The opening notes of Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow, a cult single by Felt do, it surely has to be admitted, carry more than a passing resemblance to Just Like Heaven, a huge hit single by The Cure:-
mp3: Felt – Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
The thing is, the Felt single pre-dates that from The Cure by three years…..did Mr Smith indulge in a little touch of plagiarism or is it mere coincidence?
Sunlight…was the fifth of the ten singles released by Felt between 1981 and 1988. The band also released ten albums in the time they were together and yes, the symmetry was deliberate. It dates from 1984, a tremendous year for sophisticated jingly-jangly indie pop songs, with The Smiths, Go-Betweens, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole and The Commotions and Prefab Sprout (just to mention a few!!) all at the top of their game.
Lawrence is joined on vocals by Rose McDowall of Strawberry Switchblade, to the extent that she overpowers him in many places – it doesn’t quite work as well for me as the collaboration with Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins on the band’s sixth single, Primitive Painters, which came out in 1985.
My preference is for the re-recorded version which appeared later on the album The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories, released towards the end of 1984. But then again, that’s probably because it is closer in sound to the other bands who were around that year.
mp3: Felt – Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow (album version)
The words ‘Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow’ had actually been used as part of the opening couplet to a 1983 single, one which I have featured previously on the blog, but this gives me the perfect excuse to share it again.
mp3: Felt – Penelope Tree
Oh, and if any of you perhaps wish to cast doubt on the fact that Robert Smith ripped off Lawrence, then have a listen to the instrumental track on the b-side of Sunlight…
Almost 20 years ago I was at The El Rey Theatre here in LA.
GTFP and I were there to see Ben Folds 5, who were about as popular as they were ever going to get. While waiting for the band to come on the house DJ played a song I didn’t recognize that really grabbed my attention. The booth is in the middle of the floor so I rolled up and asked what it was. “‘Almost the Same’ by Clearlake.” Who? “Clearlake.” Where are they from? “I don’t know.” What album is it on? “I don’t know.” Do they have any other records? “I don’t know.”
Alrighty then. I soon found the album ‘Cedars’ from which the song came, and also bought the first album, ‘Lido.’ Both were released on Domino Records. I learned the band was from Brighton. A couple of years later Clearlake’s third album, ‘Amber’, was released, also on Domino. I have now disclosed everything I know about Clearlake.
So, three albums: Lido (2001), Cedars (2003), and Amber (2006). No official releases after those. No idea what became of the band. Wiki says they recorded a fourth LP that was never released. Apparently, they put out a couple of online-only singles, but I never heard them. The band website is offline. They do not have a social media presence. Not one of my friends has ever heard of them. I included a Clearlake song on an ICA a few months back (Sunday Evening, from Lido); it might have been the only time the band featured on TVV.
I wish I knew more about Clearlake because I really love the songs. They’re clever, in an English way, and they’re well-constructed, recorded and produced. The lyrics can be really funny. The playing is tight and tasteful, whether it’s a slow tune or a rocking number. But, I got nothing. So, here’s an ICA. Since I have no context or memories attached to the band it’s just 10 of my favorite Clearlake songs in alphabetical order, starting with the one I heard at the El Rey.
Almost The Same
I Want To Live In A Dream
It’s Getting Light Outside
Jumble Sailing
Just Off The Coast
Keep Smiling
No Kind Of Life
Something To Look Forward To
Wonder If The Snow Will Settle
You Can’t Have Me
(1, 5, 6, 9 from Cedars; 2, 4, 8 from Lido; 3, 7, 10 from Amber.)
Anyone heard them? Anyone seen them? If somebody in the TVV crowd knows anything about Clearlake please say so. I feel like I should get their photo printed on milk cartons…
JONNY
JC adds…..Jonny is correct in saying that Clearlake haven’t featured, in their own right, on the blog before. But, from my perspective, that’s because I operate on the basis that if you can’t say anything good or positive about a singer or a band, then you should say nothing at all (which is why I take great delight when guest contributors fill in gaps through ICAs and/or other thoughts, views and opinions.).
I have copies of Lido and Cedars on CD. I picked them up as one of the record shops was doing a special deal with releases on Domino Records and Clearlake was a band who had been talked up a fair bit in the monthly music magazines, along with the occasional broadsheet newspaper article. I maybe listened to the CDs two or three times before deciding they weren’t my cup of tea (which these days, if anyone is interested, is made with these, no milk and no sugar).
Domino Records website describes Clearlake’s output as ‘poignant and atmospheric’. Being signed to an indie rather than a major label meant that Clearlake were given a bit more time to eke out their sound and weren’t under pressure to have hit singles, but it always felt to me that Domino hoped they would prove to make the sort of breakthrough that Doves and Elbow both managed, with the critics staying on board while the CDs flew off the shelves. I don’t think the songs were strong enough, nor distinct enough, to allow that to happen.
But, as mentioned earlier, I love that Jonny has pulled this together – I’m sure there’s a few folk out there who have some fond memories of Clearlake.
I’ve previously been effusive about Say Sue Me, a band from Busan, South Korea, and I stitched together this ICA back in October 2019. As I said at the time, I shied away from the ICA including any of the four newest songs the band had then just issued on two 7” singles and I encouraged readers to go and make a purchase from the appropriate bandcamp page.
I’m hopeful that some of you did just that, and perhaps, after this latest posting, more will do so going forward as the band, like so many others, have endured a tough 2020 with COVID preventing the realisation of plans for more tours in Europe and the USA, including a further appearance at the prestigious and important SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.
Say Sue Me have been announced, along with another of TVV’s Asian-based favourites, Otoboke Beaver, as participating in what will be SXSW Online 2021, which is going ahead from 16-20 March. It’s not quite the same as being there in person, but hopefully they will make a significant splash.
Here’s the two sides of the single from September 2019.
mp3: Say Sue Me – Your Book
mp3: Say Sue Me – Good People
It’s a continuation of the band’s gradual shift away from the surf rock of the earliest days to a more refined indie pop/rock sound. The a-side is a bit mid-paced and reminds me in many places of The Cardigans in the pomp of their mega-fame period. It’s a decent effort but I’m more enchanted by the b-side as it’s one which would inspire me to throw shapes on the indie-disco dance floor.
Album: Singles Going Steady – Buzzcocks Review: Record Collector, May 2019 Author: David Quantick
When this compilation of Buzzcocks’ singles – A-sides and B-sides from Orgasm Addict to Something’s Gone Wrong Again – was released in the US in 1981, most reviewers took the angle that here was a great singles act, best represented by its 45s, whose succinctness and excellence made Singles Going Steady the only really essential Buzzcocks album.
And while this is a perfectly valid viewpoint, based on the complete and utter lack of bad songs contained herein, it’s also a load of rubbish, as every Buzzcocks album – even the patchy Love Bites – is excellent.
That said, you can see where the reviewers were coming from. Ever since its release – both in its original form and the upgraded CD version which features the six songs brought out as singles towards the end of the band’s career – Singles Going Steady has been an ideal introduction to Buzzcocks’ work. You put it on and you marvel at the sheer hurtling rush of their work, from 1977’s Orgasm Addict with its teasing, snarky Howard Devoto lyric, to the brevity and excitement of Love You More (last line “until the razor cuts”), the droll romance and perfect catchiness of the one that should have been No 1, What Do I Get, the absolute pop song perfection of I Don’t Mind (even its opening drum burst suggests that producer Martin Rushent knew it deserved to be a hit)… every song is a step forward, a manifesto and a thrill ride.
No other band at the time was evolving as fast while at the same time retaining its identity: even the wide-eyed brilliance of Ever Fallen In Love was only a little more excellent than Diggle’s daffy Promises, or Everybody’s Happy Nowadays, or Harmony In My Head (and while the Martin Hannett-produced finale singles can be gawky and uncertain, there are moments of brilliance, from Steve’s Why She’s A Girl From A Chainstore to the Rushent return of the brass-powered What Do You Know?).
And that’s just the A-sides: there’s no better tribute to the band’s desire to experiment and change than the flipsides of these amazing singles. Whatever Happened To? and Oh Shit! are almost conventional punk. Noise Annoys is androgynous art-pop. Lipstick is the sexy cousin to its riff sister Shot By Both Sides. Why Can’t I Touch It? is The Hollies doing Krautrock. Something’s Gone Wrong Again is Waiting For My Man via Alan Bennett (“go to the pub/but the bugger’s shut”). And so on, and so on.
Singles Going Steady is a masterpiece, probably the best singles-only collection of all time. It may not be Buzzcocks’ greatest LP, but it would be anyone else’s best album.
JC adds…….
I’ve previously shone a light on the various singles with a 13-part weekly series between August-November 2016; my look included the songs on the Spiral Scratch EP which have always been absent from Singles Going Steady as it predated the contract with United Artists.
The above review was celebrating a fresh release on Domino Records. My vinyl copy from 1981 is long missing – loaned out and not returned in all likelihood – and these days I rely on a CD version from 1990 which mirrors the original release with its sixteen tracks consisting of just the first eight singles and their b-sides or a 2001 re-mastered version which has twelve singles and their b-sides.
I think it’s fair to say that the collection provides a ridiculous adrenalin rush from start to finish, although the inclusion of the singles from 1980, with their slight dip in tempo, in the middle of the expanded version does jar a wee bit when the brain is so attuned to the order of songs on the original release. It’s a minor quibble but it does now mean that I always put the album on random shuffle when listening to it these days on the i-pod as this offers up something fresh, and I have a bit of fun trying to guess what song will actually come up next. For what it’s worth, I rarely get two in a row correct!
The above review is a bit sloppy in places, which given that David Quantick is usually an excellent writer, is most likely down to some shabby editing. But……
“Singles Going Steady is a masterpiece, probably the best singles-only collection of all time. It may not be Buzzcocks’ greatest LP, but it would be anyone else’s best album.”
…..is bang on the money.
mp3: Buzzcocks – I Don’t Mind
mp3: Buzzcocks – You Say You Don’t Love Me
mp3: Buzzcocks – Something’s Gone Wrong Again
mp3: Buzzcocks – What Do You Know?
