The final ever single to be released by The Smiths. There's an argument to be made that it is their finest.....not one I'm going to be make here.....but it must up there in the Top5. And that means it is something truly special.
Most of the great ballads that the band recorded were kept hidden away on the albums. I reckon that if the band hadn't disintegrated by this time the Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me would also have shared that fate.
Johnny Marr has said some wonderful things about this song
"It has drama, poetry and an almost gothic intensity. The emotions it gives off, and that went into writing it, pretty much personified what it was like being in The Smiths and forming The Smiths. It seems to have come from the heart of all of us without having any influences or agenda. Its an outpouring. Like a little movie. Its beyond four people playing rock'n'roll, which sounds grandiose, but I do feel that it has a certain classicism to it. Almost opeartic."
Hell, even Morrisseycouldn't sum up any better than than. Nor of course, can I.
I once thought the tragedy of being lonely was best summed up by I Know It's Over. It only took a couple of years for my mind to change.
mp3 : The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
It's an act of atrocity that the opening section to be removed from the 7" and so the mp3 on offer is the full length version. The one available on Strangeways Here We Come and the 12" single. The one where Marr, Joyce and Rourke have rarely sounded better as a unit. Rumour also has it that the vocal was recorded in one take - and its a rumour that producer Stephen Street says is true. That makes it all the more astonishing.
One thing this series has I think shown is how difficult it is to perform a cover version of a Smiths songs and do it justice. There's really no other way to cover Last Night other than a reasonably faithful interpretation - I font think a death metal version or hip-hop style would work. A couple that I quite like are these:-
mp3 : Grant Lee Philips - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me mp3 : The Thrills - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
And apologies for it being the Saturday series being a day late this weekend, but hopefully the significance of yesterday's posting makes it clear the reasons why. Normal service will be resumed next week (assuming that one of the Sunday Correspondents hands something in on time).
Raith Rovers from Scotland, playing their fifth European match in their history travelled to Germany where FC Bayern Munich were playing their 200th European tie in all competitions. It was the UEFA Cup. Raith had qualified by recording a historic shock victory over Celtic in the previous season's League Cup. Bayern were disappointed at only qualifying for the UEFA Cup having become accustomed to winning the Bundesliga and playing in the European Cup.
It was the second leg of the tie, Rovers having lost 2-0 in Scotland in a match switched to a ground in Edinburgh some 40 miles away as ours was too small to meet the regulations.
We had a team of players barely known outside of Kirkcaldy, home town of Raith Rovers. Their was a team of household names:-
Oliver Kahn, Thomas Strunz, Markus Babbel, Thomas Helme, Alexander Zickler, Dietmar Hamann, Ciriaco Sforza, Andreas Herzog ,Christian Nerlinger, Jean-Pierre Papin and Jürgen Klinsmann.
We gave away an early penalty. Papin, the normally deadly French striker misses it by miles. We took confidence from this and slowly edged our way into the game. It looked like we were going to get to half-time at 0-0.
Then in the 43rd minute, we won a free kick. It was taken by Danny Lennon. It went past the wall and came of the head of Andreas Herzog taking a wicked deflection that left Oliver Kahn dumbstruck, stranded and beaten all ends up.
FC Bayern 0-1 Raith Rovers
And it stayed that way till half-time. Those 15 minutes at the Olympic Stadium were the most incredible I have ever experienced at a football match. Jacques the Kipper and I just stared at each other in total disbelief. Every Rovers fan - all 3000 or so of us who had made the trip -couldn't stop taking pictures of the giant scoreboard. Whatever else was to happen, we were part of an historical event.....
Two minutes into the second half and Rovers had a more than decent chance to get the equaliser but it went agonisingly wide.
Three minutes later, Rovers sweeper Ronnie Coyle - my best mate to this date and the whole reason I started watching Rovers in the first place in the early 90s - slipped as he went to clear his lines, and as he fell, the ball was stolen from him and squared to Klinsmann who had the simplest of tasks to put it beyond our keeper. Game good as over as we now needed to score another two goals. In the 64th minute Babbel made it 2-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate which was the end of the scoring.
We weren't disgraced by any means. We went back to Scotland and achieved our main aim of securing our status in the top league of Scottish football (sadly we were relegated the season after and haven't been back since).
Bayern? Well in Round 3 they beat Sporting Lisbon by 7-2 on aggregate and in the quarter-finals enjoyed a similar score against Nottingham Forest. It was Barcelona in the semi-finals and a 4-3 triumph, while the two-legged final saw them beat Bordeaux by 5-1. Oh and they also won the Bundesliga that season as well just to prove how good they were.
In other words, it was Barcelona who gave them the only fright in their European run - Barcelona and Raith Rovers.
And folk sometimes are daft enough to ask me why I love football......
mp3 : Editors - Munich
Here's some footage of THAT goal:-
Oh and here's some drunken idiots re-creating the goal and the fan celebrations when they visited Munich in 2008:-
That's Jacques the Kipper with the scarf. The masks portray famous Rovers fans including former prime minister Gordon Brown, author Iain Rankine.....and me!!
History re-written as Rovers win 2-0 on the night and then win 5-4 on penalties......
One of the few bands whose decision to reform and then perform tempted me along.
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions genuinely created a buzz around Glasgow in the early 80s, and by the time the material was recorded and released in mid 1984, it was clear they were going to live up to the hype.
I've never grown tired of the three albums they recorded in a career that was all too brief. Thankfully, the front man has enjoyed a long solo career that hasn't always made the critics happy but has delivered constantly for his fans. Just the other night, he was back in Glasgow for a gig promoting his excellent new LP. Sadly, I wasn't there - I've actually been in Ireland this past four days sorting out some more business after my brother's sudden death earlier this year. It was really disappointing to miss out.....but I'm looking at maybe catching one of the dates in Europe next month if I can pull things off.
Furthermore, keyboardist Blair Cowan was an important member of Paul Quinn & The Independent Group, Neil Clark and Steven Irvine worked alongside Chris Thomson (ex Friends Again) for a while in a band called Bloomsday, while Lawrence Donegan became one of the most entertaining journalists and authors post-musical career. So none of the band ever really disappeared from my conscience.
