THROUGH THE ARCHIVES (Day 5)

This is the 499th posting at TVV. The one I'm most proud of is that back in April this year when I managed to capture Edwyn Collins live on video and post the clip. And I'm not ashamed to offer this early repeat showing.....

I haven't actually written all 499 posts. I've had help from two blokes called Colin.

In numerical order.......Colin #1 is Comrade Colin from And Before The First Kiss.

Regular readers will be sick hearing of how it was he who got me into this blogging lark in the first place.

Well, for a short time, when he was between blogs (i.e. he had deleted one fine piece of art and wasn't yet sure if he could create another), Comrade Colin took up the offer to make the occasional contribution to TVV, thus becoming the first guest writer. He didn't hang around too much - he made just 9 contributions - and to be honest I'm glad of that as it meant he was confident and happy enough to get back on his own two feet. I've met him a few times since, and he is a top bloke. Here's a couple of songs he's sent your way in the past:-

mp3 : Dog Faced Hermans - Incineration

mp3 : Delta 5 - Anticipation

Colin #2 is better known as ctelblog. He's made a lot of amazing contributions to TVV over the near two years since I started the thing up. He began by leaving behind comments and observations, and then he sent me CDs of stuff that I was looking for.

He then took up an offer to make contributions as and when he wanted, before he then branched out with his own incredible bit of work called Acid Ted.

Ctel has also been kind enough to look after the blog while I've been on holiday, during which time he has hopefully broadened your horizons and tastes with some of the previously unknown tunes he has dug up for us. Over the time ctel has contributed 16 posts, and here's three of the great and rare things he has brought your way:-

mp3 : Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
mp3 : Bill Bailey & Billy Bragg - Unisex Chip Shop (live)
mp3 : Sugababes - I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor

That means, even by my poor maths, that I, JC aka The Vinyl Villain, have shoved 474 posts your way.

I know I can often be a bit self-indulgent, but I mean well. Honestly, I do.

Thanks to everyone who has come this way - there's been more than 200,000 hits which I still cant quite believe - especially those of you who have taken the time to leave behind a comment or fifty.

Post #500 comes your way same blogtime same blogchannel tomorrow.

Happy Listening. (Oh and Happy Viewing)

THROUGH THE ARCHIVES (Day 4)

You lot bemuse me.

525 hits on the day I repeat the two obscure songs by Clare Grogan, and only an additional 70 of you pop by for the combined efforts of Belly, Carter USM, Never Ending White Lights, The Smiths and The Wedding Present.

It's time to wheel out the big guns with three rare mixes from postings of old:-

mp3 : R.E.M. - Finest Work Song (Lengthy Club Mix)
mp3 : R.E.M. - Why Not Smile (Oxford American Version)
mp3 : R.E.M. - Radio Song (Tower of Luv Bug Mix)

Happy Listening

THROUGH THE ARCHIVES (Day 3)

I've shoved up a lot of cover versions in the previous near-500 posts at TVV, many under the guise of a long-running series called, oddly enough, From Under The Covers (which I stole from a song title by The Beautiful South).

Some of these have proven quite popular, others have been more or less ignored, and here's a selection of some of the ones that are slightly more obscure:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Back For Good

This was shoved up in February 2008. It was to commemorate the fact that the original dance troupe who had performed the songs had been given the accolade of 'Best British Live Act' at the Brit Awards 2008, when in fact the band doing the cover would have been a far more worthy recipient.

mp3 : Carter USM - Rent

Ah....the very song that launched From Under The Covers away back in October 2006 - this has always been one of my all time favourite ever cover songs. It is, of course, a Pet Shop Boys original, and the Carter USM version first saw light of day in 1990 as the b-side to the Rubbish single.

mp3 : Belly - Trust In Me

The thing I most liked about the original posting of this back in April 2007 was the response it elicited from Matthew of Song By Toad fame (incidentally, I've long held an opinion that Matthew is one of the best bloggers out there, and I think its a crying shame that his talent for writing and provoking discussion and debate hasn't been rewarded with some sort of full-time contract....not that he'd neccessarily welcome that....)

Anyway, when Matthew first heard this particular cover he left a comment that said, 'Good grief - that's utterly, utterly filthy. Inspired, but filthy', and he then proceeded to use it in one his fabulous Toadcasts not long after. I think he was smitten by Tanya's sultry delivery that is a long way removed from the original that featured in The Jungle Book cartoon.

mp3 : Never Ending White Lights ft. Nick Hexum - Age of Consent

One of the great thing about making periodical visits to other blogs is that sometimes you find something that is simply thrilling honeys, as was the case in November 2006 when I found a most amazing cover of a most amazing New Order song, over at the now sadly defunct Copy, Right.

As I said at the time, this is a cover that takes one New Order track and makes it sound like a completely different New Order track - it certainly makes me think of Your Silent Face.

Talking of finding stuff that is thrilling, how about heading over to Mike at Manic Pop Thrills for the most amazing treat? He's converted a tape of a local radio station's broadcast of what I have gone on record as saying was the gig I've come the closest to ever passing out at - the Scottish debut gig of The Smiths at the Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow on Saturday 2nd March 1984.

Here's a taster with the opening track from that gig, and the song that made #7 on the 45s at 45 series:-

mp3 : The Smiths - Hand In Glove (live at the QMU)

I know that's an awful lot of stuff to throw at you on the one day, but you can regard it as an apology for the Clare Grogan stuff from yesterday.

Happy Listening

THROUGH THE ARCHIVES (Day 2)

See, the thing was that Altered Images were an amazingly good pop band, and Clare Crogan was not only really sexy but a singer with a distinctive voice that many of us loved. And the fella Davey Henderson was a great song writer when he was with both Fire Engines and Win.

So it is a complete and total mystery why this collaboration is such a crock of shit....

Altered Images called it a day in late 1983 after less than 3 years together, during which time there were ten singles (I have them all in 7" format) and three LPs. Of the singles, five made the Top 30, of which Happy Birthday was by far the biggest hit, reaching the giddy heights of #2 in the UK charts.

The third LP in 1983 was called Bite, and in my humble opinion it is one of the great lost LPs of the 80s. It was a real change of direction for the band, as they tried hard to make a more sophisticated and polished sound, and while it did spawn a major hit in Don't Talk To Me About Love, the subsequent (and equally as good) singles stalled/flopped. Clare decided that it was time, at the ripe old age of 21, to call time on the pop career and concentrate on being an actress.

In early 1987, having had only minor success as an actress, Clare decided to go back into the studio. She enlisted as her partner-in-crime the afore-mentioned Mr. Henderson, who was riding reasonably high at the time (critically at least, if not commercially) thanks to the release of the debut Win LP,which went under the hilarious name of Uh! Tears Baby (A Trash Icon).

