Category: Hard-to-find

Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

Big fat dead guy in a bath tub.

Craig McAllister

So I’m on the lookout yesterday for a decent Sunday paper. A big thick one with lots of magazines, a decent sports section, a challenging sudoku and a crossword that’s impossibly hard. Perhaps even with something free in it. And I find The Sunday Times. The Sunday Times is the Sunday papers, they say. It’s big and thick, has lots of magazines, a decent sudoku, and I can’t do the crossword. And there’s a free Doors album with it. Even though I have ‘Strange Days’ (on vinyl and CD) this sways me and I buy it.

After reading the paper it’s clear they’ve done some sort of deal with Elektra/Rhino, because for the rest of the week they’re giving away a classic album every day. Today was Love‘s ‘Forever Changes’. Tomorrow is ‘Unknown Pleasures’ by Joy Divison. Later on you’ll get some Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to these freebies, but if you haven’t got them, get yerself down to WH Smiths in the morning and nab yourself a classic album. Strange Days indeed.

Listening again to Strange Days had me scurryng for a bootleg I have called ‘Television Bleeding’, which features 7 studio tracks and some live TV stuff. The live stuff can wait for another day, but for now, here’s the studio tracks.

1. Hello I Love You (no drums, no second vocal overdub)
2. People Are Strange (no drums, no guitar solo, no second vocal overdub)
3. Love Her Madly (no reverb, no drums, no echo on voice)
4. Love Me Two Times (no tambourine, no guitars)
5. Riders On The Storm (no second vocal overdub, no echo, no drums)
6. Touch Me (no drums)
7. Soul Kitchen (different bass sound)

The blurb on the cover says,  “Tracks 1-7 are alternate studio mixes, done by Paul Rothchild during the production of “The Best of the Doors” Quadrodisc. I find it very interesting to listen to these, sometimes you have the feeling of listening to totally new recordings. But they are absolutely the same as on the albums but in different mixes. Anyway, have you ever heard Riders On The Storm without the whispering and without drums? And People Are Strange without drums and guitar solo? Both open whole new categories of listening experiences. All songs with Morrison are in excellent stereo. You won’t believe your ears!”

Jim Morrison. A wanker.

The above poster also reminds me of Denis Leary’s biting quote about Jim Morrison. “Let me tell you something. We need a two and a half hour movie about the Doors? Folks, no we don’t. I can sum it up for you in five seconds, ok. I’m drunk. I’m nobody. I’m drunk. I’m famous. I’m drunk. I’m fucking dead. There’s the whole movie, ok!? Big fat dead guy in a bath tub, there’s your title for you.”

Big fat dead guy who’s band made some fairly decent psychedelic organ-based music. I love them! Julian Cope loves them too! Happy listening!

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

I don’t think I wanna dance just now.

Craig McAllister

Welcome to request corner! His name is Prince and he is funky. What follows are 3 decidedly unfunky covers of Prince tracks. If you were being cruel you might say they’re workmanlike in their approach. Sloppy, too slow (hello My Morning Jacket) and devoid of any soul at all. If you were being a bit more generous, you’d say they were trying to do the tracks in their own style (howdy Foo Fighters). If you were a bit less cynical, you might even say The Jesus And Mary Chain‘s version of ‘Alphabet Street’ was pretty good. Cos it is. Thanks to Gerald for the suggestion.

My JAMC version of ‘Alphabet Street’ comes from one of the CD single versions of ‘Come On’ (it’s also got a Pogues and a Cramps cover on it), but it’s available from round about now on the sexy looking box set above. What I like about this version is that the JAMC have gone out of their way to make it as easy as possible to play. Stripped it back to 3 simple chords, added some fuzz bass, some doo-wop vocals, some feedback (naturally) and made it sound like any other of their records. Prince’s Alphabet Street sounds like the kind of place where supermodels are handing out free E’s and sex on tap, but The JAMC make Alphabet Street sound like the kind of place where even Lou Reed would be scared of going to score. I think Glasvegas could do a really good version of The JAMC covering Prince. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

The Foo Fighters track comes from the B-Side of their ‘Have It All’ single, and in the best traditions of the radio, many DJs started playing the ‘Darling Nikki’ cover instead of the rather obvious and plodding A-Side. The Foo Fighters version reached number 15 in the American charts, much to Prince’s disgust. He wouldn’t let them release it as a single, they stuck it on the b-side instead, and voila, the rest is filthy-lyriced history.

