Plain Or Pan

TFC @ KEXP

June 3, 2007January 2, 2008 Craig McAllister

Teenage Fanclub live on the radio, Wednesday August 3rd 2005, at KEXP in Seattle to promote the release of ‘Man-Made’. What can you say about Teenage Fanclub that’s not been said already? Not a lot, which is why I’ll let the music do the talking this time. This session is an all-acoustic affair, although ‘Born Under a Good Sign’ benefits from some subtle fuzzed-up lead guitar, and sounds like a lost outtake from Forever Changes, or maybe even LA Woman-era Doors. Yep. It’s that good. This session is worth getting just for this track alone. In the interviews, Norman does most of the talking, which veers from golf, to “plodding along” as Teenage Fanclub, to playing dice with the Posies, to not listening to his own records. Not all that exciting, but as far as Teenage Fanclub material goes, you need it to fill the gaps in your collection, at least until their next album or single or song or verse or new chord or something comes out. Haste ye back Fannies, we’re missing you.

All tracks have been seperated, but if you burn them ‘gapless’ in Nero or whatever, you’ll get that full seemless radio listening experience.

Born Under A Good Sign

interview

Slow Fade

Insert your own Teenage Fanclub ‘Radio’ joke here:

Hard-to-find

A potted history of The Primitives

June 1, 2007September 29, 2007 Craig McAllister

The Primitives were from Coventry and formed in 1985. They filled the gap post-Smiths and pre-Stone Roses and 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’. Initially, they were very primitive and all the songs were noisy and sloppy because that is how they played. The obvious focal point 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 had Ringo Starr circa 1965 haircuts. Paul the guitarist was clearly in love with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground and had a great collection of guitars. 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) and Pete would play the ride 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.

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 other key to their sound was producer Paul Sampson who went back through all their old demos and found ‘Crash’ a song they had scraped. 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! Anyway, sales inevitably diminished, and the band continued to release great singles that only myself bought. ‘You Are The Way’ being a fine example. Co-written by Ian Broudie it shoulda been a massive hit. But wasn’t. 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!

Of course, the band eventually petered out. Tracy added her vocals to some generic Ministry Of Sound pish dance track, and Paul is now a graphic designer. Download the 3 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.

tracy tracy ruth ellis

Cover Versions

A new world record

May 27, 2007September 29, 2007 Craig McAllister

I go to about 2 gigs a year. Way back in my youth I would go to 2 a week. Now it’s 2 a year. Usually Bob Dylan and Teenage Fanclub. I’ve seen Teenage Fanclub live at least once every year since 1990. I’ve probably seen the Trash Cans as many times or more as well. OK. Make that 3 gigs a year. Point is, I don’t go to that many any more.

So, a wee burst of gig action has taken place recently. Hot on the heels of, yes, Bob Dylan and the Trash Cans (if I’d remembered which night they were on. Idiot. Haven’t seen them live in 2007 yet), I have recently seen Candie Payne and King Creosote.

Candie Payne first. Hotly tipped, great reviews and rightly so. A fine voice, a backing band stuck in 1964 (the best bits of 1964) and enough good tunes to suggest she is more Saint Etienne than Dido, which is what I’d secretly feared. She is being compared to Dusty In Memphis, but that frankly is a bit too much. Still, she was pretty good. Her new album is a good bet for the Mercury Prize this year. Frank suggets you stick a tenner on it…

King Creosote sounds or looks nothing like Candie Payne but his gig was just as enjoyable. He can sing a bit, plays a mean accordion and has funny between-song banter. Best song of the night was a new one about having seen Grease too many times. “You’re not the one I want. No, no, no.” He is self-deprecating and as far removed from pop stardom as you can imagine. Which is just how I’d like you to stay please, Mr Creosote. Go and see him if you get the chance.

In the meantime, here’s 2 interesting covers.

Candie Payne does Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’ (plays in iTunes only)

King Creosote does Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’.

(Man, they love Jeff Buckley round here!)

