Right then.
Time for your regular Monday appointment with some great music videos. This week, an under-rated 4AD band meets an under-rated ex-Byrd. Your mission is to work out the connection between them.
As Rebel Rikkit previously neatly described, the wizards were busy over Christmas swapping and reviewing 1p CDs as part of the growing online community that is the 1p Album Club.
Here are the details of my swap with Dave.
Dawn Of The Replicants – One Head, Two Arms, Two Legs
Bought by Kicker for Dave
Bought because…
I was, and frankly still am, very excited about getting involved in this project. So much so that well before finding out who I would be paired up with, I started thinking about possible albums to send. My method for doing this was to sit at the computer and look behind me at the CDs on my shelves and find bands who I had more than one album by. I then looked on Amazon to see if any of those albums were being offered for 1p. (See, I know how this works.) Being a methodical sort, this involved me starting at A… The Auteurs… nope… B… Babybird … only the album everyone knows… C… Cheap Trick… nope (and anyway, this might just be me)… D… Dawn Of The Replicants. Now, then.
Here was a band I really enjoyed listening to back in the late 90s and who I still fondly refer to as Dawn and the Replicants after hearing John Peel do so on his long lamented Thursday night show. However, I couldn’t recall the last time I’d listened to any of their stuff and wasn’t necessarily convinced they’d be that interesting. Still, I started by putting their first album on (remarkably I had 5 to choose from) and giving it a go. It all came back to me – the strange creepy vocals – the mixture of pop hooks and disconcerting instrumentation – lyrics that on close inspection were very odd indeed. Ah yes, I now remembered seeing the band play at the Manchester Roundhouse (a venue I haven’t been to for years – is it still going?) before they became even slightly known. That Paul Vickers was an interesting bloke (probably still is.). I even found youtube footage of the infamous pilot’s helmet wearing loon and confirmation that the band really did breakdown (vehicularly) on their way there that night.
I spent the next week listening to all the band’s back catalogue and subsequently failing to get past D in my search for a suitable album so when my message from Liam arrived pairing me up with Dave, I was very much in a Dawn & The Replicants place. On his list of likes, Dave included Super Furry Animals, a band I do like (notably their debut album), but back in 98 had down the pecking order from Dawn et al. There is something of the eclectic sound of SFA in One Head, Two Arms, Two Legs, I think, and anyway, music is all about the moment, right? So, here you go Dave, the best band to come out of Galashiels since Fish out of Marillion. No, strike that, the only good band to come out of Galashiels.
Hope you enjoy it.
The verdict
When this album arrived from Kicker, I was pretty excited to give it a listen. Back in the late 90’s, I was a fanatical reader of the Melody Maker, who seemed to rave about Dawn of the Replicants on a weekly basis. Despite this, I never got around to checking them out. I guess there were just too many acts around that I was getting into, which meant I didn’t have the time to listen to everyone who I should have. With this in mind, I was looking forward to seeing if I’d been missing out for the past 15 years.
Honestly? It looks like I have been, as Kicker has picked me a belter of an album. The general DotR sound features fuzzy melodies that lead to well-crafted choruses with subtly catchy hooks. I told Kicker I liked my indie to be a little quirky in places, and there is just the right level of that throughout the album, enough to be interesting, but not too much to be overbearing. There is also a slight hint of darkness and menace to these songs that elevate them above being just good indie-pop. Just little hints of distortion or a slightly sinister tone to Phil Vickers’ voice to create a sense of mood. A close comparison would be to Guided By Voices, a band Kicker mentioned he liked in his introduction e-mail [what a surprise! – TTW Ed.] and a band I have a big soft spot for too.
Trying to pick a favourite track here is quite a feat. “Candlefire” opens like an 80’s alt-rock ballad before giving way to the lush melodies of the chorus, whilst “Lisa Box” alternates between spacy keyboards and a slightly ferocious guitar riff. I’ve ultimately plumped for “Radars”, which is deceptively simple, but really effective. A triumph for the 2013 1p Christmas swap.
Standout Track: Radars
Pretty Girls Make Graves – New Romance
Bought by Dave for Kicker
Bought because…
When I got Kicker’s list of artists, I tried to put aside my delight at how good it was (got to love a list where the Auteurs are the third band listed) and decided to look for the acts that felt similar and, more importantly, were acts that I could use as a guide to the album I was going to buy him. Looking at the likes of Guided By Voices, Pixies, Pavement and Throwing Muses, I noticed that Kicker is partial to slightly angular US alt-rock from the late 90’s-early 00’s. I decided to get him something along these kind of lines, whilst at the same time trying to find something he hopefully won’t have. This led me to pick for him “The New Romance” by the sadly now-defunct Pretty Girls Make Graves.
