THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #346: THE CRANES

A GUEST POSTING by flimflamfan

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Cranes – From When The Fuse Was Lit, an ICA

2023 saw the proper re-emergence of Cranes. First there was news of the John Peel Sessions being released and then… three gigs; two in London (of course) and one in Portsmouth (their hometown). Then bam! Another re-release – see below.

The only two musicians to appear on all releases are siblings Alison and Jim Shaw. I think it fair to say that Cranes are an indie band; surfacing with Bite Back! then Dedicated and latterly their own imprint Dadaphonic, despite a very brief encounter with Elefant.

Wrench (Fuse Cassette. 1986)

Things have been relatively non-existent for the band since their last proper gig (in London) in 2012 – although their actual last gig was at a festival, Electric Picnic, Galway. There have been and continue to be re-releases of albums that were previously released on vinyl, or that have never been released on vinyl – the latest being La Tragédie d’Oreste et Électre, all courtesy of Music On Vinyl.

My initial intention was to re-buy all of the re-releases from Music on Vinyl, whether I had them originally on vinyl or cd (or both). I’d convinced myself I ‘needed’ them. I put my ‘need’ on pause as more albums were released and decided that to begin to re-buy would be a costly effort and, surprise, surprise… I didn’t really ‘need’ what I already had.

However, I did fall foul of the John Peel Sessions. I did have this digitally but no physical format had previously been released and so I bought the limited-edition cd, ‘Dinked’ vinyl edition and limited edition first-press black vinyl edition. When the releases arrived, I initially felt quite content, but soon after realised I’d probably never open any of them, let alone play them. This was a relatively new phenomena for me – having only recently re-bought two treasured LPs I knew I’d never open, or play. I previously bought music to play. To pour over art work. To enjoy. Here I was, coldly and callously, collecting. It felt weird. I have a collection. I was a collector but, I was connected to what I was buying and there was a reward in the pleasure of the music. Something had changed. I didn’t like it.

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Since that day, I have vowed that I will only buy a physical format if I intend to listen to it. That seems an odd thing to agree with oneself, but there you are. The ICA is presented in a chronological order and features some of today’s Cranes favourites. They may not all be tomorrow’s Cranes favourites.

All of the above is a prelude to me as ‘Cranes fan’. The fan who just couldn’t wait to get that new single/LP home and listen to it again and again and again…

I was introduced to Cranes by a friend, the Self-Non-Self LP – other reminiscences are available. I was immediately taken by the vocals and later the tracks Joy Lies Within and Focus Breathe (which vocally reminded me of Lisa Gerard – always a good thing). I liked this band. I bought the LP.

Focus Breathe (Self-Non-Self, LP. 1989)

As we drafted our playlists for our ‘ultra-cool’ club night Cranes featured – possibly the only time they ever did, at that time, in a Glasgow disco. It was my friend’s section of the playlist, not mine.

Give (Inescapable, EP. 1990)

While others pondered and attempted to pigeonhole the band’s sound – I viewed them simply as post-punk. They were making the kind of racket that didn’t fit within either confines of shoegaze or goth.

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Starblood (Wings Of Joy, LP. 1991)

With each new release, I became more and more captivated. Wings Of Joy stripped back some of the noise to allow us to hear such beauty as Tomorrow’s Tears.

Far Away (Forever, LP. 1993)

That stripped back sound continued on the following LP, Forever – possibly their best known? It may seem a bit contrived of me to omit Jewel – I didn’t do so lightly. Jewel was, at this time, without doubt the song that most people would associate with Cranes. Released as a 3 x 7” box set with different mixes but oddly no standard 12”.

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Everywhere (Forever, LP. 1993)

Loved was the last (at the time) LP to be released on vinyl. On the LP, and as a b-side to the single Shining Road, sat Paris and Rome. A remix by Flood originally appears on the 12” promo and has since been replicated elsewhere.

Paris and Rome – Flood remix (12” promo. 1994)

In 1996 Cranes released La Tragédie D’Oreste Et Électre. The LP was recorded prior to 1994’s Loved LP but was delayed due to copyright issues with the estate of Jean-Paul Sartre whose words are used as lyrics. The LP is sung/spoken entirely, in French, by Alison. It reminds me of LPs Tindersticks would go on to record to greater acclaim.

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Cranes go pop? Well, as pop as Cranes can go…

Can’t Get Free (Population Four, LP. 1996)

In 1997 EP Collection Volumes 1 & 2 was released. The CD held no surprises but I was more than happy to add this to my collection. It’s been played – lots.

There was quite a hiatus until the release of the LP Future Songs. It is here that Cranes brought me to tears. The culprit, Driving In The Sun. The utter fragility of this song continues to make me weep. I have a wonderful memory of being in Madrid, the song playing loudly as I looked out over the rooftops towards Plaza de España, the evening sun casting light and shadow. The LP ends with the wonderfully titled The Maker Of Heavenly Trousers, a nod to the book of the same name.

Driving In The Sun (Future Songs, LP. 2001)

In 2002/2003 the band released Submarine and Live In Italy, respectively. Submarine, a maxi-single consisted of remixed songs from Future Songs. It’s the only Cranes release that I don’t care for.

Particles and Waves seemed to sneak out. It contained 10 songs book-ended by Vanishing Point and Light Song. How is it that something so beautiful can go largely unnoticed?

Light Song (Particles and Waves, LP. 2004)

The final Cranes LP (thus far), coincidentally named Cranes, is probably their most ambient to date. I can’t help but wonder which direction would have followed? 15 years later, I’m no closer to knowing the answer to that question.

