Twilight Sad

A FOLLOW-ON FROM YESTERDAY’S POSTING

I mentioned yesterday that The Twilight Sad are often very good when they re-imagine and strip back some of their best-loved songs.

This is from the 2013 album, Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave:-

mp3: The Twilight Sad – Last January

The following year, Òran Mór Session, a hand-numbered tour-only CD was made available, consisting of stripped-down recordings of songs from the 2013 album, as well as a cover song not previously available in any shape or form:-
mp3: The Twilight Sad – Last January (Òran Mór Session)
Both are quite special in their own different ways.

JC

Echo & The Bunnymen

A VERY MIXED BAG

It was just over three years ago that Echo & The Bunnymen released The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon.  The idea, apart from two completely new songs, was to re-record and re-imagine some of their best-known older material, primarily leaning on strings, synths and orchestration.  The reviews weren’t that great, and so I gave it a body swerve.

It has stayed that way until a few weeks ago when I, ahem, acquired, a digital copy of the album.

I’ll try and be a bit positive by saying that a couple of the new versions are interesting, if a bit clichéd, almost as if they’ve been done with one eye on being picked up by the folk compiling the soundtrack to a Hollywood movie or as mood music as the credits roll on the latest episode of a ‘must-see’ TV series.

Overall, however, the album is a real letdown, not only failing to add anything genuinely appealing to some great songs but going beyond that and somehow making something that was previously good become something that borders on the criminal.

The opening notes of album opener Bring On The Dancing Horses sound as if it’s about to be sung by John Shuttleworth.

Lips Like Sugar is like a version you’d find on an old Top of The Pops budget album where the session musicians came in for the original players.  Well, that was my view on first hearing….later listens made me think it was Coldplay covering the Bunnymen.

And please, just spare us The Cutter.  It’s an absolute shocker, with all the originality replaced by a pub band.

Two songs do save it from being thrown into the recycle bin.

mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – Zimbo (transformed)
mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon (transformed)

I give the former pass marks for the fact that they take a song which had been a tour de force thanks to the drumming of the late Pete de Freitas, and strip it back to not much more than a vocal and electric guitar/piano. It’s something which many bands, such as Arab Strap and The Twilight Sad, do very well in the live environment, and Zimbo is one that I’d very much like to hear done that way in an intimate environment.

The Killing Moon is such an epic song that the only way it could have been transformed was in a totally stripped back way.  It does suffer from Mac’s voice no longer being the powerful tool it was in the mid 80s. And yes, it has that soundtrack feel to it, but pop and rock stars have got to make a crust in any way possible these days.  But despite all this, it is one that I’ve been able to listen to on repeated occasions without hitting any fast-forward buttons.

I make no apologies for not offering you the opportunity to listen today to some of the ones that I think stink the place out.  You’re all smart enough to go digging elsewhere and find them for yourselves.

JC

Train Set

THE TRAIN SET

 

The debut single by The Train Set, was released in September 1988, but I only became aware of it, and them, through the release of the 3x CD C88 box set on Cherry Red Records back in 2017.

mp3: The Train Set – She’s Gone

Here’s the blurb from the accompanying booklet;-

The Train Set’s ‘She’s Gone’ made Single of The Week in NME and was the highest entry of the week in the indie charts upon release – not bad for a debut offering. Hailing from Crewe (the band chose the name to cryptically reference Crewe’s legendary train station) and rehearsing om a small farm in Cheshire, The Train Set quickly found itself touring with the Happy Mondays and James among others. With a sound falling somewhere between that of the guitar work of Johnny Marr and the vocals of Ian McCulloch, ‘She’s Gone’ was followed up by 1989’s ‘Hold On’. Additional tracks weren’t unveiled until Firestation Records curated the well-received compilation, Never California (2015).

I was surprised to easily find an official website devoted to The Train Set, but then again, I didn’t know the band had reformed shortly before the C88 box set had come out.  From the info on the website, I can add that the band consisted of Clive Jones (vocals), Andy Boote (guitars), Mark Shaw (bass), Adam Halford (drums) and Dave Hassall (keyboards).  Many hours of rehearsing and writing paid off when after a demo tape led to them being signed by the Manchester-based label, Play Hard.

