THE VINYL VILLAIN

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 2)

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000Z

Edwyn's second single was released in November 1987 with the catalogue number ACID6 has the distinction of being the final ever release on Elevation Records:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - My Beloved Girl
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Clouds (Fogging Up My Mind)

The 12" has the catalogue number ACID6T, and in addition to the standard version of the single, has these:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - My (Long Time) Beloved Girl
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Clouds (Fogging Up My Mind) - Cumulonimbus Version

There was also a limited edition 7" box edition (ACID 6B) which came with three postcards of black & white photos of Edwyn (the reverse of one was blank, another had lyrics written in Edwyn's own handwriting and the third had a list of tour dates in November and December 1987.) Oh and it also had two extra tracks on the vinyl as well:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - 50 Shades Of Blue (acoustic version)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - What's The Big Idea?

50 Shades Of Blue would emerge as a 7". 12" and CD single in its own right some two years later by which time Edwyn was on Demon Records, while What's The Big Idea would be re-recorded and find its way onto the LP Hellbent On Compromise which was released in 1990.

I couldn't find any promo on you tube, so I'm guessing parent label WEA had already decided they had thrown enough money at Elevation Records so there wasn't one made.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 (PART 2) : JC FLIES SOLO

2012-01-27T06:00:00.046Z

Review of Butcher Boy/Darren Hayman : Cecil Sharp House, London : Saturday 21 January

(The subplot......24 hours after Easterhouse, JC was down in Camden, London to watch his beloved Butcher Boy - could it be better than the gig he himself promoted in Glasgow back in November??)

The venue was the majestic and quaint Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It’s a building that dates back to 1930, and other than some modern adaptations to allow it to conform with access legislation, it has been authentically and lovingly maintained to the glory of its opening day. It’s an atypical venue for Butcher Boy and a real surprise to find such a building amidst the hustle and bustle of Camden

Support came from Darren Hayman, someone I’d last seen ages ago as lead singer of Hefner on a tour when they supported Billy Bragg. I recalled enjoying the support on that occasion, but not enough to go out and buy any merchandise. The bloke who took to his seat behind the piano to the side of the stage was not the face I recalled from Hefner....but then again, do many of us look the same way we did some 14 years ago?

Dressed in a coat, scarf and cap, he did confess early on during his often amusing between-songs patter that he looked like a Dickensian character. Like a geeky Oliver Twist. This was a show I was really looking forward to.

Sadly, it was very soon a show I was really looking forward to the end of.

The songs were all a bit too monotonous. They were also, for the most part, depressing. Darren’s delivery was akin to an off-pitch Neil Young circa 1970. There was loads of polite applause between the songs and most folk stayed in their seats to watch the 45-minute set. But it was so deadly quiet that moving your chair and walking across the wooden floor to the exits would have seemed very rude. If there had been reserved seating, and if the room had been carpeted, I think a few would have headed for the sanctuary of the bar. There were a few folk who loved it all. Perhaps my mood wasn’t helped by being so tired from being out the night before and travelling down earlier in the day, but Darren’s set threatened to send me to sleep. His saving grace was the occasional story between the songs.

And so to Butcher Boy. This was their most important gig since the December 2009 support slot to Belle & Sebastian with many of the audience being debutants given it’s been a long while since the band played the capital. The band did not let anyone down. They were exceptional and played a sublime main set:-

When I’m Asleep
The Day Our Voices Broke
Girls Make Me Sick
I Am the Butcher
This Kiss Will Marry us
Carve A Pattern
Helping Hands
Russian Dolls
Anything Other Than Kind
I Know Who You Could Be
Sunday Bells
Imperial
I Could Be In Love With Anyone
There Is No-one Who Can Tell You Where You’ve Been

The first seven songs were the same running order as at the Langside Halls gig in Glasgow a couple of months back, but thanks to the venue having a full-sized piano next to the stage – fully utilised by Alison – quite a bit of the set took on a whole new sound. The rendition of This Kiss Will Marry Us was a real tear-jerker, while Helping Hands was another which benefited from the piano rather than electric keys.

John was in fine voice – he was even spotted dancing a bit during Girls Make Me Sick. Mia and Cat were flawless. Basil was on fire. Fraser was his usual reliable and talented self no matter which instrument he picked up, and not for the first time, Robert and Finlay on bass and drums drove the set along at the perfect pace, quite clearly having the time of their lives.

It was magical.

My ears pricked up when midway through the set when they launched into Russian Dolls. One of the lesser-heralded songs on the new LP, this was the first time the band have ever played it live. And they did a great job of it.

After that it was back to the tried and trusted set played at Glasgow until they came back for the deserved encore.

I’ve since learned that they had four songs up their sleeves for the encore – they passed on Parliament Hill, which again would have been the first time they had ever played it live, and they also passed on the traditional set-closer of the upbeat and highly danceable Profit In Your Poetry. Instead, perhaps with a nod to the sort of music the venue is famed for, they slowed things right down with the rarely-played slow version of Keep Your Powder Dry as released on their debut EP back in 2005 (when half of the band had yet to become members) as well as the tear-jerking Days Like These Will Be The Death Of Me.

It was a truly special ending to a night when London belonged to Butcher Boy and they again gave a live performance that it was a privilege to see.

There were a few folk filming the gig on phones and cameras. I've tracked down a few clips already out there on the internet. To the various folk who have put them on you tube....thank you. And I hope you don't mind me lifting them and putting them here.

AS I MENTIONED, EARLIER.....A HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO MADE THIS FOOTAGE AND POSTED IT ON YOU TUBE. I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THAT IT APPEARS HERE...
Next up for the band is again something a bit different.

On Friday 10 February, they will be performing an instrumental set as part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Those of us lucky enough to have been present at their one-off performance at the Glasgow Film Theatre back in 2009 when they played a specially composed live soundtrack to a silent movie shot in the 1950s in the West of Scotland will have an idea of what to expect.

But before then, other gigs beckon. Tune in next week for the next instalment.

JC : Friday 27 January 2012

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 : THEY WENT OUT TO THE EASTERHOUSE COS THEY LIKED THE SOUND OF IT

2012-01-26T06:00:00.011Z

REVIEW OF CORNERSHOP/1990s at THE PLATFORM, GLASGOW : FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012

Celtic Connections is a long-standing annual festival of music held in Glasgow every January. It began as a celebration of folk and traditional music but has increasingly diversified into more contemporary stuff and many acts who now appear under it banner are about un-Celtic as a church of Scotland minister who has a season ticket for the football team that play at Ibrox Park. But this diversity is hugely welcome, for without it your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo would not have got on a #41 bus on a wet Friday night to go see Cornershop supported by the 1990s.

Easterhouse is a vast post-World War II housing estate, known locally as a scheme, some five miles east of the centre of Glasgow. It’s an area I know quite well as I had family who lived there and when I played football when I was younger, many of the matches were played on pitches in the scheme. Over the past 50 years since its construction it has always had a bad reputation – much of it sensationalised and over-played. It has, in recent times, undergone a massive regeneration with many facilities that should have been built in the first place finally being made available to the populace. One such facility is The Bridge which brings together a college, library, swimming pool and performance space under one roof. The performance space is called Platform – and this was the venue Celtic Connections had expanded to for part of its 2012 programme.

This was a new venue to both of us – for me it is now approaching 60 the number of different places in Glasgow I've has seen a band or singer since 1979 (there’s a posting in there somewhere). It is a very modern and adaptable space, capable of supporting theatre, dance and concerts. It’s the sort of place which has retractable raked-seating meaning it has an incredibly tall space from floor to ceiling and 1990s looked awfully small when they came on not longer after 8pm to a sparse and what seemed largely uninterested audience, including a group of well-behaved and attentive 8 year-olds who sat cross-legged down on the floor near the stage.

The 40-minute set was enjoyable enough that the time passed quickly and such was the energy and enthusiasm of the band that they quickly won the majority of the audience over. The venue benefits from having cracking acoustics with the sound being ass good as either of us have heard in many a long time, and this particularly highlighted just how good frontman Jackie McKeown is on guitar.

1990s have never really cracked it in the six or so years they’ve been going. Maybe that’s because they’re not your usual 3-chord indie outfit. They’re more American rock-indie that UK skinny-boy indie. They were far from dull, but the set was just a bit too one-paced to be truly special. We both actually thought a song played near the end had been aired earlier in the set. The thing is though, 1990s would be the perfect opening act for many an arena or stadium band on tour. They have crowd-pleasing upbeat tunes and based on a wet Friday night to an audience that was far from familiar with their songs, a cracking positive attitude to performing.

mp3 : 1990s – You’re Supposed To be My Friend

Cornershop took to the stage at the back of 9pm. The venue, although not the biggest, was far from full. But it was an audience that really wanted to be there and gave the band a rousing reception as they one-by-one took to the stage and belted out Heavy Soup. They very quickly got into a funky groove and gave the fans a set that drew almost exclusively on their three studio albums released between 1997 and 2009. It was the first time either of us had seen them live, and for JC in particular it was a long-held ambition being realised. Some songs were even better on the stage than the recorded versions. Sleep On the Left Side was a particular highlight of the early part of the set – a keys, drums, bass and vocals on version that had the entire audience dancing along. JC noted at the time ‘Will I hear a better song live in 2012’?

About 45 minutes into the set they went into the hit they are best known for. Played at the pace and temp of the original and not the Fatboy Slim version that topped the charts back in 1998, Brimful of Asha brought the house down.

After a band plays its best known hit, things can often go downhill for the audience. And here’s where Cornershop divided opinions.....

The next 20 minutes featured just the one song – The Turned On Truth (The Truth Is Turned On) which closes the 2009 LP Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast.

JC : Stunning sonic boom boys. The groove is perfect and this noise could go on all night as far as I’m concerned. Doubt I’ll hear anything so infectiously funky the rest of the year.

Aldo : Could have done with this being cut down a bit before the noodling began. But that’s personal taste for 3 minute pop songs and my self-admitted short attention span.

But we both agreed that the encore of Good Shit was the perfect way to end the evening and we went home happy. JC with a new t-shirt in his possession and Aldo determined to listen to a bit more Cornershop.

mp3 : Cornershop – Good Shit

JC and Aldo. Thursday 26 January 2012

IN WHICH THE EP TITLE DOES NOT MATCH THE MAIN TRACK

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000Z

Lazy posting today...which somehow seems appropriate. Word lifted from wiki:-

Ice Hockey Hair is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's Radiator, or its follow-up Guerrilla. The title track refers to an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle.

The first track on the EP, "Smokin'", was commissioned by British television station Channel 4 for a programme about sloth presented by Howard Marks as part of a series on the seven deadly sins. The band went into Grassroots, a community recording studio in Cardiff, in June 1997 and looped a sample of the Black Uhuru track "I Love King Selassie", playing along and writing "Smokin'" "completely spontaneously". According to singer Gruff Rhys the song is "really light and up" as a result of being recorded in the summer. The track's lyrics refer to smoking cannabis, with Rhys stating that it "seems ridiculous that you can't do what you want with a plant that grows naturally" in reference to the drug's illegal status in many countries. Rhys has claimed that he does not consider the track to be subversive however—it is about the band's own drug use and he doesn't "expect everyone who buys the record to do the same. They'd be quite sad if they did".

Chief lyric writer Rhys has stated that, whereas he might "empty parts of [his] emotional state" into some songs, Ice Hockey Hair's title track was written in the "instant pop music" tradition.[1] The track was originally called "The Naff Song" as the band felt it "had so many naff, cheesy things about it" before being renamed "Ice Hockey Hair" following a conversation with a Swedish football player who said that having 'ice hockey hair', an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle, was a really naff thing to do in his home country. Rhys has described the song as a "Badfinger-style power ballad" and claimed that it is about "someone who's sunk so low they're asking advice off a women with ice hockey hair".The track was recorded at Orinonco Studios, London.

The band felt that "Ice Hockey Hair" and "Smokin'" were "light relief" and needed to be released so that they could concentrate on their next album, Guerrilla, with Rhys stating that the "EP was a good chance to do something in isolation, because the tracks on it won't fit in with the new album, and they didn't fit in with the old one".The EP is completed by "Let's Quit Smoking", a remix of "Smokin'", and "Mu-Tron", a largely instrumental track named after the Mutron guitar effects pedal and written by keyboardist Cian Ciaran.

mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Smokin'
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Mu-Tron
mp3 : Super Furry Animals - Let's Quit Smoking

The EP reached #12 in the UK singles charts. Fabulous stuff I'm sure you will agree.....

PICK ANY 3 FROM 30.....

2012-01-23T06:00:00.021Z

Something came up on the i-pod shuffle the other day that got me thinking that it was perhaps the finest of the singles released by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Not more than 20 minutes later, another random single came on that made me think this was in fact their finest 45. All of which got me doing a wee bit of research...

Between 1978 and 1995, the band released 30 singles. Of these, all but three sold enough copies to gain a place in the UK Top 50. But they were never a band that had enormous hits – just two made the Top 10 and a further three went Top 20.

A further thirteen of their singles stalled in the middle sections of the charts (ie between positions 21 and 40) which at least got them regular name checks on Top Of The Pops. They were also a band who had an unfortunate knack of reaching #41 and then falling away – this happened to them on four occasions.

So a few more sales here and there could have seen history record them as one of the great singles bands in terms of sales rather than merely quality. Funnily enough, while I’ve often thought of myself as a fan, I don’t have all that many of their singles in the collection. Admittedly, a few went missing back in the mid 80s when I lost all of my collection of 7” singles in a misadventure, but while I’ve since then replaced many of these as the years have gone by, I’ve never been inclined to do so with the Banshees.

Partly this was to so with the singles being widely available on a couple of excellent ‘greatest hits’ type LPs, volume one of which was released as far back as 1981, but also because so few of the 45s had contained particularly memorable or essential b-sides. And it’s this lack of plastic in the cupboard that has led to them not being featured so often here at TVV over the past five and a bit years as they deserve.

So without any further ado, here in descending order are my three favourite S&tB singles:-

Number 3

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Slowdive

From 1982. This was one of those pesky #41 hits. It’s the strings that do it for me. That and the it where Ms Sioux sings/moans ‘Oh My God’ in the most orgasmic of fashions. This was a song brilliantly covered many years later by LCD Soundsystem

mp3 : LCD Soundsystem – Slowdive

Number 2

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities In Dust

From 1985. This got to #21. It’s the ability to dance in a non-gothic way does it for me. That and the memory of a brilliant live performance on Whistle Test with Ms Sioux confined to a chair after she had busted her knee while performing live.

I’ve a copy of the 12” version of this single in the cupboard and hence this extended version. Goth goes Tears For Fears.......

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities In Dust (Extended Eruption mix)

Number 1

mp3 : Siouxsie & The Banshees – Israel

From 1980. This was yet one of those pesky #41 hits. A song that wasn’t included on any of their studio LPs. It’s the ability to dance in a totally-gothic way does it for me. A single that takes me back to arguments in the common room at school about how punk and new-wave had great musicians and talent shouldn’t be measured alone on the basis of extended guitar or drum solos.

It wasn’t easy to get it down to three. I’ve left off Happy House, Hong Kong Garden, Kiss Them For Me and Spellbound when all were serious contenders.

So many great singles.....with the biggest shame being that it was cover versions – Dear Prudence in 1983 and This Wheel’s On Fire in 1987 – that give them two out of three of their highest chart placings.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 18)

2012-01-21T06:00:00.004Z

From wiki:-

Composed of Stuart Adamson (formerly of The Skids, vocals/guitar/keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar/mandolin/sitar/vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums/percussion/vocals) though a variety of other drummers have been in the band throughout their long career, including Simon Phillips and Aaron B. Prior to the recruitment of Butler and Brzezicki, an early incarnation of Big Country was a five-piece band and it featured Peter Wishart, later of Runrig and now an SNP MP, on keyboards, his brother Alan on bass, and Clive Parker, drummer from Spizz Energi / Athletico Spizz '80 (Rough Trade & A&M Records). Parker had approached Adamson to join his new band after the demise of The Skids. Adamson auditioned Parker (1980) at The Members rehearsal room in Ladbroke Grove London, and the next day was called on to play drums on demos for CBS Records at their Whitfield Street studios. The demos just featured Adamson, Parker, with barely a contribution from Watson. Adamson had asked bassist Dave Allen from the Gang of Four to join the band but he declined. Adamson asked Parker to join the band, which led to 8 months of rehearsal in Dunfermline, at a disused furniture warehouse. The culmination was a successful concert at the Glen Pavilion in Dunfermline, (playing to a home crowd, mainly Skids fans), and an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, where the CBS Studio demos were utilised. What followed were live dates with Alice Cooper's Special Forces tour in 1981. The band were 'out of their depth' with their rambling Echo & The Bunnymen and keyboard orientated sound which went down badly with the metal crowds and the band were dumped from the tour after 2 dates of Bournemouth Centre, and Birmingham Odeon. Adamson's management issued an ultimatum and the Wisharts and Parker were sacked. Adamson later asked Peter Wishart to rejoin on Keyboards, but Peter declined without his brother in the band. Parker formed the synth pop band Scary Thieves, and signed to EMI Records, and later went on to play session drums for ex-Jesus and Mary Chain member John Moore in The Expressway, (Polydor Records) touring the UK and USA. Alan Wishart later joined Parker in contemporary folk band Barra (Sony/ATV Music/Hi-Note Records). The manager Ian Grant brought in Brzezicki, and Butler, and along with Watson, the main band Big Country line up was formed. Although the band's music drew from Scottish traditional music, none of its members was born in Scotland. Adamson grew up in Dunfermline though, and as such, his Scottish accent was genuine.

Formed initially as a five piece band in 1981, their first single was "Harvest Home", recorded and released in 1982. It was a modest success, reaching #91 on the UK Singles Chart. Their next single was 1983's "Fields of Fire", which reached the UK's Top Ten and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a hit in the United States (reaching the US Billboard Top 20), powered by "In a Big Country", their only U.S. Top 40 hit single. The song featured heavily engineered guitar playing, strongly reminiscent of bagpipes; Adamson and fellow guitarist, Watson, achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. Also contributing to the band's unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer. The Crossing sold over a million copies in the UK and obtained gold record status (sales of over 500,000) in the U.S. The band also performed on both the Grammys and Saturday Night Live.

The band released the non-LP extended play single "Wonderland" in 1984 while undergoing a lengthy worldwide tour. The song, considered by some critics to be one of their finest, was a Top Ten hit (#8) in the UK singles chart but despite heavy airplay and a positive critical response, was a comparative flop in the U.S., reaching only #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the last single by the band to make a U.S. chart appearance.

Their second album Steeltown (1984) was a hit as soon as it was released, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one. The album featured three UK top 30 hit singles, and received considerable critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, but like Wonderland (and, in fact, all subsequent releases) it was a commercial disappointment in the U.S, peaking at #70 on the Billboard album charts.

Throughout 1984 and 1985, the band toured the UK, Europe, and, to a lesser extent, the U.S., both as headliners themselves and in support of such artists as Queen and Roger Daltrey. They also recorded prolifically, and provided the musical score to a Scottish independent film, Restless Natives (1985), which was not released on CD until years later on the band's Restless Natives and Rarities (1998) collection.

1986's The Seer, the band's third album, was another big success in the UK, peaking at Number 2. It produced three further top 30 singles, including the Irish number one hit "Look Away", which would also prove to be the band's biggest hit in the U.K., peaking at #7. Kate Bush provided backing vocals on the album's title track, and as was the norm for the band at the time, the album received good reviews from the music press. In the U.S., The Seer sold a little bit better than Steeltown, reaching #59 on the Billboard charts.

In what some critics felt was an apparent attempt to regain their dwindling U.S. following, Big Country used producer Peter Wolf for their next album, Peace in Our Time (1988), which was recorded in Los Angeles, California. The result was very different from the previous singles and albums, and, in "Broken Heart (13 Valleys)" contained the song which Stuart Adamson claimed to be his favourite of all time.[citation needed] Despite this it was not well received by most critics and fans. One reviewer noted that it was the group's "least representative and least interesting album." It sold poorly. During the "Peace In Our Time" Tour, the band were supported by Diesel Park West and Cry Before Dawn.

No Place Like Home (1991) not only effectively killed off the band's commercial hopes in the US, it nearly broke up the band. Drummer Mark Brzezicki returned to the studio as a session drummer after leaving the band. The album found the band trying to reinvent themselves and shift away from their '80s image. It was not a commercial success and was not released in America, although two re-recorded tracks showed up on 1993's The Buffalo Skinners.

In 1991, the band was dropped by Phonogram, the label that had released all of their material for ten years. After that, Big Country became a minor act, popping up in the lower echelons of the charts in the UK and Europe with the release of every subsequent album. Only one of these, 1993's The Buffalo Skinners, received a major label release (via Chrysalis Records), and it seemed a return to form of sorts for the band, reaching the UK Top 25. The album obtained a surprisingly enthusiastic critical response, and although it produced two UK Top 30 singles in "Alone" and "Ships", its sales were meagre and, in retrospect, it can be seen as Big Country's last, lost chance to regain a mass audience. Regardless, the band retained an intensely devoted cult following, as evidenced by their deceptively large post-1990 discography, which consists mostly of live concert recordings and singles/rarities collections.

Throughout the 1990s, Big Country became a popular 'opening act', supporting such bands as Rolling Stones and The Who. Big Country had backed Daltrey on his 1985 solo album Under the Raging Moon, and Tony Butler played bass and backing vocals on Pete Townshend's 1980 hit single "Let My Love Open the Door". Both Butler and Brzezicki performed on Townshend's 1985 solo album White City: A Novel. Brzezicki played drums for The Cult on their 1985 Love album and featured in the video for the single, "She Sells Sanctuary".