High and Low (Cranes, LP. 2008)

The release of the John Peel Sessions masquerading as an LP was quite the stretch for me. Four songs from 1989 plus another three from 1990 equals seven songs. Seven songs – to my mind – does not an LP make. But… I forgive them in the hope that a new LP is forthcoming.

I can think of no other band that I owned all t-shirts of (long and short sleeve versions) all the way from the first to the last. I treasure my records, my CDs. I, on occasion, carefully look through my signed copy of Til The Stars Shine (a lyric booklet) handmade by Alison and chuckle gently and my silly collecting ways.

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I hope you enjoy some of these songs. I found it a difficult, personal challenge to whittle my choices down for this ICA knowing full well my choices will have changed as soon as I send this to JC.

Bonus Tracks

Happy Xmas (War is Over) ( Ancienne Belgique, CD single. 1996)

flimflamfan

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Twenty-eight)

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The next single to be lifted from Super was issued on CD and digital form on 16 September 2016.

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Say It To Me (new radio mix)

Say It To Me is a banger of a tune, and the new radio mix doesn’t actually sound all that different from the album version. In days gone by, this would have smashed into higher echelons of the singles chart.

Here’s the two new tracks that came with it:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – A Cloud In A Box
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – The Dead Can Dance

See that comment I made about the single being a banger? Well, feel free to take and multiply it by a thousand to get the best description of A Cloud In A Box. Faithless meets Left To My Own Devices. It’s rather wonderful.

The Dead Can Dance is another song that deserved a far better fate than relegation to a b-side. It’s not anywhere as immediate as A Cloud…..but with a hypnotic and repetitive beat and rhythm, there’s a claim to be made that’s it is another of the many dozens of three-minute-long PSB classics that not many have heard before.

JC

Vultures

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #366: THE VULTURES

From the booklet which accompanied the box set, Big Gold Dreams (A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977-1989)

Forming at Edinburgh College of Art, and named out of a desire to sound tougher than many of their contemporaries, The Vultures were a quartet comprising Janie Nicoll, Allison Young, Anna Watkins and Ian Binns.

Capturing the band’s spiky brand of post-punk girl-pop, their sole output was a four-track 12″ EP on Nardonik label, produced by Jamie Watson following demos recorded by Angus McPake and Douglas Hart.

Sharing equipment and rehearsal space with Jesse Garon and The Desperados, Rote Kapelle and other regulars at the Onion Cellar club, The Vultures ended up supporting My Bloody Valentine. Torn between the pressures of impending art school degree shows and life in the back of a transit van, they called it a day not long afterwards. Nicoll is now an artist of note.

Here’s the song included within the boxset:-

mp3: The Vultures – Good Thing

It dates from 1988. It’s less than two minutes long and is absolutely bursting with energy. It wouldn’t have sounded too out of place a few years later when the Riot Grrrl ‘movement’ became a thing….but as can be seen from the bio above, everyone had moved on.

Oh, and I was so taken by again hearing the track when preparing this posting that I’ve gone and ordered a second-hand copy of the EP via Discogs. I’ll share them with you sometime in the next few days.

JC

Bloc Party

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (74)

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I think I should issue the reminder that the heading of this series doesn’t mean that the singer or band in question never released anything as brilliant or memorable as the debut 45.

Bloc Party.

As I wrote last time around when they featured on the blog, (November 2021), it took quite a while after forming in 1999 before there was any sort of recognition.

Come 2004, there was something of a surprising but welcome resurgence in the popularity of angular post-punk music here in the UK, and before too long, a number of groups whose influences had to include Television, Wire and Gang of Four were being played on mainstream radio. It did prove to be short-lived, but it was fun while it lasted.

It was Trash Aesthetics, a newly formed London-based independent label, which took a chance on Bloc Party. The first 7″ single on the label, in February 2004 was this:-

mp3: Bloc Party – She’s Hearing Voices

It’s a hypnotic and pounding tune that might have got some young folk off their chairs and onto the floors of the alternative discos, but it really is something of a disturbing number, with a lyric inspired by a friend of singer/lyricist Kele Okereke who had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. It certainly wasn’t anything as radio friendly as later singles such as Helicopter, Two More Years or Banquet, all of which went Top 20.

Here’s the two tracks that featured on the b-side:-

mp3 : Bloc Party – The Marshals Are Dead
mp3 : Bloc Party – The Answer

The former has a vocal delivery and occasionally lo-fi production that does make me think that The Fall were more of an influence on Bloc Party than has perhaps ever been admitted to, while the latter is a full-on 100mph assault on the senses that makes me think it was often deployed as the closing song during many of the early shows.

I don’t have a copy of said single, but I did pick them up a while afterwards when they were included on the later Bloc Party EP, which was released on CD by Wichita Records.

JC

Cocteau Twins

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (2)

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The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted today’s offering is #2 in this occasional series, and is coming a few days after #3 was published. More evidence that I’m getting increasingly sloppy with this blog. Apologies……

Aikea-Guinea was released on 7″ and 12″ vinyl in March 1985. I would have thought most fans would have bought the 12″ version, given it was seen by the band and the record company as an EP release and the larger piece of plastic was the only way to get all four tracks.

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Aikea-Guinea

If Discogs is correct, in terms of anyone who was an obsessive completist, the 7″ also required to be purchased.

“The version of “Kookaburra” is unique to this 7″ release as it starts with a drumstick count down of 4 beats prior to the start of the song.”

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Kookaburra (7″ version)

Not having a copy of the 12″ version, I can’t verify if this is true or not!!

On the band’s official website, you can find that Liz Fraser has explained, “Aikea-Guinea just means flat shells that have been bleached and smoothed out by the sea and the sand.”

