THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

COCTEAU TWINS : ON TAPE

A GUEST POSTING by flimflamfan

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How is it possible? I mean, really? How?

It’s taken me 30 years. 30 years is a wee bit of a cheat, as there were significant periods when my epic journey was not foremost in my mind. 30 is a headline grabber, so I’m going to stick with 30.

It all began with a tape (cassette). I was over at a pal’s and they said they had a compilation tape for me. It was 1994. The sharing of songs via a compilation (sorry copyright holders) is a practice I miss. To me, it was a somewhat intimate act – it was rare that a duplicate of a compilation was made, and it always seemed rather special to be the solo recipient. My own compilations often came with designed covers and titles – many of them (enjoyed for decades) recently lost, via an unfortunate episode.

The compilation in question came with artist and song titles scrawled (sorry, pal) with some songs titles missing. It included songs by Hole, Nirvana, Galaxie 500, Pussy Galore, Stereolab, San Francisco Beauty Queen, Lilliput. Mudhoney etc.… It was right up my street then. It’s right up my street now.

However, it’s the inclusion of songs by Cocteau Twins that rather catapulted this particular compilation to the top of all compilation tapes. My 30-year search for an answer began.

Not long after I was given the tape my pal moved to London. We stayed in touch by letter – remember those – for a while and that eventually petered out. I had always wanted to ask my question but for reasons that remain inexplicable, I never did. As we entered the internet age I began searching online – but couldn’t find the information I wanted given the infancy of modem internet. After a time, and mostly due to house moves, the tape was put in storage – always accessible – but stored.

Every now and then it would be taken out, I’d prepare myself, hit play. I accepted I had no emotional control and would just let the joyous mood take me where it wanted to go. I was a willing traveller. Whatever could be the reason for such an indecent outpouring of emotion? In a word, Bluebeard.

I mentioned earlier that Cocteau Twins were included on the tape. What I hadn’t clarified is that these were live versions. My pal was an avid listener of radio, and I was all but sure the songs derived from a radio session, but couldn’t ever find out which live radio session. I’ve listened to many of the live versions out there from the gigs of 1994 (I attended Glasgow Barrowlands) but none affect me in quite the same way as this particular version (not even on the occasion when I was in attendance).

As the internet became more informative, I was sure someone would post some detail, but no. Fan forums then were rather different to what passes for forums now, and they offered no clarity. Each time I listened to the tape coincided with an online attempt to find out more about the songs? When were they recorded (I’d guessed late 93/94 given the songs and tour setlist). Which radio station (probably BBC)? Which DJ? Which gig? Which city? Bootlegs of live performances uploaded online offered no clue. It had become an inconsistent obsession. It was only when I had an urge to hear Bluebeard that I was re-inclined to discover the information about the session.

When the release of Cocteau Twins BBC Sessions was announced, I was all but convinced it would include the four songs. I would have bet my house on it. I would have lost the house. The songs were not included on this supposed complete BBC sessions*. With no way now to contact my pal this itch to know needed to be scratched and vigorously.

The thing is as much as I loved the recorded version of Bluebeard (and oh how I love it) this version just takes me to a happier place. It lifts me up – much live a spiritual is claimed to do. That three-minute mark is anticipated. As Liz Fraser wails like a woman possessed, I cry. Every time.

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Bluebeard (live)

In May of 2024 I decided to ask my question in an online fan forum. I’m disinclined to involve myself with social media (where the fan pages are mostly located) and lo… within minutes of asking my question it was answered. I really can’t describe how happy the news made me. My thanks to the forum member. It gets better. Another forum member sent me digital copies of the ‘session’. Thanks also to that forum member.

Cocteau Twins : 9th Feb, 1994, Rock City, Nottingham : Marc Riley

And all four songs…

Bluebeard, Carolyn’s Finger, Summerhead and Aikea-Guinea

Technically, my question took 30 years to be answered. In reality, when asked, it took minutes.

The digital copy has been played lots. However, my version on tape, will continue to be played too. It just ‘feels’ different. No, I don’t know why either?

My quest has ended. I can no longer bore friends with my epic search – annoying with a 30th anniversary to celebrate. Instead, I will regale the long-suffering with the kindness of strangers on the internet and how they came to my aid.

* the songs were not included on BBC sessions as it wasn’t a BBC session, merely broadcast by the BBC.

flimflamfan

Yello

SOME WORDS ON YELLO (and ICA #369)

A guest posting by Fraser Pettigrew

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I hate to love you, love you all the same

I apologise for starting a second guest post with a reference to The Sparks Brothers documentary (it inspired the opening to my very first piece here), but in the roll call of tributes in the film from other bands acknowledging the formative influence of Sparks on their own work, one name seemed to me conspicuous by its absence – that of Switzerland’s finest musical export since the cuckoo clock, Yello.*

(* I have excluded Kleenex/Liliput from this evaluation for shameless rhetorical effect. Also, the cuckoo clock is not Swiss in origin. Orson Welles just made that up.)

The similarities seem so numerous. Despite the presence of Carlos Peron on their early albums, Yello, like Sparks, are quintessentially a duo. They frequently compose in musical genres that don’t conform to mainstream rock and pop. They delight in ironic humour and bizarre lyrical narratives. They share an evident obsession with the movies. Several fruitful collaborations with other musicians punctuate their careers. They were never as commercially successful as they were critically revered. One of them looks like your creepy uncle, the other is a dandy spiv. They cultivate an enigmatic and inscrutable public persona without taking themselves at all seriously. Unfashionable moustaches. Perhaps it’s precisely because the similarities leap out at you that Yello chose to avoid close comparison with Russ and Ron, for fear of looking derivative.

A further similarity between Sparks and Yello is their somewhat patchy output. Diehard fans of both groups may fulminate at the mere suggestion, but not everything they committed to record is of consistently high quality. If pushed to name their best work, you would likely home in on Kimono My House and Number One in Heaven for Sparks, plus perhaps some other favourites from their extensive catalogue, but for Yello you would point mainly at two albums: You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess and its follow-up Stella.

I remember the first time I saw Yello. It was 1983 and I was at someone’s house, half-watching late-night music show The Tube while an after-pub bottle of whisky vied for our attention. The corner of my alcoholically impaired vision tracked creepy uncle Dieter Meier as he stalked a glamorous woman around flashy but sterile city cocktail bars and plazas, and my ears pricked up at the electro film noir soundtrack over which Meier crooned in his weirdo Germanic accent.

I remember thinking instantly how SLEAZY it felt, and demanded to know who they were for future investigation. Meier clearly didn’t look much like your average pop star. He was too old (nearly 40!), and the slick suit and bushy tache made him look more like he’d just stepped out of some bank’s boardroom, which funnily enough he pretty well had, having briefly followed in his banker father’s footsteps before ‘working’ as a professional gambler for a while. He then became a conceptual artist and singer for Yello, neither of which roles seemed to require a change of wardrobe. Boris Blank, the musical half of the duo, went for the pencil-moustached stereotypical Latino gangster look. The music was like a soundtrack for Double Indemnity scored by Soft Cell and DAF. The whiff of secret perversion pervaded everything.

I didn’t immediately rush out to buy, but in due course a friend taped his copy of Excess for me, and then added Stella in a further act of music industry murder. Home taping is killing music! Don’t do it, kids!

A year or two later music was strangely still alive when I bought both albums on vinyl at a record fair in Cambridge, and followed that up by acquiring the first two releases, Solid Pleasure and Claro Que Si from an actual record shop, thus funding the poor beleaguered music industry which was at that time busy milking its back-catalogues with badly remastered overpriced CD reissues.