The debut single, which was pressed up only on 12″ vinyl,  was indeed given rapturous praise in the NME:-

“The Train Set have done their growing up in private and will now have no trouble copping off with the entire teenage nation of orphaned Smiths fans. Anyone who can rhyme ‘Avignon’ with ‘Warrington’ deserves the last of the Blue Peter badges. Puts every other debut single release this week in the shade.”

An interview with the Louder Than War website in 2017 provides the info on what happened next.

“It was great to get such fantastic reviews for our first single. It was also great to hear John Peel play it and say very positive things about it. One minute nobody had heard of us, the next we had sold out of all our initial pressings in one week. It was a great single.

Then the bad news – nobody else could get hold of She’s Gone. It sold out of the first run of pressings in five days so we needed more and when Play Hard rang up the pressing plant to print more copies to meet demand they were told that they could not press anymore. When asked why, they were told to contact Red Rhino (the distributors) who then told Play Hard that they had gone into liquidation that week. So there we were promoting a single nobody could get their hands on.”

The second single ended up being delayed and that initial burst of energy and momentum, which included those shows with James and Happy Mondays in October 1993, was wasted.

Straight after the second single the bass player decided to quit, and by the time a nee recruit was found, the band had lost contact with their label.  There was some interest from other labels, but before anything could happen, the drummer called it a day and the singer decided to go to university, thus bringing an end to the band, until their revival in 2016 to capitalise on the hugely positive reviews for the Firestation compilation, with some live gigs, culminating in the Shiiine On Weekender festival in November 2016.

Here’s the two other tracks from the debut single:-

mp3: The Train Set – Stop Stallling (Sob Stories)
mp3: The Train Set – Beautiful Monster

It was, I’d like to think you’ll agree, a very fine debut. It’s a 45 that, if the unfortunate circumstances around the collapse of Red Rhino hadn’t occurred, would likely have been something of a minor hit.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 27)

Extricate, the band’s first album of the new decade, was released to almost universal critical acclaim in February 1990.  Brix Smith was no more but the return of Martin Bramah had seemingly reignited MES and the rest of The Fall.  The live shows were also going well, and it looked as if the band was going through a stable and happy period, in complete contrast to the previous eighteen months.

It’s worth mentioning in passing that the live shows now occasionally involved an expanded version of the group as Charlotte Bill (oboe and flute) and Kenny Brady (fiddle), both of whom had made contributions to songs on Extricate, were involved in some of the tours in 1990.

The relationship with Phonogram seemed to have got off to a good start, and evidence of MES perhaps softening his attitude towards record company bosses can be seen from the fact that the next single, was a track that had been part of the recently released album, and added to the fact that Telephone Thing was also to be found on Extricate, made this (by my reckoning) the first Fall album from which two 45s had been lifted.

mp3: The Fall – Popcorn Double Attraction

Released in early March 1990, Popcorn Double Attraction would be left off many of the later compilations, such as 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong (2004), and with it not breaking into the Top 75, means that it is all to easy to forget it was released as a single.  It was a strange choice for a 45, but then again with all the previous evidence of The Fall only being able to enjoy hits when they did covers, then maybe it was the obvious one.

Yup, the original dates back to 1967, a flop single by The Searchers, a Merseybeat band who had enjoyed great success between 1963 and 1965, most often through cover versions of R’nB numbers previously recorded by American singers or bands.  MES at the time of the single paid tribute to The Searchers, saying he preferred them to The Beatles.

The single was released on 7″, 12″ and CD.  There was an additional limited edition version, of just 3,000 copies each, on 7″ and 12″ with different artwork and different b-sides.

mp3: The Fall – Butterflies 4 Brains (7″, 12″ and CD)
mp3: The Fall – Arms Control Poseur (12″ and CD)
mp3: The Fall – Zandra (7″ and 12″ limited editions)
mp3: The Fall – Black Monk Theme Part 2 (12″ limited edition)

This is a rather strange collection of songs, and in some ways of more merit than the actual single.  Butterflies 4 Brains, or least the opening minute or so, reminds me of the sound of  Inspiral Carpets….or maybe that’s just the strange wiring of my brain as MES would join with the band a few years later in creating a hit single, leading to his one and only appearance on Top of The Pops.

