THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #357: UNCOMMON INSTRUMENTS (2)

RIPPING OFF THE IDEA FROM JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

JTFL, having offered up some ICAs featuring Trumpets, then went one better with an ICA made up of ten tracks in which uncommon instruments were used – Steel Drums, Theremin, Oboe, Musical Saw, Harp, Xylophone, Melodica, Spoons, Harpsichord and Mellotron.

The task I set myself was to come up with ten completely different instruments. I’ve managed it, and while there’s a few more familiar instruments involved, they are not heard on recordings on a very frequent basis. Oh, and I only had to look one of them up. Let’s starts with something Scottish……

SIDE A

1. Bagpipes

Sleep The Clock Around – Belle and Sebastian

The pipes drone their way in at the end of this, the second track of the band’s third album, The Boy With The Arab Strap. Credit is given to Ian Mackay for this one and appears to be the only song on which the piper is credited anywhere on Discogs.

2. Banjo

Sing – Travis

I’m not a musician and haven’t ever paid much attention to the origins of any instruments. I’ve always assumed the banjo came out of one of the states of America, but have now been educated and finally know that the modern take on it derives from African-style instruments brought to that part of the word by enslaved people.

Sing was the first single to be lifted from the album The Invisible Band and, in reaching #3 in May 2001 turned out to be the most successful 45 released by Travis. The banjo is played by their guitarist, Andy Dunlop.

3. Chapman Stick

I Don’t Remember – Peter Gabriel

This is the one I had to look up. I had come up with nine instruments, but reckoned that a glance at the credits on Peter Gabriel 3, released back in 1980, would throw something different up. And so it proved.

The Chapman Stick was developed in the early 70s by jazz musician Emmett Chapman. It has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, chords, or textures, and unlike the electric guitar, it is usually played by tapping or fretting the strings, rather than plucking them. (you can tell I’ve looked this up!!). Tony Levin, a proliic session and touring musician, was one of the first to specialise in playing the Chapman Stick and it’s his work you’ll hear on I Don’t Remember.

4. Glockenspiel

No Surprises – Radiohead

A rather beautiful number from OK Computer (1997) which was later released as a single and reached #4 in January 1998. The single was accompanied by a brilliant but scary video that I’m sure all of you have seen. If not, then head over to YouTube or the likes. The glockenspiel on this one is courtesy of Jonny Greenwood.

5. Trombone

Hyperactive – Thomas Dolby

It seems that Thomas Dolby wrote this with the intention of having Michael Jackson record it. Having sent the ‘King of Pop’ a demo version but hearing nothing back, he decided to have a go at it himself, and in doing so kind of throws the kitchen sink at it, including a trombone solo from Peter Thoms

SIDE B

1. Accordion

This Is The Day – The The

An instrument that makes me think of France, as it seems to accompany any first sighting of the Eiffel Tower in any feature film or documentary. It’s use on this, one of my favourite songs of all time, made it a certainty for the ICA. It is played by the then 24-year-old and largely unknown Wix, but who has since become a bit of a legend as part of Paul McCartney‘s touring band since 1989.

2. Mandolin

When I’m Asleep –Butcher Boy

Yet another song in which the accordion introduces proceedings, this time thanks to Alison Eales. But its inclusion on the ICA is thanks to Basil Pieroni’s contribution via mandolin. It was either this or Losing My Religion, but I reckon you’re being treated to a better song.

3. Harmonica

For Once In My Life – Stevie Wonder

I wasn’t sure about including the harmonica in the ICA as it is quite common, relatively speaking. There are hundreds of examples out there, but I’ve settled on this rather fabulous upbeat pop single from 1968. Stevie Wonder‘s take on it is quite different from the original, as it was written as, and subsequently recorded as, a slow ballad by a number of different performers.

4. Bassoon

Flaming Sword – Care

I knew this single from 1983 contained an unusual instrument, but I couldn’t have told you what was making the sound. But I’ve just finished reading Revolutionary Spirit: A Post-Punk Exorcism, the very enjoyable memoir penned by Paul Simpson, who among other things was one-half of Care, and he mentions, on Page 205, that it is bassoon-laden. He doesn’t say, however, who played it.

5. Clarinet

Say Hello Wave Goodbye – Soft Cell

Not the version you all are most familiar with, either through the 7″ or 12″ singles that have been featured on the blog on many previous occasions. This is the b-side of the 7″. It’s an instrumental version. It’s rather wonderful, thanks to the two Daves – Mr Ball or synths and drum machine and Mr Tofani on clarinet.

Bonus Song

Tindersticks – No More Affairs (instrumental)

In keeping with the closing track of the ICA, here’s the b-side of a 1994 single, in which the voice of Stuart Staples is replaced by the magnificent Terry Edwards on trumpet.

JC

Various

WELCOME…. TO NOTHING MUCH

Untitled

mp3: Various – Welcome to Nothing Much

First new day of the month has come to mean an hour-long mixtape round these parts.

Hope this one meets your approval.

The National – Apartment Story
Basement Jaxx – Red Alert
Magazine – Definitive Gaze
Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love?
Sons & Daughters – Dance Me In (album version)
Pet Shop Boys – Domino Dancing
Working Men’s Club – Teeth
Dinosaur Jr. – Freakscene
dEUS – Suds and Soda (album version)
Brenda – Cease and Desist
Kirsty MacColl – Walking Down Madison (album version)
The Clash – The Magnificent Seven
Electronic – Feel Every Beat (7″ remix)
Album Club– The Hard Part
The Wedding Present – What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?

JC

Care

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (76)

R-214328-1540287816-9038

This one has been inspired by Revolutionary Spirit : A Post-Punk Exorcism, a book published in late 2023 by Jawbone Press, a London-based independent publisher which specialises in music and popular culture.

It was written by Paul Simpson. I’ll let the Jawbone Press folk say some things:-

“Part memoir, part social history, Revolutionary Spirit is the poignant, often hilarious story of a cult Liverpool musician’s scenic route to fame and artistic validation. If Morrissey was the Oscar Wilde of the 1980s indie scene, Paul Simpson was its William Blake, a self-destructive genius so lost in mystical visions of a new arcadia that he couldn’t meet the rent.