And so we reach what can be described as R.E.M.’s “difficult period”. Sessions began on the band’s 11th album in 1997, but during the early rehearsals, drummer Bill Berry quit. Bill had fallen seriously ill during the Monster tour and no longer wanted to travel. He retired and became a farmer, leaving Buck, Mills and Stipe to continue as a trio. But Berry wasn’t just R.E.M.’s drummer – his part in the band’s overall sound and creative process was just as important as that of the other members, and many feel his departure signalled the start of a downward spiral for the band.
Apparently though, the early Up sessions already incorporated the electronic elements that were embedded in the finished record’s sound. The band have stated that even if Bill had stayed, Up would have sounded much the same. But despite this shift in dynamic, the album’s lead single sounded familiar and warm.
mp3: R.E.M – Daysleeper (single edit)
Daysleeper revolves around Peter Buck’s acoustic guitar and Mike Mills’ harmonium (or synth with a harmonium setting), and is a song about someone who sleeps during the day. Whoever said Michael Stipe’s lyrics were esoteric? “I was in New York… walking down the steps of this building. I come to a door and there’s a sign on it that says ‘Daysleeper’, and I walked a lot more quietly down the steps, thinking about that poor person who’s trying to sleep, and me and my big old boots interrupting her sleep. So I wrote this song about a daysleeper that’s working an 11–7 shift and how furious the balance is between the life that you live and the work that you have to do in order to support the life that you live.”
My initial reaction was one of indifference – it was pretty much R.E.M. by numbers as far as I was concerned – but repeated listening paid dividends. Having recently revisited the song, I think it really is a bit of a gem melodically and one of Up’s more memorable moments. It even yielded a prequel; the band’s next album Reveal opened with The Lifting which features the same character.
Released on 12th October 1998, Daysleeper became R.E.M.’s sixth Top 10 hit, peaking at number 6 one week after its release. It came in three official formats, all of which contained the single edit of the title track (basically it was the album version with the few seconds of intro at the very beginning cut). The cassette and CD single included the instrumental track Emphysema, a light, bossanova rhythm with keyboards and badly-played accordion over the top. Another of those disposable b-sides you really don’t need.
mp3: R.E.M – Emphysema
The CD also contained a version of another of Up’s highlights, Why Not Smile. This version is much shorter, more sparsely arranged, and is utterly gorgeous. Buck’s acoustic arpeggios and Mills’ organ hold it together while Stipe sings to someone so utterly despondent, he feels his words just cannot get through. Regardless, he reassures this person that he is there for them. That snarly feedback bit that comes in at the second verse is apparently Stipe’s debut on guitar! This version of Why Not Smile originally featured a few months earlier on a sampler CD with the southern literary magazine Oxford American, hence the title.
mp3: R.E.M – Why Not Smile [Oxford American version]
The third format was, sadly, not vinyl (though as had been the trend with the previous album, jukebox editions were pressed) but a 3” collectible CD. As well as Daysleeper, it included a live, in the studio take, on another Up track Sad Professor, an altogether cleaner-sounding version than the feedback-drenched album track. I much prefer the album version personally, but it’s never been a big fave.
mp3: R.E.M – Sad Professor [live in the studio]
Up sounded nothing like any other R.E.M. album. Stylistically it was all over the place, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have some great, great moments on it. Its main fault is its length. There are too many songs on it in my opinion and a third of them are average at best. I have my own 10-track alternative version which I really like much better than the real thing. And yes, Daysleeper is included.
Glasgow indie-popsters The Plimptons have finally decided to call it a day after 13 years together. The band originally hail from deepest, darkest Lanarkshire; given their skewed social commentary and sardonic wit, you would believe was a post-industrial teenage wasteland that could give Bruce Springsteen’s provincial struggle a run for its money.
The band eventually relocated to what, in comparison, seemed like the bourgeois backdrop of Glasgow, often loitering around the West End. This cosmopolitan milieu let them rub shoulders with some of the great cultural minds of our time including John Cooper Clarke, almost as a reaction to the preppy Americana student lifestyle that was dominating much of the city’s landscape at the time. Their debut album The Songs of Ignorance and of Inexperience, featuring an iconic image of William Blake on its front cover, hinted at an irony and self-awareness which turned the prevalent working class agenda on its head. With its finger placed firmly on the pulse of popular culture it strayed from the elitist view and perceptions surrounding attitudes towards pre-existing cultural traits.
The central pairing of Martin and Adam Smith was The Plimptons’ strong point. Adam presented a shambolic stream of consciousness that mused on life’s absurdities, while Martin’s response was often delivered in a Nick Cave-esque baritone hinting at the monotony and anti-climactic nature of our own mortality (albeit with tongue firmly placed in cheek). Having gone on to work with Brendan O’Hare at the helm (Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai) on second album Pomp, they were pulled further into the ‘melodic sunshine pop’ slipstream. This was the perfect antidote to their raw DIY ethic previously reminiscent of The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit; it simultaneously instilled a sense of working class nobility not seen since the advent of Pulp and The Specials.
To coincide with their forthcoming farewell gig at Stereo on the 30th March, the band are releasing a retrospective compilation titled The Life and Death of Colonel Plimp, which spans the length of their career. Notable stand-out tracks include ‘Drink Y’Self Sober’, which comes across as a wistful lament to the headiest of hangovers soundtracked by Buzzcocks; and ‘Could I Be Loved’, a hilarious attempt at teenage angst, contrasting a plaintive desire to be of value to society with a sense of entitlement (‘World debt it cannot be cleared / I need the money to subsidise beer’). With the additional 4 tracks from their final EP, ‘The Plimptons Are Dead’, also included, this is a great introduction to a band who sadly basked in the shadows too long before the next John Peel could fall in love all over again.
JC adds…
Many of The Plimptons subsequently went on to form GUMS!, a combo I’ve mentioned a couple of times previously, commenting that in the live setting at a gig back in 2016, they delivered a set which musically reminded me of my teenage love for the sorts of fast and energetic post-punk/new wave pop that came from the likes of Buzzcocks and The Undertones but that lyrically was as amusing and enthralling as the great Aidan Moffat at his most playful and wistful best.
The Plimptons, as you’d expect, are cut from a similar cloth. The debut album contained a song about politics and with which they closed their final show back in 2013:-
mp3: The Plimptons – John Major
Here’s the opening track from the same debut album, and you can get a good idea why folk always come out of their live shows with a smile on their face:-
I made mention, when pulling together ICA 250, that Manifesto had been the first Roxy Music album I’d bought at the time of its release, having really been too young to do so when the band had been in their early 70s pomp.
It’s an album I took to quite quickly, but then again having spent hard-earned cash from the paper round on a full-priced LP, there was no way I wasn’t going to sing its merits. The critics, on the other hand, were a bit less enthralled:-
“Ultimately, I found it hard to work up much enthusiasm for Manifesto….the band have come full circle without evolving anything dramatically new – at least – not according to those initial standards … Perhaps greater familiarity with Manifesto will reveal hidden magic. At present, it merely comes across over like an assured modern dip into friendly territory – an entertaining, pleasant album.” (Max Bell, NME)
“This isn’t Roxy at its most innovative, just its most listenable – the entire “West Side” sustains the relaxed, pleasantly funky groove it intends, and the difficulties of the “East Side” are hardly prohibitive. At last Ferry’s vision seems firsthand even in its distancing – he’s paid enough dues to deserve to keep his distance. And the title track is well-named, apparent contradictions and all.” (Robert Christgau, Village Voice)
“So the record has its moments – moments few bands even know about – but as with the brazenly (and meaninglessly) titled “Manifesto,” they add up to little. Ferry announces he’s for the guy “who’d rather die than be tied down”; he’s rarely traded on such banality, and he mouths the lyrics as if he hopes no one will hear them. The sound may be alive, but the story is almost silent.” (Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone)
It was interesting that the second and third singles taken from the album – Dance Away and Angel Eyes – were completely different mixes from those on the album, at least to begin with. The singles were far more poppy and danceable and the fact they were chart hits led to the label bosses choosing to have the second pressings of the album come instead with the remix of Dance Away with even later pressings then seeing the remix of Angel Eyes replace its original version. As I said, they are quite different in style and substance, particularly Angel Eyes:-
mp3: Roxy Music – Dance Away
mp3: Roxy Music – Angel Eyes
mp3: Roxy Music – Dance Away (single mix)
mp3: Roxy Music – Angel Eyes (single mix)
The other thing that struck me, many years later, was that Roxy Music album sleeves had been notorious for featuring scantily-clad models but Manifesto’s sleeve consisted of mannequins under disco lights, albeit very stylishly dressed.
There was also a picture disk version of the album made available in which the mannequins kept the same pose but were unclothed, and at first glance, it looked like a group of naked clubgoers. I’m sure this would have caused untold confusion in the record section of those chains that had a policy of no nudes or offensive sleeves to be on public display within their stores.
The Secret Vampire Soundtrack – Bis (1996, Chemikal Underground)
SWC writes……..
Believe it or not I first heard this record whilst standing in a telephone kiosk in a country lane in Devon whilst Mrs SWC smoked a Marlboro cigarette on the lane outside with her brother. It remains one of the most bizarre ways I have ever reviewed a record. It was the summer of 1996 and it starts with me making a phone call to a lady called Nicky, who at the time was the Reviews Editor of Select Magazine….
Every Thursday morning I phone Nicky on the off chance that there is some random pieces of writing that can be done or if I am very lucky a gig that needs reviewing. I got free tickets to a secret warmup Wu Tang Clan gig a couple of weeks ago at a place in Ladbroke Grove in London so my technique works every now and again. I’ve been told by a guy called Ian, who is one of the few writers to actually have a contract with Select (or the parent company at least) that there are Reading Festival Passes on offer so I thought I’d chance my arm. It wasn’t going well though.
“Have you done that review of the new Bis single?” she says to me with a sniff.
“What Bis single? Actually come to think of it, who are Bis?” I say jovially, hiding my disappointment that she wasn’t going to give me free tickets to the Reading Festivals and not a single by a band I have never heard of…
There is a sigh…
“We sent you the CD and a note attached to it on Friday, should have arrived by now, what with it being Thursday…”there is a pause, probably a pregnant one.
