THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #325: THE STATE BROADCASTERS

State Broadcasters

The State Broadcasters consist of Pete MacDonald (piano, trombone, vocals), Gillian Fleetwood (harp, accordian, vocals), Cameron Maxwell (double bass, trombone, electric bass, vocals), David McGinty (guitar and vocals) and Susan Appelbe (cello, vocals).

The combination of instruments deployed should indicate this is not the usual far you find on TVV, but I do happen to have a number of tracks from various compilation albums.

They have been together for quite some time, and the musicians are also involved in other groups or projects (e.g., Pete is part of Randolph’s Leap).

The debut album, The Ship and The Iceberg, emerged in 2009 via Electric Honey Records, while the two subsequent LPs, Ghosts We Must Carry (2012) and A Different Past (2017), were issued by Olive Grove Records, a label whose support for the music scene in Scotland is very admirable.

mp3: The State Broadcasters – Be The Someone

As found on Get Into The Grove : 10 Years of Olive Grove, which is an excellent compilation.

JC

Detroit Cobras

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (13)

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Continuing the run of full ICA postings from the vaults, as offered up by various guests. This was ICA 34 on 1 September 2015.

Normally, dear friends, coverbands rather are an atrocity, they exist to – more or less – “entertain” you at family parties. The Detroit Cobras from, obviously, Detroit, though take the cover business seriously and they are doing this perfectly fine since 1994. The music that the band play is a mix of soul, Motown, R&B and R&R, that is literally stripped from Mary Ramirez’ and her music partner in crime, singer Rachel Nagy’s record collections.

The Detroit Cobras — with one song, Hot Dog, being the exception — play other people’s music, but more specifically they cover other artists’ B-sides and deep cuts, and they do so with such a raw and ferocious energy that the songs rarely sound anything like the original versions, but all of them end up sounding like Cobra songs.

The band is known for multiple line up changes, Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound (aka Greg Oblivian of The Oblivians) has been a constant creative force along with Nagy and Ramirez, who have been around since the group’s genesis. The male members’ fluctuation sometimes reminds me of the Italian government, so it doesn’t make all too much sense to go into detail here. Then again: who cares at all, the men in this combo are just accessory parts whereas especially singer Rachel Nagy – the Cobras’ secret weapon/human tornado, a mesmerizing mash up of Dusty Springfield, Neko Case, Chrissie Hynde and Ronnie Spector – but also guitarist Mary Ramirez are the bad girls by the exit doors at the school dance, all leather and heels, sneaking smokes and passing the flask. They have no time for dewy-eyed love songs or girl group decorum; they’ll take care of business themselves with a bat of the eye or an elbow to the kidney!

The group has released five and a half (Seven Easy Pieces consists of just – some of you will already have guessed it – seven tunes, so does that make it a real album? I don’t know …) full-length albums to date, and on all of them they whip out ass-shaking anthems to good times, wild times, and the high and lows of L-U-V; you best believe it and you best not mess with it: ‘cos the Cobras are THE go-to party band for those in the know. Sure, it’s red-blooded and raw, but it’s also as beautiful as it is brassy. In other words, bad girls make good!

You should hope and pray that they play your party. I certainly hope that one fine day they’ll play mine … and if they do, I’ll invite all of you, promised!

Here’s their album – discography:

– ‘Mink Rat Or Rabbit’ (Sympathy For The Records Industry Records, 1998)
– ‘Life, Love Or Leaving’ (Sympathy For The Records Industry Records, 2001)
– ‘Seven Easy Pieces’ (Rough Trade 2003)
– ‘Baby’ (Rough Trade 2004)
– ‘Tied And True’ (Rough Trade 2007)
– ‘The Original Recordings’ (Munster Records 2008)

It was a really hard task to choose just 10 songs out of the above, because all of those albums are killers without fillers, apart from Tied And True. It’s not a bad album, but if I had to decide between the two, I would spend my money on the compilation of their early work, The Original Recordings.

Either way, without further ado, here’s what I regard to be the mighty Detroit Cobras’ 10 best songs …. yes, it’s 11, I admit, but they all are so short, so I thought I could get away with it … let’s just call the last one a bonus- or a hidden track, you won’t complain, alright, JC? Nevertheless it is a monster of a tune, quite contrary to their ‘standard’ work, so watch out for it …. and enjoy:

01 – ‘Hey Sailor’ (from ‘Life, Love Or Leaving’, a Mickey Lee Lane – cover)
02 – ‘Village Of Love’ (Peel Session – version, rec. 2003, their second 7″ from 1996, a Nathaniel Mayer – cover)
03 – ‘Out Of This World’ (from ‘Mink Rat Or Rabbit’, a Gino Washington – cover)
04 – ‘Right Around The Corner’ (from Life, Love Or Leaving, a Rose Marie McCoy & Charles Singleton – cover)
05 – ‘I Wanna Holler (But The Town’s Too Small)’ (from ‘Baby’, a Frank Guida / Patricia Matthews / Joseph Royster – cover)

06 – ‘My Baby Loves The Secret Agent’ (from ‘Seven Easy Pieces’, a Fred Sledge Smith – cover)
07 – ‘Cha Cha Twist’ (from ‘Mink Rat Or Rabbit’, a Hank Ballard / Les McCann – cover)
08 – ‘Down In Louisiana’ (from ‘The Original Recordings’, their third 7″ from 1996, cover of a traditional song)
09 – ‘Shout Bama Lama’ (from Life, Love Or Leaving’, an Otis Redding – cover)
10 – ‘Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)’ (from ‘Baby’, the only song the Cobras ever wrote themselves)

Hidden bonus track:

11 – ‘Last Nite’ (from ‘Various Artists: Stop Me If You Think You Heard This Before’ (2003), a Strokes – cover)

Dirk aka Sexy Loser

Rod Stewart

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (12)

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Continuing the run of full ICA postings from the vaults, as offered up by various guests. This was ICA 79 on 2 June 2016.

Put away those prejudices for a few minutes. I’m not going to defend his entire solo musical offerings, or even most of them, but to completely discard Rod Stewart is a catastrophic error of judgment. And I say that having listened to his 1977 album Foot Loose And Fancy Free to see if I could select a track for this ICA.

To ignore Rod Stewart because of, say, Do You Think I’m Sexy, or his cover of You Keep Me Hanging On, would be like dismissing The Fall after listening to Papal Visit (that god-awful load of old crap on the otherwise splendid Room To Live album). Or dismissing U2 because Bono is a complete spunktrumpet. No, you dismiss U2 because Bono is a complete spunktrumpet AND because they are total shite.

I suppose you could say this is one of those pretentious cases of “I like his early stuff”, but those early records are, well, they can be described thus: very very good, very very good, outstandingly brilliantly fabulously toptastic, very good, and good. Then comes “what’s he done here?”, followed by “I don’t have that one”and “jesus, Rod, this is a bit shit”, then a much later entry of “I’ve got some money to burn, and that cover version sounds pretty damned good”. Those albums are: An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story, Never A Dull Moment, Smiler, Atlantic Crossing, A Night On The Town, Foot Loose And Fancy Free, and When We Were The New Boys.