The first two albums are not bad, but where Excess and Stella tap in to the early 80s alternative club vibe with a bigger and bolder soundstage, the early stuff comes across as a little tinny. There is scant use of the electronically lowered pitch treatments on Meier’s rather weedy tenor vocals, a trick that would be used to greater effect later. The remix collection 1980-1985: The New Mix in One Go highlights what might have been in its beefier versions of ‘Bostich’ and ‘The Evening’s Young’ and the epically reshaped ‘Pinball Cha-Cha’ with its massive Tito Puente-esque timbales solo. Still, the key elements are all there. The spoken intro of ‘She’s Got A Gun’ could be Yello’s musical manifesto: “This is tonight and it rains like in a French black and white movie of the fifties…” Boris Blank’s masterfully moody cinematic instrumentals stand out, plus the exotic pseudo-Moroccan tone poems, so good you can taste the harissa and preserved lemons.

Irritatingly, my copy of Excess is the 1988 Mercury reissue, which substitutes the first release’s version of ‘I Love You’ for an inferior mix that lacks the original’s punchiness. Nevertheless, it’s a classic disc with multiple moments of delight, from the roiling synth sound and plangent minor key of ‘Lost Again’ with its tragic lost love movie plot, to the hysterical jungle adventure of ‘Great Mission’ with the deafening echoey belch of Father Excess.

Every bit the equal of Excess, Stella might even be said to improve on it in certain respects – the assuredness of the arrangements and the pace of the collection overall, the filmic atmospherics, and the use for the first time of guest vocalists to expand on the range of Dieter Meier’s mad professor/private dick schtick. Less clubby, more accessibly poppy perhaps, but both songs and instrumentals show off Boris Blank’s talents at their peak. Memorable are the two opening tracks, ‘Desire’ and ‘Vicious Games’, with shades of Propaganda infused with Chris Isaak-style twangy guitar, and side two’s booming opener ‘Domingo’, the ironic apotheosis of a man who convinced humanity of the non-existence of God outside of their own minds.

Come 1987 and fifth album One Second appeared, further threatening the mainstream pop charts with the participation of Billy McKenzie and the unimpeachable diva credentials of Shirley Bassey. Their collaboration on the single ‘The Rhythm Divine’ is exquisite, in an overblown camp Bond-theme sort of way, but only made it to number 54 in the UK singles chart, despite an appearance on Top of the Pops. The album didn’t do much better, though it charted higher than its predecessors, and perhaps softened up the public to future possibilities. It doesn’t have the raunch of Stella or Excess, nor sufficient pervy weirdness to satisfy the club crowd, and is memorable mainly for a more sedate atmosphere and the continued exploration of Latin and North African music. Listeners who had picked up on ‘Oh Yeah’, the Stella track featured in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, may have been disappointed.

Thereafter, Yello’s creative genius entered a long decline in my opinion. Subsequent albums have their moments but it all feels like reploughing the same furrow with an increasingly blunt blade. I still have my copies of Flag and Baby that I bought on release and there is a handful of decent tracks between them. I also have a CD of Zebra, but it’s pretty near the top of the pile that might be moved on if I need the space. A couple of years ago I bought a vinyl copy of 2016’s Toy out of a bargain bin, but it wasn’t worth it at any price and I cashed it in not long afterwards.

There’s one final point of similarity with Sparks that I think is the key to both bands’ variable quality. You can listen to the entire output of Sparks and Yello and never will you hear a single moment of sincere emotional expression. Everything is wit, artifice, pastiche, the arch posing in fake movie scenes, the camp ballads, the pretendy sleaze, the jokey narratives of made-up lives. Humour in music is difficult to sustain for long and there’s a limit to how much you can take before you need a change of tune. Sparks and Yello are like the musical equivalent of a clever sketch show, in contrast to, say, Ian Dury‘s observational stand-up. Sparks and Yello are always in character, acting a scene. Dury was always himself, even when he was Billericay Dickie.

Yello have continued to collaborate with various vocalists that I’ve never heard of and have had the obligatory house/techno DJ remix treatment, but their later career seems less adventurous or wholehearted (and certainly less copious) than that of Sparks, whose combination with Franz Ferdinand seemed to reinvigorate them in an unexpected way. Sparks at least manage to keep producing new fictions, whereas with Yello the same stories keep coming round again, another film noir femme fatale, another song about driving…

All the same, Yello should be justly celebrated for that brief moment when it all came together, in the jungle of the Amazonas near Manaus full of piranhas, for the underground twist they gave to the early 80s club scene, the cinematic sweep, the pervy uncle vibe, the moustaches. Not many people have the balls and talent to carry that off for one second, and even fewer of them are from Switzerland.

JC has persuaded me to turn this piece into an ICA….so here’s the 10 tracks I’ve gone for.

Pinball Cha Cha (New Mix In One Go Remix)
Blue Green (from the album Solid Pleasure)
Homer Hossa (from the album Claro Que Si)
I Love You (from the album You Gotta Say Yes…)
Lost Again (from the album You Gotta Say Yes..)
Desire (from the album Stella)
Domingo (from the album Stella)
Sometimes (Dr Hirsch) (from the album Stella)
The Rhythm Divine (from the album One Second)
Blazing Saddles (from the album Flag)

Fraser

Asbo Kid

BONUS POST : ASBO KID

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I’ve a track by an act called Asbo Kid, courtesy of its inclusion on a compilation CD called Pick’n’Mix, issued on Bubblegum Records back in 2009.

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Many of the acts on the compilation hail from Scotland, but I knew nothing about Asbo Kid, albeit I had worked out was they certainly weren’t the band of that name that had consisted of James Atkin (lead singer of EMF) and Justin Welch (drummer with Elastica).

I reached out to a friend who was involved in the running of the short-lived label, and was informed that Asbo Kid was the name used by a Köln-based musican called Andreas, who would go onto to release one album, Reality Barks, in 2011.

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The reason for this bonus posting?

Well, it’s to acknowledge the fact that the European Football Championships are currently taking place over in Germany, with Scotland set to play their second match this evening in the city of Köln. It’s also the fact that it’s a lovely wee song that I wanted to share.

mp3: Asbo Kid – The Loop

Talking of the Euros, there’s a great series going on over at No Badger Required in which he’s using the staging of the tournament to offer a rundown of the continent’s greatest singers and bands, as chosen by the NBR Musical Jury. Click here for the fun’n’frolics.

JC

Mekons

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #059

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#059: The Mekons– ‘Where Were You?’ (Fast Product ’78)

mekons

Good morning friends,

welcome to part 15.687 of my ever-ongoing series: „bands I missed in the first place“. I understand that young age is one reason for neglecting fine bands, but certainly another one is sheer stupidity – as it is the case here.

The Mekons were always around, fact. Another fact is that their name was a common one in the music papers I was able to read in the early/mid 80’s. Still, I never took the chance to delve deeper, to explore their background. Quite why I never did remains a mystery to me, as I said: they were always present and being mentioned in the papers, so there cannot have been a good reason for me not to care about them.

They first came to my attention with a track from their fourth album from 1984 (‘Fear & Whiskey’) and from then on I was always fond of what I heard from them, some tracks from all of the next albums, let’s say until 1989, were excellent!

But still it took me some more time to realize that their earlier singles were even better: it all started in 1978 with ‘Never Been In A Riot’, but the follow-up from the same year was the real must-have for me: ‘Where Were You?’

It simply is anthem-like for a song written with just two chords and one guitar riff. This and its lyrics about desperation and loneliness make it one of the most outstanding punk songs painting a melancholy picture of a delusional man in love – and there are many of those songs, mind you!

