Close Lobsters Peel Session

I used to have this Peel Session on cassette - recorded one evening in 1988 when the reception was particularly bad (at the time my parents lived next door to a morse-code hobbyist who had some sort of Jodrell Bank going on in his garden that used to mess with my stereo in a big way), and it's upset me for 20 years that I never had a decent copy of it.

Forever linked with the C86 movement their debut album "Foxheads Stalk This Land" was a fine collection of songs but suffered from some failry horrendous 80's production values - particularly the drums.

This session featured three songs from the follow-up EP - "What Is There To Smile About" (probably my favourite Lobsters record) and a cover of "Mirror Breaks" by The Mob (about whom I know nothing but they have a Wikipedia page if you're interested.)

I was happy to see that 6music were re-broadcasting the session in its entirety last week so I dutifully grabbed the audio and here it is:

Close Lobsters - John Peel Session BBC Radio 1 (4th Jan 1988)

Session Details here

The following year they released their final album "Headache Rhetoric" and we saw them play a fantastic typically shambolic gig at Trent Polytechic. Talking to the band afterwards it was clear that they were all absolutely pissed beyond words and having a great time. They remain heroes in my house.

Bobby Womack

Sometimes when you see an artist you really love mention a song in an interview, you can't help but want to go straight out and find a copy. Back in the day this was obviously a real treasure hunt, but now it's little more than a couple of minutes tickling Lord Google and gently rubbing Lady Soulseek's milky white feet...nowhere near as much fun but when the song at the end of the digital rainbow is as nuts as this then it still makes it just as worthwhile.

I don't know any more about Bobby Womack than that which you can read at Wikipedia. Lots of typical music biz weirdness...he married Sam Cooke's widow 3 months after he died, on the premise that he was worried she might top herself(yeah right we've ALL used that one..), and then his younger brother married Sam Cooke's daughter. Keeping it in the family and all that.

So the song in question dates from 1976, when Bobby was not generally thought to be at the top of his game, but initially the title intrigued me - "Just A Little Bit Salty".

If I wondered what it was about then...well I'm still not entirely sure but despite my confusion it definitely sounds like good advice, and probably one of those lyrics you can interpret at will, just to fit the metaphor you're searching for. I'd be interested to hear what other people make of it..

Itt starts out brilliantly with an apology, Bobby basically admitting that they knocked this one off at the end of a recording session. A brave intro and one that makes it even more poignant.

Bobby Womack - Just A Little Bit Salty

"Things got to get just a little bit salty to let you know what's going down..."

I hear you Bobby...

The BNP Can Suck My Fat One

Strange times in the wake of last week's elections. I never thought I'd see far-right parties winning seats in my lifetime, and that xenophobia was the hallmark of my grandparents generation.

People talk about the 1970's as being the decade of casual racism (Alf Garnett, Black & White Minstrels, It Ain't Half Hot Mum & Mind Your Language - can anyone look back at those without feeling a twinge of embarassment?) and I remembered listening to one of my parents records when I was a little kid...




On the face of it - a story about a lady complaining to her Indian Doctor that she couldn't work out why her heart was fluttering and her pulse was racing. Of course it turns out that her secret love for the Doctor in question is the CAUSE of her heart problems...beautiful and funny. Except I didn't realise at the time that the Doctor wasn't really Indian...the ten year old me just thought it was a touching story of inter-racial love. And CHRIST Sophia Loren sounded sexy...

Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren - Goodness Gracious Me

Then bizarrely another record that I thought was about inter-racial love actually wasn't. I thought he was in love with a "little white girl" - turns out that he was singing "Little White Dove" and she was just from another tribe, so I suppose I wasn't a million miles away.

Did I really grow up in such a cauldron of multi-culturalism and tolerance? Maybe I did..I certainly never understood why my Grandma would grip her handbag like vice whenever she saw anyone even vaguely afro-carribbean in the street (which wasn't often in Matlock)




Anyway this one was a favourite of my Dad's Running Bear by Johnny Preston. I absolutely loved it - although I don't think I ever quite got the whole death pact thing at the end. I probably imagined that when he sang "Now they'll always be together.." that they swam off into the sunset. My favourite bit though was always the tempo-changes on the chorus that still see me bobbing my head 30 years later..

Johnny Preston - Running Bear

So yeah - let's just embrace our differences and love each other because...

Guest Post

My long-promised guest posting of the Bourgie Bourgie Peel Session on The Vinyl Villain blog is finally upon us

The Vinyl Villain

Please check it out and bookmark Jim's blog if you haven't already as it's always top notch

I've a few more new posts in the pipeline here too, so watch this space

The Fall - Masquerade remixes

I swore I'd never be a Fall completist - if only for the sake of my bank balance, but it kind of happened by stealth. One day I was happy with just the studio albums and then the next day, the Postman called, and I found myself buried under a pile of "Live From The Vaults" live CDs Volumes 1 through to whoops there goes my overdraft.

Yet despite this manic obsession with the world's greatest ever band (really) this was one record I'd never heard until today. Hidden away on the 10" vinyl edition of the Masquerade single from 1998 were two obscure remixes, unavailable elsewhere.

I'd be surprised if any serious Fall fan listed Levitate as their favourite album by the band, but Masquerade was certainly the stand-out track for me and as it looks like the one album that ISN'T going to get re-issued any time soon (complete with this sort of contemporary ephemera) I splashed out on the record and here are the results.

If nothing else, 10" vinyl is ALWAYS cool, but these are actually pretty good...in a late 90's kind of way. Whilst the original album version of Masquerade is hardly lacking in electronica (certainly a million miles from the garage punk that MES deals almost exclusively in at the moment) these mixes just pile on the beats. The Mr Natural Mix in particular has a great out of tune slap bass riff running all the way through it that serves to irritate and amuse.

There's not much info as to who the remixes were done by but they were recorded at Edwyn Collin's West Heath studio in London and Pete "The Hit Man (and her)" Waterman's PWL studio in Manchester. I'm sure someone can correct me.

The Fall - Masquerade (Mr Natural Mix)
The Fall - Masquerade (PWL Mix)

As ever, enjoy.

Bourgie Bourgie

It's a while off yet, but I've got a guest spot coming up on The Vinyl Villain blog, currently scheduled for Sunday June 7th where I'll be liberating a rare and seldom heard John Peel session from Bourgie Bourgie.

Seems like Paul Quinn and Bourgie Bourgie get blanket coverage in the blogs I frequent and quite right too! As a teaser, here is the one Bourgie Bourgie track that I've never seen bloggerised.

Featured on the NME's "Department Of Enjoyment" cassette in 1984 (more widely known for the rare Smiths live version of "Girl Afraid") this is their somewhat unexpected cover of the blues standard "Little Red Rooster". Not a patch on their two sublime singles but with a voice like his, this proves that Quinn could make anything sound good..

Bourgie Bourgie - Little Red Rooster

Nico 1974 Peel Session

I seem to only do requests these days, and here's another. The first Nico Peel Session was released on Strange Fruit in the late 1980's and was the first time I heard any of her solo stuff. Astonishingly dark with wheezing harmonium and elongated vowels. I probably heard the word "teutonic" for the first time when I saw it reviewed. Or maybe that was a Michael Schenker Group review in Kerrang circa 1984?

Her second session was never released, so here it is. I remember reading on Henry Rollins blog that he wanted to hear a copy so I emailed him but he never replied. I guess he was probably busy lifting weights or frowning.

Three of the tracks came from the 1974 album "The End" but are just performed by just Nico, none of the Eno / Cale mucking about over the top. The 9 minute version of The Doors song is a masterclass in bleakness.