So there’s plenty of scope for a ten track ICA. By the way, I lied above, I didn’t listen to Foot Loose And Fancy Free all the way through; I made it through side one and almost finished side 2 but by the time I Was Only Joking came on I just couldn’t stand any more. But those first few albums, oh Rod, where did all go wrong????????

Those first two albums have a heavy-ish, blues/rock feel, there’s some splendid slower songs, and of course there’s Ronnie Wood’s guitar-playing. I can distinctly remember who I was with when I purchased these albums – a certain weegie-blogger was with me, in a second-hand record shop near Carlisle station. I’ve no idea why we were there, maybe he knows.

Anyway, I saw those first two Rod albums on one of those double-album packages Rod Stewart The Vintage Years 1969-1970, for £3. Charity Chic purchased a rather splendid album too, for a change, Johnny Cash at San Quentin. I had, a few weeks earlier, purchased One Of The Best Albums Ever made (Every Picture Tells a Story), and had mistakenly thought that it was Rod’s first solo album. When I told a friend I had purchased Rod Stewart’s first solo album he replied “do you like An Old Raincoat, then?” He was met with a quite glaikit look. Not for the first time, and that look certainly gets a lot of use round these parts when I try and converse in the local language (plenty of “nao percebo” and “fale mais devargar, por favour”).

Enough of that. Just listen to these ten fantastic tracks, you really won’t regret it.

1. An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down – track 1 side 2 from that first album. Simply “WOW”. From that pounding bass intro to the wild guitar, this is a fantastic late 60s rock song.

2. I Wouldn’t Change A Thing – track 2 side 2 from the same album. A heavy rock-almost-prog song, with Lou Reizner guest vocalising (that’s the “Lou” that Rod refers to in the song). Who’s he? He gave the name Aphrodite’s Child to the Greek Prog band, that’s who! He also produced the first two solo Rod Stewart albums. And that’s Keith Emerson organing away.

An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, as I have implied above, really should be on your shelves, it’s great example of late 60s heavy-rock. I have not selected Handbags and Gladrags, for example, because I have restricted myself to two tracks from this album. I should also say the same for track 3 of side 2, Cindy’s Lament, another great heavy-rock song on the album. There’s also………….look, just go and buy the damned album (and of course that means you too, Charity Chic). I’ve also decided to upgrade this album from very very good to It’s Bloody Brilliant.

3. It’s All Over Now – track 2 side 1 of Gasoline Alley. A near 6-and-a-half minute cover version. Fantastic piano from Ian McLagan, great guitar, great drums, GREAT SCOTLAND YARD this is a great song. What is so encapsulating? It sounds as if they’re all in the studio together, belting this out, and having a really good time doing so.

4. Country Comforts – track 1 side 2 of the album. That’s Jack Reynolds doing the backing vocal. No idea who he is/was.

The second album, Gasoline Alley, has Stanley Matthews on mandolin. If only it was THAT Stanley Matthews*. But it’s not. And on another day I could easily choose a different two for this ICA. And listening to it right now as I type, this is Another Bloody Brilliant Record.

On to One Of The Ten Best Albums Of All Time. It should be illegal not to own this album. No (inane) comments are needed from me about any of the ten tracks on Every Picture Tells A Story. Here’s two:

5. I Know I’m Losing You.

6. Tomorrow Is A Long Time.

In 1972 Rod Stewart released Never A Dull Moment, which has some original compositions and some cover versions.

7. Lost Paraguayos

8. Twisting The Night Away – a cover of the Sam Cooke song

Two more tracks to go. The last album for Mercury was Smiler; It’s the one with that ridiculous tartan cover and a framed photo of Rod wearing a blouse., but don’t let that put you off. It’s an album I like, despite the rather strange cover version of You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, which Rod changes to Man, and it just doesn’t work, which is very unusual for Rod, his covers up until then were first class.

9. A Hard Road

One more track to go.

And it’s from a 1998 album When We Were The Rude Boys. And it’s a cover of an Oasis song. Now, don’t let that put you off, Rod doesn’t try and reproduce that incredibly annoying nasally twangy sneery voice that Mr Gallagher has.

10. Cigarettes and Alcohol – I’ll take this version over the Oasis one any time.

So an ICA from the “when he was good” era of Rod Stewart, plus one from twenty-plus years later. I almost included his cover of The First Cut Is The Deepest, which carried on Rod’s fine habit of creating great cover versions. But I didn’t.

* There was an English footballer called Stanley Matthews.

George Forsyth

JC adds……there was a fabulous and bonkers exchange in the comments section when this was originally posted, all to do with some overseas readers asking for a translation of ‘glaikit’ and an example of what a ‘spunktrumpet might look like.

The answers?

Glaikit is a Scottish word for someone with a pretty vacant/clueless/puzzled facial expression.

If you Google image search ‘Piers Morgan ‘- that is a spunktrumpet

Pastels

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #319: THE PASTELS

A guest posting by flimflamfan

An Imaginary Compilation Album
The Pastels
Secret Music

Untitled-1

I hate The Pastels! Well, this celebratory ICA is going well, isn’t it?

Let me explain… I had just left school, officially. In reality I had left school at least two years earlier, possibly three, acquiring a Higher Grade (with Honours) in truanting. My wild years continued with late night bouts of taking my beloved dog for a walk around the block – keeping one eye out for the Bar-L (terrible ruffians that resided at the southern side of the Edinburgh Road) and trying to listen to late night, alternative radio shows without my slightly older brother – who I shared the bedroom with – telling me to turn that fucking thing off or he’d kick my cunt in. I didn’t turn off the radio – he knew I wouldn’t. Soon he’d been sleeping (it was often said he could sleep on the edge of a knife) and I’d be tuning into bands that I loved from yesteryear and new exciting Scottish bands – all vying for the attention of my recently acquired dole money. Walking the dog. Listening to radio. I was wild!

On a Tuesday night, the year eludes me, the DJ – I can exclusively reveal to be Billy Sloan – introduced an interview with The Pastels. As far as I can recall there was something about a boat!? Something about one of the band members dad’s paying for the recording? It all sounded terribly middle-class to me, privileged and I wanted nothing to do with it. The die was cast – ill-informed class-wars. I hated The Pastels.

I confess it gets a little muddy from here… I either heard the song at a later time or the interview was spliced with music (I could be wrong – it has been known). The song that caught my attention was I Wonder Why. When the song finished I felt as though I had been molested in my own bed – “what the fuck was that?” and “that has to be one of the worst songs I have ever heard”. Given that I did have it in for The Pastels – based largely on the fact they were enjoying their young lives and I wasn’t – my hyperbole is hardly surprising. To use a colloquial term the band were, “shite”. The song was, “shite”. It was all, “shite”. On this subject I was monosyllabic, but correct. Don’t forget, correct.

And so it was that The Pastels were dead to me. My adoration and dole money would be for other late-night radio suitors. Except…

“Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm”.