The re-union came back in 2004 when there was a short your to commemorate the 20thAnniversary of Rattlesnakes. A truly amazing night that couldn't be spoiled.....not even by the fact that the truly awful and then unknown James Blunt was the support act.
So enough words. Which five songs have made the cut this week (and more to the point, do any of you care??)
Bear in mind that the following tracks are excluded for having been singles
Perfect Skin Forest Fire Rattlesnakes Brand New Friend Lost Weekend Cut Me Down My Bag Jennifer She Said From The Hip
All of which still get regular airings to huge cheers during the solo Lloyd Cole gigs. So here goes:-
mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Charlotte Street mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Perfect Blue mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Speedboat mp3 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - These Days
Just as The Smiths fans unofficially declare that There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is the band's best-ever song so too is the view of the majority of Commotionites (that's a word I've just made up incidentally) with Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? The closing track on the debut album, even nowadays all it takes is for the instantly recognisable guitar intro to be played live and the hairs on my neck stand up. It is a song I simply never tire of and don't expect I ever will.
The fact that there are two more songs lifted from Rattlesnakes is testament to just how strong a debut LP it was and how it does to this day stand head and shoulders above the follow-ups. Indeed, all five tracks could easily have come from that one album, but it is Charlotte Street and Speedboat that make the cut.
The former has a tine that is a blend of indie, pop and country and contains the unforgettable line 'And so I forced a smile contrary to my style'. Its also the song that reminds me a lot of the first headlong but ultimately doomed rush into love in a student betsit......
The latter is the one that I think captures The Commotions at their best with some great keyboards and guitar work to the fore. There was a great live performance of this on Whistle Test at the time whcih I have on VHS tape. I hope someone else has converted it for youtubeusage and I'll link to it at the foot of these ramblings.
Perfect Blue is the song that closes the 1985 LP Easy Pieces. Opening with a lonesome slide guitar and harmonica, it soon becomes another great Commotions song-by-numbers....and I dont mean that as an insult. It really should have been a single in its own right. Oh and if the version you know is the one re-recorded/remixed for the post break-up compilation then cast it to one side and enjoy the original and best.
Turns out that the song I've chosen from Mainstream, released in 1987, is also the album closer. These Days is a far from typical number - its all keyboards and voice for the most part - but is one that I think all of the band will be proud of. It's a sad, poignant and haunting number written when AIDS was a relatively new phenomena and anyone regarded as promiscuous, hetro or homo, seemed a sure-fire bet to die young. And a brave song to close any LP on, far less one that all concerned knew was likely to be their last.
So yes, it was a realtivelyeasier task this week after The Jam and Joy Division. I'm taking on the equivalent of Raith Rovers playing an away tie at Barcelona next week. Tune in and see who I'm talking about. In the meantime, the search round youtube didn't unveil said OGWT clip, but there was some stuff of interest. Look how young they all were:-
Heavy rain in Glasgow.....who would have believed it????
I'm the first to admit that there is a dearth of black music amidst the extensive vinyl and CD collection. But what I do have I like to think is, for the most part, timeless.
Like this 10" EP released on Arista Records in 1985:-
mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron - Winter In America mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron - Johannesburg mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised mp3 : Gil Scott-Heron - "B" Movie
The official Gil Scott-Heron site has a very modest bio:-
Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word soul performer and his collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson.
His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron.
The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron’s recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". On his influence, Allmusic wrote "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists"
Not for the first time, you're better heading to wikipedia for much more detail. Click here.
The EP in question is a 1985 release to promote a Best Of compilation. Three of the songs are from the mid 70s, while the other - a superb attack on Reaganomics - was recorded in 1981.
My own first exposure to Gil Scott Heron was actually the fact that he was the son of an ex-footballer who was on the books of Celtic FC for a short time. My first musical exposure wasn't until the early 80s as I listened to more and more songs that called for change in the apartheid-torn South Africa. Jacques the Kipper is a huge admirer of Gil Scott-Heron. Today's posting is dedicated to him.
Some vintage footage:-
And now from his most recent LP, released earlier this year:-
The first of these videos incidentally was produced and directed by the same team behind the Nick Cave effort shown yesterday.
Hard to believe this music is the work of a 61 year-old man........
With apologies to ctelwho really does detest this lot.
The 27th of the 29 singles (so far). Released to complete apathy in February 2008 as a lead into the LP of the same name. Got as high as #73 in the charts. Which is actually quite respectable given that two out of every three singles by Nick Cave & The Bad Seedsdon't make the Top 100:-
mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!! mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Accidents Will Happen **
And sorry to disappoint anyone anticipating a cover of the hit single by Elvis Costello. The b-side is a Cave original.
** b-side not available due to a dmca notice served on me by Elvis Costello's label!!!
Here's yer promo:-
With the fairly recent departure of Mick Harvey, it will be very interesting to see what direction the next Bad Seeds LP gravitates towards....honestly ctel, it will be!!!!!
The wikipedia entry on The Divine Comedy says they are a chamber pop band fronted by Neil Hannon, the only constant member since their inception in 1989.
I like the description - captures the fact that over the years they have released catchy tunes with more than a hint of orchestral arrangements about them. Ten albums worth of chamber pop in fact - but it wasnt until the fourth LP Casanova was released in 1996 that they began to enjoy some commercial success, a run that was to last about eight years before they were deemed to be no longer in fashion and so returned to cult status.
They're a lot that I've dipped in and out of over the years. I've just checked and found that I have just the three albums as well as a greatest hit compilation - I genuinely thought I had at least two more albums....I must have loaned then out and not got them back. Nowadays though, the back catalogue is available at competitive prices in stores or on-line, so I'll sort that out.
Anyway, enough of the inane ramblings. Today's offering features a single from 1997, one that was released on three separate CDs offering three different tracks that when put together to offer something approaching a live mini-LP recorded with a full orchestra at a London gig. Sadly, all I can give you is one-third of the collection:-
mp3 : The Divine Comedy - Everybody Knows (Except You) mp3 : The Divine Comedy - Make It Easy On Yourself (live) mp3 : The Divine Comedy - A Drinking Song (live) mp3 : The Divine Comedy - Something For The Weekend (live)
Yup....one is a cover of the #1 hit by The Walker Brothers.....and a damn fine splendid job Mr Hannon does with it as well.