Maybe that’s the case, but as ever, the actual lyric isn’t really what is important; it’s all to do with the way the words are sung as Liz hits some ridiculous notes, and in an order that seems humanly impossible.

JC

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #026

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#026– Elvis Costello & The Attractions – ‚Oliver’s Army’ (Radar Records ’79)

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Hello friends,

yes, yes: “he’s heading for the safe side with the bloody hit single, the old coward”, you’re all thinking now. Ah, you couldn’t be more wrong!!

The thing is, you see, ‘Oliver’s Army’ is more than a new wave song with a glossy and radio-friendly arrangement, fuelled by a cheered up Elvis – at least he’s not as dour as he usually is – plus the inclusion of a piano part shamelessly stolen from ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’. I mean, even if there was nothing more to it, I would still love the tune …. sometimes a song is just a song, and sometimes a song is just a good song.

But here we also have the lyrics, and ‘Oliver’s Army’ only works perfectly well when you listen closely to the lyrics. Or, in other words, it only makes full sense in its musical/lyrical combination. And that’s where today’s history lesson begins:

The title is a reference to Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War against the Royalist army of Charles 1. He established what was called the New Model Army (no, not the band, kids), which basically was the first professional, properly trained and drilled fighting force England had.

Now, Elvis took this historical fact and transferred it to various places in the world, where, back in 1978, when the song was written, things weren’t looking all too bright. Especially Belfast. So all in all the song is a general anti-military statement, but I suppose Elvis’ main target was to point out that back then the unemployed British youth’s only real option was to join the army.

Still, Elvis later said “I don’t think the song’s success was because of the lyrics. I always liked the idea of a bright pop tune that you could be singing along to for ages before you realize what it is you’re actually singing. Of course, the downside of that is some people only hear the tune and never listen to the words. After a while, I got frustrated at that”.

The tune fell foul of cancel culture in the 2020’s because of its use of the n-word. It came under fire despite its anti-racist and anti-war theme. In the song, ‘n—-r’ is a derogatory term used by British privates for Irish Catholics. Elvis stated: “that’s what my grandfather was called in the British army – it’s historically a fact – but people hear that word and go off like a bell and accuse me of something I didn’t intend.”

Perhaps Janet Maslin of Rolling Stone summarized the song’s multiple dimensions in the best possible way when she wrote, “you can hear it one way, or the other way, or both. Elvis Costello doesn’t seem to give a damn what you do, and that’s no small part of his charm”.

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mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Oliver’s Army

Enjoy,

Dirk

Various

EIGHTH MONTH WONDER

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No backstory for the August mixtape (or whatever you want to call this occasional series). As my dear friend Dirk would say….ENJOY!!!

mp3: Various – Eighth Month Wonder

Propaganda – Dr. Mabuse
Magazine – Rhythm Of Cruelty
The Auteurs – How Could I Be Wrong
The Clash – Hateful
The Pretenders – Kid
Editors – Munich
The Cure – In Between Days (extended version)
New Order – Blue Monday
The Cardigans – My Favourite Game
The Lilac Time – The Girl Who Waves At Trains
A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It?
Black Grape – In The Name Of The Father
Cocteau Twins – Pitch The Baby
Modern English – I Melt With You
Pet Shop Boys – I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (7″ version)

JC

Wedding Present

THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (3)

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It was back in October 2022, when I featured On Our Honeymoon by The Wake, that I last mentioned Optic Nerve Recordings, the label specialising in offering up vinyl copies of long-lost or difficult to find singles, of an indie-bent, from the 80s and 90s.

One of their reissues in 2020 was Once More by The Wedding Present, which had originally come out on Reception Records in 1986, and was the band’s second ever 45.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Once More

As with all Optic Nerve 7″ singles, this one came with a little extra, in the shape of a postcard featuring a picture of the band from 1986, along with an A4 sized copy of the original promotional poster for Once More. Oh, and it was also pressed on white vinyl, and it felt like decent value for £10 including postage, which is still just about the going rate over on Discogs.

mp3: The Wedding Present – At The Edge Of The Sea

With its intro dominated by a bass guitar, it’s not immediately obvious that the b-side is a Wedding Present number. But it takes less than fifteen seconds before a more familiar sound comes to the fore, followed shortly after by David Gedge offering up a lovelorn lyric about being happy with someone while visiting a coastal town. It’s all rather charming.

JC

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Twenty-seven)

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On 20 July 2016, the Pet Shop Boys enjoyed the first of a sold-out four-night residency at London’s Royal Opera House. The event is called Inner Sanctum, after one of the tracks on Super.

Neil Tennant explained the thought process. “We thought it would be exciting to play at a venue a lot of people won’t have been to, the grandest theatre in London. There is actually a creative tension between an institution like the Royal Opera House and electronic dance music, and I think we’ve hoping that will prove to be a rather fruitful tension, because it’s exciting to take electronic music into a venue that doesn’t normally have it.”

Here’s a review of the opening night, penned by Shaun Curran for The Independent newspaper:-

“Tonight I’m afraid there is no ballet or opera,” says Neil Tennant as he surveys the stately Royal Opera House, “just pop kids”. The statement is knowingly self-effacing: three decades into a career which has perpetually showed that pop music and high art cannot only co-exist but surpass supposedly superior musical forms, Pet Shop Boys are still at it. This year’s “The Pop Kids”, a nostalgic, acid-house reflection of Nineties club land in the vein of their 1990 classic “Being Boring”, glories in “telling everyone we knew that rock was overrated”.