What I love about “The New Romance”, and have done since I first heard it a decade ago, is that it contains elements of bands I love, whilst also sounding fresh and inspired. Their spiky post-punk at times recalls Sonic Youth at their most poppy, whilst the more forceful moments bring to mind a less electronic Le Tigre. Every now and then, a hint of At The Drive-In might sneak in, but there are enough original moments here to mark them down as a great band in their own right. Singer Andrea Zollo has one of those great voices which contains a certain toughness, but is capable of sounding tender when it needs to, with the gentle ending of “The Grandmother Wolf” being a prime example. When I checked Amazon, I really wasn’t expecting there to have been enough copies printed for it to be a penny, but as it was, I really hope Kicker enjoys it.
The verdict
I was very pleased to find an album I didn’t know on my doorstep. Pretty Girls Make Graves are a band I was aware of through their sharing the Matador label with Guided By Voices at one time. Being a completist of the latter, I have a number of Matador compilations and one or two feature songs by PGMG. However, most of these tracks had generally passed me by and the only song I could reasonably accurately say I knew by them is their pretty good cover of Bow Wow Wow’s ‘C30 C60 C90 Go’. Time then to find out more about a band inextricably linked with punctuation and spelling troubling Shakespears Sister.
Turns out I actually had already heard 3 of the songs on this album (All Medicated Geniuses, This Is Our Emergency and The Grandmother Wolf), but didn’t recognise them when I heard them again. The album sounds like a cross between a less funky version of the New York dance-punk band Radio 4 and cockney electro-rock duo Curve without the shoegaze element. I am not sure why, but I expected them to be fairly gothy and at times was reminded of Siouxsie & The Banshees with a less angsty singer.
There were a number of things I liked about the album: the cover, the drumming, the fact the album was only 40 mins long (there really is no need for any album to be 80 minutes, is there?), the drumming, the quieter slower songs, the drumming and the electronic noises that occasionally appear. Did I mention the drumming?
giving those tubs a thwack
However, there were also a couple of major things I didn’t like so much: the overly produced guitar sound and the lyrics, the banal meaningless lyrics. What IS it about? To be fair, the vocal style grew on me but I really wanted a bit more attitude.
Overall, I can see why the songs I’d heard before had never really made an impression after only a couple of listens previously, but after half a dozen further listens there are a few highlights to pick out. I particularly like literally the first thing you hear – an electronic buzz and the rim of a drum being hit suitably hard. This opening song, Something Bigger Something Brighter is definitely one of the highlights. I also like the short instrumental third track, Mr. Club (no problem understanding that one), the slower Blue Lights and closer, A Certain Cemetery.
This album is a freak of nature in that there are lots of little bits of it that I really like, but the whole turns out to be very much less than the sum of its parts for me. As the song A Certain Cemetery puts it: “When this is over, it’s alright.” Not great, but alright. Certainly better than that Siobhan Fahey band though.
Standout track: Blue Lights
What a really neat idea for music lovers with short arms and long pockets. I hope that the club invite me back for more and that you, dear reader, will be immediately signing up to take part.
The Wizards are out again this time in full force to see the master of Indie Guitar Pop, Steve Malkmus and his amazing Jicks, at Gorilla, Manchester. Along the way they encounter Joanne Gruesome and admire 2 drummers who between them banged a couple of hundred heads together.
Listen to their review and other thoughts in this mini podcast here
And enjoy a quality video of Steve Malkmus and The Jicks playing Cinnamon and Lesbians
Low quality picture warning: Joanne Grusome
And Steve himself with those crazy Jicks
Here we all are again, then.
And now it’s time to kiss the sky on your way down the A13 as we present that guitar burning fella, whose middle name isn’t really anything to do with amplifiers, and the bard of Essex, who is more aware of the title of his songs than at least some of his audience*.
But how the hell could these two be related?
*yes, that means you Corporal Shill.
In this fractured digitised world, where music lovers are divided by distance and ignorance, how do we link arms across the great divides to find mutual audio enrichment… at a reasonable price? Well, you could do worse than join the 1p Album Club.
‘What’s that?’ I hear you chirp. Well, it’s an online initiative where you register with a central agency (I think it’s one person, so far) and they select 2 mutually compatible people and introduce them to each other. The 2 people then send each other an album bought for 1p off Amazon. The beauty of this is that there are thousands of CDs to choose from, spanning decades in time and styles.
‘Oh, so it’s a club full of tight wads?’ Of course not…well maybe a little, but the parsimonious can have taste as well!
Everyone agrees to listen to the selection a minimum of 3 times (or at least I did) and then write a few words about the CD you’re sending and the CD you receive. It’s as simple as that and so is born a new online community!
Below is my review of the first CD that I recieved from the club.
The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
With great excitement I received my 1p Album Club Christmas special and upon opening the package I found an album by a group that I had no idea existed. [No surprise there! – TTW Ed.] The cover, however, looked extraordinarily colourful, like a collection of over-ripe, or maybe that should be over-enthusiastic, fruit. It turned out to be a good pictorial representation of the music!
Upon hearing this album for the first time and waiting for the vocals to come in, I realized that there were no vocals for the first song at least. On the second song, comfortable that this was a voiceless project, a shouty rap kicked in, sung by immature girls, but that was in any case buried in the mix so it was impossible to tell what they were saying. The second song (Ladyflash) was a good barometer for the rest of this album in that the styles incorporated rock, hip-hop (including scratching), certainly pop and, with some interesting instrumentation dubbed in, cheering and orchestration. (Wikipedia helpfully lists what the band are trying to do as: ‘combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, Double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars.’) In other words, it’s all over the place!
