THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

THIS MONTH’S MONTHLY MIX IS A GUEST OFFERING

a2436183530_2

I’ve been very lucky to get to know Jan Burnett of Spare Snare in recent years, after what was an initial chance encounter. He’s one of the nicest persons you’ll ever encounter and he’s probably the most knowledgable person involved in the music scene in Scotland, which is why I was delighted when he agreed to come up with a mix for this monthly series.

Jan’s tastes are very eclectic, but his real love is for pop music with hints of electronica, as can partly be evidenced by this offering. It’s a rather wonderful listen, with some ridiculously good switches between songs

mp3 : Jan The Man’s Hour Long Mix Tape

The Kane Gang – Gun Law
Simple Minds – The American (demo version)
The Evolution Control Committee – Rebel Without A Pause (Whipped Cream Mix)
Kylie Minogue – The One
Robyn – Dancing On My Own
Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill (Feed Me Remix)
The Afghan Whigs – Be Sweet
Eno • Hyde – Who Rings The Bell
Depeche Mode – Useless (The Kruder + Dorfmeister Session)
Sugababes – Freak Like Me (We Don’t Give A Damn Mix)
Junior Marvin – Police & Thieves
(interlude : Little April Shower)
U2 – In A Little While
Carmel – Take It For Granted
The Lilac Time – If The Stars Shine Tonight

JC

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Thirty-six)

24a1787916db883211847c900bdf8023

The 36th and final instalment of what has turned out to be the most epic series ever to have appeared on the blog. It’s been a bit of a challenge as there were a lot of tunes I didn’t know beforehand when I was putting the pieces together, but I had a feeling from the outset that it was all going to work out fine given the real quality, not just of the singles, but the b-sides and additional tracks recorded by the Pet Shop Boys over what is now a 40-year career (and counting!).

Hotspot remains the most recent studio album, dating back to January 2020. The intervening years have seen the eventual staging of a triumphant world-tour, with the sets dominated by all the big hits, while earlier this year, on 16 June, there was the release of SMASH, the complete collection of Pet Shop Boys singles in chronological order.

I genuinely had no idea that release was in the pipeline when I started this series all the way back on 22 January. (And, for what it’s worth, I’m actually writing this on 30 May 2023, as I was determined to write everything up in advance of the release of SMASH, so that I didn’t find myself relying on the contents of an illustrated booklet in which all the songs are discussed).

Two CDs to wrap things up, both courtesy of inclusion with different editions of Annually – CDs that I actually have managed to order through the PSB website in advance of their actual release.

The Pet Shop Boys Annually 2021

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Cricket Wife
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls (Lockdown Version)

The former is a very unusual song. It is ten minutes in length and has a really ambitious chamber/orchestral-pop feel about it. It is totally unlike anything else Neil and Chris have ever written or recorded. It really threw me when it arrived in the post shortly after its release on 16 April 2021.

The PSB website provides a bit more background detail:-

Annually 2021 will be accompanied by a two-track CD single featuring a dramatic new song, almost ten minutes long, entitled “Cricket wife”….. it uses orchestral sounds and was written as a classical-style instrumental piece by Chris over which Neil sang lyrics taken from a poem he had written. Both Chris and Neil recorded their parts at their homes, and Pete Gleadall mixed the final track.

I’ve really grown to like it as a stand-alone piece of music, but it did take a good number of listens.

It is perhaps, because it was such a challenging listen, that the duo used lockdown to revisit the breakthrough hit as the other track issued with Annually 2021. I’ve already included the version in one of the monthly one-hour mixes which have been known to pop up on the blog, and I’ve a feeling it’ll go down well with most of you.

a670fa83c8b0a0633fa0c5f09a8e7b82

The Pet Shop Boys Annually 2023

Annually 2022 didn’t have a CD. But things got back to normal in 2023 with the inclusion of Lost, an EP containing demos of songs written in 2015, for potential inclusion on the album Super, but ultimately not taken forward and developed.

There’s a section in Annually 2023 dedicated to the CD in which Neil explains “It’s not that we didn’t like them, it was that they didn’t fit into the album. The idea for this EP was spurred by the realisation that the songs may not otherwise be heard, and they all sit together quite well, production-wise – they’re all supersonic”

The four tracks were given a digital release on the same day as the now long sold-out Annually 2023:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – The Lost Room
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – I Will Fall
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Skeletons In The Closet
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Kaputnik

At the same time as Annually 2023 was published, a new home demo recording was made available via a YouTube video. I think it’s fair to say that it is a poignant way to wrap things up:-

And with that, it is time to say farewell to this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening and reading as much as I’ve enjoyed researching and writing.

Feel free to drop in again next Sunday for the start of what will be a new series on this familiar theme.

JC

Wendys

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #375: THE WENDYS

The Wendys formed in Edinburgh in 1987, they were the second Scottish band to be signed to Factory Records. As an unsigned band they gained a support slot with Happy Mondays and on the back of the shows were encouraged to send a demo to messrs Wilson & co. It was a short-lived career, consisting of three singles, an EP and an album called Gobbledygook that was produced by Ian Broudie, but sadly their time with the label coincided with the severe financial difficulties which ultimately led to its demise in November 1992.

They also featured on the Factory Tape, a 1991 cassette given away free with Select magazine. This was their contribution.

mp3: The Wendys – Suckling

The band disappeared off the radar for a long time but came back in 1999 to release a second LP, Sixfootwingspan, on Starshaped Records. They reformed briefly in 2012 for a one-off gig in Glasgow to promote the re-release of Gobbledygook and other singles, and five years later were on the bill of the Shiiine ON Weekender festival in Minehead that took place between Friday 10 November and Monday 13 November 2017

Guitarist Ian White is currently involved with Sons of the Descent, a duo that I’ve been more than happy to give space to on the blog.

JC

Nightmares In Wax

ONE SONG ON THE HARD DRIVE (2)

wax

The Indie Scene was the title attached to a number of CD compilations via the Connoisseur Collection label, an imprint whose speciality was in the reissue market.

There were, as far as I can tell, ten such compilations, each covering a particular year between 1977 and 1986.

Indie Scene 80 contains 22 songs, many of which are by perennial favourites of this blog such as Associates, Bauhaus, Dead Kennedys, Echo & The Bunnymen, Fad Gadget, The Fall, Joy Division and Wah!

