Here's a little slideshow of the 'Legends' gig from March. The pictures come courtesy of The Metropolis Group. Lots of gorgeous guitars and some nice close-ups of Bill's jacket (Armani, donchaknow...)
It seems that the experience was less than satisfying for Mr Nelson as his diary entry of April 24th will testify. He is an absolute perfectionist and his 'OK' is everyone else's 'YAAAYYY!!!'. From where I was standing (stage right, fact fans) it was a fantastic show. The DVD is still due out at the end of May. Watch this space...
Bill Nelson Live: Some Pictures from the 'Legends' DVD filming 26 03 11
Does the roguishly handsome devil in the picture look familiar? Yep, it’s that bloke from the Smashing Pumpkins who wasn’t Billy Corgan, or the ace Drummer, or one of the girly Bassists….It’s James Iha. Now what’s a ruff, tuff loud ‘n’ nasty geetarslinger like Mr I doing in a jingly-jangly, early bedtime, Blue Nile loving blog like this? Let me explain…
Around the time of ‘Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream’, I was a bit of a Pumpkins fan. ‘Cherub Rock’ and ‘Today’ are two of the best singles from that period and get played whenever I wanna ‘Rock Out’, in that polite, forty something way which is so popular here at BPFE Towers. But then it all got a bit…overblown. Double albums, I can take…but when ‘Melon Collie…’ was released, I got a little restless. This, coupled with the fact that Billy C started to resemble the Mekon made me feel that the honeymoon was over. It was time for the Pumpkins and I to start seeing other people. But then, along came ‘Let It Come Down’. It arrived in my record shop with no hoo-hah at all. I put it on, expecting to be flung across the room with the full-on ferocity of 100 Marshalled-up Flying Vs, but what I got was…positively pastoral. Yep, while Mr C’s intense and brooding back was turned, lil’ Jimmy recorded a rather lovely, singer songwritery album that sounds perfect in this pleasant Spring evening. (Sorry, that came out a bit ‘Women’s Weekly’, didn’t it?)
('Be Strong Now')
It’s a low-key, acoustic based gem of a record with some nice, understated playing and a collection of great songs. Admittedly, it’s a little…’sappy’ in parts, but aren’t we all? James isn’t the greatest singer in the world, but he has a charming voice and the melodies work really well against the diligent strumming of the band. Don’t go looking for stray Pumpkins, as apart from one harmony vocal from D’Arcy, there are none to be found. But what is here is a great, ‘lost’ record. Given the popularity of the SPs, I was amazed to find that this is no longer in print, so as a public service, here it is.
(Part one of 7 little promo snippets for the album
- the rest are on YouTube)
You may have a pretty fixed idea of what this is gonna sound like, given the electrified DRAAANNNGGGG of Mr Iha’s day job, but this is something else again. The single ‘Be Strong Now’ was the most Pumpkinny thing on the album and that’s not really very Pumpkinny at all.
After all, it’s a Rushbo recommendation…what more prompting do you need to click on the link?
Thanks to Mick, I've been able to add three non album tunes to the end of the album. They were originally from the 'Be Strong Now' EP - cheers Mick! I've also included the bonus tracks as a separate file if you've already snagged the album.
Yep, it’s Tuesday, so it must be another Rain Parade live recording.
This is another ace soundboard (or exceptionally good audience recording) from Columbus, Ohio, around the time of the ‘PerfumeRiver’ recording. Don’t panic completeists, there are a number of differences in the setlists, so calm yourself down… As per ‘Perfume River’ they’re joined on the encores by Sid Griffin who (along with REMs Peter Buck) would jump onstage with anyone in earshot during the mid-eighties. You’d be right in assuming he’s not the shy retiring type…
Performances are great – this is the five piece version of the band with John Thoman on Guitar… by far my favourite lineup of the band, for what it’s worth.