Of growing concern, however, was the mental and emotional health of lead singer Adamson, who reportedly had struggled with alcoholism for several years. Adamson split with his first wife, who later spoke to Scottish and English tabloids about his heavy drinking. He moved to Nashville in the mid-1990s where he took up residence and married a hairdresser. While in Nashville, he met noted artist Marcus Hummon and released an acclaimed studio album with him under the moniker The Raphaels.

In 1995 Big Country released another album, Why the Long Face?.

1999 saw the release of Big Country's eighth and final studio album, Driving to Damascus (titled in its slightly different, augmented U.S. release John Wayne's Dream). Adamson said publicly that he was disappointed that the album did not fare better on the charts, which led to depression. Later that year, he disappeared for a while before resurfacing, stating that he had needed some time off.

Adamson returned for the band's 'Final Fling' farewell tour, culminating in a sold-out concert at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom on 31 May 2000. Although that marked the end of Big Country as a touring band, they were always adamant that they would appear together again. They played what turned out to be their last gig in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October that year.

In November 2001, Adamson disappeared again. Numerous appeals were put on the Big Country website asking for Adamson to call home and speak to anyone in the band, the management company, or his ex-wife. The website also requested that any fans who might have been 'harbouring' the singer to contact the management company and alert them to his whereabouts. Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler had indicated they were concerned but the reason Big Country had lasted so long was they stayed out of one another's personal lives, and both later noted they were unaware of the extent of Adamson's problems. He was found dead in a room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii on 16 December 2001. The official autopsy revealed that he had hanged himself.

At the time of death he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.279%.

A memorial to Adamson was held at Dunfermline's Carnegie Hall in January 2002, followed by a tribute concert at the Barrowlands in May. It brought together the remaining members of both Big Country and The Skids; Adamson's teenage children, Callum and Kirsten; as well as Steve Harley, Runrig, Simon Townshend, Midge Ure and Bill Nelson.

In 2007, to celebrate 25 years of Big Country, founding members Bruce Watson, Tony Butler (now lead vocalist for the first time), and Mark Brzezicki reunited to embark on a tour of the UK with dates in Scotland and England and a gig in Cologne (Germany). They also released a new album, twenty five live, on the trackrecords label.

As of September 2008 the band returned to an indefinite hiatus.

The surviving original members toured again in late December 2010 and January 2011 with Mike Peters of the Alarm and Jamie Watson, Bruce's son, added to the lineup. They played another set of concerts in April 2011. Big Country have been announced at six major UK/Irish festivals in 2011 — Isle of Wight, T in the Park, Oxegen in Kildare and V Festival (Chelmsford and Stafford), plus Inverness with Simple Minds.

Steve Lillywhite, who had produced Big Country's first and second albums, produced the band's first single in over twelve years. He remarked: "When I heard the demo of their new song, I was impressed on first listen. I am looking forward to working with the band again whom I last worked with in the 80s on one of my favourite albums I have ever produced — The Crossing."

“It will be a real buzz working with Steve again," Tony Butler said in response. "He is a producer we all have a great regard for and are looking forward to working with again. We'd also like to thank all the festival promoters for having faith in us."

The band will also soon announce a series of smaller dates where they will be "breaking in" new songs for a future release. "These will be places we have never played before," Mark Brzezicki added, "giving us the chance to work in new songs in the more intimate type of venues.”

Mike Peters said, "Due to the success of the January and April tours, the band have decided to continue and have already started planning for a new album and a 30th anniversary tour in the new year."

Bruce Watson commented: "We are 100% dedicated and intent on making this new line up a permanent one. We can finally look forward to completing unfinished business from the past, particularly internationally, and look to a creative and active future"

Around August 2011, Big Country their first single in 11 years called "Another Country" with Peters on vocals.

I first saw Big Country at a gig at Strathclyde University in 1982, going along to pay homage to Stuart Adamson as I'd been a huge fan of The Skids. I came away hugely impressed and saw them quite a few times over the next 18 months and watched them become popular and successful. But I never did take to the material on Steeltown and they faded away from the list of bands I classed as liking. But I still have all the 12" versions of the early singles plus the debut LP on vinyl:-

mp3 : Big Country - Fields Of Fire (Alternative Mix)
mp3 : Big Country - Fields Of Fire
mp3 : Big Country - Angle Park

The b-side remains one of my favourite songs from the era...

Today's posting is dedicated to Brian from the blog Linear Tracking Lives!

He's such a fan of Big Country that he is flying all the way over from the USA to see them play in Glasgow at a show on 6th February 2012. His posting on his upcoming trip captures his excitement brilliantly. Click here to read.

Next week...........The Big Dish

THE FRIDAY CORRESPONDENT

2012-01-20T09:00:00.003Z

Recently, a reader requested a piece featuring Ultravox and Midge Ure. Your wish is our command.

The first incarnation of Ultravox formed in 1974 as Tiger Lily. Vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Leigh and guitarist Steve Shears were joined by Canadian drummer Warren Cann, bassist Chris Cross and soon after by violinist Billy Currie.

They played a mixture of glam rock, influenced by Roxy Music and David Bowie with a harder edge that suited the audience change of taste as the onset of punk approached.

Fledgling producer Steve Lillywhite produced their early demos and due to his involvement they were signed to Island Records but it was Brian Eno who produced their self-titled debut album.

With the change of name to Ultravox and Leigh’s name change to John Foxx, came a minor success with the single My Sex.

The second album Ha Ha Ha featured one track Hiroshima Mon Amour that showed the synth-led future of the band. This track is a particular favourite of mine and is still seen by critics and fans alike as the standout of this period of their work.

mp3 : Ultravox - Hiroshima Mon Amour

After their third album Systems of Romance, produced by famous German producer Konrad Plank, failed commercially, Island Records dropped them.Shortly afterwards, following a tour of America and Canada, Foxx departed the band to pursue a solo career while guitarist Robin Simon remained in the States.

This left Currie, Cross and Cann without a singer.

Currie had been a part time member of new romantic electronic supergroup Visage, who also featured Midge Ure.

James ‘Midge’ Ure’s musical journey to Ultravox had seen many twists and turns. He started as a guitarist in a covers band called Salvation that was the house band of the Clouds nightclub in his hometown Glasgow. When the lead singer left he also took on the role of singer.

In 1975, Ure was approached by Malcolm McLaren and offered the lead singer role in a new band he was putting together….. the Sex Pistols. He declined the offer.

After a name and image change Salvation became Slik and in early 1976 their third single Forever and Ever went to number one, in the UK Charts.

mp3 : Slik - Forever and Ever

Phil Coulter and Bill Martin who wrote the single, had previously written hits for other including Bay City Rollers. After three more singles without repeating their chart success, they terminated their contract with Coulter and Martin, citing unhappiness with their ‘boy band’ look. Ure in particular was determined to embrace the ‘new’ punk style of music that was becoming popular.

The members of Slik changed their name to PVC2 and released one single on Zoom Records:-

mp3 : PVC2 - Put You in the Picture

It was after this failed effort that they decided to go their separate ways.

Ure moved to the bright lights of London, where he met Glenn Matlock who invited him to join a new band he was putting together with Rusty Egan and Steve New to be known as The Rich Kids.

Elsewhere, Slik and PVC2 band drummer Kenny Hyslop and bassist Russell Webb formed the Zones.

mp3 : Zones - No Angels

Hyslop then went on to play sticks for both Simple Minds and The Skids. Webb also joined The Skids.

The Rich Kids released one album - Ghosts of Princes in Towers - as well as three singles to a fair amount of critical acclaim that wasn't reflected in poor sales.

After they were dropped by Island Records, things were hard for the remaining members of Ultravox . At one point they were so skint they even had to sneak into an Island Records warehouse to get back some of their musical equipment.

At this point in history, Ure had just completed an American tour playing guitar with Thin Lizzy. It was Rusty Egan who badgered Billy Currie to approach Ure with a view to joining Ultravox. Still a young man, Ure had been around a bit....but as he began rehearsing with Ultravox, he finally he was in a band that was moving in the right direction, with all members contributing to their new sound.

The product of these sessions was the album Vienna. Once again Konny Plank produced it, working with him was a dream come true for Ure, as he had long admired his work with Kraftwerk.

Midge Ure brought a commercial sheen to the previous Ultravox sound that wasn’t universally accepted by all their following, but that and their new electronic driven songs brought them an album that broke into the UK album Top Ten, peaking at No.3.

The first single from the album reached number 28 in the UK charts

mp3 : Ultravox - Sleepwalk

This was followed up by the title track - a song that was infamously held up on its rise to the top being stuck at #2 in the singles chart behind novelty one-hit wonder Joe Dolcesinging Shaddup Your Face

But while man at #1 faded into obscurity, it was just the beginning of an extended period of success between 1981 and 1986 with Ultravox enjoying 4 Top Ten albums and numerous hit singles.

As I’ve said on their rise to success, Ultravox shed a good number of fans that couldn’t accept Midge Ure as lead singer and frontman but history shows they achieved the commercial success their early record label craved.

Mr John Greer, Friday 20 January 2012

31 YEARS AGO TODAY....ON WONDERFUL RADIO 1

2012-01-19T06:00:00.001Z

Monday 9 January 1981. Sometime between 8pm and 10pm. On the Richard Skinner Show on BBC Radio 1. In the days when few TV stations and not many more radio stations would have meant a fairly good audience for the songs performed in session:-

mp3 : Orange Juice - Upwards And Onwards (1981 session)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Wan Light (1981 session)
mp3 : Orange Juice - Felicity (1981 session)

So much was expected of the boys at this point in time. Success was still some way off, before which there would be an acrimonious parting of the ways from some of the original members.

Those were the days my friends. But 31 years ago??? Jeeeez.

Tracks lifted from the sublime Coals To Newcastle box set. I urge you all to buy a copy...although it is becoming a bit of a rarity. Not even Amazon have any in stock......

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

2012-01-18T06:00:00.003Z

A LIFE IN A YEAR OF GIGS : #2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

After the experience of the local hip-hop scene in week one, your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo decided to get on more familiar ground in week two. And to avoid the possibility of us having to leave early and miss the headline act as had happened with Mackenzie and Swad, we decided to make it a Friday night out.

There were two gigs vying for our attention – in the end Aldo tossed a coin. If it had come up tails, we’d have gone to this:-

“Ultimate Thrush, She’s Hit, Smack Wizards and Gig O Ram play the Old Hairdressers on 13 January and then all their names will go into a hat to select four new supergroups who will have just 24 hours to create a set then play the same venue of the 14th”

But it was heads. So it was a swift return to the 13th Note on the 13th for three bands, the headline act of which was described as ‘fiery indie music from Sweden.’

First thing we note is that the venue isn’t quite as crowded as it had been for the hip-hop night. Also, instead of about 80 baseball caps in the house, there’s just one on the head of a bloke who is the double of the bloke who used to play bass in Queens of the Stone Age. Oh and there’s a lot more females in the audience this week – a mix of indie-cool, goth and rock. The night looks promising.

Fat Janitor take to the stage. Four young men who have attracted a fair crowd for being bottom of the bill. It’s loud guitars, bass, drums and a laptop. It’s mostly instrumentals or minimal lyrics. It’s mostly fast. Oh and did I mention it was loud??

These boys can play...no arguments from either of us. They are hugely energetic and seem slightly constrained by the small size of the performance space. This is a band whose audience would revel in a mosh pit. Korn come to mind as do Rage Against the Machine, but no doubt their real influences will of course be more hardcore and obscure.

The drummer was particularly impressive. He battered away without seemingly breaking sweat during the six-song set. But the truth is, it was neither of our scenes. Aldo was pleased he’d brought his earplugs while JC wished he’d invested in a set. Can’t see John Butcher Boy playing any of the Fat Janitor material at any of the Little League nights. Not enough in the way of pop hooks or melodies.

After a short break, Miss the Occupier take to the stage. JC has to own up and admit that this is a band he’s long been looking to catch live as the drummer is someone he used to work alongside.

Another four-piece act - guitar, drums, keys and a fantastic-looking female singer who also plays bass. Said singer had been spotted in the venue a bit earlier wearing killer heels – these were removed for the performance so that it was barefoot a la Sandie Shaw, who coincidentally the singer, thanks to the black-bobbed hair, has more than a passing resemblance to.

Despite the band being a bit unhappy with the sound via their own monitors, what comes across to the audience is a fabulous 30-odd minute set that had the two of us among many others swaying and dancing along. Lots of hook and lots of melodies. Notes we took at the time name check The Cure, Pauline Murray, Sons & Daughters, Sonic Youth, The Slits, Pixies and Lush. Two more to add in the cold light of day - The Organ... and Elastica Hugely enjoyable stuff.....but it all begs a thought.

If a band this talented, energetic and such damn good fun to watch and listen to are still unsigned more than three years after their formation, then no wonder the modern-day music industry has gone to buggery.

Miss The Occupier would, without any question, have been massive if the industry hadn’t messed up so spectacularly in the late 90s when any indie-looking and sounding band were signed up and given huge advances only to see the scene crash and burn within months thanks to a lack of quality control and the fact that things do move on (albeit inevitably come back into fashion some time later). Right now, the fashion is for bands round these parts to have something that makes them stand out as distinctly Scottish and that clinches them a deal – no harm in that – but there has to be and must be room for talented bands like Miss The Occupier. They aren’t your typical Scottish band right now – they could just as easily be from Swindon, Swansea, Sunderland or Stockport. And their music deserves a wider audience. Including the good people of Sweden. Talking of whom....

The QOTSA look-alike in the baseball cap with the beard turns out to be the bassist in From Our Hearts, tonight’s headliners. Formed in Gothenburg back in 2009, they have attracted a reasonable crowd for a Friday night in January, but we’re wondering how the hell they can afford to be here. The entry fee was just £3 and there’s no t-shirts, CDs, vinyl or merchandise to allow any further financial contributions to support their efforts.

They’re another four-piece band – and we’re caught out by them having a female vocalist as she is stood to one side while the bass player is centre stage. Oh and their drummer has more than a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain in those photos where he wore glasses – or maybe it’s Garth from Wayne’s World.

JC makes his mind up right away that this band are going to be good. Opening few minutes of guitars are indie-rock heaven....and besides the singer’s guitar-strap says ‘Jazz Sucks’ on it. JC would want one of those if only he had a guitar....

They are also very good indeed. Less poptastic than Miss The Occupier there is a touch of shoegazery about them and its close cousin – grunge. Dinosaur Jr and Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins influences are duly noted. There’s nothing unique or earth-shattering about From Our Hearts, but after more than 30-years of listening to punk, new wave, indie, college rock, grunge, Britpop and all parts in between, there’s very little can ever be new with a classic four-piece line-up.

But part of what this whole ‘one gig per week’ is to try and ‘discover’ things that otherwise would have passed us by. From that perspective, the night at the 13th Note was a success as two of the acts are now firmly on our radar while the third, while not our cups of Earl Gray, are recommended to those who like lots of noise and moshing.

Even at this stage in the adventure, it’s going to take something special to give us a better value night than we enjoyed on Friday the 13th at the 13th Note. £3, three bands and we got talking to one of the performers afterwards (and yes, Ione from Miss The Occupier was as good on the drums as the other two stickmen mentioned above).

It was a gig we went to on the toss of a coin. Very much a case of ‘heads, we win...’

NOW TO THE MUSIC....................

Fat Janitor's six-track debut mini-LP Lurk can be downloaded for free by clicking here

mp3 : Fat Janitor - Laughing Sick

Loads of information and links to Miss The Occupier can be found here

mp3 : Miss The Occupier - All Day

And finally....to learn more about the headline act, please click here

mp3 : From Our Hearts - Berlin/San Francisco
mp3 : From Our Hearst - Disco From Our Hearts
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Rewind
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Sunn 636

JC and Aldo. Wednesday 18 January 2012

THIS WAS ON THE CD SHELF NEXT TO YESTERDAY'S OFFERING

2012-01-17T06:00:00.003Z

And it couldn't be anymore of a contrast.

From the winner of the 1998 BRIT Award for Best British Male Solo Artist.

mp3 : Finley Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter (Abbey Road Version)
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter (Album Version)
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Everybody Knows
mp3 : Finley Quaye - Le Saint Des Delinquents

What can I say? It's a cracking wee pop song with a hint of reggae. I don't own anything else by the singer.

The BRIT was in recgnition of his debut LP Maverick A Strike which sold by the barrowload when released in 1997. By the time he got round to releasing a follow-up some three years later, his public had more or less deserted him and he's never troubled the charts since.

Strange fact pop-pickers. Finley Quaye is Scottish.

Born in Edinburgh in 1974 to a Scots mother. His dad, who he never knew when he was growing up, was from Ghana and a well-known jazz musician.

REVISITING AN OLD POST.......LET'S RAAAWWWKKK

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000Z

This wasn't originally intended to be a repeat post. I just wanted something loud to blow away the cobwebs on a Monday morning. But I did a quick search via google and found I composed these cliches back on Tuesday 19 January 2010:-

Sometimes I fall for something that isn't quite what folk who know expect of me. Such was the case back in Y2K when the heavy rotation of some promo videos on MTV2 expanded my horizons. (I had only just got a satellite dish installed and was amazed that there was a music video channel that played non-chart fodder). There was also a great wee 45 minute show on Sunday nights that was presented by a little-known fella from New Zealand by the name of Zane Lowe......

Anyways, I ended picking up what seems now to be a hard-to-get-hold-of CD by Queens Of The Stone Age. It came, as the image indicates, with a bonus disc of 5 songs plus a CD-ROM video.

If the truth be told, it's not an album I play all that often nowadays, but I still think the two singles are fantastic, and I've also a very soft spot for one of the tracks on the bonus disc for the fact that it plays nicely on an old hippy hit by Carly Simon away back when I was just a child. And here they are:-

mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
mp3 : Queens Of The Stone Age - You're So Vague

And apologies to Drew - he left a comment behind 2 years ago saying that he hated it.

Here's the promo.

As I said, sorry Drew. And anyone else who hates it.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 17)

2012-01-14T06:00:00.002Z

From wiki:-

The Beta Band formed in 1996 around St Andrews musicians Steve Mason (vocals, guitar) and Gordon Anderson. The two had plans to call their group The Pigeons but later changed their minds. As they pulled together songs for their debut EP, Champion Versions, they added Robin Jones (drums) and John Maclean (DJ, sampler, keyboards). Steve Duffield was the original bassist but quit the band soon after recording Champion Versions. Not long after they were signed to Regal/Parlophone, Anderson became ill and decided to quit the band. He would later produce recordings under the name Lone Pigeon. The remaining members added Englishman Richard Greentree (bass) and solidified their lineup.

Champion Versions was released in July 1997 to critical acclaim not only for the music but also for the record's innovative cut-and-paste sleeve design (the work of John Maclean). Two further EPs followed in 1998: The Patty Patty Sound in March and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos in July. The EPs were all subjects of widespread critical praise, and all three appeared on the appropriately titled The Three E.P.'s collection in September 1998. The compilation was rated by Pitchfork in the Top 10 Albums of the year.

The band soon commenced work on their ambitious first full-length recording, pulling inspiration from sources as diverse as Jamaican reggae, Disney's movie The Black Hole and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." The record, simply titled The Beta Band, was released in June 1999. The first track, "The Beta Band Rap," managed to tell the band's back story over alternating bubblegum pop, rap and rockabilly backing tracks. Its eclecticism was representative of the rest of the album, which was widely perceived to be more stylistically diverse than the initial EPs. The mixed press turned decidedly negative when the band announced their own disdain for the record. They claimed that Regal's unreasonable deadline and tight budgets kept them from refining their improvisations into coherent songs.

Nonetheless, the album had not generally been as well-received as the preceding EPs, and the band returned to the studio with something to prove. The result of that session was the double A-side single "To You Alone"/"Sequinsizer", recorded by future The Go! Team producer, Gareth Parton. As early as August the previous year, Mason had discussed the possibility of releasing the tracks as a single and had urged fans to lobby Regal for the release. It was released on 24 January 2000. The single was received favourably and was widely regarded as a return to form for the band. The NME made it their "Single of the Week", and would later select it as one of the 50 greatest singles of 2000 in their end-of-year awards. "To You Alone" was also included on the soundtrack of the 2000 remake of the television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), released in March.

Even higher profile soundtrack exposure was to follow, with the band's music featuring prominently in a scene in the film High Fidelity (based on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name), released in late March 2000 in the U.S. and July in the UK. In the film, a record store owner played by John Cusack mentions the band by name ("I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band") and plays a minute or so of the song "Dry the Rain." This exposed the band to a wide range of new listeners, particularly in the U.S., where the band's profile had previously been borderline nonexistent.

A hiatus followed, during which Mason released his second King Biscuit Time EP. The band gradually gravitated back into the studio, this time recruiting noted UK producer Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, to oversee the process. The album, Hot Shots II, appeared in summer 2001, and was warmly received by critics and fans alike. It sacrificed much of the first album's experimentation for more boiled-down pop structure and hooks. The band had originally intended to release "Squares" (b/w "Won") as the leadoff single—a video had been filmed and promo discs issued—but when it transpired that another single ("Daydream in Blue" by I Monster) featuring a sample from the same sixties song by Gunther Kallman was to be released at around the same time, the band opted to release "Broke" instead. Two other singles were released from the album: "Human Being" in October 2001 and "Squares" in February 2002 (with the I Monster track long out of the charts). The band embarked on a long tour to support the album, at one point supporting Radiohead. In August 2002, they made #3 on Q magazine's list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

The band began demo sessions for their third album in September 2002. They entered the studio with producer Tom Rothrock in 2003 and managed to complete a number of tracks. However, the band were not pleased with the results, and nor were Regal executives. So it was that the band themselves produced the album. Famed producer Nigel Godrich was called in to mix the album, which was finally completed in early 2004. Lead single, "Assessment," was released on 12 April 2004, followed by the album Heroes to Zeros on 26 April. One of the tracks, "Liquid Bird" is based on a sample of Painted Bird by Siouxsie and the Banshees. A second single, "Out-Side", followed in July. To the surprise of most fans, the band announced their breakup on their official website on 2 August 2004. In November, they performed at the Summer Sundae festival and commenced a farewell tour. Their final show was at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms venue on 5 December 2004.