The single reached #14 in the charts and is the second best performing chart effort after this :-
That's the first time I've looked at this promo. Wasn't what I was expecting.....
Ok. I admit it. I'm cheating by doing a re-post of a previous thing seen and heard on TVV. But the fact it appeared at all is one of the things I've ever been most thrilled about in the four and bit tear the blog has been in operation.
Originally from 10 June 2009. It was the 40th and final guest contribution that I featured over the month of May and into early June.
Someone recently asked Universal Music (the largest record company in existence) how much of their back catalogue was in print. The answer? 2%. Obviously that figure relates to physical formats and is mitigated somewhat by the proportion of music now available on iTunes in digital download format, but there still remains an enormous amount of music that is completely unavailable to the man in the street.
One such band whose rather wonderful music has eluded any kind of remaster, reissue, repackage, is BourgieBourgie.
Their star shone far too briefly in 1984 when, within the space of a little over 6 months, they were tipped in the Smash Hits Yearbook as "ones to watch", released two superb pop singles (Breaking Point in February and Careless in April) and then by July had split up before the third single and album (both provisionally entitled Dinky Honey and recorded in Bavaria with Mike Hedges producing) could be released as scheduled in the autumn.
Although Edwyn Collins was defending his childhood pal Paul Quinn as early as February 1984 in the NME, claiming that the rest of the band were holding him back, when asked about the split in Record Mirror Quinn responded:
"I was just dissatisfied. There was a lot of internal politics over the musical direction. The rockier guitar style and the stylised soul singing---that dichotomy was just too much for me."
Their record label MCA (now part of Geffen Records, which is, you guessed it - owned by Universal Music) obviously thought better of releasing anything further by a band that was no longer a going concern and thus whatever else they recorded has remained unheard.
NB: The only album track to ever surface was a saxophone-laden re-recording of Breaking Point which featured on the free LP included with Debut Magazine Issue 3 in June 1984. The Vinyl Villain previously posted this track as a "demo" but it's provenance is almost certainly the album sessions.
Quinn went on to release a couple of joint singles with Edwyn (which flopped chart-wise), a single with an ex-Depeche Mode, pre-Erasure Vince Clarke (another chart flop) and then disappeared until a further resurgence as part of a mid-90's reactivation of the Postcard Label brought us two unmissable solo albums of great depth and beauty.
In retrospect BourgieBourgie were doomed to failure - a band that wanted to be bright sparkly pop and a singer who just wanted to croon were addressing a market that simply didn't exist. Quinn's solo albums were obviously a lot closer to the sound he was striving for..dark, orchestral & soulful. Alas the lack of acclaim these records received suggested yet again that world wasn't ready for Paul Quinn.
So what we have here is the holy grail for Bourgieophiles - the 4 tracks recorded by the band for the John Peel show on January 18th 1984. Peel obviously heard something within that major label pop band sound that warranted inviting them in for a session. And lucky for us that he did, as we get to hear the band stripped of their 80's production sheen and excessive overdubs, virtually live from BBC Maida Vale Studio 4.
Raw versions of both the Breaking Point & Careless singles are included here, making it easy to compare & contrast. Of the other two tracks, if Here Comes That Feeling sounds familiar that's because it was also recorded by The Jazzateers (Bourgie members Ian Burgoyne & Keith Band's previous band) and released on the I Shot The President retrospective album, whilst the final track -I Gave You Love is otherwise unreleased.
I hope this lives up to expectations, the recording is off-air and not pristine, but as good as it gets for now. That is until someone at Universal sees sense and puts together that all-encompassing retrospective which includes both singles (in their 7" and extended formats), the unreleased album and the Peel Session. How can that NOT be a good idea?
mp3 : BourgieBourgie - Breaking Point mp3 : BourgieBourgie - Careless mp3 : BourgieBourgie - Here Comes That Feeling mp3 : BourgieBourgie - I Gave You Love
The piece was written by Francis, the talent behind the always entertaining Frankosonic blog. And for doing so, I'll always be in his debt. Four songs I never thought I get to hear far less share with fellow fans of the greatest voice to come out of Scotland.
And thanks also to Webbie from Football And Music for the keepingitpeel idea. I hope the rest of you, if you havent joined in, will at least pop in and say hello to him today. It's the least he deserves.
So, what the fuck is it with these pre-eight o’clock early evening beginnings... they seem to be infectious around these parts? I mean, you think you are arriving not that late, in the wider scheme of things, but you are still too late for RM Hubbert, it seems. He has been and gone before even stepping inside the palatial setting that is upstairs at Oran Mor. I can say no more than that, about the opening contender I’m afraid. But the venue is breathtaking, stunning... goodness me. Even though it is familiar and known, it still impresses you every-single-time you attend a show here (it is a heavenly world away from the dark crypt below, also used as a gig venue). In all, Oran Mor certainly has the ‘WOW’ factor, the 'space', as Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer from the telly might say. So, drink in mouth, heart in hands, Nikon camera balanced on the edge of the gallery, James Graham and Andy MacFarlane shuffle on stage, bathed in purples and reds and blues, as well as a laser-sharp white light that makes James think he is in Ibiza (cue audience laughter). It’s a short, sweet, acoustic - not to mention intense - set from a stripped-down The Twilight Sad. And this line-up meets the demands of the venue perfectly. It’s the soaring voice amongst the high ceilings that gets to you. Despite facing the hopeful punters side-on, and looking as if a direct stare from the audience might give him heart failure, James sings deep fae his insides and delivers some immense rasping sounds. Of particular note was ‘The Room’ (‘And her blood is never spilled after dinner / there’s wine on our breath...’), ‘Cold Days From The Birdhouse’ and their intimate If-Moz-came-fae-Kilsyth take on ‘Half a Person’. And it is over not long after it began. Nice things are said about the headliners and it is exit stage right, to mighty applause from all attending and James looking like he can’t wait to step out of this particular spotlight. As for The Unwinding Hours... well, this was their night. A page seems to have been turned for the last time. Completely (well, almost completely... see later) removing the need to mention Their Band That Once Used To Be. Craig B and Ian Cook take the opulent stage to what must feel like a Cup Final on home turf, you’ve made it this far and in 90 minutes or less it could be victory. It is a mature, measured and confident few strides, opening with six-minute ‘Knut’ (‘If we can / We will / We must / Get out’... repeat, repeat, repeat...). It sounds very loud. It sounds a rumbling kind of heavy that you feel in your feet, stomach and head. It sounds fucking incredible, actually. Then on the show moves to other glories from the CHEM132 debut album, including ‘There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone’, ‘Traces’, ‘Child’, ‘The Final Hour’. It’s a thoughtful recreation, rather than expanded reconstruction, of the album offerings but this is no bad thing at all. Having said this, it all changes – most wonderfully so - come the timely encore. We are treated to an acoustic version of ‘Burning River’ followed by a heartfelt version of the Sparklehorse song ‘Spirit Ditch’ (with RM Hubbert accompanying) and then, well, no. Not ‘Solstice’, despite more than a few calls for it from the gathered masses (‘CYNICAL!’). Rather, we are sent home with an Aereogramme tribute in our ears - ‘The Art of Belief’. There was no need for this, of course, the sound of The Unwinding Hours can stand on its own fully-formed legs now, but the tender and caring look over the shoulder is much appreciated by those humming on the way out onto the cold October corner of Great Western Road and Byres Road. The night is complete. Wrap up warm.