First things first now. I like My Morning Jacket. As far as blue-collar rocking guitar bands go I think they’re possibly my favourite. I prefer them to the Hold Steady, if that means anything. I really liked the ‘Z’ album. I’m sure they’re a decent live proposition. They’re famed for long and loud live sets, and they often do covers during encores, which is where their version of ‘I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man’ comes from. I found this version whilst poking about the blogosphere, but I can’t find any info on where it was recorded. It’s live and sounds like it’s from the mixing desk but other than that I can’t tell you much else about it. Except that it must’ve been one hell of a long show that night, cos MMJ have stripped all the bounce, all the fun and all the soul out of a great wee song. Compare and contrast with this Prince ‘Sign O’ The Times’ tour soundcheck rehearsal. Even allowing for a cheesy brass section near the end, the funk is back. Listen to Prince’s guitar playing during the solo! Jeez-oh! I think I wanna dance now!

*More Prince ‘SOTT‘ soundcheck stuff is available here. And Prince doing Radiohead‘s ‘Creep‘ is still available via this link!

Hard-to-find

I’d imagined, like, a string quartet after the second verse y’know.

Craig McAllister

If only I’d had these tracks in 1989! Round about then I taped Paul McCartney‘s MTV Unplugged off the telly and must have watched it about a million times. Well, at least 30. The bit I kept going back to was where he played ‘Blackbird’‘ (or ‘Blackboard‘ as he referred to it on the programme. Ho ho.). I slowly but surely worked out how he played it by freeze-framing the trickier parts, playing the mirror image of what south paw McCartney was playing and rewinding it as soon as the song had finished. I’d then play along to it with my vinyl copy of The White Album on my stereo.

The cover of my White Album technically isn’t white. The bottom left-hand corner and the inner gatefold has a distinct beige look about it. Probably because I pissed on it during the night after my 18th birthday. But that’s another story. Anyway. Freeze-framing and rewinding videos followed by carefully dropping and lifting record player needles at the right points on a record made learning this song a labour of love for me. Kids nowadays have it easy. Whomp ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ onto the iPod docking station, fire up UltimateGuitar.com and there it is, 300+ tabs of the same song, all slightly different, mostly all good. In my day you had to earn your guitar stripes. Tsk.

“Tsk!”

When they first started playing guitar, McCartney and George Harrison both learnt to play Bach‘s Bouree in E minor so that they could show off at parties. Looking for some post-Pepper inspiration, McCartney was staying at his farm on the Mull of Kintyre and wrote ‘Blackbird‘ after playing about with Bach’s tune. According to Philip Norman’s book ‘Shout!‘, later that same day he played it to the fans who were waiting outside the gates of his house. 

“A few of us were there. We had the feeling something was going to happen. Paul didn’t take the Mini inside the way he usually did – he parked it on the road and he and Linda walked right past us. They went inside and we stood there, watching different lights in the house go on and off.

In the end, the light went on in the Mad Room, at the top of the house, where he kept all his music stuff and his toys. Paul opened the window and called out to us, ‘Are you still down there?’ ‘Yes,’ we said. He must have been really happy that night. He sat on the window sill with his acoustic guitar and sang Blackbird to us as we stood down there in the dark.”  Fan Margo Stevens, quoted by Philip Norman in ‘Shout!’

It’s been said that the lyrics are about the civil rights movement in America and the struggle for equality. Or it might just be about a wee bird that McCartney saw in his garden one summer’s morning in 1968. Without wanting to sound too glib about it, as a guitar player it was always the finger picking and overall sound of the record that grabbed me.

McCartney and his Martin D28, Abbey Road June 11th 1968

These days, Blackbird has become my Bach and it can now be yours. What you have is a hassle-free way of learning ‘Blackbird”. The tab taken from The Beatles Complete Scores is here, in word document form. And below you have 10 or so in-the-studio crystal clear versions of ‘Blackbird’. Some fast, some slow, some with fluffed lines, some that stop short. There’s some rudimentary piano clanging on one take. There’s also the odd bit of studio chatter between Paul and George Martin. Occasionaly there’s a third voice. That’s a slightly fed-up John Lennon, taking a break from putting together ‘Revolution 9’ in the studio next door.

