THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

FROM THE ARCHIVES (17)

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It’s time to partially close down the blog for the period over Christmas and New Year. This time around I’m going to put up a re-posting from times gone by, and I’ll try my best to have all of them feature musicians whose appearances have been infrequent.

This dates from 6 April 2016. The title reflects it was part of a short-lived series on 10″ singles that sit in the cupboard here at Villain Towers.

MY SMALL BUNDLE OF TEN INCHERS (2)

Gil Scott-Heron (1 April 1949 – 27 May 2011) started out as a novelist, but from 1970 onwards became better known as a poet and musician thanks to a body of work which addressed much of what was wrong in modern society, particularly in his home country of America. His long time collaborator was Brian Jackson, a multi-talented musician and arranger. Scott-Heron and Jackson were unflinching in their approach, caring little for any criticism thrown at them that they were artists and musicians who had no concept of the ‘ghetto’ life they often wrote and sang about. They didn’t care much for mainstream success and acceptance, happy enough to write music and lyrics that would attack the most conservative values of America, knowing that the vast majority of radio stations and TV producers would shy away from giving them an airing.

The protest singing and poetry was well received in many parts of Europe. His songs and poems highlighted the dangers being posed by politicians who were moving ever further to the right, seeking out all sorts of enemies to fight with and all for the purpose of currying favour with an electorate stoked up by a frenzied media. It was a message that struck a chord with many.

He achieved most fame in the 80s as a vocal opponent of Ronald Reagan and the apartheid system, and the 10″ EP I have is a 1985 release to promote a Best Of compilation. Three of its songs are from the mid 70s, while the other – a superb attack on Reaganomics – was recorded in 1981.

mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron – Winter In America
mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron – Johannesburg
mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron – “B” Movie

The 90s and first decade of the 21st Century were far from kind to Gil Scott Heron. There were thirteen studio albums released between 1970 and 1984, but only one more would appear before 2010 albeit some compilations and live recordings kept his name known, aided too by just about every rapper who burst onto the scene mentioning Gil Scott-Heron as being a huge influence.

He had developed serious issues with drug addiction that led to him spending time in jail. Having been released in 2007, he dedicated himself to performing, writing and recording again, culminating in the release in 2010 of I’m New Here, an extraordinary but very short album (28 minutes spread over 15 tracks) full of intensely personal and reflective lyrics that one UK critic described as ‘Massive Attack jamming with Robert Johnson and Allen Ginsberg.’

A remix version of the album, We’re New Here was released in February 2011, featuring production by English musician Jamie xx, who reworked material from the original album to great effect. But just as many were again paying attention to Gil Scott-Heron, he died just a few months later at the age of 62. The cause of death has never been revealed, but the man himself in interviews on his release from prison had confirmed he was HIV-positive and that his health hadn’t been great.

A further album of stripped down music from the I’m New Here session was made available in limited release for Record Store Day in 2014, and then given a full release on 1 April 2015 on what would have been his 66th birthday. His life has been remembered too with the making and release of ‘Who Is Gil Scott Heron?‘, from the UK film makers Iain Forsyth and Jayne Pollard, whose previous work included the Nick Cave drama/documentary 20,000 Days on Earth.

Many of the tributes and obituaries at the time of his death used the words tortured genius. For once, they were being applied properly.

This is the last day of the archival material. The blog returns to normal as from tomorrow.

JC

Veruca Salt

FROM THE ARCHIVES (16)

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This dates from 3 November 2014.

SCARED HITLESS

I hope you agree that Scared Hitless is a cracking name for a record label – although it is seemingly a name adopted by many a hapless baseball team.

As far as I know, there were just six singles and one LP ever released via the label:-

FRET 001 : 3 and a half minutes – Peep (1992)
FRET 002 : 3 and a half minutes – Bled Me Dry (1993)
FRET 003 : Veruca Salt – Seether (1994)
FRET 004 : Skyscraper – Never Again (1995)
FRET 005 : Oslo – Talk To Feet (1999)
FRET 006 : Oslo – Skriker (1999)
FRETLP 001 : Oslo – Daylight (1999)

I’ve only one of the above records, but it’s an absolute belter:-

mp3 : Veruca Salt – Seether
mp3 : Veruca Salt – All Hail Me

Formed by Nina Gordon and Louise Post as an acoustic duo, they soon realised that wasn’t the sort of music they wanted to make and so they enlisted bass player Steve Lack and Jim Shapiro (Nina Gordon’s half-brother) on drums

They released a self-funded demo tape and shopped it to labels while playing a handful of small club shows. The buzz around the band grew furiously, and after only a few live gigs, the band was signed to Minty Fresh Records for whom they re-released Seether which then became a huge hit on MTV in the States and ultimately led to Veruca Salt signing a contract with Geffen Records.

The Scared Hitless release of Seether in the UK was June 1994 but after the single had picked up momentum in the USA, it was re-released in the UK on Hi-Rise Recordings in November 1994. I’ve got the 12″ version of this in the cupboard as well:-

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There were two tracks on the b-side taken from a BBC session:-

mp3 : Veruca Salt – Straight
mp3 : Veruca Salt – She’s A Brain

Seether only reached #61 in the UK charts but was hugely popular with listeners of the John Peel Show who voted it in at #3 in the 1994 Festive Fifty .

