by Popty Ping Records
I was 16 in 1992, the age when everything seems to change for a teenage boy.
It was a year of odd times, at least with regards to growing up. I lost my virginity, got served a pint in the pub for the first time, went to my first gig. I somehow scraped through my GCSE’s, entered sixth form and began the process of failing my A levels. My reading literature changed from Amiga User to the NME, I fell in love with Gaby Roslin on the Big Breakfast, and secretly stayed up late to see Jennifer Ehle get her boobs out in the Camomile Lawn. Thankfully it was to be the year I went on holiday with my parents for the last time.
1992 was the year the nineties finally seemed to get going, thanks to Kurt Cobain, grunge was at its height and people were discovering guitars once more and the farcical events with the Happy Mondays in Barbados finally brought Manchester, dance and the initial love affair with ecstacy to a lull. And so, this is was what you would have found in my tape deck :
The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Evan Dando’s masterpiece album, of which this single was always the highlight to me. Every sixth former had this in their walkman, or their 1.0 litre 1984 Ford Fiesta tape player. I had a massive crush on Juliana Hatfield (secretly I still do), I’ve seen him play this album three times and it still never bores me, simply a lovely little song, and before drugs began to take their toll, which it would seem Dando’s output and creative tendancies never really recovered from.
Manic Street Preachers - Little Baby Nothing
Generation Terrorists sounds like it’s been recorded in a shed, is far, far too long and has way too much filler. However this single remains utterly fantastic. They wanted Kylie to sing it, they ended up with Traci Lords the porn star. Jacqui and Carrie Shampoo feature in the video, and the song contains one of the band's finest ever lyrical snippets ("Rock 'n' roll is our epiphany. Culture, alienation, boredom and despair").
Senseless Things - Homophobic Asshole
Discovering the NME in 1992 exposed me to the word homophobia for the first time. In those days homosexuality was still significantly less open and acceptable then it is today. Back then the NME was far more political and controversial then the mainstream major label tainted remnant you can still buy in WH Smiths today. Steven Wells was the propelling force behind a lot that activisim, and this four minutes of pop punk is a brilliant example of raising anti homophobia issues. I seem to recall the video features everyone from John Peel to Boy George in a pro homosexuality view. The Senseless Things went on to soundtrack the next two years for me, The Things' Mark Keds wrote most of the Libertines' Can’t Stand Me Now, sadly his involvement with Doherty also brought about a heroin habit he too sadly cannot seem to shake. It would be nice to see him healthy and performing once more.
Sugar - The Act We Act
Sadly these days everything associated with Creation Records is overshadowed, possibly tainted even by the Oasis brand. But way before the Burnage boys knocked everyone for six, McGee and his cohorts were already signing quality band after quality band. Clearly everyone knows about Teenage Fanclub and Primal Scream, but these days Sugar seem to be quietly forgotten. Licensing Bob Mould’s post-Husker Du outfit Sugar for a UK release was a wise move, and NME voted this the album of 1992 in their end of year polls. A truly fantastic album, and possibly the perfect mix between pop and grunge, I never ever get sick of it, even to this day 19 years later. I went to see them once, downstairs in the Newcastle Uni student union, sadly they were truly awful. Shame really. If popty-ping ever sign anything like this I’d be the proudest failed record label boss in the world.
Spiritualized - Run
I was born and grew up in Rugby, and as a child remember Spacemen 3 posters plastered all across the town. My dad taught Jason Pierce, and my mum and gran bought their wool from Websters, Sonic Boom’s family wool store in Dunchurch. So when Spiritualized produced their first album at the same time as I discovered the NME, my love of Spiritualized was born, made more so my father's acknowledgement that Pierce has become his most successful ever former student (even last year Dad was impressed to see an interview with Jason in the Guardian). Lazer Guided Melodies is a beautiful album, highly rated as a post E comedown soundtrack, and at the time was considered ambient. NME reckoned it no. 72 in the greatest albums ever released, and still nearly 20 years later appears in such polls. The fact that it took two years from recording to final mixing and mastering shows just how much drugs they must have all been consuming at the time.
U2 - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Ah ok, Bono. Theres not that much that can be said about U2. Bono is a dick, and they’ve become the new Rolling Stones. But to me at least, Achtung Baby was their creative peak, before they started attempting to go all disco, and ripping off The Sun Always Shines On TV by A-ha. I’d have loved to see U2 tour the Achtung Baby/Zoo TV tour, but theres no way you’d find me paying £100 to see them now. His voice is on its way out for starters. I do like this album though, and this is the only single from 1992 I could fit in. Richey Edwards once said he hated U2, but loved this single. I kind of agree with him.
REM - Man On The Moon
Every so often an album appears which literally everyone you know will buy, listen to and play over and over again (eg Definitely Maybe, or more recently the xx). The sort of album which appears on tv adverts, voice overs, promotional breaks, films, the lot for the entire year. In 1992 it was REM’s Automatic For The People, and this was my favourite single. During aforementioned last family holiday with the parents I discovered MTV Europe for the first time and they hammered this song, closely followed by The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight again and again.
Carter USM - The Only Living Boy In New Cross
Seems odd to think now, but in 1992 Carter USM were the Saturday night Pyramid stage headliners at Glastonbury. Needless to say they managed to cock it up, went on stage late, insulted Michael Eavis and were promptly banned from ever playing again. The band got so big their album (funnily enough entitled 1992 : The Love album) hit the number one slot for several weeks, and this was their biggest pop hit. On a Radio 1 show even Kylie said it was her current favourite song. When the Arctic Monkeys first arose people refused to believe Alex Turner could actually write such lyrics, and the common belief was that it was a manufactured pop act and the actual lyricist was Jim Bob from Carter USM. I hope both gentlemen are quite impressed with that tale, it’s actually really rather credible.
The Beautiful South - 36D
The popular image of the Beautiful South is one of sweet saccharine pop, but people often completely miss the somewhat harder imagery often hidden in their lyrics. Messers Heaton and Rotheray often picked somewhat more challenging topics for their lyrics, and reportedly it was the issue of this song which resulted in Briana Corrigan leaving the band and ending possibly their finest line up. The song targets glamour models for using their physical assets to promote themselves when in reality possibly it’s the media itself which should be criticised for utilising such women. Either way, it's got a bloody brilliant singalong chorus.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Intact
Everyone at school had a Ned's Atomic Dustbin T-shirt and both the God Fodder and Are You Normal? albums. The Neds played De Montfort Hall in Leicester in November 1992 and pretty much my entire sixth form went to watch, and the next day the annual sixth form photo featured some 20+ people in Neds t-shirts from the night before. I can’t wax lyrical enough about this band, Are You Normal? is still an album I can listen to again and again. If only their imagery hadn't tied them to fraggle and they toured God Fodder a little longer they’d have completely broken America big style like their mates EMF.
Master list
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query reeling in the years. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query reeling in the years. Sort by date Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1996
by Skif (Vanity Project)
1996 was a bit of a pivotal year in terms of my musical taste starting to broaden out from the weekly purchase of Kerrang! and the denim jacket I used to cover in patches. The album cover of Master Of Puppets was one of those patches, if I remember rightly, whilst another, ahem, read simply ‘ZZ Top’.
Regular gigging with college mates at the Wedgewood Rooms and Pyramids in Portsmouth as well as the Joiners in Southampton; a plethora of interesting CD singles snapped up from Pompey HMV for 99p; listening to Radcliffe & Riley each evening; attendance at the wonderfully diverse Phoenix Festival during a red-hot mid July; moving onto University in September, joining the Student Union rag and being given loads of records to review – all of these things played their part in pushing an interest towards an obsession.
Had I allowed myself the luxury of hindsight, I might have included Billy Bragg’s Upfield and Belle & Sebastian’s Dylan In The Movies but having come to these slightly after the fact seems a bit wrong. This, as requested, is a snapshot of 1996 as I lived it then.
Bennet – Someone Always Gets There First
The original single release (it was re-released in 1997 after the relative success of Mum’s Gone To Iceland) and for a young man who genuinely didn’t know where to start when it came to the ladies, this song really spoke to me. Rest assured, I am cringing as I type, not just about finding this tune to be somehow profound, but just about how clueless I was in the romantic arena back in them days. Arguably though, not much has changed.
Cable - Seventy
Saw this lot four times between February and September of 1996 so they must have been doing something right. This quiet/loud/quiet/loud effort, re-released as a single in the February, was certainly one of the highlights of that live show.
China Drum – Can’t Stop These Things
The first single from their superb Goose Fair LP; this was the release which had their cover of Wuthering Heights on the flip. I say ‘flip’; I had it on cassette single, so it probably appeared on the notional ‘A’ side as well.
David Devant & His Spirit Wife – Cookie
I’m always fond of a visual element in a live gig and, in that respect, this lot threw the kitchen sink at it. This was their second single, and was one that came to my attention thanks to it costing just under a pound in HMV.
The Divine Comedy – Something for the Weekend
Probably came to this via Chris Evans if I’m honest. His breakfast show tended to be what woke me up via the clock radio and he got behind this tune in a big way. Whenever I attend karaoke nights, I always check if this is in the song book before anything else. Sadly, most seem to just have National Express, which is nowhere near as good.
Earl Brutus – Life’s Too Long
One of my all time favourites these, discovered thanks to this single being another one of those 99p efforts in a certain high street entertainment retailers. Week of release this, not bargain bin I hasten to add. HMV really did spoil me back in them days. You know, when they used to actually sell music.
The Fall – The Chiselers
Released as a single with versions of various lengths (as opposed to remixes) and, having picked up a copy on the cheap at Focus Sounds in Waterlooville, my first experience of a band I now own about 30 LPs by. 1996 was also the year of my first Fall gig (a beguilingly ramshackle display on the main stage at Phoenix which helped cement my interest) and first LP The Light User Syndrome, from which this was taken. Not an all-time classic LP in the standards of many Fall fans but still my favourite for having been an entry point into not only a huge back-catalogue but a fascinating world.
Puressence – India
In fact it had been the previous year, when they were just jaw-fracturingly incredible at the Wedgewood Rooms despite being third on the bill beneath Marion and Catatonia, when they first came to my attention. Needless to say their self-titled debut LP’s release in 1996 was eagerly awaited. My favourite album of the year I’d say.
Space – Neighbourhood
Released in April, and re-released in November after Female Of The Species went large. Not a band that has stood the test of time really, but the fact I bought the original release on cassette and then on 2xCD format when it came around again suggests I really was into these scally bastards at the time.
The Sweeney – Why?
Not a chart troubler at all, but made #9 in Peel’s Festive 50. Why? is a giddying, infectious, feel-good tune. Not for everyone, sure and they were then, and remain, largely unknown. For me and my old mucker Steph back then though, well, they were ‘ours’.
Master list
1996 was a bit of a pivotal year in terms of my musical taste starting to broaden out from the weekly purchase of Kerrang! and the denim jacket I used to cover in patches. The album cover of Master Of Puppets was one of those patches, if I remember rightly, whilst another, ahem, read simply ‘ZZ Top’.
Regular gigging with college mates at the Wedgewood Rooms and Pyramids in Portsmouth as well as the Joiners in Southampton; a plethora of interesting CD singles snapped up from Pompey HMV for 99p; listening to Radcliffe & Riley each evening; attendance at the wonderfully diverse Phoenix Festival during a red-hot mid July; moving onto University in September, joining the Student Union rag and being given loads of records to review – all of these things played their part in pushing an interest towards an obsession.
Had I allowed myself the luxury of hindsight, I might have included Billy Bragg’s Upfield and Belle & Sebastian’s Dylan In The Movies but having come to these slightly after the fact seems a bit wrong. This, as requested, is a snapshot of 1996 as I lived it then.
Bennet – Someone Always Gets There First
The original single release (it was re-released in 1997 after the relative success of Mum’s Gone To Iceland) and for a young man who genuinely didn’t know where to start when it came to the ladies, this song really spoke to me. Rest assured, I am cringing as I type, not just about finding this tune to be somehow profound, but just about how clueless I was in the romantic arena back in them days. Arguably though, not much has changed.
Cable - Seventy
Saw this lot four times between February and September of 1996 so they must have been doing something right. This quiet/loud/quiet/loud effort, re-released as a single in the February, was certainly one of the highlights of that live show.
China Drum – Can’t Stop These Things
The first single from their superb Goose Fair LP; this was the release which had their cover of Wuthering Heights on the flip. I say ‘flip’; I had it on cassette single, so it probably appeared on the notional ‘A’ side as well.
David Devant & His Spirit Wife – Cookie
I’m always fond of a visual element in a live gig and, in that respect, this lot threw the kitchen sink at it. This was their second single, and was one that came to my attention thanks to it costing just under a pound in HMV.
The Divine Comedy – Something for the Weekend
Probably came to this via Chris Evans if I’m honest. His breakfast show tended to be what woke me up via the clock radio and he got behind this tune in a big way. Whenever I attend karaoke nights, I always check if this is in the song book before anything else. Sadly, most seem to just have National Express, which is nowhere near as good.
Earl Brutus – Life’s Too Long
One of my all time favourites these, discovered thanks to this single being another one of those 99p efforts in a certain high street entertainment retailers. Week of release this, not bargain bin I hasten to add. HMV really did spoil me back in them days. You know, when they used to actually sell music.
The Fall – The Chiselers
Released as a single with versions of various lengths (as opposed to remixes) and, having picked up a copy on the cheap at Focus Sounds in Waterlooville, my first experience of a band I now own about 30 LPs by. 1996 was also the year of my first Fall gig (a beguilingly ramshackle display on the main stage at Phoenix which helped cement my interest) and first LP The Light User Syndrome, from which this was taken. Not an all-time classic LP in the standards of many Fall fans but still my favourite for having been an entry point into not only a huge back-catalogue but a fascinating world.
