THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #323: MOMUS

A GUEST POSTING by KHAYEM

A Ripped and Wrinkled Life :

A Momus ICA

This ICA has been a very, very long time in the making. Back in 2017 when I was a regular but silent visitor to TVV, JC wrote about Momus’ 1988 album Tender Pervert and Jonny The Friendly Lawyer commented that “Maybe somebody with the goods can serve up an ICA so we can see what he’s all about?” I agreed wholeheartedly, but did nothing.

In 2020, the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the early months of the UK lockdown, Momus popped up again in #213 of JC’s epic Saturday’s Scottish Song series. That’s also the go-to for an invaluable Momus bio.

A few months later, a further Momus post featured 1989’s should-have-been-a-hit single, The Hairstyle Of The Devil. I’d finally found a voice by then and had contributed my first ICA a few months previously. The post prompted a similar comment from TVV reader Yours Truly (not to be confused with yours truly, i.e. me), “I wish someone came up with a Momus ICA?” Again, I agreed wholeheartedly, but did nothing.

Part of the challenge is that I had a couple of Momus albums from his ‘classic’ period on Creation Records in the late 1980s/early 1990s, having started with the singles compilation, Monsters Of Love. I also had the Forbidden Software Timemachine double CD, compiling the “Best Of The Creation Years”. Over a hundred songs all in all, so where to begin?

It’s an understatement to say that Momus is prolific, and he’s been bringing out roughly an album each year (with the occasional break) since 1986. So a career-spanning ICA was also out of the question, not least because I haven’t been able to keep up with (or afford) that level of output.

At the tail end of 2021, I thought I’d cracked it. “Aha”, I said to myself (yes, my inner monologue had become an outer dialogue during lockdown), “I’ll just focus on Momus’ last three albums!” Three or four songs per album, ten to twelve songs in total. Bosh! ICA done.

Of course, it was never going to be that easy, not least because the sum total of the three albums is forty-seven songs. And I liked all of the songs on all of the albums. Curses!

I played around and played around with various songs and sequences, and I just couldn’t settle on a final running order. My procrastinating rolled into early 2022 and inevitably came at a cost: A new Momus album! Another eighteen songs! All of them good! Aaaaaaargh!

I’ve spent the last six months on and off, starting again with an ICA spanning the four albums, managing to whittle sixty-five songs down to twenty, nearly but not quite being able to decide on the final ICA track listing.

Yesterday (26th October)*, Momus announced a new album, his 4,017th by my reckoning. Issyvoo is out on 2nd December 2022, his second album this year. I told you he was prolific. The prospect of having to start all over again and expand the scope to include five albums was all the kick up the arse that I needed to finish this ICA.

*Note from JC : Khayem sent all this over back on 27 October, but it went missing in cyberspace!

I am under no illusion that this will be a contender for the next ICA World Cup final, but I think it provides a snapshot of how much – and how little – has changed in Momus’ world since those hazy days with Creation. And where else would you find references, often in the same song, to Eurydice, coronavirus, Sally Bowles, Lidl urinals, Orpheus, Fire Island, Romy Schneider, “goths in a holocaust”, Balthazar, Bob Dylan and Frankie Howard?!

I’ve cheated a little as this ICA has stretched to twelve songs, three per album, rather than the customary ten. It’s all wrapped up in just over twenty minutes per side, so I’ll hopefully get away with it.

In keeping with my own blog, I’ve also presented the ICA as a single, 40-minute Dubhed Selection for your listening pleasure.

Side One

1) Influencer Village (Smudger, 2022)

Watch me now one million views / Smashing all the mirrors / Click ‘like’, thumbs up and subscribe / Influencer Village

2) Zooming (Athenian, 2021)

That’s not painting, that’s body-shaming!

3) People Are Turning To Gold (Video Version ft. Janice Long) (Akkordian, 2019)

People who love money they make me sick / Praying to the god of arithmetic

4) I Got It From Agnes (Vivid, 2020)

It doesn’t matter who / It might have been at the pub / Or at the club, or in the loo

5) What The Kite Thinks (Akkordian, 2019)

Above the shaking mirror / As the world sinks

6) Horrorworld (Athenian, 2021)

Once we dreamed a smooth and a simple life / What turned up? / A ripped and a wrinkled life

Side Two

1) Friendly World (Smudger, 2022)

This world doesn’t owe you anything / No one stops you from leaving

2) Self-Isolation (Vivid, 2020)

Happy the land that doesn’t need heroes in the first place

3) Bus Inspector Bill (Athenian, 2021)

And the day that Charlie passed away Lil was there to hear him say

“I’ve been unfaithful to you in every known position, Lili dear”

She said “Charlie darling never mind, I knew it all the time

That’s why I put 9000 milligrammes of arsenic trioxide in your beer”

4) Dylanology (Akkordian, 2019)

And everybody’s laughing at the trial of Josef K / The judge keeps quoting Wilde but I’ve got better things to say

5) Friends (Smudger, 2022)

I used to respect you, yes I did / Even though you’re an obvious junkie

6) Fever Dream (Vivid, 2020)

I’m in the underworld but I’m also in my kitchen / I’m in the afterlife, but also television

Bonus) A Ripped and Wrinkled Life : The Dubhead Mix (40:42)

https://dubhed.blogspot.com/

KHAYEM

Saint Etienne

IF SARAH FRONTED THE PET SHOP BOYS…..

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…..it might have sounded like this.

The words of The Robster when talking about this song as part of his outstanding Saint Etienne ICA back in November 2015. And let’s face it, he’s spot on with that observation.

I was surprised, on two counts, about the performance of the single on its release in November 1995. Firstly, that it achieved the highest ever singles chart placing for Saint Etienne – I was sure it must have been one of Join Our Club, Who Do You Think You Are?, or You’re In A Bad Way.

Secondly, and even more to my surprise (and indeed, shock), is that the chart position in question is #11. I’d have put my house and my life savings on the fact that the band had enjoyed at least one Top Ten single during their existence.