Happy Listening

JC

PS……..the blog returns to normal over the weekend, with the return of the Saturday series on Scottish songs, followed on Sunday with a single from The Wedding Present.

Ciccone Youth, Madonna

FROM THE ARCHIVES (15)

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This dates from 28 March 2019

ONLY WHEN I’M DANCING CAN I FEEL THIS FREE

From the outset, I had pigeonholed Madonna as someone who was very capable of offering up pop fodder, either in the form of catchy but lightweight upbeat songs or moody ballads that wouldn’t have been out-of-place on albums by the poodle-rock brigade. I had every belief she was someone who would disappear off the radar just as quickly and unexpectedly as she had come to wider attention, cast aside by the record label moguls as soon as the next sex-kitten emerged.

And then I heard this:-

mp3 : Madonna – Into The Groove

Long-time readers won’t be shocked by the revelation that I’m a huge fan of this song. It ticks all the boxes when it comes to disco-pop in terms of its simple lyrics over a killer tune that’s filled with hooks and little bits going on in the background that you don’t appreciate on initial listens. OK, it has what can be accurately described as a very mid-80s production, but it’s done in such a way that it transcends the mediocre and becomes memorable and more than capable of repeated listens. It’s aged way better than almost all of its contemporaries.

The other thing that I found quite remarkable was that Madonna was the co-author of the song, along with Stephen Bray, a Detroit-born musician she had met in the late 70s when she was studying dance at the University of Michigan. I had assumed, wrongly, that she was the type of singer for whom all the songs would be written by others – in other words, that she was a performer rather than a talented artiste in her own right.

I think it is fair to say that Madonna’s audience expanded as a result of the success of Into The Groove, helped also by the fact it was closely associated with the film Desperately Seeking Susan in which she gave an assured screen performance in a production that was as much a critical hit as it was a commercial success. What I hadn’t appreciated until doing a wee bit of background research for this piece is that while it was a #1 hit in many countries (her first here in the UK), it was ineligible for the Billboard charts in the USA as it had previously featured as a b-side to the hit single Angel. Someone at Warner Bros must have got their backside booted for that basic error…….

I love the fact that the song can be interpreted in a couple of ways. On the surface, it is really just a girl thoroughly enjoying herself on the dance floor but wanting a handsome boy in the room to start strutting his stuff right beside her – and more than likely being careful not to tread on her white handbag! But it’s also a lyric with a fair bit of innuendo and undertones – not least the line ‘Live out your fantasies here with me’

More than 30 years on and it’s still a piece of music that attracts critical acclaim. It’s been described as the ultimate 80s song which is maybe stretching things but understandable (for what it’s worth, not that I’m a fan of it, but Do They Know It’s Christmas? surely has to be given that accolade). A writer in Rolling Stone magazine points out that Into The Groove has an amazing bassline, which harks back to my own earlier point about it having things going on in the background that you don’t appreciate at first.

And of course it led to the most unexpected of tributes from Thurston Moore and Co:-

mp3 : Ciccone Youth – Into The Groove(y)

This was one of the tracks played by Stewart Braithwaite at our recent Simply Thrilled evening – it was received rapturously.

JC

Field Mice

FROM THE ARCHIVES (14)

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This dates from 3 August 2016.

THERE’S TWEE…..AND THEN THERE’S THIS

That above is the sleeve to the 7″ single with the catalogue number SARAH 12. It came out in December 1988 and was the debut from The Field Mice. The lead track is achingly gorgeous. There were three quality songs alongside it. If you own this single than please treasure it and look after it well. It sells for upwards of £60 on the second-hand market these days.

(2024 update……make that upwards of £100)

Of course, I don’t have a copy. I missed out on a lot of music in the late 80s as my priorities were elsewhere. It took me a long long long time to discover The Field Mice and it came courtesy of a 1998 CD compilation, which even then I didn’t buy until 2007… but I really didn’t mind being so late to the party.

The four tracks on the debut single appear on that compilation:-

mp3 : The Field Mice – Emma’s House
mp3 : The Field Mice – When You Sleep
mp3 : The Field Mice – Fabulous Friend
mp3 : The Field Mice – The Last Letter

Enjoy.

JC

Bananarama

FROM THE ARCHIVES (13)

This dates from 15 July 2020

ALL POP, ALL STYLE

It was through a collaboration with Fun Boy Three that Bananarama first enjoyed and experienced chart success. Their own debut single, Aie A Mwana, had stiffed outside the Top 75 despite a fair bit of media attention via various music and style papers/magazines. The trio’s harmonies did, however, find a fan in Terry Hall and they accepted his invite to sing co-vocals on his band’s cover of a 1930s jazz number, ‘Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It), which went all the way to #4 in early 1982.