Puressence – India
In fact it had been the previous year, when they were just jaw-fracturingly incredible at the Wedgewood Rooms despite being third on the bill beneath Marion and Catatonia, when they first came to my attention. Needless to say their self-titled debut LP’s release in 1996 was eagerly awaited. My favourite album of the year I’d say.
Space – Neighbourhood
Released in April, and re-released in November after Female Of The Species went large. Not a band that has stood the test of time really, but the fact I bought the original release on cassette and then on 2xCD format when it came around again suggests I really was into these scally bastards at the time.
The Sweeney – Why?
Not a chart troubler at all, but made #9 in Peel’s Festive 50. Why? is a giddying, infectious, feel-good tune. Not for everyone, sure and they were then, and remain, largely unknown. For me and my old mucker Steph back then though, well, they were ‘ours’.
Master list
Monday, February 07, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1983
by Robin Seamer
1983. The year of the Rubik’s Cube, neon coloured socks, yuppies and when real men didn’t eat quiche. The synthesiser and bad haircuts were everywhere, more often than not in tandem and I LOVED IT. Forget Enid Blyton because the real famous five were the all singing, all dancing New York High School for the Performing Arts dudes known as Danny, Lydia, Coco, Bruno and Leroy - the Kids From Fame – like an 80’s Glee except cooler, more lycra and original songs. 1983 was when new wave, new romantic and pure pop all collided in a sexy explosion of colour and decadence before pop stars got a conscience and formed Band Aid in 1984. This is a snapshot of 10 of the songs that sound tracked my wayward experiments with wearing berets and buying my first pair of Doctor Marten boots. The finest of times.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
Most people will remember this as a hit from 1984 but technically it belongs to 1983 having been released in November of that year. Possibly the most controversial but successful single of the decade, producer Trevor Horn took the original version of the bands song and completely re-recorded it himself with a session keyboard player, the only presence of the band being that of Holly Johnson’s recognisable vocal and the orgasm noise which was created by recording the band jumping in a swimming pool. Who could forget the iconic image of dancer Paul Rutherford dressed in a sailor hat and leather vest, Johnson in rubber gloves with shaved head and the phrase ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN accompanying the shot? Relax was the soundtrack to many a teenage boys fumblings at Blue Nun fuelled parties with both boys and girls. Play it now and it still sounds stonkingly good.
Orange Juice – Rip It Up
The Scottish post-punk band that got the funk, Rip It Up was the bands only top 40 hit, although they had a wealth of other brilliant songs. For non-pop historians, even if you don’t recognise him in the video you may recognise his dulcet croon – for this was the band that Edwyn Collins was in before his solo career.
Howard Jones – New Song
“I don’t want to be hip and cool,” sang the solo-synth wizard with the haircut that looked like some sort of electrified parrot, whilst Jed, his bald chained-up gimp of a mime dancer busted some moves. Any similarity to Peter Gabriel’s Salisbury Hill is entirely coincidental of course. Over twenty five years later this song would be one of the highlights of a one off performance at the ultra-hip Bestival, for which this author was partly responsible for the booking. New Song would also soundtrack an episode of teen-TV drama Skins. Be careful for what you don’t want in your lyrics Howard.
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Everything about this song was perfect. The icy synth line juxtaposed with the soulful vocal of Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart’s detachedness and Lennox’s short cropped orange hair. La Roux – watch and learn.
The Belle Stars – Sign of the Times
It was a sign of the times that an all-girl band could have a huge hit single without removing their clothes. They had amazing wide brimmed hats and Sign of the Times was one of the most hummable tunes of the year. Radio was kissed - no argument it was better than Prince’s song of the same title.
New Order – Blue Monday
Do I really need to say anything? John Peel Festive 50 number 1 1983. One of the biggest selling twelve inch singles of all time. Throbbing synth bass, dead pan vocals. Incredible. Indie dance was born.
Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter
The title of the song is a reference to "Pale Shelter Scene", a 1941 drawing by British sculptor Henry Moore. A hit when re-released, in part thanks to the eleven (yes eleven) picture disc and coloured vinyl versions of the song that were available to collect.
The Alarm – 68 Guns
It wasn’t all synths and shiny pop in 1983. Welsh rockers still had the obligatory big hair, but 68 Guns was a chest-thumping anthem that they never bettered. The group’s stadium rocking attempts were never as commercially successful as their peers U2, Big Country or later day Simple Minds though.
Haysi Fantayzee – Shiny Shiny
Probably the only song that people remember Haysi Fantayzee for is John Wayne is Big Leggy, but Shiny Shiny was actually a quirky nursery-rhyme hit in 1983 getting to number 16 in the charts. The bands ragamuffin thrift-shop styling was a precursor to that of Boy George from Culture Club who the duo accused of stealing their fashion ideas.
The Cure – Love Cats
Pick any year between 1981 and 1992 and you can pick a great song by The Cure. One of their biggest pop hits, it’s still an indie disco favourite now. Everyone knows and loves The Love Cats. The end. No arguments.
Master list
1983. The year of the Rubik’s Cube, neon coloured socks, yuppies and when real men didn’t eat quiche. The synthesiser and bad haircuts were everywhere, more often than not in tandem and I LOVED IT. Forget Enid Blyton because the real famous five were the all singing, all dancing New York High School for the Performing Arts dudes known as Danny, Lydia, Coco, Bruno and Leroy - the Kids From Fame – like an 80’s Glee except cooler, more lycra and original songs. 1983 was when new wave, new romantic and pure pop all collided in a sexy explosion of colour and decadence before pop stars got a conscience and formed Band Aid in 1984. This is a snapshot of 10 of the songs that sound tracked my wayward experiments with wearing berets and buying my first pair of Doctor Marten boots. The finest of times.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
Most people will remember this as a hit from 1984 but technically it belongs to 1983 having been released in November of that year. Possibly the most controversial but successful single of the decade, producer Trevor Horn took the original version of the bands song and completely re-recorded it himself with a session keyboard player, the only presence of the band being that of Holly Johnson’s recognisable vocal and the orgasm noise which was created by recording the band jumping in a swimming pool. Who could forget the iconic image of dancer Paul Rutherford dressed in a sailor hat and leather vest, Johnson in rubber gloves with shaved head and the phrase ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN accompanying the shot? Relax was the soundtrack to many a teenage boys fumblings at Blue Nun fuelled parties with both boys and girls. Play it now and it still sounds stonkingly good.
Orange Juice – Rip It Up
The Scottish post-punk band that got the funk, Rip It Up was the bands only top 40 hit, although they had a wealth of other brilliant songs. For non-pop historians, even if you don’t recognise him in the video you may recognise his dulcet croon – for this was the band that Edwyn Collins was in before his solo career.
Howard Jones – New Song
“I don’t want to be hip and cool,” sang the solo-synth wizard with the haircut that looked like some sort of electrified parrot, whilst Jed, his bald chained-up gimp of a mime dancer busted some moves. Any similarity to Peter Gabriel’s Salisbury Hill is entirely coincidental of course. Over twenty five years later this song would be one of the highlights of a one off performance at the ultra-hip Bestival, for which this author was partly responsible for the booking. New Song would also soundtrack an episode of teen-TV drama Skins. Be careful for what you don’t want in your lyrics Howard.
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Everything about this song was perfect. The icy synth line juxtaposed with the soulful vocal of Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart’s detachedness and Lennox’s short cropped orange hair. La Roux – watch and learn.
The Belle Stars – Sign of the Times
It was a sign of the times that an all-girl band could have a huge hit single without removing their clothes. They had amazing wide brimmed hats and Sign of the Times was one of the most hummable tunes of the year. Radio was kissed - no argument it was better than Prince’s song of the same title.
New Order – Blue Monday
Do I really need to say anything? John Peel Festive 50 number 1 1983. One of the biggest selling twelve inch singles of all time. Throbbing synth bass, dead pan vocals. Incredible. Indie dance was born.
Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter
The title of the song is a reference to "Pale Shelter Scene", a 1941 drawing by British sculptor Henry Moore. A hit when re-released, in part thanks to the eleven (yes eleven) picture disc and coloured vinyl versions of the song that were available to collect.
The Alarm – 68 Guns
It wasn’t all synths and shiny pop in 1983. Welsh rockers still had the obligatory big hair, but 68 Guns was a chest-thumping anthem that they never bettered. The group’s stadium rocking attempts were never as commercially successful as their peers U2, Big Country or later day Simple Minds though.
Haysi Fantayzee – Shiny Shiny
Probably the only song that people remember Haysi Fantayzee for is John Wayne is Big Leggy, but Shiny Shiny was actually a quirky nursery-rhyme hit in 1983 getting to number 16 in the charts. The bands ragamuffin thrift-shop styling was a precursor to that of Boy George from Culture Club who the duo accused of stealing their fashion ideas.
The Cure – Love Cats
Pick any year between 1981 and 1992 and you can pick a great song by The Cure. One of their biggest pop hits, it’s still an indie disco favourite now. Everyone knows and loves The Love Cats. The end. No arguments.
Master list
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
An Illustrated Guide To... Half Man Half Biscuit
Most of the time when constructing an Illustrated Guide we set out to find the artist's place in history, cutting through the dense forest of a worthwhile back catalogue and demonstrating their influence on the modern day while annotating every bit of change and cut and thrust in the interim. This one isn't like that. With a few deviations, their sound is essentially a streamlined jangle. They can't have sold five figure totals of one new album in the last twenty years. They are never played on daytime radio, have made only two television appearances (in 1985 and 1998), do very few interviews, didn't have their photo taken for years and don't have a hope in hell of selling records anywhere outside a certain British demographic. And yet to that strata of people they matter intensely, selling out the London Astoria in 2003, and a band for whom literally anywhere from first album to latest is a good place to start. John Peel had them in twelve times; Andy Kershaw called them "England's greatest folk group" and "the most complete and authentic British group since The Clash". Essentially, if you don't like Half Man Half Biscuit we don't want to know you.
Nigel Blackwell, born 1964 in Birkenhead, spent the first few years out of school writing for fanzines and spending time at the library while signing on, the resultant brow-crossing knowledge of football and music minutiae on one side and literature and UK geography on the other crossing when he met well travelled local bassist Neil Crossley. They spent time writing songs for their own pleasure until Blackwell's brother Simon and drummer Paul Wright pitched in. It's said that, as Blackwell had earned some employment there, they were able to cut an album at Liverpool's Vulcan Studios on the relative cheap to test out the new eight-track studio, with David Lloyd adding keyboards. The tape was pitched around a few labels, including Factory, until local promoter Geoff Davies heard it, decided "if the tape was half as good as the titles then I'd want to record this group" and signed them to his Probe Plus label. A few more songs later the whole package was titled Back In The DHSS and sent to John Peel, who picked up on it immediately ("His song titles and his observations were, and still are, just spot on. I always thought it was a shame that punk never had its own Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and, while Nigel clearly wasn't that, he was there in spirit. I couldn't stop playing it."). While there had been bands, most notably the Fall, who could deal in low and high culture at the same time, there was a uniqueness to the cross-referencing, surreal one-liners (Blackwell: "I just do throwaway lines to be laughed at once, which is why we have to back it up with some semblance of a tune"), indicativeness of the ennui of the disenfranchised and general social and cultural savagery. It became the biggest selling independent album of 1986, totalling an estimated 200,000+ sales, and earned it makers a Glastonbury slot and a place on the NME's celebrated C86 compilation, where despite sharing a guitar sound with many around them they still stood out a mile.
99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd
A follow-up came in the form of the Trumpton Riots EP, an indie chart number one which threw its production values at a wall against tales of Subbuteo, rock pretensions and stop-motion animated anarchy, as performed on Whistle Test. Blackwell appeared on Radio 4's Midweek; famously, however, they twice refused to go to Newcastle for The Tube as Tranmere Rovers were playing on the same night. Couldn't the booker have waited for an away game?
As another single, Dickie Davies Eyes, knocked on the door of the proper charts Blackwell decided to throw in his lot, retiring the band at their height in 1987. A mostly recorded album was put out under the title Back Again In The DHSS, featuring eight tracks of equally high quality plus two from the Trumpton Riots EP and a live track on the cassette. You can't get this any more; what you can get is ACD, the 1988 reissue that takes off those add-ons (that EP appears in full at the end of Back In The DHSS' CD now), slips in an unreleased Peel session song - Carry On Cremating, supposedly left off the original version for taste reasons as it's about the problems of cremating Hattie Jacques, although this is questionable given the tracks chosen include Rod Hull Is Alive - Why?, The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman and Arthur's Farm, in which amputees Arthur Askey and Douglas Bader re-enact Animal Farm to their own undextrousness - and adds nine first album live songs recorded in Sheffield.
Rod Hull Is Alive - Why?
Blackwell let it be known that he was missing daytime TV too much, although much later he admitted "I felt as if I needed some time to 'carry on as I was before' in order to write the same sort of songs. I think otherwise, tunes about 'big skies' and 'girls' eyes' would have surfaced menacingly, and band meetings pertaining to production values may have been arranged. Not good, that." Everyone disappeared from view for a while until 1990, when Blackwell used Peel's show to announce a reformation followed by two more singles, the still dead-on Let's Not and, for some reason, a version of No Regrets (as in Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien) with briefly omnipresent actress Margi Clarke. The 1991 album McIntyre Treadmore And Davitt - title from the classic Barnstoneworth United frontline, from the Golden Gordon episode of Michael Palin's comedy series Ripping Yarns - showed the band had musically progressed just far enough from their unstructured shambling roots while the reference points and one-liners came thick and mid-paced.
Everything's A.O.R.
