Robert Forster

CALLING FROM A COUNTRY PHONE

Oops!

I didn’t mean to take five full months to make good on my promise, as a follow-up to this post on Danger In The Past, the debut solo album by Robert Forster, that I’d offer up some thought on its follow-up, Calling From A Country Phone, which originally came out in 1993, again on Beggars Banquet the long-time home of the Go-Betweens.

Again, I’ve picked up a copy thanks to it being reissued, on vinyl, by Needle Mythology in 2020, with the bonus of an additional 7″ single.

The first thing that has to be mentioned is that it is a totally different beast from the debut which had been recorded at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin and the backing musicians were all part of The Bad Seeds.  By 1992, Robert Forster was back in Australia, living again in Brisbane with his new wife Karin Baumler.  He had a bundle of newly written songs, which he felt had a similar sort of vibe as much of the earliest material he had written for the Go-Betweens.

He decided his needs would best be met if he could return to the same small studio where it had all began in Brisbane back in the late 70s but to do so with musicians he didn’t know.  Acting on advice and a tip from an old friend who ran a record shop in the city, Robert went to a well known pub venue, the Queen’s Arms, where he saw a band called COW who also had members of another band called Custard playing with them that night.  He liked what he was hearing, and he asked if they would like to work with him to make a new album. All the musicians were at least ten years younger than him, and he had no idea if they would be compatible in the studio environment. It’s probably best, at this stage, to let Robert explain:-

It was risky and deliberate. I’d written ten songs from mid-1990 to mid-1992 in the Bavarian farmhouse where I had been living with my German wife.  Moving to Brisbane. my aim was to make a record to the exact opposite of Danger In The Past.  Why? The songs led me there, and you always have to follow the songs.

The studio…..was funky.  I hired a Hammond organ for the session and a four piece band could record together in the room. We weren’t making a huge contemporary rock record; in fact it wasn’t much like anything anyone was doing at the time. Unadorned, raw, with a cracked seventies AM radio vibe to it. Listening now, I am struck by its boldness and beauty – we really did go out on a limb.

(taken from the sleeve notes to the reissued album)

The one thing I can say is that I’m pleased I didn’t buy the album back in 1993 as I would have been quite disappointed. Almost thirty years on, and my tastes are a bit broader than before and my tolerance levels that bit higher.  Oh, and there’s also the fact that I’ve enjoyed many of the subsequent solo albums, as well as much of the material from the period when the Go-Betweens reformed, which means a lot more slack can be cut knowing better records would follow rather than worrying, as I would have back in the day, that Robert had lost it forever.

Calling From A Country Phone feels more like a collection of songs rather than an album which hangs well together.  Most of the tracks have an Americana feel to them, with pedal steel and violin often to the fore, along with that honky-tonk piano sound that I associate with scenes set in saloon bars in films or TV shows set in the Wild West.  The musicians brought on board for the album are quite clearly very good, nay excellent, at what they do, but I can’t help but feel there’s no real chemistry with Robert.

The main man perhaps has a sense of this too, mentioning further in his sleeve notes that it was unfortunate the band never got the chance to play outside of Australia and that perhaps the live experience would have better explained the record and what he was doing.

Anyways, that’s my take on it and there will likely be many folk out there who disagree strongly.  The album certainly gets a very good write-up in a number of places, with references to a gentle acoustic sound melding perfectly with the wistfully rueful vocals, as well as fine country-rockers with some typically trenchant lyrics and cinematic choruses.

Judge for yourself:-

mp3: Robert Forster – Atlanta Lie Low
mp3: Robert Forster – Falling Star

I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression, however, that I thought this purchase was a waste of money. C’mon, it’s Robert Forster and there’s a few moments on the album which could just about find themselves on an ICA of the solo material; but overall, while it’s not one I’ve had on heavy rotation since it landed in Villain Towers, it hasn’t been put in the cupboard to be completely forgotten about.

If I was to use the ratings deployed by some of the monthly music mags, it would likely be three stars;  in other words, a borderline pass.

JC

Lightning Seeds

IT REALLY WAS A CRACKING DEBUT SINGLE (60)

Sometimes, I find that pieces that have previously appeared on the blog would work perfectly for some sort of series that has been thought-up and introduced many years later.  These are my words from 17 September 2014:-

Ian Broudie was a big part of the Liverpool new wave scene in the late 1970s. A member of Big in Japan (which also featured Holly Johnson and Bill Drummond) he then formed The Original Mirrors in the early ’80s, and was credited as a member of Bette Bright and the Illuminations on their lone album from 1981.

In 1983, he formed the band Care with vocalist Paul Simpson and the duo released three outstanding singles before breaking up. Though he was a busy writer, performer and session musician through the 1980s, Broudie was much more well-known a producer, working with Echo and The Bunnymen, The Icicle Works, The Colourfield, The Pale Fountains and The Fall amongst many others, often using the pseudonym “Kingbird”.

In 1989, Broudie began recording alone under the name The Lightning Seeds – he has since said it was an experiment to see if he could cut it as a muso – and in this guise as a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer, he would achieve much success beginning with this wonderful debut single:-

mp3 : The Lightning Seeds – Pure

A #16 hit in the UK, the two follow-up singles from debut LP Cloudcuckooland failed abysmally and like most folk, I reckoned that could very well have been the end of The Lightning Seeds. But two years later, he/they returned and hit the Top 30 with Sense and for much of the rest of the decade became chart regulars, picking up lots of new fans in particular after the huge success of Three Lions, the official anthem of the England football side for the Euro 96 championships.

Some later material might have been bigger hits, but I don’t think there was ever anything better than that debut single. Here’s the excellent b-sides from the 12″ copy that’s been sitting in the cupboard all these years after I picked it up for 99p in a bargain bin in Woolworth’s.

mp3 : The Lightning Seeds – Fools
mp3 : The Lightning Seeds – God Help Them

JC

Trashcan Sinatras

THE PERFECT REMINDER by CRAIG McALLISTER


A pal of mine, and of this blog, has written a book.

But not just any book.

It is called The Perfect Reminder, and it is 350 pages wholly devoted to I’ve Seen Everything, the second album recorded by Trashcan Sinatras which was released in 1993.  The book has been written and published to coincide with the remastering, repressing and reissuing of the album by Last Night From Glasgow.

LNFG is a not-for-profit label that was founded in 2016, since which time it has done a ridiculous amount of great work to promote and support some of the best new music coming out of Scotland and further afield.  More recently, the label established Past Night From Glasgow (PNFG) as a way to make it easier for fans to pick up vinyl copies of some classic albums from years gone by.  It was always a dream of LNFG founder, Ian Smith, to be able to re-release I’ve Seen Everything as it’s his favourite Scottish album ever, and having been given the green light to do so, he then turned his thoughts to create a book telling the story of the making of the album, of its songs, of its artwork and to link all this into some of the backstory of the band itself.

Ian turned to Craig McAllister and asked if he would take on the task.  Craig, as any of you have ever visited the blog/website Plain or Pan will know, is a tremendously gifted and able writer, someone who really could have made a name for himself if he’d ever looked to be a music journalist.  He’s also from the area in which the Trashies grew up and, back in the early 90s was himself a budding musician whose band had rehearsal space at Shabby Road, Kilmarnock, the very studios in which I’ve Seen Everything was mostly recorded. As such, he was around when the songs were developing from demos into fully-formed things of beauty, all of which made him the ideal person to take on the task.

As the blurb on the LNFG website states, the book features interviews with the band and the likes of Chas Smash, Pete Paphides, Gideon Coe, Emma Pollock, Roddy Hart, Eddi Reader and many more.  I happen to be one of the ‘many more’ as Craig also sought out contributions from fans, and my musings have been given over to all of Page 275.

The Perfect Reminder is an absolute gem, perfect itself in every way imaginable as it’s the sort of book that you don’t have to be a fan of the band to enjoy.  What it most certainly will do is make you want to own a copy of the album so that you can listen to what all the understandable fuss is all about.