The single is attributed to Saint Etienne in collaboration with Etienne Daho, a bona-fide pop legend of the French music scene whose recording career dates back to 1981 and has seen him work alongside Arthur Baker, Air, OMD, Jane Birkin, Marianne Faithfull, Françoise Hardy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Vanessa Paradis among many others.

mp3: Saint Etienne (feat. Etienne Daho) – He’s On The Phone

The single was released in all sorts of formats – there were three different 12″ vinyl versions with a host of remixes and a couple of lengthy remixes of old songs, while 2 x CDs offered up some mixes, some otherwise unreleased songs and a couple of intriguing cover versions. Here’s the (then) unreleased songs and covers.

mp3: Saint Etienne – Groveley Road
mp3: Saint Etienne – The Process
mp3: Saint Etienne – Is It True
mp3: Saint Etienne – How I Learned To Love The Bomb

Is It True was written by Marc Bolan but never given any proper studio recording. It’s a home demo which was included on a posthumous release. ‘The Bomb’ is their take on a 1985 single by The Television Personalities.

JC

Damien Jurado

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #322: DAMIEN JURADO

A GUEST POSTING by HSP

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Damien Jurado – All That’s Great, Good and Exasperating in a Singer-Songwriter

Hybrid Soc Prof

Your Anti-anti-intellectual Correspondent from a State Surrounded by Water

The forms of authenticity/DIY-sensibility to which musicians seem to return most regularly – as an alternative to the major label, corporate world of professional song-writing for professional singers backed by professional session players for professional producers in preparation for professionally dressed and quaffed interviews and tours supported by other professional musicians, dancers, etc. – is that of “the singer-songwriter.” Either that or it’s a form all manner of musicians with poetic aspirations, or lyricists with musical goals, find to fit well with working alone.

Too often, I equate “singer-songwriter” with folk because so often the music’s acoustic and the voice – however magnificent – apparently amateurish. Folks here have noted that I can get over-concerned with genre, guilty as charged… but, since I teach elements of this stuff most semesters, periodizations and categories seem to be the predicate of initial clarity for students before – as Donna Haraway calls it – I return to Staying with the Trouble.

Damien Jurado is definitely a singer-songwriter and every problem I have with that tradition exists in his discography. When he hits the sweet spot, his intimate, observational, empathic, lyrical intelligence swims within a vast, sparse acoustic soundscape which sometimes swells to an incrementally accelerated anthemic modality that just sucks me in.

However, in the making of this ICA, I found myself repeatedly exasperated (is that redundant?) by the extent to which Jurado has a sound, and mode of singing, and a pace of delivery that’s too consistent… at times his songs all run into one another – even the better ones. (I did have 22 songs to consider, but in gathering them and selecting among them, I often wanted to have something more specific to help me choose one over another.) The themes of place, relationships and movement are central – and evocatively presented – in Jurado’s efforts but, too often, it’s more of the same and I lose interest and find myself paying no attention to the lyrics or the music. And then the best song on whichever record it is reaches out and draws me in and I can’t pay attention to much of anything else.

Almost every record he’s generated has at least one really excellent song, but too many only have one or two… Caught in the Trees (2008) has a few, but the most consistent records are the next three: St. Bartlett (which made a good bit of noise when it was released in 2010), Mariqopa (2012) and Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son (2014). As is my wont, this ICA starts quieter and ends louder, though loud for Damien Jurado leans On the Beach more than the electric side of Rust Never Sleeps.

Ohio, from Rehearsals For Departure (1999)
There Goes Your Man, from And Now That I’m In Your Shadow (2006)
Working Titles, from Maraqopa (2012)
Rachel & Cali, from Saint Bartlett (2010)
Go First, from Caught In The Trees (2008)
Exit 353, from Visions of Us on the Land (2016)
Silver Timothy, from Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son (2014)
Sucker, from On My Way to Absence (2005)
Texas To Ohio, from Where Shall You Take Me? (2003)
Wallingford, from Saint Bartlett (2010)

HSP

Akrylykz

STOP PRESS : HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

JC writes……..

I had a post all set to go for today…..indeed I’ve a whole bundle of posts set to go for the next few weeks as I’m shortly going off for my first holiday in three years.

But an e-mail arrived yesterday that changed everything. I think what follows will be of huge interest to a fair number of you. Here’s the legend who is Dirk (aka Sexy Loser)

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES

#001 – THE AKRYLYKZ – ‘Spyderman’ (Double R Records, ’80)

Hello friends,

My name may still sound familiar to some of the older readers of this great blog, if it doesn’t: no matter. Well, yes, it’s been a while, reasons were many, and I surely won’t bore you with details, but every once in a while someone came up and asked me to post a little something again. Thanks to those nice people, it really meant a lot to me! In the end it was my mate JC who convinced me to finally reappear in one form or another, he suggested to do this here at his place instead of restarting sexyloser. And as his will is my command, I’m happy to oblige …

Please bear with me when I try to explain what this series is intended to be all about, I’m trying to keep it short and simple, promised. And also I won’t explain it again, so it’s just this post which will be even more boring than the ones to follow:

As you might imagine, the last few years have not been all golden (hence my hiatus), but there was also a positive feature: I stopped smoking in the first days of January this year. Now, smoking nearly ate away all of my ‘pocket money’ (in Sexyloserland we call it ‘pocket money’, at the end of the day it is an allowance for both Mrs. Loser and me which we take off our combined wages at the beginning of each month). Basically she bought shoes and handbags, I bought Lucky Strikes.

It didn’t take all too long until I had to ask myself what to do with all the money I suddenly had. I spent a bit on clothing and red wine, but also something inside me developed a cunning plan: I want to physically own the best 77 7” singles of all time! ‘The best’ in my humble opinion, of course. A few of them I already had (the bulk I sold for cigarettes though within the years. And for new shoes for Little Loser), but most of them I had to buy on discogs.

Now, this pocket money is less than you might expect it to be, so I had to make some restrictions: I wanted to have VG+ or NM copies, if possible, but simultaneously they had to be halfway affordable. Postage these days is a pain in the arse, as you might know, and it can easily double the record’s price depending on which country you buy from. Postage is one thing, but the prices sellers want – and, apparently, get – for records which aren’t mass items, are ludicrous sometimes. I mean, you have to draw the line somewhere, i.e.: although I clearly reckon Pavement’s ‘Box Elder’ to be one of the great songs of our time, still I wouldn’t (be able to) pay € 300,- for a copy of the 7” it came with. And that’s just one of hundreds of examples I could make!!