Arms Control Poseur was included on the CD edition of Extricate (it had four more tracks than the vinyl version) but it was a slightly longer, marginally faster and in some ways more commercially produced version which was included on the single.  I don’t think it’s as good as the album version, which has a brilliant guitar piece, reminiscent of Robert Fripp on Bowie’s Scary Monsters album, to the forefront, and which is tucked away on the single version.  See what you think….

mp3: The Fall – Arms Control Poseur (album version)

Zandra, which remember was only available on the limited edition singles, is a short number.  Almost upbeat in nature, and unusually for a Fall song, is named after and about a woman.  It seems kind of throwaway, as perhaps can be evidenced by the fact it was never played live.  The writing credits on this one are Smith/Beddington, but it is widely known that Beddington was a pseudonym used by Martin Bramah.

Black Monk Theme Part 2 can also be found on the CD version of Extricate, while Black Monk Theme Part 1 can be found on the vinyl version (as well as the CD version).  Unusually, these aren’t two takes on the same song…..

The Monks were an American garage rock band from the 60s.  Part 1, as done by The Fall, was in fact a cover of the song I Hate You, while Part 2 was a cover of Oh, How To Do Now, both of which had been released in 1966 on the album Black Monk Time.   More examples of MES being a human jukebox of the most obscure and occasionally magnificent type.

JC

Sexual Objects

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #288: THE SEXUAL OBJECTS

Davy Henderson‘s reputation as a maverick genius seems to be growing with each passing year. Some folk love him primarily for what he achieved in the early 80s with the angular post-punk of Fire Engines, while others pine for the super-pop era and near-chart success of Win. Next up was his ten-plus years with Nectarine No.9, part of which was with the resurrected Postcard Records in the mid-90s; this brought about six albums that I think can be best be accurately described as being a mixed-bag, but having said that, when Nectarine No.9 did produce the goods, they were an essential listen.

Next out of the blocks was The Sexual Objects, whose discography consists of a handful of singles and albums, more often than not in limited editions. The first single, Full Penetration, dates back to 2007 on Creeping Bent Records while the most recent album, Marshmallow, was issued in 2017 on Triassic Tusk Records, a very small label based on the east coast of Scotland. The album had a pressing of just 300 copies, but even that was something of a bonus.

Here’s the wonderful folk at Monorail, the best record store in Glasgow, Scotland, the entire world, to tell you all:-

Upon completion of a record that is one of the very best in a career that runs spectacularly all the way from The Dirty Reds to The Fire Engines to Nectarine Number 9 to The Sexual Objects, Davy Henderson, frustrated at the conventions of record releases, decided to play a high risk strategy with the master copy by putting it up for auction.It was a punk move that out Bill Drummonded Bill Drummond.

By taking something most artists and musicians would consider more important and precious than money – their new work, years in the making – he threw down a fragile gauntlet. As the auction became publicised many of us wondered who might buy it (an art collector, a punk snob, Bob Last?) and if we’d ever get to hear the record (admission: some of us had heard a handful of tracks and loved them). Fortunately the record fell into very safe hands by way of the noble guys at Triassic Tusk, and we’re so happy to come in as special partners on this, the first (only) vinyl edition.

Ok, so what’s it like? It’s everything you’d dare hope for from a Sexual Objects record – rundown glam, budget Bowie, an unreleased pop Brian Eno record, it’s Davy Henderson and his brilliant band delivering the strange news. You want pop, you want scuzz, you want pop scuzz from someone who talks it and walks it with an oddball swagger. Not about to run out of tunes anytime soon, this is the perfect band for Davy Henderson to be fronting at this stage of his career, this is the perfect record for him to be making. Love it.

Yup.  Marshmallow has been completed in 2014, ready for release in January 2015. The idea of the auction was that whoever was the highest bidder would win the rights to the recordings, and it would be their decision to release as many or as few copies of Marshmallow as they chose. In an interview at the time, Henderson said he was thinking of the record as being like a painting with just the one owner, but that owner then having the freedom to do anything they liked, even if the decision was to keep it to themselves with no further public consumption.

But as can be seen from above, there ended up being 300 copies pressed up, on sale for £20 each. I missed out on it, for the simple fact that I wasn’t paying attention. I’d like a copy and just now there is one via Discogs for £55 which is actually well below what it normally goes for, but I’ve decided not to bother as I have got my hands on a digital copy, thanks to it having been, temporarily, available via bandcamp (i think it cost £15 for the download).