Returning the favour, FB3 agreed to provide backing vocals for the next Bananarama single, which also turned out to be a cover – Really Sayin’ Something was their take on a 60s Motown song called He Was Really Sayin’ Something that had been a minor hit for Velvelettes, an all-girl group who released six singles all told, none of which charted high. The Bananarama version was a huge success, getting to #5 just a couple of months after the previous collaboration.

Next up, the trio of Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward sort of went out on their own, hooking up with the writing/production duo of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain who had delivered pop hits for the soul group Imagination (and who in 1982, would really hit payola from their work with Spandau Ballet on the album True).

Shy Boy was released in June 1982, around the time of my 19th birthday. By rights, I should have hated everything it stood for, with its whimsical, light and disposable tune and lyric being at odds with most things I was listening to and buying. But, as Edwyn and Orange Juice would say not too long afterwards, I Can’t Help Myself, especially when it comes to great pop tunes that earworm their way into my brain. Shy Boy was reviewed in Smash Hits magazine by a then up-and-coming writer called Neil Tennant, who later proved to know more than most about making great pop records:-

A brand new song crisply written and produced by Imagination’s production team. Sunny and singalong – when you hear it from hordes of transistor radios on a hot day at your favourite seaside resort you’ll forget about the sand in your sandwiches.

Shy Boy went all the way to #5 which meant that Bananarama could bask in the glory of enjoying a presence in the UK singles charts for 31 out 34 weeks from 13 February to 11 September 1982. It was the onset of an extended period of domination in the charts for the remainder of the decade.

I owned a copy of the 7″ for a number of years but finally made the effort to pick up a copy of the 12″ a few weeks back, finding a great seller on Discogs from whom I picked up a number of other pop hits from the 80s for future postings. The 12″ is more than a couple of minutes longer than the 7″ and radio hit, lots more shoop shoop aaaahs for those of us who love that sort of thing:-

mp3: Bananarama – Shy Boy (extended version)

I’d forgotten that the b-side was a song the trio themselves had written, an early version of a track that would be later re-recorded with a different title (Boy Trouble) for the debut album, Deep Sea Skiving:-

mp3: Bananarama – Don’t Call Us (extended version)

This poptastic b-side does hark to the sort of tunes that they had recorded earlier with FB3.

JC

Boo Radleys

FROM THE ARCHIVES (12)

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This dates from 14 May 2015

WISHING THAT THE WHOLE WORLD KNEW MY NAME…..

There can’t be many better examples than The Boo Radleys of a band being wrongly pigeonholed on the account of their one big hit.

Wake Up Boo! was everywhere in 1995. And it deserved to be given it was such a magnificent piece of catchy and infectious pop that put a smile on your face every time you heard it. The downside, however, is that it emerged at the same time as a lot of other guitar-led music with an indie-bent that got lumped together under the Britpop umbrella, and the outcome was the band also got held up as being part of the genre.

It was something they hated. They had been making critically acclaimed music since 1990 (initially lumped in with the ‘shoegazing’ fraternity) and indeed had, in 1993, released an album that has the critics swooning and proclaiming them as the best band in the country.

Giant Steps, which came out on Creation Records just before Oasis took that label into the stratosphere, was named as the 1993 record of the year by Select Magazine and #2 album of the year by the NME (behind Debut by Bjork). This was a remarkable achievement for an album that hadn’t spawned any hit singles nor sold in any great quantities, and it was also against some incredible competition – Suede, The Breeders, Blur, The The, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, Tindersticks and Radiohead were among those who released in 1993 what can now be seen as ‘classic’ albums. But it was well-merited. However, there is no way that you could consider Giant Steps to be in any shape or form a Britpop album.

It is true that the album Wake Up! (on which the hit single featured) was a lighter and more catchy affair than its acclaimed predecessor, and it did spend one week at #1 in the UK album charts (taking over from Celine Dion and being replaced later by Bruce Springsteen) and it did bring the band a whole new audience, but not one they were ever entirely comfortable with, particularly in the live environment. It was therefore hardly a surprise that the next album – C’Mon Kids in 1996 – was a long way removed from the sound of The Boo Radleys circa 1995 and in commercial terms it bombed; but in comparison to the next and final album – Kingsize in 1998 – it could be regarded as a huge seller.

The Boo Radleys made some great music throughout the 90s, but as I said are remembered chiefly for one song that is very unrepresentative of their sound. I prefer to remember them by these flop 45s:-

mp3 : The Boo Radleys – Wish I Was Skinny
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – Barney (…and me)
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – From The Bench at Belvidere
mp3 : The Boo Radleys – What’s In The Box (See Watcha Got)

And from this rather brave and interesting cover:-

mp3 : The Boo Radleys – The Queen Is Dead

Enjoy

JC

Altered Images

FROM THE ARCHIVES (11)

Happy-New-Year

Sorry that I told you lies yesterday. But this is a really short piece of music, (25 seconds) and something of a long-standing tradition.

mp3 : Altered Images – Happy New Year

JC

FFS, Franz Ferdinand

FROM THE ARCHIVES (10)

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This dates from 31 December 2015

BORN TO DO COVER VERSIONS

From Rolling Stone magazine:-

LCD Soundsystem’s tragically nostalgic dance-rock epic ‘All My Friends’ is arguably the best indie-rock song of the ’00s. The B-sides to the single were all cover versions, hinting that the song was a classic the minute it was released.