The shouty girl raps don’t appear much in the rest of the album and the only consistent sound is the persistent hiss through the record that, at times, sounds like it has been recorded with the window open. Still, this unencumbered approach to music making does bear some fruit. By the time we get to track 5 (Get It Together), you realize that there is a good tune in there and the clash of instrumentation on this song really works (flute, guitar and drums). However, they have to go and spoil it by stopping and pasting a hip-hop scratchy ending on it. It really is that eccentric. One song, Air Raid GTR, is just that, an Air Raid Siren for 38 seconds. It is, I think, apparent that this is music that can be used in films and video games and it’s no surprise that it has been.
Overall, after a few listens, I think the project works. Some songs are really good, Huddle Formation being a favourite. Others make great background music, Friendship Update being a good example of that. Ultimately, it’s joyous celebration that is wonderfully disorientating and to which one finds oneself returning more often that you might imagine.
However, one song I could not get out of my head has all the great elements from The Go Team, horn samples that could drive a marching band, rapping that’s impossible to decipher (apart from ‘come on everybody, let’s rock this place’), harmonica and a bubbling funky rhythm section:
All in all, an overwhelming and exhausting listen. Maybe one for when you have just seen the birth of your first child. Many thanks, Adam. Great choice!
Hello and welcome to the first Popcorn Double Feature of 2014.
As usual, we have 2 wonderful music videos for you to enjoy. A small prize will be given to the first person to contact us with the link between them.
Welcome to 2104 listeners!
As you may have noticed there have been lots of wizard fronted bests of last year taking up space on this here blog recently. You’ve had my own songs of the year and choice of albums and other stuff. The people’s wizard, Rebel Rikkit, has also had his say on this podcast and. of course, we have had a chance to hear Chorizo Garbanzo’s cooler than a nose nipped by J Frost annual selections and get the run down on his favourite albums, gigs and films too.
Nevertheless, there were a number of bands and tracks which didn’t quite make the cut in any of these lists, who I think deserve to have their wares laid out before you. So here we have a monthly mix made up of the near missess from 2013 that I really enjoyed and that I hope you will too.
We start with one of what I reckon to be 152 tracks released by Stephen Jones under his various guises last year. This was my favourite Black Reindeer song combining as it does a black sense of humour, quality ambient backing and, here, noisy drums. And anyway, cats are a bit shit, aren’t they? Next up it’s Blank Realm with a track from their Go Easy album that was on my best of short-list right up until the final cut only missing out because it was a bit long. Maintaining the rocky feel it’s then the standout track from Pixies EP1 and a track that seamlessly fitted in with their back catalogue when performed live. Live, of course, without the coolest Pixie of them all (as definitively decided by our poll), Kim Deal, who was busy releasing three great singles of her own last year – next it’s my favourite of those, all of which are worth checking out.
a bit shit really
Adam Ant follows with his song about Vince Taylor that stuck in my head for months. Then it’s Boards of Canada with a track from my favourite instrumental album of last year. Then it’s another artist who I saw live all the way back in 2013, Robyn Hitchcock. His Love From London was a slow burner for me and again it was hearing the songs live that really worked. He didn’t play the song chosen here when me and Texas Paul saw him, but it’s still my favourite from the album. The next track is one of many superb tracks released on my new favourite label, Fruits de Mer. It is a single from Portuguese psych-folkers, Beautify Junkyards, and is a cover of tropicalia legends Os Mutantes. Fantástico
Now, I realise that I included a Mark Kozelek track on my best of the year list, but that was from his, er, rock album with Desertshore, the track here is very different in that it comes from his electronic collaboration with Jimmy Lavalle (The Album Leaf) Perils From The Sea and at over 10 minutes was too long to include. It is, however, something special. Following that we have Darkside from my second favourite Rough Trade album club album of last year (John Grant won that particular accolade). They know you’ll like it… because they’re Psychic. Eh? Oh. Anyway, after that excellent slice of ”hypnotic psychedelia with tip top beats’ we have The Head & The Heart. This is a band Rikkit and I discovered supporting the abject My Morning Jacket and the track is from their second album Let’s Be Still. Definitely a band to watch.
What you don’t want when watching any band is Pissed Jeans. Unless, of course, you have gone to see the band Pissed Jeans, in which casee.. well, you get the idea. Anyway, my favourite track from their album Honeys is next celebrating the passing of that twat at work. You know the one. Good old Tommy Keene follows that with another cover version, this time of a Roxy Music track. His album of covers is really interesting and includes a top version of Choking Tara that I’m very surprised I haven’t included. Then we have the last release this year from our friends at Alcopop! records. It’s the fella below, possibly, whose songwriting is currently way above his ability with the bat.
this joke isn’t funny anymore
Three songs left and we start off with great favourites of the pod, Wire, with a song from their carefully reviewed album Change Becomes Us., which despite coming second to Edwyn Collins is still very good indeed. Then, finally, it’s time for a Robert Pollard related track and after much reflection, I reckon that right now this song from the Circus Devils album When Machines Attack has nudged out all those great songs from Guided By Voices English Little League to be my second favourite Uncle Bob track of last year. Of course, the fact that it directly mentions wizards has had no impact at all. To round off, there’s a track from minimalist composer Ludovico Einaudi, who I saw stun a Liverpool audience way back at the beginning of the year. An audience that included Kicker Jr. This is his favourite track of last year.
