Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story by Richard Balls (Soundcheck Books 2015)

Prologue

32 Alexander Street, London, W2

1977. An office in a former house in Bayswater, now home to a small record label. Inside is a garrulous Dubliner with scruffy hair, a couple of women hard at work, and a boyish-looking singer called Wreckless lounging in a chair. The door opens and a bloke comes in carrying several large cardboard cut-outs of some of the label’s exciting new acts. One cut-out is of a nerdy, pigeon-toed singer with a sneer and a Fender Jazzmaster.

“Ah great, they’re here. Great,” says the Irishman. “Jesus, these are pretty good. I love the one of Elvis. These look all right.” Excitedly he picks them up and admires them, before grabbing a hammer from a drawer and climbing on a chair. “Hey Suzanne, would you pass me a nail? I want to put these up. These are gonna look great up here.” Bemused at this sudden burst of activity, the singer looks on as the giant shop displays are banged into place. “That’s the sort of stupid thing I’d do,” he thinks to himself.

As the hammering goes on, a wild-eyed, intimidating figure bursts in and looks up at the wall, horrified. “Yeah, we’ve got the displays,” says the Irishman. “They’re fucking great aren’t they? Great.”

 

“What the fuck?” yells the other guy. “What fucking moron did that?” “Well we’ve got to put ‘em up, Jake, you know?” he replies. “Put ‘em up? Do you want to see Elvis Costello with a fucking nail through his head? I fucking don’t”. Jake then storms out of the office, slamming the door behind him, and disappears along the busy London street.

A storm is brewing. Something is going to blow.

Excerpt From: Richard Balls. “Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story.” iBooks. 

Excerpt From: Richard Balls. “Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story.” iBooks. 

Scully (1984)

 

My Aim Is True

4th 180 in the past week. The honeymoon period with the One80 Rectifiers happily continues.

P.S Honeymoons' don't last forever. 

6/50

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 16

A song that's a classic favourite.

Two Abba songs in such a short space of a music challenge? Either one of them just died (they haven't) or this lockdown has unlocked from my inner depths my 9 year old, 16 year old, 27 year old, 36 year old . . . old man 'lustcrush' (not a word; just made it up).

Anyway, it's a stone cold classic. Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve thought so, and they know their pop onions:

Abba - Dancing Queen (1976)

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 04

A song that reminds you of someone you'd rather forget.

No soul searching or delving into my murky past. I'll save that for my printed-on-demand memoirs which are pencilled in for 2023. A cheap choice, I know, but I'm playing catch up with this one. Could have picked any number of songs about Mrs Thatcher, but Costello's 'Pills and Soap' has cropped up a lot recently on Spotify and, more often than not, I've not skipped it. Still a great track after all these years:

Round 15: Weaving a tapestry, people. There may be fictionalized bollocks along the way

Darts Thrown: January 18th 2019

Blog Written: May 3rd 2019

Highest Score: 121

Lowest Score: 2

Sixties: 13
100+: 1

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is 'God Give Me Strength' by Kristen Vigard. Written by Costello and Bacharach, this song features in Allison Anders' film' Grace of My Heart', a loving tribute to the 50s and 60s Brill Building and its songwriting factory and, of course, the main character, Denise Waverly, is a thinly disguised Carole King. Even a numbskull like me knew that. Like millions of other families across the western world in the early to mid 70s, we received a copy of Carole King's 'Tapestry' album as a free gift when our parents bought the Crying Boy painting from our local Woolworths.

Discovered this song one late night when I happened to stumble across the movie on tv. It was half way through the film so I had no idea what was going on, but this scene popped up and I was hooked. Apparently Matt Dillon was playing a fictionalised Brian Wilson, but I don't see any sandbox, And just cos he plays with his specs a few times in the movie, that's not proof enough that he's a troubled soul. (For clarification purposes, Illeana Douglas is miming to Kristen Vigard's vocals. A good old Hollywood staple.)