Track 5 is this rather wonderful number:-

mp3: Nightmares In Wax – Black Leather

Nightmares In Wax were a short-lived group from Liverpool, gigging and recording in 1979/80. They would record just one EP, entitled Birth Of A Nation, released on the Inevitable label. Black Leather was the lead track on the EP.

The musicians who played on the EP were Pete Burns (vocals), Phil Hurst (drums), Martin Healy (keyboards), Pete Lloyd (bass) and Mick Reid (guitars), although quite a number of other musicians were involved in what was a constantly-changing line-up from the very outset.

By April 1980, just Burns and Healy would remain of those who had made the EP. The next time they went into the studio to record a new single called I’m Falling, again for the Inevitable label, they would be accompanied by Adrian Mitchley (guitars), Sue James (bass) and Joe Musker (drums). Oh, and they had changed their name to Dead or Alive…….whose first Top 20 hit eventually came in 1984, thanks to a cover of KC and The Sunshine Band‘s disco smash from 1975, That’s The Way (I Like It).

And if you do find yourself listening through the five minutes of Black Leather, you’ll spot that KC’s song making an appearance around the three-minute mark.

JC

Pipettes

LIFTED FROM ICA 93

R-1454316-1220947437

ICA 93 was a guest posting from strangeways. It appeared in November 2016.

It was, in keeping with the handful of other things he has contributed over the years, quite wonderful and rather obscure.

The ICA was devoted to The Pipettes.

Here’s how strangeways introduced things:-

“Gwenno. RiotBecki. Rosay. They are The Pipettes. Or they were The Pipettes. Well, one of them, I think, still is The Pipettes. Or maybe not.

“It’s all rather complicated.

“So during this Imaginary Compilation Album I’m going to concentrate on the incarnation above – best described as that terrible pop cliché, the classic lineup. But I’ll also throw in a couple of respectful curveballs.

“Like a lot of the 60s Girl Groups without whom…The Pipettes were, it seems, authentically, a creation. They were the joint design of one Monster Bobby – a sort of indiepop Victor Frankenstein from what I can gather – and singer Julia Clarke-Lowes. In 2003, in Brighton, they put together the band, recruiting Rose ‘Rosay’ Elinor Dougall and Rebecca ‘RiotBecki’ Stephens. Providing the brilliant Spector-inspired tunes: The Cassettes – Monster Bobby and pals – who, with respect, were essentially the three singers’ backing band.

“As regards the definable We Are The Pipettes era that dominates this ICA, it didn’t last long: 2005/06, really. Perhaps the whole pouting, shape-pulling, polka-dottedeness of it all became too much. Maybe it locked-up rather than liberated. Whatever, with ill-advised confidence I predicted a 2016 reunion tour that would mark the ten years since the LP’s release. It was inevitable. And, inevitably, it didn’t happen.”

This was track 5 on the ICA, the one which closed Side A:-

Judy (single/We Are The Pipettes LP track, 2006)

“Just what did Judy do when she was older and no one wanted to know her? This is a terrific single and its worth having a look at its fun comic book-style video too. If you’ve ever invited the collective wraths of the God of Pop and the God of, well, God by wearing an upturned LP sleeve on your head and pretending you’re a bishop, you could do worse than track down a copy of a limited 7″ of Judy. Its sleeve, brilliantly, can be unfolded and worn as a skirt.”

I thought strangeways was having a laugh when he said the sleeve could be worn as a skirt. Turns out he was offering fashion advice of the highest order:-

R-1454316-1220947584

I’ve tracked down the two songs that were on the b-side of the single:-

mp3 : The Pipettes – It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
mp3 : The Pipettes – KFC

The former is just 67 seconds long and is great fun.

The latter is 102 seconds long and is not very good. It is, indeed, about a chain of fried chicken restaurants and may well be the silliest thing that’s ever appeared on the blog since its inception in 2006.

JC (and strangeways)

PS : I’m away for a few days and won’t have access to a laptop to keep an eye on the blog. Any bits needing tidied-up, particularly any anonymous comments, will be sorted out from Monday or Tuesday next week. Thanks in advance…….

Hefner

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #033

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#033– Hefner – ‘Pull Yourself Together’ (Too Pure Records ’98)

Dear friends,

to be absolutely frank to you: I never really liked Hefner all too much. They were on heavy rotation with John Peel, and believe me, I often tried to give them a chance, but at the end of the day I always thought they were a bit too ‘arty’, if you know what I mean. Obviously, their music was always on the quieter side, which is alright, of course. But if you don’t sit there on your own, preferably with your headphones on, with a lyric sheet in your hands (‘cos that’s what you need to do if English is not your mother tongue) and try to understand what a band is singing about, the music (alone) often remains rather boring or dull. And this, basically, was the case with Hefner, at least it was for me.

Hefner were founded in 1992, but only in 1996 they recorded their debut single “Another Better Friend”. The record attracted positive underground buzz, and in late 1997 Hefner signed to the legendary Too Pure label, issuing the limited-edition 10″ “The Hefner Soul” the following spring. Then, the band released the full-length “Breaking God’s Heart” in mid-1998; “The Fidelity Wars” appeared a year later. And within all these years Peel was a great admirer and within all these years I listened, and I thought “nah, I don’t really get them”. This, of course, was pre-internet, no lyrics available, I should add!

Now, Rolling Stone, the magazine, back at the time, was issued in Germany (perhaps they did the same elsewhere as well, who knows?) accompanied by a CD, it was either called “New Voices” (which featured – surprise, surprise – unknown bands, most often not too entertaining ones, it must be said) or “Rare Trax”. “Rare Trax” was always theme-based, and the December 1998 issue was titled “1998’s Secret Hits!”. The problem is: I only got my hands on a copy of this CD in the summer of 2000, if memory serves correctly, on a flea market somewhere. And what was on this CD? Yes, “Pull Yourself Together”, the Didgeridoo version thereof, in fact!