Craig has done an incredible job in knitting it all together, ably editing down what must have been endless hours of chats with not only the five members of Trashcan Sinatras,  but also the many others involved either on the creative side of things or who were part of the supporting network/entourage in the early 90s.  Alongside the words you’ll also enjoy portraits and images, most of which have been taken by Stephanie Gibson, herself a very well-known face across the music scene in this part of the world, while the contribution of Brooklyn-based, and long-time band associate, Chris Dooley, in the design process has helped create something more akin to a piece of art rather than a mere book.

There’s so many parts of the book that I want to share with you, but in the end I’ve settled on the backstory to The Hairy Years, the last but-one track on the album, as told by its co-writer, John Douglas:-

When I was 12 or 13, the family went on a summer holiday to Pontins in Filey, a seaside holiday camp with amusements, funfairs, various sports halls and probably bars, although I was too young to notice.

I was always a sucker for twinkly lights, so as soon as I was set free from parental gazes, my savings were flung into the nearest exciting flashing lights machine, promising fun and prizes…delivering neither.

The first day ended with me knowing heart-sinking skintness, a larger than usual burden of guilt and a lingering anger at being taken for a ride. The seriousness of my situation was mainly because I knew I was on a promise to bring my Gran home a present.

My cashlessness and the frightening thought of not returning with a present for my expectant, formidable Gran became a constant time bomb ticking throughout the holiday as it slowly passed to its last day.

In desperation, I decided to nick a snow scene from the souvenir shop and, somehow, I found the nerve to do it and the skill to get away with it.

Thus, with a swipe of a souvenir, my first autonomous ‘adult’ act was committed. I did not do as I was told. I did not do as I was brought up to do. I stepped into a kind of independence…criminally so, but there we are.

A small, guilt-driven, event became a milestone. I was no longer a frightened wee boy. I was on my way to something else. As the song says…’Here began my hairy years….’

mp3: Trashcan Sinatras – The Hairy Years

The Perfect Reminder will soon be available to buy in stores and via the online markets, but you can pick it up now by clicking here for the link at the LNFG website, and at a price which is 20% cheaper than what will be the RRP.  You can also pick up a specially designed t-shirt and tote bag if you like.   Elsewhere, you can click here to purchase the album, while a good browse around the website will also show what other goodies are on offer, including membership of LNFG for 2022, which itself comes very highly recommended.

I just want to show you the way…..

JC

Twilight Sad

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Thirty Four : THAT SUMMER, AT HOME I HAD BECOME THE INVISIBLE BOY

This was very much a candidate for the ‘Cracking Debut Singles’ series, but in the end it nudged its way into the list of those songs that I want to offer the opportunity to listen to at 320kpbs, straight from the vinyl.

mp3: The Twilight Sad – That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy

It first appeared, in November 2006 on the US-only release, on CD, of a self-titled EP containing five tracks.  Here in the UK, we had to wait until early April 2007 when the band’s label, Fat Cat, issued the debut album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, although quite a few fans (including yours truly) had previously been able to give it a listen thanks to the EP being available in some indie record shops – whether it had come in on import or whether Fat Cat had sent out copies direct from their base in Brighton, England, I have no idea.

It was then chosen for release as a single, some two weeks after the album had appeared in the shops, via a relatively limited pressing on 7″ vinyl, with a previously unreleased track on its b-side.

More than fifteen years later, it still has the ability to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, especially when it is played live with the full band.  I never experienced the full weight of the My Bloody Valentine sonic experience, but the occasions when ‘That Summer….’ has been blasted out, particularly at the Barrowlands in Glasgow, surely must have come close.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 17)

Another song that I only picked up on a few years after its release as a single in October 1985.  My excuse being that I had graduated from university a few months previously, moving almost immediately to Edinburgh to start my first job in July 1985.  Money was tight, and much of my salary went on the rent for a room in a shared flat, albeit in a very nice part of the city.  The three of us all worked – mine was office based with regular hours, but the flatmates worked in hotels and bars, often on night shifts, which meant there was little opportunity to play records or tapes without causing a disturbance.  It proved to be the beginning of my drifting away, for the most part, from music for a few years.

I was also not yet familiar with the alternative scene in Edinburgh, and so wouldn’t know the clubs or places that would likely play The Fall or indeed any of the music I liked.  Besides, most other folk in my office (i.e 100%) were a tad more straight-laced when it came to music….something that only changed when Jacques the Kipper appeared on the scene some five years later.

Why am I telling you all this?  I suppose it is partly confessional as Cruiser’s Creek is up there as one of my favourite of all the songs written and recorded by The Fall and I really wish I had been aware of it at the time of its release, and not a few years later when I got my copy of The Fall 45 84 89 compilation. I have, however, danced to it loads of times over recent  years as I always made a request for it at the Little League nights when they used to take place, and John was always willing to indulge me.

Cruiser’s Creek is brilliant.  It’s also bonkers.

Putting the backstory together nowadays is much easier, thanks to the internet and the various fan sites devoted to The Fall, but trying to work it all out back in 1985 was a very tough task. Mark E Smith, in a contemporary interview with one of the music weeklies, said ‘it’s a party lyric with a party twist’.  I’m thinking he was referring to the utter danceability of the song, with a pacey riff and sing-along-chorus, albeit so many of the words in the verses are hard to pick out or fathom.  Reading them written down many years later and there’s confirmation that MES is having a sly dig at two of the year’s biggest happenings in the music world – Red Wedge and ZTT Records.

One of the most astonishing things to emerge in later years is that Cruiser’s Creek was the name of a library on a ship on which MES had spent time with Brix’s family after her grandparents had taken all the relatives on a fiftieth wedding anniversary cruise.  It seems that MES, in trying to escape all the fuss that was happening throughout, retreated to Cruiser’s Creek where he did some writing, seemingly using the location for the title but making the narrative about an office party.  Whether he was comparing the agonies of an office party at one of his former places of employment on Salford Docks with having to spend days at sea with the extended Salenger family, we can only make an assumption……

mp3: The Fall – Cruiser’s Creek

The version on offer today is taken from the compilation album, and it is a couple of minutes shorter than the original single, which ran to over six minutes in length, released on 7″ and 12″ vinyl, with the 7″ playing at 33 ⅓ RPM.  But never fear, I’ve the promo video to provide the full version:-

Here’s your b-sides:-

mp3: The Fall – L.A.
mp3: The Fall – Vixen

The former, which is mainly an instrumental with a few snippets of lyrics/dialogue thrown in. The tune was written by Brix, as a homage to her home city. It seems that MES leaned on the TV series TJ Hooker, starring William Shatner as a cop, for inspiration. Unusually for a Fall 45, it wasn’t a new song, as it had been one of the tracks on the album This Nation’s Saving Grace, released the previous month.

The latter, only found on the 12″, is a Brix song on which her vocal is very prominent….it becomes a Mr & Mrs Smith duet in due course….and while it’s harmless and inoffensive enough, it doesn’t stand up to repeated playings. I do wonder if any other member of the band had presented it as a tune whether it would actually have seen light of day.

Fun fact, specifically, for JTFL-Ahh.

Vixen was never played live, but seemingly a snippet of it was played by Brix during an in-store appearance by The Fall at Texas Records, 2204 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica on Saturday 23 March 1985.

Your musicians on this one were Mark E Smith (vocals), Brix Smith (guitar, vocals), Craig Scanlon (guitar), Steve Hanley (bass), Simon Rogers (bass, guitar, keyboards) and Karl Burns (drums).  John Leckie could again be found in the producer’s chair.

Cruiser’s Creek reached the giddy heights of #96 in the UK singles chart.

JC

Rote Kappelle

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #278: ROTE KAPELLE

From wiki:-

Rote Kapelle were a post-punk/indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, active during the 1980s. Its band members included musicians who were also members of Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes and The Shop Assistants.

The band was formed in the early 1980s by Andrew Tully (vocals) and Marguerite Vasquez-Ponte (vocals), both of whom would also form Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, with Chris Henman (guitar), Ian Binns (keyboards, also a member of The Stayrcase), Malcolm Kergan (bass, also a member of The Thanes), and Jonathan Muir (drums).