And we kind of progress from there, really. 1993's This Leaden Pall is a lesser work but likes its musical reference points (Running Order Squabble Fest) and literate modern life satire (Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite). Dave Lloyd and Paul Wright left at this point, Carl Alty arriving on drums, and with gigs becoming more infrequent and more often than not in out of the way places Simon Blackwell departed a year later, Ian Jackson taking up bass with Neil Crossley moving across to guitar for a bit until replacement Ken Hancock arrived. 1995's Some Call It Godcore isn't a high point either, although almost sensitive closer Tour Jacket With Detachable Sleeves more than makes up for it. Carl Henry took over the drumstool after 1996's Eno Collaboration EP, which very wasn't what it said, and that lineup continues to this day.
After nearly signing to V2, 1997's Voyage To The Bottom Of The Road came out once again on Probe Plus - to which, incidentally, the band have never signed a contract - and was arguably their best post-reformation album to date, featuring yet more music industry cynicism, the celebrated Middle England excoriation Paintball's Coming Home and ITMA, which is just Blackwell reeling off specifications from job adverts. Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral came a year later, previewed by an appearance on cult Channel 4 overnight sport show Under The Moon, and continued the run of form, featuring Four Skinny Indie Kids, You're Hard and most spectacularly of all the six and a half Millennium-critiquing minutes of A Country Practice. Asked by the Guardian in February to select a song that defines Englishness, Eliza Carthy picked it out: "It's incredibly wordy and conversational, with Nigel Blackwell talking over beats and making up almost nursery rhymes. In this song, Blackwell goes all over the country to pick apart English people at our basest: trying to be famous or making money living on the streets rearing fat cows...The song seems over-clever and flippant, but it's bitter and very funny, which is very English: pathos disguised by wit and emotional detachment. It's like a camera flying over the country, zooming in and out; like watching a film of England." John Peel, curating Meltdown at the Queen Elizabeth Hall that year, asked them to support Lonnie Donegan.
A Country Practice
And the hits just kept on coming. 2000's Trouble Over Bridgwater, from which Look Dad No Tunes had emerged as a single the previous year, kicked off with the Guilty Pleasures-wrecking Irk The Purists and added Twenty Four Hour Garage People to the all time classics list. Stylistically scattergun, from Dylan cribbing to a deep house track about a late night Radio 2 DJ, it's becoming an increasingly popular choice as the band's all time high water mark.
Uffington Wassail
Not that the descent was at all sharp. A 2001 six track EP, Editor's Recommendation, was topped and tailed by Bob Wilson - Anchorman, which grabbed the Mirror's attention, and Vatican Broadside, which Frank Turner occasionally covers live. 2002's Cammell Laird Social Club established a holding pattern, adding high quality spoken word efforts The Referee's Alphabet and and Breaking News, which 2003's Saucy Haulage Ballads EP maintained, bar the bluegrass version of Trumpton Riots retitled On Finding the Studio Banjo, and 2005's Achtung Bono broke out of with crowd chantalong Joy Division Oven Gloves and the much discussed Shit Arm Bad Tattoo (Nigel says it isn't about them, but it's full of allusions to the Libertines) Stylus and Popmatters both used it as a cue to try and explain them to international online audiences.
Upon Westminster Bridge
And as of yesterday, the tally of proper albums made eleven with the release of CSI: Ambleside. Not, to be honest, in our all time HMHB top three, but miles ahead of most others, National Shite Day another in a long line of standout album closers. More than anyone else of note to us, this is a band who have completely done things their own way and picked up an army of loyal fans (reputedly including Jarvis Cocker, Frank Skinner, Tracy Emin and Robbie Williams) almost by chance, simultaneously flying the flag for working class stasis and knowledgeable cultural observant, the pub philosopher with first class honours from the University Of Life. By the way, this might be the first extended piece about HMHB that doesn't just quote titles and lyrics for the sake of it. It's always been about far more than that.
FURTHER LISTENING: the blogger we're naming our first born after this week is the one who has uploaded nearly every Peel session song ever.
Nigel Blackwell, born 1964 in Birkenhead, spent the first few years out of school writing for fanzines and spending time at the library while signing on, the resultant brow-crossing knowledge of football and music minutiae on one side and literature and UK geography on the other crossing when he met well travelled local bassist Neil Crossley. They spent time writing songs for their own pleasure until Blackwell's brother Simon and drummer Paul Wright pitched in. It's said that, as Blackwell had earned some employment there, they were able to cut an album at Liverpool's Vulcan Studios on the relative cheap to test out the new eight-track studio, with David Lloyd adding keyboards. The tape was pitched around a few labels, including Factory, until local promoter Geoff Davies heard it, decided "if the tape was half as good as the titles then I'd want to record this group" and signed them to his Probe Plus label. A few more songs later the whole package was titled Back In The DHSS and sent to John Peel, who picked up on it immediately ("His song titles and his observations were, and still are, just spot on. I always thought it was a shame that punk never had its own Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and, while Nigel clearly wasn't that, he was there in spirit. I couldn't stop playing it."). While there had been bands, most notably the Fall, who could deal in low and high culture at the same time, there was a uniqueness to the cross-referencing, surreal one-liners (Blackwell: "I just do throwaway lines to be laughed at once, which is why we have to back it up with some semblance of a tune"), indicativeness of the ennui of the disenfranchised and general social and cultural savagery. It became the biggest selling independent album of 1986, totalling an estimated 200,000+ sales, and earned it makers a Glastonbury slot and a place on the NME's celebrated C86 compilation, where despite sharing a guitar sound with many around them they still stood out a mile.
A follow-up came in the form of the Trumpton Riots EP, an indie chart number one which threw its production values at a wall against tales of Subbuteo, rock pretensions and stop-motion animated anarchy, as performed on Whistle Test. Blackwell appeared on Radio 4's Midweek; famously, however, they twice refused to go to Newcastle for The Tube as Tranmere Rovers were playing on the same night. Couldn't the booker have waited for an away game?
As another single, Dickie Davies Eyes, knocked on the door of the proper charts Blackwell decided to throw in his lot, retiring the band at their height in 1987. A mostly recorded album was put out under the title Back Again In The DHSS, featuring eight tracks of equally high quality plus two from the Trumpton Riots EP and a live track on the cassette. You can't get this any more; what you can get is ACD, the 1988 reissue that takes off those add-ons (that EP appears in full at the end of Back In The DHSS' CD now), slips in an unreleased Peel session song - Carry On Cremating, supposedly left off the original version for taste reasons as it's about the problems of cremating Hattie Jacques, although this is questionable given the tracks chosen include Rod Hull Is Alive - Why?, The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman and Arthur's Farm, in which amputees Arthur Askey and Douglas Bader re-enact Animal Farm to their own undextrousness - and adds nine first album live songs recorded in Sheffield.
Blackwell let it be known that he was missing daytime TV too much, although much later he admitted "I felt as if I needed some time to 'carry on as I was before' in order to write the same sort of songs. I think otherwise, tunes about 'big skies' and 'girls' eyes' would have surfaced menacingly, and band meetings pertaining to production values may have been arranged. Not good, that." Everyone disappeared from view for a while until 1990, when Blackwell used Peel's show to announce a reformation followed by two more singles, the still dead-on Let's Not and, for some reason, a version of No Regrets (as in Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien) with briefly omnipresent actress Margi Clarke. The 1991 album McIntyre Treadmore And Davitt - title from the classic Barnstoneworth United frontline, from the Golden Gordon episode of Michael Palin's comedy series Ripping Yarns - showed the band had musically progressed just far enough from their unstructured shambling roots while the reference points and one-liners came thick and mid-paced.
And we kind of progress from there, really. 1993's This Leaden Pall is a lesser work but likes its musical reference points (Running Order Squabble Fest) and literate modern life satire (Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite). Dave Lloyd and Paul Wright left at this point, Carl Alty arriving on drums, and with gigs becoming more infrequent and more often than not in out of the way places Simon Blackwell departed a year later, Ian Jackson taking up bass with Neil Crossley moving across to guitar for a bit until replacement Ken Hancock arrived. 1995's Some Call It Godcore isn't a high point either, although almost sensitive closer Tour Jacket With Detachable Sleeves more than makes up for it. Carl Henry took over the drumstool after 1996's Eno Collaboration EP, which very wasn't what it said, and that lineup continues to this day.
After nearly signing to V2, 1997's Voyage To The Bottom Of The Road came out once again on Probe Plus - to which, incidentally, the band have never signed a contract - and was arguably their best post-reformation album to date, featuring yet more music industry cynicism, the celebrated Middle England excoriation Paintball's Coming Home and ITMA, which is just Blackwell reeling off specifications from job adverts. Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral came a year later, previewed by an appearance on cult Channel 4 overnight sport show Under The Moon, and continued the run of form, featuring Four Skinny Indie Kids, You're Hard and most spectacularly of all the six and a half Millennium-critiquing minutes of A Country Practice. Asked by the Guardian in February to select a song that defines Englishness, Eliza Carthy picked it out: "It's incredibly wordy and conversational, with Nigel Blackwell talking over beats and making up almost nursery rhymes. In this song, Blackwell goes all over the country to pick apart English people at our basest: trying to be famous or making money living on the streets rearing fat cows...The song seems over-clever and flippant, but it's bitter and very funny, which is very English: pathos disguised by wit and emotional detachment. It's like a camera flying over the country, zooming in and out; like watching a film of England." John Peel, curating Meltdown at the Queen Elizabeth Hall that year, asked them to support Lonnie Donegan.
And the hits just kept on coming. 2000's Trouble Over Bridgwater, from which Look Dad No Tunes had emerged as a single the previous year, kicked off with the Guilty Pleasures-wrecking Irk The Purists and added Twenty Four Hour Garage People to the all time classics list. Stylistically scattergun, from Dylan cribbing to a deep house track about a late night Radio 2 DJ, it's becoming an increasingly popular choice as the band's all time high water mark.
Not that the descent was at all sharp. A 2001 six track EP, Editor's Recommendation, was topped and tailed by Bob Wilson - Anchorman, which grabbed the Mirror's attention, and Vatican Broadside, which Frank Turner occasionally covers live. 2002's Cammell Laird Social Club established a holding pattern, adding high quality spoken word efforts The Referee's Alphabet and and Breaking News, which 2003's Saucy Haulage Ballads EP maintained, bar the bluegrass version of Trumpton Riots retitled On Finding the Studio Banjo, and 2005's Achtung Bono broke out of with crowd chantalong Joy Division Oven Gloves and the much discussed Shit Arm Bad Tattoo (Nigel says it isn't about them, but it's full of allusions to the Libertines) Stylus and Popmatters both used it as a cue to try and explain them to international online audiences.
And as of yesterday, the tally of proper albums made eleven with the release of CSI: Ambleside. Not, to be honest, in our all time HMHB top three, but miles ahead of most others, National Shite Day another in a long line of standout album closers. More than anyone else of note to us, this is a band who have completely done things their own way and picked up an army of loyal fans (reputedly including Jarvis Cocker, Frank Skinner, Tracy Emin and Robbie Williams) almost by chance, simultaneously flying the flag for working class stasis and knowledgeable cultural observant, the pub philosopher with first class honours from the University Of Life. By the way, this might be the first extended piece about HMHB that doesn't just quote titles and lyrics for the sake of it. It's always been about far more than that.
FURTHER LISTENING: the blogger we're naming our first born after this week is the one who has uploaded nearly every Peel session song ever.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Reeling In The Years
Let's start this month with a big crowdsourced project like only we can ultimately fail at. Three years ago, a beautifully simplistic app called Muxtape was spread throughout the music online world. It allowed users to upload a playlist of twelve songs for streaming, and was keenly taken up by those willing to show off their impeccable taste. Obviously, before long The Man found out and had it shut down.
By then we'd long fallen for its opportunities, organising a set of Celebrity Muxtapes (the forerunner to the current Playlists) and, getting to the point now, Muxtape Challenge. Now there are streaming songs all over what used to be known as cyberspace, from YouTube to Spotify to Soundcloud to good old fashioned bloggage, it's time for a reboot.
We want the last four complete decades, 1970 to 2009, represented by ten tracks from the year in question, each compiled by a different person. We don't want the most popular or the tokenistic, but an attempt to provide an individual snapshot of what was going on in your particular retrospective view of that year. All we need from you is the year specific playlist, we'll do the rest. Comment, email (sweepingthenation(at)dsl.pipex.com), Twitter (@sweepingnation), carrier pigeon, however you want to get in touch, put your name down for a year you want to cover, and if you're not sure which year to go for we'll assign you one. This will act as the master post, with another post for each newly created playlist. (If you've asked for one that wasn't previously allocated in the comments and we've not said anything, just assume it's yours)
OK?
REELING IN THE YEARS tally board
1970
1971 (Jamie Summers)
1972
1973 **RESERVED**
1974
1975
1976 **RESERVED**
1977
1978
1979 (Sam Pegley)
1980 (Adam Hepton)
1981
1982 (Peter Climie)
1983 (Robin Seamer)
1984 **RESERVED**
1985 (Folly Of Youth)
1986 (Tim Worthington)
1987 (Matt Gaynor)
1988 (Ian Pointer)
1989 (George Overton)
1990 (Adam Hepton)
1991 (Neil Kenny)
1992 (Popty Ping Records)
1993 (James Glazebrook)
1994 (Mat Beal)
1995 (Bamos)
1996 (Skif)
1997 (Joe Mahon)
1998 (Tom Morton)
1999 (Chris Brown)
2000 (Ben Hall)
2001 (Thomas Blatchford)
2002
2003
2004 (Simon Lawson)
2005
2006 **RESERVED**
2007 (James Keen)
2008 (Femi Oshatogbe)
2009 **RESERVED**
By then we'd long fallen for its opportunities, organising a set of Celebrity Muxtapes (the forerunner to the current Playlists) and, getting to the point now, Muxtape Challenge. Now there are streaming songs all over what used to be known as cyberspace, from YouTube to Spotify to Soundcloud to good old fashioned bloggage, it's time for a reboot.