Also I had to realize that the newer the recording was, the less record companies were willing to offer it on vinyl when it came out. Which means: a really great song, but only available on CD single = out: Pulp’s ‘Common People’ comes to mind here.

Other fabulous songs were only available on albums, but never sold as 7” singles, Mazzy Star’s ‘Blue Flower’ for example.

Also I should add that my interest in music has always been, let’s say, very much diversified. So don’t expect Indie only, that’s far from the truth. Which didn’t make it easier for me, no.

And also, as the title of this series might already have shown the more clever contingent of you, I totally failed to diminish myself to 77 singles, in fact today I received the final one by post, number 111.

But what would it all mean if I would not share them with like-minded people? Not all too much, I suppose.

Therefore, thanks again to JC for his kind offer to present this series here, I do hope it meets with your approval – the comments will tell if this is the case or not. One last thing: I will send the files to JC as superior quality rips w/ 320 kbps, still it will always be the actual single that has been ripped. And I certainly don’t have a high-end record player. So if there are crackles or background noise, then that’s the way it is. I’m sure that if you are really interested, you can easily find a better download – or buy a mint copy yourself. And finally: I will post the singles in alphabetical order. And in my world (yes, I know you think otherwise) this means that Rick Astley is filed under ‘R’, not under ‘A’.

Thanks for having read the above, I won’t go through all of this again, promised! So, let’s start with # 001, shall we?

I’ve always had an appetite for Ska. Not necessarily for Reggae, but Ska, in all its forms, appealed to me greatly. And this is not only true for second and third wave Ska, but also for early 60’s Jamaican Ska.

The problem is, you see, I’m obviously too young to have witnessed the origins, I’m even too young to have witnessed second wave Ska when it came up in Europe. I was eleven in 1979 and I was stuck in a village in the middle of nowhere, where, apart from many sheep, there wasn’t pretty much interesting going on altogether (feel free to insert any old joke about bored county youths , sheep and sexual activities here and now). Also, obviously, there was no access to the music papers, no internet and no-one to talk to: the older youths I knew by and large consisted of two groups – those who listened to the softer side of hard rock, i.e. Genesis, and the ones who listened to the harder side of hard rock, i.e. Led Zeppelin. Anything else was strictly verboten to them musically, so hard rock was all that I got to hear back then.

Consequently it took me another three or four years before I got into Ska, although in 1983 the bands I first found (The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat , UB40 and Bad Manners) were more or less already dead … again, as with Punk, I came too late!

But still I never stopped searching for more, and people who lost interest after the ‘big’ names disappeared without a trace, will most likely never have heard of the first record in this series.

mp3: The Akrylkyz – Spyderman

The point I was trying to make is: The Akrylykz are just one of the bands from that era, who, despite of never having had big success, are simply wonderful. Listen to the tune, and you’ll see what I mean.

Second wave Ska came up in Coventry, The Akrylykz though came from Hull of all places. The band consisted of Roland Gift (vox, tenor sax), Steve Pears (vox, tenor sax), Stevie “B” Robottom, (vox, alto sax, keys), Piotr Swiderski (drums) and Michael “Fred” Reynolds (bass)). And yes, if the name Roland Gift sounds familiar to some of you, it’s him of Fine Young Cannibals fame!

Originally they were called The Acrylic Victims, as a reference to the acrylic paint use in the art school. Later they changed this to The Akrylyk Vyktymz, but soon the name was abbreviated to The Akrylykz.

By mid ’79 the band had built up a considerable fanbase in Yorkshire and they were getting some seriously big gigs supporting the likes of the Specials, the Beat, UB40, the Clash, Bad Manners, Madness, etc. This lead Red Rhino Records to have the first single released on their Double R label in 1980. Not very much later, Polydor came up with a second single, ‘J.D.’.

The Akrylykz split in 1981, without any album of theirs ever to see the light of day. A real shame, because as far as I’m concerned, even if a handful of tunes would have reached the level that ‘Spyderman’ has reached, a potential album would surely have been a masterpiece!

If only I could understand the lyrics of ‘Spyderman’, I would be a happy man indeed. If you native speakers have a few minutes to kill, feel free to help me, okay?

Until then, enjoy!

Dirk

Various

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

icaworldcup

Last week’s pairings delivered a match-up for the ages, along with another tie that was close throughout for the most part. The other two games, while not exactly being blow-outs, saw a couple of substantial early leads that were never in much danger.

At 10pm (UK time) on the Sunday evening, just 16 hours after polling had opened, I did a quick count for all four games. Television and John McGeoch both held identical leads of 20-10 over their opponents. Only a further 18 set of votes came in through to Friday night, and the gaps never closed (not everyone cast four votes!)

Match E : Television 33 Buddy Holly 13

Match F : Beatles 16 John McGeoch 31

It was Northern Ireland v Scotland in Match G. Ash v Cocteau Twins, and at the first count, it was a 15-14 lead for Scotland. The next few days saw Northern Ireland slowly run out of steam, giving a final result of:-

Match G : Ash 20 Cocteau Twins 27

And so, to Liverpool v Leeds. The Bunnymen had racked up the most points in Round 1, and with a singles-heavy ICA to fall back on, could very much be regarded as one of the favourites. But in this round, a live cover version was the song for consideration, and as DAM observed in his comments (he was 26th to cast his votes)

“Looks like the Bunnymen have done the equivalent of playing the under 23s, assuming that they will need the big guns later. But on this showing, they could be heading for a fall.”

Cinerama‘s effort had a bit of the continental flair about it, and was picking up a fair few votes….but given they had initially qualified in 6th place from the same group the Bunnymen had won, and in Round 1 had got through by 26-7 when the Bunnymen had triumphed 33-4….it seemed an awful lot to overcome.

Sunday night. The score was tied at 15-15. 24 hours later, it was 20-19 to Liverpool.

By the time I woke up on Tuesday morning, two more votes had come in. It was now 21-20 to Leeds. Tuesday itself saw it move out to a 23-21 lead for Cinerama. No votes arrived on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was waiting on the final flurry on Friday with a great amount of anticipation.

Both picked up one vote each while I was asleep, meaning it was soon 24-22. The next vote came in at 12.42pm and made it 24-23.

Hamirthehermit dropped by 5.50pm. As ever, he offered up a commentary on each of his selections. As far as the nail-biter went…..

