Month: April 2009

Cover Versions, demo, Hard-to-find, Uncategorized

We’re Lost In Music. Caught In A Trap. I Quit…

Craig McAllister

I don’t quit. I merely quote you the lyrics of Sister Sledge. Bob Dylan holds them in such high regard he plays this track immediately before taking the stage each night on his never-ending tour. (ahem….cough….etc). Aye right.

previously-on-lost1

There’s a fine line between madness and genius and brilliance and shite, and I think I may have just (very belatedly) discovered the musical threshold by which an artist can cross over from one side to the other. I say ‘belatedly‘ because the following tracks have mostly been floating about the ether for a year or so and had I not been listening to Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on BBC 6 Music on Sunday night, they’d still be happily floating about the world wide web and I’d be none the wiser.

Just Wink

The Ballad of Sayid Jarrah

Be My Constant

The tracks in question have been recorded by Previously On Lost. As the advert says, it does just what it says on the tin. From Season 3 of ‘Lost‘ onwards, these 2 guys have written, recorded and released via their MySpace site a song a week, based on that week’s episode of Lost. Genius? Aye. The songs? Er….aye. It’s a bit Flight Of The Conchords, which is clearly no bad thing. In fact, that’s a very good thing, but I get the feeling these guys take themselves a wee bit too seriously. Anyway, their tracks vary in quality, length and genre on any given week. They pastiche doo-wop, Prince-style funk and any other genre you care to suggest. All played on the cheapest of Casio keyboards and plastic-sounding guitars and sung in the highest falsetto you could possibly achieve wearing skinny-fit cheapo Top Man jeans. If you’re a fan of Daniel Johnson or Ween they might be right up your street. Me? I love Flight Of The Conchords, but I think I prefer the real thing.

previously-on-lost-studio

Genius at work (?)

Let me know what you think. If you dig, feel free to go to the band’s website and buy Previously On Lost‘s new elpee, “The Tale of Season 4 and the Oceanic Six“. In the meantime, here‘s The Fall‘s version of Sister Sledge’s ‘Lost In Music’.

Le money il sur la table

Il money est sur la table

The palace of excess-uh  leads to the palace of access-uh!

Hiiiideawayyy!

What the fuck does that all mean? I mean, I can speak French and that, but what’s he on about? Make no mistake,  Mark E Smith is a true madness/genius threshold straddler.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Warts ‘n All

Craig McAllister

This one’s for Rockin’ Rik and anyone else who likes a good dose of old fashioned horn skronking juke-joint blues-soul. Eli Paperboy Reed came to my attention via his now legendary (in mine and Rik’s house at least) performance on Later with Jools Holland.

Pity he reminds me of that unfunny excuse for a ‘comedian‘, Jimmy Carr, but we can forgive him that, as Eli’s only gone and recorded a cover of Motorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades‘. And put it out on vinyl! Go Eli!

eli-ace-7

The Good

Tight-as-you-know-what Stax horns, a vocal delivery that would give Otis Redding nightmares and a drum break that’s ripe for sampling. It’s a limited release, and quite hard to find due to the fact that your average high street has no decent record shops, so I’ve put it up for you here. It’s all the same to me…

eli-paperboy-reed

Listening to Eli doing ‘Ace Of Spades’ reminded me of a single I bought back in 1993. Corduroy were on the hipper-than-hip (though ultimately fashionably flash in the pan) Acid Jazz Records. They were formed from the ashes of long-forgotten late 80s mod hopefuls Boys Wonder. Dressed head to toe in polo necks, winkle pickers and, yes, brown corduroy, Anthony without assistance from any of his Johnsons could no doubt have given them a good kicking without too much sweat breaking.

motorhead

The Bad

For about 5 minutes in 1993 I thought they were the Next Big Thing, mostly due to this, their cover of Motorhead’s ‘Motorhead‘. I remember playing it to some big hairy guy when I worked in Our Price. ‘Fucking shite” was his straightforward appraisal. I think it’s a wee bit better than that, but not much. It’s no Jamiroquai (make of that what you will). Extra points for the polite guitar freak out half way through.