I was totally blown away by it immediately …. “this can’t be right, this must be a different Hefner”, I thought! Well, no, it wasn’t, as it turned out: the truth of the matter was, totally unbeknownst to me, the band had already released this post-punk-rhythmic-driven frenzy as a single two years ago, it was, although totally missed by me, heavily championed by both Peel and Steve Lamacq. And rightly so, of course:

R-1911750-1256601658

R-1911750-1256601753

mp3: Hefner – Pull Yourself Together

Around the time when I finally encountered this song, Hefner released their “Boxing Hefner” – compilation of singles, which I quickly bought, because I thought there was more excellence I might have missed. This pretty much didn’t turn out to be the case alas, although I would still recommend this compilation today, but “Pull Yourself Together” remains its highlight by quite some distance.

It’s one of those astonishingly simple, musically very basic tunes that somehow sounds rather exceptional, almost in spite of itself … and it always puts a smile on my face whenever I hear it.

I do hope it makes you smile as well!

Enjoy,

Dirk

J.P Shilo

RECOMMENDED LISTENING FROM 2023 (Volume 2)

R-14230642-1570333188-8967

The second of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.

This one is different….it’s an album released as long ago as October 2019, but which I only got to hear about and then buy in September 2023.

Here’s the backstory.

Mike from the Manic Pop Thrills blog, who has been a friend for decades pre-music blog stuff (we are both Raith Rovers fans) got in touch to ask if I fancied going to see Mick Harvey play live in Glasgow. Mike knew that I was a fan of the Australian multi-instrumentalist, thanks to his many years in The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds, and his past work with PJ Harvey, although to my shame, I hadn’t ever followed his solo career.

Ostensibly, the gig was to promote Mick’s latest album. It’s called Phantasmagoria in Blue, which he has recorded in tandem with Mexican singer Amanda Acevedo (and yes, I’ll get round to including the album in this series in due course).

The publicity poster promised a show by an ensemble called The Invisible Blue Unicorns, so we didn’t quite know what to expect.

unicorns

To both of our surprises, the gig proved to be one of the highlights, not just of this year, but in all the years we’ve been going along to enjoy live music.

It began with six musicians on stage, none of who were Amanda Acevedo, and with Mick Harvey on keyboards. We have, by now, have clocked the fact that most of the musicians are from a Berlin-based band called Sometimes With Others, accompanied by Australian guitarist J.P.Shilo, and Mick Harvey. Mick explains that they will be performing songs from one another’s records, and other musicians will be coming to and leaving the stage at various points.

In due course, Amanda does take to the stage and then leaves again, returning later on during what is a two-set evening, both lasting about an hour in length. She sings on those songs which I now know could be found on Phantasmagoria in Blue, while songs from a J.P. Shilo solo album and material by Sometimes With Others is played when she is not present.

It was an astonishing night. All three acts were clearly sharing equal billing, and indeed Mick Harvey, who was very much the reason 99.99% of the sadly quite sparse audience (70-75 would be my guess) was in attendance, seemed to be at his happiest when he wasn’t the centre of attention. All of which meant we were able to focus on an extraordinary performance from J.P Shilo, a musician Mike knew something of, but of whom I was wholly ignorant.

He’s best known for his time with Hungry Ghosts, an instrumental group from Melbourne who were in existence around the turn of the century, as well as being involved on a number of albums by highly-regarded acts from Australia, including The Triffids.

His guitar work at the gig was ridiculously good, no matter whose material he was playing. He really came into his own when it came to his own songs, with a baritone vocal that howled and whispered, and all points in-between, to equal effect. Most of his songs on the night were taken from the album Invisible You, release on Ghost Train Records in Australia in October 2019, and which was available at the merch stall afterwards.

The gig was on Wednesday 20 September. I’m typing this up on the evening of Monday 25 September. I’ve played the album three times (I had a busy weekend with non-music things)…..and I’m happy to declare that it’s a long-lost classic.

Nine songs, of which seven are originals and two are covers. Here’s the opening track:-

This really sets the tone for a rocking first-side. If anything, it seems just a little on the tame side in comparison to how it came across in the live setting, but it’s quite marginal.

Things kind of slow down on side two, but the quality remains high, as evidenced on the title track:-

mp3: J.P. Shilo – Invisible You

Atmospheric is what comes to mind.

No apologies for drawing this one to your attention. Here’s a link to one indie store where you can order it. You’ll also get a short blurb about the album.

JC

Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Freeez, Heaven 17, New Order, Public Image Limited, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Soft Cell, Specials, The The, Toyah, Tracey Ullman

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (9)

Let’s travel back in time to see what 45s were being most bought in UK record shops in September 1983

Chart dates 28 August – 3 September

Oh my. For once, the highest new entry had some merit. But the question really has to be…..How did Factory Records organise itself enough to get copies out and distributed into the shops?

mp3: New Order – Confusion (#17)

Released only on 12″ in the UK, it came with four different mixes. There was no way the radio stations would have played the full eight-plus minutes, and indeed promo discs were sent out with an edit, which was, many years later, made available on one of the numerous New Order compilations. Confusion would go up five places to #12 before slowly drifting out of the Top 75 over the following six weeks. Worth mentioning that in the same week Confusion entered the charts, Blue Monday was spending its 25th week in the Top 75 – and indeed was just about to gain a second wind and climb back up the way, peaking at #10 in mid-October.

Just slightly lower in the rundown was this.

mp3: Freeez – I.O.U. (#25)

I’ve deliberately kept I.O.U. away from this series until today. It had already been in the singles chart for twelve weeks, spending three weeks at #2, and kept off the top spot by Paul Young wailing about his hat. The sleeve for this single gives much prominence to the fact it was produced by Arthur Baker. I think it’s fair to say he got two-for-one out of this tune.

Much lower down the chart, entering at #64, and only ever getting up to #60, was a 45 with a message:-

mp3: The Special AKA – Racist Friend (#64)

Chart dates 4-10 September

Not a good week for new entries, with Status Quo (#24) and Paul Young (#27) being the highest, with both of Ol’ Rag Blues and Come Back And Stay annoyingly hanging around for a few more weeks to make the Top 10. Just below those was a little bit of agit-synth:-

mp3: Heaven 17 – Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (#28)

The fourth and final chart hit lifted from the album The Luxury Gap, it went on to reach #17.

Chart dates 11-17 September

I’m not a fan of the tune, so I won’t share any mp3, but this was the week when Boy George really made the crossover into pop stardom, as Karma Chameleon entered the singles chart at #3. It went onto to sell 1.6 million copies in the UK, as 1 million in the USA and some 7 million all told across the world. That’s a lot of plastic……

It was also the first week that Howard Jones hit the charts. He’s another from that era I have no time for at all, but I was clearly in a minority. New Song came in at #51. It would go onto spend 12 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #2. He would follow that up with eight more Top 20 singles through to March 1986, and it seemed he was on Top of The Pops every other week.

