CATHEDRALS OF SOUND - SOUNDS AND WORDS WORTH REMEMBERING (1)

The Background

"About 4 years ago JC ran a series on his blog where for the month of may he posted a guest posting everyday. For some reason this shook me out of being a silent reader and I sent him something on the Blue Nile’s Tinsel town in the Rain. He kindly included it on the blog and I got a strange thrill in seeing it up there and the comments that other readers left. As a result I took the plunge and Cathedrals of Sound was born. JC and other bloggers were very supportive in giving advice and showing patience as I stumbled around how to make Blogger work. After 1000 posts I stopped doing Cathedrals of Sound. No big life tragedies just a sense of running out of things to say, an expanding waistline and 2 children all needing a bit more attention. I never thought I’d get to 10 posts so 1000 seemed as good a place as ever to finish (I also was always a fan of Lawrence’s approach to Felt , 10 LPs , 10 singles in 10 years and then split up)

 JCs all round generous good bloke status means that he has closed the circle and asked me to pick my 10 favourite posts to share. Having just finished my own LP countdown of my top 125 LPs I was tempted to just pick the top 10 lp posts. This temptation got a lot greater as I started to re read the posts and realised that the poorly spelt ramblings were a tad clumsy and opinionated, definitely proved the “writing about music is like dancing to architecture” quote. Anyway as the point of the blog was to talk about music and words that are worth remembering, I’ve picked 10 fairly random posts that hopefully have some interesting music as part of them, some songs that fit right in to TVV and some that may not have featured before. Finally thanks JC for allowing Cathedrals of Sound to live for 10 ten days longer.

Friend Of Rachel Worth
(a 40 something with a soft spot for pop songs with jangly guitars and pretentious lyrics!)"


(1) Flatlands 

The first one comes from the early days of the blog (the 5th post) when I was still struggling with layout as well as basic grammar (I only got my head round one of these)

I’ve chosen it because it is a great track and shows a different side to someone who up to that point was best known for glossy pop songs. Sadly the Spalding Flower parade I mention was run for the very last time this year , just in case you were tempted to hot foot it over to Spalding next spring, I’m not sure if the council have finally beaten the skin heads , but there are still great sunsets though.

I grew up in the fens which is a chunk of land reclaimed from the sea in the east of England - literally the arsehole of the country.

The land is depressingly flat giving a real sense of being in the middle of nowhere. The only good thing going for it was the odd dramatic sunset , sunrise or rainbow. I guess cycling was pretty easy as well. Nothing much comes out of the fens (ex World Strongest man competitor, budgie fancier and shot put medal winner Geoff Capes is my hometown's most famous son!).

With not much to do strange obsessions took hold mainly speedway with it heroes who had such great names such as Ivan Major and line dancing ( i couldnt see the attraction of either)

I grew up in Holbeach

which included the Woolworths that time forgot but went to school in Spalding which had 2 annual events.

The first involved a parade of floats decorated with tulips (think Disney world parades but but with flowers instead of cartoon characters and done for 1/10000th of the cost) and the second involved the local skinheads pulling down the town centre Xmas tree on new years eve.

Anyway such an area doesn't really seem to prompt the songwriters muse (no 24hours to Sutton Bridge) ...... however I couldn't quite believe it when I came across this track by Dr Robert the lead singer of the Blow Monkeys!

mp3 : Dr Robert - Flatlands

From this LP.

50 GREAT ALBUMS IN MY 50TH YEAR (Part 50)

OK.

So I'm cheating  by making #50 a box-set rather than an actual LP. But today is my 50th Birthday and I'm allowed......

Besides, why should I agonise over which Orange Juice LP was to make the countdown ahead of the others when all the while I had a ready made solution to include them all.....

Besides further......this is a box-set in which I'm given a name check in a section that begins 'Invaluable contributions from and thanks due to...." which will never be surpassed as the most amazing thing that will ever happen in my life musically (short of being asked to come on the stage of the Barrowlands and shake the tambourine or 'sing' backing vocals during a mad encore!!).

Coals To Newcastle was released by Domino Records in late 2010 and consists of 6 CDs and 1 DVD comprising 122 bits of music with just about the complete discography as well as a collection of  BBC sessions. This magnificent treasure piece contains 16 previously unreleased tracks with another 23 tracks previously unavailable on earlier re-issues.

Disc 1 : The Glasgow School (i.e the Postcard-era)
Disc 2 : You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
Disc 3 : Rip It Up
Disc 4 : Texas Fever
Disc 5 : The Orange Juice
Disc 6 : The BBC Sessions
DVD : Dada with (the) Juice (plus promos and BBC appearances)

There's nothing else to say really......

mp3 : Orange Juice - Blue Boy
mp3 : Orange Juice - Felicity
mp3 : Orange Juice - Mud In Your Eye
mp3 : Orange Juice - Bridge (Previously Unreleased Mix)
mp3 : Orange Juice - The Artisans 
mp3 : Orange Juice - Falling and Laughing (Peel Session - Oct 1980)

Thanks for bearing we this most self-indulgent of series.  Here it is in its entirety:-

30 Something - Carter USM
A Guide For The Daylight Hours - Ballboy
All Mod Cons - The Jam
Back In The D.H.S.S. - Half Man Half Biscuit
Before Hollywood - The Go-Betweens
Blur - Blur
Boat To Bolivia - Martin Stephenson & The Daintees
Boxer - The National
Cafe Bleu - The Style Council
Closer - Joy Division
Coals To Newcastle - Orange Juice
Debut - Bjork
Different Class - Pulp
Don't Try This At Home - Billy Bragg
Doolittle - Pixies
Dummy - Portishead
Everything's Getting Older - Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat
Grab That Gun - The Organ
Head Over Heels - Cocteau Twins
Heaven Up Here - Echo And The Bunnymen
High Land, Hard Rain - Aztec Camera
Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury - The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
Into The Woods - Malcolm Middleton
Is This It - The Strokes
Let Love In - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Nevermind - Nirvana
No One Can Ever Know - The Twilight Sad
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret - Soft Cell
Out Of Time - R.E.M.
Parallel Lines - Blondie
Philophobia - Arab Strap
Play - Moby
Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
React Or Die - Butcher Boy
Seamonsters - The Wedding Present
Songs To Remember - Scritti Politti
Soul Mining - The The
Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout
Strangeways Here We Come - The Smiths
Sulk - Associates
Technique - New Order
The Bends - Radiohead
The Clash - The Clash
The Correct Use Of Soap - Magazine
The Midnight Organ Fight - Frightened Rabbit
Tindersticks - Tindersticks
Vauxhall And I - Morrissey
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Will I Ever Be Inside Of You? - Paul Quinn &n The Independent Group

Stick around for the new guest series starting tomorrow.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MEDIA PLAYER OF THE ROBSTER

Today's contribution gives me a great deal of pleasure as it comes from someone who is a regular contributor to TVV via some very incisive and wonderful comments on most of the daily postings.  Here's what he dropped into my inbox the other day:-

Hi JC 

Been following your wonderful series of random MP3 cuts and have been feeling a little left out if truth be told. Being a rather stubborn old fool who refuses to follow fads and trends, I don't have an MP3 player, or a phone that plays them either. I prefer to listen to stuff in the car and on my home PC which has two desktop hard drives attached (one is a backup, naturally). 