“Simpson’s career begins alongside fellow Liverpool luminaries Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch, Bill Drummond, Ian Broudie, Will Sergeant, Pete Wylie, Pete Burns, and Pete de Freitas at the infamous Eric’s club, where, in 1976, he finds himself at the birth of the city’s second great musical explosion. Along the way, he co-founds and christens the neo-psychedelic pop group The Teardrop Explodes, shares a flat with a teenage Courtney Love, and forms The Wild Swans, the indie band of choice for literary-minded teens in the early 1980s, who burn bright and brief, in the process recording one of the all-time great cult hit singles, ‘Revolutionary Spirit’.

“Marriage, fatherhood, and tropical illness follow, interspersed with artistic collaborations with Bill Drummond and members of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, among others. Following an onstage reunion with Cope at the Royal Festival Hall, Simpson discovers that seven thousand miles away, in the Philippines, he is considered a musical god. Presidential suites, armed guards, police escorts—you couldn’t make it up, and, incredibly, he doesn’t need to.

“Revolutionary Spirit marks the arrival of an original literary voice. It is the story of a musician driven by an unerring belief that artistic integrity will bring its own rewards—and an elliptical elegy to the ways it does.”

It really is a remarkable and engaging read. It is not your typical rock bio, and is very much all the better for it. The chapters on his childhood and upbringing are every bit as enjoyable as the years when he was such an integral part of the Liverpool ‘scene’, while the later years, which cover a long period when I was unaware that Paul Simpson was still involved in making music, are illuminating. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The chapters on his time with Care make for rather sad reading. Without going into too much detail, he had been burned by the break-up of The Wild Swans and embittered by the success of The Lotus Eaters, who in effect were The Wild Swans with a different vocalist. He hooked up with Ian Broudie, then trying hard to make it as a performer rather than merely as a producer, and they signed to a major label in the shape of Arista Records. A debut single was recorded in the summer of 1983 with uber-producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley.

There was considerable airplay via the evening shows on Radio 1, which is where I heard it and fell heavily for its charms. But it didn’t make the A-list, and the single faded into obscurity.

The friends of the two musicians, and the book reveals there’s a huge cast who come into that category, suggested that maybe Ian Broudie should produce things from now on. He was at the helm of the follow-up single, Flaming Sword, which got to #48 in November 1983.

Work got underway on a third single as well as songs intended for a debut album. The third single, Whatever Possessed You, hit the shops in early 1984 at which point Paul Simpson got cold feet and walked out on Care.

Ian Broudie was stunned by this, but his ambitions weren’t derailed, which is why, a few years later, he in essence went solo but under the guise of Lightning Seeds. Paul Simpson went down a totally different path…..

Care really could have been and should have been contenders. But it’s quite clear, from Paul Simpson’s own recollections, that they were more or less doomed from the outset.

All the music by Care that was either fully produced or in the process of being finalised was collated on a 1997 CD, Diamonds & Emeralds, which really only saw the light of day as something of a cash-in on the success of Lightning Seeds. But let’s be grateful for small mercies.

Here’s the tracks from the 12″ version of the debut single, of which I’ve been a proud owner for 41 years!

mp3 : Care – My Boyish Days (Drink To Me)
mp3 : Care – An Evening In The Ray
mp3 : Care – Sad Day For England

The version that can be found on Diamonds & Emeralds is different in that it has a longer outro offering up an additional 40 seconds or so.

JC

Cure, Destroy All Monsters, Fingerprintz, Jilted John, Ramones, Those Naughty Lumps

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (January, part three)

While lying on a beach in Barbados last month, it hit me that quite a few tremendous, or at the very least, interesting, singles from 1979 wouldn’t have made the charts and would therefore be missing from this series. So, the plan is to consult one of my reference books – in this case the mighty tome that is The Great Indie Discography by Martin C. Strong (Canongate Books Ltd, 2003 edition) – and find some 45s which didn’t sell in great numbers. These are from January 79.

mp3: The Cure – Killing An Arab

The band’s debut was released on 22 December 1978 on Small Wonder Records, and later in 1979 was given a re-release on Fiction Records. Those lucky enough to have a Small Wonder pressing could get £150 upwards if they wanted to sell it.

mp3: Destroy All Monsters – Bored

Destroy All Monsters came to be in Detroit in the mid-late 70s. The vocalist was Niagara, (real name Lynn Rovner), a former model and visual artist, while the musicians included, among others, Mike Davis (ex-MC5) and Ron Asheton (ex-Stooges). This was their debut single, released in the UK on a then newly-formed label, Cherry Red Records (Bored has the catalogue number Cherry 3). I think it would be fair to say that Sonic Youth were influenced by them.

mp3: Fingerprintz – Dancing With Myself

Debut single, on Virgin Records, of a London-based band whose singer Jimmie O’Neill was from the Glasgow area. Fingerprintz were perfectly described by Martin Strong:-

One of the earliest bands to translate the energy and anger of punk into a more accessible New Wave style, they were an obvious choice for Virgin.

mp3: Jilted John – True Love

The eponymous debut single had gone Top 5 in August 1978, but ultimately proved to be a one-hit wonder for the first alter-ego of Graham Fellows. There was an album, True Love Stories, which was produced by Martin Hannett, from which this single was lifted without much fanfare in January 1979. Twee-pop anyone?

mp3: The Ramones – She’s The One

This was the third single to be lifted from the Road To Ruin album, but if failed to trouble the charts. Its b-side, which could also be found on the album, is probably the better known song:-

mp3: The Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated

Bill Drummond has been around a long time. He’d been part of Big In Japan, whose debut (and only) single has been the first release on the Liverpool-based Zoo Records. He was also part of the band which who released the label’s second 45:-

mp3: Those Naughty Lumps – Iggy Pop’s Jacket

Bill played lead guitar on this one.

JC

Jam

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (2)

R-1268930-1667605890-5442

Another one that was picked up in Canada.