In that context, the ROH is a perfectly subversive location for a four-night residency unveiling their brand new stage show Inner Sanctum. If Pet Shop Boys’ injecting of intelligence and pathos into chart hits (42 and counting) has helped take pop to new heights, their conceptual stage shows have become equally vital. Directed by long-time collaborator ES Devlin, Inner Sanctum is split into four acts – In The Night, Sun, Inside and Euphoric – and is a vivid, laser-laden spectacular taking in everything from rotating, multi-coloured pods (from which Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe appear), hip-hop dancing, a swarm of futuristic aliens and a flood of colourful inflatable dancers. Affected, moving, colourful and flat out fun, it is some spectacle.

And with 30 years of copper-bottomed classics to draw on, the music can hardly fail. New album Super is the second of a proposed trilogy with Madonna cohort Stuart Price (who also worked as musical producer for the show). Like its equally strident predecessor Electric, it finds Neil Tennant (62) and Chris Lowe (56) defying pop convention and refusing to bow to age, making some of the most purposefully electronic sounds of their career. It provides some of tonight’s highlights: opener “Inner Sanctum” and “Burn” are unapologetically full-on, hands-in-the-air euphoric.

Long-term PSB fans will be assured the duo’s personalities remain fixed. While at his keyboard Lowe remains Lowe – resolutely motionless – the sparkly-suit clad Tennant is in his element: wearing a permanent expression of “oh, look at this, here’s another pop gem I’ve just found”, he parades the stage with suave certainty, his vocals, particularly on the elegiac “Home and Dry”, still yearning with emotion. As the set reaches its end and the hits pile up with a breathless flurry – the self-questioning disco of “It’s a Sin”, a propulsive “Left to My Own Devices”, the communal rally of “Go West” – Tennant can’t hide his elation.

They end with a reprise of “The Pop Kids”, with its declaration “we loved the pop hits”: and like that, the curtain falls on some of the best you’ll ever hear.

Really makes me wish I’d been there………..or indeed at the reprise of the show in July 2018 which was filmed and released the following year on DVD. The footage is superb, but there’s nothing quite like being there.

The residency was marked with a limited edition 12″ single containing the album and a couple of demo versions of Inner Sanctum along with this:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Inner Sanctum (Carl Cox C2 Juiced RMX)

Vulture Party

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #365: VULTURE PARTY

Memo to self……make sure you’ve actually gone beyond the draft stage of a post before scheduling it…especially when you are using the previous entry in the series as the template and typing over things, while using cut’n’paste.

As chaval suggests in his comment, it looked as if someone like William Burroughs was guest posting a bit earlier!

Anyways…………..what I wanted to say was that this blog is very late to the party that is Vulture Party. And offers its sincere apologies.

The Falkirk-based band, consisting of Louise Ward (vocals, piano, synth), David King (vocals, guitar, synth), Dickson Telfer (bass, synth) and Roddy Campbell (drums, and percussion) have been making music since 2019, describing their material as ‘disquieting ALT POP for the socially conscious.’

The self-titled debut album was released on one of the Last Night From Glasgow imprints back in 2020, but their promotional activities were frustrated by the COVID restrictions imposed everywhere at the time.

A number of folk, whose thoughts and views on music are always worth taking heed of, suggested that I’d like what Vulture Party were doing, but I never got round to acting on things. I eventually caught them live as the opening act at an Adam Stafford gig in their home town in late 2021 and wasn’t disappointed. I picked up a copy of the debut album shortly afterwards, but never quite found the time to write about it.

It’s a beguiling listen, one that is far from easy to categorise. The suggestion of disquieting ALT POP for the socially conscious seems about right. This was the song with which they introduced themselves to the world:-

Last October saw the band release their second album, Archipelago, again via Last Night From Glasgow. This time round, I picked up a copy early on, but it was at a time when I had little or no spare time to give it a listen. Indeed, it took until Spring 2023 before I actually put it on the turntable, having forgotten all about it until doing a bit of long-overdue tidying up of albums – my only defence is that I had filed it away in the wrong place alongside ‘old records’ and not in the box where I store the newly bought things that should be listened to.

It’s an excellent listen offering a number of shifts in direction throughout, which most certainly means you can never accuse the band of being one-dimensional. The songs immediately feel bolder and more confident sounding than those on the debut, and without it ever feeling as if it is a completely commercial-sounding record, it has quite a few moments which make me think that they would go down well if given the opportunity to shine of decent sized stages at the summer festivals

mp3: Vulture Party – Blood Wolf Moon

You can check out a lot more at this bandcamp page. I think you may enjoy what you find.

JC

Otis Redding

NOT THE USUAL STUFF ROUND THESE PARTS

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I could never dream of calling myself anything other than a total novice when it comes to soul music. There’s not a great deal of it to be found in the collection. But I did buy this CD single in 1992. I can’t recall why it was released at that particular time, but I’m guessing it might have had something to do with some sort of telly advert.

mp3 : Otis Redding – (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay

It really is quite a beautiful song, one that I can’t imagine too many folk saying they don’t like it. I hadn’t been aware that it was one of the last things ever worked on by Otis Redding during sessions at the Stax Recording Studios in Memphis between 22 November and 7 December 1967. The singer died in a plane crash on 10 December 1967.

The single came with three other tracks:-

mp3 : Otis Redding – Sweet Lorene
mp3 : Otis Redding – Hard To Handle
mp3 : Otis Redding – The Glory Of Love

I just felt a change of scene and pace might be welcomed.

JC

Elisa Waut

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #025

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#025 Elisa Waut – ‚Four Times More’ (Ariola/Megadisc ’87)

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JC writes……

Apologies this did not appear at the usual time of the day. Blame old age…….

Hello friends,

to Belgium we go today, to Bruges in fact. Wonderful city, where, believe it or not, I have been just two months ago – and had I seen today’s artist on the streets there, I would haven kneeled down and kissed her feet! Why? Well, let me explain, if you have a few minutes ….

