A SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT

Just a quick final posting for 2007. Everyone seems to do extensive lists of what have been their particular favourites of the past 12 months. Here's mine, and it consists simply of what I reckon have been the five new songs to give me most aural pleasure:-

Arcade Fire - Intervention

Frightened Rabbit - Be Less Rude

Grinderman - No Pussy Blues

Malcolm Middleton - Superhero Songwriter

The Twilight Sad - That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy

And among the albums I picked up years after they came out and the various boxsets/re-issues/Peel Sessions that appeared in 2007, I'm rather fond of these:-

Cinerama - Apres Ski (Live At Maida Vale, June 2000)

Jans Lekman - A Higher Power

The Lucksmiths - There Is A Boy That Never Goes Out

Prefab Sprout - Faron Young (acoustic version)

Tindersticks - Tiny Tears (Mark Radcliffe Show - October 1993)

You can access all of the songs via sharbee.

But above all else, I at long last latched onto an album released back in 1997:-

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

If you don't own this particular recording, rectify the situation immediately. You won't regret it. Click here. And that's 2007 for you.

PS : The version of Be Less Rude is taken from the 7" vinyl single as opposed to the LP. It's got a slightly different mix if you're really interested....

PPS : Some clips of the best songs of 2007 have been added at The Video Villain. All of them (with the exception of Malcolm Middleton) are live performances.

THE SUNDAY POST

You'd be forgiven for thinking that I'd packed all of this in, but the truth of the matter is that I simply felt like having a break from blogging and instead got on with listening to some music and reading some books that came down the chimney on 25th December.

Over the past week or so, I've received two comments/e-mails regarding the singer who has probably made more appearances than any other in TVV - Paul Quinn. The first was all the way from Australia, and is reproduced in full:-

'Does anyone know how to contact Paul Quinn or Alan Horne? We were pals in the 80s when we worked together but I moved to Australia and have lost tough. Last I heard they were in a house in Hillhead in Glasgow. Anyone who can direct me please email me at vickibonet@gmail.com '

I sent Vicki back an e-mail saying that I couldn't help her much, but that I'd ask via TVV if anyone could pass on any more details. In reply, Vicki told me that she had sang backing vocals with Bourgie Bourgie on some of the 80s demos for London Records in case I was wondering what the connection was.

Which coincidentally brings me to the second e-mail on the mighty Quinn. It was a request to have a chance of hearing the demo version of Breaking Point. As ever, I'm happy to oblige:-

mp3 : Bourgie Bourgie - Breaking Point (demo)

Thanks also to ctelblog for pointing out that one of the mp3s that I posted last time out wasn't working. So here it is again:-

mp3 : Revenge - I'm Not Your Slave (US Remix)

A belated Merry Xmas to TVV readers the world over, hope you have a Happy New Year when it comes round. Tune in on 1st January for some special words of welcome.....that's all I'm prepared to say on the matter.

A LITTLE BIT ON THE SIDE

Hooky......how could you have kept these to yourself??

mp3 : Revenge - 7 Reasons
mp3 : Revenge - I'm Not Your Slave (US Remix)
mp3 : Revenge - The Trouble With Girls


I do thoroughly recommend that folk go out and re-assess the work of Revenge. It was a more than worthy side project that gave us a raft of half decent tunes.

Now go and finish writing your Xmas cards.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

I did intend to make more regular postings while away on holiday, but the internet connection at the small resort we were staying at was on the slow side and to be honest, I couldn't be arsed. But it means that I've a small bank of pre-prepared snatches of words and music that I'll get round to putting up over the Festive period, and then I'll begin 2008 anew with some freshness and hopefully more enthusiasm than of late.

Am I the only one who detests it when a band, having made a commercial breakthrough, go into their back catalogue and re-release flop singles. It happens all the time. Well almost.

It would have been really easy for Franz Ferdinand to shove out their spectacularly catchy debut but non-chart debut single Darts of Pleasure and watch the cash roll in. Instead, they re-recorded it completely, gave it a different name, and made it available elsewhere as a b-side.

And a right good job they did of the remake if you ask me:-

mp3 : Franz Ferdinand - Words So Leisured

It will be interesting to see what their next LP sounds like having kind of fallen foul of the taste police last time out. Good luck to them (the band that is......not the taste police).

To tidy a few things up.......... I've now sorted out the link to the remix of Come Clean (thanks to Ed for letting me know), and a few words also to Kurt on April Showers.