It was while I was backing up at the weekend that I just decided, on a whim, to let one of my MP3 media player software-type thingies make a random choice of tracks from the tens of thousands stored (I wouldn't even like to guess how many I have). I crossed my fingers in the hope I wouldn't be too embarrassed. The results were surprisingly awesome... 

Leadbelly - The Gallis Pole (from Complete Recorded Works 1939-1947) 

Often wrongly labelled as 'blues', Leadbelly was one of America's great folk singlers. While many may claim to know little about him, so many of his songs have become famous for others over the years. This one, for instance, will be familiar to any Led Zeppelin fans. 

Cardiacs - Sleep All Eyes Open (from Guns, 1999) 

Cardiacs are one of those Marmite-type bands, you either love them or hate them. Mrs Robster and I don't see eye-to-eye on this. The very sound of Cardiacs send her into one of her irrational, expletive-ridden tirades. Me on the other hand, well I think Tim Smith is one of the music world's very few true geniuses and Cardiacs put a huge cheesy grin on my face every time I hear them. This track is from their last studio album, though another lies unfinished while Tim recovers from a heart attack and two strokes he suffered a few years back. Sadly, he may never recover enough to finish the record, but I do so hope he does. We need him. God knows how much we really need him. 

Dr. Alimontado - Johnny Was A Baker (from Best Dressed Chicken in Town, 1978) 

I loves me some reggae, especially when the weather's as surprisingly good as it has been round here (south east Wales). I only have one Dr. Alimontado album, but it is a classic and this is one of its highlights. 

Phoenix - Rome (from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009) 

This record was hyped across the length and breadth of the Interweb, music press and all the cool radio stations. So naturally I had to check it out. I thought it was really mediocre, generic electro-indie-pop that hundreds of below-average hipster bands are peddling these days. I rarely delete anything however, hence why it appears here. 

Black Sabbath - Sweet Leaf (from Best Of Black Sabbath, 2000; originally from Master Of Reality, 1971) 

After such a strong start I feared my random playlist would peter out with a whimper, especially when Phoenix came up. So imagine my delight when, to round off, this monster of a track reared its fearful head. Sweet Leaf opened Sabbath's third album Master of Reality which was released when TheRobster was a mere three days old. Sadly, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep was number one at the time...

 Let me know if you want help locating the MP3 files. 

Cheers, Rob (TheRobster)

mp3 : Leadbelly - The Gallis Pole
mp3 : Cardiacs - Sleep All Eyes Open
mp3 : Dr. Alimontado - Johnny Was A Baker
mp3 : Phoenix - Rome
mp3 : Black Sabbath - Sweet Leaf

Rob hasn't been the first to offer to send on the mp3s and with just a couple of exceptions (chiefly as the songs came with the submitted e-mails), I've made it my mission to track down any submitted songs not already in the collection by surfing the web.

In truth, most of the solutions involved converting a track from a youtube version so it wasn't all that difficult but there were some that were a lot trickier and involved digging deep into the recesses of t'intenet or deep into my pockets to purchase the track!!

The Robster's contribution brings an end to the first tranche of shuffle contributions and I think that's me got everyone who got their list in by Sunday 9 June - that's 50 in total.

Tomorrow will see the 50th LP unveiled while the day after will see a new series run for a wee while courtesy of a guest contributor as I'm taking a short break from blogging.

I'm actually flying out to Berllin later today with Mrs Villain - it's a city that neither of us have visited before but it's been on the wish list for ages.  We're there for three nights and then when we get home we're off to the SAY Award presentation at the Barrowlands on Thursday night.

After that I've got some golf and some more music related things to look forward to and enjoy.  When I get back to work on the 24th I'm expecting to be real busy which is why I need to call on the help of a guest contributor for a wee while longer.  All being well, you'll get to read my rubbish again from Wednesday 3rd July....

Until then dear readers......happy listening and please keep tuning in as the 50th LP and guest postings are well worth it. Seriously worth it.....

A FAN'S PLEA TO MORRISSEY

Dear Steven

Your guitarist sidekick from years back is showing how the songs by The Smiths should sound when played live.  Please give him a call so that he can pass on tips to your backing band.

Even better.  Why not have a long chat together and see if you can agree that getting back together for some live shows would be a great idea, not least financially.  To hell with those who would say you're both selling out and that arenas and open-air shows aren't the place to see Morrissey/Marr.  If it works for The Stone Roses and the other Madchester acts that came along in your wake, then why not for you?

With love and respect

JC
aka The Vinyl Villain

mp3 : Johnny Marr - Bigmouth Strikes Again (live on Later)
mp3 : Johnny Marr - How Soon Is Now? (live on Later)

Sigh.

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 63)

By pure coincidence, this week's act in the alphabetical run through of Scottish artists of whose output you'll find at least one single in the vinyl/CD collection has come round to Jazzateers as mentioned just ten days ago and the subject of a current competition.

http://www.thevinylvillain.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/want-to-come-to-jazz-festival-gig-with.html

This is the sole single released by Mk IV of the band that existed in 85/86:-

mp3 : Jazzateers - Pressing On
mp3 : Jazzateers - Spiral

I'm willing to admit that it's not their finest moment......

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS....FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF JONATHAN SARGEANT

I’m knocked out by the awesomeness of this idea and the wonderful tunes that have been featured!

I’m sure you have a bazillion of these lined up from all over the planet but here’s five from Brisbane, Australia. I’m sorry no Go-Betweens magically popped up.

 Here’s the shuffled first five from my dinosaur 80 gig ipod that somehow keeps working

Ray Davies – Quiet Life (from the absolute beginners soundtrack) 
Japan – Swing (Oil on Canvas version)
Guild League – Jet Set, Go!
Mogwai – Christmas Steps
The Church – Life Speeds Up

Love that last track most divinely and I’m glad some more people might get the chance to hear it if this selection makes the cut.

peace,
Jonathan Sargeant

What made this contribution a wee bit more special was that it arrived by complete coincidence the same day as I had scheduled Before Hollywood by The Go Betweens in the 50 LPs rundown. I sent a quick reply to Jonathan and got a cracking reply which I hope he doesn't mind me sharing.....

That IS a coincidence! 

Robert Forster doesn’t live too far away from me. I seem to bump into him often, which has my wife making a case for accusing me of being a stalker. 