('No Easy Way Down' recorded for the OGWT
with a brief interview preceding it)
Now about the date…Matt Piucci announces that the gig was on the 20th anniversary of Sam Cookes murder, which would make it December 11th, but all the references I’ve found state this was November 11th. ‘PerfumeRiver’ was recorded on November 14th (in Rochester). Unless you were there (and if you were, you’re a jammy bugger) we’ll never know. And what difference does it make really…this is great music whenever it was recorded!
I thought today would be the ideal opportunity to whizz these up. They're a bunch of demos by Sir Mitch Easter recorded in 82 and 84 for Afoot and Cypress. Yeah I know some of these have been up on Wilfully Obscure (dammit-they're always ahead of me over there!) but there seem to be a few tunes which are unique to this version. You can have fun playing spot the difference... Track 11 seems to be part of a radio broadcast, it seems. I suppose it was about time I uploaded some Ledz, given the title of the blog...
Right that was just a quickie as there are chocolate eggs to be eaten.
Along with REM, The Church were instrumental in showing me that Guitar music didn’t begin and end with Van Halen in the 80’s. They’ve had a long and fascinating history (beautifully detailed in 'No Certainty Attached - Steve Kilbey and The Church' by Robert Dean Lurie) and they’re still at it today. Their most recent album ‘Untitled 23’ had critics fawning over it and they’ve just completed a sell out tour of the States. But for me, their best work is in the mid-late 80’s. And that’s where we hear them in this recording.
Unplugged. Yeah, that word sends shivers down your spine, doesn’t it? I’m sure we all remember the endless footage of panic-stricken Guitarists trying to play proper chords on acoustic Guitars, Drummers flailing wildly on congas and Bassists manfully struggling with enormous acoustic Basses, or better yet, randomly plunking on upright Basses they have no clue how to play. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it reduced everyone to the level of an overpaid busker. But MTV loved it and everyone had a go. Some bands used it as an opportunity to recast their material in a totally different light (Nirvana) and some just pretended they were playing electric instruments (Pearl Jam), but the Church did it really well. This is probably because most of the material was written on an acoustic Guitar by a Bassist – nothing too tricky, but great melodies and memorable, simple tunes with clever, whole band arrangements.
So here we are- its 1988 and we’re at the legendary KCRW with the equally legendary Deidre O’Donoghue. The Church are on an American tour, plugging what was to be their breakthrough album – ‘Starfish’. If you’ve never heard it…I kind of envy you, as to hear it for the first time is like having your brain dropped in a warm bubble bath and then turbo charged. It’s ace. Anyhoo, here are the Anglo-Australian Alt-Psych-Rockers playfully dipping in and out of their back catalogue and being narcotically charming to a clearly in-awe O’Donoghue. A few months later, ‘Starfish’ went platinum thanks to the unexpected hit they had with ‘Under The Milky Way’ and the fact that they were in the right place at the right time. They had just the right amount of Geetar-slinging to reach a Metalhead or two, literate enough lyrics to reach the disenfranchised Goths and catchy tunes to reach the Pop-Rockers. A perfect storm. Sadly, they couldn’t maintain this level of success…but that’s a story for another day – and another post.
This is the complete, unexpurgated recording. Other versions are available in many places on the net (most notably as part of the ‘Acoustic Sermon’ boot), but the interviews and the between tune tomfooleries have been cruelly expunged. Not here. This is the whole thing from soup to nuts. It’s a lovely document of a band with the world at their feet.
('Under The Milky Way' on 'MTV Unplugged')
Church fans are amongst the most rabid and partisan fans in the world. They’re well served by a decent website, a great fansite and an almost daily blog by Steve Kilbey. The latter I advise checking out with caution as he can veer from essential to inconsequential – often in the course of a single posting. And don’t read the comments. They’re scary….
So kids, back-comb your hair, pop on some paisley and blow the dust off that acoustic bass you haven’t played since 1991 and enjoy the Pre-Raphaelite Alt-Pop-Rock of The Church….