“Ah….”I say doing some quick thinking…”Oh yes…that Bis single, I think it’s at the bottom of the pile underneath the new U2 remix that I got sent….you’ll have it by the end of today, couple of hundred words ok…?”
“4 o’clock no later, there are plenty of other people who can review this shit you know, if its any good we may have some Reading Passes available, we need a team on the New Band Stage and Ian recommended you…so lets see what you can do…don’t fuck it up”.Another sniff, Charlie must have visited the offices that morning.
I put the phone down and punch the air. Reading here I come I think, all I have to do is review this record by Bis, which will be a piece of piss. Or at least it would be if I actually had the record by Bis.
You see one thing that I failed to mention to Nicky was that I am in Devon, at the house of Mrs SWC’s mother. I am on holiday, sort of, Mrs SWC has been poorly and we hot footed it down to Devon at the weekend to allow her to recuperate by the sea instead of in a grotty student house in Guildford, which I am going to guess is where the Bis record is currently sitting unopened and unloved.
I make another quick call, this time to my student house, the phone rings and rings, and no one answers. I curse my luck. Two minutes later Mrs SWC comes into the lounge and tells me that we are going for a walk, fresh air is good for the soul apparently. I try in vain to argue that this is not a good time, but I quickly realise that I won’t win that argument.
On the walk I tell Mrs SWC about the Bis record and about the Reading Festival Tickets, she tells me that Reading is a shit festival held in a shit town full of shit people and not to worry about it. She adds that Bis sound rubbish as well. I laugh but I also can’t afford to turn down the 200 word review.
Which is why fifteen minutes later I am standing next to a public telephone in a country lane waiting for Johnny my housemate to phone.
“Shall I put the phone next to the player, mate?”.
“Yeah go ahead”
mp3: bis – Kandy Pop
And with that the tinny strains of ‘Kandy Pop’ by Bis are made even tinnier by being played down a landline phone in Guildford to a public phone box in a lane three miles from the nearest record shop. I stand there, phone welded between my shoulder and ear, whilst I write notes about it. I definitely write the words, ‘yelping’, ‘cartoon’, ‘childlike vocals’ and ‘DIY’.
An hour later, Bill, Mrs SWCs brother has dropped me off at Newton Abbot library and I file my review to the magazine. I recall likening Manda Rin’s vocals to the sort of noise you hear at a school disco near the girls toilets. I also recall hearing the song on Radio One about an hour after posting my email and thinking, “that sounds nothing like the record I have just reviewed’, which possibly explains why I never got any free Reading Festival Passes. I never once thought, I know I’ll switch on Radio One, if Bis are any good 1FM will be all over it like a rash.
I’ve just spent a good thirty minutes trying to find my piece from the clippings I have in the loft, with no luck. I definitely have a clipping somewhere it because it was (unsurprisingly) the last thing of mine that they ever published.
All of which technological masterclasses bring us to Badger’s version of ‘The Secret Vampire Soundtrack’ which serves as the fourth in our series of five of Lost EP’s, and is perhaps the second one of the four so far that could have stayed lost.
His copy appears to be a promo, the sleeve is plain red and the only thing to tell us that it is Bis is a cheap looking sticker hastily stuck about the cut out hole. The vinyl itself has an ‘A’ drawn on one side and amazingly a ‘B’ on the other. It looks like it has barely ever been played, which is perhaps understandable, its not a record that I think has aged very well.
Here are the other three tracks, none of them are particularly amazing, if I had to pick a standout track it would be ‘Secret Vampires’
mp3: bis – Secret Vampires
mp3: bis – Teen-C Power
mp3: bis – Diska
SWC
JC adds……
For the record, I’m disagreeing with our esteemed author today, his first knowledge of which will be when he reads the post!!
I have a 7″ copy of The Secret Vampire Soundtrack (from which all of today’s mp3s have been taken), and love each of them for the DIY approach. It’s also to do with the fact that bis are great fun in the live setting…..we can’t all be as polished or as perfect as Muse…..
Here’s something I wrote back in September 2010, that I’ve been able to salvage from the wreckage of the old blog: (worth mentioning that bis have subsequently reformed since this posting, and further albums were released in 2014 and 2019)-
“This lot are famed for being, in March 1996, the first ‘unsigned’ band to appear on Top Of The Pops when they performed Kandy Pop, a track on their Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP.
The band comprised Manda Rin (vocals & keyboards), Sci-Fi Steven (vocals & synthesisers) and John Disko (guitars) – their real names were Amanda MacKinnon and bothers Steven & John Clark. At the time of the TOTP appearance they were were 18, 19 and 17 years of age respectively.
But the truth was that while technically unsigned, Bis had the comfort of knowing their records would be released by Chemikal Underground, the label formed by members of The Delgados. Furthermore, The Secret Vampire Soundtrack was in fact their third release, so its not as if they were total novices.
They soon signed to Grand Royal, a label run by the Beastie Boys, allegedly after turning down 50 other options. But the hype around Bis did create a huge backlash in the UK and while the EP did eventually reach #26 in the singles charts, it was the most success they would ever enjoy in their native land. But it was a totally different story in Japan where their 1997 debut LP The New Transistor Heroes shifted well in excess of 100,000 copies.
Subsequent singles and LPs didn’t do all that well and most folk dismissed the band as something of a one-trick pony capable only of nonsensical shouty lyrics over the top of seemingly out-of-tune synth tracks.
So it all turned very sour quickly for bis and it was no real surprise that they called it a day in 2003 – and not one of the band was close to being 30 years of age.
There have been a couple of efforts to reform since then, most notably in 2007 to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the release of the debut LP, but these were not met with any huge acclaim outside the cult following the band latterly cultivated.
But while there may have been some disappointing stuff released in the latter part of their recording career, there’s no escaping the fun and frolics of the hit EP. It’s kind of a cross between Altered Images and the post-punk sounds of bands such as Swell Maps”
I thought I’d illustrate my own effort with the sleeve of the debut album by The Fun Boy Three – which you can see is signed. It actually belongs to Mrs Villain but when I asked her what it was like to actually meet Terry Hall, she told me that she had actually gone into HMV in Glasgow a few minutes after the band had left (she had no idea a signing session had been organised on the day), but as there were still a few extra signed copies on sale, she decided to get her hands on one of them.
Without further ado, this is meant merely as a companion piece to Khayem‘s impeccable offering from yesterday, and as I haven’t restricted myself to just one song from each strand of the career, it’s a bit of a lazy effort in places….
Side One
1) The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum – The Fun Boy Three (single and debut album, 1982)
It’s almost 40 years old and its sentiments, arguably, are more relevant today than when the lyrics reflected the fear that our political leaders would lead us into a nuclear war.
2) Thinking Of You – The Colourfield (single and the album Virgin and Philistines 1985)
A #12 hit, and the prototype for all sorts of smash hits years later by The Beautiful South.
3) Music To Watch Girls By – Terry Hall (b-side, 1997)
Laugh, released in 1997, was the second solo-album, following on from Home, which came out in 1994. Terry wrote most of the songs on both albums with Craig Gannon, probably best known for his stints in The Smiths and Aztec Camera. Others who contributed to Laugh included Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy, and Sean O’Hagan (ex-Microdisney). It’s an album with much to enjoy and it sounds as if Terry had a fair bit of fun making it, as exemplified by this cover of the cheesy 60’s number made famous by Andy Williams.
4) Fishbones and Scaredy Cats – Terry, Blair and Anouchka (Ultra Modern Nursery Rhymes 1990)
Terry, Blair & Anouchka consisted of Mr Hall, Blair Booth and Anouchka Grose, the former being an American singer and the latter an Australian who is nowadays a well-known psychoanalyst but back in 1990 was an arts graduate from Goldsmith College in London. Two flop singles and one album was the outcome of the partnership – the group did push the label hard, but to no avail, for Fishbones to be a third single. Strikes me that the record company really missed the chance to have something that could have been a bit of a novelty hit…..
5) Our Lips Are Sealed – The Fun Boy Three (single and from the album Waiting, 1983)
This majestic piece of pop, co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlen, is the legacy of what was a brief affair between the couple, in 1980 when The Specials and The Go-Gos toured together. Credit must be given for the superb production brought to the studio by David Byrne and not forgetting the fabulous backing vocal by Julie Miles Kingston, who also added her considerable drumming skills.
Side Two
6) Gangsters – The Specials (single, and from the album, The Specials, 1979)
One of THE great debut singles of all time. I still find it hard to believe that it was a cover version
7) Do Nothing – The Specials (single 1981, and from the album, More Specials, 1980)
Ghost Town is, without question, a genuine classic (as indeed is b-side Friday Night, Saturday Morning as featured in Khayem’s ICA). As such, it overshadows the earlier hit from the same year, one which also captures perfectly how shit life was for many young people living in the UK in 1981. It was penned by Lynval Goulding and paved the way, more than any other, for how The Fun Boy Three would harmonise to great effect..
8) The Alibi (12″ version) – The Fun Boy Three (b-side of The Telephone Always Rings, 1982)
Sometimes, and not just with Terry Hall/Fun Boy Three, the best songs are tucked away on the back of singles that didn’t sell all that well and as such, they are hidden gems.
9) Too Much Too Young – The Specials (from the album, The Specials, 1979)
The live version, recorded in their home city of Coventry, went to #1. It was a frantic, energetic blast-through that was little more than two minutes in length when the much more sedate but, in my view far more powerful message-wise album version does much more to deliver its sentiments,
10) A Room Full Of Nothing – Terry Hall (from the album Laugh, 1997)
The one name I missed when mentioning the musicians who worked on or helped with Laugh was Damon Albarn. This unusual almost music-hall type of tune, complete with a dark almost soul-searching lyric, was co-written by Hall/Albarn and the way it fades out just made it the ideal way closer for this companion ICA.
I love that the ICAs have not just been straightforward ’best of’ collections and each contribution has set a personal challenge or criteria. Personally, it’s been the only way to avoid madness and indecision and Terry Hall is no exception. The ‘rules’ this time are pretty simple: collaborations and guest spots are in, but only one song per act. Initially, choosing just one song by The Specials or Fun Boy Three was so daunting, I considered leaving them out altogether. Admittedly, there’s nothing from Terry, Blair & Anouchka. Much as I like the songs, the production seemed too jarring wherever I placed them, so unfortunately they didn’t make the final cut. The Lightning Seeds are also conspicuous by their absence. The final selection may be controversial, and like my previous ICAs don’t necessarily include my favourite songs, but I think the album works as a whole.