On 3 October 2005, the band released a 2-disc DVD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Film, featuring most of the band's videos and a selection of short films, television footage, documentaries as well as four songs recorded live at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 November 2004, one of the band's final performances. Also released on the same day was a 2 CD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Music, comprising a compilation disc of studio recordings and a disc containing the Shepherds Bush gig.

Since the split, Steve Mason has released music with his solo project King Biscuit Time, as well as new projects Black Affair and Good Face. In May 2010, he released the first record in his own name entitled "Boys Outside". Robin Jones and John Maclean have become The Aliens along with former Beta Band member Gordon Anderson (a.k.a. Lone Pigeon) and Richard Greentree is working with his new band The General and Duchess Collins.

Now I'm willing to admit that it's a bit of a cheat offering today. I'm not lucky enough to own a vinyl copy of the 12" EP that was Champion Versions. There were only 1000 of them made and they are exceedingly rare. But I do have a copy of the afore-mentioned Three EPs collection on which you will find:-

mp3 : The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
mp3 : The Beta Band - I Know
mp3 : The Beta Band - B+A
mp3 : The Beta Band - Dog Got A Bone

A genuinely innovative and impressive debut that still sounds fantastic almost 15 years later. All four songs .

Here's astunning and extended live version of the best-known song from the farewell tour:-

And said clip from High Fidelity:-

Brilliant stuff all round.

Next up Big Country.

IN PRAISE OF THE CD SINGLE : SOMEONE SOMEWHERE

2012-01-13T06:00:00.001Z

The Wannadies released many a great single in the 90s and the early part of the 20th Century. They were a hugely entertaining live act as well with one particular show some 10 years ago at King Tut's in Glasgow being a particular stand out.

They are probably best remembered for You And Me Song which was a bit of a flop when first released in 1994 but which soared to #18 some two years later after it featured in the soundtrack to the hit movie Romeo + Juliet - the updated one directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Despite their singles being infectiously catchy and radio-friendly, The Wannadies only enjoyed chart success on two further occasions - the aptly named Hit in 1997 reaching #20 and today's offering for your ears, which was the follow-up to the re-released You And Me Song:-

mp3 : The Wannadies - Someone Somewhere (single version)
mp3 : The Wannadies - Why
mp3 : The Wannadies - Goodbye

A paltry #38. The UK CD-single buying public were too busy looking out for the next great Britpop act to pay attention at that time to the great stuff coming out of Scandinavia. Fools.

Here's the LP version which tags on another minute of music at the end:-

mp3 : The Wannadies - Someone Somewhere

Happy Listening.

CHIRPY, CHEERY POP - PERFECT FOR LIFTING THE JANUARY GLOOM

2012-01-12T06:00:00.001Z

January is a depressing month. Tired and skint and after Christmas. Trying hard to get back into the swing of things at work. Dark mornings when you set off and even darker evenings when you come home. It's cold, it's wet or snowy. The joys of summer seem a long way off.

Sometimes though a chirpy cheery pop song comes on the i-pod shuffle and lifts that gloom.

mp3 : The Thrills - One Horse Town

Released in March 2003, it reached #18 in the UK singles chart. It was just about the band's biggest ever hit - but this equally jolly follow-up hit #17 a few months later:-

mp3 : The Thrills - Big Sur

Promo time.....

Told you. One listen and it feels like July.

REVISITING AN OLD POST.......BECK : DEVIL'S HAIRCUT

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000Z

TOUCHED BY THE HAND OF GOD

Well.....that could have been a headline you would have expected to read when this single was released in mid 1996.

It was a time when the mania and hype around Oasis was at its most ferocious with Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger having dominated the singles charts like no others in many a long time. Beck had recorded a critically-acclaimed LP entitled Odelay, but the first single lifted from it, Where It's At, hadn't done all that well, peaking at #61 in the USA and #35 in the UK.

But Noel Gallagher was a big fan of Beck and he offered to play on and produce a remix of the follow-up single, Devils Haircut. Fair play to the record label, they resisted the temptation to make the most of things by keeping the original version as the single with Noels' remix, along with another remix by Mike Simpson of The Dust Brothers made available as extra tracks along with a previously unreleased Beck song.

The Oasis connection worked to some extent in the UK, with the single reaching #22 (which is the third highest single position Beck has achieved over here). But it made no difference at all in the USA with Devils Haircut bellyflopping its way to #94.

mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut
mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut (Remix by Noel Gallagher)
mp3 : Beck - Devils Haircut (Groovy Sunday Remix by Mike Simpson)
mp3 : Beck - Trouble All My Days

My own verdict? An excellent pop single on its own. But both remixes do manage to bring something extra along to the song - the extra guitar playing (by Noel Gallagher himself) makes it ideal for your indie discos, while Mike Simpson's work gives it a touch of soul.....

Happy Listening.

IN PRAISE OF BOOKS : IT'S LOVELY TO BE HERE by JAMES YORKSTON

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001Z

This wasn't a Xmas gift....it was one I picked up in the middle of last year while browsing round one of the few remaining branches of Fopp Records in Glasgow City Centre and one which was read in a few days. I'm giving it a mention here as I saw some copies on sale in the same shop for just £3 the other day which is an astonishing bargain given its list price of £9.99

The book is, as its cover indicates, a series of extracts from the diaries of James Yorkston written while he was on various tours. On the surface this might sound a bit dull and monotonous - you know the sort of thing....woke up with hangover, travelled to venue, did soundcheck, gig was great/mundane/OK/awful* (* delete as appropriate), got drunk afterwards and went to bed after crazy party/realising again how much I miss my family back home* ("delete as appropriate).

But this is nothing at all like that.

It begins, somewhat very helpfully to anyone who might not know too much about the author,with a 20-page introduction that explains how James Yorkston became part of the roster of the critically-acclaimed and increasingly popular indie-label of Domino Records. There then follows five separate chapters for tours covering 2004-2009 in different parts of the world promoting different records to different audiences.

There's a real touch of the Malcolm Middleton's about much of the writing with James seemingly always trying to convince himself that he is as good and talented a performer as everyone else is telling him. It's very clear from the outset that the author is indeed a true gent from his behaviour towards fellow artistes, including support acts or those above him on the bills and that he is one of life's genuinely decent blokes in an industry where egos run rampant and you can never really be sure of who your friends really are.

The book, like a few others in the genre (see in particular parts of the Luke Haines bio Britpop and My Part In Its Downfall which was previously reviewed here at TVV), is great at reminding anyone envious of the rock'n'roll lifestyle that much of it is mundane and repetitive with the added worry of never knowing in advance how well your performance will be received. It's worth remembering that to musicians this is a job first and foremost.....and I don't care what anyone says, there are days when nobody wants to go to their work.

Other recurring themes are the need to get a decent meal - James is a committed vegan and many a promoter has failed to grasp just what that means - and his feeling that only drink and Valium can get him through the fear of flying. I know all this sounds a bit downbeat and depressing, but at no point does the author seek your sympathy. There's a great deal of self-deprecating humour in the writing (another Middleton trait) and all told you cannot help but feel a lot of warmth and affection for the author....he's the sort of bloke you'd be proud and honoured to call a mate.

You really don't need to know anything about the records James Yorkston has released over the years to get something out of this book, and as I say, it's going for a ridiculously cheap price in Fopp Records just now, so don't be shy and give it a try.

mp3 : James Yorkston The Athletes - St Patrick
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - St Patrick (Vitus Mix)
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - Catching Eyes
mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - Blue Madonnas

All four tracks lifted from a single released back in May 2002. It's a really beautiful song in my humble opinion.

Happy Listening

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 1 : THE GLASGOW HIP-HOP SCENE

2012-01-09T06:00:00.020Z

A LIFE IN A YEAR OF GIGS : #1 : THE GLASGOW HIP-HOP SCENE

As explained yesterday, 2012 is going to be the year of the live gig for TVV with your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo doing all we can to give you a flavour of all sorts of music in the raw from all sorts of venues.

We decided to dive-in at the deep end. In some ways we had no choice given how few live gigs are put on during the first week of any January. There was an option to head through to Edinburgh and take in something highly recommended by Song By Toad on a Friday night, but we wanted to get things going in Glasgow.

So it was on Thursday 5 January that we headed along to the 13th Note to take in the following attraction:-

“Deadlife Entertainment presents: MACKENZIE & SWAD (ep launch) / JAKEYBYTEZ / ERIN FRIEL / THE HEAVY DAMAGE

Mackenzie & Swad-EP Launch of 'Falling The Concept Of The Number 7' - Complex Lyricism With Some Outstandin Beats
Jakeybytez -Comedy Hip Hop Trio
Erin Friel-Young Talented Female Songwriter/Singer
The Heavy Damage-Abstract Hip Hop Duo
Doors being 8pm and the price reasonable blingin. £4 entry”

Neither of us had been to any hip-hop gigs before unless you include catching sets by famous Americans at outdoor festivals. We certainly had no idea that there was a Glasgow hip-hop scene that on the evidence of the turn-out at the 13th Note is reasonably thriving.

There must have been close on 100 folk in the small basement space that is one of the best and sweatiest venues in the city. And I reckon 98 of them knew one another. Guess which two stood out in the crowd??

The pre-gig beats came courtesy of Tesko. We didn’t recognise one single track but it was clear the stuff was going down well with the audience one or two of whom were dancing. At 9pm the first act took to the stage – and it was Erin Friel. In our heads when we see the description “young talented female songwriter/singer” we imagine some bed-sit angst with an acoustic guitar.

Not this time.

All 4 foot 11 inches of Erin grabbed the mic and proceeded to give us a few minutes of spoken word in a very strong Glasgow accent delivered at full speed. There was the occasional stumble along the way, possibly from nerves, but that was about the only grumble we had about her performance. She followed up with three songs again delivered with a heavy Glasgow accent, all of which seemed to draw on her life and environment, but there was no doubt she could sing and rap. One track, which may or may not have been called No one's an angel until they go to heaven was a particular standout. Erin finished with some more spoken word and after 15 minutes left to well deserved rapturous applause and acclaim.

The next 35 minutes were among the most surreal either of us have ever had at any gig. It was ‘Open Mic’ time.

It was opened by one bloke paying tribute to what he’d just seen with Erin’s set and with a warning that he didn’t want the usual nonsense spouted at open mic sessions about guys shagging burds and spurting all over their faces or bitch this, cow that. In other words....cut out the misogyny.

It was, we’re afraid to say, like a red rag to a herd of particularly pissed-off bulls as bloke after bloke took to the stage and spouted all sorts of nonsense about their masculinity and virility. They all seemed to have a mic in one hand and a pint of Tennent’s Lager in the other and it seemed to be a spoof of a bad sketch in some sort of Scottish comedy show.

Having said that, a couple of those who took part in the open mic session did stand out. The same bloke who had started it jumped up at one point and delivered another blistering rap along similar lines of his opener – he was right in the face of one of the other rappers who had been ranting about women and it seemed for a moment that it might turn into a violent confrontation. But then again, given that everyone in the venue seemed to know one another it might just have been part of an elaborate and very clever act. Our suspicions that the Open Mic session might be a bit more planned were raised when the final person took to the stage and delivered something that was as good as anything either of us had heard in our admittedly limited knowledge of the hip-hop genre. Not so much straight out of Compton as straight out of Crookston (or No Sleep Till Buarheid)

Ten minutes later and Jakeybytez took to the stage. To our dismay, there were at times 5, sometimes 6 and occasionally 7 of them on stage at one time. We say dismay as all of them had been part of the Open Mic session that we had for the most part just endured. Thankfully, there were only 4 mics available so we were spared all of them rapping at the one time.

At least we knew from the advance description that Jakeybytez (a great name incidentally) were a comedy hip hop act. But sorry guys, we just didn’t get it. Having said that, we were in a bit of a minority as their 20-minute set went down an absolute treat with the 13th Note posse. One thing we will say however – the shouty-along chorus of set-closer Out Comes Stanley was catchy as fuck.

By this time is about 10.20 and the MC announced the headline act MacKenzie and Swad would be up next in about 10 minutes time but for now we’d be left in the capable hands of Tesko. Again, all sorts of tunes were pumped out none of which we knew, but they showed that in the right hands, rap can be wonderfully entertaining to listen to.

Unfortunately by 10.45 there was still no sign of the headliners and with our last train back to our hoods due not long after 11 we cut our night short and headed to the station.

Overall, we had a good night. It was well worth the £4 entry fee....there are pubs not far from the 13th Note where it costs more than that for a bottle of beer...particularly for catching Erin Friel’s set and for learning that in a city famed for jingly-jangly guitar pop played by boys with occasionally fashionable haircuts there is a hip-hop scene that until the participants opened their mouths would not have looked out of place in any working-class city in North America....except 95% of the folk in the Glasgow venue were white.

Here's JC's favourite ever hip-hop effort:-

mp3 : Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Television, The Drug Of The Nation

And a great suggestions from Jacques the Kipper for a fine example of hip-hop from closer to home

And finally, as JtK puts it....."to show where hiphop can travel to musically - one of the best singles of last 10 years". No arguments there....

More adventures next week as we seek out gig #2.

JC and Aldo. Monday 9 January 2012

THIS WEEK...I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN WATCHING.....

2012-01-08T06:00:00.013Z

One of the things that I have in mind to try and keep TVV a wee bit fresh in 2012 is to get along to many more live gigs and write about them. Not neccesarily a review as such.....as I will now try to explain.

I've made a new year's resolution to get to at least one live gig per week throughout 2012 (unless I'm away on holiday). But I'm not going to be seeking out the usual indie-schmindie sort of stuff that I listen to all the time. Instead it's going to be a smorgasbord of singers, acts and bands who will be taking up my evenings - and more often than not I'm going to have a bit of company.

Some of you may recall that last June's gig by Morrissey was reviewed by Aldo. Click here for a reminder.

I've been trying hard to get him more involved with TVV....he's a former work colleague of Jacques the Kipper and he's become a good mate of mine in recent years, particularly since he moved through to live and work in Glasgow about a year or so ago. I mentioned this idea of a gig per week and he said he was right up for going along.

We've already done our first event earlier in the week and the second is happening in a few days time. Our thoughts on what we saw at #1 of 2012 will be shared with you very soon.

mp3 : Rilo Kiley - It's A Hit
mp3 : We Are Scientists - It's A Hit

And finally today, in response to a lovely comment left the other day by Craig (one that was initially disturbing but quickly cleared up....) here's the cover version that started it all for the late great Mr MacKenzie:-

mp3 : Associates - Boys Keep Swinging

And the original promo to say happy 65th birthday Mr Bowie. See you with your bus pass on the top deck of a London Routemaster:-

And one final wee tribute:-

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 16)

2012-01-07T06:00:00.003Z

From wiki:-

Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake.The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965 children's book by French writer Cécile Aubry, later adapted for television and an anime. Though consistently lauded by critics, Belle & Sebastian's "wistful pop"has enjoyed only limited commercial success.

After releasing a number of albums and EPs on Jeepster Records, they are now signed to Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and Matador Records in the United States.

Belle and Sebastian were formed in Glasgow in 1996 by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David. Together they recorded some demos with Stow College music professor Alan Rankine, which were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produces and releases one single each year on the college's label, Electric Honey. As the band had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, Belle and Sebastian were allowed to record a full-length album, which was named Tigermilk. Murdoch once described the band as a "product of botched capitalism".

Tigermilk was recorded in three days and originally only one thousand copies were pressed on vinyl.These original copies now sell for up to £400. The warm reception the album received inspired Murdoch and David to turn the band into a full-time project, recruiting Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums) to fill out the group.

After the success of the debut album, Belle and Sebastian were signed to Jeepster Records in August 1996 and If You're Feeling Sinister, their second album, was released on 18 November. The album was named by Spin as one of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005, and is widely considered the band's masterpiece. Just before the recording of Sinister, Sarah Martin (violin/vocals) joined the band. Following this a series of EPs were released in 1997. The first of these was Dog on Wheels, which contained four demo tracks recorded before the real formation of the band. In fact, the only long-term band members to play on the songs were Murdoch, David, and Mick Cooke, who played trumpet on the EP but would not officially join the band until a few years later. It charted at #59 in the UK singles chart.

The Lazy Line Painter Jane EP followed in July. The track was recorded in the church where Murdoch lived and features vocals from Monica Queen. The EP narrowly missed out of the UK top 40, peaking at #41. The last of the 1997 EPs was October's 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light. The EP was made Single of the Week in both the NME and Melody Maker and reached #32 in the charts, thus becoming the band's first top 40 single.

The band released their third LP, The Boy with the Arab Strap in 1998, and it reached #12 in the UK charts. While often cited by critics as the band's best album, Arab Strap has nonetheless had its detractors. Pitchfork Media gave the album a particularly poor review, calling it a "parody" of their earlier work. In spite of this, the album garnered positive reviews from Rolling Stone, and the Village Voice, among others. During the recording of the album long time studio trumpet-player Mick Cooke was asked to join the band as a full member. The This Is Just a Modern Rock Song EP followed later that year.

In 1999 the band were awarded with Best Newcomer (for their third album) at the BRIT Awards, upsetting the much better known acts Steps and 5ive. That same year, the band hosted their own festival, the Bowlie Weekender. Tigermilk was also given a full release by Jeepster before the band started work on their next LP. The result was Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, which became the band's first top 10 album in the UK. A stand-alone single, "Legal Man", reached #15 and gave them their first appearance on Top of the Pops.

As the band's popularity and recognition was growing worldwide, their music began appearing in films and on television. The 2000 film High Fidelity mentions the band and features a clip from the song "Seymour Stein" from The Boy with the Arab Strap. Also, the title track from Arab Strap was played over the end credits of the UK television series Teachers.

Stuart David soon left the band to concentrate on his side-project, Looper, and his book writing, which included his The Idle Thoughts of a Daydreamer. He was replaced by Bobby Kildea of V-Twin. The "Jonathan David" single – sung by Stevie Jackson – was released in June 2001 and was followed by "I'm Waking Up to Us" in November. "I'm Waking Up to Us" saw the band use an outside producer for the first time. Most of 2002 was spent touring and recording a soundtrack album, Storytelling (for Storytelling by Todd Solondz, a movie which The New York Times has called one of the best 1,000 movies ever made). Campbell left the band in the spring of 2002, in the middle of the band's North American tour.

The band left Jeepster in 2002, signing a four album deal with Rough Trade Records. Their first album for Rough Trade, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, was released in 2003, and was produced by Trevor Horn. The album showed a markedly more 'produced' sound compared to their first four LPs,as the band was making a concerted effort to produce more "radio-friendly" music. In spite of this, the album was warmly received, and is credited with returning the band's "indie cred". The album also marked the return of Murdoch as the group's primary songwriter following the poorly-received Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant and Storytelling, both of which were more collaborative than the band's early work. A documentary DVD, Fans Only, was released by Jeepster in October 2003, featuring promotional videos, live clips and unreleased footage. A single from the album, "Step into My Office, Baby" followed in November 2003 – it would be their first single taken from an album.

The Thin Lizzy-inspired "I'm a Cuckoo" was the second single from the album. It achieved their highest chart position yet, reaching #14 in the UK. The Books EP followed, a double A-side single lead by "Wrapped Up in Books" from Dear Catastrophe Waitress and the new Your Cover's Blown. This EP became the band's third top 20 UK release and the band went on to be nominated for both the Mercury Music Prize and an Ivor Novello Award. In January 2005, B&S was voted Scotland's greatest band in a poll by The List, beating Simple Minds, Idlewild, Travis, Franz Ferdinand, and The Proclaimers, among others.

In April 2005, members of the band visited Israel and the Palestinian territories with the UK charity War on Want; the group subsequently recorded a song inspired by the trip titled "The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House", which would later be released as a B-side on 2006's "Funny Little Frog" single. Push Barman to Open Old Wounds, a compilation of the Jeepster singles and EPs, was released in May 2005 while the band were recording their seventh album in California. The result of the sessions was The Life Pursuit, produced by Tony Hoffer. The album, originally intended to be a double album, became their band's highest charting release to date upon its release in February 2006, peaking at #8 in the UK and #65 on the US Billboard 200. "Funny Little Frog", which preceded it, also proved to be their highest charting single, debuting at #13.

On 6 July 2006, the band played a historic show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The opening act at the 18,000 seat sell-out concert was The Shins. The members of the band see this as a landmark event, with Stevie Jackson saying, "This is the biggest thrill of my entire life". In October 2006, members of the band helped put together a CD collection of new songs for children titled Colours Are Brighter, with the involvement of major bands such as Franz Ferdinand and The Flaming Lips.

On 18 November 2008 the band released The BBC Sessions, which features songs from the period of 1996–2001 (including the last recordings featuring Isobel Campbell before she left the band), along with a second disc featuring a recording of a live performance in Belfast from Christmas 2001.

During the downtime, Murdoch has initiated the film and music project God Help the Girl, while Jackson and Kildea have toured with the reformed Vaselines.