It starts rather emotional, vulnerable, and somewhat pathetic, but when the second verse hits, the sadness and pathos turns to suspicion as the speaker reveals his darker side.

These last lines are sweet, naïve, and devastating as the speaker has brought himself to a new level of dejection while the listener has figured out that this is not the story of star crossed lovers; it’s a one-sided obsession.

Quite magical, at least it is to me!

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mp3: The Mekons – Where Were You?

I don’t have the original single, but a reissue from 2018 on Super Viaduct in yellow translucent vinyl … which, for me, is just as neat as the original is!

Take care

Dirk

Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey

SIXTY-ONE

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The calendar has turned another page and as far as today goes it means the number in brackets after my name has increased by another digit.

mp3: PJ Harvey – Highway 61 Revisited

This is, of course, a cover and quite a different take on the original…..which is also on offer today in glorious mono and lifted from a copy of the 1965 release which was gifted to me a few years back when someone was clearing out an old house.

mp3: Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

Given that I’m still not 100% health-wise (but most certainly improving), I reckon it’ll be a quiet one.

JC

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Wedding Present, Wire

WHEN THINGS TAKE AN UNEXPECTED TWIST

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Other than the time of my birth, I had never, until last week, been overnight in a hospital ward. The fact that my admission was wholly unexpected meant it was all sort of sprung on me and that I wasn’t worrying about it in advance, which, on reflection, was a good thing.

To cut a long story short….last week saw me pass a kidney stone, and in doing so, it had caused a bit of collateral damage to the actual organ. I was required to stay in the hospital until such a time as the specialists were confident it wouldn’t escalate or lead to longer-term damage.

The timing was such that it meant the long-awaited trip to Santa Monica, where myself and Rachel were to spend 11 nights as the guests of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer and Goldie the Friendly Therapist, was, at best, delayed.

In the end, I spent two nights in the hospital. I was discharged on the basis that my health was improving, but that the recuperation would require more tests, under the auspices of my GP, a week down the line, which meant that the entire trip was now off.

The good news is that the airline will honour the flights for a further period of time, and we’ve already been looking at possible dates over the coming months.

I really cannot heap enough praise on the NHS staff, from my own GP for her prompt action, to everyone whose path I crossed during the three days/two nights at the hospital. The work rate, dedication and professionalism of every single one of them, was a joy to behold. The fact I was in a relatively new hospital (it opened in April 2015), meant the facilities were first-class, with my own room and living space on the 9th floor giving me relaxing views out over the actual city, and it all made for an experience that was far more bearable than I would have otherwise imagined.

So, it’ll be a few more days before I’ll know if I’m fully out of the woods, but the signs are good. I really want to thank all of you who offered your best wishes via the comments section last week…the hospital had free Wi-Fi, and I was able to read things via my phone (as well as make those last minute alterations to the post on The Adventure Babies).

I’ve a few things to catch up with in terms of guest postings that have come in over the past week and a bit, and the backlog will start to be sorted out over the rest of this week, starting on Wednesday.

In the meantime, these tunes seem appropriate……

mp3 : Wire – Kidney Bongos
mp3 : The Wedding Present – Getting Better
mp3 : The Modern Lovers – Hospital

JC

Cinerama

CLOSE-UP : THE CINERAMA SINGLES (Part 7)

A GUEST SERIES by STRANGEWAYS

Close Up: The Cinerama Singles #7 : The Torino singles (2)

Quick, Before It Melts

It’s 2002 and new Cinerama LP Torino is in the can and ready to go. So perhaps it’s safe to call Quick, Before It Melts – and not 2001’s Health and Efficiency – the album’s official lead-off single.

mp3: Cinerama – Quick Before It Melts

Either way Quick, Before It Melts is a winner, performing a similar trick to the previous single in terms of balancing orchestrated strings with a big, distorted guitar sound. Perhaps appropriately for a song whose title may well nod to the challenges around male virility, an extended version is found on the album.

Flips were, firstly, an acoustic version of arguably the finest track on debut LP Va Va Voom: Ears. This take works really well here and benefits greatly from some fine string arrangements and even a smidgen of Spanishy-sounding guitar plucking.

mp3: Cinerama – Ears (acoustic version)

Second B-side As If is terrific and a personal favourite, not least because of its crunchy lead guitar parts and lengthy instrumental coda. Your lyrics are the kind of exchanges you’d hear, so I’m told, through a juice glass pinned towards your neighbours’ bedroom walls. And who in all of indiedom writes that kind of stuff better?

mp3: Cinerama – As If

This was a busy old time for the band: a squint at Cinerama’s concertography reveals a fairly extensive tour in support of Torino, with the UK, Ireland and USA visited in the early autumn of 2002.

Careless

mp3: Cinerama – Careless

With its recurring slower-then-faster tempo and powerful blast of chorus-accompanying guitar, Careless was fine single material and, really, the natural option from the Torino tracks on offer. This then was the release that brought an end to the songs taken from Cinerama’s final album of original material.

But it wasn’t the last hurrah, as our next post will testify.

Back to Careless for now though. Your B-sides here were This Isn’t What It Looks Like and Sparkle Lipstick.

The former’s pleading title locates it deep inside a platonic relationship and the inevitable suspicions it’s provoked from the third party. Despite its slow start, This Isn’t What It Looks Like quickly becomes a breezy number, and one that benefits from some pleasant, leaping strings.

mp3: Cinerama – This Isn’t What It Looks Like

Listening to it now, after a while away, second B-side Sparkle Lipstick is quite the production. Strings and brass (synthesised or not) are present, although the star of the show is a huge, fuzzy-guitar-driven chorus.

mp3: Cinerama – Sparkle Lipstick

If you’ve not heard them, and even if you have, both these Bs are worthy of your time.

Of note on all of these Careless tracks is the contribution, her last for the band, of Sally Murrell. Here, SM’s backing vocals and accompaniments, as they did across many Cinerama releases, added something special and in a big way helped to define the group’s sound.

Next up will be a post that details the final Cinerama single on Scopitones – an A-side that bridged the present with both the past and the future. Not bad going for a pop song. We’ll also sweep up the singles material that would emerge several years after what you might call the official canon.

Do I need to thank JC and readers again? Of course I do.

strangeways

Andrew R Burns & The Tropicanas

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #408: ANDREW R BURNS & THE TROPICANAS

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Those of you who follow this series closely should be able to recall the backstory to David Cameron’s Eton Mess.

It dates back to October 2015, and is a compilation released by now defunct Edinburgh-based label, Song, By Toad Records. The premise was that it would be ‘a collection of the very finest lo-fi, slacker, outsider pop tunes Scotland has to offer.’

Very few of the acts would ever do much beyond being featured on the compilation, and information on many of them is hard to come by. The alphabetical run-down of Scottish bands on the hard drive has reached one such act:-

mp3: Andrew R Burns & The Tropicanas – Delaydeez

A cursory on-line search reveals that the band do have a presence on Spotify, but as I’m not a subscriber or user of that service, I’m afraid I can’t offer any more info.

Delaydeez is one of the more commercial and accessible tracks on the compilation, so if you find yourself enjoying it, and you have a Spotify account, you could head over and do your small bit.

JC

Dubstar

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (10) : Dubstar – Not So Manic Now

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Much of today’s post is a reprint from something I put up back in July 2016.

Dubstar began life in the early 90s as a two-piece consisting of Chris Wilkie on guitar and Steve Hillier on keyboards and vocals. By 1994 they had a new vocalist in Sarah Blackwood.