Those tracks in full:
1. Cat Freezer – Black Reindeer – yours for a quid!!
2. Cleaning Up My Mess – Blank Realm
3. What Goes Boom – Pixies
4. Walking With A Killer – Kim Deal
5. Vince Taylor – Adam Ant
6. New Seeds – Boards Of Canada
7. Fix You – Robyn Hitchcock
8. Fuga #2 – Beautify Junkyards
9. Somehow The Wonder Of Life Prevails – Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle
10. Paper Trails – Darkside
11. Another Story – The Head & The Heart
12. Cafeteria Food – Pissed Jeans
13. Out Of The Blue – Tommy Keene
14. Before My Tongue Becomes A Sword – Matt Pryor
15. Love Bends – Wire
16. Wizard Hat Lost In The Stars – Circus Devils – the best 79p you will ever spend
17. Experience – Ludovico Einaudi
How much do you believe in?
Playlist (of all the others)
Previous Monthly Mixes
2013
December 31, 2013
NEW YEAR SPECIAL! Popcorn Double Feature – Mary Margaret O’Hara / Siouxsie & The Banshees
A special New Year’s Eve extra helping for you.
2 wondrous videos for you, both songs appropriate to the time of year. But that’s not the link between them. Drop us a line if you can work out what is.
Oh and look out for some ace percussion playing from Robert Smith in the second video.
A very Happy New Year to you from all of us here at Trust the Wizards.
Join the Wizards’ New Year’s Party, where they consider Rebel Rikkit’s verdict on the best music of 2013.
Of course, there will the obligatory discussion on how to define a Mouldy Peach and when it’s safe to marry one. Also, the quiz on collective nouns everyone was waiting for!
Click the link below and enjoy as Rebel serves up doubles all night to create your ideal New Year’s Eve Party Mix!
Check out all the other Wizards’ “Best Of” selections below:
Best of 2013 selections
Best of 2012 selections
Morning Camper(Van Beethoven)s
Time again for another instalment of what people are starting to call The Musical Times Crossword*. This week we have one of Kicker’s all-time favourite bands, The Go-Betweens, with their ode to childhood, Cattle & Cane. We also have some noisy blighters called The Killing Bottle who look like the sort of band the wizards would enjoy live if only they hadn’t split up.
More to the point, what links these two diverse acts?
*(c) Rebel Rikkit
Just a couple of days left before we say “arrividerci” to 2013 so it’s time to share with you my favourite things from the year.
Top 25 albums:
The first 5 on the list are my top 5, the rest are in no particular order.
The ones in red were featured in my “best of 2013” podcast.
Clash the Truth – Beach Fossils (Facebook page)
Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You – Mark Mulcahy (website)
Hard On – New Science Projects (website)
Afraid of Heights – Wavves (website)
Any Port in a Storm – Scott & Charlene’s Wedding (website)
Folly – Kitchens of Distinction (website)
Ripely Pine – Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (website)
Apocalipstick – Witchboy (free album download)
Understated – Edwyn Collins (website) (our review)
Partygoing – Future Bible Heroes (website)
Nothin is Easy – Ephemerals (“name your price” download)
The Stand In – Caitlin Rose (website)
Otto – Niagara (website)
Rule of Twelfths – Fuzzy Lights (website)
Wise Up Ghost (especially the remix EP) – Elvis Costello & The Roots
Dancing – Nancy Elizabeth (website)
Rewind the Film – Manic Street Preachers (website)
Rock & Roll Animals – Luke Haines (website) (our review)
6 feet Beneath the Moon – King Krule (website)
Revolutionary Suicide – Julian Cope (website)
Silver Delirium – vo§uru (free album download)
Hokey Fright – The Uncluded (Facebook)
Reflektor – Arcade Fire (website)
Pale Green Ghosts – John Grant (website) (our review)
Wilderness – The Handsome Family (website)
Wonderful, Glorious – Eels (website) (our review)
Best Compilations:
A 2 way tie between:
The Rising Cost of Livin’ High and Lovin’ Hard: A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson on PIAPTK Records. You can buy it here and you really should. We played Golden Boots’ song from this album on our podcast number 9.
Nightfly Volume 3, a “name your price” download from the Fly By Night Collective. 35 tracks of fantastic instrumental beats. The Neat Beats track we played on my “best of 2013” podcast came from this album.
Best gigs of the year:
- Bruce Springsteen – Ricoh Arena, Coventry 20/6/13 review Bruce played 130-something gigs on the Wrecking Ball tour. He played the Born to Run album in full at just 6 of those gigs and I’ will go to my grave being grateful that I was at one of those!