‘Have a lot more favourite songs by Cinerama than the Bunnies. And I’m not a fan of the Stones. But a good cover of a good song takes it this round. Echo & The Bunnymen’.

That made it 24-24

Earlier in the day, thinking that there might eventually be a tie, I had come up with a possible way out of any such impasse.

I made good on a long-time commitment to meet up with Comrade Colin on Friday afternoon. At one point over our second coffee/diet cola, I mentioned the Bunnymen v Cinerama match-up and asked him that in the event of it finishing in a tie, which of the two songs he would have voted for.

In effect, I was appointing him as the VAR, if required.

But would it come down to that? Midnight came and went……..

Match H : Echo and The Bunnymen 24 Cinerama 24

Cinerama won the penalty shoot-out…….courtesy of Comrade Colin’s preference.

For what it’s worth, if I had been voting, I’d have gone for the Bunnymen on the basis of me seeing them play a storming version of Paint It Black at the Glasgow Barrowlands back in 1985 that has long-lived in the memory. But having decided how the call should be made, my huge thanks to the Comrade for helping out.

After all that, it’s time to turn our attention to today’s quartet, featuring the four who got through from the fifth and sixth weeks in Round 1. A reminder that the song up for consideration in Round 2 will always be the third track on Side A of the ICA in question. Will there be any drama?

The Go-Betweens (ICA 200) v Neil Young (ICA 259)

mp3: The Go-Betweens – The Clock v mp3 : Neil Young – Sugar Mountain (live)

Human League (ICA 228) v Beastie Boys (ICA 285)

mp3: Human League – Sound Of The Crowd (complete) v mp3 : Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

Suede (ICA 209) v Siouxsie & The Banshees (ICA 258)

mp3: Suede – The Big Time v mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Playground Twist

Lloyd Cole (ICA 300) v The National (ICA 243)

mp3: Lloyd Cole – Weeping Wine v mp3 : The National – I Need My Girl

As ever, thanks for taking part. Voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Friday, which is the 18th of November.

JC

Styng Rytes

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #332: THE STYNG RYTES

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I have but one song from today’s band, courtesy of its inclusion in the 5xCD Big Gold Dreams box set, issued by Cherry Red Records in 2019. so I have to rely on the info provided within the accompanying booklet:-

Close your eyes, and you could be in a Hamburg cellar club circa 1958, listening to the slicked-back sounds of Styng Rytes, led by vocalist George Miller, aka Kaiser George. This debut three-track EP tapped into a then burgeoning wave of retro rock and roll and garage band psychobilly, which retained a vintage purity through frenetic live shows. Miller kept up appearances with his next band The Kaisers, who released umpteen records over their decade-long existence, and continues to do so with The New Piccadillys.

mp3: The Styng Rytes – Baby’s Got A Brand New Brain

The EP came out on the band’s own Snaffle Records in 1985. The following year would see the release of a second EP, Night Cruising, issued on DDT Records, which was based in Edinburgh.

JC

Age Of Chance

LOOKING BACK, IT WAS QUITE THE AUDACIOUS MOVE

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A cover version came up on random play recently. Cue a desire to write about it. The thing is, two previous posts on Age of Chance said all there was to say, but as they were in August 2014 and September 2015, I think I can get away with some lazy cut’n’pastes.

David, the Crumpsall Correspondent, in a guest posting referencing the visit of the Tour de France cycle race to Yorkshire, was the first to give them a mention. I followed up with a look at bands featured on a C86 compilation.

Cycling garb is now all the rage, but in the 80’s it was only really worn by… cyclists. Except, that is, for Age of Chance.

Age of Chance, consisting of Steve Elvidge, Neil Howson, Geoff Taylor and Jan Perry, came together after meeting at Leeds Polytechnic College and their first two singles came out on their own Riot Bible label. They were darlings of the indie scene, often touted at the time as the band most likely to succeed, but they never really did.

The music was a combination of styles, including a form of the newly emerging hip hop sound, with strident often spoken vocals delivered over rock and punk guitar chords.

Here’s the first two singles, from 1985 and 1986:-

mp3: Age of Chance – Motor City (RIOT 001 ‘A’ side)
mp3: Age of Chance – Everlasting Yeah! (RIOT 001 ‘B’ side)
mp3: Age of Chance – Bible Of The Beats (RIOT 002 ‘A’ side)
mp3: Age of Chance – Liquid Jungle (RIOT 002 ‘B’ side)

Each of the singles led to John Peel inviting the band to record a session for his show. The second session was recorded in June 1986, and the band chose to record their take on Kiss, which was riding high in the charts at the time, with Prince being regarded as the new King of Pop Music.

An offer was put on the table by Sheffield-based indie label, Fon Records, for a single, as long as it included a new, studio version of Kiss, which, as it turned out, retained their wonderful new opening lines of

‘You don’t have to be Prince if you want to dance; You just have to get down with the Age of Chance’

mp3: Age of Chance – Kiss

The media coverage, and the fact that despite being on a small indie label the single reached #50, led to Age of Chance signing to Virgin Records in January 1987, and a stab at the big time. Three singles and a debut album were released that year, but without any huge breakthrough – a lot of previously fawning critics turned, as they often did when a major label came calling, and said they had never released anything again that was good as the Prince cover and were unlikely to ever do so (which was unduly harsh).

The beginning of the end came in the autumn of 1988 when Elvidge, who was the lead vocalist, left the band during the middle of sessions for the next album. The music was completed and a new singer, Charles Hutchinson, brought on board the following year to add the vocals. This led to a delay in the release of the album, and it bombed completely when it eventually reached the shops at the tail end of 1989. The band did soldier on for another year or so, relying on what were always regarded as decent live performances to maintain enthusiasm, but they eventually called it a day in early 1991.

mp3: Age of Chance – Kiss Collision Cut
mp3: Age of Chance – Crash Conscious

That’s the two b-sides from the 12″ single issued by Fon Records. Some 36 years on they do perhaps sound a tad of their time, but trust me, there was a real feeling of them doing being very unusual and innovative back in 1986.