The band’s debut release was The Big Smell Dinosaur EP in late 1985, after which they were signed by Marc Riley’s In-Tape label. Tully described the band’s sound in 1987 as a blend of noisy post-punk and anorak pop. Vasquez-Ponte was also a member of a third band, The Fizzbombs, alongside the Desperadoes’ Angus McPake and The Shop Assistants’ former drummer Ann Donald. They released two further singles and two more EP’s, one of which featured tracks from their Peel Session, before splitting when Vasquez-Ponte joined the re-formed Shop Assistants. An LP, No North Briton, was released in 1990.

I’m sure I saw Rote Kapelle play live in Edinburgh in the mid 80s, but I don’t recall ever getting round to buying any of their records.  Thankfully, they have become something of a staple across various box sets/compilations harking back to the era, and I’ve been able to acquaint myself with four of their songs, including this wonderful piece of noise from the C88 box set issued a while back by Cherry Red:-

mp3: Rote Kapelle – Fire Escape

JC

Cinerama

AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #296 : CINERAMA

It’s been a while since I actually came up with an ICA.  I thought it might be an idea to get one in before the blog turns 16 (Oh, and many thanks for all your kind words and wishes yesterday).

Those of you who followed the old series on the Cinerama singles back in April -June 2016 will be very familiar with much of the contents of this particular post.  I offer no apologies…..

For those who don’t know, Cinerama came into being in 1997 as a result of David Gedge deciding he wanted a different sort of sound from the guitar-pop he had been making with The Wedding Present. This new band was conceived as a duo with his girlfriend Sally Murrell with the addition of all sorts of collaborators depending on the music they came up with.  Over a six-year period there would be three studio albums and twelve singles.  There would also be eleven Peel Sessions/live performances, all of which would subsequently be gathered in one place and made available via a box set.

Lyrically, the songs remained everything that fans had come to love about TWP, while the music, once you got your head around the fact that David Gedge was now composing complicated arrangements with strings, woodwind and all sorts, was delightful and immensely enjoyable to listen to, as I hope I can prove with what this ICA (and bonus EP).

SIDE A

1. Maniac (from Va Va Voom, 1998)

The opening track from the debut album seems as good a place to start as any. Aside from David Gedge and Sally Murrell, there are a further fourteen musicians who make some sort of contribution to the album, with cellos, violins, flutes, oboes and trumpets to the fore alongside the standard guitar/bass/drums and keys. There was also a very special guest vocalist whom I’ll return to later on.

Subject wise, it’s another of the many Gedge classics about the aftermath of a relationship coming to an end.  One in which the protagonist is unable to let go, and over a lovely, almost pastoral tune, gets scarily unhinged.

2. Health and Efficiency (Peel Session, May 2001)

“Health And Efficiency isn’t exactly the catchiest of Gedge’s tunes, but it is probably his most ambitious. It proved once and for all that he was no one-trick pony.”

That was the very astute comment left behind by The Robster when I posted the single version of Health and Efficiency during that series back in 2016.  It was the ninth single and would later be used as the closing track on the third and final studio album, Torino.

I think it’s fair to say it is an epic, taking over 90 seconds of music and sampled dialogue before a very sad, reflective and ultimately depressing vocal about how time and the ageing process impacts on relationships. And just as it took ages for the lyric to begin, there’s as equally a long process involved as the tune continues and stretches out post-vocal, again with the aid of sampled dialogue, right out to almost six and a half minutes. Not for the faint of heart.

3. Lollobrigida (from Disco Valente, 2000)

By the time Cinerama had gone into the studio to record Disco Valente, their second album, they had expanded to a five-piece band with the addition of Terry de Castro (bass) and Simon Pearson (drums) who had been the rhythm section of indie-band Goya Dress, as well as Simon Cleave who had played guitar with The Wedding Present in the mid-late 90s.

There was a further connection to the old days with the decision to engage Steve Albini on production/engineering duties for Disco Valente, but anyone anticipating something akin to Seamonsters would have been sorely disappointed.  Lollobrigida was also released as a single.It starts off sounding a little bit like a quieter number by TWP, and just as you perhaps are being lulled into a false sense that it really isn’t going to go anywhere or do anything, the accordion kicks in, and it transforms itself from an ugly duckling of a tune to the most graceful swan.

And if you want some proof of how happy Davod Gedge seemed to be with his lot, then consider that here he is presenting his long-term girlfriend and muse with a song in which he compares her favourably to a famously stunning Italian actress.

4. Quick Before It Melts (single, 2002)

It’s a tale about infidelity via a one-night stand.  It is up there with the very best of the songs that David Gedge has ever composed.  I really should have kept it back for the songs which make great short stories series.

And when you said: “I’ve got nothing on beneath this dress”, that was such great flirting!
I usually find such candidness sort of disconcerting
But you said: “I don’t wear underwear because it leaves a stripe
People sneer, but do you think I care? They’re usually not my type!”

And soon we’re reeling from the beer that we keep buying
You ask me what I’m doing here and I start lying
You’re wondering what is on my mind is it a one night stand?
You laugh and say: “Baby I’m not blind!” and then you squeeze my hand

But please, let’s be quick before it melts
Please, let’s just be quick before it melts

The next thing I know we’re in the street and we’re being sleazy
You ask me if I want to eat, but I’m too uneasy
You put your hand onto the very place my girlfriend’s hand should be
You haven’t exactly got the kind of face that invites honesty

But please, let’s be quick before it melts
Please, let’s just be quick before it melts
You said: “If it feels right I just might let you sleep with me tonight
And then tomorrow, if you do go, you have my word, no-one will ever know”

An extended version was recorded and included on Torino. It consists of an extra two minutes of plaintive piano over church bells and chirping birds. I’ve often wondered if this is meant to represent the following morning when they wake up, and it becomes more than a one-night stand; or is it, perhaps, set in the future when the male protagonist is on his way to church to get married to his long-term girlfriend, but he reflects on a previous but unmentionable night of passion?

5. Love (b-side, 1998)

Cinerama announced themselves with the release of the single Kerry Kerry in July 1998.  It was issued as two separate 7″ singles and a CD single, offering up four additional songs as b-sides, all of which were every bit as wonderful as the a-side, which itself was voted in at #15 in the Peel Festive 50 at the end of the year.  I’ve long had a soft spot for this wonderfully sexy and occasionally kinky duet in which the guest vocalist is Emma Pollock of The Delgados.  It starts off with a spoken vocal, in French, before a happy couple then describe to one another just what it is that makes them fall head over heels.  Emma clearly had great fun with this one as she returned to the studio to add a vocal to one of the tracks on Va Va Voom.

6. Honey Rider (from Va Va Voom, 1998)

This side of the ICA began with the opening track from the debut album, and it ends with its closing track.  There are flashes of the Cinerama sound on this one, but it could equally have fitted well as one of the quieter numbers on a piece of vinyl released by TWP.

SIDE B

1. Wow (extended version) (from Disco Valente, 2000)

By rights, given this is another of my all-time favourite David Gedge song, this should have been placed somewhere on Side A.  It’s on this side simply for the reason that having already offered up Health and Efficiency, I wanted to separate the two lengthy numbers on the ICA.

I’ll just repeat what I said when I posted the single version back in 2016:-

“It’s another of the songs about infidelity. What I love about this lyric is how the protagonist spends the first two and half minutes detailing all the nagging doubts about cheating on his girlfriend, even as he climbs the stairs to a bedroom. And then…..

……he utters “But don’t close the door because I’m still not sure.”, after which there is a gap as he makes his mind up. A gap that is about two seconds in length…………….just long enough to let the listener know he’s feeling guilty but just short enough to let the listener know that lust has again triumphed over love.

Songwriting of the raw and brutal variety.”

The single fades out after four minutes as the guitars are reaching their crescendo.  The album version goes on for another almost three minutes during which time some brass comes in over the top of the tune, building up to what can only be described as a huge climax before bang!!!!……and a final 45 seconds to contemplate what you’ve just been party to.  Or am I reading too much into it?