Among the mediocre and mundane, there were a few gems

You’ve got to go a long way down to find a couple more excellent new singles:-

mp3: PiL – This Is Not A Love Song (#47)

The first new single in two-and-a-half years, it would go on to spend 10 weeks on the singles chart and get all the way to #5, easily the best performance by any of PiL‘s 45’s released between 1979 and 1992.

mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Let Them All Talk (#59)

A rather disappointing outcome for the second and final single from the album, Punch The Clock, as this was as high as it got. At least there was the consolation of the album reaching #3.

mp3: The The – This Is The Day (#71)

I placed this at #4 in my 45 45s @ 45 rundown. It’s very obviously one of my favourite songs of all time. It is criminal that it only ever got to #71 in the UK singles chart. It would take until 1989 before a single by The The cracked the Top 20.

Chart dates 18-24 September

Karma Chamaleon was at #1. It would stay there for six weeks. The one small consolation was that it kept David Bowie‘s awful new single off the top. Modern Love came in this week at #8 and would more than likely reached #1 is it hadn’t been for Culture Club.

Coming in at #21 was a synth duo who some had written off:-

mp3 : Soft Cell – Soul Inside (#21)

It reached #16 the following week, a welcome return to pop stardom after Where The Heart Is and Numbers had both peaked outside the Top 20 after the first five singles had been Top 5.

There will be some of you out there who are fond of Toyah Wilcox, so here’s a reminder of what she inflicted upon us in 1983:-

mp3: Toyah – Rebel Run (#29)

This one got to #24 the following week and then, thankfully, disappeared.

If you look closely at the bottom of the page:-

mp3: Tracey Ullman – They Don’t Know (#69)

One of the UK’s most popular actress/comediennes had embarked on a singing career. Having already enjoyed a Top 3 hit with Breakaway in which she had covered a 60s song, she turned to the back catalogue of Kirsty MacColl for her next venture, offering her take on a 1979 flop single. This one went all the way to #2, spending almost the rest of 1983 in the Top 75, and bringing some well-deserved royalties to Kirsty.

Chart dates 25 September – 1 October

A cover version was the highest new entry this week. And a good one too….

mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Dear Prudence (#17)

Siouxsie and Budgie had been enjoying chart success with The Creatures. Robert Smith was often on Top of The Pops in 1983 with The Cure. Here they all were together on one gloriously psychedelic offering of a song originally found on The White Album, released by The Beatles in 1968.

I think that’s just about enough for this edition of nostalgia central. I’ll be back in about four weeks time.

JC

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Thirty-five)

R-15173223-1589147253-8380

Another single from Hotspot was issued on 24 April 2020. There was a digital and CD release, along with a 12″ vinyl version.

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – I Don’t Wanna (radio edit)

It’s about 40 seconds shorter than the album version. Again, like much of the later material from the Pet Shop Boys, the tunes from the Hotspot era, all the way from the advance singles through to the b-side of this, the fourth and final single, were all new to me when I reached the stage of putting the various pieces together for this series. I Don’t Wanna is one of the rare times I’ve been disappointed, as it’s all just a bit functional and dull.

The CD and 12″ single were dominated by remixes, but there was one new song kept back for use as a b-side:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – New Boy

This one caught me by surprise. After all the twists and turns and changes of direction in recent years, here’s a ballad that wouldn’t have been out of place on the earliest albums or as a b-side to some of the biggest hit singles back in the 80s. It is classic PSB, and an interview with a journalist in Australia reveals that the song indeed, did have very deep roots:-

“One or two years ago I was listening to the cassette demos and I’ve always liked this song we wrote at the time we wrote ‘Rent.’ It’s called ‘New Boy.’ I was at Smash Hits at the time. It’s about two girls on the phone in some suburban area, they see a new boy in town and are talking about him. It’s got a very strong melody, I’ve always remembered it. Anyway, Chris and I finally finished it off after however many years….”

(with thanks to Wayne Struder‘s hugely invaluable fan site, Commentary, for that particular snippet of info).

I Don’t Wanna remains the last ‘actual’ single that the Pet Shop Boys have released. There have been a few more editions of Annually that have contained CDs, and I’ll cover them off next week in what will be the very final part of the series.

JC

Wellgreen

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #374: THE WELLGREEN

I’ve one song by The Wellgreen, and it comes courtesy of being included on the digital download to commemorate and celebrate Indietracks 2014

mp3: The Wellgreen – Grin And Bear It

It was originally released as the opening and title track of the band’s second album, released on their own label, The Barne Society, in 2013.

The following info has been listed from a piece that appeared on the website, Penny Black Music, in May 2014:-

The Wellgreen are a Glasgow-based band, which is centered around multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Stuart Kidd and Marco Rea.

They have recorded two albums to date, 2011’s ‘Wellgreens’ and last year’s ‘Grin and Bear It’, which, produced on vintage equipment, they have released on their own label, the Barne Society. Their music, which seamlessly combines 60’s-pop and folk sounds with psychedelia, has won much local acclaim, and earned Kidd and Rea, with their evocative and inventive harmonies, comparisons with the Beach Boys, the Beatles and also Crosby, Stills and Nash.

The Wellgreen recently expanded to a four-piece with the addition ofJim McGoldrick and Daniel McGeever.

JC

Au Revoir Simone

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (6)

R-1001291-1183193647

I think we’ve all been guilty of buying music on the basis of reading about the singer or band before we’ve ever heard a note. I’ve not done it all that often, but inevitably I’ve got home and put on the vinyl/CD are wondered just what the fuss was all about.

This certainly happened at least once in 2007 when I bought a 7″ single by the Brooklyn-based synth-orientated indie-pop combo, Au Revoir Simone. The trio, consisting of Erika Forster, Annie Hart and Heather D’Angelo were very near the top of the hipster’s lists of acts to latch onto, and when I came across the single on display in a shop in Glasgow, I decided to plunge in…..possibly having been subconsciously influenced by the sleeve!

