demo, entire show, Hard-to-find, studio outtakes

Come down from the mountain, you have been gone too long…

Craig McAllister

…Spring is upon us, follow my only song. The clocks change this weekend, and the opening line from the Fleet Foxes ‘Ragged Wood’ has been ringing in my head since yesterday, when I logged onto The La’s forums to discover that Lee Mavers, my generation’s Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee and Howard Hughes rolled into one (Eccentric behaviour? Check. Reclusive lifestyle? Check. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? Check) has come out of hibernation for a one-off (or maybe more) guest spot on Pete Doherty’s tour.

mavers-doherty-1

He’s alive! And playing guitar! Picture copied from Las.org

Believe me, this has sent ripples of excitement towards anyone who still faithfully checks out what the La’s have been up to since 1990. For any uninitiated amongst you, here’s a quick summary…

tumbleweed

Yep. Ignoring the ironic attempt at humour, or the eagerly anticpiated yet ultimately unfulfilling 2005 ‘comeback”; Maver’s toothache problems meant he couldnae sing very well. Drummer problems of Spinal Tap proportions meant that Lee’s gardener (he has a gardener?!?) played the smallest drum kit imagineable whilst standing up, The La’s have been pretty much gone, dead and split up. So yeah, ripples of excitement have splashed their way across the ether towards anyone still holding a 20 year old torch in anticipation of the mythical second album. Even a new song would be nice. Or a new chord. Or a new anything. Until then, we’ll have to make do with this…

The internet is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

They did ‘Son Of A Gun’ as well, which is easy enough to find on yer YouTube. I don’t want to clog this page up with videos when what I really wanted to give you was this……………….the Holy Grail of La’s recordings. Whispered in hushed tones from every corner of the Merseyssippi and beyond, rumoured to be an urban myth, a recording that wasn’t actually in existence, until 2005 when me, myself and I stupidly opened my metaphorical big mouth with one typed line on the La’s website. “The Kitchen tapes? I’ve got them.” Cue mass pandemonium. “No you don’t.” “Yes I do.” And my ego got the better of me. I won’t say how I got a hold of the original tape, but I feel I betrayed that person’s trust in a way. Sorry Mr L, if you’re reading. I know you browse here on occassion. As soon as I had copied the tape for one person it had spread like the River Irvine bursting its banks across the Low Green. It was everywhere. Every bloody file sharing site and half-arsed second rate blog posted it. And took the credit for it.  Anyone could hear the session. I was pissed off. You had to earn your La’s stripes first. You couldn’t just turn up to the party as a newcomer in 2005 and just be given it. But that’s what happened. The emails never stopped coming. “‘Eh a’right fella/la/mate etc. Eh, about dem Kitchen tapes. Any chance of eh, y’know. I’ll send you me addy and a stamp.” I still get the emails to this day, even though if they looked hard enough, any dim wit could find it on most file sharing sites. All my fault. I let it out the bag and I hate myself for it. But you might as well get it from me as poke about on those dodgy file sharing sites full of adverts for swingers in your area.

mavers

But the Kitchen Session itself. What is it? If you’ve never heard of it before now, here’s the facts. Sometime in 1989, the La’s were staying at a cottage in Devon, ostensibly to write songs for their second album. The cottage was owned by Andy MacDonald, label boss of Go! Discs. In preparation for him visiting, the band recorded themselves in the kitchen (good acoustics apparently) doing a half hour or so session on video camera. MacDonald later took the tape back to London where an audio copy of it made it’s way into my lucky bastard hands. The songs are almost complete but not quite. Apart from ‘I Am The Key’ none of the songs had ever been heard before. The session is a masterclass in songwriting. Mavers is clearly in charge, shouting instructions and changes to the assembled band – John Power (bass), Chris Sharrock (bongos, percussion, banging noises, now in Oasis) and Barry Sutton (guitar). “The song’s just started…….Bongos man! Nah, You should come in second….2, 3, 4!”  “ZZ Top! chaka-boom, chaka boom!“

He sings guitar riffs where they would appear in a studio recording. He scats, riffs and sings in that high falsetto that sounds so magical on The Hit Single the band are known for. Where the lyrics are incomplete, he makes up the words to fit the melody. He even sends himself up, him and Power singing Bryan Adams’ ‘Run To You’ at one point when they realise where they got the bassline from. But the songs. The songs! Pure gold! ‘Our Time’ features one of the best lines in any songs, ever.