In May 2010, the band stated on their website that they were "back in the studio working on some new songs" and later revealed that they were "in the final stages of recording the [new] album". Sarah Martin later stated in the Q&A section of their website that it would be a 14 track album.

On 17 July 2010, the band performed their first UK gig in almost four years to a crowd of around 30,000 at Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Southwold. They performed two new songs, 'I Didn't See It Coming' and 'I'm Not Living In The Real World'.

In a news update to the official website on 11 August 2010, it was revealed that their eighth studio album would be titled Belle & Sebastian Write About Love. The first single from the album, as well as the record's title track "Write About Love", was released in the US on 7 September 2010. The UK and international release was 25 September 2010.

In December 2010 Belle & Sebastian curated the sequel to the Bowlie Weekender in the form of Bowlie 2 presented by All Tomorrow's Parties.

And here's the three tracks from the afore-mentioned Jonathan David EP:-

mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - Jonathan David
mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It
mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner

Next up.....The Beta Band

SIX DAYS IN TO 2012....AND NOTHING BY THE SMITHS??

2012-01-06T06:00:00.001Z

TVV had a long running series in 2010/11 in which, every Saturday, one song by The Smiths would feature. I stopped after Part 50 back in August 2011 as I was bored with it and judging from the lack of comments felt most readers were too.

This really should have been featured before now:-

mp3 : The Smiths - I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

I have to say that I've no idea what 2012 holds for this blog. Sometimes I'm filled with enthusiasm and at other times I'm bored rigid. I'm grateful to occasional correspondent Mr John Greer for digging me out of the occasional hole when I can't think of anything meaningful to say, but he's away on holiday just now and so there's nothing pending in the in-tray from him.

I'm actually OK just now...I've a few ideas for postings in mind and I'm also quite content to go back and re-post some of the old stuff. But it is quite tough going to think you've something meaningful to say after nearly 1800 posts and gawd only knows how many mps (going by 4 per post - which is probably an underestimate - that gives you over 7000!!!). And I don't want to go down the road of simply posting an mp3 with the artwork from the single or LP.

A few of the bloggers who were around when I began have packed up their tents and headed to the more fashionable Facebook and Twitter. I'm on the former thanks to the need to keep up with news from some of my favourite singers and bands but I don't go near the latter. I'm an old-fashioned boy set in my ways.

So don't come here in 2012 expecting too much in the way of new and emerging music. There will be some, but not much, of that genre. It's going to be the same-old, same-old with music from the dim and distant past prevailing for the most part. Oh and the Saturday series for Scottish singles is coming back tomorrow. And hopefully Comrade Colin will soon be back on the trail telling us all the amazing story of Sarah Records.

This song also somehow seems apt today:-

mp3 : Wake The President - You Can't Change That Boy

Happy Listening

THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 1)

2012-01-05T06:00:00.012Z

An occasional series for 2012. Most of the mp3s will have featured before over the past five and a bit years. But this will round everything up nicely and it will be in chronological order.

Shortly after the demise of Orange Juice in 1984, Edwyn collaborated with Paul Quinn to release a cover of Pale Blue Eyes but nothing was heard from him for a wee while after that. It was 1987 when his next bit of music was unleashed on the world. I've previously covered this release on TVV back in June 2010, and being lazy will simply reproduce it:-

Elevation Records was set up as a joint venture between Creation and WEA in 1987. It was a short-lived affair, with just six singles and two LPs neing released between April and November by The Weather Prophets, Primal Scream and Edwyn Collins. None of the releases made the Top50 and WEA pulled the plug because of the poor sales.

Edwyn's first single has the catalogue number ACID4:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Don't Shilly Shally
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - If Ever You're Ready

This was the extra track on the 12", which carries the catalogue number ACID4T:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Queer Fish

The 12" versions are no different from those on the 7". Years later, the demo version of Don't Shilly Shally would appear as one of the extra tracks on one of the versions of A Girl Like You, while a re-recorded If Ever You're Ready would be part of the 1989 LP Hope and Despair as well as the b-side of the 7" single 50 Shades Of Blue).

There was a great promo made for this single:-

And from a special one-off gig in Glasgow back in 2009 when Edwyn was backed by Teenage Fanclub:-

I sadly could not be there that night. Still breaks my heart thinking about it.

NOT TRAINSPOTTING

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001Z

There are many many more people out there way more qualified to talk about The Lilac Time than me. Here's the wiki article if you need further info just now.

They've been going, on and off, since 1987. They werent a band I ever picked up on until Jacques the Kipper included this fabulous bit of pop music from 1989 on one of the many compilation tapes he put together for me:-

mp3 : The Lilac Time - The Girl Who Waves At Trains

I cant believe this wasnt a hit single. It was tailor-made for radio.......

I actually picked up a mint condition vinyl copy of Paradise Circus, the LP from which 'Trains' is taken, for just $3 in Canada a few years back. It really is a gorgeous bit of work in many places and I will get round to praising it in full sometime soon.

Back to work today. Can't be arsed. I will probably put as much effort into the job as I've put into this particular post. Roll on home time.

IN PRAISE OF BOOKS : TWISTING MY MELON by SHAUN RYDER

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001Z

I asked for, and received, a lot of books from Santa and already I'm getting through them at a fair rate thanks in part, at long last, to me accepting at 48 and a half years of age, I need assistance when it comes to reading. So after going to an optician for the first time in my life the other day, I now wear glasses for smallprint - including books and newspapers.

Over the coming year I intend to highlight a few of the music books that I own - I think in terms of bios alone there's now around 100. Just something a wee bit different in an effort to keep the blog a wee bit fresh.

Twisting My Melon, the autobiography of Shaun Ryder is the latest music book I've devoured - and that's an accurate word given all 345 pages were finished in just over a day (it's one of the benefits of working in an office which closed down over the Festive period and forced all staff to take three precious days of annual leave to enable this). The description the book trade are using is:-

Rock'n'roll legend, reality TV star, drug-dealer, poet, film star, heroin addict, son, brother, father, husband, foul-mouthed anthropologist and straight-talking survivor, Shaun Ryder has been a cultural icon and a 24-hour party person for a quarter of a century. This title tells his story.

The raw, undiluted story of Shaun Ryder, lead singer of the Manchester band the Happy Mondays. Following the success of 2 huge albums, a Glastonbury headline slot and world tours in the 1990s, Ryder's drug troubles reached their height, Factory Records was brought to its knees and the Mondays split. This covers everything, from the Mondays to Black Grape to Ryder's success on "I'm A Celebrity".

It's understandable that "I'm A Celebrity" and "reality TV star" get such mentions given that the vast majority of the British public who are aware of Shaun only became so just a couple of years back when he did go into the Australian jungle with a list of Z-celebs for a few weeks. But fear not music fans, it is only from pages 336-342 that we get any great details about that adventure and its aftermath and the vast majority of this hugely entertaining read is all about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

As you'd expect given Shaun's chaotic lifestyle over the years, there's loads about drugs. But there's just as much about the sex and the music. (Don't worry, while sex is mentioned a fair few times it is only ever in passing - there's nothing graphic!!)

It is a genuine autobiography going back to childhood and his upbringing, his first jobs, his life of crime, his early and doomed marriage and the efforts to make it as a pop/rock star. The years of success and the subsequent downfall of both Happy Mondays and Black Grape are covered in detail with Shaun candidly admitting a lot was down to him but he's also used the book to set the record straight that other fellow musicians and latterly his management were often even more problematic.

What makes the book such a pleasure is its style. Early on Shaun acknowledges he's not the most literate person on the planet and it's clear that a ghost writer has worked alongside him - and full credit must go to Luke Bainbridge, who for years has been an excellent music writer on The Observer newspaper, for producing a work that never sounds anything less than Shaun Ryder talking to you down the pub or on a plane and giving you his lifestory. Every page bristles with that distinctive Salford accent.

The good times from the drugs - including just how much money he, the band and their entourage made from selling ecstasy back in the mid 80s are recounted in as much detail as Shaun can recall. But so too are the really desperate times - the true story of what happened in Barbados during the recording of the Yes Please album is superb reading - but the squalid life of a junkie when all seems lost is not glossed over either as evidenced by a short spell when Shaun lived in Burnley.

There's a few great anecdotes about life on the road with his bands - one of the best being how they dealt with someone they caught robbing the tour bus. The irony being how little mercy a thief showed another thief. There's also a fair bit of humility about Shaun - he doesn't fully accept the praise heaped on him as a lyricist by others, and he's quite happy to admit he took ideas from others in putting his songs together. Twisting My Melon itself was a phrase he nicked from a documentary about Steve McQueen....who was one of his great boyhood heroes along with David Essex!!

If you've got some spare cash or vouchers hanging around from Xmas, then do yourself a favour and grab a hold of this very readable, entertaining and often very funny autobiography. It's worth it alone for the family photos of Shaun as a kid.....who would have thought anyone that cute he would turn out quite the way he did??

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Bob's Yer Uncle
mp3 : Black Grape - Shake Well Before Opening
mp3 : Gorillaz - Dare (Soulwax mix)

(Apologies for the links not working previously.....bit of a cock-up on the admin side!!!
JC : 4 Jan 2012)

Enjoy.

GIG REVIEW : THE WEDDING PRESENT : GLASGOW GARAGE : 29 DECEMBER 2011

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000Z

I'm the first to admit that gigs-wise 2011 was less action-packed than any other over the past 30 years. I've a cunning plan in mind to make sure 2012 is a lot more productive...more on that in the coming days.

But 2011 was seen out with a great night out. But you wouldn't expect anything else from a night in the company of David Gedge & Co.

The thing is....before you go along you know what to expect. Around 90 minutes of fast and furious indie-pop played with huge energy and at high volume. With no encore. And at least once in the set, the audience will go bonkers as loads of late 40 and early 50-somethings turn back the clock and pogo down the front to the strains of a Wedding Present classic. It's usually Kennedy or something from way back in the catalogue.

This was a wee bit different.

The tour was a very small one - called Seeing out 2011, it involved just four gigs. One at a very small venue in the village of Leslie in Fife (at which Mike from Manic Pop Thrills was lucky enough to snare a ticket given he lives close by - and here's his review) and the others in Glasgow, Leeds and London. Recent tours have seen the band, for the most part, begin at a blistering pace, slow it down a little and finish on a bit of a high. This particular set however was a real slow-burner with a fair sprinkling of new material (that's the phrase the great man used himself from the stage) combined with the older. more familiar material. As ever, when a band has such a fantastic back catalogue and play for just 90 minutes, it's very easy to mump and moan about what wasn't played rather than was. But I'm not going to fall into that trap other than to say, some that I expected to hear didn't get aired but others that I never thought I'd hear - for instance Queen Anne and Perfect Blue from the Take Fountain LP and the 1992 single Loveslave - were played and played quite brillaintly. And one of the new songs - Deer In The Headlights - sounded as good as anything else played in the set.

But the best (almost) was left to the end. The three closing tracks were You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends, Kennedy and Don't Talk, Just Kiss. They got the biggest roars of the night as the audience to a man and a woman danced their collective socks off and then went into the night with huge grins on their faces and a ringing in their ears that wasn't unpleasant.

My personal highlight was a stunning rendition of Dalliance that built up from the oh-so-quiet start into the white noise middle and end that was such a feature of the entire Seamonsters LP of 1992. Kind of similar to this live version of it from the time:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Dalliance (Black Sessions)

But believe it, the 2011 version was way more sonic. Could even have been a tribute to My Bloody Valentine.

The great news as far as I'm concerned is this:-

The Wedding Present have announced the dates of their 2012 concert tour of North America.

Although the tour has been primarily arranged to celebrate the release of the band’s forthcoming album [which will be out in March 2012] they are also taking the opportunity to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the release of their classic ‘Seamonsters’ album. As such, Seamonsters will be played in its entirety as part of the set each and every night from 20 March onwards. The band’s specific appearances at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, are yet to be confirmed, but the other dates are as follows…

March – April, 2012 : North America

14-17/03 : Austin, TX, USA – ‘South By Southwest’ Music Festival [Actual appearances TBC]
20/03 : Washington, DC, USA – Rock And Roll Hotel with The Jet Age
21/03 : Brooklyn, NY, USA – Bell House with The Jet Age
22/03 : New York, NY, USA – Le Poisson Rouge with The Jet Age
23/03 : Allston, MA, USA – Brighton Music Hall with The Jet Age
25/03 : Toronto, ON, Canada – Horseshoe Tavern with The Jet Age
26/03 : Pontiac, MI, USA – Pike Room with The Jet Age
27/03 : Chicago, IL, USA – Double Door with The Jet Age
28/03 : Minneapolis, MN, USA – 400 Bar with The Jet Age
30/03 : San Diego, CA, USA – Casbah
31/03 : Los Angeles, CA, USA – Troubadour
01/04 : San Francisco, CA, USA – Independent
05/04 : Vancouver, BC, Canada – Biltmore Cabaret
06/04 : Seattle, WA, USA – Crocodile
07/04 : Portland, OR, USA – Mississippi Studios

The European leg of the tour will follow later in the year. I cannot wait. I might even fly to one of the North American gigs....Toronto being a possibility.

The boy Gedge still has it. By the bucketload.

mp3 : The Wedding Present - Kennedy (live)

This particular version was part of a show for John Peel's 50th Birthday. Recorded on 29 August 1989. The version from 29 December 2011 was just as energetic.

Some footage:-

The latter is one of THE great pop promos of all time......

Dont even bother to argue.

MORE BITS OF BLOGGING TRADITION

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000Z

mp3 : Altered Images - Happy New Year

It might only be 23 seconds long, but the sentiment is there.

Here's hoping 2012 turns out to be a good 'un for all concerned.

mp3 : Ballboy - Welcome To The New Year

And my oh my, haven't this lot's image changed a fair bit since 1983......

Tune in all year for more random and incoherent thoughts from your humble scribe.

OUT WITH THE OLD......

2011-12-27T06:00:00.016Z

As 2011 draws to an end, many bloggers - including most mt favourite places to visit as lsited over on the right hand side - will already be looking back over the past 12 months and highlighting some of their personal best ofs in terms of music, books and other entertainment.

I'm sorry for an readers who are fans of such items for it's no something going to feature at TVV.

2011 has not been a great year. Most of you will know why. I thought that 2010 was bad enough - and by gawd it was - but the past 12 months have been just horrible for the most part. Yes, there's been some memorable and happy times to recall but they've easily been outnumbered by the depressing and sad days. As such, I can't look back with much fondness and say why such a piece of music has been great....partly as I didn't find myself in the mood all that often to get out there and buy new things.

It's also why I wasn't able to contribute to the end of year round-up over at the Contrast Podcast. Tim looks for everyone to put forward their 50 favourite tracks, and based on this comes up with a short-list for further round of voting after which we are asked to record an introduction. I just didn't get involved and I feel bad about it....

I do urge you all to pay a visit to the Contrast Podcast in the coming weeks as Tim unveils what will be a hugely entertaining and diverse selection of songs - and all of the introductions will be fantastic as well.

For what it's worth, the three LPs I've listened most to this year have been, in alphabetical order:-

Adam Stafford - Build A Harbour Immediately
Butcher Boy - Helping Hands
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older

They might turn out to be my favourite records of 2011 but given that I've just received a whole bundle of CDs for Xmas, as well as there being about a dozen I've bought but never yet got round to listening to, that could yet change.

One thing I can say music-wise about 2011 - and I'm leaving myself open to all sorts of criticism given that everyone else out there seems to love it - and that's how bitterly disappointed I was with Let England Shake by PJ Harvey.

I've been a fan from the outset, all the way back to the early 90s when she first emerged with singles like Sheela-Na-Gig and Dress. I'm not saying I've loved everything she has released - like everyone else with a career that spans two decades there will be the occasional recording that isn't as good as precious material. It took me a while to buy Let England Shake as I had a few other things to occupy my foremost thoughts. It would have been around the month of May that I got a hold of it - some three months after its release and by which time it had been labelled a masterpiece.

First listen did nothing for me. But then again, that sometimes happens even with records that soon become part of my own list of all-time classics. Also, I might not have been in the right frame of to take it all in.

But it wasn't any better second or third time around. Or the fourth. And since then the fisth and sixth. There might have been a seventh but I'm not sure. In other words, I've given the LP every possible opportunity to grow on me but it hasn't.

It's not that I'm against the idea of protest songs - you only need to have a glance through the vinyl and CD collection to realise that. But I just can't bring myself to agree with those who have said that this is a powerful, inventive, profound and passionate album that captures the anger so many of us feel about the state of the world and mankind's awful ability to wage war on one another for no good reason. Lyrically, it is all of that. Musically, it is so dreary, dull and tedious.

Listening to it took me back to the mid-late 70s when so many friends made me sit for hours with them listening to Pink Floyd LPs and trying to convince me that they were all incredible works of art. To some folk they were and still are. I was bored rigid. Maybe I just din't 'get it'. Today Pink Floyd still bore me rigid and I don't get their popularity.

Let England Shake is my 21st Century equivalent of Dark Side Of The Moon. It's likely to always be high on the all-time lists. Just don't expect me to fall in line.

JC, Tuesday 27 December 2011

I HOPE YOU'RE NOT HAVING A BLUE MONDAY

2011-12-26T06:00:00.001Z

The day after Christmas can sometimes be a bit of an anti-climax. I hope it is not the case with you dear readers.

The folk I feel sorry for are those in the retail sector. They probably finished at 6pm on Saturday night after about three or four weeks in a row without a day off during which time they dealt with customers who were clueless and often rude. I certainly saw some supermarket check-out staff get a mouthful of abuse because the shop had the temerity to have run out of some foodstuffs and those who left it till the last minute were disappointed and in some cased angry.

Over here, 26th December is referred to as Boxing Day. Thought I'd find a track with a tenuous link to the theme of boxing for today...and that linked in with the day of the week. It was one of three on a belter of a CD single from 1990:-

mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck (Vince Clarke mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck (Paul Oakenfold Mix)
mp3 : Happy Mondays and Karl Denver - Lazyitis - one armed boxer

Enjoy.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 4)

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001Z

It's the tradition round these parts:-

mp3 : Sultans of Ping - Xmas Bubblegum Machine

Hope Santa has been great to you and your loved ones.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 3)

2011-12-24T11:00:00.000Z

This is for my brother and his family in Florida...and my mum and dad who are over there visiting the grandkids this festive period.

He was lying in the half light
Of Christmas and Glasgow
Thinking and talking
Talking to St Enoch about
Christmas and Glasgow
Drinking and talking

And the sweet smell
Of the Kelvin Hall Circus
And the sweet smell lingered
Of her perfume and kisses

He needed to take one step
He was taking one step back

She knows the only danger
Of Christmas And Glasgow
Is you love too much
And she's thinking of years
At Christmas and Glasgow
When it meant too much

And walking in frost
Down in Cowcaddens
And the sweet smell
As they were lost in the garden

She needed to take one step
She was taking one step back

They could hear choirs, those heavenly choirs
Choirs of angels, those heavenly choirs

They needed to take one step
They were taking one step back

Santa will be coming down the chimney with tunes for you tomorrow.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 2)

2011-12-23T06:00:00.002Z

This was a bugger to sort out for you as the a-side to this 12" single is a double-grooved record, which means you've got to muck about with it a bit to make sure you get both versions of the song as available on the vinyl:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Eve)
mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Day)

Now these might very well be the wrong way round. I've never been sure which is which - I'm basing it on the fact that 'Eve' is listed before 'Day' and is the one the needle slips easiest into.

The b-side is a lot easier:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Christmas Present)
mp3 : Sugracubes - Petrol (live)

Unsurprisingly, the sleeve gives a big thank you to Jim and William Reid.

And here's the promo of the single version:-

And finally.....the original and best version:-

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday (Icelandic version)

One more posting before Santa arrives.......

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS (Part 1)

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002Z

Released in 1981. It's on Les Disques du Crepuscule. Here's what it says on the back of the sleeve:-

Yet another Christmas album. This one comes from Belgium, a small country which has contracted debts from its partners all around the world. In debt we are towards the artists who have written the featured selections collected under the title 'Chantons Noel'. Let's sing Christmas.

Some will enjoy it, some will dislike it, some will be surprised.

On this particular day where a smooth tender cloud seems to transform all virtualities into possibilities, our best wishes are to those who don't live up to their abilities.....