I recall being a bit underwhelmed by it all, and after a couple of listens just stored it away. But it was one which came out via the lucky dip a while back, and so it was given a fresh spin:-

mp3: Au Revoir Simone – Sad Song

It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s certainly a pleasant enough listen. Maybe I was expecting too much back in the day.

Here’s the b-side, which I don’t think I’d ever listened to ever since its initial play on the mp3 turntable for conversion to digital purposes for the i-pod.

mp3: Au Revoir Simone – Sad Song (Alexis Taylor remix/version – 7″ edit)

The man from Hot Chip does exactly what you’d expect from him, and while it might be down as a 7″ edit, it still comes in at over six minutes in length.

JC

Steve Mason

RECOMMENDED LISTENING FROM 2023 (Volume 1)

R-26327708-1678132623-2406

The start of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.

First up is one that came out on Double Six Records, a subsidiary of Domino Records, back in March.

Brothers and Sisters is the fifth solo album which Steve Mason has released under his own name. He, of course, first came to prominence with The Beta Band as long ago as 1996, and has also recorded as King Biscuit Time and Black Affair. I’d be telling a lie if I said I have followed his career all the way through, or that I’ve a copy of everything he’s ever released. The truth of the matter is I enjoyed some but not all of the Beta Band’s output, loved a couple of the King Biscuit Time singles/EPs, had no inclination at all that he had recorded as Black Affair and have dipped in and out of the solo material, particularly enjoying Meet The Humans, which was released in 2016.

I came across the new album while browsing in Mono, the record store which is part-owned by Stephen Pastel, and who, on most days, can be found behind the counter. Brothers and Sisters was up on the board as one of the new albums being recommended by the staff in the shop, but thankfully it wasn’t being played as I browsed – after watching that infamous but funny scene in the film High Fidelity (which, coincidentally, featured the Beta Band), I’ve never bought any album while it was playing in a shop in which I was browsing….I might have returned the next day, but that’s acceptable!!

I took a punt on it, partly as I was suckered in by the sticker saying it was a double album on gold vinyl, and it wasn’t stupidly expensive. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made all year.

For once, the blurb from the PR folk at the record label provides a succinct and accurate summary:-

Steve Mason’s most open, honest and vibrant solo record to date, it marries the personal and the political but does so in an emotive and uplifting manner. Written against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty, and at a time when those in charge lurched from one disaster to the next mismanagement with increasing regularity, Brothers & Sisters is in fact an incredibly joyous, even spiritual, listen.

Yup….it really is an album of its time and for its time. I’ve read that it is a response to all that has happened with, and since, the Brexit vote, but I was most struck by its constant reminder of multiculturalism being at the heart of so much great music. It certainly has a great deal of anger and angst underpinning the lyrics, but at almost all times the music delivers a rhythm and groove that will have you, at the very least, shuffling your feet, with many moments that will lead you to dance like a maniac and shout along at the top of your voice.

As with everything I know of Steve Mason’s output, this one doesn’t rely on any single genre or sound to fill the grooves. A number of guest musicians are empowered to stamp their authority on the record, with one of the real standout tracks featuring Pakistani singer Javed Bashir:-

Elsewhere, there is, as you might expect, a dependency throughout on keyboards, be that synths or in one instance, on the melancholic Pieces Of Me, there is an old-fashioned almost bar-room sounding piano, which comes courtesy of the late Martin Duffy, in what may well have been the last recording he was part of before his sad death back in December 2022.

mp3: Steve Mason – Pieces Of Me

The presence throughout of a four-strong gospel/soul choir provides much of the spiritual element referred to in the PR blurb, and it all comes together very fittingly on the album closer, the title track, in which many influences certainly come to the fore:-

mp3: Steve Mason – Brothers and Sisters

This occasional series isn’t going to be a rundown in the old-fashioned or traditional way of counting down things or saying outright what my favourite album of 2023 has been….it’s been a year when I can’t pick one above any other as there’s been so much to enjoy and appreciate. But I think Brothers and Sisters has been the one I’ve listened to more than any other. It’s still hanging around the confines of the turntable, as it has done since last March, and it’ll be a while before it makes it way to its alphabetical place on the shelves of vinyl in a separate room.

JC

Go-Betweens

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #032

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#032– The Go-Betweens – ‘Cattle and Cane’ (Rough Trade Records ’83)

Dear friends,

yes, yes, yes – the moment you’ve all been waiting for has finally come: for a change, I have a band for you with at least a bit of recognition value! Plus one of the finest singles of the last 40 years, to be sure.

The Go-Betweens it is, folks – I mean, come on, who does not adore them, right?! Formed in 1977 in Brisbane, Queensland – and I don’t mention this as a filler of what might or might not turn out to be boring nonsense again anyway, no, in fact their origins are of some importance for this specific song, you’ll wait and see.

Now, a lot of fans and specialists regard ‘Cattle And Cane’ as The Go-Betweens’ finest moment. And they do so because of the track’s highly uncommon time signature and because of its lyrics. I am a complete fuckwit when it comes to being able to read music, so for the more educated of you: “the time signature (also known as meter, metre, and measure signature) is a convention in Western music notation to specify how many of a particular note value are contained in each measure (bar). The time signature is a notational device representing the meter, an auditory feature of the music.”

So there you are, but even if I had understood one single word of the above, I would still disagree: ‘Cattle And Cane’ is certainly not their best song, in fact if ‘Draining The Pool For You’ had been released on 7”, I would perhaps have chosen it instead. But I would surely have chosen the band’s second single, 1979’s ‘People Say’ – the problem is that it’s one of the two famous Able Label – singles, the cheapest copy on discogs is for € 999.99. On the plus side, it’s only € 7,- for postage (from Portugal)…. so just let me contemplate a bit longer, will you? But for now, ‘People Say’ is not yet included in the wooden box along with the other 110 singles.

But, instead, ‘Cattle And Cane’ is – written in 1982 in London, because this is where the band retreated to in this year, in Nick Cave’s apartment, in fact, and on his acoustic guitar. But it was recorded in Eastbourne of all places – again this is of some importance, at least for those of you who know Eastbourne … which is not exactly the UK’s most, hmmm, delightful spot, let’s put it this way.