Absolute Beginners was only ever issued on 7″ in the UK. It was released in October 1981, and got to #4 in the singles chart. The b-side, Tales From The Riverbank, is considered by quite a few fans to be the better song. It’s certainly quite a contrasting effort, being a psychedelic-type of number where the a-side was a joyous and triumphant blast of soul/r’n’b.

I don’t know the exact date when this Canadian version was put into the shops. It contains five tracks – the two sides of the UK single, along with two previous singles and one of the best-loved of the band’s b-sides. All told, it would certainly make for a decent side of an ICA….

mp3: The Jam – Absolute Beginners
mp3: The Jam – Tales From The Riverbank
mp3: The Jam – When You’re Young
mp3: The Jam – Funeral Pyre
mp3: The Jam – Liza Radley

I’ve always loved the photo that was used for the picture sleeve of this single and wondered where it was taken. There’s no info or credits offered up on either the UK or Canadian releases.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Fourteen)

R-704402-1555515117-1791

I’d long believed that the executives at RCA were quite satisfied that Seamonsters reached #13 in the album charts the week after it was released on 27 May 1991. Turns out I was wrong, as will be evidenced at the end of this week’s musings.

Nobody knew it at the time, but it would prove to be the second and final studio album that the group would record for the label, and indeed no studio album by The Wedding Present would ever again get into the Top 20 – compilation albums would do well in 1992, but that’s for upcoming parts of this series.

Two months after the album hit the shops, an edited version of one of its songs was released as a second single, or more accurately, the lead track of a new EP:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Lovenest

It’s about a minute shorter, omitting the ‘beached whale’ guitar sounds that take up the opening 20 seconds of the album version, with the other 40 seconds being chopped off the lengthy outro, which on the album, segues majestically into the re-recorded version of Corduroy, a song that had been part of the 3 Songs EP.

There were no real obvious radio friendly songs on Seamonsters, and compared to previous singles, it was something of a low-key effort, issued on 12″ and CD only, with the same three new tracks made available on both releases:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Mothers
mp3 : The Wedding Present – Dan Dare
mp3 : The Wedding Present – Fleshworld

All three songs were engineered by Steve Albini, so I’m guessing it meant all the tracks recorded in Minnesota back in April were now in the public domain.

The first of them is a cover of song by the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience. I have always been under the asumption that they was some sort of weird and underground 60s act, but it turns out they were an 80s/90s indie band from New Zealand, with Mothers being a track on a version of their 1989 album, The Size Of Food. I’d love to tell you more, but I’d only be guessing. One thing for sure, is that it does sound like a TWP original, with the anguished shouts of ‘you were going out with HIM!!!!!’

Here’s the original version:-

mp3: Jean-Paul Sartre Experience – Mothers

Dan Dare is a rare thing…..or was at that point in time….an instrumental. It’s short and to the point, coming in at not much more than a minute-and-a-half.

Boring fact alert. Dan Dare is the only song recorded in Minnesota that had more than a one-word title. All ten songs on the album, plus the b-sides that were Niagara, Mothers and Fleshworld. Talking of which…

……it’s another of the many excellent songs relegated to b-sides over the years. This is one that I think must have come close to being included on Seamonsters, but then again, don’t ask me which of the tracks it would have taken the place of.

One final point to wrap up today.

The sessions for Seamonsters weren’t all sweetness and light, and not long after the band returned to the UK, the decision was taken to sack Peter Solowka. His place on the subsequent live dates was taken up by Paul Dorrington, which meant just two of the original members were now part of the group. It was a sore one for ‘Grapper’ as can be seen from an answers he gave in an on-line interview in 2005:-

Q: Describe your time with The Wedding Present in five words:

A: “Thoroughly enjoyable life-changing journey”

Q: Tell us exactly why you left The Wedding Present?

A : ” I was kicked out! Officially this was for not being a good enough guitar player and not contributing enough to the song-writing (David still feels he needs to recite this story 14 years after the event). I’m not going to entertain this idea further by listing things that I’ve done. All I’ll say is that I know who I am and what I’ve been responsible for, and I can’t agree with this idea.

“Reasons for actions such as this are complex but I am sure that it had a lot to do with the following. We had just recorded ‘Seamonsters’ – our (in RCA’s opinion) ‘very difficult’ third album. RCA needed something that would increase sales beyond our fanbase and although we were really happy with the album, it was clear to us that there was no ‘mega hit’ there. We knew we’d have to face their disapproval. Also, the Ukrainian music was still generating interest, at times deflecting interviewers from the current records we were trying to promote. As I was the Ukrainian link, they thought this problem would go away when I did. I feel I was made a bit of a scapegoat for the band’s failings.

“David, Simon and Keith did not consult me about any of my wishes or plans, even though we’d been on the same team for five years. I was especially disappointed with David as we’d been friends since school. After twenty years, I expected a lot more from him.”

———

Peter would continue to write, record and play music with The Ukrainians as a fully-fledged band, and would later become a science teacher in schools. In due course, the wounds did heal to some extent, with The Ukrainians playing at the second staging of the annual Edge Of The Sea festival back in 2010 and the eleventh staging in 2019.

And with that, we are about to hit 1992 in which TWP again took the record label by surprise.

JC

Zed Penguin

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #389: ZED PENGUIN

736996_444218852300526_1086258612_o

Last week’s entry featured a singer via the 2013 Song, By Toad Sampler. Today’s featured group, Zed Penguin, were also on that sampler, but I also have two further tracks, courtesy of them being part of a spilt 12″ on the same label in the same year. This is one of them:-

mp3: Zed Penguin – Wandering

There are four musicians in the Edinburgh-based group – Matthew Winter (vocals, guitar), James Metcalfe (bass), Casey Miller (drums) and Atzi Muramatsu (cello). All the music I have dates from 2013, but there was, much later, a debut album A Ghost, A Beast issued on Song, By Toad in 2019. The reason for such a delay is sad and sickening, in that Matthew Winter was the victim of a serious assault one evening in Edinburgh, the effects of which were significant and long-lasting. Not only was his physical and mental health impacted, but the inability to be in any paid employment meant that finances to work on the album weren’t there.