2. Ears (from Va Va Voom, 1999)

Hello again Ms. Pollock.  The twisted indie antithesis of Elton John & Kiki Dee………..

3. Apres Ski (from Disco Valente, 2000)

A lot of the Cinerama material does seem to recall film soundtracks from the 60s, with the occasional nod to John Barry.

Apres Ski, the very sad tale of an older woman’s one-night stand with a younger man (possibly, and indeed most likely from her workplace), not only leans on the music from that decade but has a lyric in which said music is heavily referenced in the lyrics as a reference point for said woman.  It’s one of the cleverest of all the David Gedge compositions.

4. Superman (live version, June 2000)

Superman was the eighth single to be released by Cinerama, released in early 2001, but was already well-known to fans as one of the most popular tracks on Disco Valente which had been released the previous year.  It had also been part of a set that had been broadcast by BBC Radio 1 back in June 2000, when the five-piece band, backed by two cellists, two violinists, a flautist and a trumpeter descended on the famous Maida Vale studios and played before an invited audience, including their old friend John Peel.  Included here instead of the studio version to give an idea of how good they were in the live setting.

5. Comedienne (from Va Va Voom, 1999)
6. Careless (from Torino, 2002)

Two tracks deliberately chosen to close things off to offer up evidence that the remnants of TWP were there at the beginning of Cinerama and, by the time what proved to be the final album was being recorded, the guitars were again increasingly to the fore.

Was Careless a sign of the direction the band were going and perhaps that Cinerama had run its course? In all honesty, it’s hard to say.

It was shortly after the Torino tour that David and Sally, after a 14-year relationship, broke-up, and she took her leave of the band. During 2003 and 2004, there were further Peel Sessions and the idea was that a fourth Cinerama album would be recorded and released. In the end, almost all the songs first heard on Peel did make it into an album, but it was Take Fountain by The Wedding Present, which was released, to huge critical acclaim, on 14 February 2005.

It was tempting to include some of those Peel session songs on this ICA, but in my mind they are associated with the ‘comeback’ TWP album.

BONUS EP

TWP were famed for cover versions. Cinerama proved to be no different, coming up with all sorts of things for b-sides and/or Peel Sessions

A. Yesterday Once More (Peel Session, July 2000)
B. London (b-side, 2000)
C. Elenore (Peel Session, August 1999)
D. Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) (Peel Session, November 2003)

Originals by The Carpenters, The Smiths, The Turtles and Spiller (featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor). All of them turned into something akin to a Gedge original.

JC

Pull In Emergency

15

 

I’ve been on-line.

“Planning a 15th birthday party? Make it spectacular with these fun, creative, and cool 15th birthday party ideas for girls and boys. Whether you’re planning an elaborate Quinceañera or a casual gathering with friends, you’ll find inspiring ideas here that will make your landmark birthday unforgettable.

1) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Slumber Party

If you don’t have a lot of money to spend and feel like laying low on your 15th birthday, invite a group of friends over for a 15th birthday slumber party. Build one of these epic blanket forts from BuzzFeed.com. Then enjoy birthday cake and snacks while watching your favorite movies shrouded in the warmth of friendship, the comfort of being home, and a blanket fortress of your making.

2) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Zoo Sleepover Party

Zoos make great 15th birthday party venues. Most offer party space, accommodations, and entertainment, and some even let private parties spend the night. Arrive at the zoo at evening and you and friends can enjoy a private tour, complete with activities and games. Then unroll your sleeping bag, get cozy, and slumber under the stars among nature’s rarest wild animals.

3) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Campout, Bonfire Party

A bonfire campout party is another fun, affordable way to celebrate your 15th birthday. Have mom and dad help you set up your yard or reserve a campsite for your 15th birthday party. Prepare fixings for fireside classics such as smores, pudgy pies, and hot dogs. And, celebrate your 15th birthday surrounded by friends, good food, and nature.

4) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Tour A Chocolate Factory

Turn fifteen while sampling a variety of chocolate and learning how America’s favorite candy is made on a chocolate factory tour. Some chocolate factories date all the way back to the 1800s, so in addition to experiencing first hand how bitter beans are transformed into mouthwatering sweets, you’ll receive a history lesson on where chocolate comes from and how it became the household item it is today. Do a search online to see if there are any chocolate factories in your area.

5) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Laser Tag

From standard team and solo matches to capture the flag, juggernaut matches, and role-playing matches, laser tag is as diverse as it is high-tech and entertaining. Plus, it’s painless, so you can really go all out. Do a search online to see if there are any laser tag venues in your area. If you have a lot of land or there’s a park you’re thinking of reserving for your 15th birthday, check for mobile laser tag companies, which bring all the equipment you need to you.

6) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Renascence Fair, Midevil Times

Celebrate your 15th birthday party the old-fashioned way, with jousting tournaments, festival food, and theatrical entertainment. Invite a group of friends to attend a renascence fair with you for the weekend, or, if you live near one, pay a visit to Midevil Times. Require guests to dress in midevil garb and top yourself off with a regal-looking-birthday crown or tiara. Order a custom guestbook and have all the peasants sign the king or queen’s ledger.

7) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Pool Party, Water Park

Turn 15 while relaxing and catching rays poolside with a group of friends. Reserve space at the public pool, a water park, or rent a room at a hotel with a pool. Gather friends and family and celebrate your 15th birthday with a splash at a water-themed destination of your choosing.

8) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Museum Sleepover Party

Contact your local museums to find out if they offer private tours or special discounts for groups, and create lasting memories with friends exploring and enveloping yourself in cultural artifacts, history, and more. Some museums offer sleepover events complete with scavenger hunts, mystery games, and flashlight tours; see if you can reserve space at one for your 15th birthday party.

9) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Farm, Petting Zoo, Nature Center

Although it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of your 15th birthday, a farm can make for an eventful, interesting place to celebrate. There are a variety of destination farms with petting zoos, horseback riding, carriage rides, pick-able crops, and more on premise that will provide special accommodations for private parties. Beyond what we just mentioned, some farms also have corn mazes, hayrides, bonfires, and much, much more. Do a quick search online to learn more about destination farms are in your area.

10) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Hiking, Picnic

Plan an outdoor adventure for your 15th birthday with a group of friends. Pack a picnic, plan an epic hike, and celebrate your 15th birthday while conquering a challenging trek with good friends. As the end of your hike nears, find a spot with a view, unpack your picnic, and enjoy refreshments and sense of accomplishment amidst gorgeous scenery.

11) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Celebrate at Sea

From yachts to small fishing boats to canoes and kayaks, there are a vast array of vessels to choose from, that vary is size and cost, for your 15th birthday party. Choose something that suits your budget, guest list, and interests. For an affordable, adventurous 15th birthday, rent kayaks and canoes with a group of friends and family. Plan a weekend voyage. Kayak between islands, through streams, or on the open water and campout at different destinations at night. If you have a lot to spend, party with friends in a luxurious yacht or charter a guide and fishing boat and make your 15th birthday unforgettable with the catch of your lifetime.

12) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Hula Hoop Class, Dance Class

Hula hoops have been around a long time, but over the past decade or so performers have been using it in new, sophisticated ways to dance, execute tricks, and entertain. You can hire professional hula hoopers to perform at your 15th birthday party, or you can try this modern phenomena for yourself with friends at a hula hooping class. Do a search online to see what’s available in your area.

13) 15th Birthday Party Ideas: Arcade, Game Truck

If you have a lot to spend on your 15th birthday, and you love video games, consider renting a game truck for your 15th birthday party. Celebrate with friends inside of a massive truck, equipped with at least 4 HDTVs and drives directly to your home, playing the latest games on the latest consoles.”

Sorry if any of the above happen to rock your boat, cos they ain’t happening.  You’ll need to make do with this piece of indie-pop.

mp3: Pull In Emergency – 15 Years

A short-lived band of teenagers from London who released one album back in 2010.  I only know of them from Jacques the Kipper including this particular track on his rundown of the best music of the year.  Here’s a slightly harsh review, written back in the day by Dave Rowlinson for the diymag website:-

Good God, it’s the sound of the indie club come to life. The floor’s sticky with spilt cheap vodka. ‘15 Years’ comes on, a slow but easily recognisable start; enough time for a nod at your mates, and quickly onto the dancefloor.

