THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

SOME IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 (#7) : SWANSEA SOUND – LIVE AT THE RUM PUNCHEON

I know I said last week that I wouldn’t make any more suggestions for Xmas gifts, but that was written up a few days before this piece of vinyl was delivered by the postie.

It was a few weeks back that I suggested that Birling Gap, the album released earlier this year by The Catenary Wires, would be worth your effort. In doing so, I made passing reference to the existence of Swansea Sound, a band in which Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey are also involved, along with Hue Williams, formerly of Pooh Sticks.

I’ve been giving my support to Swansea Sound through bandcamp, making a number of digital purchases along with a rather splendid black t-shirt which simply says ‘CORPORATE INDIE BAND’ in white writing across the chest. More recently, I bought the new Christmas single on 7″ vinyl and put in my order for a vinyl copy of Live At The Rum Puncheon, the debut album which was released at the end of last month.

It turns out that I’ve grown quite fond of the album quite quickly. I suppose at this juncture it’s as well to offer up the band bio as found on bandcamp:-

“Swansea Sound: a band that came into being during lockdown and decided that fast, loud, political indiepop punk was the answer to being stuck indoors. Who needs introspection?

Hue Williams is reunited with Pooh Sticks singing partner Amelia Fletcher (ex-Talulah Gosh, Heavenly). Rob Pursey (also ex-Heavenly) and Ian Button provide the noise. The band has played one gig in real life – but there will be more in 2022.

Three of the tracks were released as singles, all of them now impossible to obtain. ‘Corporate Indie Band’ was a limited edition cassette, ‘I Sold My Soul on eBay’ was a one-off lathe cut that got auctioned on eBay (with a £400 winning bid), ‘Indies of the World’ was a 7” inch single that briefly hit the UK physical charts, but quickly sold out and plummeted back out again. And, to coincide with the LP pre-release, ‘Swansea Sound’ is released as a limited edition cassette. (1st September 2020 was the date when Swansea Sound Radio was re-branded by its new corporate owners and the name became available.) The song is a requiem for that lost radio station: a DJ describing his final day at work before his show is ‘rationalised’ out of existence.

Swansea Sound took their name from a radio station, and they even use its abandoned logo. Something modern, acidic and angry has taken up residence in a familiar, borrowed frame, just as it has in these indiepunk pop songs. You can throw yourself around to Swansea Sound like it’s 1986, but if you catch the lyrics you’ll remember you’re in 2021.”

So here’s the thing. I reckon, after doing this blog for over 15 years, I can assume most of the regular readers are quite fond of upbeat, punchy and rhythmic tunes, and if such tunes happen to come with intelligent, hard-hitting and occasionally nostalgically warm lyrics, then we are likely on a winner.

Live At The Rum Puncheon brings it all. Twelve tracks with a running time of 35 minutes. It’s occasionally an angry album, with the ire reserved for the way the industry (in its widest sense) is sucking the life out of musicians. It’s impossible not to laugh, but at the same time feel resentful at the lyric:-

“I sold my soul on Spotify (get a doctor, someone get a doctor)
I’m earning 0.000000000000001p
But several thousands follow me”

That’s from this song, one that I included in a mixtape a few weeks ago:-

mp3: Swansea Sound – I Sold My Soul On Ebay

The rest of the album is just as catchy, and much of it is just as frantic sounding. It has not all caustic and clever rants, so you can be assured it’s not an indie Rage Against The Machine for the 21st Century. The nostalgia is there in many places, not least in the song The Pooh Sticks in which Hue and Amelia, cleverly and wittily, pay homage to their old band. There are a few numbers such as the quite gorgeous Pasadena, with its longing for places imagined but not yet visited, where the pace does slow down, while I’m OK When You’re Around is a love song that you can dance to.

Oh, and then there’s Freedom of Speech, which pops up towards the end of the album. I wonder if you can work out who they were thinking of with these opening few lines:-

I said hang the DJ
Cos I hated reggae
Every shy man’s best friend
I was so sensitive then

I’m still sensitive now
But my profile’s going down
Oh my world is accursed
I endorsed Britain First

Where have my stage and my audience gone?
Where are my people and what has gone wrong?
I got to fight for my

Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech
I got a license to preach
It’s my Freedom of Speech

He’s not the only one in their sights, with later references to ‘butter ads, for ex-punk dads’ linked into MAGA, q-anon and Steve Brannan……

Essential listening.

I know a lot of folk out there are reeling from the news that the annual Indietracks festival is no more, with some wishing there had been one last farewell. If that had been the case, then surely Swansea Sound would have been the perfect bill-topper on the closing night, playing all the tunes from this incredibly enjoyable album, with perhaps some songs from their former bands to have added to the occasion.

It really is incredible to think that the members of Swansea Sound were part of the indie scene, in different guises, some 35 years ago, and today have made a record every bit as essential, and worthy, of anything any of us might have in our record collections that now span the ages.

Here’s the link to bandcamp if you don’t think you can pick up a copy from a decent record store close to your home.

JC

Supergrass

LISTENING (EVENTUALLY) TO YOUR REQUESTS

Supergrass haven’t appeared on the blog all that often. Indeed, other than some mentions when they’ve cropped up as one of a number of different bands in a single post, their only real mention came back in September 2017 when they were #142 in the ICA series.

It was an ICA put together by yours truly, and it was one that leaned heavily on their singles. The comments were largely favourable, but 50%* of those who took the time to say something made the suggestion that a place should have been found for Sun Hits The Sky.

I’m with everyone who said it was a great piece of music, and if the ICA had been extended to 12 songs, then it’s very likely it would have been accommodated. I remember at the time thinking that I would have to rectify things by looking at it as a stand-alone blog post, but I then forgot about it until very recently.

mp3: Supergrass – Sun Hits The Sky

Sun Hits The Sky was the third single to be lifted from In It For The Money, the band’s second album recorded in late 1996 and released the following April. It reached #10, and while that was slightly beneath the chart achievements of Going Out and Richard III, it was a more than decent performance given that the b-sides on the various formats consisted entirely of remixes or live radio versions of other Supergrass songs, along with a cover version originally released on a tribute album the previous year:-

mp3: Supergrass – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

It was the closing track on The Smiths Is Dead, compiled by the French cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles and released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Queen Is Dead.

It’s quite a different take on the original, being far rockier, although I do like how the bass notes are at the heart of their version.

JC

*ok, it was only four out eight. But that’s still 50%……..