As for the ICA title…Whilst The Undertones’ 1980 song clearly isn’t about Terry Hall, the title chimed with my memory of the media’s view of Terry Hall during the 1980s and 1990s as a miserable git who needed to ‘cheer up’. A more empathetic and rounded portrayal thankfully emerged in the 21st century with the disclosure of his bipolar diagnosis and childhood trauma. Personally, I’ve had a deep love of Terry Hall as a singer and songwriter since I first started buying records and this ICA hopefully reflects that.
A final thanks to Echorich, as it was Terry Hall’s inclusion on his recent Fine Young Men ICA that encouraged me to finally finish this one! Enjoy.
Side One
1) All Kinds Of Everything: Terry Hall & Sinéad O’Connor (A Song For Eurotrash, 1998)
Eurotrash was a long-running late night TV programme on the UK’s Channel 4, which was fronted by idiosyncratic Antoine de Caunes and co-hosted in the early years with Jean-Paul Gaultier. It was a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek look at life in Europe and beyond. Perhaps inevitably, when the UK hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, Channel 4 screened a TV special, A Song for Eurotrash, with an accompanying compilation of the same name. Both comprised covers of previous Eurovision ‘hits’ by Edwyn Collins, Saint Etienne, Shane MacGowan, Bananarama and 808 State. This version of Dana’s 1970 winner is a highlight of the TV show and album, Terry and Sinéad’s voices perfectly complementing one another.
2) Forever J (Pulp Mix): Terry Hall (single, 1994)
I think Terry Hall’s solo career has been under appreciated and I could easily have focussed an ICA on this alone. However, rules are rules and I eventually came to decide between this and a B-side from the same EP, the possibly too obvious Guess It’s Not A Great Day To Be Me. I think Echorich said it all when including this track in his ICA, and it remains one of my favourite Terry Hall songs, full stop. To avoid duplication, I’ve gone for the remix, which sounds exactly like Terry performing with Pulp as his backing band.
3) Cruel Circus: The Colourfield (Virgins And Philistines, 1985)
I won’t pretend that I faithfully followed Terry from Fun Boy Three to The Colourfield, although I enjoyed their debut single, Thinking Of You. I first discovered this song in the early 1990s on the Animal Liberation compilation, released in 1987, which eventually led me back to its parent album, Virgins And Philistines. A biting commentary on animal cruelty, Terry’s lyrics and vocal delivery have lost none of their power and relevance in the subsequent three decades.
4) If You Kill My Cat I’ll Kill Your Dog: Vegas (She B-side, 1992)
I think I groaned inwardly when I initially read that Terry Hall had teamed up with Eurythmics’ David A. Stewart. Much as I loved the latter’s early work, I had been turned off by his high-gloss, (over) produced music and couldn’t see how this could possibly work. It turned out to be a one-off/short-lived project, with one album and three singles that I had to admit were actually pretty good. Of course, Terry’s songwriting was a strong as ever and, on this B-side, the production is understated and allows Terry room to breathe.
5) Friday Night, Saturday Morning: The Specials (Ghost Town B-side, 1981)
Possibly the biggest challenge of the entire ICA. I mean, how to choose? Eventually, it was this or Do Nothing, but as I started playing around the ICA sequence, there was really no other song that could be the closer to Side One. This is one of Terry’s finest lyrics, with a bleak and resigned picture of a weekend cycle that a few years later, resonated even more as it became my lived experience. Incredible to believe that at the time of its release in 1981, it was merely a bonus track on their swansong single.
Side Two
6) Bubbles: Nearly God (Nearly God, 1996)
Following the massive impact of Tricky’s debut album, Maxinquaye, and it’s inextricable association with trip hop and the Bristol sound, I loved the fact that he chose to immediately follow up with two aliases/side projects, firstly the ‘I Be The Prophet’ EP as Starving Souls and then Nearly God. Terry also appeared on Nearly God’s lead single, Poems, but I think over the years and repeated listening, I prefer this song. On the original vinyl, it’s placed midway through Side Two, but I think it makes for a good opening track. Again, Terry’s lyrics are on top form:
The first hundred years are the toughest I’m getting smothered And life is just one bloody thing After another
As with the Vegas side project, another inward groan when I initially saw this. Terry has been no stranger to an unexpected and ultimately rewarding cover version (this ICA opener, She, Running Away, Summertime), but Rapture? Really? Thankfully, Terry forgoes the falsetto and rap and the version is so much better than I initially feared, striking the right balance between familiarity with the original and an individual interpretation.
8) Ten Eleven: Terry Hall & Mushtaq (The Hour Of Two Lights, 2003)
Gorillaz & D12’s 911 was in the original long list for this ICA, but I decided to drop the song as it appeared in JC’s post in November. This comes from an album issued a couple of years later, but retains the Gorillaz connection as it was released on Honest Jon’s Records and features label owner Damon Albarn on vocals. Rapper Mushtaq (former member of Fun-Da-Mental) is more prominent on this track, but Terry’s contribution on the ‘chorus’ is essential and, aurally, there are pleasing nods back to The Specials.
9) Time To Blow: Leila (Blood, Looms & Blooms, 2008)
Leila’s third album was a remarkable return, following personal loss and a withdrawal from releasing new music for several years. The album also provided a (probably) accidental link to Tricky’s Nearly God project by reuniting Terry Hall and Martina Topley-Bird, who collaborate on the album’s closing song. Typically, I’ve opted for Terry’s other contribution, where his is the sole voice and the lyrics include the possibly autobiographical line, ‘Each time I open my mouth I regret it’.
10) Well Fancy That!: Fun Boy Three (Waiting, 1983)
The final song on 1983’s Waiting, produced by David Byrne, was always going to the closer to this ICA. I bought the album on cassette from HMV in Bristol and it blew my 12-year old mind. Whilst I generally got the meaning behind The Farmyard Connection and The More I See (The Less I Believe), I didn’t grasp the full horror of this song until years later, when I read interviews with Terry Hall.
My naive, pre-teen mind had always interpreted the song as a third-person narrative involving a female teacher. To later read that this is an autobiographical account of Terry’s abduction and abuse by a paedophile ring in France, and the traumatic impact on his subsequent life and mental health was a shock. Terry later reflected, “The only way I could deal with the experience was to write about it, in a song. It was very difficult for me to write, but I wanted to communicate my feelings.”As for the song itself, it’s a perfect example of Terry Hall’s brilliance, balancing a sweet, almost nursery-rhyme melody with lyrics that challenge, disturb and reward repeated reading.
Covid-19 permitting, Terry will be back on tour with The Specials in 2021, following their successful album Encore. Whilst there’s less prospect of another solo album, I for one am glad that Terry’s continuing to write and perform and I’m looking forward to what comes next.
KHAYEM
JC adds…..I had long been thinking of a Terry Hall ICA, and driven on by Khayem’s superb offering, I’m going to offer up a Volume 2 tomorrow, but without the tight restrictions used today!!
A GUEST POSTING FROM TWO MORE COOL DUDES IN CALIFORNIA
Jonny the Friendly Lawyer writes: – It was fun talking with Vincent Landay about his work on REM’s ‘Crush With Eyeliner’ video with Spike Jonze. I knew Spike was involved with the video for ‘Electrolite’, too, so I thought we’d give it another go. But when I asked Vince about it he said, “I had nothing to do with that one and Spike was only second camera. Peter Care directed that video.”Vince, being Vince, knows everyone in the business and connected me with Peter straightaway.
Vince described Peter as “a friendly and charming Brit—you’ll love him.”Of course, Vince was spot on. Peter and I chatted for nearly an hour and the interview went like this:
JTFL: How’d you first meet REM?
Peter: I’d done a number of music videos earlier in my career but had gone on to make tv commercials. I hit a brick wall with that and wanted to get back to more interesting work. I knew Warner Bros.’ video commissioner so I called to ask her if there were any bands I might work with. She suggested REM and, after some excruciating phone tag with Michael Stipe, we ended up working together on ‘Radio Song.’ It was a fantastic experience that began a long and rewarding friendship with the band.
J: What do you like about working with them?
P: REM have a certain sophistication about film-making and culture. They also always had a lot of ideas, or kernels of ideas to run with.
J: For example?
P: Doing a crowd surfing video for “Drive,” and doing “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” as a straight performance, things like that.
J: Is that different from the other acts you’ve worked with?
P: Every band is different. Some are just concerned about how much screen time they’re going to get. Or, they might come up with ideas that are so over budget there’d be no way to do them. Other bands were just not as interested in the craft of making videos. Then there are artists who know how to work with a director to get what’s best for the music. Tina Turner, for example, was a joy to work with.
REM are unique in that they’re highly professional about filmmaking and understood and enjoyed the process. Something really clicked between me and the band. We developed a sort of shorthand way of communicating and there was a lot of trust between us. We were comfortable critiquing each other’s ideas.
J: What was the thinking behind ‘Electrolite’?
P: We’d done a number of different things by that point. Highly stylized black and white videos like ‘Man on the Moon’ and so on. This time they just wanted to do something stupid. “Stupid” is the actual word we used.
J: Is that why there are several seemingly incongruous scenes?
P: No. The reason for that is I was a little off guard when Michael called me up about doing a new video. It was very bad timing because I had just finished a commercial shoot and was exhausted. So I proposed splitting the video up into four or five different pieces, each of which would be done by a different director, with no continuity between them. I was working with a production company called Satellite then, and asked if any of the people there were interested. In the end Spike agreed, so we did it together.
J: Where was it shot?
P: The opening scene was shot in the lobby and coffee shop of the Ambassador Hotel.
[Jonny notes: check out The Ambassador. A legendary LA hotel opened in 1921. Home of the famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub where Hollywood icons (Chaplin, Monroe, Fonda, Sinatra, Hepburn etc.) hung out. The Oscars were held there once. It featured in lots of big budget films, too (Forrest Gump, Almost Famous, The Italian Job, etc.). It was also where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. Sadly, it was demolished in 2005.]