Days had gone by, weeks maybe, and I was plagued by humming. I couldn’t place the tune at all and it was driving me to distraction. I asked my best pal if he knew the tune – me humming away, musically, of course, not the Glaswegian definition of ‘humming’ I grew up with i.e. smelly/unwashed. My pal had no clue. “Fuck!” The song was doing my nut in. My limited record collection held no clues. Aarrrgh!

Idea! If everyone had gone to bed early (unusual) I would stay up and listen to the radio in the living room – sometimes, with an integrated cassette player. I may have taped (never recorded) the song by accident. This endeavour proved directly fruitless but indirectly allowed me to find The Associates, Boys Keep Swinging. Not a whiff of DJ spoken-drivel to be heard. Thank you, Mr Sloan. You were always entertaining and knew when to let the music breathe. I was delighted to be reacquainted but what of the earworm? Nothing.

Some time later (weeks/months) the earworm was still with me as I occasionally hmm hmm hmm’d. Bang! “I wonder why, I wonder why I wonder why”. Where did that come from? No other lyric. I wrote it down and probably still have the jotter I wrote it down in. But who sang it? That continued to evade. So… off I went to Listen Records (Renfield Street). I had my clues… Group – Glaswegian. Song – possibly, I Wonder Why? Released – fairly recently.

It took a good deal of courage for me to speak with the guy behind the counter at Listen. I had been buying from them for years now, I was aware of the guy, he seemed aware of me but we hadn’t ever really spoken. He wasn’t one of the owners who always looked to me as if they were either a) waiting to go to a Grateful Dead concert or b) had just returned from a Grateful Dead concert. It’s quiet – my favourite time in any record shop. I make my way to the counter and make my request, my expectation low. As quick as you like he replied, “That’s The Pastels”. In my head I’m sure there would have been a sneering voice, snorting “oooooh, The Pastels”. The guy told me where to find the single. I spent a suspicious amount of time looking at the single. I wanted to make the guy feel that his time was valuable and let him see I had found it and… I also wanted to work out a way to leave the shop without buying it. It was shite, after all. I’ve no idea what I said when I left but I can assure you my face would have been beetroot red and my entire body clammy. I hated to leave a record shop without buying something, especially when someone had been so helpful. Still embarrassed, I loaded my shame onto the bus and headed home.

“Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm”.

Fuck!

As single after single was released, I realised that The Pastels “weren’t that bad” (faint praise, indeed) and I began to buy their records.

It was Crawl Babies that eventually did it. When I first heard it, on a compilation tape that belonged to a friend, I was instantly smitten. It was just gorgeous. It is gorgeous. It melted away my hatred, my ill-informed class-war prejudice. It ignited a fervent interest that lasts to this very day. It could be said that a new love was born. You can be all but certain that if I’m DJing at an indie disco (unlikely, these days) Crawl Babies will be played. Hooked, I regarded myself as a fan, and yes, I now love I Wonder Why.

For various reasons I haven’t seen the group live too often. When I have they have been incredible. I have been fortunate enough to talk with Stephen and Katrina on numerous occasions over the years and all the time while chatting my internal fan-voice screeched “you are in The Pastels”. “YOU. ARE. IN. THE. PASTELS”. I also lived quite close to them for a number of years and when I’d see them coming out of their close or walking down the street (accidentally, I wasn’t stalking them, honest) that fan feeling never left me. As immature as it may seems, I’m glad it didn’t.

My experience of The Pastels as people (I’m talking Stephen and Katrina as I’ve not had much contact with other group members) is one of warmth, generosity, graciousness, unaffectedness, supportiveness and kindness.

As musicians they: inspired so many (aspiring musicians and fans alike), inadvertently spawned ‘scenes’ and developed outstanding collaborations with musicians and other artists while remaining unfettered by music business limitations.

The Pastels are still very much at the beating heart of music in Glasgow and beyond. That’s quite a feat for a group now enjoying its fourth decade. It may have taken me a wee while to fall for the charms of The Pastels but fall for them I did.

I love The Pastels.

For this ICA I have chosen three collaborations and one cover version. I think these inclusions provide a broader picture of the group’s output.

I hope you listen. I hope you enjoy.

I’d urge caution when listening to I Wonder Why…

“Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm”.

This Side

1. Baby Honey

2. I Wonder Why

3. A Lonely Song (with Jad Fair)

4. Ditch The Fool

5. Speeding Motorcycle (cover version – Daniel Johnson)

6. Secret Music

7. Dark Side Of Your World

That Side

8. Ride

9. Crawl Babies

10. Check My Heart

11. Nothing To Be Done

12. Worlds Of Possibility

13. Two Sunsets (with Tenniscoats)

14. This Could Be The Night (with Jad Fair)

filmflanfan

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (11)

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Continuing the week of full ICA postings from the vaults, as offered up by various guests. This was ICA 136 on 7 September 2017.

They Said It Couldn’t Be Done…And It Can’t!

A few weeks ago JC posted Charged Particles #12, featuring a pair of songs by Graham Parker. In the comments folks got into a discussion about how the ‘angry young men’ of the era–Parker, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson–had fared since their original heyday. I observed that, while I wasn’t that fond of Costello’s genre exercises and anaemic later-career albums, I rated his early LPs so highly that “I don’t think I could narrow down a 10 song ICA from just his recordings with the Attractions.” It was Brian who responded: “Nobody has had the guts to do that so far.”

Of course, Brian’s right. I once made a playlist for my daughter of ‘essential’ EC songs and there were almost 100 on it. And how can you pick less than 6 or 7 from Get Happy!! alone? In the past I tried to come up with several possible Elvis ICA’s — Best guests (Green, David Hidalgo, Mick Jones, Emmylou), Best collaborations (Coward Bros., Jimmy Cliff, Bill Frisell, Allen Toussaint), Best ‘color’ songs (Red Shoes, Green Shirt, Blue Chair etc.). I even have a list of songs with my favorite Bruce Thomas bass parts (B-Movie, Pump It Up, I Stand Accused, and so on.) But they were all cowardly. No, there’s absolutely no way to have a 10-song Elvis Costello ICA.

But then I thought there’s so much crappy news these days and the world is so fraught with stress, why not pitch something distracting into the mix that people actually care about? Why deny ourselves the pleasure of a good-natured pub argument, even if we’re thousands of miles apart? In fact, as I’m writing this I’m smirking a little, picturing you lot glaring angrily at your laptops, spluttering, “How could that bastard have left out X or Y or Z! It’s an outrage!”

So, what the hell — with no discussion of the songs at all, here’s an ICA of the TEN BEST songs by Elvis Costello and the Attractions:

1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Beyond Belief
3. Clean Money
4. High Fidelity
5. Man Out Of Time
6. Oliver’s Army
7. Pump It Up
8. Radio, Radio
9. Strict Time
10. 5ive Gears In Reverse

BRING IT ON, homies.

JTFL

JC adds…….

I had planned an entire week’s worth of full ICAs, from Monday To Friday, but having just received a very welcome guest posting, I’m bringing that in tomorrow with all the other posts shifting back a day. I’ve also something else in hand for later in the month which means two of the proposed September postings will be held over till sometime next month.