motorhead-girlschool

Which brings me on to the real deal. Yer actual Motorhead. Noisy. Fast. Loud. What’s not to like about that? Or this? Their cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirate’s  ‘Please Don’t Touch’ (with Girlschool). Now that’s what I call a proper guitar solo. This mp3 is taken straight from an old crackly 7″. If you want super hi-fi stereo you know where to look!

lemmy

The Ugly

entire show, Hard-to-find, Peel Sessions

Peel Slowly And See

Craig McAllister

On constant rotation chez moi this week has been the new long player from the Super Furry Animals. It’s called Dark Days/Light Years and it’s a belter. But you probably knew that. So far ahead of everyone else in terms of originality and imagination, I would say that the Super Furry Animals are currently the Best Band on the Planet.

super-furry-animals

Except they’re clearly not on this planet. To the uninitiated, on the face of it the Super Furries are just another generic indie guitar band. But look closer. Are there any other groups who can go seamlessly from pastoral folk to fuzzed guitar psychedelia to nose bleeding Belgian hardcore-apeing techno to native language singalongs? Effortlessly? Often in the one song? Nope. Of course not. So that’s settled. The Super Furry Animals are the Best Band (almost) on the Planet.

The band clearly stockpile songs and only release them when the stars are aligned and the vibe is right. ‘Inconvenience‘ from the new album sounds like Golden Retriever from their Phantom Power album, only with better lyrics. Gruff Rhys has said it was an old song looking for the right album. Looks like it found it. Even the slow songs on this album are fast, he’s said. And they are. But enough of that. If you’re a fan of SFA you’vre probably got the album by now. If you’re sitting on the fence, get off it now and hop over to any good music retailer, physical or online and take a punt. You won’t regret it. If you’re one of those folk who say you don’t like them (and there can’t be that many people), click on the link below and for free you can download the band’s Peel Session broadcast from John Peel’s house on 12th July 2001. Then get yourself over to any decent music retailer etc etc…

sfa-gruff

The session in question that was broadcast from Peel Acres is a cracker. In front of a small audience they go through 3 tracks from the Rings Around The World album that they were promoting at the time. They also play a Welsh language track that featured on that year’s Welsh language album Mwyng. But the highlight for me is the first track. Written on the way down to the session, reveals Gruff, ‘Zoom!‘ would not make it’s official appearance until 2005’s criminally under-rated ‘Love Kraft’ album. Another old song looking for the right album.

superfurryanimals

This session is as good an introduction to the Super Furries as anyone needs. Opening track ‘Zoom!‘ is a slow-burning builder of a song; a nice combination of acoustic guitars and Pink Floyd synths. By the time it had made it onto ‘Love Kraft’ it was twice as long and had swimming pool splashes, trumpets and all sorts of sonic embellishments on top, but the version here is pretty much complete from the off. Second track, ‘Fragile Happiness’ is worth hearing purely for the way mumbling Gruff sings “We’ll go to Miami“. It also sounds uncanilly like fellow pastoral folkies Gorkys Zygotic Mynci (seek them out if you’ve never heard them). With my ignorance of the Welsh language I have absolutely no idea what is being sung on ‘Nythod Cacwm’, but it’s that melodic you can sing along without needing to know the words anyway. Sevem minute long lighters-in-the-air power ballad ‘Run! Christian, Run!‘ follows and the whole session finishes with the excellent ‘A Touch Sensitive’. Sadly, not a cover of the Fall track (and given the setting, you could be forgiven for thinking that), it’s a hypnotic instrumental that sounds like the theme to some long lost sci-fi spy film. Big bass line, bubbling analogue synths, an echoey, dubby piano riff and Krautrock drums. Yep. Super Furry Animals. Hands down Best Band (almost) on the Planet.

sfa_feb2009

Beardy, weirdy and bloody magic

 

demo, Most downloaded tracks, studio outtakes

Well, flip your wig!