We want the last four complete decades, 1970 to 2009, represented by ten tracks from the year in question, each compiled by a different person. We don't want the most popular or the tokenistic, but an attempt to provide an individual snapshot of what was going on in your particular retrospective view of that year. All we need from you is the year specific playlist, we'll do the rest. Comment, email (sweepingthenation(at)dsl.pipex.com), Twitter (@sweepingnation), carrier pigeon, however you want to get in touch, put your name down for a year you want to cover, and if you're not sure which year to go for we'll assign you one. This will act as the master post, with another post for each newly created playlist. (If you've asked for one that wasn't previously allocated in the comments and we've not said anything, just assume it's yours)
OK?
REELING IN THE YEARS tally board
1970
1971 (Jamie Summers)
1972
1973 **RESERVED**
1974
1975
1976 **RESERVED**
1977
1978
1979 (Sam Pegley)
1980 (Adam Hepton)
1981
1982 (Peter Climie)
1983 (Robin Seamer)
1984 **RESERVED**
1985 (Folly Of Youth)
1986 (Tim Worthington)
1987 (Matt Gaynor)
1988 (Ian Pointer)
1989 (George Overton)
1990 (Adam Hepton)
1991 (Neil Kenny)
1992 (Popty Ping Records)
1993 (James Glazebrook)
1994 (Mat Beal)
1995 (Bamos)
1996 (Skif)
1997 (Joe Mahon)
1998 (Tom Morton)
1999 (Chris Brown)
2000 (Ben Hall)
2001 (Thomas Blatchford)
2002
2003
2004 (Simon Lawson)
2005
2006 **RESERVED**
2007 (James Keen)
2008 (Femi Oshatogbe)
2009 **RESERVED**
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Track-by-track: The Android Angel - Lie Back And Think of England
The first of a very occasional new series to STN in which people we've covered talk us through their current album. The first we alight on is the work of Paul Coltofeanu, who you might have known of through Free Swim but who put out an album last month of fascinatingly widescreen lo-fi warped psych-pop shapes under the name The Android Angel, complete with an intriguing backstory upon which we asked him to elaborate:
In the summer of 2011, I took my guitar to Eastern Europe where I spent ten days working on a farm in Romania, three days working on a farm in Ukraine, ten days at Sziget Festival in Hungary, and seven days in Berlin. Lie Back And Think of England is the album I have made about my experience.
1. Homes
I recorded the bells sound onto my mobile phone while on a cycle ride high up in the mountains of Transylvania. They were hung around two horse's necks. I added the sound of a piper. The bells kinda slowly pan across the speakers while the piper is constant to create the image of a lone musician on a hillside watching a small procession go past.
2. Solutions
I met an English guy called Danny on the farm in Romania and travelled with him to Ukraine to work on a water buffalo Farm. He was really passionate about bears. I found him quite inspirational. He also gave me a book about the importance of finding a passion. I never read it - I kinda felt I didn't need to because I figured Danny probably embodied its message.
3. Lie Back and Think of England
Being a long way from England gave me a different view of it. Public confidence in the government and the press was reeling from the expenses and phone hacking scandals, and then the riots started while I was away too. England likes to portray itself at the forefront of enlightenment, and in a lot of ways I think it is, but at that time it also showed how stuck in the dark ages it is in some ways too. The female vocal is provided by my friend Sarah Mahony. Was chuffed when John Kennedy played this song on XFM.
4. Distant Star
I met this amazing girl in Ukraine who helped me get to a train station so I could continue my journey. I wrote this song for her. This song was featured on the BBC Introducing Mixtape.
5. Ability Park
I met a girl called Asia on the train into Hungary and I went with her to Sziget Festival in Budapest. While I was there I met lots of people from all over Europe which was really enriching. This instrumental is supposed to represent those glorious hazy wanders from stage to stage at a music festival.
6. Foreign Son
This was actually the first song I wrote when I spent the summer of 2010 in New York. It didn't quite fit with the album borne from that experience (2011's Marble Sun), but it seems to fit on this one. I wrote it in Washington Square and I think it is New York talking to me telling me to man up and enjoy life instead of writing loads of 'cry-wank' music which I had been doing up to then!
7. Her Shoulders
I have a thing about shoulders.
8. Chicago John
Recording live drums can be such a mission so I goofed around for the first time with midi beats on garage band. I recorded four or five songs which were mostly awful but I couldn't get this one out of my head. I had a bit of a rough year last year and often I couldn't get to sleep. To help me sleep I invented this imaginary, comic-book world of espionage in my head and Chicago John was one of the characters in it. This song was also featured on the BBC Introducing Mixtape and played on 6 Music by Gideon Coe.
9. A Parliament of Owls
Without wanting to sound like a dick I think this track most represents where I am musically in 2013 - lost for words, searching for something new, a little bit devoid of inspiration, stuck in a tunnel. For that reason it works above all others as the final 'full' composition on the record. I am moving out to North America for a few years at the end of July to start new projects and recordings.
10. Follow the River
This short outro is the orchestration from the title track given it's own space as the sun sets on the record. It was a very, very profound experience in Eastern Europe that I am not entirely sure I will ever fully get my head around.
Paul/The Android Angel has a few live dates:
28th May Brighton Sticky Mike's Frog Bar
2nd June London Foxfest
20th July London Spice Of Life
27th July Redfest
In the summer of 2011, I took my guitar to Eastern Europe where I spent ten days working on a farm in Romania, three days working on a farm in Ukraine, ten days at Sziget Festival in Hungary, and seven days in Berlin. Lie Back And Think of England is the album I have made about my experience.
1. Homes
I recorded the bells sound onto my mobile phone while on a cycle ride high up in the mountains of Transylvania. They were hung around two horse's necks. I added the sound of a piper. The bells kinda slowly pan across the speakers while the piper is constant to create the image of a lone musician on a hillside watching a small procession go past.
2. Solutions
I met an English guy called Danny on the farm in Romania and travelled with him to Ukraine to work on a water buffalo Farm. He was really passionate about bears. I found him quite inspirational. He also gave me a book about the importance of finding a passion. I never read it - I kinda felt I didn't need to because I figured Danny probably embodied its message.
3. Lie Back and Think of England
Being a long way from England gave me a different view of it. Public confidence in the government and the press was reeling from the expenses and phone hacking scandals, and then the riots started while I was away too. England likes to portray itself at the forefront of enlightenment, and in a lot of ways I think it is, but at that time it also showed how stuck in the dark ages it is in some ways too. The female vocal is provided by my friend Sarah Mahony. Was chuffed when John Kennedy played this song on XFM.
4. Distant Star
I met this amazing girl in Ukraine who helped me get to a train station so I could continue my journey. I wrote this song for her. This song was featured on the BBC Introducing Mixtape.
5. Ability Park
I met a girl called Asia on the train into Hungary and I went with her to Sziget Festival in Budapest. While I was there I met lots of people from all over Europe which was really enriching. This instrumental is supposed to represent those glorious hazy wanders from stage to stage at a music festival.
6. Foreign Son
This was actually the first song I wrote when I spent the summer of 2010 in New York. It didn't quite fit with the album borne from that experience (2011's Marble Sun), but it seems to fit on this one. I wrote it in Washington Square and I think it is New York talking to me telling me to man up and enjoy life instead of writing loads of 'cry-wank' music which I had been doing up to then!
7. Her Shoulders
I have a thing about shoulders.
8. Chicago John
Recording live drums can be such a mission so I goofed around for the first time with midi beats on garage band. I recorded four or five songs which were mostly awful but I couldn't get this one out of my head. I had a bit of a rough year last year and often I couldn't get to sleep. To help me sleep I invented this imaginary, comic-book world of espionage in my head and Chicago John was one of the characters in it. This song was also featured on the BBC Introducing Mixtape and played on 6 Music by Gideon Coe.
9. A Parliament of Owls
Without wanting to sound like a dick I think this track most represents where I am musically in 2013 - lost for words, searching for something new, a little bit devoid of inspiration, stuck in a tunnel. For that reason it works above all others as the final 'full' composition on the record. I am moving out to North America for a few years at the end of July to start new projects and recordings.
10. Follow the River
This short outro is the orchestration from the title track given it's own space as the sun sets on the record. It was a very, very profound experience in Eastern Europe that I am not entirely sure I will ever fully get my head around.
Paul/The Android Angel has a few live dates:
28th May Brighton Sticky Mike's Frog Bar
2nd June London Foxfest
20th July London Spice Of Life
27th July Redfest
Monday, February 14, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1971
by Jamie Summers
It would be really really easy to make this year seem better than just about every other that's going to be part of this Reeling In The Years shindig. '71 is a sort of sweet spot where you get some of the best of the 60s hangovers blending in with the start of some of the better 70s hard rock, metal, funk, disco, the seeds of hip hop and electronic music being planted. So much goodness! 71 was the year of Master Of Reality, Tago Mago, Blue, There's a Riot Goin On, Maggot Brain, Tapestry, Who's Next, ZOSO, Skull And Bones, Love It To Death AND Killer(!), Tribute To Jack Johnson, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, What's Goin On, Songs Of Love And Hate, Meddle, At Fillmore East, Histoire De Melody Nelson, Electric Warrior, Fragile, Live Evil, Stormcock, Every Picture Tells A Story, Faust and the list goes on. Holy shit. So yes, 1971 could beat whatever year you could come up with (except maybe 1984 - Purple Rain/Let It Be/Zen Arcade/Meat Puppets II OKAY I'LL STOP), so instead of going for obvious stuff or anything from the aforementioned pieces of genius, I decided to go for some personal favourites and fun obscurities. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, for now i'll just highlight a couple of things; the first song from the mostly forgotten Paul Parrish LP Songs, which even as a non religious type is one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard, and also the track i've picked from Bill Fay's The Time Of The Persecution. Not such an unknown name anymore after Jim O'Rourke/David Tibet/Wilco and some others namechecked him a whole lot; but it's still very much underappreciated and it's also possibly my favourite album, and why I picked 1971. Enjoy...
Anne Briggs - Willie O' Winsbury from Anne Briggs
Baby Huey - Hard Times from The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend
Todd Rundgren - Long Flowing Robe from Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo from Les Stances A Sophie
Paul Parrish - Many Years Ago from Songs
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen from 666 (note: features Vangelis and Demis Roussos - this album is insane)
David Crosby - What Are Their Names from If I Could Only Remember My Name
Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues from Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse (Spotify)
Junior Walker & the All-Stars - Way Back Home
Bill Fay - Tell It Like It Is from Time Of The Last Persecution (Spotify)
Master list
It would be really really easy to make this year seem better than just about every other that's going to be part of this Reeling In The Years shindig. '71 is a sort of sweet spot where you get some of the best of the 60s hangovers blending in with the start of some of the better 70s hard rock, metal, funk, disco, the seeds of hip hop and electronic music being planted. So much goodness! 71 was the year of Master Of Reality, Tago Mago, Blue, There's a Riot Goin On, Maggot Brain, Tapestry, Who's Next, ZOSO, Skull And Bones, Love It To Death AND Killer(!), Tribute To Jack Johnson, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, What's Goin On, Songs Of Love And Hate, Meddle, At Fillmore East, Histoire De Melody Nelson, Electric Warrior, Fragile, Live Evil, Stormcock, Every Picture Tells A Story, Faust and the list goes on. Holy shit. So yes, 1971 could beat whatever year you could come up with (except maybe 1984 - Purple Rain/Let It Be/Zen Arcade/Meat Puppets II OKAY I'LL STOP), so instead of going for obvious stuff or anything from the aforementioned pieces of genius, I decided to go for some personal favourites and fun obscurities. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, for now i'll just highlight a couple of things; the first song from the mostly forgotten Paul Parrish LP Songs, which even as a non religious type is one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard, and also the track i've picked from Bill Fay's The Time Of The Persecution. Not such an unknown name anymore after Jim O'Rourke/David Tibet/Wilco and some others namechecked him a whole lot; but it's still very much underappreciated and it's also possibly my favourite album, and why I picked 1971. Enjoy...
Anne Briggs - Willie O' Winsbury from Anne Briggs
Baby Huey - Hard Times from The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend
Todd Rundgren - Long Flowing Robe from Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo from Les Stances A Sophie
Paul Parrish - Many Years Ago from Songs
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen from 666 (note: features Vangelis and Demis Roussos - this album is insane)
David Crosby - What Are Their Names from If I Could Only Remember My Name
Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues from Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse (Spotify)
Junior Walker & the All-Stars - Way Back Home
Bill Fay - Tell It Like It Is from Time Of The Last Persecution (Spotify)
Master list
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1997
by Joe Mahon
This list took me longer than I expected, and only partly because I’m a terrible procrastinator. Basically, I spent far too much time picking over the middle ground between what I wish I’d been listening to and what I was actually listening to. I turned 16 in 1997, as Britpop bloat was setting in, and – if you want a horribly mixed metaphor – my musical taste was still losing its milk teeth. Put simply, I was listening to a fair amount of music that nowadays just makes me laugh, or shudder.
The obvious over-polished turd in the punchbowl is Be Here Now, which like every Oasis fan I bought on the day it came out. I don’t really listen to Paul Weller’s Heavy Soul any more, or Fatboy Slim’s Better Living Through Chemistry, or Do It Yourself by the Seahorses, or Word Gets Around by the Stereophonics (although it’s a decent first record about growing up in a small town). Or Urban Hymns by the Verve – at any rate, I don’t bother with the singles on it, which I still feel like I’ve heard enough times over a decade later. Or Maverick A Strike by Finley Quaye, which gave rise to an amazing argument at sixth form where someone defended it by saying, “It’s a great album. There’s a song on there he co-wrote with Bob Marley.”