It seems in fact that a whole LPs worth of material was recorded by Clare and Davey....but the only thing that saw the light of day was the debut single which did absolutely nothing. It got next to no airplay, it got mauled in the record papers and hardly anyone bought it. And hardly anyone has heard it since.

mp3 : Clare Grogan - Love Bomb

I can really offer no positive words of support for this three-and-a-half minutes or so of completely disposable pap, but I should say that it is worth listening to just to see how spectacularly wrong these two icons went on this project.

And if you the a-side was bad, sneak a listen to the b-side:-

mp3 : Clare Grogan - I Love The Way You Beg

On the bright side, it ends before the clock has ticked round to two minutes.

I've no doubt that both parties did OK financially out of the deal with some sort of tidy advance. Before long, Davey went on to his next project, Nectarine No.9 (which, like Fire Engines and Win beforehand were well received but sold next to nowt), while Clare went back to the new day job, (at which she became highly successful, including an extended run in one of UK's longest-running and most popular soap operas on BBC-TV), while surfacing every now and again to do an occasional guest vocal with someone or other.

Happy (??!!!) Listening.

THROUGH THE ARCHIVES (Day 1)

With only the very slightest of apologies, I'm going to use the next few days to re-post some of the more obscure and difficult to find songs that have featured before at TVV. Its all part of a few days of celebration as I build up to the 500th posting on the blog.

I don't think I need to say too much about today's' featured artist. In March 2007, I did put together this tribute to him if you're remotely interested.

The songs are a couple of b-sides:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello - I Hope You're Happy Now (acoustic version)
mp3 : Elvis Costello - The Ugly Things

The former is a solo and acoustic version of the song that was originally recorded with The attractions for the LP Blood & Chocolate. If you want to try and track it down for yourself, you'll find it as the b-side to the 12" version of I Want You.

The latter is a cover version of a Nick Lowe song that EC released in 1991 as the bonus track on the 12" release of his single The Other Side Of Summer.

Happy Listening.

FORGOTTEN BRITPOP CLASSICS (Part 2)

Here’s another entry in what will be an occasional and irregular series.

Echobelly had all the right credentials to be hugely successful in indie-world. The band members came from England or Sweden, and they were heavily endorsed by Morrissey. And while they did enjoy a fair amount of success, it was never on as grand a scale as many others.

I’ve actually written about the band and this, their debut single, back in December 2006 in the infancy of TVV. At the risk of repeating myself, the first time I head it was just after its release in late 1993 when it was included on a compilation tape put together by Jacques the Kipper. I was immediately knocked out. It was as if the best Smiths tribute band were being fronted by the winner of the Debbie Harry soundalike contest.

I immediately hunted it down in a branch of Avalanche Records in Edinburgh, not far from where I was working at the time, and to my delight, found out that it was in fact a 4-track EP (albeit, I had to shell out a bit more than I would have if it had merely been a single).

Such was the reaction to the debut release that Echobelly began to be talked of as ‘the next big thing’. This was in the days when ‘the next big thing’ was only announced maybe once every eight weeks instead of once every eight days as is the case today. The fact they had a very pretty female lead singer in Sonya Maddan only helped matters……

The band waited for mainstream success to come their way in 1994. But to the surprise of many, only one of the next three singles made the Top 40, and even then it scraped in at #39.

I imagine that nowadays, such a disappointing show would see the band dropped immediately, but their label, encouraged by positive critical reviews, and also by the fact that the debut LP had sold reasonably well, stuck by them. In late 1995, the band’s fourth single went Top 20 and their second LP went Top 5. Nothing could stop them now…..

…..except for petty intra-band squabbling that saw original members leave and also that Echobelly no longer stood out in the Britpop era with other female-fronted bands such as Elastica and Sleeper getting all the attention.

1995 was as good as it got for Echobelly, and although they carried on for a few more years, releasing LPs in 1997, 2001 and 2004, they are now more or less just a footnote in pop history with no one really out their championing their cause.

I’m not going to make any outlandish claims about the band – a lot of their stuff, like so much from the Britpop-era, hasn’t really stood the test of time, although it’s still a lot better than much of what is churned out today. I’m still hugely fond of the debut single with its Smiths-like riff and great vocal delivery, and I still listen occasionally to the other tracks on the debut EP.

mp3 : Echobelly - Bellyache
mp3 : Echobelly - Sleeping Hitler
mp3 : Echobelly - Give Her A Gun
mp3 : Echobelly - I Don’t Belong Here

I particularly like the vocal on the slow and haunting I Don’t Belong Here, which I’ve often thought about including on the b-sides series that I post every now and then. Again, due to the amount of bandwith being eaten up just now, only the lead track is on fileden with the rest being via sharebee.

If you like what you hear, I’d encourage you to spend £3 of your hard-earned cash and buy this enjoyable budget-priced Greatest Hits compilation.

BETTER THAN W.B. YEATS AS A POET?

Tony Wilson once made the claim that Shaun Ryder was a better poet than William Butler Yeats, and that in the fullness of time, he'd come to be regarded every much as talented a genius as Mozart.

I'm sure my dear friend Greer, who, in addition to making fabulous weekly contributions to the Contrast Podcast, writes an equally fabulous poetry blog called A Sweet Unrest, would be horrified at such a comparison, but I do suspect Tony's tongue, and not for the first time, was parked right into his cheek.

Having said that, the opening four lines to Kinky Afro, in which a dad directly addresses his young offspring, are as good as any representation of misogynist and unreconstructed man I've ever read in my life:-

Son, I'm 30
I only went with your mother cos she's dirty
And I don't have a decent bone in me
What you get is just what you see, yeah.

And as much as I love Kinky Afro, not just for the lyrics but the catchy tune that immediately makes me want to get off my backside and dance, there is no better Happy Mondays song than the opening track to their 1989 LP, Bummed:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck

A truly astonishing bit of music, and the only thing that stopped it making the 45 45s at 45 rundown the other month was that I missed out on it when it originally appeared as a single. I only heard it a couple of months afterwards courtesy of it being included on a compilation tape made up for me by my old friend Jacques the Kipper (older readers might remember that JtK often left comments in the early days of TVV...he's now too busy being a modern dad to stop by and say hi.....)

But having missed out first time around, I made sure I picked up the single when it was given the remix treatment and re-released a few months later. And as much as I love the original, produced to perfection by Martin Hannett, there are days when I prefer one or other of these mixes:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - W.F.L. (the Vince Clarke Mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays - W.F.L. (Think About The Future)

Vince Clarke is of course, the electro-pop superstar who had made the Top 10 with four different acts - Depeche Mode, The Assembly, Yazoo and Erasure - as well as releasing a single with the mighty Paul Quinn.

Think About The Future was a mix made by an up and coming DJ and mixer called Paul Oakenfold, who went on to become one of the biggest phenomena of the 90s - maybe ctelblog at Acid Ted can fill us all in properly....

Anyways, the inspiration for this posting is merely that on the train to work yesterday morning, feeling a bit low as I was going to be stuck indoors on one of the few warm and dry days we've had in Glasgow this past month or so, the original version of Wrote For Luck came round on shuffle on the i-pod.

