandparents, aunties and uncles.

Also coming into the chart this week, another example of why 1979 was so special and different.

mp3: Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions

It might have dated back to 1962, but this was the first time the tune had been a chart hit in the UK, with the 2 Tone movement playing a big part in its success. It came in at #74 in mid-December, but went all the way to #7 by the end of January, as part of a twelve-week stay in the Top 75.

There were just a handful of new entries in the Top 75 in the final two charts of 1979, none of which merit even a passing mention. And with that, it’s time for one final flick through the big book of indie singles.

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Silent Command

Catalogue Number RT 035. The release back in June 1979 of Nag Nag Nag has the number RT018, which just goes to show how active Rough Trade had been throughout the year. It’s not one I can recall from back in the day, and I’m not sure if I would have fallen for it, given how unusual and unorthodox a tune it is.

mp3: The Monochrome Set – He’s Frank (Slight Return)

The third single from the band in 1979. The previous two had been on Rough Trade, but this one wasn’t. Well sort of…..

He’s Frank had been the band’s debut, a self-release on cassette only. The interest in the band in recent times led to the decision to reissue it on vinyl, via a new imprint called Disquo Blue. It was, however, a joint release with Rough Trade. The next release on Disquo Blue wouldn’t be until 2012, when The Monochrome Set released their tenth studio album Platinum Coils, their first in nearly seventeen years.

And with that, Shakedown 1979 comes to a close. I’m thinking I’ll re-hash the feature in 2025, looking in depth at the singles chart from one of the years that made up the 80s.

Thanks for all your views, opinions and thoughts throughout the series. Much appreciated.

JC

Radiohead

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (15) : Radiohead – Knives Out

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Between January 1996 and May 2003, Radiohead released seven singles in the UK all of which climbed into the Top 10.

Except this one:-

mp3 : Radiohead – Knives Out

It only reached #13 in August 2001. It came on the back of Pyramid Song and again had plenty of fans and critics scratching their heads at its lack of commercial appeal. There was no obvious catchy chorus and no real effort at sounding all that memorable on radio.

I reckon its one of the best things they’ve ever done. I could have sworn it was Johnny Marr playing on the record the first time I heard it…….indeed it sounded at times as if The Smiths had reformed with a new vocalist. Still does. Have a listen to the 40 second section that begins at about 2 mins 25 seconds and tell me you can’t make out some Manchester magic…..

The single was released across 2 x CDs.

mp3 : Radiohead – Worrywort
mp3 : Radiohead – Fog
mp3 : Radiohead – Cuttooth
mp3 : Radiohead – Life In A Glasshouse (full length version)

Again, all four tracks were quite different from what most fans were expecting. Here’s extracts of what it says about them on wiki:-

Worrywort is a slow and dreamy electronic song again featuring unique percussion effects or beat-boxing.

Fog is an ambient and melodic song, mainly bass-driven, and featuring some creative use of tambourine. This version of the song differs from Thom Yorke’s solo piano version sometimes played live. That brief live piano version was itself released as a b-side two years later, during the band’s Hail to the Thief era, at which point it was nicknamed “Fog (again).”

Cuttooth has piano and bass working collectively and fluently, with samples running in and out throughout the song. It is notable for having been mentioned 12 times in Ed O’Brien’s online diary of the studio process for recording Kid A and Amnesiac, leading fans to expect it as a centrepiece of the band’s new material, though the song would not make the cut on either record. Some of the lyrics of Cuttooth (“I don’t know why I feel so tongue tied / I don’t know why I feel so skinned alive”) were later used in the song Myxomatosis, appearing on the band’s 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

The full length version of Life in a Glasshouse found on the single is derived from the same performance as the version found on Amnesiac, but differs in that it lacks the opening electronic effect, and features slightly more soloing by jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and other members of his band before Yorke begins singing.

So there you go.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Fifty-Six)

The fourth 7″ within the 24 Songs project emerged blinking on 15 April 2022.

It was inevitable that a slower number would, at some point, emerge as a single in this series, and it duly arrived with Monochrome. It opens with a lovely couplet:-

And every day spent without you
Just becomes so monochrome
There’s no colour
Life’s just duller

mp3: The Wedding Present – Monochrome (7″ version)

And, I’m sorry to say, is about all the positive things I will say about it. David Gedge has, over the decades, written some wonderful ballads, but Monochrome isn’t one of them. The tune plods along almost as self-pityingly as the rest of the lyric, although Jon Stewart (I assume) does try to breathe a bit of life into it towards the end with a guitar solo in which the effect pedals make a mighty contribution.

But I’m pleased to say that the release is saved by a rather excellent b-side………one which had been premiered during the virtual ‘At The Edge of The Sea’ festival held on 15 August 2020, and later included on the Locked Down and Stripped Back album released the following February:-

Locked Down and Stripped Back was an interesting and timely release. The idea of re-recording songs from the back catalogue in the only way that was possible during the COVID restrictions was a good one. The experience of getting to hear the re-recordings via YouTube recordings was enjoyable enough, but picking them up in a physical form was far more satisfying, with the bonus being that the two new songs – We Should Be Together and You’re Just a Habit… – felt like a real return to form. It also looked from the video clips, and indeed hearing the music, that The Wedding Present were very much a band again and not just some musicians brought in to back up David Gedge. The fact that the new songs gave writing credits to all four musicians seemed to be quite telling.

mp3: The Wedding Present – You’re Just A Habit That I’m Trying To Break

The studio version isn’t too far removed from the locked down take on things, albeit it’s about thirty seconds longer, thanks to a keyboard outro.

