Frankie Goes To Hollywood

MORE ‘STEALING’: THE GUEST SERIES IN BOOK FORM : #8 : FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

A guest posting by Steve McLean

This is a strange one. Usually when a band finds themselves ‘cloned’ there’s a link to the original group. It could be a manager or former member or even a record company who have ended up owning the name. The New Frankie Goes To Hollywood was seemingly just a group of geezers from Alabama who thought ‘fuck it, no one will ever find out, it’s Alabama’

According to an article archived on the Zttaat.com website the group were formed by Davey Johnson who wasn’t in anyway related to Holly Johnson. In fact, he was so unrelated that his name wasn’t even Johnson, he was a bloke called RD Turner. This didn’t stop initial reports claiming he was Holly Johnson’s brother.

Very few publications did enough fact checking into Turner’s background but after the legend of brotherly love was proven to be false, the story was changed to Turner being a member of the band, at least in the studio. The press releases made the bold claim that he was one of the musicians who played on Welcome To The Pleasuredome.

“[Davey] never toured with the group but was a studio musician with the original group,” Chuck Harris of Visual Arts Group speaking to Pollstar. May, 2000.

A bold claim that Trevor Horn, Welcome to the Pleasuredome album producer refutes;

“It was a very small nucleus of people that worked on Pleasuredome and I go out of my way to credit.”  Trevor Horn, Spin Magazine 2000

As usual with these things, the local newspapers where happy to re-print the press copy with little or no pushback. Slowly over time the national magazines took an interest and Davey Johnson’s story then evolved.

According to an issue of Spin Magazine in 2000, Davey Johnson and bandmate Will Martin claimed to be ‘great friends’ with the Frankie lads even though the band deny ever meeting them..

The same magazine goes on to claim that the band’s manager Chuck Harris also represented an act called “The Great Regurgitator” and a guy who can fart to the tune of “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”

Frank(ie)ly I can’t believe Chuck has had to go to such duplicitous lengths with Davey Johnson when his other acts sound fucking awesome.

“(The Great Regurgitator) He makes $250,000 per year doing that.” Chuck Harris, The New Frankie Goes To Hollywood Manager, Spin Magazine.

Turner’s claims that he was related to Holly and that he had appeared on the debut album ‘Welcome To The Pleasure Dome’ fell apart like the Monty Python sketch where the guy reckons he wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays, the claim breaks down under them most basic scrutiny. Such scrutiny like “Are you really related to Holly Johnson? Because he said you’re not” and “What were you, a man from Alabama, doing in a Liverpool recording studio in the early 80s with a then relatively unknown band?”

The usual ‘legal right’ claims were blabbered by those close to the group. It’s often code for ‘morally wrong’.

Harris also told Pollster that he couldn’t remember which album Davey Johnson played on but insisted he had the legal right to tour under the name.

“Davey legitimately went down and hired an attorney and paid the price to register that name legally” Chuck Harris, Fort Worth Star Telegram May 2000

This is probably because the proper Frankie Goes To Hollywood never got a US Federal Trademark for their name, so Davey Johnson was able to register a local one in Alabama. “Hey folks, we’re legal in ‘Bama.” yeah well, so is fucking a pick-up truck if you plan to marry it.

Starting out they just pretended to be Frankie Goes To Hollywood, they copped a bit of heat from Holly Johnson and his legal team, so they soon changed their name to The New Frankie Goes to Hollywood featuring Davey Johnson. When a case like this happens, the response often seems to be about buying time until the operation is shut down completely.

For live gigs the band were represented by Richard Lustig of Lustig Talent. Formed in the 1980s, the agency still runs today and proudly states on their website the “Lustig Talent Enterprises has since been providing entertainment for casinos, city sponsored events, corporate events, fairs, festivals, night clubs and theaters”. Their page also claims to have represent quite a number of bands who have had dubious line-ups. I don’t know which versions Lustig represented but the likes of Ratt, Bill Haley’s Comets, The Boxtops, The Drifters, The Coasters and Badfinger are mentioned on the site and all have had multiple versions at some point or other.

Often there’s an unbelievable naivety in statements from promoters or managers of these bands. Now I’m not someone who calls out the promoters of reconstituted acts as slimy, lying, duplicitous bastards, but if I was then I’d follow it up with a comment like ‘yeah, but do they have any faults’. However usually the press blurbs reek of disingenuousness.

“When we originally started out, that’s what we were calling it (of the name Frankie Goes to Hollywood). Months ago, we started changing all the promo material and everything over because we were running into the problem that people weren’t understanding and were misconstruing what the group exactly was. So we said, ‘Let’s change it to The New Frankie Goes To Hollywood so people will know that this is different.” Richard Lustiq, Lustiq Talent, Pollster May 2000

Now you might find it hard to believe that Richard, a booking agent of twenty years standing would be surprised that an act he booked and advertised as Frankie Goes to Hollywood would be interpreted by the public to actually be Frankie Goes to Hollywood but here we are. But look how he took steps to counter the issue he created. In many ways he’s the hero.

Except according to Pollstar the name Frankie Goes To Hollywood without the ‘New’ prefix was still being used on his agency’s own website much to Lustig’s ‘surprise’.

“We’ve been changing it everywhere we can,”  Richard Lustig, Pollster, May 2000

(An advert for The New Frankie at ‘Shooters’, sharing a venue with the post-Natalie-Merchant 10,000 Maniacs.

Why use one of the fonts when you can use ALL OF THE FONTS)

Even with the New Frankie moniker, it didn’t stop newspapers from implying they were connected to the original band.

(The New Frankie : just a regrouped version of the old Frankie with a different singer as long as you didn’t know what anyone looked like)

Frankie Goes To Hollywood Featuring Davey Johnson was another title the band were billed as. On the surface this seems more honest but realistically, if a punter didn’t know the names of the band members to begin with, then this just sounds like it’s a group fronted by an original member.

(Featuring THE Davey Johnson)

Later, Fakey Goes To Hollywood found themselves on the “Club 80’s The Flashback Tour” with Flock of Seagulls. While the band’s management and bookers were falling over each other to tell everyone what a great show their Frankie mob put on, Flock of Seagulls front person Mike Score was less than complimentary;

“The new Frankie are laughable. They’re not even a passable cover band. They might as well call themselves Cleatus Goes To Alabama” Mike Score, Flock of Seagulls speaking to Spin magazine in 2000.

Score’s shit banter aside, this is a telling remark, especially when you consider both bands shared a booking agent. To pull off this kind of caper the band would need to be beyond reproach in their performance and the way they carried themselves. When a tenuously connected band gets rumbled, the stock answer is usually ‘But we put on a great show. Ask the audience if they didn’t enjoy it’ It’s a strawman argument against one of legitimacy but it does often work in the eyes of the punter.

I usually sit on the fence of these stories trying not to take sides. In a world where we’ve allowed the industry part of the Music Industry to dominate, I’m not sure how there can be any real response other than ‘oh, you’re doing that kind of shit thing as well? Typical.’ Also there’s the argument that these bands do provide musicians with solid, if unspectacular work.

This story is different, I’m not really a Frankie fan but it does kind of boil my piss. The proper Frankie were queer icons of 1980s pop, at a time of heightened rank homophobia and repression (like that’s changed, I know)… while the Faux Frankie’s manager, Chuck was almost in a hurry to point out the band were “all straight guys; they’re not gay,”  A bunch of straight hicks from Alabama going out as Frankie seems as appropriate as a bunch of Surrey trustafarians going out as Public Enemy.  Although I should make it clear that Chuck Harris didn’t clarify if they were straight in the traditional sense of the word or because they only fucked female cattle.

Seeing them on a Pride line up just makes me wonder if they had a commitment to their heritage or a commitment to paying bookings.

(Pride Fest listings in St Louis, Missouri)

Interestingly the Pride show also lists Chic on Sunday at 11.45am. It’s quite possible that this Chic are a fake version of the 70s Disco greats. The official band were back together at that time but it’s unlikely they’re playing a regional pride festival before midday. Still on paper; Frankie, Chic and Jimmy Somerville (assuming it actually was him!). That’s some line up.

A quick search of the Fake Frankie’s name throws up about 60 shows between the arse end of 1999 and early 2000s including a New Years Eve 1999 event in Singapore. They played such esteemed venues as The Fat City Deli in Charlotte, North Carolina and Dewey’s Deck Bar in Minnesota. The last show logged with Setlist.com was in October 2003 in St Petersburg, Florida.

Unlike other fake bands, the whole Frankie affair took place in the tail end of the 1990s. which was probably the last time a stunt like this could be pulled before the internet gave the fans a proper voice.

It seems the money involved wasn’t enough for a proper court case. Holly Johnson and his lawyer attempted to put a stop to it but phoning bookers and promoters to let them know what exactly they were getting.

When Johnson made it known that they were not authorised, Chuck Harris then claimed to have severed all ties with them but considering they were still taking bookings three years later that seems unlikely.

By 2003 the New Frankie had expose stories printed about them in Spin Magazine, Polster, Q magazine and finally the regional press were taking note. That’s when the game is up for this sort of thing in the US. There are whole cities of people who only read state press and when they were finally pointing out the fraud then the local venues lost interest.

Usually telling these stories, I enjoy the audacity of the venture, because often there is normally another side that, if not entirely defendable then understandable. But the Frankie story is grim and just seems like a blatant theft

(Regional Newspapers wising up to Frankie… Davey is now ‘no relation)

The final word should go to Holly Johnson who managed to destroy the whole caper in a wonderfully cutting manner,

“I’m very sorry that people who are getting duped. But God, what Frankie fan who knew anything about the group could possibly ever believe in a million years that we would play steak houses and county fairs?….It’s so small fry and unstylish” Holly Johnson, Spin Magazine September 2000.

The Frankie song I’ve chosen is the 12″ remix of Two Tribes. It’s the real deal. The video had Reagan fighting Konstantin Chernenko (he was head of the USSR for about six minutes in 1984. Seriously the 12” mix lasts longer than his leadership term) It’s the record all the cool kids talked about at school.

mp3: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Two Tribes (12″ mix)

 

STEVE McLEAN

Stereolab

FOUR TRACK MIND : A RANDOM SERIES OF EXTENDED PLAY SINGLES

A guest series by Fraser Pettigrew (aka our New Zealand correspondent)

#9: Low Fi – Stereolab (1992)

I wrote previously about how I discovered Stereolab in May 1992 with the release of their first album Peng! In some ways Peng! is untypical of their early period, or at least it presents a different version of their early sound, more fuzzy and shoegazey. Shortly after buying Peng! I found a copy of the Slumberland pressing of Switched On, which compiles their first two EPs and a single released during 1991. The sound of these early recordings is much louder and harder, as though several layers of gauze between you and the band on Peng! had been removed.