Why this now? Well, it was either this song or The Cavedogs song which is my first MP3 download. I can't remember which. *Cough* There's been a few more since.

Costello and Bacharach recorded their own version, and it's fine as it goes but this will always be the definitive version for me:

Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello by Graeme Thomson (Canongate Books 2004)

Ironically, the two stand-out tracks on the record were the sparsest, the ones that mostly steered clear of sonic gimmicks. 'Pills and Soap' was a stark, stabbing piano track based on Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message', rush-released as a single in May on Elvis's own IMP label and then supposedly deleted - in actual fact, it never was - on the eve of the 1983 general election. Loosely inspired by a film about the abuse of animals which had made Elvis turn vegetarian, it hid a scabarous - if obscure - political viewpoint beneath the surface.

Meanwhile, 'Shipbuilding' stood up against the very best of his recorded output. While always conceding that Robert Wyatt's version was the original, Elvis liked the song so much he wanted it to be heard by the widest number of people possible. To make his version even more distinctive, he visualised a trumpet solo on the track.

Chet Baker wasn't the first choice. Langer recalls that Wynton Marsalis was discussed but wasn't in the country, while a typically undaunted Elvis had Miles Davis as his original first pick, but it so happened that Baker was in London in May playing a residency at The Canteen. His melancholy, melodic trumpet sound and remarkable good looks had made him a 1950's poster boy, but he had since descended into a grim cycle of cocaine and heroin addiction which gripped him until his death in 1988.

By his own admission, Baker had never heard of Elvis Costello, but when Elvis sounded him out at The Canteen, he quickly agreed to play for scale. 'It was a cash deal,' recalled Elvis. 'He just came in; it may well have been the next day.' Elvis offered to double the jazzman's standard union fee, and few could doubt he was worth every penny.

'One of the best things we ever did was 'Shipbuilding',' recalls Bruce Thomas, still moved by the experience many years on. 'That was probably one of the musical high points. Chet Baker, this wizened corpse on death's door, strung out, just played. He followed this bass line and played his solo, so simple, with so much soul in it. It really touched me. It was one of those things that really made me think about how you judge people.'

While Langer concurs that Baker's final contribution as heard on the record was inspirational, he remembers the session being a tough one. 'We recorded the track live, but he kept blowing bum notes when we got to his solo. He was going, "This isn't jazz!" so he couldn't quite get it. That solo is three whole takes - the band as well - edited together, to get it to work. He was pretty spaced out.'

The Next 30 Day Song Challenge - day 29

Day 29 - A song from a film soundtrack

I was going to go with a Michael Nyman piece from Michael Winterbottom's 'Wonderland' for this challenge, but I'll save that for another day.

Instead, it has to be Kristen Vigard singing Costello/Bacharach's 'God Give Me Strength' from Allison Anders 1996 film 'Grace of My Heart', and for the following reasons:

• Probably my favourite Costello song of all time. Just pips out 'I Want You', 'London's Brilliant Parade', 'Shipbuilding' (spoiled by too many shite cover versions) and 'Alison'.
• Discovered this song - and the film - in the good old fashioned way*. Late night, half asleep, flicking through channels 'cos you're bored and there's nothing's on and you stumble across a film you've never heard of before, looks half interesting, so you stop flicking for a few minutes and then this scene pops up and your eyes and ears pop out. It's only months later that you discover that Illena Douglas doesn't have the voice of an angel, but in fact that she's miming to Kristen Vigard's vocals. Costello's version isn't half-bad either.
• Either the first or second song I ever downloaded from the t'internet. I can't remember if it was this or 'Love Grenade' by The Cavedogs.  Both great songs that should be heard by more people. The world would be a better place.

Footnote

good old fashioned way* - I miss those days of stumbling across an unknown film late night on the telly. We're all so overloaded these days that there's little or no surprises out there. Everything comes via a tweet or a shared message on your facebook wall. Honorable mention to these two other great films also discovered in the same half-assed fashion as 'Grace of My Heart'.