An alternative list could draw from Belle and Sebastian’s first three EPs – which I like at least as much as any album they’ve made – as well as Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Let’s Get Killed by David Holmes, New Forms by Roni Size (1997’s Mercury winner), Mogwai’s Ten Rapid collection and Big Loada by Squarepusher, as well as IPC Sub-Editors Dictate Our Youth by Clinic, Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin, Deftones’ Be Quiet And Drive, some Sleater-Kinney and maybe some Built To Spill. Some of these were bands I was aware of and just hadn’t checked out yet, while others I didn’t discover until I went to university two years later. But truthfully, I wasn’t listening to any of them, and it seems a bit dishonest to try and pretend I was a cool 16-year-old. I mean, the photos speak for themselves.
Pavement – Transport Is Arranged
Brighten The Corners was the album that changed everything, given to me on tape by a cool uncle.
Blur – Beetlebum
Is there a name for the genre of songs where heroin is referred to as a lover and vice versa?
Sneaker Pimps – Six Underground
Beck – Deadweight
Radiohead – Climbing Up The Walls
In June 1997, they headlined the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury; in September 1997, I saw them at Gloucester Leisure Centre. It was incredible. And when they played this song, the bass was so heavy that a girl I know actually puked.
Portishead – All Mine
The Divine Comedy – Everybody Knows (Except You)
Laika – Prairie Dog
Supported Radiohead at the aforementioned gig in Gloucester. Two bands united by a love of percussion and texture, among other things.
Supergrass – Late In The Day
In It For The Money is a perfect blend of sophisticated songwriting, stylish arrangements and youthful exuberance. Gaz Coombes was still only 20 when they recorded it.
Cornershop – Sleep On The Left Side
Master list
This list took me longer than I expected, and only partly because I’m a terrible procrastinator. Basically, I spent far too much time picking over the middle ground between what I wish I’d been listening to and what I was actually listening to. I turned 16 in 1997, as Britpop bloat was setting in, and – if you want a horribly mixed metaphor – my musical taste was still losing its milk teeth. Put simply, I was listening to a fair amount of music that nowadays just makes me laugh, or shudder.
The obvious over-polished turd in the punchbowl is Be Here Now, which like every Oasis fan I bought on the day it came out. I don’t really listen to Paul Weller’s Heavy Soul any more, or Fatboy Slim’s Better Living Through Chemistry, or Do It Yourself by the Seahorses, or Word Gets Around by the Stereophonics (although it’s a decent first record about growing up in a small town). Or Urban Hymns by the Verve – at any rate, I don’t bother with the singles on it, which I still feel like I’ve heard enough times over a decade later. Or Maverick A Strike by Finley Quaye, which gave rise to an amazing argument at sixth form where someone defended it by saying, “It’s a great album. There’s a song on there he co-wrote with Bob Marley.”
An alternative list could draw from Belle and Sebastian’s first three EPs – which I like at least as much as any album they’ve made – as well as Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Let’s Get Killed by David Holmes, New Forms by Roni Size (1997’s Mercury winner), Mogwai’s Ten Rapid collection and Big Loada by Squarepusher, as well as IPC Sub-Editors Dictate Our Youth by Clinic, Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin, Deftones’ Be Quiet And Drive, some Sleater-Kinney and maybe some Built To Spill. Some of these were bands I was aware of and just hadn’t checked out yet, while others I didn’t discover until I went to university two years later. But truthfully, I wasn’t listening to any of them, and it seems a bit dishonest to try and pretend I was a cool 16-year-old. I mean, the photos speak for themselves.
Pavement – Transport Is Arranged
Brighten The Corners was the album that changed everything, given to me on tape by a cool uncle.
Blur – Beetlebum
Is there a name for the genre of songs where heroin is referred to as a lover and vice versa?
Sneaker Pimps – Six Underground
Beck – Deadweight
Radiohead – Climbing Up The Walls
In June 1997, they headlined the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury; in September 1997, I saw them at Gloucester Leisure Centre. It was incredible. And when they played this song, the bass was so heavy that a girl I know actually puked.
Portishead – All Mine
The Divine Comedy – Everybody Knows (Except You)
Laika – Prairie Dog
Supported Radiohead at the aforementioned gig in Gloucester. Two bands united by a love of percussion and texture, among other things.
Supergrass – Late In The Day
In It For The Money is a perfect blend of sophisticated songwriting, stylish arrangements and youthful exuberance. Gaz Coombes was still only 20 when they recorded it.
Cornershop – Sleep On The Left Side
Master list
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1979
by Sam Pegley
1979: Rubbish is piling up in the streets, hospital entrances are being picketed, gravediggers are on strike, there are power cuts, fuel shortages, cuts in public services and sharp rises in unemployment. Add to this a brooding anxiety about the Cold War, heightened in December by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and you get the impression that Britain was a fairly grim place to be.
It was against this backdrop that the songs on this playlist were written and in their own way, capture the mood of the time. There is apocalyptic imagery (The Clash), commentary on the violence in Northern Ireland (Gang of Four), pre-new man blokiness (Squeeze) and The Specials, who were actively confronting racism and raising awareness of the dangers of the National Front.
Musically, 1979 was a time of innovation and experimentation following the landscape clearing of punk (though Buzzcocks proved that there was still life in the catchy three chord thrash). The mysterious Unknown Pleasures, with its vast space and eerie clicks and whirrs was released in July, while the year also saw a glimpse of the synth-driven 1980s via the cold futurism of Gary Numan and OMD. Wire released third album 154, and The Cure continued their early run of spiky pop singles before moving off into a grey, bleak period culminating in 1982's unremitting Pornography.
As with any year, it's impossible to sum everything up in one playlist, and these songs are only a fraction of what was happening at the time. You could choose plenty more obscure songs, and certainly plenty from other genres, but this I think is a pretty good representation of (at least part of) 1979.
The Clash - London Calling
Gang Of Four - Ether
Joy Division - Disorder
The Specials - Gangsters
The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train
Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head
Gary Numan - Cars
OMD - Electricity
Squeeze - Cool For Cats
Wire - I Should Have Known Better
Master list
1979: Rubbish is piling up in the streets, hospital entrances are being picketed, gravediggers are on strike, there are power cuts, fuel shortages, cuts in public services and sharp rises in unemployment. Add to this a brooding anxiety about the Cold War, heightened in December by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and you get the impression that Britain was a fairly grim place to be.
It was against this backdrop that the songs on this playlist were written and in their own way, capture the mood of the time. There is apocalyptic imagery (The Clash), commentary on the violence in Northern Ireland (Gang of Four), pre-new man blokiness (Squeeze) and The Specials, who were actively confronting racism and raising awareness of the dangers of the National Front.
Musically, 1979 was a time of innovation and experimentation following the landscape clearing of punk (though Buzzcocks proved that there was still life in the catchy three chord thrash). The mysterious Unknown Pleasures, with its vast space and eerie clicks and whirrs was released in July, while the year also saw a glimpse of the synth-driven 1980s via the cold futurism of Gary Numan and OMD. Wire released third album 154, and The Cure continued their early run of spiky pop singles before moving off into a grey, bleak period culminating in 1982's unremitting Pornography.
As with any year, it's impossible to sum everything up in one playlist, and these songs are only a fraction of what was happening at the time. You could choose plenty more obscure songs, and certainly plenty from other genres, but this I think is a pretty good representation of (at least part of) 1979.
The Clash - London Calling
Gang Of Four - Ether
Joy Division - Disorder
The Specials - Gangsters
The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train
Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head
Gary Numan - Cars
OMD - Electricity
Squeeze - Cool For Cats
Wire - I Should Have Known Better
Master list
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 2007
by James Keen
2007 was a good year for a few reasons. Aside from going to uni, I also turned 18, which meant a) I saved enough money from my birthday and part-time job in a local pizza takeaway to be able to afford to go to Leeds Festival, and b) I could actually produce ID when challenged in the Birmingham Bar Academy, on the rare occasion that the tried and tested ‘not having a shave for a few days’ technique failed.
Kubichek! – Nightjoy
Lead single off their sole album, released in this year. Regularly seen playing in front of sparse crowds at the aforementioned Bar Academy, as well as to a surprisingly large one at Leeds Festival.
goFASTER>> - She Starts Monday
At least Kubichek could draw in tens of people. I went to see this lot play a charity gig in Sheffield with my girlfriend. We were the only people there. Now on the same label as...
Johnny Foreigner – Another Ghost Another Planet
Most of the middle section of 2007 was spent with the I Like You Mostly Late At Never collection of demos on repeat, from which the above is drawn, before the Arcs Across The City EP was released towards the end of the year.
Situationists – We Are Weightless
The decision to go to university in Sheffield was made a lot easier by local bands of this quality coming through.
Ripchord – Lock Up Your Daughters
Signed to Sony imprint 1965 Records, whose entire budget went on promoting The View, meaning this lot never got to release their album. I still maintain that Ripchord were better, though it’s all relative. I also saw them play live in a strip club for a Channel 4 programme, an experience which can only be described as surreal.
Snowfight In The City Centre – Six Seconds
Shortly after releasing this single, they split up, and not long after became Delphic. This ‘wasn’t the music they wanted to make’; I doubt they care that they lost my interest after the change of direction.
GoodBooks – Passchendaele
Like a musical Freddy Adu, they never quite fulfilled expectations. We were left with one stellar album, with this bittersweet single a reminder of what might have been.
Future of the Left – adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood
Happened upon the album from which this is taken by chance, after being sent it to review. Probably the third best album of 2007, behind that of…
The National – Fake Empire
As undoubtedly brilliant as this, and the rest of Boxer, was, it was beaten to my personal top spot by...
Meet Me In St. Louis – All We Need Is A Little Bit of Energon, And A Lot of Luck
Which was probably the best album of that decade.
Master list
2007 was a good year for a few reasons. Aside from going to uni, I also turned 18, which meant a) I saved enough money from my birthday and part-time job in a local pizza takeaway to be able to afford to go to Leeds Festival, and b) I could actually produce ID when challenged in the Birmingham Bar Academy, on the rare occasion that the tried and tested ‘not having a shave for a few days’ technique failed.
Kubichek! – Nightjoy
Lead single off their sole album, released in this year. Regularly seen playing in front of sparse crowds at the aforementioned Bar Academy, as well as to a surprisingly large one at Leeds Festival.
goFASTER>> - She Starts Monday
At least Kubichek could draw in tens of people. I went to see this lot play a charity gig in Sheffield with my girlfriend. We were the only people there. Now on the same label as...
Johnny Foreigner – Another Ghost Another Planet
Most of the middle section of 2007 was spent with the I Like You Mostly Late At Never collection of demos on repeat, from which the above is drawn, before the Arcs Across The City EP was released towards the end of the year.
Situationists – We Are Weightless
The decision to go to university in Sheffield was made a lot easier by local bands of this quality coming through.
Ripchord – Lock Up Your Daughters
Signed to Sony imprint 1965 Records, whose entire budget went on promoting The View, meaning this lot never got to release their album. I still maintain that Ripchord were better, though it’s all relative. I also saw them play live in a strip club for a Channel 4 programme, an experience which can only be described as surreal.
Snowfight In The City Centre – Six Seconds
Shortly after releasing this single, they split up, and not long after became Delphic. This ‘wasn’t the music they wanted to make’; I doubt they care that they lost my interest after the change of direction.
GoodBooks – Passchendaele
Like a musical Freddy Adu, they never quite fulfilled expectations. We were left with one stellar album, with this bittersweet single a reminder of what might have been.
Future of the Left – adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood
Happened upon the album from which this is taken by chance, after being sent it to review. Probably the third best album of 2007, behind that of…
The National – Fake Empire
As undoubtedly brilliant as this, and the rest of Boxer, was, it was beaten to my personal top spot by...
Meet Me In St. Louis – All We Need Is A Little Bit of Energon, And A Lot of Luck
Which was probably the best album of that decade.
Master list
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 2001
by Thomas Blatchford
Coldcut & The Guilty Party - Re:Volution
Released on the day of the general election - we nearly had William Hague in government, imagine that - Coldcut quietly pushed things forward for veejaying and made the most successful record since Tackhead's 'Hard Left' at turning political soundbites into a gargantuan party 'anfum'.
Ikara Colt - One Note
NME called it an excellent lesson in economy, considering the song only uses one note as implied; if so, minimalism never sounded so riotous and urgent. Many pointed out their similarity to The Fall and Sonic Youth, but if either of those bands had a rhythm section like Clare Ingram and Dominic Young their songs would be rattled through within about ninety seconds and MES/Thurston would have a heart attack.
Super Furry Animals - Sidewalk Serfer Girl
As keen as I am on plucky indie labels, it's great that Epic's financial backing gave Super Furry Animals the chance to realise their creativity in ways that they'd only previously hinted at. One of the occasional sweet love songs on an album brimming with apocalyptic paranoia, Sidewalk Serfer Girl is one of many moments where Rings Around The World seems to better the sum of its myriad influences (Beach Boys, Aphex Twin, Status Quo etc). Shame the pioneering idea of a synchronised CD and DVD album didn't quite take off.
Hefner - Peppermint Taste
It's rarely hailed as Hefner's classic album, but closing statement Dead Media does more than stand up with the rest of 'em and at times pre-empts the electronicly-inclined offerings as The French. As a quirky pop tune that documents bittersweet feelings of love gone unrealised, 'Peppermint Taste' makes you believe Darren Hayman could have written 'Disco 2000' or even 'Last Christmas' if someone else hadn't got there first.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Bob Wilson Anchorman
I'd like to meet Faraday and buy him a beer.
The Avalanches - Tonight
The singles were more of a standout within Since I Left You's rollercoaster narrative, but 'Tonight' is a melancholic detail of skewed exotica that counters the album's bombast beautifully. Lounge bricolage, if you will.