That voice that every girl in every mid-nineties Britpop band had, yelpy and custard thick with suggestion, and slightly posh and slightly not posh. A shout-along lyric about how boys are, like, so annoyingly rubbish (which the boys are fine with cos indieboys revel in their adorable rubbishness, and it means someone’s paying them some attention and this one mentions lost souls which you all are, right?). Repeat lines over and over and louder and louder and gallop into the chorus again.

You’re not sure you like it, but it’s great fun, and you’ve bellowed out every word and flailed around with your eyes closed. ‘What’s on next? Oh… let’s get more vodka’. Barely remembered ace times.

This blog is now firmly in its adolescent, ill-mannered and unpredictable years.  Don’t you be telling me what I can and can’t do……….

JC

Jilted John

HERE WE GO…2,3,4.

Adapted from wiki and the Jilted John website

Graham Fellows was an 18-year-old drama student at Manchester Polytechnic when he first came to prominence in August 1978 as the eponymous singer of the novelty record “Jilted John”, a first-person narrative of a boorish, bitter teenager with a thick Essex accent whose girlfriend Julie had left him for another man named Gordon, “just ’cause he’s better lookin’ than me, just ’cause he’s cool and trendy”. The song became known for the refrain “Gordon is a moron” repeated several times.

Fellows later said: “I’d written a couple of songs and I wanted to record them. So I went into a local record shop and asked if they knew any indie or punk labels. They said there were two, Stiff in London and Rabid just down the road. So I phoned Rabid up, and they told me to send in a demo. We did the demos with the late Colin Goddard – of Walter & the Softies – on guitar, and the drummer and bass player of the Smirks. I took it along to Rabid, who loved it … so we re-recorded it a few days later, at Pennine Studios, with John Scott playing guitar and bass and Martin Zero (aka Martin Hannett) producing.”

The single, issued by Rabid in April 1978 (TOSH 105), featured “Going Steady” as the A-side and “Jilted John” as the B-side.

However, Piccadilly Radio in Manchester began playing the flip, following which a couple more local independent radio stations also jumped on the bandwagon, leading to Rabid doing a quick bit of re-promotion.  Sales were steady in the north-west of England which brought it to the attention of the NME initially via Tony Parsons declaring it as ‘Single of The Week’ and then local correspondent Paul Morley referencing it in a wider piece on the Manchester music scene.  This all led to John Peel playing it on his show and seemingly making the comment that if the single was promoted by a major record label, then it would be a huge hit.

Cue EMI deciding to get on board, given it a wider release in August 1978. It ended up going all the way to #4 in the UK singles chart, which led to Jilted John and Gordon the Moron making three appearances on Top Of The Pops, which have been very cleverly pulled together in one clip:-

Come the end of the year, it proved to be the 29th biggest selling single of the year.

mp3: Jilted John – Jilted John
mp3: Jilted John – Going Steady

Two absolute banging tunes……..

JC

Scritti Politti

HERE WE GO….AFTER A 19-MONTH GAP

I’d never have believed anyone who suggested after the Norman Blake/Euro Childs gig at the Strathaven Hotel back on Friday 21 February 2020 that it would be just over 19 months before I saw any live music again.

The COVID pandemic has been an absolute bastard for all sorts of reasons and in so many ways.  And yet, relatively speaking, I’ve not been badly affected by its impacts other than it has put a stop, temporarily, to so many things that are enjoyable.

When the venues were first closed down, I really resented it all. It wasn’t just the music that I was missing – indeed, that felt secondary to the fact that so many familiar and friendly faces were disappearing off the radar.  But, and I’ll be brutally honest here, as time has gone on, that resentment disappeared, and I began to get used to a gig-free life, helped by the fact that some of the familiar and friendly faces were keeping in touch via catch-ups in bars and cafés. I actually wondered at times if my enthusiasm for live music would ever be rekindled, especially as I was getting e-mail after e-mail advising of yet another cancellation for tickets bought such a long time ago.

It took until 18 August 2021 for the Scottish Government to publish its guidance for the reopening of cultural events and venues.  My first scheduled gig, as far as already owned tickets were concerned, was scheduled to be Arab Strap at Glasgow Barrowlands on Friday 10 September.  But at the same time as this was being confirmed, other gigs in smaller venues were being cancelled or rescheduled, which got me thinking whether or not it truly was safe to go back to a music venue.  In the end, I took the difficult decision to give Aidan and Malcolm a miss, far from secure in my mind that I wouldn’t be going to some sort of super-spreader event, unnecessarily putting my own health, and that of my wife, parents and close contacts at risk.

My next gig was scheduled to be Scritti Politti at St Luke’s, Glasgow on Monday 27 September.  This really felt like something of an acid test.  The venue was smaller but being a converted church had a very high ceiling so wouldn’t feel claustrophobic or likely get too hot and stuffy. The band was likely to attract a more mature audience who were more likely to follow the advice around spacing and the wearing of masks, which would take care of some of my main concerns. Finally, even though it was a ‘safer’ gig than many, it was still likely to be less than 100% capacity as some folk would still need some convincing that it was a sensible thing to be there.

You’ll have worked it out that I did go along, accompanied by my sidekick Aldo, who just happened to be with me at Norman Blake/Euros Childs all those months ago.  And yes, it was his return to the live scene too.

Our verdict?  It really couldn’t have gone any better or been any more enjoyable.

There proved to be no issues whatsoever to cause any undue anxiety that St Luke’s would prove to be an unsafe environment.

And the music turned out to be quite special too.

Support was provided by Alexis Taylor, best known as the lead vocalist with Hot Chip.  Although I was unfamiliar with much of the material, his 45-minute set of largely gentle and easy-paced songs, centred around him on either keyboards or guitar, provided an ideal reintroduction to live music.  I just happened to be at the bar when he offered up an excellent cover version of Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones for about his fifth or sixth song, and I remarked that I’d love someone to cover Wild Horses by Prefab Sprout for a change.  To my utter astonishment, that turned out to be the very next song played by Alexis Taylor…..and he did it very well, I’m pleased to say!

And so to Scritti Politti.

I think it was last December that I bought the tickets, excited by the fact that the tour was to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Cupid & Psyche 85, with the album, in its entirety, to be performed live for the very first time.  I wasn’t the only blogger excited by the prospect, as Brian from Linear Track Lives got in touch to say he and his wife had decided that a trip to Glasgow all the way from Seattle was just the tonic they needed to help get over all the post-COVID blues and that tickets had been purchased and plans made for flights and hotels.  Sadly, the easing of travel restrictions between the US and the UK came too late to allow Brian to confirm everything with a degree of certainty, and so he pulled the plug a few weeks back, but very generously passed on his tickets and asked that they find a good home to go to.  And if you happen to read this my friend, I can confirm they did and that Juliette and John were very grateful.

Green Gartside has, on the basis of last night’s show, made some sort of pact with the devil.  He is 66 years of age, but looks at least 20 years younger.

And then there’s his voice.

The show opened with The Sweetest Girl, arguably the most popular and enduring of his songs from the back catalogue. It was note and pitch perfect, to the extent that if you closed your eyes, it could sound as if he was miming and that the vocal track had been lifted from an album released as long ago as 1982.  And it remained that way throughout a crowd-pleasing set which went all the way back to the very early days and threw in an as yet unreleased song, prior to the promised run-through of Cupid and Pysche 85:-

The Sweetest Girl
Day Late and a Dollar Short
The Boom Boom Bap
Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry for Loverboy)
Skank Bloc Bologna
Trentavious White
The Word Girl
Small Talk
Absolute
A Little Knowledge
Don’t Work That Hard
Perfect Way
Lover to Fall
Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)
Hypnotize

There was a real surprise for the encore. A very faithful version of At Last I Am Free, a ballad written and recorded by Chic back in 1978 (and later recorded by Robert Wyatt, who has long been a hero of Green Gartside) for which Alexis Taylor returned to the stage for a co and backing vocal.