Switched On came out in October 1992 and it must have been around the same time that I picked up the 10” EP Low Fi which had been released in September. Despite post-dating Peng! Low Fi sounds a lot more like the older tracks collected on Switched On. I wasn’t initially aware of the release chronology, and kind of assumed that Low Fi sat alongside the other Switched On tracks, encouraged in that view by the repetition of the sleeve design across all these discs.

At any rate, it showed that it was more than mere surface texture that appealed to me in Stereolab’s music because I liked the louder stuff as much as the fuzz, the weird mash-up of Velvet Underground, krautrock and French pop.

One reason I might have a strong affinity for Stereolab is the close parallel between my formative musical experience and that of Tim Gane. Almost exactly one year younger than me, Gane reveals in an interview with Synth History website that the first LP he ever bought was Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model. Apart from a couple of Beatles LPs, it was my second or third purchase, after This Is The Modern World and at the same time as Another Music In A Different Kitchen.

“In 18 months I’d gone from Elvis Costello and Buzzcocks to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire,” says Gane, which is pretty much true for me too. He then goes on to list a dozen ‘mainstay’ LPs he listened to in those days, off the top of his head, including Chairs Missing, This Heat, Metal Box, Marquee Moon, The Voice Of America, and The Scream, all of which blared frequently from my stereo or cassette player at the end of the 70s.

Turning to the subject of films, Gane adds, “When I first saw The Good, The Bad and the Ugly it really blew my mind,” with which I must agree, for its striking style and ground-breaking Ennio Morricone soundtrack. He also had a five-pin DIN plug lead with which to record from his TV, and I used one to tape John Peel off my parents’ old stereogram. So much in common – the music, the movies, the analogue tech!

The significant difference between me and Tim Gane, of course, is that I didn’t grow up to lead one of the most original and exciting alternative rock bands of the late 20th/early 21st century. My cultural output, despite these same cultural inputs, is precisely fuck all, while Tim Gane continues to produce wonderful music, with the first new Stereolab album in 15 years, and also through his Cavern of Anti-Matter project.

Enough of my creative inadequacy – back to 1992… Low Fi was the first Stereolab recording with Mary Hansen and Andy Ramsay on board. And it was the last on which New Zealander Martin Kean played bass, having been a constant on the early singles and first album. Ramsay drums throughout, while Hansen only contributes vocals to the title track and Laisser-Faire, no guitar or keyboards as she would over the coming years. As well as drumming, Ramsay is credited with a bouzouki part on (Varoom!). If it wasn’t written on the sleeve, you’d never know. Similarly, producer/engineer Robbs contributes piano to Low Fi and Elektro but he obviously didn’t big himself up when he got back behind the mixing desk.

All four tracks are drawn from the same well of inspiration that produced Super Electric and other mini-Sister Rays in Stereolab’s first phase, two-chord guitar riffs and dirty over-amped organ noise, mollified on Low Fi and Laisser Faire by Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen’s hymnal voices. The closing section of instrumental (Varoom!) jumps from one of these Velvety thrashers into a looping squall of electronic noise that refuses to end, the needle trapped in a run-off lockgroove. Contrastingly, Elektro switches mood to conclude with a gentle acoustic guitar and vocal passage.

For some reason the tracks on Low Fi evaded compilation on Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2) which otherwise hoovered up all the other stray B-sides, split singles and concert giveaways from 1992-93. It wasn’t until 2022’s Pulse of the Early Brain (Switched On vol.5) that you could hear this music if you didn’t already own the vinyl, or the CD version released in 1993. The track timings on different versions (original vinyl, CD, compilation) seem to vary, sometimes by a couple of minutes on (Varoom!) and Elektro, with no clear explanation why.

Quite by chance, my copy of Low Fi is one of the 500 so-called ‘clear vinyl’ copies, although whoever described it as clear obviously comes from somewhere without an adequate purified water supply. I am fucking not drinking that! To be strictly accurate, I’d have to describe it as semen-coloured vinyl. On a swatch in your local paint store, it would be called Jizz Grey or Hand Shandy. Whatever, it seems to add about 20% to the resale value according to Discogs depending on how rabidly desperate your buyer is. Not that I’m selling, so put your wallets away. This one is a keeper.

Low Fi

(Varoom!)

Laisser Faire

Elektro (He Held The World In His Iron Grip)

 

Fraser

Art of Noise, Big Country, Bronski Beat, Dead Or Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Human League, Kane Gang, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Redskins, Scritti Politti, Strawberry Switchblade, Tears For Fears

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (November)

4-10 November

The highest new entry on the singles chart back in the first week in November 1986 belonged to Depeche Mode, a favourite of many TVV regulars but a band that your humble scribe has never taken to.  Which is why there’s no link today to Blasphemous Rumours or Somebody, a double-A sided single which came in at #29 en route to becoming their 11th successive chart single going back to Dreaming Of Me in early 1981, (of which five had gone Top 10)

I’ve had to go all the way down to #54 to find a new entry worth offering a listen to:-

mp3: The Kane Gang – Respect Yourself

The trio’s third hit of the year, thanks to a cover of 1971 R&B/gospel number originally written and recorded by the Chicago-based Staple Singers.  One of the highlights of the debut album The Bad and Lowdown World of The Kane Gang, which would reach #21 on its eventual release in March 1985.

Just two places further down the singles chart this week was another gang who often inhabited a bad and lowdown world, certainly in the eyes of the tabloid media:-

mp3: The Redskins – Keep On Keepin’ On (#56)

A real favourite in the student union discos among us who were of a left-wing persuasion.  The Redskins delivered a fine mix of pop, soul, blues, folk, punk and politics, who, if it hadn’t been for the fact that collectively the idea of a career in pop music was not their idea of fun, would surely have enjoyed a run of great albums beyond their sole offering, Neither Washington Nor Moscow, which would eventually appear in early 1986. Keep On Keepin’ On would eventually reach #46, and the offering today is the 12″ version as that’s a bit of vinyl I proudly still have all these years later.

mp3: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Never Turn Away (#70)

Probably the least-remembered of the twenty-two singles released by OMD during the 80s, it was also the one which performed the worst as #70 in the first week in November 84 was as good as it got.  It’s one of those rare 45s on which Paul Humphreys rather than Andy McCluskey delivered the lead vocal.

11-17 November

The highest new entry on the singles chart back in the second week in November 1986 belonged to The Riddle by Nik Kershaw, someone who has his admirers among fans of 80s synth-pop.  I always felt he was synth-pop with a soft rock edge, and while he may perhaps feature via guest postings, he’s not showing up today. This one came in at #17 and would peak at #3. It was his fourth smash hit of the year, and his success would continue throughout the following year.

mp3: The Human League – Louise (#36)

I think it’s worth lifting some stuff about this one from wiki:-

The lyrical story telling of “Louise” superficially seems to be a story about a chance encounter between a man and a woman on a bus who seem to be on the verge of a lover’s reconciliation. But like much of Phil Oakey’s songwriting, what seems ‘sugary sweet’ on the surface actually has a much darker subtext. Oakey points out that the story is actually about the original protagonists from “Don’t You Want Me” meeting up 4 years later. In “Louise” the man sees his lost love again and still cannot deal with reality. The anger that drove the earlier song has dissipated, and is replaced with a hopeful fantasy that his ex-lover is drawn to him all over again. So “Louise” is really about self-deception, delusion and eternal sadness. Oakey says about “Louise” in interview:

It’s about men thinking they can manipulate women when they can’t, even conning themselves that they have when they haven’t.

However, like the less savoury premise of “Don’t You Want Me”, the darker side of the “Louise” story went over the heads of the record buying public, who misinterpreted the lyrics as “sweet and upbeat”.

Louise would eventually reach #13 and still features in the band’s setlists to this day.

mp3: Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday (#63)

I can’t claim I came up with this description, but it is so accurate:-

“From the ominous shadows of Goth suddenly appeared two young girls in polka-dot dresses, flaming red lipstick, and hair ribbons. Looking like the brides of Robert Smith, Strawberry Switchblade made a brief splash on the U.K. charts and then abruptly vanished in the mid ’80s, leaving their fans with a handful of collectible singles and one LP of deceptively sweet-sounding dance pop.”

Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall were very well-known figures in Glasgow in the early 80s.  The look they had for their pop success was how they walked the streets of my homw city – everyone, while not knowing exactly who they were, certainly recognised them.  Since Yesterday is a very 80s sounding song, and there’s an argument could be made that it hasn’t dated brilliantly thanks to its rather lightweight production.  But I’ll always a have a soft spot for it….it’s just one of those songs which sound tracked the festive period of 84/85, eventually peaking at #5 in late January and spending an incredible 17 weeks in the Top 75.

mp3: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes (#65)

The third and last single to be lifted from the debut album.  Maybe it was all down to all the band’s fans having bought the album the previous month that this single, a genuinely outstanding song, stalled at #65.

mp3: Scritti Politti – Hypnotize (#67)

The third hit single of the year for Green Gartside & co, but #67 was as high as it got, coming nowhere near the success of Wood Beez (#10) and Absolute (#17).  The band would bounce back in great style in 1985, with The Word Girl delivering a #6 hit and the album Cupid & Psyche ’85 going Top 5.

18-24 November

It was probably inevitable that after such a fine run of new singles the previous two weeks, the well would just about dry up completely this week.  You could tell the Xmas marketing campaign was getting into full swing as the novelty records began to make showings – yup, this was the week We All Stand Together by Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus came into the charts at #50, going on to reach #3 and particularly annoy the hell out of me for the many months it was never off the bleedin’ radio.

Having said that, there’s probably many fans of the lovable mop top who would have got annoyed with this one:-

mp3: The Art Of Noise – Close (To The Edit) (#62)

The ZTT collective’s music hadn’t struck a chord with the record-buying public.  Debut single Beatbox had failed to chart in Aril 1984 and debut album Who’s Afraid Of The Art Of Noise had languished at the very lower end of the chart.  But for whatever reason, and I think a lot had to do with the imaginative video(s), Close (To The Edit) found favour. It was also released in a ridiculous amount of formats – standard and picture disc 7-inch versions, five 12-inch singles (one a picture disc) and a cassette single – and would enjoy a 20-week residency in the Top 75 right through to the end of March 1985, peaking at #8. It did lead to a Top of the Pops appearance that they wasn’t taken too seriously while illustrating the actual size of the synths that were required back in those days:-

Anne Dudley would later say:-

Top of the Pops was one of the worst experiences of my life. We’d done so many edits of the single I wasn’t even sure what its final structure was. We just stood there behind three keyboards. The director saved our bacon by cutting away to the animated video the record company had commissioned – they hadn’t liked the original one made by Zbigniew Rybczyński, featuring a punkette girl and three blokes in tails dismantling musical instruments with a chainsaw. It was the polar opposite of Duran Duran on a luxury yacht.