This is for Starman015

1. We've Got The Gold
2. Janitor Of Lunacy
3. The End
4. You Forgot To Answer

Recorded 3rd December 1974

Here

Reggae Christmas

Quick song for christmas. If this doesn't get you feeling festive then NOTHING will.

Eek-A-Mouse - Christmas A Come

Particularly like the lyrics around the 40-50 second mark

I, Ludicrous Peel Session

Unsurprisingly another Peel Session request fulfillment post..this time for Steve at Teenage Kicks

It's the one and only Peel Session that I, Ludicrous recorded - 21 fun filled years ago..

Since their classic debut flexi release "Preposterous Tales" the band have continued to record albums & gig sporadically, in fact I saw them for the first time supporting The Fall in Sheffield earlier this year and they were, indeed, fabulous

The two highlights of this session for me are "Quite Extraordinary" - the tribute to ex-BBC sports commentator and "A Question Of Sport" host David Coleman (who I have to admit I thought was dead, but apparently not) and "A Pop Fan's Dream (Sunday Lunch With The Geldofs)" wherein the narrator wins a competition to have a meal with Bob Geldof, his lovely wife Paula (Yates - now she IS dead) and their daughter Fifi Trixibelle (Peaches and Pixie weren't even born at this point). A story told with such a perfect level of sincerity that you can't quite tell how serious they are being until the final line delivers the pay-off.

The band had an excellent new EP out this year called "Dirty Washing" which I heartily recommend and you can buy it from their website

I, Ludicrous - Peel Session 1987

Edwyn Collins Radio Session & Interview 1992

Over on the Rip It Up mailing list, the guitar player from The Siddeleys asked for an alternate version of the Orange Juice track "Consolation Prize" from the 1st album.

In quite possibly the the twee-est moment of my life, I'm only too happy to oblige. Here is an Edwyn Collins acoustic session and radio interview from 1992 featuring Consolation Prize, Felicity & My Dying Day (the interview was promoting the Ostrich Churchyard release) and Graciously from his second solo album.

Here he is

The Family Cat 3rd Peel Session 1992

As requested on the posting of the first two Family Cat Peel Sessions at The Perfumed Garden today. Here is the third excellent session featuring stuff from their second and (probably best) album "Furthest From The Sun".

As always the Peel Session versions have an energy lacking in the officially released versions.

EDIT - now re-upped and taken from the MV DAT source (original file was from my off-air tape)

1. Furthest From The Sun
2. Too Many Late Nights
3. River Of Diamonds
4. Prog One

Download

This Poison

This is another John Peel Session request from the new forum just started by the excellent Perfumed Garden blog, which you can join here

This Poison released a couple of singles on The Wedding Present's Reception label, before disappearing again, only to resurface as a distant memory 17 years later when Egg Records released an excellent anthology of their studio output. There isn't a lot more to say that isn't already said on the Egg Records biog page for the band and I thoroughly recommend you buy a copy of the CD. Cos it's ACE.

The Peel Session doesn't feature on the CD and I remember taping it off the radio a month after George Best came out, purely because "the Wedding Present release their records so they must be good". I wasn't wrong.

This Poison! Peel Session November 1987

Billy Bragg At The BBC

Seeing Billy Bragg play "Between The Wars" on Top Of The Pops was a bit of a life-changing moment for me, and I've been a fan ever since - none more so than during his Worker's Playtime era (which I still consider to be his best/my favourite LP). I recently saw him play a solo gig in Lincoln and it reminded me how awe-inspiring he can be.

There is a great (although now quite rare) CD on Strange Fruit of Billy Bragg's John Peel Sessions recorded through the years, but I found a couple of tapes of non-Peel BBC sessions/interviews from the aforesaid era, which I now offer up to all fellow fans who may not have heard them before. VOILA

November 1988 Nicky Campbell Live Session (FM off-air recording)
1. She's Got A New Spell
2. The Short Answer
3. Ideology
Plus 10 minute interview

Sometime in 1987 Janice Long Session (AM off-air recording)
1. The Only One
plus 5 minute interview

As a special bonus - I've also included the BBC Radio Derby interview done in the queue for the toilets at the 1993 Phoenix Festival. This interview is the one referred to by Billy on-stage later that day, and captured for posterity on the Red Stars Official Bootleg available from the BillyBragg.co.uk shop. I don't suppose many people heard the actual interview so here it is..

Best Gig I Ever Done See #5 - Will Oldham Palace Bonnie Prince Bullshit Whatever

Palace Brothers
Nottingham, The Narrowboat 7th June 1994


I somehow missed the very first Palace Brothers gig when they came to Nottingham in 1993 and did all the stuff from the first album, so I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't miss them the next time. Except when the next time came it wasn't a "them" it was a "him".

The second album hadn't been released when he played at The Narrowboat in (early summer) 1994 so I didn't realise it was just Will Oldham and a guitar, and at first felt a little short-changed when I realised that was the format for the gig too. At this point in my life I'd probably never even seen someone play acoustic guitar to so many attentive people in such a small room, but it was dictionary-definition spine-tingling (this was way before anti-folk and alt.country made this sort of thing commonplace.)

Will sat down and my first thoughts were "jesus he's ugly". Sadly he hasn't improved with age either..

Next he introduced a song with the words - this is called "I am a cinematographer" and when, at first, the lyrics seemed to be that phrase repeated over and over, there were people around me stifling giggles like they'd just turned up to a concert at the special school.

The evening progressed and the audience settled in as Will did a few tracks from the first album, then the giggles started again when he introduced "a song by Prince" - of course he was joking we thought...but no it was a gorgeous sparse rendition of "The Cross" from Sign O' The Times, which sat perfectly within the context of the religious imagery in Will's other songs. Was he joking? Part of me wonders if everything Will Oldham does is a joke I just don't get. That beard even?

When I got home the first thing I did was get my flatmate to play the Prince version (as I didn't own any Prince records - I was still scarred from my mate refusing to lend me the Purple Rain soundtrack when we were at school so I could offend my parents with the track about the girl wanking herself off with a copy of Cosmo). Anyway - I listened to it a lot for the next few weeks and it's still a big favourite.

So here is NOT the Prince version but the 2nd Palace Brothers Peel Session recorded on this visit to the UK, including aforesaid reading of "The Cross"

Will Oldham Peel Session 29 July 1994

The Sundays Peel Session

As requested on the John Peel Yahoogroups mailing list - The Sundays Peel Session from March 1989...back when they were the next big thing. Ripped this from my old cassette copy this afternoon - the sound is pretty good for a nearly 20 year old tape.

The Sundays - Peel Session 06 March 1989

*UPLOAD LINK FIXED - NOW HOSTED WITH MEDIAFIRE SO CLICK THROUGH**

Barbel

An obscure band from Liverpool, Barbel released one mini-album and a 12" single, recorded two excellent Peel Sessions and then disappeared.

I reckon it was about 19 years ago that I first heard this song (on John Peel of course) and it still sounds as good today as it did back then. The first track on their mini-album "One Horse Planet" on Pink Moon Records which I bought in Crash Records (Merrion Centre Branch) in Leeds and promptly fell in love with.

"House By The Airport" is a kitchen-sink love story that just gets sadder and sadder, but the tune is relentlessly up beat and has some great lines - "he had a foot in every pie and a finger in every door". I love everything about this song from the great one-finger organ line to the bum notes they weren't afraid to edit out.

Aside from my gushing admiration I must admit that part of the reason for blogging this is because there is virtually no information on the web about them (or maybe there is if you're prepared to wade through page after page of Anglers Weekly content?) and I reckon they deserve to be saved from aforesaid obscurity. They remain to this day one of my favourite bands.

