by Vinyl301 -

Burial, Four Tet & Thom Yorke: Ego

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Text 2011.  TEXT010

Discogs

I like to keep this blog on the topic of music, but the music is facilitated by the technology I use, so sometimes that’s worth talking about.  In the past I’ve always had dealers set up my turntables, but with the vintage deck I’m using now, I did it myself.  Endless tinkering never got it quite right, so last week I threw in the towel and decided to buy a better cartridge (that’s the bit the stylus sticks out of) and suddenly everything worked much better.  To my surprise, there was nothing wrong with the set-up I’d done – I just needed to get my wallet out.  The new cartridge is a Dynavector  DV20XL if you’re interested.  Anyway, all this means that the vinyl rips will sound quite a bit better from now on.  The Dynavector tracks better, produces a more detailed sound, and doesn’t create sibilance on vocals like the old one sometimes did.  For some reason it also picks up a lot less surface noise which is a nice bonus.

First rip with the new cartridge is one that the old cartridge struggled with.  I’ve posted a Burial/Four Tet collaboration before; the involvement of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on this one was a surprise.  As is usual with these releases it comes with minimal info; plain black cover and labels, with just the title etched into where the runout grooves would be if it had runout grooves.  It was also accompanied by a load of hype about how limited it was – clearly they pressed quite a lot as it wasn’t hard to come by, and even now isn’t particularly valuable.

That this is a great record comes as no surprise, but Moth was a tough release to live up to, and by my reckoning, they don’t quite manage it.  In a way it sounds exactly as you’d expect – it’s a minimal, dubbed out, melancholy piece of electronica which rewards repeated listenings.  After you’ve heard it, the collaboration seems, well, inevitable rather than unexpected and Thom Yorke’s voice is more effective here than in most other places I’ve heard it.

by Vinyl301 -

Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Sings Larry Jon Wilson

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LJW 2010.  LJW01

Discogs

Today is a good day.  I managed to score a copy of Bonnie Prince Billy’s new album, which he self-released in secret, and just dropped off at sundry US record shops for them to sell.  Getting a copy involved phoning lots of US shops until I found one who was willing to post a copy to me.  Not an easy purchase, but by his standards not too bad; earlier this year he made an EP which was only available from a microbrewery somewhere I’d never heard of.  I guess he finds the idea of saps like me chasing around to get his releases amusing.  In a way I kind of like the way he does things, but it’s also annoying.  Fortunately the album is his best for ages, so it was worth the effort.  I might post it at some point, but there are rumours of a proper release, so I’ll wait till things are more certain.

In the meantime, here’s one of the many BPB 7″ singles I have, this being a split release with The Black Swans covering Larry Jon Wilson songs.  LJW was, apparently a country singer from the 1970s, but I’ve never heard of him.  However, on the strength of this he could write a decent song, and with BPB as one of my favourite interpreters of this sort of material, it’s worth a listen.

by Vinyl301 -

Caresse & Sickmob: R U Xperienced?

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Temple Records 1989.  TOPY 044

Discogs

I can’t make my mind up about this.  Is it unspeakable garbage or inspired genius?  I bought it for peanuts in a bargain bin realising that it must be a Psychic TV side project, which indeed it is, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  The song is of course the Hendrix classic, but here it’s performed more like a funeral dirge with vocals provided by Genesis P Orridge’s six year old daughter, Caresse.  Clearly someone in Italy thought it was brilliant – it was used as the theme for a TV show and appeared over there as a 7″ on a label owned by Silvio Berlusconi.  I can’t imagine what sort of show it could have been.  There’s also a rather fine video to accompany the track.

The b side is interminable and never really seems to go anywhere.

by Vinyl301 -

Cabaret Voltaire: Hypnotised

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Parlophone 1989.  12RS 6227

Discogs

When I got back from shivering and being rained on in France, it was good to see a fresh batch of Cabs stuff over on Everything Starts With An A.  He posted the two albums from their much maligned major label period, when, in the words of Yeah Yeah Noh, they made a move for chart position.  His comments are absolutely spot on – this is not vintage Cabs by any means, and at the time their fans were horrified, for reasons which are obvious if you compare this material to their indie label output.  It’s commercial electronic dance music, with more than a nod to New Order and even the Pet Shop Boys in places.  So to compliment his posts, here’s the first of several singles from the same period.