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 26)

So….we’ve reached the part in our saga where Brix Smith has exited (stage left) and to just about everyone’s surprise, Martin Bramah has rejoined the group. Surely this was the cue for The Fall to cut out the pop music and return to the rough’n’ready stuff of the early days?

mp3: The Fall – Telephone Thing

Hardly.

Released on 7″, 12″ and CD on 15 January 1990, on MES’s own label, Cog Sinister, but as a spin-off from the newly signed deal with Phonogram, which meant that the band were now label-mates with, among others, Elton John, Dire Straits and Status Quo. Not that it made all that much difference, as the parent label had given MES an assurance that he was simply to keep on doing what he had been doing his whole career.

Almost unnoticed amidst the chaos of 1989. MES had for the first time ever collaborated with musicians outside The Fall with a vocal on (I’m) In Deep on the Coldcut debut album, What’s That Noise.

Coldcut, consisting of Matt Black and Jonathan More, were a big part of the emerging and increasingly influential electronic dance scene in the UK. The album went Top 20 and most of its songs featured a different guest vocalist. One of the other tracks had been My Telephone, with vocals supplied by Lisa Stansfield, and in due course the suggestion came from Coldcut that MES might want to have a stab at it, which he did with great gusto. The tune was adapted and the lyrics re-written so that they became a rant about phone tapping; MES was convinced, at the time, that his phone was being tapped by someone out there as he said in an interview with Andrew Collins in the NME to help promote the new single:-

“I just think it’s topical – like all Fall singles. I think it’s good to have a go at things like that – British Rail and British Telecom. It’s a natural gripe. One time, I was using the phone a lot and I dialled a number and I could hear people munching sandwiches and talking about my last phone call. I actually rang up the operator and said ‘Look! I’m trying to dial a fucking number here and I can’t get through because people are talking about my phone calls! Have you got a bleedin’ license to do this?’

“Being staff, they get fed up, so what they do is tap into lines that they think are gonna be interesting. It doesn’t bother me, I’ve got nothing to fucking hide! But I said ‘Well, is it tapped or not? I can’t fucking get through because of your bloody lot!’ And she slammed the phone down on me!”

All the band members do play on the track, with Martin Bramah contributing the wah-wah guitar part, quite possibly surprised of what was asked of him on his first recorded song with the band after ten years.

My verdict? It’s good fun in that it’s again something different, but maybe just too much on the quirky side to be an essential listen.

The b-side to the 7″ was another strange one in that Marcia Schofield‘s keyboards come across as an imitation of trumpets/brass while Simon Wolstencroft lives up to his Funky Si nickname on the drums:-

mp3: The Fall – British People In Hot Weather

It has a scathing but surreal MES lyric, reflecting (seemingly!!) on how folk from over here aren’t that great at coping when it gets particularly warm. It’s a song I didn’t actually know until only a few years ago – I didn’t buy all that many of the new records by The Fall from the 90s onwards at the time of their release – and I haven’t ever really taken to this song. Looking back on what had previously been a great, or at the very least, interesting, run of b-sides during the Brix era, this surely would have felt a bit of a letdown back in the day.

The 12″ and CD contained a different mix and a dub version of Telephone Thing. I’m unable to offer either of them to you today, but I don’t feel it’s any great loss.

JC

Set The Tone

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #287: SET THE TONE

From wiki:-

Set the Tone were a Scottish electronic dance group, formed by Kenny Hyslop, Bobby Paterson, Chris Morgan and Evelyn Asiedu

Hyslop had been a former member of a number of Scottish bands including The Zones, The Skids and Slik. In 1981, he joined Simple Minds but his time with them was brief, although he played drums on their hit single “Promised You a Miracle”, which reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1982. Following his departure from Simple Minds, Hyslop got together with Paterson, Morgan and Asiedu to form Set the Tone.

Set the Tone quickly managed to secure a recording contract with Island Records late in 1982, and their first single “Dance Sucker” was released. Despite getting significant play in the clubs of Glasgow, the single did not make a strong impression on the UK Singles Chart peaking at number 62 in January 1983.

Their second single, “Rap Your Love” was released in 1983, peaking at number 67 on the UK chart in March 1983. Around this time, their album Shiftin Air Affair was released, but had little impact.

In the meantime, Paterson left and was replaced by Kendal Stubbs, a sound engineer from The Bahamas who had previously worked with Kool And The Gang and Tom Tom Club. Shortly afterwards, Island Records dropped Set the Tone.

I thought I remembered Set The Tone from back in the day, but after something of theirs that I picked up a few months back, I realised that I was mixing them up with someone else, but who that is, I can’t recall! It was almost 40 years ago……..

mp3: Set The Tone – Rap Your Love
mp3: Set The Tone – Surprise Your Love

That’s the two sides of 12″ version of the second single. It’s of its day and its type, but I’ve listened to worse.

JC

Uncategorized

ISAAC

This wasn’t supposed to be the posting today. Far from it.

Those of you who regularly make your way to the Bagging Area, will recognise the young man in the photo.

He’s Isaac, and he’s the son of Adam, the brains behind one of the best and longest running blogs out there.

Adam has become a very dear and close friend of mine over recent years, initially through the blog but increasingly via other social media channels, through which I’ve got to know his wife and his two children.

Adam has used his blog over the years to talk about his family, referencing some of the most significant happenings such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and graduations. He’s also let us in on Isaac’s story, and how he came battling into the world in November 1998, his birth being complicated and difficult, and having to be taken immediately to an intensive care unit. As Adam wrote just over a week ago, in a blog post celebrating Isaac’s 23rd birthday,

“Although I don’t think you can ever be ready for the impact that becoming a parent has on your life we certainly weren’t expecting what we got- serious unknown genetic illness, frequent hospitalisation in his early years, deafness, serious learning difficulties, bone marrow transplants, operations and much more.”

Adam never wanted you to feel sorry for him and his family for the fact that Isaac suffered many illnesses throughout his childhood. He never shied away from the seriousness of his son’s circumstances but at the same time he, and the rest of the family, made sure Isaac was always involved in every way possible in everyday activities. It was a genuine joy to see the regular updates and photos on Facebook in which the four of them were out and about doing something or other that was not only making them happy, but putting a smile on the faces of the hundreds of friends.

The threat of COVID was a serious one given that Isaac’s immune system was, to all intent and purposes, non-existent. The family made sure every possible precaution was taken at all times, never ever mingling in any sort of indoor social gathering. Isaac was shielded from strangers, understandably so, and it was sad and personally disappointing that I was unable to meet him and say hello during that trip down to Manchester at the beginning of last month. Adam did come along, making a huge effort when he had a heavy workload to deal with, and met up with myself and Aldo, doing so at an outdoor venue so that, again, any potential risk of infections being passed on to Isaac was minimised. Much of the chat over a few drinks was about how the family were doing and how they all were adjusting to Issac’s 18-year-old sister having moved recently to Liverpool to begin university, proudly following in the footsteps of her dad a generation ago.