Bear with me….it’ll all make sense!!!

Kitchens of Distinction

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (10)

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As promised, an entire week of complete ICA postings from the vaults, but all written originally by various guests. This was ICA 55 on 11 January 2016.

Mad As Snow: An Imaginary Compilation : Kitchens Of Distinction

I love Kitchens Of Distinction. They really were one of the great overlooked bands of their period and should have received far more acclaim than they did, though what they did get was rarely less than glowing. It makes sense therefore that they should get the Imaginary Compilation treatment.

I’ve done a few of these for JC now, and I have to say this was one of the most difficult. My own Best Of KOD folder contains 30 tracks, none of which I feel I could leave out, so narrowing it down to a mere 10 to suit this remit was a real battle. As a result, there are plenty of notable omissions. I’m sure most people would have included Drive That Fast, but then I’ve never been most people. It also irks me that I’ve had to forego the likes of When In Heaven, the original 12″ mix of 4 Men, and Mad As Snow which is what I had already decided was going to be the title of the comp.

Argue away folks, I’d love to know what you’d have included. As it is, all five albums are represented, so I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done here. Well, apart from leaving out Mad As Snow. What was I thinking? Can I have 11 songs JC…?

Side One

1. The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule (from ‘Love Is Hell’)

The third single, the second track I ever heard by KOD. I still love it. It sounds like an opening track to me and shows off both sides of the band – those hypnotic, shimmering guitar sounds, but with a good, strong rhythm keeping things going.

2. Quick As Rainbows [single version] (single; later re-recorded for ‘Strange Free World’)

It has to be the single version, as the most read article ever on my blog explains: http://isthis-thelife.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/20-more-songs-to-take-to-my-grave-35.html

3. Japan To Jupiter (from ‘Folly’)

What a comeback. Seriously, who could have expected a song even half as wonderful as this after 18 years away? My second-fave KOD track of all time. Not sure if they have any other things planned together – I hope so – but if not, ‘Folly’ is as good an album to go out on as any.

4. Elephantine (non-LP; from ‘Elephantine’ EP)

A stunning single that marked noticeable shift towards the lush multi-layered guitar sounds the band would become known for. It has been tacked onto the end of reissues of ‘Love Is Hell’, but definitely sounds more like a ‘Strange Free World’ kind of track. It’s also one of the bands more politically overt songs, with Patrick Fitzgerald proclaiming “Every great nation ends up deserving war.” Sadly, here we are more than 25 years later and that still couldn’t be any more apt.

5. Gorgeous Love (from ‘Strange Free World’)

One of Patrick’s finest vocals here, I think. A definite standout from the second album.

Side Two

1. Sand On Fire (from ‘Cowboys And Aliens’)

‘Cowboys And Aliens’ was to be Kitchens Of Distinction’s last album for the best part of two decades. You can hear the direction they were moving down; shedding the shoegaze label that had been lazily thrust upon them, they seemed to be forging a louder, rockier sound as evidenced on the album’s opener.

2. Wolves, Crows (from ‘Folly’)

One of the big surprises from the comeback album was this monster of a track. It’s quite unlike anything else the band ever recorded, but kind of backs up what I just said about the rockier elements of the band coming to the fore. Those pounding drums! Shoegaze it most definitely ain’t.

3. Breathing Fear (from ‘The Death Of Cool’)

Remarkable isn’t it. The US of A considers itself to be the ‘Land Of The Free’, a bastion of democracy and freedom, tolerance and respect. Yet, they could never accept a song about ‘queer bashing’ being released as a single. Unless perhaps, it was a song that condoned such predjudice, was performed by Ted Nugent and used by Donald Trump as part of his election campaign. In the much more enlightened UK however, Breathing Fear trailed KODs third album. It’s not a comfortable listen, but musically it’s as delightful as anything the band made.

4. Prize (from ‘Love Is Hell’)

Back in 1988 I bought a double-album compilation of acts signed to the One Little Indian label. It included Prize. It was the first time I ever heard Kitchens Of Distinction, and that’s the reason it’s included here. Sure, they made better songs, but the fact Prize drew me in makes it more than worthy.

5. Now It’s Time To Say Goodbye (from ‘Cowboys And Aliens’)

While it wasn’t intended to be the band’s swan song, there aren’t many better ways to bow out. Following the release of ‘Cowboys And Aliens’, KOD began working on new material and put a single out in 1996, but nothing else materialised until 2013. If this had been their final tune though, I’m not sure there would have been many complaints. It’s the natural album closer for me.

Special bonus one-sided coloured vinyl 10″ (available with initial pressing only):

1. Mad As Snow [long version] (from ‘The Death Of Cool’)

The Robster

Various

ICA WORLD CUP 2022 : ROUND ONE OF THE KNOCKOUT STAGE (iii)

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I’m hoping by now that everyone is familiar with the way it’s all unfolding. If not, the postings over the most recent two Sundays should explain things in the detail you’re looking for.

Last week’s match-ups proved to be hugely disappointing for the TV folk, as all four results were never really in doubt and there wasn’t much in the way of tension. Having said that, viewers stayed with the games all the way to the end, with 47 sets of votes requiring to be tallied.

First up, the results from last week:-

Match 5 : Edwyn Collins 35 Uncle Tupelo 7

Match 6 : Bryan Ferry 31 Hot Chip 11

Match 7 : Chuck Prophet 11 The Jam 33

Match 8 : Joy Division 41 Pop Will Eat Itself 4

I have a feeling, however, that this week’s match-ups might offer a bit more in the way of intrigue:-

Television (1st in Group C) v The Jazz Butcher (8th in Group A)

mp3: Television – Friction v mp3 : The Jazz Butcher – Southern Mark Smith

Belle and Sebastian (4th in Group B) v John McGeoch* (5th in Group D)

mp3: Belle and Sebastian – This Is Just A Modern Rock Song v mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Happy House

(*John McGeoch’s ICA was a compilation of tracks he played on)

The Beatles (2nd in Group D) v Queens of the Stone Age (7th in Group C)

mp3: The Beatles – Ask Me Why v mp3: Queens of The Stone Age – Little Sister

Buddy Holly (3rd in Group A) v Black Box Recorder (6th in Group B)

mp3: Buddy Holly – Everyday v mp3: Black Box Recorder – England Made Me

As ever, thanks for taking part. Voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Friday, which is the 23rd of September.

JC

Starshy

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #324: STARSHY

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It was back in 2021 that I did a couple of postings on Bubblegum Records, a truly DIY label based in Glasgow that was around from 2009-2011.

As I said at the time of the first posting, the label may have only lasted just two years but in that time was responsible for the 22 releases, consisting of 14 CDs and 8 limited edition, download only singles featuring an array of bands and musicians from all over the world. It was quite a remarkable effort, coinciding with that point in time when myspace seemed destined to be the future for new and emerging music, when in fact it was merely a staging post for further developments across social media networks and platforms.