- Chuck Prophet – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, 27/4/13 review
- World Party – RNCM, Manchester 15/4/13 review
- The Wedding Present – Academy 2, Liverpool 29/10/13 blog post
- Scott & Charlene’s Wedding – Shipping Forecast, Liverpool 7/8/13 review
- Lambchop – The Kazimier, Liverpool 25/6/13 review
Best films:
It seems that the older I get, the more films disappoint me. All I want these days is to see something a bit different so I find myself increasingly drawn away from the mainstream. This cynicism about Hollywood’s output combined with the fact that I have 2 pre-school kids means that I’ve only been to the cinema 3 times this year.
Two of those were with Chorizo Junior and we saw Planes (like Cars but not as good) and Turbo (quite good actually, especially the Samuel L Jackson snail).
The only other film I’ve seen was the new Hobbit one, The Desolation of Smaug which was brilliant so by default that becomes my favourite new film of 2013.
But the best film I’ve seen this year is a Japanese film called Fish Story that tells the tale of how a punk rock song saves the world. It’s shown on Film 4 from time to time, usually very late at night, so look out for that.
Happy New Year everyone!
Related articles
- Kicker of Elves’ Favourite Things from 2013 (trustthewizards.com)
- Podcast number 18: Chorizo’s best of 2013 (trustthewizards.com)
- Podcast number 17: Kicker’s best of 2013 (trustthewizards.com)
This is the one all the cool kids have been waiting for. Yes, Chorizo Garbanzo trawls through the obscure cuts of 2013 to present his definitive best of the year.
With correspondence from many of the bands to share and a totally unnecessary quiz, the wizards rattle on for far too long so are happy to break the podcast down into two tasty bite-size morsels for your delectation.
Chorizo’s best of 2013 (Part 1)
Chorizo’s best of 2013 (Part 2)
Check out a few of the selections on the podcast here adorned by little Chozza.
Look out for Rebel Rikkit’s best of 2013 coming real soon.
Best of 2013 selections
Best of 2012 selections
Well, the big day is finally here and the wizards send out seasonal greetings to one and all!
To help celebrate along with you and yours, we have a suitable vision of a Christmas future brought to you by Yo La Tengo and others.
Hope you bought enough batteries.
View all of our advent calendar right here
You can now listen to all 25 fabulous advent calendar tracks too. What better gift will you receive today? Eh? Oh.
So just one more day to go and time for the seasonally appropriate Decemberists to have their say.
Both Chorizo and Kicker had this wonderful song in their Best of 2009 mixes. As they would no doubt both agree, at this time of year it’s all about the children.
View all of our advent calendar right here.
A very Christmassy welcome to the week to you!
Yes, it’s a Christmas themed Popcorn Double Feature this week with The Ramones and their Merry Christmas song followed by Paul Simon and some other bloke with, er, a video with snow in it.
Happy Festivus everyone!
With Christmas deliveries just around the corner (if you’ve been good kids), it is appropriate that today’s selection considers the importance of the Postman.
This is Liverpool’s sarky so-and-sos, Shellsuit, with their song from 2010. One that was very possibly the first to make Kicker’s best of the year list that year. Now that’s what I call success.
View all of our advent calendar right here.
It’s the final countdown. Diddle-er-der. Diddle-it-dit-der. Diddle-er-der. Diddle-it-dit-der-der-der.
Here’s a song that’s way better than that one. This was one of my “best of 2002” selections from the late great Solomon Burke.
It’s taken from the album “Don’t Give Up On Me” which features brilliant songs written especially for “The King of Rock and Soul” by such musical luminaries as Van Morrison, Dan Penn, Elvis Costello, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Nick Lowe.
And this one which is written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (a.k.a. Mrs Tom Waits)
As well as all those great songs mentioned above, the album also has a song called “Stepchild” written by one Bob Dylan. It’s an absolute stinker of a song with dreadful lyrics that make “Wiggle Wiggle” sound like “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”
- View all of our advent calendar right here.
Today is the 11th anniversary of Joe Strummer’s death aged just 50.
I’m not one of those people who get all het up when a famous person dies. As soon as a celebrity death is announced, everyone seems very keen to be seen to be the first person to post their pithy tribute to the deceased. That’s all very well and maybe I’m just a cold-hearted bastard but I’m not usually that bothered. People die all the time, so what. That may sound harsh but it’s still true.
There are some exceptions to this of course, people whose deaths I genuinely felt shocked and upset about. Often these are people I have been lucky enough to meet, for example Kirsty MacColl, Douglas Adams and one of my biggest footballing heroes QPR legend Alan McDonald.
I never met Joe Strummer but I can remember exactly where I was (in my flat in Kensal Rise) when I heard on the radio that he’d died 11 years ago today.
I’m a bit too young to really remember The Clash clearly. I was 11 when “Combat Rock” came out and being an avid listener (and home taper) of the Top 40 every week, I quite liked “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” but that was the only song of theirs I knew. I didn’t know enough about them to know that they’d come out of the punk scene and compared to the other “new wave” bands I liked (Dexys, The Police, Blondie), they sounded more like a rock group. (Still not particularly keen on “Should I Stay…” even now).