Blackbird 1

Blackbird 2

Blackbird 3

Blackbird 4

Blackbird 5

Blackbird 6

Blackbird 7

Blackbird 8

Blackbird 9

Blackbird 10

Blackbird 11

All tracks are taken from a Beatles bootleg called ‘Gone Tomorrow, Here Today‘ and were recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2 on June 11th and July 29th 1968, and at Trident Studios on August 28th and 29th 1968. None of the tracks on my bootleg sleeve are marked as being a particular take, so I can’t be any more precise about their origin than that. But this is a good way to learn the song – it’s essentially a work-in-progress session. McCartney repeats the trickier parts and plays it again and again and again, honing it to perfection. Anyway. Take the tab, download the tracks and play along. You’ll have it mastered in no time. You’ll need to add your own foot taps and bird noises. Party piece ahoy!

Piss stain not in shot

Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

If you see Syd, tell him.

Craig McAllister

If he’s not too busy in the middle of a cosmic reunion jam with Rick Wright you could do worse than let Syd Barrett know there’s a fantastic new single coming out very soon in his honour. Sonically, it’s nothing like his blend of off-kilter psychedelia, but the Trashcan Sinatras have created a luscious and bluesy 6 and a half minutes plus track that’s a worthy contendor for Single of the Year.

If you’re in any way a fan of Syd you’ll be able to spot a few knowing nods in his direction – mentions of ‘Emily’, ‘bicycles’, ‘English skies’, and the fact that it’s called ‘Oranges & Apples’. It was written after his possessions were sold off when he died, so you also get mentions to ‘green wheelbarrows’, ‘drawers’ and references to the colours he used in his painting. It’s the perfect soundtrack for the Indian summer that’s supposed to be coming our way in October, which is when it’s released. You can hear some of the track here, and also get details of how to download it.

Back in the days when high streets still had record shops, I used to work in one. I learned quickly that there are 2 types of Pink Floyd. There’s The Pink Floyd, late 60s psychedelic pioneers and creators of arguably the best album of 1967, ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets’ (move over Sgt Pepper). This is the Syd-era Pink Floyd that yer serious music fan enjoys. Then there’s The Floyd Man, as in “you goat oany Floyd, man?” This group was the Syd-less creators of such rock behemoths as ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, ‘The Wall’ and all that jazz, and the reason John Lydon wore an ‘I Hate Pink Floyd’ t-shirt. This is the Pink Floyd that weekend stoners, neds and shoplifters would be looking for. None of the Pink Floyd albums could be displayed with their covers in them cos they all got nicked. What’s so interesting about the covers for ‘Meddle‘ or ‘Animals‘ or ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason‘ is anyone’s guess, but they could never be displayed. Same thing with The Doors back catalogue. And Metallica. Even The Eagles back catalogue cover art was pillaged in my shop. Nae taste, they neds.

In the meantime, here’s a few Syd Barrett outtakes, all from the ‘Crazy Diamond’ Box Set. I think the tracks also appear on the Japanese issues of his solo albums, but you’ll find some choice cuts below.

Octopus (Takes 1 & 2)

Golden Hair (Take 5)

Baby Lemonade (Take 1)

It Is Obvious (Take 2)

Gigolo Aunt (Take 9)

Clowns & Jugglers (Take 1)

Effervescing Elephant (Take 2)

a nice wee Syd outtakes compilation! 

Interestingly, ‘Golden Hair (Take 5)’ is credited as being produced by Pete Jenner. He later went on to manage the Trashcans for a wee while. Now, get over to The City Wakes website and order ‘Oranges & Apples’. Woah! Wait! It’s not out til the 13th of October. Do it then! Make sure you do!

