New Order

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Forty-one: DREAMS NEVER END

Ripped direct from the vinyl, and inspired by the recent trip to Manchester and seeing a copy of the sleeve as part of the exhibition.  With it being Fact 50, it was, in effect, the final artefact, on display.

mp3: New Order – Dreams Never End

The opening track on the debut album, released to a fair degree of indifference, on 13 November 1981.  Much of the criticism, from the journos and fans alike, stemmed from the fact that it sort of felt like an album of Joy Division demos but without Ian Curtis‘s voice to bring it any distinction. It was, I am willing to say, the view I held back in the day and I didn’t play the album all that often for a long time.

Dreams Never End was the only track to feature the guitar/bass/drums sound, with the rest relying heavily on keyboards.  Little did we know that this was the road New Order would look to go down, and it is fair to say that Movement is now regarded with a great more affection than at the time of its release, providing many pointers for what was to follow. This is, I am willing to say, the view I now also hold, and having played the album a fair bit over time, it has picked up the odd click along the way…..there’s a particularly noticeable one in the early part of this song.

The vocals are courtesy of Peter Hook, something which caused a bit of confusion the other week among some of the younger folk at Little League who weren’t aware of the song, with it having never been released as a single and something of a cult favourite.  One person actually thought I was at the wind-up when i said it was New Order on the basis that Barney’s voice was never as deep as was coming out through the speakers.

It’s also worth mentioning that the band weren’t happy with how Movement was finished off in the studio by Martin Hannett, with everyone feeling his work was being impaired by his increasing dependence on drink and drugs.  Nobody, however, felt confident enough to challenge him in the studio, but subsequent singles and albums would end up being self-produced.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 23)

1987 had come and gone, very unusually, without The Fall releasing an album, albeit much of the year had been spent in the studio writing and recording what would be released as The Frenz Experiment in February 1988.  Prior to that, the new year began with a very early release, on 11 January, of a new single, and once again there were a number of formats – 7″, 12″, 7″ box (with a badge and lyric sheets) and cassette.  The good thing, unlike Hit The North, was that is that fans didn’t have to get all the formats to obtain all the new songs, with it being the more traditional 2 tracks on the 7″ and the 7″ box, while 4 tracks were available on the 12″ and cassette.

mp3: The Fall – Victoria

I’ll cut to the chase.  I think the Fall’s cover of Victoria, a minor hit single for The Kinks back in 1966, is a tame and mundane effort, albeit the band sound as if they enjoyed how it turned out, with Simon Rogers again on production duties.  The fact it was also very much a part of the live set lists, is an indication that it was something everyone – MES, Brix, Craig, Steve, Marcia and Funky Si – were happy with.  It reached #35 in the UK singles charts, and thus continued the strange situation whereby covers brought hits, but originals seemed to flop.

But what of your b-sides?

mp3: The Fall – Tuff Life Booogie
mp3: The Fall – Guest Informant
mp3: The Fall – Twister

Tuff Life Booogie is common to the 7″ and 12″. It is one of the most accessible and almost pop-like tunes ever recorded by The Fall, and while the lyric back in 1988 would have probably seemed strange and rambling, in later years you can piece together some subsequent details and facts to conclude that it was MES having a dig at his wife. Nobody knew back then that their relationship was on the wane, nor that she was unhappy living in what she considered to be squalid conditions in the north-west of England. Her dream of becoming a bona-fide pop star was fading with each passing month, no matter how much the critics loved the band.

Talking of Brix, hers is the first voice you hear on the brilliantly bonkers rocker of a tune, Guest Informant. It’s nearly six minutes long, and the first 60 seconds are taken up with the chant of “Bahzhdad State Cog-Analyst”.….well, that was the lyric written down by MES within the script for the Hey! Luciani play, with the song being part of the show every night. Brix, on the other hand, has long said she was chanting ‘Baghdad State Cog-Analyst……

Whatever the chant is, there can surely be no argument that Guest Informant is another great example of the way The Fall offered a quite unique post-punk take on rockabilly.

Twister is another longer song, extending to five minutes in length. There are a number of tempo changes throughout, and it veers occasionally towards the sort of chin-stroking artistic musical nonsense that I can’t be bothered with. It’s not among my favourite of the band’s songs. And while an earlier version was recorded for a Peel session in May 1987, it was never part of the band’s live shows at any time, so maybe MES also got bored with it quickly.

Tune in next week for the first Fall single to be released on CD. You won’t regret it.  But before then….a PS to last week’s posting on Hit The North.

A huge thanks to those of you who got in touch and who attached files with the songs missed out last week.  Some of you sent me Part 2, sourcing it from various places where it has been described as such, but in fact it was actually Part 3 as found on the 12″ single.  The easiest thing to do is actually use the files sent over by Joe via the 5 albums CD box set, issued by Beggars Banquet in 2013.  Part 2, as below, has a slightly different opening than any other version, and it also comes in some 15 seconds longer than Part 3 (which is sometimes mixed up with Part 2)

mp3: The Fall – Hit The North (part 2)

The CD box set also contains that fairly elusive mix that had been kept back for the cassette version of the single, as well as a previously unreleased instrumental version:-

mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 6 (the double six mix)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North (instrumental)

As I say, thanks to all of you who got in touch after last week. Hugely appreciated.

JC

Scottish Enlightenment

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #284: THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT

The Scottish Enlightenment have been part of this country’s music scene for nigh on 15 years.  They take things very slowly and deliberately, as their full discography demonstrates:-

Eyes (3-track CD single) released in April 2007
Pascal (5-track CD EP) released in May 2010
Little Sleep (5-track CD EP) released in September 2010
St Thomas (11-track CD album) released in November 2010
Strong Force (4-track 7″ EP) released in February 2015 (but consisting of versions of songs from 2010)
Potato Flower (9-track CD/12″LP) released in June 2018
Our Children (3-track CD EP) released in December 2019

The four members during that burst of activity in 2010 were brothers Angus and David Moyes, along with Michael Alexander and David Morrison.

St Thomas, described accurately as brooding, melancholy and heartbreaking, was given a great reception by many critics, and was incredibly popular among the music blogging community in Scotland, which was probably at its peak around that time, with a number of its members subsequently going onto to make something of a career running record labels. I had, and still have, a certain fondness for the album, which musically in places had touches of Arab Strap and Pavement about it, although the vocal delivery of David Moyes is nothing like that of those bands frontmen.

The lengthy delay to Potato Flower was fully acknowledged:-

During the 8 years since St Thomas, some people have died and some people have been born. Nobody lives in the same place anymore. A huge chunk of life has elapsed, ordinary life with the standard dramas, love, fear, grief, hope, all the beauty and ugliness draped over jobs, laundry, bills, breakfast, lunch and tea.

I never got round to buying the second album, primarily as I felt I’d had my fill of downbeat music with a distinctly Scottish bent. So, all I can offer you for today is the lead track from an EP that was also included on the debut album:-

mp3: The Scottish Enlightenment – Little Sleep

It does appear, from the credits on Discogs, as well as the less than cryptic nature of band statement outlined above, that 2018 line-up who made Potato Flower was quite different from the 2010 membership of The Scottish Enlightenment.  If there’s anyone out there who can add anything to today’s post, it would be great to hear from you via the comments section.

Many thanks

JC

Hadda Be

SOME IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 (#3)

This album was previously mentioned in despatches last April as a recommendation for some new music.

Another Life is the debut album by Hadda Be, and is available, here, from Last Night From Glasgow, or alternatively you see if your local indie record store has a copy (or would be happy enough to order one in).

As I said back in April, it’s a fabulous and very tasty slice of indie-pop at its finest.  You’ll find shimmering guitars, punchy choruses, wonderful melodies and a bunch of songs that, for the most part, come and go around the three-minute mark, all of which, aside from the obligatory ballad, have the ability to get even the most reticent folk out of their chairs so that shapes can be thrown on the dance floor.

Here’s a reminder of the two promos made for the singles that I posted back then:-

A third single was subsequently released, the closing track on the album. The band call it a love letter to the National Health Service, and singer Amber came up with the lyric about her experiences of working within it as a nurse, It also features a speech by Nye Bevan, the politician who founded the NHS in 1948, with his estate giving its full blessing to use his words in what is a powerful and moving number, particularly so in these difficult times:-

“Holding the hand of someone who doesn’t even know you’re there
Working for a service in a town that’s suffering
What am I supposed to do, they just treat me as they like
Cutting the ties that wrap their way around me, I just might….”

mp3: Hadda Be – Nurse’s Song

JC

Eric Bogle

LEST WE FORGET : A GUEST POSTING

WRITTEN by DREW

For
Cpl Andrew Wingate
Pvt James Little

When JC texted me to ask if I would do my usual post for Remembrance Day here as my place has been mothballed for some time and the foreseeable, I first responded that I didn’t think there was any point as for the 11 years across the Kitchen Table I only posted the two names above, a pertinent picture and the most depressing song I could find just to dampen anybody’s spirits who hadn’t already learned the lesson of looking at my blog on that date.

But then I thought about it and it occurred to me that it might be good to go into a bit of depth about those two names and why on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month I stop whatever I am doing and spend 10 minutes or so remembering their faces, their voices and the influence that they had in shaping my views and outlook to life. I must add that it is not the only time that I think about these two men, they pop into my thoughts often.

