A voice that stinks of whiskey

It must have been fantastic to see Alex Harvey in his pomp!

I know very little about Jacques Brel, but I love the cover versions of his songs by Scott Walker, Bowie, and the aforementioned Mr Harvey amngst many others.

'Next' is wonderfully filthy, a hilarious cautionary tale to take to one's grubby bosom...

A Sailor's Life

There's a new Richard Thompson LP out, and Graham has already aired his views about it on his blog.

I think, after one listen, I go along with Mr Ward - some good tracks, but the album is rather too long. Dad's Gonna Kill Me still stands out (and I only just learned that 'Dad' = Bagdhad, duh...) but there are some tunes which pad the LP out unnecessarily. Great guitar playing though, so it's rather hard to complain.

I'm now convinced that RT deliberately clads his records in the worst sleeves he can imagine. It's no accident of design, it's a wilful act of self sabotage. This has persisted for as long as I have been buying his records, since Amnesia in 1988. The first Thompson LP I heard was Shoot Out The Lights, which I borrowed on vinyl from Southwell library a very long time ago. That one is relatively inoffensive, although RT does look rather too jovial on the cover, considering the gloom and doom contained within.

A quick run down then, of Richard Thompson's worst album sleeves, starting with
1.Amnesia.

This one is reminiscent of the sort of conceptual nincompoopery which adorned Marillion album covers in the 80's. A random male is having a shave, whilst who should appear in the mirror but our man in a jester's outfit, juggling. Very hard to understand the relevance of this image...a good record though, Turning of The Tide was covered by Thompson fan Bob Mould.





2. You? Me? Us?
I don't know what's going on here. Just a random cut-up mess. Who does he delegate these things to? Makes no difference which record label he's on, the sleeves are still enough to bring on a migraine.







3. Mock Tudor

Not the most iconic image ever used for an LP sleeve - an old fashioned push and pull lawn mower, with (headless) father and son looking on in awe as it self-propels itself across an immaculate English Country Garden. Lord help us, what a useless image.








4. Bringing us up to date - Sweet Warrior

Oh my throbbing peepers. This one is from the inner sleeve, I suppose we should be grateful that it wasn't used for the front cover. A genius guitar player he may be, an oil painting he is not. Especially not when daubed in camouflage paint and with a tin hat stuck on his head - although I have to say this might in fact be an improvement on the otherwise ever present beret.

You been drinking brew for breakfast

Lots of stuff about Joe Strummer at the moment, to go with the documentary 'The Future Is Unwritten' and the recent biography.

I saw him twice, once years ago on a dodgy 'Rock Against the Rich' tour, and then at Cambridge the year he died. The RATR thing was at Rock City in something like 1987 or 1988. I went with Jim and his mate from the egg factory, a guy called Robert who had a bedsit in Carrington, near where I ended up living with Clive for a couple of years. I remember making our way into town from Robert's one roomed abode, stopping at the Nag's Head and various other Mansfield Road pubs on the way to the gig.

The event was 'organised' by Class War; I think there were three groups including Strummer, one of whom was a very decent reggae band, I can't remember their name. Strummer was terrific, he played loads of old Clash songs, and 'If I Should Fall From Grace' by the Pogues - which I guess dates the gig as around the time that LP came out, and before he joined the band as a stand-in front man, covering for one of MacGowan's bouts of 'nervous exhaustion'.

I've blethered on about the Cambridge experience already on this blog, but let's just say that at the time, soaking wet, frustrated by camping stools, rugs, assorted other obstacles to navigating the site, Jim and I were of the firm belief that the event required the Cleansing Fire of Punk Rock, and Strummer was the man to provide it. A lot of old Cambridge punks materialised on the Saturday evening for a taste of sweaty nostalgia, and for a while it seemed as though leather jackets might outnumber beards and sandals. Fair play to the festival organisers though, booking Joe Strummer was I guess quite a brave move, but I think Cambridge has often experimented with acts outside the sphere of what most of us define as 'folk music' - Nick Cave, for instance.

Anyway. Strummer was by most accounts a genial man who was generous with his time - we saw him strolling around the Cambridge site, taking it all in and chatting to people. He was making some good solo records too, after a few years hopping between acting jobs and soundtrack work. Global A Go Go is well worth a pop if you haven't heard it. I've got London Calling on at the moment - a glorious, glorious record, thrilling tunes like Clampdown, Hateful, Death Or Glory...becomes just another story.

