Category: Hard-to-find

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Morrissey ‘Moon River’

Craig McAllister

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Anyone with a reasonably good set of ears will know that ‘Vauxhall & I’ is by far Morrissey’s best solo work. Only just ahead of ‘Your Arsenal’, but much, much better than the over-rated ‘You Are The Quarry’ it is a classic of sorts. Released in 1994, the playing, the songwriting and the vocal delivery all come together on a near-perfect wee album. It kicks with the melancholic majesty of ‘Now My Heart Is Full’ and gets better as every new track comes in. The singles released from the album were all (in my head) number 1 smashes. All (in reality) were not what could be called ‘chart botherers’. The first single ‘The More You Ignore Me’ went in at a respectable number 8. ‘Hold On To Your Friends’ did less well. Straight in at 47 before tumbling to 74 and off the radar forever. Which is where we come in. You see. On the b-side was Morrissey’s version of ‘Moon River’ All 9 minutes and 38 seconds of it. He croons! He swoons! He goes on a wee bit! But it’s magic. For a while, the inclusion of this track meant that ‘Hold On To Your Friends’ was a reasonably valuable Morrissey single to own. However, a quick trawl through eBay shows it is not quite as sought after as it once was. Nonetheless, your life is not complete until you’ve heard it. So here it is, in all it’s majestic glory.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Trashcan Sinatras ‘Snow’

Craig McAllister

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Anyone who knows me will tell you that I think the Trashcan Sinatras are just about the best band ever. Of course, they’ll never ‘make it’, whatever that is, but in years to come, someone somewhere will stumble across a copy of ‘Weightlifting’ and think “Where have they been all my life?” They’re a Velvet Underground waiting to happen. Seriously. ‘Snow’ is a bit of an obscurity amongst the collected works of the Trashcan Sinatras. It’s much sought after in Trashcans circles and as rare as a winning lottery ticket in my house. Naturally, I have a copy. On super-sexy 7” vinyl. Japanese Promotional copy no less. If you could get record Top Trumps this would be my winning hand. Released only in Japan and recorded with some percussion-playing Japanese musicians, it isn’t the definitive sounding Trashcans record. It wouldn’t be the first thing I’d play to someone who’d never heard them (try All The Dark Horses or Country Air from Weightlifting), but that’s no reason to give it a body swerve. Written by Randy Newman, it builds on moody atmospherics, some Doors-y sounding Fender Rhodes (I think) and some nice understated slide guitar playing. It sounds like angels crying in heaven in some places. It’s that good. Listen to it here and pass it on. Harry Nilsson does a version that sounds like ‘Surf’s Up’ era Beach Boys. Quiet, restrained and accompanied by Randy Newman on the piano. It’s a bit rough round the edges and sounds like a demo that was recorded at the end of a long day’s drinking. Which is my way of saying “Tom Waits”. Good, but not a patch on the criminally ignored Trashcans.

*stop press!

Wow! So many  downloads of this track. Nice to see so many lurkers out there. Don’t be scared to leave a comment the next time. 

Hard-to-find

You Love Us (Heavenly Records)

Craig McAllister

You! Love! Us!

The original Manic Street Preachers. 4 of them. White jeans. Sloganeering. Fur coats. Mascara. Johnny Thunders haircuts. I saw them in King Tuts around the time this single was released and they were fantastic and hilarious in equal parts. Part Clash. Part Spinal Tap. Anyway, the Heavenly version of You Love Us features the Iggy Pop ‘Lust For Life’ ending. It was  re-recorded for their debut album and they binned the Iggy ending in favour of an ‘Appetite For Destruction’ Guns ‘n Roses ending. Sounded glossier and more rawk, but I’ve always preferred the original version. Cos I’m a  snob. And I bought it first time round. CD single and 7″ from a bargain bin in a Glasgow record shop. The Manics couldn’t give their records away in those days, but within a few months this record was highly sought after and still goes for a tidy sum on eBay. Listen here.

For some reason, the CD database incorrectly labels this single as the ‘New Art Riot’ ep, so when you download it, it won’t say ‘You Love Us’ in the file name.

Hard-to-find

It was 20 years ago today (nearly)

Craig McAllister

I find this hard to believe, but 2007 sees the 20th anniversary of the release of the Happy Mondays’ debut album. It originally came out to widespread indifference in April 1987 and was snappily titled  ‘Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’. I remember asking for it in Our Price, but they didn’t have it. I eventually got it about a year later in a second hand shop and was won over by the band’s scuzzy funk and stream-of-conscience nonsensical lyrics. Many of the songs borrowed heavily from other records and the track ‘Desmond’ was withdrawn quicker than Michael Jackson’s lawyers could say “beat it.” Michael Jackson owned the rights to the Beatles catalogue by this time, and he didn’t like the similarities between ‘Desmond’ and ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’. Plastic face carnt smile indeed. You can listen to it here. Like all good record trainspotters, I noticed that the album was produced by John Cale of the Velvet Underground. I read years later that despite being no stranger to chemical abuse himself, he was shocked by the band’s unruly behaviour and drug intake. Shaun Ryder slagged him off at the time for being high on nothing more than tangerines. After ‘Desmond’ was withdrawn from the album it was replaced by ’24 Hour Party People’ and that single took the band onto bigger and better things, but you probably know that.