Scot rockers Franz Ferdinand, who’d already taken bracing, contorted grooves to the pop charts, were born to do ‘All My Friends’ and they turned in an incisive, raging guitar-grinding version with singer Alex Karpanos boozily crooning James Murphy’s forlorn lyrics about losing touch with your friends as you grow older and more ambitious. Musically, they pull of a wonderful trick of interlaying their version with references to legendary post-punk bands like New Order and the Gang of Four that LCD and Franz share as influences. It’s an A-plus history project you can get way down to.

mp3 : Franz Ferdinand – All My Friends

It really is a cracking, crackling energetic cover that is among the best things that FF have ever laid down. But then again, they’re a band who have never shied away from tackling cover versions throughout their career, some without question more successfully than others as evidenced here:-

mp3 : Franz Ferdinand – Sexy Boy
mp3 : Franz Ferdinand – Get Up and Use Me
mp3 : Franz Ferdinand – What You Waiting For?
mp3 : Franz Ferdinand – Sound and Vision

I’m quite fond of the first two of the four featured above, not convinced by the third as I’ve no time for the original (albeit Mrs Villain is a fan of Gwen Stefani) while the latter is fun enough for the fact that Girls Aloud are on backing vocals!

I never ever got round to mentioning that the FFS project turned out to be one of the best surprises about 2015. The idea of Franz Ferdinand and Sparks combining into a supergroup for an album and live performances didn’t seem like a good idea when first mooted but then I gave the album a listen and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was but that was nothing compared to seeing them perform at the Glasgow Barrowlands which turned out to be a fun-filled and hugely entertaining gig. This was the night when I did truly understand the FF boys were born to do cover versions.

Watch this entire 70 minute performance while you have spare time over the festive period.

You can perhaps do it tomorrow when I’m taking a day off blogging. I’ll be back on Tuesday with some more archive material……but it won’t be long now till things get back to normal.

Happy New Year when it comes.

JC

Happy Mondays, Happy Mondays and Karl Denver

FROM THE ARCHIVES (9)

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This dates from 26 December 2014

THE DAY THE BARGAIN HUNTERS COME OUT IN FORCE

The day after Christmas can sometimes be a bit of an anti-climax. I hope it is not the case with you dear readers.

The folk I feel sorry for are those in the retail sector. They probably finished at 6pm on Christmas Eve after about three or four weeks in a row without a day off, during which time they dealt with customers who were clueless and often rude. I certainly saw some supermarket check-out staff get a mouthful of abuse because the shop had the temerity to have run out of some foodstuffs and those who left it till the last-minute were disappointed and in some cases angry.

Today, many of those hard-pressed workers will have had to go to their place of employment at stupid o’clock to get their shops and stores ready for those who still think that the best bargains in retail world are to be had on 26 December, and so they queue up for hours, often in the the miserable cold and wet, and then have a mad dash inside when the doors open.

I guarantee there will be footage on the news later on.

Over here, 26th December is referred to as Boxing Day. Thought I’d find a track with a very tenuous link to the theme of boxing for today.

It was one of three tunes on a belter of a CD single from 1990:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays – W.F.L. (Vince Clarke mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays – W.F.L. (Think About The Future)
mp3 : Happy Mondays and Karl Denver – Lazyitis – one armed boxer

Enjoy.

JC

Betty Boo

FROM THE ARCHIVES (8)

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This dates from 27 June 2014

GETTING AWAY FROM GRUMPY POSTINGS

The past two days of postings have been a tad grumpy what with being the underwhelming Salad being followed by the incredibly disappointing 13th single from James.

The solution therefore has to be a song that has the ability to make me smile no matter the mood I’m in whenever it pops up on the i-pod. It’s one that some readers may be surprised to find featured on t’blog as, let’s face it, it is a song that is ridiculously light and rather inconsequential when it comes down to it, rarely if ever to feature on any countdown of all time favourites for a particular month far less a lifetime, but I have professed my love for this tune on previous occasions over at the old place.

mp3 : Betty Boo – Let Me Take You There (12″ version)

It was back in August 1992 when this delectable piece of pop caught the summer feeling and climbed its way to #12 in the UK charts and two years on from when Betty Boo (whose real name is Alison Clarkson) had first come to the attention of the public when she had enjoyed two Top 10 singles and a very successful debut LP, Boomania which reached #4 and led to her being named Best Breakthrough Act at The BRITS.

The lead-off single from the new album was incredibly radio friendly, helped by its clever sampling of a Four Tops song, and relates the simple tale of wanting to escape from the daily grind and head down to the seaside for a day of fun and frolics. It’s not a song that would ever claim to change the world, but I fell for its charms big-time and still have a 12″ copy kicking around in the cupboard

This was the last time, however, that Betty Boo bothered the charts as a solo artist. The follow-up singles flopped badly, while the LP from which they were lifted sold miserably and reached just #66.