25 November – 1 December

The Art of Noise might not have been making much money for ZTT but this lot were:-

mp3: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love (#3)

The Xmas single – not an obvious one but the nativity-themed video, which was being aired everywhere, even on news programmes, made it clear what the marketing campaign was. It was all set to spend umpteen weeks at #1 and confirm the band’s total dominantion of the singles charts on the back of Relax and Two Tribes.  It did reach #1 the following week, but then Band Aid came along………

Fun fact…..The Power Of Love was re-released just before Xmas 1993 and again went Top 10.

mp3: Big Country – Where The Rose Is Sown (#35)

The second single to be lifted from the #1 album Steeltown.  Kind of feels strange that the record label pushed out a new 45 at this particular time of year. It certainly didn’t do anything to lift the album back up the charts and in reaching just #29, became the poorest-performing 45 of what was ‘peak’ Big Country.

mp3: Tears For Fears – Shout (#45)

I may have mentioned previously in this series that I couldn’t for the life of me recall Mother’s Talk which had charted in August 1984.  But I certainly can’t say the same about Shout, which thanks to its boombastic chorus easily lodged into my brain.  I recall being very disappointed with this.  I had so much love and time for Tears for Fears when they emerged, and I still think the debut album The Hurting is a masterpiece.  But Shout felt like synth pop with a stadium-rock edge and not for me, but loads of others loved it and took it to #4 in January 1985.

mp3: Bronski Beat – It Ain’t Necessarily So (#53)

A lot different from the previous two hit singles of Smalltown Boy and Why?, this inventive cover of a song written in 1935 by George Gershwin for the opera Porgy and Bess would spend 12 weeks in the chart, reaching #16.  It helped further establish Bronski Beat as one of the best new arrivals in the UK music scene in 1984.

mp3: Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (#55)

I hadn’t, until now, appreciated that Pete Burns‘ biggest hit single actually dated from 1984.   Turns out it came into the chart at the end of November 1984 and then spent another 11 weeks stuck in the lower regions of the Top 75 before bursting into the Top 20 and eventually reaching #1 in early March 1985.  Say what you like about manufactured pop music and be as critical as you want to be, but this makes for a majestic, magnificent and memorable single. I will not tolerate any dissent!!!!  Wylie, Cope and McCulloch must have been looking on in bewilderment.

So there you have it.  November 1984.  A month in which the singles chart, certainly at the lower end of things, was worth recalling in some detail.  Keep an eye out later on for Part 2 looking at the new indie singles from the era.

 

JC

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#7:Two Hearts Together/Hokoyo : Orange Juice (Polydor, POSP 470, 1982)

I really don’t want to spend any more time than I need to on this one as it’s quite simply the worst 45 ever released by Orange Juice, and quite possibly the worst ever by Edwyn Collins including his solo career.

Malcolm Ross had joined the band and after a number of auditions, Zeke Manyika, a Zimbabwean who had lived in the UK for most of his life, was recruited as the new drummer.  Edwyn, in press interviews, was indicating that the band would be moving in a different direction, and that all four members, including David McClymont, would be involved in the songwriting process.

In April 1982, fans and the wider listening public were given the opportunity to hear this new brand of Orange Juice, with four songs debuted in a BBC Radio 1 session for the mid-evening David ‘Kid’ Jensen show.  One of the new songs was this:-

mp3: Orange Juice – In Spite Of It All

Fast-forward four months and the release of the band’s seventh single, their third on Polydor and their first without James Kirk or Steven Daly.

mp3: Orange Juice – Two Hearts Together

Turns out, In Spite Of It All had undergone a name change between the Jensen session and its recording as what turned out to be a stand-alone single as it was subsequently left off the sophomore album.   The photo of Edwyn and David, with Malcolm and Zeke in shadow, on the front of the sleeve, is perhaps as good an indication as any that this was very much aimed at the pop market and not the indie kids who had been the band’s mainstay up until now.  Indeed, it was very much a sign of the band jumping on the bandwagon of what would, in time, be called ‘sophisti-pop’ which was all the rage.

I hated it. Really, really hated it.  And feared that Orange Juice were a busted flush.  Turns out that Edwyn also accepts it was a misstep:-

“Two Hearts Together’ is the worst thing we’ve ever done. I really regret that now. We thought we were missing out on all this New Pop, we’d better get in on this.  It was staying in the same hotels as a lot of other rock groups like ABC.  You get to thinking, ‘well, maybe Orange Juice are reactionary old has-beens. We ought to get hip.’ So you start trying to do something that’s really current. I regret that.”

There were enough sales to take it into the UK charts at #60.

The double-A side on this occasion was a track written by all four members of the band, along with Zop Cormorant (someone whose name would later be credited as drumming on one of Edwyn’s solo albums but of whom I know nothing!).

mp3: Orange Juice – Hokoyo

If Two Hearts Together was in the vein of sophisti-pop, Hokoyo is bang in the middle of a world music track, with Zeke taking the lead vocal in his native Shona language prior to Edwyn joining in a bit later on.  It was very unexpected.  I’ll leave it at that.

The single was released on 7″ and 10″ vinyl, with both songs being extended a bit on the larger format.

mp3: Orange Juice – Two Hearts Together (10″ version)
mp3: Orange Juice – Hokoyo (10″ version)

Next week sees the lead-off single for the second album.

JC

Green Peppers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #478: GREEN PEPPERS

Jim McCulloch is very much part of the ‘Bellshill scene’ which made such important contributions to music, not just in Scotland, from the late 80s onwards. He was (and remains) the guitarist in the Soup Dragons, and for a while he was also involved in BMX Bandits. After the Soup Dragons initially disbanded in 1995 he joined Superstar (another of the Bellshill bands) and later, in 2004, he would embark on a solo career, recording and touring under the name of Green Peppers.

There would be three albums between 2004 and 2008, all of which featured guest musicians, with the cast more or less being a who’s who of the Scottish indie scene.  I’ve only one song on the hard drive, courtesy of its inclusion on the Ave Marina: 10 Years of Marina Records compilation, released in 2004.

mp3: Green Peppers – I Get It

It’s a track from the debut album, Joni’s Garden, also from 2004 and which has been described by one critic as ‘a stunningly beautiful assortment of vibrant acoustic guitars, haunting pianos and superbly crafted songwriting that echo classic artists such as Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen as well as contemporary artists like Damien Rice and Tom Baxter.’

JC

 

Fictive Fridays, Various

FICTIVE FRIDAYS : #3

a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer

I read JC’s post the other day about Trump smashing up the White House, and it occurred to me: America’s fucked all the way up. Maybe I should start thinking about other options. Where to go? No idea, really, so instead I did what I usually do–make a list of songs. Let’s get out the Atlas and see what’s on offer around the globe!

Cuban Slide. Not sure why this banger was an unused out take from The Pretenders‘ debut. Thankfully, it showed up a couple of years later on the US-released Extended Play and in the UK as the b-side to the ‘Talk of the Town’ single.

Spanish Bombs. As the years go by, London Calling just gets better. Here our man is evoking images of the Spanish Civil War, brought to mind during the recording of the album when Joe Strummer heard a radio report about ETA terror bombings along the Costa Brava.

Mexican Radio. A college radio staple from back in 1982. If I’m honest, I can’t think of any other songs by Wall of Voodoo, and I wonder if this tune got any airplay outside the States. I just remember that when this song came on at parties everyone would shout “What does he say?” at the appropriate moment.

Chinese Rocks. Right up there with ‘Waiting for the Man‘ as the best song about scoring heroin in Manhattan. Written by Dee Dee Ramone and recorded by Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers for the classic L.A.M.F. I guess it doesn’t have too much to do with China. Unless I develop a habit.

Italian Horror. Kasabian never cracked the US, perhaps due to the questionable decision to name themselves after a Manson Family spree murderer. But they’ve been at it for a while and this track, from 2024’s Happenings, is a good snapshot of what they’re like.

Swedish Fish. From Luna‘s 2002 collection, Romantica. Crap, now I have to make a playlist with husband and wife band members.

Japanese Cowboy. Ween are like an alt-rock Frank Zappa: brilliant musicianship, complex songwriting, juvenile and often offensive lyrics. From 1996’s 12 Golden Country Greats (which had 10 songs on it).

French Navy. I don’t know too much about Glasgow’s Camera Obscura, but it looks like they’ve been a going concern for nearly 30 years. This is from their fourth LP, My Maudlin Career. Maybe our host can enlighten us as to whether diving into the band’s catalog is a good idea.

Aldo says: I’d suggest Camera Obscura are well worth exploring further, and to that end has given me fresh impetus to deliver a long promised ICA which will hopefully act as an enticing taster for the uninitiated. Spoiler alert, French Navy hasn’t made the shortlist!

English Roundabout. Kind of a tough one, this, having to bypass the Stranglers‘ ‘English Towns’, the Jam‘s ‘English Rose‘, Fleet Foxes‘ ‘English House‘ and others. But the boys from Swindon get the nod with this guitar workout because it’s from the stellar English Settlement.

Haitian Divorce. I can’t remember ever seeing Steely Dan mentioned here at the Villain’s place. That makes sense, they were a mainstream American radio act dating back to the early 70’s and so don’t really fit in here. But I chose this track for a simple reason: Dean Park‘s talkbox solo at the 2:43 mark is just FILTHY and I never get tired of listening to it.

Best Wishes from The Divided States!

Jonny

Bonus tracks:

Belgian Friends by The Durutti Column
Lebanese Blonde by Thievery Corporation

 

 

Book Reviews

BOOK OF THE MONTH : NOVEMBER 2025 : ‘LE FREAK : AN UPSIDE DOWN STORY OF FAMILY, DISCO AND DESTINY’ by NILE RODGERS

Book reviews were an occasional part of the old blog, the original Vinyl Villain, hosted by blogger between 30 September 2006 and 24 July 2013.  I have been known to dive into what’s left of the vaults and re-post some things that kind of feel timeless but until now, have refrained from doing so with any of the book reviews.

Until today.