“But the reasons unravel through the seasons I travel.”

Good, eh? I must’ve played my 17 year old tape about 300 times. As soon as I had the technology I converted it to a digital file, but for maximum effect I still like playing that old tape. It’s just about the best piece of music I own. Well. Apart from (insert obvious choice here) and so and so, but you know what I mean. The tape has reached such mythological status that it even has it’s own Wikipedia page (!) In fact, it’s so good only last week Mavers declared it “fucking rubbish“. Yes. It is that good. There is an inferior quality version in circulation which includes a daft R’n’B tune at the end. But if you want the original hi-fi/lo-fi master tape to wav file, the full unedited 34 minute Kitchen Session is here. I hope you enjoy every minute of it as much as I have. I’ve listened to it twice as I’ve written this article and it still knocks my socks off.

The official unofficial tracklisting is:

  • When Will I See You Again
  • Our Time
  • Robberman
  • She Came Down In The Morning
  • Was It Something I Said
  • It’s Not Impossible
  • Tears In The Rain
  • I Am The Key
  • band talking

    • A plea. My recording is taken straight from the video tape and converted to audio. If anyone out there has the video, well, I’m your best pal. Drop me a line. I can send you me addy and a stamp if you like, la.

    *If you like The La’s, and in particular studio outtakes, demos and the likes, you might want to click here. I put the music back up recently for a polite reader from Sweden.

    Hard-to-find, Sampled

    Collective Collected

    Craig McAllister

    I’m not a fan of posting new releases. There’s a million other blogs that do just that, and do it far better than I can. I actually don’t know enough useless information about new artists to make anything I write about them remotely interesting, so tonight I feel like I’m swimming a wee bit out of my depth. However, once in a blue moon a new track comes along that blows me away. Tonight that blue moon is shining once again.

    animal-collective

    I’ve been aware of Animal Collective ever since my pal Quinny mentioned them a couple of years ago. I’ve even got myself a real bought and paid for ginuwine CD copy of their latest album, ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion‘. More shame me, but I never paid much attention to Quinny’s goings on about them, or even the new album. I wish I had. Their new single, ‘My Girls’ has been getting tons of airplay on BBC6 Music. Why didn’t I notice that track that one time I played the album, I thought.  It’s like the Flaming Lips trying to play New Order, I thought. It’s got handclaps and bleepy noises and everything on it, I thought. It’s one thumping bassline away from You Got The Look by The Source featuring Candi Staton, I thought. It’s ripe for remixing, I thought. Pity then, I thought, that the Animal Collective are generally not for the remix game. Strange, given that their sound relies heavily on old keyboards, samples, loops and found sounds. Thank goodness for t’internet.

    animalcollectivemygirls

    From seemingly out of nowhere I found about half a dozen remixes of ‘My Girls.’ I’m not sure how official they are. It could be that some wee guy made them all up in his bedroom with his laptop. Bits of some them sound as if they were. Others sound fantastic. See what you think…

    The original version is here.

    The Hatchmatik Disco Bootleg is here.

    The Gigamesh Proper House Remix is here.

    The Mexicans With Guns Remix is here.

    The Dave Wrangler Remix is here.

    The Swine Forkbeard Remix is here.

    The Skinny Friedman DJ Edit is here.

    Phew. I’m off to reacquaint myself with the album. It looks like this…

    animalcollective

    I’ll tell you what it sounds like later.

    Maybe I didn’t waste that tenner after all.

    Hard-to-find

    That’s why I’m queasy like Sunday morning

    Craig McAllister

    And Sunday afternoon. And probably most of Monday too. Hangovers. Phhhhhhh. Not had one for a while. This one’s a cracker. I had it all planned that I would put up a couple of rip-roaring posts today, but that’s just not happening.  Got that constant sicky feeling and my head feels like, eh…..eh…..I dunno. Tch. You know what it feels like. Well. You think you do, but this one’s 10 times worse. This hangover is a killer.

    hangover

    I’d love to be under the covers with Tom Waits or Nick Drake on in the background. But with Plain Or Pan juniors 1 and 2 and a Mum who expects the Best Mother’s Day Ever, this idea is an absolute non-starter. Instead, the next best thing – Here‘s Tom Waits doing ‘Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet’, his collaboration with Gavin Bryars from 1993. It starts with a sample of a tramp singing the title over and over and ends with Tom Waits growling the same line on top of the saddest string section imaginable. If they were brave enough, Disney could score a film using this track. It’s melancholic, soulful and the perfect soundtrack to the hell that is my heid right now. Like it? Try this version from a Denver radio station broadcast in October 1999. Just Waits and a piano. Taken from a bootleg called ‘You’ll Like This One’. Aptly named.