According to Ken Garner's "The Peel Sessions" book, the line up of Greg Milton, Alison Williams, Roger Sinek and David Morgan was augmented on their second session by Simon Breed (who I assume to be the same Simon Breed from..erm.. Breed who did 4 Peel Sessions of their own). I also know that Greg Milton went on to be in a band called Dead Cowboys with members of Benny Profane releasing two albums (the last being in 2004).

I recently pestered Andy at Pink Moon records about re-releasing the One Horse Planet album on CD as quite frankly my vinyl copy is knackered (as you can hear on the vinyl rip below) and got a nice reply that was more of a "maybe" than a "piss off you have to be joking" so we live in hope.

Oh and they did a cracking version of "Winchester Cathedral" on one of those Imaginary Records 60's covers compilations - but I'll save that for another time.

Barbel - House By The Airport

"he became mesmerised by the sadness of life, incapable of action....too bad"

New York, New York

A quick blog for my chum Steve at Domino Rally who is off to New York soon, making me insanely jealous in the process. As a coping mechanism I decided I could do worse than posting a couple of my favourite New York Songs..

Lloyd Cole - New York City Sunshine

One from his last album and probably up there with the best of anything he's written post Commotions. There are a couple of obligatory Cole-isms, cheesy lines about junkies and being "turned on" but the sentiment is pure - if you're in love and in New York you really don't mind the fact it is freezing cold and you can no longer feel your face

Craig Armstrong - Wake Up In New York

I was going to use the word cinematic but that applies to almost everything Craig Armstrong does. This one though is made all the more special by Evan Dando, the man who could sing the theme tune to Postman Pat and make it sound achingly cool. And when Evan sings about meeting you at the drugstore you can imagine he's there to pick up his methadone script standing in line behind Lloyd Cole who is buying Preparation H.

I'm off to Lisbon myself at Easter and I was slightly surprised to not find a single song about Lisbon in 160gb of mp3's on my hard drive...are there any out there or is Lisbon just not worthy of a song? The closest I got was Portugal by The Fall, but that's not even a good Fall song.

Better Beatles - The Mercy Beat

I mentioned back in May last year that I'd been contacted by the original singer from Omaha's the Better Beatles to say that they were hoping to release the whole of the bands work on record, and it was with much excitement that I took delivery this morning of "The Mercy Beat" on Hook Or Crook Records of Oakland Ca.

Only released on 12" vinyl it can be ordered online from here for only $10 and you can pay with Paypal - the shipping to the UK was $14 but definitely worth it!

They've made a great job of remastering the 10 tracks, and everyone of them is superb, particularly Eleanor Rigby (given a jaunty nursery rhyme feel) and With A Little Help From My Friends (which they give a, really quite deserved, drawn out and painful death to).

I was surprised and flattered to receive a thanks on the back of the sleeve too - something I really wasn't expecting, and having given it a few listens this morning I know this is a piece of vinyl I will treasure.

I was in two minds about whether to upload another track (the two original tracks are still available on the earlier post) as I think my time would be better spent trying to lobby parliament to pass a law making purchase of this record mandatory.

Failing that - a happy compromise - here is the shortest track on the album, now yougobuy.

Better Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love

Chuck Berry

Not a christmas song, shock. For I'm sure, dear listener you are struggling to find ANY christmas-related mp3 blog fayre...

Instead, a song to cheer up even the most humbuggy of yuletide-deniers (of which I am one I'm said to report) - I found this stunning instrumental track in my parents old stash of 7" singles (which believe me, is NOT the treasure trove I wish it was).
It's the b-side to Chuck's big hit "No Particular Place To Go", but it's definitely the proverbial hidden gem.

Essentially just a standard boogie, but Chuck lets loose and sounds like..well..like he doesn't know what he's going to be playing in the next bar. There are endless flubs and missed notes, but play it nice and loud and you can picture the beaming (and probably a little bit merry on magic booze) smiles. It's the sound of people enjoying themselves.

About 1:18 Chuck accidentally writes Rocket From The Crypt's "On A Rope" and from about 1:40 until about 2:05 he plays pretty much the same note for 16 bars. That they ever make it through 2:50 to the end is a little christmas miracle in itself.

And of course Liverpool is where the second messiah was born yeah?


Chuck Berry - Liverpool Drive

Captain Beefheart

Ha...and they said that Captain Beefheart had no sense of timing.

Found in a random folder on Soulseek, I can't decide if I love or loathe this. At least there's some humour to it.


Captain Beefheart - Well [remix].mp3

Eight Things...frankosonically speaking

OK, because Mr Hibbett didn't think I would respond, I decided I would do the honourable thing and have a go at "Eight Things You Didn't Know About Me". I appreciate it's taken me a couple of weeks but it's SO HARD! And also as this is meant to be the music blog I need to try and keep it music related and finish with a tenuous link to a choice mp3. SO here goes…

1) The first band I ever became obsessed with was Kiss, when at the age of 10 a lad at school gave me a copy of the "What Makes The World Go Round" 7" single signed by Paul Stanley. I still have it and it is blatantly not signed by Paul Stanley - he just did some scribble on the front and lied to me.



2) As a result of this pre-pubescent love for Heavy Metal I got a subscription to Kerrang for my birthday. Following on from that I was thrilled to learn that my sister's friend Colin was related to Rocky "Wrekkless" Shades of Wrathchild. Things took an even weirder turn when, on holiday with my parents in Menorca in 1984, it transpired that Rocky "Wrekkless" Shades was staying in the same hotel as us. My mum told him I was a fan and he was very nice to me. His hair was massive!




3) Round at my mate Benny's house in the mid-1980's we used to play on the ZX Spectrum, drink Soda Stream (which was state of the art drink-making at the time) and listen to records. Most popular choices were New Order's "The Beach" on the b-side of the Blue Monday 12" and Billy Idol's first solo album. I recently bought the remaster on CD and despite the fact they left off Congo Man for some insane reason - it's still a fucking great album - shut up!



4) My mum once played football on the park with Billy Fury and his band when they were playing at Matlock Pavilion. These days she is in a Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Society and they have won international competitions. I like the bit about Billy Fury better.



5) I still get occasional performance royalties for the tracks I played guitar on the White Town album that EMI released in 1997. The last one was £8.07 for radio plays in Switzerland. I don't think I've ever got into double figures.

6) With the event of tracking tools like LastFM it's fascinating to look back over my listening habits for the past 18 months or so. Then I got to wondering as to which record I have probably listened to the most over the course of my entire life. My internal LastFM mind memory churned the calculation for a few days and I have come to the conclusion that it is almost certainly "Misplaced Childhood" by Marillion. I don't think I could be any less cool at this precise moment in time, but bear with me.

Prog Rock has never been cool, and especially not the kind of second-hand early-Genesis prog that Marillion dished up in the early 1980's. Yet Misplaced Childhood is still a fantastic concept album and one I have come back to time and again from the first time I heard it in 1985, through every phase of my musical awakening. It's a lyrical tour-de-force and musically astonishing, managing to contain two top 10 singles in amongst the more intricate pieces, transient passages and recurring motifs.

I lost all interest in the band after the follow-up album didn't grab me, but I've recently discovered that Fish has been regularly blogging for years and the archive is available via his website. Boy has he had his fair share of relationship & business problems - the poor bloke has been through the mill but he's still so optimistic about life it's a joy to read sometimes (at the moment he is about to release a new album having been jilted a couple of weeks before his wedding day!).

So yeah, number 6 - I like bad prog.

7) I never had guitar lessons but learned via a square flexidisc called "Play In A Day The Billy Bragg Way". In all honesty it took me a little bit longer than a day.