This is a bit cheeky as there is a version of this CD in print and available from all good music retailers. But this version, laydeez and genlemen, is the original, 1987 Indie version. And I think it's better.
Stephen Duffy. Is he:
a. That bloke who was that New Romantic one-hit wonder?
b. That bloke who left Duran Duran moments before they became intergalactic enormostars?
c. That bloke who killed Robbie Williams’ career?
If you answered a, b or c...you're right. But he's a damn sight more than that.
Stephen Duffy is one of the best British songwriters of the last 30 years. Fact. And most of those songs are written for his band of bucolic fellow travellers, The Lilac Time - Big in Japan, but pretty tichy in the rest of the world. This is wrong. How can anyone NOT like a guy that started off in a low-budget Glam band, join and leave Duran Duran while still at school, have a big production techno-dance hit, pioneer sampling and then give it all up to make acoustic music with his brother? Yeah, I know....cool eh?
Now I know I keep banging on about Birmingham, but ol' Stevie is a bit of a legend round these parts - a native son. I got into music retail in the mid-80's and everyone I spoke to had their own Duffy story. For further information see 'We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’ by Dr. S.P. Morrissey. I was mildly amused by 'Kiss Me' (and irritated by his incredibly fey 'Top Of The Pops' performance) and consigned him to the bin marked 'As famous as any Brummie is gonna get'. And then I heard 'Return To Yesterday'.
His move from techno-popstar to acoustic troubadour made the local paper. Then again, it doesn't take much to make the papers in Brum. The gist of the article was that Stephen had turned his back on stardom and 'that London' and made a low-key record in a studio in Kings Heath. Whether he turned his back on stardom or visa-versa is a moot point, but... Anyway, this wasn't the Duffy we were used to. Out was all the hi-gloss production and in were acoustic guitars, Nick Drake references and, most importantly, his genius brother Nick. And the result was the Low-Fi gem called 'The Lilac Time'.
(Return To Yesterday)
It crept out with zero fanfare in 1987 on a label run by some guys from a local record store - 'Swordfish'. (Ah, Swordfish Records...as a teenager I used to hang around that store just to hear the guys behind the counter talk so learnedly about music. Eventually, I plucked up the courage and £2.99 to buy a copy of 'One Size Fits All'. I got a nod of approval from the sages in the shop and almost floated home). They played a few gigs, got a bit of airplay for 'Return To Yesterday' and 'Black Velvet' and they were signed to Fontana. The album was deemed 'too much like a demo' and lots of it was remixed in a Big Studio. To me, that kinda missed the point. I thought it was MEANT to sound a little rough and Low-Fi. And by Low-Fi, we aint't talking Guided By Voices... The Indie version got withdrawn and the shiny new version got released and they became a moderately successful band. But they were out of step with everything. All their recordings are fine and they continue to this day - there's even a movie about them, but they've never got the kudos they deserve. That breaks my heart.
Duffy has had a fascinating career, and one day I'll write that book, but right now, here's some music. Not so subtly different from the tunes you may have heard on the radio. I wouldn't normally post an album you can buy or download, but as this is significantly different to the version that's available, my conscience is almost clear. There ain't too many of the 'Swordfish' version around as it was quickly overshadowed by the 'Fontana' edition. In fact, Swordfish ended up selling them for just £1. I got wind of this at the time and phoned the shop up, desperate to snag a bargain. I asked them to put a copy to one side and I'd be there in a minute...the voice on the phone said 'We've got plenty'. Concerned, I asked how many, just in case they’d all sell out in the 10 minutes it would take me to reach the store. The voice sighed and replied 'About a thousand...'
Here's a little slideshow of the 'Legends' gig from March. The pictures come courtesy of The Metropolis Group. Lots of gorgeous guitars and some nice close-ups of Bill's jacket (Armani, donchaknow...)