    tom-waits

    Just in case you’re in danger of slashing your wrists and ending it all forever after putting yourself through those 2 tracks of downbeat maudlin melancholia, here‘s a raucous wee track to put you out your misery.

    johnny-shane

    The Grand Poobah, the King of the Hangover himself, Shane MacGowan‘s limited release from 1994, ‘That Woman’s Got Me Drinking’, featuring none other than Captain Jack Sparrow himself on guitar. Johnny Depp, in case you were wondering. Sounds like The Pogues doing Motorhead. Now there’s an excellent concept.

    Business as normal from tomorrow folks. Stay with me!

    tennents-lager-lovelies

    That woman’s got me drinking

    Hard-to-find

    I’m still here…

    Craig McAllister

    …but real work is presently curtailing any activity. New stuff up some.

    teacher

    In the meantime, did you ever get the fantastic Plain Or Pan compilation album from  a couple of months ago? CD1 here. CD2 here. Includes artwork!

    Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

    Baby I’m Yours Double-Whammy

    Craig McAllister

    Watching the telly last night (with one eye on the pages of Mojo) I was paying loose attention to the Arctic Monkeys Live At The Apollo that Channel 4 were showing. Had it been exciting I’d have no doubt put Mojo aside, but jeez, on this evidence the Arctic Monkeys make the Grateful Dead look like The Ramones. My ears picked up quite a bit at the end when, over the closing credits, they played this, a lovely version of Barbara Lewis‘s ‘Baby I’m Yours’ (written by Van ‘Do The Hustle!’ McCoy, fact fans).

    arctic-monkeys

    Now. The Arctic Monkeys have somewhat passed me by. Had I been 18, I’d have probably seen them live 30 times by now. I’d have followed them half-way round the country and slept on floorways and in doorways if there was half a chance I’d get a ticket for that night’s gig. But then, I did all that for the Stone Roses and being married with children and approaching 40, it’s no’ really for me anymore. Plus. The name. It’s not very good. I don’t want to like a band called the Arctic Monkeys. It’s all wrong. Had they been called The somethings, The anythings, The blah blah blah‘s, I’d have been paying more attention. I’m sure it’s put other folk off. If you’re reading, Mr Monkey, you might want to consider a name change. Increase your demographic. Although I’m sure you’re perfectly happy with what you have. Keep it for the kids. Grown ups cannae wear skinny jeans anyway, unless you’re Franz Ferdinand. Did you know they were pushing 40 as well? Incredibly 3 of them still have size 29 waists (I think I read that in the Sunday Post). I haven’t been in size 29 Levis since I was 19. Thank god for King Tubby on the bass. At least he brings the average waist size of Franz Ferdiand back up to something approaching normality for men of their age. Anyway, where was I?

    arctic-covers

    Oh aye. The Arctic Monkeys. Yep. Passed me by a wee bit. I have the debut album but not the singles. Not that much of a fan. Had I been buying the singles, I’d have known that ‘Baby I’m Yours’ was out in 2006, as the 3rd track on the ‘Leave Before The Lights Go Out’ single. I’d have known it’s widely available on a bootleg called ‘Covers Mixtape’. I’d also have known that it was a duet of sorts with the singer from a now defunct Liverpudlian band called The 747s. I’d have known that wee Alex had a penchant for all things soulful, orchestral and 60s long before those Last Shadow Puppets bought their first Scott Walker album. So credit where it’s due. Not content with banging out generic guitar based indie rock with interesting lyrics, he’s broadened his horizons. And ‘Baby I’m Yours’ can now be regarded as the prototype for his grand vision. It’d make a great first dance at your wedding. As I mentioned in the Fleet Foxes post below, why didn’t anyone tell me about this before now?

    barbara-lewis

    Contrast and compare. Here‘s Barbara Lewis‘s original million-selling version. Look about online and you’ll find countless country versions, a disco version by Suzanne Stevens and a faithful re-recording for the Mermaids soundtrack by Cher. None of them a patch on the Arctic Monkeys, and that’s the truth. I’m now off to download that ‘Covers Mixtape’ I mentioned.