Instant happiness without the need to ingest drugs or alcohol.

Oh and I got up from my seat, stood near the exit door and did a little dance (in my head it was a big dance - all Bez moves and shapes - but in reality I only sort of moved my head from side to side and tried hard not to sing along in case I scared the passengers).

Maybe Tony was slightly wrong about Shaun's poetic abilities, but alongside his brother and his mates in the band, you can't argue against the claim that he was one helluva songwriter.....

Oh, and while the original version is available vis the hassle-free filden method, I've used sharebee for the two remixes as both are 6minutes plus in length and I'm expecting heavy hits from some freeloaders which would play havoc with bandwith availability in the weeks ahead.

Since I'm such a kind chap, I'll also track down the promo video and put it up for viewing at The Video Villain.

I WON'T SAY NO - HOW COULD I?? (2)

I've said before that I'll take requests, and as I'm temporarily out of things to say after yesterday's soapbox effort (and a huge thanks to all of you who took the time and energy to contribute something), I'm falling back on a more simple thing for today.

A fellow Glaswegian named Scott has asked for a song that previously featured in the pages of TVV back in January 2007, as well as some stuff that I've been meaning to post for a while.

Let's deal first of all with the repeat.

mp3 : The Bodines - Therese

The original of this came out on Creation Records back in 1986, and such was the excitement surrounding it that the band got signed to a major label - Magnet Records - almost immediately. And the first thing the new label did was re-record Therese under the guidance of up and coming producer Ian Broudie. It's the re-recorded version that I own as a 7" single. Those of you who don't know the song should give it a listen. It's one of the great 'lost' tracks of the 80s that should have been a worldwide hit.

The other request Scott made was for a particular single (and b-side) by an 80s act called James King & The Lone Wolves.

Now I've been meaning to post something about this lot for ages, but never got round to it. In some ways that's down to my friend and colleague Mike over at Manic Pop Thrills as he covered the band so comprehensively in this post and this post.

This lot were mid-80s contemporaries of the likes of Edwyn Collins and Paul Quinn in as far as, for a very short while, they shared the same record label - Swamplands - which was run by the old Postcard boss, Alan Horne.

But James King & The Lone Wolves were a completely different act from Edwyn and Paul. James played up to a persona of the Glasgow 'hard-man', with a hint of menace that is not really captured on the few records they ever released, but was very much in evidence on stage. No-one ever heckled James King, believe me.......

If you read the stuff over at Manic Pop Thrills, you'll see that the band didn't release all that many songs - but I'm lucky enough to have the Texas Lullaby EP in my collection, as well as this 12" single that Scott asked for:-

mp3 : James King & The Lone Wolves - The Angles Know
mp3 : James King & The Lone Wolves - I Don't Care If You Live Or Die
mp3 : James King & The Lone Wolves - Ready To Fall

This single is probably the most commercial and poppy thing the band ever recorded, and I'm delighted at long last to have an excuse to let it loose on regular and casual readers alike.

Once again I find myself asking....who needs new music when these four songs from 20+ years ago still sounds so fresh????

HERE'S A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS (Incidentally, You Can Keep The Change)

It was reading this post the other day over at 17 Seconds (and then this one just yesterday at To Die By Your Side) that got me musing on things.

Ed from 17 Seconds has waxed lyrically about his favourite songs, so far, of 2008 and how he’s been buying a lot of CDs recently. In particular, he was highlighting the efforts of a lot of emerging acts and bands.

Coxon from TDBYS on the other hand was commenting about how the year was more than halfway through and while there's been a lot of decent stuff, its been largely the acts of old that he's enjoyed most.

And its Coxon's view of the music world that I find I'm in agreement with......

Up until a year or so ago, I was someone who actively sought out new bands and new music, spending way too much money and too much time and energy trying to stay in tune with what was going on. But not any longer....

I guess the beginning of this sea-change can be traced to me spending quite a few months away from home and over in Toronto in the summer of 2007. I was unable to keep abreast of the latest happenings in terms of indie music in the UK – my normal method had been to tune in regularly to the likes of MTV2 and see if anything caught my fancy – but this of course, was not an option open to me so many thousands of miles away.

In addition, I was also away from my home PC, and while I could get round some blogs and read what folk had to say, I was unable to listen to any mp3s, far less download them and then shove them on the i-pod for a listen at my leisure.

When I later tuned into the 2007 end-of-year round-ups on TV and radio, I found myself strangely detached from it all. There was nothing that really made me sit up to give it extra attention, or that made me think it was something worthy and special. So much so, that I must have been one of the few bloggers to actually not do a personal rundown of the year that had just gone by….

And nothing has changed in 2008.

On the blog itself, I've become completely distracted by nostalgia. I find myself spending more time trying to find innovative ways to bring great songs from a bygone era to the attention of the folk who pop by. I've a lot of admiration foe the likes of Ed, and more particularly, Matthew aka Toad, were are constantly able to bring all sorts of wonderful new things to our attention, and while I do often listen, I don't get the wow factor all that often.

In his posting Coxon says:

There are some okay bands with some alright songs but none that really make me want to bring them to your attention. None that get me really excited..

And that's how I feel. But what Coxon goes on to say next, totally nails it. He asks himself a $64,000,000 question (and then answers it perfectly):-

Have I finally reached some kind of musical saturation point? Have I had my fill of music? Am I finally growing up and getting bored of teenage interests?

No, of course I'm not. At least I don't think so. With the barriers of creation, communication and distribution having been broken down by the internet, great bands should be flourishing more than ever. But it doesn't work like that. I think maybe I'm just expecting the next big thing to be along any minute. That I've been conditioned to expect that. The media are so desperate to find my next favourite band that they proclaim some band as the greatest thing since whichever band graced last week's cover. The disappointment of discovering it's just another Strokes/Libertines/Oasis hybrid playing generic indie music is becoming crushingly inevitable. Worse still, is when it's some unmitigated shite like Scouting For Girls. Our attention spans are becoming so small and our need to be ahead of everyone else so great that we're moving onto the next big thing before the last has had a chance to bloom. We're proclaiming the next messiah without realising they're just a bunch of over rated Brian's. We're so desperate for 'new', that we're willing to accept whatever third rate crap is foisted on us by a media desperate to increase readership.

In reality, I'd guess that the percentage of great bands making great records is about the same as it ever has been. What's different, is that where in the past, every Tom, Dick or Harry in a shit band would have disappeared without a trace, now they have an outlet for their shit music. An international outlet that not only increases their longevity, but also grants them a certain amount of unwarranted credibility, purely because they can get it heard by a global audience. The great bands are out there, I'm sure of it. They're just not as easy to spot. So I guess I'll just have to keep sifting until I find something that sparkles. And then, rest assured I'll share it with you guys.

I had actually pre-drafted much of this post before I read what Coxon had to say. And while I dont think I can really put it better than him, here's what I had typed out....