8) Fittingly at number 8 - I once rented Eminem's film Eight Mile on DVD from Blockbuster, got home, put it in the player and then made some dinner. An hour or so later switched the TV on settled down with a plate of food to watch the film - then got confused when it finished after half an hour. Turns out that it was an autoplay disc rather than one that continuously loops the title menu and I managed to skip the first hour without even noticing. It really didn't make ANY difference to the plot, or my enjoyment of the film. They could have just made it a 30 minute TV show and saved themselves millions.




So that's my eight things - and the tenuous mp3 link is going to be a live version of Marillion's Sugar Mice (In The Rain), which isn't fom Misplaced Childhood but is my favourite song from Clutching At Straws. This live version comes from the Curtain Call boxset and benefits from a less polished sound than the studio take (plus the audience clapping somewhat out of time). Fish really sounds like he means every word of this "stuck in a hotel miles away from your loved ones" ballad. Anyone brave enough to download this, I warn you in advance there is a VERY 80's guitar solo at 2:12 but keep listening as the post-song monologue is one that puts Bono to shame...

Marillion - Sugar Mice (In The Rain) - Live In Milan 1988

Tony Wilson RIP

The web is slowly filling with obits for Tony Wilson so I won't wax lyrical. Suffice to say that I grew up listening to Factory Records and thinking that Tony Wilson was the lord of absolutely everything.

The temptation to post something miserable was quite considerable, but instead here are the original 12" & 7" mixes of New Order's Temptation - possibly one of the most joyous songs ever recorded, and a particular favourite of mine since the day my late friend Mr Pyle lent me his copy and sent me home telling me that if I listened to it, it would change my life. Not sure it changed my life but it certainly taught me to dance like a twat.

Apparently the 12" and 7" versions are extracts from the same REALLY long version rather than edits of the same piece, so to experience the whole thing you queue the 12" version and then the 7" version.

I suggest you play it nice and loud right now and do le dance du twat pour Tony Wilson.

New Order - Temptation [Original 12" Mix] FAC63
New Order - Temptation [Original 7" Mix] FAC63

Plans And Apologies

Yup I know that blogging youtube videos is lazy and not MAN'S blogging but sometimes we have to make exceptions.

I'm like everyone else - when you see an embedded clip with someone telling you that you simply MUST see it ROFL LMAO etc, you hesitate, you sigh, you begrudgingly click and 99% of the time it's a cat falling off a handbag and you end up hating yourself.

But my friends - I'm here to tell you that this is different. You may not ROFL, you may not LMAO, you may only vaguely LOL, but it's not idle speculation when I say Plans & Apologies are the best band you will see this week (OK...when I say that, I'm kind of hoping you watched a lot of the shit on at Glastonbury at the weekend and that might stack the odds in P&A's favour..)

They could be and should be MASSIVE - but they're wise beyond their years when it comes to the current state of the "industry" and continue to plough their own, deeply sexy, furrow. To get an idea read the increasingly bizarre bloggings at PlansandApologies.com. If you like the songs behind the videos below, then they have quite literally LOADS of mp3's to download from the same website.

Anyway they have employed two amazing young film makers to put together a video for each side of their upcoming single on Exercise 1 Recordings (released jointly on their own Pandaz Pop Records)

MeeToo is directed by Darius Powell. Animation by Darius Powell and Glenn Millington.



And if that animation has left you frustrated to know what these handsome young boys look like then they are revealed in all their butch glory in the next one - probably one of the few political songs that doesn't make me wince & manages to be pure pop at the same time.

Mel Gibson's...Iraq! is directed by
James Sharpe



I promise to get back to old-bloke reminiscing about late 80's indie soon...

Chet Baker

I've been meaning to post about this track since the beginning of time - The Chet Baker Quartet's recording of Tom Adair & Matt Dennis's extraordinarily self-pitying "Everything Happens To Me" from the Legendary Barclay Sessions recorded in Paris November 1955.

A month before this was recorded, Chet's pianist, Dick Twardzik died of a heroin overdose and the rest of the quartet went home traumatised to the US. Chet carried on recording with local musicians and cut some amazing tracks.

One of my favourite ever Jazz vocal recordings - the majority of the Paris recordings were instrumental but Chet didn't even pick up the trumpet for this one. It's quite probable tht he'd sold the instrument for smack, but wait until 2:27 and see if it gets you like it gets me when Chet "sings" the trumpet solo. If that's not musical perfection I don't know what is.

There are other things that I love about this take - the way Chet hits the notes so perfectly on the line "but now I just can't fool this head that thinks for me" around the 1:37 mark - the delicate syncopation at 2:12 where it sounds as if the pianist has stopped to light a cigarette, and of course the line "everytime I play an ace, my partner always trumps..." still makes me giggle like a schoolboy (I know it shouldn't..i'm trying to be a jazz afficionado here.)

Chet Baker Quartet - Everything Happens To Me

Not bad for a smack head eh? I'm still astounded that people with such heavy habits could record music as subtle and beautiful as this - up next on Frankosonic it's the Babyshambles..what?

Chet Baker In Paris (The Legendary Barclay Sessions 1955-1956) - Buy at Amazon

The Family Cat -> Jack Adaptor

Having spent the last month or so rediscovering what a fine band The Family Cat were, I was going to post their second Peel Session (as it's the only one of the three they recorded that I haven't seen blogged in the wild) but I ended up following the trail to MODERN TIMES and found that the singer Fred is still recording and releasing music as one half of a band called Jack Adaptor.

Despite the fact their website seems to throw annoying javascript stack overflow errors (or maybe this part of the "experience" and I just don’t get it?) you can navigate your way to the music page to hear some mp3 samples, but it's one song in particular (not on the website) that I've become enamoured of which you can download here:

Jack Adaptor - Everyone Talked About Us

Fred's voice hasn't changed a bit and neither has his way with words

Parkkeeper's coming to close the gates at dusk
I'm sitting in my car which is 90% rust
Doing crosswords in Russian just to pass the time
I've got an active mind and it likes to remind me that you were mine

It's a sweet super sad song about a failed relationship, but not the bitter immediate aftermath. It's that moment where enough time has passed for you to look back and remember the good times, but with the perspective to realise why & how it went wrong. You know it shouldn't still hurt but it does.

I must have listened to this song on repeat for hours. It's MY kind of song.

Half-time Round-up

Whilst I've not exactly been setting the world of speed-blogging alive, I am still on the case and have a couple of new posts planned this week. Honest I do.

Big excitement for me personally on the blog front though when I received a comment on my Better Beatles post from a "JeanpSmith" - who it turns out was the original vocalist from The Better Beatles and she hints that the full Better Beatles session (they recorded an albums-worth) getting a release soon!

As I said at the time, info on the band was scarce (YOU try googling them..) but armed with a name I quickly found a great post on Crud Crud which contains a little more of the history and a longer comment from Jean explaining the origins of the band.

I never really intended to just blog old stuff, but I'm a sucker for reminiscing - and I don't like passing judgement on new stuff until I have the benefit of hindsight. Baggy has served me well in that respect. Nonetheless it seems that I've had a pretty good hit rate when it comes to digging up the past.

A comment on my inaugural Seymores post alerted me to Dave Fera's new band Big Blue Marble. Great stuff that retains a lot of the melody and melancholy of The Seymores

Since my first Ted Chippington post, he's come out of retirement, done a load of gigs, been on TV and released a boxset of his work! Last week I got a nice package through from Ted with recordings of a couple of the latest gigs and a little note signed "cheers chief"...priceless

Dave Howard Singers have also apparently just re-released their back catalogue (including various mixes of Yon Yonson) and Dave is still recording new music. Check his Myspace and snazzy new official site

A kindly soul sent me a copy of some more amazing stuff by Those Naughty Corinithians after my post thereof. It's just served to make me wish I knew a bit more about them though..