    Cover Versions, demo, Dylanish

    Outfoxed

    Craig McAllister

    In blogging terms, this post is chip paper. Yesterday’s news. Actually, make that last weeks news. You no doubt know already, but main Fleet Fox Robin Pecknold has gone and recorded some stuff under the alias of A White Antelope. What can be found so far online is pretty good – finger-picked, layered in harmony and as poofy sounding as you could possibly need. I like it. How come no-one told me about this before now?

    white-antelope

    Here‘s his/their cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’. Last time I saw Dylan play this he went for the marching military funeral band approach to the arrangement. A far cry from his early 60s live versions when Joan Baez would often rudely interrupt with her strangled attempts at harmony, or his mid 70s Rolling Thunder versions with the clipped guitar and pedal steel accompaniment. White Antelope has listened to the original recording and replicated it well. Better even. But then, if you’ve been keeping up to date with what’s hot and what’s not in the world of music, you knew that already.

    Cover Versions, Double Nugget, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

    Like A Rolling Stone quadruple-whammy

    Craig McAllister

    Probably Bob Dylan‘s most famous song, Like A Rolling Stone shows no sign of gathering moss just yet. He’s still playing it live to this day, and unusually for 21st Century Bob, it sounds fairly similar to the original 1965 version released on Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan loves playing around with songs, changing them, playing them in different keys and in diferent tempos (LARS was originally in 3/4 waltz time). If you get him on a good night, he might have told the band that the key has changed before they start playing it. On a great night (Barrowlands 2004) he might even conduct the lucky few in the room in a bit of a singsong. “We musta played that song a thousand times and ain’t nobody ever kept up with us.” For Bob to say anything to his audience, never mind a dish out praise as flattering as that, is rare indeed. Given that Bob likes to change his songs so much, I’m sure The Old Zim would like, even dig, the versions below.

    jimihendrixmontereykl3

    How does it feel? Burny, of course

    I say ‘dig’ because, as you no doubt know, in between changing the sound of the rock guitar forever and before disappearing somewhere down flare city, Jimi Hendrix was Dylan fan numero uno back in the 60s. His version is from the Monterey Music Festival in 1967. It’s long, bluesy and uh, kinda groovy. Yeah, dig brother (You get the idea). Jimi set fire to his guitar at the end of this show. Everyone thinks he did this all the time on stage, but he didn’t. Monterey was one of those rare occassions.

    mick-ronson

    Another guitar hero who had a bash at LARS was Mick Ronson. Redolent with full-on Ziggy Les Paul power chords and rather shitty sounding drums, this version is remarkable in that it features David Bowie on vocals. It wouldn’t sound out of place on ‘Pin Ups’ (my 2nd favourite Bowie album, just behind Hunky Dory). Choc-full of spectacular guitar sounds, it twangs, squeals and screeches it’s way from beginning to end in just over 4 minutes.

    creation_pic

    The Creation were a pslightly psych garage rock band from England. But you probably knew that too. They famously described their music as ‘red with purple flashes’ and for most of the time this was true. Obviously, Alan McGee was a fan. Obviously. ‘Making Tyme’, ‘How Does It Feel?’ ‘Painter Man’ (aye, later done by Boney M) are all fantastic speed/acid fuelled foot-to-the-floor romps throught the tale-end of the 60s. Shame, then, that their version of LARS is so tame. Given that Bob was something of a Holy Grail for many of these musicians, it’s possible that The Creation were just paying too much respect to the tune. I don’t know, but listening to it doesn’t really conjure up the red and purple flashes I’d like.

    soupgreens

    Oh smile, ffs

    The same cannot be said for The Soup Greens. Recorded in just one take, this is garage band rock at it’s finest. The Soup Greens have the distinction of making LARS sound like Louie Louie or Wild Thing, and given that that’s pretty much the only songs they knew before recording this (there are only 8 known Soup Greens recordings in existence), it makes perfect sense. There’s echo, twang, Farfisa organ and that nagging insistant beat that Julian Cope clearly heard and ripped off before passing it off as an original recording. Back in the mid 80s, Cope was indeed flying in the face of fashion, but World Shut Your Mouth would not have been possible without this record, that much is clear. Even with the vinyl snaps, crackles and pops, it. Is. A. Belter.