JC

China Crisis

RARELY MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES

China+Crisis+Tour+Poster

The above poster is the best illustration I could find that China Crisis are still on the go all these years later. They’ve never featured before on TVV, and I can’t recall ever seeing too much about them on other similar natured blogs. The reason they haven’t been part of this little corner of t’internet is down to my not having any of their music on vinyl or CD. But I’ve gone out of my way to get some digital stuff to accompany these words, the next three paras of which come from all music:-

A bit fiery for most in the new romantic camp during the early ’80s, China Crisis were inspired by similar sources but injected their pop songs with occasional political commentary and bluesy reggae rhythms. Comprising the core duo of vocalist/keyboard player Gary Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon, the group formed in 1979 near Liverpool, England.

The first China Crisis single, “African and White,” didn’t appear until 1982, but it was quickly picked up by Virgin Records and made the U.K. charts. With drummer Dave Reilly on board, their full-length debut, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, arrived later that year and also charted. Another single from the album, “Christian,” hit number 12. They recorded their follow-up LP, Working with Fire and Steel: Possible Pop Songs, Vol. 2, with bassist Gazza Johnson and new drummer Kevin Wilkinson. It reached number 20 in the U.K. as well as charting in Canada and across Western Europe. It also produced the Top Ten hit “Wishful Thinking.”

China Crisis’ third album, 1985’s Flaunt the Imperfection, was produced by the sympathetic Walter Becker (from Steely Dan), and resulted in the Top 20 singles “Black Man Ray” and “King in a Catholic Style.” The album was their first to crack the Billboard 200 in the U.S., and it hit the Top Ten in the U.K. and New Zealand. A year later, 1986’s What Price Paradise?, which featured Brian McNeill instead of Becker on synths, reached a career-high 114 in the U.S. but landed outside the Top 50 at home. China Crisis worked with Becker once more on 1989’s Diary of a Hollow Horse, which earned critical raves though not much commercial movement. It proved to be their final record with Virgin. Their sixth studio LP, Warped by Success, appeared on Stardumb Records in 1994 and was followed by numerous compilations, including Virgin’s China Crisis Collection: The Very Best of China Crisis (1997), and a long recording hiatus, though Daly and Lundon continued to tour on and off as China Crisis.

Like many others of their generation, China Crisis have become a staple of the nostalgia festival events in the UK and further afield. A seventh studio album, Autumn In The Neighbourhood, was released in 2015, again on Stardum Records, for which there was an extensive UK tour. As well as performing in China Crisis, Gary Day has released some solo material, while Eddie Lundon teaches songwriting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (which perhaps explains why the 2022 North American tour took place outside of term time in June and July).

Despite not being all that fond of the band’s music, I can say I’ve seen them play live at least once, and possibly twice. I have vague recollections of them playing at the Student Union at Strathclyde University around the time African and White was in the charts, although I may well be mistaken. I do recall seeing them as support act for Simple Minds at Tiffany’s in Glasgow in late 1982 when the Glasgow band were on the cusp of the huge breakthrough thanks to New Gold Dream.

I thought I’d go digging for the debut single from China Crisis, along with the four songs that took them into the Top 20 between 1983 and 1985.

mp3: China Crisis – African and White
mp3: China Crisis – Christian
mp3: China Crisis – Wishful Thinking
mp3: China Crisis – Black Man Ray
mp3: China Crisis – King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up)

Sorry to say, the music still doesn’t do all that much for me. But hopefully it’s of appeal to some readers.

JC

X-Ray Spex

ONE-OFF PIECES OF VINYL (4)

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I used to have three singles by X-Ray Spex in my collection, but they were lost many years ago as part of the shambolic episode in Edinburgh that I’ve mentioned a few times over the years. I never got round to replacing them, mainly as they weren’t always the easiest to come across in second-hand shops, certainly in Glasgow.

A couple of years ago, a dear friend of this blog very generously gifted me a spare copy of Germfree Adolescents, the band’s debut album from 1978. I was thrilled to be on the end of such generosity, not least as it took its place as the only piece of vinyl by X-Ray Spex in the collection, and given the price of second-hand records by post-punk bands, it is likely to stay that way for quite some time.

It wasn’t an album I bought back in the day. I wanted to, but there was only so much vinyl that could be purchased from pocket money, the paper round and the notes placed inside birthday cards….besides, many of the tracks had already been issued as singles or b-sides.

At the time, I never quite appreciated just how young Poly Styrene was when her band became such an important part of the post-punk scene in the UK. She was barely 20-years of age, just six years older than me, but the difference between a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old is about as wide as it ever can be in any aspect of the age gap….I just saw her as another grown-up adult singing with a band and appearing on my TV screen on shows like Top of The Pops. It’s only as I look back at what I was like when I had just left my teens to see just how incredible an achievement it was for her to be up on those stages, even more so when the difficult upbringing she had experienced became more widely known many years later.

I’ve often wondered when listening to Germ Free Adolescents as to how Poly Styrene would have grown and evolved in the digital era rather than the late 70s. She would have surely very quickly become a role model for so many people, disaffected or otherwise, while the music she and her bandmates were making would have found a wider audience than was the case – the album didn’t get any higher than #30 while there was just the one single to make the Top 20. One thing for sure, is that she would easily have found a platform to express her views, thoughts and opinions and not had to rely on the whims of editors and reporters from the music papers with their own more narrow agendas and outlooks on life.

mp3: X-Ray Spex – Identity
mp3: X-Ray Spex – Art-I-Ficial
mp3: X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents
mp3: X-Ray Spex – I Am A Poseur

I am a poseur and I don’t care I like to make people stare I am a poseur and I don’t careI like to make people stare

Exhibition is the name Voyeurism is the game Stereoscopic is the show Viewing time makes it grow

As I was saying, Poly would have fitted in perfectly with the modern era, but back then the men who ran the music and entertainment industries didn’t know what to make of her.

JC

Ian McCulloch

THINKING BACK, HE WAS TAKING THE PISS, WASN’T HE?

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Ocean Rain, the fourth studio album by Echo and The Bunnymen, was released in May 1984. It reached #4 in the UK charts, while three of its nine tracks were released and became hit singles (The Killing Moon – #9, Silver – #30, and Seven Seas – #16).

The band’s profile was as high as it had ever been, but instead of building on any momentum there was something of a fall-out, with lead singer Ian McCulloch announcing he had plans to embark on a solo career.

I have to admit that I was quite excited by the prospect, not because I was sick and tired of the Bunnymen (far from it in actual fact), but as I really wanted to see what sort of music Mac was intending to make.