JC

Casual Sex

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #433: CASUAL SEX

I’m going all the way back to March 2013, to bring you this profile that was published in The Guardian. I really should have paid attention. ———— Hometown: Glasgow. The lineup: Sam Smith (vocals, guitar), Edward Wood (guitar), Peter Masson (bass), Chris McCrory (drums). The background: Casual Sex are a Glasgow outfit in the Orange Juice/Franz Ferdinand tradition rather than in the Alex Harvey sense. Theirs is a spiky, tart pop music inspired by that moment in early 1981 when the penny dropped and UK post-punk bands began to realise one way out of the art of darkness was through the charts. They have a singer whose voice channels Lou Reed‘s droll spirit and some of Edwyn Collins‘s arch wit, and the way their players negotiate their instruments suggests an affinity with all manner of pop and rock styles and eras from glam to white reggae. The joint CVs of these late twentysomethings include stints in record production, studio engineering, other groups as well as “the fashion and telecommunications industries”, as their press release has it. They were brought together through chance meetings (and other Josef K song titles) before gathering at Glasgow’s Green Door Studio, where the idea of Casual Sex took shape. Observers reliably inform us they “look like they’ve walked out of Edinburgh/Glasgow circa 1979”, a reference to the formative stage of the careers of Orange Juice, Josef K, Fire Engines et al when Scottish bands resembled sexily dishevelled bank clerks straight out of the pages of a Franz Kafka novel. Fortunately, the music backs up the playful hyperbole. Their single Stroh 80 – “about being caught doing the nasty with your girlfriend’s pal in the aftermath of a drug party on the floor of a local occultist”, according to frontman Sam Smith – is great. Based on a Velvets-simple chord sequence that Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs, to name but one of their peers, would kill for, it features handclaps and feedback, and elements of disco and discord. Smith’s voice is quite Steve Harley – Dylan at his most cynical put through a louche glam filter – and the music is equal parts Chinnichap and CBGBs. The other track on the single, Soft School – inspired by Smith’s dad’s exploits teaching in the rough classrooms of the 70s – opens with choppy Police-circa-Roxanne guitar, which is then overlaid by a menacing, angular riff worthy of Magazine as Smith does his best impression of Jarvis doing Bowie. It sounds like funk as played in 1975 by white rock musicians, or the Glitter Band impersonating Neu! at the height of punk. Extra track National Unity is excellent, with its echoes of white post-punks high on dub and a rhythmic propulsion that conjures the title of XTC‘s album Drums and Wires, all tinny clatter and a guitar line so wiry and thin it could pierce your skin. Casual Sex? We predict a long-term romance. ———– I knew of the band. But I never, as far as I can recall, ever got round to seeing then, nor did I buy anything. The long-term romance predicted in the above profile came to an end in under two years. Discogs lists six releases between 2013 and 2015, all of them singles, EPs or promos. However, earlier this year, Past Night From Glasgow (part of the set-up at Last Night From Glasgow) issued a double LP, Collected Works 2008-2014, containing 23 tracks, all of which have been re-mastered by Sam Smith. All of the 14 songs listed on Discogs are included, along with nine others, some of which pre-date the release of Stroh 80 while others seem to have been made available for the first time. All in all, it’s an excellent release, one that I really should have included within my favourite albums of 2024. Here’s all three of the songs referred to in the Guardian profile. mp3: Casual Sex – Stroh 80 mp3: Casual Sex – Soft School mp3: Casual Sex – National Unity Click here if what you’ve heard has made you want to pick up The Collected Works.

JC

Pretenders

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #077

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#077: Pretenders – ‘Precious’ (Real Records ’80)

Hello friends,

today we have a track from most definitely one of the greatest debut albums of all-time, embodying equal parts of punk, ska and rock. New Wave may have been born a few years earlier but Chrissie Hynde and company brought it to the next level with their self-titled debut in 1980. James Honeyman-Scott‘s guitar talents are everywhere, the same is true for Chrissie Hynde’s vocal talents.

So it’s not too astonishing that all of the three tracks the record company chose to be singles turned out to become pretty successful – some 44 years later you still hear them on daytime radio here and there. I leave it up to you to decide whether this is an honour or not, but come on, they are all pretty neat: ‘Brass In Pocket’, ‘Kid’, ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ … nothing wrong with them, right?

‘But hold on’, I can hear you shout, ‘if the above were all of the three singles that were released, where does the one below come from?!’ Well, this is because Real Records licensed Hispavox in Spain to put ‘Precious’ out as a single, backed by ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ – in this form it wasn’t available anywhere else but in Spain. Well, that’s not entirely correct, ‘cos they also put it out as a single in The Netherlands, but with ‘The Phone Call’ as the B-Side.

And as far as I’m concerned, this was a very big mistake! I can understand that at the end of the day it’s all about money, and I also understand that a tune as raucous as ‘Precious’ may not really be as consumer-friendly as ‘Brass In Pocket’, ‘Kid’, or ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ – but hey, we are talking 1980 here, and punk was not entirely dead everywhere, so Real Records might have made a pretty penny when having had the guts to release this single Europe-wide!

I wish I could understand the thoughts of the record company decision-makers back then for not doing so: „Oh, those Spanish, they are all brutally hardcore, must be with this constant heat – they will buy this …and those Dutch, they have fallen off the dyke too often anyway, so they’ll buy it as well for sure!“.

Either way, me, I still listen to The Pretenders sometimes, also to their later albums, but whenever I put the debut album on, the first track puts a big smile on my face … the same smile that I produce when listening to the first track of The Clash‘s debut album!

And this, friends, this is an honour, at least in my little world!

mp3: Pretenders – Precious

Enjoy

Dirk

Pixies

ONE OF THE BEST RE-RELEASES OF 2024 : AT THE BBC by PIXIES

At The BBC – Pixies

This was originally going to be part of the albums of the year feature, but I then had a rethink on the basis that it’s not exactly something new and most of the tracks had previously been made available on CD as far back as 1998. It’s also a stupidly expensive and over-priced release.

But, hey. It’s one of the world’s best bands, at their peak, on vinyl and with superb artwork to make for a great looking and great sounding package. So I’m highlighting it as it’s something I’ve enjoyed playing during 2024.

Here’s how the promotional people described it….

Between 1988 and 1991 – during the band’s 4AD years – Pixies recorded six sessions for the BBC, five for John Peel and one for Mark Goodier. Catching the raw energy of the band’s live performances, these sessions felt immediately noteworthy, timestamping a moment when Black Francis, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering were motoring out front.

Among the twenty-four tracks they recorded in this period (inc. two doubles – ‘Allison’ and ‘Wave of Mutilation’) are favourites from mini-album Come on Pilgrim and three of their four 4AD studio albums. Also recorded were three covers; reworks of The Beatles’ ‘Wild Honey Pie’, Eraserhead’s ‘(In Heaven) Lady in the Radiator Song’ and The Beach Boys’ ‘Hang On To Your Ego’, a track Black Francis covered a few years later on his debut Frank Black solo album.

Originally released on CD in 1998, this reboot now sees all tracks from the six sessions included and presented in chronological order. Something fans have been asking for. Coming as both a triple black vinyl LP and double CD, the sleeve is also new with a wonderful black and gold design by Chris Bigg now adorning it. A design that really stands out, Chris pays loving tribute to the band’s late-visual director Vaughan Oliver, using unseen archival Pixies imagery by long-time collaborator Simon Larbalestier.

It all adds up to 60 minutes worth of music, and while I think it’s a piece of nonsense to stretch it out over three different records, I’m still happy to have bought it and played it very loudly quite a few times this year.

