Terry Hall

For as long as I can remember pop music being part of my life Terry Hall has been part of it. As kids at the tail end of the 70s The Specials were part of our world, their riotous, joyful modernised version of ska perfect for youth club discos- run around, bounce up and down, sing/ shout along. The fact that their songs said something about the world we lived in and saw on the TV made them even more special- songs about men at C&A, nuclear war, the rat race, contraception and doing too much too young were right up our streets. Ghost Town, blaring out at number one on Top Of The Pops the day after there were riots across the UK (including in Moss Side, just up the road from us) was not just a pop song, it was a reflection of the state of the country and the nation's youth- we were kids, I was eleven years old, I wasn't unemployed and didn't know anything about the Right To Work, but these records informed us, they were important. They were messages we received. How anyone could enjoy The Specials, sing along to A Message To You Rudy, and then say things and act in ways which were racist? Have you not listened to the songs? 

Ghost Town's B-sides, Why and Friday Night, Saturday Morning, were important too. Why? was a list of questions put to violent racists. Friday Night, Saturday Morning a list of events that we were too young to take part in- nightclubs, bouncers, queues for taxis, women dancing round hand bags, stag dos, piss stains on shoes- but would be old enough for soon, and to be honest it all sounded like a mixed blessing. 

Friday Night, Saturday Morning

When Terry left The Specials and formed Fun Boy Three with Lynval Golding and Neville Staple the music and the messages continued. The Telephone Always Rings and the Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum were strange out of kilter pop music with weird chord progressions and time signatures and at the centre the three voices humming and chanting, and Terry, always deadpan and serious, with that look on his face. Tunnel Of Love a single in 1983, made a huge impression on me with Terry's gimlet eyed lyrics and delivery; a couple meet, fall in love, get married and divorced in three minutes and six seconds and Terry's lyrics are full of adult concerns such as wedding lists, bottom drawers and trial separations. The song is so catchy too, endlessly singable and the first verse's lines, 'My ego altered/ Altered ego/ Wherever I go/ So does me go', were so puzzling to a thirteen year old.

Tunnel Of Love

While on tour in the U.S. with The Specials and with The Go- Go's supporting he began a relationship with Jane Wiedlin which led to them co- writing Our Lips Are Sealed, one of those songs I never tire of. The versions by both those bands are superb, the pure Los Angeles pop rush of The Go- Go's version, the lugubrious downbeat, almost out of tune post- punk of Fun Boy Three's version and the Urdu version from the 12".

Our Lips Are Sealed (Urdu Version)

It didn't hurt that Terry Hall always looked so cool too. In The Specials he was usually standing still as the rest of the group bounded around all about him, short cropped hair and Two Tone suit and then later on in The Specials and in Fun Boy Three with his crow's nest bleached streaked hair and demob suits. Terry was a match going Manchester United fan, often spotted in the crowd at Old Trafford. I bumped into him once, almost literally, coming round the corner of what used to be called the Scoreboard End but was changed to the more prosaic East Stand in the 90s. He stopped, checked the look on my face as I apologised and then realised who I was almost nose to nose with, and smiled as I spluttered out something along the lines of, 'Ooh, sorry mate, oh fucking hell, you're Terry Hall'. 

In 2003 Terry made an album with Mushtaq (from Fun- Da- Mental) called The Hour Of Two Lights, a wild, thrilling melange of Terry's unique and doleful voice and presence combined with Arabic music, Bulgarian folk and 21st century electronics, a record full of personal and political statements (and of course further evidence to support the view that the personal is political and the political is personal).

A Gathering Storm

Terry Hall has been there, a part of my world, since the late 70s and he played a big part in shaping my views and how I see the world. It's dreadfully sad he's died, aged sixty three. He had a life filled with its own difficulties and issues that would be enough to fell anyone but despite it all remained Terry Hall. The part in The Specials' Enjoy Yourself where he introduces himself sounding like the man least likely to enjoy himself at a social event (and doing it with the faintest trace of a smile on his face) is in many ways in itself, a microcosmic ideal for living and a design for life. 

'Hi, I'm Terry and I'm going to enjoy myself first'.

Terry Hall R.I.P.

Hey Joe, We Ought To Try And Turn The World Around

Sometimes, rarely but sometimes, everything comes together, the stars align and the streams cross and you find yourself at the centre of something magical. The offer of a DJ support slot months ago for the five of us that admin The Flightpath Estate, a Facebook group set up to share the music of Andrew Weatherall, at The Golden Lion in Todmorden with David Holmes headlining was something that seemed unreal. As the months and weeks ticked by it became increasingly more real and then suddenly it became imminent, a matter of having to pull together some music, burn some CDs and think about how it might actually work. 

The Golden Lion is a traditional pub in an old mill town, tucked in the hills on the Lancashire/ West Yorkshire border. Run by Richard Walker and his partner Gig it has a history of nights with DJs and bands plus excellent Thai food, a one off place that is now stitched into legend, Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston's ALFOS nights here especially so. An older gentleman (a retired teacher) standing at the DJ booth in the early evening told me, 'this place is a portal. Outside is Todmorden, in here it's another world'.