The Beta Band - Broke
With the arrival of 'Hot Shots II' the High Fidelity-endorsed "Bayta Band" suddenly announced they were "no longer shit". A bit too dismissive of their previous form, but they were never better before or since.
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
From a flawless slew of chart hits and a superlative album that is still Timbaland's crowning moment, Aaliyah's angsty message of relationship woes was delivered in such an unusual, measured and beguiling way she might as well have been a mermaid or a martian or something. Along with the sass of Miss E...So Addictive and the impact of Stankonia still resonating heavily, Aaliyah cemented the feeling of 2001 being a vintage year for groundbreaking Rn'B; such a shame we'd never get to see what she'd do next.
Bearsuit - The Gazumper
In the same year they released debut single Hey Charlie Hey Chuck, Bearsuit's Hallowe'en split single with Aqua Vista was also an early triumph. Despite buzzsaw guitars and daring the listener to summon the devil, it still sounds like the twee-est rendering of the apocalypse ever.
Mclusky - Whoyouknow
As the first disc of Mcluskyism proves, Mclusky were one of the greatest 'singles bands' of the last decade, (as well as one of the most superior 'album' ones too of course, but you know what I mean). A year later it would herald the bit where you have to fast forward to the hidden track on Mclusky Do Dallas, but in 2001 it was the rabid, raging single that you couldn't play to death because it sounded invincible.
Master list
Coldcut & The Guilty Party - Re:Volution
Released on the day of the general election - we nearly had William Hague in government, imagine that - Coldcut quietly pushed things forward for veejaying and made the most successful record since Tackhead's 'Hard Left' at turning political soundbites into a gargantuan party 'anfum'.
Ikara Colt - One Note
NME called it an excellent lesson in economy, considering the song only uses one note as implied; if so, minimalism never sounded so riotous and urgent. Many pointed out their similarity to The Fall and Sonic Youth, but if either of those bands had a rhythm section like Clare Ingram and Dominic Young their songs would be rattled through within about ninety seconds and MES/Thurston would have a heart attack.
Super Furry Animals - Sidewalk Serfer Girl
As keen as I am on plucky indie labels, it's great that Epic's financial backing gave Super Furry Animals the chance to realise their creativity in ways that they'd only previously hinted at. One of the occasional sweet love songs on an album brimming with apocalyptic paranoia, Sidewalk Serfer Girl is one of many moments where Rings Around The World seems to better the sum of its myriad influences (Beach Boys, Aphex Twin, Status Quo etc). Shame the pioneering idea of a synchronised CD and DVD album didn't quite take off.
Hefner - Peppermint Taste
It's rarely hailed as Hefner's classic album, but closing statement Dead Media does more than stand up with the rest of 'em and at times pre-empts the electronicly-inclined offerings as The French. As a quirky pop tune that documents bittersweet feelings of love gone unrealised, 'Peppermint Taste' makes you believe Darren Hayman could have written 'Disco 2000' or even 'Last Christmas' if someone else hadn't got there first.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Bob Wilson Anchorman
I'd like to meet Faraday and buy him a beer.
The Avalanches - Tonight
The singles were more of a standout within Since I Left You's rollercoaster narrative, but 'Tonight' is a melancholic detail of skewed exotica that counters the album's bombast beautifully. Lounge bricolage, if you will.
The Beta Band - Broke
With the arrival of 'Hot Shots II' the High Fidelity-endorsed "Bayta Band" suddenly announced they were "no longer shit". A bit too dismissive of their previous form, but they were never better before or since.
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
From a flawless slew of chart hits and a superlative album that is still Timbaland's crowning moment, Aaliyah's angsty message of relationship woes was delivered in such an unusual, measured and beguiling way she might as well have been a mermaid or a martian or something. Along with the sass of Miss E...So Addictive and the impact of Stankonia still resonating heavily, Aaliyah cemented the feeling of 2001 being a vintage year for groundbreaking Rn'B; such a shame we'd never get to see what she'd do next.
Bearsuit - The Gazumper
In the same year they released debut single Hey Charlie Hey Chuck, Bearsuit's Hallowe'en split single with Aqua Vista was also an early triumph. Despite buzzsaw guitars and daring the listener to summon the devil, it still sounds like the twee-est rendering of the apocalypse ever.
Mclusky - Whoyouknow
As the first disc of Mcluskyism proves, Mclusky were one of the greatest 'singles bands' of the last decade, (as well as one of the most superior 'album' ones too of course, but you know what I mean). A year later it would herald the bit where you have to fast forward to the hidden track on Mclusky Do Dallas, but in 2001 it was the rabid, raging single that you couldn't play to death because it sounded invincible.
Master list
Friday, February 11, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 2004
by Simon Lawson
As a 16 year old NME reader in 2004 these songs may be very much of a time and place, but yeah listening back to some of them now they're still pretty awesome.
The Vines - Animal Machine
I remember Winning Days only getting a 5 out of 10 in the NME. Maybe my first first hand experience of backlash against hype but it was as powerful (if not quite as consistent) a record as their first and I loved it. Animal Machine is a super song.
Tom Vek - If You Want
My girlfriend of the time had Sky TV and importantly MTV2, going over to hers was my first real taste of music television and I remember If You Want was one of the first songs that I heard on there and then went out to buy. New album in 2011 I hear... Lolz
Ben Kweller - I Need You Back
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
People still like The Polyphonic Spree right? I've somehow never seen them play live. Not sure how as they were really active around the same time that I was. This is a fantastic song. Have you heard their cover of Lithium off that EP between this album and their most recent?
The Hives - B Is For Brutus
I could understand some reading this list and thinking I'm picking all these bands 2-3 years after they hit their peak and while past their best but The Hives are brilliant. The chords are always brilliant and the vocal parts are a perfect fit grabbing yr attention just right like they should in a song I feel. The songs never outstayed their welcome either, I mean this is 2:30 and they only ever broke 3 minutes if it was needed.
Adam Green - Emily
Gemstones is a brill collection of croon pop tunes and I'm not quite sure how he got so popular with it amidst all the rocking of the age. Maybe it was the smuttiness...
50 Foot Wave - Clara Bow
I'll admit that I didn't hear this one until a couple of years after it's release but I'd started university and yeah. I never got into Biffy really so maybe 50 Foot Wave were my weird time rock band. More conventional and with a girl singer sounds infinitely better.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Rise Of The Eagles
This has been on maybe a third of the mix tapes I've made since 2004.
Eastern Lane - Saffron
I wrote about this a bit ago. It's still awesome.
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
This got pounded by XFM on it's initial release. The b-side to his next single Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery, Right To Pop, was great as well :D
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
Re-released in 2004 and the album came out here then so it kinda counts. I wrote about this one as well. I maintain that every time I hear this song it's the best 2 minutes of my life ever.
Master list
As a 16 year old NME reader in 2004 these songs may be very much of a time and place, but yeah listening back to some of them now they're still pretty awesome.
The Vines - Animal Machine
I remember Winning Days only getting a 5 out of 10 in the NME. Maybe my first first hand experience of backlash against hype but it was as powerful (if not quite as consistent) a record as their first and I loved it. Animal Machine is a super song.
Tom Vek - If You Want
My girlfriend of the time had Sky TV and importantly MTV2, going over to hers was my first real taste of music television and I remember If You Want was one of the first songs that I heard on there and then went out to buy. New album in 2011 I hear... Lolz
Ben Kweller - I Need You Back
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
People still like The Polyphonic Spree right? I've somehow never seen them play live. Not sure how as they were really active around the same time that I was. This is a fantastic song. Have you heard their cover of Lithium off that EP between this album and their most recent?
The Hives - B Is For Brutus
I could understand some reading this list and thinking I'm picking all these bands 2-3 years after they hit their peak and while past their best but The Hives are brilliant. The chords are always brilliant and the vocal parts are a perfect fit grabbing yr attention just right like they should in a song I feel. The songs never outstayed their welcome either, I mean this is 2:30 and they only ever broke 3 minutes if it was needed.
Adam Green - Emily
Gemstones is a brill collection of croon pop tunes and I'm not quite sure how he got so popular with it amidst all the rocking of the age. Maybe it was the smuttiness...
50 Foot Wave - Clara Bow
I'll admit that I didn't hear this one until a couple of years after it's release but I'd started university and yeah. I never got into Biffy really so maybe 50 Foot Wave were my weird time rock band. More conventional and with a girl singer sounds infinitely better.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Rise Of The Eagles
This has been on maybe a third of the mix tapes I've made since 2004.
Eastern Lane - Saffron
I wrote about this a bit ago. It's still awesome.
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
This got pounded by XFM on it's initial release. The b-side to his next single Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery, Right To Pop, was great as well :D
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
Re-released in 2004 and the album came out here then so it kinda counts. I wrote about this one as well. I maintain that every time I hear this song it's the best 2 minutes of my life ever.
Master list
Friday, February 04, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1991
by Neil Kenny
I wanted to be cool with this list, but once I realised that I had all of these on cassette and not vinyl I realised the game was up. I really wanted to put My Bloody Valentine and Orbital in, but I wasn't listening to them the year they came out. They were retrospective pleasures. Here is a snapshot of what I was listening to in 1991. Hopefully it'll set off a few memories for you too.
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
This was like nothing else on MTV at the time, brassy, cheap, fuzzy, with those hollering dogs. This was the sound of American rebellion; terribly alluring to a 16 year old suburban Irish kid.
Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Languid and beautiful, with that evocative intro on the Foxbase Alpha album of French football commentary, this was a love song as statement of cool. Bob Dylan meant nothing to me; Saint Etienne did. Particularly as I'd gone on French exchange to St. Etienne the year before and seen Eric Cantona play for Les Verts.
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Perfection.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Maybe we misunderstand him by making him an MTV messiah, but this was spine-tingling. In those pre-YouTube days I'd stay up for hours waiting to see it come on again.
Electronic - Get The Message
I'd missed them the first time, a late-comer to English 'Indie' music, (as my Ma would call it) so New Order/The Smiths/Joy Division were all still unknown pleasures to me, but in the wake of the Stone Roses this shimmering slice of summer sent me back rediscovering 1980's Manchester.
The Shamen - Move Every Mountain
Every Saturday night we went to the one pub in Dublin that never asked us for ID, drank small amounts of cider because we couldn't hold our drink and played this on the jukebox.
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Summertime
Rap was supposed to be all about posturing, and Ice-Ts O.G. that year opened my ears to Gangsta' but this was absolute warmth. If most of the songs on this list seem like an endless summer, then this and the next one were the ones that still herald the first sunshine of the year for me now
Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun
I still don't know what Andy Weatherall did on this record but he was a superstar, he DJed at the first rave I ever went to and he had a hand in this on one of my all time favourite albums.
REM - Losing My Religion
I'm sure there are people who hate this song, but I've never met any of them. This was the song that everybody loved; the cool kids, the buskers, the butchers, our mothers. It was everywhere and it is brilliant.
A House - Endless Art
A group whose every song sounded like it was made by a different band (both a good and bad thing), this was their one hit that properly crossed the Irish Sea. When it got single of the week in NME it seemed like some sort of validation. U2 were set to go around the world swinging their Trabants from the roofs of stadiums, but this was the sound of Irish indie.
Master list
I wanted to be cool with this list, but once I realised that I had all of these on cassette and not vinyl I realised the game was up. I really wanted to put My Bloody Valentine and Orbital in, but I wasn't listening to them the year they came out. They were retrospective pleasures. Here is a snapshot of what I was listening to in 1991. Hopefully it'll set off a few memories for you too.
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
This was like nothing else on MTV at the time, brassy, cheap, fuzzy, with those hollering dogs. This was the sound of American rebellion; terribly alluring to a 16 year old suburban Irish kid.
Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Languid and beautiful, with that evocative intro on the Foxbase Alpha album of French football commentary, this was a love song as statement of cool. Bob Dylan meant nothing to me; Saint Etienne did. Particularly as I'd gone on French exchange to St. Etienne the year before and seen Eric Cantona play for Les Verts.
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Perfection.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Maybe we misunderstand him by making him an MTV messiah, but this was spine-tingling. In those pre-YouTube days I'd stay up for hours waiting to see it come on again.
Electronic - Get The Message
I'd missed them the first time, a late-comer to English 'Indie' music, (as my Ma would call it) so New Order/The Smiths/Joy Division were all still unknown pleasures to me, but in the wake of the Stone Roses this shimmering slice of summer sent me back rediscovering 1980's Manchester.
The Shamen - Move Every Mountain
Every Saturday night we went to the one pub in Dublin that never asked us for ID, drank small amounts of cider because we couldn't hold our drink and played this on the jukebox.
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Summertime
Rap was supposed to be all about posturing, and Ice-Ts O.G. that year opened my ears to Gangsta' but this was absolute warmth. If most of the songs on this list seem like an endless summer, then this and the next one were the ones that still herald the first sunshine of the year for me now
Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun
I still don't know what Andy Weatherall did on this record but he was a superstar, he DJed at the first rave I ever went to and he had a hand in this on one of my all time favourite albums.
REM - Losing My Religion
I'm sure there are people who hate this song, but I've never met any of them. This was the song that everybody loved; the cool kids, the buskers, the butchers, our mothers. It was everywhere and it is brilliant.
A House - Endless Art
A group whose every song sounded like it was made by a different band (both a good and bad thing), this was their one hit that properly crossed the Irish Sea. When it got single of the week in NME it seemed like some sort of validation. U2 were set to go around the world swinging their Trabants from the roofs of stadiums, but this was the sound of Irish indie.