Like an lot of bands kicking around in that era, they were able to land a record deal as the industry decided that Britpop, however you wanted to define it, was the in-thing. Nobody wanted to miss out on the next Blur or Oasis (not that anyone came along and fulfilled the A&R mens wet dreams).

Dubstar were however, more worthy than most of their compatriots and recorded a number of quality songs across Disgraceful and Goodbye, the LPs released in 1995 and 1997 respectively.

A further album, Make It Better was released in 2000 but to little fanfare or acclaim and the band went their separate ways. Sarah Blackwood went on to be part of Client, an electronic act who released four albums in the first decade of the 21st Century but who never really got beyond cult status other than a Top 30 single in 2005, thanks in part to the lead vocal being performed by Carl Labat of The Libertines.

Their biggest hit came in March 1996, when Stars, their debut ‘flop’ single (a flop in as much it had stalled at #40 in July 1995), was re-released and reached #15. A couple of months earlier, they made their first foray into the Top 20, with a song I still have a great deal of time for the best part of 30 years later.

mp3 : Dubstar – Not So Manic Now

Reminds me an awful lot of St Etienne…..

As was the common practice at the time, it was issued via on 2 x CD formats, with CD1 having remixes of the singles and CD2 having three new songs. It’s a huge contrast……

mp3 : Dubstar – Not So Manic Now (Way Out West Remix)
mp3 : Dubstar – Not So Manic Now (Mother’s Whole Dub)
mp3 : Dubstar – Not So Manic Now (Way Out West Prophecy Dub)
mp3 : Dubstar – If It Isn’t You
mp3 : Dubstar – Song No.9
mp3 : Dubstar – A Certain Sadness

JC

Adventure Babies

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (11): The Adventure Babies – Camper Van

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Before getting down to the main business of the day….a huge thanks to everyone for your kind words wishing me a speedy return to full health.

I’ll wake up today for a second morning in a hospital bed. It’s the first time in my life, apart from when I was born, that I’ve spent time in a ward. I’m under observation for issues with one of my kidneys. Turned out that the pain I’d been in for the previous five days was me passing a kidney stone, and the wee/big bastard gave the actual organ a few scrapes en route. Until the specialist is happy that it has returned to a good degree of normality, then I’m in here where I’m currently a human version of a pin cushion.

I’m not grumbling. The staff at this NHS hospital are magnificent in every imaginable way, and I’m getting the very best of care. I’ll not update you again till I get discharged, but rest assured, I’m on the mend…just not sure how quickly. Oh, and discussions are already underway to make sure L.A. gets visited sooner rather than later.

So where was I today before this latest edition of Emergency Ward 9?????

The last few years of Factory Records were marked by a number of signings whose music was far from that most typically associated with the label. This may well be the most untypical:-

mp3: The Adventure Babies – Camper Van

It’s the lead track from FAC 319, and was released in September 1991. The Adventure Babies were a trio of Matt Tedstone, Dave Atherton and Jez Bramwell, and were seemingly the very last band to be ever signed to the label. In addition to this, their debut EP, which came out on 12″ and CD, there would be one further single, Barking Mad (FAC 347), and an album, Laugh (FACT 335).

None of the releases ever got near the charts, and when the label’s demise through bankruptcy was confirmed in November 1992, a number of commentators pointed the finger at acts such as The Adventure Babies for their role in it. This seems a bit unfair given how little time they had been on the label and how the records hadn’t been all that expensive to make, certainly in comparison to the ways New Order and Happy Mondays had been bleeding the company dry. Here’s the three other tracks from the debut EP:-

mp3: The Adventure Babies – Barking Mad
mp3: The Adventure Babies – Lifetime At The Sink
mp3: The Adventure Babies – Long Night Narrow Boat

It’s a long way removed from the Hacienda……..

JC

They Might Be Giants

AROUND THE WORLD : LOS ANGELES

From wiki:

Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California. With roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City; it is also the commercial, financial and cultural centre of Southern California. Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate, an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 13.2 million people. Greater Los Angeles, which includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18 million residents.

And, as of tomorrow, the home of the Villains for the next 11 days.

Yup, myself and Rachel are flying off Stateside for a holiday….and we are going to be the guests of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer and his wife, Goldie the Friendly Therapist at their family home in Santa Monica.

I’d never have imagined back in 2007 when I got the blog up and running that so many new and wonderful people would come into my orbit. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have met many of them over the years, and I’ve got plans formulating in my head to hook up with a few others in due course.

We hooked up with Jonny and Goldie in Barcelona a few years back when they took a trip to Europe. We all promised one another that we’d meet up again, and plans were hatched that in the months after I retired from working, a trip to North America, including a stopover in LA, would be arranged. That was supposed to be back in 2020, but the world went into lockdown and the plans were scrapped. But finally, we are going ahead with things, and I can’t say enough about the generosity of Jonny and Goldie who have invited us into their home for such an extended period of time, and also appear to have planned a packed itinerary of things to and places to go while we are there. It’s a real thrill.

The blog will continue as normal while I’m away from Glasgow….can’t promise that I’ll be checking in on things every day, but I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, here’s a tune.

mp3: They Might Be Giants – Los Angeles

Tomorrow’s post will offer Jonny’s take on things.

JC

MAJOR UPDATE

TRIP IS OFF!!!!!

your humble scribe has been under the weather in recent days, and a precautionary visit to the GP ended with a referral to the local hospital where blood tests have shown up a wee concern. It might be something….it might be nothing. I’ll know in due course.

I’ve taken down Jonny’s post scheduled for tomorrow but the blog, thanks to me writing posts days/weeks in advance, will be back on Thursday.

Take care y’all.

Chic, Gang Of Four, Janet Kay, Rickie Lee Jones, Ruts, Tourists

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (June)

I’m really glad about the positive reception being afforded to this series….I’ve long been of the view that there was no finer year for singles than 1979, but then again, I would imagine most music fans will look back on the music they were listening to in their formative teen years and look to make a case that it was ‘the best.’ What did the month of June bring us, aside from my 16th birthday?

One other good thing about 1979 is that it didn’t clash with any major football tournament that summer, which spared us the possibility of Saturday Heroes finding themselves in a recording studio to inflict torture on us. Except for the fact that the highest new entry on the chart in the first week in June, entering at #55, was Head Over Heels In Love with the singer being Kevin Keegan, ex-Liverpool but now plying his trade with Hamburg in Germany, and who in 1979 had been voted as the best player in European football. I’ll spare you the song, but you can, if you want to be masochistic, find it on YouTube. It spent six weeks on the chart and peaked at #31.

There wasn’t too much to get excited further down the charts in terms of new entries, bar these two:-

mp3: Janet Kay – Silly Games (#65)
mp3: The Tourists – Blind Among The Flowers (#66)

Janet Kay has proven to be the classic definition of a one-hit wonder. The London-born singer was just 21 years old when Silly Games was released. It was one of the big hits of the summer months, spending 14 weeks in the chart, peaking at #2. It’s a song written by Dennis Bovell, who was recently the subject of this wonderful guest ICA from Khayem. It has all led to Janet Kay being unofficially crowned as the Queen of Lovers Rock, and while she never again had a single breach the charts, she has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in music and theatre, leading to her being awarded, in 2023, an MBE for her services to music.

The Tourists is where it all began for Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, who would conquer the planet in the mid-80s as the driving force behind Eurythmics. Their first band was more of a traditional rock sort of combo, and Blind Among The Flowers was their first single, eventually peaking at #52. There’ll be more from this lot later in the year.