We use the same public library and it may have happened that I was tempted to peak over his (tall) shoulder in the queue to see what he was borrowing...We swim laps in the same pool, occasionally.  And we’re often at the same bar...okay I’ll stop now – We live in a small place and my wife is seeming like the reasonable one.

But I don’t like to bug people; we’ve never chatted. Conversations that start with someone saying “I’m your biggest fan” just seem too creepy to me. 

Anyway keep up the great work. I’ve visited the Vinyl Villain daily for many years, found comfort in similar musical tastes and found lots of new music too. 

peace, 

Jonathan Sargeant

I used to be real nervous around musicians that I adore but having the blog has given me the courage to engage them in conversation and found that without exception they've been great folk.  Why not go up to Robert and tell him you've mentioned him in a contribution to a blog managed by a bloke in Scotland who worships the ground he walks upon...as indeed do many of the blog's regular readers.  I think Robert will be quite touched.

Go on Jonathan.....you can do it!!!

mp3 : Ray Davies - Quiet Life
mp3 : Japan - Swing
mp3 : Guild League - Jet Set, Go!
mp3 : Mogwai - Christmas Steps
mp3 : The Church - Life Speeds Up

Happy Listening.

50 GREAT ALBUMS IN MY 50th YEAR (Part 49)

In 1994 and 1995 Blur released two LPs that between them sold almost 2.4 million copies in the UK and turned them into one of them into bona-fide pop stars in their home country.  Smash hit single followed smash hit single and from struggling to fill even the most medium of medium sized venues just a few years previously they were now arena and stadium fillers with an audience that ranged from teenyboppers to serious musos.

It would have been a simple enough thing to churn out more of the same in 1996 except the entire band were miserable. The commercial success had come at the cost of the credibility among the critics and the idea of another tour with loads of screaming and fainting girls in the front rows filled the band with dread.

No new music was released in 1996  - there was no need as even the most mediocre of singles from the LP The Great Escape went Top 10 some eight months later on - and instead time was taken to do something a little different.

Someone else has more or less said it all:-

The Great Escape, for all of its many virtues, painted Blur into a corner and there was only one way out -- to abandon the Britpop that they had instigated by bringing the weird strands that always floated through their music to the surface. 

Blur, the band's sixth LP, may superficially appear to be a break from tradition, but it is a logical progression, highlighting their rich eclecticism and sense of songcraft. Certainly, they are trying for new sonic territory, bringing in shards of white noise, gurgling electronics, raw guitars, and druggy psychedelia, but these are just extensions of previously hidden elements of Blur's music. 

What makes it exceptional is how hard the band tries to reinvent itself within its own framework, and the level of which it succeeds. 

Beetlebum runs through the White Album in the space of five minutes;

M.O.R reinterprets Berlin-era Bowie; 

You're So Great, despite the corny title, is affecting lo-fi from Graham Coxon; 

Country Sad Ballad Man is bizarrely affecting, strangled lo-fi psychedelia; 

Death of a Party is an affecting resignation;

On Your Own is an incredible slice of singalong pop spiked with winding, fluid guitar and synth eruptions; 

Look Inside America cleverly subverts the traditional Blur song, complete with strings. 

Essex Dogs is a six-minute slab of free verse and rattling guitar noise. 

Blur might be self-consciously eclectic, but Blur are at their best when they are trying to live up to their own pretensions, because of Damon Albarn's exceptional sense of songcraft and the band's knack for detailed arrangements that flesh out the songs to their fullest. There might be dark overtones to the record, but the band sounds positively joyous, not only in making noise but wreaking havoc with the expectations of its audience and critics.

That's the allmusic review by Stephen Erlewine and I won't dispute a single word.

And he's done it all without mentioning Song 2 - one of the most instantly recognisable and catchy indie rock songs of the late 20th Century and the one which got them noticed in the USA for the first and only time as their parody of grunge was picked up by the radio stations that had and were still championing grunge!

Blur could have been commercial suicide if the UK radio stations and music press hadn't gotten as thoroughly sick of Britpop at the same time as this LP was recorded.   As it was, many latched on to its contents and hailed the band for having the balls to make the change while at the same time turning their ire on the likes of Oasis for churning out the same-old, same-old.  But it could easily have gone the other way and the album could have been declared as totally unfashionable and sent straight to the bargain bins of record stores up and down the land.

Although it only sold about half of what the previous two records had sold it took the band out of their downward spiral, re-invigorated them and in my view cemented their position in history as one or the best and most important UK rock bands of any generation.

mp3 : Blur - Country Sad Ballad Man
mp3 : Blur - M.O.R.
mp3 : Blur - Death Of A Party
mp3 : Blur - Look Inside America

49 down one to go.  It will come your way on 18 June.......

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF DAVID FROM BRISTOL

Hi

I've been quite inspired by what other people have come up with and have discovered one or two bands I'd never previously heard of. So, thought I'd have a go and this is what came up with while I was walking the dog this morning.

Husky Rescue : Blueberry Tree Pt2
Goldheart Assembly : King of Rome
Belle and Sebastian : Read the Blessed Pages
British Sea Power : Blackout
M. Ward : Me and my Shadow

Bit surprised that out of 11000+ tracks it's all come out as fairly recent stuff.

David from Bristol

Delighted that you were inspired David and thanks for your submission which I reckon will also allow a few folk to discover stuff never heard before alongside some well-kent names.

mp3 : Husky Rescue - Blueberry Tree Pt2
mp3 : Goldheart Assembly  -  King of Rome
mp3 : Belle and Sebastian  -  Read the Blessed Pages
mp3 : British Sea Power - Blackout
mp3 : M. Ward - Me and My Shadow

Happy Listening

A REALLY REALLY SAD SONG

O, Baby blankets and baby shoes,
Baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue.
Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed.
Now I know lightning strikes again
It struck me once, then struck me dead.
My folly grows inside of me.

I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Well, the egg man fell down off his shelf
All the good king's men with all their help
Struggled 'til the end for a shell they couldn't mend.
You know where this will lead,
To hush and rock in the nursery
For the kicking one inside of me.

I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

When the boy was a boy, the girl was a girl
They found each other in a wicked world.
Strong in some respects, but she couldn't stand for the way he begged and gave in.
Pride is for men;
Young girls should run and hide instead
Risk the game by taking dares with "yes".

Eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Walk for two? I'm stumbling
Breathe for two? I can't breathe
Five months, how it grows
Five months now, I begin to show

So bloody catchy and indie-dance like yet one of the saddest and most poignant lyrics ever penned.  The line about the dream child in the mother's head turning into a nightmare just sends shivers up my spine.

mp3 : 10,000 Maniacs - Eat For Two

Released in the UK as a 4-track EP on 7" vinyl in 1989, the other songs were all covers of varying quality:-

mp3 : 10,000 Maniacs - Wildwood Flower
mp3 : 10,000 Maniacs - Don't Call Us
mp3 : 10,000 Maniacs - From The Time You Say Goodbye

The first track was first made famous by the Carter Family in the 1920s and is regarded as one of the great bluegrass/folk songs of the era.