One of the songs on the album was also made available as a 10″ single, and I did manage to pick up a copy of that.

mp3: The Sexual Objects – Sometimes

The single came with a few remixes.  Here’s the one that is likely of most interest:-

mp3: The Sexual Objects – Sometimes (Weatherall Dub)

In more recent ears, Davy Henderson has been associated with Port Sulphur, the collective which is co-ordinated and directed by Douglas MacIntyre, the talent and brains behind Creeping Bent Records and who was also a guitarist with each of The Nectarine No9 and The Sexual Objects.

I’ve sat down a few times a tried to pull together a Davy Henderson ICA, but it’s proved an impossible task. But now that just about all of his previous bands have now featured in this long-running series, I can perhaps try and do something covering his entire career, with perhaps no more than two or three songs from each of them. Might be something to do during the short break I’ll be taking from the blog over the festive period.

JC

Bronski Beat

STEVE BRONSKI

Flimflamfan added this to his comment to today’s earlier posting about 10,000 Maniacs:-

“Can I hijack this post. To add my enduring thanks to Steve Bronski who died recently. Without courageous people like Steve many young LGB peoole (as they were known at the time) may have forever led hidden, oppressed lives. The Age of Consent is a landmark LP in agit-pop. Three openly gay men heralding their rights-led manifesto via the LP art work. Momentus. Thanks, Steve.

It got me thinking that it might be  a nice tribute to re-post something from 19 September 2019. It’s up there with some of the pieces I’m most proud of in all the years I’ve been writing stuff for this blog:-

MIXING POP AND POLITICS, THEY ASK ME WHAT THE USE IS

Billy Bragg famously related the tale of him being asked said question, by a cynical fanzine writer, within the lyric of Waiting For The Great Leap Forward. If only the writer had been brave enough to ask a similar question of Jimmy Somerville…….

It will be 35 years next month since Age of Consent, the debut LP by Bronski Beat was released. The trio of Somerville, Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek had already tasted chart success earlier in the year with their first two singles, Smalltown Boy and Why?, going Top 10 in many countries across Europe. They weren’t the first to make wonderfully catchy synth-pop that was aimed at the dance floor, nor were they the first to link the genre with gay culture; but they were the first pop stars to get up on a soapbox and demand that folk listened and took action on the inequalities of life that had to be endured if you were of a gay persuasion.

Nobody should be in any doubt that the band took huge risks with such an agenda. The early 1980s was not the most tolerant of periods, with some of the most right-wing and conservative political administrations governing the UK and the USA. It was a period when the cultural world of performing and visual artists did voice their concerns in a concerted way about some injustices happening within society, not least the horrors of the apartheid system in South Africa, but nobody was willing to really stand up and shout about homophobia and the dangers faced daily by, in particular, young people the world over. The promo video to Smalltown Boy had been a revelation, being, in effect, a short film that showed a gay man seemingly finding some happiness, only to have it ruined, firstly by the vicious fists and boots of a violent mob and secondly by the vicious rejection of his family. The line ‘mother will never understand why you had to leave’ is one of the saddest lyrics you’re likely to find in any uptempo tune.

The single certainly raised awareness of the fact that attitudes, particularly among those living in traditional working-class communities, had much to do with the fact that young gay people felt the need to run away from the security of their home and upbringing. Many parents felt stigmatised and regarded themselves as failures if their son or daughter had turned out to be queer, with the situation exacerbated by the shame of knowing their offspring was breaking the law. (I should, and indeed must, point out that Jimmy Somerville’s own Glaswegian parents did not disown their son at any point in time, albeit he did indeed leave home and head to London, but only as a result of frustration he felt at the narrowness and limited appeal of a ‘gay scene’ in his home city and elsewhere in Scotland)

The hit singles had created the circumstances that the Bronski Beat debut album was likely to enjoy a fair amount of commercial success. It offered the perfect platform to say and do something of huge significance and to the delight of what seemed like the entire gay community, and those standing outside who were appalled by homophobia, the band didn’t disappoint.

Forget, for a moment, that the vinyl contained ten tracks of high-class music, some of which burst and bristled with energy while others were mournful and thought-provoking. Forget too, that one of its highlights introduced the work of the Gershwin brothers to a whole new audience and instead take a few minutes to study the artwork.