Football, Gone but not forgotten

Up shit Greek

May 27, 2007May 25, 2012 Craig McAllister

Liverpool the other night were beaten by a freaky goal, a classy goal, and by their own ineptitude at putting the ball in the net when they had the lion’s share of possession. I had this next musical treat all ready to go in the event of Liverpool winning, but it seems churlish not to put it up anyway. Back in the 80’s, Liverpool were my favourite English team. They had Souness, Dalglish and Hansen. The backbone of the team was Scottish and they were mainly unbeatable. When they won the European Cup against Roma in 1984, John Peel’s show was magic. It began with a burst of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, some church bells, some Mighty Wah! and Peel and Kid Jensen trading good natured bonhomie. In between you get some dub reggae (of course), some “exquisitly tastless” Anti Nowhere League and a bit of Ivor Cutler (of course). Peel was a big fan of Liverpool, so much so that he got married in a red and white suit. Throughout the show he is in good spirits and full of emotion.

If you’re a Liverpool fan, listen in, stop greetin’ and hark back to the good old days. And if you’re not a fan, listen in anyway. It’s lo-fi quality and sounds a bit underwater at times, but radio gold all the same.

God bless John Peel

Cover Versions, Sampled

Pass It On (part 2)

May 14, 2007September 29, 2007 Craig McAllister

Simple Kid is a one-man band. All battered acoustics, a bit of banjo and a smattering of electronics and new technology. He’s an Irish Beck. I suppose you could call him Feck. Hee hee. Anyway, his first album ‘Simple Kid 1‘ was pretty good. I have had a copy of it since it was released but I recently picked up the genuine article in Tesco for 97p!

More recently I heard him do a song called ‘Lil King Kong’ which sounded like it sampled/borrowed/stole the riff from Led Zeppelin‘s version of Robert Johnson’s ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’ (get it on the BBC Sessions album). Pretty good I thought. And pretty cheeky. Cos it’s not like Led Zeppelin are going to sue him. After all, they’ve made a career out of ripping off the old blues guys and crediting everything to Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones. Even their version of ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’ is credited to Page, Plant and Johnson. But I’ve never been able to hear where they enhanced the original. Unless you count the drums. But then surely the credit should have Bonham added to it somewhere.

Actually, they probably would sue, being the corporate money grabbers that they are/were, but I digress. These 2 tracks are posted in the spirit of the first ‘Pass It On’ post – that the best songs and tunes of the past usually end up being recycled in some way years down the line. Listen and compare, pop pickers.

Led Zeppelin ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’

Simple Kid ‘Lil King Kong’

Dylanish

Trashcan Sonatas

May 7, 2007May 25, 2012 Craig McAllister

This is one of the weirdest bootlegs I own. Dylan fans are guilty of grabbing hold of anything that his name can be linked with and I’m as big a sap as the next collector. No music on this. Just AJ Weberman talking about an interview he did with Bob Dylan in January 1971, followed by 2 telephone conversations between them following the interview.

Weberman is, to quote West of Scotland vernacular, a bit of a roaster. Amongst other things, he was convinced Dylan was a heroin addict, so he tracked down where he lived in New York and started raking through his rubbish to find clues/evidence that could substantiate his claims! The sleevenotes on the bootleg tell you more:

AJ Weberman, self styled Dylanologist, mega egotist, founder member of the art of Garbology, (the practice of sifting through someone’s garbage to interpret their character) had become notorious by circulating his revelations on Dylan’s persona on the underground press. Probably in an attempt to curb some of Weberman’s wild theorising and to protect his young family from intrusive attentions, Dylan began to actively cultivate Weberman’s interest in him, and around December 1970 and early January 1971 arranged to meet with Weberman at his recording studio in Greenwich Village that he’d recently had converted from a shop. Whatever the understanding between them may have been, Weberman’s motivation for attending these meetings was to consruct an article on Dylan that he could circulate in the underground press. When Dylan became aware of this, two telephone conversations ensued, the first from Dylan to Weberman requesting to see a draft of the article, the second a return call from Weberman to discuss amendments.

There’s books on this! And folk like me read them! Dylan is revealed to be obtuse, awkward and contradictory once he realises Weberman has taped him in conversation. Hardly revelatory stuff then, but you need to hear it. And he swears quite a lot too. It’s in 3 parts:

part 1 part 2 part 3

* part 3 will download from megaupload, as it was too big a file for my usual file host

Dylanish, Hard-to-find

Pass it on….

