There was a chain of record shops in the 80s called Penny Lane Records, well stocked, biased towards 60s, indie, garage, guitars, surly staff, that kind of thing. They had a branch at the top of Penny Lane in Liverpool, one in the town centre on Bold Street and one in Chester. I bought Thin White Rope's Red Sun in the Chester branch in 1988. Dunno why I remember why I bought this record there, I just do. I'd read about Thin White Rope in the NME or Melody Maker, maybe they had the much coveted Single Of The Week spot. Without the internet you had to take a chance in them days, often buying something unheard. Crazy, eh kids?
Thin White Rope came out of the Paisley Underground scene but the songs on Red Sun are much more in the desert rock/90s-2000s Americana vein, an earlier version of Calexico and their ilk. This is the one I remember off the e.p.
John Talabot is young and from Barcelona and has provided some really good remixes in recent times. His own album Fin is an electronic joy from start to finish, full of tense synths, deep basslines and edgy noises, and takes you on a head-nodding trip.
Jacqueline Goddard photographed by Man Ray, one of Man's favourite models. She was a foot taller than him, feted by Paris society and died in 2003 aged 91.
... we've waited a long time.
Because the new album's out, two and a half decades plus after the last.
Because it's Kevin Rowland and he is always worth listening to.
Because they look great.
Because Mick Talbot, Pete Williams and Big Jim, all ex-Dexys, are in the band.
Because they mean it.
Because he's still searching.
Because it's Dexys.
Public Image Ltd put out their new album today and if this track off the One Drop e.p. (from April) is anything to go by, it'll be worth a punt. Lydon back on form and making good music for the first time in ages. This one's got an nice groove, some good finger-picking stuff and John doing his thing in an understated way.
They're popping up all over the place at the moment- another Andrew Weatherall mix at Soundcloud, this one available for free download. The Graeme Park one the other day was good but slightly spoilt by Graeme Park appearing between every track to tell us we were listening to Andrew Weatherall on the Graeme Park show. We know- that's why we're listening to it.
A reader called Niv left a comment from over a week ago about the Timothy J Fairplay Bird Scarer 12" which I missed. If you're still there Niv, yes please.
More Stone Roses. Its pretty commonly accepted now that Reni is the secret weapon, something made abundantly clear in Warrington last week. Apparently he drums backwards- he's right handed and leads with his left or something like that, which explains his fairly unique fluid groove. Backing vocals too. The band were never the same after he left. And as the reformation press conference showed he's witty and sharp too.
This is an instrumental, funky, rehearsal room thing from the 90s.
There's something about this weather that makes me want to play Sabres Of Paradise 1994 single Wilmot. From its Gun Club styled sleeve to Wonder's scat vocal to the seriously dubby bassline to those wondrous snaking horns. Back in 1994 we returned home late, in a suitably altered state, and turned on the tiny black and white portable TV. Within minutes the video for Wilmot came on (it was some late night, after hours clubbing programme) with Lord Sabre, combat pants and creepers, leading a ragtag bunch of majorettes through the streets of London at dawn. It was very good then, and it is very good now. And, I suspect, the only music video Andrew Weatherall has starred in.
I'm not sure Wilmot was crying out for remixing (though Scruff's skank version is a belter, obviously) but here's Red Snapper's version, which came out on a Warp Records compilation.
I'm calming down a bit now after Wednesday night's Stone Roses gig. It still seems unbelievable.
Half Man Half Biscuit, almost inevitably, had something to say about secret gigs. Equally inevitably, I am posting it. It's from a 1998 Peel Session.
A reader called Colin (from Glasgow) emailed a few weeks ago with a link to the Weatherall 6 Mix where he spent two hours reminiscing with Terry Farley (who got on my tits a bit but there you go). I forgot to put it up here. Colin has been in touch again today with this tip off about a recent Weatherall mix, guesting for the final part of Graeme Park's show (broadcast last Saturday, my birthday). It's here at Mixcloud. Thanks Colin.
I'm still all in a tizz about Warrington to be honest.
I got in from work yesterday and opened my emails. One read- 'The Stone Roses are playing a free concert tonight at Warrington Parr Hall (capacity 760). Wristbands for the concert are available from the box office from 4.00pm to people bringing a record sleeve, cd inlay or band T-shirt.'
Nayayers should suspend their cynicism or stop reading at this point.