If memory serves me correctly, the Channel 4 music programme The Tube trailed that he would be on the show one Friday night and that the video for his debut solo single would receive its world premiere. I sat down to watch, inserting the VHS tape to capture his interview and the promo.

As Half Man Half Biscuit would say many year later in respect of the seaside resort of Westward Ho!……what a letdown. The song was a dirge. It was a cover version of a tune I knew nothing of, although Mac in his interview was very much talking up how much he was a fan of Kurt Weill, whose compositions between the 1920s and his death in 1950 were all the rage.

Being a fan, I still went out and bought it:-

mp3: Ian McCulloch – September Song

It still didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t make head nor tale of the tune or the lyrics. Maybe Mac thought every Bunnymen fan would rush out to help it race into the charts, but he was wrong, as it stalled outside the Top 50.

It just didn’t appeal one iota to the 21-year old me, and the thing is, almost forty years on, I still have no time for it, but I am wondering if anyone out there had a different take on things.

Oh, and the reason for the title of this posting is really down to the b-side. I saw what it was called and thought, before I gave it a spin, that Mac surely hadn’t turned his attention to a ditty based on an Irish folk song, much beloved among music hall aficionados.

But he was……

mp3: Ian McCulloch – Cockles and Mussels

The muted reaction to the single clearly irked Mac as it would be another five years before he released his next solo material, by which time he had made a very public announcement that his days with the Bunnymen had come to an end.

JC

Terris

WHY I STOPPED BUYING THE NME : VOLUME 1

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Before I go any further, I better point out that this is a guest posting. It’s from SWC, and if you want to read what I was intending to put up here today, then you’ll have to navigate your way to No Badger Required.

It was SWC’s idea. His brilliant pitch was “Can we do a blogging exchange like two parents dropping off our sprog in a rundown motorway service station?”

How could I say no? Over to SWC:-

Why I stopped buying the NME Vol. 1

Fabricated Lunacy – Terris (2001, Blanco Y Negro Records, Taken from ‘Learning to Let Go’)

At the turn of the century, the NME was hanging on by its fingernails at the cutting edge of cool. Despite having several talented writers, who knew one side of a banger from the other, the once brilliant paper had become shallow and very much in the pockets of companies who promoted style over substance. Their once legendary awards shows became nothing more than a big advert for hair gel and styling mousse.

Desperate for an edge, the NME came up with a new concept, a series of front page covers featuring bands and acts that they considered to be ‘Stars of the New Millennium’. The first band to feature on the cover of the NME in the new millennium, were Terris.

The band that the biggest selling rock weekly decided would be the perfect band to herald in a new era and the next thousand years of music, were an indie pop band from South Wales, who had a singer called Gavin. Terris had played a few shows where singer Gavin Goodwin would spout bollocks from the stage, and the rest of the gig saw reviews featuring the words “Incendiary” and “irascible” aplenty. In that very issue the NME described Terris as, and I am typing this exactly as they put it just to really hammer home the point: –

“a 21st Century Joy Division, fronted by a young, totally wired, Welsh Tom Waits, strapped to the front of a speeding train with no brakes.”

In that one sentence, the NME broke music, almost beyond repair.

Its fair to say that Terris divided opinion. The NME thought they were great, everyone else thought they were dogshite. Goodwin’s voice was an acquired taste, it was raw, gravelly, hence the Tom Waits comparison, but it was nowhere near as good as Tom Waits, and they sounded more like Bon Jovi than they did Joy Division. They made ridiculously over the top statements about other Welsh bands, the Manics were

“Shite plastic nobodies”, (Pot. Kettle.)

Catatonia were

“as embarrassing as Shirley Bassey after a bottle of wine” (ok, that is quite funny)

and as hard as Terris tried to be cool and appeal to the masses, they looked more like they were going to fix your washing machine than they did the future of rock music. Not one note of Terris’ music was going to set the establishment on fire, as the NME predicted it would. Terris were not even as good the 60ft Dolls, let alone the future of rock.

Happy Shopper – 60 Foot Dolls (1996, Indolent Records, Taken from ‘The Big 3’)

In 2001 the NME were still championing Terris, in a way that only a mother, whose child had just stabbed Santa Claus to death in front of an entire school, could. In a simpering review of their debut album ‘Learning to Let Go’ (of which ‘Fabricated Lunacy’ is the only real highlight), the NME wrote and I’m quoting exactly here again.

“Only one band want to make records that blow holes through the limits of what we currently meekly accept as sonically reasonable in the field of rock. Only one band can. And that’s Terris”.

‘Fabricated Lunacy’ reached the giddy heights of Number 42 in the UK, and then, after the release of ‘Learning to Let Go’, Terris vanished. Sonically reasonable acceptance remained hole free for another year.

Cannibal Kids – Terris (2000, Blanco Y Negro Records, Single)

SWC

Various

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

icaworldcup I thought away back when pulling this thing together that the really close contests might start to appear by the time we got to Round 2, with us being down to the last 32 standing. Were my instincts right?

The first 20 sets of votes (50% of the final total) had arrived by 2pm on Sunday afternoon, just nine hours after polling had opened. Three of the ties already looked done and dusted, while the other would have required a sizable comeback from the Edinburgh band to overcome the man born as James Osterberg Jr.

But here’s the thing…..the team from Edinburgh mounted that comeback, and by Wednesday night, the lead had been reduced to just one. It was turning into the game of the tournament.

Match A : Iggy Pop 19 Ballboy 18

Match B : Blondie 26 Stevie Wonder 13

Match C : Edwyn Collins 15 The Jam 22

Match D : Joy Division 29 Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry 10

Yup…..nobody came in with late votes this week – the last was cast at 11.11pm on Wednesday – and so Iggy was able to hold on and take his place in the last 16, the details of which are still a few weeks away.

Today’s quartet features the four who came through from the third and fourth weeks in Round 1. A reminder that the song up for consideration in Round 2 will always be the third track on Side A of the ICA in question.