Which brings us to the lyrics, in which Grant McLennan tells us an autobiographical story of a train journey he once did, heading home as a schoolboy. Now, being stuck in the UK, cold and grey, plus finally ending up in bloody Eastbourne, McLennan was full of severe homesickness, constantly thinking about the past and his life, his friends and his family back in Queensland. And that, basically, is the background of ‘Cattle And Cane’, so very well transmogrified into four of the finest verses ever written.

To quote The Canberra Times: “the three verses by McLennan cover three phases of his life to date in a series of images – the primary schoolboy scrambling through cane fields, the adolescent in boarding school losing his late father’s watch in the showers, the young man at university discovering a bigger brighter world – and then the fourth phase of his life: Robert Forster, playing himself.”

R-748794-1486680805-1072

R-748794-1486680795-1105

mp3: The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane

Listening to it, we actually feel like we’re on that train together with Grant, don’t we?

Take care, all the best, and …. enjoy,

Dirk

Various

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #352: TRUMPETS (3)

A GUEST POSTING from JONNY THE FRIENDLY LAWYER

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for another dose of 3-valve glory! Today’s 11-song set is a mix of suggestions from the TVV faithful and a few of my own picks. Here goes…

1. They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul.

Not sure how I missed this one the first couple of times around. I’m a big TmbG fan and this is probably their most famous tune. Trumpet in the break courtesy of Frank London, a New York klezmer musician.

2. Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

Title track from Jeff Mangum’s magnum opus. The wavering sound you hear throughout the song is a singing saw.

3. Soft Cell – Torch.

I know very little about Soft Cell, so cheers to DAM and Kieron Mullens for suggesting this killer song. I thought all the band’s music was electronic, but that’s a real horn you hear throughout. A single from 1982.

4. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago.

Sufjan can be a little precious, but he sometimes hits one out of the park (er, into the back of the net?). ‘Chicago’ is on a playlist curated for me by the Empress of Good Taste herself, daughter Jane, so I’m proud to include it here.

5. OMC – How Bizarre.

Our friends Hadley and Gareth got married last summer. It was a super posh and classy affair, so that means Hads arranged everything. But Gads was sure that the band played his favourite tune by his Kiwi compatriots Otara Millionaires Club.

6. Split Enz – My Mistake.

And while we’re in New Zealand, let’s have one from their best export. From way back in 1977, when the band dressed nuttily and sounded like Sparks. Possibly a suggestion from Dial-Ups lead guitarist/vascular surgeon Dr. Rigberg. I can’t remember, but I know he’s a fan, so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.

7. Aimee Mann – Calling It Quits.

A track from her 2000 LP Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo. If you’re not familiar with the album, Do Not Pass Go and check it right out. Aimee Mann is the best lyricist this side of Elvis Costello, who co-wrote ‘The Fall of the World’s Own Optimist’ on this album. The pair co-wrote ‘The Other End of the Telescope’ on his 1996 LP All This Useless Beauty.

8. Brilliant Corners – Oh!

Another song I never heard from a band I’d only heard of. This was a suggestion by Jez of A History of Dubious Taste fame.

9. U2 – Red Light.

Man, I hate U2! It’s partly down to how obnoxious Bono is, and a little bit that The Edge calls himself The Edge and plays basic riffs through a pedalboard the size of a coffee table. But mostly I hate that Adam Clayton is the most boring bassist in rock. Every single U2 bass line can be played on one string. So, I’m pleased to dhow everyone here what they sound like with a legit musician in the mix. On the trumpet is Kenny Fradley from Kid Creole & the Coconuts, who luckily happened to be in Dublin when War was recorded in 1982.

10. Boo Radleys – Lazarus.

Thanks to Vinnie who suggested this track in the comments to Trumpets (1). From 1993’s Giant Steps. I love the moody build and the entrance of the trumpet about a minute in.

11. Tom Waits – Burma Shave.

My originals band is called Hypermiler and features author/screenwriter/chocolatier Craig on drums. Here’s what he had to say about the trumpet in this tune, from 1977’s Foreign Affairs:

“Brought to mind a moment, not in a rock song per se, but a moment that uses the instrument as achingly and plaintively as it’s ever been played, a moment that rips your heart out as only a soul-fed trumpet can. At the end of Tom Waits’ ‘Burma Shave,’ when the couple longing for freedom from their tiny little lives meet their ultimate fate on a nameless country road beneath the early morning ‘bat wing shadow’ of a derrick, that trumpet lick is as painful an elegy as any lost lives ever rendered.”

As always, suggestions for another go at a Trumpets ICA are most welcome!

JTFL

XTC

UNCOVERED/UNWRAPPED (2)

A guest posting by Léon Macduff

wrapped

Well now, flimflamfan‘s laid down a bit of a challenge here. Have I ever bought a record purely on the basis of its sleeve? Certainly there are many records in my collection where the music is great but the design makes the package even better, but mostly it’s stuff I’d have bought anyway even if it came in a plain white bag. There is however, one purchase that I think I can honestly say I would not have made were it not for the sleeve design. And I can say that because, alarming though this may be to some readers, I’ve never really got into XTC. I don’t dislike them, in fact I know and like quite a few of their singles, but I’ve never delved particularly deeply into the catalogue, and I wouldn’t have shelled out for this LP either were it not for the fact that I really like the packaging.

I must have bought this album in… probably 1995. Maybe ’96. And what I should explain up front is that while I was completely ignorant of the LP, I did sort of recognise the design. I had previously seen it adapted as a fanzine cover, but I didn’t get the reference until I happened upon the original on a market stall in Leicester.

thumbnail_hoax_magazine go2 takeoff

I reckon I would have paid perhaps a fiver for the album, maybe not even that much. The sleeve was the work of celebrated design partnership Hipgnosis, and the record, released in 1978, was XTC’s second album, Go 2. And this, photographed from the very copy I bought from the market that day, is the sleeve design…

XTC go 2 front

Yes, it’s a wall of text, and yes, the one album I bought because I liked the cover is specifically mocking people who buy albums because they like the cover. So more fool me, I guess. But it is quite funny, and it carries on like this on the back.

Go2 back cover

Having previously seen an adaptation of the front cover, what a discovery this was! I had thought the fanzine cover was something original, but now that I knew the truth it didn’t feel like I’d been cheated, it felt like I’d been let in on a secret. But take a close look at that back cover and you’ll notice that there’s a chunk of text missing. It’s not a misprint; nor is it, despite the poor quality of my photography, an error on my part; it’s exactly as it should be because the missing text is on the promised “very colourful” insert. And because I was buying it second hand off a market stall and not shrink-wrapped new, I could open it up and see it for myself.

