Three weeks and one day until summer "vacation." Then I hand in my No. 2 pencil and retire from being a full-time teacher to my kids. (Well, at least until the next wave hits, eh?) Yes, just like when I was a lad, I'm counting the days until school's out. Tonight, after a particularly trying day of work and school, neither done as well as they could and should have been, I was horizontal on the couch vegging out and watching episodes of the late '60s sitcom "The Mothers-in-Law" and hoping for sleep when I hit season 1, episode 30, called "How Not to Manage a Rock Group." This ridiculous program really lifted my spirits because L.A. garage rockers the Seeds portrayed fictitious band the Warts and performed the biggest hit the Seeds ever had in "Pushin' Too Hard" (No. 36 in Feb. '67). Man, seeing frontman Sky Saxon on screen was a hoot. Here's a clip. Lester Bangs called him an American ripoff of Mick Jagger. Hmm. What do you think?
Now I'm awake as can be and have all three of my Nuggets box sets out and ready to spin. I have a feeling I won't be pushin' too hard tomorrow. Here's a fun cover from a band we all seem to have time for in this little corner of the 'Net.
Every few weeks for the past couple of years I have snooped around the 'Net looking for a copy of 'C86 & All That.' The book was penned by Neil Taylor, one of the original compilers of the legendary NME cassette, and there is no better journalist to tell the tale. The book was in print for the blink of an eye, and I seemingly missed my chance at this testament to the golden age of indie-pop because those lucky enough to grasp the grail never resell them. Trust me, I have searched high and low and have never seen one on the block. It's a keeper.
The other day while on the hunt I checked out the Facebook page dedicated to the book. Was it a mirage? Mr. Taylor was touting the fact that 'C86 & All That' was back in print. The post was dated May 12. Gulp. I wrote to Mr. Taylor, and he told me the second reprint had sold out in six days. Of course it had. Foiled again... but no! A third batch has been printed. Better hurry, lads and lasses. These won't last long. Here are the details. Comes with a batch of postcards too. Oh, and he's got badges for sale.
To whet your appetite, here is a fun watch. It's Mr. Taylor with some of our heroes from that era talking 'C86' to promote the book. Pete Astor, Luke Haines and more!
I could just about take the text from our last installment on Pete Astor and pop it on this page. I discovered the Monochrome Set in 1985 when the two singles from 'The Lost Weekend' received a little bit of airplay here in America, particularly on MTV. I immediately went for the band's back catalog and caught up. Bid was uncomfortable with signing to the Warner-backed Blanco Y Negro and with their commercial sound on that album, and the boys ended up calling it a day. Incidentally, the album is excellent. Everyone kept in touch, and they even backed Jessica Griffin in '88 on 'The Camera Loves Me,' the first album from Would-Be-Goods. In 1989, the Monochrome Set had made a demo and considered reuniting.
Surprisingly, the Set ended their first hiatus by signing with Vinyl Japan. Turned out, even to the surprise of the band, Bid and the boys were big in that faraway land. The band released 'Dante's Casino' in 1990 and hit the road... in Japan. Bid has described the experience as akin to 'A Hard Day's Night,' complete with girls chasing them. That never happened in the UK. There would be four more albums to follow between 1991 and 1995, the last three for their old mates at Cherry Red. Bid has said these were more or less for the Japanese market, but even there they had an expiration date. Britpop became the new flavor, and the Japanese economy started to take a dive too. The band broke up again, and this time the gap between albums would be 17 years.
That's when I re-entered the picture. I have been there for the six albums released since 2012, and there hasn't been a disappointing note in the bunch. I have been spending this time cooped up in the house getting acquainted with the '90s albums I missed, all with the help of the new Cherry Red box set 'Little Noises.' All five albums are in the set, 'Dante's Casino,' 'Jack,' 'Charade,' 'Misere' and 'Trinity Road.' There are only three bonus tracks, but that's not such a surprise since there were only two non-album B-sides during this era. Journalist Michael White spins a good story in the liner notes, and there are plenty of quotes from the band. The only tiny bone to pick is the box itself. I prefer the sturdy clam-shell design to this flimsy cardboard with an open end like you commonly find on the original album series boxes. I recently picked up the new boxes Cherry Red has put out of the Primitives and Shoes, and they have the clam-shell design for more or less the same price point as this one.