The chart of 10-16 June saw the first chart entry from another of the new bands emerging as part of what was a real explosion in post-punk in the UK.

mp3: The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning

The Ruts were from London, so this was an instance when the A&R men didn’t have to look too far. The band formed in 1977, and they began to make a name for themselves from the fact that they brought reggae influences to their brand of punk. John Peel was a big fan, as indeed was fellow Radio 1 DJ David ‘Kid’ Jensen, both of whom offered sessions at the beginning of 1979. Their debut single In A Rut was issued on a small indie label, but led to an offer from Virgin Records, a label which was really hoovering up many of the emerging bands. Babylon’s Burning was their first release for the new label. It’s a genuine classic of the era, eventually reaching #7 and spending 11 weeks on the chart. As with The Tourists, there’ll be more later in the year.

This was also the week when a Leeds-based post-punk combo enjoyed their first chart hit

mp3: Gang Of Four – At Home He’s A Tourist

There’s a similar pattern here. Gang Of Four were championed by Peel. The debut single had come out on an indie label which led to an offer from a major label, in this instance, EMI. This was the first single for the new label. To my surprise, this has proved to be the biggest hit that Gang of Four ever had in terms of a single, entering at #65 and peaking the following week at #58.

June appears to be a month when very few new songs of any genre came into the charts. The week of 17-23 June saw no new entries into the Top 40. The highest new entry was at #53, and like Janet Kay, was a song which was omnipresent in the summer months but ended up being the only hit for a singer who is still going strong today.

mp3: Rickie Lee Jones – Chuck E’s In Love

Rickie Lee Jones was 24-years old at the time. Chicago-born but California- based, she made her name performing in coffee bars and jazz clubs. She was also, for a period of some two years, in a relationship with Tom Waits. She was signed by Warner Bros whose A&R men felt that Chuck E’s In Love had the potential to go what we would now describe as ‘viral’. It certainly did, thanks to a massive marketing push via radio and TV stations in the US, leading to it becoming a Top 5 hit on the Billboard chart and making its way across the Atlantic shortly afterwards. It would spend 9 weeks in the chart and peak at #18. None of her later singles, and there have been dozens in the decades that followed, ever bothered the chart compilers.

June 1979 closed with Tubeway Army hitting the top spot in the singles chart. A small selection of the songs featured last month as well as earlier in the post were keeping Mr Numan company, but for the most part, it wasn’t a great month. A tune with a great bass line came in at #53

mp3: Chic -Good Times

This would eventually get to #5 and thus prove to be the latest in what seemed to be a conveyer-belt of hit singles for Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards which showed no sign of slowing down. This, however, proved to be that last of the mega-smashes, and the last time they would enjoy a Top 10 hit.

So, returning to the question posed at the start. What did the month of June bring us, aside from my 16th birthday? The answer, it appears, is not all that much……

I’ll be back soon with the companion piece to the series looking at singles from June 1979 which didn’t make the charts. I’ve had a sneak look ahead to the chart of the first week of July 1979, and there’s a couple well worth highlighting, so please tune in again around the same time next month.

JC

Cinerama

CLOSE-UP : THE CINERAMA SINGLES (Part 6)

A GUEST SERIES by STRANGEWAYS

Close Up: The Cinerama Singles #6 : The Torino singles

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Album-wise, where debut Va Va Voom had been the sound of a project finding its feet, its follow-up Disco Volante had perfected the Cinerama formula. So which way would Torino, the next LP, jump?

Let’s find out via the three releases from that third and final Cinerama album (although there’s a bit of a twist in that tale). In this post we’ll look at just one single, though, then wrap-up the remaining Torino releases next time.

Health and Efficiency (2001, Scopitones)

Health and Efficiency, named after the long-established British naturism magazine, was the first Torino-featured single out of the block. Released in 2001, its sleeve notes don’t reference the 2002 LP at all so it’s possible this was technically a standalone release. It does actually close the album though, so in my book it’s OK to lump it in under the Torino banner.

Anyway, Health and Efficiency is a beezer of a song and, if you’ve not heard it, is worthy of the six-plus minutes this task requires. Predicated on the passing of time, it’s one from the trusted quiet/loud stable and was recorded by the late Steve Albini. Here, the engineer mixes orchestration with absolutely huge guitar parts – almost as huge as the Weddoes’ own Bewitched, Dalliance or Niagara – to thrilling effect.

In keeping with much of Torino, Health and Efficiency signalled a significant shift towards the bigger, darker sounds that characterised Wedding Present albums like Bizarro and Seamonsters. It was a record also that welcomed back the Weddoes’ Saturnalia-era guitarist Simon Cleave.

mp3: Cinerama – Health and Efficiency

The track opens and closes with speech, covertly captured via MiniDisc recorder, by David Gedge on the streets of New York City. At the tail-end of the piece this voice, which the book Sleevenotes tells us is providing a nostalgic commentary concerning urban loss, asserts that We have become a very cold society – prior to a will-o’-the-wisp plink that abruptly ends the number.

On the LP, so long as you’re listening to it in intended sequence, this shrill, resonating little note provides a full-stop, really, to Cinerama as a band. It’s almost as if, job done, into the ether they disappear.

Looking at Torino’s tracklisting now, the lilting Cinerama sound is certainly across it, most notably via moments of lightness like the feathery Airborne and the ecstatic, bawdy-as-it-sounds Tie Me Up. But for the most part the guitars are back, and Health and Efficiency was the single that announced this.

Your B-sides are Swim, a sprightly number – one I hadn’t heard in such a long time – and Diamonds Are Forever. That’s, of course, a cover of the John Barry-composed, Shirley Bassey-sung theme from the 1971 James Bond film of the same name.

mp3 : Cinerama – Swim
mp3 : Cinerama – Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds are Forever is built, really, for what the idea of Cinerama was possibly all about: a bit of glamour and nostalgia, quiet scandal and sophistication. Here, a somewhat throaty David Gedge – a delivery heard throughout these three tracks – delivers a respectful take that doesn’t overdo things or camp it up.

It’s a version that popped up again – on Not From Where I’m Standing, the LP of Bond-related covers we referenced a while back in this series. This was a release whose sales raised funds for the mental-health initiative CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

Wrapping up, an eye-catching sleeve, one of Cinerama’s best, may well be a clipping from an issue of Health and Efficiency itself. Upon the cover an elegant lady strikes a graceful pose, whilst the band name, splayed across her chest, artfully preserves her modesty.

Health and Efficiency

Tune in next time for a double feature: those two remaining Torino-era singles.

strangeways

Alun Woodward

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #407: ALUN WOODWARD

The collection in Villain Towers contains loads of music on which Alun Woodward has played. The vast majority come, as you’d expect, via The Delgados, but there’s also his songs as Lord Cut-Glass, the alter-ego he adopted for a fabulous solo album back in 2009.

I’ve also got this:-

mp3: Alun Woodward – In School

This is part of the soundtrack written by Alun for the 2016 documentary film, Battle Mountain, about Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree‘s participation in the 2013 World Human Powered Speed Championships in Battle Mountain, Nevada. The soundtrack was released by Chemikal Underground and the above track was included on Twenty One Years of Chemikal Underground, a compilation CD that was commissioned back in 2016 to be given away at a music/tourist conference and never released commercially. Digital copies are available here.

JC

Skids

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (18) : The Skids – Sweet Suburbia

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After the last one in the 7″ series being a tad on the crackly side, I thought I’d try to make it up to you all today.

mp3: The Skids – Sweet Suburbia

Released in September 1978, you have to admit that it sounds really crisp and sharp, with not a single crackle, pop or jump to be found anywhere. But that’s because I’ve cheated.