And finally since I posted the BOB Peel Session, Richard from the band contacted me to say they were also resurrecting plans to release a BOB retrospective due to renewed interest from the weird wide web. Official website on the way and some unreleased tunes on their new BOB Myspace. Richard also has some great solo stuff on his own Captain Black Myspace which is well worth a listen if you loved BOB.

Thanks to everyone who has left comments and got in touch so far, it really does make it all worthwhile! Keep it coming..

Sheila Chandra

Coming home from the pub on a Friday night, one week in 1994, it's hard to put into words how much this woman fried my brain.

Sheila Chandra was appearing on Later With Jools Holland (with, I imagine, Ocean Colour Scene...they were ALWAYS on) as the token world music act. She stood alone in the spotlight and for 3 minutes did nothing but make weird noises with her mouth that were somewhere between a human impersonation of a tabla and the triple-tonguing exercises my old brass teacher used to insist we all did.

I bought her album "The Zen Kiss" and found that there were two versions of the Speaking In Tongues track, Parts III & IV (the first two parts were on the previous album "Weaving My Ancestor's Voices") along with some other less interesting synth-based wailing. I wish she'd stuck more to the tongue-based stuff..


Sheila Chandra - Speaking In Tongues III

Alas in researching her all these years later for the purposes of BLOG - it seems she had a track featured in the Lord Of The Rings so there are probably internet geek sites all over the shop debating her relevance to Frodo & that elf shit, but the goblin-lovers can forget it - I heard her first!

Mike Read

One of my earliest childhood memories is being sat in the bath while my mum sang "The Ugly Duckling" to me. I don't think there was any deep significance to the choice of song, it was probably the only one she could remember all the words to - and besides - I liked it.

I also remember her buying a copy of it on 7" so that I could listen to it at my leisure. It wasn't until I dug out the single recently that I realised quite how differently Mike Read approached the song to my mum.

I'm pretty sure she missed out all the cockney rhyming slang and I'm equally sure that parts of the Mike Read version left my infant brain completely baffled - and to a certain extent they still do.

He starts off trying to do a proper crooning job but quickly falls into proto-Frank Butcher mode. By the end of it - it's like he's talking a different language.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUNAROUND!

Maybe this is what bath time for Ricky Butcher was ACTUALLY like?

Watch out for the quacking guitar effect on wah-wah in the "all through the wintertime" section...tres subtle

Mike Read - The Ugly Duckling

Ted Chippington - News

My original Ted Chippington post has been by far the most downloaded of my occasional ramblings on here (possibly because someone included the link on Ted's Wikipedia entry?). So, as there is a fair bit of Ted news going down at the moment, I thought I'd offer a quick round-up and a brief excerpt from his Leicester gig at the back end of last year.

First up, Stewart Lee is doing a piece about Ted on BBC2's The Culture Show on Saturday 3rd Febraury at 7.20pm where they will presumably be plugging both Ted's gig at The Bull & Gate, Kentish Town and also the Tedstock benefit gig at London's Bloomsbury Theatre on 5 February in order to raise money to fund the release of "Walking Down The Road - A History Of Ted Chippington" 4 CD boxset retrospective available now from Big Print Records at gigs or via mail order to bigprint@hotmail.com.

Tedstock will include performances from Stewart Lee and Richard Herring, who will also be performing together as Lee and Herring for the first time in seven years, as well as Kevin Eldon, Simon Munnery, Simon Amstell, Phill Jupitus, Josie Long and Robin Ince.

Stewart Lee's new piece in The Guardian about Ted is HERE

As if that wasn't excitement enough - someone has also posted Ted's legendary appearance on BBC's Pebble Mill At One back in 1986 doing "She Loves You" and being interviewed by a smug idiot in a neck brace.

From Ted's Leicester gig last year - a tender new song about world politics and a tale of life in Torquay.

Ted Chippington - World Politics

Ted Chippington - Life In Torquay

The Later Works Of...Lou Reed

Everyone knows Lou Reed - the seminal fathers of all things indie rock The Velvet Underground, and then his early solo albums like Transformer & Berlin that regularly make those Mojo-esque "best albums of all time" polls, but I've always been fascinated by the part of his career between the glam-junkie era and then re-invented "thank god I've finally become hip again" New York era when he was just an embarassing middle-aged bloke with a guitar and a mullet.

In the 10 years between his last critically acclaimed album Street Hassle and the aforementioned "return to form" of New York, Reed released six studio albums that pretty much bombed or were ignored by the critics - punk had happened, dance music was the new thing and 80's studio techniques meant that even when Lou did come up with the goods it was suffocated by synthetic drum sounds and reverb (qv. The Blue Mask is widely regarded as one Reed's better 80's records but sounds incredibly dated to these ears)

1979's The Bells was the first album from this dark period and only contained 9 songs, maybe an indication of just how dry Reed's well was running. Each of the first 8 tracks is accompanied by a lame brass arrangement and takes in every R&B cliché going (particularly on the, presumably sarcastic, Disco Mystic). There is absolutely zero creative spark and no trace of the "good" Lou in sight.

Then something happens when we reach the albums closer and title track..

Don Cherry lets rip on free-jazz trumpet and Lou sets forth with a whispered string of consciousness lyric. It's almost like a rock version of Coltrane's Om. 8 minutes later and the horrors of the preceding tracks are forgotten, wiped away by a tidal wave of the avant garde. I probably love this song more because of it's carefully placed existence at the far end of such a bad album than anything else. It's typical of Lou Reed's stubborness and desire to annoy, yet, unlike Metal Machine Music it bears more than a couple of listens (and yes I have listened to MMM several times in it's entirety)

Lou Reed - The Bells

Just as the first Velvet's album married the sonic assault of European Son with the tender whimsy of Sunday Morning there are two sides to Reed's genius. "Tell It To Your Heart - again the last track and a hidden gem on 1986's Mistrial (where it was again obliterated by the sheen of the 80's studio veneer and preceded by songs of considerably lower quality) was reworked and included more recently on the Animal Serenade live set. Even the fat crooning sad clown from Anthony & The Johnsons can't ruin it for me. It's one of the most beautiful songs that Lou Reed has ever written.

Lou Reed - Tell It To Your Heart (live)

The Colorblind James Experience

OK - this is my first request - my chum Steve over at the Domino Rally emailed me yesterday saying he had a hankering to hear this track and did I have it?

Boy do I have it. I first heard this track at John Pyle's house Christmas 1987 on Peel's Festive 50 of that year, a magical time where we were discovering all sorts of crazy music existed. It made number 47 sandwiched between MARRS "Pump Up The Volume" and The Gun Club's "Breaking Hands".

I can't think what else to say about it - stupidly catchy riff and stupidly catchy spoken word chorus bit.

Colorblind James Experience - Considering A Move To Memphis

Interestingly this is one of 13 tracks in my library that contain the word "Memphis". Can you guess what they are?

Never considered a move there myself but Al Green's church & Gracelands make it sound a good trip. One day...

Colorblind James Experience on Wikipedia

BOB

Happy New Year etc - two things have cheered me up no end this week - firstly someone sent me a copy of some more stuff by Those Naughty Corinithians after my heartfelt plea in the post below. 3 demos and 4 live tracks including such masterpieces as "I Hate Cats", "Give US A Clue" (about the quiz show..obviously), "Eddie The Eagle", "The Weather Is Shit" & "Greater Manchester Buses Are Rubbish". And yisssss - pretty much every song contains the word "YISSSS!"

Secondly Tom over at the Indie MP3 blog posted up the second two Peel Sessions by the band BOB. I'd not heard these for a while and after downloading them it became pretty clear that they were the same mp3's that I'd made from my old cassette copies and set free via Soulseek a couple of years back. A victory for file sharing I think. Anyway - I told Tom I'd post the missing 1st Peel Session (and in my opinion the best one) to mark my deepest joy.