The inner sleeve and the label on the vinyl is dominated by a pink triangle, the symbol used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify homosexual prisoners. Originally conceived as a badge of shame, the pink triangle had, from the 70s onwards, began to be reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity. The inner sleeve also set out, plainly and simply, the different international ages of consent for males to engage in gay sex, drawing attention to, and ridiculing, the fact that there were huge inconsistencies, with the UK being amongst the worst examples in declaring the age to be 21.

The so-called swinging 60s has been an era in which the UK establishment began to relax its attitudes across a whole swathe of societal issues with new and more liberal laws covering divorce, abortion, race relations and fairness in the workplace. Homosexuality had gone from being wholly illegal but was still seen as a huge taboo, causing all sorts of outcries and scaremongering within the powerful media circles, particularly across tabloid newspapers where so many agendas were set and led to millions of readers forming opinions and holding attitudes. Oh, and the churches didn’t help things either, choosing to focus on very narrow and literal interpretations of scriptures as an excuse to uphold bigotry, hatred and prejudices.

Nothing had changed much in the best part of 20 years and indeed there was a feeling at large that the right-wing nature of the Thatcher government was going to make things worse. Indeed, in 1988, things did take a turn for the worse with the passing of the outrageous and scandalous ‘Section 28 Amendment’ to local government legislation that made it illegal for schools and teachers to promote the idea that homosexuality could be a stable and harmonious way for a family relationship.

The thing was, for many people, this was closing the stable door long after the horse had bolted as attitudes, particularly among young people had changed dramatically. Bronski Beat had shown up the insanity of the UK’s approach to homosexuality and had done so with grace, dignity and some fabulous music. In their wake followed many, not least The Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Culture Club, Holly Johnson and, of course, Communards, the group formed by Jimmy Somerville just a year after the success of Bronski Beat, all of whom not only enjoyed #1 hits and sell-out tours, but did so to an incredibly mixed audience.

The social and political outcomes of The Age of Consent must never be underestimated, but I’ve no doubt in my mind that it needed the music to be of top quality and mass appeal to succeed on these fronts. Indeed, if the album had been duff, there would have been a danger of setting things back somewhat, giving strength to those (and there were many) who felt that dance music was only good for clubs and discos and not for promoting any meaningful messages.

Bronski Beat would enjoy two more hit singles lifted from the album, both of which were covers. Indeed, for the final hit single, they revamped the closing song of the album by introducing a guest singer, Marc Almond, who had to overcome all sorts of homophobic media coverage as his fame increased to before himself, and his attitudes, were accepted increasingly by the mainstream.

No embarrassment or the usual excuses. A copy of The Age of Consent should be in every pop fan’s collection.

JC

10000 Maniacs

A LITTLE BIT OF R.E.M AND A LITTLE BIT OF VAMPIRE WEEKEND

10,000 Maniacs, from Jamestown in the state of New York, came to prominence in 1983 after the self-recording of a debut album which they released on their own label.   The following year, having made something of a buzz in the UK after being championed by John Peel, the band was signed to Elektra, part of the Warner Bros. empire. The early part of 1985 saw them in London recording their debut album, released a few months later as The Wishing Chair, with veteran producer Joe Boyd enlisted to help.  Boyd had just finished working with R.E.M. on Fables of The Reconstruction, and I think it’s fair to say he ensured the sound of the Athens, GA band would have an influence on the new album he was assisting with, as best can be heard on the first single lifted from it:-

mp3: 10,000 Maniacs – Can’t Ignore The Train

It’s just under three minutes of shimmering and wonderful indie-pop, thanks in particular to the tremendous guitar playing of the late Robert Buck.  I’d actually forgotten just how great this single sounded until it was aired recently at the Little League night in Glasgow a few weeks back, and this led me to digging into Discogs to pick up another copy as a very belated replacement for the one that was lost many years ago.

I played the b-side, which I can’t remember doing so back in 1985, although I must have done so on at least one occasion.  Listening now, I reckon I must have dismissed it on the grounds that it was too quirky and too different from the majestic a-side.  The thing is, I now have almost an additional 40 years of reference points, and so can confidently say that the lads in Vampire Weekend must have found a copy in some second hand store as they went about writing their own material in the first decade of the 21st century.

mp3: 10,000 Maniacs – Daktari

All in all, it’s a fairly decent debut 45 for the major label who must have been bemused that it didn’t make any inroads into the charts.  Having said that, R.E.M. were also being largely ignored in 1985.