Craig McAllister

So Phil Spector is finally found guilty. Six years to reach the only obvious conclusion, although, most music fans could tell you he’d committed murder as soon as he got his tiny little hands on the master tapes to ‘Let It Be’. But it’s official – it’s moiduh and Phil Spector will probably spend the rest of his life in a cushy corner of some state penitentiary or other, bald and friendless.

phil-wig

Murder 1

Of course, as you know, the music he worked on is mostly sublime. Timeless, not set by generation. You could be 5 or 95. There’s something there for all of us. Some of those tracks are practically folk songs. I’m going to remember him this way. And you should too. Listen to The Ronettes in the studio doing ‘My One And Only Baby’ as it was called before becoming ‘Be My Baby’. Here‘s an amalgamation of takes 21-25, mostly instrumental, with the odd backing vocal and studio chatter flung in for good measure. A Wall of Sound production in production.

phil-wig-2

Murder 2

Here‘s an unrecorded take of the same track, complete with  lead and backing vocals and that ricketty-ticketty percussion at the end of every line. The wee tape rewind at the beginning makes me think this is Spector’s first play back of the completed track, but that’s only my thoughts. I guess we’ll never know now.

Finally, here‘s that Ronettes ‘Baby I Love You’ isolated vocal track that everybody still emails me about. *Note. I incorrectly labelled this as Be My Baby Vocals. But before you get yer knickers in a twist I just checked, and it’s definitely the vocal track of Baby I love You. OK!

Last time I posted tracks of this ilk, they were removed tout de suite by the DMCA. Make like Phil with a .45 and act fast!

Later everyone, gotta shoot…….!

phil-wig-3

Murder 3

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

Now I Wanna Be Your Blog

Craig McAllister

The curse of the blogger has struck. Inspiration (or lack of) has slowed down my writing recently. That and decent weather, school holidays and a list of ‘to do’ things from Mrs Pan which quite frankly is taking the piss. Today, in a rare frenzied bout of online activity I read the news that Steve Dullaghan, bass player and founding member of The Primitives had died, aged just 42. I felt compelled to write a wee bit. Just a very wee bit, as you will find out in the next paragraph.

primitives-crash-vid.jpg

I remembered a piece I wrote a couple of years ago, and given that I have more readers now than I did then, I figured that most of you reading this will be reading it for the first time. Apologies if you’ve been here before (and thanks for sticking around). To make up for it I’ve added a few extra tunes not included in the original post. Get most of them and you’ve got yourself a nice wee introduction to the music of The Primitives.

The Primitives were from Coventry and formed in 1985. Along with The House of Love and The Wedding Present, for me they filled the gap post-Smiths and pre-Stone Roses. I bloody loved them. Their first single was ‘Thru The Flowers’ which was released in May of 1986. I’ve got it on super sexy seven inch and I am open to offers. It’s not the same version that appeared on their debut album ‘Lovely’.

image401

Initially, they were very primitive and all the songs were noisy and sloppy because that is how they played. Listen to the demo of 2nd single ‘Really Stupid’ to see what I mean. Still sounds terrific to this day. John Peel was a bit of a fan, and like many acts of the day, the band recorded a session for him. Here‘s the twangy rockabilly gutterpunk of ‘Buzz Buzz Buzz’.

tracy

The obvious focal point for a teenage boy like me was Tracy Tracy who was cute as cute and looked a bit like Ruth Ellis (the last woman to be hanged in Britain). The others dressed head to toe in black, wore skinny jeans and pointy boots and at some point all had Ringo Starr circa 1965 haircuts (though sadly not in the photo below).

primitives

Whilst I was in love with Tracy, Paul the guitarist was clearly in love with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground (Lou Reed’s first band was called The Primitives too) and he had a great collection of guitars – he was one of only two guitarists in the UK to own a particularly rare version of a Fender Thinline Telecaster. The other belonged to the guitar player from Culture Club. Fancy that! The band went through more line-up changes than Spinal Tap. The original drummer Pete Tweedie wasn’t very good, so most of their early stuff was actually done with a drum machine (something most people don’t realize – listen carefully and you’ll hear the click track at the start of ‘Stop Killing Me’) and Pete would play along on the ride cymbal or hi hat. They released six singles with the sixth being a re-recorded version of ‘Thru The Flowers‘ before they eventually signed to RCA in 1987.

 lovely

In 1988 the album ‘Lovely‘ was released and it is brilliant. It was a night and day change from their early singles. All of a sudden they knew how to play their instruments. The first change they made was getting rid of Pete the drummer. The next thing they did was re-record a few of their old singles, such as ‘Stop Killing Me’. I’m normally dead against bands who do that, but in The Primitives case it meant that 1) those early singles became quite collectable, and 2) the new ones arguably sounded better.