mp3 : The Twilight Sad – The Room (acoustic version) mp3 : The Unwinding Hours – Knut
Courtesy of Colin.
He's back writing again after a long hiatus. I reckon he's better than ever. Judge for yourself by clicking here.
Among other things you'll find a review of a gig by Warpaint that we both went along to. There's no point in me tring to say anything when Colin puts it so perfectly...
My sister has this theory that all men are autistic. Not properly autistic you understand but a bit autistic in a way that manifests itself in obsessions about sports statistics, alphabetised book collections and whether the best way from A to B is up the M47 or you'd be better off on the A469 and then the B265. From this it is a short hop, skip and a jump to anoraks and trainspotting (both literal and metaphorical, as applied to music).
Even D, she who loves music and clubbing couldn't understand how Ex and I could spend hours with glazed expressions poring over racks of 12"s in record shops, searching for 'that' tune. Or the sheer pleasure in having a key tune that the other did not. Whether this remix was better than that remix. Where was that missing Weatherallremix in my collection.
Oddly enough, I can rationalise all of that (don't ask me how, I just can). The bit even I can't rationalise is a tendency to obsess over tunes that didn't deserve it. This is the story of one. I was in a record hand shop twenty years ago, looking through the promos (they have the greatest thrill factor) when I saw a 10" promo. By the way, why are 10" promos better than 12" promos but not as good as 7" promos? I digress. I had never heard of Crazyhead but it had a diamond shape on the front and was on the same label as Jesus Jones. I don't know why the diamond was important but I bought it.
There is nothing like the thrill of returning home on the train with a new tune. The expectation. The excitement. On getting it home, I rushed in and played it. And...it was nothing special. But I played it some more the next day, not wanting to believe that I'd wasted my money. In the end, I started to quite like it. And then I liked it a lot. And then, I played nothing else for days.
But why? It had some chiming guitars like REM. Only not as good. It had a really rocking loud feel. Only, it was, in truth, sadly a bit lumpen. It had a big singalong chorus. But I don't like lyrics. And repetition of the title, a classic chorus does not make. Nevertheless, I played it regularly and still do to this day. It has never lost its allure. But I never bought or sought out anything else by Crazyhead. I know nothing about them. And have no wish to. I nearly did for this post. But it would spoil everything. So, I haven't.
Why am I telling you this? Becuase I was in a charity shop the other day and saw the 12" promo of Time Has Taken Its Toll On You. I was drawn to it like an obsession. But I put it back. Which was good. But it still found its way home wth me. I've no idea how.
If The Smiths recorded it, its likely to be featured here at some point. Even if it is rank rotten. And while it isnt as toe-curlingy bad as Golden Lights which I wrote about a while back, one of the b-sides on the 12" of Girlfriend In A Coma is very unremarkable:-
mp3 : The Smiths - Work Is A Four Letter Word
AKA the song that broke up the band, it is a version of a b-side to a 1966 single by Cilla Black...which is taking obscure covers to the extreme.
It was a tune Morrissey insisted be covered. It was one that Johnny Marr detested, although he has since said it is ridiculous to suggest that it alone was responsible for his subsequent departure. There's no spark at all in the recording - it almost sounds like a demo. It certainly was proof, if it be needed, that The Smiths were a band who were at their best with their own material.
Uncut magazine in late 2005 gave away this CD as their way of commemorating the Festive 50 that was of course now no more after John Peel's death in 2004. The full track listing was:-
1. Half Man Half Biscuit - The Trumpton Riots 2. Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling 3. Spizzenergi - Where's Captain Kirk? 4. The Mighty Wah! - Remember 5. The Sugarcubes - Birthday 6. The Woodentops - Well Well Well 7. Billy Bragg - The Saturday Boy 8. The Field Mice - Sensitive 9. The Bhundu Boys - Foolish Harp/Waerera 10. Pavement - Gold Soundz 11. Felt (featuring Elizabeth Fraser) - Primitive Painters 12. The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart 13. The Wedding Present - Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft 14. Robert Wyatt - Shipduilding 15. The Fall - Eat Y'self Fitter
Friday being the day I normally go for five tracks from LPs, I thought it would be an idea to go with five from this CD, preferably from singers/bands who havent appeared on TVV before or very rarely:-
mp3 : Spizzenergi - Where's Captain Kirk? mp3 : The Woodentops - Well Well Well mp3 : The Bhundu Boys - Foolish Harp/Waerera mp3 : The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart mp3 : Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
All acts that were much adored by Peel. He had a particularly soft spot for The Bhundu Boys. In 1987 one of his newspaper columns said a gig of theirs was one of the best 5 public performances he had ever witnessed, while he was a long-time friend of Robert Wyatt, datinng back to the days of Soft Machine and well before us indie-kids got to know him through his wonderful rendition of the anti-war song written by Elvis Costello.