At 8.40pm I was standing in the rapidly filling Parr Hall, an old concert venue with a high stage and a seated balcony round three sides. I have never been to a gig where there was such an air of unexpected excitement. The presence of Cressa and John Robb and various other faces, and crew with Roses wristbands, making it clear this was actually going to happen. The bass speaker stacks were topped off with a collection of Toby jugs. At 9.30 four Stone Roses took the stage, Reni included (despite recent internet rumours). I Wanna Be Adored, Mersey Paradise, Sally Cinnamon, Made Of Stone, Sugar Spun Sister, Where Angels Play, Shoot You Down, Tightrope, Waterfall, She Bangs The Drums, Love Spreads (with a slightly ill advised Ian Brown rap at the end, Paid In Full). Mani grinning throughout, Ian Brown bouncing round the stage, Squire playing those guitar lines, the crowd drowning out the band at times. The love and energy from the crowd was stunning; the only non-smiley note all night was Liam Gallagher's arrival on the balcony to boos and jeers. All those late 80s truisms about positivity, and the band and the crowd are the same, and we're all on the same side, flooding back briefly. It's still The Roses- if you want pitch perfect recreations of songs, go and watch Adele. But it's beautiful from where I was standing. I'm still not entirely convinced it actually happened, despite my croaky voice and sweaty wristband.
At 10.25 they finished, hugging each other stage front, standing hand-in-hand and arms in the air, taking a bow and then off ('We'll be back' Ian said, though not tonight), and after a few minutes of milling around before we were sure there wasn't an encore, we were spewed into Warrington's now chilly streets, middle aged men and women who'd just seen something they could only remember and dream about, teenagers who've just seen something they could only previously read about.
You'll have to forgive the fanboy enthusiasm folks- my 21st century world weariness may return tomorrow, but right now I can say 'Warrington Parr Hall- I was there'.
This appeared on Soundcloud about a month ago, a superb and unreleased Weatherall dub mix of Lark's Can I Colour In Your Hair? from 2009. I think it first showed up at Double Gone Radio but it's never had a physical release which is a shame because this clanging, speaker-rattling remix would sound ace on vinyl. It's a bit of a forerunner of his two dubs of Steve Mason's Boys Outside (another peak period Weatherall remix never physically released to the best of my knowledge).
And that's Man Ray's portrait of Le Corbusier by the way.
Recent postee Jon Spencer has had a variety of projects outside his Blues Explosion, the most commercial being Boss Hog, a band formed with his wife Cristina Martinez. They still play the punk blues, it's just got some of the rough edges smoothed out. Jon and Cristina met at a Jesus And Mary Chain gig.
This is a beauty, Bloom, the fourth album from Beach House. It's no different from the previous three, just better. Woozy organ, distorted guitar, melifluous vocals about nothing/everything, lazy and languid and a bit out there.
In the frame is Balthus, looking the essence of 1930s male chic. Incredibly, for someone photographed as an adult so long ago he didn't die until 2001. Balthus refused any kind of biographical reading of his paintings. His paintings were to be seen and not read about. Reckon he may have had a beach house though.
So says Jon Spencer. It turns out, following finding this recently and then going digging, that I have three Jon Spencer Blues Explosion albums, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. If someone asked me what bands I liked we'd be talking for some time before I mentioned them. When they're good though, they're very, very good. And I haven't got the album I've always thought I had (Now I Got Worry)- or if I did ever have it, I haven't got it now. This song, 2 Kindsa Love, is off Now I Got Worry. This live performance from Australian TV is phenomenal for several reasons.
1. The riff.
2. Jon Spencer's performance, which removes the fourth wall. And the backdrop while he's at it.
3. It was recorded in the morning.
4. Extended use of the theremin.
5. The band are bang on the beat.
6. As a look black shirt, black trousers and white shoes works.
A song from the Jesus And Mary Chain's swansong, Munki (from 1998); snarling and self-loathing with overloaded guttersnipe guitars.
As part of my non-stop, debauched rock 'n' roll lifestyle I am spending the morning of my 42nd birthday manning the bookstall (a table under a gazebo) at Park Road Nursery's Summer Fair. Pop by. I'm sure we'll have something you'll like. Last year I managed to sell a copy of 'You And Your Pond; A Guide To Complete Pond Care'.
Rockabilly post 100. Woo.
To celebrate this momentous occasion Sid King and The Five Strings will regale us with Purr, Kitty, Purr, rockabilly from way back in 1957. With added cat noises.
One of Bagging Area's favourite albums of last year came from The People's Temple, who produced a very good 2011 version of 60s acid/psyche rock. On this song they perfect their Stonesisms. Electrictrified sneering.
The photo is of Denise Tual, theatre and film producer, editor and director. At least I think so- the website was in French and I decided against clicking the translate button.