It’s partly to do with that I’ve been a tad busy in recent weeks and while I’ve managed to keep up with some reading, I haven’t been able to make the time to sit down and type up my thoughts about any music bio.  So, in order to keep the monthly series going, I’m reaching back to Friday 3 February 2012.  What follows is the review posted at that time, but augmented with a couple of additional sentences/snippets that emerged from the comments section (my thanks to Swiss Adam and Craig McAllister), which also influenced the mp3s and the video footage.

– – – – – – – –

“I asked Santa to bring me this as it had received quite a number of excellent reviews towards the end of 2011. I’m pleased I did.

Nile Rodgers is best known as one of the founding fathers of disco, thanks in part to the songs he wrote and recorded with Chic and the songs he wrote and recorded with others acts such as Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. What I hadn’t realised until picking up this immensely satisfying 300 pages was his contribution to the careers of so many others, including David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.

He was also a big influence on Johnny Marr, to the extent that he named his firstborn after him as well as ripping-off the Chic sound – hook, line and sinker-for the second verse of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side.

OK. Nile Rodgers’ musical career is not one your average indie-kid will confess an undying love for. And to be honest, outwith the Chic songs, I don’t have much else in either the vinyl or CD collections. And if this had been a book in which all Nile did was talk about music and musicians, I don’t think I’d have been impressed.

What makes this such a cracking read is the life he has lived…..particularly his childhood and formative years. For once, it is easier to just crib from the dust jacket.

Born into a mixed-race family of dope fiend bohemians, he learned – at a very early age – everything he needed to know about love, loss, fashion, art, music and the subversive power of underground culture. The stars of the scene were his glamorous teenage mum and heroin-addicted Jewish stepfather…..

His upbringing is a genuinely astonishing tale as he went from east coast to west coast and back again (more than once) living sometimes with mum, his grandparents, with hippies and members of the Black Panther organisation. The first third of the book is genuinely unputdownable.

The middle part is a bit less interesting – just a wee bit too ‘rags to riches to excess’ for my liking. Loads of sex, loads of drugs and loads of dancing and not too much humility. But to a large extent, given how wild an upbringing Nile Rodgers had experienced, it’s not hard to understand why he went off the rails so easily. To be fair, parts of the middle section of the book are a great read when he’s telling you about his family rather than tales of how great it was to work with the rock and pop gods of the 80s.

The final part of the book deals pretty quickly with the last 15 years. There’s a fair bit of death and tragedy in here, with the author acknowledging that but for the grace of god…and there are things you learn about what he’s now doing with his life and the fortune he has amassed.

I’m fairly sure that the story that Nile has set down is like a 7″ version of his life….and the extended 12″ version would be well worth getting your hands on. For instance, I’m sure he’s got loads more tales from his childhood – it really does seem as if that alone could have been a 500-page volume.

The positive reviews are merited. And you don’t need to be a disco king or dancing queen to get a lot of pleasure from this book.”

mp3 : Chic – Good Times
mp3 : The Smiths – The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

 

JC

Byrds

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #398 : THE BYRDS

A guest posting by Marc Goldstein

I’m too young to have experienced The Byrds in real time. I first heard them when I was 11 or 12, by which point they were already in the “oldies” category – but I loved the sound of those records; the harmonies and the 12-string Rickenbacker. And it soon became clear that lots of other people still loved them as well, including Tom Petty, REM, Robyn Hitchcock, Teenage Fanclub and a dozen other mainstays of my music library. The Byrds rival Fleetwood Mac or Deep Purple for the sheer number of line up changes they underwent – and I’m not even counting the ersatz post-1973 versions of the band that Steve McLean recently wrote about. And while the original line up is still my favorite, every edition of the group made some great music.

That original lineup included Jim (later known as Roger) McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke. The fact that they chose their drummer (Clarke) for his looks might cause you to roll your eyes, but the others were legit musicians and singers, who had played folk and bluegrass but fell in love with the Beatles and decided to turn to rock. Their first single (as The Beefeaters – ugh – before Hillman joined) didn’t do much, but when they changed their name and signed with Columbia, their first single as The Byrds hit number 1. That was of course Mr. Tambourine Man, the first of many Dylan songs they would cover. But Gene Clark contributed many fine songs as well,

mp3: The Byrds – I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better

mp3: The Byrds – She Don’t Care About Time

(The latter is sublime, and, OK, Clark had a little help from JS Bach on the latter.)

The story goes that when the other guys saw the Ferrari that Clark bought with his songwriting royalties, they were motivated to get serious about writing as well.

mp3: The Byrds – Eight Miles High

A McGuinn/Clark/Crosby co-write influenced by John Coltrane, was pretty cutting-edge for 1966. Some radio stations banned it, assuming it was about drugs, but while the group were no strangers to drugs, this song was about a flight to England and their experiences there. (I mean, was it ALSO about drugs? Maybe?) And after Clark left the band that year, due to his fear of flying, McGuinn and Hillman in particular stepped up with some classics. In fact, the group’s first post-Clark album, Younger Than Yesterday, is probably my favorite. Highlights include

mp3: The Byrds – So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n Roll Star

mp3: The Byrds – Have You Seen Her Face

(There’s one lowlight, however: Crosby’s Mind Gardens, which is pretty much unlistenable.)

Rock ‘n Roll Star was coincidentally featured in the Financial Times’ Life of a Song column as I was compiling this ICA. Hillman was quoted as saying the song was written about the Monkees, but his co-writer McGuinn said he didn’t have anyone in particular in mind. Anyway, this is by no means a “diss track” – it’s a bemused look at the absurdity of the star maker machinery, but hardly a rejection of it.

Crosby was the next to depart, after the others basically got tired of his BS. (Like haranguing the audience at live shows.) The next album, Notorious Byrd Brothers, was a transition between their folk-rock past and country-rock future, and while it may not be their best-remembered record it did feature something rather lovely

mp3 : The Byrds – Wasn’t Born to Follow

Gram Parsons only spent a few months in the Byrds, but he had a major influence on their next album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, recorded with some of Nashville’s finest sidemen. (And in fact a major influence on the rest of their career, as they kept making country-influenced albums until their last record, which reunited the original members.) Parsons wrote the only two originals on Sweetheart, including this

mp3: The Byrds – Hickory Wind

Although neither country fans nor rock fans were ready for the album in 1968, it’s now regarded as a classic, and a big influence on countless Americana artists.

Hillman followed Parsons out the door and into the Flying Burrito Brothers, but not before bringing Clarence White into the group as a full member. Like Hillman, White had played in bluegrass bands before joining the Byrds, and as much as I love the sound of McGuinn’s 12-string, White was arguably the best musician the group ever had. His playing is featured on the final three tracks I’ve picked out for this ICA:-

mp3: The Byrds – Nashville West (from the Untitled album)

mp3: The Byrds – Tulsa County (alt version that was a bonus track on the reissued The Ballad of Easy Rider)

mp3: The Byrds – Black Mountain Rag (live version)

Sadly, White was killed in a senseless accident – hit by a drunk driver while he was loading gear into a car after a concert with his brother in 1973. Parsons died two months later. McGuinn, Clark, Hillman and obviously Crosby all continued to make records, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success, though to my mind none of them equalled what they did in the Byrds.

Bonus Track

mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Gene Clark

Marc

 

Fall

ON THIS DAY : THE FALL’S PEEL SESSIONS #22

A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.

Session #22 was broadcast on this day, 4 November 1995, having been recorded on 18 October 1995.

Only Smith and Nagle here provide continuity from the last session, representing the largest alteration of personnel between recordings since the first and second session back in 1978. 

It was still a transitional time, bedding in the latest edition of the band, and this is reflected by the tentative performances, especially on ‘Antidotes’ which fails to pack the same Zep-driven punch as it does on its key position on ‘The Marshall Suite’. Julia Nagle’s jazz piano solo on the minor-key fade-out is of note. 

There are also two covers: The Audio Arts’ ‘Bound Soul One’ and a brief, skeletal run-through of The Saints’ ‘This Perfect Day’, which begins with Smith berating his roadies, reconnects the group with the garage. ‘Shake-Off’ however redeems; a broken guitar riff over insistent drums, electronics and a quick exit.  All this done in less than two minutes.  The 13 minutes in total for this session is only slightly more than the version of ‘Garden’ on its own from 1983.

DARYL EASLEA, 2005

mp3: The Fall – Bound Soul One (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Antidotes (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Shake-Off (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – This Perfect Day (Peel Session)

Produced by Mike Robinson

Mark E Smith – vocals; Julia Nagle – keyboards, guitar; Neville Wilding – guitar; Karen Letham – bass, keyboards; Tom Head – drums; Speth Hughes – special effects

JC

Various

THE FIRST MIDWEEK DAY OF A BRAND NEW MONTH….

……can only mean one thing round these parts.

mp3: Various – Baby It’s (Probably) Cold Outside

Edwyn Collins – Knowledge
The Nectarine No.9 – Don’t Worry Babe You’re Not The Only One Awake
Tindersticks (feat. Isabella Rossellini) – A Marriage Made In Heaven
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Peek-A-Boo
Wire – A Question Of Degree
Pavement – Shady Lane
Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood
Bar Italia – Punkt
The Shop Assistants – Somewhere In China
Trembling Blue Stars – ABBA on the Jukebox
Say Sue Me – My Problem
The Television Personalities – Part-Time Punks
The Cure – Lullaby (extended version)
Broken Chanter – Allow Yourself
The Delgados – Everybody Come Down
The Wedding Present – Deer Caught In Headlights

 

JC

 

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#6:Felicity/In A Nutshell : Orange Juice (Polydor, POSP 386, 1982)

Possibly the only man who had any involvement with Orange Juice who was really smiling when 1982 rolled out was Geoff Travis of Rough Trade.  He had been conned out of the band’s debut album when they had taken the tapes he had funded to a major label, only for half of the band  – James Kirk and Steven Daly – to then abruptly quit just as the first single on Polydor was released and the marketing plans for the album were beginning to get into full flow.

The live shows were turning into a shambles, with most of the songs on which James Kirk took lead vocal being left off the set lists. The release date for the album, to be called You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever, was announced as mid-February 1982.  A second Polydor single was chosen, and released some four weeks in advance of the album.  There’s no doubting that it made for a great 45, being one of the band’s best songs of all, but the fact it had been written by James Kirk, (albeit one sung by Edwyn Collins) makes it a bit of a strange decision, almost as if everyone was in denial.

mp3: Orange Juice – Felicity

In at #63, and that was as good as it got, sliding down to #68 and #73 over the next two weeks.  There must have been a sharp intake of breath as the debut album hit the shops, but it came in at #21, reflecting perhaps that fans were really keen after such a long time to finally have an album’s worth of material, and it probably helped that the band had re-recorded Falling and Laughing for inclusion as its opening track.