The CDs and gigs I've most enjoyed in 2008 have been from the old stagers that I’ve loved/admired/appreciated for years.

I did a little experiment the other day by going over to The Hype Machine and listening to a some songs by bands that I’ve noticed have had a fair bit of media attention in recent times – Ting Tings and Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong.

Afterwards, I felt as if I was turning into my dad - as it all sounds the same and it all sounds like stuff that was recorded years ago.

The question I then asked myself was whether I had reached the stage in my life that I’m not interested in change and innovation….or is it just that there is no innovation for change out there in the new and emerging bands??

Or was I looking at this from the wrong perspective?? Technological advances have made it easier than it ever was to make music and to gain some sort of following. There seems to be more bands and acts than ever before – I’m not arguing that this is necessarily a bad thing – but I just feel we’re all at the stage where we cant find any genuine quality as the pressure is on bands and singers to make it big and get rich from Day 1.

I've come to the conclusion that I've reached a stage in my life where I'm happy to look back and recognise that I've more or less completed my tour of duty manning the barricades and fighting for the rights of new bands to be listened to at the expense of the old guard. The most scary thing is that it has seemed to happen overnight and without me really noticing until reading Ed's post a few weeks back.

I am now the 21st Century equivalent of easy-listening. I’m Radio 2 and not Radio 1 or XfM. I’m Mojo and not NME. I’m Club Chocolate Biscuits and not the SubClub. I'm wanting to mostly sit down at gigs and not lose my head down the front...

OK, not entirely. I’ll still rave on about the likes of Frightened Rabbit to anyone who cares to give me 5 minutes. But that’s the exception rather than the rule, as its the singers and musicians I adored in the 80s - Morrissey, Nick Cave, Edwyn Collins, Lloyd Cole, David Gedge and Billy Bragg - who have been the highlights of 2008. If you had told me 20 years or even 20 months ago that I'd feel this way, I'd have laughed and probably had a sense of disappointment about myself. But now that's its actually happened...I'm not the least bit bothered.

Anyone care for a debate or contribution on all I've said?? Or did you switch off halfway through it all and come straight down here for the songs??? Suit Yourself.

mp3 : Lloyd Cole - Don't Look Back
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - Music Now
mp3 : Morrissey - The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores

I'll get off the soapbox now......

GREAT OPENING TRACKS ON LPs (Parts 6, 7, 8 and 9)

This occasional series aims to look at some of the greatest opening songs on LPs that were never released as singles, and therefore perhaps are not so well known.

That however, is not really the case with the four truly exceptional works of art coming your way today, as all of them are as well-known, if not more so, than most of their singles.

I really don't think I need say too much more, except that each of these songs, and indeed the LPs from which they are taken, bring back so many different memories for me. They make me think of people, places and situations that helped to shape my whole outlook on life. Many of those memories make me smile, while others make me cringe. And yes, there are even some memories which, more than 20 years on, fill me with sadness.

mp3 : The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (from the LP The Smiths)
mp3 : The Smiths - The Headmaster Ritual (from the LP Meat Is Murder)
mp3 : The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (from the LP The Queen Is Dead)
mp3 : The Smiths - A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours (from the LP Strangeways, Here We Come)

It was talking to some 20-somethings one night last year in Toronto that made me realise just how lucky I was to be around when The Smiths were in full flow. They were an astonishing phenomena, whether live on stage, on your TV screen, in the pages of your magazines or newspapers, but especially from the speakers of your stereo.

Oh and I always wanted to be Johnny Marr rather than Morrissey. What about the rest of you???

FORGOTTEN BRITPOP CLASSICS (Part 1)

Many music journos and bloggers have become a bit sniffy about Britpop, that era from around 1994 - 1997 when just about every indie-guitar band snagged themselves a record deal, got written about in NME and/or Select magazine, appeared on TV to promote their latest single (usually on a show called TFI Friday) and then found themselves dropped and in debt when the bubble burst in spectacular fashion.

Now there was a lot of really average, and in fact, sub-standard stuff, that became very popular in that era. I mean, does anyone really have a soft spot for the abomination that is Ocean Colour Scene? Or Cast??

But a lot of stuff has been overlooked for a while, and this latest TVV series aims to look back and identify songs which are rather special but have been largely connected.

Today's offering comes from a band that was originally lumped in with the very early 90s genre of shoegazing. And no, dont ask me to explain what it was exactly - something to do with a bands inability to look at their audience when playing. By that definition, just about every band in its existence has gone through a shoegazing period. Unless they have a lead singer who is just a bit radio rental....

Fast forward to 1996, and Lush are now part of the latest genre dreamt up by the media (shame on you for this one Stuart Maconie). Although it was inappropriate for the band to be lumped-in with loads of acts with whom they had nothing in common, it did at least get them some daytime radio play, and in 1996, three singles in a row cracked the Top 30, including this:-

mp3 : Lush - Ladykillers

Its just a cracking pop song. Great riff, melody and lyric. You cant really ask for anything more....

The promos is where you would expect it to be.

IT WASN'T THAT LONG AGO THEY WERE ALL THE RAGE

Personally, I didn't mind the art of mash-ups and bootlegs. Some of them were really awful mind you, but then again there's loads of really awful original music out there as well.

The best ones were, of course, those that took two songs you just wouldn't normally associate together and yet somehow it ended up as a work of genius.

I just has a quick look in my i-tunes library having typed the word 'vs' as a search, and discovered that I've downloaded more than 120 of them over the years. I don't listen to them all that often nowadays as there's only a handful on the i-pod. I'm quite fond of these fab four:-

mp3 : Public Enemy vs Herb Alpert - Rebel Without A Pause
mp3 : Arctic Monkeys vs Destiny's Child - Bum Breath
mp3 : Basement Jaxx vs REM - Where's Your Religion At?

I'm sure I've offended a number of you who think such 'songs' are sacrilegious....

Oh and I've posted what are unquestionably the two best mash-ups ever over at The Video Villain...

TELEVISION, THE DRUG OF THE NATION

Another song dragged up from a great TV performance.

It was 1996, and the show was called The White Room, hosted by Mark Radcliffe. As far as I'm concerened, this was one of the best and nost underrated music programmes ever made in the UK. It usually had one or two 'big' acts headlining, along with a few emerging acts. many of who were assocaited with the mid 90s rise of Britpop.

Until I saw them on the show, I had never heard of My Life Story, but I soon tracked down the current single they played that night:-

mp3 : My Life Story - Sparkle

They were a huge act in terms of numbers - combining the classic pop line-up with a lively string section. My first thought when seeing them on TV was that they were a wonderful throwback to some of the great OTT 80s pop acts such as ABC, or perhaps it was like watching Marc & The Mambas all over again. I also thought, purely because of the strings, that it could be Tindersticks on speed (with a different vocalist of course....)

If you click here, you can learn more about the band, and find out that by the time I cottoned on to them, they had been around for a fair few years, and indeed in terms of popularity were reaching a peak.