Isaac celebrated his 23rd birthday on Tuesday 23 November because, as Adam wrote on his blog, Isaac loves a birthday and Isaac loves a party.

The following day, Isaac tested positive for COVID. Adam said it wasn’t good in that Isaac was unwell, coughing, with a temperature, and he was grumpy. The course of action was to put him on emergency antibiotics with the hope they would work and keep him out of hospital.

Somehow, Adam found the time and the strength to give me updates on a daily basis. The first 24 hours saw no change, but things weren’t getting any worse with the family doing their very best to nurse him through the illness. Things, however, took a turn for the worse at the weekend, and with concerns about his oxygen levels, Isaac was taken by ambulance to hospital last Saturday evening.

The best possible medical care and attention was provided, but sadly and tragically, Isaac passed away in hospital on Tuesday 30 November, surrounded by his family.

There have, over the past fifteen years or so, been a number of incredibly sad and tragic events affecting people who are part of what I believe is a wide and inclusive TVV community. The sympathies expressed on all occasions have been wide-ranging and heartfelt, and I know, from personal experience, that they have been a great source of comfort.

Today is another of those very sad occasions when words, at the moment, aren’t enough. Very few of us can begin to imagine what Adam and his family are going through right now. It is something no parent ever wants to contemplate, far less have to face up to.

Isaac was an incredible and wonderful human being, who gave as much love back as he received. He’ll be missed, but he’ll never be forgotten. R.I.P.

mp3: Kirsty MacColl – Days

JC

R.E.M.

SOME IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 (#6)

I won’t take up too much of your time today, other than to say that if you want to spend money on any 2021 re-release, then you could do a lot worse than pick up the 25th Anniversary edition of New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

It’s still my favourite of all the R.E.M. albums and one that I’ve long coveted on vinyl, looking on in disbelief at the prices being asked on the second-hand market.

The reissued version has been remastered and issued as a double album on180-gram vinyl. The quality is astounding, and there are places all over the album where my ears picked up things that I hadn’t previously noticed. I’m actually terrified to play it all that often, in case I do something stupid or clumsy that ends up adding some sort of imperfection to this piece of art.

mp3: R.E.M. – How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us

Awesome.

JC

Talking Heads

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Forty-three: ONCE IN A LIFETIME

Video may have, allegedly, killed the radio star, but it was video that really made a star out of David Byrne, and by extension, Talking Heads, here in the UK.

The album Remain In Light had featured highly in the end of year round-ups, including #6 with NME and, #1 in Melody Maker. The critics’ soft spot could, in an era of real snobbery about music, be attributed partly to the fact that no singles had been lifted from it. Sire Records took the unusual decision to issue a single more than three months after the parent album had been released. It turned out to be an edited version of one of the upbeat and most accessible tracks from Remain In Light

mp3: Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime

I can’t honestly remember when I first saw the promotional video. I know that I tuned it one Thursday evening to Top of The Pops in the hope of seeing it when the single was riding reasonably high in the charts, only to be bemused by the fact that resident dance troupe Legs & Co were offering their interpretation on things. But it must have been shown at least once on the BBC’s flagship show, or perhaps it was aired over on ITV, possibly as a segment on Kenny Everett‘s show which blended music and comedy sketches. It certainly wasn’t on Channel 4 as it hadn’t yet begun to air, and the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1981 on BBC2 wasn’t known for airing promos, preferring live appearances, failing which the song being played to old cartoon silent films from the black and white era.

Whatever and whenever it was, the video got folk talking up and down the country, in schools, colleges and workplaces. It was, back in the day, truly ground-breaking and hugely innovative. The sight of a bespectacled man throwing weird shapes as he worked himself into a sweaty, frenzied trance as he sang the song, made for unforgettable and compelling viewing.

Once In A Lifetime was a slow burner over here. It came in at #63 in the first week of February 1981 on the back of some radio play. I’m guessing that some TV show aired the video that same week, as it climbed 25 places into the Top 40. It then didn’t do all that much for the next two weeks, before it catapulted up to #14, five weeks after its release. It hung around the Top 20 for three weeks, before drifting out of the charts after a near three-month stay.

Remain In Light, despite the love and praise showered on it by the critics, had spent just four weeks on the album chart in November 1980. The success of the single led to a re-entry on the album charts in February 1981, and a thirteen-week stay, which was well beyond any previous amount of success.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 25)

“The Fall ended 1988 in triumphant fashion with a sold-out UK tour of larger venues than normal, including their largest ever Scottish show at the Glasgow Barrowlands on 17 December while six of the year’s songs had been voted into John Peel’s Festive 50. But it wouldn’t be long before things unravelled.”

The final sentence of last week’s piece.

January 4 1989. MES told Brix he was leaving her. He moved to Edinburgh, having been driven there by Simon Wolstencroft, and within four months she was living in London, talking to lawyers about a divorce on the grounds of MES’s adultery. Musically, she began to concentrate on her own project, The Adult Net, although The Fall did get together in Cargo Studios in Rochdale in Spring 1989 to begin work on some new material, with Ian Broudie helping out on the production side.

It was in June 1989 that the next single and album appeared. It consisted of a shortened version of one of the songs from I Am Kurious Oranj, while the b-side was a new song, credited to MES and Brix. The two of them actually appeared on BBC TV to talk about the new music, and while there is a clear sense of unease and tension, it would have taken a real eagle-eye of casual fans to spot that they were no longer a couple.

mp3: The Fall – Cab It Up
mp3: The Fall – Dead Beat Descendent

The single had come out a week before the new album, which was called Seminal Live, which itself consisted of five studio songs on side A and five live tracks taken from gigs in Manchester and Vienna the previous year (the CD version of the album contained four additional live tracks).

Cab It Up didn’t crack the Top 75 and the reviews for Seminal Live were lukewarm, at best. The situation hadn’t been helped by a number of things.

The best of the new studio tracks was Dead Beat Descendent, but it was already available as a b-side. Of the other four songs, one was a rockabilly cover, and while two of the other songs would have made for possible b-sides of a single, the final track, Mollusc In Tyrol, must be among the most unlistenable and abstract of all Fall recordings,

MES’s head was not in a good place. Not only had his marriage dissolved, but his father, in May 1989, had died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of just fifty-nine.