As for the music, the Monochrome Set means a lot to me, and I feel like a couple of listens to each of these albums isn't enough to compare fairly with their earlier and later eras. I can say I'm not hearing an 'Eligible Bachelors' in this box set, but that's setting the bar awfully high. The addition of Orson Presence on keyboards and guitar, as well as taking on some of the songwriting duties, did seem to change their sound a bit. Having said that, there is no doubt you're listening to the Monochrome Set, and there are songs I have taken an instant liking to and am playing over and over again. 'Dante's Casino' and the poppy 'Charade' are the two albums that seem to be rising to the top. As expected, this is probably not the place for the novice to start, but this is a great way for the true fan to fill the gap between the Monochrome Set's two wider known periods.
As if further evidence was needed that '90s era Monochrome Set is obscure, these are the only two clips I could find to give you a listen to songs from the box...
Regular readers know my enthusiasm for new music waned in the '90s. I won't rehash the reasons. It will have to suffice to say sounds and tastes went into directions that weren't my cup of tea. Soup Dragons "Hang-Ten" vs. "I'm Free" is about the best example I can give. While I licked my wounds and retreated to the bands that made me love music in the first place (Kinks, Beach Boys, Zombies), I missed out on releases from artists I had once adored. During this ongoing period of isolation, I have rectified a couple of those mistakes.
Through the years I have given quite a bit of time to Pete Astor on these pages. Whether with the Loft, Weather Prophets or the solo albums he's been releasing on Tapete in more recent times, it's obvious he's a musical hero. By the 1990s, Astor's sound had begun to fall out of favor with a fickle and aging indie crowd. The Weather Prophets had dissolved, thanks in part to Creation joining forces with WEA for a few minutes, but Astor continued his relationship with Alan McGee's label by releasing two solo albums, 'Submarine' (1990) and 'Zoo' (1991). By this time, McGee was looking for the hits, and Astor didn't have any on those two albums. McGee suggested a change of scenery. There was a monthly music magazine in France that was big with the university set called Les Inrockuptibles that constantly touted Astor's work. His popularity there led to signing with French indie label Danceteria. Astor released 'Paradise' in 1992 to favorable reviews, and it was bought by the usual suspects and a handful of new fans in France.
I completely missed this album. Thankfully, Tapete reissued it late last year. The 10 songs display Astor's talent as a singer-songwriter, and the sound reminds me a bit of later Lloyd Cole. It's mostly gentle and turned down, and there is a lot of acoustic guitar and even a little twang. The lyrics are brilliant, and standout songs "Almost Falling in Love" and "She Took the TV" are being played daily in this house. There was another album on Danceteria in 1993 before Astor grew tired of the industry and disappeared for quite a while. This story sounds an awful lot like Phil Wilson's, doesn't it? I'm hoping Tapete reissues followup 'God & Other Stories' as well. I'm sure if we all buy 'Paradise,' it will get the Hamburg label's attention. Here is a little taster. That's Felt and Everything But The Girl guitarist Neil Scott taking some of the duties on electric guitar. Back next time with another lost classic from this era.
That jackhammering piano. Those WHOOO-OOOOOHHHs. I would say rest easy, Richard Wayne Penniman, but that's just not your style. Heaven just got a helluva lot more interesting.
You have to hand it to the music community. Bands continue to make lemonade from lemons during this pandemic with inspiring online lockdown performances and other inspiring ways to stay relevant and maybe make a buck or two. I pulled out some of my records from the Bluebells after this popped up the other day. Tip of the cap to Into Creative for coming up with an interesting way to highlight one of my favorite songs from my youth. Isn't it great to see the McCluskeys and Bobby together again... even if it is apart?
This was also a good excuse to reminisce and pull out this photo of yours truly meeting a Bluebell on a sweet day in Glasgow with friends from around the world.
For a moment, let's pretend this is just another Easter. We always celebrate with something from our aptly-named musical hero. This year, let's go back to the label compilation Alan Betrock's Shake Records put out in 1981. 'Shake to Date' features, among others, the second-ever A-side from the dB's, solo material from that band's own Peter Holsapple and a couple from Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Here's one of two songs Mitch contributed...
I would be remiss if not mentioning since last Easter Mr. Easter was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Here's a nice bio that organization put together for the occasion. Belated congratulations, Mitch!
