Monthly Archives: May 2008

Television…man.

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Should you go and see reformed bands?

Well a couple of years back (already six, apparently) Television played Edinburgh and they were fantastic. A couple of years later they played the Arches in Glasgow and were still pretty damn good. In fact that year, I also saw The Dead Kennedys, Blondie, The Pixies and Morrissey (twice, in the case of the last act). I never saw Echo and the Bunnymen in their heyday, but I have seen them three times since they reformed and they were still amazing, as far as I was concerned.

Television – ‘Marquee Moon.’ mp3 (the full ten minutes version)

And The Police have also reformed. Given the ticket prices, I wasn’t even going to bother, but whilst it’s easy to slag off most of Sting’s solo career (and Dune, a David Lynch film I find very hard to watch, in fact I find it easier to watch Eraserhead) they did have some redeeming features. Like this debut single: ‘Fall Out’/’Landlord.’

The Police -‘Fall Out.’ mp3

The Police -‘Landlord.’ mp3

As to which band I’d most like to see reform and play live dates, in Scotland? Oh Lord. Heresy as it might be, The Smiths (yeah, well, I didn’t see them the first time round, did I?) Kate Bush, if she’d like to play live again. And while I’m having my final rant of the day, given that Ash are playing their debut LP 1977 in London and Echo and the Bunnymen are playing their Ocean Rain LP in New York. Which is great -but what about the rest of us?

And yeah, of course I want to see new up and coming bands -but the two are not mutually exclusive to regular gig goers. Sigh…

Anyway the three tracks above are a birthday present to two friends of mine. You know how you are!

From the sofa of my lethargy

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Eeew…feeling, tired, lethargic and with far too much to do. And I seem to have got the ‘flu in May. Hell.

Anyway, inbetween my lethargy, have ofund seven new (to me) sites that I think you should check out:

7″s from the Underground

Dirk Wears White Sox

Fruitier Than Thou

Madchester Rave On

Rare Indie Classics

Systems Of Romance

Take Two Pills

And for lethargy like this

The Pastels -‘Nothing To Be Done.’ mp3

Teenage Fanclub -‘Nothing To Be Done (Pastels cover).’

See you later…

A whole lot of Hole

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So, a focus on Courtney Love’s music today…

This was Hole’s first single from 1990. It comprised three tracks: ‘Retard Girl’ ‘Phonebill Song’ and ‘Johnnies In The Bathroom.’
The lineup for this single and the follow-up was:
Courtney Love – Vocals, guitar
Eric Erlandson – Guitar
Jill Emery – Bass
Caroline Rue -Drums

Hole -‘Retard Girl.’ mp3

Hole -‘Phonebill Song.’ mp3

Hole -‘Johnnies In the Bathroom.’ mp3

The single was released on Sympathy For The Record Industry.

This single, with the same lineup as above, came out in 1991. Though it was the b-side ‘Burn Black’ was the track that entered the Festive Fifty in 1991 (or Phantom FIfty, as John Peel named it, because he felt the chart was too predictable, and didn’t broadcast anything from it until 1993). It came out on the mighty Sub Pop.

Hole -‘Dicknail.’ mp3

Hole -‘Burn Black.’ mp3

This single was the only one to feature bassist Lesley Hardy. Jill Emery had left the band in 1992, while that same year drummer Patti Schemel replaced Caroline Rue. Schemel would be replaced by Samantha Maloney in 1998. This song was the last one released before Hole signed to Geffen for the albums Live Through This and Celebrity Skin.

Hole -‘Beautiful Son.’ mp3

Hole -’20 Years In the Dakota.’ mp3

Finally, as a bonus because the debut album Pretty On The Inside is not available in the UK, seemingly, here is the opening track from it:

Hole – ‘ Teenage Whore.’ mp3

A few more peel-related tracks…and a bit more of a scrounge…

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1986 was the year I got into music. However, being nine years old at the time, the records I loved then (with the exception of The Housemartins and Madonna) was not stuff I love now. Like a lot of nine and ten year olds I tended to be influenced by chart fodder -and that’s probably true of most kids today (for any smug so-and-so’s reading going ‘Oh my kid got straight into The Velvet Underground and Yo La Tengo and never listened to chart crap!’ you are the exception. And do you really think this helps them fit in?)

Anyway, one band I did hear a brief clip on Top Of The Pops of was The Mission. I had no conception of goth or indie culture, and I only knew Peel as a TOTP presenter. But the song ‘Stay With Me’ did do that and when I hit my teens I sought out more of The Mission’s stuff.

Wayne Hussey’s band had formed when he’d left The Sisters Of Mercy; the only Peel Festive Fifty entry they had was 1986’s ‘Serpent’s Kiss.’

The Mission -‘Serpent’s Kiss.’ mp3 (1986 Festive Fifty no.49)

I first encountered Peel’s favourite band The Fall on a programme called the Roxy which ran in 1987-8 on ITV. (It was clearly meant to be ITV’s answer to TOTP). The track in question was ‘Hit The North Part 1.’ Since Brix Smith had joined the band a few years earlier, the band had a poppier element and were starting to edge into the lower reaches of the charts. I’ve posted Hit The North part 1 before…so why not post two tracks from the then-most recent Fall album, 1986’s Bend Sinister:

The Fall – ‘Bournemouth Runner.’ mp3 (1986 Festive Fifty no.20)

The Fall -‘Dktr. Faustus.’ mp3 (1986 Festive Fifty no.48)

I’m now just four tracks from completing the 1986 Festive Fifty and I wondered if any of my readers can help with the following:

Age Of Chance -‘Bible Of the Beats.’
The Fall -‘Lucifer Over Lancashire (Theology mix)
FSK -‘I Wish I Could Sprechen Sie Deutsch.’
Mighty Mighty -‘Is There Anyone Out There?’