I havent been able to track down the live performance from all those years back, but I have shoved the promo for Sparkle as well as the previous single, 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, up at The Video Villain.

Is it just me, but does anyone else reckon Arcade Fire learned a lot from My Life Story?

IT'S ALL IN THE EYES....AND THE LITTLE SNIFFS

In among all the CDs, vinyl and cassettes that I've amassed over the years, I've also got a now redundant collection of 400 or so VHS tapes of music. Many of them were pre-recorded promos or live gigs that you bought in the shops, but not far short of half the collection consisted of stuff that I taped from the TV, mostly performances on Whistle Test, Top of The Pops and The Tube.

It seems I was not alone in doing so, and many of fellow obsessives have now gone a fantastic stage further and transferred those clips via some sort of technology straight to You Tube. And in a light-fingered sort of way, I've been nicking many of those clips and posting them over at my other site, The Video Villain.

The reason for mentioning all this comes courtesy of a random tune via the i-pod yesterday morning. A great old LP track by Echo & The Bunnymen came on, and I immediately thought back to the first occasion I ever heard the song, which was around 6.40pm one Friday evening in mid-December 1983.

At this point in time, I was living with some mates in a student flat, but every Friday evening, I went back home to my mum and dad's a few miles down the road - ostensibly to get my first decent feed of the week and tap some money for the weekend - but also so that I could tape anything that was decent from that week's edition of the Channel 4 music show, The Tube.

This was a truly ground-breaking show in that it went out entirely live and unedited from 5pm-7pm on a Friday night from the Tyne-Tees studios in Newcastle. As such there was the occasional hairy moment with swearing and controversial moments such as when a striking coal miners' microphone didn't work during a performance by The Redskins - an incident recalled previously on TVV back here.

But one of the greatest moments occurred the day that Ian McCulloch took to the stage out of his mind on lord only knows what substances. The pupils of his eyes were as black as the night, and every now and again you can just catch him sniffing....

His performance was truly astonishing - as indeed was that of the rest of the band. They played three songs that night, all of which were new to me. It turned out they were songs that had just been completed and were about to be mixed for the next LP. The performance on The Tube was December 1983, but the LP didn't hit the shops for about another 6 months.

These are the three songs in the order they were played that night:-

mp3 : Echo & the Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain (alt. take)
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Thorn of Crowns

I remember being gobsmacked by the raw energy of Nocturnal Me and then being a little bit disappointed (at the time) by the way the band slowed things down with Ocean Rain. But given what was to follow, that has since become understandable - as its the performance of Thorn Of Crowns that makes this particular TV performance so legendary.

Bunnymac actually introduces the song as 'Thorn of Crowns...or Cucumber', (it had been performed live in concert on a few occasions being introduced as Cucumber....)

Pete pounds the shit out of his drums, Les hammers his bass in perfect time, and while Will assaults his guitar to produce some amazing noises, McCulloch hoops, hollers and dances like a mad shaman.....before midway through the song deciding to go on a rant about how there are too many criminals in the country and that they should all 'have their genders cut off'. At which point, the producer of the show starts running the credits, and the performance fades off air less than 60 seconds later in mid-song....and I don't think it was because the show ran out of time as the band played on for a while afterwards - the proof being that a few months later The Tube showed The Killing Moon from the same appearance......

I played this clip more times than I care to remember over the next 20 plus years. And I thought that having disposed of my last VHS recorder a couple of years back (at which point the tapes were boxed up and put beneath the stairs) that I'd never see it again.

But of course, I should have realised that someone out there would probably have done something magical at You Tube.....and so it has proved.

I really don't care if you don't listen to the mp3s. But I'll be mightily disappointed if you don't pay a visit right here and catch some telly magic from a nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Lay down thy raincoat and groove.

THE THEME SONG FOR ALL MUSIC BLOGGERS?/GREAT OPENING TRACKS ON LPs (Part 5)

There are days when all this can seem like a chore rather than a lot of fun. Not all that often mind you, but this is one of those days when I'm not really sure if I have a posting in me....

mp3 : Soft Cell - Entertain Me

Then again, I can say that Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, from where today's offering is lifted, remains a personal all-time favourite almost 27 years after I first ever heard it. All ten of the songs on the original LP are immense. In fact, just thinking about the LP has made me realise that I do actually have something to say - namely that the opening track deserves a place in the occasional series that I'm running just now:-

mp3 : Soft Cell - Frustration

The fact that the LP had already spawned three top 10 singles over a six month period, and that Marc and David were ready to move on with new songs probably prevented Frustration being let loose on a wider public.

I really do think this is one of Marc's cleverest and funniest lyrics - it's bit like the late 70s programme The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin being put to music.

I have hobbies, but they're nothing very special
I do the garden, I watch girls.
I am so ordinary.

Pervy poetry at its finest......

THE SUNDAY POST

Hopefully I'll be able to keep things ticking over in the coming week, but there's a bit of upheaval going on in Villain Towers with carpets being lifted, new floors going down, the PC being shunted to another room etc etc etc.

And I'm the world's worst handy-man - everything I touch falls apart or breaks - so, as and when it all appears to be back to normal, there's every chance I'll mess things up at the 11th and a bit hour.

But as I say, I'll soldier on as best I can.

I need to start this week with a big big big big big big.....(you get the idea....theis needs to be the biggest of its kind imaginable.....)

THANK YOU

to Coxon Le Woof over at the magnificant blogspot To Die By Your Side, which incidentally, was one of the first blogs I ever started visiting on a regular basis. The music is consistently amazing, with all sorts of rarities appearing out of the blue, as well as the perfect mix of new and old stuff. Oh and the writing is of amazing quality as well.

The thank you is for the fact that Coxon has given me hope that he might be able to salvage something from Nick Cave Night the other week on BBC4 - if you have no idea what I'm on about, just click here.

And so, in acknowledgement of this positive outcome, here's something nice and cheery:-

mp3 : The Pale Fountains - Thank You (John Peel Session)

I do so love this internetbloggy world.

HOW MEN ARE?

I bought this 7" single back in 1979 when it was first released. It was on a sort of violet/light purple vinyl - a shade lighter than how SQUEEZE appears on the sleeve.

It's one of the saddest lyrics ever put to paper. A real tear-jerker.

I never thought it would happen
with me and the girl from Clapham
Out on a windy common
that night I ain't forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
with some or other passions
I said you are a lady
'Perhaps', she said, 'I may be'

We moved into a basement
with thoughts of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissing
The Railway Arms were missing
But love had got us hooked up
and all our time it took up

I got a job with Stanley
he said I'd come in handy,
and started me on Monday
so I had a bath on sunday
I worked eleven hours
and bought the girl some flowers
She said she'd seen a doctor
and nothing now could stop her

I worked all through the winter
the weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
we had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
with little kicks inside her

This morning at 4:50
I took her rather nifty
down to an incubator
where thirty minutes later
she gave birth to a daughter
within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
if there could be another

And now she's two years older
her mother's with a soldier
She left me when my drinking
became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
from bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
no more nights nappies smelling

Alone here in the kitchen
I feel there's something missing
I'd beg for some forgiveness
but begging's not my business
And she won't write a letter
although I always tell her
And so its my assumption
I'm really up the junction

A soap opera in just over three minutes. A storyboard for a Ken Loach movie.