So I didn’t really discover The Clash’s music until 1986 when I was 15 and there were lots of pieces in NME / Sounds / Melody Maker celebrating 10 years of punk. There was also lots of stuff about punk on Channel 4. (Many miles away from us teenagers in Sussex, another group of teenagers in South Wales were being inspired by the same source material.) Back in those days, there was some half-decent arts programming on that channel, before it started churning out endless “reality” bilge and freakshow shockumentaries. (“Did you see that thing last night about the little boy with a pig’s trotter for a face? Wasn’t it awful? That poor little thing. Really makes you think, doesn’t it!” NO IT FUCKING DOESN’T!)
Inspired by this punk DIY spirit me and 2 of my mates from school decided to start our own band. There was me (guitar), Colin (bass) and Mark (drums). When we started, none of us could play our instruments at all, in fact Colin didn’t even own an instrument, it was perfect!
A big influence on us was a tape given away with the NME called Pogo a Go Go. We listened to this over and over and it was our gateway into The Damned, The Pistols, The Buzzcocks but especially The Clash.
We practiced a lot (“I practiced daily in my room”) and got pretty good. Soon we were joined in the band by another mate from school, Robin, a proper musician who could actually play. We got gigs in Sussex pubs playing our own stuff mixed in with some covers. We rehearsed in a garage so of course we played “Garageland”. After a while, this morphed into a kind of Clash medley which we called “The Clash Thrash”. Can’t really remember what songs we put into it but “I Fought The Law”, “Brand New Cadillac” and “Police On My Back” were definitely in there, along with bits of “Tommy Gun”, “White Riot”, “Safe European Home” and plenty of shoutouts of “you’re my guitar hero”, “Johnny Johnny!” and “elevator, going up!”
It was a highlight of every gig we played.
Other touchstones for us were a well-watched VHS copy of “Rude Boy” and a couple of interviews Joe gave around the time of “Walker” / “Earthquake Weather” and the “Straight to Hell” film. There was this one with Magenta Devine but it was the one below that we watched over and over again.
We used to imitate Joe’s speech and the way he talks with such passion, placing emphasis on unexpected syllables. (Yes I know we sound like sad gits, but who amongst us wasn’t a sad git when they were teenagers?)
As much as Mick, Paul and Topper were important, it was the force of Joe’s personality that made him stand out. Mick was unquestionably a more talented musician but Joe was the heart of the band. Recently I listened to a BBC Front Row interview the remaining bandmembers gave to promote the new Clash re-issues and whilst it was interesting, it only really comes to life when you hear Joe’s voice. Do yourself a favour and set aside half an hour to listen to it here.
In 1988, I saw Joe play live with his band the Latino Rockabilly War, twice at an Amnesty International Festival of Youth in Milton Keynes Bowl (they played both days). Then again on the Rock Against the Rich tour at the Brighton Dome (same venue where Abba won Eurovision with “Waterloo” in 1974, fact fans!)
I remember people trying to smash up the seats at that one and also being given a Class War leaflet on the way out. In there was a page saying that the way to get the revolution started was to hit a copper on the head with a brick. The teenage Chorizo thought “yes, maybe if we’re all going to hit coppers with bricks, then fine I’ll join in, why not. But can you let me know exactly when I need to do this. I don’t want to start hitting coppers too early before the revolution has actually started.”
The setlist was a mixed bag of songs from “Earthquake Weather”, the under-rated “Permanent Record” soundtrack and songs Joe had co-written with Mick for the 2nd B.A.D. album. They played some Clash songs but they were mostly songs The Clash had covered (I Fought The Law, Armagideon Times, Brand New Cadillac, Police and Thieves) rather than Strummer / Jones originals.
After the Latino Rockabilly War era, Joe didn’t play tour for nearly a decade. He didn’t even have a band.
During these years, I met his old compadre and fellow QPR fan Mick Jones a few times in the Blue and White Bar in the ground. Most of our conversations were about football but I do remember telling him what a big influence The Clash’s music had been on me. He was very gracious about that but I reckon he must get blokes of a certain age saying “The Clash changed my life” to him every single day.
The next time I saw Joe was at Glastonbury in 1998 which was probably the least enjoyable Glastonbury I ever went to. It was ridiculously wet and muddy, I somehow managed to miss loads of the bands I wanted to see and did I mention the mud? The highlights were seeing Tony Bennett and not seeing Robbie Williams. On the last night, I chose to give main stage headliners Pulp a miss and go to see Joe DJing on the Other stage. It was great to see him again but I can’t remember any of the songs he played. He had Bez onstage with him doing his freaky dancing and Keith Allen coming on sometimes to rant incoherently.