Strangely, I became more bookish

I first saw Iggy Pop on Ady's 21st birthday, at Rock City in 1988. No one was too interested in hearing anything from his most recent LP, which at that time I guess was 'Blah Blah Blah'. Iggy's always good value - he leaps around the stage like a man a third of his age, and there's always the possibility that he will treat the audience by dropping his pants and desporting his by now rather droopy buttocks.

Strange that a man whose body which is elsewhere incredibly well toned and fit, should have a gluteous maximus which has dropped several feet since the glory days of the Stooges. Well, that's age and gravity at work I guess.

Anyway, my point in question is the quality of one of Iggy's later LPs, Avenue B.

Much of this album is spoken word; from 'No Shit' through to 'She Called Me Daddy'. Iggy has a great American voice; resonant and authentic, rarely recorded better than on this overlooked album.

Trouble Every Day

Rock hard r'n'b & social commentary from FZ, stripped of the knowingly ironic lyrics for which he is better known.

Blow your harmonica, son!

Those first few LPs with the Mothers are peerless: witty and scabrous lyrics, tremendous geetars, and a wide palette of musical influences from avant skronk jazz to the sweetest doo-wop.

Seems odd to me that Zappa's music was often so sophisticated that it was beyond the ken of a large section of his audience, who nevertheless found much to enjoy in the schoolyard scatology of his lyrical subject matter.

I know what I'm talking about here, because the Zappa stuff which first appealed to me Jim and Ady was Joe's Garage (sex with machines, pliant Catholic girls) and 'Bobby Brown', 'Dinah Moe Hum', 'Dirty Love', and other trouser-orientated material...

It's sometimes hard to avoid the conclusion that Zappa's entire career was an extended pisstake of his audience as well as the wider American public. As an example, one of his most popular concert tunes was 'Titties and Beer', superficially a celebration of, well, breasts and and beer, but actually an adaptation of Stravinsky's 'L'histoire du Soldat'.

The least you can say of Zappa is that he was his own man, he did whatever the fuck he wanted, whether that was a four minute throwaway song about 'the Jazz Discharge Party Hats' or a triple album of guitar solos ('Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar' - Jim bought it on vinyl!)

He created a genre of his own, no one makes records which sound like Zappa except hisself...

Take a case of white-out; you might need it one day

Being neither a parent nor much given to expending energy on housework or diy, I spend an inordinate amout of time pissing about on iTunes when I should be doing something more constructive.

Yesterday I set up a playlist of favourite tunes by under-appreciated artists - typical rock snob elitism. I did this after hearing a documentary on radio 4 which featured a few clips of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. I borrowed an Alex Harvey LP from the library years ago, and loved it, but saw hardly any mention of the man until Tommy Vance announced his death on the Friday Rock Show. I was galled to learn yesterday that this was in 1982 - 25 years ago. Anyway, before I drift into 'where did it all go and where will it all end', here's a few of my 'they should be massive!' choices:

Spring Rain - The Go-Betweens. I first heard this on the soundtrack to Something Wild, then years later when I was living with Clive and he had the LP. Lovely guitars.

'Cause I Said So - The Godfathers. Saw them at Rock City a long time ago, they have long since split. They came on like a cross between boom chicka Johnny Cash and Dr Feelgood hard edged r'n'b. They were incredible live, but their LPs often sounded thin in comparison. Dunno what happened to them...

Take Stuff From Work - King Missile. OK, there's no kind of universe where King Missile could ever have been noticed beyond a few plays on Peel, which is where Jim and I heard them 20 years ago. This tune is basically a list of items which can be easily removed from the workplace, thus saving the listener the expense of buying eg desks, pens, pencils, even 'a case of white out'. Silly but fun, and ending with the rousing finale:

It's your duty as an oppressed worker to steal from your exploiters.
 It's gonna be an outstanding day.
 Take stuff from work.
 And goof off on the company time.
 I wrote this at work.
 They're paying me to write about stuff I steal from them.
 Life is good.

how can you resist?

Rude Bwoy - LLoyd Hemmings. No idea who this guy was, but I taped the track from Kershaw in the 80's and have loved it ever since. A King Tubby production. Having googled Hemmings it appears that the tune is avaible on 7" Jamican import for £2.99 - bargain!

Where Were You? - The Mekons. From Leeds, and still going strong in some form or another. Main Mekon Jon Langford, is one of the less celebrated customers of Cynthia Plastercaster. I think these days they are more of a country / Americana outfit, rather than the DIY punk of this track.