    Bonus Track. You know that song Groovin’? “Groovin’ waah-waah-wah (harmonica riff) on a Sunday afternoon waah-wah-wah” It was by The Rascals. Before they became The Rascals, they were the Young Rascals. If you watch The Beatles at At Shea Stadium closely (google it – it’s downloadable!) you’ll spot a ‘The Young Rascals Are Coming’ banner. That’s them. They do a fairly good West Coast version of LARS. You can hear it here. Cheerio!

    Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, studio outtakes

    Take your knickers off and let’s go!

    Craig McAllister

    Hmmmmm…it appears that the internet police have been at it again. Both versions of Revolution take 20 have been were mysteriously deleted from my file sharing account. If you’ve visited specifically for them, read on…

    It’s amazing to think that, 41 years after initially being recorded, a new mix of The Beatles ‘Revolution‘ has made it’s way out of the box marked ‘Masters’ and onto the internet. Not just any old new mix, oh no! The mix getting every Beatles bore’s knickers in a twist is the fabled Revolution Take 20, all uninterrupted 10min 46 seconds of it. Shooby-doo-wop, ah-wow!

    beatles-68

    The history books point to this take being recorded on the 4th June 1968 and apparently had John Lennon singing the whole of the backing vocals whilst lying on his back. The Master Tape box was labelled ‘Revolution – Mama Papa’. Sadly (for me) it doesn’t feature Michelle Phillips on guest vocals, or even Papa John banging away on a tambourine somewhere in the background. The ‘Mama Papa’ refers to the backing vocals Lennon sings in the second half of the song (starting around the 5min 40s mark). Listen out, too, for the amusing studio chatter at the start and a wee bit of Yoko Ono at the end.

    lewisohn2

    Lennon recording his vocals. Taken from the excellent Mark Lewisohn Beatles Sessions trainspotters delight book.

    Sonically, Take 20 lies somewhere between the laid-back Beach Boys-y acoustic version of Revolution 1 on side 3 of the White Album and Revolution 9’s looped tapes and weird noises. There’s some harmonica buried deep in the mix, some nonsensical Lennon mumbles, what sounds like George Harrison’s guitar doing an impression of an air raid siren and all manner of weird things going on. It goes without saying, of course, but any discerning fan of The Beatles needs this take. I’m certain it’s spreading across the interent like a happy virus even as I type, but you can get it here (high quality mp3 file) or here (higher quality flac file). Whatchawaitin’ for?

    beatles-white1

     Bonus Track! At the start of September ’68, Paul McCartney got pissed off with Pete Townshend for suggesting that The Who were the only band still capable of rocking out any more. By the 13th of September The Beatles had recorded this, the 21st take of Helter Skelter. Blisters on their fingers indeed!

    Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

    Try Listening To The 12″

    Craig McAllister

    Watching the predicto-fest that was the Brits the other night, my mind started wandering half-way through the Pet Shop Boys Lifetime Achievement Award set. Even in all their badly-mimed, poorly edited megamix glory, I have to say that I like the Pet Shop Boys, but I couldn’t help thinking that, had they not been so contrary, difficult (and split up), New Order would’ve been up there getting their backs well and truly slapped by all manner of minor celebrity instead.

    new-order-at-club

    Here are the young men

    Of course, being contrary and difficult is exactly what maketh the band. Famous for leaving the big hits off the albums (in a give-the-fans-value-for-money kinda way) they never fail to irritate, infuriate and infatuate me in equal measure. My formative years as a beer drinker in training were soundtracked by 3 12″ records – Talking Heads ‘Slippery People’, Simple Minds‘ ‘I Travel’ and New Order‘s ‘Blue Monday’ (naturelement). To this day I can still tap out Blue Monday‘s opening bars with 2 Bic pens on an empty can of Tennents. When I hear it, I still get flashbacks to being 15 and drunk in a pal’s house (or even worse, a pal’s loft. Try getting out of one of them after 2 cans and a packet of dry roasted peanuts!)