It may not be of any interest to anyone but here we go.

Andrew Wingate was born on the 2nd of May 1892, the same day that his son was born some 45 years later and incidentally the date that his first grandson was due to be born a further thirty years into the future but decided to appear a week early just to mix things up a bit. Andrew, or Grandfaither as I called him enlisted when war broke out, joined the Cavalry and went to France with the rest of the Old Contemptibles. He saw action at the first Battle of the Somme and various other locations throughout the trenches of France and Belgium including Passchendale. You may have worked out that Auld Andra’ survived the whole hellish waste of human & animal life, French villages and countryside. When I asked him many years later how he had made it through he said gruffly, “just luck son, just luck” and apart from telling me “I never saw any cowards in France, many scared boys but no cowards” that was the only thing he ever said to me about World War One and I didn’t press him on it as I got a feeling that it was something he did not want to discuss. He did read my history textbook on the subject, that I had left lying about the living room hoping that it would prompt a discussion but he offered up no opinion on it.

When he was demobbed from the army, Andra joined the Navy and was set for a life on the ocean wave until he fell on a ship and broke his back., the prognosis of which was not good, he was told he would never walk again, to which according to the accounts of my father he said is that right and through a lot of pain and determination eventually did; and when he did, like a lot of men in Lanarkshire he spent the rest of his working life in the now long gone steel works, the main employers in the area.

By the time I became aware of him, he was into his 80s, a large imposing figure of a man always in a shirt and waistcoat with his pocket watch and chain and the shiniest shoes I have ever seen.  A man of not many words who would come and stay with us three or four times a year always carrying this Adidas holdall containing a dark wooden box. That turned out to be his WW1 footlocker and contained all of the important things in his life, his letters from my Gran and from lots of ladies who wrote to him during the war, well before Flora came on the scene I must add. Also his demob papers, other essential documents, 5 gold sovereigns (one each for my dad, his sister, me, my brother and my mother), three pocket watches, his medals, whole sets of Woodbine cigarette cards and lots of other things including a small piece of solid gold that an uncle had sent back from the Klondike. I found out what was in the box along with my brother when he sat us down the day before he was going home on his final stay with us. He went through the contents, telling us about various pieces and who was to get what when he was gone. Two months later he died, he was 93 years old. My dad said that he had just had enough, all his friends and peers already having departed this existence.

What I believe I inherited from Andra was a sense of justice and whatever morality that I have, passed down from him, through my father to me and most probably my gruffness, those that know me would never describe me as “a ray of sunshine” That final summer I was shelf stacking in Templetons and one night decided to liberate a couple of boxes of Matchmakers which my mother found leading to all hell breaking loose in our house. I was affronted that my grandfather was there to witness this, finding it very difficult to look him in the eye. Years later my mother told me that he had spoke to her that evening and said “ don’t be too hard on the boy, he’s a good one and I think he has learned his lesson”.

James Little was born in Hamilton on the 2nd December 1925 and did not have the easiest start in life. Three weeks after he was born he was left on auld Jimmy’s doorstep with a note stating that Jimmy was indeed the father and would have to look after his son, a fact Jimmy didn’t learn until he needed his birth certificate to marry my Aunt Betty, noticed the crude attempt at alteration, confronted “the auld man” who spilt the beans. All of the resentment and unkindness of the woman he thought of as his mother now fell into place. Jimmy once said that she didn’t know he was away to war until quite a few months after he had gone and it did not worry her in the slightest. He lied about his age, forged the papers (like father like son) and so he found himself in Burma at the beginning of 1943, seventeen with a distinct dislike of authority. From all of my time spent talking to him about the war, as unlike Andrew Wingate, he talked about it, not in any glorified way but with disdain and a bit of regret, I get the impression that he fought a war on two fronts, one naturally enough against the Japanese but an equally fierce one with the officer classes of his own side, often finding himself on a charge and punishment and the main reason I suspect he remained a private. He also survived his conflict, unscathed or so he thought, he had respiratory problems from then on requiring the removal of a lung in the 1950s which did not hinder him in trying to smoke himself to death with 40 Benson and Hedges a day. Once the war was over and before he was demobbed he found himself a little side job liberating Burma of some of its Jade and also becoming something of a star in the regiment’s boxing team.

When he eventually came home, he met my mother’s eldest sister, started courting her and not long after they were married, a few years later finding themselves bringing up my mother after her father’s death when she was eight, her mother had died the previous year. Like my grandfather Jimmy went into the steel works, where he put his wits to good use becoming a union rep, then shop steward, making appearances at the TUC Conference and an article in the Hamilton Advertiser after one speech on the podium hinting at a prospective political career and prior to his retiring ending up foundry supervisor in the Clyde Alloy.

Jimmy became a huge influence on me, from the early days when he used to phone up kidding on he was John Wayne at Christmas and on birthdays to giving me Animal Farm and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at the age of 13 to read then discussing the books with me after I had finished reading them. He was also the only member of my family who attended when I had to, in my capacity as Chair of the Lanark Youth CND speak with Bruce Kent and our local MP at the time Dame Judith Hart at an open meeting in Lanark Memorial Hall on the horror of the Trident missile system which was in the process of being deployed. Ironic that the man who would most certainly have died had the Americans not dropped the atom bombs on Japan went to support me but that was him.  I remember asking him where his medals were and he said that they were of no importance to him, he did his bit, not so much for the cause but to get away from his “mother” and that it was over. He also told me that the most dangerous thing in the world was “an officer with a compass and a cultivated sense of entitlement”.

Jimmy had his retirement worked out to the day, when it would be most beneficial for him to retire on his pension from British Steel and when they refused his application for early retirement he told them he was going to “The Record” (Daily Record), to kick up a stink about how they wouldn’t let a clapped out old man go but were prepared to pay off younger men who needed the job. Needless to say he got his retirement but Betty and Jimmy didn’t get very long to enjoy it, as on 9th December 1989 taking his neighbour to a hospital appointment he had a heart attack and died 300 yards from the entrance to Law Hospital.

So for these two men and for their cousins, friends and comrades, the ones not fortunate enough to survive, every Armistice day I stop and remember. Everybody says that we should remember the fallen and yes we should do but we should also remember the ones that came back, most of whom would have been damaged by their experiences in ways we cannot comprehend but were able to keep on functioning, get married, have families and help rebuild this country, twice. I was never one for the poppy, in my youth it didn’t sit comfortably with my ideological pacifism, the white one also always felt wrong but I still took notice of the 11th November. I have always made a donation and bought one but never felt I needed to wear it to show my respect. However I do not sneer at those that do as most do it for the right reasons and I will leave that there, I could go on about the high-jacking of the act of Remembrance but that discussion is for another day.

So here is possibly the best song written about WW1.

mp3: Eric Bogle – No Man’s Land (live)

I once saw Eric Bogle live, in a community hall in Biggar on one of his infrequent returns to these shores and he put us through the emotional ringer but by god was it good.

mp3: Eric Bogle – spoken introduction to No Man’s Land

JC

David Bowie, Johnny Cash, LCD Soundsystem

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF YOUR HUMBLE SCRIBE (PART 2)

Friday

Wake up very tired thanks to a combination of four days of long walks, train journeys and a far higher than usual consumption of alcohol.

There’s a few domestic issues to be sorted out...Rachel (aka Mrs VV) has had to deal with a lot of things these past few days, not least trying to progress some major repairs to the property we have called home these past 27 years. In particular, we need a new roof….the building is over 100 years old and in a conservation area, so getting work of this magnitude done is time-consuming, especially with the need to agree the involvement of the owner of lower half of the property (we live in the upstairs part of a conversion). I’m filled in with the progress, kind of ashamed that it’s been left to Rachel while I’ve been gallivanting in Manchester. My gift of a Jarv Is t-shirt from the gig seems wholly inadequate. The paperwork is signed off and the timetable of initial patchworking will get underway soon, but the main contract not delivered until May 2022. The roofing company is swamped with work just now, unable to keep up with demand. But it gives me enough time to get my head round the fact that there’ll be scaffolding and all sorts to put up with next year. I hate chaos…..

I really should be staying in and spending a quality evening with Rachel, but instead I’m attending the annual prize-giving at my golf club. I’m having to do so as I actually won something this year, my first such triumph since 2013. I vow to keep it as a quiet night, home early and sober.

I fail miserably on all counts, but attach the blame entirely on the other folk at my table. I’m so easily led.

Saturday

I’ve scheduled missing the football today. It’s a two-hour train trip out of Glasgow down to Dumfries, but the decision is actually based on the fact that there’s no scheduled service for ages after the final whistle, which would mean me not getting back till almost 9pm and missing out on much of something very special scheduled for the evening.

Almost a full three years after the last one, Glasgow Little League is taking place from 7.15pm – midnight. Those of you who have been familiar with this blog for many years will be aware of how much the Little League events mean to me. They are organised by John Hunt, lead singer of Butcher Boy. They are the successor to events he first organised in 2001 under the guise of National Pop League, and indeed the event on Saturday 6 November is being arranged to mark the 20th Anniversary of the first NPL.