The album was one of the last to be released on Song, By Toad prior to the label coming to an end. There’s still a Zed Penguin presence on Bandcamp and Facebook, but there’s been no signs of any new music being recorded or released.

JC

Joy Division

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #045

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#045– Joy Division – ‘Atmosphere’ (Factory Records ’80)

jd11

Dear friends,

„oh, bugger off:“, I hear you saying, “’bloody ‘Atmosphere’! Are you serious?! Why not ‘Transmission’? Or ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’?”.

Well, yes, you have a point there, I admit. Still, I think we can start a war upon what’s the best Joy Division song released on 7” – and probably no-one will ever win this war. I mean, yes – if I had a 7” copy of ‘Transmission’, I would perhaps even have chosen it instead. But those go for € 50,- these days – and that’s one reason why it’s ‘Atmosphere’ today.

Basically the same applies for not presenting something from ‘An Ideal For Living’, but a) it’s questionable whether ‘Leaders Of Men’ and/or ‘Failures Of The Modern Man’ are preferable to ‘Atmosphere’ (‘Warsaw’ and ‘No Love Lost’ certainly are not!) and b) the current value for a copy is € 8.000,-. So, perhaps after Christmas, who knows?

So its inclusion today is an objective of cheap in a way, if you want. Forgive me. And also I know that ‘Atmosphere’ is often considered as not being one of ‘the real things’, if you know what I mean … not in a ‘row’ along with ‘Transmission’, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and ‘She’s Lost Control’. Probably its fragility is one reason, it being overshadowed by ‘She’s Lost Control’ at the time of release another one.

Then again, perhaps you remember, on the US-release of the 12”, ‘Atmosphere’ was the A-Side and ‘She’s Lost Control’ was (only) the B-Side. A questionable decision perhaps, but then again Factory Records have never been famous for marketing wisdom, have they? They even had to hold back the UK release for half a year to avoid affecting the sales of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

This though was not a problem for the lucky ones who managed to get their hands on one of the 1578 copies of ‘Licht & Blindheit’, a 7” issued on a French label, Sordide Sentimental, which had ‘Dead Souls’ on the flipside. Why? Because those lottery winners (it’s now worth € 3.000,-) would have known the song since March ’80 – before ‘Love Will Take Us Apart’, in fact! Also it was already recorded in October of 1979, quite some time before ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

So, the point I’m trying to make is: if you look closely, it’s a song which should not just be seen as a nice dessert served after a superb three-course-dinner. No, it actually had its (deserved) place in the ‘Joy Division sequence of things’: as far as I’m concerned, and I have never seen this differently, ‘Atmosphere’ simply is a brilliant song – and therefore it should not be neglected:

R-505332-1348506946-9330

R-505332-1649178870-5660

mp3: Joy Division – Atmosphere

If you remember, the links in this series always lead to a rip of mine of the actual 7” singles – depending on their age and the way they were recorded the sound quality may suffer a bit from time to time. It will probably do so even more than usual on this occasion, because ‘Atmosphere’ might well be the most quiet and frail one in all of the 111 songs.

Also, both of my copies of ‘Licht & Blindheit’ are currently in a bank safe in Switzerland (along with all my Misfits and early Postcard singles plus a copy of ‘God Save The Queen’ on A&M), therefore I had to rip the 1988 reissue which, confusingly enough, has ‘The Only Mistake’ as the B-Side – it’s the very same version as the original one though.

Still, I hope you enjoy it. I certainly do.

Peace,

Dirk

Melanie

MELANIE SAFKA : AN APPRECIATION

A guest posting by flimflamfan

mel

It was a phase. A phase that, till now, has lasted most of my lifetime. That phase was a love of the music of Melanie Safka, known professionally as Melanie.

The news of her death left me feeling old, sad and tearful but above all thankful that I had ‘accidentally’ stumbled upon her music in the very early 80s.

I feel like an imposter-fan… I own only four LPs and one single (three of the four LPs are Best Ofs) and another ‘Best Of’ CD.

Introduced to the world of ‘hippy’ music, as I entered my teens, I tended to side with West Coast psychedelia and had only a passing interest in the UK cohort. When I first heard Melanie (not taking into account the wonderful pop-hit Brand New Key) – that voice! As mellifluous as it was strident – it called to me.

My first purchase was Affectionately, Melanie (1974). I most likely bought it second-hand in 1980/81? One listen and I was hooked. I had Janis (Joplin). I had Grace (Slick). Now, I had Melanie (Safka).

Around the time of my Melanie epiphany there was another epiphany and the soundtrack to that, for me, was Melanie’s I Don’t Eat Animals (1970). Another soundtrack, a few years later – from another Melanie fan, an independent pop star – was to make a starker more dramatic statement but till then I had my anthem.

In 1983 Melanie released the single Every Breath of the Way. I was sure it was going to be a hit. I had to be, surely? It was not to be, but… I still have my 7” picture disc.

As a singer/songwriter Melanie is a colossus. As an artist interpreting the work of others she can, on occasion be a genius. Her versions of Ruby Tuesday and Mr Tambourine Man are THE definitive versions, in my opinion.

This is a sad day. It’s also a joyous day as I’m reminded of her body of work and what it meant, what it means to me.

Thanks, Melanie

flimflamfan

JC adds……

I never turn down requests for guest postings, and especially when it comes from someone who is such a friend and valued member of the TVV community, and a huge thanks to fff for his wonderful and heartfelt words.

Just to mention that today was scheduled to feature #45 in Dirk’s long-running series. It’ll still be with you, but a few hours later than the usual time for the daily post.

Various

THE BEST OF SWEDISH MUSIC IN 2023

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

Hi Jim,

Although this time I might not really be in the place to answer that question, I will as tradition now has it at least say something about what happened in Sweden last year. Of course, we’re talking music, for a while let’s forget last year’s double digit inflation, skyrocketing interest rates and worst of all the way too strong influence on our government by the populist right-wing morons in the Sweden Democrats Party. Frankly, a quite miserable story.