From their very first Peel Session in May 1988 to one from their very last Peel Session in June 1991

mp3: Pixies – Subbacultcha (Peel Session)

A recording which is far superior than the one which would emerge later in the year on Tromp Le Monde

And finally, one that wasn’t included on the 1988 release. From a Peel Session in June 1990. Never recorded by the band, but a version can be found on Frank Black’s eponymous solo album from 1993.

JC

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Welsh Wednesdays

WELSH WEDNESDAYS : #6 : BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Is This The Life?

Welsh Wednesday (and a bit of a gig review…)

Today we return to a band who featured in the Lockdown incarnation of Welsh Wednesday over at my place in July 2020…

#6: In My Egg by Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

Back in part 2 of this Welsh Wednesday run, I featured CVC, a band who revel in the sounds of the 70s. This week, another lot who take their cue from that otherwise terrible decade – the fabulously named Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard who hail from our fine capital Cardiff. Their early material ploughed the furrows of glam rock, with the songs on their first EP and debut album ‘Backhand Deals’ wearing their influences so proudly on their sleeves, you’d be blinded by the glare of their gaudy flares and glittery make-up.

On the follow-up ‘Skinwalker’ though, things took a slightly darker turn, with songs about snarling beasts, depression and a malevolent Navajo witch. I think. Its riffs are fatter, heavier, louder – more Sabbath than Slade. Yet, for all that, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun and the tunes are still there. It’s one of my top albums of 2024.

MrsRobster and I caught Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard live just a couple weeks ago at the brilliant new Newport venue The Corn Exchange. They were every bit as good as I hoped they’d be. The disappointingly small crowd were treated to a lot of songs from the new record, but more than a handful of earlier tunes too, as well as new single Street Worship.

There’s a lot of energy in the Buzzards’ shows, and musically they’re on point. Interspersed with the songs were extended breaks of noise and feedback (which is always a major plus for me) and frontman Tom Rees’ wit (which at one point had MrsRobster and I creased up in tears.) It confirmed to me how, despite already having a Welsh Wednesday, they fully deserved another one.

So today’s track was the set’s second song and is a highlight from the latest album. It’s about how Tom struggled following the band’s touring and promotional duties around the first album. Physically and mentally exhausted, he started to withdraw into himself. It sounds like it would be a difficult listen, and in the hands of most bands it probably would be, but if you’re not humming In My Egg incessantly by lunchtime, I’ll scramble it and have it on toast.

mp3: In My Egg – Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard (from ‘Skinwalker’, 2024)

Here’s some footage of the Buzzards at a prestigious hometown show at Cardiff Castle from a couple years back. They still play this, ending their Newport set with it.

The Robster

Dandy Warhols, Woog Riots

BERLIN, DANDY WARHOLS, WOOG RIOTS AND A BROKEN WRIST

A debut guest posting by Jim from Dubai

Jim from Dubai here.

I had recently written an article about life and the music scene here in Dubai over at Rol’s blog “My Top Ten” which JC kindly commented on and mentioned if I ever wanted to write a guest posting on Vinyl Villain just to reach out.

I recently had an experience (well more my wife Jude did) which included a trip to Berlin, The Dandy Warhols, The Woog Riots and a real bit of bad luck I thought I would share with you.

Living in Dubai for over 20 years as you can imagine we have been starved of good music, although over the years we have had our fair share of older bands / artists which I must admit have been pretty decent and some great nights although nothing too Indie or alternative.

Because of this, over the last few years me and Jude have compiled a list of bands / artists that we like and keep an eye on where they are touring, ideally in Europe and if it works out we take a trip, normally a long weekend so we get the chance to see a city and a band at the same time.

This year we saw The Dandy Warhols were touring Europe, we always fancied Berlin so last month we set off to Germany for a 4-day trip.

We arrived in Berlin on the Wednesday afternoon, The Dandy Warhols were playing on the Thursday night. We decided to head out Wednesday night for some food, drink and to see the city. We had just left the hotel when Jude tripped on the pavement, had a bad fall and smashed her wrist (not even a beer at this stage !). We knew it was bad, we went straight to the hospital, she had two broken bones and a dislocation, she had an operation immediately that night and had no chance of getting out soon.

Ended up 8 days in hospital and 2 operations so we had to change the flights and move hotels due to the Berlin Marathon being run that weekend and almost every hotel room booked that weekend.

Jude obviously missed The Dandy Warhols gig, to be honest I didn’t really have the appetite to go myself, however I had to leave the hospital around 9pm each night, the gig started around 10pm so it was either go to the gig or back to the hotel myself, so off to the gig I went.

The venue was great, Huxleys Neue Welt, a great old venue, reminded me a bit of The Barrowlands in Glasgow. Support band was a band called The Black Angels, I caught the end of them, not really my thing.

The Dandys were decent enough, my only complaint was they didn’t sing enough of the hits or the songs I know. I am not their biggest fan but I do have 5 of their albums including their new one.

They did sing the best song from their new album which is great:-

mp3: The Dandy Warhols – Summer of Hate

Jude didn’t know when she was getting out of hospital and only found out around 5pm the following Thursday. Although well looked after, it was great to be out, and we had a couple of days to see a bit of Berlin.

However, the real highlight of the trip was we got to see another band.

We had read that the Woog Riots (a synthy indie pop band from Germany) were playing in Berlin, we hadn’t planned to see them originally but as things panned out we realized once we knew Jude was getting out of hospital on Thursday we could go and see them that night. By luck the venue was relatively close to the hospital so we went to check out the venue, a great little place called Schokoladen. We arrived around 6pm; the place was empty, we got speaking to the Manageress and explained what had happened with Jude and if we could find somewhere to stand or sit so that she wouldn’t get into any more trouble, she was very helpful and confirmed we would be fine. Just then who walks in the door but the Woog Riots, i.e. Silvana and Marc, so we had a good chat and got photos with both of them, told them the story of how we got here, they were very charming indeed. (We had previously met and had a chat with them at the Indietracks Festival back in 2013 so it was great to see them again).

We went and got some food and came back in time for the gig starting. We had a great and safe standing place and watched and boogied to a great gig.

So what was obviously a bit of a disastrous start to our trip ended on a real high and seeing the Woog Riots really made the trip, love these small intimate venues especially when you get to meet the band.

This is one of the songs from their new album.

mp3: Woog Riots – Who Makes The Stars

Here is another two of my favourite tunes:-

mp3: Woog Riots – Astronaut (a great song from the days of Indietracks and my personal favourite)

mp3: Woog Riots – Too Funk To Drug (they sang this on the night, another older tune).