I remembered this band the other day, who very handily tie into the recent Man Ray theme. The Rayographs, three young ladies from London, who play slinky, ever-so-slightly menacing blues and named themselves after the Man himself and his photography.
Tying together Monday's and Tuesday's posts in a way that makes it almost look like this thing is planned and not veering about all over the place this is The Time And Space Machine (Richard Norris, ex of The Grid from yesterday) remixed by Mojo Filter (who remixed Brian Eno on Monday). Pill Party In India came out as a single back in February, with a couple of remixes. The album, Taste The Lazer, is out now and you should really think about getting it if you fancy an acid-house/psychedelic trip round the innerverse and outerverse. This remix has basslines that squelch, Indian instruments plucked about with, lashings of strings and vocals and is very groovy.
Without music blogs I would probably also have missed this- the Prins Thomas remix of The Grid's classic 1990 Floatation single, stretched out, zhizzed up and as dreamy as yesterday's Brian Eno remix. The music blog in question was Nolan Micron's Castles In Space, which continues to provide top quality tunes. When I was in Piccadilly Records a while back I found a copy of this on 10" vinyl. Circle completed.
The Man Ray portrait is of Genica Athanasiou, a Romanian actress and Antonin Artaud's partner. Which doesn't really explain why he was looking so unhappy in his portrait. Unless he was annoyed his curtains had been pulled down.
Without music blogs I would never have discovered this- Mojo Filter's Remix of Brian Eno's Another Green World. Remixing Brian Eno carries some risk but this carries it off brilliantly. It is utterly beautiful, nearly ten minutes of blissful, upbeat splendour. Davy H of The Ghost Of Electricity fame posted it last autumn and every time I listen to it I'm glad he did. The joy of sharing eh?
Back to the Man Ray photos, something else I can't get enough of; this time Nancy Cunard, writer, heiress to a shipping line and political activist. She rejected her upper class family, instead fighting fascism and racism while hanging around with Aldous Huxley, Man Ray, Ernest Hemmingway, James Joyce, William Carlos Williams and Wyndham Lewis among others.
Nothing blows the cobwebs away quite like a blast of Husker Du. This song, a kiss off to somebody, written and sung by Grant Hart is a gem where the band do the Husker trick of marrying 60s pop and 80s hardcore. Top drumming too.
I read a review of the new Garbage album yesterday, a band I hadn't thought about or heard for years. I don't think I own anything by them other than a 7" single of Stupid Girl I bought for Mrs Swiss way back when (she liked the song, I wasn't suggesting she was a stupid girl) and the song they did on the soundtrack to Romeo And Juliet (how very 90s). And whilst I can't imagine I'll be buying their new album, it did remind me that I used to have a bit of a thing for Shirley Manson.
Andrew Weatherall's first release on his new vinyl-only record label has come and gone and I've missed out, mainly due to the release date, pay day and internet pre-order dates all being in slightly the wrong order for me. There were only 300 copies of the record- Timothy J Fairplay's The Last Reel coupled with a Weatherall remix on the B-side- so the odds I suppose were always stacked against each individual who wanted one getting one. There must be more than 300 Weatherall collectors mustn't there? Over at the Ripped In Glasgow Facebook page various messages come through- Weatherall himself seen going into Rough Trade with 10 copies under his arm, Juno having it back in stock- but no-one has it stock when I go clicking. It's not keeping me awake at night but it is perturbing me and I'm spending too much time trying to find a copy on the internets. Sometimes you just don't get what you want. When its release was first announced there were some 90 second samples put up online. Here's one of them.
We live in Sale, South Manchester. Sale is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, one of the few boroughs in the country where at age 11 children are divided into those deemed fit to go to Grammar School and those who can go elsewhere. This kind of education system is archaic, divisive and unhealthy. However many of the people round here love it. After all, it didn't do them any harm. The local MP, Graham Brady (Con, obviously) is a loud advocate for grammar schools and they are worryingly on the rise. Moving house isn't really an option for us- coincidentally Trafford has excellent special needs schools, which are perfect for our disabled son. This leaves us a bit stuck in the system.
I have always been against the whole idea of grammar schools. In my mind it's morally wrong to divide 10 year olds into two groups based on some spurious test of intelligence. Working in education since 1993 has done nothing to change my mind. We have a daughter, aged 8 and currently in Year 4. There are children in her class who are having privately paid for mentoring from anxious parents, to ensure their children pass the entrance exam and go to one of Trafford's grammar schools. These parents are paying tutors to mentor children through an exam they won't sit for another eighteen months. Children aged 8 are spending their Saturday mornings and weekday evenings practicing for a test that is supposed to define natural intelligence and ability. This is dressed up in all sorts of ways justifying splitting children into those good enough and those not good enough- 'we just want to give them the best opportunity' is one of the most common I hear. Local snobbery and attitudes die hard- the other (non-grammar) schools clearly couldn't provide an appropriate education in these peoples' eyes; they didn't in the mid 80s when the parents were at school themselves, therefore they can't possibly now.