Aldo sorted out the tickets and there’s a group of us going, including some close friends of his from Northern Ireland whom he meets every year at the Indietracks Festival. It’s also going to be the first time I’ve been on a dance floor since COVID kicked in, and it’s going to provide an opportunity to finally see and talk to dozens of friends who have been sadly and unavoidably absent from my life for far too long. The one downside is that Rachel won’t be coming, as she spent her day at the 100,000 strong demonstration in Glasgow that was arranged as the people’s response to the lack of progress around climate change and this talking shop in my home city. I would normally have joined her, but I was exhausted from overdoing things these past few days.

I’m actually a bit apprehensive in advance about Little League, wondering if it would, or indeed could, live up to past experiences. There was also the fact of so many people getting together again after such a very long time…would we have the energy or inclination to actually dance, or would we be a wee bit self-aware and worry about the dangers still inherent of mingling and tingling. My fears were misplaced, and perhaps the best summary of the night comes from this Facebook message on the group page the following morning:-

“Thanks John for a brilliant night, what a playlist. It was such a joyful experience, great to see so many friends and familiar faces and everyone looked so happy. I felt really emotional at a number of points during the night, I’ve missed my friends, dancing and music. Thanks for bringing all three together.”

There’s a photo of the night illustrating this post.   It kind of captures all that is great about Little League, with folk just really enjoying themselves in so may ways. Here’s the playlist…the proviso was that all tunes aired needed to have been played at any of the NPL evenings between 2001 and 2007:-

NEU! – ISI
ESG – UFO
IVOR CUTLER – GOOD MORNING! HOW ARE YOU? SHUT UP!
VINCE GUARALDI – A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING
CHILLS – PINK FROST
ADAM GREEN – BLUEBIRDS
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – STARS OF TRACK AND FIELD
AISLERS SET – ATTRACTION ACTION REACTION
SODASTREAM – TURNSTYLE
GO BETWEENS – LOVE GOES ON
SERGE GAINSBOURG – BONNIE AND CLYDE
DEAD KENNEDYS – MOON OVER MARIN
MULTIPLIES – MEGAFIST
BRILLIANT CORNERS – BRIAN RIX
LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS – NEW TOWN
MAGAZINE – DEFINITIVE GAZE
DELGADOS – PULL THE WIRES FROM THE WALL
10000 MANIACS – CAN’T IGNORE THE TRAIN
JONATHAN RICHMAN – NEW ENGLAND
POPGUNS – WAITING FOR THE WINTER
CAMERA OBSCURA – HAPPY NEW YEAR
FLATMATES – SHIMMER
LEFT BANKE – I’VE GOT SOMETHING ON MY MIND
SEBADOH – SKULL
MCCARTHY – WELL OF LONELINESS
MAGNETIC FIELDS – STRANGE POWERS
JOHNNY BOY – YOU ARE THE GENERATION THAT…
JAM – DOWN IN THE TUBE STATION AT MIDNIGHT
MY BLOODY VALENTINE – WHEN YOU SLEEP
RIDE – TWISTERELLA
SLEATER-KINNEY – GET UP
ROXY MUSIC – SAME OLD SCENE
DAVID BOWIE – ASHES TO ASHES
LOVE – ALONE AGAIN OR
CURE – JUMPING SOMEONE ELSE’S TRAIN
VOXTROT – THE START OF SOMETHING
BLUETONES – BLUETONIC
STEREOLAB – PING PONG
GO BETWEENS – SPRING RAIN
PJ HARVEY – DRESS
POSTAL SERVICE – SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS
SEA URCHINS – PRISTINE CHRISTINE
BEATLES – WE CAN WORK IT OUT
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – THERE’S TOO MUCH LOVE
FELT – SUNLIGHT BATHED THE GOLDEN GLOW
LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS – RATTLESNAKES
TINDERSTICKS – CAN WE START AGAIN?
HOUSE OF LOVE – DESTROY THE HEART
GO! TEAM – HUDDLE FORMATION
FIELD MICE – EMMA’S HOUSE
PAVEMENT – BOX ELDER
YEAH YEAH YEAHS – PIN
FALL – TOTALLY WIRED
JOY DIVISION – DISORDER
NEW ORDER – DREAMS NEVER END
ORGAN – BROTHER
ROYAL WE – ALL THE RAGE
BILLY OCEAN – RED LIGHT SPELLS DANGER
CSS – LET’S MAKE LOVE AND LISTEN TO DEATH FROM ABOVE
BLUE OYSTER CULT – DON’T FEAR THE REAPER
REM – RADIO FREE EUROPE
TEENAGE FANCLUB – GOD KNOWS IT’S TRUE
WEATHER PROPHETS – ALMOST PRAYED
ARCADE FIRE – REBELLION (LIES)
ASSOCIATES – PARTY FEARS TWO
DAFT PUNK – DA FUNK
PUBLIC ENEMY – BRING THE NOISE
VELVET UNDERGROUND – WAITING FOR THE MAN
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – ALL MY FRIENDS
PIXIES – ALLISON
WIRE – OUTDOOR MINER
STONE ROSES – MERSEY PARADISE
OUTKAST – HEY YA!
HIDDEN CAMERAS – BAN MARRIAGE
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – THERE THERE MY DEAR
STEVE HARLEY AND COCKNEY REBEL – COME UP AND SEE ME (MAKE ME SMILE)
STROKES – THE MODERN AGE
MADONNA – INTO THE GROOVE
VIOLENT FEMMES – BLISTER IN THE SUN
JACKIE WILSON – HIGHER AND HIGHER
MCALMONT AND BUTLER – YES
ORANGE JUICE – BLUE BOY
ONLY ONES – ANOTHER GIRL ANOTHER PLANET
DINOSAUR JR – FREAKSCENE
LE TIGRE – DECEPTACON
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – LAZY LINE-PAINTER JANE

You might now understand why I woke up a tad sore and stiff the following morning.

SUNDAY

It should have been a day of rest and recuperation, but there was one final outstanding thing to look forward to, and that was the very first Titwood City Limits event.

TCL is the brainchild of my friend, Basil Pieroni, the guitarist with Butcher Boy. Titwood is a residential area on the south side of Glasgow, and at the centre of it is a bowling club and pavilion, dating back to 1890. Basil lives very close to the club and indeed, during the COVID lockdown and subsequent restrictions, became a member. He’s now making use of the building to host what is hoped will be a weekly Open Mic session on Sunday afternoons.

It was a deliberately low-key opening, with not much in the way of publicity. It still managed to attract about 30 folk along, all of who were entertained by one man and his acoustic guitar, delivering all sorts of great songs written and/or performed originally by the likes of Johnny Cash, George Jones, Hank Williams, The Undertones, Gram Parsons, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Orange Juice, Kenny Rogers, Butcher Boy, Willie Nelson and Nina Simone, among others.

It was huge fun, and Basil did an outstanding job, especially given he hadn’t performed live, other than on one occasion, these past two years. I can see me becoming a regular at Titwood City Limits. There are far worse ways to spend Sunday afternoons.

mp3: David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging
mp3: LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
mp3: Johnny Cash – Big River

First song is for the golf, while the third one was Basil’s opening number. I don’t think the second needs any explanation.

JC

Beautiful South, Jarv Is, Joy Division

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF YOUR HUMBLE SCRIBE (PART 1)

I’m typing this just after 9am on a Monday morning, having decided to share the contents of the early half of my past, stupidly busy seven days. Yes, it’s a tad self-indulgent, but it’s my way of highlighting why sometimes I can’t find the time needed to stay on top of the blog and why the trick of writing a few posts in advance is the only way to ensure something fresh appears each day.

Here’s the quick summary:-

Monday

One of the reasons that I want to escape Glasgow these next few days is the fact that the COP 26 climate change conference begins, with a great deal of congestion and chaos anticipated, especially over the first few days when almost all the world’s political leaders will be in town.  The heavy rains of the previous five days have brought flooding to various parts of the UK, and many delegates have trouble getting here on time, and as scheduled, if they had been relying on the green method getting here by train, with cancellations and delays.  This doesn’t bode well for me……

…..and sure enough, the train I’m meant to be taking to Wigan for a change to Manchester is cancelled while the next available train runs late. This means connections are missed, and I arrive almost two hours later than anticipated. Kind of puts a dent in plans to spend time doing record shops, as I’ve arranged to head out to Rochdale to meet some friends from a long way back for an early dinner and catch up. A reasonable amount of alcohol is consumed, but I’m back in the hotel by 11pm, so it’s not too bad.

Tuesday

Up bright and early to get out and about in Manchester to take in some of the many physical changes to one of my favourite cities on the planet since my last visit here, some five or six years ago. I’ve about four hours to do this before Aldo arrives from Glasgow at lunchtime, and so I use the time to head out to Salford Quays where the BBC have been at the fore of much of the regeneration efforts which are truly startling.

Come lunchtime, I hook up with Aldo and we head out for a walk around the city centre, taking in a few of his favourite watering holes, along with a few he’s added to a list. I should explain at this juncture that Aldo is very fond of his cask and keg ales, and uses such visits to try out half-pints/pints of brews he’s not previously experienced. Me? I’m on the spiced rum just now, either that or high-end vodkas. Beer doesn’t float my boat. The pubs are great, but so too is the walking, again taking in so much of what makes Manchester a fascinating place to visit, even if the scale of a number of the new buildings feels on the overwhelming side. It is still pleasing to see that much of the old is still in place.