We did get to enjoy a couple of days in Berlin and even got the chance to visit The Ramones Café / Museum called 1977 which was pretty cool, we then safely flew back to Dubai on Sunday and Jude is now well on her way to making a recovery.

Jim in Dubai

Broken Chanter

FAVOURITE ALBUMS RELEASED IN 2024 : CHORUS OF DOUBT by BROKEN CHANTER

The last of the rundown of my most enjoyable ten albums released in 2024, and most likely the one I’d put top of the list if I was being asked.

Chorus of Doubt – Broken Chanter

Billy Bragg. There’s not many out there as good as him when it comes to mixing pop and politics via music while providing a fabulous listen to get your feet tapping, your hips swaying and your mouth to contort itself into a big and silly grin. But I’ll willingly argue that David MacGregor, in his guise as Broken Chanter, is more than capable, especially through the songs on the album Chorus of Doubt.

It’s a subtle and very personal type of politics on display. There’s little in the way of sloganeering, albeit there are lines which wouldn’t sound out of place on any demonstration or protest. There’s nothing preachy about the record. The songs make pleas to listeners not to wait for revolutions or seismic shifts in political landscapes, but instead to take their own personal, and what might, on the surface, be relatively small actions to effect change and make a difference.

In saying all that, if you put the lyrics to one side, you’ll find a record packed with danceable and sing-a-long indie-pop/rock tunes with just a hint of funk thanks to the bass contributions from the ridiculously talented Charlotte Printer.

It’s worth mentioning that David often plays live in a stripped-back setting, as he did when supporting Arab Strap on some gigs across Scotland back in October and as he has just done doing again last month with a short headlining stint on the road taking in a number of towns/villages such as Coatbridge, St Monans, Montrose, Portree and Resipole which are rarely (if ever!) visited by touring singers or bands. All of these shows were just David and Charlotte, but the next live outing, on 29 January 2025, will see all four members of the band take to the stage at Cottier’s Theatre in the west end of Glasgow. It is part of the annual Celtic Connections festival and will be Broken Chanter’s biggest headliner to date. I can guarantee it will be a barn-stormer of a show.

Getting back to the foot-tapping, hips-swaying, dancing and singing-along numbers…..here’s the album closer, which just happens to contain the line from which the record takes its title:-

mp3: Broken Chanter – So Much For The End Of History (I’m Still Here)

And even when things are slowed down a bit, the songs are still earworms

Don’t You Think That Something Needs To Be Done, the first of the three tracks featured in this post, was recently released as a digital single in newspaper form (yes, really!!!!!). It is backed by three cover versions, The Moving On Song (Go, Move, Shift), Worker’s Song, and All You Fascists, originally written by Ewan MacColl, Ed Pickford, and Woody Guthrie, respectively. Head over to this bandcamp page for more info.

And while you’re there, you can also flick over to another page and listen to all the tracks on Chorus of Doubt, after which I’m certain you’ll want to pick up the vinyl, CD or digital copy. Happy shopping.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Fifty-Five)

The third 7″ within the 24 Songs project dropped through the letterbox on 18 March 2022.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Go Go Go

A rocky number with a softer edge, thanks to the co-vocal from Melanie Howard. It’s one that I wasn’t really too sure of on the initial listens, but it proved to come across better in the live setting, with it demonstrating just how big and vital a part Melanie had in this new-look and different sounding version of The Wedding Present. The signs had been there thanks to some of the music and footage that had emerged during the lockdown period, not least this wonderful take on an old single.

The b-side, given its title, I suspect was written specifically to be the flip side of this particular single

mp3: The Wedding Present – La La La

It’s a song which is very much split in two. The opening 2 mins and 45 seconds or offer up a take on the sort of indie-rock that the band over the years, no matter who was in the line-up, can do so effortlessly and effectively. It’s a decent, if not spectacular, listen.

But the final 45 seconds, from which the song takes its title, does absolutely nothing for me. It’s one of the very few TWP songs that I’d be quite happy not to listen to again in future years.

JC

Carla J Easton

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #432: CARLA J. EASTON

Carla J. Easton. Where to start? A musician and now an acclaimed documentary co-director who has been a part of the Scottish music and creative scenes going all the way back to 2006. She was initially a member of Futuristic Retro Champions, a four-piece indie-band whose members had met as students at the Edinburgh School of Art. The band broke up in 2011, but before long she had formed TeenCanteen, an all-female four-piece about whom I said this when I wrote about them back in 2015:- TeenCanteen, aside from having a tremendous name, make tremendous old-fashioned pop music that makes you want to just dance and sing along. The band consists of Carla Easton (lead vocals/keyboards), Sita Pieracinni (vocals/bass), Amanda Williams (vocals/guitar) and Deborah Smith (vocals/drums). Note right away the emphasis on all four members contributing on vocals, as that is central to their sound, not just on record but in the live setting. I had high hopes for TeenCanteen, but in the end, all we have is one studio album, a handful of singles/EPs and a later release of demo recordings, as well as memories of some superb live shows, before they called it a day in 2017. By then Carla had released her first solo album, Homemade Lemonade, using the name Ette, in which she had teamed up with multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer Joe Kane and in just five days recording a damn-near perfect, diverse and intelligent pop album. All ten tunes are memorably catchy, tipping their hat to all sorts of all genres and influences – I hear, among others, the girl-groups so beloved of Phil Ramone mixing it up with Clare Grogan, Kate Bush, Kylie, 80s synth bands, bubblegum, rap and the occasional hint of folk-rock that so many bands from Scotland are proving so adept at. It was my favourite album of 2016. Since then, we’ve had three more solo albums – Impossible Stuff (2018), Weirdo (2020) and Sugar Honey (2023). She has also been with Poster Paints, a band she formed with Simon Liddell, who was a former touring member with Frightened Rabbit. Thus far, there has been one eponymous album, released in 2022. She has guested on Belle and Sebastian albums, toured as keyboard player with The Vaselines and most recently, she has been at the helm of a highly acclaimed documentary, Since Yesterday : The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands. There really is no end to her talents. mp3 : Carla J. Easton – Heart So Hard Taken from the album Weirdo.

JC

August Darnell

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #382: AUGUST DARNELL (THE EARLY YEARS)

A guest posting by Leon MacDuff

Thomas August Darnell Browder – generally known by his two middle names – was born in The Bronx, New York, in 1950 and is best known as as the lead singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and general kingpin of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. But for this Imaginary Compilation Album I’m delving back into his pre-Coconuts work during the second half of the 1970s, as writer and bassist for jazz-disco (but NOT “jazz fusion”) combo Doctor Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, and as in-house writer-producer for the New York “mutant disco” label ZE Records.