It was a beautiful and perfect musical ending to what had been the most enjoyable occasion, made all the better for stepping outside and seeing a group of other friends who had also been at the gig, including Duncan and Wendy whom neither myself nor Aldo had seen for more than two years when we used to bump into them on a very regular basis at venues all over the city.

I never anticipated it being such a perfect night.  And as it whetted my appetite for more live music over the coming weeks and months, you could say it was job done.

Loads of highlights to choose from, but I’ll settle on the surprise of such an early song and the majestic way one of the best pop songs of the 80s was delivered last night:-

mp3: Scritti Politti – Skank Bloc Bologna
mp3: Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)

JC

Cabaret Voltaire

THE MONDAY MORNING VINYL RIP : Part Thirty Three : YASHAR

Up till now, every song in this series has been ripped from a piece of vinyl via the turntable in use at Villain Towers. I only own a digital copy of today’s song, so you will, I’m sorry to say, have to make do with a lo-res rip.

Middle Age Man dropped me a line last week:-

“With the sad news this week of the passing of Richard H Kirk I thought it would be great if you could feature the 12′ version of Yashar released on Factory Records ( the John Robie remix),

For me, it is the pivotal CV release as it signifies their move from industrial to the dance floor and sums up their blend of 1980’s cold war paranoia and the dance floor. And on a more personal level, it was the first time my wife would let me play CV without her passing me the headphones.”

mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Yashar (12″ version)

Yashar is a remix of a track originally issued on the 1982 album 2×45, which came out on Rough Trade. The single was issued in May 1983 on Factory Benelux (FBN 25) and Factory Records (FAC 82). It features a sample “The 70 billion people of Earth — where are they hiding?” from the Outer Limits episode “Demon with a Glass Hand”.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 16)

Those of you paying attention will have noted that The Fall had enjoyed a couple of years of stability in respect of all six members staying together.  Things changed dramatically at the beginning of November 1984 during the UK tour to promote The Weird and Wonderful World Of….

On 1 November, the band returned to their hotel after a gig in Cardiff.  For whatever reason, they don’t follow the usual practice of empting the tour van and taking the instruments into their rooms. The following morning, they return to the van and discover it has been broken into with almost everything stolen.  By the time of the next gig, two nights later in Brighton, the record label has managed to get everyone temporary replacement instruments.  The gig turns into the worst of the tour, with all sorts of mistakes, missed cues and cock-ups, after which Mark E Smith loses his temper with everyone.

It proves to be too much for Steve Hanley who was already struggling to keep things going after his first child, a boy, had been born prematurely and was seriously ill for the first few months of his life.  Steve goes back to his hotel to think about things and after making a call home to his wife, he tells her he’s quitting the band and coming back on an overnight train back to Manchester.  But he hasn’t told anyone in the band of his decision, nor that his intention was to get out of the music business altogether.

The next day, he gets a call from his brother who tells him that he had just informed MES that he was leaving, deciding that he would take up an offer from some old friends to start up a new band, one free of the control-freakery of MES.

The tour continues onto Europe, with The Fall now being like most other bands and having just one drummer. A call is put into Simon Rogers, a classically-trained musician who had become a friend of MES and Brix, and he replaced Steve as the bass player for the rest of the tour.  In due course, things did calm down a bit but not enough for Paul Hanley to change his mind.  Steve Hanley was officially put on an extended period of paternity leave, and although he helped out by playing bass when the band appeared on BBC TV’s Old Grey Whistle Test a few weeks later, he is absent when the band returns to the studio in early 1985; he would also miss a UK and US tour in the first half of that year.

So, it was a five-piece band who met up again with John Leckie early in the year, the fruits of which lead to a new double-A single that was duly released in June 1985, just around the time Steve Hanley was about to officially re-join.

mp3: The Fall – Couldn’t Get Ahead
mp3: The Fall – Rollin’ Dany
mp3: The Fall – Petty Thief Lout

I’m not going to offer too much on this one.  It’s not that I dislike Couldn’t Get Ahead, but it doesn’t quite resonate with me in the ways that many of the previous (and later) singles managed to do.  It’s kind of perfunctory if you really want my take on it.

Rollin’ Dany, not that I would have known it if I hadn’t looked at the sleeve notes in the The Fall 45 84 89 compilation that I picked up a few years later, is a cover version. I’ve never take to it as its opening notes somehow remind me of Shang-a-Lang by Bay City Rollers, a song I had been trying to forget for many a year going back to my early teens.  Having said that, given it was the first ever official release by The Fall of a cover version, it is of historical significance.

Petty Thief Lout, which was made available only on the 12″, extends to over five minutes. It is a quiet-loud-quiet sort of number, but at no point does it come across as anything but the band somewhat going through the motions.  Maybe everyone was missing the Hanley brothers…..

It reached #90, which at the time was the highest chart position achieved by any 45 released by The Fall. Brix’s dreams of being a bona-fide pop star were becoming increasingly distant.

JC

Ballboy, Northern Alliance

SEVEN SONGS FEATURING VIV STRACHAN

A DEBUT GUEST POSTING by LEON MacDUFF

I offer you some tracks from two bands with something, or rather someone, in common. One you probably already know, and one you quite possibly don’t.

I’m well aware that Ballboy are an old favourite at T(N)VV, and already the subject of not one but two excellent ICAs, so I don’t propose to go over that ground again, but I thought that fans might be interested to hear some obscure tracks by an early prototype version of the band, at the time still featuring original vocalist Viv Strachan. This version is clearly not the finished article, although the sound isn’t so far off the first official EPs. A couple of years passed before Ballboy as we know them made their “proper” debut, with guitarist Gordon McIntyre stepping up to the microphone. But if you’d like to hear how it started, this is how.

Ballboy – Car Crashes
Ballboy – I Could Eat You Up
Ballboy – Photographers

These tracks, “recorded at teviot row house and 11 east preston street” (the former a famous Edinburgh venue, the latter apparently student digs – but surely both in line for a blue plaque now) appeared on a 1997 compilation album of Edinburgh bands, “It’s a Life Sentence…”.

Strachan bowed out after these recordings, but would turn up a few years later in Fence Collective band Northern Alliance, in which she took the occasional lead vocal but mostly provided backup to chief wordsmith Doug Johnstone. If you recognise that name, it’s probably because he’s now a successful author. He also keeps his musical hand in as drummer with the on-off collective Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, alongside the likes of Christopher Brookmyre, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid. Their tagline of “murdering songs for fun” tells you all you need to know, but you can find their videos on YouTube if you really want!

As for Northern Alliance, between 2003 and 2008 they issued four CDs, more-or-less randomly classified as either full or mini albums, plus a further definitely-mini-album on which they masqueraded as the titular indie rock group from Johnstone’s comic novel The Ossians. Although they split more than a decade ago, their website (www.lowfidelity.com) is still active and features a mildly embarrassing surfeit of enthusiastic press clippings comparing them to American slowcore and dream pop acts like Codeine, Low, Sparklehorse, Mazzy Star and Red House Painters.

But hey, show, don’t tell… and though I kept an eye on the Scottish songs series, N came and went without an appearance, so here are a few tracks for you: three originals and a standard from the Great Scottish Songbook.

Northern Alliance – We Hit the Town Drinking (from The Hand of God, 2008)
Northern Alliance – When the Clocks Go Forward (from Hope in Little Things, 2003)
Northern Alliance – Scaffolding (from For the Grains of Sand, 2006)
Northern Alliance – Ally’s Tartan Army (from Disaster for Scotland, 2004)

Now I think about it, Andy Cameron never turned up in the Scottish songs series either, did he? I feel an ICA coming on…

LEON MACDUFF

Lloyd Cole

FLOP AFTER FLOP AFTER FLOP

I’ve long been baffled by The failure of Lloyd Cole to establish a commercially successful solo career.

His period when backed by The Commotions, between 1984 and 1987, saw three hit albums, all of which were fawned over, for the most part, by the music critics.  The live shows were also among the ‘must-see’ category, with no venue being too large or challenging for the band, as evidenced in June 1986 when they supported Simple Minds at an outdoor gig at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, seemingly being note-perfect throughout in front of more than 40,000 attendees.