*Bonus track. The Pink Floyd‘s 1967 single ‘Apples & Oranges’

Hard-to-find, Sampled

Sampling The Beatles and the Kopyright Liberation Front…

Craig McAllister

…or the KLF to yer average music fan. Or the Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu. Or The JAMS. Or King Boy D and Rockman Rock. Or just plain old Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty to their mums. We’ll stick to the KLF for now. It’s no coincidence that their full unabbreviated moniker advocated freedom for all. Their debut album, ‘1987 (What The Fuck Is Going On?)’ was a fantastic exercise in cheeky and downright blatant plagiarism from a wide range of unlikely sources.

They may be hip these days (or are they not again, I don’t know), but in 1987 Abba were far, far, far from hip. So the KLF took a large slice of ‘Dancing Queen’, added some scratching, some rapping and what sounds like a demented duck on lead vocals, looped it about a bit and named it ‘The Queen and I’.  Nowadays it sounds about as revolutionary as PJ & Duncan, but at the time the music press loved it. “Have you ever met Abba?” one of them asks near the end. And with a knowing wink the other replies, “I’d love to meet Abba. They’re one of my favourite groups.” As rave reviews for the LP filtered across the North Sea to Sweden, Abba and their lawyers got hold of the track and were a wee bit upset. “Cease and desist!” they said. “And while you’re at it, destroy all remaining copies of the album.” Bill and Jimmy set off an a Scandinavian voyage in the hope of meeting one of their favourite groups. They dumped some of the unsold albums overboard. To this day they’re at the bottom of the North Sea. Mint copies fetch £500+ on eBay, but I’m not sure how much you’d get if you went diving for one of these sunken treasures. According to Wiki, some other copies of the album were given to a prostitute who looked a wee bit like Agnetha. Of the copies that remained, the band took them to Abba’s management in the hope that they could get them to change their mind. They didn’t, and the album has been a thing of file-sharing mystery ever since.

One track, ‘All You Need Is Love’ was released as a one-sided 12″ single and sampled The Beatles, Sam Fox and some kids singing Ring A Ring A Roses. Bill and Jimmy rapped like a very Scottish ‘Licensed To Ill’-era Beastie Boys. It sounds weird and a wee bit dated. The album version was even weirder, featuring a random Top Of The Pops rundown of the charts. What the fuck was going on indeed.

Talking of the Beastie Boys…..no strangers to sampling themselves, they took huge chunks out of The Beatles back catalogue for the track, ‘The Sounds Of Science’ on ‘Pauls Boutique’. Thankfully, this was released in the days before sample clearance, cos nowadays it would never be allowed. They also nicked bits of ‘I’m Down’, and right up until the last second their own track of the same name was due to appear on ‘Licensed To Ill’, their sneery, snotty Led Zeppelin-pillaging debut. You can get it on the ‘Original Ill’ bootleg or you can get it here.

More recently (and more famously) Danger Mouse took his copy of ‘The White Album’ and Jay Z‘s ‘The Black Album’, got some sellotape, added some big beats and created ‘The Grey Album’. EMI ceased and desisted it quicker than you could say “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey” (aye, it took them a while) and like the KLF before them the album filtered onto file sharing immortality. To be honest, I don’t like it all that much. But then, I don’t really like Jay Z. Some of it sounds a bit contrived to these ears. But I do like this track. Jay Z‘s ’99 Problems’ and The Beatles ‘Helter Skelter’ battle it out for supremacy. Being as he is laid up in bed with a couple of broken ribs, Noel Gallagher is unavailable for comment, but I think it’s a cracker. No pun intended.

*Footnote. Does anyone know the name of the Cypress Hill track that samples Paul McCartney’s “Wooo-ooo’s” from the opening bars of ‘Your Mother Should Know’? I know it’s out there somewhere, but I cannae find it. Help!

Hard-to-find

Jack, you don’t have a more substantial tambourine out there, do ya?

Craig McAllister

So says Phil Spector to (presumably) Jack Nitzsche during take 5 of Ike & Tina Turner‘s ‘River Deep, Mountain High’. In this post you’ll find more studio gold than you can shake a tail feather at. Sadly no master tapes, but nonetheless a nice couple of Phil Spector studio outtakes.

“Check out the wig!” “Laugh all you want Turner, but you ain’t gettin’ anywhere near an instrument!”