There's 13 tracks all told, many of them instrumentals. Some of the acts are well known, others less so. Here's a wee bit about each of them:-

mp3 : Aztec Camera - Hot Club Of Christ

If any readers don't know about Aztec Camera or Roddy Frame, then they've stumbled upon this blog by mistake. Surely one of the strangest tracks the boy wonder ever recorded. Throw some spare change into the collection box sir??

mp3 : The Names - Tokyo Twilight

Brussels new wave band originally active between 1979 and 1982, associated with Factory Records and Les Disques du Crepuscule. During this period the group worked extensively with producer Martin Hannett.

mp3 : Paul Haig - Christiana

See what I said about Aztec Camera??? Ditto for Paul Haig.......

mp3 : The Swinging Buildings - Praying For A Cheaper Christmas

Although unconfirmed, the mysterious Swinging Buildings are rumoured to be New Order in disguise…(have a listen...Hooky is in there somewhere surely....)

mp3 : Soft Verdict - For Christmas Only

Soft Verdict is the name under which Wim Mertens started his musical career. Soft verdict is not a band but more a collection of musicians under the direction of Mertens who performed with him. Oh and Wim Mertens is a Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist who in March 1998 Mertens became the Cultural Ambassador of Flanders.

mp3 : White Birds - Possessed By The Stars

aka Minny Pops, a Dutch electronicgroup who released four albums during the early 80's before disbanding in 1986.

mp3 : The Durutti Column - One Christmas For Your Thoughts

aka Vini Reilly. Stalwart of Factory Records who would later write and record with Morrissey as the Smiths frontman embarked on his solo career.

mp3 : Cabaret Voltaire - Invocation

Cabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement. Their earliest performances were dada-influenced performance art, but Cabaret Voltaire later developed into a group that blended pop with dance music, techno, dub house and experimental electronic music.

mp3 : Tuxedomoon - Weihnachtrap

Tuxedomoon is an avant-garde, electronic-oriented collective whose music ranges from new wave pop to jazz fusion to more experimental synthesizer soundscapes (usually including saxophone and violin), which were frequently married in concert to performance-art shows. Tuxedomoon was formed in San Francisco in 1977 and landed an opening slot for Devo in 1978 at around the same time they cut their first single.

mp3 : Simon Topping - Peep Show International

Another Factory stalwart, having once been part of A Certain Ratio and Quando Quango.

mp3 : Thick Pigeon - Silhouettes

A minimalist duo who operated on the fringes of synth music and art rock. Instrumentalist Carter Burwell has since gone on to provide soundtrack work for around 50 motion pictures whilst singer Stanton Miranda has worked with Durutti Column and Sonic Youth not to mention being a fully-fledged actress. A 1984 LP ny Thick Pigeon was recorded with Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order.

mp3 : Michael Nyman - Cream or Christians

Michael Nyman an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano. His operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Letters, Riddles and Writs, Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, Facing Goya, Man and Boy: Dada, Love Counts, and Sparkie: Cage and Beyond, and he has written six concerti, four string quartets, and many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band, with and without whom he tours as a performing pianist.

mp3 : Magazzini Criminali - Honolulu 25 Dicembre 1990

In English the name means 'Criminal Stores'. They were (and indeed could well still be) an avant-garde theatre group from Florence.

And of all the bits of music I've ever featured on TVV....Magazinni Criminal is just about the strangest.

As the sleeve notes say.....'Some will enjoy it, some will dislike it, some will be surprised.' Most I reckon will be bemused.

ASK ME I WON'T SAY NO ( HOW COULD I?) (again.....)

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000Z

As mentioned yesterday, I'm re-posting some old stuff in response to a request from a reader. Here's something dating back to April 2009:-

RADIO FRIENDLY UNIT (NON) SHIFTER

All that talk the other day of Paul Haig (and again I'd like to thank everyone who lent their support) got me thinking of other great songs to come out of Edinburgh. And right away, this piece of magic from 1986 sprung to mind:-

mp3 : Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - The Rattler

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie actually formed in Bathgate, which is a small town some 15 miles or so west of the capital, and their first single in 1984 was recorded (as The Mackenzies) on the record label of a local further education college.

This follow up single was put out on the Glasgow-based Precious organisation, which was the home to the soon chart-conquering Wet Wet Wet, but despite a lot of support from local radio stations across central Scotland (with one of the lines changed to avoid references to eating beavers), it flopped. There continued to be a real buzz about Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - this was a time when Scottish acts like Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry and the afore mentioned Wets were hugely popular and GMM were lumped in with all of them - so it was hardly a surprise that they ended up signing to a major label, in this case Capitol Records, in early 1988.

The first couple of singles flopped, and so band and label decided to release a re-recorded version of The Rattler which hit #37 in the UK charts in 1989. Debut LP, Good Deeds And Dirty Rags, did make the Top 30 a few months later, but a fourth single from the album sold poorly.

While some of the songs were as radio-friendly and catchy as many of their Scottish contemporaries, GMM never quite took off as expected - this was probably down to the fact that live they were quite a different proposition.

For instance, the lead guitarist was a huge bear of a man who was once part of a local punk outfit (and still looked as if that's where he'd rather be) and there was a strange gothic-looking girl on keyboards and backing vocals, and you could never accuse them of being cuddly and photogenic...

With no real sustainable success, the record label lost interest, and while the band soldiered on for a few more years, they ended up as a mere footnote, albeit one that left us four LPs, about a dozen 45s/EPs and a couple of live recordings.

After they broke up, the gothic backing singer went onto find real fame and fortune :-

mp3 : Garbage - Queer

Yup, it was Shirley Manson who used to stand at the back of the stage with GMM, and before long she was a huge star the world over as lead singer in the band put together by Butch Vig, previously best-known as producer of Nevermind, the breakthrough album by Nirvana.....with whom Big John Duncan, the guitarist with GMM, occasionally played live.

It's a small world y'know....

My copy of the 1986 single is well worn out, and the mp3 of The Rattler is taken from a CD compilation that gathers up all sorts of indie songs from that year, but I have managed to salvage one of the b-sides:-

mp3 : Goodbye Mr Mackenzie - Candlestick Park

Happy Listening.

(And here's something since tracked down on you tube)

It still is a cracking tune..........

ASK ME I WON'T SAY NO ( HOW COULD I?)

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000Z

A reader writes:-

Just went on to the website after getting home from my works xmas party at The Arches. A colleague recommended the vinyl villain after talking about music from the 80's and all the scottish bands we listened to.

Been trying to get hold of the Fruits of Passion and Goodbye Mr Mckenzie for ages. Saw your write-ups but couldn't download the tracks.

Is there any other way of downloading them ?

Cheers

Ian

It will be a while before they come round on the Scottish singles series, so as an early Xmas present to Ian (and other fans of the groups), here's a reminder of what I said back in May 2010 and how it all sounds:-

I know that long time reader Son Of The Rock is not the only fan of this mid-80s combo, who if memory serves me correctly were from a town called Coatbridge which is just 10 miles or so east of Glasgow, as I've had a couple of e-mails over the years asking for postings.

The thing is, they never made that much of an impact on me at the time, and having got my hands not all that long ago on a second-hand copy of their only LP, I think it is a sound that hasn't dated all that well, but hey, I'm happy to let others listen and make their own minds up.

1986 was the year you need to look at if you want to know more about Fruits Of Passion, who were Sharon Dunleavy (vocals), Glenn Gibbons (guitar), Davey Fullerton (rhythm guitar) and Stephen Alexander (bass). They released a 10-track album on Siren Records, which was a subsidiary of Virgin Records. Four of the tracks were released as singles, none of which troubled the charts:-

mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Love's Glory
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Kiss Me Now
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - Everything (I Ever Wanted)
mp3 : Fruits Of Passion - No More Tears

There's no denying that Sharon Dunleavy had a powerful voice - very reminscent at times of Maria McKee. But the tunes were a bit too polished and comfortable for my liking, although looking back maybe the band came along just a wee bit too soon to have made it. There's a fair bit of the sort of sounds that would propel Deacon Blue and Texas to fame and fortune just a couple of years later...

THE MONDAY CORRESPONDENT

2011-12-19T06:00:00.001Z

FEED THE WORLD....

In a recent episode of Songwriters on Sky Arts channel, Midge Ure explained how the Band Aid single, Do They It’s Christmas? came about,

“I was up in Newcastle ready to go on The Tube music show with Ultravox. I was talking to Paula Yates, when Bob Geldof came on the phone ranting about the footage from Africa he’d just seen on the BBC news.

He asked to speak to me, he told me he’d found it upsetting and obscene and asked if I could help him come up an idea to raise £100,000 as he didn’t think he had the strength to do it alone.

We met a few days later at his house to come with ideas of what to do. The only thing we could do was record a song.

It was October.

So it had to be a Christmas song, we couldn’t record an old standard like White Christmas or anything like that, as half the money would straight to Irving Berlin’s or whoever’s estate.

Bob thought he had the bare bones of a song that had already been rejected by the rest of the Boomtown Rats, so that told how good it was!!!!

We decided to go our separate ways and met up later in the week to see what ideas we had.

I went home and switched on my small Casio toy keyboard that I kept in the kitchen. I started by switching on the Christmas bells chime and I very quickly came up with the melody.

We met up at my house later that week.

Bob arrived carrying a guitar that looked like he had just retrieved it from a nearby skip, no parts of this thing pointed in the right direction.

He played his idea two or three times, every time it sounded completely different.

Bob had the idea to get Trevor Horn, the hot producer of the time, to produce it, but because of his commitments, he said it would take six weeks to have it ready.

I then took both our ideas to my wee studio at the bottom of my garden; I had the job of trying to piece together these two totally incompatible ideas together.

Meanwhile, Bob got on the phone to round up the troops and bludgeoning people to turn up to sing at the recording.

It is a strange song, as it doesn’t have a chorus and we didn’t have the anthemic ‘Feed the World’ chant until the day of the recording.

Bob felt it needed something and we came up with that as an answer after remembering John Lennon’s Merry Xmas War Is Over.

We glued that on at the end”.

And so the charity single was born.

Mr John Greer, Monday 19 December 2011

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 15)

2011-12-17T06:00:00.001Z

From wiki:-

The Bathers are a Scottish Chamber pop band.

Formed in Glasgow in 1985 after the band Friends Again split up, they are essentially the vehicle for singer-songwriter, Chris Thomson. They have released seven albums.

Thomson secured a deal with Go! Discs Records and released the debut album Unusual Places To Die in 1987. The album gained an enthusiastic reception, but label politics limited its success. Thomson went back to the drawing board and produced the follow-up Sweet Deceit. The album was released in 1990 by Island Records and was, again, critically acclaimed. A flirtation with two key members of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions followed in the form of the Bloomsday album Fortuny.

The Bathers then signed to the German label Marina Records and three albums were released – Lagoon Blues (1993), Sunpowder (1995) and Kelvingrove Baby (1997) – by a new band that now included string players and arrangers Mark Wilson and Iain White, keyboard player Carlo Scattini and percussionist Hazel Morrison. Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins recorded several tracks with the band on 1995's Sunpowder, and performed live with them in Glasgow.

Thomson enjoyed a good relationship with Marina, but felt that a label nearer home would be preferable. The Bathers' sixth album, Pandemonia appeared on Wrasse Records in 1999. The label also released Desire Regained in 2001, a compilation of twenty re-recordings of the band's best known work.

In 2005 The Scotsman put Sweet Deceit as one of their five lost Scottish classic albums. In 2003, the same newspaper listed Kelvingrove Baby at number 42 in its 100 Best Scottish Albums.

I've long intended to do a really lengthy feature on the genius of Chris Thomson, but never quite had the ability to pen the words to do justice to his voice and talents. The Bathers are indeed a national treasure, and while there's been seven albums ( the compilation seeing all the songs re-recorded means it is counted as well), there's just a couple of singles with today's offering dating back to 1987:-

mp3 : The Bathers - Fancy Dress
mp3 : The Bathers - Ju Ju Peach

Neither track it has to be said is atypical of most of the material that features on the LPs. If you can get your hands on the compilation LP mentioned above, it's a great way to begin to learn more about them. And while it is becoming increasingly difficult to get Bathers material, visit this page on a record label site and you'll find some LPs at a more than reasonable price.

Next up in this series is Belle & Sebastian.

I GREW TIRED OF THIS ONE QUITE QUICKLY

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000Z

Following his departure from The Stone Roses in April 1996, guitarist John Squire quickly got back into the music industry with his new band The Seahorses with who he enjoyed a fair amount of commercial success.

All of their recorded output was released in 1997, beginning with #3 hit Love Is The Law in April, followed by three more Top 20 singles over the coming months (including one co-written with Liam Gallacher) as well as a Do It Yourself, a #2 hit on the album charts (it was stopped from reaching the top spot by a Gary Barlow LP).

I was never a huge fan of The Stone Roses, so wasn't all that bothered with the news of the formation of this new band. But I did quite enjoy the debut single the first few times I heard it on the radio (in those pre-internet days it was the only way to hear new music other than hanging around record shops).

mp3 : The Seahorses - Love Is The Law
mp3 : The Seahorses - Dreamer
mp3 : The Seahorses - Sale Of The Century

I probably played it about three times and got bored with it. It's one of those that you hear on a radio and sounds catchy. Then you listen more carefully at home and realise that it's as dull as dishwater. And wholly unoriginal. Plod-rock.

Indeed, I don't think I've actually played the CD in 14 years until just now. None of the tracks had ever been transferred to mp3 and the PC hard drive until now (and they've immediately been removed to free up some space)

So why feature it if I hate it so much? Turns out that the single edit is quite different from the more commonly available LP version - it clocks in some 4 minutes shorter as it doesn't feature the guitar solo (see how I'm doing you a favour). And some of you may well be fans......

Enjoy the reunion folks. It will be fine if the guitarist doesn't play solos.

IN PRAISE OF.....30 SOMETHING BY CARTER USM

2011-12-15T06:00:00.002Z

While recently re-reading the excellent Goodnight Jim-Bob : On The Road with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (a highly recommended book available from its publishers here), I was struck by the following passage:-

On May the 10th backstage at the Carlisle Sands Centre we received a phone call to tell us that 1992 The Love Album had entered the charts at number 1. That surely should have felt a lot better than it did. I was cock-a-hoop head over heels as happy as a sandboy's dog with two tails called Larry when 101 Damnations went into the Top 40 and even more so when 30 Something went to Number 8. Straight in at Number 1 should have killed me. But for some reason it was a bit of an anti-climax. Maybe it was because we expected it. All the planning and marketing and not releasing it the same week as Iron Maiden's new album. I don't know. We opened a couple of bottles of champagne on stage that night and sprayed them all over the audience like the Schumacher brothers but it should have meant a lot more. And yet that Sunday evening in Carlisle I was almost disappointed.

Maybe the unsaid thing from Jim Bob is that he knew the band's poorest LP to date had been the one to take them to the pinnacle and it left a bit of a sour taste.

The band had come a very very long way in a short period of time. Late 1989 had seen the release of the critically acclaimed 101 Damnations on Big Cat Records. An LP that wiki describes perfectly as a critical account of life south of the River Thames, full of black humour, cynicism, wordplay and puns - as indeed was so much of Carter USM's output over the years.

February 1991 saw the release of 30 Something on Rough Trade Records. It was at this time that I got my first ever live experience of the band with an incredible performance in the tiny space at Glasgow Tech Students Union (Jacques the Kipper was with me that night). I caught them live again later in 1991 and again was amazed by the show. They were energetic, lively and hugely entertaining. And in 30 Something, they were promoting what I reckon is one of the best and most overlooked LPs in critics lists - one that has stood the test of time more than 20 years on.

It got them a move to a major label - to Chysalis Records - and 1992 was the year when the UK and much of Europe went bonkers for Jim Bob and Fruitbat, much of it lovingly recalled in the book. There were headlining slots at festivals and just over a year after not selling out a student union, Glasgow was treated to two nights at the Barrowlands - they could just as easily have packed the 12,000 capacity SECC. But the songs on 1992 The Love Album seemed for the most part a bit dull compared to what had appeared on the first two records.

Reputedly costing less than £4000 to record and produce, 30 Something is a masterpiece. From the opening snatched and oh-so accurate dialogue lifted from an episode of Red Dwarf:-

"When You're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like and still climb into your 26-inch trousers and zip them closed. But then you reach that age....24, 25...your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag and without any warning at all you're suddenly a fat bastard"

....all the way through to the melancholy and sadness of the closing track The Final Comedown, there isn't a wasted moment across its entire 41 minutes

There's great passion, energy and humour in the lyrics even when they are dealing with really dark and serious issues such as alcoholism, racism, bullying, domestic violence and depression. There's a great warning of the perils of consumerism which includes a great use of a sample of the voice of Joe Strummer and so many attacks on the state of UK society with the have and have-nots thanks to Thatcherism. For me.....it is the most punk of albums with an electronic twist. And as I say, one that today still hasn't lost its ability to have me jumping around the room like an idiot (even if nowadays I do it in my head rather than in reality....)

Enjoy it in its entirety. But please, please, please......if its something new to you and you like it.....go track down a copy.

mp3 : Carter USM - Surfin' USM
mp3 : Carter USM - My Second To Last Will And Testament
mp3 : Carter USM - Anytime Anyplace Anywhere
mp3 : Carter USM - A Prince In A Paupers Grave
mp3 : Carter USM - Shoppers' Paradise
mp3 : Carter USM - Billy's Smart Circus
mp3 : Carter USM - Bloodsport For All
mp3 : Carter USM - Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss
mp3 : Carter USM - Say It With Flowers
mp3 : Carter USM - Falling On A Bruise
mp3 : Carter USM - The Final Comedown

Immense. At almost 50 something it still speaks to me.

THE WEDNESDAY CORRESPONDENT

2011-12-14T06:00:00.002Z

PRODUCTION VALUES

I recently heard Steve Lillywhite telling how he got his break in the music industry, working as a tape operator at the Philips Studios.

Then while working for Polygram Records, he got the opportunity to produce some demo tapes for the first incarnation of Ultravox then called Tiger Lily with a lead singer named Dennis Leigh, who also changed his name to John Foxx.

He described their early sound as Roxy Music meets punk or arty punk. It was a sound he preferred to hardcore punk. Melody has always been important to Lillywhite.

He then moved to Island Records and assisted with the recording of this hit single:-

mp3 : Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do

While producing Johnny Thunders’ album So Alone a visitor to the studio was Nils Stevenson, manager of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He loved the drum sound produced by Lillywhite and immediately wanted him to re-record the Banshees’ proposed first single Hong Kong Garden.

Back in the day 1978, the band felt it was uncool to have their single on their album, so when he went to record their debut The Scream, the single that reached number 7 in the UK charts did not feature, although it did on the reissue in 2005.

mp3 : Siouxsie and The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

The album was released to great critical acclaim and even recently was voted inside the top 50 debut albums of all time by Uncut magazine.

That production made a highly sought after producer and he became Island Records ‘in house’ producer working with everyone from Steel Pulse, The Psychedelic Furs, Peter Gabriel, Toyah, Talking Heads and U2. Lillywhite remembers that during this period he was so prolific, he once recorded a Psychedelic Furs album in eleven days.

His relationship with U2 started with him producing their first three albums (1980-83) and in 2004 he returned to co-produce How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and in 2009 he also co-produced No Line on the Horizon.

Some of my favourite Lillywhite produced material is on XTC’s album’s Drums and Wires and Black Sea.

mp3 : XTC - Helicopter
mp3 : XTC - Respectable Street

He described them as a great band to work with, Andy Partridge as a musical genius and the group from Swindon, as being a bit like ‘country bumpkins’ who loved to go for a pint down the local pub. The BBC produced a one-hour documentary called XTC at the Manor which featured Steve Lillywhite and XTC recording the track Towers of London and the video for General and Majors filmed at Richard Branson’s mansion. On reflection, he says, it was more of an informational film for Virgin Records and Richard Branson.

The film is available on Youtube

(note from JC.....I was hoping to paste it on the blog, but it has been broken down into five parts so its best you just visit you tube to watch it

Part One here
Part Two here
Part Three here
Part Four here
Part Five here

In 1984, Lillywhite married Kirsty MacColl, he produced her albums Kite and Electric Landlady and she had featured on various sessions for albums he was producing for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Big Country. He recalls, ‘It was Kirsty that introduced me to the music of Big Country and suggested that I should produce them’.

Lillywhite and MacColl had a recording studio attached to their house and this is where Kirstyl recorded her vocals for Fairy Tale of New York, but not where Shane MacGowan sung his.

Incidentally, Lillywhite had suggested Kirsty only after Cait O’Riorden had left the Pogues - it turned out to be a perfect combination.

During the nineties, Lillywhite produced albums for Morrissey and The La’s amongst others and more recently he produced Crowded House’s comeback album Time On Earth.

(another note from JC.....I got to choose the Moz track that Mr Lillywhite produced. And I reckon it's one of THE greatest of his solo tracks....)

mp3 : Morrissey - Now My Heart Is Full

I've long been a fan of the work of Steve Lillywhite. And I don't think I'm alone.

Mr John Greer, Wednesday 14 December 2011

QUICK ROUND-UP.....

2011-12-13T10:13:00.000Z

The above pictured cat is on the mend. But it was looking bad for a bit.

He was taken to the vet last Friday afternoon by Mrs V after she spotted that he was having problems peeing. Turns out he had a blockage which was also affecting his kidneys and liver. Emergency surgery was undertaken - and quite a long operation it turned out to be. He then spent three nights under the direct supervision of a team of vets in a hospital before being allowed back home late on yesterday where he continues his recovery, under my supervision today as I've used the last of my annual leave for 2011 to keep an eye on him.

Plan is to put together some blog pieces for the next few days and to also use those so thoughtfully put together by Mr John Greer, but thought I'd start with a round-up dealing with requests in comments left behind in recent weeks.

Robster was one of a number who liked the Telly Performances Series (so expect more of that in 2012!!). He was particularly taken with the Leonard Cohen appearance and performance of The Future on Later back in 1993 and asked if I could track down the second song he played that night. Happy to oblige but the best copy I could find wouldn't allow embedding. But click here for the link

mp3 : Leonard Cohen - Democracy (live on 'Later')

Garageland asked for a re-post from November 2010. How could I day no??

mp3 : The Jam - Town Called Malice (live)
mp3 : The Jam - Precious (live)

Other requests will be dealt with in the next few weeks....honest!!

Happy Listening

GIG REVIEW : BUTCHER BOY & ADAM STAFFORD ; LANGSIDE HALL, GLASGOW - SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2011

2011-12-12T06:00:00.089Z

Post-holiday blues, Xmas nights out, scary weather and a seriously-ill cat have all been determining factors in my inability to get the blog back to normal these past few days. And with the cat not yet completely out of the woods yet (that's three nights away in a vet's hospital with the costs ever-escalating), it might be that no sooner have I tried to get going again than I will come to a grinding halt.

But to matters in hand.