Master list
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Discourse 2000 #6
NOMINATED BY: Ian Mathers of Fractionals
Apparently there is another Readymade, some techno guy or something; but the Readymade you should be paying attention to is the Canadian one. Looking at their site now, they announced their current hiatus on my birthday in 2007, so chances are good it’s semi-permanent, which is kind of depressing. Even with the benefit of hindsight I’m not sure how this remarkably undervalued Vancouver outfit made both my favourite album of all time (1997’s The Dramatic Balanced By, not eligible for this column) and, eight years later, one of my favourite albums of the decade so far (let alone how I managed to stumble upon them). But I do know that when I see that their last label’s site is now a placeholder in Russian, that they’re not on Wikipedia and that basically no-one’s heard of them, I start feeling a little panicky.
I don’t want the things I love to be obscure, let alone hard to get. When the band announced that they’d found a stockpile of The Dramatic Balanced By's in a box and that those were the last copies they had to sell, I bought five (there’s a copy each at the house of each of my parents, just in case something happens to my apartment). When the local HMV had that album in the bargain bin for 99 friggin’ cents, I forced my dad to buy that copy (he thinks it’s okay). I would go to similar lengths for pretty much anything Readymade has done, but especially for 2005’s All the Plans Resting, the band’s swan song to date.
What do they sound like? Well, at one point during my Stylus review of the album I describe it as sounding “as if someone hired Vini Reilly to play with Slowdive at the halfway point between Souvlaki and Pygmalion, only with tunes,” but that’s the kind of desperate and grandiose grasping you engage in when you are writing about something you love and that love has reduced your faculties to mush. I am going to try and avoid that here. Readymade have always been some variety of a shoegaze band, but by the time All the Plans Resting emerged they’d move from the wonderfully, warmly mid-fidelity, distorted three-men-and-a-drum-machine feel of their debut to a more polished and refined quintet, acoustic and electronic instruments melding into something unified and sublime. Their links page offers some idea of the frame of musical reference – Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Hood, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, all present and accounted for.
What really gets me about them, though, is the songwriting. They’re not a pop band by any stretch, and they don’t even necessarily write verse-chorus-verse songs, but the stretch on All the Plans Resting from Hengshan Reeling through to Rememberforget alone is enough to put any other modern shoegaze or dream pop band to shame (even the one you’re thinking about right now). They remain my favourite lyricists about the city, about urban existence and the angry futility of caring about politics (when they whisper “inhibitions are such pleasant sounds / you should still molotov the lounge” on Under the Networks it’s more snarky than anything else), about distance and people and growing up into someone you’re not sure you wanted to be. Outlast By Rain is the most striking example of the latter theme, ending with the lines
"Where I once had
The most elegant contempt,
The language of angry young men
Rarely translates with age
What a lie I told about my future"
But although that song and its quietly measured pulse is plenty subdued, it’s about reflection, not pathos, and the rest of All the Plans Resting follows suit. The album is clear-eyed enough about the perils of modern life and committed enough to its own velvety, soaring gorgeousness that the music is a source of courage and reassurance rather than yet another downer “man, growing up sucks” missive. The chiming Rehearsed Disaster might actually be about selling out and “hiding away / behind a chrome window” but it’s also about the way voice, guitar and keyboard all rise and fall in unison.
All The Plans Resting ends with what might be my favourite single Readymade song, for both sonic and lyrical reasons. The Futility Steps is one of the few songs here to move smoothly from a quiet opening to a kind of crescendo, and as the band usually avoids that kind of obvious payoff the effect is even more potent. They sing “let’s plan a robbery / even if just to plan / that might change our lives” with the quiet despair of people worried that their lives are slipping away from them, determined to get out of the ruts somehow. Whatever their day jobs (and in any case, those day jobs have been enough to keep the band from ever touring), they should stop worrying: however unrewarded and unheralded Readymade remain for now, they’re created enough lasting beauty to justify their existence in an uncaring, or at least ignorant, world.
Apparently there is another Readymade, some techno guy or something; but the Readymade you should be paying attention to is the Canadian one. Looking at their site now, they announced their current hiatus on my birthday in 2007, so chances are good it’s semi-permanent, which is kind of depressing. Even with the benefit of hindsight I’m not sure how this remarkably undervalued Vancouver outfit made both my favourite album of all time (1997’s The Dramatic Balanced By, not eligible for this column) and, eight years later, one of my favourite albums of the decade so far (let alone how I managed to stumble upon them). But I do know that when I see that their last label’s site is now a placeholder in Russian, that they’re not on Wikipedia and that basically no-one’s heard of them, I start feeling a little panicky.
I don’t want the things I love to be obscure, let alone hard to get. When the band announced that they’d found a stockpile of The Dramatic Balanced By's in a box and that those were the last copies they had to sell, I bought five (there’s a copy each at the house of each of my parents, just in case something happens to my apartment). When the local HMV had that album in the bargain bin for 99 friggin’ cents, I forced my dad to buy that copy (he thinks it’s okay). I would go to similar lengths for pretty much anything Readymade has done, but especially for 2005’s All the Plans Resting, the band’s swan song to date.
What do they sound like? Well, at one point during my Stylus review of the album I describe it as sounding “as if someone hired Vini Reilly to play with Slowdive at the halfway point between Souvlaki and Pygmalion, only with tunes,” but that’s the kind of desperate and grandiose grasping you engage in when you are writing about something you love and that love has reduced your faculties to mush. I am going to try and avoid that here. Readymade have always been some variety of a shoegaze band, but by the time All the Plans Resting emerged they’d move from the wonderfully, warmly mid-fidelity, distorted three-men-and-a-drum-machine feel of their debut to a more polished and refined quintet, acoustic and electronic instruments melding into something unified and sublime. Their links page offers some idea of the frame of musical reference – Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Hood, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, all present and accounted for.
What really gets me about them, though, is the songwriting. They’re not a pop band by any stretch, and they don’t even necessarily write verse-chorus-verse songs, but the stretch on All the Plans Resting from Hengshan Reeling through to Rememberforget alone is enough to put any other modern shoegaze or dream pop band to shame (even the one you’re thinking about right now). They remain my favourite lyricists about the city, about urban existence and the angry futility of caring about politics (when they whisper “inhibitions are such pleasant sounds / you should still molotov the lounge” on Under the Networks it’s more snarky than anything else), about distance and people and growing up into someone you’re not sure you wanted to be. Outlast By Rain is the most striking example of the latter theme, ending with the lines
"Where I once had
The most elegant contempt,
The language of angry young men
Rarely translates with age
What a lie I told about my future"
But although that song and its quietly measured pulse is plenty subdued, it’s about reflection, not pathos, and the rest of All the Plans Resting follows suit. The album is clear-eyed enough about the perils of modern life and committed enough to its own velvety, soaring gorgeousness that the music is a source of courage and reassurance rather than yet another downer “man, growing up sucks” missive. The chiming Rehearsed Disaster might actually be about selling out and “hiding away / behind a chrome window” but it’s also about the way voice, guitar and keyboard all rise and fall in unison.
All The Plans Resting ends with what might be my favourite single Readymade song, for both sonic and lyrical reasons. The Futility Steps is one of the few songs here to move smoothly from a quiet opening to a kind of crescendo, and as the band usually avoids that kind of obvious payoff the effect is even more potent. They sing “let’s plan a robbery / even if just to plan / that might change our lives” with the quiet despair of people worried that their lives are slipping away from them, determined to get out of the ruts somehow. Whatever their day jobs (and in any case, those day jobs have been enough to keep the band from ever touring), they should stop worrying: however unrewarded and unheralded Readymade remain for now, they’re created enough lasting beauty to justify their existence in an uncaring, or at least ignorant, world.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
In shops tomorrow: 17/4 (unless it's closed for the Bank Holiday)
Singles
A quiet week for releases, chiefly two from members of our top ten albums of 2005 list. There doesn't seem any great reason for Brakes to bring All Night Disco Party out again, mind, as they're hardly more famous than they were when it came out last June and bar a short tour it's not tying in with anything we can see. They could have brought the cover of Jackson out to cash in on all things Cashular. Pleasing as it is to see it singled out, Mew aren't tying in The Zookeeper's Boy with anything either, Sony presumably having given up long ago on trying to pin them down to one way of selling them to the public at large. Plus the bass player's just left to become a dad. So much for curious single selections long after the album, what about first and obvious singles after the album? Two of those too - the Flaming Lips' The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - and while we're about it, the album's been granted a clever TV advert - and Coldcut's True Skool, which with Roots Manuva in tow has been threatening to take on daytime Radio 1 without ever quite fully making the leap. Ah well. Falling somewhere in the middle are literate Aussies the Lucksmiths' A Hiccup In Your Happiness, inspired by and featuring liner notes from Daniel Kitson, who we hear is soon starting a radio show on Australia's Triple R.
Albums
While we were being set reeling from the news that the Parkinsons have a new album out - did we fall back four years overnight? - we take comfort in two of our favourite labels releasing samplers of their work. Now, we've gone on enough about Transgressive in recent months to the point where there must be some readers drawing up plans to burn Toby L and Tim Dellow's homes down for ever conceiving the thing, but their hitrate is so high that Transgressive Singles Collection Vol.1 is something we've been eagerly anticipating. It's a compilation of the tracks from their first five releases - Subways, Ladyfuzz, Burningpilot, Mystery Jets, Pipettes - plus Bloc Party and the Rakes from Dellow's time running Trash Aesthetic and an extra DVD featuring videos and live footage from the above plus the Young Knives, Larrikin Love, Jeremy Warmsley and Battle. If all you've got is a fiver, however, you could, well, put it aside and save up, or you could splash out on They'll Have To Catch Us First, Domino Recordings' first compilation since the seminal Worlds Of Possibility double set of 2003 and thus since the first of their two worldwide big hitters came to prominence. Franz Ferdinand are here with either L Wells or an acoustic version of The Fallen depending on which tracklisting you read, alongside Sons & Daughters, Adem, the Kills, Archie Bronson Outfit, Clearlake, Quasi, Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy, Four Tet, the Television Personalities, Juana Molina, Junior Boys and... oh, Test Icicles. Ah well. Boringly sticking to one band on an album, the Charlatans recover their mojo on Simpatico, the Dresden Dolls Brechtpunk their way into many a black bedroom with style on Yes Virginia, former voice of the Young Marble Giants Alison Statton and collaborator Spike see their acoustic 1994 album and EP Tidal Blues/Weekend in Wales stuck together, and just to ruin the artist album link To Elliott From Portland sees many of Elliott Smith's Oregonian contemporaries, chiefly the Decemberists, cover his back catalogue with care.
A quiet week for releases, chiefly two from members of our top ten albums of 2005 list. There doesn't seem any great reason for Brakes to bring All Night Disco Party out again, mind, as they're hardly more famous than they were when it came out last June and bar a short tour it's not tying in with anything we can see. They could have brought the cover of Jackson out to cash in on all things Cashular. Pleasing as it is to see it singled out, Mew aren't tying in The Zookeeper's Boy with anything either, Sony presumably having given up long ago on trying to pin them down to one way of selling them to the public at large. Plus the bass player's just left to become a dad. So much for curious single selections long after the album, what about first and obvious singles after the album? Two of those too - the Flaming Lips' The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - and while we're about it, the album's been granted a clever TV advert - and Coldcut's True Skool, which with Roots Manuva in tow has been threatening to take on daytime Radio 1 without ever quite fully making the leap. Ah well. Falling somewhere in the middle are literate Aussies the Lucksmiths' A Hiccup In Your Happiness, inspired by and featuring liner notes from Daniel Kitson, who we hear is soon starting a radio show on Australia's Triple R.
Albums
While we were being set reeling from the news that the Parkinsons have a new album out - did we fall back four years overnight? - we take comfort in two of our favourite labels releasing samplers of their work. Now, we've gone on enough about Transgressive in recent months to the point where there must be some readers drawing up plans to burn Toby L and Tim Dellow's homes down for ever conceiving the thing, but their hitrate is so high that Transgressive Singles Collection Vol.1 is something we've been eagerly anticipating. It's a compilation of the tracks from their first five releases - Subways, Ladyfuzz, Burningpilot, Mystery Jets, Pipettes - plus Bloc Party and the Rakes from Dellow's time running Trash Aesthetic and an extra DVD featuring videos and live footage from the above plus the Young Knives, Larrikin Love, Jeremy Warmsley and Battle. If all you've got is a fiver, however, you could, well, put it aside and save up, or you could splash out on They'll Have To Catch Us First, Domino Recordings' first compilation since the seminal Worlds Of Possibility double set of 2003 and thus since the first of their two worldwide big hitters came to prominence. Franz Ferdinand are here with either L Wells or an acoustic version of The Fallen depending on which tracklisting you read, alongside Sons & Daughters, Adem, the Kills, Archie Bronson Outfit, Clearlake, Quasi, Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy, Four Tet, the Television Personalities, Juana Molina, Junior Boys and... oh, Test Icicles. Ah well. Boringly sticking to one band on an album, the Charlatans recover their mojo on Simpatico, the Dresden Dolls Brechtpunk their way into many a black bedroom with style on Yes Virginia, former voice of the Young Marble Giants Alison Statton and collaborator Spike see their acoustic 1994 album and EP Tidal Blues/Weekend in Wales stuck together, and just to ruin the artist album link To Elliott From Portland sees many of Elliott Smith's Oregonian contemporaries, chiefly the Decemberists, cover his back catalogue with care.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1982
by Peter Climie
I was 10 in 1982. Unintentionally half of these tracks would be recognised by the 10 year old me at the time, and the other half are more recognised by the 38 year old me.
New Order - Temptation
One of the most enduring New Order songs, and a perennial live turn. For me, the stand out track from in 1982.
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Adam, for all his troubles, is a great performer, and his turn on Top Of The Pops where he takes over the whole set is a fine example of this. This was his first Ant-less outing, as a solo performer. Adam and The Ants were the first band whose posters went up on my bedroom walls.
The Jam - Beat Surrender
Released as I was just starting to browse the 7" singles in Boots and Woolworths, and then they split up!