The third track was made famous by Vera Lynn in the early 1950s and is also known as The Parting Song.

Despite my best efforts using t'internet, I've drawn a blank on the middle track which was composed by Graham Blanch/Arwin Thomas.

Any info dear readers?

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF BHW

bhw said...

Mine came up as this: 

1) Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (Motown compilation) 
2) Nick Cave - Messiah Ward (Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus) 
3) Gypsy Woman - Jimi Hendrix (Woodstock bootlegs) (TBH, this isn't a very good version, I forwarded through it) 
4)Legs - PJ Harvey (Rid of Me) 
5) Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin (Remasters) 

This is out of 4645 tracks on my 10 year old ipod Would have liked some more funky stuff in there as that's what I'm listening to at the moment, but still - PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, and my favourite Led Zeppelin track, not bad! 

And while I was typing this, That Petrol Emotion came up as track 7, not listened to Babble in ages. 

1:02 am, April 18, 2013

Again....not for the first time, a bunch of stuff that is new to TVV mixed in with some perenial faves.  Cheers bhw

mp3 : Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Messiah Ward
mp3 : Jimi Henrix - Gypsy Woman 
mp3 : PJ Harvey - Legs
mp3 : Led Zepellin - Dazed and Confused

Happy Listening (get in quick before any DMCA notice)

A GREAT LOST SINGLE FROM THE 80s

The Ruts debut 45 In A Rut  in January 1979 brought them to the attention of both John Peel and Richard Branson, with the former offering radio sessions and the latter signing them to his records label.

The next two singles Babylon's Burning and Something That I Said were hits and got them onto Top Of The Pops. The band became known for having a political slant to their recordings, especially after the release of Jah War in September 1979 thanks to its attack on the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group.  Debut LP The Crack was also high up on many music critics lists at the end of 1979.

But just as they threatened to become one of the great post-punk outfits, The Ruts hit major problems with leader singer Malcolm Owen struggling with a heroin addiction.  Concerts were arranged but cancelled meaning they couldn't build on the next chart success, Staring At The Rude Boys.  Once work was complete on the next proposed single, The Ruts decided the best thing to do was to fire Malcolm Owen in an effort to get him to face up to his problems.

After a short spell, he was allowed to rejoin the band and plans were hatched for a second LP and a potential assault on the USA - plans that were shelved when, in July 1980, Malcolm Owen died at his parents home from an overdose.  He was 26 years old.

This, their final single as The Ruts, was released some six years later but with the death of the singer still casting a long and dark shadow, it received next to no radio play and the band nor the label did much in the way of promotion:-

mp3 : The Ruts - West One (Shine On Me)

It's a real shame as it is a cracking bit of music with one of the few uses of a saxophone that I can tolerate.

The b-side is a strange one, being a lighthearted mini-pastiche of their debut album, recorded in a number of musical styles.

mp3 : The Ruts - The Crack

The single reached #43 in the UK singles chart.

The Ruts soldiered on as Ruts DC for three more years but without much success.  It's very much a 'what if.....' story.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF DAVID

This, dear readers, is a cracking story from someone who has been a long-time reader and contributor via the comments section.  This one came in via e-mail:-

Jim, 

Hope you’re well. 

Sometimes I think the software that generates the shuffle on the iPod taps in to how I’m feeling, as I’m pleasantly surprised by a brilliant track, but then I remember that I actually have quite a strict quality control over what goes on it in the first place. Never used to. For a long time, all sorts of stuff would come on and I would wonder how it ever got there in the first place. 

This came to head about eighteen months ago, when I decided that the only thing to do was listen to everything that I had, from start to finish. Partly as I felt I was missing out on a lot, and partly to weed out the crap. So for just over a year, I abandoned shuffle, and listened to all 8,000 or so songs, from A to Z. From AM 180 by Grandaddy, to Zombie Dance by the Cramps. (Actually, 88 Lines About 44 Women by The Nails is the very final song, as it runs through titles with numbers after it gets to Z). 

The rule that I gave myself was that each track had to be listened to in alphabetical order, and in it’s entirety, and if I decided that I could cope without ever hearing it again, it would get deleted from my hard drive. Even so, I was surprised however, how infrequently that actually happened.

It’s an interesting way of listening to music. Often a track would come on, by The Smiths for instance, followed by a live version of the same, and then a cover version, so you get to hear different points of view of the same song one after the other. 

Obviously,as new albums were bought and added I’d listen to them, then go back to the alphabet. Overall, it took about fourteen months, as I only tend to listen to the iPod when I’m out and about. 

Seriously thinking of starting from scratch again though. For the time being, have just synced and shuffled, and here’s the first five.

El Diablo En El Ojo (Live in Lisbon) – Tindersticks. A brilliant live version. 

Hellhole Ratrace – Girls. Flawed genius Christopher Owens may have piloted Girls into the side of a mountain, but not before amassing an astounding body of work. Saw them supporting Stephen Malkmus a couple of years ago. It was like watching Big Star backed by the Ronettes. When they went off stage, my friend and I turned to each other, both agreeing that Malkmus wasn’t going to top that. We left him to it and went to the pub. 

Song For Sunshine – Belle and Sebastian. The Life Pursuit – Stuart Murdoch’s Pet Sounds. Discuss.

Times Can Change – Paul Haig – Chain was the first CD I ever bought (Not the first record. That honour goes to Chicory Tip) 

Cry One More Time – Gram Parsons. Could do without the Lisa Simpson saxophone. Have always regarded it as the most pointless of instruments.

Cheers, 
David 

Brilliant tale.  I have tried a couple of times to do what David did but found myself having to seek out a specific song to match my mood at a particular moment and then losing the place where I was.  Also,. like David would find myself wanting to listen to new stuff and that would also get in the way.  I'm hugely impressed at him getting through 8000 songs like that.  Top stuff amigo......

And as for your five random songs....soooooo with you on the Tindersticks version being brilliant.   As for The Life Pursuit being SM's Pet Sounds......here's a confession.......I've never listened to that particular Beach Boys LP....am aware of some of the songs but I've never ever wanted to own a copy of the record despite all the critical praise it has received over the years.

mp3 : Tindersticks - El Diablo En El Ojo (live in Lisbon)
mp3 : Girls - Hellhole Ratrace
mp3 : Belle & Sebastian - Song For Sunshine
mp3 : Paul Haig - Times Can Change
mp3 : Gram Parsons - Cry One More Time

Happy Listening

50 GREAT ALBUMS IN MY 50TH YEAR (Part 48)

This is a very late addition to the list.