But back, briefly, to Felicity.

No images of the band were used on the sleeve…no real surprise, given the fact the Orange Juice of January 1982 was not the Orange Juice that had recorded the single.  It also meant that what what should have been the b-side, an Edwyn Collins song, was promoted to function as a double-A side:-

mp3: Orange Juice – In A Nutshell

The two different aspects of the band are very apparent.  Felicity, one of their very oldest songs, has the rougher new wave feeling and energy.  In A Nutshell is a more polished offering with backing singers very much to the fore. In later years, a demo version of In A Nutshell would emerge, and other than the use of the backing vocalists, it wasn’t too different, so perhaps there were early indications that Edwyn, if not necessarily the rest of the band, was prepared to smooth out any rough edges.

The 12″ came with an extra song.

mp3: Orange Juice – You Old Eccentric

Not just another of the James Kirk songs dating back to the old days (and seemingly a piss take of their manager Alan Horne), but it also has James on lead vocal. Totally wasted as a b-side……but for me, the definitve version dates back to December 1980 with this highly energetic take was recorded for a Peel Session.

mp3: Orange Juice – You Old Eccentric (Peel Session)

All of what I’ve written above is very much with the aid of hindsight and the emergence of what was going on behind the scenes.  The 18-year old me just simply thought Felicity was one of the best records I’d heard in my then young(ish) life, and it’s an opinion I hold to this day.

JC

Gracious Losers

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #477: THE GRACIOUS LOSERS

From the Last Night from Glasgow website:-

The Gracious Losers : Glasgow based 9-piece, lead by songwriter Jonathan Lilley, featuring members of Sister John, Thrum, God Help the Girl, The Parsonage, Sporting Hero and the Berie Big Band.

Their debut album ‘The Last Of The Gracious Losers‘ (2018) combines the soulful sensibilities of early 70’s Van Morrison with the interplay and prowess of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. The vinyl edition featured a gatefold sleeve, designed by none of other than graphics legend Sean Philips (Marvel, DC, 2000AD etc). 

The Losers released their new album “Six Road Ends” in March 2021 it features the singles “Loath To Leave” and “The Fire At The Bottom Of The Sea”

mp3: The Gracious Losers – I Can Never Read The Signs

The near 8-minute long closer to the debut album.  They are very much a band who will appeal to those whose tastes veer towards what is often defined as Americana.

JC

 

Fall

ON THIS DAY : THE FALL’S PEEL SESSIONS #12

A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.

Session #12 was broadcast on this day, 31 October 1988, having been recorded on 25 October 1988.

To herald the release of ‘I Am Kurious Oranj’, and the collaborative show with Michael Clarke, The Fall repaired to Maida Vale for this exceptionally sprightly recording.  The clear production of ‘Kurious Oranj’ really emphasises the brio in the skank. The group’s two interchangeable romps, ‘Deadbeat Descendant’ and ‘Cab It Up; follow.  ‘Cab It Up’ rocks along like, if you will, the purr of a diesel engine. ‘Squid Lord’ is a revelation, and one of the hidden gems of this (box set) collection. Buried on the frankly unlistened-to-for-years ‘Seminal Live’, the direction of ‘Extricate’ and the Fontana years had their roots in this track

DARYL EASLEA, 2005

mp3: The Fall – Deadbeat Descendant (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Cab It Up (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Squid Lord (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Kurious Oranj (Peel Session)

Produced by Mike Robinson

Mark E Smith – vocals; Brix Smith – guitar, vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Marcia Schofield – keyboards, vocals; Simon Wolstencroft – drums;

JC

Siouxsie & The Banshees

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (38) : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Happy House

Here’s what a few other folk have said at different times about this rather splendid single:-

“The band almost invented a new sound with this single: It was Banshees – phase two” : SIOUXSIE -INTERVIEW ON GERMAN TV, 1999

“It is sarcastic. In a way, like television, all the media, it is like adverts, the perfect family whereas it is more common that husbands beat their wives. There are mental families really, but the projection is everyone smiling, blond hair, sunshine, eating butter without being fat and everyone perfect” : SIOUXSIE – INTERVIEW ON DUTCH TV, 1983

“With Slits drummer Budgie giving the band a new rhythmic groove and Magazine guitarist John McGeoch providing greater musicality, the Banshees tore up their plans and reinvented themselves. In came pianos, drum machines and reggae polyrhythms, as they began a gradual shift to twisted pop, Happy House finds Siouxsie poking macabre fun at the mirage of happiness of the family unit in a consumer society. By the time the group took it on to Top of the Pops, Kohl-eyelinered Siouxsie clones were a feature of many British high streets. As she transformed the role of a female frontwoman into something powerful, mysterious and dominant, teenage fans were painting their bedroom walls black, and acquiring the singer’s deeply-held interest in the supernatural. Yup, the Banshees had invented goth.” : GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER – OCTOBER 2014

With the single “Happy House,” it felt like Siouxsie and The Banshees had opened up the curtains and let in the light. It was still very dark (the song is about a madhouse), but compared to the earlier “Mittageisen” and the epic takedown of “Drop Dead/Celebration,” it was walking on freaking sunshine” : PROGROGRAHY.COM – OCTOBER 2019

Siouxsie has a very distinct, unique voice and this song layers her vocals, as well as echoes, to create an eerie auditory atmosphere. Her voice, combined with the loud and haunting instrumentation, creates lots of texture for a relatively simple song. Even if you are unfamiliar with the original, the guitar riff has been sampled repeatedly by popular artists, including Mindless Self Indulgence and The Weeknd. The hypnotic instrumental is arguably more iconic than the song as a whole. : ELLI BATCHELOR, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON BLOG, APRIL 2023

“Despite this having long been one of my favourite 45s by the band, it has never before featured on the blog, so let’s give thanks to the 7” lucky dip series.  It spent eight weeks in the UK singles chart between March and May 1980, peaking at #17 in early April.  : JC , THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN BLOG, OCTOBER 2025

mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Happy House

The b-side, as mentioned above, has a frighteningly dark lyric and tune to match.  Really surprised that it hasn’t yet been picked up by the darker elements of the TikTok generation

I hate you, I hate you!I hate you, I hate you!
Drop dead!You stinking little creepDrop dead!With your emotions so cheapYour poisoned mind,It’s disgusting everyoneWe don’t care if you vanish in thin air!
Drop dead!It’s a dead dropYou’re a dead lossDrop dead
You should be pushed downDown into the ground amongst the wormsAnd other spineless thingsDon’t you see you’re embarrassing to meI can’t stand that phony way you banter!
Drop dead!It’s a dead dropYou’re a dead lossDrop dead!
You’re so patheticAn insipid, dried up slugKeep your mouth shut, you impotent little slutI’m so ashamed to be connected with your nameYou’re so lameI wish you’d never been to blame
Drop dead!It’s a dead dropYou’re a dead lossDrop dead!
Those wordsTight-lipped and mealy-mouthedIt wasn’t hard to realize that they were liesJudging from the flies you’ve attracted from the skiesSo just get lostFuck off!And disappear into the compost!
Drop deadStinking little creepDrop deadDrop dead
Celebration

mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Drop Dead/Celebration

You’re unlikely to experience as an intense four minutes and twenty-two seconds of time elsewhere today.

 

JC

 

Steppenwolf

MORE ‘STEALING’: THE GUEST SERIES IN BOOK FORM : #7 : STEPPENWOLF

A guest posting by Steve McLean

I’ve been having trouble deciding whether or not I should write this blog. The tale forms a large part of the back story for my book Stealing Deep Purple (DeepPurpleBook.com).

The problem is when I started the book I was so much more certain of the Steppenwolf story than I am now. I have spent months researching things like tour dates, gig guides and reviews. The more I find out, the less I know.

The many members of The New Steppenwolf band(s) seemed to increase every time I turned on my laptop or another story would emerge often contradicting the previous narratives… so I’ll try to be brief.

When Steppenwolf broke up in 1976 they had been reduced to two original members with various hired guns making up the numbers. Singer John Kay and drummer Jerry Edmonton were the last men standing.

In late 1976, founding member and Keyboardist Goldy McJohn reached out to his former bandmate, Nick St. Nicholas, to tell him that that a promoter had expressed an interest in putting together a new line up of the mighty ‘Wolf. Steve Green of Advent Talent Associates out of Phoenix, Arizona was a promoter who specialised in band reunions. The acts on his roster were often only loosely connected to the actual bands they purported to be. Green hatched the idea to ‘reform’ a Steppenwolf band with as many original members as he could.

“It was Green who got the idea to reunite a Steppenwolf band. Steve contacted Kent Henry first, then Nick St. Nicholas and Goldy McJohn…Steve essentially formed a Wolf revival band around me. Kent, Nick and Goldy had never met Steve Green.” Tom Pagan, Wolf Sightings Website

McJohn and St Nicholas would join up with Tom Pagan and Kent Henry, the former Blues Image member who had been in Steppenwolf for one album in 1971 (For Ladies Only) The band would be filled out by Jamie James on Guitar, Tony DeSanti on drums.

“I got this flurry of calls from Steve Green, promoters, attorneys. (They said) ‘Nick you gotta do this thing, it’s legit. We’re in touch with John and Jerry. What are you waiting for?” Nick St Nicholas, Magic Carpet Ride: The Autobiography Of John Kay And Steppenwolf by John Kay and John Einarson (Quarry Press, 1994)

By the start of 1977 the Steppenwolf ‘reunion’ tour was on the road. Green and Goldy figured they had at least partial rights to the name and the inclusion of Henry and St Nicholas would only consolidate that. John Kay did not agree.

Kay consulted legal advice but despite selling a shit load of records in the 1960s, he wasn’t exactly a rich man. John Kay didn’t have the money for legal action;

” They (lawyers) said we’d be well served by listening to what they wanted, which was to use the name and be left alone. We reluctantly allowed Goldy and Nick to lease the use of the name from us for a percentage of their gross earning, payable at regular intervals. (Steve) Green had apparently convinced Nick and Goldy that they were going to make millions. It was a small price to pay, they figured.” John Kay, Magic Carpet Ride: The Autobiography Of John Kay And Steppenwolf by John Kay and John Einarson (Quarry Press, 1994)

Also in the contract that Kay presented to McJohn and St Nicholas was the clause that they’d lose the rights to their royalties if they should default on the agreement. A contract like that in 2025 might well be illegal but they both happily signed it. This might seem like an inept move, but with the promise of majority percentage of the profits in an arena-headlining act with the possibility of a new recording deal, it’s easy to see how McJohn and St Nicholas were persuaded to continue.