A quick guided tour of the equipment, the relief that CDs burned at home worked on the CDJs and then we got into the fun of starting to play to an almost empty pub at 2.30pm. Some familiar faces arrived- hello Claire and Si- and the afternoon drifted into evening, the five of us taking turns to play. Baz played his set including songs from The Pogues, The Animals, Chain And The Gang. Martin played rockabilly and folk. I played half an hour of dub (see Sunday's post) and then some Weatherall inspired songs plucked from his NTS radio shows and mixes, some Durutti Column, Coyote's Weatherall tribute The Outsider, Section 25, Joe Gideon And The Shark's Civilisation and this sublime, ghostly cover of Fun Boy Three/ The Go Go's Our Lips Are Sealed

Our Lips Are Sealed

Dan took over for some properly mixed leftfield dance music as the afternoon became early evening and then Mark 'Rude Audio' Ratcliff played, dubby dance filling the pub. At around eight, and who knows where the time went, we stated swapping on and off and then David Holmes arrived. I always assumed that Mark would be the one to do the immediately pre- Holmes part, building the warm up and then handing over. For reasons I still can't unpick, I ended up behind the decks just before David made his way to the DJ booth and began to sort his stuff out, the pub now full with expectant revellers. Mark had played Sabres Of Paradise Lik Wid Not Wit and then I put something else on and then as David continued to get set up, I played L.U.P.O.'s Heaven Or Hell, classic 1990 Balearic house, and then went into Song For Denise by Piano Fantasia, assuming he'd be then wanting to get playing straight away. 'Great track', David said to me, 'Stick another one'. 

No pressure there then. So I played Hardway Bros' Argonaut, a Come Together referencing feel good Balearic chugger inspired by a boat trip in Croatia Weatherall and Johnston played. And with that, a brief chat with Mr Holmes, and then I'm standing next to him as he starts to play. Which is not what I expected to happen when I set out earlier that day.  

Holmes' set was astonishing, a roof raising four hour set with non- stop dancing from an ecstatic crowd, with some choice remixes of his own music, some Afro- beat, some acid disco, some funked up French stuff and then somewhere in the middle (I lost track of time a bit it has to be said), a song to get a middle aged, leftfield crowd punching the air and singing along...

Sinful

It was quite a moment. Much later and much fun having been had dancing, David finished with his recent remix of Orbital's Belfast, twelve minutes of sweet 1990 euphoria written after the Hartnoll's played at Holmes' Sugar Sweet club in Belfast, at a time when a lot of artists swerved Northern Ireland. 

We left the pub at some point, making our way through the town and up the hill to the place we were staying, one of those nights that seemed to go on forever but was over so quickly, amazed and honoured not just to have been there but to have been part of it. I think we're all still buzzing slightly from the excitement while still unable to believe it actually happened. Serious life goals stuff. 

Saturday Theme Nine

Some shops just sell everything you could possibly want don't they? Skulls, £1 crystals, clocks and vases, fridge magnets and lingerie. 

Funrama Theme was Fun Boy Three and Bananarama having, yes, fun back in 1982. More groups should write their own theme songs I think. The drum machine, loopy bassline and wonky pianos and horns are a joy in themselves and that's even before Keren, Sara and Siobhan start singing. This came out as the B-side to T'ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It). There was an extended version on the 12" and a remixed one on the album (retitled Funrama 2) but this is the one I have on my hard drive. 

Funrama Theme

That's What Gets Results

Who wouldn't want a Face magazine t-shirt as modelled by Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama? I'm half tempted to print out the cut out slip and send it off to the address and see what happens (I'd have to put a postal order in I think).

Bananarama have reformed recently. They kept appearing on the Top Of The Pops reruns (not the 1985 ones showing at the moment but last year's 1983 repeats). Cruel Summer sounded very good all these years later, a slightly off kilter pop song about love in oppressive summer heat in the city. The home-made dancing is refreshing too, a time when female pop stars weren't drilled to within an inch of their lives. And maybe some of us were suddenly reminded why Bananarama being on Top Of The Pops week in, week out when we were 13 years old was something of a visual treat...



They first hit the chart due to their backing vocals on the Fun Boy Three's 1982 hit single, It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It), which came about because Terry Hall saw an article on them in The Face and liked their look. They switched around for Bananarama's next single Really Saying Something with Terry, Lynval and Neville singing backing for Siobhan, Sara and Keren.

It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)

The song was originally written in 1939 by jazz musicians Melvin 'Sy' Oliver and James 'Trummy' Young. It says something about the Fun Boy Three's talents that they took an old jazz tune and turned it into a pop ska song, and then to number 4 in the charts (probably selling hundreds of thousands of copies).