The boy about town...gets caught out with his trousers down....has to grow up all too fast....the love of his life is soon only part of his past....

mp3 : Squeeze - Up The Junction

Tears and saying sorry are just not enough.

But the male side of the species just never learn......

GAINING INSPIRATION

I was mentioning the other day about the top quality of the blogs that are listed over on the right-hand side and how you should all go and pay them a visit.

Well......I absolutely insist that you read this bit of work by Anglopunk over at Condemned to Rock'n'Roll.

It got me thinking about when I was 15/16 years of age, and how lucky I was that a love for music, combined with the fact I was blessed with enough talents to head on to university, stopped me becoming a character in this song:-

mp3 : The Jam - Saturday's Kids

I'm not sure what Weller thinks of this lyric nearly 30 years later, but I reckon its one he should be proud of. He has captured perfectly the sheer mundanity of being a teenager on the edge of an adult life when your choices (such that they were) had been made for you.....and I only need to look around the area where I currently work (inner-city Glasgow) to realise that not a lot has changed.

Its criminal that it was only ever available as an LP track or an import single.

A BLATANT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE UP TRAFFIC

Since I don't often post songs by the blockbuster bands that attract the casual traffic, I'm looking to see if any of dirty raincoat brigade will pop by.

A while back, my good friend Ctelblog (and thanks by the way for yesterday's great offering) put up a posting called Erotic Animals that confused many a unique google-led visitor.

The LP cover up above is that of a 1988 LP called Tender Pervert. The act who recorded it is Momus, a Scotsman whose real name is Nick Currie.

He calls himself Momus after the Greek god of mockery. As this article indicates, he's been around for a while recording hyper-literate, quirky songs that blend accessible dance-pop with such heavy lyrical themes as paedophilia, necrophilia and adultery. (That's a few boxes ticked right away methinks).

Actually, the stuff isn't all that bad. I have in my possesion a copy of Tender Pervert and its by no means the worst purchase I've ever made. I must actually get round to giving it a proper review and posting in here some day.

Anyway, the reason I bought it was down to the fact is was cheap in a sale, and I already knew and loved one track from it, thanks to it appearing on a Creation Records compilation entitled Doing It For The Kids (this was Creation Records when it was very much a vanity project for Alan McGhee and friends, way before it began to make serious money).

mp3 : Momus - A Complete History of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17-24)

I'm surprised that the boys and girls from New Order didn't sue in respect of the tune....

If I spot any unusual paths into TVV over the next few days, I may well draw them to your attention.

NEW MUSIC: DOMENICO BIANCARDI

Sorry to interrupt JC's Great Opening tracks series, but here's a remix of a Clash classic. An electro breaks remix of The Clash's classic "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" from Italy's Domenico Biancardi, about whom more from a previous post on ACID TED here.

Domenico says "I have maked a new remix of a classic song Clash - Should I Stay Should Go. A style was like Mowgli or Switch, breaks style."

This is a demo mix, so bear with it. The first minute of the track is really disappointing, sounding mostly like the original coupled to a standard four to the floor beat. But after a minute, it hits its stride and goes off into new and interesting places. Good but not as good as his previous mixes.

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go (Biancardi Mix) YSL

Domenico Biancardi website

GREAT OPENING TRACKS ON LPs (Part 4)

Continuing the series of great non-singles which open up LPs.

Back at the beginning of the 1990s, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine vied for my favourite act of the moment. As much as I loved their punningly-clever lyrics over some incredibly catchy, machine-driven tunes, it really was all down to the energy, vibrancy and sheer fun of the live shows that made Jim Bob and Fruitbat so special.

The first time I caught them live was in early 1991 at the old Glasgow Tech Students Union, when I was quite possibly (at the age of 27!!) the oldest person there. It wasn't by any means the first time they had played in my home city, but it was certainly the last tour they did relatively unnoticed as it was just a few months before the release of the LP that provided the commercial breakthrough. Within six months or so, they were selling out the Barrowlands.

They were certainly an act that played for the sheer hell of it. It was just two men with loud guitars backed by a drum machine, having a good time and ensuring their audience had as much fun as they did.

Oh and they were accompanied by their good mate and road manager, Jon the Beast - an overweight bespectacled bloke who took off his shirt and introduced the band each evening....

It was the constant touring that paid off for the band - they seemed to constantly be on the road playing every town in the UK, turning up at places where no other pop/rock acts had seemingly been in years. They certainly worked hard for the money.

The early releases came out on a small London-based indie label, but in 1991 they signed to the daddy of the indies - Rough Trade - and set out to conquer the charts. Then it was onto a major label in the shape of Chrysalis...

Over the next three or four years, they burned relatively brightly with a succession of Top 20 singles and regular appearances on Top of the Pops. And still they constantly toured.....

But just as suddenly as they had found themselves flavour of the month, they soon fell out of fashion, and by 1997 it was all over.

Listening nowadays to Carter USM remains a very enjoyable experience. I think its fair to say they were a better singles band than album band, but every release does have a handful of non-singles songs that were pretty special.

Including this fabulous tribute to Jon the Beast, which became the traditional opening song of so many tours:-

mp3 : Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Surfin USM

The opening monologue is taken from 90s UK sci-fi spoof Red Dwarf. It's an observation that I certainly can attest to......

A full story of the band can be found at this official website. You should also check out one of the best books ever written about being in a rock band.

OUR FRIENDS ELECTRIC (Part 1)

Today is a re-letter day at TVV, as at some point the blog is going to receive hit number 200,000.

From tracking some basic stats, I've learned that there are three main methods that that folk use to pop by and find out what's happening over here.

Number One. They can pick up things via the site aggregators such as Hype Machine or Elbo who simply list the briefest of details of the latest posting, as long as the songs are readily available through some sort of recognisable file sharing arrangement.

Number Two. They have been in before, and have either bookmarked the site, listed it as a favourite or remembered its name so that the address is typed in directly.

Number Three. Someone else with a blog has directed them here, either by mentioning TVV in a post, or by providing a direct link from their own work of love.

The third method is my favourite, as there's no better recognition of what you're trying to do than being acknowledged and recognised by your peers. Which is why everything over on the
right-hand side of your new-look TVV is so important to me.

Every now and again, I'm going to spend some time mentioning some of the links in the hope that you will be encouraged to spend some time over there. But don't worry casual surfers who only come in for the songs, there will always be an mp3 to grab a hold of....