London Astoria 1999 by Bob Gruen. http://www.joestrummer.com/gruen/index.html
The following year Joe was properly back with a great new album “Rock Art and the X Ray Style” and a new band The Mescaleros. I went to see them at the Astoria and it was great to see that old battered old black Telecaster with its “Ignore Alien Orders” / “Trash City” stickers. That right arm was still pumping, that left leg still stomping and the voice still had that same fight and passion in it. They played White Man In Hammersmith Palais, Tommy Gun, Rudie Can’t Fail, London Calling and more (see full setlist). A great, great night.
Soon after that, I saw them again supporting The Who at Wembley Arena, a venue I’ve been to many times over the years. But the massive size of the place means that unless you’ve got really good seats, most gigs there are pretty crap. The only exceptions I can recall are Prince, k.d. lang and that Who gig.
On the day that Joe & The Mescaleros released “Global A Go Go”, their second album, and in my opinion their best, they played a set in the HMV shop on Oxford Street. Entry was for competition winners only but fortunately for me, I had an old friend who worked there who got me a couple of wristbands. We got right to the front and I took the photos below. The band, now featuring Tymon Dogg Joe’s old busking partner from the pre-101ers days, played a set of songs all from the new album which went down a storm even though none of the audience had heard those songs before. I particularly remember the songs “Shaktar Donetsk” and “Bindi Bhagee” standing out.
Here are some photos I took that night (click to see them bigger)
When the band had finished playing, Joe was signing copies of the new album. Looking at the length of the queue, me and my mate decided to just buy the album at the other counter and go down the pub. What a pair of idiots. We missed the opportunity to shake the hand of a hero. Definitely one for the gig regrets list.
After Joe’s death, Topper Headon said: “It’s taken Joe’s death to make me realise just how big The Clash were. We were a political band and Joe was the one who wrote the lyrics. Joe was one of the truest guys you could ever meet. If he said ‘I am behind you’, then you knew he meant it 100 per cent.”
A couple of months after Joe died, Dave Grohl, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt paid tribute to him at the Grammys. It’s a well known clip that you’ve probably seen before but watch it again because it’s bloody great.
And lastly, here’s a good video put together by a guy called Kevin Richards. We still miss you Joe.
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It’s so festive now with only 4 sleeps till the big man races down the chimney to answer all our prayers. Over here I am being deafened by sleigh bells and you can’t move for elves drunk on egg nog, bleeding from their hands from decking all the halls with holly. I am sure it’s the same where you are.
So to keep this mood going we should all hail… HAIL!… the man who claimed 2012 for himself with the outstanding Temple Beautiful album that was crammed with the best rock ‘n ‘roll known to humankind!
All the wizards featured this stunning album in their best of year mixes, but the most almighty tune (guitar riff and call to arms!) was this: Castro Halloween. Take It Chuck!!!
You have to stay with this for duelling solos at the end. You have to!
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The Fall have almost certainly released an album every year since the wizards starting sharing their best of the year mixes with each other (and now you, dear listener). Occasionally, they have appeared in a wizard’s top 20 too.
Like here, in 2008, where Senior Twilight Stock Replacer made the cut in Kicker’s selection. The footage is of the song opening a Fall gig at Hammersmith Palais and, like Father Christmas*, Mark E Smith always turns up eventually.
* this may well be the only similarity between the two.
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23 years ago, I saw Faith No More at the Reading Festival and as I watched the lead singer risking life and limb climbing way up the scaffolding on the side of the stage, it was clear that here was a man who was not going to conform to anybody’s stereotypes!
I’m not sure I know what the obvious career path is after you’ve been the lead singer in a hit-making rock band but I do know that it doesn’t usually include making experimental records for a while and then teaming up with an orchestra and making an album of Italian pop songs of the 1960s. Nevertheless, that is what Mike Patton did and good on him for that because I bloody love it. He’s always been a man who likes to test the limits of what the human voice is capable of.
Here’s a cracking live version of a song that was on my “Best of 2010” compilation CD. It’s called “20 km al giorno” from his highly recommended album “Mondo Cane”
Big that white suit. Prego.
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Only 7 sleeps left and things are getting festive.
Apart from this song, which made it onto Rebels best of 2009. A soaring slice of psychedelic pop from a Pipette. Sounds good, eh!
Here is Rose Elinor Dougall with the resplendent Stop/Start/Synchro.
Stick with the video, there seems to be a suicide pact at the end. Don’t try that at home kids!
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Over the last 6 years the wizards’ best of the year mixes have rarely included any cover versions. However, Kicker has come up with two.
In 2011 it was Little Roy’s version of Come As You Are and in 2010 it was this fantastic cover of a Randy Newman song by Jon Hardy et al.
I wonder if there’ll be a cover in this year’s selections?
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To misquote Morrissey, “If you have 3 hours to spare, then I’ll tell you the musical story of my last 12 months.” Yes, you can hear the 19 tracks that made it onto my best of 2013 list, as dissected by Garbanzo and Rikkit, right here.