I first heard the band back in 1984 when a flatmate by the name of Graeme Peaston bought the single and played it to death. As far as I know, it was the only recording ever released, with Everytime We Say Goodbye being the b-side. I never saw them perform live....in fact I'm not sure if they ever did. As I mentioned in the July posting on the band, Beatrice Colin was at the time, the other half of James Grant (Friends Again and Love & Money) and she later became a journalist/writer.

And finally.....I hope you've all bought We're All Going To Die - my 7" vinyl copy arrived in the post this morning. If you click on the link on the right hand side, you'll get a further link via Malcolm's site to a free download of a previously unavailable Arab Strap song called To All A Good Night. You can also, from there, go to the site of Aidan Moffat where there's all sorts of goodies on offer courtesy of the bearded genius.

Bye for now.

NOT EVERYONE'S CUP OF TWEE

I've made a few past references to BMX Bandits, but up until now I've never actually featured any of their songs.

There's many many thousands of people out there who simply adore the band. Equally, there are many many thousands of people out there who just don't get them at all. I find myself caught up in the middle.

The band have been kicking around now for just over 20 years without ever making a real breakthrough in terms of commercial success. While the turnover of musicians isn't quite on the scale of The Fall, something around 18 different folk have appeared in the line-up at one time or another, with the one consistent being Duglas T. Stewart, the singer and main songwriter over the years.

In many ways, Duglas, like Edwyn Collins, is regarded as part of Scottish pop royalty and should be above any criticism. But as regular readers will know, I'm not one for tugging my forelock in a fawning manner.

Lord knows I've tried over the years to listen objectively to BMX Bandits. But I find they're a bit like old-fashioned cough medicines - best sampled in small doses and only intermittently.
They're a band that completely frustrate me. I'd pick up on a half-decent track somewhere, and then I'd invest some cash buying an album. And not once did I feel a little bit cheated as the whole never ever amounted to the sum of the parts.

And yet.....whenever one of their tracks randomly comes round on the i-pod (admittedly, I've only shoved a dozen or so on), I find myself smiling and even singing along and doing daft little dances if no-one is watching me. Such as this:-

mp3 : BMX Bandits - Come Clean

It dates from 1991, and is high on my list of all time favourite singles by a Scottish band.

And the impish sense of humour the band have long been famed for is very much at the fore with the remix version that they put on the 12" edition of the single, released at a time when everyone, was trying to capture the 'baggy' Madchester sound where indie met dance. I often think this is a specific dig at The Soup Dragons, and particularly lead singer Sean Dickson, ex-member of BMX Bandits:-

mp3 : BMX Bandits - Come Clean (Jumping On Someone Else's Funky Train Mix)


A lot of folk, including Comrade Colin, raved about My Chain, the album released by the band in 2006. But fearing it would only mirror past disappointments I gave it a body-swerve.

I did however, just last week, buy the band's latest 7" offering from my favourite Glasgow record shop (along with about 20 other bits of vinyl that came out while I was over in Toronto). The band have got a new female vocalist sharing duties with Duglas. All I'll say is that the 2007 incarnation of BMX Bandits sound as if they have overnight turned into a tribute to The Beautiful South.

Once again, I apologise if any of the above words cause offence.

THIS IS VERY MUCH A LOVED SONG

Yet another of the vinyl treasures that I found in Toronto.

A mint-condition copy of the 12" of This Is Not A Love Song by P.I.L. For a bargain $10.

But I refuse to believe that the song dates back to 1983. That's nearly 25 years ago for fuck sake. I'm not ready to accept that I'm getting that old that quickly. Time for the botox and liposuction.

I've long owned a copy of this record, but (a) I wore it out through constant playing, and (b) the whiter-than white sleeve was grubby and torn. I'm delighted to have at long last replaced it.

There are four songs on this magnificent piece of plastic - including an original and remix version of the single.

The remix is quite different from the original. Wobble's bass lines and Lydon's vocals are identical but the keyboards are far more prominent while the guitar is further back in the mix.

It's probably a bit more poppy than the actual single, and while it's pretty impressive in its own right, it just doesn't have the same impact as what remains one of my all time favourite records.

A few years later, P.I.L. released a greatest hits compilation, which included yet a further remix of TINALS - and one that was completely different. A re-recorded vocal and a horn section that I just wan't prepared for at the time. For years it was a version that I hated, but I have grown more fond of it in recent times. You can make your own minds up:-

mp3 : P.I.L. - This Is Not A Love Song (original 12" version)
mp3 : P.I.L. - This Is Not A Love Song (re-mixed version)
mp3 : P.I.L. - This Is Not A Love Song (re-recorded version)

Once more, I'm off to the beach to top up the tan. Happy Sundays.