Sorry You're Sick - Ted Hawkins. For Andy Kershaw listeners in the 1980s, Ted Hawkins was the bees knees, such a terrific voice. A shame that it all ended so depressingly.

Our Town - Iris Dement. A voice which may well be an acquired taste, and sounds straight out of The Old Weird America. Mentioned in a few entries earlier, Graham and Jim and I saw her at Cambridge, memorably duetting with John Prine. Even Clive enjoyed Our Town, and he is not given to esoteric sounding female country singers.

I Live For Buzz - The Swingin' Neckbreakers. This is from an LP which Clive brought back from a trip to the US, a tremendous rock and roll album...the band turned up on The Sopranos in Season 3 or 4, playing at Adriana's nightclub.


loads more too, including The Colorblind James Experience, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Jake Thackray, Andy Capp, Reigning Sound, The Replacements, Dory Previn, Warren Zevon - overlooked and under-appreciated all...

Fall Motel!

Cast a weary eye over the new video from the Fall

MES dancing - something else I thought I would never see...

We're all fucked up on the booze and the drugs

A couple of quick joyful things this evening.

Firstly, the Broken Family Band, sounding like they from someplace in Texas, actually they from the wild west of Cambridge. Wherever they hail from, they make a mighty fine racket, and The Booze and The Drugs from the LP 'Balls' is just the ticket.

Second up - more MES madness, this time featuring as Our Lord Jesus Christ in blasphemous BBC3 drama Ideal. It's the first time I've seen JC represented by a 50 year old Mancunian speed freak wearing a black leather jacket, puffing a B&H.

even more thrills - the new single by the White Stripes, mixing up prog rock lunacy with crazy ass Detroit garage geetars. Best thing they've done for a good few seasons...

All Tomorrow's Parties

It was a great weekend. Jamesie, Grant and I started with a couple of pints in the beer garden of the Swinging Shillelagh - Butlins' overpoweringly green and leprechaun bedecked Irish theme bar. After inhaling the complimentary shortbread biscuits generously offered in our chalet, we set off to explore the site.


The main stage at ATP is within a permament marquee, ringed with the likes of Burger King, Pizza Hut, and assorted amusement arcade type devices - it takes a bit of getting used to but the sound was very good, the bogs weren't far away and there was real ale in the 'Sun and Moon' traditional pub. There are two other venues on site, more used to hosting the likes of Bucks Fizz and Banarama - we delighted in the huge SHOWTIME! sign on the wall on the way in the the Centre Stage. The carpet was stickier even than Rock City, and the smell of spilled beer was ever present, so we felt quite at home.

40 minutes after the time they were due on stage, there was no sign of The Only Ones, and I was convinced that they were blowing out ther first gig in 26 years. Not to worry though, they did eventually lurch onstage, including legendary drug hoover Peter Perrett; a man so emaciated and smack-ravaged that he appeared to be little more than a skeleton in a T Shirt. They were terrific though, and I'll be off to see them at Rock City next month. One of the least expected rock reunions for sure...














A Saturday highlight was Spiritualized Acoustic Mainline, who were wonderful - stripped down songs with strings and gospel singers and electric piano. J Spaceman seems in excellent health and his voice was stronger than on any of the previous occasions I've seen them. It will be a crime if this line up of the band don't release a cd, in the meantime I'm enjoying a live bootleg of the show they did at St Mary's church in Nottm last year.


Mr Cave was superb, crashing into West Country Girl at the start of a Bad Seeds best of set, then a short intermission and the whole of the Grinderman LP. Bobby Gillespie had turned up to bash the drums and sing, and he was introduced by his new employer as 'Bobby Gillespie from the Jesus and Mary Chain', which prompted a guy behind me to say 'well that's wrong, he's in Primal Scream'. Young people, tsk tsk they know nothing - back to rock n roll high school with you.

My favourite of the weekend had to be Joanna Newsom, she was stunning. She did my favourites from Ys, the version of Sawdust and Diamnds was breathtaking. Bill Callahan in contrast was dull - I nipped out for more Cave action on the main stage, as he was headlining on Sunday too. It occured to me at the time that many of the headline acts are reformed heroin addicts who are making the best music of their career despite cleaning up - so often it seems to be the other way round.


Anyway, ATP was a great weekend, I'll definitely go again, although I will blend in better if I grow a beard for the occasion. When taking requests from the crown, Cave said 'you Sir, with the beard', which raised a laugh as every other bloke there was sporting facial hair of one flavour or another.
And thanks to Jim for the pics..