(1) And Before The First Kiss

This is written by Colin, who describes himself as "A 'working sociologist' (ahem...) who just seems to die for slow sad songs, The Field Mice, perfectly twee shirts, c90 mix tapes, a black tie, green tea, reading blogs, trying to negotiate a run-down fringe and, ultimately, avoiding the truth..."

Colin is also from Glasgow, and as I've said before, he is the biggest sole influence on TVV. At a time when I was pretty down on a whole bundle of things and finding solace in music, I discovered that there were some folk out there in cyberspace who, for nothing other than the sheer love of it, were writing about lots of the songs/bands/acts that meant a lot to me. Songs/bands/acts that I thought had been forgotten by everyone bar me.

His blog at the time was called Let's Kiss And Make Up, and I became an avid reader, always trying to leave behind a comment - even if it was just a two-word thank you. I then dropped Colin a e-mail asking for advice on how to start up my own blog, and he was just incredibly helpful. Without him, this would be nothing.

Since then, I've watched him casually threw away a couple of blogs, and when he did so the second time, I asked him not to waste his talents but become an occasional contributor here in the hope he would find the desire to start his own thing up one more time.

Thankfully, he has come alive with And Before The First Kiss. Yes, it's a music blog in as much that it features mp3s. But that doesn't do it justice. It's an astonishing read, full of insights on life that will have you laughing, crying and scratching your head in bewilderment - often within the same post. Oh and it features some pretty stunning black and white photography, all taken by the man himself.

Although we live in the same city, it took well over 18 months after the first e-mail contact for myself and Colin to meet up in the flesh for the first time - this we did at the beginning of January 2008 to go see Dumb Instrument at the 13th Note in Glasgow. We hit it off immediately, and I'm proud to say that we've become very good friends, meeting up every two or three weeks or so over a tea/coffee or something a bit stronger. I know he's going to be heading off overseas to work for a few months later this year, and I'm going to miss him...

In the meantime, if you've never yet visited And Before The First Kiss, do yourself a favour and click here.

(2) I Like

Coincidentally, the second blog I'm highlighting today is also the work of a Glaswegian.

This is not a music blog at all, instead its the work of Anne who, in describing what exactly it is says, "I like was established in September 2002. It has come about from a love of all the things you see here. The only subject I could think of to write about was things I like, hence the name.

I like is a a half-pint, a low-talker, a cheeky besom, a timorous beastie, a shutterbug, a magpie, a modern lover, an empathicalist, a book jockey, a pedant and a Glasgow dreamer."

It truly is a wonderful piece of art. You don't know from the one day to the next what is going to appear in its pages. Anne is full of magical ideas that make their way onto the page of I Like, and there's many a time that she inspires some wonderfully astute comments from many of her regular readers.

If all of this tickles your fancy, click here.

(3) Sexy Loser

This is a labour of love from Dirk, a 40-year old resident of Aldenhoven in Germany. He sums up succinctly why his blog is well worth a visit - "In love with indie music ever since, and I honestly do hope that some of the tracks I post here will mean as much to you as they mean to me ... "

I think Dirk is really a British-indie kid circa 1986 trapped in a German's body. His record collection is pretty astonishing given how difficult it must have been for him to get a hold of so many of the songs he features. Right now, he's in the middle of an amazing series called 'My Peel Tapes', which stems from when he was just 16 years of age and he started to tape nearly every edition of John Peel's Music Show on the British Forces Broadcasting Service, after which he would save up his money, hitchhike to town to get hold of the stuff John had played that week.

It really was no different from so many of our own tales of our teenage and student years except we got John Peel four nights a week, and surely didn't have to hitch-hike to the nearest record store....

Dirk is also an avid contributor to the Contrast Podcast (which I'll mention in more detail in the near future), and every week he posts a wonderfully entertaining and educational intro before unleashing a long-forgotten classic on us. But his real pride of joy is Sexy Loser. Visit it a be on a winner. Click here.

Enjoy.

(4) Crying All The Way To The Chip Shop

In some ways, I'm disappointed with the title of this blog, as I wish I had come up with something really witty instead. Particular favourites just now are Aye Tunes, Manic Pop Thrills and one with the line taken from the Jilted Song hit single.

London Lee is the genius behind Chip Shop - "The sentimental musings of an ageing British expat in words, music, and pictures. Files are only up for a limited time so drink them while they're hot."

You'll find an incredibly eclectic selection of music if you drop in on the Chip Shop, served up with lots of love and affection from behind the deep fryers and the counter. Geat indie bands of the 80s alongside the stuff that your mum and dad played that you've never quite been able to dismiss entirely from your brain. It's also incredibly honest - at last a blogger unashamed to say that as a 13-year old in the mid 70s that it wasn't Bowie or Bolan that rocked their boat. Anyone for Showaddywaddy?

And it's a recent posting on Chip Shop that brings me to today's mp3s (this is the only bit of interest to The Hype Machine hustlers). Lee was reminiscing about the genius of The Teardrop Explodes and bemoaning that a whole bundle of rare vinyl had been flogged off back in the 90s (something I almost did myself - I don't think anyone could ever have envisage a time when we'd be able to again enjoy our 33s and 45s in all their glory). And here's the single that Lee had wanted to share with the world:-

mp3 : The Teardrop Explodes - Treason (It's Just A Story)
mp3 : The Teardrop Explodes - Books

These are the original recordings, released in January 1980 on Zoo Records. Different versions would later appear on the band's major label debut LP Kilimanjaro from later that same year.

And that my dear friends brings this ramble to an end. Thanks again for visiting, whichever way you chose to travel, and sometime next week, I'll highlight some more of my other favourite places.

PS : Sorry the mp3s are down again not longer after they go up. This past month has proven to be very popular with mp3 downloads, and despite recently paying to double the amount of bandwith available at fileden, I'm almost at my limit. Things should begin to ease off in the next week or so, and I hope you'll bear with me. If you come by and find something has been and gone, drop me an e-mail and I'll sort out it.

PPS : Sorry again to harp on......but do you know anyone at all who can send me a copy of last Friday's BBC4 feature on Nick Cave?? Thanks.

THE SUNDAY POST

Still hopeful that someone, somewhere can come up trumps with yesterday's request.....

In the meantime, given that I'm trying to spend more time reading all the blogs listed over on the right hand-side of your new-look super-soaraway TVV, I've decided ll just make today's offering a familiar one that shouldn't need a lot of explanation.

mp3 : R.E.M. - Man On the Moon

A wonderful tribute to a talented man. And the movie of the same title wasn't half bad either. Jim Carrey can be awfully good when he doesnt just do the goofy stuff.

DO YOU LOVE ME?

This is a special request to all UK readers.

Last night (Friday 4th July 2008), there was a one-off 'Nick Cave Night' on BBC4, featuring all sorts of things over a three-hour period from 9.30pm onwards.

I was going to be out for the evening, and so I made arrangements with my normally wonderfully reliable dad (he's nearly 73 years old now....) to tape it on his Sky+ thingy and transfer it to a DVD disc for me. He's just off the phone all annoyed with himself as he used the wrong remote control, and after just 2 minutes of Nick in concert, the thing switches to an episode of 'Frost.'