May 7, 2007August 21, 2008 Craig McAllister

In the 1930’s, Jimmie Tarlton had a tune he played on his guitar called ‘Mexican Rag’. I have read that it was captured somewhere on a field recording (possibly by Harry Smith or Alan Lomax) but extensive googling and raking arond in the depths of file sharing sites has not helped me find it. Anyway, around 1964 Bob Dylan appropriated/liberated/stole it and was caught on tape doodling around with it in the studio. It has since been named ‘Suze (The Cough Song)’, named after Suze Rotolo (that’s her on the cover of Freewheelin’) and due to the fact that he coughs near the end of it, mid-harmonica solo. I don’t think Dylan intended to do much with it but you never know. It sounds a wee bit like ‘Nashville Skyline Rag’, so maybe he kept it in mind for a few years. Who knows? The version I have is a work in progress but it is one of my favourite Bob-in-the-studio moments. Either way, it is a great wee tune that is good fun to pick along with on the guitar. You can get it on CD2 of the Bootleg Series 1-3, or you can hear it here.

In the best folk tradition, the tune has been passed on and re-named many times, with words added, changed or dropped altogether. The new Elliott Smith compilation ‘New Moon’ has a track called ‘Whatever (Folk Song in C)’ that sounds very similar to Dylan’s tune above. A bit slower and less excitable, it features a fantastic vocal from Elliott. I bloody love Elliott Smith. I love the way his vocals are nearly always double-tracked (just like John Lennon). I love the effortless way he can pick out a tune on his guitar. I love the weird chords he throws in now and again. I love the absolute melancholy of it all. Almost makes me want to take heroin. Why his music is not held in the same regard as Nick Drake’s or even Kurt Cobain’s escapes me. I wish I had got to see him live. I wish I could sing and play guitar like him. I wish he hadn’t stabbed himself to death. Stupid bastard. The whole ‘New Moon’ album is fantastic. If you like your music downbeat, melancholic and bathed in pathos you need it. ‘Whatever’ is my current favourite track. Get it here. Then get yourself over to Play or Amazon or wherever and get the album.

elliott smith 1969-2003

Bonus track added: Plain Or Pan’s version of Elliott’s ‘Miss Misery’, the song that won him an Oscar for the soundtrack of Good Will Hunting. Recorded on 4 track, it’s a bit hissy and crackly and I didn’t get the levels quite right. It has a ‘unique’ sound all of it’s own and might well give bedroom singer songwriters a bad name everywhere.

Dylanish

Dancing Bob

April 28, 2007May 25, 2012 Craig McAllister

For your pleasure and amusement…..

coming soon….the Weberman tapes

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

The toppermost of the poppermost

April 23, 2007September 29, 2007 Craig McAllister

Here you go……the Top 10 Plain Or Pan downloads to date.

A cover-heavy Top 10, with a combined total of

4326 downloads!

1. Jeff Buckley – Mama You Been On MY Mind

Jeff Buckley – just like a woman

Rod stewart – mama you been on my mind

Norman blake – only with you

teenage fanclub – I saw the light

teenage fanclub – about a girl

Morrissey – moon river

trashcan sinatras & ali smith – half an apple

raconteurs – steady, as she goes

rolling stones – rice krispies jingle

My computer is playing funny buggers. Hence the wonky spacing and no numbers 2-10. It’s taken up enough of my time for the night so this is as good as it gets.

You can find out more about these recordings by scrolling through the pages. Or you could just be lazy and download them from here.

Hard-to-find

The Super Furry Animals Are Magic

April 21, 2007September 29, 2007 Craig McAllister

A couple of years ago, my mate Quinny casually mentioned that he had once been inside a giant squid costume on stage at a Super Furry Animals Barrowlands show. He used to give out fliers and stuff outside gigs and happened to be in the right place at the right time when the band’s management came along looking for 5 willing participants to wear the suits. They were instructed to walk on at the start of the gig and hold their fist aloft in front of the crowd who would be going bonkers at the sight of what they thought were the band in funny costumes. Quinny said he had to do all he could to stop himself from stage diving. As I said, he mentioned all this to me quite casually one day a couple of years ago, when we were talking about music and he said that he didn’t even like the band! A Jim’ll Fix It moment wasted on a non-believer. I told him they were magic and played him these 2 tracks to try and convert him.

Tradewinds and The Roman Road were both released as b-sides on the singles around the release of the ‘Rings Around The World’ album and were then included as the Tradewinds ep as part of ltd edition versions of the album. They are folky, electronic, a wee bit country, a wee bit sweary (Roman Road is anyway) a wee bit prog and a whole big bit magic. In short, a potted version of what’s great about the Super Furry’s. You’ll like them. Even if Quinny still thinks they’re rubbish.