BOB #1 Peel Session 18 Jan 1988

BOB were one of those bands that were always a pleasure to listen to, everything they did was pure pop and, OK, some of it might sound a bit twee now but both band and listener had smiles on their faces - particularly during the indiepop anthem "Brian Wilson's Bed" featured on their debut flexi and also on this session in a full band version.

Those Naughty Corinthians

A woeful two pages is all that Lord Google can manage if you search for "Those Naughty Corinthians". Most of the hits are from my Last.fm charts, a couple from biblical scholars ecumenical ramblings and then some brief discussion on the TVP's list about the long lost (Wigan-based?) turn-of-the-90's fanzine band.

I originally posted the two mp3's I had of this genius group on Duckworth Square and then deleted them a few months back to make some headroom for this occasional mp3 blog. Then the other day I had a nice email from another frustrated Googler asking me where they had gone...so here they are again. In all their ripped to mp3 from a 15 year old cassette GLORY.

Those Naughty Corinthians - Pie

Those Naughty Corinthians - Butter Mountain

These two songs were on the Audacious cassette that featured a local Derby band we were mates with called The Moving Jelly Brothers, and a cracking Pixies cover by the perpetually-on-tour Mega City 4, but it was these two crazy pieces of Lancashire insanity that topped the class.

Both songs feature, what I imagine was, the singers catchphrase of "oooooh YISSSSS!!" at various points, along with some angular guitar parts that were straight out of the Ron Johnson school of "riffs that make no musical sense". Comedy accents have never sounded so good as they do on "Pie" as the singer likens life to a pie and asks the eternal question that has baffled mankind throughout the ages - "ooo is the E numburrrrr?"

"Butter Mountain" seems somewhat more autobiographical as the bragadoccio lyrics tell us how ace he looks in his yellow ski pants...

I've never seen or heard any other tracks by These Naughty fellas (although MusicStack lists a compilation of St. Helens bands on Idea Records with a song of theirs called "Right Off" which I'd dearly love to hear.)

Needless to say if anyone else has any of their other recordings or any kind of biography - get in touch!

YISSSS!

UPDATE May 2023

This still remains the most popular post on my blog, purely because the band are still such a mystery. I've had blog comments from the wife of the bass player and one of the children of the band, but all posted anonymously with no contact details which has made it impossible to follow up, but since I originally posted this in December 2006, I was sent some tracks by Rhodri Marsden off a demo tape he had. All fantastic as you can imagine (track titles "Greater Manchester Buses Are Rubbish", "Do The Ayatollah", "The Weather Is Shit", "Give Us A Clue" and "Eddie The Eagle"). I also tracked down the Idea compilation with the track "Right Off". Then just last week someone contacted me via Twitter (thanks Elon!) to say that they'd found a demo tape in a cardboard box in a Manchester fleamarket and did I want to hear it? It contains 3 "new" tracks to me "I Hate Cats", "Ermintrude" and "Big Ribs". Wonderful stuff. The internet remains a magical place.

As ever I beg anyone who knows anything more about the band to get in touch. DO you have the cassette that came free with Issue #1 of Split Ends fanzine? Was the apocryphal track "Barry Died Of Ignorance" ever committed to tape? It may take another 17 years, but maybe one day we'll know...

Solex

Quite simply the best Pavement cover version ever..taken from a Solex Peel Session circa 2002, sometimes listening to a whole Solex record can hurt my head because there are just so many ideas and so much going on, but on this track she gets it absolutely 100% perfectly spot on correct. And also very RIGHT. At the same time.

I guarantee that even hardcore Pavement fans will struggle to furrow their indie brow to this one..it just bounces!

Solex - Shady Lane

Well done Elisabeth Esselink!

Official Solex Site (includes shop for buying CD's 'n' stuff)

Best Gig I Ever Done See #4 - Damien Jurado

Damien Jurado
Sheffield 1999


Back at the turn of the millenium when minidisk was the new thang, my ex-flatmate Tom from Reveal Records gave me a couple of the compilations of new releases they had put on minidisk to play in the shop, and track one on the first disk was by an American fella called Damien Jurado. Obviously,with it being at the start, I listened to that song quite a bit (It was "Ohio" from Rehearsals For Departure) and when Tom asked me a few weeks later if I fancied a trip up to Sheffield to see him play I though yeah why not..

The gig was in a pub on the outskirts of Sheffield - don't remember the name, but it might have been The Pheasant, or The Golden Pheasant? Damien was supporting The Handsome Family and it took place in the back room which was laid out with tables and candles..a move that immediately worried me - especially as all the people there seemed to be in their 30's and 40's and drinking wine. Then there was me, Tom and a lad called Grant (famous primarily for being daft enough to rent rooms in his house to serial piss-takers Thatcher & Shepherd) - sat at a table looking uncomfortable by candlelight. Maybe somone else was with us - my memory really is crap at times.

Then Damien got up to sing, sat at the front on a sofa, a much bigger bloke than I expected (not fat exactly - just looked more like a rugby player than a singer-songwriter..), and throughout his set you could hear a pin drop as he played a selection of songs from his first two albums. He loosened up as the gig went on and became more chatty, coming across as a genuinely funny, self-effacing guy. He invited a girl up to sing harmonies on a couple of his songs - one of which stuck in my head for years and I was always frustrated that I couldn't find it on any of his albums. Then eventually I located it on the b-side of the ultra-rare Halo Friendly 7" on Summershine Records. Here it is for your pleasure

Damien Jurado - Ocean Shores '87

It was one of those rare gigs where the artist engaged directly with the audience and performed out of his skin leaving you with that feeling of having witnessed something truly extraordinary.

After Damien, The Handsome Family came on and damn near ruined it all by being the exact opposite - smug & annoying with unmemorable songs. I only managed to bear a handful of songs before heading for the bar - standing in the carpark in the late summer evening with my pint. I don't think any of us stuck their whole set.

Damien has an excellent new album out called And Now That I'm In Your Shadow on Secretly Canadian. It's somewhat more downbeat than his last couple but is fantastic nonetheless. I got tickets to see him at The Luminaire in Kilburn in December as he does a short UK tour - miss him and miss out!

Buy And Now That I'm In Your Shadow from Amazon

Best Gig I Ever Done See #3 - The Wedding Present

The Wedding Present
The Duchess Of York, Leeds 1989

I mentioned previously in The Edsel Auctioneer post how the lure of bands like The Wedding Present led me to choose Leeds Poly as my seat of learning at the tail end of the 1980's, and yet again one of my bestest gigs EVER was at the legendary Duchess Of York.

By the autumn of 1989 The Wedding Present were one of the biggest indie bands in the UK (having filled the almighty vacuum created by the demise of The Smiths) and were about to release their major label debut album "Bizarro" on RCA. Having already seen them play some pretty large venues such as Notts Trent Poly and Confetti's, a nightclub in Derby, it's hard to explain how incredible it was to see them in a tiny venue like The Duchess - particularly as we only stumbled upon the gig by accident.

Me and my mate Woody from back home had inexplicably decided to go see Sarah Records also-rans St Christopher play. I don't think I'd even heard them at this point (I'm sure if I had then I wouldn't have gone along - they were pretty ordinary. The singer's voice was like a proto-Coner Oberst doing Larry The Lamb impressions plus he was damn ugly). It must have been a quiet night and the boredom got the better of us.

Upon arriving at The Duchess, we paid our couple of quid and were promptly informed by the guy on the door that The Wedding Present were doing a secret warm-up gig and St Christopher were just the support act.