Not that The Twilight Sad would be absent from the rundown, but I really have had enormous problems deciding which of their 3 studio LPs to go with.  In the end, and after a huge amount of agonising, it's their most recent, No One Can Ever Know, from 2012 and one of the ten shortlisted for the forthcoming Scottish Album of the Year award being announced on 20 June.  (www.sayaward.com)

When I first played this album to death on its release some 16 months ago I wasn't sure if it was their best as two of the tracks in the middle of the record  - Don't Look At Me and Not Sleeping - didn't quite match up to the opening five or closing two tines. And although I still think they are the two weakest tracks on the LP all that means is that other seven are genuine stand-outs which tower over most of the music that was released by anyone in 2012.

It would be disingenuous to claim that the tunes on this record are ground-breaking, but to my ears what you get is a something which takes best elements of Joy Division, Radiohead, Magazine and The Cure to which has been added the most modern of production techniques thus delivering something quite wondrous and mind-blowing - even more so in the live setting in which The Twilight Sad particularly excel.

One of the other things that most appeals to me about this LP is how the band made an incredible effort to move away from the formula that had brought them their initial success to the extent that a number of critics and long-time fans cried foul.  I've always hated that inverted snobbery puts singers or bands into pigeon-holes and demands they never deviate from the sounds that made them so hip.  On this record, the crashing and bruising guitars are gone to be replaced by a less harsh electronic sound that is easier on the ears which the band knew would lead to a backlash, with singer James Graham saying at the time "We never want to remake the same record just because it's pleased some people."

All credit to the band for daring to be different and not resting on their laurels.  I'm old enough to remember that John Lydon was savaged when he unveiled PiL as it was a sound totally removed from the noise he had been making with The Sex Pistols.  A few years later and he was rightly being hailed as a musical genius....he had moved on and then his audience caught up with him.  So I reckon it will prove to be with The Twilight Sad, one of the most exciting bands to emerge in the 21st Century - and it makes me so proud that they are from my small corner of the planet.

mp3 : The Twilight Sad - Alphabet
mp3 : The Twilight Sad - Sick
mp3 : The Twilight Sad - Kill It In The Morning

Incidentally, although it has reached the shortlist for SAY 2013, I'm not sure No One Can Ever Know will take the spoils although it would be my choice to do so.   I did predict Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat would win last year (and rightly so).  This time I think it could be Admiral Fallow......

Happy Listening

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF MR PRIME

Dear JC,

I’ve been a regular, anonymous reader of your blog for a couple of years now without ever feeling the need to contribute (after all it’s your thoughts I tune in for!) but I have to say this latest series of random playlists you’ve been posting has really piqued my imagination. I like the idea that it’s the very randomness of the selection that makes you reflect on your listening habits in a different way.

Anyway, I decided to give it a go on a conveniently timed bus ride into Nottingham last night (I was off to a free showing of ‘Westworld’ at the Contemporary so I was obviously open to all and any form of entertainment!) To be honest I’ve never previously utilised the shuffle function on my ipod and it took me a few minutes to work out how to turn it on (I formerly used a little 16-Gig Sony Walkman for mobile listening that I had permanently set that way – kind of like a juke-box – but I’ve always thought of the ipod as more of a convenient way to carry round my whole record collection and I tend to listen to full albums as if I was picking them off the shelf; not that they all fit anymore…!)

So, I’ve got a ‘classic’ 160GB Ipod with, as of yesterday, 26,737 tracks on it and, if you are at all interested, these were the first five it threw out at me yesterday evening:

‘Window Lights’ – The Sea and Cake

A good start. I presumed it was Tortoise until I checked the display but I guess it’s near enough. It’s from John McEntire’s soundtrack to ‘Reach The Rock’ which I bought when it came out in the late 90’s on the back of the first two Tortoise albums that I really liked. I listened to it plenty at the time but probably haven’t since, though I’m certainly going to now at some point today!

‘36D’ – the Beautiful South

From the ‘Carry On Up The Charts’ compilation. A charity shop purchase; I’ve never really been a fan, though I like odd songs of theirs (not particularly this one, mind…)

‘Spiders and Flies’ – Mercury Rev

 This was nice, even if I thought it was Neil Young to begin with! From ‘All is Dream’, the less-good follow-up to ‘Deserter’s Songs’, though it does have ‘The Dark Is Rising’ on it which is, as my son would have it, ‘a quality tune.’

‘The Day You Arrive’ – The French

From ‘Local Converation’, the only album by Darren Hayman’s weirdo electro project (and a bugger to google, trust me!) It was kind of a stop gap between his group Hefner splitting up and the start of his solo work proper. If this was any other kind of ‘Top Five’ list I was compiling DH is the only character who might otherwise have appeared, though certainly not in this guise!

‘Woe Is Love My Dear’ – Bert Jansch

Now this I wasn’t expecting. Probably the best song of the five, though. From ‘Nicola’, which I’m also going to listen to again today.

Overall, it’s not a bad selection, if certainly not what I’d have expected (it took another 10 or so songs to get a bit of decent indie music (Kid Canaveral, still ‘modern’ rather than ‘vintage’),a couple more for some proper old-school punk rock (the Effigies) and I was up past twenty tracks plus before I got any feral techno…!

Certainly if it was the playlist to a radio show I’d keep on listening. I’m even thinking I might even put one day a week aside as a ‘shuffle’ day from now on.

Cheers!

Ps

 I don't blog, or anything, (haven't got the discipline) but there are some more random thoughts on the collection of tapes I've been excavating recently over on my blipfoto journal if you're at all interested

(it's at www.blipfoto.com/misterprime - go to the 'about' link and look at pictures tagged 'tapeclub')


Now that's what I call a quality contribution.

I did ask that if anyone was thinking of contributing to play by the rules and go with the first five that come up, even if they do leave you bewildered, bemused and even embarrassed, so good on you for sticking wuth them.

Incidentally, for what it's worth, I quite like some of the songs The Beautiful South have released over the years but consider 36D to be a bit of a a stinker.....

mp3 : The Sea and Cake - Window Lights
mp3 : The Beautiful South - 36D
mp3 : Mercury Rev - Spiders And Flies
mp3 : The French - The Day You Arrive
mp3 : Bert Jansch - Woe Is My Love Dear

Cheers Mr Prime - you're a class act.  Oh and click here for the link mentioned in the contribution.

A MAN WITH EXQUISITE TASTE.....

The handsome chap in the photo above is Dirk, the brains behind the wonderful blog Sexy Loser.

Dirk is nearing his 45th birthday and for the past few months has been doing a rundown of his favourite singles of all time thanks to his own version of the 45 45s at 45 series.  He hasn't always gone for the a-side of the piece of 7" plastic - and the fact that it is always a vinyl record and an occasional b-side is what makes his rundown particularly entertaining and different.