There's A Weapon That We Must Use

This is not exactly a re-post, more a re-write, as I've posted this song before in two variations and typed these words (or some very similar) before too. I posted Fuxa's cover version of Our Lips Are Sealed recently, as song I get obsessed with every so often. The song, as everyone must know, was co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin while their respective bands (him The Specials, her The Go Go's) were on tour together and apparently describes their secret relationship. Both The Go Go's and Fun Boy Three released their own versions, the latter being produced by Talking Heads mainman David Byrne. The two videos are worth a compare and contrast exercise-


The Go Go's video is all summer in California, irresistible it is too...



Fun Boy Three's version is all UK, 80s shades of grey and big hair, altogether darker...




And from the 12" single...

Our Lips Are Sealed (Urdu Version)

Electric Sound Of Summer

I pointed you in the direction of Fuxa back in the Spring, who recorded this beautiful, blissed out version of the Fun Boy Three/Go Go's Our Lips Are Sealed. Whispered vox, analogue keys, primitive percussion, effects.



Something reminded me of it the other day and I realised I hadn't gone looking for the album, which came out in May. It's called Electric Sound Of Summer, and that title describes it pretty well. It's got wooziness all over it, the aural equivalent of the sun going down over a beer garden when you've had exactly the right amount to drink and everything feels good. On the other hand there's a sadness about it too. The sun will soon disappear behind the trees, a chill in the air, Autumn's just around the corner. Lovely stuff.

As well as the aforementioned cover there's a ten minute version of Suicide's Cheree, a cover of a Daniel Johnston song (below) and guest spots from Dean and Britta (from Luna and Dean and Britta), Seefeel's Sarah Peacock, and members of Spiritualized, Spectrum and Spacemen 3.

Some Things Last A Long Time

Can You Hear Them Talking 'Bout Us Telling Lies?

One of the best records I've heard recently, courtesy of one of Mr Weatherall's many radio shows, is Fuxa's cover version of Our Lips Are Sealed, utterly blissed out and very beautiful. It's out soon on limited edition 7" vinyl with a lp to follow in May. Watch it on Youtube here, but be prepared to have to re-play it several times. Gorgeous.

Our Lips Are Sealed is surely in any respectable list of tip-top pop songs of all time/the 1980s. As everyone knows it was co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin (of Fun Boy Three and The Go Go's respectively), and released by both bands in different versions. The Go Go's was released first (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) and is down below. You could fill a tape with all the great versions and covers of this song.

Our Lips Are Sealed

Fun Boy Three 'The Telephone Always Rings'

While driving around mid-Wales for the last few days this song popped up on the in-car entertainment system several times. Totally skewiff and off kilter pop music. I remember reading somewhere that Lynval Golding is the only man on earth who knows how to play it properly, and he isn't telling anyone.

What Terry's wearing in the above photo is anyone's guess.

11 The Telephone Always Rings.mp3

Fun Boy Three 'Tunnel of Love'

In the five years after punk a narrow trousered army of people and bands stormed the singles charts, in the days when that meant something, who wouldn't have been pop stars in any other period. If punk musically was an ending, a full stop, it was a beginning for a mass of men and women with ideas, inspiration (do it yourself), and newly found access to the means of production (instruments, recording studios, independent record labels, pressing plants). Some brought a load of new or forgotten influences and musical styles (The Clash, Orange Juice, Scritti Politti, The Slits, The Specials, later on The Style Council, amongst others), some brought angry/fizzy pop songs (The Jam, Buzzcocks, Dexys Midnight Runners, Magazine, loads more) and found a mass audience, some went deeper and further (PiL, Joy Division) and some brought a unique view of the world and their place in it (Ian Curtis, John Lydon, Joe Strummer, Green Gartside, Edwyn Collins, Terry Hall). I'm sure there's loads of names you could insert or change. These people changed lives, trouser cuts, hairstyles, political beliefs, outlooks. They didn't really sound anything like each other- just relatively like minded, making outsider pop music.

Terry Hall had a reputation for being miserable. In recent years he's been diagnosed as bipolar. In between he recorded some great vocals and lyrics, in The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield and his solo career. While musically The Specials were Dammers' band, making ska popular with teenagers, then branching off into lounge, easy listening and jazz, all the while with a frustrated rockabilly guitarist, it was often Terry's words or delivery of other people's words that gave them their contemporary twist- Too Much Too Young, Ghost Town, Gangsters, Friday Night Saturday Morning. When Terry, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple left to form Fun Boy Three they carried this on- weird, skewed pop music with interesting lyrics- try The Telephone Always Rings, or The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum. Or this, Tunnel Of Love, surely the most jaundiced, cynical view of love and marriage to hit the charts.

'You gave up your friends for a new way of life
And both ended up as ex-husband and wife
There were 22 catches when you struck your matches
And threw away your life
In the tunnel of love'

With violins and fiddles and a catchy pop tune. Selling hundreds of thousands. Who could do this today?

In the picture above right Terry Hall is modelling a limited edition V neck jumper from a well known street style label. Available in black or maroon, 500 of each, with a deeper than usual V and slimmer cut, and a signature label. I'm snobbishly thinking 'turning rebellion into money', while also thinking 'Mmmm.. nice, want one.'

08 Tunnel of Love.wma