Saturday 19 November was one of the most enjoyable events of my whole life. The night that I finally put something back into the world for all the times that musicians have enthralled and entertained me in a live environment this past 30 plus years.

60 folk bought tickets in advance. A further 64 came along on the night and either paid in , were on the guest list or aged under 16 and nor charged anything. Then there was me and Richard on the door and the two lads who did the sound and lights. That made it an audience of 128 or thereabouts for a very fine show indeed. A huge thanks to everyone who made it along.

It was a long day. I was there at 4pm to help out where I could with the sound lads arriving as well as the band going through a soundcheck. Langside Halls is a cracking old venue, but a real problem to get the sound spot-on without a lot of hard work and it took a fair bit of time to get there. In among all this,. John from Butcher Boy also gave an interview to a student journalist to help out with her course and then Adam the support act turned up around 7pm advising that he was OK about a minimal sound-check. The reason for his late arrival was that having played on the Friday night as support to The Twilight Sad he was required to do an 8-hour shift on Saturday at the job that helps pay his rent.....

Next task was to staff the merchandise stall as the first punters rolled in. One of the earliest arrivals was Anna Docherty, the listings editor of The Skinny, who had given the event a great plug in the paper. Anna was very kind - she turned down the offer of a place on the guest list preferring to come through from Edinburgh along with a friend and pay her own way as she was a fan of both acts on the bill. Thanks again Anna...

The doors opened at 7.30 and Adam Stafford took to the stage at around 8.15pm. I knew beforehand that he would divide opinion as his show is quite different to that of Butcher Boy but I reckoned he would go down well with most folk. Personally, I thought he was sensational. He played a lot of new material and shied away from the more commercial offerings from his 2011 LP Build A Harbour Immediately. As I said just two sentences ago.....he was sensational.

Matthew from Song By Toad had caught Adam's support act to The Twilight Sad in Edinburgh just a couple of days earlier. I hope he doesn't mind me just doing a cut'n'paste job from his review as he said it far better than I would ever be capable of:-

Before we get into that though, fucking hell, Adam Stafford!

Now, I enjoyed his latest album Build a Harbour Immediately, but live was something else. And, without wishing to hurt anyone’s feelings, I can’t understand how it wasn’t utter shit.This is a man building up his songs with looped and layered beatboxing. He adds just a little guitar here and there, but for the most part the actual substance of the music is built from layer upon layer of… and I am going to have to say it again here… beatboxing!

To explain myself, beatboxing is a little like rapping, in the sense that the mere mention of it gives me the fucking twitches. I am sure that in the right environment, done by the right people in the right context, it can be awesome, but it is very much Not For Me. I even get the cold shakes when Tom Waits mentions beatboxing, and he is a musical deity who can do exactly what he pleases, as far as I am concerned.

So if you had described a man in a shirt and tie layering (and I kid you not) bow-chkka-wow-wow and deedy-n-dee-diddy and stuff like that, there is nothing I can picture being made with those ingredients that isn’t utterly embarrassing, unlistenable shit.But he was brilliant.As I said, looking at the actual mechanics of what Stafford does, it shouldn’t be great, but it really was. It helped that he played it absolutely straight, but more than anything, despite what they were assembled from, the songs themselves were absolutely great. The performance was fantastic too. The whole thing was fucking awesome.

I was grinning like an idiot by this point even though I knew by now that I was going to be about 20-25 punters short of what I needed to not lose any money on the venture (damn you Okkervil River for stealing some of my audience!!!). I knew from the soundcheck that Butcher Boy were going to be at the top of their game so the end result of a memorable gig was assured.

But nothing had prepared ne for just how good Butcher Boy were going to be.

From the first notes that Alison played on the accordian for set-opener When I'm Asleep to the resounding flourish to the encore that was Profit In Your Poetry, the band did not do anything that wasn't short of perfection. Findlay, the band's drummer, afterwards told me that he felt it was a good a live show he had ever been part of which is good enough for me.

It was the first time Butcher Boy had played a proper home-town show since the slot supporting Belle & Sebastian at the Barrowlands a year ago - there's been a couple of sets that were 'unplugged' or low-key but this was the first fully-fledged performance and it was one worthy of a 5-star review from any critic.

The set extended to 14 songs over around 50 minutes with a fair amount of old material being aired as well as the best stuff from 2011 LP Helping Hands. I've actually got a 15-track Butcher Boy compilation on the i-pod made up of my own personal favourites. Twelve of those fifteen were played at Langside Hall - it felt at times as if I'd handpicked the set-list:-

When I'm Asleep
The Day Our Voices Broke
Girls Make Me Sick
I Am The Butcher
This Kiss Will Marry Us
Carve A Pattern
Helping Hands
Anything Other Than Kind
I Know Who You Could Be
Sunday Bells
Imperial
I Could Be In Love With Anyone
There Is No-one Who Can Tell Where You've Been
Profit In Your Poetry

Far too many highlights to single anything specific out. But I surely wasnt the only smiling when John sang the line 'From Langside to Kerelaw' during Helping Hands.....

The next Butcher Boy gig is in London in early January. I'm going to make sure I'm there. If you can, you should too......

Ticket details here.

mp3 : Butcher Boy - Anything Other Than Kind

Thanks also to Comrade Colin for the black and white photo and Kenny McColl for the colour snaps that are at the top of this post. To Richard for being such a star on the door that night, to Lloyd from Peenko and Mike from Manic Pop Thrills for all their help in advance and to Michael and co from EH Sound for being heroes on the night.

The biggest thanks however have to go to Alison, Basil, Cat, Findlay, Fraser, John, Maya and Robert for a memorable performance. You'll need to go something to top that in London but I'm looking forward to seeing you try.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 14)

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000Z

From wiki:-

Ballboy are a four piece indie band from Edinburgh, Scotland. Formed in the late 1990s, the band have released five albums between 2001 and 2008.

Originally comprising Viv Strachan (vocals), Gordon McIntyre (guitar), Nick Reynolds (bass), and Alexis Beattie (drums), Ballboy played gigs around Edinburgh for a few years, and recorded tracks for the Edinburgh indie compilation it's a life sentence..., released by the newly formed SL Records label in 1997.

By 1999 Gordon McIntyre, the band's main songwriter, had taken over vocal duties. Katie Griffiths had joined on keyboards, and Gary Morgan had taken over the drums. The band signed to SL Records that year, and released a series of EPs. The tracks from these EPs were collected on 2001's Club Anthems. The band toured the United States in September / October 2002 and McIntyre's journal of the tour was published in The Scotsman newspaper.

Their "proper" debut album, A Guide for the Daylight Hours, was released in November 2002, featuring artwork by Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley. This album was followed in 2003 by the acoustic, and often melancholy, The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories, virtually a solo record by McIntyre.

In 2004, Ballboy returned to full band mode, with a new keyboard player, Alexa Morrison, and their third album. The band continue to play live occasionally and released their fourth studio album I Worked on the Ships in August 2008. Gordon McIntyre has begun work on a side project, Money Can't Buy Music.

From their early releases, the band were popular with the late DJ John Peel, and had several tracks featured in the Festive Fifty charts. They recorded several sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show, including a Christmas special live from Peel Acres, where McIntyre recorded a duet with American country singer Laura Cantrell.

In Autumn 2008, McIntyre composed the soundtrack for the Traverse Theatre Company production of Midsummer [a play with songs] by David Greig. Midsummer performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, from 24 October to 15 November 2008.

The above doesn't really do justice to one of the most under-rated bands to emerge from my wee part of the planet over the past decade or so. They really are quite splendid and big thanks to Jacques the Kipper for introducing me to them. Here's a single from 2002:-

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

Next up.....................The Bathers.

A RATHER OBVIOUS COUNTDOWN (Part 3)

2011-12-09T06:00:00.001Z

Notwithstanding DVD's incredibly funny suggestion from yesterday, a frightening number of songs with this number made it impossible to choose a singular track. Feel free to offer your own opinions dear readers and listeners, especially if the one (pardon the pun) that's your favourite isn't in this list of ten:-

mp3 : The Clash - Capital Radio One
mp3 : Everything But The Girl - Each And Every One
mp3 : Jack Nitzsche - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Closing Theme)
mp3 : Johnny Cash - One Piece At A Time
mp3 : The Nectarine No.9 - Don't Worry Babe, You're Not The Only One Awake
mp3 : Pop Will Eat Itself - Def Con One
mp3 : She's Hit - Part One
mp3 : The Smiths - I Want The One I Can't Have
mp3 : Suede - My Insatiable One (piano version)
mp3 : The Wedding Present - Always The Quiet One

The track taken from the film score still has the ability to make me cry. Especially if I've just watched the film....

Oh and the past 24 hours were probably the windiest and scariest conditions I've ever experienced in my life. There was a gust in excess of 150 miles per hour not too far north of Glasgow........

A RATHER OBVIOUS COUNTDOWN (Part 2)

2011-12-08T06:00:00.001Z

As promised yesterday. I bet most of you can hardly wait......(no wonder the number of daily visitors to the blog are decreasing at an alarming rate compared to a couple of years back....)

mp3 : Northside - Take 5
mp3 : The Young Knives - Fit 4 U
mp3 : Beastie Boys - 3 The Hard Way
mp3 : Twang - Song 2

You have to tune in tomorrow for #1........

A RATHER OBVIOUS COUNTDOWN (Part 1)

2011-12-07T06:00:00.002Z

While lying on the beach the other day listening to random stuff on the i-pod, it hit me that I've a lot of songs that are associated with numbers. And that inspired another posting. Kind of lazy I know......but I'm still jetlagged:-

mp3 : Cinerama - 10 Denier
mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - Square 9
mp3 : R.E.M.- Driver 8
mp3 : Jens Lekman - Tram #7 To Heaven
mp3 : Sneaker Pimps - Six Underground

The last of the above list was, as I'm sure many of you know, the last ever record ever played at The Hacienda. Not that anyone knew it at the time......

Top 5 to follow tomorrow.

REVISITING AN OLD POST.....AGAIN (SORRY)

2011-12-06T06:00:00.003Z

Back on 1 February 2007, I penned the following words:-

There's nothing wrong with wearing twee clothes or listening to what is disparagingly referred to as twee music.

But you never see any fat folk described as twee do you? Do they only make twee clothes in the smallest possible sizes? I only ask out of curiosity, but let me know if you have the answer.

Here's three songs that some might define as 'twee'. I prefer to use the word 'great':-

mp3 : Tallulah Gosh - Beatnik Boy
mp3 : The Colourfield - Thinking Of You
mp3 : Architecture In Helsinki - Scissor Paper Rock

The reason I'm going back to an old post is that it's just 48 hours since I got back from holiday and I'm still jetlagged. There's also the fact that the suitcases had such a great time that they stayed on for a couple more days and have not long come home, so the process of washing and drying worn clothes (and indeed unworn clothes that have lain beside said worn and damp clothes for days now) is only just beginning. Oh and it's freezing cold here with snow and ice and a dramatic drop in temperature so my system is in shock.

All in all, I'm just too tired to do anything other than revisit an old post. Please indulge me.

Oh and nobody has satisfactorily answered the question from nearly 5 years back. Do they only make twee clothes in the smallest possible sizes?

FILLING A CD SIZED HOLE IN THE COLLECTION

2011-12-05T06:00:00.002Z

It was only a couple of weeks back when someone asked if I could post the b-sides to this CD single released in 2002 did it hit me that I never actually got round to buying it. Thankfully, the internet makes such things much easier nowadays:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Johnny Teardrop (remixed and radio edited)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Never Felt Like This
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - The Popstar

Nobody could have envisaged it would be the last single for more than 5 years. As I've said before, read this brilliantly and movingly written account of the story of those years.

And here's the rarely seen promo:-

Happy Listening and viewing.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 13)

2011-12-03T06:00:00.002Z

Formed in 1992 in the town of Stewarton by a group of school mates, Baby Chaos consisted of Chris Gordon (vocals/guitar), Grant McFarlane (guitar), Bobby Dunn (bass) and Davy Greenwood (drums). They were discovered by former Happy Mondays turned A&R man, Nathan McGough and after an appearance on a BBC 2 music programme were signed to East West with debut single 'Sperm' being released in late 1993.

Three more singles and an LP followed over the course of 1994, a year which saw them play the inaugural 'T In The Park' as well as at the week-long Sound In The City event in Glasgow (which is where I saw them for the first and only time).

They were described by some as Scotland's answer to the sound of post-Seattle grunge and were compared by others to Manic Street Preachers. They never quite got a distinctive enough sound of their own to stand out. Perhaps the best indication that they wouldn't get much of a local following was when they were briefly championed by Kerrang magazine at a time when Glasgow really didn't have all that much of a hard rock scene. Tell you what though, their hometown isn't all that far from where Biffy Clyro have their roots. Perhaps Baby Choas were just a decade or so too early. Here's one of the 1994 singles:-

mp3 : Baby Choas - Hello Victim
mp3 ; Baby Choas - Rotten To The Core
mp3 : Baby Chaos - Skinny

Not the sort of stuff normally featured on TVV but it's a CD single that sites on the shelf. One that I paid 25p for...

Next up is Ballboy....who are a bit more atypical of this blog.

MORE GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 5)

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000Z

Sometimes it is not the actual performance which makes something special and memorable. Today's clip from 1993 illustrates what I mean:-

It's a bit of a run-of-the-mill rendition of a great song. But for those of us who have been fans for years, the fact that Jools Holland got to at long last to play live on Uncertain Smile in a live setting makes it worthwhile.

mp3 : The The - Uncertain Smile
mp3 : The The - Uncertain Smile (live on 'Later')

And here's the original, nine-minute version on 12" vinyl which didn't feature the afore-mentioned Mr Holland:-

mp3 : The The - Uncertain Smile

That's the end of this short series. Hope you've enjoyed it....

MORE GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 4)

2011-12-01T06:00:00.001Z

Sometimes it's not just one song that sticks in the memory from a TV appearance. Which is precisely the case here when Echo & The Bunnymen unleashed three then unknown songs via a Friday evening music programme on Channel 4:-

This was genuinely stunning telly. The show headliners choosing not to play any hits. And the lead singer quite clearly out of his head. Check how quickly the credits roll halfway during the third track as Bunnymac starts ranting about cutting off criminal's genders.

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me (live on The Tube)

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain (live on The Tube)

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Thorn Of Crowns
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Thorn Of Crowns (live on The Tube)

Incidentally, the band kept playing long after the show had ended and thankfully the cameras kept rolling. This bit of footage was shown in a separate show months later:-

They were an exceptional live act back in the day.......

MORE GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 3)

2011-11-30T06:00:00.002Z

Back in 1993, the great Leonard Cohen made a very rare live TV appearance on Later with Jools Holland. He performed two songs, including this stunning version of the title track from his then newly released CD:-

The interesting thing that I didnt pick until a number of years later when I had one last nostalgic look and listen before boxing up the VHS tapes was that he changes a lyric from 'Give me crack and anal sex' to 'Give me crack and careless sex'. I presume this was at the behest of the BBC, but this seems very bizarre given that the show aired sometime around 11.45pm.

mp3 : Leonard Cohen - The Future
mp3 : Leonard Cohen - The Future (live on 'Later')

Happy listening and viewing.

MORE GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 2)

2011-11-29T06:00:00.001Z

Two songs on offer today. And that's because I can't imagine one without the other.

Gathering dust in a box under my bed is a VHS tape with a stunning appearance from James. It was filmed in 1985 at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London for BBC2's Whistle Test. They don't half look young....and the dervish Tim Booth is still to emerge.....

mp3 : James - If Things Were Perfect
mp3 : James - If Things Were Prefect (live at the ICA)

mp3 : James - Scarecrow
mp3 : James - Scarecrow (live at the ICA)

Happy Listening and viewing.

MORE GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 1)

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000Z

See, the thing is, I was thinking you might all be bored with the Scottish singles appearing every day, so for the second week of the holiday I'm returning to some great live telly performances. First up is one which I've featured beore on TVV but just in case some folk missed it, this is what I reckon is Weller's best ever telly appearance in a career than spans almost 35 years. It's from a long-forgotten Channel 4 Friday tea-time programme called Switch which was on in the summer months when The Tube took a break:-

mp3 : The Style Council - Money Go Round (Parts 1 & 2)
mp3 : The Style Council - Money Go Round (Live on 'Switch')

Happy Listening and viewing.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 12)

2011-11-26T06:00:00.002Z

Aztec Camera were a Scottish New Wave band from the Glasgow suburb of East Kilbride, formed in 1980 and centered around teenage singer-songwriter, Roddy Frame.Their album Love was among the nominations for Best British Album at the 1989 BRIT Awards. Their 1983 album High Land, Hard Rain is considered among the finest of debut records.

he band's line-up changed numerous times in its first few years. The constant member has been guitarist / vocalist / singer-songwriter Roddy Frame. Founding members included Campbell Owens (bass) and Dave Mulholland (drums). Craig Gannon and Rob Cremona were members from 1983 to 1984. Guitarist Malcolm Ross (formerly of Josef K and Orange Juice) joined the band in 1984, and played on the Knife album. By the time of their third album, Love (1987), Frame was the only de facto member of the band: this and future albums credited to Aztec Camera were actually performed by Frame and studio musicians hired on a track-by-track basis.

The band first appeared on a Glasgow cassette-only compilation of local unsigned bands on the Pungent Records label, affiliated with the Fumes Fanzine run by Danny Easson and John Gilhooly, who championed several Glasgow bands before they hit the big time.

The band's first UK 7" single was released by Glasgow based indie label Postcard Records in March 1981, and contained the songs "Just Like Gold" and "We Could Send Letters". An acoustic version of the latter song appeared on the influential C81 compilation cassette, released by NME in early 1981. A second single, "Mattress Of Wire", was also the last Postcard Records release before the group signed for fellow independent record label, Rough Trade. U.S. releases were on Sire Records.

Aztec Camera's debut album, High Land, Hard Rain, was produced by John Brand and released in April 1983. The album was successful, gathering significant critical acclaim for its well-crafted, multi-layered pop. The band went on to release a total of six albums, although most of these were essentially written and played by Frame. The albums included Knife (1984), Love (1987), Stray (1990), Dreamland (1993) and Frestonia (1995). In 1990, Aztec Camera contributed the song "Do I Love You?" to the Cole Porter tribute album "Red Hot + Blue" produced by the Red Hot Organization, the proceeds from which benefited AIDS research.

After the release of Aztec Camera's sixth album, Frestonia, Frame finally decided to record under his own name, and left the major record label, WEA.

Popular songs by Aztec Camera include "Oblivious", "Still On Fire", "Walk Out to Winter", "Somewhere in My Heart", and "Good Morning Britain" (a duet with former The Clash guitarist Mick Jones). "Somewhere in My Heart", the second single from Love, remains their biggest hit, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart. "Good Morning Britain" was considered to be a comeback for them, as previous single "The Crying Scene" had only reached #70 in the UK.

A 'Best of' collection was released in 1999.

Again.....so many great things to choose from.

mp3 : Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter (12" version)
mp3 : Aztec Camera - Set The Killing Free
mp3 : Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter

Next up.....the first of the letter 'B'.......

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 11)

2011-11-25T06:00:00.001Z

Associates were a Scottish post-punk and new wave band of the early 1980s. They were known for the operatic voice and theatrical antics of singer Billy Mackenzie, who committed suicide in 1997.

Mackenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine met in Dundee in 1976 and formed the cabaret duo The Ascorbic Ones. In 1979 they recorded songs under the name of Mental Torture before finally changing their name to The Associates. They then recorded their debut single, a cover of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging". Their version attracted a good deal of attention, not least from David Bowie, as it was released in June 1979 just six weeks after Bowie's version had hit the UK Top 10 in April. A string of highly regarded singles were released and two albums The Affectionate Punch and Fourth Drawer Down.

In 1981 Rankine and MacKenzie also released a version of "Kites" under the name "39 Lyon Street" with Christine Beverage on lead vocals, the b-side track "A Girl Named Property" was credited to The Associates. The band's breakthrough came in 1982 with the release of the single "Party Fears Two". Buoyed along by the popularity of synthpop at the time, the song reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. Two other hits soon followed, "Club Country" and "18 Carat Love Affair". That year the band released their most commercially successful album, Sulk. Martha Ladly, of Martha and the Muffins, contributed backing vocals and keyboards to this album.

Rankine left the band in 1982 just before the Sulk tour. This proved disastrous in terms of the band's career, in particular as the band were being actively courted by Seymour Stein who thought they could become massive stars in the USA. Mackenzie continued to write and record music under the Associates name until 1990. The albums Perhaps, The Glamour Chase (which the record company refused to release, considering it not commercially viable) and Wild and Lonely were made during this period. However, without the guiding hand of Rankine, recordings were sporadic and subsequent Associates records failed to reach the charts in the UK and sold far fewer than their early albums.

The Associates name was put to rest and Mackenzie released the electronica-influenced solo album Outernational in 1992 with limited success. In 1993 Mackenzie and Rankine began working on new material together: news of an Associates revival generated hype and speculation of a tour and the demos recorded by the two were promising. However Mackenzie was not fully committed to the reunion and especially touring with it so Associates split for a final time. Mackenzie went back to his solo work, signing a deal with Nude Records and finding a new collaborative partner in Steve Aungle. Between 1987 and 1992 Billy worked with Swiss avant-garde outfit Yello. MacKenzie wrote the lyrics of the song "The Rhythm Divine" performed by Shirley Bassey on the album One Second, with MacKenzie singing backing vocals. MacKenzie contributed to three Yello albums; One Second (1987), Flag (1988) and Baby (1991). Some tracks for The Glamour Chase and Outernational were recorded with Boris Blank at Yello's recording studio.