Go2 inner sleeve

You may think it’s a bit smart-alec to have the text “wrap through” onto the insert, using this to get the catalogue number onto the insert AND referencing the fact that they’re doing it. And maybe it is, but I think what it shows is that they’ve really thought about this and gone for it. This, as noted elsewhere, is called DESIGN CONTINUITY. Where is this noted? On the actual labels…

xtc go 2 labels

Yes, they really have carried this through the whole package. I mean, seriously, the WHOLE package. And the pièce de résistance is…

Go2 inner bag

Marvellous. However, it has to be said that the design has very little to do with the record in any artistic sense. The album is XTC, the sleeve is Hipgnosis, and the connection is… tenuous. Indeed, it feels like a generic template where they’ve just filled in the gaps – which, according to a snippet that started appearing all over the web when the LP was reissued earlier this year, is exactly what happened.

I am a bit wary of any information on the internet that is always expressed in the exact same words wherever you see it, but the fact as found on various websites – and now this one! – reads as follows: “Contrary to popular myth, Go2’s distinctive sleeve was not specifically commissioned for the band. It had been pre-designed by third partner at Hipgnosis (co-founder of Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records) Peter Christopherson and simply awaited a client/band willing to choose it.” To which I can only respond: yeah, that figures.

Something else I only found out in the course of writing this piece is that there was a different “essay” on the UK cassette. It was done in-house at Virgin and wow, what a half-assed job they did on it.

Go2 cassette front

The best thing I can say about that is that they managed to get it so wrong that at least it helps me to crystallise what Hipgnosis did right. The LP sleeve looks pointedly anti-design but it really isn’t. The style is elegant, the content is witty. The jokes are to some extent against Virgin but mostly against their own work as designers. Even when they do mock you, the potential customer, you’re in on the joke. And as we’ve seen, they really commit to it. Virgin’s in-house knock off achieves none of that. It’s cheap, and it looks cheap. The sans serif, all-caps typeface is just shouting at the (potential) buyer, the gappy justified text is ugly, the jokes fall flat (the delivery is completely different when the text reads “THIS IS CALLED BEING CONSISTENT” rather than “This is called BEING CONSISTENT”), the “cough up the readies” line is way too blunt, and what the hell is that question mark doing in there? They don’t follow through, either: apart from the front panel, it’s just the same as any other tape inlay (and no, there’s nothing special about the labels either). The cassette card is the hackwork of someone trying to do their own version of the LP sleeve but who has completely failed to grasp the thinking behind it.

Going back to the LP, I will briefly note here that the reverse side of the gatefold insert is the part that breaks away from this style – it’s the bit where the band members get their own input, including Colin Moulding‘s map of Swindon which seems quite popular. It’s a proper hand-drawn street map, but with symbols marking key locations like “Place of Sickness”, “Place of Hallucination” and “Place of Virginity-Loss”. It’s quite amusing, but that alone wouldn’t have persuaded me to part with my cash.

As for the music… um, it’s alright I guess. The album seems to be XTC’s least well-regarded so I don’t feel too bad about being a bit lukewarm toward it. As the rushed follow-up to their well-received debut White Music, Go 2 is XTC’s This Is The Modern World, their Pretenders II, their Lionheart. It contains no hits; in fact, in contrast to the debut which spawned the singles Statue of Liberty and This Is Pop, nothing on the LP was deemed worthy of a 45 release at all, which pretty much tells you all you need to know. It’s not bad, but on this evidence you wouldn’t have bet on them still being around five years later, let alone ten or twenty.

Here, have a couple of tracks anyway. The first is written by Andy Partridge, the second by Colin Moulding. It seemed only right.

mp3: XTC – Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go!)

mp3: XTC – Crowded Room

So yes, I think I can honestly say that this is an album I only bought because of the cover. It’s also an album that I continue to hold onto because of the cover. Well, the cover and the insert and the labels and the rubber-stamped inner bag. But sadly – and it is sadly, because while I may not be a major fan, I do recognise that they went on to far greater things – really not because of the music.

Léon Macduff

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Thirty-four)

b78c55f44a10622a5da1135e6d2dc7f3

Hotspot was released, again to great critical and fan acclaim, on 24 January 2020, entering the album charts at #3. Ticket sales were incredibly healthy for the proposed European and UK tour, the plans and rehearsals for which were at an advanced stage.

Six days later, the World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 virus as a public health emergency of international concern, and by 11 March 2020, it was officially referred to as a pandemic.

The world changed forever, and clearly not in a positive way. The tour was cancelled, put off for at least 12 months. As it turned out, the plans for 2021 were also shelved, and Dreamworld wouldn’t take place until 2022.

The latest edition of Pet Shop Boys Annually was already at the printers, ready for publication on 12 April 2020. This time around, it came with an additional EP on CD, consisting of 21 minutes of music that had been written by Neil and Chris for a 2019 stage version of My Beautiful Laundrette, which had originally been made as a film in 1985.

The CD was never given a commercial release outside of it being packaged with the hardback book, and copies on Discogs have an asking price on the other side of £50. In May 2021, the music was released in digital form.

The release consisted of mostly instrumental pieces, but there were two tracks with vocals, one of which, No Boundaries, had been previously made available as a b-side with the Dreamland single in October 2019. Here’s the other track with vocals delivered by Neil:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Angelic Thug

As it turned out, there would be one more single lifted from Hotspot, albeit there was no tour with which to have a tie-in. But that’s for next week.

JC

Wee Cherubs

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #372: THE WEE CHERUBS

A repeat post from 5 September 2019.

Here’s another one-off single from Scotland, as made available via the Big Gold Dreams boxset

mp3 : The Wee Cherbus – Dreaming

Here’s the blurb from the booklet.

The shimmering guitars that opened this one-off single by Glasgow mixed gender quartet The Wee Cherubs were de rigeur in a post-Postcard world. Formed by singers Gail Cherry and Martin Cotter with drummer Graham Adam and bassist Christine Gibson, their sublime pop song-writing sensibility makes the A-side sound like it could have been recorded by an old-school lounge club crooner. A cover of the Velvet Underground’s I’m Waiting for the Man on the flip slowed the song down in a way that gave it a very different emphasis. Cotter claimed later that Dreaming sold so poorly that five years after it was released he dumped several boxes of unsold records in a skip. By this time, he and Adam had formed The Bachelor Pad, releasing several singles and an album, Tales of Hofmann.