And if anyone can help with Bogshed or Big Flame stuff, please get in touch…no luck on eMusic or iTunes…

Thanks in advance…

Finally!

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Hooray…after a lot of help, from my own record collection, 17 Seconds’ readers, eMusic, iTunes and the USB turntable, I have finally managed to complete one year of Festive Fifty for the iPod. And these final tracks were what completed it:

Much as I like 1984’s The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall, I wasn’t always convinced by this track. But get past the first few seconds, and it’s bloody amazing.

The Fall -‘Lay Of The Land.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty no.9).

The most famous track from This Mortal Coil ‘Song To The Siren’ had already made the Festive Fifty the previous year. But covers of Big Star and Roy Harper deservedly made it the following year:

This Mortal Coil -‘Kangaroo.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty no.21)

This Mortal Coil -‘Another Day.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty no.33)

Finally, a great early Pogues track from their debut Red Roses For Me:

The Pogues -‘The Dark Streets Of London.’ mp3 (1984 Festive Fifty no.45)

Keep it tuned, as it were, to 17 Seconds, there’ll be more music to come this weekend…

I feel like this

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Just come back from the dentist an hour ago. One filling…but I feel woozy as anything.

The Wedding Present have a new single out. This is one of the mixes. Go and buy it (download only) and see if you can give them another Top 40 hit…

Wedding Present -‘The Thing I Like Most About Him Is His Girlfriend (Jet Age mix).’ mp3

Must go and sleep. Hadn’t forgotten about you all though…

More Festive Fifty delights from the vinyl

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As I said, some more vinyl goodness, from John Peel’s Festive Fifty.

In 1984, New Order released their seventh single ‘Thieves Like Us.’ There were two 12″ singles for this, one backed with ‘Murder’ and the other with ‘Lonesome Tonight.’ Both singles had very cool, Dali-esque sleeves. ‘Lonesome Tonight’ reached no. 12 in that year’s Festive Fifty, while ‘Murder’ (which was the b-side of the ‘Instrumental’ version of ‘Thieves Like Us’) reached no.20. ‘Thieves Like Us’ reached no.7 in the Festive Fifty.

New Order -‘Lonesome Tonight.’ mp3

New Order -‘Murder.’ mp3

Now, while on the subject, there are various ‘wants’ that I have:

Firstly, if anyone has an mp3 of ‘Brutal’ by New Order that they could send me that would be great (not available on iTunes)
As well as:

Berntholer -‘My Suitor’
Unknown Cases -‘Masimbabele’
Hard Corps – ‘Dirty’
Working Week – ‘Venceramos’
Flesh For Lulu -‘Subterraneans.’

Thanks in advance…

Blimey!

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The majors have obviously woken up to free music.

This track was ‘released’ by the Offspring a few days ago. Now, I kinda preferred them in about 1995 (circa Smash) to what they went on to do, though it was great to see them break the Top 10 in the UK. This track is from their forthcoming album entitled Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.

The Offspring -‘Hammerhead.’ mp3

Meanwhile, free music has seen an interesting development here in the UK. I don’t know how it’s working out in the rest of the world, but 7″ vinyl singles have become progressively more popular once again over the last four years (the NME voiced the theory that it was to do with the ‘impersonal’ nature of mp3s). Whatever the reason, it’s great. Even more impressive is the fact that the NME have over the last year or so started giving away free 7″s. Last year there was The White Stripes and Babyshambles; this very day it’s Coldplay. The ‘A-side’ is the ‘Violet Hill’ track I posted a couple of days ago, and the b-side ‘unavailable elsewhere’ is this:

Coldplay -‘A Spell A Rebel Yell.’ mp3

More vinyl goodness to follow…

Album Review: Nine Inch Nails

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Nine Inch Nails -‘The Slip.’ (from www.nin.com)

Following on from Radiohead, The Charlatans, and Pennywise, Nine Inch Nails have made their album available for free via the internet. Increasingly, this seems to be the way forward. But, once this very twenty-first century method of distribution (which makes cottage industries seem almost conservative by comparison) is out of the way, is the album any good?

I’ve got to be honest, I had sort of tuned out on Nine Inch Nails a while back. Don’t get me wrong; as a sixteen year old I thought Pretty Hate Machine a work of genius, and couldn’t wait to hear The Downward Spiral, having lapped up the Broken and Fixed EPs in the meantime. The soundtrack he assembled for Natural Born Killers is one of the finest ever, leaving Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs standing. Then sometime in the late nineties I’d got onto and into other things, and lost interest a bit. Last summer they supported The Foo Fighters in Edinburgh, and it was a reminder of why I’d been so impressed by Trent Reznor and his not-very-merry men in the first place.

The fact is that, into his forties, Reznor does Angst and Atmosphere extremely well. Lest we forget, he produced Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar LP, thus turning Manson into a bigger star than him in the first place, but he still has an edge. Whereas Manson took Alice Cooper’s template and ran with it, Reznor is the more thoughful, watchful older brother. There is still an element of nosie and industrial influences on here, as shown on opener ‘999,999’ but Reznor has not forgotten tunes, and these are here in abundance, particularly ‘1,000,000’ and ‘Discipline.’

If you didn’t like Nine Inch Nails before this may not change your mind, but if you ever felt that there was something else there, that you wanted to peer closer into the abyss you will find this a rewarding listen.

****

Nine Inch Nails -‘1,000,000.’ mp3

Nine Inch Nails -‘Discipline.’ mp3

The album can be downloaded for free at the Nine Inch Nails website. A physical release will follow shortly.