Archives for December 2007

On tonight's Late Show at 10pm, I'll be playing my fave tracks from 2007. This has become an annual event, and I do enjoy the chance to load up a two hour programme with all the choice moments.

It's probably a throwback to John Peel and his Festive 50, which was a national event for some of us. Myself and my mates would debate the relative standings of Joy Division, The Undertones, The Clash and The Specials. For years, Stiff Little Fingers were a feature, eventually giving way to the Wedding Present, PJ Harvey and the Mary Chain. Happily, all the Festive 50 polls are on the John Peel microsite, providing a snapsot of alternative music as it occurred.

Here are my top records of 2007.

ALBUMS

1. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

2. Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight

3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

4. Robert Plant, Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

5. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

6. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedela

7. The Undertones – Dig Yourself Deep

8. Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights

9. Bruce Springsteen – Magic

10. Foy Vance – Hope

11. Panda Bear – Person Pitch

12. The Good The Bad & The Queen – The Good The Bad & The Queen

13. MIA – Kala

14. Radiohead – In Rainbows

15. Laura Viers –Icebreakers

16. Cathy Davey – Tales Of Silversleeve

17. Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew – Spirit If

18. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

19. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

20. Ry Cooder – My Name Is Buddy

SINGLES

1.Modest Mouse – Dashboard

2. Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running

3. Soul Savers – Revival

4. Amiina, Lee Hazlewod – Hilli

5. Duffy – Rockferry

6. Candie Payne – I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

7. Bruce Springsteen – Radio Nowhere

8. Editors – Smokers Outside The Hospital Door

9. Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse – Valerie

10. The Good The Bad And The Queen – Green Fields

11.The View – Same Jeans

12. Manic Street Preachers –Your Love Is Not Enough

13. The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy

14. Andrew Bird – Heretics

15. Tuung – Bullets

16. Feist - 1234

16. Josh Ritter – Right Moves

17. MIA – Jimmy

18. Peter Bjorn And John – Young Folks

19. Ian Brown – Illegal Attacks

20. The Shins – Australia

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

Here’s a few shots of myself and Shane MacGowan in New York, November 1987. We’d been drinking saki in a Japanese restaurant, we’d swapped hats and for some reason Shane started spoon-feeding me ice cream.

The Pogues had just finished making the video for ‘Fairy Tale Of New York’. I was bewitched by the song and delighted to be in Manhattan to see the band play live at The Ritz. Since guitarist Phil Chevron was ill with a stomach ulcer, they’d flown in Joe Strummer to deputize. So as a bonus I watched them play ‘I Fought The Law’, London Calling’ and an encore of ‘Maggie May’. Nearby I could see The Beastie Boys, Jim Jarmusch and Matt Dillon. Everybody was smiling.

For the most part, Shane was decent company, keeping his distance behind that woozy persona. But if you said something he disagreed with, he’d immediately snap into focus, revealing a vast musical knowledge and a reserve of moral indignation. No fool, that guy.

Loads of saki was consumed on our night off. The restaurant bill was equally expansive, and the guy from the record company was outraged. “You’ve just blown the entire earnings from ‘Fairytale’!” he spluttered. An exaggeration, I reckon, but hey, it was well spent.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

Bruce was in imperial form last Saturday in Belfast. Smiling, rocking and enthusing. He’s played much longer gigs, but this was sweetly paced and emotionally right. He said he liked our ferris wheel, he took us into the darklands of American foreign policy and the hits kept dropping with reliable joy.

The E Street Band was all in black and lined up like an identify parade. Each took a chance to solo and we bellowed for Clarence Clemons, blowing his sax like no other pensioner. Little Steven was gurning and leaning into Bruce’s mic like the best of pals. Nils Lofgren played lead on ‘Because The Night’, a moment to leave you transfixed and tearful. Next thing they’re all wheeling into ‘She’s The One’ and then ‘Promised Land’, which ends on a coda of the Curtis Mayfield tune, ‘People Get Ready’.

The ‘political’ section of the night is well-judged. Flashes of New York, Baghdad and the rubbish experiences of GI Joe. For the encore he revives ‘Kitty’s Back’ from that first album, and we feel honoured. A cowboy hat with Xmas trimming is fetched up for ‘Santa Clause Is Comin’ To Town’ and we go hoarse with the sentiment of it all.