Alison Clarkson however, has managed to maintain a career in and around the music industry, chiefly as a songwriter for a number of disposable and largely forgettable acts.

2023 Update

After many years out of the limelight as a performer, Betty Boo returned with a new album, Boomerang, in October 2022. It reached #45 in the charts, but none of the five singles lifted from it proved to be hits.

Enjoy

JC

Gaye Bykers On Acid

FROM THE ARCHIVES (7)

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What follows is from June 2017, and is taken from what was a longer post that was part of a year-long series looking at #1 hits in the Indie Charts of the 80s, 90s and 00s.

THINK INDIE

But back first of all to 1987.

Gaye Bikers On Acid. One of the greatest band names of all time. Just a pity that I cannot for the life of me recall any of their songs.

Wiki tell us they were an English psychedelic rock band from Leicester, and one of the founder members of the Grebo music scene. They later released both thrash punk and dance music albums under various aliases and consisted of:-

Mary Byker (Ian Garfield Hoxley) – vocals
Tony Byker/Phlegm Lubricant/Tony Shuttleburger/Sven Eleven– (Tony Horsfall) – guitar
Robber Byker (Ian Reynolds) – bass guitar
Rocket Ronnie (William Samuel Ronald Morrow) – turntablist
Kev Byker/Cubehead Buffalo Hyde/Gavina Hyde/Kenny Pride – (Kevin Hyde) – drums

Their first two releases – the single Everythang’s Groovy and the Nosedive Karma EP – were both recorded with the help of Jon Langford of The Mekons, and released on the InTape label which was run by Marc Riley (then merely an ex-member of The Fall and not yet one half of a terrific radio duo).

The success of these releases led to them signing to Virgin Records and releasing the albums Drill Your Own Hole in 1987 and Stewed to the Gills in 1989. Initial quantities of the vinyl version of Drill Your Own Hole was pressed without a hole in the centre, so it was necessary to literally drill your own hole to play it.

They also played gigs (dressed in women’s clothing) under the name ‘Lesbian Dopeheads on Mopeds’, supporting themselves, and thus getting paid twice. They also performed as a fictitious East German thrash punk band “Rektüm” (they claimed to have jumped over the Berlin Wall), recording an LP Sakredanus and an EP Real Horror Show under the name.

However, management problems and poor sales meant that they were dropped by Virgin in 1989. They subsequently released the album Cancer Planet Mission on their own record label, Naked Brain. They also recycled and used the band name ‘The Purple Fluid Exchange’ (PFX) to release their dance cross-over material. It was at this time that Rocket Ronnie joined the band as DJ, sample player and dance advisor.

In 1990 they released Pernicious Nonsense, their last studio album, again recorded with Jon Langford . Poorly attended tours in the US and UK caused friction and the final blow came when Rough Trade, who distributed their Naked Brain recordings, went bankrupt owing them and many other bands considerable amounts of cash.

A band who, understandably, generated a loyal following who revelled in the fact they were far from predictable and by all accounts a bonkers and occasionally brilliant live act.

mp3 : Gaye Bykers On Acid – Nosedive Karma

JC

Nightingales

FROM THE ARCHIVES (6)

This dates from 12 August 2020

SCARED TO GET HAPPY – THE NIGHTINGALES

The inclusion of The Nightingales on the Scared To Get Happy compilation allows me to finally find a reason to get my finger out of my backside and feature them on the blog for the first time. I’m actually a wee bit surprised nobody has ever come up with the suggestion of an ICA for a band that, over the years, has released eleven studio albums, (three in the 80s and the others since they reformed in 2004), either as a stand-alone effort or incorporating the short-lived solo career of frontman Robert Lloyd.

One of the purposes of this series is to enable me to go to other websites to cut’n’paste bios to save me thinking for myself. This is from the official website of The Nightingales:-

Birmingham’s original punk group The Prefects had been part of The Clash’s ‘White Riot Tour’, recorded a couple of Peel sessions, released a 45 on Rough Trade and, years after splitting up, had a retrospective CD released by NY label Acute Records to all-round glowing reviews – from Rolling Stone to webzines.

The Nightingales were formed by a few members of The Prefects following that band’s demise in 1979.

Described in John Robb’s definitive book on post-punk (“Death To Trad Rock”) as “The misfits’ misfits” and comprising an ever-fluctuating line up, based around lyricist/singer Robert Lloyd, the Nightingales enjoyed cult status in the early ’80s as darlings of the credible music scene and were championed by John Peel, who said of them – “Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans”.

The group recorded a bunch of critically acclaimed singles – pretty much always ‘Single Of The Week’ in the music press – and three albums, plus many radio sessions for their great supporter Peel. They also regularly toured the UK and Northern Europe, as headliners and supporting acts as diverse as Bo Diddley and Nico.

In the late Eighties, the Nightingales stopped working but, following the occasional gig between times, they re-grouped in 2004.

After fucking about with various part-timers, starry-eyed wastrels, precious sorts and mercenaries the group arrived at the current line up, which features Lloyd, Andreas Schmid from Faust on bass, ex Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson and on guitar James Smith, who Lloyd had spotted playing with Damo Suzuki.