Finally, MES had informed Beggars Banquet that the band was to leave the label after five years and the marketing support from the label was minimal, not helped by the fact that The Fall, understandably in the circumstances, were shying away from live shows.

It’s all a bit of a shame. Dead Beat Descendent, which really should have been the A-side of the single, is a decent, upbeat song which fits in really well with much of the previous output from the Beggars Banquet years and in normal circumstances would likely have delivered, at least, another minor hit. Cab It Up, while not being a new song, is another toe-tapper and another example of the more commercial side of the band. There’s a few electronica pop bands who would have killed for this tune…..

There were two live tracks added to the 12″ of Cab It Up. Neither were available on the vinyl version of Seminal Live but could be found on the CD version:-

mp3: The Fall – Kurious Oranj (live)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North (live)

Having got the contractual obligations to the record label out of the way, The Fall returned to live shows in July 1989. The replacement guitarist for Brix was a huge surprise to just about everybody, with founder member Martin Bramah returning after a ten-year absence.

The question is…..would he last long enough to be involved in the band’s next studio recordings? Tune in next week…..

JC

Secret Goldfish

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #286: THE SECRET GOLDFISH

The Secret Goldfish were formed in Glasgow in 1994 by Katy McCullars, John Morose, Graham Lironi (later replaced on bass by Steven McSeveney) and Paul Turnbull. All of them had previously been involved variously in the local music scene for a number of years, with Katy having been lead vocalist with Fizzbombs, while Paul had drummed with Mackenzies (both of whom have previously been featured in this long-running series).

They signed to the Creeping Bent Organisation, going on to release a reasonably extensive body of work over a five-year period, consisting of three albums and twelve singles/EPs, some of which were split efforts with the likes of Nectarine No.9 and Vic Godard, as part of the Creeping Bent singles club. The band also recorded two Peel Sessions and were part of the Meltdown Festival he curated in London in 1999.

In 2016, the long period of silence came to an end, courtesy of some live shows, for which they were joined by an additional guitarist, none other than James Kirk of Orange Juice fame. A new album with ten songs – seven originals and three covers – came out on Creeping Bent in 2017.

I’ve collected a fair number of their songs via a combination of CDs and vinyl singles, and thought it would be worthwhile, particularly for those of you who aren’t familiar with their material, to listen to a few examples of their work:-

mp3: The Secret Goldfish – Venus Bonding (from Aqua Pet..You Make Me LP, 1996)
mp3: The Secret Goldfish – Give Him A Great Big Kiss (from Jet Streams LP, 1998)
mp3: The Secret Goldfish – You’re Funny ‘Bout That Aren’t You (from Mink Riots LP, 1999)
mp3: The Secret Goldfish – Amelia Star (from Petal Split LP, 2017)

The group continues to be active and just a couple of months ago provided support to an acoustic set performed by The Bluebells.

JC

Propaganda

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (62)

Most of today’s words come from a posting back in April 2015, along with some helpful and/or astute comments that were offered up at the time.

My first exposure to Propaganda came one night at the end of an episode of what by then was called Whistle Test, when a memorable pop promo for a song called Dr Mabuse was played out over the credits sometime around early 1984.

It turned out that this was to be the second single released on the ZTT label – the first being the amazingly successful Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I was immediately captivated by its charms – it was a big booming tune which offered something different each time you played it. Oh, and in co-vocalist Susanne Freytag, they had one of the most stunningly gorgeous women in the pop world.

The single was only a minor hit, peaking at #27, and with subsequent FGTH singles also being multi-million sellers, the relatively small ZTT had to put all its eggs into one basket, so Propaganda were left to one side for the best part of 12 months and it was April 1985 before the follow-up single Duel was released. For the rest of the year, the band enjoyed quite a high-profile, including a number of TV appearances, live gigs and the release of the debut LP A Secret Wish in July 1985.

I loved A Secret Wish. It was the sort of record I had imagined Simple Minds going onto make on the back of their earliest releases, instead of gravitating towards the stadium rock behemoths they were becoming. And it was no real surprise that the Propaganda who went out on tour featured the ex-Minds bassist Derek Forbes…..

Postpunkmonk, in response to Alex G mentioning that he had a non-standard version of the 7″ of Dr Mabuse, informed us that the single had been “a true game of chance; either the instrumental version or the vocal version was inserted randomly in sleeves and one wouldn’t know one’s fate until the disc was played.”

I don’t have a copy of the 7″, so once again will offer up two of the tracks from the 12″:-

mp3: Propaganda – Das Testaments Des Mabuse
mp3: Propaganda – Femme Fatale (The Woman With The Orchid)

I’ll leave the last word(s) to Echorich:-

Propaganda was, in my mind, the greatest achievement of ZTT. Dr. Mabuse is a single that, more than any other, exemplifies the label’s mission statement. It was a crystal production, had literary influence and strove to be post modern pop. A Secret Wish would build on this in an explosive way. Nothing else ZTT released ever had the same impact on me as this single and debut album.

JC

PJ Harvey

THE TWO SIDES OF PJ HARVEY

PJ Harvey can pick up the guitar and rock with the very best of them. She can also sit down at a piano and compose ballads as well as anyone.

Both of these sides can be found on a rare 7″ single from October 2001.

mp3: PJ Harvey – This Is Love
mp3: PJ Harvey – Angelene (taken from Lamacq Live)

Punk blues with more than a hint of lust is as good a description as any for the a-side, the third and final single from the album Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, released in 2000. It peaked just outside the Top 40, as had also been the case with Good Fortune and A Place Called Home.

The single was primarily made available on CD, but a 7″ single was pressed in a fairly small number, which nowadays fetches upwards of £30 on the second-hand market. And no, I don’t have a copy, but I have been able to locate a digital version of this particular b-side, exclusive to the 7″, which was originally broadcast on the Steve Lamacq Show on BBC Radio 1 in January 2001. The original version of Angelene can be found on the 1998 album, Is This Desire?

JC

Felt, Jonathan Richman, Television Personalities

SOME IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 (#5)

This week’s suggestion is a book. And it’ll lead on to a suggestion of two further books.

One of the many links that I suggest worth exploring under the heading ‘Blogroll of Honour’ is Vivonzeureux!, a wonderfully diverse and entertaining blog under the direction of Pol Dodu.

I didn’t cotton on to the fact, until a few weeks ago, that Pol Dodu is none other than JC Brouchard, a truly legendary figure in the independent music scene not only in his homeland of France, but also here in the UK thanks to his relationship and exploits with the early era of Creation Records, and in particular The Television Personalities. Up until just about now, I had assumed they were friends who collaborated on the contents of Vivonzeruex!.