Looking back, last year saw a not neglectable increase in records joining the collection, but at a closer look – very few Swedish acts were included. Whether this is due to my oversight or it actually was a quiet year, I’m not totally sure. Several of the artists I have my eye on released records in 2021/2022 so since not all bands are as feverishly active as Bar Italia it might be a natural thing.

As you will notice there is a strong majority for electronic music here, only 7ebra would qualify for the normal kind of indie shared here at TVV, which is kind of odd as the opposite is valid for international artists finding their way to my home last year.

So this time it’s just an EP – This Happened In Sweden Last Year.

A1. Kite – Don’t Take The Light Away

Synth duo Kite actually released several 7″ singles last year, but as all but this one had been released digitally earlier, they were disqualified. Kite do very emotional and dramatic music, it’s almost operatic in the way singer Nicklas Stenemo delivers. They without competition won the prize for best live performance 2023 for their show at Dalhalla, a former quarry now transformed into a spectacular arena (Bernard S announced it to be the coolest place they ever played when I saw New Order there a couple of years ago). For the first time they had a full band on stage, which added depth (and guitar) to the performance. A magical night!

A2. The Mobile Homes – Some Days

After a long hiatus, The Mobile Homes returned in 2021 with Trigger, now reinforced with two of the guys formerly in Swedish indie (“emo”) rock band Kent. Last year saw the release of Tristesse, which is very much a false declaration. These two albums are the two best Depeche Mode albums released since Violator…

A3. 7ebra – Lighter Better

The odd bird this time (pun intended as the album is called Bird Hour), 7ebra reminds me a lot of my old DIY records by Young Marble Giants, the Gist and Weekend.

B1. Memoria – From The Bones Of The Dead

Memoria is Tess De La Cour, wife of Henric De La Cour who has a past in the same band(s) as Christian Berg, nowadays the other one in Kite. The album From The Bones is filled with dark and moody synths, it’s her second release under the Memoria moniker – both worth having if you’re into darkwave. Kite vocalist Nicklas makes a guest performance on one of the tracks; Along The Sea.

B2. Natten – Ringen

I discovered Natten (The Night) by chance, going to a gig night with 3 different acts. They played an organic variant of half ambient electro, almost techno, adding saxophone and vocals to the mix, I was totally blown away by the combination and got hold of their only full length album so far, Dolce Vita from 2017. Later in 2023 they released the EP Máni digitally through Bandcamp, a slight bit more towards the ambient side compared to the live experience.

B3. Kite – Remember Me

So I break the “only one song per artist”-rule by ending this EP by the flip of the Kite 7″ starting it off. This is 8 minutes drama, a long intro and then a full-blown pledge to Remember Me, an almost overloaded ending I just couldn’t omit.

Enjoy!

Martin

JC adds..…As I say every single year, I always look forward to Martin’s end of year round-up as there’s inevitably something in there that is of huge appeal, and this year is no different. These tunes are well worth a listen.

Blur

AROUND THE WORLD : PYONGYANG

First of all, thank you for the very positive response to the idea of this new and occasional series. It might now be a bit more frequent than I had anticipated!

Secondly, this is post number 4001 on the reincarnated version of the blog going back to July 2013. Given that I enjoy featuring so many guest contributions, I thought it was appropriate to have such an offering as post #4000. Oh, and I’ll mention just now that 4002 and 4003 will also be guest offerings from some of my dearest and oldest friends.

With that out of the way, let’s touch down somewhere on Planet Earth.

The capital and largest city in North Korea, with a population of approximately 3.1 million. It is located on the Taedong Rover, 109 km (68 miles) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, having been founded in 1122 BC. Musically, there’s not a lot I can offer up, but it does seem that 2012 saw the formation of the Moranbong Band, the country’s first girl-band, with its members hand-picked by Kim Jong Un, the country’s supreme leader. The Moranbang Band are still on the go today, with one English-based reviewer stating:-

“The Moranbong girls are not what you’d expect from an unfashionably totalitarian regime where grey is the new grey. Their skirts are short, the hair is trendy, the music danceable. It could just about pass as a Eurovision entry from Azerbaijan.”

mp3: Blur – Pyongyang

A track from Blur‘s eighth studio album, The Magic Whip, released in April 2015. It was inspired by a trip Damon Albarn had made to the North Korean capital in 2014, and in a later interview with a glossy lifestyle magazine, he likened the city to ‘a magic kingdom, in the sense that everyone is under a spell.’.

JC

Various

SURPRISING COVERS

A GUEST POSTING by ADRIAN MAHON

400x400

JC interjects……

Adrian sent this over with the intention of it being a bunch of videos to watch and enjoy. I feel too many videos take up too much space when folk are browsing through things, so I’ve taken the liberty of digging all up, bar the first and last of them, as mp3 rips. Hope you don’t mind, Adrian. And with that, it’s over to you…………………..

I was enjoying my favourite Bananarama track, and it got me thinking about a piece in the NME about how they were searching very obscure Filipino b-sides for their next single (they were only ever there to front others’ work.).

There are those tracks that you kind of know are covers, but have never dug out the original and then there are the surprises. Well: here’s a selection of mine. Some work…and linked to the previous track:-

mp3: Jimmy Lunceford – ‘Taint What You Do

One for TNVV fans:

mp3: Diana Ross – Love Hangover

In the ‘just a great sound, so leave it be’ category:

mp3: The Strangeloves – I Want Candy

In a similar vein (‘Kitty’?):

mp3: Racey – Kitty

Then there’s this lot:

mp3: The Paragons – The Tide Is High

And again:

mp3: Randy & The Rainbows – Denise

Then you’ll be pleased that some artists changed things:

mp3: Robert Hazard – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Like here:

mp3: The Family – Nothing Compares 2U

Finally: you knew this was a cover. Wrong time, wrong haircuts, but I imagine it played well (on the Mark Bolan show?):

I’m sure you have a few of your own!