    I’ve mentioned this previously, but if you’re new here you won’t know, so I’ll mention this again. I was too young to fully appreciate the full majesty of a prime New Order. I got into Blue Monday and worked my way backwards. Then I discovered Joy Division (via Paul Young, ouch). But I digress. RS McColl’s in Irvine had the best record department I’ve ever seen. Essentially a paper shop that sold sweeties, you could travel backwards in time if you went into the back shop. Rows upon rows of vinyl. Crammed into whatever space was available. Apparently the shop never returned anything to the record companies. You could buy anything there. The wee woman who worked in it knew the stock like the back of her hand and she could tell you exactly where something was in the racks too. There was a loose consession to alphabetical order but you’d never find anything by that method. The best records were found by accident, possibly because someone had found it before you and stashed it somewhere until they had enough money to buy it. The wee woman was also very generous. Once I realised they sold New Order 7″s and 12″s, I was never out of the place. I quickly realised that if you wanted more than one thing, she’d knock 50p or £1 off the total price now and again. I eventually bought the entire New Order section from there and I think it cost me about £8.30 in total. A slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. I used to have to sneak the records home in my school bag cos my mum would go mad if she caught me “wasting” money on records. Subsequently, most of my New Order records have buckles and bends in the corners of the sleeves. Silly me.

    Don’t worry, the music’s coming

    Last year, New Order were the latest act to get involved in that great fan-fleecing racket, the Deluxe Edition. I can’t help but think that this would never have happened under Tony Wilson or Factory Records patronage, but major labels like the smell of cash and they know how trainspottery fans can be. New Order’s back catalogue from ‘Movement‘ up to ‘Technique‘ was re-released with all manner of b-sides, remixes, alt. versions and associated album release singles included on the second disc of each album. Movement included an alt version of ‘Ceremony‘ from 1981. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think this slightly out-of-tune version was re-recorded after Gillian Gilbert joined the group. I’m sure New Order scholars will keep me right on that one.

    temptation-fac63

    This disc also featured 2 versions of ‘Temptation‘ (not the shiny, better-known version from Substance and Trainspotting, but the original cold, clattering Manchester funk version.) The 7″ version has an abrupt start (if that makes sense) and fades out rather quickly as well. The wee message scratched into the run-out groove on the 7″ read, “Try listening to the 12″“. So I did. I liked it better. But it also started and ended kinda funny. The 12” run-out read, “What do you think?” At the time of release, rumour had it that you were supposed to splice the 7″ version to the 12″ version for one long continuous mix. Almost impossible to do with a BSR Music Centre in the mid-80s, but these days with free, easy to use software like Audacity, this could be quite easily tested. Anyone fancy trying it?

    One minor trivial, trainspottery fact. That scream you hear after 52 seconds of the 12″ version is the sound of Peter Hook and Rob Gretton running into the vocal booth to stick snowballs down the back of Barney’s neck just as he’s about to start singing. S’true!

    blue-monday

    The biggest selling 12″ record in history

    Power, Corruption and Lies is enhanced with the addition of such behemoth non-album tracks as Blue Monday, Confusion and Thieves Like Us. What an album that would’ve made! My 12″ of Blue Monday has the unusual quirk of being labelled incorrectly. The side that says ‘Blue Monday’ actually plays the b-side, ‘The Beach’, and vice-versa. Now, that used to really confuse me at the afore-mentioned parties when I’d play ‘The Beach’ instead of the a-side. It seemed I was the only one who owned a wrongly-labelled record. Anyway, I’ve now heard The Beach a million times more than anyone else and I love the phased, processed drums, synthetic Kraftwerk-aping vocals (listen to ‘Uranium’ from 1975’s ‘Radioactivity’) and elastic band bassline as much as I love the a-side. Have a listen.

    true-faith-remix

    ‘True Faith’ remains my favourite New Order track. Like many of it’s preceding singles, it has also played a part in soundtracking my formative years. I bought the 12″ remix version (above) on the Isle Of Man the day after a particularly memorable and highly personal experience on a park bench in the Douglas Gardens with a girl from Liverpool. Yep! The original version is by far the best, but the 9 min + Shep Pettibone remix is worth a listen, if only for realising just how much those Lifetime Achieving Pet Shop Boys lifted every bang, crash and production technique from it. Nice rinky-dink Chic-esque guitar riffs in it now and again though.

    On initial copies of the 4CD ‘Retro‘ box set that came out 4 or 5 years ago, you got a 5th CD of bonus remixes etc. Included on this disc was the mega-rare Pink Noise Morel edit of ‘True Faith’. It sounds very much like the last track of a remix single (ie, no’ that good) but I’ve included it here for curio value.

    run2

    ‘Run 2’ (a re-recording of the track ‘Run‘ from ‘Technique‘) got the band into a bit of bother with American country-folky John Denver. He claimed they stole his melody from ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ and the band ended up withdrawing the single. 20,000 were pressed up and distributed. Today selling half that amount would keep you at number 1 for a month or so, but in 1989 record sales were far healthier and New Order’s chart positions not as lofty as they might’ve been. ‘Run 2’ captures New Order at that thing they do best – uplifting yet melancholic music with a great hook. Maybe John Denver had a point…

    Another thing. The last time I saw New Order (Glasgow Barrowlands, 2002) I had a tap on the shoulder during ‘Run’. “Sorry pal, but I cannae see for you.”