JC B (as I will refer to him from now on) has contacted me on a few occasions over the years, offering words of encouragement for TVV; he has also left behind the occasional comment after some posts. He got in touch last month:-

Hello JC,

I hope you are doing well.

I was trying to count, but I know I’ve been following, reading and downloading from your blog for quite a number of years now.

It’s not just that you are my Scottish namesake, but we have about the same age and a lot of tastes in common…! And I find your posts really interesting.

As a thank you, I’d like to send you the three little books I’ve published in English, about Felt, Television Personalities and Jonathan Richman.

Could you give me your postal address ?

All the best,
JC Brouchard

The email also said that the books, as well as being available in printed form, were available as free downloads. I followed the links and saw that all three books could also be bought abd posted anywhere in the world, and while I really appreciated the offer of free copies, I really prefer to do my best to support anyone involved in the creative arts, and so before replying to JC B, I put in, and paid for an order for all three of them.

A small exchange of e-mails followed, including JC B thanking me profusely for the purchase, and a promise that he would include a few extras in the package. He was as good as his word, and the CDs he added will likely form a couple of blog postings come 2022. He included a lovely handwritten note and each of the books came with a personal inscription.

His newest book is Our Time Is Now, which was printed and published earlier this year. It is a wonderfully informative and entertaining collection of essays covering 50 songs released by Jonathan Richman, from as far back as 1975 all the way through to 2020. Some choices are obvious, but most are not. JC B has translated his own original words from French into English.

He similarly did the same back in 2011 with Felt : Ballad of The Fan and again in 2017 with Television Personalities : Diary of A Young Fan.

All three books are great reads. They aren’t what you would call epics. The books on Felt and Television Personalities are the shape and dimensions of a travel guide, and each extend to around 120 pages. The Jonathan Richman book is the size of an A5 publication, and runs to 96 pages including its glossy cover. They are all the work not only of a true fan, but someone who was able to become friends and confidantes of all three of the subject matters and many others in and around the various scenes.

It has to be said that there are occasions when the translation doesn’t quite make complete sense, and sometimes the editing efforts have left behind a mix of the English and French languages, but if anything this only adds to their charm, and certainly isn’t too much of a distraction; not does it lessen the impact of JC’s many thoughts, views and observations.

I was particularly taken by the book on Felt, a band that I have long admired without ever getting to know that much about. I don’t have too much of their output on vinyl, with most of what I have on the hard drive coming from their inclusion on compilation albums as well as two compilations released by Cherry Red and Creation Records back in the 90s. I’ve long wanted to do an ICA but never had the confidence as my gaps in knowledge were immense. JC B doesn’t shirk things in the book, making the point that some of the musical decisions throughout were akin to commercial sabotage, deliberately undertaken, and that many of the band’s best and most accessible compositions have been tucked away in obscure places. The book also devotes chapters to Denim and Go Kart Mozart, the later bands fronted by the enigmatic Lawrence.

So, here’s the thing. JC B is quite open to anyone downloading digital copies of all three of his books, and is happy for me to provide these links:-

http://vivonzeureux.fr/felt/

http://vivonzeureux.fr/tvpsdiary/

http://vivonzeureux.fr/jonathanbook/

You’ll see that the option is still there to make a physical purchase of each of them. They cost no more than 14 or 15 Euro, including postage, and will make for a great and unusual gift to yourself or a friend who likes this sort of music:-

mp3: Felt – Ballad of The Band
mp3: The Television Personalities – Part Time Punks
mp3: Jonathan Richman – Morning Of Our Lives (live)

And of course, with the option of the download available, you really can try before you buy.

There’ll be one more Christmas recommendation this time next week, but given by then we will be just about into December, it’s almost too late to make any further suggestions to impact on your wish lists.

JC

Soft Cell

SOME THOUGHTS ON A GIG FROM A FEW WEEKS BACK

It was earlier this month that myself and Rachel made our way over to the o2 Academy in Glasgow to take in the first night of the Soft Cell tour commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the release of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

There were a touch of pre-gig nerves in that it was the largest gathering we’d been to since the COVID restrictions were eased. There was also a worry that maybe, after all these years, Marc Almond (64) and Dave Ball (62) might not be able to cut it in the same way. The latter was partly driven by a fear of later regretting the fact that so much had been spent on the tickets….the face value was £60, which was for the standing section, and allied to booking and admin fees, the cost had been over £140 the pair, which is the most I’ve ever paid for any gig by one act.

I’ll cut to the chase. The night was an absolute joy from start to end, and I’m willing to say it’s likely found its way into my Top 10 of all time gigs, that is, if I kept such a list!

The duo, accompanied by the imperious Gary Barnacle on sax, along with four backing singers, took to the stage at 7.45pm. They played for about 70 minutes and then took a 30-minute break, after which they played for another hour. So, no grumbles about their ability to cut it.

Opening with a rousing rendition of Torch, and thus immediately setting the stage for how important the saxophonist would be throughout proceedings, the first set was initially dominated by songs which will be coming out in Spring 2022 when a new album, Happiness Not Included, is finally released. A lack of familiarity with the new material didn’t detract from the show, with many of the tunes packing a real punch, proving that Dave Ball still has the touch of genius about him.

Lyrically, with the points driven home by the stunning accompanying visuals, Marc Almond sings of living in something of a fucked up world, with fingers pointed at the failing politicians and greedy, uncaring capitalists for letting the science fiction dreams of the 70s turn into something of a nightmare. It was loud, it was heavy and it was hugely enjoyable, but these veterans know that a show filled with new material can make for a restless audience, and before long, we were treated to some of the best tracks from the vastly underrated 1983 album The Art Of Falling Apart, with the title track being followed by a genuinely epic and bombastic rendition of Martin, the song they sort of threw away by only offering it on a bonus disc that came to early buyer, and which closed the first show of the evening.

We aren’t as young as we used to be, and the audience, as much as the band, needed a break after Martin, as much to get our voices back after the extended cheers and applause that accompanied it. The stage crew got busy adjusting some of the screens that were being used for the visuals while a packed but respectful audience (there were more wearing facemasks than I had anticipated) waited patiently for the second show of the evening, knowing fine well what was coming thanks to the powers of social media.

It was to be a run-through, in the order in which it can be found on the album, of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. It meant that big hit single/cover version would be aired early on. It meant also that Glasgow would be the venue that Entertain Me and Secret Life would be played by Soft Cell for the very first time, all these years on. It also meant the show would close with Say Hello Wave Goodbye.