Oh and I cant leave without offering the 'hidden track' that comes at the end of the CD. All 18 seconds of it:-
mp3 : John Peel - The Smiths and The Nightingales
Hope you've all decided to be part of keepingitpeel come Monday.
The four tracks today were available on a 12" EP, but my copies come from a CD released in 1990 that brought together the three Peel sessions recorded by Wire during 1978 and 1979.
Recorded on 18th January 1978 and broadcast just twelve days later, the session features 106 Beats That which was on debut LP Pink Flag released the previous year , Practice Makes Perfect and I Am The Fly which would see light of day some seven months later when the LP Chairs Missing hit the shops and one track - Culture Vultures - that was otherwise not recorded.
mp3 : Wire - Practice Makes Perfect mp3 : Wire - I Am The Fly mp3 : Wire - Culture Vultures mp3 : Wire - 106 Beats That
It was this version of I Am The Fly that was the first ever Wire song I got to hear when someone brought a tape into school raving about it. If I'm being honest.....I wasn't convinced at the time. It took me another six years or so to really appreciate what they were all about when I got access to their LPs via a flatmate.
As I've mentioned before, keepingitpeel is something being organised by Webbie who runs the enormously entertaining Football and Music blog. If you don't know what I'm on about, then click here.
I've made my mind up what I'm posting next Monday. Over the next few days, I'm highlighting a few things that didn't make the cut. Which means some of the usual features won't be appearing this weekend. Sorry about that.
Other than The Fall, the bands of David Gedge must be up there as having the most Peel Sessions appearances. Certainly, there's been enough material over the years to allow both of The Wedding Present and Cinerama to release Peel-related box sets that stretch over a number of CDs and with booklets full of great information. And lifting directly from one of the box sets:-
mp3 : Cinerama - Because I'm Beautiful mp3 : Cinerama - Lollobrigida (French Version) mp3 : Cinerama - Sly Curl (German Narration version) mp3 : Cinerama - Yesterday Once More
Oh my god.....yet more stuff by The Carpenters!!!
Cinerama recorded six separate Peel Sessions between 1998 and 2003 as well as two live sets at Maida Vale studios for his show, an appearance at his 60th Birthday Party and an acoustic session at Peel Acres. Inevitably, some sort of cover version would be thrown in for good measure.
The four songs featured here were recorded in July 2000 and first broadcast two months later. The version of Lollobrigida features David singing in French, while Sly Curl sees the narration from Sean Hughes that featured on the original replaced by a contribution from Ilka Paetz. All of them have keyboards and strings in addition to the usual guitar, bass and drums.
While I've never hid my admiration for Paul Weller's career with The Jam and The Style Council, I've really struggled to like all that much of his solo output. I tried hard with the much acclaimed Stanley Road but couldn't help but think it was Ocean Colour Scene with a different vocalist.
So by and large, I've kept away from what he's produced over the past 20 years. If I hear anything it tends to be by accident. I listened the other day to a self-made compilation by another blogger - and very good it was for the most part. But included was a cover version that was released a few years back:-
mp3 : Paul Weller - Close To You
It really is appalling. Pure pish as we might say round these parts. Middle-aged music personified. Like a wedding band's take on the song when they try to put a bit of zip into it.
Now folk might say Morrisseyisnt the force he was when with The Smiths. But at least he tries to do something vaguely fresh now and again. If this is what Weller believes is the modern world, the god help us all.
Incidentally, its not the song choice that I find so offensive. Yesterday's posting highlighted I can take a good cover of a Carpenters song with the rest of them. And I do quite like this:-
mp3 : The Cranberries - Close To You
Watch this and weep:-
Oh and I know Weller himself doesn't give a fuck about what I think......he's happy enough with what he's doing. But the case for the prosecution rests......
It's Monday morning and everyone deserves something very special to lift our collective spirits. I know I've featured it in more than one occasion in the past on TVV but I never ever get tired of it. Besides, it is quite difficult to track down nowadays:-
mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group - Stupid Thing mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group - Passing Thought mp3 : Paul Quinn & The Independent Group - Superstar
When I was at work the other day as I wrote the date I had this feeling that it was a special day, was it someone’s birthday I had forgotten? It’s a bit of a joke in our house that I have consistently forgotten four of our friend’s birthdays this year even though they were written on the calendar. Was it someone’s anniversary? No I was sure it wasn’t. “Is it a famous person’s birthday today”? I asked in the office. No one could remember if it was. Ah well It’ll come to me I thought. I forgot all about it and got on with the rest of the day.
On the bus home as usual listening to my ipod. Suddenly I remembered, of course It was today I started work in 1980. Bloody hell I thought, its thirty years ago.
I have now spent the last few days reminiscing. Thirty years since I started work on the busy wards of St James’ Hospital. I had just completed my training and spent the summer going to parties, holidaying oh and of course looking for a job.
I had just seen Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Civic Hall Halifax with some of my friends, which had rounded off my carefree alcohol fuelled student days and now I was starting my first job and joining the ‘real world’.
mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen mp3 : Elvis Costello - Alison
Looking back I was a green as grass really, full of theory and knowledge. Obviously I had some experience of work as it had been part of my training, but I knew nothing as far as life was concerned. Even though I thought I did.
Feeling extremely nervous like my first day at school I approached the Senior Nursing office. Along with another three new recruits I listened to the induction lecture from a butch senior nursing officer, who from then on we avoided like the plague. She had a habit of popping up out of nowhere and putting her arm around your shoulder, whilst enquiring how you were getting along or putting a reassuring hand on your knee as she explained your shift rota.
We completed various forms and admin processes before being taken to the Nurses Home to collect uniforms. Once we had been shown the changing rooms, given time to change into the uncomfortable crisp white dress, belt and hat (very sexy), we were taken to our respective first wards.
I was handed over to a West Indian auxiliary nurse called Lorna. Lorna had come over from St Kitts in the West Indies twenty years before. She had left her four children with extended family and travelled over with her husband. They had both worked all the hours they could to pay for the passage of the children and one at a time they had come over until they were all together in Leeds.
Her children were grown up now and she had just become the proud Grandma of Winston a gorgeous boy with huge brown eyes, whose photograph she got out to show staff and patients alike at every opportunity.