And while it is true that I have a second-hand copy of the original 7″ single, on white vinyl, sitting here in Villain Towers, the copy you’re listening to comes courtesy of the remastered version of the album Scared To Dance, issued by Past Night From Glasgow back in 2022. The reissue was a 2xLP release, consisting of the original twelve songs from the album on one piece of vinyl, while the other contained eight bonus cuts of non-album A and B sides from the era – Sweet Suburbia, and its b-side, were on the bonus disc:-

mp3: The Skids – Open Sound

If you’d care to have a look at the sleeve of the 1979 release, you’ll spot that the folk at Virgin Records were suggesting to would-be buyers that it contained a weird gimmick. As far as I know, the gimmick was simply that the first 15,000 copies came on white vinyl. If you’d care to look a bit more closely at the drawing of the rear of the deer, you’ll perhaps agree it was maybe a bit surprising that it was allowed to be put on public display in certain record shops.

The PNFG re-release also comes complete with lyrics. Despite what your ears may be trying to convince you, this is exactly what Richard Jobson is singing:-

Remnants of the ancient heart remain
Time for one to seek an anti-soak
Bars for 3 and only room for 2
Box and box, a lift for legless hope

Sweet Suburbia

Living on the paper periscope
Hot dog life cold for the antelope
Concrete days and white electric nights
Steel and steel life on the open plain

Sweet Suburbia. Sweet Suburbia

Excavate a land for restless days
Contemplate a chance for future ways
Clip and hate to centralise the world
Food and food and cardboard expatriates

Sweet Suburbia. Sweet Suburbia

Birth and birth and birth and birth and birth
Live and live and live and live and live
Mate and mate and mate and mate and mate
Die and die and die and die and die

Sweet Suburbia…

This one reached #70 back in 1978. Deserved much better.

JC

Belle & Sebastian

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (9) : Belle and Sebastian – Legal Man

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Last time round in the CD single lucky dip, you had the opportunity to listen to an early release by Snow Patrol, one that had come out on Jeepster Records back in 1998.

The label was best known as being home to Belle and Sebastian – the band’s first five albums were issued by the label between 1996 and 2002 (albeit debut LP Tigermilk was via a re-release in 1999), along with four EPs and three singles.

I thought it would make come sense to hark back to that era, and to offer up a modified (shortened, yet enhanced!!) version of something from June 2016, when I was in the middle of using Sundays to look at the various Belle and Sebastian EPs and singles.

From wiki:-

“Legal Man” is a single released by Belle & Sebastian on Jeepster Records in 2000. The title track also features Jonny Quinn (on congas), Rozanne Suarez (on vocals) and The Maisonettes (on vocals). The cover features band members Stevie Jackson and Isobel Campbell along with Adrienne Payne and Rozanne Suarez. The track became their highest charting single up to that point, reaching #15 in the UK singles chart. They also made their debut on Top of the Pops to perform this song.

The two B-side tracks are notable for their historical significance; “Judy Is a Dick Slap” is the first instrumental released by the band, while “Winter Wooskie” is the third and final lead vocal from former bass player Stuart David, who left the band in 2000. Initially a demo, the track was completed by the other members after David’s departure as a farewell gesture.

mp3 : Belle and Sebastian –Legal Man
mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Judy Is A Dick Slap
mp3 : Belle and Sebastian – Winter Wooskie

Legal Man was released in May 2000, and was the first new music following the band picking up best new act at the 1999 Brit Awards, a result that had left many establishment figures in the music industry speechless.

What had happened was the vote for this award was open fully to the public with the winners fully anticipated to be Steps who had enjoyed a run of hit singles and massive media exposure; however, it was the first real use of internet voting for an awards ceremony, and the B&S fanbase, many of them using both personal and student e-mail addresses, voted en masse and pulled off a result nobody anticipated. The reaction of the tabloid press in the UK was hilarious – how dare a band who nobody had ever heard of it take such a prestigious award?

The new single was a dramatic shift in sound for the band. It was aimed full-on at radio stations, and it did get daytime play and, as mentioned above, led to a TOTP appearance:

For many people, it was the first time they had bought a B&S record/CD. I’m sure many of them would, the following month, go out and buy the new LP Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant and be bamboozled by the fact that none of the songs sounded anything like Legal Man!

JC

Martha & The Muffins

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #058

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#058: Martha & The Muffins– ‘Echo Beach’ (Dindisc ’80)

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Good morning friends,

today our singles-journey (thinking about this term: it sounds like a weekend trip of desperate middle-aged losers from the village into the big city. Which, of course, can’t be more far from the truth!) takes us to Canada, to Toronto in fact. Toronto is a place which has a certain meaning to our humble host, JC, but no: he did not put any pressure on me in putting this record in, I always liked it, and I still do … despite the fact that it has been a big hit and everything.

There are of course nerds or purists who automatically rule out a song just because it had some brief chart success. Mrs. Loser often accuses me of the very same behaviour, but obviously she does not know what I know: 99.9 percent of what’s in the charts these days is utter rubbish. Bring in something really good there and I will approve of it, promised!

As I would have done in 1980, when Martha and The Muffins lifted today’s song from their debut album ‘Metro Music’. Now, if you ask me, ‘Metro Music’ is one of those tragic cases where the success of the single fully overshadowed the excellence of the album. If you don’t know it yet, do yourself a favour and get your hands on it. It can easily be found for small money in nearly every second-hand crate on your preferred flea-market, I would think. It really is a listenable album (still today) which does not only live from Martha Johnson’s wonderful voice, but also from some great dynamic melodies. Comparisons to Blondie are, or rather: have been back then, so I assume, inevitable somehow.

But either way, another underrated record, this. Plus: sleeve design by Peter Saville, for you Factory-completists!

It’s fair to say though that it was the right decision to release ‘Echo Beach’ as the single from ‘Metro Music’ – it is the best number on the record, I would think. Again, the tune has everything a good tune needs: musically, but also lyrically. I mean, don’t we all have a place where we’d rather be sometimes, even if it doesn’t exist in real life? Apparently Mark Gane, the guitarist with the band, had such a place in mind when he wrote ‘Echo Beach’, but, unlike us, he had the chance to have it immortalized by one of the finest songs ever:

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mp3: Martha & The Muffins – Echo Beach

As JC will surely be able to confirm: the map shown on the cover of the Canadian and US version of the single is of the eastern part of Toronto, including the Beaches neighborhood, the Leslie Street Spit, and a portion of the Toronto Islands.

All other versions though, mine as well (from Portugal of all places) – they show Dorset’s bloody Chesil Beach! Which is probably a nice place to go to, but still: come on …. !

Take care,

Dirk

JC adds……

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The sleeve for the US/Canadian release of the 45 (on Dindisc/Virgin) did indeed have a different sleeve, with a map of the south-east area of Toronto, taking in part of the Beaches area, a community I spent a fair bit of time during my time working there in 2007 – and indeed when I went back to the city in 2013 as part of my 50th birthday celebrations, accompanied by my brother SC, and my two dear friends Aldo and Jacques the Kipper, we visited the Islands and the Beaches area as they are both well worth the effort).

Bug Club

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #368: THE BUG CLUB

A GUEST POST by THE ROBSTER

IS THIS THE MUSIC YOU LIKE?
The Bug Club

an Imaginary Compilation for the (new) vinyl villain
(with a bit of a gig review thrown in for good measure)

Imagine one of your favourite local bands. They have been getting national acclaim and have acquired a large cult following over the few short years of their existence, gaining coveted airplay and live sessions on BBC radio, including 6 Music. They’ve released 10 singles, two albums (one of them an ambitious double), two EPs, three things nobody knew how to describe, and a live album of exclusive material under a different band name, all since 2021, and while playing 200+ gigs a year.