Very old readers of my former blog sexyloser may remember a series I once had, ‘The Girls’ Tapes’. Basically it featured tapes which, decades ago, were made for me by girls who fancied me a bit (for whatever reason, I should add). This may sound strange now, especially to people reading this which are not as close to their graves as I am.

But, you see, back in the 80’s it was common sense to say to girls, like, “I quite adore you, here, I made a tape for you”. And the really cool girls would do the same for men, rather seldom though. Well, I was lucky enough to receive a handful of those tapes back then, and there was one which I never got tired of listening to, never. The thing is, there never was an inlay, so most of the songs I never could identify until very much later.

Today’s choice, as you will surely have gathered, is but one of the songs on said tape. I would of course lie when I said that good looks is an obstacle in helping to be included in my singles box … and probably you wouldn’t believe me for a minute anyway. But Elsje Helewau, the lead singer with Elisa Waut, who, let’s face facts, has never been an ugly duckling, she could look like the hunchback of Notre Dame’s daughter – and this record would still have made my list!

Yes, yes, it’s neither punk nor indie all too much, a bit chart-bound even, you could argue. But there was always something that got a grip on me when listening to this song. Elisa’s voice was one thing, of course (not her looks, no, because, as I explained, I only got to know who she is a few years ago), but what else made the song so special to me, well, I could never identify it.

I always thought there is something in it, which keeps it away from being too mainstream, it really is hard to explain. Today I know that Elsje and her brother Hans started back in 1978 in The Bungalows, then hooked up with bassist Chery Derycke to form The Red Zebras, (all three were the members of Elisa Waut), so clearly there was some Punk/Joy Division-influenced background. Perhaps I gathered this all along, old music expert that I am? Anyway, sometimes a song is just a song, and sometimes it’s just a good song, regardless of its history.

And to me, this is the case today:

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mp3: Elisa Waut – Four Times More

Btw.: and if you want to understand what I was trying to say about ugly ducklings above, here’s youtube for you:

Stay safe,

Dirk

Curve

CURVE BALLS (3)

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The first sighting of Curve in 1992 came on 24 February with the new single, Faît Accompli.

Unlike the four earlier releases, this wasn’t an EP, containing just the three tracks on 12″ vinyl, and likewise the CD version. There was no 7″ issued, but there was a second 12″ which came with an extended version of Faît Accompli, backed with two tracks recorded live at gigs in Manchester and London the previous year.

Here’s the review, lifted from Melody Maker:-

I HATE to be so predictable, but…

One of the more immediate tracks from the forthcoming “Doppelgänger” LP, “Faît Accompli” forsakes Curve’s usual sweet violence for a slinky radiance which sits well on them. It’s relaxed, playful almost – you can fair see the glint in Toni’s eye as she breathes, “I’ve come to crush your bones, I’ve come to make you feel good, I’ve come to mess with your head…” Oh well, if you must.

The business is developing a penchant for releasing singles in two completely different formats, and we’re likely in coming months to see some bogus examples of this. In the case of “Faît Accompli”, however, the approach is justified. The standard 12-inch version includes two new tunes on the B-side, “Arms Out” and “Sigh”, and this last is to Curve what “Justify My Love” was to Madonna: minimalistic, angular and something of a departure. Then there’s a second 12-inch, featuring a fractured, extended “dance mix” (interesting, though not necessarily essential) with live renditions of “Coast Is Clear” and “Die Like A Dog” on the flip (utterly, undeniably crucial).

“Faît Accompli” represents the first tangible sign of Curve being prepared to open out, live up to their name and get a bit elliptical. We still have much to look forward to from them, I suspect.

It was made single of the week, and while I don’t what else was reviewed that week, I’m happy enough to give this review three cheers, as Faît Accompli has long been my favourite track of theirs.

mp3: Curve – Faît Accompli
mp3: Curve – Arms Out
mp3: Curve – Sigh

This one went all the way to #22 in the charts, and proved to be the biggest hit that Curve would enjoy. It also paved the way for debut album, Doppelgänger, to enter the charts at #11 just three weeks later.

While I don’t have a copy of the other 12″ single, I have picked up the extended version of Faît Accompli thanks to its inclusion on a later compilation CD.

mp3 : Curve – Faît Accompli (extended version)

Here’s the promo video:-

JC

Another Sunny Day

SARAH 7

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This one is sourced from Scared To Get Happy : A Story Of Indie-Pop 1986-1989, a 5 x CD set issued by Cherry Red Records back in 2013.

mp3: Another Sunny Day – I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist

Another Sunny Day featured previously on TVV in April 2015 as part of a series that was anticipating the 30th anniversary of C86. Here’s what I said, along with a reminder of the tunes from that posting.

“Today’s lot are all the evidence you need to see that the C86 movement was like punk in that it inspired another generation of musicians, many of who came to be seen as representative of the movement even though they had little to do with its origins.

Another Sunny Day didn’t release any music until April 1988. It’s a cracking name for a band especially when it covers the fact there was just one member, a talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist called Harvey Williams.

He left college to sign with a then little-known but ambitious label called Sarah Records. His first release was a flexi single that came free with a fanzine from the record label. In due course he would record a handful of further singles and a sole compilation LP for the label all of which today, like anything that was pressed up by Sarah, command high prices on the second-hand market – especially that very rare flexi/fanzine debut that has fetched as much as £180 on Discogs in recent times. Just as well then that said song was on CD 86:-

mp3 : Another Sunny Day – Anorak City

It’s a tremendous bit of music albeit, at a juncture of nearly 30 years, it feels atypical of its time and place. I’ve no doubt that those who were right at the heart of C86 and all that subsequently followed regard Anorak City as one of the most important and influential bits of music ever released. But then again, these are the folk who believe, wrongly, that C86 was the birth of indie pop.