The other interiors were shot on a soundstage. The folks in chains were passersby we filmed in the street or wherever we found them. We shot the dune buggy scene out in the desert. Spike’s scene at the end, with all the special effects, was shot on a giant green screen and green floor in the parking lot of the Ambassador.
J: Spike’s scene?
P: Yes, that’s one of the most popular parts of the video and Spike did it. I’d asked him to get involved and I wanted to give him a lot of room to do what he wanted. So a lot of the budget was reserved for that part. That’s why it’s the one section that’s like its own little film. It has an independent structure within itself.
J: I thought Spike was “second camera” on the shoot.
P: No, he was the co-director and should be credited that way. It’s true that he and I did some of the ‘guerilla’ scenes of the people in chains, which were shot with 16mm cameras. But he directed the parking lot scene at the end.
J: Were any of the chained folks cast?
P: No. Our production assistant just asked whoever happened to be walking by if they’d like to be in an REM video, draped with chains. Completely random. Most people said yes, and that’s who’s in the video.
J: What else was “stupid” about the shoot?
P: Everything. Filming a scene upside down, rubber reindeer suspended from the ceiling. There’s a part where the band appear in silly outfits, as if they’re being interviewed. They weren’t—they were just gibbering on about nothing.
J: The costumes are excellent. Who did you work with?
P: A brilliant costumer called Debra LeClair. I worked with Debra on I can’t remember how many projects, but definitely some high profile ones. Videos for Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen and several others.
J: Who else worked with you on the video?
P: The editor was Angus Wall, who was also brilliant. He totally understood what we were after. We deliberately set up ‘bad’ edits that were the complete opposite of what you’d do in a typical music video. So, for example, we keep recutting incongruously back to the same shot of Bill over and over at the beginning. It doesn’t fit the song at all.
J: Why have I heard of Angus Wall?
P: Because he went on to become a highly sought-after film editor. He worked a lot with David Fincher and won Oscars for his editing in The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
J: Oh, that Angus Wall.
P: Yes, that one.
J: I’ve read that the song is sort of an homage to Los Angeles, or to Michael Stipe’s experience of it. He mentions famous actors and Mulholland Drive in the lyrics. Did that have any influence on the video?
P: Not at all.
J: How long did it take to make it?
P: Oh, a couple of days talking with the band, 5-6 days to prep, 3 days of shooting with conventional cameras (and some more time for the handheld camera scenes), 4-5 days to edit. So, about three weeks?
J: What was most fun for you?
P: When I was a young filmmaker I had a fantasy of working with Roger Corman. I never got to do that but I did see some production stills from one of the last films he worked on. The images were of armored knights jousting on dune buggies in the desert. It was such a crazy idea, and that’s how we ended up with the dune buggy scene.
J: Who was in the suit of armor? It’s not one of the band.
P: The guy in the suit of armor was Bono.
J: Are you kidding? That was never Bono!
P: REM shoots always had major celebs visiting.
J: Wow. I wonder how he got the visor down over his shades!
P: *polite silence*
J: Er, lastly, one of the esteemed contributors to this venerable blog wrote about REM that “Mills is an okay bassist and a crap singer. Berry is at best a passable drummer.” Would you agr—
P: That is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.
JC adds.…..This really is beyond any call of duty. Jonny had no idea how much the song means to me, nor the fact I’ve always loved the video, so when he floated the idea of getting in touch with Peter, I was excited and hopeful in equal measures, but deep down I thought it was a long shot. I’m still in shock and awe a few days after the email dropped into my inbox.
Peter Care is actually a legend when it comes to making music videos – as far back as 2005, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the field from the Music Video Production Association. He got noticed primarily through his early pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire and between 1983 and 2004, he worked with almost 30 different singers/bands, many of whom are no strangers to the pages of this little corner of t’internet. If you like these songs, then go and visit YouTube or the likes and have a look at Peter’s outstanding work
mp3: Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria
mp3: It’s Immaterial – Ed’s Funky Diner
mp3: PiL – Rise
mp3: Bananarama – Venus
mp3: New Order – Regret
mp3: James – Say Something
As far as R.E.M. goes, Peter has directed seven music videos along with the excellent Road Movie, the 90-minute documentary/concert film recorded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1995 at the end of the band’s world-wide tour to promote Monster.
As I said, he’s a legend, so a huge thanks to Vince for helping out with the initial contact, and of course to Peter for being so generous with his time when Jonny connected with him.
Up until now, both myself and The Robster have been pulling these pieces together weeks and sometimes months in advance. It’s been an absolute joy to have embarked on this particular adventure in hi-fi and having been lucky enough to read what’s coming up over the next few weeks, all lovingly composed by my better half, the quality is going to be maintained.
It would have been last October or November when I would have insisted that the look back at the 31st UK single from R.E.M. would be my responsibility. At which point I got writer’s block that I’ve only managed to overcome as a result of an impending deadline.
Cards on the table.
Electrolite is my favourite single of them all. Back in 2008, when I pulled together my 45 45s at 45 series, nothing from R.E.M. made the cut, but as a preface to the actual series I did say that the five songs which would have taken things up to #50 were, in alphabetical order, :-
Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears Morrissey – November Spawned A Monster REM – Electrolite Stereolab – Ping Pong Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun
This was done to demonstrate just how hard it had been to come up with the final list of 45 singles, all bought at the time of their original release, with only one song per singer/band.
So why do I have such a love for Electrolite?
The writer’s block I feel is an illustration that I have a real difficulty putting it into words.
The first time I heard it was as the closing track to the album. I got a real sense of melancholy as the tune and lyrics just seemed to capture a frame of mind I was in…looking back it was a wee crisis of confidence more than anything, but for the first time in my life I actually felt I was about to take a mighty tumble, with hopes and aspirations for my career suffering a setback. There were also a few things going on with friends that were a bit of a concern, although thankfully Rachel (aka Mrs Villain) was proving to be a rock.
New Adventures In Hi-Fi helped me immensely at the tail end of 1996 – a sprawling, ambitious and hugely unexpected record requiring a high degree of dedication to be fully appreciated. Over an hour in length, it was a diverse and, at times, audacious listen, constantly shifting direction and pace. It was a demanding listen, best appreciated through a set of headphones, whether for the loud rock-out moments or the beauty of the quieter songs, some of which, if developed fully, could easily have delivered another hit as monster as Everybody Hurts.
By the time the album rolled around to track 14, the album closer, I’d often be exhausted and exhilarated in equal measures. And then the sound of what I later learned was a guiro would kick in and the song I cannot but think of as a companion piece to (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville would start to wash over me:-
mp3: R.E.M. – Electrolite
A few years short of the millennium and Stipe has composed his farewell to the 20th Century, name checking three of the coolest lead men in Hollywood history, backed mainly by a magnificent piece of piano magic from Mike Mills, but on which there is also the most perfect playing of a banjo, a violin and various pieces of percussion to be found on any CD/record that I’ve ever owned.
I think it’s fair to say that I immediately put this song on a pedestal. Any thoughts that it might ever be removed dissipated around a year later when Bill Berry announced he was leaving R.E.M., which means that this holds its special place in history as the last song on the last album recorded by the four-piece.
Here’s another thing I need to mention.
The series of ICAs that this blog has become ‘best known’ for has long given me a real sense of pride. I don’t know how the other composers go about their work, but with almost every ICA I’ve ever written, I think to myself ‘Is this as good a closer as Electrolite?’ Is it a song that makes me want to immediately go back and listen all the way through the album again?’
Electrolite, like the two other 45s taken from the album, came out in cassette form as well as a standard and ‘Collectors Edition’ CD (the only difference being the packaging) on which you could find two live tracks taken from a gig in Atlanta on 18 November 1995:-
mp3: R.E.M. – The Wake-Up Bomb (live)
mp3: R.E.M. – Binky The Doormat (live)
As The Robster mentioned last week, the former had been the song the record label most wanted as the follow-up to E-Bow The Letter and the live version does demonstrate both how well it would have sounded coming out of radios and how much it would likely appeal to those whose interest in the band was beginning to diminish.
The latter is one of those tracks on New Adventures that grew on me with each listen. I can give it no higher compliment than it wouldn’t have been out of place on Monster, and the live version captures the band at their best, albeit a long way removed from the Murmur/Reckoning/Fables era of less than 15 years previously.
The fourth track was a remix of one of my own favourites from Monster:-
mp3: R.E.M. – King Of Comedy (808 State Remix)
It was wholly unexpected to read of the collaboration on the sleeve notes of the CD single. I went in with a bit of fear and expecting the worst, but came out with a smile on my face. As Bones might have said in the early days of Star Trek, ‘it’s R.E.M., but not as we know it, Jim.’
And in this case, that’s something to enjoy and appreciate.
Stats wise, Electrolite reached #29 in the UK singles chart in December 1996. It would be almost two full years before the next 45. The Robster will take your hand and guide you through it, as he will with all four singles from Up.
I’ll see you all again in due course. Thanks for your continued support, and hopefully enjoyment, of the series.
Plastic Animals are an Edinburgh-based band. I use the present tense as I’m not sure if they are still on the go, but given that they haven’t ever been one for moving things quickly, then there’s every possibility they will record and release some music in the near or distant future.
Consisting of Mario Cruzado (guitar and vocals), Ben Slade (guitar), Jean Michel Morin (keyboards), Dave Wark (bass) and James Lynch (drums), they released an EP in each of 2011 and 2012 before signing up with Song, By Toad Records where they contributed two songs to a split 12″ EP in 2013 (four bands, eight tracks) before debut album Pictures From The Blackout was issued in 2016. While there has been no new material made commercially available since then, the band has played gigs in their home city in 2017 and 2018, but I can’t find anything more recent than that.
Which is something of a shame as Plastic Animals, in the live setting, were always great value and the material on Song, By Toad is quite decent, albeit without being ground-breaking. Most reviewers back in the day were content to describe the music as being flavoured with krautrock and shoegaze.
I thought I’d share one of the tracks from the album:-
Ripping Badgers CDs The nearly finished A to Z Charity Shop CD Challenge #4
XO (1998, Dreamworks) Bought from Oxfam, Teignmouth for £1.50
Before I start with my normal wittering on I want to say something that is connected to Elliot Smith, and it feels wrong of me to shove down at the bottom of this page, so I’m doing it at the top.