A Firing Offense by George P. Pelecanos (Serpent's Tail 1992)

I first met Karen in a bar in Southeast, a new wave club near the Eastern Market run by an Arab named Haddad whom everyone called HaDaddy-O.

This was late in '79 or early in 1980, the watershed years that saw the debut release of the Pretenders, Graham Parker's Squeezing Out Sparks, and Elvis Costello's Get Happy, three of the finest albums ever produced. That I get nostalgic now when I hear "You Can't Be Too Strong" or "New Amsterdam" or when I smell cigarette smoke in a bar or feel sweat drip down my back in a hot club, may seem incredible today - especially to those who get misty-eyed over Sinatra, or even at the first few chords of "Satisfaction" - but I'm talking about my generation.

SMH, people . . . SMH.

Weekly Bulletin of The Socialist Party of Great Britain 132

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the 132nd of our weekly bulletins to keep you informed of changes at Socialist Party of Great Britain @ MySpace.

We now have 1559 friends!

Recent blogs:

Labour and the reform of capitalism

Government or democracy?

Who's going to clean the sewers?

COMING EVENTS:

Radical Film Forum,

Sundays 6pm - 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN.

17th January - Manufacturing Consent (part one)

31st January - Manufacturing Consent (part two)

ADVANCE NOTICE:

Debate with Dr Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute

Thursday, 4th February, 7pm

Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1

Quote for the week:

"Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war. Why should they go out into a fight?... They leave that all to the poor." Black Sabbath, War Pigs, 1970.

Continuing luck with your MySpace adventures!

Robert and Piers

Socialist Party of Great Britain

'(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Socialist Understanding?'

The Socialist Party is standing a full list of 8 candidates in the London Region in the coming elections to the European Parliament on 4 June.

Two meetings have been arranged so far.

SUNDAY 17 MAY at 6.00pm

YOUR CHANCE TO VOTE FOR WORLD SOCIALISM

Speakers: Tristan Miller and Danny Lambert (candidates)

at 52 Clapham High Street, SW4 (nearest tube: Clapham North). All welcome. Refreshments available.

TUESDAY 19 MAY at 8,00pm

EUROCAPITALISM OR WORLD SOCIALISM?

Speakers: Adam Buick and Simon Wigley (candidates)

Committee Room, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace W4 (nearest tube: Chiswick Park)

You can follow the progress of the campaign via our election blog, Vaux Populi.

Our election manifesto can be read at the following link.

SPGB Keef is on the telly!

I'm loathe to post too many YouTube videos on the page at anyone time, so I'll just have to post a link to today's must-see video.

I'll let the 5P music blog pick up the story of the clip:

Elvis Costello on Saturday Night Live

"On this date in 1977, Elvis Costello and The Attractions made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. They were a late replacement for Sex Pistols who could not get visas to get into the country (Johnny because of a drug charge, Steve because of his criminal record and Paul and Sid on general principle).

Their first number went off without a hitch. They played "Watching The Detectives". For their second number, they were scheduled to play "Less Than Zero". They wanted to play "Radio Radio" but it was considered anti-media so SNL said no to that choice. Approximately 8 seconds into "Less Than Zero", Elvis stops the song and his band and apologizes to the live audience for playing "Less Than Zero". The band goes right into "Radio Radio". Elvis Costello was banned from performing on the show ever again. Well...that's an awfully long time. The ban was lifted and he appeared again in 1989.

Here's how it went..."

Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Radio Radio live

Old Waves

Morphing Into A Music Blog (5)

Accidents Will Happen I hope it amounts to more than Elvis Costello doing a 'Phil Caine'* ('Don't like paying the taxes . . . . they've got no ambition in Britain'.) Just don't tell me that he lives in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Time's Up I listen to the first couple of U2 albums and always want to cut Bono some slack, but when I read him spouting shite like this in the Rolling Stone:

"Just being in D.C., and meeting all the people I've met - I've now been going there for nearly ten years. They let me in their rooms and they listen to my rhetoric or invective or whatever it turns out to be. And I come away from that city not with nausea but with admiration. These people work like dogs. These lawmakers, they're trying to move between their families back home and Washington. All of them could make much more money in the private sector. Not all, but most of them are there for the right reasons. There's very little glamour. And they're listening to me, who's completely over-rewarded for what I do."