Tuesday night was scheduled to be a quiet one until we discover that Jarv Is are in town on the opening night of a rescheduled UK tour and that a small number of tickets are available. Aldo actually has tickets for an upcoming Glasgow gig later in the tour but is more than happy to indulge my wish that we go along to the Albert Hall in Manchester, partly as he’s never been to this particular venue (nor have I), but also for the fact that, like me, he’s a big fan of Mr Cocker’s past work and really rates the most recent album.

Without going into too much detail, the show really does live up to expectations, with the bonus of finding ourselves in a venue which instantly becomes a favourite in terms of offering great and close up views of the stage.  It’s immediately marked down for a future return visit.

Wednesday

An early breakfast and more city centre/canal side walking before a 10.30 arrival at the main purpose of the visit to Manchester, as two excited indie-kids roll up for “Use Hearing Protection: The early years of Factory Records” at the Science and Industry Museum. Here’s the promotional blurb:-

“This special exhibition tells the story of Factory Records’ formative years from 1978 to 1982, and how their innovative work in music, technology and design gave Manchester an authentic voice and distinctive identity.

See the first 50 artefacts from the official Factory catalogue, including creations from Joy Division, New Order and The Durutti Column, as well as graphic designs by Peter Saville, previously unseen items from the Factory archives, and objects loaned from the estates of both Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton. Also on public display for the first time in 30 years is Ian Curtis’s Vox Phantom guitar, played live and featured in the official Love Will Tear Us Apart video.

Immerse yourself in the world of Factory Records and experience a night out like no other with our tribute to The Factory night at the Russell Club. Just plug in and play—bring your own headphones and create your own unique versions of iconic tracks with our synthesizer and mixing desk. Explore how the city lived and how music brought people together with crowdsourced photographs from the People’s Archive.”

We stayed for well over two hours. The temptation was there to go back round for a second tour, but we had so much more to fit in the rest of the day that we had to take our leave, and so, after a bit of lunch in another of Aldo’s ‘pubs on the list’, we made our way to the People’s History Museum, which is labelled as the national museum of democracy. It proved to be a very rewarding experience, enjoyable, educational and fascinating in equal measures. The only downside of this visit was that we ran out of time, before the museum closed, only getting ourselves around the two main exhibition areas and missing out on what looked like two superb temporary exhibitions.

Two experiences down, and one to go. The stroll back to the hotel was punctuated by a few stops at watering holes. After a quick change of clothes and footwear, it was round to a nearby location in the student area of the city for a meeting with the doyen of the Manchester scene, Adam, of Bagging Area fame.

On a trip that provided so many highlights and wonderful experiences, this was right up there with the best of them.

Adam came to see us despite him having a very busy schedule, going out of his way to spend a few hours with us on an evening when he must have been tired from a long day doing his teaching and managerial work, and, without telling us until long afterwards, knowing he was in for a particularly long shift the following day with all sorts of post-teaching events and meetings. He really is one of the very good guys, and both myself and Aldo are proud to call him a friend. It’s quite incredible to think the friendship developed entirely from blogging, and the real hope is that, having not been able to catch up in person for such a very long time as a result of the COVID restrictions, it won’t be too long before some sort of hook-up happens again, ideally involving a larger group of like-minded people.

Thursday

More walking. More pubs. This time, we also threw in a visit out to the Etihad Campus to see for ourselves the extent of the development that had been undertaken by Manchester City FC. A lot of it is impressive, especially the sheer scale of it. The downside was it bringing home just how much football has changed over the past couple of decades and how there really isn’t a level playing field any longer at the higher echelons of English football, far less further down the pyramid.

It also confirmed that while I’d be happy enough to be a very occasional tourist-like visitor to the bigger grounds, there really is nothing quite like a Saturday afternoon with my mates at Raith Rovers, knowing we are watching a group of talented but hard-working players giving their all for the 2,000 or so like-minded individuals. It was sobering too, to think that the financial rewards of being a Rovers player over their entire career would probably match perhaps three months of the salary and endorsement deals of some of the individuals whose faces were plastered around the exterior of the Etihad.

Finally got home to Glasgow around 9.30pm on the Thursday night. Very tired but very happy from all the experiences of what had, in effect, been the first holiday I’d had in 20 months. Other than one night earlier this year as part of a short golfing trip, it was the first time I’d stayed overnight anywhere outside of my own house since March 2020.

A quick look at the blog shows that there has been a great debate via the comments section re The Smiths/Morrissey after my earlier in the week posting of The Draize Train, and I make a mental note to return to that debate in the near future. I’m also thrilled that ICA #300 seems to have been well received, and I remind myself that I should make a start on #301. But I know neither will happen until well after the weekend, as Friday through Sunday is going to be busy.

Thanks for getting this far with what really is just a diary entry. Here’s a few songs:-

mp3: Joy Division – Digital
mp3: Jarv Is – Swanky Modes (Dennis Bovell Mix)
mp3: The Beautiful South – Manchester

Sorry to say, another diary entry is coming along tomorrow.

JC

Billy Bragg

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Forty: LEVI STUBBS’ TEARS

This is one of those songs where, no matter how hard I try, I can never come up with the words to do it justice. Maybe because it is the saddest song I’ve ever heard

mp3: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears

From Talking With The Taxman About Poetry, the one that Billy called ‘The Difficult Third Album’ on the front of the sleeve.  The only difficulty I have with it is trying to accept that it was released 35 years ago.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 22)

I’m being lazy/cheeky this week as Part 22 of the series is being given over to a guest posting, but without the author being asked if it is OK to do so.

Tom Doyle is an acclaimed music journalist, author, and long-standing contributor to Mojo and Q. His work has also appeared in Billboard, The Guardian, The Times, and Sound on Sound. Over the years, he has been responsible for key magazine profiles of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, U2, Madonna, Kate Bush, and R.E.M., among many other artists. He is the author of The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie, for which I will always hold him in the very highest regard.

It was for Sound on Sound, back in March 2015, that he composed what must be the definitive piece on the Fall’s 22nd single. I’m providing an edited version, leaving aside many of the technical aspects around the recording process, but there is link to the full article provided at the end.

————————

In 1987, the Fall, a band who were 10 albums into their career, producing challenging, hall–of–mirrors post–punk, suddenly made a lurch for the dancefloor. October of that year saw the amorphous Prestwich troupe, fronted by their inimitable and unpredictable ringmaster Mark E Smith, release ‘Hit The North’, a rousing groove–based anthem which is now regarded by many as both their ultimate statement and best single.

For this most underground of bands, this seemed like a very conscious effort to go commercial. “Nah, it wasn’t a conscious effort,” Smith stated to this writer in 2006. “It was just trying to get it a bit more punchy. I always like it very clean and simple. A lot of groups are swamped with sound.”

The beginning of the Fall’s slow creep towards the mainstream, which culminated with ‘Hit The North’, had begun three years earlier in 1984 when, before signing to a new label, Beggars Banquet, Smith had seriously considered quitting music altogether.

“I thought, fuck it,” he admitted. “Nobody liked us. We always got good reviews, but that doesn’t put food on your plate, does it? I was thinking of packing it in. I was gonna sell pool tables. It was a bit heavy for me that time. But then I got a bit of the old writing impetus and I carried on with it. People forget all this, y’know. They forget that the Fall wasn’t really appreciated until the mid-’80s.”

Along with Smith’s change of attitude, the addition of two new members to the Fall was to significantly change their sound. The singer’s American wife, guitarist and vocalist Brix Smith, had joined the band in 1983. She admitted that she felt that, in many ways, the Fall were undervalued and that she had designs on upping their commercial potential. “It was definitely a conscious thing on my part,” she said, “because they were so, so underground and so unappreciated and unknown. I just thought they were such an important band and it needed to be broadcast all over the world.”

Then, in 1985, came Londoner Simon Rogers, a multi–instrumentalist who was initially brought in to play bass with the band, before moving to guitar/keyboards and then going on to produce many of the Fall’s records, including ‘Hit The North’. His connection to Mark E Smith was first made when progressive ballet dancer Michael Clark asked Rogers to score an orchestral arrangement of ‘The Classical’, from the Fall’s 1982 album Hex Enduction Hour.

“Which I tried to do,” Rogers remembers today. “But looking back on it, it’s not one of those things you can just arrange. It needs a real concept and real time and real skill, which I don’t think I had at the time. So that wasn’t a great success. But I phoned Mark up in the process of trying to arrange ‘The Classical’ and said, ‘What do you think about using horns on the chorus?’ And he said, ‘I dunno, cock. I don’t know anything about music. Do you play bass?’ I said, ‘I have played bass, yeah.’ So he said, ‘D’you wanna come on tour with us?’”

In the 2009 book The Fallen: Life In And Out Of Britain’s Most Insane Group, author Dave Simpson’s search for the more than 60 members who have passed through the band since their formation in 1976, he names Simon Rogers as “the least likely musician ever to end up in the Fall”.

Even if their backgrounds were very different, Mark E Smith and Simon Rogers bonded quickly when the former invited the latter to come and stay with him in Prestwich to learn the basslines to the key Fall songs. “Mark would have piles of papers and plastic bags full of notes and stuff,” he says. “We’d sit up all night and we’d listen to William Burroughs and Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. Lots of speed, lot of fags, lots of beer. We became pretty good mates and he stayed with me in London nearly all the time when he came down.”