WHAT DID WE DO BEFORE MP3s?

We used the things in the photo didn't we......

Cassettes. I've still got hundreds of the things taking up space in the cupboard where I keep my vinyl, although it can't be too long before I box them up and consign them to the loft. Or the cupboard beneath the stairs.

Back in the early 1990s, it was a great thrill when my old friend Jacques the Kipper would come into the office brandishing a tape containing 90 minutes worth of stuff he believed I would like. Sometimes it was new acts that he had picked up via the radio or the weekly inkies, while other times it was just an act he had long loved and wanted to draw to my attention. Every now and then he would throw in an obscure b-side or remix from his vast collection. Each song on the tape would come with a cryptic clue, and 99.9% of the fun was listening and trying to work it out. I remember well that the first time I ever heard Smells Like Teen Spirit was on a JtK tape - and I also recall that his cryptic clue came with just one word - vodka.

And today's offering from the vaults is a song that I first heard on one such tape. It's also one of the bits of vinyl that I found browsing around Toronto and I paid $4.45 for the privilege of now owning:-

mp3 : Madder Rose - Car Song

Madder Rose were a four-piece band from New York. The main songwriter was lead guitarist Billy Cote, but the vocal duties were taken by rhythm guitarist Mary Lorson. They emerged in 1993 with a sound quite different from the grungy stuff that had dominated indie music for the proceeding 2 years, and a million miles away from Britpop that was shortly to take over. In other words, they were doomed to be no more than a cult footnote in history.

I don't own too many of their songs - they released three LPs and handful of other singles/EPs before disbanding in 1999, but the half dozen or so tracks I do have I thoroughly enjoy. Mrs V struggles to rate many bands with female singers, and Madder Rose she describes as 'the sort of pish you love'. Altered Images, Belly, Juliana Hatfield and Regina Spektor among many others that Mrs V would put in the same category....

And while I'm on talking about tapes and the sort of pish I love, I'm re-posting one of the songs that I shoved up back in July. It was one that I only had on tape for more than 20 years.....

mp3 : April Showers - Abandon Ship

As I said back in July, April Showers were a Glaswegian indie-pop duo comprised of Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin, and this was their only single.

I'd been searching for the song for years, and was delighted to find out it was widely available on a fantastic compilation called Ave Marina - Ten Years of Marina Records. I insist that all of you buy a copy by clicking here.

And now I'm heading back to the beach and my rum cocktails. 84 degrees and rather sunny it is...

WILLIAM, WE WERE REALLY SOMETHING

A long while back, I put up this posting that commemorated the 10th anniversary of death of Billy MacKenzie. One of the comments made at that time suggested some attention and acknowledgement should also be given to the part played by Alan Rankine in the success of Associates.

I'm more than happy to do so.

History shows that the band came together in the late 70s in Dundee, Scotland. Billy was the vocalist and lyricist and Alan was the man behind the tunes. A handful of singles and two LPs garnished critical attention and a growing fanbase, before their incredible breakthrough in 1982 with Sulk and the hit singles Party Fears Two, Club Country and 18 Carat Love Affair. History also shows that Alan left the band at this point - just as the band were about to undertake a major UK tour.....and nothing was ever the same again for either man.

Billy never really bothered seriously the charts ever again, whether as a solo artist, as a guest on other people's songs or indeed when he recorded as Associates, despite his voice being as majestic as ever and many of the tunes being rather wonderful. So there can be no argument that the unique input of Alan was the missing ingredient to the band enjoying widespread acclaim rather than just cult status and mentions in polls by critics at the end of the year.

I knew that Alan had gone out and recorded on his own in the 80s, but I wasn't aware until doing a bit of research for this piece that he had in fact released three albums between 1986 and 1989 as I wasn't aware he'd been that prolific. It turns out that two of these bits of work were only ever released in Belgium, and in fact it was only his 1987 offering, She Loves Me Not, that was easily available over here.

I'll be honest enough to say that I didn't buy it at the time. In fact, I didn't even seek it out as the late 80s were the days when money was more tight and buying records was less of a priority for me for a while.