The local shows sell out almost instantly, including in such spaces as Clwb Ifor Bach which regularly hosts shows for some of the brightest emerging talents on the international circuit, while further afield they present a very attractive live proposition, both as a headliner and a support act.

Now imagine them playing in the corner of a tiny function room above a pub for an audience of no more than 50 people, much like they would have done when they first formed. That, my friends, is The Bug Club.

MrsRobster and I were delighted to have caught them on the last Bank Holiday at the City Arms in Cardiff, where they played not one, but TWO shows to the lucky few who managed to get tickets. We caught their evening set (they had also played a few hours earlier, late afternoon).

city arms poster

For the uninitiated, The Bug Club hail from the historic Welsh market town of Caldicot, located between Chepstow and Newport. (Apparently, the man who invented self-raising flour was born there…) They consist of Sam Wilmett (vocals/guitar) and Tilly Harris (vocals/bass) along with whoever they can find to play drums with them at the moment (founder member Dan Matthew recently left the fold). Their mate Helen filled in for the Bank Holiday shows, and dead good she was too.

The thing about The Bug Club is they don’t hang about. Their songs are short, they play them with real vigour and energy, and they don’t spend much time yakking (though when they do, it’s usually Tilly making us laugh). It’s just one blast after another – bam-bam-bam! A Bug Club show is a lot of fun. They came on about 8:15 and were all done by 9:30 – it wasn’t even fully dark outside – but MrsRobster and I felt we’d had a proper night out.

The set covered the full gamut of their catalogue, featuring tracks from all their releases to date, including the set-closer, current single Quality Pints, a song about finding the best beer in whichever town they happen to be playing in. Yeah, they don’t take themselves too seriously, with subject matters ranging from birds to haircuts, from being in space to swearing in love songs, from hiding your real feelings from your mum to getting married. Tonight’s set was sprinkled liberally with their customary sardonic humour and loud, garagey guitars in the style of the Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richman, Pavement and Kim Deal. But it’s the songs that make The Bug Club what they are, and so, inspired by this show, I decided to sit down and do what I’d intended to do for some time – compile, write and submit an ICA for this wonderful internetty space that I kind of think of as something of a second home. OK, maybe a third home. JC’s published all sorts of nonsense from me over the years, so I figure another one won’t hurt.

I should point out that I’ve tended to go for the faster, more lively side of The Bug Club in this set as it’s more akin to one of their live shows. If you want depth, I suggest you buy all their records and compile your own Bug Club ICA of slower songs. Good luck though, they don’t do many of those. I’ve even broken the 10-tracks rule and included a full dozen for your enjoyment, and even then some of my personal faves (Can Ya Change A Thing Like This?, A Love Song, It’s Art) have had to be left out. It still weighs in at a mere 30 minutes, but there’s not a second wasted here. So let’s get going…

SIDE ONE

1. Is This The Music You Like? [2023, from ‘Rare Birds’]

This is nothing more than a silly punk song that does everything it needs to in less than 60 seconds, drops the mic and leaves the stage. Job done. Next!

2. My Baby Loves Rock ‘n’ Roll Music [2021, from ‘Pure Particles’ EP]

If you wanted to hear the Jonathan Richman and Velvet Underground influences in full effect, then look no further. Not just a live favourite this one, but a proper fan fave too. You WILL catch yourself humming it at the bus stop, down in the Tube station at midnight, in the queue at your favourite bakery or while desperately searching for something to rid yourself of that bloody earworm TheRobster posted at JC’s in his Bug Club ICA!

3. Marriage [2023, from ‘Rare Birds’]

How many words can you think of that rhyme with marriage? The Bug Club come up with precisely two. Have they never heard of Steve Claridge? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Claridge]

4. Pick Me Like A Flower In The Rain [2022, from ‘Intelectuals’ EP]

‘Intelectuals’ (sic) is one of those aforementioned releases that “nobody knew how to describe”. Two tracks are listed: Intelectuals and Intelectuals [money version]. The former is actually five songs performed live in the studio in a single take, back to back as they would perform them in concert, and in the order they were written. One of them is the title track and another is this delightful tune which is another crowd favourite. I was surprised how many people sang along to this one at the show.

5. We Don’t Need Room For Lovin’ [2021, debut single, from ‘Launching Moonbeam 1’ EP]

Five years after first forming (no doubt hampered by that COVID thing everyone has forgotten about), The Bug Club released their first single. Mark Riley played it lots on his 6 Music show. Thus, it set the template for all the shenanigans that followed.

6. Out In The Streets [2023, single]

Between albums 1 and 2 came this single. I previously posted it in a piece over at my place a year ago to all-round general malaise. It’s worth another outing though. It also appears on side two of a 12” called ‘Picture This!’, another of those multi-song pieces like ‘Intelectuals’.

SIDE TWO

1. Only In Love [2022, from ‘Green Dream In F#’]

The opening track of the debut album, and it’s another one that flows in the same valley as the Velvets and is done and dusted before you can dig out your copy of ‘Loaded’.

2. Intelectuals [money version] [2022, from ‘Intelectuals’ EP]

The ‘proper’ studio version of the ‘Intelectuals’ title track which the band refers to as “a single of sorts”.

3. The Fixer [2021, from ‘Pure Particles’ EP]

This is the one that’s going round and round in my head as I type this. I never get sick of it, for some reason. If I did though, I wonder if the Fixer could fix it? I love the whole of ‘Pure Particles’ I have to say. They call it an EP, but it’s got 9 songs on it, so it’s more of a mini-album really. Mini as it’s only 20 minutes long, but quality over quantity, right?

4. Yesterday’s Paper [2022, from ‘Green Dream In F#’]

Which is probably why this track gives up the ghost after 56 seconds. No point drawing things out for the sake of it, is there?

5. Clapping In Time [2023, from ‘Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot In Bethlehem’]

The record label writes: “In January and February 2023 The Bug Club toured around Independent Venue Week, and were supported by a mysterious band called Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits. We knew absolutely nothing about this band, but we were crafty enough to have somebody record the gigs on a cassette machine and we are now putting it out without them knowing. Some people sign bands and write up fair contracts; we just keep a cricket bat close to hand in case somebody comes looking for us. Luckily it turned out they were just The Bug Club in disguise. These tracks will never be recorded or released again. They might not be played again, either.” Well, they played Clapping In Time at the City Arms, so…

6. Rare Birds [2023, from ‘Rare Birds’]

The Bug Club’s second album was an adventurous double album their label dubbed “The Bug Club’s Hex Enduction Hour. South Wales’ Double Nickels On The Dime. It’s The Faust Cycle for people with shorter attention spans.” Containing 24 songs with 23 spoken word interludes, it’s like The Small Faces had Ivor Cutler round for tea and cake. Or something. Actually, nothing like that at all, but you get my drift. You don’t? Never mind. This is the title track, in which Sam and Tilly exchange English and Latin names of some rare birds. So it’s kind of like exactly what it says it is. Get it now?

The day after our Bug Club encounter, the band was supposed to be embarking on a tour supporting the legendary Shellac. Sadly, as you all know, the great Steve Albini passed away suddenly a few weeks before, meaning the tour was cancelled. Such a shame, that would have been one hell of a bill. (For what it’s worth, I’m still in mourning for Steve. MrsRobster and I enjoyed the new Shellac record ‘To All Trains’ turned up VERY LOUD in the car last weekend.)