As it happens, there is an official download anthology “Kid Creole: ZE August Darnell Sessions” covering the same period, although – and I didn’t plan this because I didn’t know about it until after I’d assembled the ICA – their selection and mine have only two songs in common (and in different edits). If you do happen to be familiar with that collection (or its physical media predecessor Going Places) you may wonder why I haven’t included anything from Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rhumba Band… well, that’s because I’ve stuck to songs where Darnell wrote the words (and usually the music too), and while the Don Armando album did have songwriting contributions from future Coconuts regulars Adriana Kaegi and Andy Hernandez, there were none from Darnell himself.

In keeping with the conceit of these ICAs being vinyl albums, and not wishing to try my listeners’ patience more than strictly necessary, I’ve kept the running time down to a shade under 25 minutes a side – still relatively long I suppose but not beyond the capabilities of a decent cutting engineer. Much of this material has never been officially reissued, and even the tracks which have appeared on CD are mostly mastered from very obvious needledrops – so apologies for the surface noise but until somebody tracks down the mastertapes (or gets Peter Jackson‘s AI on the case) this is likely as good as it’s going to get.

Side One

Cristina: Don’t Be Greedy

Cristina was the wife of ZE Records co-founder Michael Zilkha, and indeed the label pretty much came into being for the express purpose of issuing her debut “Disco Clone” – though it quickly diversified to become one of the coolest record labels on the planet, thanks in large part to its incredibly creative stable of in-house writer-producers: Darnell himself, Ron Rogers, Bob Blank and later Don Was. Darnell wrote and produced Cristina’s debut album (originally self-titled, reissued as Doll In the Box) and it’s a stormer.

Doctor Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band: Cherchez La Femme

The single that first made his name – lyrics by Darnell, music by his half-brother Stony Browder (though heavily based on the 1920s jazz standard “Whispering”). And a good representation of what Doctor Buzzard was all about. Off the back of this, they were Grammy-nominated for Outstanding New Artist, but they lost out to Starland Vocal Band. I think I’m on fairly safe ground by saying, wrong choice.
And the reference to Tommy Mottola? Before he became one of the world’s most powerful record executives, he was a manager for bands including… Doctor Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band. The story in the song wasn’t true, they just used his name because it sounded good.

Gichy Dan’s Beachwood #9: Laissez Faire

It’s a shame that the Beachwood #9 album has never been properly reissued, not least because its latin stylings are an obvious prototype for what Darnell would do with Kid Creole & The Coconuts – in fact, according to Darnell himself, Frank “Gichy Dan” Passalacqua was the one other person who could have inhabited the Kid Creole character, if only he’d thought of it at the time. Indeed, this particular song, a duet with Lourdes Cotto, could easily have been a Kid Creole and The Coconuts number – it would have been a great spotlight number for Andy “Coati Mundi” Hernandez.

Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band: The Seven Year Itch

More swingin’ fun from the Buzzy ones, not actually based on a jazz standard this time but cramming in a reference to the much-covered “St James Infirmary” anyway.

Dana and Gene: Dario, Can You Get Me Into Studio 54?

Neither Dana nor Gene seem to have done anything else of note, but their Darnell-penned one-off is a daft gem. The song was subsequently remade for the first Kid Creole album, Off The Coast Of Me.

Side Two

Machine: There But For The Grace Of God Go I

Disco didn’t often get angry, but this is one angry record. Growing up in the Bronx, Darnell witnessed first-hand the phenomenon of young parents taking fright at the prospect of bringing up their children in the city and moving out – the phenomenon typically known as “white flight” though Darnell also saw it happening to Latino and mixed-race families like his own, hence the title of this one. The song has been covered many times, though usually with a key line in the first verse bowdlerised to “Somewhere far away, where only upper class people stay” – which works alright, I suppose, but is nowhere near as powerful as the original, which absolutely sticks the knife in regarding the parents’ real motivations. I also keep reading that the second verse originally had a reference to “popping pills and smoking weed” which is perhaps a better line than the “gaining weight and losing sleep” you’ll hear in this version – but I’ve been looking for that “original” version for years without success, so at this point I rather suspect it may be a myth.

As for Machine, they are often characterised as a Darnell creation but although he produced their first album and contributed three songs, it was really guitarist/singer Jay Stovall and keyboard player Kevin Nance’s band. They did make a second album without Darnell but to drastically diminishing returns; subsequently Stovall would put in the odd appearance with Kid Creole & The Coconuts, while Nance went on to be a mainstay of funky 80s club faves The B, B & Q [Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens] Band.

Aural Exciters: Maladie D’Amour

Aural Exciters was essentially a bit of a playground for ZE’s in-house team, with Darnell, Rogers and Blank (who was the nominal producer for the project) throwing ideas around and seeing what stuck. The Darnell-penned “Marathon Runner” and puntastic ode to poppers “Emile (Night Rate)” both turn up on compilations a fair bit – this one less so, though with a latin makeover it did become one of Kid Creole’s early signatures.

Cristina: Temporarily Yours

More Cristina! You can never have too much Cristina. And frankly we never got enough Cristina because with the demise of ZE in the mid 80s she basically quit music altogether. As Zola Jesus put it following Cristina’s death from COVID-19, she was “too weird for the pop world, too pop for the weird world”. She may not have been a technically gifted singer – but what a performer!

Doctor Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band: Once There Was A Colored Girl…

Some of the language may have fallen from favour in the years since, but there’s no mistaking the intent here as the Buzzards gleefully mock racists and bigots, to the accompaniment of a giddy alpine waltz. Finest use of the word “stumblebum” in any context ever. That’s fallen from favour too, hasn’t it? We need to get that back.

Gichy Dan’s Beachwood #9: You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down

And back to Frank for our feelgood closer. While he may have been deprived of the lead role, Passalacqua was nevertheless very much part of the Kid Creole family, popping up as a backing vocalist and taking a more prominent role in the short-lived Elbow Bones And The Racketeers, a sort of Coconuts reserves team which performed in the Doctor Buzzard “disco jazz age” style (Their minor hit “A Night In New York” will likely ring a bell with some readers, though Frank was just a backing singer on that one). I’m not entirely sure what became of him; I thought I’d read announcements of his death in the last five years, but I can’t find them now, while somebody online says he died of AIDS in the early 80s, though he was on a Kid Creole album as late as 1993, so that would seem to be the earliest possible date unless they were quietly dredging his parts up from the archives.