Here’s the playlist:

Radio Nowhere

No Surrender

Lonesome Day

Gypsy Biker

Magic

Reason to Believe

Because the Night

She's the One

Livin' in the Future

The Promised Land / People Get Ready

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

The River

I'll Work for Your Love

Devil's Arcade

The Rising

Last to Die

Long Walk Home

Badlands

(Encore)

Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Kitty's Back

Born to Run

Dancing in the Dark

American Land

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

It’s not the biggest comeback story in the world, but I’m rather excited to hear about the return of That Petrol Emotion. They’re playing some dates in March, including a show at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

As you probably know, the band was formed by John and Damian O’ Neill after The Undertones had finished. Steve Mack from Seattle sang and leaped around while fine players such as Raymond and Ciaran also served. Lovers of Ulster rock should at least be familiar with ‘Big Decision’, ‘Sensitize’, ‘It’s A Good Thing’ and ‘Natural Kind Of Joy’. Between this and the looming return of My Bloody Valentine, it's like 1988 all over again.

Meantime, have you heard the story about Led Zep playing Ormeau Park, Belfast in 2008? See the ATL site for more.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

Thankfully Led Zeppelin mania has abated. It was quite alarming to hear so many Radio 2 presenters pledging their allegiance to the Zep, even though their normal playlists would suggest a more sedate record collection. At least Terry Wogan had the strength of mind to ridicule this mass delusion. At heart, they are mostly Abba fans.

So let’s get revved up for the return of Bruce Springsteen to the Odyssey arena, Belfast. When he played there with the Seeger Sessions Band, the mood was exultant. His new album ‘Magic’ rocks with the E Street Band and is steered by the author’s conscience. Expect many references to war in the Middle East. But the guys are also doing ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ in the set. Bonus!

Don’t forget, this Friday at 10pm will find my Radio Ulster show delivering the A-Z of Springsteen, from ‘Atlantic City’ to Steve Van Zandt. There are some playlist ideas here. We’re still welcoming your suggestions and requests, so please participate.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

In January 1991, when number one hit records were still something exciting and aspirational, Iron Maiden reached the top with ‘Bring Your Daughter to The Slaughter’. Some of us were outraged. How could such a rubbish metal act rule the pop charts without our permission? We thought about it for a second. And then the answer became plain.

Chart sales in January are always poor. Money is tight and prospects are sober. But if a band with a dedicated, niche audience comes along, then those concentrated sales can yield spectacular results. Since then, record companies have used this scam to showcase cult acts and new bands.

The first NME cover of the New Year was traditionally a breaking band – the anointed hopes of the season. This idea was extended in 1993 when the NME Awards were launched, complete with a Brat Bus tour of upcoming acts, which would tour the UK and excite a weary landscape.

Since then, January has become a critical time for record companies, music mags radio tipsters, hairstyling products and sundry bits of the industry. It worked for Snow Patrol and ‘Run’ in 2004. And in 2008, the smart money is on a torch singer from north Wales called Duffy.

Her voice is impressive, and no-one is coy about the references to Dusty Springfield. She’s got heavyweight management that’s been involved with the likes of Pulp, The Cranberries and The Smiths. And her opening song, ‘Rockferry’ is a sustained smouldering ballad, the farewell to a gigantic love affair.

All good then. But the worry is that Duffy is pushed too hard, too soon, and that any mystique is all used us before we’ve seen her evolve. Lily Allen was commodified in an instant, and Duffy could easily go that way.

Anyway, she’s playing Auntie Annie’s in Belfast, March 3. By then, the hysteria should be well advanced. I kinda hope she burns brightly into the festival season, so that my ridiculous, punning headline may actually make sense...

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.

Monday morning at Stormont, and Carson’s statue is surrounded by clowns, musicians, playwrights and a stray hobbit.

Many strands of the arts in Northern Ireland have come to voice their protests about government funding levels. You can read about the financial projections and the draft budget here, but the demonstrators say they feel the the message is clear: from their point of view the new regime on the hill isn’t feeling overly generous towards the creatives and the people who bring culture to this place.

So while the tourists are increasingly thick on the ground, there’s a limited amount that we can show them. Music and literature may have brought prestige to the place in difficult times, but tell that to the ministers. And so we’re joined this morning by Martin Lynch and Glen Patterson, by the Ulster Orchestra, the Beat Initiative and the NI Arts Council.

We see community groups, children’s organisations, the circus school and various theatres. A series of MLAs come down the steps and say encouraging things.

Sadly, they’re not the guys with the real welly. So while there’s some good will up there, there are other ears that need further persuasion. Asking for arts funding isn’t a sexy process. But it needs doing, urgently.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.

Looking for a unique Christmas present for that Van Morrison fan in your life? Why not purchase them a bespoke piece of jewellery from the legendary Janet Planet, Van’s muse from 1966-73.

Yep, that’s the lady who rides the white horse on the cover of ‘Tupelo Honey’. Who wrote those hippie-child sleevenotes to ‘Moondance’. Who sings on ‘His Band And Street Choir’. The mother of Shana Morrison. The very same person, who now calls herself Janet Morrison Minto is now in the accessories business.