She would pour over her football pools coupon every week carefully choosing matches she thought would bring her the precious score draws. I used to say ‘Do you think you’ll ever win Lorna’, to which she always said the same thing ‘You gotta speculate to accumulate my girl’; in her lovely West Indian accent similar to Lenny Henry when he impersonates his mother saying ‘It’s for your own good’.
She used to steal left over food from the patients food trolley and get me to be her lookout while she scoffed it in the isolation ward. She would bring chicken, rice and peas in a large baguette for her dinner.
Lorna loved Bob Marley and The Wailers, she used to say “I luv dem they are like me own boys innit”. She would sing ‘No woman no cry’ to sooth fretful newborn’s in the nursery to give their anxious Mothers time for a bath or nap.
She would knit bootees and bonnets in her break and quiet times on night duty. These were to wrap up and give to all the babies who were in the Maternity wards and Special Care Baby Unit at Christmas.
She had worked so hard to get her family across the world to be together and was an inspiration. Shadowing her during my first few weeks was to be an experience I would never forget. She taught me so much more than any text book, lecture and tutor ever could.
We worked together many times in the next few years. She got me through good days and bad as well as the unavoidable heartbreaking times that no amount of teaching can prepare you for. We worked very hard and had great fun whilst doing it. She always knew a scam or how to dodge a Sister on the warpath. I still feel grateful to her for the work ethic and attitude she nurtured in me, which still influences the way I work today.
Yes she broke all the rules and had she been caught would have been severely reprimanded. But she loved her job, treated the patients with respect, compassion and always went the extra mile to help them. They loved her to bits and so did I.
She made my first job like my first car and first love, very special.
Thanks Lorna here’s a few tunes for you.
Ooh Matron if only you knew what she used to get up to……..
mp3 : Bob Marley and The Wailers – Could You Be Loved mp3 : Bob Marley and The Wailers - Redemption Song mp3 : Bob Marley and The Wailers - No Woman, No Cry (live)
Red and Ginger, Sunday 17 October 2010 Sorry folks, mp3s removed due to dmca notice. I suspect it was the reggae stuff....
The b-side of the Sandie Shaw cover is another Smiths tune, I Don't Owe You Anything. Sandie's version is one of my all time favourite songs.
I really can't make my mind up which version I prefer - the original from the debut LP or the wonderful re-take that Sandie added her vocals to some time later.
The tale is that it was originally written by Morrissey and Marras a song they wanted to present to Sandie Shaw in the hope she would end her exile from recording. It is one of the most haunting tunes on the debut LP thanks in part to the subtle use of keyboards and another example of the important role that producer John Porter played in making so many of the early songs sound so special (I've previously told the story of his contribution of mandolin to Please, Please, Please...)
Some 12 months later, all of the band were back in the studio for what turned out to be just a one-off collaboration, although rumours were rife that it was going to be the first of many. The fact that Sandie Shaw was willing to do a fresh version of Hand In Glove and so give it the chart appearance denied it when first released would have been good enough news for Morrissey and Marr. The fact that she recorded such a fabulous version of the song they originally intended for her must have been the stuff of dreams.
mp3 : The Smiths - I Don't Owe You Anything mp3 : The Smiths - I Don't Owe You Anything (featuring Sandie Shaw)
A wee postscript for you.
Mike Joyce is known to have been moved to tears playing this song during an 1983 gig in London and has long said it is one of his favourite all time songs by the band. Morrissey of course now has no love at all for his ex-drummer.....so its hardly a surprise that in an interview conducted in 2005 that the singer revealed I Dont Owe You Anything was a song that made him 'shudder' and is one he now wished to disown.
Welcome to Part 2 of the series which will highlight some of my favourite album tracks by some of my all-time favourite bands.
Last week I revealed how much angst I had suffered getting down to a list of 5 songs by The Jam and half-jokingly said that next time round I'd make things easy for myself by going for a band that had maybe only released one LP........
I'm sure just about all of you know that Joy Division only released two studio albums in their career - Unknown Pleasures in 1979 and Closer in 1980. Nineteen tracks in all. Choosing five should be a piece of piss then eh?
But let's face it, anyone's five favourite JD album tracks will depend entirely on their mood at the time. Which has meant I've listened to both albums in their entirety three times this week in completely different circumstances, including being in a right stinker of a mood. And the results?? Turned out this was even harder than last week's effort. This series might end up being very short for the good of my health.
mp3 : Joy Division - Disorder mp3 : Joy Division - Isolation mp3 : Joy Division - Passover mp3 : Joy Division - She's Lost Control mp3 : Joy Division - Twenty Four Hours
I'm almost tempted to make apologies for the songs not included and try to reason why they didnt make it. But no....I must stick to the task in hand.
By pure chance, Disorder is the first track alphabetically. It also happens to be the opening track on the debut album. As an introduction to the albums of the band it really hits the spot. The machine-like drumming of Stephen Morris is quickly joined by the incessant and hypnotic bass playing of Peter Hook. Then it is Bernard Sumner's scratchy guitars....all combining to make a noise that immediately makes your ears prick up and wonder where it is all going to go. And then, at exactly 28 seconds comes the voice, 'I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand.'
I didn't buy Unknown Pleasures on its release in June 1979. It was a matter of weeks after my first ever gig and I was too busy spending all my paper-round money on all sorts of singles and LPs by new wave bands who were making an impact of the charts, appearing on Top of the Pops and more importantly playing live at the Glasgow Apollo as part of nationwide tours. Bands like Joy Division were confined to pubs and clubs that I was too young to get into. It was early 1980 when I bought the LP on the back of my love for the single Transmission. A mate warned me the album was nothing like the single and I would struggle to like it. And he was right to begin with. But I persisted with the record and had it on regular play. But the association of the band with Nazism that I was reading about in music papers made me very uncomfortable. Joy Division were not a band to boast about in a school common room that was savage in its dismissal of what and who was cool and uncool. And no-one at 16 years of age wants to be uncool. So Disorder remained mine and one other classmates favourite undiscovered dance track of 1979. Never did get it played alongside Chic at school discos mind you.
By the time Closer was released in mid 1980, a lot more folk knew about Joy Division thanks to a suicide and a hit single. This was an album that went Top 10 in the UK where its predecessor had barely scratched the Top 75. Its a sad truth that the band were not a commercial success until after Ian Curtis had taken his life.