Twenty years later, while browsing through a box of second-hand vinyl, I came across what I later discovered was a single taken from the album:-

mp3 : Alan Rankine - The Sandman

It's a very typical song of its era. A short bust of keyboards is followed by verse-chorus-verse-chorus-instrumental break-chorus and fade-out. And while Alan is not the worst singer that you'll ever hear, his voice is nothing remarkable; the tune, while pleasant enough, is nothing memorable with no hook to grab you. I would never have guessed that it was the work of Alan Rankine in maybe 1000 guesses without hints....

It came out on Virgin Records, and while it's not the easiest thing to get a hold of, I have seen the LP kicking around for a few quid on e-bay. But I reckon it's one for the completists only.

ANOTHER QUICK UPDATE

It was remiss of me yesterday to fail to respond to a request left a month ago for the re-posting of this song:-

mp3 : Fingerprintz - Dancing With Myself (via Sharebee)

Other than that, I'm going to spend a few hours putting together around 10 or so postings that I'll then access from my Caribbean hideaway over the next couple of weeks. I hope the songs that emerge will interest and intrigue y'all.

Enjoy the wind and the rain fellow citizens of the UK. I'm stocking up on the Factor 8.

WHEN SATURDAY COMES

Two weeks since I last came here. The photo stolen from flickr.com says it all. If only in fact I actually was a writer could I deem it to be the case.....

Truth is that I've been a bit down in the dumps for a short while - all as a result of issues at work - and I haven't been inclined to come on and share my thoughts. And if I was going to be matching music to my moods, then it would have been unhappy listening. I also was so fed up that I couldn't bring myself to read what other bloggers have been saying....

But for now I'm back....albeit temporarily.....as this coming Monday will see Mrs V and myself head off on holiday for a couple of weeks. The plan however, is, just as it was earlier this year, to prepare a bundle of postings in advance and fire them up from the afar.

I thought I'd use today to respond to some of the comments left behind in recent days.
I still haven't changed my mind on what I said about Edwyn's comeback album, although I do appear to be somewhat in a minority (and not for the first time). I'm also sorry to disappoint those who thought TVV would be a Bono-free zone....he'll make the occasional appearance every now and then.

I was really interested to read Dusty's views that the campaign to get Malcolm Middleton to the Xmas No.1 could see the singer consigned to the status of 'novelty act'. I hadn't actually thought about it that way, and while I am appalled that some will jump on the bandwagon simply as a laugh and/or in an effort to stop the usual suspects from hitting the giddy heights, I do think the whole idea is worthy of support. I have to say that I've seen more coverage of Malky in the newspapers this past three weeks than at any other time - and if it leads to even a few hundred more people checking him out and subsequently buying his CDs (and attending the gigs). then it will all have been worthwhile.

There's also been a request for an old track to be re-posted, and as ever, I'm happy to oblige:-

mp3 : Friends Again - Honey At The Core

The plan over the next few weeks is to go back to the roots of TVV and feature a bunch of old stuff that I've converted from vinyl to mp3 via the wonders of modern technology. And who better to start with than this lot, who after all were the first act I ever featured:-

mp3 : James - What For (now via Sharbee)
mp3 : James - Island Swing (via Sharebee)
mp3 : James - Not There (via Sharebee)

All taken from a 12" single that came out in 1988, and it's a release that almost never saw the light of day.

It was back in 1985 that the band had left Factory Records and signed for one of the majors - Sire Records. The relationship never gelled with the label looking for commercial hits and the band trying to stay true to their brand of what could best be described as indie-folk. An album's worth of material had been recorded in 1987 but it lay in the vaults as the label refused to release it. The compromise was for the tracks to be remixed, and in late 1988, What For appeared as the lead-off single to the LP Strip-Mine.

Both the single and the LP reached the giddy height of #90 in the charts. The label didn't make any investment in marketing the songs, and James were loath to go out on the road and lose more money (this was all prior to the the t-shirt boom that was a commercial godsend to the band).

The single is an incredibly catchy and infectious piece of music that should have been a hit, and could well have been if Radio 1 had picked up on it. The two b-side tracks are tremendous - more polished versions of the stuff that had been coming out on Factory just a few years earlier. Island Swing belts along at a cracking pace as Tim whoops and hollers away to a background of jangly guitars, trumpets and harmonicas, while Not There is the sort of thing that must have had the label bosses just scratching their heads and wondering what to do.

The outcome was a messy divorce a few months later, and a return to what many assumed was indie-obscurity. Wrong. But that's another story.