The lack of surprises did not make the excitement and energy any the less. The opening one-two of Frustration/Tainted Love almost brought the roof down, such was the enthusiastic response of the audience, but even that didn’t come close to the reaction to Sex Dwarf. I was a bit sceptical beforehand about this one….it’s a song that is of its day and I was uncomfortable that it was going to be sung by someone who is now old enough to have a free bus pass; throw in the revelations in recent years of some now infamous folk from music and the entertainment world being revealed as predators, made me fear would come across as shady and seedy

I needn’t have worried. Marc Almond had been in fine voice throughout the evening, much better than I think even any of his most dedicated fans could have asked for. But, and with the help of his four backing singers and the manic playing of messrs Ball and Barnacle, he went for it in the same way that the star of any opera would when they came to the aria which is most anticipated. It was delivered with sense of fun, joy and sauciness rather than any creepy or leery way. The photo above was taken on my phone during the song, and hopefully it shows how much a part the visuals played on the night, but it also gives a hint of the glint in the eye of Marc Almond as he gave what felt like the performance of a lifetime.

The other pleasant surprise was that Bedsitter was extended to include the parts on the 12″ single that didn’t make the cut on the album, and the cheers and applause at the end were an indication of how well it had gone down. It had been another song in which the accompanying visuals were incredible, consisting of central but not touristy London, in the pouring rain, as seen through the eyes of someone who is making their way home, somewhat lost, unsure and hesitant.

Secret Life was well received before the crowning glory of Say Hello Wave Goodbye, turned into a massed and emotional sing-along. Only the smoking ban, and thus folk no longer carrying them, prevented 2,000 folk getting out the lighters and holding them above their heads…believe me, some of the audience were reduced to tears, no doubt thinking back to how they had lived their lives these past 40 years thinking of the broken hearts, suffered and delivered, along the way.

An encore, consisting of a new song, followed by the bleeps and electronica of early single Memorobila, brought an unbelievable night to an end. It’s not often both myself and the missus come away from gigs in full agreement, but we both knew we had seen and been part of something very special.

mp3: Soft Cell – Torch
mp3: Soft Cell – The Art Of Falling Apart
mp3: Soft Cell – Bedsitter (12″ version)
mp3: Soft Cell – Say Hello Wave Goodbye (album version)

One of the professional writers reviewed the Soft Cell gig in Manchester a couple of nights after Glasgow. There was a wonderful summary:-

This show has been a real triumph, an almost perfect combination of vocal prowess, musical dexterity and visual choreography. Sometimes you emerge from heritage anniversary gigs wishing you’d witnessed the music when it was conceived. Tonight proves this isn’t always the case. We’ve been treated to a great body of songs, that have not only stood the test of time but live, have seen their impact enhanced by current technology and visuals.

Indeed.

JC

Billy MacKenzie, British Electric Foundation

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Forty-two: IT’S OVER

This is the song that I will most likely close the blog down with as and when that day eventually comes.

mp3: British Electrical Foundation, featuring Billy Mackenzie – It’s Over

It’s the closing track from the 1982 compilation Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One. The album was the work of British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.) who, in effect, were Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, the two blokes who had been booted out of The Human League but would go on to enjoy huge success with Heaven 17.

Penthouse and Pavement had been a hit album for their band in 1981 and their label Virgin Records afforded them the luxury of a vanity project that was recorded and released in 1982. The idea was to bring in a series of guest artists to perform cover versions in a style more akin to the new electric music of the 80s. I’ve previously written extensively about the album, some four years ago. Click here for a refresh if you’re so inclined.

I know that Billy Mackenzie isn’t to everyone’s taste, (hi Jonny!!), but my love for him is well documented. His take on the Roy Orbison classic, which was a #1 hit in the UK in June 1964, is one of his finest vocal studio performances. B.E.F. threw the kitchen sink at it, with cellos, harps, violins, french horns, castanets and timpanis all high in the mix, not forgetting too that John Foxx strummed the acoustic guitar while Hank Marvin did his bit on the electric guitar, and Billy responded in the best possible way.

Roy Orbison himself went on record as saying he thought it was a majestic effort by all concerned.

Play this one loud…..and listen to it preferably through speakers rather than your laptop or mobile phone.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 24)

I mentioned last week how The Fall had kicked off 1988 with the release of Victoria, a cover of a song by The Kinks. A few weeks later, a new album, The Frenz Experiment hit the shops. Unusually for a Fall album, the earlier single could be found among its ten tracks, as too could a 30-odd second excerpt of Guest Informant, which had been one of the b-sides to Victoria. This meant just eight new songs on a record that seems to divide fans and critics, not to mention band members, with Simon Wolstencroft describing it as ‘a real mixed bag of songs with some half-baked ideas’, while Marcia Schofield feels ‘it doesn’t have as much of an edge as other Fall albums.’

Next up was something I really should have got myself along to, especially as it happened in the city I was living in at the time.

I Am Curious, Orange was a ballet devised and produced by Michael Clark which had its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival on 15 August 1988. It was based on the events exactly 300 years earlier, when the Catholic King James II was overthrown and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. It was a typically flamboyant, extravagant and wild production that everyone now expected from Michael Clark and his troupe. It was performed for six nights at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, a building which is quite close to Coasters, a more traditional gig venue where The Fall had performed back in 1985. The ballet would then transfer to Sadler’s Wells in London on 20 September 1988 for a three-week run. The Fall provided the live soundtrack on each occasion and in due course released the album, I Am Kurious Oranj, in effect the soundtrack to the ballet, with some songs recorded live during the Edinburgh run while others were recorded in the studio with Ian Broudie in the producer’s chair.

There were certain elements of the album which captured this period of The Fall at the top of their game, not least Big New Prinz, a radical re-working of Hip Priest complete with a glam rock soundtrack. There’s also a take on Jerusalem, the popular hymn written by William Blake in the early 1800s, with MES updating the lyrics to have a go at the modern-day government.

It was the government’s fault
It was the fault of the government
I was very let down with the budget
I was expecting a one million quid handout
I was very disappointed
It was the government’s fault
It was the fault of the government

The album contained ballads, more glam rock, weird electronica, some pop and of course many songs which could only be the work of The Fall.

Brix Smith would later look back on the ballet and album as the pinnacle of her creative world, thanks to the mix of high art, ballet, history, rock music, surrealism, performance art and fashion, all this despite that fact she was well aware that her marriage was disintegrating and that it was only a matter of time before she would no longer be part of the group.