Tim Badger was introduced to the music of Elliot Smith by a friend of his who worked with a charity called CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably. It’s a charity who are leading the fight against suicide, particularly male suicide. It’s a charity that Tim supported wholeheartedly and one that I also support and promote wherever I can. Their website is below. If you do only one thing today, before you download the music or read the rest of this page please check out their website. Thank you.
(JC adds……I thought I’d lead by example and chip in a tenner. Seems like an appropriate way to thank SWC and the late Tim for everything).
Trev is not happy. Trev is the captain of the 5 a side that I am part of and in less than 6 days we are taking part in a work tournament. The reason that Trev is not happy is that Tony has just withdrawn from the team. Tony was pretty much our best player, despite being in his late 40s (This is about fifteen years ago) he is fitter than the rest of us, stronger than the rest of us and has more footballing talent in his left leg than the rest of the team put together. If Tony plays we stood a chance of not being humiliated.
I ask Trev why Tony has withdrawn from the team.
“He’s Injured himself changing a lightbulb, silly twat”. Its fair to say that Trev is not sympathetic. It later transpires that Tony didn’t injure himself changing a lightbulb, he fell off a ladder and ruptured his bowel and needed emergency surgery and couldn’t, at the time of this conversation, actually walk. This would still make him a better player than Trev though.
I tell Trev that I’ll ask Badger to play. Badger is, I tell him, a decent footballer, has a fairly good right foot, is as strong as an ox and I tell him with a wink, “He’ll cheat like buggery”. It will be like having a sixth player. Trev nods and tells me to sort it. Some of that might have been a lie. Badger did indeed have a good right foot. He just couldn’t kick a football with it. He will cheat though.
Badger agrees to play. At a price. It costs me a bottle of rum. A good bottle at that and I have to promise Lorna that I will help him paint their front door, which is what he should have been doing on the day of the tournament.
The tournament is on Saturday and we all meet up in the car park and Trev hands out our kit. It is red. Badger immediately complains that Arsenal play in red and its pretty much against his religion to wear anything red (this is true, Badger refused to wear anything red, he also told me that he had it written into his marriage contract that if Lorna ever bought him anything relating to Arsenal he could divorce her. She on the other hand had it written into the same contract that he could ‘never ever, buy her a novel written by someone called ‘Danielle Steel’.)
We get changed into the kit, Badger begrudgingly agrees to only wear his red top when we are actually playing, and we traipse over to the pitches. We have been put into a group with three other teams, Badger tells me he is going to go and psych out the opposition and he wanders off.
Badger’s attempts at psyching out the opposition didn’t go very well, largely because he used it as an excuse to buy a pasty from the handily placed takeaway van at the side of the pitches. We lose our first match, although that was, I think more to do with our goalkeeper, Jason, not understanding the rules of five a side. Midway through the second half with the score 1 nil to us, he comes rushing out his area to boot the ball as hard as he can in the direction of the M5 motorway and concedes a penalty, which they score. Something they do again about thirty seconds later, on this occasion, Jason lets the ball slip out of his hands and it rolls asthmatically across the line, as he lies on the ground watching it. Badger is not happy with Jason, and I decide to not tell him that Jason is an Arsenal fan.
The second and third matches do not go very well either we draw one and lose the other, I say lose, we are thrashed in the third match. I touch the ball once in the whole game and that is when it bounces off my shin and past the hapless Jason in the goal. We are out and its not even lunch time. Badger smiles and says at least we can go to the pub early. This cheers me up, that is until Trev tells us that we are entered into the penalty shoot out contest. Trev failed to mention the penalty shoot out competition.
The penalty shoot contest consists of the team taking 20 penalties in no more than ten minutes, each player has to take 4 penalties each. The team that scores the most wins a prize. It turns out that they have roped in a former Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper to try and stop the goals. Like pretty much everything connected to Plymouth, he is useless.
Which might be why we turn out to be quite good at the penalty shoot out. Badger decides to adopt the same tactic for each of his kicks, this consists of him giving the keeper the skunk eye before belting the ball at the goal as hard as he can. I adopt a more thoughtful approach of trying to place the ball in the bottom right or left corner. Weirdly both are successful as neither of us have missed any of our kicks, although the goalie was about 60. Badger tells everyone who can be bothered to listen that he based his tactic on something he read in a Hotshot Hamish comic strip once and therefore knew it would work. For the record I based my tactic on another famous Scottish footballer – Ray Stewart of West Ham.
We end up scoring 16 as a team and finish up third in the contest. We win an amazing prize for coming third, a pair of football socks, which were red.
All of which Saint and Greavsie’s inspired activity bring us to the fourth CD in the Nearly Finished A to Z Charity Shop Challenge. It is ‘XO’, by Elliot Smith. I think of penalty kicks when I see X O written down, not sure why, but that’s why I went on about football.
Badger was a huge fan of Elliot Smith, far bigger than I am, although I have to say, I love this album, and have played it regularly since the CD was lifted from the box before Christmas. If like me, you’re not really familiar with his work, this is a great way to immerse yourself into his work, the whole album is stunning. Its full of wonderfully wry lyrics, clever one liners, cries of despair all laced together with some soft beautiful melodies, like these two for instance:-
mp3: Waltz #2
mp3: Baby Britain
‘XO’ is still a heartbreaking listen at times, roughly around the time of this release Smith struggled with depression and tried suicide at least once (he threw himself off a cliff whilst drunk and impaled himself on a tree). I’m not sure if this made worse by us all now knowing how things turned out for Elliot Smith, doesn’t matter I suppose. It’s a great album, I urge you all to take the time to listen to it.
“The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that Paul Haig is just about the most important Scottish musician of my generation. He’s really proved to be our equivalent of Bowie, with his constant shifting of musical genres over a career that stretches back more than 40 years, albeit with a very small minuscule of commercial success in comparison
“I really must get round to finishing that long-delayed Paul Haig ICA.”
Those were my opening and closing paras last November when I featured him in the long-running Saturday Songs series. The reason it has been so long-delated is the amount of choice. I’m not including any of the Josef K material, nor anything that he released alongside the late and great Billy Mackenzie, but I was still looking at a long list of more than 40 potential songs for inclusion.
It’s been a labour of love. Again, I’m not going to argue these are the ten ‘best’ Paul Haig songs, but I do feel they hang together as a fine compilation album.
SIDE ONE
1) Heaven Sent (single, and opening track on Rhythm of Life, 1983)
A song dating from the Josef K days, and one which the band had performed in their trademark way, complete with angular, jarring guitars that meant a raincoat was essential if you really wanted to get on the floor and give it a dance. This radical transformation, with production duties handled by Alex Sadkin, (a person mentioned in the Chris Frantz book I reviewed last week) who was probably best known for his work with Grace Jones, showed how much and how quickly Paul wanted to move on and do something totally different. All of his early solo work formed part of the soundtrack to my student days, and I make no apologies that a few songs from that era will feature in this ICA.
2) I Believe In You (single, and opening track on Coincidence vs, Fate, 1993)
No matter how hard Paul Haig tried, he just couldn’t ever get that elusive hit single. I Believe In You was his 14th go at things, and this marvellous, radio-friendly pop/dance effort, with more than a hint of house high up in the mix, was another instance when justice wasn’t done, Talking of which….
3) Justice (single and track 8 on Rhythm of Life, 1983)
A version of Justice had been recorded in 1982, with the aim of having it issued as a single via Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule. The big contract with Island Records put a spoke in that wheel, meaning that a track which sounded in many ways like the New Life/See You era of Depeche Mode, was given the Sadkin treatment, and became, arguably, the most instant and accessible of all the tracks on the debut album. The label likely had high hopes for this to be a big single, ideally coming on the back of a previous hit, but given that the radio stations and the record-buying public were proving to be disinterested, it was given just a low-key release. Another that should’ve been much better known…
4) Over Over (track 3 on Cinematique 3, 2003)
Cinematique 3 was the final in a series of three instrumental albums subtitled “Themes to Unknown Films”. The previous two volumes had been released in 1991 and 2001, the first on Les Disques du Crépuscule, but the final two volumes came out on Paul’s own label, Rhythm Of Life (which was, of course, the title of the debut album on Island Records back in 1983). RoL had actually been the name under which Paul had issued a number of side projects immediately after the break-up of Josef K, and such was his love of the name that he resurrected it at the tail end of the 20th Century and has used it for all his releases ever since.
5) Something Good (10″ version, 1989)
Lifted from a previous blog post:-
In 1988, Paul Haig took a very bold and brave step by fully financing the recording of his next album himself without the safety net of a guaranteed release. He again worked with Alan Rankine and thankfully for all concerned, it was picked up by Circa Records, an offshoot of Virgin. Hopes were high, particularly for the release of an outstanding and poptastic leadoff single, Something Good, which was released in 7″, 12″ and 12″ remix form and tailor-made for radio play and an appearance on Top of The Pops. But….once again, Paul was denied by the pop gods with him again being in the wrong place at the wrong time with Madchester all the rage and synth-pop well out of fashion. And yet, when you listen to Something Good, and indeed some of other tracks on parent album Chain, it’s not a million miles away from some of the less clubby tracks on Technique by New Order (e.g. Run).
SIDE TWO
1) Round and Round (track 6 on Relive, 2009)
Come the early years of the 21st Century, a few members of the emerging bands were making noises that Paul Haig had been something of an influence in their formative years. This led to a bit more interest in the great man and he released two albums in quick succession – Go Out Tonight (2008) and Relive (2009) with the guitars more to the fore than recent years, albeit there remained a very healthy dose of keyboards/electronica. He was also more than happy to go back to old material and give it a fresh update, such as this one, co-written with Malcolm Ross, his mate from the Josef K days, which had already seen light of day on one of Ross’s solo albums as far back as 1995.
2) Big Blue World (12″ single, 1984)
3) The Only Truth (single, 1984)
The cut-throat nature of the record industry meant that Island Records weren’t the slightest bit interested in Paul Haig after the debut album had stiffed. Even when he came up with the very radio-friendly Big Blue World, on which he worked very closely with Alan Rankine not long after he had taken his leave of Associates, they turned it down which meant he was free to issue it as a 45 on Operation Afterglow, an offshoot of Les Disques du Crépuscule, but inevitably things were done on a shoestring budget and nobody got to hear it. Mind you, the fact it came out on such small label did make it eligible for the indie charts and it managed to reach #19.