I had always thought The Commotions had been ever-present in the singles charts, but it turns out that only five singles ever made the Top 40, and even then, the best performance wasn’t a huge hit as Lost Weekend reached only #17.  So, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it wasn’t a racing certainty that Lloyd would be a huge star when he branched out on his own, with things made a lot tougher by the fact that he made a conscious decision to move away from the sound and look of his days with a band.

He moved to New York City to write the new material and to find the musicians he most wanted to make the record with.  There was also a two-year gap between the last Commotions album and the first of the new material to factor in, so all-in-all, it was something of a gamble, but one he and his record label were very confident of pulling off.

The first solo single, No Blue Skies, was released at the end of January 1990.   It stalled at #42 in the UK.

The self-titled debut album followed a month later, entering the charts at #11.  This was quite encouraging as that was a similar outcome as Mainstream, the final Commotions album which had come in at #9 on its first week of release.

The problem was that over the next four weeks before a second single was taken from the album, Lloyd Cole had dropped all the way to #66, and so badly needed a sales boost via a well-received 45.

Don’t Look Back, came out in April 1990.  It got no higher than #59.  The album continued to plummet, dropping out of the charts after just a six-week stay, never to be seen again.

The problem was that the songs weren’t poppy enough for daytime radio, nor were they different or unusual enough for the drive time or evening shows to be really interested.

The planned third single, Downtown, was released but with next to fanfare or promotion.  It didn’t chart in the UK but it did prove to be a minor hit in the USA, mainly as a result of it being included on the soundtrack to the film Bad Influence, which starred Rob Lowe and James Spader, with the promo video airing regularly on MTV, featuring clips from the movie.

mp3: Lloyd Cole – No Blue Skies
mp3: Lloyd Cole – Don’t Look Back
mp3: Lloyd Cole – Downtown

Years later, Lloyd acknowledged that he got it badly wrong. He wrote this song for an album released in 2000:-

mp3: Lloyd Cole and The Negatives – Tried To Rock

Maybe I was just too much of a fanboy back in the day to make a true judgement on things, but I really did like the singles and almost all of the debut album. I’ve given a fresh listen again in recent days – it’s a CD copy rather than a vinyl version I have – and I do think it’s aged fairly well. OK, there’s nothing as immediate as the Commotions material, but at no point does it ever get boring or unlistenable.

JC

Nanci Griffith

ALWAYS REMEMBERED – NANCI GRIFFITH

A GUEST POSTING by FLIMFLANFAN

In early September 2021 I was trawling through music websites when I was stopped in my tracks as I read an old byline “Nanci Griffith: Folk and country singer-songwriter dies aged 68.”

The article was date 13th August, 2021.

Nanci and I parted company sometime after the release of the album Storms (1989), although I occasionally popped back into see her, most notably with the release of Other Voices Other Rooms (1993). I could never describe myself as a huge fan, I only own 6 of her albums, but reading of her death made an impact.

I Wish It Would Rain

From the mid to late 80s Nanci was part of a gang of Americana, Folk and Country artists/bands from the USA that received a very warm welcome in Glasgow: Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Lone Justice, The Long Ryders etc. It was a testing time for an indie ‘kid’ to admit to enjoying Folk, Country and Americana, but I cared not a jot – a good deal of indie bands had been and would continue to put their slant on country/folk – and even the most diehard of indie fans eventually had to eat some cake. Most of the albums my parents had were country artists or artists heavily influenced by its charms – I was hooked early on. Not even my love of indie would make me forsake country.

Speed of the Sound of Loneliness

I was introduced to Nanci’s music via a very good pal. I have a feeling the album would have been Lone Star State of Mind (1985), equally, it could have been Once In a Very Blue Moon (1984). I soon became quite the fan and with only a year to wait between albums there was always something to look forward to.

Nanci had a singing voice that I believe could only fit the folk/ country genre and a wonderful ability to story tell, that suits said genres perfectly as is illustrated by, for example:

Love at the Five and Dime

I think it was in 1988 (a considerable internet trudge could find no confirmation) that it was announced that Nanci would play Govan Town Hall as part of Glasgow’s Mayfest festival. I recall a scramble for tickets, given the small capacity, and thankfully I got mine. I lived in Govan at the time, so would be able to take a short stroll home.

As the gig grew closer it was announced that Nanci would appear on the Wogan Show, in London on the same night as the Glasgow gig? Eyebrows began to be raised. Wogan started at 7.00pm how was it possible that Nanci would get to Glasgow for the show’s start time? The answer is, she didn’t. At the gig an announcement was made that Nanci was running late but that she would appear. I don’t recall how late she was, but I do recall it being a significant wait (over an hour, possibly) in a brooding atmosphere of discontent … and then she appeared. Within minutes, the discontent had been shrugged off as Nanci wrapped us around her little fingers. It was a fantastic night and all the better, somehow, for her lateness – apparently, she arrived by helicopter….

There’s a Light Beyond These Woods (Mary Margaret)

The only other time I would have seen her live was at The Big Day (1990), Glasgow (subject of recent discussions in basement rooms) but I have no recollection of it?

I’ve listened to her music less often of late, but on hearing the news of her death I’ll polish the vinyl and set the volume to 10.5.

11 seems excessive.

When I do listen to Nanci the following will occur … I’ll move onto Dwight Yoakam, The Long Ryders, Lone Justice, Maria McKee, The Coal Porters and, of course, Loretta Lynn and then maybe some Camera Obscura perhaps the Lilac Time will enjoy a spin.

Nanci left a considerable legacy beyond the innumerable cover versions of her songs, not least of which is the mighty From A Distance which charted at number one in the US in 1990, (Bette Midler).

I’m sure Nanci raked in quite the mint, but the Devine Miss M should have left it to Nanci.

Thanks, Nanci. You really shone a light.

Let It Shine On Me

flimflamfan

Eurythmics

MAKING THEIR DEBUT ON TVV…..

The power-pop of The Tourists at the tail end of the 70s delivered some fabulous moments, not least their cover of I Only Want To Be With You, which went Top 10, as did the follow-up single, So Good To Be back Home Again.  The latter was written by guitarist Peet Coombes, and indeed he was responsible for most of the songs recorded by the band over all three of their albums before the spilt at the end of 1980.  He has, however, been largely all but forgotten as two of his bandmates, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, would join forces and form Eurythmics, becoming one of the biggest acts of the 80s, with most folk thinking that Stewart’s songwriting success was a continuation of his efforts with The Tourists.

Eurythmics seemed to come out of nowhere in 1983, thanks to them being responsible for one of the most iconic electronica singles during a period where synths really were vanquishing guitar bands.  It hadn’t, however, been an overnight success as the duo’s debut album, In The Garden, back in 1981 had been a dismal flop, while the first three singles lifted from the follow-up album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) hadn’t received much airplay nor dented the charts.

It really was almost a last throw of the dice to release the title track from the new album in February 1983.  The UK tour to promote the album was using small-scale venues – for instance the Glasgow date was at Night Moves which had a capacity in the low hundreds, but as the duo made their way around the country, they were doing so on the back of a single which quickly went to #2, leading to all sorts of television appearances and a huge demand to catch the live shows, all of which were now sold out and could have easily still been so if the usual locations with capacities of 2-3000 had been in play.

The decision was taken to re-release an earlier flop single as the follow-up to Sweet Dreams. A few months previously, in November 1982, it had spent a few weeks in the lower end of the charts, peaking at #54.  Come April 1983, it was #6:-

mp3: Eurythmics – Love Is A Stranger

It ensured Eurythmics couldn’t be written off as one-hit wonders, and indeed it became a hit all over Europe as well as in the USA, Canada and Australia. The b-side was the same track as had been on the reverse of the initial single back in 83:-

mp3: Eurythmics – Monkey Monkey

What happened next was a bit of a surprise in that, instead of going out again on tour to cash-in on the belated success of Sweet Dreams, the duo went into the studio to begin work on new material, with a new song, Who’s That Girl?, continuing in a similar electronica style, allied again to the striking visual and unusual look that Lennox was offering the pop world – no other woman was wearing her hair that short or in such a striking orange colour.