(The New Steppenwolf 1977 L – R : Goldy McJohn, Kent Henry, Nick St Nicholas, Jamie James, Tony DeSanti, Tom Pagan)

The agreement gave the reconstituted band a certain amount of confidence, they were supposed to be billed as The New Steppenwolf but often the ‘New’ prefix would be ignored. On occasion they’d be called the Original Steppenwolf.

(The “Original” Steppenwolf)

It wasn’t too long before Henry “quit” the group and was replaced by Tony Flynn. Over the next few months there’d be multiple comings and goings, with Henry and Goldy both in and out of the band. Both would perform with backing groups billed as Steppenwolf.

(Advert in Cashbox September 1977 – Enter Tony Flynn)

I’ve documented multiple instances of two Steppenwolf bands performing at the same time.. There have also been multiple stories about the members of The New Steppenwolf eventually fracturing and taking their own versions of the band out on tour. It seems this practice was in place pretty much from the start. An advert for a Kent Henry led Wolf band was posted as early as Spring 1977

(Steppenwolf Featuring Kent Henry)

Given that Henry’s involvement for the proper Steppenwolf lasted for only around a year, the brass neck involved in this is shinier than Donald Trump‘s ring piece after an interview with Piers Morgan.

What I can’t work out is how much of the multiple bands were part of the plan and how much of it was the individual members, who had signed Kay’s contract, thinking that they had open season on the name Steppenwolf.

It’s probably safe to say that the various McJohn and St Nicholas’ versions of Steppenwolf were operating in cahoots. The Kent Henry version of the band was perhaps more of a rogue element, although they seemed to be also promoted by Green.

However, they never seemed to stumble over each other, playing shows in different parts of the states, even if at the same time. A combination of the band’s profile and the state of the mass media in the US at the time meant that a Steppenwolf band could comfortably play in two states at the same time with little in the way of news of either show leaving their respective towns of the gig. When Steppenwolf were booked to play shows in Germany they were also booked to be playing shows in Canada.

The best I can make out is that there would be at least one version of the band on the road at all times with another version ready to pick up the touring commitments when the first one was knackered. Add into that I think there was also a ‘pool’ of Steppenwolf musicians who would play ‘one-off’ type shows at festivals or tour different countries (usually Canada but sometimes Mexico). A 1996 interview with Steve Green in the Kokomo Tribune has him refer to these kind of shows as ‘soft seaters’, they were characterised as “fairs, festivals, rib fests, car shows’.

Then there were ‘the big shows’. Steppenwolf’s back catalogue would mean that they could still be a popular draw with the right branding. So, it wouldn’t be uncommon to see them on a ‘package’ bill with other Steve Green bands like Iron Butterfly or Cactus. The right concert line up could sell enough tickets to fill up three quarters of a 5,000 capacity arena, either in a remote location or on a party day like Labor Day or New Years Eve. People love a ‘Greatest Hits’ band on the right day of the year. I think these ‘big’ shows were reserved for the ‘main’ band whoever that might be at the time.

“I was in the band from the winter of late ’77 (tour in Europe), through New Years Eve at the Orlando Sports Arena, through the beginning of ’78 when Goldy took out a new band for Steve Green. Our Nick St Nicolas/Kent Henry version resumed touring in the summer of ’78 with Jim Hunter on drums, when I originally joined the previous fall I replaced Goldy” Evan Smith, Wolfsighting Website 2011

(The plight of a reconstituted band. One night you’re headlining 5000 capacity sports stadium

and the next you’re playing second fiddle to a buffet and wet t-shirt contest)

On one hand it makes perfect sense. Assuming most members apart from McJohn, St Nicholas and maybe Henry were on wages, leaving the licensee holders on profit share, then booking more than one group at once would maximise the amount of money the core members would receive.

As mentioned above, It was possible to do because news travels slowly in the 1970s small town America. Most newspapers have syndicated showbiz stories and it wasn’t uncommon for a music related article that ran in say a December issue of a Florida newspaper to be still running in a Californian publication by March. Gig reviews didn’t tend to travel. If a punter had heard of a Steppenwolf reunion and then Steppenwolf Featuring Kent Henry shows up at their local venue, they’d almost certainly assume that both were the same product.  The dedicated music press like Rolling Stone magazine didn’t really care about Steppenwolf in the late 1970s and this worked to the band’s advantage.

By 1978, the pretence of a reunion tour had faded. Steppenwolf were now being booked like a bar band. If they have a booking for New York one evening and then the next they’re supposed to be in Texas, so be it. This is where the multiple versions of the band comes in handy…. And adds substance to my theory that it was less of a band and more of a franchise.

From 1977 until mid 1980, there was a band called Steppenwolf on the road somewhere in the world. Germany, Holland, Canada, Mexico and of course, the USA. I count over two dozen members to have appeared in the line ups over the course of three years. One Henry-led band also featured original Steppenwolf bass player Rushton Moreve. There were four members of Steppenwolf spread out over many different groupings.

 

(Rushton Moreve, Bob Simpson, Kent Henry, drummer Jerry Posin and keyboard player John Hall.)

In 1979 there was at least one version of a Steppenwolf band with absolutely no members who had been in the group during their original run. Tony Flynn and Geoff Emery had found themselves with the name and some tour commitments to fulfil between 1979 and 1980. The problem of no original members was only a problem if the audience knew about it.

“One night Flynn even introduced himself on stage as Michael Monarch (the original Steppenwolf guitarist). Each night they’d say, ‘Who’s gonna play the original member this time?’ ” Lor Kane, Steppenwolf lead singer, Los Angeles Times, August, 1980

In 1979 John Kay had had enough. His patience for the various Steppenwolf’s ran out around about the time the band had stopped sending his licence fees, make of that what you will. The bad press reports of a name that he was associated with were mounting up. I should take this time to point out that not every show that the New Steppenwolf played were poor. As with all of these stories, history has a habit of deciding one thing or another. There are plenty of great reviews for Steppenwolf between 1977 and 1980, including an excellent one for a Kent Henry led version in Anchorage in January, 1980.

When the actual Steppenwolf broke up in 1976 they were still big enough to headline festivals and play small arenas. By mid-1979 they were reduced to dive bars and small theatres (albeit venues that held around 800 people). One of Kay’s main bugbears was the damage being done to Steppenwolf’s name.

The various versions of the band would turn up in various states of sobriety and play to various levels of ability. Steppenwolf’s reputation was in the toilet. It may have taken a couple of years, but the public were now asking questions about the membership.

(Adverts for two Steppenwolf shows on Friday July 6th 1979, one in Chicago and one in New Jersey. A 12 hour drive away from each other)

Before Max Allen Collins wrote Road To Perdition he was a member of a bar band called Cruisin in the Iowa area, playing the same venues at the same time to that of the various Steppenwolfs. In an email to me he was able to shed some light on the kind of venue The New Steppenwolf had found themselves playing. He remembers The Moody Blue in Iowa.

“(It’s) Hard for me to believe Steppenwolf would play such a medium-size club/bar. The Moody Blue was on the grungy side, if I recall correctly, two adjacent rooms open to each other, with one that had a fairly high stage and the other was (I believe) the bar area.  So you could dance in one area and drink in the other. There was an upstairs with dressing rooms, again grungy, and a large parking lot.” Max Allen Collins, Cruisin Member Via Email, 2025

For a band that reportedly commanded a $100,000 per show at their peak, this was a hell of a comedown.

Kay’s lawyers started to pursue the various ‘Wolfs for their failure to uphold their contractual obligations. In retrospect it’s hard to tell if Kay’s licensing contract was all part of a cunning plan or just a lucky stroke. Certainly, Kay will claim he was playing a long game because he knew that a contract dispute was a shorter and cheaper court case than a trademark dispute.

“(We) assumed correctly that Nick, Goldy and Steve would inevitably have a falling out. There were certain people involved in this scam who, by reputation, were questionable at best.” John Kay, Magic Carpet Ride: The Autobiography of John Kay and Steppenwolf by John Kay and John Einarson (Quarry Press, 1994)

If it was all a long-game then it wouldn’t be hyperbole to suggest that Kay’s contract amounted to a very clever honey trap. If there’s a written agreement to pay a regular percentage and that payment stops at any point, it that can be easily proved. Bank statements are simple things to produce.

“At some point cracks would start to show, and when that occurred, they would be in default. Then we would have them by the balls. Failure to live up to the conditions of the agreement would result in complete forfeiture of the name forever and continued use would be illegal.” John Kay, Magic Carpet Ride: The Autobiography Of John Kay And Steppenwolf by John Kay and John Einarson (Quarry Press, 1994)

The problem for McJohn and St Nicholas was that ultimately they were the ones left holding the baby. While there were many members of their Steppenwolf bands, it was their name on the licensing agreement.

“The guys behind the whole thing were heavy duty. They screwed me so hard and fast that I didn’t know where I was coming from. But once I signed off on the whole thing, I thought I’d get my royalties back.” Nick St Nicholas, Magic Carpet Ride book

While Goldy shouldered much of the burden of the legal case, Henry and St Nicholas may be seen as hapless fall guys or they could be viewed as wilful collaborators. What can’t be denied is that they were both adults in full control of their faculties who made the decision to align themselves to this project.

According to Kay’s biography, due to the frequent actions that were deemed to go against the signed contract, Kay and his legal team sent licensee holders notification of a breach and when there was no response or action with a specific amount of time, he sued for an injunction on the basis of a failure to meet contractual obligations. A judge ruled in Kay’s favour and as a result the other members had to give up their claims to the band name. As per the contract, Goldy McJohn and Nick St Nicholas also lost their royalty payments for previous work. A harsh punishment, perhaps.

“They knew what they were signing. We gambled that they would default and that sooner or later they would turn on each other, they did not disappoint.” John Kay, Magic Carpet Ride: The Autobiography of John Kay and Steppenwolf by John Kay and John Einarson (Quarry Press, 1994)

In late 1979 John Kay took the name back and spent the next decade returning to the venues that the New Steppenwolf had played, eventually returning them to an arena band under the name John Kay and Steppenwolf.

For a while this would mean yet another version of Steppenwolf were on the road and sometimes Kay’s band would just be billed without his moniker at the start.

From the 1980s onward Goldy, Nick and to a lesser extent Kent Henry would find themselves in various bands with names like The Wolf or Starwolf or Magic Carpet Ride or a multitude of other bands that gained their passage under the Steppenwolf banner.