On the heels of George's new soul covers series that just debuted at Charity Chic Music, I thought about another take on "We Can Work It Out" that goes in a different direction than both the original and the brilliant version by Steve Wonder bandied about here. I already went into lengthy band introductions of Dislocation Dance on these pages a couple of years ago. To save time, I'll direct you here and here. Let's just get to the music.
First up is a polished version from their time on Rough Trade that appeared on the 12" version of the single "Show Me" in 1983. It's sophitsi-pop and of its time, but I love that time. You'll hear quite a bit of Andy Diagram's trumpet, lots of keyboards and jangly guitar that comes in at about the 3:40 mark to really fill the space and get the song moving. Of course, Kathryn Way's beautiful voice is the cherry on top.
This was not the band's first go around with this song. In 1981, when they were on New Hormones, the Manchester label founded by Buzzcocks and manager Richard Boon, the song appeared on the mini album 'Slip That Disc!' As you might have guessed, Dislocation Dance was rawer, less polished and closer to post-punk in those days. This one clocks in a full minute shorter than the 1983 take. I can appreciate when a band puts their own stamp on a familiar piece of work. With this third appearance in less than three years on the blog, there is no denying I'm a fan of Dislocation Dance.
I know a few of you got a visit from Santa last month and received Will Birch's excellent read 'Cruel to Be Kind: The Life and Times of Nick Lowe.' I have been wanting to get to the following question since I finished it back in the fall, and I'm hoping fans will want to participate. On page 280, Birch transitions to the chapter that covers the time around 2001 and the release of album 'The Convincer' with this sentence: "[Lowe] was now on his way to making the album that many still consider to be his best."
Does this sound right to you? It's a great album, to be sure, but I have to admit I didn't realize 'The Convincer' was held in such high esteem. I do believe, however, the Brentford Trilogy is his strongest era. Let's put Birch's bold statement to the test with a highly unscientific poll. Tell me your favorite Lowe album in the comments section. You may rant and rave about Brinsley Schwarz, Rockpile, Dave Edmunds' solo albums with Rockpile, Little Village, Carlene Cater's early '80s stuff, Lowe-produced works, whatever you fancy, but let's stick to his solo long players for the poll. Here's the list of candidates to refresh your memory.
Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop For Now People (1978)
Labour of Lust (1979)
Nick the Knife (1982)
The Abominable Showman (1983)
Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit (1984)
The Rose of England (1985)
Pinker and Prouder Than Previous (1988)
Party of One (1990)
The Impossible Bird (1994)
Dig My Mood (1998)
The Convincer (2001)
At My Age (2007)
The Old Magic (2011)
Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family (2013)
I'll get the ball rolling with my own pick. The first three albums were hugely important in my youth, and I still pull them off the shelf often. I like a bunch of songs after that, but I didn't fall in love with another album until 'The Impossible Bird.' I have found everything since then to be vital. In the end, it's really a tossup between 'Jesus of Cool'/'Pure Pop For Now People' and 'The Impossible Bird.' The grown-up me says his first crooner, 'The Impossible Bird' is his best album. Just for kicks, I'll tell you I probably like 'The Abominable Showman' the least, but I have some bootlegs from 1983 with the "Noise to Go" band that make me wish for a time machine. OK, what says you?
What can I say? I had a hankerin' tonight and mashed away. And, yes, I listened to these two songs back to back while making them. Let me tell you, folks, the key to a good bowl of mashed potatoes, and this goes for just about everything, is to be liberal with the butter. My rule is one stick for every five potatoes you mash. Apologies to my general practitioner. Perhaps I can tell him I at least got some exercise tonight in the form of dancing the mashed potato in the kitchen with my 13-year-old son.
Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe of Cameo-Parkway Records straight outta Philly signed local gal Dione LaRue as a back-up singer when she was just 15 years old. Her family called her "Dee," and the team of Mann and Lowe dubbed her Dee Dee Sharp. Cameo-Parkway was already well known for dance and novelty-type hits, and local act Chubby Checker had been getting the kids to bust a move... make that do "The Twist"... on Philly TV program American Bandstand. By 1962, acts like James Brown and the Contours had been making a variation on the twist called the mashed potato the latest craze. That same year, Dee Dee, with help from the songwriting team of Mann and Lowe, recorded these two top-10 smashes that made her a regular on Dick Clark's popular after-school show. You'll notice quite quickly that "Mashed Potato Time" is more or less "Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes with new lyrics.