. . . I just want to take an axe to his Joshua Tree. I don't think I've ever witnessed a smarmier politician than that *@#%. I don't care if he thinks he's doing it for the right reasons. Spot the reference to the Buzzcocks' 'Spiral Scratch' EP in the interview, and wonder if Bono thinks it's 1993, he's Damon Albarn and he's talking about his new album, Modern Life is Rubbish.**

Step Back in Time That's enough ranting about the posters on your wall falling to the floor, back to when old waves was post-punk, and the best track from Scritti Politti's 1979 EP, '4 A-Sides'

Scritti Politti - P.A.s mp3

For extra credit, flick through Robert Lumley's 'States of Emergency', whilst wondering out loud 'Whatever happened to Big Flame?'***

*The alternative name was Michael Collins. You figure it out.

**Yep, first found out about Bono in the Rolling Stone via The Blogging Equivalent of U2 (Had a soft spot for the early stuff. Turned into bloated insufferable wankers ever since.)

***Yep, I know Green Gartside was a YCLer and had a bad case of the Gramscian MT's to prove it but, in an alternative universe, back in 77/78 he should have been the activities officer of the St Pancras branch of the Lotta Continua

Friday's Playlist #14

An ongoing series:

Richard Hawley, 'Something is . . . !' (Late Night Final)

Super Furry Animals, 'Run! Christian Run!' (Rings Around the World)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 'The Long Honeymoon' (Imperial Bedroom)

Rose Royce, 'Magic Touch'

Elvis Costello, 'Baby Plays Around' (Spike)

Delta 5, 'Mind Your Own Business'

Scott Walker, 'The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti' (The Moviegoer)

Patsy Cline, 'Why Can't He Be You'

Kirsty MacColl, 'Treachery' (Tropical Brainstorm)

Phil Ochs, 'Ringing of the Revolution' (Phil Ochs in Concert)

Spotify Playlist Link. 

Friday's Playlist #13

An ongoing series:

Heaven 17, 'This is Mine' (How Men Are)

The Sound Team, 'Back in Town' (Movie Monster)

Le Tigre, 'Les and Ray' (Le Tigre)

Propaganda, 'P-Machinery' (A Secret Wish)

Heaven 17, 'Soul Warfare' (Penthouse and Pavement)

Malcolm Middleton, 'No Modest Bear' (Into The Woods)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 'I Wanna Be Loved' (Goodbye Cruel World)

Japan, 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' (Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

Human League, 'Brute' (Secrets)

The Chameleons, 'Singing Rule Britannia' (What Does Anything Mean? Basic)

Friday's Playlist #10

An ongoing series:

Elvis Costello and The Attractions, 'The Invisible Man' (Punch The Clock)

Duran Duran, 'Breath After Breath' (The Wedding Album)

Mark Ronson, featuring Amy Winehouse, 'Valerie' (Version)

Heaven 17, 'Key To The World' (The Luxury Gap)

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, 'The Rattler' (Good Deeds and Dirty Rags)

George Michael, 'Amazing' (Patience)

The Others, 'How I Nearly Lost You' (The Others)

Big Star, 'Thirteen' (Number 1 Record)

Dead Kennedys, 'Holiday in Cambodia' (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables)

Nicole Atkins and the Sea, 'War Torn'

Update 11/11/ 22

A full compliment on Spotify. That's a nice result. (Well, one live version but needs must.) I always thought Nicole Atkins was going to be massive. Not sure what happened. Saw her live around about this time (2007/8) at the Bowery Ballroom. Absolutely amazing voice.

Spotify Playlist Link.