Television (ICA 248) v Buddy Holly (ICA 285)

mp3: Television – Marquee Moon v mp3 : Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue Got Married

The Beatles (ICA 244) v John McGeoch (ICA 259)

mp3: Beatles – I Should Have Known Better v mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Spellbound*

*ICA 259 was a compilation of tracks on which McGeoch played guitar

Ash (ICA 190) v Cocteau Twins (ICA 195)

mp3: Ash – A Life Less Ordinary v mp3: Cocteau Twins – Carolyn’s Fingers

Echo & The Bunnymen (ICA 225) v Cinerama (ICA 296)

mp3: Echo and The Bunnymen – Paint It Black (live) v mp3: Cinerama – Lollobrigida

As ever, thanks for taking part. Voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Friday, which is the 11th of November.

JC

Stuart Murdoch

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #331: STUART MURDOCH

Stuart-Murdoch

I don’t know if the frontman of Belle and Sebastian has released much under his own name, but I do have his contribution to Dark Is The Night, which in 2009 became the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organisation, the international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and Aids.

mp3: Stuart Murdoch – Another Saturday

A total of 31 tracks, across 2 x CDs, with exclusive recordings by a number of indie singers and bands, all overseen by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.

If the tune seems familiar, then that’s because it is essentially Wild Mountain Thyme, better known as Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go? that has been covered by many a folk singer over the years.

JC

Eels

THIRTY THREE YEARS OF TOUGH LUCK

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Mark Everett (aka ‘E’) never seemed to stand still when it came to writing, recording and playing music. His early stuff, brilliant as it often was, bordered occasionally on the whimsical and fey end of the musical spectrum, with highly personal lyrics from his own life experiences very much to the fore.

The fourth studio album, Souljacker, was a departure from the norm, almost nu-metal in nature, with the band beefed up by musicians whose rock credentials were impeccable, including John Parish, best known to UK audiences as a collaborator of PJ Harvey. The lyrics moved away from the personal and into the realms of storytelling based on fictional characters. The record company struggled with it, unable to issue anything as a single beyond the title track:-

mp3: Eels – Souljacker Part 1

With a riff that most run-of-the-mill rock bands would kill for, this 2001 single wouldn’t sound out of place on Kerrang TV. I like the song, but it’s one that I find disturbing for the reason that Johnny and Sally, the two main protagonists, seem to be unhinged and abused trailer-park dwellers who have an incestuous relationship…. the ending isn’t spelled out, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to anticipate it will be gory and not for the faint-hearted.

Souljacker Part 1 reached #30 in the UK singles chart in September 2001. The following month, the album was released, and it went in at #12 on its first week of release, an indication that Eels had a decent fanbase over here. The fact it dropped out of the Top 75 within two weeks would indicate that the album didn’t appeal much beyond said fan base.

The single came out on 7″ picture disc and 2 x CDs. Here’s the other tracks:-

mp3: Eels – I Write The B-Sides (7″ and CD1)
mp3: Eels – Can’t Help Falling In Love (CD1)
mp3: Eels – Jennifer Eccles (CD2)
mp3: Eels – My Beloved Monstrosity (CD2)

The middle two songs are cover versions (Elvis Presley and The Hollies) while the final track is a different take on one of Eels best-known compositions, thanks to its inclusion on the soundtrack of the hit film, Shrek.

JC

Nas

ONE-OFF PIECES OF VINYL (3)

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Illmatic came out in 1994. I got round to buying a copy in 2020 on the back of watching a mini-series on the history of rap and hip-hop.

I’ll confess to not knowing a huge amount about Nas prior to watching the episode in which he featured, but I was quite taken by him, both in terms of the music and the things he had to say many years after the album, which was very much a product of his upbringing in Queensbridge, the largest public housing project not only in New York but anywhere in the United States.

Illmatic wasn’t a huge success on its release, and indeed it took two years before it was certified as a gold disc in the USA and a full seven years before it was deemed to have sold 1,000,000 copies and eligible for platinum status.

There’s been millions of words written about the album over the years, the vast majority of which are incredibly complimentary. Some critics and fans have deemed it to be the best/greatest hip hop album of all time. I’m nowhere near qualified enough to say whether or not that’s a fair statement, but I am able to add my view that it’s an album which has a great deal going for it and that it stands up to repeated listens. It certainly doesn’t sound like an album, written and recorded by someone who was barely out of his teens. It’s a cinematic-like piece of work, or more accurately perhaps a series of one-off but linked documentaries reflecting on an upbringing amidst urban poverty with no likelihood of an easy way out.

I can’t quite put my finger on why I get so much out of listening to Illmatic – I hesitate to use the word ‘enjoy’ as it could come to represent a form of being a ghetto or poverty tourist – but there feels as if there’s a lot of Gil Scott Heron in the record, and as such, I was listening to someone who was really more than capable of having his voice make a difference.

This is the album’s closing track:-

mp3: Nas – It Ain’t Hard To Tell

There’s so much going on….it’s one of those tracks that I found myself picking up on different things with each and every listen. Much like all the other nine pieces of music on the album.

JC

Lush

THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION

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hypocrite : noun

1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
3. a tremendous near-hit single released on 30 May 1994

mp3: Lush – Hypocrite

4AD was a great home for Lush as neither the label nor the band cared about convention, but I occasionally wonder what possessed both of them to decide to more or less thrown away its chances of being a hit by deciding to release two new EPs on the very same day

Yup, 30 May 1994 also saw this released as the lead-track on a separate EP:-

mp3: Lush – Desire Lines

Hypocrite entered at #52 and Desire Lines at #60. The latter, at almost eight-minutes in length, was hardly radio-friendly.

I’ve tracked down all the other tracks issued on the EPs:-

Hypocrite

mp3: Lush – Love At First Sight
mp3: Lush – Cat’s Chorus
mp3: Lush – Undertow (Spooky Remix)

Desire Lines

mp3: Lush – White Wood
mp3: Lush – Girl’s World
mp3: Lush – Lovelife (Suga Bullit Remix)

I think it’s fair to say that one listen to the music on the two EPs nails the myth that Lush were ever a one-dimensional shoe-gaze band, a myth that would be totally blown away a couple of years later when songs like Ladykillers, Shake Baby Shake, and Single Girl brought them chart hits.

JC

Various

ETCETERA, ETCETERA

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New month…..regular readers will know what inevitably follows.