Harvey Williams would later join The Field Mice, Blueboy and Trembling Blue Stars all of which were hugely popular bands on Sarah Records. I suppose that makes him the C86 equivalent of Malcolm Ross who was a member of three bands on Postcard Records…..

Being a flexi single there is no b-side to bring you, but here’s a track that wiki describes as Smiths-esque:-

mp3 : Another Sunny Day – You Should All Be Murdered

Smiths-esque is a bit of an understatement…..and listening to what is a truly outstanding record make me wonder why Moz didn’t pick up the phone to Harvey and ask to work with him after Johnny had upped stick and left his band…..”

The Scared To Get Happy booklet, which I wasn’t aware of back in 2015, more or less confirms all of my thoughts, views and opinions on the band/Harvey Williams. It also states that the track on offer on the compilation was the first single proper, one which crystallised the appeal of both its creator Harvey Williams and Sarah Records. I’ve tracked down its other two songs:-

mp3: Another Sunny Day – Things Will Be Nice
mp3: Another Sunny Day – The Centre Of My Little World

The single is one of those much sought after 45s on Sarah. There is, at the time of typing this up, just one copy on offer at Discogs and the asking price is £93 plus postage.

JC

Bananarama, Bruce Foxton, Creatures, Cure, David Sylvian and Riuichi Sakamoto, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Lotus Eaters, Malcolm McLaren, Tom Robinson

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (7)

Slight change of tack this month, and indeed for the remainder of this series, in that instead of looking at one week’s chart in a particular month, I’m going to go through each of them to highlight and recall some great 45s from the latter half of 1983.

Chart dates 3rd – 9th July 1983

The top end of the chart still had the June hangover, but one of the former new wave heroes found himself in the Top 10 with a bit of an MOR classic:-

mp3: Tom Robinson – War Baby (#6)

I could have included this in last month’s posting as it was kicking around the charts in June 1983, but held it back. TRB had, with 2-4-6-8 Motorway and the Rising Free EP, enjoyed a bit of success in the new wave era, but Robinson’s next venture, Sector 27, had failed dismally. He went away to live in Germany, wrote some new songs, including War Baby, and returned to the UK with the aim of becoming purely a solo artist. War Baby was the only big hit he would enjoy, albeit there was a minor hit later in 1983. He’s remained very well-known here in the UK as a result of broadcasting shows on all various BBC Radio stations since the late 80s.

mp3: Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch (#19)

The inclusion of this one might annoy a few of you, but I remain quite fond of it. The svengali had enjoyed an unexpected Top 10 hit in 1982 with Buffalo Gals, one of the first hit singles to feature hip-hop and scratching, but that was reckoned to have been the last anyone would hear of him. He returned in 83 with a single which celebrated a skipping game that was highly popular among many African American communities, particularly in New York. It’s one of those songs which entertains and annoys in equal measures, depending on your take. It would eventually climb to #3.

mp3: David Sylvian and Riuichi Sakamoto – Forbidden Colours (#20)

The vocal version of the main theme to Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, one of the most critically acclaimed films of 1983. This was not the first time that the former frontman of Japan and the award-winning composer had collaborated on a hit single, as the double-A sided Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music, which was part of the first solo project undertaken by Sylvian, had been a Top 30 hit in 1982. Forbidden Colours would rise up the charts over the next couple of weeks, peaking at #16.

mp3: The Cure – The Walk (#34)

The eleventh single to be released by The Cure. This was the week it entered the charts, making six in a row to make at least the Top 50. However, The Walk would go on to spend 8 weeks in the charts, and in reaching #12 would give the group its breakthrough into the Top 20.

mp3: Bananarama – Cruel Summer (#36)

There’s no way I’m not including this in the feature. Bananarama were great fun back in 1983, and would remain so for many more years to come. This was another new entry and, during a 10-week stay, would eventually peak at #8.

mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Everyday I Write The Book (#40)

Having been in the charts earlier in the tear as The Imposter, the release of the first new single off what would be the band’s seventh studio album, took Elvis Costello & The Attractions back into the Top 40 for the first time since High Fidelity in 1980 – four singles in the intervening period had all stalled in the 40s or 50s. This one would be a real slower burner in that it spent 8 weeks in the charts but never got any higher than #28.

Chart dates 10th – 16th July 1983

Rod Stewart and Paul Young continued to bore everyone rigid at the top of the charts. Baby Jane was at #1 for a third successive week, but was poised to lose its place to Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) which was sitting at #2 but would end up itself spending three weeks at the top.

All of those that had come in as new entries the previous week made progress up the chart, joined by a few more excellent 45s.

mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – Never Stop (#30)

This was the first new release since the success of the album Porcupine, as well as the hit singles taken from it (The Back of Love and The Cutter). Its absence from any future albums sort of makes Never Stop one of the more forgotten 45s from the Bunnymen, but it’s one of my favourites, particularly in its extended 12″ format which was given very regular airings at the Student Union discos. It would rise to #15 the following week, before slowly drifting out of the chart.

mp3: The Lotus Eaters – The First Picture Of You (#36)

The debut single from The Lotus Eaters had been on sale for a few weeks before it reached the Top 40. It had come in at #71, climbed to #42 and now got to #36. The good news would continue as it would rise in each of the next five weeks, which also led to a couple of appearances on Top of The Pops, reaching #15. It would prove to be the only occasion that the group had a Top 40 hit.