Known for his painstaking attention to detail (listen to him drive Ronnie and the Ronettes into sonic overdrive here) Spector had at least 18 goes of producing ‘River Deep, Mountain High’. I have 11 of them and to be honest, it’s nigh impossible to spot any sonic differences from one to the next. Take 14’s a wee bit fast. Or was that take 15? Or was that the take where Tina’s phrasing is slightly different? After a while, it’s all a bit of a blur. Of course, they’re essential to any discerning collector. That almost goes without saying. The two takes I’m posting here are:

Take 18, where the focus is on the hysterical, Wagnerian backing vocals

Take 19, where Tina joins the newly whipped-into-shape backing singers for what turned out to be the perfect dress rehearsal before putting the song on vinyl.

Interestingly, Ike Turner (himself no slouch when it came to control freakery) wasn’t allowed anywhere near the studio. Although credited to Ike & Tina Turner, only Tina’s vocals are on the track. Ike didn’t even get to shake a maraca in the fade-out. Spector loved ‘River Deep, Mountain High’. In fact, he even went so far as to say this single was his best work, and, given the canon of his output, that’s no mean claim. So he probably felt vindicated when the single peaked at Number 3 in the UK. In the States, where everything has to be compartmentalised, it was considered too black for white radio and too white for black radio and subsequently hit the dizzy heights of number 88. Shame on you, America! Oh, and close your eyes everyone……….did you know that Sting lost his virginity to the song? Gads!

Sting, you don’t have a more substantial tambourine out there, do ya?

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Psssst! I heard through the grapevine that…..

Craig McAllister

…there were some Motown studio master tapes floating around on the internet. It took me by surprise, I must say. I mean, who’d have thought these things would ever surface? And guess what? After a bit of poking about in all the right places I found them. I have right here in my sweaty wee hands the master tapes for Marvin Gaye‘s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. That’s right. The master tapes for Marvin Gaye‘s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. 10 tracks of pure 60s soul. It’s no wonder the musicians who played on the track were known as the Funk Brothers, as the funk drips from every bit of bassline, every hiss of the hi-hat and every falsetto’d note from Marvin’s sweet voice. “Drums in my ear….just what I need!” he says, and off he goes….

Marvin at the BBC

As usual, download the tracks as one big file, open them up, insert them into Audacity and play God. Although how you can possibly improve on the finished article is beyond me. But you can have loads of fun trying. I particularly like the harmonising female backing singers track. Woop woop a shobeedowop! Here‘s Marvin’s vocal-only track for starters. Now get the whole lot.

Not many people know, but Marvin Gaye’s version was actually the 2nd time the song was a hit. Written by Motown staffers Norman Whittfield and Barrett Strong (‘Money’, ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ amongst a ton of other big smash hits), it was first a hit in 1967 for Gladys Knight and the Pips. This version sounds nothing like Marvin Gaye’s. Faster and jazzier, it’s a call and response gospel-tinged belter. Think Aretha Franklin. I bet she does a great version of it somewhere. Anybody know?

Gladys and her Pips

Before Gladys and co recorded it, the writers had tried out Smokey Robinson and The Miracles doing a version. Their’s never made it outside the studio until 10 or so years ago, when an album called ‘Motown Sings Motown Treasures’ appeared. The album featured various Motown acts covering one another’s songs, with mixed results. Smokey’s version is more in keeping with Marvin’s, but is a touch faster. To be accurate, I suppose we should say that Marvin’s is more in keeping with Smokey’s, but a bit slower. It took Marvin 2 months to record his version, which is a marathon compared to how quickly records were knocked out in those days. The song was written in a key slightly too high for Gaye, a trick the producers used to ensure his voice achieved that rasp and pained sound in the high notes. The trick obviously worked – Marvin’s is of course the definitive version. Brooding, menacing and ideal music to sell jeans by. It was his first number 1 record, and Motown’s most sold single of the 60’s. It doesn’t get better than that. 

More recently, Paul Weller and Amy Winehouse had a go at it. October 25th 2006, BBC Electric Proms to be more precise. It’s not bad. But not a touch on Marvin Gaye’s.