As he says:-

The series is in no particular ranking, although my personal highlights will by and large crop up towards the end of the series. Also I only feature records which I physically own myself, means surely better ones have been released and would have been included, but, alas, I don't own them.

And if you look at what's been featured so far, you'll see just how exquisite his music taste is:-

The Mighty Wah! - Come Back
Lemonheads - Luka
Fad Gadget - Back To Nature
Babybird - Goodnight
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Oliver's Army
Metal Mike - I'm A Lonesome Fugitive
The Notsensibles - I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher
Bunker Hill with Link Reay and The Raymen - The Girl Can't Dance
The Glass Torpedoes - Morning, Noon and Night
Faces - Pool Hall Richard
The Specials - Do Nothing
The Eggs - Government Administrator
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
The Clash - Pressure Drop
July 14th - Me and My Gun
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Princess Kaiulani - Alamuana Fade Away
The Rezillos - I Can't Stand My Baby
Screaming Tribesmen - Igloo
Marabar Caves - Seeds That Never Grew
Jilted John - Jilted John
Flophouse - Right Now
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
King Short Shirt - Nobody Go Run Me
Dawn Chorus & The Blue Tits - Teenage Kicks
I'm Sparatcus - Donna Is Distressed
The Smiths - Jeane
The Quads - Must Be Thousands
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - In The Ghetto
Leyton Buzzards - Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees
The Jam - Town Called Malice
Link Wray & The Raymen - Batman Theme
The Raymen - Buzzsaw Baby of the Hollywood Hills
The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
Luddites - Doppelganger
Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance
New Order - Ceremony
The Pete Best Beatles - Alamein Train
Terry & Gerry - Wait Until You're Older
Mo Ho Bish O Pi - Hear The Air
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
The Indelicates - We Hate The Kids

43 down and 2 to go......having followed Dirk closely for a long time I've a funny feeling I know what they are.....and if I'm right they will be wonderful additions to a really superb and varied choice of music.  Of those on his list so far, I knew only about a one-third but I've downloaded all those that were new to me and discovering some cracking new stuff.

And if you go over to Sexy Loser, you'll find the links to all the songs are still there - so grab them while you can.

Here's a couple of things Dirk has said about the songs:-

Good day to you, my beauties, 

The Marabar Caves are fictional caves in the novel 'A Passage to India' and the film of the same name. The caves are based on the real life Barabar Caves located in the Jehanabad District of Bihar, India. They serve as an important plot location and motif in the novel. 

Above information is of course absolutely essential for the millions of fine art connaisseurs amongst you, those who visit Sexyloser just for the top notch lyrical and/or cinematic recensions which appear here frequently. For the rest of you, i.e. for all the other five readers, the Marabar Caves might be interesting in a different context, at least they should, because they're my choice for today and a fine one at that. Your number twenty, friends, so please enjoy a bit of psychedelic 60's garage revival:

mp3 : Marabar Caves - Seeds That Never Grew

Again, a band I can't tell you anything about at all. 

As far as I know they're British and the track above is just the 7"'s B-Side .... in comparison you can easily forget about the A- Side ('Sally's Place') though. 

I must admit I am by now myself really fed up with my inability to provide you with at least a bit of information about the records I chose or the bands that made them, but the thing is you see, most of them I heard on Peel, bought them and then by and large none of them turned out to be pretty successful .... and that obviously results in a significant lack of information in the internet these days. 

Perhaps I should go for something more frequently known for the rest of this rundown, something easy, you know .... The Beatles 'Help' for example .... I'm sure I could find tons of information for you about that!

His gentle self-deprecation is Middleton-esque in its genius!!

And how about this......

Good morning my lovelies,

Another killer tune for you today, this time from Wales. You might not know the band, which is a real shame, because they are extraordinarily good, at least on this single. You might know the outfit though they turned into after they quit: The International Karate Plus.

But before that they were Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi, "as eclectic as their name is confusing" the NME once said. And I won't argue, because their fourth single is one of my most treasured items: an outstanding record indeed which makes me shout along with it every time I hear it at immense volume.

Your number forty, darlings. Enjoy:

mp3 : Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi - Hear The Air

Now, wasn't that simply awesome??!! 

Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi, by the way, included Martin Bimrose on guitar, Richard Arnold on drums and Mike Carter on bass. 

The band's name is derived from Moho bishopi, the scientific name of the Moloka‘i ‘Ō‘ō, an extinct bird known to have lived in Hawaii. Martin Bimrose saw an article about the bird in the Readers Digest whilst waiting at the dentists. He thought that with some imaginative punctuation, "the name could be as mad as he is". 

As well it might be ...

One of these days, I'm going to ensure that I meet Dirk in the flesh.   I think we could have a great drunken night together reminiscing about music.

Enjoy!!

SATURDAY'S SCOTTISH SINGLE (Part 62)

From wiki:-

A native of Fife, James Yorkston was an integral early member of the Fence Collective whose reach across contemporary music continues to lengthen: King Creosote, The Aliens, KT Tunstall, The Beta Band and The Pictish Trail. Yorkston is primarily a singer-songwriter, although he also tackles a variety of traditional songs, learned from singers such as Anne Briggs, Dick Gaughan, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy, Lal Waterson, John Strachan, and Adrian Crowley. His quoted main influences are Anne Briggs, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Michael Hurley, Can and the Malagasy D'Gary. 

Yorkston started out as bassist for punk band Miraclehead, which morphed into the band Huckleberry, who recorded a number of independently released records. Yorkston's solo career began when John Peel played a demo of his "Moving Up Country, Roaring the Gospel", proclaiming it had the "song title of the year, no doubt". This led to Bad Jazz Records scrambling for Yorkston's details and releasing that track as Yorkston's debut 7" under the name "J. Wright Presents".

At this time Yorkston had started to play solo gigs in Edinburgh — his debut supporting Bert Jansch in the Café Royal. Seeking more shows, Yorkston sent a copy of the single to John Martyn, asking Martyn for a support slot on his forthcoming Edinburgh date, and John Martyn responded by offering Yorkston all 27 dates on his UK and Ireland tour. While on this tour, Yorkston was seen by Laurence Bell of Domino Records, who was so impressed he had a recording contract sent to Yorkston's lawyer the following week.[citation needed] Subsequently he signed to Domino Records, recording music with a number of friends and associates credited as "The Athletes" on his records. Yorkston recorded and co-produced his debut album for Domino (Moving Up Country), alongside Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, which became Rough Trade Record Shops Album of the Year for 2002.

And from that album comes one of the loveliest bits of music in my entire music collection:-

mp3 : James Yorkston & The Athletes - St Patrick

I make no apologies that this isn't the first time I've featured the song on TVV.

Here's the other bits of music that found their way onto the CD single:-

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

Sigh.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF ANON (6)

Anonymous said...