Kent Henry passed away in 2009. He had a lifetime of drug issues and in the 1990s started to suffer from seizures and developed the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease shortly before his death. During the late 1970s into the 80s he fronted a new version of the Blues Image.

Goldy passed away in 2017 of a heart attack. After a stint in the reformed Humble Pie he went on to front Goldy and Friendz, which was a de-facto New Steppenwolf band and they became The Magic Carpet Ride.

Nick St Nicholas is still alive as of September 2025. He’s involved in a ‘supergroup’ that play Las Vegas called The World Class Rockers that feature the likes of Aynsley Dunbar (Journey, Whitesnake), Greg Walker (Santana),  Michael Monach (Steppenwolf) Randall Hall (Lynard Skynyrd, but the 90s Skynyrd) and Fran Cosmo (….nope, me neither).. Playing if fast and loose with the word ‘supergroup’…. They’re probably okay if you need a break from the cocaine and gambling.

In 2018 John Kay decided to retire Steppenwolf.  He still plays the occasional solo blues shows.

As late as 2024 the Steppenwolf name was still being misused. A tribute show called “Revisit Steppenwolf” claimed to feature some people who’d been in Goldy McJohn’s band ‘Goldy and Friendz’ plus members of The New Steppenwolf and John Kay and Steppenwolf.  It’s not entirely clear how much of this is true since an advert for the show also promoted the fact that Kent Henry was in the band…. Kent died 10 years before the advert was placed.

(Revisit Steppenwolf; Born To Be Wild tour – who says an intern can’t design a good logo)

The singer is a chap called Danny Wilde who was apparently a survivor of the 1980s LA Rock scene. In 2019 Revisit Steppenwolf (which at times found itself just billed as Steppenwolf) announced a final tour. One pandemic and four years later and Danny Wilde is advertising himself as the “Former frontman for multi platinum selling band Steppenwolf”. 

This info was posted in Steppenwolf Facebook fan group and it was countered with the fact that John Kay’s manager monitors the group for such things and it will now get ‘sorted out’. Although at this point it feels like two bald men fighting over a comb (to Scottish football fans this is also known as The Old Firm Derby).

Following this up was a post from someone who had briefly been in the original Steppenwolf, The New Steppenwolf and was a performer on the Steppenwolf Revisited tour.  It seems that the threat of Kay’s manager might carry some weight.

“I played keys with many variations of Wolf since I replaced Goldy after John fired him in 1975. Glen Bui’s Steppenwolf Revisited was the last iteration I played in. Fans would ask and Glen Bui (Former Goldy and Friendz member) would launch into a long history lesson on band mates, court actions and Federal judge rulings. I wound up regarding Goldy as a dear friend through a series of conversations we shared until his untimely death. Goldy was one of my greatest influences on Hammond organ. I loved his crunchy sound and his percussive Jon Lord approach. We had many lead singers over the years but the only Danny I’ve ever heard of was my B3 brother Danny Ironstone.”  Armond Blackwater, Steppenwolf Member 1975, New Steppenwolf Member 1978 speaking in the Friends of Steppenwolf Facebook Group 2025.

This could well be true, everything was such a long time ago and certainly any show advertising a deceased guitarist can’t be trusted. However a musician that Armond tagged in his post, Glen Bui, had previously tagged Danny Wilde and Armond in some gigs together.

It seems that nearly fifty years after John Kay first chose to franchise the band, that there’s still call for a group called Steppenwolf. In a perverse way, that’s not actually too bad of a legacy.

Thanks for reading this. The problem with this story is that the devil is in the detail. Once I’ve managed to document all of the band members that I can, I’ll start work on making sense of the whole shebang. There’s a book in this, or at least several other blogs.

I’ve not picked any songs to go along with this blog as I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of an already condensed story. But it’s well worth recognising that Steppenwolf did produce some killer heavy rock. Born to be Wild is the obvious call but I think it has been overplayed. Magic Carpet Ride is still an absolute classic.

mp3: Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride

From the mid 1970s, John Kay had a strong desire to be recognised as a solo artist but it sadly never really happened for him. All of his most successful work was done between 1967 and 1972.  He did have a great career, headlining arenas up until his retirement. It seems fitting to enjoy a lost John Kay classic; The minor hit, Moonshine (Friend of Mine) is from his 1973 album My Sporting Life (Steppenwolf were on their first break at the time)

mp3: John Kay – Moonshine (Friend Of Mine)

I’ll repeat here in closing; I think that the New Steppenwolf needs to be seen as less of a band and more of a team orchestrated by the promoter and the main-men of the group. Like a musical version of Mission: Impossible where the leader chooses who’s right for the gig and by right I mean who’s available and who’s cheapest. “Jim, we need two teams (bands) to do two separate missions (gigs)? Did I say two? I meant four”

Incidentally, three of the musicians in the New Steppenwolf, Tony Flynn, Geoff Emery and Dick Jurgens (who sounds like an STD) went on to be involved in The New Deep Purple…. But that’s another story.

I’d like to thank Max Allen Collins for answering my email.

 

 

STEVE McLEAN

Brilliant Corners, Dali's Car, Devo, Fall, Hurrah!, Pastels, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Yeah Yeah Noh

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (October Pt 2)

October 1984.  As we have previously seen, a seriously underwhelming month in respect of decent songs making the Top 75 of the UK singles chart.  Hopefully, the indie labels offered up a few things that were more palatable.

mp3: The Brilliant Corners – My Baby’s In Black

The third single of the year from one of Bristol’s finest ever combos.  Commercial success would evade them throughout their career, which lasted until 1993.  Lead singer and principal songwriter Davey Woodward is still very much on the go today, and his latest album Mumbo In The Jumbo, which is a very fine collection of tunes, was released earlier this year on Last Night From Glasgow.  Click here for more info.

mp3: Dali’s Car – The Judgement Is The Mirror

This should have actually appeared in the chart show edition of this series, as it had come in at #69 in the final week of October before peaking at #66.  Big things were expected of Dali’s Car, whose three members were Pete Murphy, Mick Karn and Paul Vincent Lawford, with the first two named having been in Bauhaus and Japan, respectively.  But they split after this, their only single, as well as subsequent album The Waking hour, sold poorly.

mp3: Devo – Are You Experienced?

In which the American new-wavers offer their take on a 1967 song written and recorded by Jimi Hendrix.  And here was me thinking that their earlier 1977 take on Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones offered a different take on the original….

mp3: The Fall – No Bulbs 3

The Fall again defy convention by insisting that the record label, Beggars Banquet, issue a new album along with a new single.  But not just in any bog-standard way, as the new single was to come out on 12″ vinyl, accompanied by a free 7″ single.  The new album was called The Wonderful and Frightening World Of….and it contained nine tracks with a running time of just over 40 minutes.

The 12″ goes by the title Call For Escape Route, and contains three songs – Draygo’s Guilt, No Bulbs and Clear Off!.  The bonus 7″ contains No Bulbs 3 and Slang King.  I could happily have selected any of the five songs, but in the end No Bulbs 3 won out in what was a lucky draw.  The full version of No Bulbs extends to a few seconds short of eight minutes while the edited down version, given the title of No Bulbs 3, is around four-and-a-half minutes long.

mp3: Hurrah! – Who’d Have Thought

One of the first bands to sign to Kitchenware Records, this was their third single for the label, and it made it to #7 in the Indie Chart.  It’s kind of indie-by-numbers and quite different from their better known label mates Prefab Sprout, The Daintees and The Kane Gang.  I saw them a few times back in the day, and while I really wanted to fall for their charms as I loved the label they were on, they never quite ticked all my boxes.

mp3: The Men They Couldn’t Hang – The Green Fields of France

A folk/punk band who kind of emerged from the busking scene.  They were initially closely aligned with The Pogues, playing gigs alongside them, with bassist Shanne Bradley having been in The Nipple Erectors alongside Shane McGowan. There’s also the possibility that the group name The Men They Couldn’t Hang emerged from one of McGowan’s early ideas for what eventually became The Pogues.

The Green Fields of France was the debut single, a song written by Eric Bogle, whose And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda had earlier in the year been covered by The Pogues.  It was a version much championed by John Peel, and despite being released quite late on in the year, it still gained enough votes to make #3 in the Festive Fifty of 1984, just behind How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths and Pearly Dewdrops Drop by the Cocteau Twins.

mp3: The Pastels – Million Tears

The band’s second 45 for Creation Records is a fabulous jingly-jangly number. It was released on 12″ vinyl, and copies fetch a decent price on the second-hand market these days.  I don’t have a copy, sadly.  Million Tears is one of two songs on the A-side of the 12″.  The best-known track, at least nowadays, was tucked away on the b-side.

mp3: The Pastels – Baby Honey

Running to almost 7 minutes in length, it’s a song that has featured on quite a few indie compilations over the subsequent years.  An absolute gem of a track.

mp3: Yeah Yeah Noh – Beware The Weakling Lines

A band who featured on the September one-hour mix thanks to the guest posting on In Tape Records from Leon MacDuff.  As Leon said, “Yeah Yeah Noh really ought to have a post to themselves at some point. Leicester’s finest musical export of the era (well OK, maybe tied with The Deep Freeze Mice), their time as an active group was brief but mighty: In Tape issued a string of EPs and a full album of their witty, lyrical lo-fi “unpop”, and their self-deprecating “Bias Binding” (“Yeah Yeah Noh, so full of ourselves / Not a real band, done no video elpee”) made JP’s Festive Fifty. They were ace.”

This was their second single of 1984, with the catalogue number of IT 010.  And given I missed out back in June with their debut, and it’s catalogue number of IT 008, I’ll take this opportunity to rectify matters:-

mp3: Yeah Yeah Noh – Cottage Industry

And that, my friends, wraps things up for this month.  It wasn’t too shabby, was it?

 

JC

Damned

THIS ONE’S FOR THE EAST WING OF THE WHITE HOUSE

I’m gonna scream and shout till my dying breath
I’m gonna smash it up till there’s nothing left

mp3 : The Damned – Smash It Up

Most politicians are prone to lying.  But Trump takes it to a completely new level.

As I wrote when this previously appeared on the blog back in 2017, this was banned by the BBC in the 1979 on the basis of its title, despite it not really being an anarchistic call to arms. It made #35 in the charts but deserved so much better.

JC

#edwyncollins45s

THE TESTIMONIAL TOUR OF 45s (aka The Singular Adventures of Edwyn Collins)

#5:L.O.V.E. Love : Orange Juice (Polydor, POSP 357, 1981)

As featured just a few months ago on the blog as part of the random 7″ singles feature….and prior to me coming up with the idea of this particular series.