Leon

Yard Act

FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2024 : WHERE’S MY UTOPIA? by YARD ACT

An occasional feature between now and mid-December, hopefully giving you time to put some records on your list to Santa. It’s not a rundown by any stretch of the imagination, but simply a chance for me to mention a few albums that have brought me immense pleasure thanks to them being released in 2024.

Where’s My Utopia? – Yard Act

The difficult second album? That’s certainly the view of quite a few folk who were mesmerised by The Overload, the 2022 debut album from Leeds-based indie rock-popsters, Yard Act but weren’t keen on the different direction taken by this year’s Where’s My Utopia?

Here’s the thing. Many of the positive words written about Yard Act’s emergence centred on them being from a similar lineage to The Fall, and there’s certainly enough musically and lyrically on the debut to back that up. But it does seem logical, given that Mark E Smith & co never rested on their laurels or sought to release two similar sounding records in a row, that Yard Act would go down a different road with the second album.

It’s not just the music which ended up changing. James Smith‘s lyrics on this record reflect what has come with a fair bit of fame and a little bit of fortune, and there’s certainly no clear indication that he’s terribly happy about it all.

It’s always difficult, if not impossible, to listen to a band’s second album and compare it with what came before. I made my mind up, very early on, that I would try and take things a bit differently with Where’s My Utopia? given the way the band were talking months ahead of it being released. They had said that once the final shows around the promotion of The Overload were out of the way, it was going to be a whole new beginning. As such, I tried, to look upon this as a debut and to take each song on its own merits without focussing on the past.

It wasn’t easy as I didn’t like the first advance single Dream Job which appeared in October 2023. It felt too much in thrall to second-rate disco music. Thankfully, the next single didn’t disappoint in any shape or form:-

Yard Act channelling their inner Beck. It was also by now quite clear that at least one character in the video was following a developing story-line.

There would be two further advance singles, which again continued the storyline.

We Make Hits was a kind of throwback to the debut album, with its jarring and complicated sound. It certainly wasn’t a conventional song to be released as a single, albeit it had a really catchy and infectious chorus. And then came this:-

Poptastic stuff. One that will get you up on the dancefloor when it gets aired at the indie disco with a chorus, courtesy of guest vocalist Katy T Pearson, that’s an absolute killer. It’s only when you listen closely to the lyric, do you realise that it’s really quite dark and disturbing:-

No one needs to know about the burden that you’re smuggling
You dry your eyes at the gate to hide the struggling
The stories that you’re juggling
The fear you must be funnelling
Bury ’til you’re burrowing
Pain is such a funny thing

And to top it all off, there’s a spoken contribution at the end, consisting of lines written by Shakespeare for the doomed character of Macbeth, delivered by the acclaimed actor David Thewlis, who had appeared in the band’s video for 100% Endurance, the last single lifted from The Overload. It all makes for something truly astonishing, and it’s up there among my favourite songs of the year.

In some ways, this all meant the actual release of Where’s My Utopia? on 1 March could have been an anti-climax. Four advance singles with clever and expensive looking videos meant there were just seven new songs to take on board. They weren’t perhaps as immediate as the singles, but most of them had a depth and quality that really benefit from just sitting back and taking them all in. Smith really bares his soul on a couple of them, one of which, Down By The Stream, reflects on an incident from his youth, which doesn’t show him up in a particularly good light.

Then there’s this….

mp3: Yard Act – Blackpool Illuminations

A seven-and-a-half minute epic story which takes in childhood, teenage debauchery and the worries and joys of being a new parent. With an absolute killer and unexpected last line. Over a tune that shows just how different Yard Act are from all of their contemporaries.

In heaping all this praise on the album, I do have to say that in years to come, when both it and The Overload have been back on the shelf for a few years, I’ll likely find myself listening more to the debut, but that’s really down to just how consistently good The Overload is from start to end, while there’s a couple of moments on Where’s My Utopia? where it dips marginally.

Album #3 should be fascinating.

JC

El Goodo, The Eggmen Woooooo!, Welsh Wednesdays

WELSH WEDNESDAYS : #5 : EL GOODO

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Is This The Life?

#5: In A Daze One Sunday Morning by El Goodo

Google ‘El Goodo’ and you’ll get loads of results for The Ballad Of El Goodo by Big Star. Buried somewhere amongst them all you may find a link for a band from South Wales who named themselves after that song. Often dubbed Wales’ most overlooked band, El Goodo released four albums between 2005 and 2020, but each one is a must.

Formed in the village of Resolven in the Vale of Neath, they were picked up by Welsh kings Super Furry Animals who took them on tour and released El Goodo’s self-titled debut album on their Placid Casual label. Turns out, El Goodo’s name more than encapsulates their sound – their psych-rich harmonies and chiming guitars made them sound like a Welsh Big Star for the 21st Century. Or maybe what would happen if you crossed the Supper Furries with The Coral. If you think that sounds gorgeous, wait ‘til you hear this track!

In A Daze One Sunday Morning is taken from the band’s final studio album ‘Zombie’, released during the quagmire of 2020 which probably means no one knows it exists. And that is the real tragedy here. It’s something you need during bad times, which makes it even more essential right now.

mp3: In A Daze One Sunday Morning – El Goodo (from ‘Zombie’, 2020)

Former members of El Goodo are doing their own things now. One of them, Benedict Frye, has teamed up with members of fellow Welsh bands Los Blancos and Trecco Beis to form the band with possibly the greatest band name ever. The Eggmen Whoooooo! released their debut album ‘Fuzzy Eggs, Please’ last month and it’s another record you need to hear. Here’s a track from it. I think the Teenage Fanclub fans among us might like this one a little bit…

The Robster

PS : A huge thanks to everyone who entered the competition to win the Half Happy t-shirt. Sorry that there could only be one winner, and congratulations to Steven Aldred.

Ducks Ltd

FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2024 : HARM’S WAY by DUCKS LTD.

Harm’s Way – Ducks Ltd.

I’ve had a bit of a rough time, health wise, for a fair bit of 2024. For the most part, I’ve coped OK, albeit a long-planned and much anticipated visit to Los Angeles last June had to be shelved. There’s also been instances when I’ve not felt up to going out of a day or an evening, partly through feeling run down or not wanting to put myself in any position that whatever infectious illness or virus I might be carrying could be passed on to others in my immediate vicinity. A few football matches and gigs have been missed, almost always at short notice. I don’t mind it too much if it’s a singer or band who might be back in Glasgow or thereabouts in the not too distant future, but I was really pissed off when I had to forego my tickets to a show by Ducks Ltd, a duo from Toronto, who came here back in May, when they were promoting the release of their new album, Harm’s Way. Especially with the knowledge of having seen then before, down in Manchester back in 2022.