Chart dates 17th – 23rd July 1983

mp3: The Creatures – Right Now (#32)

The side-group of Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie was now enjoying a second Top 40 hit in 1983, this time with a cover of a jazz song from the early 60s. There was a brilliantly written review from Paul Colbert in Melody Maker:-

“The Creatures slipped through an unlocked back window, ransacked the place and left with the best ideas in a fast car. Like all the greatest criminal minds they strike without a warning and only they know the plan. We have to piece the clues into a cover story. From the earliest seconds of ‘Right Now’ you know you’re on shifting ground. Siouxsie baba da baping away to the noise of her own fingers clicking until Budgie barges in with congas on speed. Christ which way is this going? The one direction you don’t expect is a vagrant big band coughing out drunken bursts of brass in a Starlight Room of its own making. Budgie and Siouxsie – the Fred and Ginger of the wayward world”.

Right Now would end up spending 10 weeks in the charts, peaking at #14.

Chart dates 24th – 30th July 1983

mp3: Depeche Mode – Everything Counts (#26)

I’m no fan of post-Vince Clarke DM, but it’s only fair to acknowledge the amount of time they’ve been around. Everything Counts might have been 40 years ago, but it was already their seventh Top 30 single, going back to New Life in June 1981. It would eventually reach #6, which matched their previous best chart performance, which had been achieved with See You. I was surprised to learn that only one further DM single would ever get higher in the charts, and that came the following year, when People Are People reached #4.

mp3: Bruce Foxton – Freak (#34)

The bass player of the band formerly known as The Jam finally got his solo career underway. His debut single came in at #34 and after a couple of weeks had climbed to #23, but he never again replicated this success, very much overshadowed by what Paul Weller was achieving with The Style Council. To be honest, Freak isn’t a very good song, and probably owed its success from the loyalty of fans of his former band.

I’ll be back with more of the same in four or so weeks.

JC

Pet Shop Boys

PET SHOP BOYS SINGLES (Part Twenty-six)

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The thirteenth studio album, Super, was released on 1 April 2016. It was warmly received by critics and fans alike, with many commenting on how it felt like a companion piece to Electric. One pithy review from a UK newspaper opens with ‘Without breaking new ground, Super ticks all the right boxes.’, and ends with ‘Neil Tennant still sounds simultaneously wry and mournful and Chris Lowe’s euphoric surges still tickle both heart and body. They are indestructible.’

The fan base was still there and the album entered the charts at #3. Nobody was paying too much attention to the singles, but as this series hopefully has shown, that often meant something rather special or different wasn’t picked up from new songs as b-sides.

The second single from the new album was issued on 24 June 2016.

Pmp3: Pet Shop Boys – Twenty-Something (radio edit)

It’s about a minute or so shorter than the album version. Twenty-something weeks into this series, and it’s nigh-on impossible to find something new to say about the PSB and their songs. I like this one…..I probably would have hated it in the 80s and 90s, and I’m not sure about the 00s. But some slack has got to be cut…..it’s not one I’d place high up on any rundown, but I wouldn’t have it propping up the table either.

Released digitally and as a CD single, there were, once again, two new tracks as B-sides:-

mp3: Pet Shop Boys – The White Dress
mp3: Pet Shop Boys – Wiedersehen

The official PSB website describes The White Dress as ‘a haunting electronic track’ while provides the information that Wiedersehen was ‘a piano ballad featuring Rufus Wainwright on backing vocals.’

Given that some of the minor criticism levelled at Super had been its lack of slowed down and more mournful material, it is something of a surprise to find these two songs sneaked out in such a low-key fashion. But then again, PSB have always looked to reward the fans who go digging deep.

JC

Visitors

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #364: VISITORS

From the booklet that accompanied the Big Gold Dreams box set, issued by Cherry Red Records in 2019.

mp3: Visitors – Electric Heat

This influential Edinburgh quartet were formed from the ashes of The Deleted by brothers John and Derek McVay with Colin Craigie and Alan Laing.

Released in May 1979 on Sounds journalist and proprietor of fanzine Kingdom Come, Johnny Waller’s Deep Cuts label, ‘Electric Heat’ opens with the ominous insistence of a dystopian sci-fi film. Visitors signed to 4AD, but split up before they could release anything.

In 2011, Visitors’ final single ‘Compatability’ released (in 1981) on Allan Campbell’s Rational Records, was covered by Finitribe co-founder and Revolting Cocks mainstay Chris Connelly on his Artificial Intelligence album. In 2016, Canadian label Telephone Explosion Records released Poet’s End, a compilation named after the B-side of ‘Compilicity’.

Here’s the thing.

I’ve never heard of Visitors. It’s another example of the great gulf that existed back then between Glasgow and Edinburgh, despite the two cities being separated by just 45 miles. The fact that licensing laws prevented anyone under the age of 18 admission to most of the venues where live music was played meant I would be denied the opportunity to stumble across Visitors, and I’m sure the 15/16 year-old me would have most likely enjoyed them.

JC

Popguns

I’M SURE I POSTED THIS BEFORE…….

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….but it’s not showing up in the index, nor is it among the files I’ve fired over to box.com to enable mp3s to be accessed. It’s certainly been part of at least one of the mix tapes in by gone days, and I can’t understand why it’s not showing up.

Never mind…..gives me the perfect excuse to post it today.

mp3: The Popguns – Waiting For The Winter

Five musicians were involved in the making of the perfect piece of indie-pop back in 1989. Wendy Morgan (vocals), Simon Pickles (guitar), Greg Dixon (guitar), Pat Walkington (bass) and Shaun Charman (drums) – the last named having previously the original drummer with The Wedding Present prior to him leaving in 1988.