For the record, my top 3 tracks of the year would have to be:
1. I Killed A Man Who Looks Like You – Robert Pollard
2. Song From The River – Soft Hearted Scientists
3. Sunray Venus – Throwing Muses
In addition, here are a few more of my favourite things from this year:
Top 25 albums:
1. Robert Pollard – Honey Locust Honky Tonk – my favourite Uncle Bob album since From A Compound Eye
2. Throwing Muses – Purgatory/Paradise – 32 songs in 45 minutes and all of them great
3. Guided By Voices – English Little League – the last GBV album till the next one and my favourite from the reformed ‘classic’ band
4. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts – some of the best lyrics around set to 80s electronica
5. Edwyn Collins – Understated – a remarkable man and a remarkable record
6. Scott & Charlene’s Wedding – Any Port In A Storm – like Pavement with an Aussie sense of humour only better than that
7. Soft Hearted Scientists – False Lights – unpigeonholeable Welsh genius
8. The Necks – Open – there’s no finer way to lose yourself in music for just over an hour
9. Lloyd Cole – Standards – a return to the rockier sound of yore with the same intelligent lyrics
10. Julian Cope – Revolutionary Suicide – free-range political poetry of the highest order
11. Circus Devils – When Machines Attack / My Mind Has Seen The White Trick – two more slices of the psychedelic surrealist side of Robert Pollard
12. Bill Callahan – Dream River – very personal introspective songs that somehow speak to everyone
13. Omar Souleyman – Wenu Wenu – wild Arabic dance music with dirty synth squelches
14. Joseph Arthur – The Ballad Of Boogie Christ Acts 1 & 2 – the concept album of the year
15. Graveola E O Lixo Polifônico – Eu Preciso De Um Liquidificador – an uplifting delight of Brazilian musical eclecticism
16. The Handsome Family – Wilderness – a glorious helping of surreal animal-based country-noir
17. Eels– Wonderful, Glorious – more fantastic songwriting from Mr E and chums
18. Boards Of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest – great electronic soundscapes to soundtrack your daydreams
19. Jagwar Ma – Howlin – a dubbed up wall of sound
20. Wire – Change Becomes Us – a new old record that could only be the Wire of the 21st century
21. Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle – Perils From The Sea – impeccable storytelling over electronic finery
22. Darkside – Psychic – hypnotic psychedelia with tip top beats
23. Rotifer – The Cavalry Never Showed Up – old skool punk informed songwriting with crunchy guitars and a pop sensibility
24. Ludovico Einaudi – In A Time Lapse – classical, ambient, stunning
25. Black Reindeer – A Difficult Third Album / Due To A Lack Of Excitement / All Is Good / Just For Today History Is Wrong / The Ten Stages Of Alcohol / The End Of Youth / Death Is Stupid / Death Is Stupid 2 / Demons Demons Demons
Bubbling under:
Chvrches – The Bones Of What You Believe, Robyn Hitchcock – Love From London, Low – The Invisible Way, The Luck Of Eden Hall – Victoria Moon, They Might Be Giants – Nanobots, Yo La Tengo – Fade
Best Compilation:
Strange Fish Collection (Fruits de Mer) – 6 LPs and a CD’s worth of the best instrumental music around
Best Retrospective:
Soft Hearted Scientists – Whatever Happened To The Soft Hearted Scientists – a collection of must hear songs from this year’s must hear band. I have told everyone I know that they need this music. Now I’m telling you.
Best musical TV moment
Here’s the Electric Lady in all her glory…
Top 6 gigs:
- Bruce Springsteen – Ricoh Arena, Coventry 20/6/13 review
- Chuck Prophet – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, 27/4/13 review
- Pixies – Apollo, Manchester, 21/11/13 review
- Damien Dempsey – The Kazimier, Liverpool 16/10/13
- John Grant – The Ritz, Manchester, 14/5/13
- Lambchop – The Kazimier, Liverpool 25/6/13 review
Best new discovery:
Scott & Charlene’s Wedding / Soft Hearted Scientists
Biggest disappointment:
Arctic Monkeys. It’s now finally over between us. You’ve changed.
Robert Pollard’s 2013 output in full:
Guided By Voices – Down By The Racetrack EP
Guided By Voices – Flunky Minnows (7″ single)
Guided By Voices – Islands (She Talks To Rainbows) (7″ single)
Guided By Voices – Trashcan Full Of Nails (7″ single)
Guided By Voices – Xeno Pariah (7″ single)
The Sunflower Logic – Clouds On The Polar Landscape EP
Guided By Voices – Noble Insect (7″ single)
Guided By Voices – English Little League LP
Robert Pollard – Honey Locust Honky Tonk LP
Teenage Guitar – Force Fields At Home LP
Robert Pollard – Tonight’s The Rodeo (7″ single)
Circus Devils – When Machines Attack LP
Circus Devils – My Mind Has Seen The White Trick LP
Robert Pollard – Return Of The Drum (7″ single)
Robert Pollard -Blazing Gentlemen LP
So that’s just the 6 full LPs, 2 EPs and 7 singles (with non-album B-sides) this year. What has your favourite band been up to, eh?
We’re back again with another song from yesteryear.
This one was on my “best of 2007” compilation and it’s simply one of the greatest “after you’ve gone” songs ever written.
Keep your eye out for the inappropriately cheerful zebra.
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