And so it was we found ourselves a few feet from the stage, packed like Sardines, bouncing around to an all-new Wedding Present set. I mostly remember Grapper grinning like a lunatic through the whole thing, clearly having the time of his life, and then walking back to the bus shivering as the sweat started to freeze in our clothes.

I guess at this point I could bleat on like Old-Man Indiepop about how they were a much better band back then and post something from Bizarro, but whilst I DO still think of the Gedge/Grapper/Gregory/Smith line-up as THE Wedding Present they are still going (albeit David Gedge and the Session Cats) and I ought to give them their due - so it's the latest BBC Session that I'll go for. Four cover versions, all great songs that seem to work well when Gedged. Take it away...er...Terri

Wedding Present 2006 BBC Covers Session

Buy Bizarro at Amazon

Oh and also the following year we saw them play at The Coliseum in Leeds - a much bigger venue where they filmed the live video "*Punk" - another memorable gig if only because they had to leave the lights on for all the cameras and that made it so ludicrously hot that they had to keep throwing water on the crowd. So (as I said I wouldn't do it) here is the obligatory Bizarro track "Bewitched" on YouTube

Look out for the floppy-haired mong who appears shoulder-high in the crowd after 10 seconds - that's me!

Ted Chippington - Pull Up

Apologies for posting about Ted AGAIN...but I just got a copy of the SnubTV performance and uploaded it to YouTube.



Also to help plug the 3 gigs Ted is doing at the end of November

Nov 24 2006 Little Civic Wolverhampton
Nov 25 2006 Exeter Hall Oxford
Nov 27 2006 The Criterion Leicester

More details via Ted's MySpace page

Gay Against You

There may be a slight lack of posts over the coming weeks as I'm moving house next week - so to tide things over a quick post about a band that aren't from the late 80's.

Now that the word "gay" seems to have taken on a third meaning for a third generation (has a word ever changed meaning so often?? I can't keep up..I'm still in my 19th century dandy costume here..) the main problem a band called Gay Against You face is the fear they may turn out to be as utterly terrible as Britpop abominations Gay Dad. Luckily for the WORLD...they're not.

When I was a teenager, having to deal with my parents complain that they couldn't understand the music I was listening to, I sometimes tried to imagine what the music of the future might sound like, and how it might be so completely unlike anything I'd ever heard that I would feel the same alienation they were experiencing to the lilting melodies of...er... Bogshed.

My point being that I think Gay Against You sound like what I IMAGINED 21st Century music might be. What I can't explain is why I still like it rather than hate it. And I'm not even pretending to like it in order to look DOWN wiv da KIDZ!

Gay Unicorn is probably my favourite song as it best mixes the insanity and catchiness...and of course on a much deeper level it explores the sexuality of the mythical one-horned equine beast...a topic of which the importance can NEVER be underestimated.

Gay Against You - Gay Unicorn

Their live shows are supposed to be a spectacle to behold so hopefully they'll play the Midlands soon and I can judge for myself.

They also just did a session on Tom Ravenscroft's SlashMusic show (the 28th September edition) where they performed their entire live set at breakneck speed to fit the 11 minute slot they were allocated.

They have released the album "Muscle Milk" on Adaadat Records

Buy it HERE

Susanna & The Magical Orchestra

I have some kind of weird love affair with the cover version (see my earlier Better Beatles post) and thus I always enjoy the postings of Liza on the consistently excellent Copy, Right blog.

Last week I was introduced to the work of Norway's Susanna & The Magical Orchestra and their "Melody Mountain" album of covers. It's pretty much all I've listened to for days..

A beautiful voice and laid-back arrangements that don't seek to change the original melodies, but still manage to add a completely individual touch (compare and contrast with Kathryn Williams' completely ordinary covers album - played too straight for words and Tori Amos' haywire covers album - unrecognisable anti-midas versions that made pure shit from gold).

A great song selection too - Dylan, Joy Division, AC/DC, Depeche Mode - and here is my current favourite..their take on "Crazy, Crazy Nights" by Kiss (watch out for more Kiss-related posts as I relax into my blogging and stop caring who I admit to being a big fan of..)

Susanna & The Magical Orchestra - Crazy, Crazy Nights (NB - mp3 removed as at least 3 sites were remote linking to it without asking..sorry! BUY THE CD - it's great!)

Hear some more tracks on the aforementioned Copy, Right mp3 blog - including the slower than slow version of Leonrd Cohen's "Hallelujah"..

Flash-based Official Site
Ubiquitous MySpace Site

Melody Mountain buy on Amazon

Best Gig I Ever Done See #2 - The Edsel Auctioneer

The Edsel Auctioneer
The Duchess Of York, Leeds 1989



It was Thursday October 5th 1989, I was a wide-eyed student in the first week of my first term, away from home for the first time in a strange big city called Leeds, in a pub called The Duchess Of York...

I'd be lying if I said that my choosing Leeds as a seat of learning wasn't based on the fact that The Wedding Present, Cud & Pale Saints were amongst my favourite bands at the time (and yes my memory has blanked out the likes of Bridewell Taxis, Parachute Men & er...Esmerelda's Kite..OK?)

Also, a few months earlier I'd heard (and loved) a Peel Session by a then unsigned Leeds band called The Edsel Auctioneer. I knew there was some kind of vague Pale Saints connection (turns out they shared a drummer and a live guitarist) and upon my inaugural visit to the legendary Jumbo Records I saw a poster announcing that they were playing at The Duchess the following day.

Obviously being my first week and me being a shy indie loner, I went to the gig alone (It's what Morrissey would have done..)

It was a weird feeling to be at a gig on my own, all excited and trying to look cool with my big floppy fringe, paisley shirt & pint of Tetley, and I suppose that's really why I remember it as one of the best gigs ever. I'm sure the band didn't even play that well, but they looked like they were enjoying it and it was as loud as it was sweaty. One of those magical nights that by definition will only happen the once and you never ever forget.

The story got weirder the following day when the bloke in the next room told me their bass player was at the art college with him. One year later and I was sharing a house with both of them, not quite so awestruck when I realised he wasn't actually a pop star - just someone who got up every day after Neighbours, told the most ludicrously far-fetched stories about children in the jungle being raised by Gazelles and ate all my food when I wasn't looking. Hi Phil!

Here's that first Peel Session in full

Birdpoo's excellent Edsel Auctioneer Mini-site with full discography

The Edsel Auctioneer on Amazon

Ted Chippington - update

Further to my post about Ted Chippington a couple of weeks back it's now been confirmed that he's BACK (and now he's a Reverend apparently..) with a few support slots on the new Nightingales tour!

Oct 7 2006 The Junction, Bristol
Oct 8 2006 Joiners ,Southampton
Oct 9 2006 Cavern Club, Exeter

Sadly I won't make any of these as they're way down south, so fingers crossed for some more dates soon

He's now also got a MySpace here

A 4 CD boxset of Ted's collected work is still due to come out but no scheduled date yet.

Also, cheers chief to Tom at the (always excellent) IndieMP3 blog for the link

Frank Sinatra - Watertown

For an artist who established himself in the 1950's, it might seem that I'm being wilfully obscure by choosing the 1970 concept album "Watertown" as my favourite Frank Sinatra record, but bear with me..

Apparently it only sold a few 100,000 copies and was universally panned by the critics at the time. Lord Google doesn't offer much in the way of positive reviews either with most people retrospectively dismissing it as Frank's failed attempt at a Rock Opera and/or a desperate ploy to appeal to a younger audience.

It seems that even Sinatra himself lost interest in it (a planned TV Special based around the story was canned) - so what's to like about it?