ADRIAN

Billy Bragg & Wilco

THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (1)

R-715276-1562241529-7717

As much as I would love to say every physical piece of music in Villain Towers is on vinyl, the reality is that substantial amounts are on CD. It’s no real surprise given that CDs were the preferred, and indeed, often the only format for most of the 90s and a substantial part of the 00s.

Given that I’ve been offering up some singles that I own on 7″ and 12″, it would be foolish not to acknowledge those that I have on CD which is why this particular feature is being launched.

Ideally, the singles in this series would only have been released on CD but it won’t be the case. However, it will likely be that the CD single was the only one at that time which was widely available, with very few record stores at the time stocking vinyl. As in the case of the first in the series.

June 1998 saw the release of Mermaid Avenue, an album in which Billy Bragg and Wilco came together to write and record music for previously unheard lyrics written by Woody Guthrie that had long been in the trust of Woody’s daughter, Nora.

There were more than a thousand sets of lyrics that had never been put to music, and Nora asked Billy if he’d be interested in doing so. Slightly daunted and unnerved by the scale of the task, Billy approached Wilco, and the band got on board.It was decided, at an early stage, that, rather than trying to come up with tunes that were totally in keeping with Woody Guthrie’s style, a contemporary approach should be taken.

In some cases, Billy went off and wrote the tune, while in others it fell to Jeff Tweedy and/or Jay Bennett and there was the occasional joint collaboration. The sole single lifted from the album was one of Billy’s tunes, but very much a sound that was delivered by the four members of Wilco.

mp3: Billy Bragg and Wilco – Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key

The addition of a violin and accordion make this just about the most folk-like of all the songs on the album, and the song is really enhanced by a guest vocal from Natalie Merchant. I had no idea the single had been released on 7″ vinyl, but there’s one for sale via Discogs from a seller in Canada.

Turns out the vinyl version has the same two tracks on its b-side as were made available on the CD single, neither of which had been included on the album, and both of which have Billy on lead vocal.

mp3: Billy Bragg & Wilco – My Thirty Thousand
mp3: Billy Bragg & Wilco – Bugeye Jim

In an era where the UK charts extended into a Top 100, Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key made it in, for one week only, at #89 on 21 November 1998.

JC

Wedding Present

THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Thirteen)

R-704379-1149767092

A slight deviation from the norm today.

Dalliance was the 13th single. It was released in at the beginning of May 1991. It reached #29. It had been one of the songs recorded in April 1991 at the Pachyderm Recording Studio, which is located in the small town of Cannon Falls in rural Minnesota.

The first version of the song, however, had been aired in October 1990, during a session for John Peel, an occasion I’ve written about before:-

“I remember hearing something that night and just thinking how loud it was – loud as in just a total wall of noise. It was not the sort of sound I normally associated with the band.

It took until the release of the Peel Session box set in 2007 before I could relive those moments from all those years ago. Of the near 100 bits of music spread across the six discs, this was the first I played..I felt like a kid on Xmas Day getting the present they’ve been dreaming about for what seems like forever:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Dalliance (Peel Session)

Give it a listen. The noise that so startled me back in 1990 comes in at the 2 minute 21 seconds mark. It is just after the Boy David has poured his heart out – again – and said “after all you’ve done, that I’m so…I still want to kiss you.””

Dalliance is quite extraordinary. A woman is walking away from an affair, deciding that her life is going to best spent with someone who, it is fair to presume, is her husband of many years. Her lover is, understandably, distraught about it. He recalls incidents from their time together, and in particular how she used to always bin his gifts and presents, because she was scared what her husband would say or do, and he does now finally realise that the two relationships were built on tissues of lies and at least one of them was doomed from the outset.

Then, the kicker comes.

You told him what he wants to hear and so you got another chance
But I was yours for seven years
Is that what you call a dalliance?

Seven years?? For fuck’s sake, that’s a helluva time for things to have been going on. I can say that with some personal knowledge….the affair between myself and Rachel – we were both married at the time – was so intense that it all came to a head after four months, and we knew decisions had to be made one way or another. Both marriages were soon over, and we’ve been together since February 1990. There is no way either of us could have tried to keep things secret for seven years………..

I’m digressing. But the fact this song was released in its recorded form just slightly more than a year later has always made me shiver.

The Peel version proved to be shorter than that which was released as a single

mp3: The Wedding Present – Dalliance

I’m not sure if the band, having listened to the results of the Peel Session, decided a change of pace was required. The studio version is even more intense….the wall of noise maybe doesn’t quite have the same shocking impact, but it then, thanks to the skills of Steve Albini, it then builds and builds and builds in a way that doesn’t happen on the Peel version and brings a whole new concept to how the group was now sounding. Jingle-jangle in an indie-pop style no more……

I’ve recently read a contemporary review of Dalliance, as part of what was written for a review of the album Seamonsters. I think it was from the pen of the late Dave Jennings, who wrote for the NME and Melody Maker:-

“Dalliance, the first item here, sets the unsettling tone, building slowly from a choked whisper to a desperate plea, before that astonishing avalanche of gritty noise sweeps away everything in its path.”

Seamonsters has long been my favourite TWP album. Dalliance proved to be just one of ten pieces of perfection spread across the two sides of vinyl.

It was issued on 7″, 10″, 12″ and cassette. Until pulling this series together, I only had the 12″, but I went onto Discogs for the 10″ so that, this time around, I can offer up the exclusive live track that was only available via that particular release:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Niagara
mp3 : The Wedding Present – She’s My Best Friend
mp3 : The Wedding Present – What Have I Said Now? (live)

Niagara was from the Seamonsters sessions, and it does feel like a good call not to have it on the album. It’s not that it’s a poor song, but I find it hard to see where it would have fitted on without disrupting the perfect flow.

She’s My Best Friend is a cover of a Velvet Underground song, on which was the TWP contribution to the ten-song tribute album Heaven And Hell Volume One. The other contributors were Chapterhouse, The Telscopes, Nirvana, Buffalo Tom, James, Screaming Trees, The Motorcycle Boy, Terry Bickers & Bradliegh Smith, and Ride. It’s a very understated and gentle take on a very understated and gentle song.