Part of Parlophone’s ineffective marketing effort was filling record shops with very cheap singles containing endless remixes to try to catapult the Cabs into the charts.  I didn’t buy the albums having read the withering reviews, but couldn’t resist these cheap-as-chips singles – in fact I don’t think I even paid for some of them.

This single is taken from the album Groovy, Laid Back and Nasty and includes a rather unnecessary four versions.  Given the band’s legacy of inventive and experimental electronica, this was disappointing stuff, but taken on its own terms it works pretty well and I recall playing it quite a bit.  It deserved to chart and to get lots of attention in mainstream clubs, but neither happened.

by Vinyl301 -

Age Of Chance: Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Noise

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Virgin 1987.  VS 962-12

Discogs

Age Of Chance were achingly cool for a short time in the late 80s.  Reviewed (accurately I thought) as sounding like a washing machine, and looking brilliant in retro cycling tops with the best cover art around courtesy of the fledgling Designer Republic, they were the business.  Then they signed for Virgin, and things should have gone horribly wrong.  In a way they did – poor sales and worse artwork weren’t ideal, but they carried on making great records almost until they split.

In some ways, this single, their major label debut is very dated, with its samples of what sound like (but probably aren’t) 1950s BBC announcers, but it has those washing machine guitars and the same self assured energy which made their earlier efforts so irresistable.   It’s not cool at all to like AOC’s major label stuff, but then, I’m not cool.

by Vinyl301 -

Various Artists: Imminent 4

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Food 1986.  BITE4

Discogs

I am, in theory, sunning myself in the south of France, but it’s actually cold and wet.  There is no justice.

Anyway, I uploaded a few bits and pieces before I left, and here’s one of them.  I know nothing at all about this series of compilations, and this is the only one I have.  It doesn’t hang together very well, but there are some gems among the more forgettable stuff.  As I recall I bought this for the Bogshed track, which as far as I can tell is exclusive to this release and is, predictably, fabulous.  It’s odd to see Pulp on such a lowly compilation, but if you’re not familiar with their history, they languished in obscurity for years before they got their breakthrough Manon is a rather obscure B side.  McCarthy have appeared before here, and the Brilliant Corners are always worth a listen.

Special mention goes to Easterhouse.  If you were in a Karaoke bar, you’d be awestruck by this performance, but given the existence of The Doors version, you really have to wonder what on earth they were thinking when they recorded this.  Maybe it was aimed at da kids who’d never heard the song before.  And yes, I know Howlin’ Wolf recorded it first.

Other than that, this is just random Indie stuff from the time, which may or may not float your boat.

by Vinyl301 -

Massive Attack: Heligoland Remixes

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The Vinyl Factory 2010.  VF013

Discogs (This link is for the complete vinyl album.  This post is only about the third disc)

I didn’t think I’d be posting any Massive Attack here, but it seems the vinyl version of Heligoland, with its bonus remix EP is now deleted, so here are the vinyl only tracks.

Massive Attack can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, and Heligoland, their most recent album shows that they’re as essential now as they’ve ever been.  It gives me a warm glow to know that at least some decent music still gets into the charts.

The vinyl version of this album was a typically sumptuous release from the Vinyl Factory – it really is stunning.  However I still haven’t forgiven them for not giving their regular customers the heads-up for the vinyl only Massive Attack/Burial collaboration which was on ebay for £300+ before I even knew it existed. Grrrr.

So what about the music?  Well the standout track on the regular album, Paradise Circus is made much less radical here.  It’s still a great track, but frankly I prefer the original.  Ryuichi Sakamoto does an extraordinary minimalist rework of Fatalism.  United Snakes  is, I think, exclusive to this release (making it essential) and it finishes with Horace Andy’s sublime vocals on Girl I Love You.

Had this EP been made by anyone but Massive Attack, it would have been raved about.  As it is, it has to compete with the original album, which is an impossible task.  Still, if you have any interest in Massive Attack at all, it’s worth thirty minutes of your life to soak this up.