Work on the follow-up, The Only Truth, saw Bernard Sumner (New Order) and Donald Johnson (A Certain Ratio) take on joint production duties. Sniffing a commercial opportunity, Island Records decided this one should go out on license, thus it was given an Island catalogue number, but the label in the middle of the record indicated it was another Les Disques du Crépuscule, albeit it was very much bankrolled by the major. After it flopped, Island decided to drop Paul Haig and shelved the plans for a second album, much of which had already been recorded.
4) Chained (track 10 on Chain, 1989)
The first hook up with Billy Mackenzie came in the mid-80s, and was the kindling of a close friendship over many years until Billy’s sad demise. They decided that each would write a song for the other’s next LP, and the quite majestuic Chained subsequently was included on Chain in 1989 – an album that just happened to be produced jointly by Paul Haig and Alan Rankine.
NB: Paul’s song for Billy was Reach The Top, which was recorded for the Associates album The Glamour Chase, due also for release in 1989 but shelved by the record label, and only given a posthumous release in 2003.
5) Chasing The Tail (opening track on The Wood, 2018)
This ICA closes off with some music from the most recent album. His ability to still astound, astonish and delight can be evidenced by this review from Louder Than War:-
It’s a long time since Paul Haig split from Josef K. In the fact he’s been producing solo records since 1982, so perhaps it’s high time to put the post-punk spectre to one side and look at what is happening in the here and now because Paul’s new record shares next to nothing with that band. Maybe a similar spirit of adventure, but sonically a world away. The Wood finds Haig exploring samples, beats, electronics and ‘found sound’ to sculpt something that’s split into eight parts, but very much fit together as a whole. A soundscape of the strange and strangely danceable among the tranquillity in the forest, or of the mixed-up feelings of the soul, or both, well that’s what I think may be intended anyway.”
Whether that truly comes over is down to each individual listener to judge, but for me Haig has put together a work that’s in turns provocative, danceable, obscure, immediate and beguilingly rum, so I’m not sure it really matters. What The Wood actually consists of is eight pieces that mostly are dance/trance-orientated with repeated vocal motifs. The concept gives it an added edge and with a little imagination you can feel the eerie peace of the Forest and the skips and dips of the mind. Aside from the concept there is plenty to get one to, cough, ‘cut a rug’. But everything here fits and you have to admire Haig’s craftsmanship in the way it has been put together – producing a musical storybook without words in effect. Forty years into his recording career he’s still breaking new ground. Long may he strive for the outer reaches, because those who want to be challenged a little in their listening will lap this up.
BONUS 7″ SINGLE: THE COVERS
a) Ghost Rider
b) Atmosphere
The former was the b-side to Big Blue World back in 1985. It’s a hugely enjoyable trashy, electro-rockabilly take on the Suicide song from 1977 (and which last featured on this blog as the b-side to Orange Crush by R.E.M.)
The latter is, indeed, the Joy Division song. It was recorded more than a decade ago by Outernationale, which is the name used by Scots-born Derek Miller, with Paul Haig adding his distinctive vocal. The track would later be given a release on Hacienda Records, the short-lived digital label run by Peter Hook. It’s brilliantly different…..
I really didn’t mean for there to be a near four-months gap in this series, and so I’m returning with one which goes back to basics in that it’s a debut single which the band never topped at any time in the future.
Don’t Dictate was released in November 1977. It was the work of Penetration, a band from Ferryhill, a small coal-mining town in the north-east of England, taking their name from an Iggy Pop song. The line-up which recorded and released the debut single, on Virgin Records, consisted of Pauline Murray (vocals), Robert Blamire (bass), Gary Smallman (drums) and Gary Chaplin (guitar).
mp3: Penetration – Don’t Dictate
The single, and indeed its b-side, was credited to Chaplin/Murray, but just a few months later he left, to be replaced by Neale Lloyd and then Fred Purser was added as a second guitarist, seemingly at the insistence of the record company who wanted to flesh out the sound.
The line-up alterations fuelled a change in the group’s dynamics, and moved them away from what was a punk sound to one which was far rockier and harder in edge. Indeed, the all music review of Moving Targets, the debut album released in late 1978, states:-
In another lifetime, they could have given the likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple a run for their money, at least in terms of demonstrating dexterity
The debut album did actually sell fairly well, reaching #22 in the charts, but the reviews of the live shows were increasingly highlighting the fact that many of the songs contained guitar solos, played by Purser with a high degree of skill and ability, to the extent that they bordered on metal and not punk. It was, admittedly, a fine line – I knew punk fans in Glasgow who loved Motorhead but who would scream blue murder if you played the classic rock stuff, so I guess it was down to just how fast a band played.
Anyways, Penetration’s popularity diminished very quickly and they broke-up soon after a second album, Coming Up For Air, was released in September 1979. Pauline Murray would later join up with The Invisible Girls, a group initially formed to provide a musical soundtrack to the poetry of John Cooper Clarke, recording a fabulous self-titled album in 1980.
Fun fact time. John Maher of Buzzcocks was the drummer on the Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls album. When Penetration reformed in 2015, Maher could be found pounding the drums at the gigs and indeed in the studio as the band released a third album, Resolution, after a gap of 36 years.
Here’s the b-side of the debut 45, clocking in at just over 100 seconds in length:-
mp3: Penetration – Money Talks
Rather fabulous……..that’s if you want to my view on it.
A couple of days ago, the latest instalment of the R.E.M. singles series made reference to the acoustic version of New Test Leper that had featured as one of the b-sides to Bittersweet Me.
I got thinking that perhaps not everyone will be familiar with the songs which appeared on New Adventures In Hi-Fi, and given that the original version of New Test Leper is such an outstanding piece of work, I’ve decided to feature it as part of this series:-
I can’t say that I love Jesus That would be a hollow claim He did make some observations And I’m quoting them today “Judge not, lest ye be judged” What a beautiful refrain The studio audience disagrees Have his lambs all gone astray?
Call me a leper Call me a leper Call me a leper
“You are lost and disillusioned” What an awful thing to say I know this show doesn’t flatter It means nothing to me I thought I might help them understand What an ugly thing to see “I am not an animal” Subtitled under the screen
Call me a leper Call me a leper Call me a leper
When I tried to tell my story They cut me off to take a break I sat silent five commercials I had nothing left to say The talk show host was index-carded All organized and blank The other guests were scared and hardened What a sad parade What a sad parade
Call me a leper Call me a leper Call me a leper Mmmm Mmmm
mp3: R.E.M. – New Test Leper
There’s a whole page on wiki devoted to the song:-
“It was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington, in March 1996, four months after R.E.M. completed their 1995 world tour in support of their previous album, Monster. On the track, Bill Berry plays drums and shaker; Peter Buck plays guitar; Mike Mills, bass and organ; and Michael Stipe provides the vocals, which were penned during moments of downtime at the studio.
The following month, on April 19, the band recorded an acoustic version of the song at the same location. That version was released as a B-side to the “Bittersweet Me” single. The video of the performance, directed by Lance Bangs, was used as the video to the album version of the song in the Bonus Videos section on the band’s In View DVD, released in 2003.
The first line of the song contains the lyrics “I can’t say that I love Jesus”, attracting some controversy. Peter Buck clarified the matter to Q magazine’s Tom Doyle in 1996: “It’s written from the perspective of a character that Michael saw on TV on a talk show. But are people going to think Michael’s talking about himself not liking Jesus? I don’t think that people will take us that seriously. It’s not like we’re tearing up a picture of the Pope on television.”He was referring to Sinéad O’Connor‘s 1992 Saturday Night Live incident.
“‘New Test Leper’ is something that we only played at soundcheck, like, twice,” Buck explained in another interview, this time to Addicted to Noise’s Michael Goldberg, also in 1996. “And for some reason, we just forgot about it and never really played it. I don’t know why. Michael just happened to luckily enough have it on tape. He says, ‘I’ve got this great stuff for that song and none of us even remember playing it.’ So we cut it here in Seattle when we did the record. I think it’s probably the most R.E.M.-ish sounding thing on the record. Literally, Michael was watching one of those talk shows and I think the subject was ‘People judge me by the way I look’ or something. Whereas I, when I have the misfortune to look for two minutes at one of those Oprah, Geraldo things, I just get revolted at everyone concerned: the audience, me. Michael actually looked at it and felt like, ‘Gosh, what if someone’s actually trying to communicate something to these people and this person who’s in this awful, tacky, degrading situation?’ So it’s written from that perspective. And I think probably having done press conferences in the past and being in those kinds of situations, there might be a little empathy from experience that we’ve had.”
According to Darryl White’s R.E.M. Timeline, “New Test Leper” received its first live airing on May 31, 1997, at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta during the final show of The Magnificent 7 vs. The United States’ tour. The “Magnificent 7” was composed of Peter Buck, Mark Eitzel, Justin Harwood, Dan Pearson, Barrett Martin, Scott McCaughey and Skerik Walton, with other people performing occasionally. Buck’s R.E.M. bandmates were present, and the guitarist left Eitzel to perform the last encore to go backstage and talk with the trio. Berry, however, had already departed and was on his way home. “Bill phoned me after the show to tell me he’d loved it,” explained Buck. “But he had to leave halfway through because he was scared he’d be asked to play. It had taken him two hours to drive there; he stayed for forty minutes, and then drove home so he wouldn’t be asked to play one R.E.M. song.” The remaining threesome put together a short set and took to the stage.
During R.E.M.’s performance on VH1 Storytellers in 1998, Stipe explained the background of the song he described as his “crowning achievement”: how he initially (and, thankfully for him, erroneously) thought he’d stolen the song’s “biggest line” – What a sad parade – from his friend Vic Chesnutt; how he wanted to write a follow-up to the only other song he knew that contained the word Jesus in the first line – namely Patti Smith‘s re-working of Van Morrison‘s “Gloria” (“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”); how he “wanted to write a song that was in the 6/8 polka kind of thing, but wanted the vocal to be contrapuntal; and how he quoted his favorite movie in the second verse (“I am not an animal,” from The Elephant Man, a movie that Stipe says also inspired R.E.M.’s “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)”, amongst others).”