Three tracks out of the five chosen today are taken from Closer.
Isloation is a track that could have been a brilliant hit single. The bass and drums are again a big feature, but so too is the keyboard sound that would become such a feature of New Order in the years to follow. Its catchy as fuck - now there's not a phrase you don't use often when talking about JD songs - with a jauntiness that disguises a hugely dark and distressing lyric....
I've selected Passover which might surprise and disappoint some of you. It's almost a standard sounding rock track dominated by a constant drum beat with not a lot seemingly happening with the bass, keyboards or guitar. But its the fragile beauty of the vocal that wins me over every time. Its one where Curtis isnt reaching into the depths of his soul or stretching his role. Its almost as if he's reciting poetry over a track....not all that far removed from some of the material that John Cooper Clarke was releasing at the same time.....I just find it compelling.
The third track selected from the LP is Twenty Four Hours. A stunning bit of post-punk music that wouldn't have been out of place on a PIL or Magazine record. I cant really add any more.
The selection of She's Lost Control may seem as if I'm breaking the self-imposed rules of no singles allowed. But.....the version on Unknown Pleasures is a lot different from the posthumous remix that appeared in late 1980 some 15 months later. One of the most memorable bass-lines ever committed to vinyl. One of the best early uses of synth drums. One of the most passionate and personal lyrics ever written - one where you can feel Curtis deliberately reining hinself in. Its far superior, cleaner and sharper than the single version. Judge for yourself:-
As mentioned yesterday, it took more than a year for ZTT to get round to issuing the second single by Propaganda.
Similar to Dr Mabuse, the release of Duel on 7" and 12" offered different mixes. And similar to my tale of Dr Mabuse, my 7" version has long been lost. But I have long had the 12" version, and indeed featured in on TVV back in February 2010. And I make no apologies for this cut'n'paste job:-
That single was called Duel, a lovely bit of electro-pop that fitted in just perfectly with so many of the other musicians I was developing a love for, and in particular Pet Shop Boys. There was also something quite erotic about the vocal delivery of Claudia Brucken, but visually it was the other female in the band - Susanne Freytag - who really did it for me. The band actually were on UK telly quite a bit around the time of Duel, including a couple of live songs that were aired on Whistle Test during which they proved, as a live act, they could cut it, albeit there were backing tapes involved.
But Propaganda were victims of an FGTH backlash with many music journalists questioning just how much of the success of them and ZTT was down to the production skills of Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson and the hype-skills of Paul Morley rather than any talents the musicians might have.
So it was a skeptical world that greeted the July 1985 release of A Secret Wish, the debut LP by Propaganda. I remember one Sunday evening that veteran Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale played the full 9 minutes of the instrumental opening track, Dream Within A Dream, and thinking that it was just gorgeous. It reminded me of a number of the early 80s instrumentals that Simple Minds had released as b-sides, only they had been taken forward and given a bigger and cleaner production....so I was gobsmacked to tune into the show next week and hear Annie read out a number of angry letters from listeners who had been appalled that some much of the previous show had been given over to such a 'dreadful dirge.'
That's when I knew Propaganda could never win over the great British public. Too arty for some, too plastic for others and too clever by half for the rest. Oh and of course they were German.....
I still love that debut LP. I even fell for the marketing scam and bought a remixed version of it that appeared some six months later, although to be fair, it was a decent enough record on its own. I even bought at least one ZTT compilation LP just to pick up yet another different version of a Propaganda song. But by the time the band got round to releasing their second LP in 1990, I was no longer interested. It coincided with a short time when music wasn't that important in my life....
There's a really interesting wikipedia article on Propaganda that's well worth a read. I was surprised to learn that they're still going strong. Click here for more.
Rather than pull something down from the debut LP, I thought I'd go into the cupboard and dig out some vinyl, and the 12" single of Duel which became their biggest-selling hit, reaching #21 in the UK charts:-
My first exposure to Propaganda came one night at the end of an episode of what by then was called Whistle Test, when this memorable pop promo was played out over the credits sometime around early march 1984:-
This was to be the second single released on the ZTT label - the first being the amazingly successful Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I was immediately captivated by its charms - it was a big booming tune that offered something different each time you played it. Oh and in co-vocalist Susanne Freytag, they had one of the most stunningly gorgeous women in the pop world.
The single was only a minor hit, peaking at #27, and with subsequent FGTH singles also being multi-million sellers, the relatively small ZTT had to put all its eggs into one basket, so Propaganda were left to one side for the best part of 12 months and it was April 1985 before the follow-up single Duel was released.
For the rest of the year, the band enjoyed quite a high profile, including a number of TV appearances, live gigs and the release of the debut LP A Secret Wish in July 1985. Incidentally, the vinyl and CD versions of the album are very different - they were released some three months apart, and the CD has extended and slightly remixed versions of a number of the tracks.
I loved A Secret Wish. It was the sort of record I had imagined Simple Minds going onto make on the back of their earliest releases instead of gravitating towards the stadium rock behemoths they were becoming. And it was no real surprise that the Propaganda that went out on tour featured the ex-Minds bassist Derek Forbes.....
Incidentally, I still love the album which has aged very well indeed, including an excellent cover version of Sorry For Laughing, one of the early Josef K singles.
The debut single offered different versions on the 7" and 12". My 7" copy has long gone - a victim of stupidity when all my 7" singles were 'lost' in Edinburgh in 1986. I did once have a 12" version, but haven't been able to find it anywhere for years - I'm assuming it was loaned out to someone who never returned it. Or stolen....
Anyways, the other week I found a copy in a second hand store going for just £1.50, so without any further ado:-
mp3 : Propaganda - Das Testaments Des Mabuse mp3 : Propaganda - Femme Fatale
There's another version of Dr Mabuse also tucked away on the b-side, but its just a bit too industrial for my liking today.
not quite the one I love, the one I've left behind or the simple prop who occupied my time.
Nope. This is for Dick Van Dyke. Much loved Sunday Correspondent who has been having a wee bit of a tough time recently (hence the lack of postings) but who last Friday left behind a comment saying this was one of his favourite album tracks by The Jam.
mp3 : The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
It's one of mine too....but was disqualified for inclusion in last Friday's posting thanks to a slightly different version being released as a single in October 1978, which reached #15 in the UK charts.