    Pat Nevin! (Google him if you’re none the wiser)

    And now the ironic part…

    After being released last year, people started complaining about the sound quality of these Deluxe Editions. There were accusations that some of the tracks were mastered onto CD from the vinyl originals instead of the master tapes. Nothing new in this of course. My original CD copy of ‘Kind Of Blue’ has a comforting fluffy sound between blasts of Miles Davis’ trumpet. I like it like that. It takes me back to an era I wasn’t old enough to experience first time round. Even those lovers of lo-fi The La’s have fallen victim of this. Last years ‘Deluxe Edition’ of their debut album (I live in hope) featured tracks that were copied from an old C90 tape that someone at the record company had found behind the sofa, even though the master tapes were made available to them for remastering purposes! It seems the cheaper option was to dub from the old TDK. And there’s the rub. Fleece the fans by getting them to shell out for hard-to-find material but do it as cheaply as possible. New Order quickly withdrew all the re-released albums, making them something of a collector’s edition (if not Deluxe Edition) and until they are re-re-re-released (gently down the stream) some time later this year, the above tracks’ll have to do. Or you could try eBay of course. It doesn’t bother me. I think they sound magic just the way they are.

     

    Hard-to-find

    Frying Tonight

    Craig McAllister

    Currently receiving no end of constant rotation in the car at the moment is the snappily-titled compilation ‘A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind Volume 1 – Cosmic Space Music’. Curated by The Future Sound Of London’s alter-egos Amorphous Androgynous, it does exactly what it says on the tin. No less a musical visionary than Noel Gallagher mentioned it in his end of year best of list and regardless of what you think of his own particular brand of retro rock, this compilation is the real deal. I’m quite excited by the prospect of another Oasis album, cos if the monobrowed dwarf’s magpie tendencies are anything to go by, it promises to be an absolute cracker. Fingers crossed.

    Here’s three taster tracks from Disc 1. I could’ve picked anything to give you a flavour of the album but, really, if you ain’t got this album yet, well, blah blah blah, etc etc, slevver….

    pop-levi

    No. It’s not Kasabian. Keep reading.

    First up, a track by Pop Levi called ‘Blue Honey’. This track sounds like a strange long-lost cousin of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Keep On Runnin”, but with Robert Plant on vocals. It’s extremely heavy on the hammond (maaan) and sounds like it was recorded round about 1972. Imagine my surprise then when after a bit of GoogleWiki-ing, I discovered that Pop Levi is a Liverpudlian who only started making records 5 years ago. Lauren Laverne (mmmmm) tipped him for big things in 2007, but so far the world and all it’s riches still awaits him. Shame, as if Blue Honey is anything to go by, his work has been seriously overlooked. I’m off to play.com as soon as I finish typing this.

    betty-davis1

    Uh huh!

    As something of a musical historian, I am more aware of Betty Davis. Soul siren from the sixties and seventies, she was known as Betty Mabry until marrying Miles Davis. Clearly, Miles’ own brand of don’t-give-a-fuck freakydom rubbed off on his wife. The fact that she ‘knew‘ (cough, allegedly) Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix only enhances her reputation to this writer. She is one little minx! ‘If I’m Lucky I Might Get Picked Up‘ is a raw throated paen to the joys of one night stands. “Raunchy dancin’…I’m shakin’ my fanny!” In the West of Scotland that means a whole different thing, but we know what she means, eh boys?

    mountain-machine

    The Betty Davis track segues into a track called ‘Mountain Machine’ by a band called Mountain Machine. Rather embarrassingly, my ignorance of the underground knows no limits. This lot are currently on the go, with an album out and a MySpace page and everything. Acoustic guitars fight for equal billing with some Moog-y sounding effects, backwards guitars and a fuzz toned riff that could be Black Sabbath in their hey day. This track is an instrumental, with the focus firnly on the mental part. Download it, turn it up and fry your ears. Then get on down to play.com where you have at least 3 new purchases to make. See you there!