Ducks Ltd. consists of Tom Mcgreevy on vocals, rhythm guitar and bass, and Evan Lewis on lead guitar. The record company behind their releases name check bands such as Felt, Orange Juice, and The Go-Betweens as being huge influences and describe their songs as ‘stitched together layers of intricate melodies…. to make moving, nostalgic music — an irresistible combination that radiates energy and provokes introspection.’ The thing is, they’re not wrong about the influences, nor is the wordsmith exaggerating things, which means all my boxes are very much ticked.

The music on their debut EP, Get Bleak (2019) and debut album, Modern Fiction (2021) really lived up to expectations. My only surprise was that they didn’t achieve more recognition, but then again, I suppose the music they make for our enjoyment is a little bit out of fashion in the modern era. They haven’t compromised things one iota with Harm’s Way, which was issued jointly by the Toronto-based label Royal Mountain Records and the Washington D.C, based Carpark Records. It’s jangle pop at its finest, and given just how much of this blog over the past 18 years has focussed on that sort of sound, it can’t come as any shock just how much I’m going to fawn over them.

That was the advance single from the album, and the only one which comes with any sort of promo video, although a number of tracks are online with what are described as ‘official lyric videos’, including this three-minute gem

mp3: Ducks Ltd. – Train Full of Gasoline

The album has just nine tracks, but those of us quick enough to get one of the limited edition releases on a strangely coloured vinyl (described as ‘Stone and Hedge Splatter’) also received a bonus 7″ single, one of whose tracks has also recently been given an ‘official vizualizer video’:-

Ducks Ltd. won’t change anything about anyone’s life, but they will bring an immense amount of satisfaction to those who are keen on listening to intelligent, jaunty, upbeat indie-pop that makes you pine for the days when your waist-line was thinner and your hair was either more plentiful and/or a different colour than what confronts you from the mirror each and every day.

JC

Various

BLAME IT ON ALLIGATOR STOMP

JC writes……

I think just about everyone who drops in to this little corner of t’internet knows that I really enjoy and appreciate guest contributions landing in my inbox. I’m very lucky in having Dirk and The Robster currently contributing regularly, while the quality of the long-running ICA series has long benefitted from the choices offered up from all across the globe.

Today sees another guest contribution, again all the way from Germany. It’s the first from sk, one of the site’s most frequent visitors and commentators. I noticed that sk was often complimentary about the monthly mixes, and so I took the opportunity to ask if he’d care to offer up a mix of his own. I was delighted that he said yes, and even more so when he proposed one which would feature performers who most likely haven’t featured previously on TVV – I can guarantee that none of their names are included in the index.

He really has done an incredible job. It’s very different from the sort of predictable rubbish I churn out on a monthly basis. Sixteen tunes extending out slightly over 66 minutes. I really hope you like it.

sk writes……

I recently wrote to JC asking him to give me a hint if I should be more reserved with my comments. He kindly replied that it wasn’t necessary and asked if I wanted to put together a mix for TVV. This came as a surprise, and I hesitated for a moment before accepting his suggestion.

The beginning wasn’t easy, because since Halloween I’ve mostly been listening to “Alligator Stomp” by the Cramps (and since I saw “Coda” a few days ago, also to “Philosophy of the World” by the Shaggs). Then, just in time before these songs could destroy my brain forever, I came up with the idea of presenting my favourite Algebra Suicide song to the TVV audience. Algebra Suicide is one of the lesser-known bands that means a lot to me. It consisted of Lydia Tomkiw and her husband Don Hedeker. Tomkiw recited her poems to Heideker’s guitar playing, which was probably inspired by the Velvet Underground. There was also a drum machine or synthesizer, which probably led to Algebra Suicide’s music being classified as New Wave. To me, this classification does not seem to be as clear as, for example, Anne Clark, another poet who started her musical career in 1982.

Algebra Suicide has never been featured on TVV before. That gave me the idea to make this a guide. The result was, and this is not at all surprising, a mix with songs from mostly US bands and musicians. They probably rubbed their eyes just as much as I did when they saw the election results recently. I think with Trump and Musk – the real-life equivalent of Sauron and Saruman? – two people who belong together finally found each other. They both have children from three different women, and if you add the number of children of both together, you get a total of 16. Which, oddly enough, is exactly the number of songs I had previously chosen for the mix.

Enjoy the music

mp3: Various – Blame It On Alligator Stomp

Cassandra Jenkins – Hard Drive
Julie Dawson – Silly Little Song
Soccer Mommy – Circle The Drain
Algebra Suicide – Little Dead Bodies
MC 900 feat Jesus – The City Sleeps
Dub Narcotic Sound System – Fuck Shit Up
Arthur Russell – This Is How We Walk On The Moon
Ela Orleans – She Who Could Bin You
Lael Neale – I Am The River
Margaret Glaspy – Female Brain
Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Fire
Kassie Krut – Reckless
Drop Nineteens – My Aquarium (Second Time Around)
Daniel Johnston – Freedom
Meilyr Jones – Strange/Emotional
Karl Blau – Fallin’ Rain

sk

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Fifty-Four)

Last week’s lengthy post provided all the background and detail for the 24 Songs project which would see The Wedding Present issue a monthly 7″ single throughout 2022, and so I’m going to be very brief today, and indeed for the remainder of the posts dealing with 24 Songs.

The second single in the series was released on 18 February

mp3: The Wedding Present – I Am Not Going To Fall In Love With You

It’s one of the first fruits from the songwriting partnership David Gedge was developing with the new-look band, with writing credits given to Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Chris Hardwick. It’s a tune and lyric which feels as if it could have appeared on any number of the classic albums from years gone by, and yet it has a sound that was different, invigorating and fresh, which really did offer a great deal of hope for what else was to come throughout the year.

The b-side was a real surprise and a source of huge joy for this fan.

mp3: The Wedding Present – A Song From Under The Floorboards

I had been under the impression that the 24 Songs would all be originals – it turned it that the vast majority of them were, but the inclusion of this Magazine classic, which TWP had included in most of their live shows back in 2019 certainly put a smile on my face. Across a career littered with many magnificent cover versions, this is up there with their very best.