If you don’t already own Heligoland, shame on you.  Go out and buy it now.

by Vinyl301 -

The Weather Prophets: Almost Prayed

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Creation Records 1986.  CRE029

Discogs

I’m a bit the worse for wear after an evening in the pub, so this has to be simple.  This is, I think, the best thing Peter Astor ever did.  You’re supposed to say that he did his best work with The Loft, but, well, I disagree.

This has a killer guitar riff, it’s a great song and they play it really well.  Is there anything to add to that?  Well if there is, I can’t think of it.

I was broke in 1986, so this isn’t the 12″, nor is it the limited double 7″.  It’s the cheapskate 7″, but that doesn’t matter because the title track is all you need.  If you can sit still while it’s playing, you should go to the doctor.

by Vinyl301 -

Micky Greaney: Little Symphonies For The Kids

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Not on label.  1994.  LITSYM009

Not listed on Discogs

I kicked this blog off back in February with Micky Greaney’s unreleased second album.  “Michael” was keen to hear his debut, so here it is.

I wrote quite a lot about Mickey back in February, so I won’t repeat the tragic story of his musical career here, but I will update it.  Micky’s low key return to music making is continuing, with infrequent gigs at small venues.  However his rather glamorous band is no more – I don’t know what the story is, but I guess they grew tired of a lack of progress and a lack of money.  He’s now playing with a young keyboard player, and a cellist who, bizarrely I used to work with.  It’s actually an improvement – with Mickey the less backing he has, the more effective his material, so while I prefer him solo with an acoustic guitar, this new band is an improvement I think.  He’s still making promises about an album in the pipeline, but I’ll believe that when it happens.

This album is the closest he’s ever come to releasing anything properly.  It’s a commercially produced silver CD with proper artwork, but he had no record contract and self released it.  I don’t know why it happened that way – back in ’94 there was quite a buzz around Micky and it’s surprising a label didn’t pick this up.  It doesn’t sound like a self- released album; it’s actually pretty slick, thanks I guess to producer Bob Lamb (not as big a name as John Leckie who produced Micky’s second album, but a name none-the-less).  Lamb’s involvement, and the money which was obviously spent on this album makes the self release even stranger.  Maybe the idea was that a low key release would be picked up by a major as happened to The Lilac Time (also with a Bob Lamb production).

I absolutely love this album, and it’s purely down to the songwriting and Micky’s delivery.  For me the production only distracts from that and I’d sooner it was recorded as a demo, but really, I’m happy just to be able to listen to it at all.

I bought my copy of this CD, which is now impossible to find, from Micky after a gig.  It has no artwork, so thanks to Andrew for sending me a scan of his.  I really wish Micky was making money from this himself, but there’s no sign of that.  Hopefully hearing this might persuade a few people to go to one of his gigs (rarely outside Birmingham though I’m afraid).

by Vinyl301 -

The Raincoats: Fairytale In The Supermarket

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Rough Trade 1979.  RT013

Discogs

I so enjoyed revisiting UT yesterday that another contribution from a bunch of noisy women is in order.  It’s also because my internet has got so flaky lately that uploading an album is just too difficult.

I love records which ignore the rules, something women seem particularly good at doing.  I guess they’re outsiders in music and so feel less bound to its conventions.  The Raincoats were the original Riot Grrls, and this is their wonderfully shambolic debut 7″

It’s difficult to put into words why this record is so great.  It’s discordant, atonal even, and sounds like they’ve never heard any pop music in their lives.  Like UT they use a violin to good effect, which sounds a bit like John Cale in the Velvets.

It’s probably better known for its influence than the music.  Famously Kurt Cobain went on a pilgrimage to Rough Trade to replace his knackered copy of their first album – which led to them being re-issued, but more significantly they inspired other women to make mad music.  Palmolive, who plays on this single but left shortly afterwards went on to form The Slits, and they inspired the whole Riot Grrrl thing.  What for me is the most important part of this is that they ignored what was expected of them as women in music and just did their own thing.  That sort of stand is of course profoundly political, which works for me, but ultimately it works because , in the words of John Lydon, “The Raincoats offered a completely different way of doing things, as did X-Ray Spex and all the books about punk have failed to realise that these women were involved for no other reason than that they were good and original.”

I’m afraid my copy is pretty knackered.  I’m too young to have bought it at the time and picked it up a few years later at a jumble sale.  But don’t let that put you off – I think the crackle and distortion suit it very well.