One of the CDs issued by Bubblegum was the work of Starshy. There’s not a lot out there about the musicians involved, but the bandcamp page does indicate there is a base in Glasgow.

It doesn’t look as if there was ever anything beyond a six-track EP, called Short + Sweet, although there was also one other song recorded for inclusion on a later Bubblegum Records compilation.

This is the rather splendid guitar-orientated opening track from the EP:-

mp3: Starshy – Yimmer Yammer

But if electronica, (with what I feel is a slight nod to Jonathan Richman) is more your thing, here’s the track from the compilation:-

mp3: Starshy – 52nd and 2nd

If you like what you’re hearing today, then please take a trip to this bandcamp page where the EP can be listened to in full (for free) but digitally purchased for a small amount of money.

JC

Pixies

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (9)

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Some extracts from ICA 6.

BONE MACHINE

Let’s start at the beginning. The beginning for me, anyway – the first Pixies song I ever heard – the opening track on Surfer Rosa recorded onto a C90 tape with AR Kane’s 69 on the other side. Believe it or not, back in 1988 this really did sound like nothing else – to me anyway – nothing like the indie music that I’d grown to love and nothing that you could hear on the radio. And what a great introduction to a band – each instrument comes in at different times to create a glorious noise with Black Francis barking and howling over the top of it – to this day I’m not really sure what he says or what it all means, but to me that’s part of the joy of this band. And I think it was the song to which I bust my nose stage diving to at The Town and Country Club – but that’s another story.

HEY

Pixies were always a great band to jump around, scream and go nuts to – but I love their slow songs as much as their fast noisy ones – loudQUIETloud and all that. This is a live version from the tour they did where they played Doolittle in order plus assorted B-sides. Just listening to the audience in this version really brings home what a loved band they are. I was lucky enough to see them a fair few times before they originally split up and was young then so spent most of the gigs going bananas, as you do. I always looked back fondly on those days and as Pixies influence grew was happy I’d seen them. So when they reformed it was incredible going back and seeing songs live that I’d cherished over the years – there was a feeling of trepidation that they might just ruin things, but they were as good as they ever were – and I found there was still a bit of the mosh pit left in me.

CACTUS

My favourite song off my favourite album – it just about beats Gigantic. Impossible to articulate what it means to me, I’ve loved it for so long.

jimdoes

JC adds…….

Next week will see more strolls down ICA Memory Lane, but will instead involve the full versions of a few guest postings as editing them proved beyond my capabilities, and I felt they have to be read as intended.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (8)

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Some extracts from ICA 33.

Enola Gay

Likely the band’s most recognized and iconic song, this is a great introduction to the dual nature of so many OMD songs: a danceable and poppy synthesizer sound, but married to much darker lyrics…this time about the airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

There is in fact generally a fascination in the songs of OMD with historical air, rail, and naval transportation. That is, the sometimes strikingly transcendent potential of all three is often contrasted with their darker destructive power, a theme which runs through the songs and albums of the band throughout their 35 year career. This is perhaps most obvious when one glances from the 1983 Dazzle Ships concept album to the 1993 Liberator album (with its nose cone cover art), to their most recent work following the 2006 resurrection of the band following a ten-year hiatus, 2013’s English Electric.

International

For me, this is the best track on what is probably the strongest, and most experimental “long ahead of its time” album the band ever created, Dazzle Ships. So good it was, in fact, that it lost the band about 90% of its audience overnight, but satisfied the band’s inner need to experiment with every electronic toy, every tape loop, every newsreel sample, every strange sound and industrial screech at their disposal.

Souvenir

A return here to the earlier material (1981), and the more conventionally “critically approved” material, this time with founder and synth-player Paul Humphreys taking a relatively rare turn on vocals. But did you hear the 1998 remixes by Sash and Moby, with their deep house re-envisioning of the songs on Architecture and Morality? I believe the interested can find them on YouTube…

rhetor

PS : A late edition to today’s scheduled post. It’s nothing to do with OMD and some of you may already have come across it.

Craig, from Plain or Pan, has come up with an amazing concept for one of the greatest and most moving songs of all time.

FLip Out

It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

JC

Mekons

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (7)

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Some extracts from ICA 73.

There are twenty-one albums by The Mekons up here in the music room (as at 1996), which is almost their entire output, bar one compilation album from a few years back (Heaven & Hell: The Very Best of the Mekons ) and the album Pussy, King of the Pirates they made with Kathy Acker in 1996, which I think I bought second hand from Polar Bear records in Birmingham many years ago, but I must have traded it in again.

They were punk, then post-punk before a radical change in direction in 1984, when The Mekons started making records with more than a hint of country, then ca. 1989 the music became more “indie/alternative” for a few years and latterly more folk-tinged. All of which may have you running for the hills, but that would be a catastrophic mistake, because The Mekons are a great band (apart from those punk/post-punk early years).

Memphis Egypt

This is track 1 from the 1989 album The Mekons Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Not a bad track on the album. Has been, on occasion, One Of The Ten Best Albums Of All Time. The first album of their “indie/alternative” era.

Tourettes

From the 1998 album Me.

There are some rather rude words in this, so in the name-of-the-sweet-lord do not play this when your granny’s in the room. But it’s a song that could very well make you laugh. Or not, if you’re a bit prudish.

Last Dance

The penultimate track from Fear And Whiskey, the first album The Mekons made (in 1985) after their hiatus, and I think one of the first alt-country albums. Some people refer to it as country punk. And an album you really should possess.

GEORGE FORSYTH

Supergrass

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (6)

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Some extracts from ICA 142.

Richard III

The momentum from the debut album was maintained in early 1996 by the release of the single Going Out, a song that was, without any question, a sideways swipe at Danny Goffey who was just beginning to show signs of enjoying life a bit too much and not wanting to contribute to the band.

It took a year before anything else was released, but it was well worth it thanks to this near hard-rock production that I’m sure had a big influence on Matt Bellamy as he tried to work out where to position his band, Muse. It’s an absolute belter of a pop/rock hybrid in which the drummer was given his place to show how important he was to them. Worth mentioning that the name of the song comes from its working title, in which all the new tunes were given people’s names. This just happened to be the third song called Richard and has nothing to do with the real-life kings and the famous play by Shakespeare.

Grace

One of things that gives Alright such a memorable hook is the piano part which was played by Rob Coombes, older brother of the band’s frontman. Indeed, Rob’s contributions in the studio and on-stage were always an essential part of the band’s sound but it wasn’t until the release of the time of the release of Life On Other Planets, their fourth album in 2002, that he officially became the fourth member.

It was long-overdue recognition, but it did run the risk of perhaps turning the band into just another plodding four-piece going through the motions, especially given that their third and self-titled LP, released in 1999, had been a bit of a let-down to many, despite it harvesting a couple of excellent 45s). Nothing had been heard of the band for the best part of three years until a deliberately low-key and very limited edition 7” single, Never Done Anything Like That Before, was issued in July 2002 that came and went before most folk knew the band were back. As such, Grace was really the comeback song in advance of the new LP. It proved to be a superb return to form, allaying any fears of them becoming as dull, plodding and irrelevant as so many of their peers from the Britpop era.