The original version of the live track can be found on Bizarro. It’s one that I’ve long liked, and so was very happy to go and find a second-hand copy of the 10″ single.

One more single was later lifted from Seamonsters. I’ll feature that next week.

JC

Yusuf Azak

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #388: YUSUF AZAK

BY2BNKAN6QEUSCLVLKVK

There’s not much I can really say about the latest name to be part of this long-running alphabetical series.

Yusuf Azak is an Aberdonian of Turkish descent who lives in Glasgow. There were three albums in a relatively period of time in the last decade – Turn On The Long Wire (2010), Go Native (2012) and Peace In The Underworld (2014). The first two came out on Song, By Toad Records and the last of them on Gerry Love Records.

The record label publicity associated with the third album said:-

It’s an album of off-kilter folk pop songs with Yusuf’s unique gruff-but-sweet vocals. It’s also a more luxurious sound than his other records, with his excellent songwriting and acoustic guitar skills filled out with drums, drum machines, keyboards, electronics and more.

I’ve only one track on the hard drive, and it came courtesy of a Song, By Toad sampler released back in 2013

mp3: Yusuf Azak – Go Native

The short title track of the second album – it comes in at just under two minutes. I did try to get some more recent info on the singer/songwriter, but all travelled paths came to dead ends.

JC

Ultravox

AROUND THE WORLD : AN INTRO

EARTH

It’s an idea for a new and occasional series to be launched in early 2024…..the sort of thing I’ll lean on when I’m short of inspiration.

It’s simple in concept and execution. I’ll find a song on the hard drive in which the song title makes specific reference to a city, town or village. There will be a dull, boring intro para about said place followed by the actual song and some words, which some of you may find equally dull and boring, about said song.

Let’s start off with one which means nothing to me.

Vienna is the capital and largest city in Austria, with a population of just over 2 million. It is the sixth-largest city proper by population in the European Union, and the largest of all cities on the Danube river. It is located in the eastern part of Austria, close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It has been called the ‘City of Music’, thanks to the many classical composers who were born or worked in Vienna. It’s not a city renowned for pop/rock musicians, with arguably the most famous being the late Johann “Hans” Hölzel, better known by his stage name of Falco, who enjoyed a world-wide hit with Rock Me Amadeus in 1986 (it reached #1 in the UK). Hölzed died in February 1998, just before his 41st birthday, from injuries sustained in a road accident in the Dominican Republic.

mp3: Ultravox – Vienna

The title track of Ultravox‘s fourth studio album, released in May 1980. The band felt it was a potential hit single, but the record label felt it was too slow and too long to ever get airplay. It was eventually released as the third single from the album, after Sleepwalk (#29) and Passing Strangers (#57). Vienna would end up being the UK’s sixth-best selling single of 1981, spending 11 weeks in the Top 40 between January and April, including four successive weeks at #2, kept off the top spot for three of them by a novelty record in the shape of Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce. Ultravox never enjoyed a #1 hit single in their career.

JC

Blondie, Lurkers, Members, Undertones, Wire

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (January, part two)

If you need to know what this is all about, here’s a link back to part one of the post.

mp3: Blondie – Heart of Glass

The third single to be lifted from Parallel Lines entered the charts at #6 on 21 January 1979. The following week, it went to #1, where it stayed for four weeks. It didn’t leave the Top 75 until mid-April. The thing is, Parallel Lines had already been in the album chart for 21 weeks, so all Blondie fans would already have the song. The fact that the single went on to sell over a million copies shows just how big it became – indeed, its release was a huge factor in the album climbing back up the charts to #1 and what would prove to be a 96-week stay in the Top 75. It really is an astonishing stat……as is that one which reveals that for 35 of the 36 weeks between 14 January and 22 September 1979, Parallel Lines was always in the Top 10 selling albums.

mp3: Wire – Outdoor Miner

A song that had originally been on the 1978 album Chairs Missing, the record label felt it had potential hit single all over it, but at 1:45, was thought to be too short. The band obliged by adding another verse and chorus, along with a piano solo played by producer Mike Thorne, which took it to #51 on 21 January

Here’s something I didn’t know. The BBC approached the label and asked if Wire would appear on Top of The Pops if the single continued to rise. However, the company who compiled the chart, the British Market Research Bureau, felt that the record label was trying to rig the charts and took the decision not to restrict the sales to be counted for the following week, which meant Outdoor Miner, which otherwise would have gone Top 40, dropped down.

mp3: The Members – Sounds Of The Suburbs

If ever a song signified what 1979 was going to hold in store, this was it. A previously unknown band outside of the London pub scene get picked up by the record industry and given the chance for a brief dalliance with fame. It was Virgin Records who took a chance on The Members, and it paid off with this fast, frantic tune and lyric about boredom which was an understandable hit with teenagers and adolescents. It might have dated a wee bit, but it did sound ridiculously fresh in January 1979 as it made its way, eventually, up to #12 in late February/early March.

mp3: The Undertones – Get Over You

Teenage Kicks had been one of the great post-punk anthems of 1978, although surprisingly, it had only reached #31. Hopes were high for the follow-up, Get Over You, released in January 1979. With a lyric that wasn’t far removed from what Pete Shelley had been wowing the world over the past couple of years, and a tune which was ridiculously frantic and catchy, this should have been massive. It got no higher than #57.

mp3: The Lurkers- Just Thirteen

Arguably, this London-based outfit were the UK’s answer to The Ramones. Two singles had gone Top 50 in 1978, while a debut album had reached #57. They were regularly aired on John Peel’s show, but never quite ever got beyond cult status. Maybe just a touch too one-dimensional to be really memorable? A #66 hit in January 1979.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first month of the 45-year look back at the 45s which were hits as much as I’ve enjoyed the trip down the lane of nostalgia. It really is what this blog is most about……

JC

PS : A quick reminder that tomorrow is the closing date if you want to enter the competition to win a copy of the vinyl release of The Decline and Fall of Heavenly.