Beggars Banquet wanted something else from the album and so the decision was taken to release a limited numbered edition single of 15,000 copies of a 7″ box set and, in a first for The Fall, a CD single; in fact it was a double 3″ CD housed in a numbered limited edition of 4,000 in a distinct orange box.

mp3: The Fall – Jerusalem
mp3: The Fall – Acid Priest 2088
mp3: The Fall – Big New Prinz
mp3: The Fall – Wrong Place, Right Time No.2

The album version of Jerusalem had been segued onto an original MES composition called Dog Is Life, and ran to over eight minutes in length. For the single, Dog Is Life was removed entirely, while the MES/Blake co-composition was edited to make it a bit more palatable for radio play.

Acid Priest 2088 is a dance remix (of sorts) of Big New Prinz, which, as I mentioned earlier, is itself a stunning remake of Hip Priest, and as far as I’m concerned is up there as one of the very finest moments in the band’s history. It should have been a huge hit….

Wrong Place, Right Time No.2 is a different mix of one of the tracks to be found on I Am Kurious Oranj, and I’m assuming was chosen for the single release given it’s another upbeat almost glam rock composition which might have somehow convinced anyone not otherwise familiar with the group that this was typical of their wider output.

Despite the limited edition nature of the release, Jerusalem/Big New Prinz entered the charts at the end of November 1988 at #70, before climbing eleven places the following week. The Fall ended 1988 in triumphant fashion with a sold-out UK tour of larger venues than normal, including their largest ever Scottish show at the Glasgow Barrowlands on 17 December while six of the year’s songs had been voted into John Peel’s Festive 50. But it wouldn’t be long before things unravelled.

JC

Second Hand Marching Band

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #285: THE SECOND HAND MARCHING BAND

The Second Hand Marching Band was a band of many people from Glasgow and Edinburgh and thereabouts who played untraditional big band folk music with brass, woodwind, guitars, mandolins, ukuleles and accordions. The ensemble formed in 2007 and were around until 2016, although there was a coming together for one night only and a final gig in December 2018. Over the years, the best part of 30 musicians passed through the ranks, almost all of whom were part of one band or another in the Scottish indie/folk scene.

During their time, there were a total of eight releases as singles, EPs, albums or compilations. I’ve two of the EPs in the collection that I’m sure I picked up out of curiosity more than anything after seeing them play live as part of one of those evenings where musicians raise monies for a good cause. This is the title track from one of them:-

mp3: The Second Hand Marching Band – A Dance To Half Death

I know they won’t be to everyone’s taste, but here’s something you might want to look into.

The band has made its entire digital discography back catalogue available at bandcamp for the ridiculously low price of £1.55. I think the plan had been to make it completely free, but I think there has to be something charged to support hosting and admin fees. Eight releases, with some seventy or so pieces of music including demos, live recordings, session versions as well as the tracks recorded professionally in a studio, for a bargain price. Click here for more info.

JC

Bloc Party

REMEMBERING THE MID-00’S (Part 2)

Bloc Party came about after two friends, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack were inspired to form a band after attending the Reading Festival in August 1999. Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong would join later after answering adverts in the NME and auditioning. The story is that they got their big break in 2003 when singer Okereke went along to a gig in London and handed a copy of their demo to Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and also to BBC Radio 1 DJ, Steve Lamacq.

A couple of early efforts came out on small independent labels before the band signed to Wichita, a London-based label which was very much at the forefront of this seemingly sudden reignition of interest in guitar-led indie music. 2004 saw the band grow in popularity, thanks to a number of single and EP releases, as well as extensive touring. The debut album, Silent Alarm, was released in February 2005 and was a huge success, hitting #3 in the UK, going on to sell more than half a million copies and spending the best part of 60 weeks in the Top 100, thanks in part to a run of hit singles, including new songs which were then added to a re-released and expanded version of the CD album.

mp3: Bloc Party – Helicopter
mp3: Bloc Party – So Here We Are
mp3: Bloc Party – Banquet
mp3: Bloc Party – Two More Years

All great stuff if you want my take on things. It had been quite a while since I last listened to this album prior to pulling this post together. I had forgotten just how well it maintained a high standard throughout.

JC

Various

ARE YOU ALL SET FOR THE WELCOME NEWS?

About three weeks ago I was out running and as usual the iPod was my companion for that run. I was about halfway round my 5-mile loop, just before I get to this hill that I call James’ Hill. It’s called that because my mate James lives at the bottom of the hill. Anyway, it’s one of those hills that you can barely walk up, let alone run up, and every time I do this particular run I try and get a little bit closer to the top before I stop, wipe the sweat from my forehead, swear and walk the last bit (which is most of it).

So there I am puffing away, my run turning more into a stagger and then a walk and finally a complete stop, I’m about 100m or so from the top, closer than I expected to be honest. I stand there, catching my breath, my back is pointing up the hill and I look down and across the valley that I have just run through, it’s literally a breathtaking view.

About ten seconds later a song comes on the iPod. It was this in fact.

mp3: Working Mens Club – Valleys

Now…three years I would have sprinted all the way home and written a pithy little piece on my music blog about the amazing ability that iPods have to come up with the right song at the right time – but this time I just smiled and jogged home and thought about how brilliant the song was (and it is amazing by the way).

But…that itch was back.

The next day I was making some onion soup in the kitchen and the radio was idly playing away in the background and this came on

mp3: Teenage Fanclub – Norman 3

I stood there stirring gently, so not to spoil the onions too much, and that little lightbulb came on in my head. That’s two great songs by bands with ‘Club’ in their names that I have heard recently, there’s a series in this I’m sure I think, and there is – well until I get to this lot at least.

mp3: New Young Pony Club – Ice Cream

I reached for a pen and write the words “Club Music” down on the back of a school letter and then return to my onion soup.

That itch wasn’t going away.

The next day a mate messages me with a band recommendation, a band called Rome, who, if you are interested, sound a lot like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I’d post something by them but I don’t own anything by them (yet). I message him back, “Best Band with A City in their Name..?”

A few messages later – we haven’t decided but I have discovered how great this lot are

mp3: Vancouver Sleep Clinic – Collapse

The back of the school letter now has a list of two ideas and within twenty minutes it becomes a list of four with “Numberwang” and “Overrated” scrawled underneath the first two and then I stop and I draw a line through them all and feel a bit daft.

Enter Mrs SWC, she has I think been watching me from the lounge, with hawk like interest. I tell her I am thinking about blogging again, but it feels wrong without Tim helping me. It’s a bit like Jam Roly Poly without the custard, I tell her, largely because I am pretending to look at a recipe of Jam Roly Poly.