morrissey-prims-tshirt

Morrissey, out for a duck whilst wearing his Stop Killing Me t-shirt

The other key to their sound was producer Paul Sampson who went back through all their old demos and found ‘Crash‘, a song they had scrapped. This was their only big hit and became a bit of an albatross for them. You’ve probably heard it. That guy from Busted has got a version out just now. It’s in the new Mr Bean movie. Honestly!

primitives-crash

Anyway, sales inevitably diminished, and the band continued to release great singles that only myself bought.  ‘Way Behind Me’  and ‘You Are The Way’  being a fine examples. Co-written by Ian Broudie, You Are The Way in particular shoulda been a massive hit. I guess there’s just no accounting for taste.

image41

The hidden jewel in their crown for me though is a track that originally appeared on the b-side of ‘Way Behind Me’ and was re-recorded with the guitarist singing. ‘All The Way Down’ is a brilliant piece of pseudo-Nuggets hammond ‘n’ bongos psychedelia and YOU NEED IT! For good measure, you might also need the 1985 demo. Contrast and compare. They came a long way, eh?

Of course, the band eventually petered out. Recording as Pink Bomb, Tracy added her vocals to some generic Ministry Of Sound pishy dance track, and after recording as Starpower (here‘s their rather brilliant twang n reverb-heavy version of Lee n Nancy’s ‘Some Velvet Morning’ (with Tracy on vocals)) Paul became a graphic designer. Download the tracks above and remember them this way. And get over to Amazon or Play or wherever and pick up their Best Of for about £4.

Bonus tracks. Recorded live from the audience at Glasgow School of Art on March 19th 1988 ( a mere 21 years ago!!!), here’s another version of ‘Really Stupid’ and their cover of Iggy & the Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’. Ruff ruff ruff-ruff! Or should that be rough rough rough-rough! Aye. No’ very good live, but pleasant to look at. I think I fainted at this gig. It was very warm. Saw the Sugarcubes there a month or so later. I didn’t faint at that one.

thru-the-flowers.jpg         ruth-ellis.jpg

tracy tracy                       ruth ellis

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Special K

Craig McAllister

JC over at the Vinyl Villain has, like many of us in the blogosphere recently, been the target of the DMCA. Quite rightly I suppose, the DMCA have the authority to remove music files and shut your blog down if you are clearly flouting copyright laws by sharing copyrighted material. This very blog nearly shut down over Christmas due to the severity of attention I was receiving, but thankfully this attention has subsided over the past few months. JC on the other hand is being targetted fairly frequently these days. On one occassion, a track by Paul Haig was removed without him knowing, despite the fact that the track in question was owned by the artist himself and not the record company as the DMCA thought. A couple of quick emails back and forwards to Paul Haig’s management later and JC was able to re-post the track. You can read more about it here. In Mr Haig’s honour, JC has asked the blogging community to stand as one in solidarity, with a cheeky Ferguson-McGregor two-fingered salute to any nit-picking internet fascists who may be lurking. Aye! You can count me in! Here at Plain Or Pan?,  Monday 6th April 2009 is officially Paul Haig Day.

postcard-records-sleeve

My own contribution to the cause is a track by Paul’s first band, Josef K. Signed to Postcard Records, they were like Orange Juice’s runny-nosed wee brother. They sounded like the type of band who would come home after the first day at school with both knees out of their new trousers and no leather left on the toes of their Clarks Commandos. Their itchy, scratchy and claustrophobic cheese wire thin guitar lines and elastic band basslines meant they were the epitome of post punk. A thousand and one fringe (meaning both haircut and success) guitar bands owe them a huge debt, whether they realise it or not.

josef-k-postcard-brochure

A couple of years ago, Domino Records released ‘Entymology‘, a compilation of the band’s Postcard and Belgian label Les Disques Du Crepuscules releases. This was my first introduction to Josef K. If you’ve never heard them before, read on. Mr Kapranos, you can shuffle off quietly to your rehearsal room again.

josef-k-disques-300

Sorry For Laughing was the band’s 4th single. Released 28 years ago (!!!) this month it failed to chart anywhere, yet to me it sounds like the definitive Josef K record. Slightly shambolic and out of tune, yet heartfelt and soulful. There’s a nice tambourine jangling about in the background. The Wedding Present were clearly taking notes on how to play those brillo pad scrubbed barre chords too. Hear it here.