JC

Radiohead

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MADE

September/October 1992. The promo poster at the top of this posting shows the extent of the UK tour undertaken by Radiohead, as part of the promotional activity to support the release of Creep.  You’ll note that they were supporting The Frank and Walters, an indie-pop band from Cork, Ireland who, on the surface at least, didn’t take themselves too seriously.

It’s a period when dance/house music was all the rage and when guitar-music was again largely out of fashion, unless your band came from America.  There were exceptions, with the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Ride, PJ Harvey and Teenage Fanclub all on the bill at the Reading festival the previous month (The Wonder Stuff, Public Enemy and Nirvana had been the respective headliners on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

I was at the Frank and Walters shows in both Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1992.  I recall enjoying the support act, but not being entirely convinced they had quite enough about them to ensure some fame and fortune. Maybe the fact that their hard-edged guitars, use of profanity and downright moodiness being so out of sync with all almost that was going on among UK musicians at the time that ensured it would be a total flop. I was in my very late 20s, and it really was still all about going out, with either my new partner or with a group of friends, having a good time before getting home safely with a smile on your face. My days of angst-ridden music were firmly in the rearview mirror, so that’s my excuse for not going out and picking up a copy of Creep.

But I wasn’t alone.  Very few folk bought it. It seems around 6,000 copies, mostly on CD, were shifted in September 1992. Those who sought out the 12″ vinyl, can now get £200 on the second-hand market if they were now inclined to sell. The follow-ups, Anyone Can Play Guitar and Pop Is Dead, each spent two weeks in the Top 75, albeit the former sold enough copies in the first week of release in February 1993, to enter at #32.

By the middle of 1993, Creep had become an underground hit in the USA, thanks to MTV and a number of alt-rock/student radio stations putting it on heavy rotation.  It even got to the stage where Radiohead performed it on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the main talk show to be broadcast across the country by NBC.

In September 1993, EMI reissued Creep in the UK. It went to #7 and provided Radiohead with the first step to megastardom.  The band hadn’t been terribly keen to have the single reissued, feeling that it totally overshadowed anything else they had written or released to this point.  I actually saw for myself what they meant as on 1 December 1993, I caught them as the support for James at Glasgow Barrowlands, a gig where their performance, to my ears, blew away the headliners, but which was met with huge indifference until they performed Creep. But as soon as they got onto the next song, the audience’s attention had again drifted….this was James at the beginning of their stadium rock era and Radiohead’s more artful and less accessible music wasn’t what most folk wanted to hear.

It’s really hard to get my head around the fact that next year will mark the 30th anniversary of those shows supporting The Frank & Walters.  As I said, I’d love to be able to claim that I latched on immediately, but I’d be lying.  It was that Barrowlands performance just over a year on that made me acknowledge that Radiohead were, as the song goes, so fucking special.

mp3: Radiohead – Creep

Here’s the other songs from the 1992 release:-

mp3: Radiohead – Lurgee
mp3: Radiohead – Inside My Head
mp3: Radiohead – Million Dollar Question

Fun Fact.

Some of you night know this, but I wasn’t aware until doing a wee bit of research for this post.

Creep had quickly become a song hated by Radiohead, but there was an acceptance that it had to be played live at every show in order to keep things sweet with the label bosses and their fanbase.  The band then wrote My Iron Lung, purposely about their hatred of Creep.

The next time I went to see Radiohead was March 1995 at the Garage in Glasgow, on their own headlining tour to promote the release of The Bends. I was sure, despite the claims that they hated the song by then, that Creep was played that night.  A check of the set list indicates that it was…..followed immediately by My Iron Lung.  It must have designed that way to provide a sort of therapy for everyone involved.

JC

Dick Dale & The Del-Tones

EVERYBODY BE COOL, THIS IS A ROBBERY!

I watched Pulp Fiction again the other night, for the first time in at least 20 years.  It still stands up as a great piece of entertainment and a hugely enjoyable, and indeed, classic movie.

Afterwards, I played this at high volume.

mp3: Tim Roth & Amanda Plummer – Pumpkin and Honey Bunney AND Dick Dale & The Del-Tones – Miserlou

I bet that makes you want to go and watch the film again!!

JC

Swansea Sound

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