Stiff little fingers- Two guitar clash 
REM- Strange 
Martin Stephenson -Daffodils
Teenage fanclub-Planets 
Waterboys- man is in love. 

Iphone3 754 songs 

6:28 pm, April 25, 2013

Just a wee word to say that Planets is one of my favourite Teenage Fanclub songs......

mp3 : Stiff Little Fingers- Two Guitars Clash
mp3 : R.E.M.- Strange
mp3 : Martin Stephenson -Daffodils
mp3 : Teenage Fanclub - Planets
mp3 : The Waterboys - A Man Is In Love

Happy Listening

AN INCREDIBLY GOOD DANCE TRACK

Dismissed by many at the time as a lightweight effort thanks to it having an identical riff to Taxman by The Beatles, I think it's time to reconsider the merits of Start! . It's a song I've listened to hundreds of times since its release in 1980 but I hadn't really realised until the other day when it came up on shuffle on the i-phone just how well it works as a dance track.

Driven along for the most part at a frenetic pace by the bass of Bruce Foxton and drums of Rick Butler, it also has a fantastic short burst of lead guitar solo from Paul Weller that is impossible to not to throw shapes to. Oh and there's also a couple of bits where it slows down a touch which is essential nowadays for us near 50-somethings who aren't as fit as we once were but won't dare admit that when it comes to the indie-disco dance floor.....

mp3 : The Jam - Start!

I was sure this had debuted at #1 in the UK singles chart but upon checking I learned it was a #3 entry in its first week of release, was a non-mover the following week and then hit the #1 spot for what was just the second time for The Jam....which indicates this was a song which appealed way beyond the fan base as it generated enough sales over an extended period to maintain a position at the high end of the singles chart.

The mp3 today is a straight lift from the single. It's a bit shorter and has a different (and superior) mix compared to the version which appears on the LP Sound Affects.

Oh there was also a belter of a b-side, one that would probably have been a hit single of its own making:-

mp3 : The Jam - Liza Radley

 Here's footage of a very fine performance of Start! on American telly:-


Happy Listening

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS - FROM THE MP3 PLAYER OF TIM BURROWS

Hi

I got the train today from Carlisle down to London, as I do most weeks, returning home from work & thought I'd turn shuffle mode on & play your party game...

17 Seconds - Cowboy Junkies. Not my favourite of their covers but I love Margot Timmins' voice.

Four-Alarm Fire in Lovers' Lane - Virgin-Whore Complex. Found this on a blog a few years ago, still rate it.

Pieces - Field Music. Thanks BBC 6 Music.

Train Song - Tom Waits. Now that's what I call Serendipity.

Summer's Cauldron - XTC. A band that could do no wrong.

Thanks for the blog & the music- hope you can use this.

Tim

Cheers Tim.  And here's me thinking that folk would be more likely be returning to Carlisle from London after work.....hope the West Coast Main Line behaves itself all summer.

mp3 : Cowboy Junkies - 17 Seconds
mp3 : Virgin Whore Complex - Four-Alarm in Lovers' Lane
mp3 : Field Music - Pieces
mp3 : Tom Waits - Train Song
mp3 : XTC - Summer's Cauldron

Happy Listening.

50 GREAT ALBUMS IN MY 50th YEAR (Part 47)

For anyone not familiar with the above sleeve who can't quite make out the tiny writing about halfway up on the right hand side, today's LP is Sulk by Associates from 1982. It was the band's third release in as in as many years (albeit one of the previous LPs had simply brought together singles and b-sides) but was the first to bring them commercial success to match the critical acclaim of the earlier releases.

My first exposure to the band came via a friend passing me copies of their singles and earlier material on a cassette tape and initally it was the pulsing weird electronica of the likes of Transport to Central, White Car In Germany and Tell Me Easter's On Friday that grabbed my attention.  But gradually my ears attuned themselves to the strange vocals that accompanied the music and allowed me to fully 'get' what Associates were all about.

There was no way however, that I thought they'd ever be a chart band which would attracted a teenybop following such as happened in 1981.  Sure, both boys were handsome and photogenic, particularly frontman Billy Mackenzie and thanks to them being on WEA Records they had a big promo/marketing arm there to push them along.  But these boys were just too weird to be pop stars weren't they?

The stunning success of the singles Party Fears Two and Club Country changed everything.  Looking back there's a big hint that this was an unexpected development all round - neither single had a promo made to support the release in an era when this was just about the first thing any record label, and not just a major like WEA, considered when planning the release of a 45.

I mentioned in a previous posting in this series that the inclusion of a truly stunning song can often make the rest of an album seem tame or even mediocre in comparison.  But there's no chance of Party Fears Two having that impact or effect on Sulk as all ten tracks really are something very special.

I know the LP was given a totally different tracklisting upon release in the USA - three of the tracks on the UK release were omitted and replaced with songs which had been singles, so what follows might not make sense to readers from that part of the world.

Rather unusually, Side A is devoid of the hit singles - indeed it is a side of an LP that goes out of its way to be often as far removed as possible from the jauntiness and joy of the music which had got the band radio airplay, appearances on Top of the Pops and those afore-mentioned Top 20 hits.

Having said that, it opens with an upbeat and incredibly catchy instrumental in Arrogance Gave Him Up that I can recall being a staple on the dancefloor of at least one alternative Glasgow nightclub.  After that, the run of No, Bap De La Bap, Gloomy Sunday and Nude Spoons are as astonishing a run of music as you can ever hope to hear as Alan Rankine demonstrates that top-quality electronica could be made without it sounding rinky-dinky, light, inconsequential  and disposable.

Thankfully Sulk came with a lyric sheet as there's no way that you'd have worked out what the hell Billy was singing.  And it wasn't that you couldn't make out the words a la Elizabeth Fraser/Cocteau Twins, it was more like realising all the words on their own make sense but in the order sung by Billy seem either nonsensical or inspired. Or both.

Oh and the version of Gloomy Sunday, one of the most covered songs of all time, is surely among the best there is....

Side B opens with Skipping and It's Better This Way - two of the best bits of music the band would ever lay down and closes with the hit singles and ultimately with an instrumental which would later be extended and turned into a hit single together.

Sulk is a work of genius.  Actually it's the work of two geniuses.

It's a work that veers all over the place and while it will often be labelled in with many other synth-led LPs of the era, it is nothing like those of Japan, Human League, Simple Minds, Ultravox or the rest of the bands who cracked the charts on a regular basis.  The vocals are often unworldly going from a low and creepy moan to the high falsetto of a 10-year old choir boy in the space of seconds.