But even after joining the Fall and touring extensively with the band, Rogers realised that his heart belonged in the studio, forcing him to choose to quit the live band and concentrate on recording. “It was tough touring with the Fall,” he admits. “‘Cause we used to go to America and do 20 dates or more in a month. You’re on stage for an hour and the other 23 hours of the day, you’re just dicking around. And it wasn’t enough music for me.”

In approaching the making of the Fall’s next album, The Frenz Experiment, the sessions for which would yield ‘Hit The North’, Simon Rogers suddenly found himself promoted by Smith to producer for the whole project. “There was this idea that I was the guy that could ‘handle’ Mark Smith,” he says. “But it wasn’t that at all. We were just matey at the time. I think he trusted me as a musician to pull something together. Rather than having an engineer/producer, why not have a musician/producer? So it was like having another useful band member.”

The Frenz Experiment was recorded over the month of July 1987 in Abbey Road Studio 2. While The Frenz Experiment is a very live–sounding album, ‘Hit The North’ was a far more programmed affair.

Meanwhile, Rogers laughs when remembering the moment he got to the end of his rope in his dealings with Smith. One day, the frontman walked into the studio while Steve Hanley was fooling around on his bass with the riff of Spinal Tap’s ‘Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight’. Smith decided this was great and it became the basis of the track ‘Athlete Cured’. Rogers couldn’t believe what was happening. “I said, ‘What the fuck? It’s a 100 percent lift’. I knew the track, I was a big Spinal Tap fan. So after a bit of pointless persuasion by me, they recorded it. I thought they’d get done for it basically. But then I suppose a bass line in those days… That was kind of before the massive sampling trials. Mark said, ‘Don’t care. I like it.’”

Simon Rogers was to go on to produce two more albums for the Fall, Code: Selfish in 1992 and The Infotainment Scan in 1993, before he and Smith had an irreparable bust–up in a studio in Manchester.

Looking back on his time working with the Fall, Rogers admits that it was a period which taught him a lot. “Just that there’s other ways to do things,” he says. “After coming out of the Royal College Of Music, I realised there’s more than one way to skin a cat. For sure.”

As far as ‘Hit The North’ was concerned, although it is now considered a classic track for the Fall, upon its release, it actually failed to chart, struggling to number 57. As ever, Mark E Smith had a theory about this.

“We lost half our fan base with that,” he pointed out, “‘cause everybody thought it was disco. Everybody was like, fucking hell, they’ve sold out.”

The full article can be read here.

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Hit The North was released across a ridiculous amount of formats in October 1987. There was a 7″, a 12″ (with a gatefold sleeve), a 7″ picture disc, a 12″ with remixes and a cassette single which included a mix otherwise unavailable.  I’ve done my best to bring you the lot but failed on the ones with the *:-

mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 1 (as found on the 7″, 7″ pic disc, the 12″, the 12″ remix and the cassette)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 2 (as found on the 7″ and 7″ pic disc)*
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 3 (as found on the 12″)
mp3: The Fall – Australians in Europe (as found on the 12″ and the cassette)
mp3: The Fall – Northerns in Europ (as found on the 12″)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 4 (as found on the 12″ remix and the cassette)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 5 (as found on the 12″ remix)
mp3: The Fall – Hit The North Part 6 (the double six mix) (as found on the cassette)*

Australians In Europe is another of those superb songs sneaked out as a b-side. So good, it was voted in at #2 in the Peel Festive 50 of 1987, while the a-side came in at #9. It was a regular part of the live sets throughout the year and was also aired in the band’s sole Peel Session of 1987, broadcast on 19 May. Come 1988, it was rarely played and indeed, disappeared completely from any future setlists by the time 1989 rolled around. It may, or may not be, about The Bad Seeds or The Triffids. MES never said……

Northerns in Europ is a short, cut-up/live version of Australians….I suppose it fills up a couple of minutes on the 12″ if for no other purpose

Simon Gallup, bassist with The Cure, was the guest singles reviewer in Melody Maker the week Hit The North came out. He liked it…..

“I’ve hated everything they’ve ever done but this is great – sounds like Van Der Graaf Generator. They usually whinge and moan a lot because they come from up north, but we won’t get into that. This is really good – it’s got a nice tune and a party mood, Luvvie. It sounds like The Glitter Band too which is great because, in the past. Mark Smith has claimed his lyrics are really important because he’s a Northerner, but you don’t hear what he’s on about here.”

Seven musicians played on this one. The usual six (at the time) of MES, Brix, Craig, Steve, Marcia and Funky Si, were added to by Simon Rodgers contributing on guitar and saxophone.

Up until writing this piece, I hadn’t ever heard Parts 4 and 5, which are the work of German producer, Zeus B. Held.  Can’t say that I’m too fussed about them.

JC

Scot & Sager

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #283: SCOT & SAGER

Jock Scot (21 September 1952 – 13 April 2016) was an Edinburgh-born Scottish poet and recording artist.

Gareth Sager was born in Edinburgh in 1960, best known for his work in the late 70s and early 80s as a founder member of The Pop Group, and then later on, Rip Rig + Panic, for whom he played guitar and keyboards.

The two of them were close friends for decades, dating back to the mid 70s when Scot was moved to London and fell in with the punk rock crowd, talking his way into a job with Stiff Records, but it took until 2006 for the two of them to go into a studio together.  The result was The Caledonian Blues which consists of twenty-two crazy pieces of ranting poetry, delivered in the broadest of accents, over some very lovely, minimalist guitar work akin to the work of Vini Reilly at his best.

I don’t have a copy of the album, but its opening track was part of a compilation CD I picked up quite a few years ago:-

mp3 : Scot & Sager – Barcelona

Let’s be honest.  This would have made for an amazing entry in the ‘songs as a great short story’ series.

JC

Editors

REMEMBERING THE MID-00’S (Part 1)

Another new, likely to be occasional, feature.  It’s an excuse to just reach back to that period in history where I sort of got a second wind, just after my 40th birthday, fully believing that a fresh wave of guitar and indie bands were not only going to get me really excited but that they were about to defy the norm by being part of the musical landscape for many years to come.

I’m not going to use the series to post long and flowing (or otherwise) pieces about any band or particular song.  I’d prefer just to offer up a few salient facts and let the music speak for itself.

I’m opening things up with a song that actually cracked the charts on two separate occasions just twelve months apart.

It was July 2005 when Blood became the third single released by Editors, a band that had come together a couple of years earlier from meeting up while studying Music Technology at Staffordshire University in the English midlands.  Editors wasn’t their first choice of name….it wasn’t even their second or third name under which they recorded and performed.  But it was the one which they settled on after signing to Kitchenware Records in the autumn of 2004.

The single reached #18 on its release. The poor state of the sale of singles at the time can be illustrated by the fact that Blood spent just four weeks in the Top 75, and sold less than 6000 copies in its first week of release, and this at a time before the debut album was in the shops.  The re-release came in June 2006, as a limited edition offering with previously unreleased b-sides (including cover versions) and was very much as a ploy to get radio airplay to boost sales of said debut album, The Back Room, which had just dropped out of the Top 100 after a long stint.  The ploy worked in that Blood came back into the charts at #39 and the album re-entered the Top 100 for another 12-week run while the band played the summer festivals.

I didn’t buy either version of the single at the time, but I have since picked up the 7″ release from the first time around, It seemingly had a pressing of just 3000 copies.

mp3: Editors – Blood
mp3: Editors – Forest Fire

Much to my disappointment, the b-side isn’t a cover of a Lloyd Cole & the Commotions number.

JC

Lloyd Cole

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #300: LLOYD COLE

He’s been all over this  and the old blog from the very beginning.  Indeed, going back to the old blog, it was a Lloyd Cole song which provided the material for the second ever post, away back on 1 October 2006.  Butterfly (the Planet Ann Charlotte mix) in case you were wondering.

I’ve long wanted to do this particular ICA as the companion piece to the Lloyd Cole & The Commotions effort which was #11 in the series back in April 2015.  I’ve been hesitant as there’s been so many references to the solo career both by myself and a few of the guest contributors, and in particular there was an 11-part weekly series back in 2018 looking in some depth at the solo albums.  Indeed, I’m going to rely in part on what was written during that series as maybe I can’t find a better way of expressing my thoughts, allied to the fact that it will prevent me from contradicting myself!!

So, without any further ado, I am delighted to offer up, ‘Old Enough To Know Better – an ICA of Lloyd Cole’s finest solo recordings’

SIDE A

1. Old Enough To Know Better (Etc. 2001)

Back in 1996, Lloyd had spent much of the year in a New York studio, carving out an album full of acoustic-driven songs, with a number of old friends, including ex-Commotion Neil Clark, flying in to lend a hand.  He handed in the album to his direct contacts at his then record label and all seemed well.  Record company politics then took over as the upstairs bosses felt that the timing was perfect for another compilation album, this time taking the old favourites from the Commotions era and throwing in some songs from the four solo albums released between 1990 and 1995.  Things got really messy and complicated.  The proposed new album was shelved and indeed Collection, as the new compilation would end up being named, was delayed until 1998.

It wasn’t until 2001 when he had finally extracted himself from the major label he had been with all his days that he was able to finally get many of the songs from 1996 out there to his fans, albeit in a re-recorded fashion. Etc. was made up of fully realised songs, demos and covers, and Lloyd’s voice has rarely sounded more impressive, It’s a beautiful record, one which reflected the way he was now earning his living as a live musician, touring solo with just a couple of guitars, coming along with no support acts, splitting his sets into two halves, keeping the big hits from the band days till the second sets.