She looks at me and hands me her iPad it is showing a BBC item about Phil Collins and how he has reshot the photography on all his ‘classic’ solo albums – you know the ones – where just his face is visible against a plain backdrop.

“No Badger Required” she says….

No Badger Required goes live from 21st November, please check it out. There will be music, stories, and the occasional recipe (perhaps).

http://nobadgerrequired.wordpress.com/

Thanks for Reading

SWC

Dry Cleaning

SOME IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 (#4)

I’ve a funny feeling that Long Leg, the debut album released by Dry Cleaning back in April 2021, will feature in many end-of-year round-ups across all sorts of media.

Consisting of vocalist Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard and drummer Nick Buxton, they formed in London in 2018. Within a year, they were being mentioned in dispatches across many blogs and websites, with musical comparisons being made to many of the very best of the post-punk groups such as Wire, Magazine and Joy Division, while an NME feature in late 2019, on the back of a debut EP, name checked more recent groups such as Sleaford Mods and Art Brut. American reviews have cited heavier influences such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

All the reviews, no matter who was being cross-referenced in terms of the music, would unsurprisingly home in on the vocal delivery, much of which consists of spoken word rather than singing, pointing out how Florence Shaw seemed to calmly and almost dispassionately recite monologues, often of a personal nature as if being read from a diary, in a way that made Dry Cleaning stand apart from most emerging indie guitar bands. And while the idea of a frontwoman talking rather than singing isn’t an entirely new one – think Flying Lizards back in the 80s, Lydia Lunch and the times when the great Grace Jones has done similar – it does require a certain amount of style and chutzpah to really pull it off.

I think it has to be pointed out, certainly as far as I’m concerned, that Dry Cleaning would still be an interesting band to listen to, even if there was a more conventional front person, as the music is catchy and rhythmic, packed with hooks and riffs that will have your toes tapping and your head nodding in appreciation.

But there is no getting away from the fact that the unconventional nature of the lyrical delivery is what truly elevates the band above their peers. She sounds, to steal a phrase from the t-shirt band era, ‘Cool As Fuck’, at times very dismissive of the mundane world that surrounds her, in a style not all different from Jarvis Cocker. Whether it all has the capacity to sustain things over an extended period remains to be seen, but for now, getting your hands on a copy of Long Leg, if you haven’t done so already, is well worth it.

mp3: Dry Cleaning – Scratchcard Lanyard

As with Hadda Be, last week’s Xmas recommendation, the record was produced by John Parish, long known for his work with PJ Harvey, and who more often than not 100% guarantees a wonderfully made record. It was released by 4AD Records and should be available in all your half-decent indie stores wherever you live. Failing that, you can click here to be taken to the official website and spend your money that way. I can vouch that the yellow vinyl is very pretty to look at as it rotates on the turntable here at Villain Towers.

Oh, and that unexpected but welcome news I trailed yesterday……I’m not quite cleared to go public. Should be good to go in 24 hours.

JC

Various

JUST MAYBE…

It’s not been easy supporting the Scotland team these past 20-odd years. Growing up, I was accustomed to a limited amount of success in that we qualified for the finals of the World Cup in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1996, 1990 and 1998. OK, once we got there, we never really acquitted ourselves and were always among the first teams to be knocked out at the initial group stages, but just being involved made for exciting summers.

We’ve not come close to getting to any Finals since 1998. Indeed, there have been a number of humiliations and far too many low points along the way ever since.

There was, when the qualifying draw was made for the 2022 World Cup, more hope than normal on account of us having improved under manager Steve Clarke and from being put in a group where we had a chance of at least finishing runners-up in. But then, the football matches got under way and the hope evaporated. The first fove games, played in March and September 2021 were very uninspiring. We drew at home against Austria and away in Israel, our main rivals in the group, and while the defeat away to Denmark wasn’t unexpected, the manner of it – a 4-0 thrashing – was a horrible watch. Yes, we had eked out home wins against the Faroe Islands and Moldova, the two minnows in our group, but we now had to more than likely win all remaining five matches to have any hope of realising the dream.

On 7 September 2021, we pulled off a surprise 1-0 win in Vienna, thanks to a goal from a penalty awarded after a debatable VAR review, seriously putting a dent in the hopes of the Austrians.

On 9 October 2021, we scored a goal in the fourth minute of added-on time at the end of the match to somehow snatch a 3-2 win at home to Israel.

On 12 October 2021, it almost came horribly unstuck, but a goal in the 86th minute saw us eke out a necessary three points in the Faroes.

The Danes were continuing to do us favours by winning their matches against Austria and Israel, and all of a sudden a path to qualification was open.

On 12 November 2021, we travelled to Moldova where a fine performance resulted in a 2-0 win, meaning we had secured second place in the group and a shot at glory.

Last night we played our final qualifying match against Denmark, a side that had breezed through its previous nine games, winning them all and indeed only conceding one goal along the way. Anything other than a win would have meant our next step would be an away match, in March 2022, against one of the other runners-up with a better record than us, most likely against a side that was far higher than us in the world rankings.

Last night, Scotland beat Denmark by two goals to nil. It’s undeniably our best and most important win in a generation. Twelve teams will be involved in the next stage of the qualifying process, and last night’s win means we are guaranteed a home match, and unless we are terribly unlucky with the draw, we should be playing against a side who we can beat. Do that, and we get down to the final six, with one more match to be won if we are to get to the finals. The draw is next week……

There was a lot of post-match adrenalin, and I decided that it would best be served by pulling together, for the first time in a couple of years, a new one-take 60-minute mixtape. I hope it meets with your approval.

mp3: Various Artists – Just Maybe…

TRACKLIST

Look At The Sky – Sons of the Descent
Ex Stasi Spy – Luke Haines
One Piece At A Time – Michelle Shocked
Fiery Jack – The Fall
Blues For Ceausescu – Fatima Mansions
Get Up – Sleater-Kinney
Firestarter – The Prodigy
Born Free – M.I.A.
Radio Free Europe – R.E.M.
I Sold My Soul On E-Bay – Swansea Sound
Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
Blue Boy – Orange Juice
Take The Skinheads Bowling – Camper Van Beethoven
Definitive Gaze – Magazine
Hey Heartbreaker – Dream Wife
Go Wild In The Country (12″ version) – Bow Wow Wow

Some you’ll know, while others may well be new to you. It’s well worth a listen, even if I say so myself. And Taylor Swift straight into Orange Juice works perfectly.

Tune in tomorrow for some unexpected but welcome news.