Since restarting the group have been more productive than ever – releasing six 7″ vinyl singles, two 10″ EPs and eight studio albums, touring England, mainland Europe and USA numerous times, playing various festivals and recording many radio sessions along the way.

The band continued and continue to operate with no manager, booking agent, publisher, et al, but they get by. And they work equally well with pop musicians, rock n rollers and the avant-garde. The group is independent, maverick, diligent, daft, blah blah.

Until recent times the Nightingales made one record for a label and then, by choice or otherwise, moved on. But since 2017 they have been going steady with Tiny Global Productions.

The first TGP release was a 10” EP, followed in 2018 by a 45rpm collaboration with Vic Godard – “Commercial Suicide Man”- and another critically acclaimed ‘Gales album “Perish The Thought”.

To support “Perish The Thought” the group toured Europe extensively, from Scotland to Serbia.

2019 saw the filming of a feature-length Nightingales documentary film, “King Rocker” -written by brilliant stand up comedian Stewart Lee, directed by Michael Cumming (‘Brass Eye’, ‘Toast Of London’, etc) – and the recording of a new album.

The album, “Four Against Fate”, was released in May 2020, but the accompanying UK and Euro tours had to be postponed until 2021.

Plans for “King Rocker” were also disrupted but the film will have theatrical & TV premiers later this year.

Before too long there will be assorted reissues and records of previously unreleased material. Plus a bunch of other stuff, maybe? Either way, by hook or by crook, more adventures will follow.

Paraffin Brain is the track included on Scared To Get Happy. It was the band’s third single, released in 1982 on Cherry Red but not included on debut album Pigs on Purpose, released the very same year – indeed the album was originally issued minus any of the four singles from that same era, very much in keeping with the punk ethos, although a subsequent re-issue on CD in 2004 included the 2nd, 3rd and 4th singles, plus b-sides.

mp3: The Nightingales – Paraffin Brain
mp3: The Nightingales – Elvis, The Last Ten Days

Both are reminiscent in places of The Fall and the angular guitar sounds of Fire Engines/Josef K. The single did make a very small dent on the indie charts but deserved better. The b-side gives an insight into what, for many, made The Nightingales stand out from the crowd, namely the way that Robert Lloyd conceived his ideas and lyrics. This particular effort is him imagining what the final ten entries in the diary of Elvis Presley might have looked liked as he grew increasingly disillusioned and tired of everything going on around him. Day 10, the final entry, is witty and sad in equal measures.

JC

D.A.F., Ladytron, Psychic TV, Shreikback, Strange Idols

FROM THE ARCHIVES (5)

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This dates from 23 March 2016

ODDS & SODS

Most of the time I do try to link things in postings, such as offering a b-side, other songs by the same singer/band, a cover version, or perhaps something vaguely linked to the era or song matter.

But the hard drive contains some songs that just can’t be handled that way, and so I’ve decided to have an occasional feature that allows me to squeeze in songs of distinction and quality which would otherwise not get a chance to be listened to:-

mp3 : D.A.F. – Der Mussolini

D.A.F. is short for Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, a Dusseldorf based band who were originally with us at the tail end of the 70s and into the early 80s. I only have one of their songs, and it was downloaded from elsewhere, but it was one that I danced to a fair bit back in the student days. Don’t worry folks, it’s not a track praising the merit of the old fascist – indeed it is merely encouraging Benny boy to shake his ass with his dancing partners Adolf and Jesus. If it wasn’t for the pounding electro-beat, it’d be as camp as can be.

mp3 : Shriekback – Fish Below The Ice

Shriekback formed in 1981, initially as a trio of Barry Andrews (ex-XTC), Dave Allen (ex-Gang Of Four) and Carl Marsh. They have been an and on off project ever since, with Andrews being the only consistent member of the band. They occasionally threatened to break through in the early 80s, none more so than when the LP Oil and Gold was released in 1985; the main problem though was that the strongest songs, included that featured here, had Marsh on vocals even though he had quit Shriekback midway through the recording of the album, thus making promotional duties a tad difficult.

mp3 : Ladytron – Seventeen

Ladytron, formed in 1999, seem to still to be going strong, although it’s now getting on for five years since they released what was their fifth studio LP. They were the brainchild of two Liverpool producers and DJs – Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu – but were soon joined by two female musicians, the Scottish-born Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo from Bulgaria. They were championed by a fair few in the media, particularly the music correspondents across a number of UK broadsheet newspapers who almost collectively predicted big things, but they never quite got beyond cult status despite making a number of more than decent singles and albums. The song featured here is a single from 2002 for which big things were anticipated, but it stalled at #68.

mp3 : Psychic TV – Godstar

There’s a lot that can be written about Pyschic TV, and no doubt somebody has elsewhere. There’s a very lengthy wiki piece that you can track down. I’m not qualified to offer any opinion at all, as all I have is one mp3 that originally came courtesy of its inclusion on a cassette for me by Jacques the Kipper. It’s a song about the late Brian Jones.

mp3 : Strange Idols – She’s Gonna Let You Down

Named after an album released by Felt back in 1984, this five-piece London band seem to wear their 80s indie-op influences very much on their sleeves if this track from 2007, which I have courtesy of a compilation CD, is anything to go by. It has a wonderfully hypnotic guitar, lots of ba-ba-ba vocals from what sounds like a dreamy female lead vocalist all underpinned by a DIY production that really does hark back to an earlier period. I think my mate Aldo will love this…….