Well, this is the guy who INVENTED the concept album and I've always preferred his sad collections (Only The Lonely, Where Are You? In The Wee Small Hours etc) rather than the swing records (Songs For Swingin Lovers, Swing Easy, Swing Along With Me..) or the tenuously themed ones (Come Fly With Me..all the songs are about foreign places geddit? Moonlight Sinatra...all the songs have the word MOON in the title..genius!). Within that illustrious canon, Watertown is quite possibly his saddest album EVER.

Also the music was penned by original member of the Four Seasons, Bob Gaudio who's songwriting pedigree can't be argued with ("The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" to name but a few).

Upon first listen it's the story of a man who has been deserted by his wife and left to bring up their two kids alone. Pretty much every song is addressed directly to the absent partner and the simplistic style of lyric reads like a series of letters. As the story develops, the Father receives news that she is coming back to them, but ultimately he's left stranded at the Railway Station as it becomes apparent that she was never aboard the train and won't ever return.

Admittedly I have listened to this album far too much and I started to think about the bits of the story that didn't add up.

Firstly, she has not only abandoned him but also the two kids - I know this DOES happen but is not exactly common behaviour amongst women. Secondly, he mentions that her Mother still comes by to help with the children and along with other friends they encourage him to move on and find a new love. Surely any Mother would concentrate on getting her wayward Daughter back on track and try to orchestrate a reconciliation? But he's not ready to move on, he's not over her and he can't understand why nobody sees this. Lastly I just don't get why she would say that she is coming back and then just not turn up, breaking his heart a second time. Then it dawned on me..

She's not coming back because she's dead.

The story would have you believe that she is just a troubled soul that couldn't settle and had to leave, but I'm convinced that the subtext is that she's actually passed away. At this point you begin to hear the songs as the painful wailing grief of a broken man - continually writing letters to a much loved deceased partner, refusing to accept that their perfect life has been torn apart - until eventually his state of mental collapse leads him to hallucinate that she has actually written back to him and promised to return...(he even admits in "The Train" that he never sent any of his letters, they're all still piled in the drawer..classic behaviour for a grieving widower)

OK..so the liner notes of the CD play it straight and stick with the simple interpretation that she has just upped & left him, but that's from the writers - I'm sure Frank knew the REAL meaning. The track "Goodbye (She Quietly Says)" is the part of the song cycle that is meant to explain why she left - but it doesn't offer any answers - "Good-bye, said so easily, Good-bye, said so quietly" - is as much explanation as he can muster. Even "Lady Day" the bonus track that they added to the reissue hints at the fact that the girl is dead - "Her morning came too fast too soon and died before the afternoon".

And so as he stands alone on the platform at the end - awash with the realisation that none of it is true, you can almost hear the thud as he slumps to the ground in cruel despair, his world sharply coming back into focus.

So what if it has a few rock orchestrations here and there, it's a masterpiece & Frank Sinatra's voice could express more emotion in one phrase than a million Chris Martin's trying REALLY HARD to sound emotional over the course of a really LONG song.

The opening verse of "Michael & Peter" still brings a tear to my eye each time I hear it, and the track "I Would Be In Love Anyway" is another howl of bereavement - "Though you'll never be with me, and there are no words to say, I'll still be in love anyway".

RIP The Voice.

Frank Sinatra - Michael And Peter (intro)
Frank Sinatra - I Would Be In Love Anyway

Wikepedia entry for Watertown
Buy Watertown on Amazon

Best Gig I Ever Done See #1 - Man Or Astroman?

Man Or Astroman?
The NarrowBoat, Nottingham Sunday 4th September 1994


I had an idea to try and document some of the best gigs I ever saw, so that my tired & frail memory can concentrate on some of the more important things in life (like where I left my car keys). I was reminded of this stunning idea when I stumbled across some footage of the mighty Man Or AstroMan? on the old YouTube from 1994. The gig here is in Edinburgh, but it's so EXACTLY how I remember the gig that I'm pretty sure it must have been the same "Your Weight On The Moon" tour where I saw them in Nottingham at The Narrowboat (now flattened and probably a car park or something)

I have to admit to only owning ONE of their records - a cute 5" vinyl single, which I bought primarily for novelty value (in fact I own three 5" vinyl singles - the others being by Big Black and the Edsel Auctioneer)..because if I'm honest their recorded music doesn't really bear repeated listening chez Frankie. Live however, I would go and see them play every week if i could..

The two things that set Man Or Astroman apart in the world of the Surf Guitar Instrumental Combo are their stunning live shows and their rather daft attempts to pretend to be NOT OF THIS EARTH.

So anyway - the gig - the upstairs room of The Narrowboat was small and rammed - I didn't quite know what to expect, but they blew me away. Projectors showed Sci-Fi movies while the band played, and there were backing tape audio samples between songs..the members hid behind silly names like Birdstuff, Coco The Electronic Monkey Wizard, Dexter X & Starcrunch and they just didn't stop moving around the whole time. At one point Coco put a hollowed-out TV Monitor on his head like a spaceman's helmet and ran out into the audience, dancing round like...er...a nutter from another planet..

Anyway - watch the film cos it catches it better than I can ever describe (watch out for the keyboard players brutal extension of the Jery Lee Lewis technique towards the end..)



Also on YouTube there is a hilarious interview with the band from 1998 when they went on tour claiming to be Alpha Clones of the original members.
Straight faces are kept almost throughout..



Man Or Astro_Man? Official Site
Destroy All Astromen (live CD) on Amazon

Steven Jesse Bernstein

Camden Market in the early 90's, I bought a bootleg video of the last ever Big Black gig. Filmed in a power station, the footage started with the support act - a weird looking tattooed fella ranting at the audience. Kind of like Derby Market Place on a Saturday night, except he wasn't asking for money. He was reciting poetry.

Someone once claimed that the blond haired kid at the front of the stage was Kurt Cobain. Could be true but is probably just apocrypha. They have two things in common though...both great artists and they both committed suicide.

A couple of years after I saw this footage, I heard his album "The Prison". It was on Sub-Pop, had a 60's looking sleeve & was produced by legend of the Pacific North-West Steve Fisk. It was achingly cool before I'd even heard it. Unsurprisingly it was not a happy record...well the lyrics weren't but Fisk's score was incredible & coupled with Bernstein's hypnotic delivery, I think I can safely say this is one of my favourite records of all time.

"No No Man Pt.1" is the opening track and pretty much sets the scene for what to expect over the next 54 minutes. I'm not altogether that big on poetry but if you can't listen to a piece like "Face" and not be moved then you are either clinically dead or Tony Blair.

Steven Jesse Bernstein - No No Man (Part 1)

Great interview with Steve Fisk about the making of "The Prison"

Steven Jesse Bernstein - The Prison on Amazon
Steven Jesse Bernstein official MySpace page (seriously..)

Ogurusu Norihide

Dragging myself briefly into the 21st Century...

Japanese acoustic laptop folk is not a genre I claim to know a great deal about but a couple of years back I came across the music of Ogurusu Norihide and fell in love with the gentle melodies and glitchy under-stated beats. It's all instrumental stuff - mostly acoustic guitars with a bit of piano & synth but there is something quite pastoral and almost English about what he is doing - and the numerology of his track titles is always likely to appeal to me!

Ogurusu has released a couple of CD's on American label Carpark Records and done gigs in the US & Sweden (which appears to be the home of EVERYTHING cool at the moment) as well as his native Japan. Not sure if he's ever played in the UK, but I'd love to see him over here one day.

Ogurusu Norihide - 4-46

Ogurusu Norihide Website (in Japanese & English) with more mp3 samples
Carpark Records of Washington DC

Ogurusu Norihide - Modern on Amazon
Ogurusu Norihide - Humour on Amazon