Running Order Squabble Fest

I'm heading off to Butlins this weekend, in about half an hour in fact.

Not for the crazy golf or the knobbly knees competition, but for All Tomorrow's Parties.

Three days of black clad miserable Australians, led by Nick Cave, The Dirty Three, Einsturzende Neubaten (who cancelled Rock City last night - doesn't bode well..) and the more sprightly Joanna Newsom, who is the act I'm especially looking forward to. Adding the legendary 'I can't believe they are still alive, let alone appearing on stage' The Only Ones, and the acoustic Spiritualized, it should be a cracking weekend.

And if the entertainment palls, there's always the chance for a quick dip in the sub tropical paradise or a brisk stroll up Minehead beach.

'No dry ice? No dry ice? Hey Jason, they've got no dry ice'

Into The Purple Valley

Two LPs have dominated tonight's listening; 'Into The Purple Valley', by Ry Cooder, and 'Handful Of Earth', by Dick Gaughan.


Ry Cooder seems to me to be an unsung giant of guitar music. I bought this LP when I was 17 or 18, from Way Ahead records on Hurts Yard in Nottingham. Most of the tracks are cover versions of songs by folks like Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, etc. Cooder is maybe more famous these days for being the instigator of the Buena Vista Social Club, as well as his soundtrack for Paris Texas, but he paid his dues playing guitar alongside Captain Beefheart, Taj Mahal, and in the 'Sticky Fingers' era Rolling Stones. Not to mention one of the great lost Stones singles, 'Memo From Turner' from the soundtrack to Performance.

Cooder has claimed that Keith Richards pinched his signature guitar tuning, and based subsequent Stones albums around his sound, although the Keef countered that Cooder himself learned various tunings and techniques from the likes of Rev Gary Davis and was therefore hardly in a position to claim originality.

Either way, Into The Purple Valley is a terrific LP, some great slide guitar - Vigilante Man being the highlight for me.

Gaughan, on the other hand, is the man who prompted Andy Kershaw to exclaim 'I thought The Redskins were radical until I discovered Dick Gaughan'.

Famously, Handful Of Earth was voted the best folk album of the 1980's by readers of Folk Roots, on the strength of tracks like 'World Turned Upside Down' (covered by Billy Bragg) and 'Worker's Song'.

Jim and I once went to see him at the Old Vic, not a vintage evening, but great to see the man in close quarters. There were two ladies at the bar loudly discussing topics unrelated to socialist folk music. After the next convenient tune, Jim leaned over to them and said 'Could you talk a bit more loudly? I can still hear Dick Gaughan'.

Did the trick...

I Got a Razor

Willie Dixon is best known as a writer of hit blues songs for the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf, as well as being the double bass player in Muddy's electric band in Chicago - he also played on some of Chuck Berry's early records. Led Zeppelin ripped off his 'You Need Love' for a track on their second album, later adapted as the theme tune for Top Of The Pops...Willie won a royalty credit in an out of court settlement almost 20 years later.

I'm a lot less familiar with his own recordings, but this track from the soundtrack to Deadwood is fantastic, walking bass and braggadocio spoken word vocal accompanied by Memphis Slim on the Old Joanna...

Also on the wheels of steel tonight - late period Captain Beefheart, specifically the albums featuring Gary Lucas on the guitar. Ice Cream For Crow - Floppy Boot Stomp! - and Doc At The Radar Station, which includes Hot Head.

Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks

Much of this Brian Eno LP sounds very familiar, it must have been used on loads of films, documentaries, adverts, etc although the only one I would have been able to name is Deep Blue Day from the Trainspotting soundtrack.

Previously the only Eno stuff I have heard was Music For Airports, so ambient as to be barely musical, and Here Come The Warm Jets, which is pretty much a straightforward rock LP (with vocals!) recorded shortly after he left Roxy Music. Apollo makes for unsettling listening, and I guess in the right, or wrong, circumstance sit could be downright terrifying. I'd love to see the NASA documentary which it was devised to accompany, I would imagine it would be a perfect marriage of sound and vision.

There there my dear

It's 1980; I'm listening to Axe Attack with Ady, enjoying the delights of Motorhead, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and, er, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush...

Meanwhile, Dexy's Midnight Runners have released 'Searching For the Young Soul Rebels', and a nation of indie kids is dressing in donkey jackets and beanie hats, hooting along with Kevin Rowland to 'Geno' and 'Seven Days'...