The Popguns had actually formed in 1986 in Brighton, but didn’t get round to releasing a 45 of their own until Landslide, a track voted in at #46 in Peel’s Festive Fifty of 1989. Waiting For The Winter was the follow-up, their first release on 12″ vinyl, on Midnight Music. It was later followed up with four further 45s and two albums – Eugenie (1990) and Snog (1991) – neither of which brought any commercial success.

The demise of their label saw The Popguns shift to 3rd Stone Records for the release of Love Junky in 1995, but again to almost complete indifference from the record-buying public.

Here’s the two b-sides to the single:-

mp3: The Popguns – Because He Wanted To
mp3: The Popguns – Every Dream

The four original members of the band reformed to play live shows in 2012 – by now the singer was known as Wendy Pickles; they soon returned to the studio where they were augmented by Tony Bryant on drums and Kate Mander on vocals, to record and release, on Matinee Recordings, the album Pop Fiction in 2014, which included another excellent single:-

mp3: The Popguns – Lovejunky

As with a quite a number of the indie bands from the 80s/90s who came round to reforming 20+ years later, there was a great deal of love and affection for what was happening, and while the sales figures were never high, the critical acclaim was always there (and rightly so!!!!!).

Before too long, there was more new material, including what could be described as a postscript to the 1989 single:-

mp3: The Popguns – Still Waiting For The Winter

The band then took another short break, during which time Wendy and Simon Pickles formed a new side project called The Perfect English Weather, who were the subject of this TVV post back in March 2019.

The Popguns are still very much on the go, and just last month gave a digital release to a new and rather excellent song, Caesar, as a taster for a new EP.

More info and product can be found at this bandcamp page.

JC

Electrelane

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #024

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#024– Electrelane – ‚I’m On Fire’ (Too Pure Records ’03)

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Hello friends,

in order to add some fuel to a (yet) non-existent fire: to me, Bruce Springsteen always was rather adjustable at will. The bulk of his songs are a bit wishy-washy, pathetic and kitschy: patriotic lyrics combined with ‘authentic’ behaviour, tunes to clap along to by and large. The thing is – and I’ve never understood why this is – “The Boss” has always been loved despite of this (or should that read because of this?), whereas other stadium acts like U2, Coldplay or others always got criticized for the very same thing. Strange, isn’t it?

Still, there are two Springsteen-songs, which I am quite fond of. I have to add though: they mean nothing to me in their original versions, perhaps simply because my abomination of Springsteen overrules anything else, who knows? But when covered, at least when covered in the way they were covered respectively, the songs are just brilliant! The first one is Ballboy’s rendition of ‘Born In The USA’, to be found on their 2003 album ‘The Sash My Father Wore And Other Stories’ (which I recommend without any reservation at all, by the way). Never released as a single though, which is a pity, because if it were, it would have featured here, to be sure!

And the other tune is, obviously, today’s choice: Electrelane’s version of ‘I’m On Fire’. Now, the reason I was rambling about my relation to “The Boss” (you see: there is no respect whatsoever, that’s why I use inverted commas all the time when typing “The Boss”!) so much is, to be absolutely frank to you, there isn’t anything at all I know about Electrelane. Well, nothing beyond the fact that they came from Brighton, that their first album (from 2001) was a bit difficult (rather instrumental, which is never easy), but apparently, after having gone through some personal changes, things improved.

At least so much so that in 2003 they were able to give ‘I’m On Fire’ a real good kicking – which is exactly what this tune needed, if you ask me! Obviously the vocals have to be held mostly responsible here, so hats off to Verity Susman for her brilliant job in turning something so goddamn awful in something so wonderful:

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mp3: Electrelane – I’m On Fire

Take good care,

Dirk

Lawrence & The Comfortable Society

ANOTHER ONE-OFF SINGLE

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After yesterday’s piece on April Showers, here’s another example of a group who came together, wrote and recorded one single and then called it a day.

Until picking up a repressed copy of the 3 x CD box set C86, yet another of the goodies issued over the years by Cherry Red Records, I had never heard of Lawrence & The Comfortable Society. The name kind of put me off them on the basis that it seemed a tad on the pretentious side, but I decided to listen without prejudice to their contribution to the box set. It’s Track 14 on Disc 3, kind of hidden away:-

mp3: Lawrence & The Comfortable Society – Heartache

Oh, my. It proves to be yet another of those hidden jingly-jangly gems that are out there waiting to be discovered. It’s not ground-breaking, but it ticks so many boxes, even the one which says ‘lead vocal which occasionally strains a bit’. It also has a section where it all slows down a bit and the musicians do their own bits bordering on solo contributions before it all speeds up again and invites listeners to shuffle around on the indie disco dance floor. It certainly is heavily influenced by the sort of creative pop music that was much associated with Glasgow in the early-mid 80s.

Turns out, having found the sleeve via Discogs, that Heartache is the B-side.

So, who were Lawrence & The Comfortable Society?

There’s not a lot out there, but it seems they formed while attending a fairly posh school/college in Norfolk, England, getting themselves a two-page spread in the 1986 edition of the yearbook.

Discogs reveals that their sole single was self-released. The info on the back of the sleeve gives these details – Leigh Gracie (voice, guitar), Nick Hardy (guitar), Jeff Powell (bass), Sara Dimmer (keyboards) and Chris Wyatt (drums). There’s also a telephone number included for anyone finding themselves’Curious?’ (the telephone number is for the same locality as the school).

I’ve gone digging and found the A-side.

mp3: Lawrence & The Comfortable Society – Sleeper

I think I prefer the b-side, but again there’s a lot of Glasgow 83/84 on this one. I reckon Leigh Christie could do a good impression of Grahame Skinner of Hipsway.