MacKenzie committed suicide in 1997 aged 39, shortly after the death of his mother. He had been suffering from clinical depression. He was contemplating a comeback at the time with material co-written with Aungle. The albums Beyond the Sun (1997) and Eurocentric (2000) were released posthumously and re-constructed (and expanded with new unreleased songs) in 2004 into two albums: Auchtermatic and Transmission Impossible.

Rankine is now a lecturer in music at Stow College in Glasgow, and worked with Belle & Sebastian on their debut album, Tigermilk in 1996.

The book The Glamour Chase by Tom Doyle documented the band's career and MacKenzie's subsequent life.

So many to choose from. Let's celebrate the last hit single the duo enjoyed:-

mp3 : Associates - 18 Carat Love Affair
mp3 : Associates - Love Hangover

And as a wee bonus, here's a very different early version of the single as made available on the Double Hipness compilation. Dig that sax!!!!

mp3 : Associates - 18 Carat Love Affair (early version)

Next up......Aztec Camera

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 10)

2011-11-24T06:00:00.002Z

The Armoury Show was a New Wave band formed in 1983 by Richard Jobson on vocals, Russell Webb on bass guitar, John McGeoch on guitar and John Doyle on drums. Each member was known for being in a previously acclaimed band, as Jobson and Webb were in The Skids and McGeoch and Doyle in Magazine. The band was named after the Armory Show, a famous 1913 modern art exhibition in New York. They released only one album, Waiting for the Floods, in their brief existence.

Previously, Richard Jobson and Russell Webb were both members of the band The Skids, while John McGeoch and John Doyle had both been in Magazine. The latter band dissolved in 1981 and the first in 1982, both after their last and unsuccessful albums (Joy and Magic, Murder And The Weather, respectively). But McGeoch departed from Magazine in 1980, before the recording of the last album, joining Siouxsie and the Banshees. By the time, he replaced Stuart Adamson in The Skids for a Peel Session in 1981, being that probably their first contact with Richard Jobson and Russell Webb.

In 1986, after the releasing of the album and the next tour, McGeoch and Doyle left, with the first joining Public Image Ltd. and the latter beginning to work with the Buzzcocks singer/guitarist Pete Shelley. Jobson returned from China, where he was working as model, and reunited with Webb, calling Dave Lockwood on guitar and Ray Weston on drums for the next projects.

In 1988, after some releases in 1987, they announced the band had split up. Webb pursued a solo career (according to the band's fansite) and in 1992 followed McGeoch to Public Image Ltd. Jobson returned to a solo career and became a television presenter.

And here's the one single I have:-

mp3 : The Armoury Show - We Can Be Brave Again
mp3 : The Armoury Show - A Feeling

Next up.....Associates

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 9)

2011-11-23T06:00:00.002Z

From wiki:-

Arab Strap were an indie rock band from Scotland that consisted of core members Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, and split in 2006. As indicated by the title of Belle and Sebastian's third record, The Boy with the Arab Strap, and by Aidan Moffat's involvement in the two Reindeer Section albums, they were a central part of Glasgow's influential late 1990s music scene.

Vocalist Aidan Moffat and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton grew up in Falkirk, and bonded over their mutual love for Drag City recording artists such as Smog and Will Oldham (who at the time recorded under the name Palace Brothers). They began collaborating in 1995, and their debut album, The Week Never Starts Round Here, was released the following year.

Over the course of their ten-year existence, Arab Strap worked with a number of musicians, including Jenny Reeve and Stacey Sievewright, as well as Adele Bethel and David Gow, who went on to form Sons and Daughters. Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian featured on the album Philophobia, but the Belle & Sebastian album/song "The Boy With the Arab Strap" would later create something of a feud between the two singers.

Arab Strap's marked characteristics include sordid, personal, yet honest, lyrics – described by the NME as "fly on the duvet vignettes". Like fellow Scottish band The Proclaimers, their lyrics are sung in their native Scots tongue. At first essentially an electro-acoustic band with a brooding, spare sound, later albums and gigs saw them develop a fuller sound that drew deeply on both indie and dance music.

Arab Strap's first two albums, The Week Never Starts Around Here (1996) and Philophobia (1998), depicted the desperate decadence of post-Thatcherite Britain. The former album's "The First Big Weekend", a five-minute piece of drunken mayhem that end with a joyous singalong, "Went out for a weekend, lasted forever / Got high with our friends, it's officially summer," which was the chorus to "Hey!Fever," one of the tracks on the EP The Girls of Summer. The 1999 live album, Mad for Sadness, demonstrated how the sometimes spare recorded sound of their early music could lift into a celebration of a sexually empty, drug- and alcohol-dependent life.

After these albums, Arab Strap's music became much more musically polished, but continued to focus on drink, drugs, and existentially bereft versions of sexuality.

In keeping with the theme of sexual allusion (see arab strap (sexual device)), Moffat records as a solo artist under the name Lucky Pierre (later changed to L Pierre)– slang for the man in the middle of a gay threesome. This work is also characterised by a brooding, spare sound, but is instrumental in nature. Middleton also has a solo career under his own name, releasing two albums with Chemikal Underground and three more via Full Time Hobby Records.

On 9 September 2006, the band announced on their website that they were to split up. They celebrated the ten years since their first studio album with the release of a compilation record, Ten Years of Tears. They went on tour in Europe for the last time at the end of the year, and played their final show at the end of a secret tour of Japan at Shibuya O-Nest on 17 December 2006.

In a 2008 interview, Middleton stated: "It was a good time to call it a day. Unless there's a definite need and desire for us to play, I don't think we should ever get back together. We always said we would [collaborate again] when we split up, but I think maybe it's still too soon. Maybe in a few years when we've got time, we'll maybe try something for a laugh. Who knows?"

In December 2009, Monday at the Hug and Pint, The Red Thread and The Last Romance entered The Skinny's "Scottish Albums of the Decade" list at #7, #12 and #25 respectively.

In April 2010, the Scenes of a Sexual Nature box-set was released, featuring early albums, live recordings, and a newly-recorded track.

In August 2011, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton released a cover version of Slow Club's new single, "Two Cousins", under the name "Two Cousins 1999". Moffat noted, "It’s not an Arab Strap performance as such, rather it’s the two guys who used to be Arab Strap recording their own, informed pastiche".

And as regular readers know all too well, one of my all time favourite bands And I'm awfy fond of the post-band work from both of them. Thought long and hard about which single to feature and ended up going for one from the short period circa 1999-2000 when they left Chemikal Underground and signed for Go! Discs.

mp3 : Arab Strap - Cherubs
mp3 : Arab Strap - Motown Answer
mp3 : Arab Strap - An Eventful Day
mp3 : Arab Strap - Pulled

Next up....The Armoury Show

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 8)

2011-11-22T06:00:00.002Z

From somewhere on the interwebby thing:-

April Showers were a short-lived Glaswegian pop duo comprised of Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin.

Releasing their only known single “Abandon Ship” on Big Star, a subsidiary of Chrysalis, in 1984 it quickly gained a cult following due to it’s sparkling production from Anne Dudley (Art of Noise) and string-heavy arrangements. This quality was echoed on B-side “Everytime We Say Goodbye” with the 12-inch featuring an instrumental of Abandon Ship “Abandon Ship Sing-A-Long-A-Wonder Mix”. Both records are now highly collectible.

Plans to release a second single on the label Operation Twilight, and the inclusion of Abandon Ship on the compilation album “10 Years Of Marina Records” seems to be a footnote to the woefully brief story of April Showers, the perfect example of a band that has disappeared into, and whose status grows with, history.

Now here's where I cheat.

I don't own this single.....it's one that's near the top of those I dearly would love to get my hands on but won't pay the money demanded by the sellers......

I've the compilation LP mentioned above, and thanks to modern technology (and the generosity of folk who make the recordings available), I've picked up the other two tracks:-

mp3 : April Showers - Abandon Ship
mp3 : April Showers - Abandon Ship (instrumental)
mp3 : April Showers - Everytime We Say Goodbye

One of the great lost pop-songs of the 80s

Next up.....Arab Strap

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 7)

2011-11-21T06:00:00.001Z

From some site out there that I can't quite remember!!!

The Apple Scruffs were four best friends from Glasgow that got together and began writing songs about their everyday lives and surroundings. After four months of hard work and practice the Scruffs played their first gig in Nice N Sleazy supporting the Ronelles at the end of May 2005.

From then on the band built up an amazing reputation in Glasgow supporting well known bands such as Dogs and The Ludes. They then landed a single deal with Hijacked Records. the scruffs released their debut single Danielle on Vaults Recordings on November 2006.

The scruffs were tireless on the Glasgow gig scene and played some all of Glasgow's famous venues. lacklustre in their performances the crowd were still right behind their fast paced guitar led tunes. Giving a final shot at breaking through the blinkered music industry they tailored a new single to a more commercial sound in Big Hearts launching this in the Apple store in Glasgow however it wasnt to be and Johnny and the boys broke up to go seperate ways in 2010.

mp3 : The Apple Scruffs - Danielle
mp3 : The Apple Scruffs - Car Thief
mp3 : The Apple Scruffs - Lit The Candle At Both Ends

Next up....April Showers

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 6)

2011-11-19T06:00:00.004Z

From wiki:-

Altered Images were an early 1980s Scottish New Wave / post-punk band. Led by lead singer Clare Grogan, the band branched into mainstream pop music, and had a string of chart hits between 1981 and 1983

Ex-school friends with an equal interest in the UK post punk scene, Clare Grogan (vocals), Gerard "Caesar" McNulty (guitar), Michael 'Tich' Anderson (drums), Tony McDaid (guitar) and Johnny McElhone (bass guitar), sent a demo tape to Siouxsie and the Banshees, who soon gave the band a support slot on their Kaleidoscope tour of 1980. The band's name referred to a sleeve design on the Buzzcocks' single "Promises", and was inspired by Buzzcocks vocalist Pete Shelley's constant interfering with the initial sleeve designs.

After being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, they garnered enough attention to be offered a recording contract with Epic Records, but mainstream success was not immediate; their first two singles, "Dead Pop Stars" and "A Day's Wait", failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. "Dead Pop Stars" was particularly controversial at the time, sung at the viewpoint of a "has-been" icon with irony, but badly timed in its release shortly after John Lennon's death, even though it was recorded earlier. It was absent from their studio album releases. After these two singles and their first two sessions for John Peel, Caesar left and formed The Wake.

With additional guitarist Jim McKinven, they recorded their debut album, Happy Birthday (1981), largely produced by Steve Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The band also worked briefly with producer Martin Rushent (who had garnered tremendous success producing The Human League that year), who notably produced the title track which became the band's third single and their biggest hit. The song reached number 2 in the UK (for three weeks) in October 1981,catapulting the band to fame. They quickly became established as one of the biggest New Wave acts around, and were subsequently voted "Best New Group" at the NME Awards. Meanwhile, Grogan, with her quirky candy-floss voice and energetic stage persona, became something of a pin-up at the time.
After a successful headlining tour, the band retained Rushent as their producer and released their second album, Pinky Blue, in May 1982. It reached the UK Top 20 and provided three more Top 40 hit singles with "I Could Be Happy", "See Those Eyes", and the title track.

Later that year, after McKinven and Anderson left to be replaced by multi-instrumentalist Steve Lironi (formerly of the band Restricted Code), the band began working on their third album with producer Mike Chapman. The collaboration provided them with another Top 10 hit, "Don't Talk To Me About Love", in spring 1983 and the subsequent album, Bite, was released in June. Half of the album was produced by Chapman, and half by Tony Visconti. Although it reached the UK Top 20, the album sold less than the band's two previous offerings (which had both earned a Silver disc) and, following another concert tour, the band broke up.

After the breakup of the band, Grogan attempted a solo career, signing to London Records in 1987 and releasing a single, "Love Bomb". Grogan was also included on a London Records compilation album titled Giant, contributing the track "Reason Is the Slave". After "Love Bomb" failed, plans for a follow-up single release, titled "Strawberry", and the album, Trash Mad, were shelved by London Records.

Grogan also became a film and television actress, appearing in productions such as Gregory's Girl, Red Dwarf (in which she originated the role of Kristine Kochanski), EastEnders, and Father Ted. In recent years she has also become a presenter on UK television, as well as a children's novelist.

Grogan and Steve Lironi (who eventually married) formed Universal Love School, performing together but never releasing any recordings. Johnny McElhone went on to perform with Hipsway and eventually Texas. Grogan sang live under the name Altered Images in 2002 for the Here and Now Tour, showcasing a revival of popular bands of their era alongside The Human League, ABC, and T'Pau, and again for some separate shows in 2004.

And I have all the singles on 7" and a number on 12" to choose from. I went for this as the it gives you the pop-era Altered Images while the b-sides give you a remix of 'the controversial' single and something which was very like the Banshee-lite early sound of the band:-

mp3 : Altered Images - See Those Eyes (12" version)
mp3 : Altered Images - Insects
mp3 : Altered Images - Disco Pop Stars
mp3 : Altered Images - See Those Eyes

Given it's going to take forever and a day to get through this series, and that I'm off on holiday from tomorrow for a couple of weeks, I'm taking the lazy route and using cut'n'paste bios like the one above for loads more Scottish singles until I get home and recover from the jetlag.

Next up is The Apple Scruffs.

PS

As I'm going on holiday it will be a while before I'm able to tell you how well tonight's show with Butcher Boy and Adam Stafford goes. Unless someone else reviews it.......

PPS

For anyone who wondered what the divine Ms Grogan is up to just now...... Click here.

5 GREAT ALBUM TRACKS FOR FRIDAY......WITH AN APOLOGY TO THE AUTHOR!!!

2011-11-18T06:00:00.017Z

Y'see, the thing is, Mike from Manic Pop Thrills sent this over to me in mid-October and I should have featured it there and then as it mentions a gig which has now come and gone. The fact that the gig was a cracker is another reason I feel bad. Anyway, here's what Mike has to say:-

I've long promised JC a post for his “5 Great Album Tracks for Friday” series, so I thought I'd finally deliver on that promise.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I’ve decided to go with one of the most singular and special bands in my collection – Throwing Muses.

It’s a good time to be writing about the band as the first Throwing Muses collection ‘Anthology’ was released last month on 4AD.

I was introduced to them by a friend in late 1987 and their sound was genuinely like nothing I'd ever heard before.

The band were formed by singer-singwriter Kristin Hersh in the early 80s when she was 14 and the line-up which came to prominence in the late 80s also featured her half sister, Tanya Donelly, bassist Leslie Langton and drummer David Narcizo (who is not, and never has been, a girl).

After early demo tapes, the band were signed for 4AD in the UK by Ivo (who definitely didn't sign American acts) and they released their untitled debut LP in 1986. One oddity of the Muses story is that, despite fitting so well into the 4AD art-rock aesthetic of the time, the band were actually on a major label in the States - Sire.

As a consequence, there were pressures on the band to make their sound more accessible. These pressures did occasionally bring results from the record company's perspective, most notably on near hit single ‘Dizzy’ from their third LP ‘Hunkpapa’ but it’s a song that Hersh has subsequently disowned. However by anyone’s standards, the Muses continued to stick to their guns, something we should all be grateful.

Despite continuing critical support the band were never able to make a commercial breakthrough although the ‘University’ album (in 1994) did make it into the UK Top 10, perhaps on the back of the success of grunge.

So after recording 7 albums, 2 non LP EPs and a handful of singles, the band went on hiatus in 1997 due to financial constraints.

Hersh subsequently embarked on an extensive solo career but she realised that she was still writing songs for her “dead band”. Throwing Muses was therefore revived early in the new century and an eighth, self titled, LP recorded with some assistance from Donelly (who had left the band to form Belly in 1991). Released in 2003, with a tour to support it, the album only managed to tickle the UK Top 75.

Since then the band has gigged occasionally, usually in the States, whilst Hersh has continued to record both as a solo artist and with her other band 50 Foot Wave.

Over the years, Hersh has been an outspoken critic of the music industry and, now freed from all her recording contracts, she has been able to operate in a manner to back up her words.

Her most recent solo LP 'Crooked' was funded entirely through listener contributions ('Strange Angels' via the CASH music project), and every 50 Foot Wave track is available for free legal download, again through CASH.

The same system is being used to fund the next Throwing Muses LP, which is now recorded and could feature as many as THIRTY EIGHT tracks. The record will likely appear some time in 2012 but you can hear solo demos of some of the songs on the record here.

As if her varied musical output wasn't enough to keep Kristin going, last year she embarked on a new career as a writer and published her extraordinary memoir, 'Paradoxical Undressing' (titled 'Rat Girl’ in the States). The book tells the story of the year in her life leading up to both the recording of the first Muses LP and the birth of her first child.

It strikes me as unjust that a band as original and consistently great as the Muses seems to have achieved little in the way of recognition. Their singular sound was undoubtedly a factor in preventing them reaching a wider audience but equally there is no doubt that an absence of hit singles was a factor. Their legacy is perhaps further hampered by the lack of any consensus over which is the definitive Muses record. Perhaps the release of 'Anthology' will go some way to redressing that balance.

Back to 5 tracks from Throwing Muses. In making the final choice I've decided to limit myself, not just to avoiding the singles, but also to avoiding tracks on 'Anthology'. So if you like the following five songs, then the collection would be a good place to start:

mp3 : Throwing Muses - Call Me (from 'Untitled' 1986)

mp3 : Throwing Muses - Take (from 'Hunkpapa' 1989)

mp3 : Throwing Muses - Say Goodbye (from 'The Real Ramona' 1991)

mp3 : Throwing Muses - Pearl (from 'Red Heaven' 1993)

mp3 : Throwing Muses - Half Blast (from 'Throwing Muses' 2003)

Although copies of the initial 2 disc release of 'Anthology' are close to sold out, there are still copies from Kristin's own web store or from 4AD.

A single disc version of 'Anthology' is released on 7th November to coincide with the first Throwing Muses European tour since 2003 which includes a date at Oran Mor in Glasgow on 7th November.

Mike Melville, Friday 18 November 2011

And click here to read Mike's review of said Oran Mor Gig.

And here and here are where Mike has posted, in two parts, a tremendous interview he had with Kristin Hersh when they met up in Edinburgh a few months back. It's way better than anything you find in music mags. Part 2 of the interview in particular, in which Kristin pulls no punches with her thoughts on the failure of major record labels is essential reading for anyone who considers themself to be a music fan.

Happy Listening to the tracks. And Happy Reading of the day when Mike met Kristin.

SURELY I'VE FEATURED THIS BIT OF VINYL BEFORE???

2011-11-17T06:00:00.001Z

Seemingly not.......

A #22 hit in the UK charts back in 1983, this is a piece of vinyl that I've now owned for almost 30 years. And yet it's the only record by Kraftwerk that I've ever bought.

I can't explain why other than perhaps folk I shared a flat with had just about everything they've ever done and I never had any need to buy. Come to think of it, the only reason I bought Tour De France was its appearance in a Bargain Bin in a record shop close to my parental home that I happened to drop into while waiting for a bus back to said student flat.

Anyways here's the three tracks on the 12":-

mp3 : Kraftwerk - Tour De France (Long Version)
mp3 : Kraftwerk - Tour De France
mp3 : Kraftwerk - Tour De France (Version)

That's how the tracks are described on the label of the record. The back of the sleeve says something a bit different:-

Whether it is Tour De France (version) or Tour De France 2e Etape, it's a cracking little bit of music that seems somehow to be a lot fresher than 1983.

Happy Listening

IN PRAISE OF THE COMPILATION ALBUM : DIVING FOR PEARLS VOLUME 1

2011-11-16T06:00:00.017Z

Most compilation albums have at least one song that you find yourself skipping over. Not this gem from 1989 released by Dino Entertainment Ltd with the catalogue number of INDLP 1.

Here's all the songs along with the sleeve notes:-

SIDE 1

mp3 : Department S - Is Vic There?

From 1981. A No.1 indie hit and also spent 10 weeks in the Gallup chart when Demon picked up the rights, getting to No.22. They released two more singles and then disappeared never to release an album

mp3 : Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon

This single made in 1987 has recently been re-released and went Top 10 on the indie chart. This is not on their great debut album and is one of the biggest tracks in their live set. Last Christmas they were little known outside Manchester. They recently sold out in Blackpool to 3000 fans and have just sold out Alexandra Palace in London

mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins - Pale Blue Eyes

This Velvet Underground track was recorded for the Swamplands label and went into the Gallup chart in 1984. The ex-Orange Juice and Bourgie Bourgie team created a great buzz for their debut album but it never came

mp3 : Kirsty MacColl - A New England

This track was a top 10 hit for Kirsty in 1985 and is her biggest hit to date. Written by Billy Bragg and released by Stiff it never appeared on an album until 'Diving For Pearls'. Kirsty is back in the public eye with her new album for Virgin

mp3 : Everything But The Girl - Night And Day

Their very first single for Cherry Red before signing to Blanco Y Negro and having a string of hit albums. Recently promoted on CD single.

mp3 : Red Guitars - Good Technology

A No.1 indie hit from this great band from Hull. Championed at the time heavily by the TUBE T.V. how that later led to a major signing by Virgin Records.