What a terrific LP that is! It does slightly shame me to think I was immune to anything other than NWOBHM rock at the time, but I have belatedly been enjoying this record almost every day since I picked it up last week, after reading the great review in Fear of Music. Hearing music as passionate as this is a refreshing alternative to the jaded, careerist pap which passes fro chart music in 2007.

UnAmerican Activities

forgot to mention, there's a great Randy Newman download to be had through iTunes:
'A Few Words in Defense of Our Country', see him playing it on youtube here.

'the end of an empire is messy at best, and this empire's ending, just like all the rest...'

Give a philosophy student a glass of limeade

A quick round-up of the sounds of the hour here at Welch Acres. I've been poking around Selectadisc and Fopp this month, harvesting a mixed crop of records both old and new, ...let me tell you about them, friends:

It could be the fact that I have started a new job, or alternatively just general encroaching decrepitude, but I seem to be retiring to bed earlier and earlier these days - the plus side of which is taking a few cds with me to accompany a little late night reading. At the moment I am retiring with mid-period David Bowie - Station to Station and Low; and Kraftwerk - especially Trans Europe Express.

I'm not totally mired in the pre punk mid 1970's though, I have actually been buying a few new records too. Malcolm Middelton, who'll be at the Social this time next week, and the Gossip. Although I downloaded it ages ago, I did the decent thing and bought the Grinderman album, which despite a terrible sleeve is terrific stuff.

Malcolm M is not quite as good as the last LP, but still reliably miserable and self-pitying (sample song title - 'death love depression love death'). I haven't made me mind up yet about the Gossip, though any band fronted by a huge lesbian in a metallic blue catsuit has to be worth some kind of scrutiny, and the single 'Standing In The Way Of Control' was fantastic.

Since I started reading 'Fear Of Music' by Gary Mulholland I've also been digging out old stuff like Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Metal Box by PiL, and The Correct Use of Soap by Magazine. The book is very good, easily as good as the preceding 'This Is Uncool', and it's been a real inspiration to rediscover records which I thought would be gathering dust for a good few seasons to come.

BTW, good sounding new Richard Thompson tune on his website, from forthcoming LP out in May

I'm in with the In Crowd

Another last minute gig last night, in the company of Mr Hewitt as his plus one for Bryan Ferry at the Concert Hall. It was really very odd, the audience was largely made up of fifty-something groovers, with ladies being in the majority. Ferry has a new album out, of insipid Bob Dylan covers. Some sounded ok - Gates of Eden, Positively 4th Street, but most were unremarkable. He did do some great versions of his solo stuff though - Stick Together, etc, and his band were great. I had to look twice to recognise Chris Spedding on guitar, he is greyer and paunchier than in his Motorbikin' days..

So it was pretty bizarre to see the place erupt as they broke into Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, the cheesey 1972 piss-taking version. Almost everyone was on their feet - even me and Sean - all the way up to the second tier. I did feel something of an imposter, and I have always disliked that version of the song, but it was hard not to get carried along with it.

Tell you what though, I would have been a little cheesed off if I had paid the £45 ticket price...

'Only water passes my lips, only beer passes my throat'

so says Mr Mark E Smith, who rolled up to be interviewed on 6 Music this week, listen again if the fancy takes you here. I think he's probably mad. Mad, and pissed.

Out to a gig last night, the first since Bonnie Prince Billy I think, it was James Yorkston at the Social. Felt a bit sorry for him actually, as there were only 35 people there at the most, but it's not that long since he was last here, and Spiers and Boden were up the road so I guess that was a bit of competition.

What was especially exciting was that the famous Bob was there; Bob from 20 yrs back in the Jangle Club at the old Vic, and from most years at WOMAD, and many folk / roots gigs in Nottm. Not even sure if Bob is his real name, but it's always strangely reassuring to see that he's still going strong. Never spoken to the bloke, I think it would spoil the magic somehow...

A modicum of challenge and danger

I know shoving up random You Tube clips is rather a lazy way of running a blog, but this here clip of good ol' Uncle Bill Burroughs is just terrific...his voice is so splendid, that long drawling 'til the bare lies shiiiiine through..' is wonderful!

Notebooks out, plagiarists

apologies for the delay between posts, and the brevity of this rather paltry effort.

just to say that Mark E Smith of the mighty Fall gruppe, has a few words for you here