I have no intention of putting ET in for a selective school exam- the problem will arise I suppose if all her friends sit it and she asks why she isn't and then wants to. The second problem is that the local secondary school (in effect a secondary modern, though they don't use that phrase publically) is heavily over-subscribed, due mainly to being an excellent school surrounded by grammar schools.What's also funny is that there is a pecking order of grammar schools, roughly starting north at Stretford Grammar and becoming more desirable the further south down Chester Road you go- Sale Grammar (local choice), Altrincham Grammar (ooh, lovely, very good) and so on. The decisions of most parents round here are also clearly selfish- it's all about what's best for them with no thought for any wider picture. We all want what's best for our kids but it doesn't have to be at the expense of others. The desperation of the parents is unhealthy and unpleasant- 'Are you tutoring? Really? Why not? Which ones are you applying for? This one's the best. That one's the worst'.
Grammar schools will always be able to claim they offer the best education- they get 100% results. But then they should do; they've already selected the 'best' kids and if they don't behave they kick them out. Bingo- first class school, proven by statistics. The fact is that grammar schools concentrate social inequality and actively work against social mobility. The well off stay well off, safe and comfortable in their cosy 1950s grammar school world. These schools are patently anti-democratic, exclusive and divisive. Any of the Labour governments since 1945 should have abolished them (and all private, fee paying schools as well) but they've all bottled it, particularly Harold Wilson who could have finished them when he had the chance. All these kids who go to grammar schools, with their clearly aspirational parents (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with aspirations), could go to reorganised Trafford secondary schools based on locality. A one-tier education system, fair, open and honest, rather than what we have- a three tier education system (tier one- privately tutored grammar school children, tier two- those who go to grammar without private tutoring, tier three- the rest at secondary moderns), tilted towards the well off. It's just plain wrong but it's difficult to find people who agree with this view. Hence Graham Brady MP will always be able to say 'the parents of Trafford want grammar schools'. The parents the system benefits anyway.
So, I'll say it again- archaic, divisive and unhealthy. What a lovely environment to put your children into.
This is my 99th rockabilly post, ton up next week. Here's Johnny Horton in 1957, looking for a girl with a 'honky tonk mind' and adding a red hot guitar solo as well.
My head is currently fit to burst- workload and deadlines mainly. I drive home with thousands of things bouncing around my head. Chuck in all the non-work stuff and I don't know if my little mind can cope with it all. This song came on driving home yesterday, and though I've posted it before over two years ago, it seemed very apt. Ray Davies nails it with this absolute cracker. Plus it gives me an excuse to post the splendid advert for Terylene.
Mr Weatherall recorded live at Liverpool's Shipping Forecast, a two hour mix available for free download. And you can't say fairer than that.
Worth clicking to the Soundcloud page for the comments which include; 'wooo hey', 'immmmmmmmmense', 'dirt', 'cheown', 'shivers', 'affentanz', 'birdshell', 'remodernist', 'stems from hell', and 'jambong express'. I assume some of these are song titles.
This Is The Day by The The is one of those songs that defies being taken to bits- describing its constituent parts and holding it up to the light doesn't help explain how great it is, how universal it is, how affecting it is. The character in the song looks back on their life, red eyed at dawn, and looks at this as the day that their life will change. Which it may.
Richard Hell (above left with fellow Voidoid Marc Bell on the right) has got a pretty good claim to be one of the original punk rockers (70s variety, New York). Malcolm McLaren freely admitted the look came from him, he left Television in 1975 and wrote one of punk's essential texts (Blank Generation, which he says everyone got wrong- it's blank as in fill in the blank not blank as in vacant). With its choppy riff and vocal it's a song that still sounds fresh today. Hell also wrote the very punkish Love Comes In Spurts. Drugs and bad timing left Hell and The Voidoids out in the cold.
I met him at a book signing in 1996/7ish. He'd written a novel (Go Now), a beat generation/punk rock novel, and put his shades on to read passages from the book, removing them afterwards. He was pretty surly when I got to the front of the queue to get the book signed. But maybe I was too.