John Cooper Clarke

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #044

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#044– John Cooper Clarke – ‘Suspended Sentence’ (Rabid Records ’77)

jcc

Hello friends,

as I mentioned numerous times by now, I suppose, I didn’t grow up with the music we all love so much, because I was a bit too young back then. Joy Division being a prime example, I missed them by, say, four or five years. They, like The Clash, soon became absolute favorites and after having bought the six records widely available, I started to delve deeper – into the Warsaw corner, to be precise. Back in those days, getting hold of the unreleased RCA album was like finding the holy grail, so naturally it took me quite a while to achieve this. But in the meantime I got my hands on a copy of ‘Short Circuit’, a 10” EP on Virgin, which featured live recordings from the Electric Circus, if memory serves correctly it was some ‘protest’ against its closure – but I might well be wrong here.

Either way, on this EP were some great tracks, ‘At A Later Date’ by Joy Division – that’s what I bought the record for, of course, but also The Fall, Buzzcocks, Steel Pulse, plus two tunes by John Cooper Clarke – a chap until then totally unbeknownst to me. I didn’t understand everything he went on about on the two songs on this EP, ‘(You Never See A Nipple In The) Daily Express’ and ‘I Married A Monster From Outer Space’. But what I understood was simply great, I listened to those two tracks over and over again – fantastic stuff, I thought!

Then, not very much later, Peel played a track from John Cooper Clarke’s very first output, the ‘Innocents’ EP. As it is often the case, first records are the best records, and although I listened to the two early albums in their entirety, the old theory proved itself right again here. I always thought that if John Cooper Clarke could have kept the level he showed on the first record, he would probably rule the world by now. You think I’m exaggerating? Oh, just listen to this:

R-1972624-1255962233

R-1972624-1414151246-9874

mp3: John Cooper Clarke – Suspended Sentence

Apparently I was not the only one who thought that Cooper Clarke was – and probably still is – some sort of genius: in 2013 Salford University made him an honorary doctor of arts for delivering poetry and influencing artists for five decades. John’s reply: “Now I’m a doctor, finally my dream of opening a cosmetic surgery business can become a reality.”… great!

What else is there to mention? Well, most importantly perhaps, that our man is still going strong, there are loads of gigs in the UK and in Ireland in spring next year – and John will be 75 years of age then! Me, I’m 20 years younger but still tend to moan just when getting off the couch, so bloody go and see him when you get the chance!

And finally, to those of you who, like me, always had some trouble in understanding all of the lyrics – his website is ace, and it has the lyrics to each and every song (if I had had this internet thing 40 years ago, my life would have been much easier indeed):

John Cooper Clarke – Poems

so there is no excuse not to sing along loudly to today’s choice, right?

Enjoy, friends – and take good care,

Dirk

Cars

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (75)

R-611116-1282941928

In later years, The Cars became most famous for Drive, a rather dull ballad that was twice a hit single in the UK….firstly in late 1984 and then again the following year when It was re-released after it had been aired during the Live Aid convert in London, when it was used as background music as a montage of newsreel clips, showing the extent and impact of the Ethiopian famine, was shown to the 80,000 attendees and the many millions watching on TV.

Credit has to be given to Ric Ocasek, the writer of the song, for handing over the monies made from the re-release, to the Live Aid charity.

Although written by Ocasek, the lead vocal on Drive was delivered by the band’s bassist, Benjamin Orr. It had been a similar story for the band’s debut single back in May 1978.

mp3: The Cars – Just What I Needed

It’s a great example of the sort of new wave/power pop sound that was very much coming to the fore at the time, one that was particularly going down a storm in the USA. It reached #27 on the Billboard Chart in mid-78, and paved the way for their self-titled debut album to go Top 20.

Slightly different story here in the UK. The first single over here was this:-

mp3: The Cars – My Best Friend’s Girl

This was one on which Ocasek took the lead with the vocals. It was released in November 1978, and made it all the way to #3, which proved to be the highest-ever chart placing for the band (Drive sold more, but never got higher than #4).

Just What I Needed was the second single in the UK, and proved to be a bit of a slow-burner, taking seven weeks in the charts to hit its peak of #17 in March 1979.

The Cars never really became a huge success over here. Despite having two hit singles, the debut album did no better than #29 – even the greatest hits package, issued cynically by the record label a few months after the Live Aid concert, just scraped the Top 30.

They weren’t always my cup of tea, but the early singles were great.

Benjamin Orr died in 2000 at the early age of 53, succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Ric Ocasek died in 2019 at the age of 75, from natural causes.

JC

Various

THE 12″ LUCKY DIP (1)

R-664493-1552179138-8083

Given that I’ve plenty 12″ singles sitting in the very large and near antique cupboard in which most of the vinyl sits, it makes some sense to introduce (or more likely, re-introduce) some of them to you.

Things are kicking-off with one that I picked up on one of my numerous trips or stays in Toronto. The Fatima Mansions were on Kitchenware Records here in the UK, but it was Radioactive Records for the American releases.

Blues For Ceausescu, an absolutely blistering and incendiary piece of music, had been put out as a stand-alone single on Kitchenware in September 1900. In some parallel universe, this will have acted as a call-to-arms to the disillusioned and downtrodden, provoking them into some sort of action that led to much-needed and desired change. The reality was that it was ignored, being far too provocative for our media outlets to give time to.

mp3: The Fatima Mansions – Blues for Ceausescu

I have absolutely no idea why the American label, some six months later, issued it on a 12″ single and CD, complete with a remix, but I’d very much like to thank them for doing so.

mp3: The Fatima Mansions – Blues for Ceausescu (Only Solution Mix)
mp3: The Fatima Mansions – Chemical Cosh (Scream Mix)
mp3: The Fatima Mansions – Chemical Cosh (LP version)

The Only Solution Mix is radically different. Indeed, you’d be hard pushed to find elements of the original tune – it sounds in places as if Cathal Coughlan is fronting Pop Will Eat Itself…..which is far from a bad thing.

The LP version of Chemical Cosh is less than two minutes long, while the remix extends out to almost four minutes. Both are interesting but kind of challenging, in different ways, to listen to. But then again, the whole idea of The Fatima Mansions was not to make things comfortable for anyone.

Ciao.