Diamond Hoo Ha Man

The final Supergrass songs came and went without much fanfare in 2008. This was initially as much to do with the band releasing the first single as only a limited edition 7” vinyl single, and latterly from the record label not wanting to spend too much in promotion. This single, the first new music since the downbeat and melancholy material found on Road to Rouen, was a very welcome return to the dynamic sounds of yesteryear.

It was a sad and bitter end to what had been a long and successful involvement with Parlophone Records, but it wasn’t actually supposed to be their final album, as come 2009 they signed to indie label Cooking Vinyl but never got round to finishing what would have been a seventh studio LP.

2022 update : Having spilt in 2010, the band reformed in 2019 but saw their plans blown away by the COVID outbreak. They were, however, one of the undoubted top performers at this year’s Glastonbury festival.

JC

Housemartins

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (5)

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Some extracts from ICA 111.

The self-styled ‘fourth-best band in Hull’ only released two studio albums and nine singles in their all too brief time together before two of them (Paul and Norman) went onto enjoy more fame and fortune in later bands or as solo artists, one of them (Stan) did all sorts of things before becoming a very successful writer of children’s book and TV scripts for a young audience and the other (Hugh) was part of other indie-pop outfits before he ended up in jail.

Five Get Over Excited

Fun, Fun Fun. On the surface that was what The Housemartins seemed to always be having, but just about every single lyric masked a bitter take on what life was like in the Thatcherite UK of the mid 80s, particularly if you happened to live in what had been traditionally working-class towns in the north of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. “Feigning concern, a conservative pastime”

There Is Always Something There To Remind Me

The last thing they did before they broke up (in 1988)….and vowed never to reform (although in an interview a few years back, Norman Cook said they would do so, but only if The Smiths reformed first!). And appropriately enough, here’s their equivalent of The Headmaster Ritual, proving that Manchester didn’t have a monopoly on teachers who were all too quick to pour scorn on those who weren’t academically minded.

Build

Some of the social messages could get lost amidst the jaunty upbeat tunes which the band were most famed. Not so when they slowed things right down. New homes, new roads, new infrastructure right across green countryside at a time when traditional communities in poorer parts of the country were crying out for support and investment to recover. Environmental and economic madness.

The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death

Even more of an anti-royalist rant than The Queen Is Dead and yet didn’t create the same amount of controversy. That’s what happens when you have a jaunty tune which helps to disguise the sentiments involved.

JC

Various

ICA WORLD CUP 2022 : ROUND ONE OF THE KNOCKOUT STAGE (ii)

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The continuation of the knockout stages of the 2022 ICA World Cup. As explained last week, Round One is going to take eight weeks to complete, with these being the second set of ties.

Before revealing this week’s set of matches, it’s time to reveal what happened last week:

Match 1 : Iggy Pop v Vic Chestnutt

Iggy raced out to a very early lead and Vic never ever got going, picking up just the occasional vote throughout the week. Iggy took the honours by a score of 38-7.

Match 2 : The Ramones v Stevie Wonder

Wow.

It was 8-1 to Stevie, and then it was 11-9 to da brudders, after which they traded punch after punch for the rest of the week. The final score was, unbelievably, 24-24.

The penalty shoot-out went to Stevie Wonder…..very cruel luck on The Ramones.

Match 3 : The Feelies v Ballboy

This one started off as a very even contest at 8-8 and a penalty shoot-out did seem a possibility. It was a game in which twelve of the voters didn’t offer an opinion on one or the other, but it was Ballboy who had the stronger second half, to go through by a score of 23-15.

Match 4 : Blondie v Nirvana

On paper, a mouth-watering clash that could have gone either way. It was the only game in which all 50 voters put up one name or another. In the end, too many felt that Pennyroyal Tea wasn’t as good or worthy a song as Rapture. A fairly easy 37-13 win for Blondie.

I should mention that, way back when I was planning all of this, I made the draw for the entirety of the competition based on the outcome of the groups, not knowing who would finish where, but the idea was group winners would face up to a team that came 8th in another group, with 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th……….kind of the luck of the draw but based on performance in the group stage.

A reminder also that, for this round, the tune being offered up for consideration will be the second song on side two of the ICA; if the ICA wasn’t spilt in half at the time of writing, it will be song 7 in a ten-track ICA, or song 8 in a twelve-track ICA, etc.

Here goes:-

Edwyn Collins (3rd in Group D) v Uncle Tupelo (6th in Group C)

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Make Me Feel Again v mp3 : Uncle Tupelo – Whiskey Bottle

Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music (2nd in Group A) v Hot Chip (7th in Group B)

mp3: Bryan Ferry – The ‘In’ Crowd v mp3 : Hot Chip – Brothers

Chuck Prophet (4th in Group C) v The Jam (5th in Group A)

mp3: Chuck Prophet – Your Skin v mp3: The Jam – Ghosts

Joy Division (1st in Group B) v Pop Will Eat Itself (8th in Group D)

mp3: Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart v mp3: Pop Will Eat Itself – Not Now James, We’re Busy

On hearing this particular match-up, the groans from the PWEI fanbase were, understandably, loud. But hey, it’s knockout rounds and anything is possible.

As ever, thanks for taking part. Voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Friday, which is the 16th of September.

JC

Starless

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #323: STARLESS

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Today’s words are lifted from a bio offered up a couple of years back by a PR agency:-

“Paul McGeechan has been a prominent figure in the music industries since the early 1980s when he first formed Friends Again with his childhood friend and singer, Chris Thompson. Following in the footsteps of bands such as Aztec Camera, Friends Again grew a large following, particularly in Scotland, and released their album Trapped and Unwrapped in 1984.

After Friends Again disbanded, Paul and James Grant formed Love and Money. The band signed to Phonogram Records and instantly began to gain critical acclaim and success. They recorded their first album All You Need Is… in London in 1985 with legendary producer Tom Dowd and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran.

The band then moved to America to record their most popular album, Strange Kind of Love, where they worked with the renowned Steely Dan producer Gary Katz. Strange Kind Of Love has become one of the most highly regarded Scottish albums of the 1980s and after recording the band went on many successful concerts with U2, BB King and Simply Red.

Since then, Paul has become one of the most prominent producers / mix engineers in the Scottish music business, with a particularly strong body of work in Celtic and traditional folk music. Many recording artists continually return to Paul to work on their albums. He has mixed and mastered many records for Julie Fowlis, Roddy Hart, Capercaille, James Grant, Justin Currie, Ricky Ross – and the list goes on. Beyond Scotland, Paul has worked with a diverse range of artists such as Beyoncé Knowles, Pavarotti and the French Algerian artist IDIR.

Throughout the years, Paul has collaborated on hundreds of albums; he has always contributed to the songs and musical ideas of the projects he works on. His interest in electronic music and the collection work he has built up over the years has led him to record a new collaborative album under the pseudonym, ‘Starless’. This ambitious project is one which encapsulates his electronic influences and his skills as a composer / producer with each song on the album featuring a singer with whom Paul has developed a musical relationship.