Again, it is astonishing to think that this lyric and tune were the work of someone who was barely out of his teens. Sadly, there was never a promo video made. But there was a TOTP appearance:-
Here's yer b-sides:-
mp3 : The Jam - So Sad About Us mp3 : The Jam - The Night
The former is a cover of a song by The Who. The latter is a Bruce Foxton composition.
Hope this is accepted as a way of an apology for my rudeness old boy. Hope also you're able to entertain your many fans with another contribution to the Sunday series.
It's Saturday 24th April 2010 - JC, Jacques the Kipper and myself are in my car.
The Place??
The M90 just outside Kinross heading our way to Dens Park, Dundee to watch Raith Rovers who three nights earlier had preserved their first divison status by beating today's opponents Dundee 1-0.
The conversation turns to music and as a track comes on my i-pod which plays through my car stereo (I'm a smug bastard - bu then again none of those two twats drive) I explain that the artist playing is going to be a future topic for a Sunday Correspondents piece by me.
The track that's playing is Landed by Ben Folds.
JC immediately says that its middle of the road music...to which I shout....GOOD....i'll title the piece Vinyl Villain SMOOOOOTH for the day.
Ben Folds completes a musical journey involving my two daughters Amy and Sophie.
Let me explain...
As the girls grew up, they listened to and were influenced by the music that I played. As wee girls when it was time to go to bed they wouldn't ask me to sing Nursery Rhymes. Instead it was things like ..."Dad, sing all the Crowded House songs." or whatever else they'd heard in the car that day. They then started developing their own taste - Amy's first venture into going to concerts was when Alison (my wife) took her and Sophie to see Boyzone and she hated it because it was too loud.
Sophie's band of choice was Steps. I ended up taking her to about 4 or 5 Steps gigs before they broke up on Boxing Day 2001. Many tears were shed that day.
The next gigs I took them to did more for my credibility - their musical tastes were being created by school friends, and we went to see Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. So their playing of the Foos and Chilis was a change as these were bands they brought me. We went to see them at various times including a double bill at Glasgow Green in 2003.
The girls inevitably developed their own tastes. I would drive them to gigs to see bands that I didn't like, although I'm sure they got fed up with me saying "Its all been done before and I'll let you hear the original." I drove them through to the famous Barrowlands (its a round trip of about 140 miles from our home in East Lothian) to see The Distillers - and seeing the state of some of the people attending the gig and going 'FUCK....I'm becoming ny own father' who used to be appalled at everything I listened to as he commented on the state of everyone on Top Of The Pops.
But the one artists we all started listening to together was Ben Folds. The girls and I first heard his single Landed as I drove them to school in 2005. I had bought the first Ben Folds Five single Kate eight years previously. But after hearing Landed I ended up buying the entire back catalogue over the next year as three-quarters of the Greer Family caught up with his musical output.
His breakthrough came in the early 90s amidst the grunge music that was coming from America. Folds famously described his own stuff as 'punk rock for cissies' - a mix of punk, indie rock, jazz, power pop with a huge slice of humour.
I know Folds can be a bit potty mouthed with his lyrics, but we all loved his different take on popular styles - whether it was a piss take of the Blink 182 and Sum 41 genre with the wonderful Rocking The Suburbs or his ballad version of Bitches Ain't Shit originally written and performed by Dr Dre.
The love of his music culminated in the three of us going to see him for the first time in January 2007 at the Glasgow Academy. Unfortunately, he has only played one more tour in the UK since, and Amy and I went to Newcastle to see him in 2008.
The girls have moved on from going to gigs with their dad and are now regulars at T in the Park, Scotland's annual largest outdoor festival, as well as various other gigs throughout the year.
Ben Folds' new album came out at the end of last month and is a collaboration with Nick Hornby.
Hornby first came to the attention of most music fans with his brilliant bittersweet novel High Fidelity that was turned into a classic film starring John Cusack as Rob Gordon, the record shop owner whose personal life crumbles before our eyes.
Hornby's observations of a collection of obsessive record collecting characters will ring a tone with many of the readers of this and other blogs. The way every relationship is referred to by Rob in terms of mix tapes that define a moment is akin to the musings of our own JC.
The chemistry of Rob and his co-workers in the shop is wonderful - the way they compile 'Top 5s' for every conceivable occasion and show a great musical snobbery with their so called customers, taking the piss and mocking their musical ignorance. Barry, the character played by Jack Black excels at this.
Hornby has been a long time admirer of Folds' work, attending his first London gig and devoting an essay in his 2002 collection of music themed book, 31 Songs, praising the lyrics to Smoke.....later Folds explained that the lyrics to Smoke weren't written by him!!
London based Hornby would e-mail the words for the project to Nashville for Folds who would set them to music. The result is an eleven track album that comes as a special edition with a 152 page book of Nick Hornby short stories.
The first track Working Day could have been written for JC as the chorus is
Some guy on the net thinks I suck And he should know He's got his own blog
The album on the first dozen or so listens is better than I feared it may have been given the disjointed way the songs were put together.
A FOOTNOTE
I remember JC, having taken Mrs Villain to see High Fidelity telling me with great relish how he took great delight when his reply to her question whether Nick Hornby looked like John Cusack was "Naw....he looks like John Greer"
Nick Hornby a few years back contributed £5000 to a community buyout from the previous owners of Raith Rovers FC. His investment came about as he is a friend of fellow author and lifelong Rovers fan Ian Rankin. It was also a way of sealing his relationship with his own team Arsenal and Raith Rovers - Arsenal were formed by David Danskin, a man born in Fife who lived and played football in Kirkcaldy (home town of Raith Rovers) before moving to London to work in the munitions factory at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
The picture illustrating today's piece depicts me wearing the DMCA's as badges of honour following my most recent posting which caused JC so much bother. He feels that something similar would happen with the Ben Folds material which is why no direct links to mp3s have been provided.
The final ever single to be released by The Smiths. There's an argument to be made that it is their finest.....not one I'm going to be make here.....but it must up there in the Top5. And that means it is something truly special.