I reckon the title track of ICA 300 is the perfect scene setter for what follows.

2. Sweetheart (Lloyd Cole, 1990)

Lloyd has never hidden his love for Marc Bolan/T.Rex, covering a number of songs over the years as well as writing his own tributes, such as 4MB which was a b-side on one of his singles from 1993. He’s also suggested in a newspaper interview that Telegram Sam is his favourite single of all time.  It was therefore hardly a surprise that his debut solo album, which was a conscious effort to make a rock record that would be quite different from the Commotions material, would contain at least one number leaning heavily on those riffs from the glam era.

3. Weeping Wine (Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe, 1991)

Lloyd’s second solo album is something of a lost gem.  It’s a record of two very distinct sides.  In the UK, the first side is packed with rich, expansive songs on which an orchestra features, unlike anything we had heard from him before, while the flip side contains guitar-led songs along the lines of what we were used to.  In the USA, the record label was still desperate to make a rock star out of our hero, and so the record was flipped over there.

My preference is very much for the orchestral material but in terms of the flow of the ICA, I think it makes sense to offer the most Commotion-sounding of all his early solo material.  It was released as a single here in the UK, but it flopped, getting absolutely no air play as the sort of miserable, whining sounding lyric over a tasteful guitar tune was so out of sync with all the dance music that was dominating the charts….oh and grunge!

4. The Young Idealists (Antidepressant, 2006)

As anyone who has ever been entertained at any of the solo gigs can testify, Lloyd Cole never really has been the miserable sod that the lazy journalists have portrayed him as throughout his career.  In 2006, he released Antidepressant, an album in which self-deprecating humour is very much on display, none more so than on the song which opened the album.

I’nm convinced that all long time fans on hearing this for the first time will have afforded themselves a wry and knowing smile. At the time, we were in our mid 40s, fighting hard to keep the same beliefs and core values as we did in our mid 20s, but shaping them a bit from the life lessons we had learned along the way.  I’d like to think, as we edge towards, or get beyond, bus pass age, we still remain true to them.

5. Women’s Studies (Standards, 2013)

Roy Wilkinson, a veteran music journalist here in the UK (and also the brother of two members of British Sea Power), gave Standards a 4-star review in Mojo magazine, with the following opening:-

The track Women’s Studies includes references to ‘Penguin Classics’ and an unfinished witticism about Josef K and the city of Prague.  It would, wouldn’t it? This is archetypal Cole, harking back to the honeyed country rock of second Commotions album Easy Pieces.

He ends the review with a one-word sentence. ‘Captivating.’

Which I think is as good a word to describe Lloyd Cole’s impact on me over the past 37 years.

SIDE B

1. Half Of Everything (Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe, 1991)

More than seven minutes in length, this one has the kitchen sink thrown at it.  It was a toss-up between this and the other fantastic songs on the first side of this album, but this makes the cut for the ICA as, unlike Butterfly and Margo’s Waltz, it wasn’t released as a single.

2. Like Lovers Do (Stephen Street Mix) (b-side, 1996)

The third solo album, Bad Vibes, had sold poorly. It sort of forced Lloyd into a rethink and ultimately led to his next album, Love Story, having a song that took him back into the singles charts. The downside of the Top 30 success of Like Lovers Do was that it led to the label executives having that idea of a further best of, referred to in the narrative for the first track of this ICA and the subsequent problems which transpired.

Like Lovers Do was a deserved success, a radio-friendly, intelligent and upbeat piece of pop, just outside the mainstream but far from indie. A slightly different mix was made available as a b-side to Baby, the fourth single to be lifted from Love Story, and it’s that version which has been sneaked onto the ICA.

3. Music In A Foreign Language (Music In A Foreign Language, 2003)

The early part of the 21st Century had seen Lloyd get out on the road performing shows that were almost entirely acoustic with storytelling thrown in for good measure.  The old songs always got the loudest cheers and applause in the live setting, but there was enough of a devotion from the fans that the new material was well received, enough for Lloyd to have a go at a really stripped down record not far removed from a home recording. The result was Music In A Foreign Language, and it has a number of very fine moments, not least the title track.

4. Undressed (Lloyd Cole, 1990)

The debut album rocks in many places, but some of my favourite moments on the record come from this whimsical quieter number, where the guitar, combined with the harmonica, reminds me in places of some of Johnny Marr‘s stuff with The Smiths.   I’m sure it’s also one of Lloyd’s favourite of his songs as it’s been a constant part of his sets over the years.

5. What’s Wrong With This Picture (The Negatives, 2000)

If you recall, from the opening gambit, an album from 1996 was sitting unreleased in the record company vaults and Lloyd’s career was seemingly on hold.  He was living and working in NYC and had hooked up with a band of talented local musicians with whom he was determined to write and record.   Pulling in a few favours in terms of funding and studio time, some of 1999 was spent working up songs with his new group, now known as The Negatives.  Some of these songs were from the 1996 album, but others were new material.

It turned out that a French-based label, XIII Bis Records, had the stomach for the legal battle over publishing and recording rights and this enable The Negatives to be released in November 2000.  In this long-time fan’s view, the album proved to be one of the most unexpectedly high points of Lloyd’s entire career, sort of retrospective in many ways, but it was full of defiance to the critics who all too often had written him off, and of course those record company executives who had made recent years such a misery.

BONUS COVERS 7″

Chelsea Hotel #2 (originally by Leonard Cohen)
The Slider (originally by T.Rex)
People Ain’t No Good (originally by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

I really want to thank everyone who has contributed in any shape or form to the ICAs, either via the comments or as a guest contributor.  I never dreamed it would still be going strong after 300 editions, proving to be the most popular idea/feature I’ve managed to come up with.   #301 will, I’ve no doubt, be along shortly.

JC

 

Mock Turtles

SINCE I’M DOWN IN THIS NECK OF THE WOODS….

…..here’s a piece on The Mock Turtles, courtesy of the C88 box set.

This North Manchester band would enjoy a brief period in the sun with 1991’s ‘Can You Dig It?’, single (later resurrected for a Vodaphone ad, no less).  Back in 987, emerging from the ashes of Judge Happiness, they signed to Alan Duffy’s Imaginary label (later home of Cud and others), releasing the David Bowie-flavoured ‘Pomona EP’.

Martin Coogan (brother of comedian Steve) didn’t spare the horses – or budget – and the record featured a string section as well as the trademark ringing guitars present on ‘Mary’s Garden’, a stand-out track of the quartet which later graced debut album ‘Turtle Soup’ in 1990.  A string of singles followed, including the original version of ‘And Then She Smiles’ (now the theme tune to TV’s Stella) before the band moved to Siren and charted with their signature tune hit.

mp3: The Mock Turtles – John O’War
mp3: The Mock Turtles – Bathing In Blue
mp3: The Mock Turtles – Mary’s Garden
mp3: The Mock Turtles – The Waning Moon

This is the first time I’ve heard any of the above songs other than Mary’s Garden.

Thirty seconds into John O’War, and I’m picking up where Noel Gallagher night have found his inspiration for Wonderwall. Acoustic guitars and strings abound. And then the singing starts, and I think I’m listening to some sort of spoof of indie pop music of the late 80s as done in skits by the likes of Rob Newman and The Mary Whitehouse Experience.

Bathing In Blue is very earnest. Not really my sort of thing back in 1987 and not really my sort of thing now. I’m fearing this is turning into the sort of post I keep telling myself not to do, and that is – if you can’t find something positive to say then it’s best to say nothing at all.

Mary’s Garden is the song I did know from it being part of the C88 box set. It’s never particularly stood out, but then again there are a lot of excellent songs across the 71 songs spread across the 3xCDs. There is that Bowie-influenced vocal referenced earlier, and the guitars are typically indie of their time.

The Waning Moon sounds like Bauhaus, so there’s further evidence of the Bowie influence across the whole EP. As it turns out, this is the one which seems to have aged best of all….or so I thought until about 90 seconds in when it went all middle of the road rock.

All in all, a strange EP, offering up a mix of styles while giving no indication that a few years later, jumping on the baggy bandwagon would bring that smash hit.

JC

Smiths

WHEN I WAKE UP, WELL I KNOW I’M GONNA BE….

…..in a hotel room in Manchester, having come down on the train yesterday.  It’s a three night stay, the purpose of which is to catch up with a few folk for the first time in years, including Swiss Adam.  There’s also a visit planned to the above building to take in what, by all accounts, is an excellent exhibition on the early years of Factory Records.

I did think about offering up a Factory band of some sorts today, but then I thought I’d go back to an old favourite.  A band who haven’t been featured on the blog since ICA 150 back in December 2017.  A band I no longer listen to at all, dating back to not long after that posting for very obvious reasons.  And while I really miss the brilliance of their songs, it really is a point of principle.  But, given that I am in their home city and the mode of transport used to get me here, and of course the very important fact that this song is an instrumental,  I’ll enjoy this today:-

mp3: The Smiths – The Draize Train

A few folk I know have emptied their collection of the singles and albums by The Smiths as well as the material issued throughout the singer’s solo career.   I haven’t quite been able to go that far.