"I truly want every woman who is a lover of Van's music to possess one of my necklaces,” she writes. “I realized very recently that if every one of Van's fans, or their respective ladies anyway, had one of my necklaces, an amazing and powerful, perfect psychic chain would be created. I can't describe how wonderful and meaningful that would be to me.”

How can we possibly deny her?

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.

Well it was all swinging at the Drill Hall in Gainsborough, back in the groovy Sixties. Perhaps not if you happened to have an Irish accent, as this would have effectively barred you from said venue. This staggering example of cultural apartheid was advertised without shame in the Evening News on January 14, 1964.

It was acceptable to have the Irish over to dig your roads to build your underground and train systems. But let’s not have them in the dance halls, talking to the English Roses and diluting the blood line. We might shrug and believe that this was an isolated incident, but sadly not. The title of John Lydon’s autobiography, ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’, alludes to the bad old days, when an Irishman had little chance of lodgings in Finsbury Park, north London.

I rediscovered the Gainsborough listing by accident in a cuttings folder and it seems quite relevant in the week that the Morrissey debate continues to rage. The author of ‘Irish Blood English Heart’ yearns for an era when Albion was quaint and apparently unpolluted by immigration. In reality, the cities were busy with Irish migrants, like Morrissey’s parents, who worked hard and were rewarded by chronic discrimination. Back to the old house? I think I’ll pass.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.

Few people know where this particular joshua tree is. The standard assumption is that U2 shot their famous album cover in Joshua Tree National Park, California, the same place where the body of country rocker Gram Parsons had been half-cremated. But photographer Anton Corbijn suggests that the setting may actually have been Death Valley. Otherwise he’s keeping schtum. Having the actual tree in your back garden would be the ultimate fan trophy, hence the secrecy.

Also given the cyclical nature of U2’s career, I could see the band returning to the old location at some stage for another shoot. They constantly use their old material as touchstones for their new work, and during the Vertigo tour, it was ‘Boy’ that resonated between past and future. They never throw anything away. Everything is up for revision and reworking.

The band have just finished a major revamp of ‘The Joshua Tree’ in time for the 20th anniversary. The record holds up well, a benchmark for vast music with an intimate aspect. Acts like Editors, The Killers, Snow Patrol and many more have clearly studied the text.

The first CD version of the album was a disgrace, with a different cover shot and lifeless packaging. Happily all is restored this time, and there’s even a vinyl edition to please the audiophiles. I’ve just looked at my ancient copy and the gatefold sleeve is a monumental thing. Inside is the shot of U2 that Anton took with a Russian panoramic camera. The rotating lens was so wide that it actually revealed his camera bag, lying on the desert floor. And only the tree is in focus.

Anyway, the lyrics will always be a little preposterous, especially ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’. But Bono was working ahead of his capacity at this stage, and the charisma of the record is more effective than the parts.

Larry was very troubled after the photo session and the album title that suggested itself in the desert. Especially since their Dutch photographer pronounced the word as “yowshua”. How daft was that? When he got home, Larry glumly confided to his girlfriend, “I think we’ve just named our new record after a tree”.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.

I’ve not bought the NME for at least a year. Occasionally I look at Rigsy’s copy in the ATL office and it seems that the paper and myself are too far apart, generationally. I don’t like the scuzzy digital pictures and the small articles about bands with too many tattoos. I know that old fellas like to claim “their” NME as the definitive version, so I shouldn't get too sniffy and predictable.

Still, I wanted to read the new Morrissey interview. I was on the staff in 1992 when we ritually turned on the man, concerned that his thoughts on race and immigration were rather ambiguous. It was a defining moment, a chance to consider the Union Jack, the revival of Fascists in Britain and the wisdom of getting patriotic at a Madness gig in Finsbury Park.

The new interview has been painted up as some titanic battle between the mag and the Moz. Certainly, they won’t be on speaking terms for another decade or two. Even the journalist Tim Jonze is unhappy, claiming that the paper has editorialised around his transcript. Morrissey's management has threatened to sue. The gist of the debate is that the singer believes that the English character has been “flooded” by immigrants. He still yearns for the days of Nobby Stiles, Rita Tushingham and tetchy ruffians. He thinks this era was “quaint”, and essentially over. He's surely correct.

Which is rich coming from the son of a Dublin blow-in. Who lives in Italy, California, or wherever. But reading the piece, it seems that Moz bears no malice to the newcomers. Back in 1992, we might have welcomed this distinction. The new debate is half-cooked, loosely argued and out of character with the paper’s thin agenda. You know, it’s really nothing.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.