JC

Sultans Of Ping

FROM THE ARCHIVES (4)

This dates from 25 December 2017

TRAD ROCK

It’s inevitably what you find here each 25th December:-

mp3 : Sultans of Ping – Xmas Bubblegum Machine

JC

Pogues

FROM THE ARCHIVES (3)

This dates from 24 December 2014

IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE BABE, IN THE…..

mp3 : Tindersticks – Drunk Tank

Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m well fed-up with hearing the same old festive-related songs in every single shop I go into as I search for the perfect last-minute gift for Mrs Villain. Consider this my equivalent of the dirty protest.

But tune in tomorrow for what has become the regular 25th December posting on TVV (and no looking back to previous years to spoil it….)

Hope Santa is good to you all.

JC

Cake

FROM THE ARCHIVES (2)

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Here’s one from October 2017, but which has been modified to reflect the current make-up of the band.

RELUCTANTLY CROUCHED AT THE STARTING LINE

I just love that opening line to this #22 hit single from the autumn of 1996.

My first exposure to it was on Channel 4 which, at the time, occasionally aired music videos inbetween programmes. I’m almost certain this was shown immediately in advance of the main news show which has always been broadcast at 7pm.

Cake, as wiki informs us, are an alternative rock band from Sacramento, California. Consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Daniel McCallum and drummer Todd Roper, the band has been noted for McCrea’s sarcastic lyrics and monotone vocals, DiFiore’s trumpet parts, and their wide-ranging musical influences, including country music, Mariachi, rock, funk, Iranian folk music and hip hop.

They have enjoyed sporadic success in their home nation, including a #1 album as recently as 2011, but over here in the UK they have been very much an underground act and The Distance remains their highest charting 45 while the LP it was lifted from, Fashion Nugget, is the only one that has made it inside the Top 75.

I do like this single – the deadpan vocals and the trumpet solo help lift it above the norm.

mp3 : Cake – The Distance

The CD single had three other tracks on offer:-

mp3 : Cake – Multiply The Heartaches
mp3 : Cake – Jolene (live)
mp3 : Cake – It’s Coming Down

The first is very influenced by country music; bits of it remind me of Squeeze tacking the genre on Labelled With Love. There’s also a feeling of sounding, vocally, like Mark E Everett.

The second is NOT a cover of the song made famous by Dolly Parton and later recorded by Glasgow’s very own Strawberry Switchblade. It’s one of their own compositions and could be something out of the canon of Violent Femmes with added trumpet. Warning. It goes on for over 8 minutes and involves audience participation. I’m guessing it’s lifted from a radio show as the occasional swear word is bleeped out.

The final track is very much a b-side effort; it’s a bit laboured and repetitive. Not one that I’ll listen to again willingly – one for the ‘next’ button function on your listening device.

JC

Kid Creole & The Coconuts

FROM THE ARCHIVES (1)

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I’m opening with one which was mined from the old Blogger platform, where it was originally published in June 2009 and then regurgitated on the WordPress version in July 2018.

SKELETONS IN MY CLOSET (Part 9)

I may have thought I was really cool back in 1982 with my ever expanding record collection full of great indie music, but every now and again I fell for the charms of sheer radio fodder.

Blame it on the hormones, as I couldn’t take my eyes off the telly screen whenever the bikini-wearing Coconuts were there doing their stuff on backing vocals to Kid Creole.

But let’s be honest, listen to the sax playing on ‘Wonderful Thing’ and accept it’s not far removed from that which appears on Rip It Up…..

From seemingly out of nowhere (although it turned out he had been part of bands or production teams for a few years), August Darnell hit payola with his alter ego as Kid Creole & The Coconuts had a triumphant year in 1982. Three Top 10 singles in the UK and a Top 2 LP that hung around the charts for some nine months, and loads of TV appearances in the days when we had just the three terrestrial channels in the UK.

mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – I’m A Wonderful Thing Baby
mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy
mp3 : Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Stool Pigeon

Ha cha cha cha……

Don’t worry too much folks, I never adopted the bright shirts or zoot suits as a look…..I still wore my raincoat as I danced to this lot.

JC

Joe Jackson

INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE

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From 1979. The second single released by the then 25-year-old Joe Jackson, one of the new singer-songwriters whom some record company bosses (in this case A&M Records) believed had a way with words and tunes that could harness the energy of this new wave stuff that was taking hold of the youth’s attention.

mp3: Joe Jackson – Sunday Papers

It’s quite likely that this song would either get banned or, more likely, result in Joe having to come with a re-write to enable airplay. Indeed, it’s very likely that if he was sitting down today to try and come up with the songs, then he would likely have refrained from the opening couplet:-

Mother doesn’t go out any more
Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes

Otherwise, the song certainly details an awful lot of what was wrong with British society back in those days, when a number of Sunday newspapers would sell in their millions thanks to their obsession with scandals, crime and sensationalism, very often not caring if what was being printed was the truth. Some of the worst offenders may have gone by the wayside since 1979, but nothing much has changed, and indeed with the frightening and unregulated growth of social media, things have become a lot worse and frightening.