The Bug Club are, however, playing dates in Spain in June, festival dates in July and there’s a UK tour in November (though lookout for one-offs in London and Edinburgh as well). All their stuff is on Bandcamp [https://thebugclub.bandcamp.com], and while on a US tour earlier in the year, they signed to Sub Pop, their first track for the seminal label being Quality Pints, included here as a bonus: [https://youtu.be/WwYLt4WGOqE?si=dZM6soZy_Pio3WSp]

The Robster

Various

JUNE’S TUNES

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It’s the first non-weekend day of a new month. So, without further ado….

mp3: Various – June’s Tunes

Arab Strap – Allatonceness
Electronic – Feel Every Beat (7″ mix)
Barry Adamson – The Last Words of Sam Cooke
Massive Attack ft. Tracey Thorn – Protection (single version)
The Wedding Present – Dare
Bikini Kill – Reject All American
Ducks Ltd – Hollowed Out
Talking Heads- Crosseyed and Painless
The Streets – Has It Come To This?
Sugababes – Overload
PJ Harvey – Big Exit
Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around
The Go-Betweens – Bye Bye Pride
Les Negresses Vertes – I Love Paris
The Clash – Police & Thieves

This is the sound of the summer……

JC

Cinerama

CLOSE-UP : THE CINERAMA SINGLES (Part 5)

A GUEST SERIES by STRANGEWAYS

Close Up: The Cinerama Singles #5 : Disco Volante singles (2)

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The year 2000 had been a prolific and highly creative year for Cinerama. LP #2 Disco Volante had been backed, as was usual, by fairly extensive touring across the mainland UK and out to the USA. In addition, a compilation of John Peel sessions had been released.

The DJ had been an enthusiastic and instrumental supporter of The Wedding Present from the band’s earliest days and this patronage had carried across to the new group. Now Peel got just what he always wanted: a song that, beyond his incalculable influence as a broadcaster, he himself had directly made happen.

Your Charms, inspired by a chat/challenge between Peel and David Gedge on the nature of old song titles, had begun life as a Peel session track in June of 2000

mp3: Cinerama – Your Charms (Peel Session, June 2000)

Subsequently re-recorded and appearing on Disco Volante, Your Charms was effervescent and catchy, lifted by a sing-along chorus and therefore absolutely prime single material. Resplendent with a summery sheen, there’s an argument that this song, and not Lollobrigida, should have been announcing the new LP.

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mp3: Cinerama – Your Charms

B-sides? First up was Reel 2, Dialogue 2 – its title a subtle nod to the origins of the bleeping Star Wars droid R2D2. The space references begin and end there though, with David Gedge and bandmate Sally Murrell swapping lead vocals in a sort of call-and-response dialogue concerning the familiar foibles of the heart. It’s solid enough, and it’s good to hear Sally M’s plaintive vocal unfettered by harmonies or battling with instrumentation amid which it could be easily lost.

mp3: Cinerama – Reel2, Dialogue 2

Girl on a Motorcycle – another of a zillion Gedge titles pinched from films – is ace. A winner of a chorus stays with you long after the song has zoomed off into the distance, plus Murrell’s accompanying ahhhs are so much more the sum of their parts.

mp3: Cinerama – Girl On A Motorcycle

Finally, for reasons of trainspotting and pedantry, it’d be remiss at this point not to mention that the single version of Your Charms clips a short pre-song patch of dialogue heard on the album take.

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mp3: Cinerama – Superman

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Superman. The fourth and final Disco Volante single from Cinerama.

The likes of Lollobrigida had tried its best to stretch and pull at my own shamefully narrow musical preferences. But in short order Superman, clothed in a more recognisable and comforting get-up, swooped down as if to scoop me far from the accordion.

To be honest, good song that it is, I’ve always found the words and overall sentiment of Superman to be a bit too self-pitying. That said, I do admire the entrance into the plot of the Man of Steel and the applying of the familiar comic-book phrase ‘that’s a job for Superman’ to a breakup issue rather than to one of global significance. Illustrating again a real purple patch for Sally Murrell contributions, her backing harmonies add texture throughout, whilst more substantial, if brief, vocals are latched onto the closing seconds.

Flips are Starry Eyed, its tinkling keyboard sections, its pace and prominent distorted guitar parts perhaps previewing what would be a switch in Cinerama’s sound.

Segueing on the CD single with little or no break from Starry Eyed is a corker: a cover of Yesterday Once More, the lovely song made famous by The Carpenters. This Cinerama take introduces things with several seconds of crackling, channel-hopping radio and the whole thing, with guitars-a-plenty is how you might imagine The Wedding Present tackling such a task. It’s recommended if you haven’t heard it.

mp3 : Cinerama – Starry Eyed
mp3 : Cinerama – Yesterday Once More

Worth mentioning is the Spanish-language version of Superman (Superman Versión en Español to give it its nombre del domingo). This was released on Scopitones as a limited seven-inch – all pressed up on thick green vinyl: the colour, it now strikes me, of Kryptonite.

mp3: Cinerama – Superman Versión en Español

Your B-side was Dura, Rápida y Hermosa (known in another life as Hard, Fast and Beautiful – one of the key tracks from debut LP Va Va Voom). This studio take – again in Spanish – is preceded by a clip of amusing gig banter.

mp3: Cinerama – Dura, Rápida y Hermosa

The four Disco Volante singles, their B-sides, and those Spanish-language takes are collected on the Cinerama Holiday compilation. This was released by Scopitones in 2002.

Trivia Time : Chansons dans d’autres langues

Superman, with is comic-book connection, and those Spanish versions of a couple of tracks, was only continuing tradition, really, where Gedge compositions are concerned.

As early as 1988, The Wedding Present – disguised as Cadeau De Mariage – released another limited seven-inch: Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable? – a French-language version of Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? Since then, other non-English-language takes, in a list unlikely to be exhaustive, have included:

In French, Cinerama, 2001: Health and Efficiency

In French, Cinerama, 2002: Lollobrigida

In German, Cinerama, 2004: Erriner Dich

In French, The Wedding Present, 2012: Deer Caught in the Headlights, End Credits, Metal Men, and Mystery Date

In German, The Wedding Present, 2013: Back A Bit… Stop!, The Girl From the DDR, You Jane and 524 Fidelio

In Welsh, The Wedding Present, 2014: 1000 Fahrenheit, Meet Cute, Journey Into Space, and Can You Keep a Secret?

And of course, a whole LP of Ukrainian-language folk songs (Wedding Present, 1988)

Pow!

As for comics and superhero references, I wouldn’t even attempt a full list, but in addition to Superman, connections across either LP/song titles or within lyrics have offered:

Bizarro – (Wedding Present, 1989)

Brassneck – (Wedding Present, 1989)

Dan Dare – (Wedding Present, 1991)

Catwoman – (Wedding Present, 1994)

Flame On – (Wedding Present, 1994)

Real Thing – (Wedding Present, 1996)

Cat Girl Tights – (Cinerama, 2002)

Santa Ana Winds – (Wedding Present, 2008)

Spider-Man on Hollywood – (Wedding Present, 2008)

Hulk Loves Betty (Wedding Present, 2008)

Metal Men (Wedding Present, 2012)

Connected, kind of, with these is Tales From The Wedding Present – billed as David Gedge’s autobiography in comic-book form. Recounted by the band and associates, and illustrated by Lee Thacker, these are well worth a read.

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The separate issues have all but sold out, but gathering and supplementing all of the original comic material, an anthology has been released.

You want it darker? Next up, Cinerama enters a new stage. One that would bring Gedge closer than ever to territory largely unvisited for six-plus years. It was the beginning of a phase whose sound was increasingly glancing back whilst moving forward and would eventually, logically, culminate in the return to the indie scene of a very familiar name.

And on that unnecessarily dramatic note, thanks as ever to JC and all readers.