So.....I'm hoping someone out there has managed to tape Nick Cave Night and is willing to post a copy on to me. I'll very happily meet all costs.....

Please. Just think how happy you'll make my old man......

mp3 : Placebo - Daddy Cool

Thank You

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Actually, I’m not sure if Happy Birthday is the right thing to say – but hey, I’m guessing that’s essentially what the 4th July celebrations are all about. But don’t worry, I’m not going to now embark on a '222 45s at 222' chart for you (for a start it isn’t quite as catchy a concept).

And with the holiday falling a Friday, I hope that all of my friends from over on the other side of the Atlantic (you know who you are) will go out and over-indulge on the beer and barbecues especially as there’s plenty of time over the weekend to allow your bodies to recover. Treat 4th July 2008 the same way us Scots treat 31st December/1st January every time the calendar churns round to that date.

In other words.......drink till you fall over, tell everyone you meet (including total strangers) that you love them, eat all the wrong sorts of food, throw everything up later on (preferably all over one of your new friends) and wake-up afterwards not remembering a single thing. That way, you’re guaranteed to have a guilt-free conscience.

Oh and it’s also the rule that you have to sing along to really awful songs, word and note-prefect. Songs of such sentimental mush that they make you cringe on the other 364 days of the year.

Not that I’m including this classic in that last sentence:-

mp3 : Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Parties in the USA

And isn’t it strange to imagine that the next time the country blows out the candles on its collective birthday cake, the Commander-in-Chief could well be from a background that none of us ever imagined would happen in our lifetimes:-

mp3 : Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come

Hallelujah.

But there’s no way I can finish off a TVV posting on such a pious note – this is not the place to come for serious debate that mixes pop and politics.

So here’s the song I originally had in mind to post today:-

mp3 : Violent Femmes – American Music (live acoustic version)

Now wouldn’t that just make a much better national anthem for you all?? Just imagine your athletes swaying away on the podium at the Olympics as they collect yet another gold medal…much more entertaining than putting your hand over your heart, staring seriously into space and fighting hard to avoid the trembling lip and the tears rolling down your cheeks.

I’m away for a lie down.

I WON'T SAY NO - HOW COULD I?

I’ve always said that, when asked, and as long as the request is a nice one and not a demand, then I’m more than happy to re-post songs previously featured on TVV.

And so it is with great pleasure that I give a positive response to my dear friend Ed of 17 Seconds fame who just yesterday, when he left behind some nice words on the Abba/Ash posting, asked for this gem:-

mp3 : Robert Wyatt with the SWAPO Singers – The Wind of Change (extended version)

Now, the strange thing is that this is the second time I’ve re-posted this particular song in response to a request – the last occasion being 3rd July 2007. Exactly a year ago to the day…..(cue theme from The Twilight Zone).

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the genesis of this song, it was released back in 1985 not all that long after the success of Free Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA.

SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation) was the national liberation movement of Namibia that was then at war with the Apartheid-led regime of South Africa – it’s a wonderfully prophetic song given the revolutionary events in that part of the world in the latter part of the 80s.

And, although the second song featured today is not a request, it goes out to the wonderful Greer of A Sweet Unrest fame, who recently put up a posting about cherries, and mused about songs which have the word cherry somewhere in their title. This is my favourite:-

mp3 : Jonathan Fire*Eater - The Search For Cherry Red

Sadly, this band are no more. But if you want a potted history, read here.

FROM UNDER THE COVERS (Part 29)

Having launched a new feature yesterday, I thought I'd re-visit an old favourite today, albeit one that hasn't appeared for almost four months.

There's been an awful lot of stuff about Abba in the news here in the UK, thanks to the opening of the new movie Mamma Mia. Now everyone my age grew up with Abba always playing on the radio, or on TV, or on the jukebox - they were impossible to ignore. And while I'd never hold my hands up to admit I was ever a fan, there's no denying that many of their most famous hit singles have lasted the test of time as true pop classics.

And what isn't there to admire about a band who used the city of Glasgow as a reference point in the otherwise rather appalling Super Trouper?

As you might imagine, many of Abba's songs have been given the cover version treatment. One I'm particularly fond of is this:-

mp3 : Ash - Does Your Mother Know?

Like many of the best covers, it doesn't sound all that much like the original, instead coming across more like any other infectiously catchy song by the boys from Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. The song was originally recorded for a BBC Radio 1 Evening Session Show in 1996, and then released as a track on the CD single of Oh Yeah later that year.

The sound of the bottom of more barrels being scraped for ideas and inspiration will come your way again tomorrow.

GREAT OPENING TRACKS ON LPs (Parts 1-3)

So, this is the entirely unoriginal idea that I've come up with for another occasional series here at TVV.

Record labels and bands seemingly spend days, weeks and months agonising over the ideal running order of songs for an LP. Most of the time, they will lead with the big hit single that everyone already knows, or the song they think will become the big hit single in the future. But there are some who will steadfastly refuse to include singles on their LPs - as was initially the case with New Order.

At one particular time in the band's history, the idea was to release the singles completely seperately from the LPs - something that they managed to do between 1981 and 1984 with their first six singles and the first two LPs. But all that came to a halt in 1985 when The Perfect Kiss was included on Low-Life. But even then, it wasn't used as the crucial and killer opener.
Indeed, it wasn't until Technique, their 5th LP, that New Order actually led off any LP with a hit single in the shape of Fine Time, and even then it was something that was completely different from what was expected.

I'm mostly intending to use this series to look at the opening song on one LP by one singer or band, but I couldn't bring myself to feature any of these at the expense of the others as they are all classic pop songs-

mp3 : New Order - Dreams Never End (from the LP Movement)
mp3 : New Order - Age Of Consent (from the LP Power, Corruption & Lies)
mp3 : New Order - Love Vigilantes (from the LP Low-Life)

I'm unable to disguise my love and affection for New Order - not only did they grab the #1 slot in the 45s at 45 series, but there's every likelihood that Age of Consent would take the same position in any non-45s at 45 rundown. I have on VHS tape a very early TV appearance by the band on a long-forgotten Channel 4 series called Switch during which they played live versions of Age of Consent and Blue Monday - I watched it again maybe six months or so ago, and what struck me above all else was just how young they all looked.....and how Barney was so riven with nerves while Hooky was just beginning to learn to have a degree of presence on stage. If I can dig it out on You Tube, I'll post it at The Video Villain. (and I did find it....click here)

As for Dreams Never End, it remains the stand-out track on the band's debut release in as much that the rest of the LP is very much a hangover from the Joy Division days (not that there's anything wrong with that), while Love Vigilantes is a song that Robert Smith probably wishes he had written and recorded with The Cure (and again there's nothing wrong with that).

Oh and I'd like to send the warmest of greetings to any readers from that lovely country located just to the north of the USA. Happy Canada Day.