Spastic was a common word back in the late 70s – there was even a UK charity called Spastics Society which raised a fair amount of money and did a great deal to try and change attitudes towards people living with disabilities. But all too often, the word was shortened to ‘spaz’ and used as a derogatory and offensive term. The Collins Dictionary now defines spastic to mean ‘an old-fashioned and offensive name for a person who has cerebral palsy’.

The Spastics Society changed its name in 1994 to SCOPE, marking what should have been the final stage of making the word totally unacceptable in everyday language.

Joe Jackson had long recognised the need to amend the lyric. Indeed, he did so just a few years after the song had been recorded.

I don’t wanna go out any more
I read the news, I can’t believe my eyes

Indeed, the entire lyrics of the song had been changed beyond recognition, possibly for his American audiences whose knowledge of the UK tabloid newspaper industry would have been scant.

mp3: Joe Jackson – Sunday Papers (live)

As captured on the Body and Soul tour when he went on the road with a swing band, and later included on the album Joe Jackson Live 80/86.

The b-side of the 7″, which was a flop in the UK, was the title song from the debut album:-

mp3: Joe Jackson – Look Sharp

At the time, back in ’79, I didn’t really get the Joe Jackson/Elvis Costello comparisons that many critics were making. As time has gone by, I really hear it now.

JC

Jesus & Mary Chain

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #042

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#042– The Jesus and Mary Chain – ‘You Trip Me Up’ (Blanco y Negro Records ’85)

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Hello friends,

yes, to Scotland we go today – to East Kilbride in fact, because this is where The Jesus & Mary Chain come from. By the way, did you know it’s just ten miles from East Kilbride’s town center to Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street?

Now, the question I have been asking myself for quite some years is (quite a long sentence to follow, so grab yourself a beer and be prepared): how on earth is it possible that Jim Reid, probably one of the world’s most miserable gits, although sulking depressively most of the day, and, but that’s just my personal opinion, by all accounts having had a few too much to drink most of the day, is able to express himself in a tone which is absolutely easily understandable, totally problem-free even (also for me – and English is not my mother language), regardless whether he speaks or sings – whereas you just stand there, perplexed, helpless, because you don’t understand A SINGLE BLOODY WORD whenever JC or Drew open their mouths?! And, believe it or not, those two are a big fluffy bed of roses against Craig from Plain or Pan ….. and, as I said, it’s just ten fucking miles ..wtf!!!

The Mary Chain, well, all has been said about them, right? I won’t bore you with details, so, like their songs, this may well turn out to be a brief post, if you’re lucky. What is important though, I think – and I have been contemplating about this a lot, didn’t come to a different conclusion though – in all of the mid 80’s, there has not been any other band that changed music for me as drastically as The Jesus & Mary Chain have done. Their stuff was so “new” to me, so unheard – I immediately fell in love with them, bought their records and even had the chance to see them live a few times in their early days.

But which single to take for the series? I mean, there are quite a lot to choose from, all very good. And that’s another bonus of the band: they remained being wonderful, at least in my book. Differently, yes, but wonderful (I mean, come on – even ‘Damage & Joy’ had its moments, right?). To be honest I first wanted to include the double 7” of ‘April Skies’ from 1987, a brilliant song by all accounts, no question about this. But then I realized that ‘April Skies’ doesn’t really stand for what made the band so ‘big’ to me back in 1985, so I invested a bit more cash to buy and put this one into the 111 singles – box:

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mp3: The Jesus and Mary Chain – You Trip Me Up

I still have the original 12”, you see, but this doesn’t count, obviously. And although the purchase might have been a bit nerdy perhaps, I needed to have it. Why? Well, it always was my favorite track from ‘Psychocandy’ and thus it best represents the musical change that The Jesus & Mary Chain managed to institute with me in 1985.

Enjoy,

Dirk

North Of Cornwallis

ONE SONG ON THE HARD DRIVE (7)

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North Of Cornwallis. The one song I have is a nice bit of indie-pop as included on the NME C86 box set, consisting of 72 tracks across 3xCDs, as issued on Cherry Red Records back in 2014:-

mp3: North of Cornwallis – Billy Liar

Info is hard to come by. The song was written by Lester Noel and Robert Adamson. The former was previously part of Grab Grab The Haddock, a band that had been formed by Jane and Alice Fox following the disbanding of Marine Girls (the first band in which Tracey Thorn was ever involved).

I’ve also found that Lester Noel later joined Beats International, the dance group formed by Norman Cook and who enjoyed a #1 hit with Dub Be Good To Me in 1990.

North of Cornwallis don’t appear to ever have released any singles, EPs or albums, with just a couple of tracks making it into compilations back in the day or retrospectively.

And that’s about it………………….