I don't think anyone else has ever come up with consistently better song titles than Gordon Macintyre.A primary school teacher by profession, Gordon Macintyre formed the band Ballboy in 1997, and they have gifted us 5 LPs (if you include a compilation effort) together with 8 singles/EPs since their first recording Silver Suits For Astronauts appeared on the Edinburgh-based label SL Recordings back in 1999 (the label is still home to the band today).
Some have made understandable comparisons between Ballboy and Belle & Sebastian thanks to the quiet vocal delivery over what are often charming acoustic-based tunes complete with clever, witty and graceful lyrics. But for every one fey B&S sound-alike song in the Ballboy canon you will find at least three other tunes that wouldn't be out of place at any indie-disco.
From the outset, they featured regularly on shows hosted by the late John Peel, and thanks to this were able to build up a bit of a following across the UK without ever really getting much beyond cult status, which is a real shame as they have been one of Scotland's most consistently enjoyable acts over the past decade.
And as I was saying, some of the song titles alone should make you want to check them out:-
I Don't Want To Stand Here Fighting With You About The Size Of My Dick
I've Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear
Donald In The Bushes With A Bag Of Glue
They'll Hang Flags From Cranes Upon My Wedding Day
The Time Out Guide
I Wonder If You're Drunk Enough To Sleep With Me Tonight
Avant Garde Music
The Sash My Father Wore
I Lost You But I Found Country Music
Songs For Kylie
You Can't Spend Your Whole Life Hanging Around With Arseholes
And then there's the title track of this 2002 EP:-
mp3 : Ballboy - All the Records On The Radio Are Shite
mp3 : Ballboy - Stars And Stripes
mp3 : Ballboy - Building For The Future
mp3 : Ballboy - Welcome To The New Year
This actually made the Top 10 of the Peel Festive 50 back in 2002.
And keeping up with the wee theme that's been at TVV all week, here's a video of another single.
A song of frustration and anger at the way some people choose to settle for mediocrity in the way they live their lives despite chances and opportunities, it was dedicated to the frighteningly rich frontman of this disgraceful political campaign that was being waged in the media not long after Scotland had delivered itself its first directly elected Parliament in 300 years.
Happy Listening and viewing.
9 comments:
Ballboy are - and I know you will disagree here, my friend - without any doubt at all the best Scottish band. Ever.
I don't know whether the podcasts Gordon did for quite some time are still available on their website, but if they are I recommend to you to have a listen: it was just him and his acoustic guitar and you'll find 'demo' versions of quite a lot of their tunes, often with even more obscure workling titles than the above.
its really very nice article thanks for sharing this with us...
Ha ! Never knew this one existed.
Great title, just the best.
Oh and to echo your spammer there...
its really very nice article thanks for sharing this with us.
I loved this song since the moment I read the title (in my job, how could I not?) Luckily it lived up to expectations, as do so many of his songs.
Hi Jc
love the tracks - if I wanted to get an lp which one should I start with?
Dear friend of rachel worth,
they're all brilliant and all of them are up for sale on my discogs - site (seller: fullofhope) for reasonable prices. I think I would recommend 'Club Anthems' for a starter ...
cheers Dirk - I'll pop over to your site and give one a go
I was reading something similar on another website that i was researching. I will be sure to look around more.
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