But where most were expecting more of the same, the next album, Touch, which was released in November 1983, highlighted a different sound, one which was far more mainstream in nature. The next single leaned on calypso music, and the one after that was akin to a mid-tempo power ballad. For those of us who had fallen for the sounds of the hits at the beginning of 1983, what emerged before the year was out proved to be a huge letdown. But then again, given they would enjoy in the region of 75 million album sales world-wide before the decade was over, I don’t think the loss of one fan from a city in the west of Scotland caused them any sleepless nights.

The mp3s today are taken from the 7″ single, one that I picked up cheap on Discogs a few months back. It is the only Eurythmics vinyl that I own, although Mrs V’s copy of Touch sits in the cupboard, unplayed for many years, and certainly never since 1990 when we moved in together.

JC

KLF

THE MONDAY MORNING HI-QUALITY VINYL RIP : Part Thirty Two : STADIUM HOUSE (THE TRILOGY)

 

This is just a wee different.  Kind of.  OK.  It’s not really as, just like every Monday, it features music ripped from vinyl at 320kpbs. You could say that I’m back with the heavyweight jam.

Stadium House (The Trilogy) was a VHS video released in 1991 that is just under 30 minutes in length.   The main film purports to be live footage of The KLF performing their three chart hits at Woodstock, Europa while the supporting feature is called ‘This Is Not What The KLF Is About’, a behind the scenes look at the main film.

It is, of course, nothing of the sort, although the main film has been pieced together does make it seem as if the singers, musicians and dancers are performing on a stage within some sort of post-apocalyptic setting, interspersed with footage of a police car and a fast moving passenger train, and is just the splicing of the three promo videos.

Here’s all three singles, in the order in which they entered the charts, all ripped from 7″ vinyl:-

mp3 : The KLF – What Time Is Love? (live at Transcentral)
mp3 : The KLF – 3 A.M. Eternal (live at the S.S.L.)
mp3 : The KLF – Last Train To Transcentral (live from The Lost Continent)

What Time Is Love? reached #5 in September 1990.
3 A.M. Eternal spent two weeks at #1 in February 1991.
Last Train To Transcentral peaked at #2 in May 1991, kept off the top by Cher and The Shoop Shoop Song.

More than thirty years ago?  Well, that’ll hopefully excuse the occasional pop or crackle. Kind of similar to the sounds my bones and joints make when I try to move to the tunes.

JC

Fall

THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING SERIES FOR SUNDAYS (Part 15)

12 October 1984.  A date on which The Fall again defy convention by insisting that the record label issue a new album along with a new single.  But not just in any bog-standard way as the new single was to come out on 12″ vinyl, accompanied by a free 7″ single.  Oh, and if you chose instead to buy the new album on cassette rather than vinyl, then you would also get just about all the music that was available on the new single, as well as the tracks that had made up the previous two singles…..

The new album was called The Wonderful and Frightening World Of….and it contained nine tracks with a running time of just over 40 minutes.  Three of its tracks were co-written by Mark E Smith and Brix Smith.  Of the other six, Brix was credited on three of them, which is some achievement given that her only previous contribution to a Fall album had been to co-write one track on Perverted By Language, released some ten months earlier.

It has to be said that the other band members were quite relaxed about it all.  Steve Hanley is on record as saying:-

“She was good for the band. We’d reached as far as we could with fifteen-minute songs like ‘And This Day’ battering the audience.  She did commercialise the band, she helped convince Mark to go that way. She was like a breath of fresh air for five miserable blokes from Manchester’

I’m not sure if MES, newly married and seemingly enjoying himself on stage like no other time previously, was all that miserable in 1984.  The other four blokes were still those who had been making music together for the past couple of years – the duel drumming efforts of Karl Burns and Paul Hanley (who also played occasional keyboards), Craig Scanlon on guitar and Steve Hanley on bass, whose musical contributions were becoming even more increasingly important and influential.

I came quite late to this, and indeed, subsequent periods of The Fall, so I can’t really comment on how I felt about it all at the time.  My excuse is that the new flat that I had moved into didn’t really have what you would call any other fans of the band, and so between the six of us there were just a handful of previous singles kicking around, and they weren’t on heavy rotation.  Nobody bought the new album or the Call For Escape Route package.  It would take until the early 90s, and me picking up a CD compilation album bringing together the singles that had been released on Beggars Banquet between 1984 and 1989 before I actually heard any of these songs. In this instance, it was No Bulbs, but it immediately became an instant favourite, and remains so all these many years later.

Call For Escape Route 12″

mp3: The Fall – Draygo’s Guilt
mp3: The Fall – Clear Off!
mp3: The Fall – No Bulbs

Bonus 7″

mp3: The Fall – No Bulbs 3
mp3: The Fall – Slang King 2

It’s another very fine collection of tunes, albeit more ammo to those fans of old who might have been a bit concerned about the band shifting to a sound which bordered on commercially friendly.

Draygo’s Guilt, co-written by MES and Craig Scanlon, has a tune which sounds as if it has been around since forever, with just about every kick ass rock’n’roll band having some sort of stab at it along the way. Indeed, The Fall had been playing this song, or at least a variation on it, as far back as 1980.

Clear Off! is, for The Fall, rather a light sounding track.  The tune, in places, reminds me of a slightly sped-up Hip Priest and at other times, like the sort of tune New Order would pull together a little later on in time. Oh, and it also features a guest co-vocal from Gavin Friday of The Virgin Prunes (as indeed did two of the tracks on The Weird and Wonderful World Of….

The full version of No Bulbs extends to a few seconds short of eight minutes while the edited down version, given the title of No Bulbs 3,  is around four-and-a-half minutes long.  It is this edited version which was included on The Fall 45 84 89 compilation I mentioned above and thus offered me my first ever listen to the song.   If ever you wanted to hear just how much John Leckie brought to the table in terms of his production skills, then take the time to give a listen to both, or either, versions of No Bulbs offered here today.

I still cannot get my head around it wasn’t selected as a stand-alone 7″ single, as I’m convinced it would have provided The Fall with a chart hit.  It is a truly magnificent and mighty piece of music, one which wonderfully disguises that it is actually about living in squalor and poverty, as was the case with the newly married Mr & Mrs Smith in a dingy flat in Prestwich, just north of Manchester and just south of Bury.  It would also justify an entry into the ‘Some Songs Are Great Short Stories’ series, with MES trying to get his hands on the one belt he owns as it is needed to hold his trousers up, only he can’t find it for the amount of junk and debris lying around the flat, and as he goes to switch on the light to assist in his efforts, the bulb blows, and they are so poor, they don’t have a spare.  There is also a truly inspired closing stanza, which drives home the miserable conditions of their habitat:-

They say damp records the past
If that’s so I’ve got the biggest library yet
The biggest library yet.

Slang King 2 is a different mix of a track which was included on The Weird and Wonderful World Of…., and seemingly was written by MES and Brix, but with a rare writing credit offered to Paul Hanley on account of MES liking the way he had improvised the keyboards into the tune.

The single came into the charts at #99.  The album got as high as #62.  In both instances, it now feels like an absolute travesty.

JC

Robin Guthrie

SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #276: ROBIN GUTHRIE

From wiki:–

Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing.

I’ve plenty of Cocteau Twins music in the collection, but for some inexplicable reason, I never got interested in pursuing any of the solo material that has been written and recorded by Robin Guthrie over the years.  All I have is one track, included on a compilation CD given away with Word magazine in October 2009:-

mp3: Robin Guthrie – Close My Eyes & Burn

It’s an instrumental from the album Carousel, released in 2009 on Darla Records, a label based in San Diego, California and while there is something worth hanging onto, it just feels that little bit empty without Elizabeth Fraser coming in on vocals.  But I suppose I should get over it given that it’s now 26 years since Cocteau Twins last released any new music and there is absolutely no chance of them ever getting back together.

JC