I’m very indebted to Roque, from the Cloudberry Records blog, who earlier this year published this very informative interview with Martin Cotter.

The sleeve for the single does indicate there were four members in The Wee Cherubs but the photos and artwork feature one less than that, and given that Martin’s interview with Roque states they started rehearsing as a three-piece, it would likely be the case that Gail Cherry came on board specifically for the single on backing vocal duties.

It’s interesting in that I can remember reading about this band back in the day – they were part of the Glasgow scene in 1983/84 which was when I was besotted by local music – but I can’t recall ever seeing them play live, although that might be, again from Martin’s recollections in the interview, that they gigged a bit, but not a lot.

I certainly never bought a copy of the single, which came out on a very small local label called Bogaten, and given that copies of it are much sought after (there’s one for sale on Discogs with an asking price of £400), I’m kicking myself. Not as much, mind you, as Martin who confirms that he threw around 240 copies into a skip when he was moving house in the early 90s.

The b-side was quite different from the single in that it’s a cover of I’m Waiting For The Man, albeit The Wee Cherubs called it something different:-

mp3 : The Wee Cherbus – Waiting For My Man

Rather cheekily, the composing credits on the single state (L. Reed, arranged by the wee cherubs), and while it does offer a nod to The Velvet Underground, there’s also something quite 80s indie about it. I’ve a feeling it will divide opinion……

2023 update.

The single was given a re-release by Optic Nerve Records in 2020 and is more widely available at a very affordable price.

JC

Eugene Kelly

MAN ALIVE

EugeneKelly

Back in 2003, Eugene Kelly, best known as being one-half of The Vaselines, recorded an album called Man Alive. It was issued, on CD, by a Japanese label called P-Vine Records.

A couple of years later, Rev-Ola Records, a reissues and rarities specialist that had originally been an offshoot of Creation Records, gave it a low-key release in the UK, again on CD.

Last month it finally received a very belated release on vinyl, courtesy of Past Night From Glasgow, a label which is an offshoot of Last Night From Glasgow with the purpose of repressing albums that have long been out of print. The blurb on the LNFG website doesn’t waste words:-

Eugene Kelly’s first solo album is a charming, low-key effort full of his trademark wit, humour, and songcraft. The bulk of the album is made up of chiming guitar pop tunes with sweet vocal harmonies.

It’s a great record, one of the best to find its way into Villain Towers this year….and there’s been quite a few albums that I’ll need to draw your attention to before the calendar flips over to 2024 so that you can, if you don’t have them already, put them on a list for posting to Santa at the North Pole.

Anyways, this is its opening track

mp3: Eugene Kelly – I’m Done With Drugs

I’m done with drugs and cigarettes
Pornography and casual sex
I’m done with drink and late night fun
My hedonism’s all been done

Because I have finally found you
And I want to build my world around you

I’m done with noise and all it brings
Sonic Youth, The Rites of Spring
I’ll mend my ways, I’ll cut my hair
I’ll even change the clothes I wear

Because I have finally found you
And I want to build my world around you

Feels like something’s got to change
Please don’t let me turn out strange
Feels like something’s got to change
Please don’t let me down

Because I have finally found you
And I want to build my world around you
Because I have finally found you
And I want to build my world around you

Three minutes of damn-near perfect pop…and maybe the best Teenage Fanclub song that none of Norman, Gerry or Raymond ever wrote.

If you want to get a copy of the album, it can be bought on vinyl from the LNFG shop, and if you combine it with some other purchases, you can save a bit of money!! Click here.

JC

Wedding Present

INDIE-SCHMINDIE

R-824962-1603095256-2050

Yesterday, I did promise that today would bring something along these lines:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress

There’s every chance that the three tracks from this 1987 single, released on Reception Records, have featured before. But when they are this good, who cares?

mp3: The Wedding Present – Every Mother’s Son
mp3: The Wedding Present – Never Said

I recently paid my first ever visit to Brighton, specifically to attend the thirteenth edition of the Edge of The Sea Festival, aka Gedgefest. The city and the festival both lived up to expectations. My Favourite Dress was played, to great acclaim, at the Weddoes gig on the Friday night.

Tickets for next year have already been purchased. I need to wait a while to sort out my travel and accommodation arrangements, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Diana Ross. The Wedding Present. What’s next?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

JC

Diana Ross

MY OLD PIANO

R-113980-1280144535

Browsing around a large second-hand store in Glasgow a few months back, my eye was caught by a 12″ single dating back to 1980.

Despite very much being a post-punk addict, I was still fond of disco music in various guises, not having a care about what any of my gig-going mates from the school thought. I didn’t buy all that much at the time – there was no need to, as many of the great songs were chart hits and never off the radio.

One of the biggest successes of the year had been Diana, the eleventh studio album released by Diana Ross, and one which had seen her forge a partnership with Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards who had taken Chic to great heights in the previous couple of years.

History shows that Diana was the biggest selling solo album in her career, reckoned to have shifted a million copies in the USA alone and that its three singles, Upside Down, My Old Piano, and I’m Coming Out were hits, with the first of them only kept off the top spot by Abba and The Winner Takes It All which had provided the Swedish superstars with their eighth#1 in six years.

I never bought a copy of Diana, or indeed any of the singles. But for just £1, I was more than happy to shell out for what the sleeve promised was ‘A Long Playing 12″ Disco Single’.

It turns out to have been a misleading sleeve, as the track was identical in length to the album cut. It also turned out not to be in the very best of condition, and as it was likely doing a bit of damage to the stylus, it was whipped back off the turntable after about 30 seconds. You’ll need to make do with a digital version:-

mp3: Diana Ross – My Old Piano

The b-side wasn’t another track from the album, which is hardly a surprise as there were just eight songs on it. Instead, a golden oldie, was offered up:-

mp3: Diana Ross – Where Did We Go Wrong

A tear-jerker of a (boring) ballad that had been included on the 1978 album, Ross. Again, it’s the digital version on offer.

Having likely taken many of you out of your comfort zones today, I better get some indie-schmindie lined up for tomorrow.