Depeche Mode - See You
Depeche Mode showing that there was life after Vince Clarke, with Martin Gore taking over song-writing.
Yazoo - Only You
Vince Clarke showing that there was life after Depeche Mode. Not to be confused with the Flying Pickets cover version the following year!
Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Dusted down and danced to at every family party I attended for the rest of the decade.
Willie Nelson - Always On My Mind
Also covered with great aplomb previously by Elvis and later by The Pet Shop Boys.
ABC - The Look of Love
Trevor Horn cutting his teeth with the production technology that would spawn the hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood over the next few years.
Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Seedy torch song sing-a-long from Marc Almond.
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
Oh, and the Falklands war took place in 1982 but was rarely sung about.
Master list
I was 10 in 1982. Unintentionally half of these tracks would be recognised by the 10 year old me at the time, and the other half are more recognised by the 38 year old me.
New Order - Temptation
One of the most enduring New Order songs, and a perennial live turn. For me, the stand out track from in 1982.
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Adam, for all his troubles, is a great performer, and his turn on Top Of The Pops where he takes over the whole set is a fine example of this. This was his first Ant-less outing, as a solo performer. Adam and The Ants were the first band whose posters went up on my bedroom walls.
The Jam - Beat Surrender
Released as I was just starting to browse the 7" singles in Boots and Woolworths, and then they split up!
Depeche Mode - See You
Depeche Mode showing that there was life after Vince Clarke, with Martin Gore taking over song-writing.
Yazoo - Only You
Vince Clarke showing that there was life after Depeche Mode. Not to be confused with the Flying Pickets cover version the following year!
Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Dusted down and danced to at every family party I attended for the rest of the decade.
Willie Nelson - Always On My Mind
Also covered with great aplomb previously by Elvis and later by The Pet Shop Boys.
ABC - The Look of Love
Trevor Horn cutting his teeth with the production technology that would spawn the hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood over the next few years.
Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Seedy torch song sing-a-long from Marc Almond.
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
Oh, and the Falklands war took place in 1982 but was rarely sung about.
Master list
Monday, May 28, 2007
Weekender : still reeling from the discovery that Patrick Wolf is in a Kenickie video
FREE MUSIC: The Takeovers are Chris Slusarenko, formerly of Sub Pop band Sprinkler, and Robert Pollard, never a man short of songwriting or assorted partnerships post-Guided By Voices. Bad Football is actually their second album, featuring Stephen Malkmus, Decemberist John Moen, Dan Peters of Mudhoney and Tad Doyle of Tad. What does it sound like? It's Cap'n Bob, what do you think it sounds like? Fuzzy semi-obscure post-Britbeat with solos, yes. My Will is the best of the four tracks currently available for free download.
HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: Leeds' Tigers That Talked have pulled off that trick which you don't get as often as you'd imagine of sounding vaguely of a piece with recent bands but not really immediately fitting in as The Next... anyone. There's hints of the Cure, Arcade Fire, Elbow and Ryan Adams to name a few in there immediately, trading in smart lyrics over powerfully haunting and interlocking backing, replete with circling violin and dramatic arrangements. Further point of note: singer Jamie credits 'baritone and soprano ukelele' among his instruments.
VISUAL REPRESENTATION: WFMU's Beware Of The Blog once posted a set of John Shuttleworth songs under the precis that they were a hoax demo tape sent to major labels some time in the mid 90s. For those of us long aware of Graham Fellows' creation this was mystery upon paradox - as The Shuttleworths had started on Radio 4 in 1993 presumably someone had got hold of some of his recordings (or just taped the radio show) and passed it off as a fraud within a fraud, the technicals of which make our head spin. Anyhoo, he's on tour now, so - Incident On Snake Pass, Austin Ambassador Y-Reg, Christmas Orphan alongside Vic & Bob, an appearance on early Paul O'Grady vehicle Lily At The Lilydrome and, whyever not, Jilted John. Not the same person, apparently.
VIRAL MARKETING: Ready, Art Brut? You can just about forgive It's A Bit Complicated, released June 18th, for sounding a bit more Weezery power-pop than Bang Bang Rock And Roll. While they probably never expected that album to sell outside New Cross, now Eddie and co's main following is in their huge cult audience in America. And Germany, let's not forget Germany. And what do you get with a cult audience? Lots of people with phone cameras in case they have songs on the setlist with new names like Direct Hit, St Pauli or Blame It On The Trains.
FALLING OFF A BLOG: Fucking Dance likes a live review and an mp3, and writes about them in an entertaining way, which in this section is the least you can ask.
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Top 10 Indie Covers Of Rap Songs! And R&B and hip hop, but let's not split hairs when it mixes the well beloved (Nina Gordon's Straight Outta Compton, Jonathan Coulton's Baby Got Back) with the new (Rock Plaza Central doing SexyBack, Port O’Brien taking on My Humps) and only one regrettable inclusion (Kooks' Crazy. Come on, everyone's covered Crazy, why pick them?)
IN OTHER NEWS: It's not true to say tape encryptions of John Peel shows are the new band-specific blogs, but two new examples of the former have come to our attention in the last week -
Fades In Slowly also includes related links and features, while Teenage Kicks features Festive 50 entrants. Speaking of which, we've been trying to track down Harvey Rabbit's 1995 Peel number 44 cover of Robert Forster's Is This What You Call Change? for a few years now. We think we've appealed in this way before, but...anyone?
HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: Leeds' Tigers That Talked have pulled off that trick which you don't get as often as you'd imagine of sounding vaguely of a piece with recent bands but not really immediately fitting in as The Next... anyone. There's hints of the Cure, Arcade Fire, Elbow and Ryan Adams to name a few in there immediately, trading in smart lyrics over powerfully haunting and interlocking backing, replete with circling violin and dramatic arrangements. Further point of note: singer Jamie credits 'baritone and soprano ukelele' among his instruments.
VISUAL REPRESENTATION: WFMU's Beware Of The Blog once posted a set of John Shuttleworth songs under the precis that they were a hoax demo tape sent to major labels some time in the mid 90s. For those of us long aware of Graham Fellows' creation this was mystery upon paradox - as The Shuttleworths had started on Radio 4 in 1993 presumably someone had got hold of some of his recordings (or just taped the radio show) and passed it off as a fraud within a fraud, the technicals of which make our head spin. Anyhoo, he's on tour now, so - Incident On Snake Pass, Austin Ambassador Y-Reg, Christmas Orphan alongside Vic & Bob, an appearance on early Paul O'Grady vehicle Lily At The Lilydrome and, whyever not, Jilted John. Not the same person, apparently.
VIRAL MARKETING: Ready, Art Brut? You can just about forgive It's A Bit Complicated, released June 18th, for sounding a bit more Weezery power-pop than Bang Bang Rock And Roll. While they probably never expected that album to sell outside New Cross, now Eddie and co's main following is in their huge cult audience in America. And Germany, let's not forget Germany. And what do you get with a cult audience? Lots of people with phone cameras in case they have songs on the setlist with new names like Direct Hit, St Pauli or Blame It On The Trains.
FALLING OFF A BLOG: Fucking Dance likes a live review and an mp3, and writes about them in an entertaining way, which in this section is the least you can ask.
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Top 10 Indie Covers Of Rap Songs! And R&B and hip hop, but let's not split hairs when it mixes the well beloved (Nina Gordon's Straight Outta Compton, Jonathan Coulton's Baby Got Back) with the new (Rock Plaza Central doing SexyBack, Port O’Brien taking on My Humps) and only one regrettable inclusion (Kooks' Crazy. Come on, everyone's covered Crazy, why pick them?)
IN OTHER NEWS: It's not true to say tape encryptions of John Peel shows are the new band-specific blogs, but two new examples of the former have come to our attention in the last week -
Fades In Slowly also includes related links and features, while Teenage Kicks features Festive 50 entrants. Speaking of which, we've been trying to track down Harvey Rabbit's 1995 Peel number 44 cover of Robert Forster's Is This What You Call Change? for a few years now. We think we've appealed in this way before, but...anyone?
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1985
by Folly of Youth
The 1985 that wasn’t Live Aid and “We Are The World”. Some songs, small ‘p’ political, that are nostalgic, confused, angry and cynical. And finishing with big ’P’ political: "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine”.
If ever there was a ‘cause’ song to be remembered from the 80s it should be this potent declaration of solidarity. Little Steven van Zandt bringing together Run DMC, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Joey Ramone, David Ruffin, Hall and Oates, Darlene Love, Afrika Bambaataa, Bob Dylan, Kurtis Blow, Lou Reed and many others to condemn apartheid and those who support it by playing the whites-only pleasure resort. Queen, Elton John and all those who broke the United Nations cultural boycott should still be hanging their heads in shame 25 years later.
The Long Ryders – Looking For Lewis & Clark
Miracle Legion - The Backyard
The Replacements – Left of the Dial
Husker Du – Makes No Sense At All
The Mekons – Hard To Be Human Again
Microdisney - Genius
The Woodentops – Well Well Well
Jesus & Mary Chain – Never Understand
The Housemartins – Flag Day
Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City
Mixcloud
Master list
The 1985 that wasn’t Live Aid and “We Are The World”. Some songs, small ‘p’ political, that are nostalgic, confused, angry and cynical. And finishing with big ’P’ political: "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine”.
If ever there was a ‘cause’ song to be remembered from the 80s it should be this potent declaration of solidarity. Little Steven van Zandt bringing together Run DMC, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Joey Ramone, David Ruffin, Hall and Oates, Darlene Love, Afrika Bambaataa, Bob Dylan, Kurtis Blow, Lou Reed and many others to condemn apartheid and those who support it by playing the whites-only pleasure resort. Queen, Elton John and all those who broke the United Nations cultural boycott should still be hanging their heads in shame 25 years later.
The Long Ryders – Looking For Lewis & Clark
Miracle Legion - The Backyard
The Replacements – Left of the Dial
Husker Du – Makes No Sense At All
The Mekons – Hard To Be Human Again
Microdisney - Genius
The Woodentops – Well Well Well
Jesus & Mary Chain – Never Understand
The Housemartins – Flag Day
Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City
Mixcloud
Master list
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1993
by James Glazebrook
1993 was my first full year as a teenager, and this chronological playlist soundtracks my coming of age. Looking back, the first half of '93 seems like a six-month summer, when I lay on my bed listening to all the music I could get hold of, with endless enthusiasm and without prejudice. Guided by the charts, cover-mounted compilations and my local library's tape collection, I liked what I liked - even if it was produced by a one-hit wonder (Feed The Tree), even if there were
better songs on the album (Creep), even if it was (whisper it) popular (Are You Gonna Go My Way). By the end of the year, all my rules had changed. I had heard the ambiguous leftfield pop of Depeche Mode and Björk, and my tastes had pushed out into the extremes, both lyrical and musical. Record covers got darker, as did their contents, and steadily my stereo's output descended into the obscure (Triad) and the downright obscene (Method Man). In hindsight, I learned a lot in these 12 short months, even if I have learned a more important lesson since then: how to love pop again.
Belly - Feed The Tree
Radiohead - Creep
The Cranberries - Dreams
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Björk & David Arnold - Play Dead
Cypress Hill - Cock The Hammer
Nirvana - Rape Me
Wu-Tang Clan - Method Man
Pitchshifter - Triad
Spotify playlist
Master list
1993 was my first full year as a teenager, and this chronological playlist soundtracks my coming of age. Looking back, the first half of '93 seems like a six-month summer, when I lay on my bed listening to all the music I could get hold of, with endless enthusiasm and without prejudice. Guided by the charts, cover-mounted compilations and my local library's tape collection, I liked what I liked - even if it was produced by a one-hit wonder (Feed The Tree), even if there were
better songs on the album (Creep), even if it was (whisper it) popular (Are You Gonna Go My Way). By the end of the year, all my rules had changed. I had heard the ambiguous leftfield pop of Depeche Mode and Björk, and my tastes had pushed out into the extremes, both lyrical and musical. Record covers got darker, as did their contents, and steadily my stereo's output descended into the obscure (Triad) and the downright obscene (Method Man). In hindsight, I learned a lot in these 12 short months, even if I have learned a more important lesson since then: how to love pop again.
Belly - Feed The Tree
Radiohead - Creep
The Cranberries - Dreams
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Björk & David Arnold - Play Dead
Cypress Hill - Cock The Hammer
Nirvana - Rape Me
Wu-Tang Clan - Method Man
Pitchshifter - Triad
Spotify playlist
Master list
Friday, February 18, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1980
by Tom Jenkins
In 1980 I was merely a twinkle in my newly betrothed father's eye (I would arrive two years later). As a result, these songs do not represent a particular period of my life. They are, put simply, the ten songs from 1980 I could happily listen to on repeat, from here to eternity. Notable absences include Joy Division, The Cure, Siouxsie and Dead Kennedy's, but to be honest, I'd much rather listen to Abba and Dolly...
The Jam - Going Underground
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
The Clash - The Magnificent Seven
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
Ultravox - Vienna
Abba - Lay All Your Love On Me
Dolly Parton - 9 To 5
The Ramones - Baby I Love You
John Lennon - Watching The Wheels
Master list
In 1980 I was merely a twinkle in my newly betrothed father's eye (I would arrive two years later). As a result, these songs do not represent a particular period of my life. They are, put simply, the ten songs from 1980 I could happily listen to on repeat, from here to eternity. Notable absences include Joy Division, The Cure, Siouxsie and Dead Kennedy's, but to be honest, I'd much rather listen to Abba and Dolly...
The Jam - Going Underground
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
The Clash - The Magnificent Seven
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
Ultravox - Vienna
Abba - Lay All Your Love On Me
Dolly Parton - 9 To 5
The Ramones - Baby I Love You
John Lennon - Watching The Wheels
Master list
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