The first album, eponymously titled, ‘Starless’, released in 2016, featured Paul Buchanan (The Blue Nile), Julie Fowlis, Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winner, Kris Drever, Kathleen MacInness, Chris Thomson (Friends Again), Mary Ann Kennedy, Kaela Rowan, Marie Clare Lee, Gwen Stewart, Ewen Vernal (Deacon Blue) and The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Paul’s second album, Earthbound, released in 2020, features more collaboration from top names in Scottish traditional music, on Scottish independent label, Last Night From Glasgow (LNFG), including recurring featured vocals from Julie Fowlis, Karen Matheson, Chris Thomson and Marie Clare Lee, with new additions, Steven Lindsay (The Big Dish), Grahame Skinner (Hipsway), Emma Pollock (The Delgados) and Jerry Burns.”

I use blue text in postings to highlight the names of singers/bands/artists who get mentioned…..and the amount in the above paragraphs demonstrates just how well-connected Paul McGeechan as well as indicating just how often musicians have been willing to work with him in collaboration.

mp3: Starless – Paper (feat. Emma Pollock)

The extent of these collaborations does mean that his recordings will offer something to suit just about everyone’s tastes, although it would take someone with a ridiculous palate to say they enjoyed absolutely everything released by Starless. But I reckon many of you might like the above track, whioch can be found on Earthbound.

Paper was also released as a digital single, which came with a number of remixes.

mp3: Starless – Paper (AXOR remix)

Now….I’m making a stab in the dark here, but a previous Starless track from 2016 was given the remix treatment under a heading of “Sam Barker Axor Remix”, and I’m assuming it’s the same partnership. If so, Sam Barker is a UK-born and Berlin-based musician and DJ, and he’s provided a perfect song for those summer nights, no matter where you are in the world.

JC

Tindersticks

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (4)

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From ICA 48, one of my own and selected today as Tindersticks are a band beloved by both myself and Rachel, and it’s kind of romantic that they feature on the blog on the morning we wake up in Paris…..albeit the tracks selected today are far from anyone’s idea of love songs!!

A Marriage Made In Heaven

In March 1993, Tindersticks had released a limited edition 7” single which featured Niki Sin from Huggy Bear on joint vocals. It told the tale of a doomed love affair between a singer and an actress.

He (the singer) believes the attraction was all down to the emotion and power of his voice and can’t understand what has gone while she (the actress) thinks it hilarious that he fell for her when all the while she was just again performing a role. It’s a more than decent song but this, the re-make in 199t complete with full orchestral input and a vocal contribution from Isabella Rosellini, is the definitive version as her fragile and edgy delivery really brings home the point that our singer is just a stupid romantic fool.

Jism

Jism is a song like no other in my entire collection in that I feel I always have to, and indeed want to, give it my 100% concentration while it is playing. On one occasion, it came up on random shuffle while I was waiting patiently on a train to take me to work, but I was so transfixed that I looked around at its end and noticed my fellow passengers had boarded and the train had subsequently departed without me realising. I get completely lost in it every single time….the downside being, however, that if it does pop up on shuffle and I have to concentrate on something else that’s happening around me, I have to hit the fast forward button to the next song.

Please don’t ask me to put into words why this is, as I don’t have the vocabulary to do my feelings justice. The fact that the lyric comes from the viewpoint of a psychopath who isn’t the least bit concerned about using domestic violence only adds to the power and emotion of what I consider to be one of the most outstanding few minutes of music ever written.

Travelling Light

The country and western genre tends to specialise in the sort of duet where the man sings a few verses about the state of his mind and behaviours and then his woman responds with a ‘well that ain’t quite how I see it buster’.

This fabulous little number, which was also released as a single, would fit that mould perfectly. Stuart Staples, while acknowledging he has some problems to overcome thinks he’s doing fine as he has an easy approach to life but his other half, in the shape of guest singer Carla Togerson from The Walkabouts patiently but wearily tells us that he is in fact a total fantasist and indeed by the end there is a realisation that she is about to walk out of his life forever. I often think that this is the revenge song from the woman who was on the end of the treatment dished out in Jism….

JC

Various

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (3)

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This one doesn’t lean back on any old ICA.

I mentioned previously that I’ll be on four trips in September that’ll involve overnight stays away from Villain Towers. Today is the first of those trips, off to Paris for around 36 hours in the company of Rachel, as a crazy way to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It had only taken us more than seven years of living together to finally get round to it. It was partly an unconventional day, despite the fact we are both dressed up to the nines.

It was a Monday morning, and the ceremony was followed by a lunch at which there were less than 30 folk present. From there, we flew off to Florida for a few days to see my brother and his then girlfriend (and now wife), as he couldn’t take the risk of leaving the States for the wedding as there was no guarantee he’d get back in as he was in the middle of sorting out his application for permanent residency. From there we went to St Thomas for ten days before coming back to Glasgow for a proper party on a Friday night, with band, disco and 250 guests all in attendance.

It’s only fair to say that there’s been a few ups and downs in the 25 years since, but we’ve made our way over the bumps without too much damage. We have more than enough in common to stay together, but at the same time we have quite varied interests that see us spend a fair bit of time doing our ‘own’ things with different groups of friends. It certainly works for us.

For instance, the reason we can only spend one overnight in Paris is that Rachel just yesterday returned from three days away on a delayed spa-break with her closest group of pals, while this weekend sees me head away on a golf trip with mates, an annual event going back to the late 80s. We spoke about both events and how they were going to squeeze into the time around the anniversary, but felt it was important to fit in with those plans made by friends who wouldn’t have been aware of the significance of 8 September 2022 to us.

It’s amazing how love has evolved over time. It certainly was full of grand, romantic and carefree gestures back in the day (particularly around the cost!!), but it is increasingly and essentially about offering each other support to cope with any stresses and strains of modern life, as well as just looking to enjoy those things we actually do together, much of which does involve sitting down in front of a television.

All of which makes today’s trip feel incredibly special. We have made no advance plans to do anything once we reach Paris….no restaurant is booked and no trips to galleries/museums are scheduled as we want to make a return to the days when it was all on a whim and spontaneous. I’m so looking forward to it.

Here’s some songs:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Rachel
mp3: Echo and The Bunnymen – Silver (Tidal Wave)
mp3: Siobhan Wilson – Paris Est Blanche

Oh, and never let it be forgotten that Rachel was the real driving force in getting TVV off the ground back in 2006. I was at a particularly low ebb, having just suffered a real setback at work and unsure of my future. She was the one who went out and bought me a USB turntable to get the vinyl converted to digital format so that I could turn my hand to blogging. It will always be the greatest thing anyone has ever done for me.

JC

PJ Harvey

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (2)

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From ICA 63, written by Craig McAllister of the blog Plain or Pan. Craig has subsequently gone on to be the author of a very well-received book, The Perfect Reminder, on the writing and recording of I’ve Seen Everything, the second album from Trashcan Sinatras.