The summer of ’81 and the news that Orange Juice had signed to Polydor.

They had actually, with the connivance of manager Alan Horne, who had a long-time dislike of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade, taken an advance from Travis to fund recording sessions in London in the summer of 1981, working with Adam Kidron who had also been producing Scritti Politti‘s debut album. The plan, as far as Rough Trade knew, was for the Orange Juice album to be distributed by them but to appear as if it was a Postcard album with full control being given to the band.

Instead, in what wasn’t the nicest of moves, Orange Juice took the tapes to Polydor, and the bosses at the major label made them an offer that couldn’t be turned down, even if it came with the loss of overall control that the indie label was proposing.

The last week of October 1981 saw the debut 45 for the major.

mp3: Orange Juice – L.O.V.E. Love

A cover of an Al Green song.

The 7″ single came with a fantastic b-side:-

mp3: Orange Juice – Intuition Told Me

Both had been recorded with Adam Kidron, but the wish of the label, backed by Edwyn Collins, to go with the cover as the new single was the final straw for James Kirk and Steven Daly as they had grown increasingly disillusioned with life in the band, notwithstanding they had been fully involved in the forthcoming debut album.

One of the decisions that had caused ructions was Edwyn Collins’ wish to recruit Malcolm Ross into the band.  You’ll hopefully recall from previous parts of this series that Malcolm had been involved in production duties with some early singles, and now that his band Josef K had come to an end, he was on the lookout for something new to get involved on.  It led to Edwyn and Malcolm, along with bassist David McClymont, undertaking tours in late 1981, with stand-in drummers to support the release of the debut single for Polydor and to showcase the album. By all accounts, the shows were shambolic……

Taking into account that copies of Falling and Laughing were already beginning to shift for considerable sums on the second-hand market, the decision was made to add its b-side Moscow as the extra track on the 12″ release of L.O.V.E. Love, albeit really is Moscow Olympics in a cleaned up and more polished version:-

mp3: Orange Juice – Moscow (alt version)

L.O.V.E, Love entered the charts at a rather underwhelming #68, climbing three places the following week before dropping out of the Top 75 altogether.

JC

Golden Grrrls

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #476: GOLDEN GRRRLS

Golden Grrrls were part of the scene between 2011 and 2013.  Signed to Glasgow-based Night School Records, the trio of Eilidh Rodgers, Ruari MacLean and Rachel Aggs released three singles and an eponymous debut album, the latter being a joint effort with Slumberland Records.

They would have performed at the 2012 Indietracks Festival as the one song I have of theirs comes from the digital compilation issued to celebrate that year’s festival. Looking over at Discogs, it seems to haved also been their debut single, released the previous years:-

mp3: Golden Grrrls – Beaches

After Golden Grrrls broke up, Eilidh and Rachel would continue to work together as Sacred Paws, whose debut Strike A Match won the 2017 Scottish Album of The Year, and whose third album Jump Into Life was released earlier this year.

JC

 

Dave Ball, Soft Cell

DAVE BALL R.I.P.

I was on the train back from Manchester yesterday afternoon, having gone down to see and enjoy Emma Pollock playing live, as well as meeting up with Adam from Bagging Area, where I was able to pass on a gift from Jonny the Friendly Lawyer that I’d brought back with me from the trip to Los Angeles back in June.

I was in a great mood, albeit a bit tired with the journey being sound tracked by a random selection from the tunes on the i-phone, a couple of which game me a couple of ideas for future blog posts.  A text message arrives from Jacques the Kipper.

‘You spotted that Dave Ball has left the building?’

Fuck was the only word I could come up with.

It wasn’t too much of a secret that, despite working hard in recent months on a new Soft Cell album, Dave had been quite unwell for some time, and the sad day when he would pass away was inevitable. But it still came as a huge shock.  Last night, I began to jot down a few words to pull together a tribute, but this morning, thanks to the fact that I follow the author on Facebook, I came across something penned on another blog which I reckoned will be as well-written a piece as you’ll find anywhere out there.

It’s the work of Ash Loydon who was part of the team who put together the Simply Thrilled club nights a few years back.  While Robert and Hugh were the main DJs and myself and Carlo helped out at the beginning of the nights, the amazing visuals and animations in the room were courtesy of Ash who describes himself as an ‘autastically minded bequiffed illustrator, animator of strangeness, balloon twister & lover of bad cinema.’  

He is also the biggest Soft Cell fan I know.  This is taken from here.  I’m hoping he doesn’t mind me ripping off his work, but it really is worth sharing.

– – – – –

“Absolutely fucking gutted here today, was waiting for Amelia to finish college and found out via X that Dave Ball had died at the tragically young age of 66, so I spent a fair bit of the afternoon sitting on the steps of the Glasgow Museuem of Modern Art listening to Soft Cell on my headphones whilst trying to process the news.

And yes, I’ll admit there were tears.

You see, as folk who know me (and who’ve read this blog) will attest, Soft Cell are my favourite band – and Marc Almond is my hero.

But that’s for another day.

I’ve already posted about the importance of Marc and Dave way back in 2022 but wanted not just to repost it but add a little more Dave to the mix.

A kinda text remix if you will.

I hope he’d approve.

Being the awkward Autistic artsy teen constantly picked on in school, obsessed with horror films, sci-fi and Warhol, Marc and Dave were a lifeline and Soft Cell’s dark electropop perfectly encapsulated everything I felt…and everything that terrified me too….

They also seemed to like the same things as I did (a song about a George A Romero movie? result!) – it was Marc and Dave introduced me to Truman Capote, Scott Walker, neon lighting and electronica among many other things and in one way or another have sound tracked the best (and worst) parts of my life.

When the band finally split in 1984 I continued to obsess over Marc (in that way only a creepy stalker or Autistic teen can) and his output – my art school days (and nights) were scored by Mother Fist and Vermine in Ermine….I journeyed out into the big bad world to The Stars We Are….you get the idea.

But that’s not to say I’d forgotten Dave.

His solo output was nothing if not eclectic and whereas Marc went the bittersweet torch song route Dave was showing his playful – and sometimes dark side first with his debut solo album In Strict Tempo (featuring the fabulous Rednecks and the Warhol diary inspired, funky faux-film soundtrack genius of American Stories).

From there Dave formed a new band, Other People with his then-wife (and ex-Mambas member) Gini Hewes and Band of The Holy Joy’s Andy Astle,releasing one single, the Stelvio Cipriani inspired (well I think so) Have a Nice Day before forming another (short lived) band, the amusingly monikered English Boy on the Loveranch, who released two camp as Christmas hi-NRG classics, The Man in Your Life and the slightly saucy Sex Vigilante both of which feature that sly, almost Carry On-esque humour that continues well into his work with The Grid, a band he formed (and had huge chart success with) with Richard Norris, who he met whilst working with agi-art pop terrorists Psychic TV.

And this is why I get annoyed when people say that Dave and Marc are only known for Tainted Love.

The cult of Soft Cell (and the friendship ‘tween Marc and Dave) never waned tho’ and in 2001 the dynamic duo of dark disco reunited for a tour and a brand spanking new album Cruelty Without Beauty.

They continued to work together (as well as concentrating on their solo projects which in Dave’s case included his band Nitewreckage (with releases including Solarcoaster) and a collaboration with classical pianist Jon Savage on the experimental electronic album called Photosynthesis.

In 2018 tho’, Soft Cell decided to call it a day and reteamed for a final live show, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the band.

But all good things don’t need to come to an end and in 2022 they unleashed a new album – Happiness Not Included – on an unsuspecting public.

But not only that, the album was to feature on Tim Burgess’ fantastic online listening party which had helped entertain everyone during lockdown.

Remember that whole pandemic?

Routines and schedules shot to fuck by Covid….everyone fighting over pasta and toilet rolls showing the best – and worst – of people in one huge raging mess.

Yes I tried my best to put new routines in order for my Autistic podlings to make it bearable for them but totally forgot to do it for myself.

To be honest it was a wee bit tricky.

And a year on from it in 2022, everything had changed – We’d started lockdown with 15 year old twins and ended up with 18 year olds looking forward to college and Cassidy started talking over lockdown, randomly and out of the blue.

Madness!

Everything is (or was) awesome (as the great song goes) but I found living in a world that maked no sense.

It was like I’d woken up in a place where everything was different and they’d forgotten to give me a handbook.

Imagine waking up in the (other) ending of Army of Darkness but with less beards and without a rousing Joseph LoDuca theme but like everyone else I did my best.

Anyway enough scene setting, let’s jump forward to 10th May, the listening party (as mentioned) is featuring the new album…I have it but I’ve decided to hold off listening (it’s still sealed) until that day….my first time will be with Dave and Marc listening too….

The result?

I said at the time I usually tweet quite eloquently during the listening parties but that night I was just tearfully and joyfully losing myself in my favourite band and feeling 15 again.

But more that that (and this may sound really silly) the fact that there was a new Soft Cell album that sounded just so perfectly right appearing just when it turned out I needed it seemed to kick start my brain.

Especially this song:

mp3: Soft Cell – * Happiness Not Included

It started playing and I just cried tears of pure joy and relief.

Dave and Marc just got it.

From that moment I knew I could survive this strange new world because Marc Almond and Dave Ball were there to score it for me.

So – and not for the first time – Soft Cell came to my rescue as they always did.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I genuinely wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Soft Cell, seriously Dave and Marc saved my life during my awkward Autistic teens and as I mentioned earlier, have been there for me ever since.

And now the world, well mine at least, is a little less friendly and a whole lot darker.

That gaudy neon coloured light hanging outside the Pink Flamingo bar has gone out for good.

And the moral of this story?

Music is great? 

Autistic folk over analyze stuff? 

I need to get out more? 

I’ve no fucking idea so I’ll finish up by just say thank you Marc and thank you Dave.

For everything. 

Dave Ball : 3 May 1959 – 22 October 2025

“My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –
It gives a lovely light.”

Ash

JC adds………

Feel free to leave comments here, but I’d encourage you, if you’re so inclined, to do so over at Ash’s place.  I provided a link a bit earlier, but here it is again.  Click here.

I had about 20 minutes of the train journey left when Jacques’ text came through. Having digested the news, I played one more song and put the headphones away.

mp3: Soft Cell – Torch

RIP Dave.  I’m just very grateful that I got to see you one last time on stage a few years back when you and Marc brought the Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret 40th Anniversary Tour to Glasgow in November 2021 on what proved to be a memorable night.