Through the years, references to the mashed potato have popped up in songs all over the place. My two faves are in "Dance This Mess Around" by the B-52's and "Do the Strand" by Roxy Music. Perhaps this is fodder for a future top 10 over at Rol's place.
Do you hear that? That's the sound of laptops being slammed shut around the globe. Count yourself lucky. Mrs. LTL got a new job two years ago that requires very little travel. In fact, my collection of Scritti Politti has been gathering dust since the spring of 2018. The past couple of days, however, she has been in Portland. She is home for a day before heading to our old hometown of Chicago on Sunday. So perhaps there will be time for another spin from Green Gartside next week. I'm jealous about her stay in Portland because I want to stop by Jigsaw Records. I'm even more envious about Chicago for the fare. Have a Chicago-style dog from Portillo's for me, won't you?
Today's selection takes us to the 'Provision' era of 1988. The album was not nearly as successful as previous smash 'Cupid & Psyche 85,' but there were minor hits. Walk-up single "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)" performed well in the UK, making it to No. 13, and "Boom! There She Was" charted in America, peaking at No. 53. Between those two releases was "First Boy In This Town (Lovesick)." We didn't even get this one over here, but I did manage to find the 7" in the import section. There is a 12" extended mix as well, but I have never seen it. If I happen upon it in a shop, the completist in me would demand a purchase. The song always felt like it could have been one from the 'Cupid & Psyche' era... just not quite good enough to make the cut.
For uber fans, the B-side is considered one of, if not, their best. Non-album track "World Come Back To Life" features the talents of David Gamson's keyboards. His sound is tied closely to Scritti Politti's commercial appeal throughout the '80s, but he got out for a long time after 'Provision.' In 2008, Gamson told bibbly-o-tek, a blog dedicated to the band, "By that point we hated each other's guts and didn't talk to each other for 10 years." Later, he called 'Provision' "the most digital sounding analog record ever made. The most anal sounding record..."
All of these negatives aside, 'Provision' went top 10 in the UK but stalled at No. 113 here in America. Shocking when you consider the success of "Perfect Way" three years earlier. It wouldn't be too much longer before Green would throw up his hands and move to Wales. There wouldn't be another long player from Scritti Politti for more than a decade. By and large, this A-side has been forgotten. It wasn't even included on the 2011 best-of package 'Absolute.'
January always ends up being a month of regret as I realize all of those missed songs and albums on my lists of the previous year's best. One such single is "Shut Up And Kiss Me," released by the Flatmates as a limited edition 7" via indie label Old Bad Habits out of Greece. This year, Martin Whitehead's band is doing something they never even did in the salad days of the Subway Organization. Brace yourselves. They're putting out a long player. The 13-song self-titled album will hit the shelves in March on the resurrected Subway in the UK (the label's first release since 1994) and on the Athens-based Happy Happy Birthday To Me here in America. When you consider the Flatmates released five singles in its original incarnation, a baker's dozen worth of material all at once is like manna from heaven.
You might be asking yourself, just who are these Flatmates? After all, nobody has seen Deb or Sarah since the late '80s. Whitehead and Rocker are still here, and Lisa Bouvier has been fronting the band with her trademark song opening "1-2-3-4" scream since 2013. Maybe you were lucky enough to catch her over here with the reunited band at NYC Popfest 2014. Consider this... Bouvier has been at the mic longer than Deb! There are a slew of guest appearances on the album too, including Wendy Pickles from the Popguns and Thomas Aherne from the Proctors, to name just a couple. With NYC Popfest on hiatus, we here in America will probably just have to dream, but those of you in the UK can expect plenty of dates to support the new album. Lucky!
Here's that single from late last year. This one opens the new album. Whitehead used to say their cover of Ramones' "I Don't Care" on the B-side of the "Happy All the Time" 12" probably came the closest to the way they were live back in the day. Do I hear a little of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy as this new one opens? This is a hell of a good time.
All mp3s posted at LTL! are to highlight music you should buy... right now. Sure, give it a listen, but then run to your nearest indie record shop and pay up. Mp3s are linked for a limited time. Rants and raves to lineartrackinglives@gmail.com.