Sulk has songs that will have you leaping to the dance floor and songs that will have you cowering behind the couch in fear. The production is outlandish and at times stretched to breaking point but never ever snaps into overwrought pomp and pomposity.  It's a record which hasn't dated....indeed if anything it has got better with age. It's an album that could only have been made in the 80s as only at that point in time could the music industry have really indulged the artistes to the extent they did.  And there's no way that Billy and Alan would have become pop stars in the 21st Century as their essential rough edges would have smoothed down to make them mundane and mediocre.

Sulk, dear readers, is an LP genuinely like no other.

I'm guessing you know the singles, so try these for size:-

mp3 : Associates - Arrogance Gave Him Up
mp3 : Associates - Gloomy Sunday
mp3 : Associates - Nude Spoons
mp3 : Associates - Skipping
mp3 : Associates - It's Better This Way

C'est Magnifique.

WANT TO COME TO A JAZZ FESTIVAL GIG WITH ME?

Wait.....come back.....it's not as bad as it sounds.  In fact, the gig could well end up being the event of the year as far as I'm concerned.....

The 2013 Glasgow International Jazz Festival runs from 26-30 June.  Years ago, it used to be a grand affair attracting all sorts of big names to major venues over something like a 10-day period, but a lack of resources and dwindling sponsorship has seen it really scale back over the past decade.

Jazz is a form of music I have no inclination for at all and I'd normally show no interest at all in any of the gigs at the 2013 Festival except that this is happening on Thursday 27 June at Stereo:-

Signed by the legendary Postcard Records, and managed by the label boss Alan Horne, Jazzateers debut 1983 LP “Rough 46” was released 30 years ago on Rough Trade. The album was critically acclaimed but never performed live. The band dispersed (perversely just as media interest was at its most fervid), until reforming now, for one night only. ‘Rough 46′ will be reissued as a redux / deluxe vinyl package by The Creeping Bent Organisation later in the year. One of Jazzateers’ main inspirations Vic Godard will open the evening as special guest, performing with members from former Postcard label-mates the Independent Group, playing a set of jazz standards plus a few surprises.

Technically, the story that appears in the Jazz Festival programme isn't 100% accuarate but why quibble when the fact is that the band are reforming for one night AND some of the greatest musicians ever to come out of Glasgow will also be on stage as part of the support act.

It's all quite unbelievable in many ways.

The real Jazzateers story can be ascertained from the way there were ever-changing line-ups:-

JAZZATEERS 1 (1980-1981)

Alison Gourlay (vocals)
Ian Burgoyne (guitar)
Keith Band (bass)
Colin Auld (drums)

Jazzateers 1 signed to Postcard and were managed by Alan Horne. Several tracks were recorded for singles and a debut album,  Some tracks were produced by Edwyn Collins, including a version of Donna Summers' 'Wasted' which was scheduled to be a Postcard single. Another (unreleased) version of Wasted was produced by Pete Bellote.


JAZZATEERS 2 (1982)

Paul Quinn (vocals)
Dee Rutkowski (vocals)
Louise Rutkowski (vocals)
Ian Burgoyne (guitar, vocals)
Keith Band (bass)
Colin Auld (drums)

Jazzateers 2 recorded an album called Lee produced by Alan Horne which was due to be released on Postcard - it's still unreleased. At this point Alan Horne decided to reposition the group (Quinn, Burgoyne, Band, Auld) and presented them to major labels. They were renamed Bourgie Bourgie and recorded several demos. Eventually Horne decided that Quinn should embark on a solo career and they both moved to London to try and get a deal.

JAZZATEERS 3 (1983)

Grahame Skinner (vocals)
Ian Burgoyne (guitar)
Keith Band (bass)
Colin Auld (drums)

 Jazzateers 3 reconfigured with Grahame Skinner on vocals and signed to Rough Trade. Label mogul Geoff Travis had signed them on the basis of the tracks he had heard that the Jazzateers had previously recorded for Postcard. However Jazzateers 3 recorded and delivered an album to Rough Trade that sounded more like the New York Dolls... Travis wasn't too impressed.

Show Me The Door / 16 Reasons was released as a single swiftly followed by the eponymously titled album, which received excellent reviews. Shortly afterwards Paul Quinn split from Alan Horne and returned to Glasgow from London, and rejoined Band, Burgoyne and Auld. At this point they were joined by Mick Slaven on lead guitar and reverted to the name Bourgie Bourgie, whilst Skinner started a new group with Douglas MacIntyre called White Savages.

The Jazzateers had been booked to appear on a UK television show The Switch on back of the press acclaim the group were getting for their Rough Trade album. However, instead they did the Switch as Bourgie Bourgie (performing Show Me The Door and 16 Reasons), and shortly afterwards were being courted by every major label in the UK. Bourgie Bourgie eventually signed to MCA (with Kenny MacDonald replacing Colin Auld on drums) and released two singles, Breaking Point and Careless, while an album was recorded (unreleased). Paul Quinn left Bourgie Bourgie and rejoined Alan Horne at his new Swamplands label  releasing a couple of singles in tow with Edwyn Collins.

JAZZATEERS 4 (1985-1986)

Matthew Wilcox (vocals)
Ian Burgoyne (guitar, keyboards)
Keith Band (bass)
Mick Slaven (guitar)
Douglas MacIntyre (guitar)
Stephen Lironi (drums, keyboards)

Jazzateers 4 released a single called Pressing On for the Stampede label. An album  - Blood Is Sweeter Than Honey - was recorded but predictably not released. The group felt tired and burned, even changing their name briefly to Wild Angels in an attempt to shake off the past. Eventually, after a shambolic gig where a broken bass string resulted in a dreadful version of Garageland by The Clash, the group gave up the ghost and walked off stage to mass indifference.

It's Jazzateers 3 who are reforming for the gig on 27 June and that alone would make this a very special night.  The fact that members of the legendary Independent Group will be on stage with the equally legendary Vic Godard makes this a night that just cannot be missed.

So .....do you fancy it???

The thing is....I have two extra tickets which I'm giving away to one lucky TVV reader.  Actually, the tickets are courtesy of my dear friend Jacques the Kipper who, having bought them the second they were made available only later discovered that he has to be at an airport many miles from Glasgow at ungodly hour the next day as he and has family go on a well-earned holiday to somewhere nice and sunny. He's heartbroken to miss out but is consoled by the fact that he knows the tickets will go to a good home courtesy of this blog.

All you have to do is drop me an email to : thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk with the answer to a very simple question....

"Which two individuals were part of Jazzateers 1-4 inclusive?"

All correct answers received by Friday 21 June will be entered into a draw with one lucky person getting both tickets.  I'll even throw in a pre-gig drink at the bar as I'm going along with Aldo (who stands a very good chance of being the youngest non-family member at the gig).

mp3 : Jazzateers - Show Me The Door
mp3 : Jazzateers - Sixteen Reasons

Oh and here's the footage of the same songs referred to earlier.....



Good luck one and all.

PS : No mix thingy tonight....I was wanting to give the Jazzateers competition some prominence.