I like to think I know tons about music. Useless facts that come in handy when writing stuff like this. After finishing this post I did a search for some information about ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and discovered this really indepth Wikipedia article about the song here. It repeats some of what you’ve just read but tells you way more. Have a look. And have fun with the remix, but remember, it can’t be bettered.

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Most downloaded tracks

Plain Or Pan-Global

Craig McAllister

A wise old man once sang “Reissue, revalue, repackage, reassess the song,” and that’s what this post aims to do. The number of people clicking on this site on a daily basis is quite astounding. In the past week alone I’ve had vistors from Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Finland and New Zealand. I think all corners of the globe have found me. I never expected Plain Or Pan? to be as popular or as relevant as it is. I never thought people would bookmark it or that the casual browser could find it via a click or two on Google, and then want to come back again and again. Never in my mind did I imagine getting mentioned in proper music publications (see above left). In all honesty, I didn’t expect to still be here a year and a half down the line. But I am. Thanks to you. And you. And you. And you. And you. Yes, even you. And you. And…  

I know when I visit a blog I don’t read every page. I read a wee bit (or more, maybe even all of it, if it’s interesting) then scroll through to see what the downloads are. I don’t have time to read every page of every blog. No doubt I’ve missed some good stuff. And that got me thinking. If I don’t read every bit of every blog, then why should I expect anyone to read every bit of this one. Of course they don’t. So it’s logical to think that a lot of people visiting this site will have missed some of the more interesting posts. Not the ones that show up on a google click, but the ones that are buried deep inside the vaults of Plain Or Pan? Buried deep inside until now. Reissue, revalue, repackage? I’d say it’s more like recycling. Here’s some of what you may have missed (all links to the music are in the posts)…..

1. The Coca Cola advert music. Here , here and here. And here‘s an mp3 of The Carpenters 1971 easy listening Coke jingle.

2. Morrissey doing ‘Moon River’. It’s magic.

3. ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’  by The Jackson 5 and The Zombies. Oh, and look what I’ve found. It’s only The Small Faces doing the same track. Here. Equal measures distortion + soulful vocals = a belter.

4. Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub does Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys ‘Only with You’. Right here. There’s tons of Teenage Fanclub stuff scattered throughout Plain Or Pan? Go and find it, lazy bones!

5. The Raconteurs BBC Sessions. Here.

6. Lee Hazlewood‘s demo of ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking‘ here. Along with some kitsch Nancy Sinatra stuff.

6. Some Super Furry Animals hard-to-find stuff. Here.

7. What goes around comes around. Elliott Smith rips off Bob Dylan, who had previoulsy ripped off someone himself. Here. There’s a similar Led Zeppelin post here. And if you don’t know any Elliott Smith, shame on you! You could do worse than click here. Demos, acoustic, rare! Wooo!

8. A potted history of The Primitives. Fantastic guitar pop from a band named after Lou Reed’s first band. Everything you need to know (and 3 of their best records) here.

9. Ronnie Spector and The Ronettes singing accapella in the studio. This is astonishing.

10. Even more astonishing, Sandie Shaw‘s breasts. And some great cover versions too. Here.

Finally, you can never have enough Trashcan Sinatras in your life. it’s a crying shame that not enough people know about them. Here‘s their version of Randy Newman‘s ‘Snow‘. Released only in Japan, it’s a hard-to-find gem.

All links should be working. Don’t hesitate to let me know if anything’s broken. Cheers.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Retro thrift shop fashion transvestites

Craig McAllister

Jellyfish were great. Power pop for the pre-Nirvana teeny boppers. Tunes by The Beatles. Backing vocals and guitar solos by Queen. Clothes by Hanna Barbera. Modern day insipid retro tunesmiths like The Feeling would give their stripey trousers and kerrrrazzzeee facial hair to be able to write half a tune as masterful as ‘Now She Knows She’s Wrong’. They must listen in jaw-dropping awe to ‘Bellybutton’ or cry over their copy of ‘Spilt Milk’ at least once a week.