This time round, there is a sort of theme, namely that the songs are in the same running sequence as they originally appeared on their parent LPs/CDs.

mp3: Various – Etcetera, Etcetera

00. The Vinyl Villain Theme – AC Eales (Home Recording, 2018)
01. Trip Out The Rider – Paul Haig (Relieve, 2009)
02. Bodega Birth – Bodega (Endless Scroll, 2019)
03. A-Punk – Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend, 2008)
04. Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie (Scary Monsters, 1980)
05. Philadelphia – Magazine (The Correct Use Of Soap, 1980)
06. Fix Up, Look Sharp – Dizzee Rascal (Boy In Da Corner, 2003)
07. Ya Ho – James (Strip-Mine, 1988)
08. Start A War – The National (Boxer, 2007)
09. Fait Accompli – Curve (Doppelganger, 1992)
10. 22: The Death Of All Romance – The Dears (No Cities Left, 2003)
11. Paper Planes – M.I.A. (Kala, 2007)
12. New Face In Hell (Peel Session) – The Fall (The Complete Peel Sessions 1978 – 2004)
13. Council Meetin’ – The Style Council (Cafe Bleu, 1984)
14. Electrolite – R.E.M. (New Adventures In Hi Fi, 1996)
15. The Perfect Girl – The Cure (Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, 1987)
16. Sweet and Tender Hooligan – Nouvelle Vague (Band A Parte, 2006)
17. Draw In The Reins – Cats On Fire (Dealing In Antiques, 2010)

It all lasts about twelve seconds beyond an hour.

JC

Teenage Fanclub

JUST THE ONE BIG CHART HIT

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I was thinking it was about time again to write up something about Teenage Fanclub. I thought I’d focus in on one of their singles, preferably one not featured before on the blog.

All told, there’s more than thirty to choose from, going back to Everything Flows in 1990, to the most recent which was the digitally released I Left A Light On from earlier this year. So I thought to myself, why not go with the one which provided their highest chart placing, while not knowing what single that would have been. I was almost certain it would be Sparky’s Dream, failing which Radio, or perhaps I Don’t Want Control Of You.

I was so wrong.

Teenage Fanclub only ever cracked the Top 20 of the UK singles chart on one occasion, and that was in July 1997 when their first new song in more than two years crashed in at #17:-

mp3 : Teenage Fanclub – Ain’t That Enough

The following week, the single dropped to #47 and then the next week it was #72. The good news for the band was that the new album, Songs From Northern Britain, immediately entered at #3, the highest ever chart entry in their career.

This period was certainly the band’s commercial peak, as no single since has made the Top 40, while the next again album, Howdy, their first after leaving Creation Records, stalled at a very disappointing #33 in 2000.

Ain’t That Enough came out on 7″ vinyl and 2 x CD formats. Here’s all you b-sides:-

mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Kickabout (7″ and CD1)
mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Broken (CD1)
mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Femme Fatale (CD2)
mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Jesus Christ (CD2)

Kickabout had originally been written and recorded for inclusion on The Beautiful Game, a compilation CD released to commemorate the Euro 96 football tournament, which was played in England (and for which Scotland had qualified). It’s based around a sample of Everybody by American Spring, a 1970s duo consisting of siblings Diane Rovell and Marilyn Wilson. The latter was, at the time the song was originally released, married to Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.

Broken is a long number at over five minutes in length, with Norman’s vocal not kicking in until almost the three-minute mark. It still manages to be a song that many other bands would have loved as an a-side.

The two bonus tracks on CD2 are covers, of songs by The Velvet Underground and Big Star, respectively. The latter could be accurately described as a Christmas number.

JC

Various

ICA WORLD CUP 2022 : ROUND TWO OF THE KNOCKOUT STAGE (i)

icaworldcup

The final set of matches from the first knockout round proved to be something of an anticlimax in that one side in each of the four ties established a dominant lead early from the outset that they never looked like relinquishing

Match 29 : Elvis Costello 36 The Who 3

Match 30 : David Bowie 27 Carter USM 14

Match 31: Davy Henderson 7 v Terry Hall 33

Match 32: The Cure 33 v The Chameleons 8

The last Sunday in October and we’ve finally reached Round 2, with 32 teams left standing. It’ll take four weeks to work our way through this stage.

Today’s quartet features those who got through from the first and second weeks in Round 1, with the songs up for consideration in this round now being the third tracks on Side A of the ICA in question.

Iggy Pop (ICA 183) v Ballboy (ICA 175)

mp3: Iggy Pop – I Need More v mp3 : Ballboy -Songs For Kylie

Blondie (ICA 198) v Stevie Wonder (ICA 233)

mp3: Blondie – In The Flesh v mp3 : Stevie Wonder – You Haven’t Done Nothin’

Edwyn Collins (ICA 298) v The Jam (ICA 152)

mp3: Edwyn Collins – Losing Sleep v mp3: The Jam – Away From The Numbers

Joy Division (ICA 160) v Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry (ICA 250)

mp3: Joy Division – Atmosphere v mp3: Brian Ferry – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

As ever, thanks for taking part. Voting closes at midnight (UK time) next Friday, which is the 4th of November.

PS : If anyone wants something other than World Cup stuff to deal with just now, then you could maybe take a trip over to No Badger Required where I’ve penned a piece on Songs to Remember, the debut album from Scritti Politti, released back in 1982. Just click here.

JC

Strike The Colours

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #330: STRIKE THE COLOURS

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It’s something of a failing on my part that I don’t own any records by Strike The Colours. The band was formed back in 2006 by Jenny Reeve, a musician I have long admired from her work with Arab Strap, not to mention both of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton on albums they have released outside of their band.

Jenny’s prime instrument is the violin, but she’s also a very fine singer and accomplished guitarist. Strike The Colours have released three albums – The Face That Sunk A Thousand Ships (2007), Seven Roads (2009) and Flock (2018). The other musicians who have been part of the band over the years are also a sort of who’s who in Scottish alt/indie/folk music, having worked in or with the likes of Emma Pollock, The Vaselines, Idlewild, The Phantom Band, Sons & Daughters, and The Unwinding Hours to name but a few.

And yet……I haven’t forked out the cash. Sorry guys…..

All I have is one track, thanks to its inclusion on the Ballads of The Book compilation, issued by Chemikal Underground in 2007, for a Scottish Arts Council-backed project in which musicians and poets came together to write new songs:-

mp3: Strike The Colours and Rody Gorman – Message In A Bottle

Rody Gorman was born in Dublin in 1960, but has lived most of his life in Scotland, specialising in Gaelic writing.