SIDE 2

mp3 : Sugarcubes - Birthday

Another band to watch for in the nineties. This was the single that not only took them to the top of the indie chart but also into the Gallup chart twice. All record companies chased with open cheque book but they have resisted to retain full artistic control.

mp3 : Spacemen 3 - Hypnotised

Recently seem on the Chart Show. A top ten indie hit this month and a band on the ascendancy. Again this track was not on their album, Watch out for a tour and a Sonic Boom solo album

mp3 : Mari Wilson - Cry Me A River

The Compact Organisation struck a deal in 1982 with the reactivated London label. This quirky label gave us Miss Beehive and a classic single that hit the Uk Top 30 in that same year. What is she doing now? Who knows but also featured in the band was Julia Fordham

mp3 : The Monochrome Set - Jet Set Junta

Another track from the vaults of Cherry Red who gave us the brilliant compilation 'Pillows And Prayers'. They later signed to W.E.A.

mp3 : The Au Pairs - It's Obvious

An indie chart topper and featured on their debut album which went top 30 in the UK charts. A great album and we may see another Au Pairs' track on volume 2

mp3 : Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding

This track topped the indie charts in 1983 and got to No.35 in the UK charts. Written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer about the Falklands War. It closes the album and gives us our title 'Diving For Pearls'

Now I know many of these tracks have appeared on TVV before today, but what you're getting with this post are the versions ripped from the vinyl version of this compilation as picked up in a second hand shop during a recent trip to London.

Oh and despite the optimism in the notes that accompanied The Au Pairs track, there wasn't ever a Volume 2.

Happy Listening.

THE TUESDAY CORRESPONDENT

2011-11-15T06:00:00.001Z

RAP BOY RAP !!!!

In 1982, I bought my weekly fix of music news,the NME, where, in the days before the internet, is where everyone got their music information.

The New Musical Express music weekly has been around since 1952 and at its peak would sell 300,000 copies per week.The mid70's would have been when I started buying the NME; it was around the start of the punk explosion. The writers of the day were the likes of Tony Parsons, Julie Burchill, Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent.

Thursday was the afternoon when I'd walk a mile and a half into St Andrews town centre and head straight to John Menzies to pick up my weekly fix.

The week that sticks in my mind was in May 1982 as there was a free cassette available, by collecting a coupon, called Jive Wire. The coupon was duly filled in and sent away with the required amount for postage. (free in those days didnt really mean free)

Nowadays, it feels like you have barely put your order in online and there's a knock at he door with your delivery from Amazon arriving.Back then I'm sure it took 14 days to arrive.

The cassette had the wonderful slogan:

And remember. For the news, that moves at the speed of sound--NME. The paper that put its music where its mouth is.

The freebie was dedicated to Hoagy Carmichael, Thelonious Monk and Sam Lightnin' Hopkin, giants of American music that had died during the previous year. Carmichael was a composer, pianist, singer and actor, who famously wrote Georgia On My Mind, Monk founded bebop music and was a jazz pianist while Hopkins was a famous blues singer songwriter.

The cassette's opening track was a dub version of The Thompson Twins single In The Name Of Love. The track in its original form was released as a single in the UK but it never charted, while in the US it became a hit in the dance chart reaching No.1. Some time later, I used the dub version to make my own remix version of ˜Love On Your Side. In the lyrics of that single, there a verses that goes: ˜I played all my favourite records' and then it played the melody of' In The Name Of Love' and I used that part to add the dub version in the middle. Ah the fun!!!!

Next on the cassette was David Gamson with 'Turn On Red'. Now this was a style of music that was quite alien at the time to me, it even had a black dude rapping. This was before he started working with Green Gartside in Scritti Politti.It's a track that I tried to find for a number of years and happily, just recently a version became available on iTunes.

Leisure Process with 'Love Cascade' was third on the tape. Leisure Process was a duo consisting of Ross Middleton and Gary Barnacle. The track is a good piece of early 80's electro pop.

Middleton was a singer from Glasgow and was previously in a band called Positive Noise (JC can hopefully fill us in with details of Positive Noise - indeed I, and TVV reader scan as featured in this past post)

Gary Barnacle was a session saxophone player who played with as varied acts as The Clash, The Ruts and everything in between up to Sam Fox and Stock, Aitken and Waterman. In the eighties he was Kim Wilde's boyfriend.

The track was produced by Martin Rushent, who during that period was the hot producer after he produced The Human League's album ˜Dare' He also produced Altered Images 'Happy Birthday' that also features on the cassette.

Leisure Process only ever produced 4 singles before going their separate ways.

The other track that made a lasting impression on me was Gil Scott Heron's 'B Movie', it was something again, that I would never have listened to if it hadn't been available on the tape.

His style on this track, of almost poetry to a thumping backing track is very effective to put over his political message on the selection of the American President and the election process. It also informed me of a political system that I knew nothing about. It also turned out to be a very good prophecy of the future for the oil producing countries.

There was also a certain humour that was shown, with his use of Ronald Raygun.

To even up the political score on our side of the Atlantic, The Beat's 'Get A Job/Stand Down Margaret' also featured.

Coming from Birmingham and featuring a band line up that had black and white members, they played a mixture of ska, reggae and pop. This track saw them spearheading a movement wanting social change and multicultural inclusion.

In the eighties they were at the forefront of 'Rock Against Racism'

The full track listing for Jive Wire.

Side One

Thompson Twins- In The Name Of Love (3.45)
David Gamson- No Turn On Red (6.12)
Leisure Process - Love Cascade (6.19)
Buzzz - Tonight's Alright (3.31)
Pigbag- A Live Orangutango (6.04)
Aswad- Ghetto In The Sky (6.25)
Scritti Politti- Asylums In Jerusalem (3.10)
The Beat- Get A Job/Stand Down Margaret (7.02)
Gil Scott Heron - 'B'-Movie (5.19)

Side Two

Suicide- Dream Baby Dream (3.16)
Kraftwerk- Das Model (3.39)
Altered Images- Happy Birthday (3.15)
Theatre Of Hate- Dreams of Poppies (3.45)
The Gun Club- Ghost on The Highway (2.43)
Tav Falco's Panther Burns- Ms Froggy (2.30)
Black Uhuru- Happiness (4.30)
Defunkt- Illusions (7.00)
Rip Rig & Panic- Billy Eckstein's Shirt Collar (3.15)
Carmel- Storm (4.07)
Vic Godard & Subway Sect- Just In Time (2.35)
Pablo Lubadika Porthos- Madeleina (4.00)

Jive Wire was numbered NME 02, in October 1981 they had given away NME 01 named Dancin' Master.

Dancin' Master also contained some great tracks - Tom Browne- Funkin' For Jamaica; Junior- Mama Used To Say; The B-52's - Give Me Back My Man (instrumental); Teardrop Explodes- Traison (C'est Juste Une Histoire)

These cassettes were a great way of sampling different styles and bands that you wouldn't readily hear.

I stopped buying the NME many years ago but occasionally, when shopping in a supermarket I'll go over to the magazine/paper rack pick it up and have quick look through.

However, I've collected every copy of the Q music magazine since the first one was available, and have just received the 25th Anniversary copy and being a typical collector I have all the free CDs, supplements etc still intact with the magazines.

The other magazine I buy every month is the WORD magazine which comes with a free sample CD and like the Jive Wire tape all those years ago, gives me the chance to try out different styles and bands without having to purchase.

This post is dedicated to the memories of Martin Rushent and Gil Scott Heron

mp3 : David Gamson - No Turn On Red
mp3 : David Gamson - No Turn On Red (Fat Camp Version)
mp3 : Leisure Process - Love Cascade
mp3 : The Thompson Twins - In The Name Of Love (dub mix)
mp3 : The Thomspson Twins - No Talkin' (Love On Your Side)

Mr John Greer, 15 November 2011

I MIGHT HAVE TO SELL A KIDNEY

2011-11-14T06:00:00.002Z

It was Mike from Manic Pop Thrills who gave the best advice when I asked a number of people who had previously done such a thing what was the best advice they could give to an aspiring promoter.

'Don't' was his Mike's simple one-word piece of advice.

I of course didn't listen which is why it's now only a few days until Butcher Boy, with special guest Adam Stafford grace the majestic Langside Hall in the south side of Glasgow under the guise of 'Brought To You By The Vinyl Villain'.

I've enjoyed the experience although I've had a few sleepless nights and probably at least one more to come this week. Both acts have been great - Butcher Boy in agreeing to do the gig in the first place and Adam for responding to my plea for the perfect second act on the bill. Many others - particularly among the blogging community - have been very generous with their time in helping me along with sound advice and suggestions, particularly on how to best spread the word.

A couple of friends in the design and print trades helped out big time with the poster while Anna Doherty from The Skinny has been incredibly supportive giving the gig a very favourable mention in the November edition of the paper. I don't think much more could have been done to promote the gig in its truest sense of the word.

And yet, a few days out, it's looking as if the numbers coming along are such that they won't meet the full costs of hiring the venue, paying for the sound system and lights and a few other sundries. This is what Mike and a couple of others warned was likely to happen. If I'm being honest, I'm not all that bothered as I knew when I set out that there was a huge risk involved in everything and that I wouldn't make any money. In fact I never set out to make any money as I had always intended that any excess if that happened would go straight to the artists who were performing, and in some ways I feel as if I'm letting them down a bit as this doesn't look likely to come to pass.

Now this might be a case of a premature prediction that goes wrong. I'm told by those in the know (including both acts on the bill) that the number of tickets sold on-line so far are quite good and that many folk tend to leave things to the last minute and come along hoping to get in on the night. My original plan had been not to offer tickets at the door, but given it is very unlikely the hall's capacity will be reached, I've had a rethink on that one. It might eventually turn out that I do get enough bums on seats to more than cover the costs, but it will still take quite a bit of a last minute rush.

All of the activities of the past few weeks has only increased my admiration for the likes of the afore-mentioned Mike and others such as Matthew (Song By Toad), Ed (17 Seconds), Lloyd (Peenko) and Jim C (Aye Tunes) who have been at this particular game for so long, not to mention Alan Hendry who seems to now be promoting gigs under his Sounds In The Suburbs banner every other week. And why I have my fingers crossed for Lisa (Last Year's Girl) who is venturing out with a promotion of her own on 2 December (see the right-hand side of this blog for details).

So what exactly am I trying to say?

The fact remains that I'm really pleased that I've been able to put this gig on, partly as it is always something I wanted to do (blame the ego) and partly as I think Butcher Boy deserve to be given every chance possible to play their magnificent songs in a live setting, and if no-one else was prepared to put them on then I was determined to step up to the plate. No matter what happens it is going to be one of the greatest nights in my life....and I can't wait.

There's one daft postscript to all of this.

The gig is on Saturday night, and by the time I get the hall emptied etc and say thank to everyone, I probably wont get home till midnight. I'm then due at Glasgow Airport at 5am to book in for a flight to Amsterdam one hour later and then a connection over to the Caribbean island of Aruba for a much-needed break in the sun. I reckon I might sleep most of the way.....

See....I knew any sympathy any of you might have been feeling for me would automatically disappear when I mentioned the holiday!

mp3 : Adam Stafford - Fire & Theft
mp3 : Butcher Boy - I Am The Butcher

And here's a classic from Adam's old band:-

mp3 : Y'All Is Fantasy Island - That We Are All Doomed

Happy Listening.

PS

I wrote this piece about 48 hours ago. In the intervening period, said Mike from Manic Pop Thrills got in touch to let me know he was running a competition on his blog to offer someone two tickets to the Butcher Boy gig which is incredibly generous of him.

Click on this link to have a chance of winning. And while you're there, spend some time at what is a consistently excellent and well-written blog.

You better be quick....you have until 5pm tomorrow (Tuesday) to enter the competition

THE STORY OF SARAH (Issue 17)

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000Z

'Saw a guy in the window, with a crewcut staring back...'
-
To say Fred Cornog is an enigma is a bit like saying it can sometimes be wet and windy in Glasgow. An understatement of epic proportions. Cornog's life story should really be a Play for Today. Or a book published by Fourth Estate. Possibly both. At the very least, his life could be transported into one of those arty StudioCanal films with the lead role going to, perhaps, Cillian Murphy. Anyway, this glorious track featured on the A-side of the first recording East River Pipe offered Sarah Records - it was #75 in the #100 Sarah catalogue and entitled 'Helmet On'. The band - that is, Cornog - went on to record one further 7" single for Sarah and a couple of mini-albums and a full-length album as well. Again, all the long-players were given catalgoue numbers from the Bristol bus timetable of the day. You know, when Cornog put his mind to it, he really worked hard and those songs and lyrics just seemed to spill out of him beautifully. As for this particular track... well, it has been analysed time and time again but the message seems pretty clear to me: there is no need for cryptic subtext. It is, at heart, just a song to saviour and play again and again with Bose headphones on and a warm latte in your hand; ideally as you move your way through Queens, NY, watching interesting people go about their busy days and lonely nights. Fred might bump into you, and tell you to watch where you are going.

East River Pipe - 'Helmet On' (4.18)

Visit here. Watch this.

Comrade Colin, Sunday 13 November 2011

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 5)

2011-11-12T06:00:00.001Z

From the Chemikal Underground website:-

The brainchild of our very own Aidan Moffat and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, Aloha Hawaii will, according to the two protagonists themselves, be bringing you random releases of sonic experimentalism as and when they can be arsed. I'll leave it to their self-penned press release to explain exactly where they're coming from with this...

Aloha Hawaii is the result of at least a decade of (often drunken) planning that has finally come to some form of fruition: to record any kind of sounds that please our four ears whenever we have the time, inspiration and enthusiasm. There is no game-plan, no style, no genre; anything that makes us smile will make it onto our records, which will take the form of sporadic, vinyl-only singles to be released on any record label willing to accommodate us over the next year or two. The first label to support our efforts will be our good friends, Chemikal Underground, who release the 10" single Towns On The Moon b/w I’ve Been Bad For Years And Years on September 8th 2008.

There will be no digital formats whatsoever.

This could be a statement about the cheapening of an art-form in a world of disposable download culture or it could simply mean that we're interminably old-fashioned and hopelessly out of date. We also reserve the right to change our minds.

So far there's only been the one single so it remains very sporadic. And it is still available to buy from the record label. Click here.

But to hell with it. Though my conscience tells me I shouldn't make the songs available as mp3s I'm trusting you lot to listen to it but not keep them on your hard drive.

mp3 : Aloha Hawaii - Towns On The Moon
mp3 : Aloha Hawaii - I've Been Bad For Years And Years
mp3 : Aloha Hawaii - Untitled Third Song

The next part of the series will feature Altered Images.

GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 5)

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000Z

There's only clip of mine up on youtube. It wasn't me that put it there...but i'm so glad it is as otherwise it would have been lost forever.

I do have hundreds of old VHS tapes with stuff from all sorts of telly shows. I've always been too busy with this blog to do anything about converting them so they gather dust in a series of boxes. But a while back I did sent an old tape down to the proprietor of the Punk Rock Hotel as there was a very rare clip of Paul Quinn & The Independent Group somewhere in the middle of the 180 minutes of recordings. It was from a long-forgotten arts show that was broadcast on the local Scottish Television channel and it was to preview an upcoming gig/event at the Glasgow Film Theatre.

The very same show had a live appearance by Edwyn Collins to promote his latest LP and he performed a solo acoustic version of the title track. Little did anyone realise that within months, a hit single from that very album would transform Edwyn's life totally and make him financially secure for the first ever time. That clip was transferred to you tube on my behalf by the proprietor. And just as well.....for no sooner had he done so than the tape snapped. The clip would have been lost forever. And when you see it, and realise that with his illness Edwyn will never be able to play guitar again, it is a very important bit of footage.

It's not one that can be embedded anywhere.....but here's the link:-

http://youtu.be/mPKX2oc2NMY

and here's the mp3s:-

mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Gorgeous George (live and acoustic - 1994)
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - Gorgeous George

And that's a wrap on this particular series. Hope you've enjoyed it.

GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 4)

2011-11-10T06:00:00.001Z

One of the most innovative and exciting live acts over the past decade or so has been British Sea Power. And while none of their telly appearances has quite captured their brilliance to full effect, this from October 2003 on Later With Jools Holland on BBC 2 is quite memorable:-

mp3 : British Sea Power - Remember Me (live on 'Later')
mp3 : British Sea Power - Remember Me

Only one more to go in this short series......

GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 3)

2011-11-09T06:00:00.003Z

I've no doubt in my mind that the performance of Bigmouth Strikes Again on The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2 was the best live telly appearance by The Smiths. But this, from The Tube on Channel 4 is also exceptionally good....

Andy and Mike shows just how important they were to the sound of the band.

mp3 : The Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home (live on 'The Tube')
mp3 : The Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home

Happy Memories indeed.....

GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 2)

2011-11-08T06:00:00.007Z

With apologies to ctel who is most certainly not a fan......

Taken from The White Room, a relatively short-live and much missed Channel 4 programme fronted by Mark Radcliffe.

mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee (live on the 'White Room')
mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee

And more swearing than the Bill Grundy/Sex Pistols clip.............

GREAT TELLY PERFORMANCES WEEK (Part 1)

2011-11-07T06:00:00.006Z

This next five postings should be self-explanatory.

They will feature some of my favourite TV performances over the years. I'll show the clip, the mp3 of said clip as well as the original version of the song will be on offer.

Let's start with something quite brilliant from 1993. Now The Word might have often been a dreadful Friday night Channel 4 programme, but some of the bands they featured were tremendous...indeed the programme was often the first time a band would ever appear on British telly. Like this:-

Now as promised:-

mp3 : Stereolab - French Disko (live on 'The Word')
mp3 : Stereolab - French Disko

It is sad to think that guitarist Mary Hansen died back in December 2002 at the very young age of 36 after she was struck by a lorry while riding a bicycle in London.

This song remains one of my favourites to dance to even after all the years.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 4)

2011-11-05T06:00:00.001Z

From wiki:-

Alan Rankine (born 17 May 1958, Edinburgh, Scotland) played keyboards, and guitars, for the rock band, Associates, which he co-founded with Billy Mackenzie in the late 1970s. Together they recorded three albums: The Affectionate Punch (1980), Fourth Drawer Down (1981) and Sulk (1982). Rankine left the band in 1982 on the eve of what would have been the Sulk tour.

While Mackenzie continued with other associates, Rankine started a solo career as a recording artist. He recorded three solo albums: The World Begins to Look Her Age (1986), She Loves Me Not (1987) and the fully instrumental The Big Picture Sucks (1989).

He became a record producer, producing such artists as The Pale Fountains, Cocteau Twins and Paul Haig, before joining the Belgian independent record label, Les Disques du Crepuscule, as a permanent producer and relocating to Brussels.

Rankine eventually came back to Scotland, and he now works in Stow College in Glasgow.

It's a bit of a thin entry if you ask me. For instance, no mention of the big part he played in getting Belle & Sebastian off the ground. Mind you, his solo career was bitterly disappointing. It was put very eloquently in a a comment left behind previously on TVV when I did a feature on Alan Rankine:-

"Rankine had a shockingly disappointing solo career, recording a couple of dismally bland lite funk-pop LPs that had so little in common with his genius stuff for The Associates that it was hard to believe it was actually him..."

There were three singles lifted from the debut LP and not one of them came near the charts. The third of them was the title track. The b-side is a very early example of sampling dialogue and matching it to music. It sound very primitive compared to what you can achieve nowadays:-

mp3 : Alan Rankine - The World Begins To Look Her Age
mp3 : Alan Rankine - Can You Believe Everything I See?

The next part of this series features Aloha Hawaii.

IN THE BED WHERE THEY MAKE LOVE, SHE'S IN A FILM IN THE SHEETS

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000Z

Completing this unintentional wee run of releases with fine female female performances is a #28 hit for Saint Etienne from February 1994.

Pale Movie very much reminds me of the 80s hit Domino Dancing by Pet Shop Boys as it is a mix of a great dance tune with some traditional sounding Spanish guitars. It was a fairly brave move by the band to go down this road - all of the songs on Tiger Bay, the LP that was released a few months later, was described by Bob Stanley as an album of modern folk songs done in twentieth century styles like techno and dubmix. It didn't go down all that well at the time with the singles that were lifted from it not doing nearly as well as previous efforts and dance fans being left a bit bemused by it all.

If only the hardcore element had bought the 12" version of the single for they would have found all sorts of different styles to meet their every whim, including a hugely extended 10 minutes plus version:-

mp3 : Saint Etienne - Pale Movie
mp3 : Saint Etienne - Pale Movie (stentorian dub)
mp3 : Saint Etienne - Pale Movie (secret knowledge trouser assassin mix)
mp3 : Saint Etienne - Pale Movie (lemonentry mix)

I've really no idea where the names for these mixes come from.......might have seemed a great idea at the time but they now just look daft.

Happy Listening.

YOU'VE COME TO FIX ME GOOD, GOOD, GOOD

2011-11-03T06:00:00.003Z

Previous posts featuring Curve have proven popular in the past. Hope today's continues that trend.

For newer readers, Curve comprised of Toni Halliday and multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia, and formed in Manchester in 1991. At a time when the Madchester sound (Happy Mondays/Stone Roses/James etc) was very much in full flow, Curve were something a bit different. The first few releases were EPs. The music press loved them, and they were championed by John Peel.

And yet they didn't ever quite turn the critical praise into popular acclaim and really meaningful sales, albeit the debut LP in 1992 , Doppelganger, reached Number 11, while the follow-up, Cuckoo, went Top 30.

I love an awful lot about Curve, but especially the sound of Toni Halliday's voice. In many places it reminds me of Elizabeth Fraser, and there's no doubt that Shirley Manson of Garbage owes a lot to Toni.

Here's the four tracks from the second of three EPs they released on Anxious Records back in 199!:-

mp3 : Curve - Ten Little Girls
mp3 : Curve - I Speak Your Every Word
mp3 : Curve - Blindfold
mp3 : Curve - No Escape From Heaven

All really good stuff I reckon - particularly the two opening tracks

For footage today, here's one of Ms Halliday's finest ever vocal performances:-

Happy Listening