JC

The Affectionate Punch

SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapters 52 & 53)

The Monday morning high-quality rip will return in seven days, with the slot being taken up by the return of The Affectionate Punch. The world of DIY home recordings is now offering a new EP, and as far as I’m concerned, two of its tracks make for ‘Great Short Stories’.

Somebody Sometimes features three songs, written by TAP, but recorded several months apart with different vocalists that all, coincidentally, have the same theme, Glasgow.

She was truly glamorous
At least that’s how I’ll always remember her
She’d tease and spray her bouffant with care
Before leaving for the afternoon
Pubs closed at three back then
Officially re-opening at five
But often as not there was a lock-in
Morphing afternoon, into evening, into night …

A stagger to the bus stop
My shame for all to see
Her bouffant flat and listless
Her trousers now holed in one knee

This could be perceived as a sad story
Of a woman losing herself to drink
But this woman was nobody’s victim
She would not be belittled or diminished
Nor browbeaten by duplicitous do-gooders
None of whom would ever do any good
No priest, no neighbour, no family or friends
Alone she survived her husband’s death

Goodbye 1970s
You really could be cruel
You Sectioned those bereaved
You treated grief with ECT
But I knew someone trapped in your game
She escaped
She won
She remained glamorous to the end

mp3: The Affectionate Punch – Glamorous To The End

Just another Friday night
Or so it seemed
We met at the Variety as usual
We were all suitably preened
Each of us with absent partners
But then again what did that matter
We can all look but we can’t touch
We’re always blurring real and imagined worlds

Too many drinks far too fast
But that’s the machismo we honour
I have to be home by eleven
Because I’ve commitments tomorrow

And like clockwork we stumble
Into the familiar Sleazy’s
Where we watch impudent pups with ageless guitars
Laughing and throwing their youth right in our faces

It’s doubles now
And they’re followed by doubles for chasers
Hours fly by, as they always do
It’s amid zombie-phone distractions
And nostalgic conversations

I remember someone being sick
Was that me? I’m not sure?
The again, what’s a Friday night
Without sick on your shoes?

I call it a night
And I make my excuses
Hey guys, I’ve got a train to catch
Remember guys, I promised …
What happened?
I don’t understand?
How did I get here?

My face pressed against the concrete
My view is a sea of shoes
In close-up, there’s a cigarette butt, alight and poisoning
It’s bright glow stamped out amid a rabble of voices

It’s Sauchiehall Street,
Saturday the 15th June,
4.16am
I was pronounced dead

mp3: The Affectionate Punch – Late Night Sauchiehall Street

The third track is largely an instrumental.

mp3: The Affectionate Punch – For Alice

The spoken vocal on Glamourous To The End is delivered, in the most wonderful hard-edged Glasgwegian accent, by G.

The spoken vocal on Late Night Sauchiehall Street takes a slightly different approach, leaning more on a sort of public address style of delivery.  It features yours truly.

In some ways, the posting is keeping true to what you would normally get on a Monday in that the mp3s are of a low(ish) resolution, with a higher quality free download available via Bandcamp.  All you have to do is click here.

My thanks to TAP for asking me to come back for a second contribution to his work, following my debut on the Scars EP in March 2020.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 21)

This weekly series has been running for almost six months.  When it started, I had no idea that Halloween 2021 would fall on a Sunday, far less that when the time came, it would provide the spooky coincidence of featuring the most successful chart hit for The Fall.  Here’s an extract from the book Hip Priest, written by Simon Ford, and published in 2003:-

Part of The Fall’s new commercial strategy included the release of carefully chosen cover versions, exemplified in April 1987 by ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’, an old Motown standard recommended by Beggars’ press officer Karen Ehlers. The combination of a classic song plus the added quirk of Smith coming close to singing stunned the critics. Don Watson made it NME’s single of the week, while James Brown in Sounds felt overwhelmed by the ‘forceful disco inferno’.

The critics’ positive reviews and a hilarious video of Smith and Brix pursued by poltergeists, helped it become the Fall’s most successful single, reaching number 30.  Normally a new entry at that level ensured an appearance on Top of The Pops, but the call never came and Brix was left bitterly disappointed: “The Fall were never asked, I mean that was one of the biggest crises in the history of the band…me and Marcia were going, “What will we wear, what will we wear?” It was like, failure, we didn’t get on”.

mp3: The Fall – There’s A Ghost In My House

The reference to ‘me and Marcia’ gives the game away that there had, in the five months since the release of Hey! Luciani, been another change in band personnel, with Simon Rogers taking his leave to be replaced on keyboards by Marcia Schofield.  The other players on this 7″, 12″ and cassette release were MES, Brix, Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanlon and Simon Wolstencroft.  The producer was the returning Grant Showbiz, last seen with The Fall at the time of Hex Enduction Hour, but who had busy since then as the live sound engineer for The Smiths.

Before turning to the b-sides, it’s worth mentioning that 1987 was a year when The Fall just about became mainstream.  The year had begun with a lengthy tour of Germany along with dates in the Netherlands and Belgium.  A UK tour was arranged to coincide with the release of the new single, and the set lists from the period indicating a level of consistency each night not normally associated with the band – they even threw in some old favourites!

In July 1997, The Fall played their biggest gig to date, as support to U2 at Elland Road, the home stadium of Leeds United FC. It should be pointed out that they were a late replacement for World Party, but there is no way that U2’s management would have asked for The Fall if they weren’t confident of a tight, consistent and upbeat set being delivered. A few weeks later, and they were playing at Finsbury Park, London, as the special guests of Siouxsie & The Banshees.

This was followed up with a return trip to Germany as part of two shows in Hamburg and Bonn where they shared a stage with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Swans, Butthole Surfers, Die Haut, and Holy Toy, before being third top of the bill on the first day of the 1987 Reading Festival, with The Mission as the headliners.  It’s accurate to say that the band’s profile had never been higher, and yet it was their quietest ever in terms of new material, with no studio album and just one more single after Ghost (which I’ll look at next week).

As I mentioned earlier, the hits single came out on 7″, 12″ and cassette. Indeed, the 7″ came out in two different formats, with a limited edition hologram sleeve, while the 12″ gatefold had a totally different sleeve altogether.

mp3: The Fall – Haf Found Bormann

This was the b-side on the 7″, as well as being on the 12″ and cassette.  A rather bizarre offering, it had been written for, and performed during, the Hey! Luciani stage play.  It’s an MES composition, but the shouty vocals are delivered by Brix and Marcia.  In the play, the duo had played the roles of Israeli commandos tracking down Martin Bormann, Hitler’s personal secretary (don’t ask!!!).

mp3: The Fall – Sleep Debt Snatches

As found on the 12″ and cassette.  It’s more than six minutes long, and the first forty seconds lull listeners into a false sense of security as MES jauntily sings his lyrics over an upbeat but minimalist tune.  The rest is instrumental and, I’m being kind here, experimental.  Approach with caution.

mp3: The Fall – Mark’ll Sink Us

This absolute gem of a track was only made available via the 12″ single.   It’s an MES lyric over a tune co-written by Steve Hanley and Craig Hanlon. It’s a reflective and initially slow number, with an initial bassline very reminiscent of Joy Division, and before long there’s some prominent and occasionally jazzy piano being thrown in.  It’s a beguiling track from start to end, which speeds up with a chanted chorus of ‘Mark’ll Sink Us’ that fades out before the music, faster than ever, comes back in before coming to a halt a little short of five minutes.

Was MES sending out a coded message to the band members that they better be careful?  After all, as I said earlier, they were, in 1987, on the fringes of the mainstream, a position that Brix more than anyone wanted but which was anathema to MES.  It’s also been rumoured that, given how sparse the guitar work is on the song that Brix didn’t play on it…..

Any thoughts Fall fans??

Oh, I forgot to mention in the above narrative that the cassette version of the single did itself have four tracks, but Mark’ll Sink Us was replaced by Hey! Luciani.

JC

Scars

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #282: SCARS

From the archives of the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 October 2017:-

Scars were a post-punk quartet who briefly kissed the canopy of British pop at the dawn of the eighties. They formed in early ‘77, the brainchild of guitarist and bassist brothers Paul and John Mackie. A window ad in Hot Licks on Cockburn Street helped complete the line-up, with vocalist Robert King and original drummer Calumn Mackay entering the fray.

Intensive rehearsals followed and by autumn the teenage punks were ready to greet an audience. The gig took place at Balerno Scout Hall, close to where the Mackie brothers grew up.

“We performed in the place we rehearsed. We just put tickets on the door – that was the only difference,” explains King, now 56.

After their Balerno baptism the band explored Edinburgh’s gig circuit extensively. Paul Mackie – stage name Paul Research – recalls some of the venues:

“We played the Wig & Pen, The White Hart, The Nite Club, but Clouds in Tollcross was THE place at that time,” says Research, 57. “We played there with The Buzzcocks, Penetration, The Rezillos, The Skids…

“Our defining moment, though, was at Craigmillar Castle Park for the Rock Against Racism gig, where we took our underground, glamish, punk stuff to the biggest possible audience you could imagine in Edinburgh.”

Scars eventually signed for fabled local indie label, Fast Product, notable for issuing early releases by the likes of The Human League, The Gang of Four, The Mekons and Joy Division.

The group cut their first single in 1979, “Adult/ery” backed by “Horrorshow”. The latter would later be described as “Scotland’s Anarchy In The UK”.