josef-k-lyrics

lyrics as they appeared in a Postcard Records leaflet

Sorry For Laughing has been covered quite a few times, most notably by 80s Germanic stylistas Propaganda. Their version is the 80s – glacial synths, machine-like Teutonic vocals, bangs! Crashes! Zang tum tum! I’ve mentioned French covers artists Nouvelle Vague elsewhere before. Their version is lovely, sounding like The Cardigans duetting with Nico on happy pills. Glasgow’s own 1990s have done a version too, but their go at it remains elusive for now. Enjoy the tracks and remember to support the artists who made them etc etc blah blah blah…..

josef-k

Special K

 

Most downloaded tracks, Sampled

Full Of Eastern Promise

Craig McAllister

A month or so ago I told you I’d been listening non-stop to the Amorphous Androgynous compiled ‘A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind Volume 1 – Cosmic Space Music’. You can listen to some tracks and read about it here. Mind duly exploded, I went online and like thousands of you do, I bought some music from iTunes. I’ve always had my own unwritten rule that if the music was physically available, I’d always buy it. Who wants a digital file? Not me, I thought, until Oasis (yes, you read correctly) decided to release the 22 and a half minute Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble mix of current single ‘Falling Down‘ . I had to hear it ASAP and coupled with the only physically-available commercial release being on 2 sides of solid 33rpm 12″ vinyl and a severe lack of decent record shops anywhere near where I live, I opted for the easy option.


falling-down


I once had a letter published in Uncut, where I put the boot into Oasis calling them a ‘brand, not  a band’. I was quite pleased with myself when I wrote that line and even more pleased when they published the letter in the December issue of that year under the headline ‘The Last Noel’. I can’t remember when Oasis were last any good, but never has a band fallen so spectacularly from grace and ended up sounding like a dog’s dinner. They used to be terrific. There. Said it. No shame in that. I saw them live a couple of times between the first and second albums and they were sen-say-sheee-on-alllll. Suddenly, between second and third albums, they stopped being good, and at an alarming rate, their musical quality continues to drop.  ‘Falling Down’ is no different. It’s another Noel-led clunker with lots of fannying about with capos on the second fret, minor chords and open strings…

Em                         G6
the summer sun that blows my mind
Cmaj7                Asus2
Is falling down on all that I’ve ever known
Em             G6
Time to kiss the world goodbye
Cmaj7              Asus2
Falling down on all that I’ve ever known
Cmaj7   Dsus2
Is all that I’ve ever known. etc etc etc….

Yep, just like Wonderwall. But not as good. (No Liam on lead vocals, that’s why). It goes nowhere fast. Actually, not that fast. It takes about 10 minutes to go nowhere. Tedious on a grand scale. I don’t even think Liam and his Sex Beatles sneer could save it. Thankfully, Amorphous Androgynous have.


psychedelic-falling-down


It’s got sitars, flutes, mellotrons and the whole psychedlic shebang going on. Noel’s vocals are looped, sampled and buried deep beneath a drumbeat that sounds like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ clattering down four flights of stairs. There’s a fuzz bass solo that John Entwistle would’ve been suing over were he still alive. There’s a female backing singer that comes in sounding like Natasha Atlas being stung by a wasp. Or is that the fuzz bass again?  At one point a child speaks the lyrics as the whole thing blisses out like some sort of post-hallicinogenic comedown. Strangely, Chris Martin seems to be playing some sort of half-arsed piano at the same time and the track goes off into a whole new territory. I’d imagine this would be side 2 of the vinyl. The whole thing now sounds like The Orb or an Andrew Weatherall remix of some early ’90s guitar band. Yes. It’s that good. You don’t even mind the violin solo, cos those whoosing effects in the background remind you of the intro music the Stone Roses used at Glasgow Green. Natasha Atlas makes a re-appearance and her and Noel duet for a bit. The whole thing begins to pick up again. By the time the electric guitars and drums have crashed back into it and the whole track has lifted off into outer space you realise 15 or so minutes have passed, and there’s still another 7 to go! I won’t spoil it anymore, but do yourself a favour and download this now!


noel-gallagher


Noel Gallagher falling down.


Songwriters get their inspiration in the strangest of places.