JC

Campfires In Winter

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #431: CAMPFIRES IN WINTER

It’s a second successive week that a band is included in this series as a result of them being on Olivegrove Records. Campfires In Winter have been on the blog before, back in March 2017 when I gave a plug to their debut album Ischaemia. A quick reminder that the four-piece of Robert Canavan (lead singer/lead guitar), Wullie Crainey (bass guitar), Scott McArthur (keys/guitar) and Ewan Denny (drums) come from the village of Croy which is some 15 miles to the north-east of Glasgow, and is fairly adjacent to Kilsyth the small town from where emerged The Twilight Sad. As I said last time around, Robert’s vocal delivery leaves you in no doubt that they are from Scotland, as he rightly makes no effort to disguise his lilt. Here’s one from the debut album:- mp3: Campfires in Winter – With A Ragged Diamond It’s a bit of an epic, running to almost seven minutes. To my ears, there’s quite a few other Scottish-based influences within the track, such as the afore-mentioned Twilight Sad, along with The Phantom Band and Frightened Rabbit. The band has been quiet for a number of years, no doubt their efforts to write and record, not to mention play live, were impacted by the COVID lockdown. There hasn’t been any new music since the 2017 album, but there was a live show back in April 2022.

JC

Lou Reed

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #381: LOU REED

I was thinking the other day that it had been a while since I came up with a contribution to the Imaginary Compilation Albums series, but was also thinking that, despite being retired and supposedly having loads more time on my hands, I just couldn’t take all the hours needed to listen to all sorts of songs, narrow a long list down to ten and then write some notes.

And then it hit me. I can just rip off something that’s already out there, in this case an album that was released back in 1977. There were 11 songs on it, but given that I featured New York Telephone Conversation a few weeks back as part of the songs under 2 minutes feature, it could be dropped.

From wiki:-

Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed is the first greatest hits compilation by Lou Reed, formerly of The Velvet Underground. It was issued by RCA Records after Reed’s first contract with them ended in 1976. Issued on Compact Disc on October 25, 1990, the album cover features photos by Mick Rock of Reed and then-girlfriend Rachel Humphreys.

Side A

1. Satellite of Love (from the album Transformer, 1972)

2. Wild Child (from the album Lou Reed, 1972)

3. I Love You (from the album, Lou Reed, 1972)

4. How Do You Think It Feels (from the album, Berlin, 1973)

5. Walk On The Wild Side (from the album Transformer, 1972)

Side B

1. Sweet Jane (live) (from the album Rock’n’Roll Animal, 1974)

2. White Light/White Heat (live) (from the album Rock’n’Roll Animal, 1974)

3. Sally Can’t Dance (single version, 1974)

4. Nowhere At All (b-side of Charley’s Girl single, 1976)

5. Coney Island Baby (from the album Coney Island Baby, 1976)

The review over on allmusic, by William Ruhlmann, will make do as the blurb.

Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed was the standard record company “hits” compilation surveying Reed’s five-year, eight-album sojourn at RCA from 1972 to 1976. Its 11 songs included two from Lou Reed, three from Transformer (among them, of course, this album’s title track, Reed’s sole chart hit), one from Berlin, two from Rock N Roll Animal (one of which is “Sweet Jane” minus the introductory fanfare), and the title tracks from Sally Can’t Dance and Coney Island Baby, plus the previously non-LP B-side “Nowhere at All.”

It was a bulletproof selection, as unimaginative as it was dependable, which oddly was why it worked so well. Reed’s solo career had seen some extreme tangents, and this album caught them, from the Dylan-ish “Wild Child” to the glam pop of the Transformer material, and from the heavy metal rearrangements of old Velvet Underground songs on Rock N Roll Animal to the attempts at straightforward adult singer/songwriter rock on songs like “Coney Island Baby.” The regular albums had been uneven, but here Reed comes off as an accomplished dabbler in a variety of styles who really had something to say and said it, sometimes humorously, sometimes frantically, but always with conviction. Reed has been a prolific artist, and this album captures only a fraction of his catalog, but he is actually less eclectic as a rule than this collection makes him seem, so the result is an excellent introduction.

JC (with apologies for my laziness)

Arab Strap

FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2024 : I’M TOTALLY FINE WITH IT, DON’T GIVE A FUCK ANYMORE by ARAB STRAP

I’m Totally Fine With It, Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore – Arab Strap

Those of you who have long followed the blog won’t be surprised to find this one appearing as a recommendation.

Arab Strap very rarely disappoint those of us who are fans. They have been making music for the best part of 3o years, with the first six studio albums appearing between 1996 and 2005, with the next two appearing in 2021 and 2024 after Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton had taken the decision to tour and record again, all the while maintaining their solo careers and other spin-off collaborations.

Those who pay no close attention simply pigeon-hole them as one-dimensional miserabilists who curse and swear a lot on their songs. The miserabilist bit isn’t an unreasonable point to make, but it doesn’t take into account just how much shift there has been over the years in what makes them so angst-ridden. But there is no way that Arab Strap can ever be dismissed as one-dimensional, something I intend to demonstrate with the songs selected today.

The artwork for I’m Totally Fine With It, Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore kind of gives the game away that this is an album full of frustration and resignation with the modern world. I’ll borrow some words from Stewart Berman‘s review for Pitchfork to try and best sum it all up.

In a pre-smartphone era, Moffat and Middleton were the novelistic narrators of twentysomething Scottish life and all the awkward conversations that transpire after the pubs clear out for the night. Now, with their second post-comeback effort, they stand among indie rock’s most astute observers of human behavior in the digital age. Moffat probably could have written the lyrics to “Sociometer Blues” back in 1998, as a window into a disintegrating dysfunctional relationship: “You take all my time, you take all my strength, you steal my love, you are the worst friend I ever had.” But the sense of exasperation and desperation is amplified upon realizing the song’s object of desire is his mobile device.

One of the things I’ve always loved about Arab Strap is the way they introduce each new album, as it never really is quite what you expect based on what has come before. They pull off another great trick this time, with one of the hardest-edged tunes they’ve ever recorded, betraying somewhat that Malcolm has long had a lifelong love of rock music while Aidan spits out a lyric which warns of social media and all the ills that come with any sort of addiction.

mp3: Arab Strap – Allatonceness

You’ll be pleased to hear they are still very capable of delivering moments of levity, as can be seen from the promo for the second and last single lifted from the album. It was filmed in Glasgow, taking in a few well known locations, and is seemingly the first time Mr Middleton has been part of an Arab Strap video in 25 years. He more than makes up for it:-

The video does disguise that this was probably the most personal song on the record, with Aidan explaining ” It’s about a period when I wasn’t doing very well, both mentally and physically. I was walking with a cane and in pain most of the time, and drowning my sorrows too, trapped at home and watching the phases of the moon through a window.”

I’ve long said that Moffat is the modern-era bard of Scotland, a lyrical genius whose work is so often achingly poetic.

Love will always be stronger than death.

Arab Strap ~~very rarely~~ never disappoint those of us who are fans.