Here’s Craig……

I’m no expert on Polly Jean Harvey. I’m a huge fan and I have most of her back catalogue (the odd collaborative effort aside) and while there are other artists that I obsess far more over and go to first when choosing something to play on the rare occasion I have the house to myself, PJ is always somewhere in the background, shuffling up unannounced but always welcome on my iPod during the commute to work, or peeking out at me in-between my George Harrison and Richard Hawley albums. The bulk of her music still thrills and amazes and stands up to repeated listens long after the time of release, which is surely the mark of a true artist.

It’s incredible to think that PJ Harvey has been making records for nigh on a quarter of a century. From the lo-fi scuzz of Dry via the Patti Smith-isms of Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea and the stark, piano-only White Chalk right up to her most recent collection of WW1-themed songs on Let England Shake (not forgettting the one-off single in support of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Shaker Aamer), she’s one of our most consistent musicians. Daring, unpredictable and true to herself, she’s right up there with the best of ’em.

Sheela Na Gig

Sheela Na Gig was PJ’s second single and also appeared on Dry, her debut LP. She sets her stall out early here, singing about ‘child bearing hips‘ and ‘ruby red lips’. Hearing this for the first time as a 21 year old, I had no idea what a Sheela Na Gig was (Google it), so I listened to this thinking “Oh! Aye!” I always had this faint idea from then on in that one day she’d go out with me, until she met that bastard Nick Cave. Oh well, her loss.

Kamikaze

Kamikaze is taken from Stories From the City, Stories From The Sea, PJ’s second Mercury-nominated LP. Her most straightforward pop/rock album, most of the tracks had the knack of sounding like Patti Smith on steroids.

Kamikaze is terrific, a down-the-hill-with-no-brakes-on, headlong rush of close-mic’d guitars, polyrhythmic drums and yet more skyscraping hysterics. It’s a close cousin of 50ft Queenie, only with far better production and mastering.

If you’re new to PJ and any of these tracks have so far piqued your curiosity, I’d start with this track’s parent album and take things from there.

The Glorious Land

Following the stark, piano-led White Chalk, Let England Shake was PJ’s triumphant return to the guitar. Much of the album is loosely concept, relating to the atrocities of WW1. If this seems a bit heavy, the music therein was often light and airy; gone for the most part were the blooze blunderbuss guitars, replaced with lightly chiming 6 strings, clean and pleasant on the ear. Radio 2 music, even.

The Glorious Land begins with such a guitar, playing atop a rallying military bugle. Without getting too ‘muso’ about it, the chord changes are sublime, and the vocals are always to the fore. There’s almost a male/female duet in the verses, between PJ and (I think) a moonlighting Mick Harvey who come across like a 21st century Lee ‘n Nancy on helium, while PJ duets gloriously with herself in the chorus and outro. You might want to discover the rest of this album for yourself. It’s one of her best.

CRAIG

LCD Soundsystem

NOSTALGIA IN SEPTEMBER (1)

James-Murphy

JC writes…..

September is shaping up to be a bit of a busy month for me, with four trips away from home involving overnight stays. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to devote a huge amount of time to the blog other than keeping the ICA World Cup moving along, and so have decided to fall back on nostalgia to ensure there are daily posts.

The gimmick is that the nostalgia will look at some of the oldest ICAs, not reproducing them in full, but delving into a maximum, for the most part, of three songs

It’s a sort of expansion on something I did this time last year when there was a four-day mini-series called ‘Some Words From An Earlier ICA’. I went onto look at LCD Soundsystem (#9), Teenage Fanclub (#86), The Velvet Underground (#123) and Super Furry Animals (#18).

I’m again kicking things off with LCD Soundsystem, from ICA 9, as written up by SWC. The rest of this post are all his words…..

What made them great was the fact that they were genreless, they were DJs, they did songs, techno, dark stuff, rock stuff, pop crossover. LCD Soundsystem transcended the divide by combing dance and punk.

Daft Punk is Playing At My House

(I’ve gone for Soulwax Mix simply because of the bit where it goes ‘DOWNTOWN’)

This was LCD Soundsystem’s most successful song, earning a Grammy nod and reaching No. 29 on the UK charts. It’s not hard to see why. James Murphy always knew how to start a party, from the opening “OW! OW!” to the smashing hi-hats to cowbells and even reminding us that he had moved the furniture to the garage. A belter of a record.

Dance Yrself Clean

The one thing about LCD Soundsystem that frustrated everyone was their reluctance to write ‘hit records’. They never got played on the radio, not the shows that sell records anywhere. This track was another raised middle finger to the industry, an eight-minute raised middle finger of a single. It kind of wobbles along at half volume and includes a flute – A FLUTE – instead of a crashing beat or bass that you kind of expect and then suddenly it bursts and goes on for eight minutes. Plus, and perhaps the main reason it is here – The Muppets are in the video for it, and it is the greatest music video ever made.

All My Friends

Murphy hates this song, and yet it is clearly their greatest moment. He thinks it is too poppy and embarrassing. It is certainly the most romantic song he ever wrote. I have always thought it is widely reminiscent of ‘Ceremony’ by New Order, but the call to arms of for his friends ‘If I could see all my friends tonight’ really emphasises the quality of this band and the friendship its members have.

SWC

Various

ICA WORLD CUP 2022 : GROUP H : THE RESULTS

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I mentioned in the preview that Group H could be quite intriguing in that there was no mega-headliner, and it contained a mix of singers and bands with quite a number of devotees.

An in-play progress report, carried out after 25 sets of votes had been cast, sort of confirmed this, albeit a few that had started really well had already probably done enough. Lloyd Cole (17), Bananarama (15), Elvis Costello (15) and The Breeders (13) were leading the way. Tucked in behind were a host of others (nine in all), who had collected between six and eleven votes, while it was looking as if The Affectionate Punch (2), The Tragically Hip (3) and The Sound (4) were in difficulties. But then again, there was still plenty of time left on the clock for things to change.

As it turned out, that check on 25 votes was almost perfect for the half-time report as come the final whistle on Saturday at midnight, there were 48 sets requiring to be counted up.

Lloyd Cole 33
Elvis Costello 31
Bananarama 27
The Triffids 26
The Twilight Sad 23*
The Breeders 23
The National 20
The Chameleons 16*

The appearance of the * indicates the coin toss was used to determine final positions when the number of votes was tied.

It was Frightened Rabbit who also picked up 16 votes. Here’s the thing…..at no point in time did The Chameleons ever have a lead over Frightened Rabbit. Indeed, the tie only cane about from the fact that the final four folk to drop into the polling station all voted for The Chameleons while offering nothing up for F’Rabbits.

There was little to choose among the next five places who all gained between 12 and 14 votes, while the bottom two narrowly failed to reach double figures.

As ever, a song from an ICA we’ve had to say farewell to.

mp3: The Affectionate Punch – Scars III

The fact is, the elimination of TAP has thwarted my dreams of actually making an appearance in the 2022 ICA World Cup, as it’s my spoken vocal on this particular track.

I suppose I can console myself that my small contribution to Scars III might have led to my face being on an imaginary sticker in the imaginary commemorative Panini collection……..

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