And, just to round things off……
I reckon this illustrates perfectly just what The Robster has been saying this past couple of weeks about how different NAiHF would have been regarded if certain other songs had been released as singles.
I guess this mail has become a bit of a tradition, that I summarize last year from a Swedish music POV. As we all know 2020 went down as a year we’d probably most want to forget as quick as possible, very true also for us. I started working at home from last week of February, returning from the Milan area the same night as the first reports came of COVID-19 cases found in 10 smaller towns south of Milan… Immediate quarantine, and then remote working since. Soon celebrating a full year at the dining table. Pros, it’s been many a good year since I played so many of my vinyl records, and I’ve been much more physical active than normal, not spending time commuting – lost 5 kg so far! Cons, well most of all a non existent social life and a limited variation in environment I see.
Musically it became a bit of an in-between year here on the Eastern front, a lot of things postponed, delayed or just taking forever to complete with artists isolated (and not all enjoying being locked down in solitude). I’ve managed to scramble out a couple of decent tracks though, well in my eyes at least, for an EP of the best Swedish music from 2020.
Without further ado, let’s go.
1. Pale Honey – Bad Thing.
Just before Christmas Pale Honey dropped their 3rd album, and what an album it turned out to be. Ten sparkling, raw and self assured tunes. Highly recommended!
2. Kite – Hand Out The Drugs.
The synth-duo Kite has a history of releasing 4 to 5 track EP’s, six so far, rather than full length albums but 2020 saw them release three 7″ singles instead. All of them very good, Hand Out The Drugs was the last of the three, with a title apt for a year needing escape.
3. Twice A Man – Rain Of Shame.
T A M has been active for about 40 years now, they started in the late 70’s as Cosmic Overdose and then became Twice A Man. They have shifted between more pop oriented electronic music to music for plays or art exhibitions. Last year saw them release the album On The Other Side Of The Mirror, a darker version of their more pop oriented side and to me one of their best releases so far.
4. Kapitalet – En Förlorad Värld (A Lost World).
In Swedish, won’t make much sense for most of the TVV readers (sorry), but over here it had importance – since it was the first (and so far only) new song written and performed by one of the forming members of Kent. Kent was the biggest band over here for several years (their 2nd album and ALL 9 following studio albums has been number 1 here, one of the albums stayed 85 (!!) weeks in the charts) and when they March 2016 in a brilliant way announced their last album and tour the same year people cried.
The track isn’t too far away from what Kent sounded like the last few years, lyrically a bit more political, but didn’t make even close the impact in the charts as Kent used to do.
Jonna Lee Nilsson celebrated 10 years as multimedia artist last year by releasing a collection of reworked or re-recorded songs from her ionnalee and iamamiwhoami aliases. (Some of you might remember she’s been included also earlier years.) Open Sea was originally on 2019’s Remember The Future, this is still trademark ionnalee electronics, but a darker, more focused and beat driven version than the original.
6. Kleerup – I Hang On To My Vertigo (featuring Freddie Wadling).
Yes, the old Ruper Hine classic, by the same Kleerup that made Robyn into an international star with the track With Every Heartbeat. Kleerup has had some tough years suffering from drug addictions but seems to be back in shape. Last year saw the release of his album “2”, working with artists like AlunaGeorge and Rebecca&Fiona – and dusting off an older recording with Swedish punk legend Freddie Wadling.
Freddie sadly died summer of 2016 after a hard and destructive life. Maybe contradictary to his destructive life he was musically very active, at one time he was member of 12 different bands at the same time giving room for his varied creative styles. He played with The Leather Nun, Cortex and Blue For Two to mention the potentially more known bands outside our borders.
Bonus track:
Pale Honey – Set Me Free. I add this as bonus track for mainly two reasons; firstly it’s against the laws of mixtapes to include more than one song of the same band and secondly this was actually released late 2019 even if the album came a full year later – but I just can’t not let you hear the best indie dance intro since Fools Gold…
From the dining table, thanks for listening.
Martin
JC adds..…I always look forward to Martin’s end of year round-up as there’s inevitably something in there that grabs may attention, and this year is no different. The two Pale Honey tracks are already on heavy rotation and I’m always grateful to hear more of ionnalee.
Continuing on from last week’s theme of New Adventures In Hi-Fi being R.E.M.’s most overlooked record – commercially, the backlash started here. It was becoming clear there wasn’t going to be another Losing My Religion anytime soon, and commercial radio stations and bandwagon-jumping casual fans were not going to be playing new R.E.M. records like they had for the previous few years (despite the fact the band had existed for 10 years and released 6 albums before LMR came out).
One theory about New Adventures’ failure to capture the general public’s imagination is that it was entirely deliberate, that the band was beginning to tire of the fame. The story goes that following the esoteric choice of first single E-Bow The Letter, Warners were pressing hard for The Wake-Up Bomb to be the follow-up. And they had a good point. It was one of the strongest, hardest-hitting songs on the album, one that the critics had almost universally picked up on as a highlight. Fans loved it too. It really was an obvious choice. But the band dug their heels in – they wanted a different track and they got their way. Bittersweet Me was released on 27th October 1996 to a general malaise.
mp3: R.E.M. – Bittersweet Me
I was nonplussed by the decision to release Bittersweet Me. I can name, off the top of my head, at least four songs that would have made better singles – the aforementioned Wake-Up Bomb, New Test Leper, Be Mine, and my favourite track from the album So Fast So Numb. Of the album’s 14 songs, Bittersweet Me would probably have been my 10th or 11th choice. To be fair, it’s not a terrible song like Sidewinder or some of the guff they would conjure up over the next decade, it’s just a bit, well… meh. Unremarkable. Pretty standard quietLOUDquiet 90s alt rock.
Throughout this series we’ve bitched and moaned about the choice of singles from albums, often directing our disdain at the labels. But in this case, it seemed the band was deliberately sabotaging their own career. It’s not even as though they loved the song that much themselves – Bittersweet Me was never played live other than during soundchecks on the Monster Tour (one of which, recorded in Memphis, formed the backing track for the eventual album track/single).
In the UK, it charted in its first week at #19 before plummeting to #53 the following week and out of the Top 100 altogether after that. Proof, if any were needed, that the general public had lost interest by now, with only the true fans keeping the band’s chart profile alive. Those of us who did buy it however, were rewarded with some cracking b-sides. No vinyl again, but a pesky cassette single was put out with another fully live version of an album track. Undertow is one of New Adventures in Hi-Fi’s strongest songs, and here it’s even more raucous and dirty than the album version. It’s this version that features in the concert film Road Movie.
mp3: R.E.M. – Undertow [live – Atlanta]
Like last time, two CDs were released, both identical in content, but the so-called ‘Collector’s Edition’ had slightly different packaging. But whatever version you bought, you were in for a real treat. After the first two songs came what was at the time, and remains, a very sad track that makes me enormously happy and glad to be alive. R.E.M.’s take on Jimmy Webb’s classic Wichita Lineman is, frankly, beyond words. I love it so much, probably my favourite of the band’s covers. Just wonderful.
mp3: R.E.M. – Wichita Lineman [live – Houston]
Finally, another live version of a track from the album, but this time recorded acoustically in the studio. New Test Leper really is a highlight, not just on NAiHF, but of the band’s career. An immensely sad tale of character assassination via a TV talk show. You know – the kind that gave us Jeremy Kyle and Jerry Springer. Stipe’s lyrics are so poignant and tragic. This version doesn’t top the album take, but it’s still a bit of a gem. (JC adds….I think both versions are equally magnificent. If you don’t know the album version, I do recommend you acquaint yourself with it as soon as you can).
mp3: R.E.M. – New Test Leper [acoustic – Seattle studio]
As the casual listener turned its back on the band, the fans took New Adventures In Hi-Fi to their hearts. It really is one of R.E.M.’s career highs and would have been perfect if it were a bit shorter, and more successful if better songs were released from it. There was to be one last single from New Adventures (making it their first album of the decade to contain fewer than four singles), and next week JC has the honour of talking you through it.
Johnny Lynch (born 28 September 1981, Edinburgh) is a Scottish musician who performs under the pseudonym The Pictish Trail. After graduation from the University of St Andrews, Lynch ran Fence Records from 2003 until 2013 and has since been running Lost Map Records. He’s also played as band member with other musicians, including James Yorkston and Malcolm Middleton.
Lynch released his proper debut album, Secret Soundz Vol.1, in September 2008, to critical acclaim. In February 2009, The Times named Secret Soundz as an “Essential Recording” of the Fence Collective. In 2010 The List magazine named Lynch as the 12th “Hottest Scot” in its list of creative Scottish people.
His 2010 album In Rooms (12″ vinyl) consists of 50 songs of 30 seconds each written as part of the “100 Days To Make Me A Better Person” project of 2009. Lynch also supported KT Tunstall throughout her 2010-2011 European tour in support of her 2010 album, Tiger Suit.
Secret Soundz Vol. 2 was recorded with Sweet Baboo taking up production duties, on the Isle of Eigg (where Lynch now lives). The album was released to critical praise in February 2013. and was re-released as a double CD set, with Vol.1, on Moshi Moshi in 2014.
In July 2014, the first Howlin’ Fling Festival took place on Eigg, with Lynch as organiser and performer. The line-up included, among others, Jens Lekman, Beth Orton and Sam Amidon, The Phantom Band and various bands from Lost Map Records. In September 2016, Pictish Trail (without “The” in its name) released a new album, Future Echoes, produced by Adem. It featured the singles “Far Gone” and “Dead Connection”. A full tour followed the released, with the band featuring members of Lost Map signees Tuff Love.
Thumb World released in February 2020, featuring the singles Double Sided, Lead Balloon and Turning Back. The album received positive reviews from critics, with Jamie Bowman of The Skinny describing it as “funny, beautiful and life-affirming”.
JC adds……
Johnny Lynch is one of the unsung heroes of the Scottish music scene. I’ve never been to any of his Howlin’ Fling festivals, but those who have tell me they are always something quite special and memorable. Maybe one day….
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 