Following their 7” success, the band signed for PRE Records, a subsidiary of UK major Charisma. Their debut album, the outstanding “Author! Author!”, arrived in 1981. The album earned five stars in Sounds magazine and a rave review from the NME’s Paul Morley.

“The whole purpose of our lives at that moment was that album,” says Robert, wistfully. “Paul Morley called it ‘probably the greatest ever debut album ever made’, so how much can you fail?”

The album was classic Scars but with a noticeably more commercial edge than previous efforts. It was the sound of a band on the up and hungry for success. It was post-punk.

“I was never that idiotic that I thought punk rock was gonnae be the be all and end all of everything,” explains Robert, “I got into music because of Marc Bolan and David Bowie. They taught you to be yourself.”

And being yourself was vital to Robert King.

“I used to slag Davy (Henderson) from the Fire Engines because he sang in a fake American accent. That doesnae work for me. People think New York is cool, why can’t Leith be cool? Why should it be any different? I never got that.”

Side A begins with “Leave Me In Autumn”. Three minutes of post-punk perfection driven by John Mackie’s ballistic bass lines and some expert lead work from Paul Research are accompanied by some of the most beautifully-bleak lyrics ever written.

“I won the St Anne’s Jesuit prize for poetry for that when I was twelve,” Robert tells me, “I got eight pounds or something, bought me loads of books.”

Arguably the most cross-over track on “Author! Author!” is the single “All About You”, one of British music’s forgotten gems. Drummer Steve McLaughlin, replacement for Calumn Mackay, made the Scars danceable with his discotheque beats. And the song’s video – shot in Edinburgh in 1981 – has since become a fascinating artefact of the Capital as it was.

“We came out with this chorus and really nailed it with that rousing, anthemic kind of thing,” reveals Research. “The video cost a lot of money to make but at that time there was no MTV, no internet, or anything, so we made a promo film that no-one could see. We really did step up and out of the mould and everything like that but at the same time it was stupid because it was a waste of money. That said, it’s legendary within my family. If ever there’s a family wedding, or anything like that, it’s always the last song of the night.”

Robert King’s take on the track isn’t quite so positive.

“We had a gap in the album and they wanted a single. So Paul came up with the idea of a single. So I thought: ‘well, what’s a single? Sortae like The Beatles and s**** like that?’. So I wrote a song like The Beatles. Done in five minutes. It didnae make any sense either but it sounded like a pop song so we did it. People think it’s a love song. It’s not. It was written on the spot, so it’s unfair to even call it a Scars song.”

The album catapulted Scars into the mainstream. An appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test, a brace of Peel Sessions and a slot on the cover of the NME marked their zenith.

But sadly, in spite of the very title “Author! Author!”, there would be no encore. Frontman Robert King quit, and, despite their best attempts to soldier on without him, the Scars disbanded in 1982. But their efforts had not been in vain. They had successfully bridged the gap between punk and new wave, and, crucially, inspired others.

“Without us there would be no Fire Engines or Josef K, Orange Juice, etc.,” asserts King, “None of that would’ve happened the way it happened. It never got to where it should have got,” he continues, “We could have been famous, but fame is not really important.”

Paul Research agrees the band never reached its full potential, nonetheless, he appears to be happy with his lot.

“Scars seems to be bigger now than it ever was back in the day. There’s more interest from a wider group of people than there ever was. I attribute that entirely to the rise of the internet and social media.”

The last few years have indeed witnessed Scars’ music undergo something of a renaissance. In 2007 “Author! Author!” was released on CD for the first time. The album sold out its first pressing in just three months.

Then came the moment an entire generation of fans had been aching for.

On December 29, 2010, Scars, boasting their original 1977 line-up, joined TV21, Malcolm Ross and special guests for a benefit gig at the HMV Picturehouse on Lothian Road.

It was quickly followed by an intimate show at nearby Citrus Club the same night.

The reunion would never be repeated, but, for a brief moment, there they were: the four of them on stage together in the city where the buzz began all those years ago.

Scars: Where are they now?

• Scars guitarist Paul Research continues to play music in Edinburgh and further afield as bassist for the UK’s fastest rising punk outfit The Heavy Drapes

• Robert King fronts two bands, Opium Kitchen and Groucho Handjob. A doctor of ancient languages, he lives in France but returns to Edinburgh regularly.

• John Mackie works as an artist in retail design and has his own band Bitter Moon

• Calumn Mackay lives in France where he works in hi-tech. He plays drums for a band called Garvin

• Steve McLaughlin lives in London as a film music producer

JC adds…..

Maybe it was a subconscious Glasgow/Edinburgh thing for me back in the day, but I never found Scars to my liking.  I did buy the debut album in 1981 but gave it away soon after in a swap with an old schoolmate for his copy of The Modern World by The Jam as my own copy of that record was scratched and jumpy.

The reference in the above newspaper article doesn’t mention that the story of Scars featured prominently in the documentary Big Gold Dream, released back in 2015, and to which I had the great privilege of attending the world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, as lovingly recounted in this blogpost.

I signed off with these words….

One thing the documentary did was make me realise and appreciate was just how important The Scars were to the development of the post-punk scene in Scotland. I’ve only ever been familiar with their one LP, Author Author, released in 1981 on Charisma Records and to be honest I’m not a fan of it. But it became quite clear from the film and the Q&A session afterwards that their one-off single for Fast Product back in March 1979 had lit the touch paper for many musicians, including the four boys that made up Josef K.

mp3: Scars – Adult-ery
mp3: Scars – Horror Show

It really was a classic 45 and more fool me for not acknowledging it for decades.

Feel free to make your mind upon the song on which the band members disagree…..

mp3: Scars – All About You

JC

Broken Chanter

CALLING KIRSTY…..

A short while back, I had a wee competition where one lucky reader could win an advance CD copy of Catastrophe Hits, the new album by Broken Chanter.

It was Kirsty whose name came out of the hat.

But here’s the thing…..I contacted Kirsty a few days back, via email, asking for an address to post the CD to, but had no reply. So, if you happen to be reading this Kirsty, I hope you can get back to me at thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk with the info. Fingers crossed.

If I don’t hear back with the next seven days, I’ll just have to make sure the CD goes to another of the competition entrants.

Cheers

JC

Fizzbombs

SURFAROUND

The Fizzbombs have featured on a couple of previous occasions, but each time it was with Sign On The Line, the debut single released on the Edinburgh-based Nardonik Records back in 1987.

The group was a very short-lived one, although its members would splinter off to other bands who were part of the Edinburgh scene at the time. Indeed, other than the debut single, there would be a shared flexidisc 7″ with fellow alumni Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes before one last effort in 1988, The Surfin’ Winter EP, on Calculus Records, a London label which issued only one other single and album, both by The Dog Faced Hermans, before going out of existence.

The lead track from the Surfin’ Winter EP was included on the C88 box-set issued a while back by Cherry Red, which is how I have a copy of the song.

mp3: Fizzbombs – Surfaround (7″ version)

Two minutes of distorted guitars and some fine melodies in homage to a sport which, back in the 80s, was only practised in lands many thousands of miles from Scotland. I’ve a feeling it’ll divide opinion.

But please, before you feel like casually dismissing it as a piece of noise that annoys, have a listen to the other four songs which made it onto the 12″ version of the EP, and you’ll surely come to the realisation that it contains a fairly decent set of tunes:-

mp3: Fizzbombs – Test Pilot
mp3: Fizzbombs – Blue Summer
mp3: Fizzbombs – Beach Party
mp3: Fizzbombs – Cherry Cherry

And yup, the final song is a cover of a Neil Diamond number, a single which back in 1966 had provided him with his own first-ever chart success.

JC

Barry Gray Orchestra

NO STRINGS ATTACHED


I thought I’d have a wee bit of fun today, with something quite different from the norm, and which might make a few of you smile in recognition of childhood memories.

From wiki:-

Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles, 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson.

In 1956 Gray joined Gerry Anderson’s AP Films and scored its first marionette puppet television series, The Adventures of Twizzle. This was followed by Torchy The Battery Boy and Four Feather Falls, a puppet Western based on a concept suggested by Gray. His association with Anderson lasted throughout the 1960s. Although best known for his score to Thunderbirds (in particular the “March of the Thunderbirds” title music), Gray’s work also included the themes to all the other “Supermarionation” productions, including Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90.

Additionally, Gray is known as the composer for the Anderson live-action series of the 1970s, such as UFO and Space: 1999 (though he was not involved in scoring The Protectors). His work in cinema included the scores to the Thunderbirds feature films Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968), and the live-action science-fiction drama Doppelgänger (1969). Gray’s professional association with Anderson and his career in TV and film scoring ended when he decided to leave the production of Space: 1999 after the completion of the first series.

I recently picked up a second-hand copy of a 10″ mini-album. Here’s all eight of its tracks, with a total running time of 20 minutes.

mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Thunderbirds (Main Theme)
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Captain Scarlet Theme
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Hijacked
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Aqua Marina
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Stingray
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – The Mysterons Theme
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Joe 90
mp3: The Barry Gray Orchestra – Parker Well Done

The last of these features vocal contributions from the actors who played Jeff Tracey, Lady Penelope and Aloysius Parker in Thunderbirds.

It’s back to the indie-schmindie tomorrow.

JC