Jellyfish-eye lens

Jellyfish only made the aforementioned 2 albums before splitting. I never got to see them live although I think they once played King Tuts. My pal’s band played a few shows with them in America and told me that for all the day-glo Californian sunshine and love image they projected, they were really a right grumpy bunch of selfish unfriendly bastards. Especially Andy Sturmer, the singing drummer. Fans of the Trashcan Sinatras may recognise the line, “There’s an anecdote about an argument with the singer from Jellyfish.” It’s a good anecdote too…

Baby’s Coming Back video shoot

Nowadays, the various musicians that made up the band can be heard on a multitude of off-shoots and side projects (including, but not exclusively Imperial Drag, The Moog Cookbook, Umajets, TV Eyes) all on a MySpace site near you. There’s actually too much music to investigate beyond Jellyfish, and I’ve never tried to (!) The 2 albums plus the 4CD Australian box set ‘Fan Club’ are all I need. The demos and live cuts below are taken from the long-deleted and hard-to-get box set. 

The Man I Used To Be

Calling Sarah (with ‘She Loves You’ “Yeah Yeah Yeah“‘s)

All I Want Is Everything

Baby’s Coming Back

Now She Knows She’s Wrong

interview on 91X, San Diego

No Matter What (Badfinger cover, live)

Jet (Wings cover, live)

(Flower) power chords

Still needing more? Can’t get enough of Jellyfish? How about this? Right click on the picture below, ‘save as…’ and print it off. Voila! Your very own official Jellyfish colouring-in page, taken from the promo coloring-in book (note American spelling) from 1990. Make them as sunny day-glo Californian or as grumpy as you want.

Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Rock Me Joe!

Craig McAllister

“There was a guy. An underwater guy…” The Pixies are currently going through a bit of a renaissance in our house just now. I was getting fed up with all the feyness of the Fleet Foxes and their ilk (as much as I still like them) and was looking for something to blow the cobwebs away. Something loud. Actually, something quiet then LOUD. Then quiet again. Then 10 times LOUDER. You know what I mean. So I played ‘Surfer Rosa’ and everything was alright again. Then by coincidence, about an hour later I found the demos to ‘Doolittle‘ on Dimeadozen! A sign? I thought so. So I downloaded them, went back to my other Pixies albums and bootlegs and have been going Black Francis crazy ever since. In the car, on the iPod, on the good old fashioned stereo in the living room, the Pixies are everywhere. Everywhere. And they sound grrrrrrrrrreeeeeaaaaatttt!!!

Pixies ’88

Who’d have thought anyone responding to an advert seeking musicians “into Peter, Paul & Mary and The Beatles‘ could join forces and create such an unholy tuneful racket? I have been playing a bootleg called ‘Rough Diamonds’ an awful lot. In fact, it just might be the best Pixies non-release there is. It combines all of their BBC sessions at Maida Vale (unlike the incomplete official BBC Sessions CD) with some other studio outtakes from various sources. The sound quality is Grade A excellent. You really should seek it out. While it was never my favourite Pixies track (that would be Number 13 Baby. Or Broken Face. Or Gigantic. Or River Euphrates. Or…), I have been fairly taken by these versions of ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’

First, we have the demo version of the track that would appear on the Doolittle album. Slightly sparse and a wee bit less rocking than the released version, this version sees the band find their feet around the track. Kim Deal’s backing vocals are buried way too deep in the mix and the band sound quite restrained. By the time the band went to Maida Vale Studio 5 on 18th August 1988 (almost 20 years ago! Shite, I’m getting old), the tune had been transformed into something of a behemoth. It sounds like a ton of reverb has been chucked over the whole thing. The bass sounds fantastic and KIm’s breathy schoolgirl vocals are higher up in the mix. There’s even a wee bit of echo during the “If man is 5 then the devil is 6” bit. Frank Black/Black Francis is at his shouty best. This version goes quiet, LOUD, quiet, LOUDER. It’s a winner!

Pixies ’08. Peter, Paul, Mary and Ringo

If this isn’t enough for you, how about this? It’s only the studio master tapes of ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’!!!! 16 tracks of Kim, Black/Frank, David and Joseph Alberto Santiago. One complete ogg vorbis file. Open as usual in Audacity and remix away. More cello? Certainly! Loop the ‘Rock Me Joe’ bit. No bother. More reverb on the snare drum? Certainly sir. Here‘s the double-tracked vocals only version. God, the internet is great, isn’t it?