I didn't start Bagging Area as a new music blog but inevitably I do get sent music by artists, bands and people hoping for some (admittedly limited) exposure. I've been there myself. Recently I haven't had any time to investigate the stuff that falls into my email inbox and I do feel bad about it periodically. There's no point putting up posts by bands or artists when I haven't listened to the music and I haven't had the time to listen to the music, let alone then go and write a post, put links in and so on. So, 17 Pygmies, Dire Con, Nothing But Noise, New West, Amish 82, Sameblod, IDC, Spunk Tractor (only one of these bands is imaginary) and all the others- I apologise.
This is recent postees Felt, who I have listened to and know that I like.
Given that the Four Boy One Girl Action post from a couple of days ago got twice the average amount of page views my posts usually get I briefly considered calling this 13th Floor Elevators post Nice Jugs but thought better of it. 13th Floor Elevators were a psychedelic, electric jug, garage band from Austin, Texas. You can see the jug and jug player in the photo above on the left. You're Gonna Miss Me was their debut single from 1966 and is presented here in its original mono form. Nice jug.
That's a heading which may bring some disappointed traffic this way. Four Boy One Girl Action were an early 90s acid-house supergroup (of sorts) who put out a 12" single in 1993. The Hawaiian Death Stomp was released on David Holmes' Exploding Plastic Inevitable, the four boys being Holmes, Kris Needs, and Gary Burns and Jagz Kooner moonlighting from Sabres Of Paradise. It's long, it's 'progressive', it'll bugger your speakers if you play it very loud. This is the B-side.
We're in Sheffield this weekend; steel city, sex city, seven hills, Wednesday and United, industrial and electronic music capital of South Yorkshire. To celebrate Sheffield's rich musical history here's some Cabaret Voltaire from 1982, released on Factory from other side of the Pennines.
Wayne Walker's All I Can Do Is Cry is pretty much my favourite ever rockabilly record, and it was one of the first rockabilly postings I did in this Friday night slot. This is another of Wayne's songs from 1957, here to get your Bank Holiday weekend off to a flyer.
With Lawrence's heroic 80s indie failures Felt the myth is at least as important as the truth. As well as all the story's of Lawrence's eccentric behaviour- refusing to let people use his toilet, sacking band members who wore the wrong clothes, leaving a Lloyd Cole gig because he saw Lloyd eating a banana (Lawrence ate no fruit or veg), releasing ten singles and ten albums in ten years with out-there titles- Felt managed to find the time to record some of the decades best songs of their ilk. Pop but clearly not pop. Like this one.
Today's Man Ray sitter is Emile Dubuffet, who looks a bit 80s indie. Despite taking a good picture she has left no other trace on the internet that I can find.
I'm enjoying these Man Ray portraits so they're going to keep coming for a little while longer, matched up here with something I found in my downloads folder that I'd completely forgotten about. This remix from 2001 is a bit forgettable to be honest and I know nowt about the original artist (Sweetie) but it might be of interest to the collectors/obsessives out there. Yes, you.
Who's in the picture? Andre Breton, French writer, poet, leather jacket wearer and founder of surrealism (he wrote the Surrealist Manifesto), that's who. He probably deserved a more inspiring piece of music. Maybe something more surreal.
Faceless dance music- Timothy J Fairplay remixing Scott Fraser's Centreville Lapse, from a recent e.p. of the same name. Lovely, late night, melodic, slo-mo electronic stuff. Timothy has a 12" The Last Reel, currently out of stock somewhere near you and an album not yet released.
Man Ray portrait- Constantin Brancusi, Romanian modernist sculptor, rocking the wild beard and cardigan look, which may be 'trending' this spring.
I was thinking, following Sunday's post, about whether I could put together a Spanish Civil War themed mixtape. Stick with me, these are the things that sometimes occupy my mind when driving. I've got this far-
1. Durutti Column- Sketch For Summer (it could be any Durutti track really, but this one's my favourite unless anyone can think of a more appropriate one. Durutti was an anarchist-syndicalist leader during the war, as I'm sure you knew)
2. Manic Street Preachers- If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next (see Sunday's post)
3. The Clash- Spanish Bombs (obviously)
4. The Pogues- Lorca's Noveno (posted here a long while back, the song tells of the murder of poet Federico Garcia Lorca by the Francoist Falange)
And that's it. A fairly short mixtape unless anyone's got any other suggestions.
I wondered about ABBA's Fernando but I'm not convinced it's about Spain.
This could go on actually if we don't have a rule about the same song featuring in different versions- a dub cover of The Clash's Spanish Bombs by O' Luge and Kornerstrone Allstars from a dub tribute album to The Clash called Shatter The Hotel (a line from Spanish Bombs).
