Archives for November 2010

It's October 1992 and I'm at Factory Records, Manchester, due for a meeting with Shaun Ryder and his pal Bez. I find the famous record label at its most extravagant. The uber-expensive board table gleaming, the building is handsomely apportioned and Tony Wilson is bounding about, talking success and unreal notions.

But many of us suspect that it may not all be well. Happy Mondays have been spending thousands on an album called 'Yes Please' in Barbados. There had been mishaps with Shaun and some chemicals, while Bez broke his arm repeatedly - even water skiing with a compound fracture. As a result, his gammy limb is now bolted together with steel pins and bolts.

Shaun wears a Gautier jacket, but his head's in a mess. He had been saying mean things about rent boys in the tabloids. This had caused NME gunslinger Steven Wells to roar into the argument and to dismiss the band as a bunch of ill-informed thickos. Meantime, the album was sounding thin, the sales were dipping and the kids were looking elsewhere.

So it was my job to see if there was any give with the two performers, to look for a deal of repentance, maybe even wisdom. And in truth I think there was some. Certainly the Mondays were no longer the poster boys for ecstasy-fired adventure. Shaun was bloated and battling out of rehab. Bez was like some hollow-faced android. I felt sorry for them, and glad to get the return train to London. The 24 hour party people were all used up.

One of the later recordings that Phil Lynott made was a 1984 release, 'Tribute To Sandy Denny'. There he was, with his leather, his studs and his noise, but at the heart of it, he still loved his folk. And in particular, he was sweet on Sandy, former singer with Fairport Convention, one of the towering voices of her era.

Sandy didn't bother with the wailing, the demonstratives or the vibrato. The voice was pared down, but it still she had so much authority. Her own songs were capable and she had the presence to steer the UK folk scene away from the American influences. She could also sit easy with Led Zeppelin,

She died young and her catalogue wasn't huge but now there's a 19 CD boxed set of her life and times. Which is great if you want the earliest of ideas, alternate versions and seven versions of the staggering 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes'.

You would never foist this on the casual listener, but I love the idea of a Sandy devotional, unwrapping this lifework with extra festive cheer.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 22.11.10

Wanda Jackson - Thunder In The Mountain (Nonesuch)

Jenny and Johnny - Just Like Zeus (Warner)

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang (Side One Dummy)

Paul Shevlin - Lift Up Your Head (white)

Elvis Costello - My Lovely Jezebel (Universal)

Phil Wilson - Found A Friend (yesboyicecream)

Jimmy Rodgers - Train Whistle Blues (Proper)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Fright Night (4ad)

Bruce Springsteen - Save My Love (Sony)

The Jane Bradfords - Judicial Duel (white)

Wanda Jackson - Rip It Up (Nonesuch)

The 1930s - Break My Heart (white)

Jenny and Johnny - Switchblade (Warner)

Elvis Costello - Church Underground (Universal)

Twin Shadow - Castles In The Snow (4ad)

Sandy Denny - Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Island)

Kate Rusby - Walk The Road (Pure)

Pulp - Sylvia (Island)

Paul Shevlin - Good Morning (white)

The National - Terrible Love (4ad)

Rufus Wainwright - Goodnight Sweetheart (Hannibal)

Robert Plant - Silver Rider (Decca)

Levity Breaks - The Border (white)

In the ever-fervent street life of the rock and roll dream, we're just a block away from Spanish Harlem and a short hop from Desolation Row. The street corner boys are a bit handy, the girls comb their hair in rear view mirrors and the imperial doo wop gang is singing just fine.

Brian Fallon is also happy to make his acquaintance with Belfast and compares it sweetly with New Jersey. And just to make the connection that bit stronger, he precedes a storming run at 'The Diamond Church Street Choir' with a spoken word version of 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. I guess the guy is also a regular at Dino's Bar & Grill.

Sadly, the demands of putting on a radio show mean that I have to leave the show before the finale. But I see enough to recognise a proper, rocking band, still loving the job and blessed with some of the best songs out there, such as 'Old White Lincoln', which roars away into a nightful of joy.

Key Of Atlas were rightly praised in this blog a year ago - their animated Lego video for 'Someone Help Me' was a most excellent adventure. Now they have returned with 'Bullets And Sand', a surprisingly textured song that delivers a huge gain on their ambitions. In the old days, a record company would cheerfully throw £100 000 at this sort of thing. I'll bet this particular budget was more resourceful.

So maximum credit to the Lisbane posse and also to video maker Darren Lee, who has also been doing bold work with Aaron Shanley, Clown Parlour and Silhouette. Talent everywhere, man.

The convention with every Clash gig was that you would be allowed to meet the band afterwards. By 1984 I had done quite a lot of this hanging around caper. For this meeting I was getting a bit bold and had brought along copies of my band's demo, which Joe graciously took away with him, poor fella.

Outside of my immediate family, Joe has been the most influential person, in terms of my thinking and value systems. There's a Strummer lyric to apply to most moral issues. These days, I'm thinking a lot about the lines from the debut Clash single, 'White Riot':



Are you taking over

Or are you taking orders?

Are you going backwards

Or are you going forwards?

Answers on a postcard, please.

Thus, I came to understand that 'Troy' was about her mother's mental problems, her divorce from Sinead's father and the intense atmosphere at home. This was compounded by her mum's tragic death. From this fierce material, Sinead created one of her most potent creations.

She was also referencing a WB Yeats poem, 'No Second Troy'. That particular work found William Butler coming to terms with the grace and the revolutionary import of Maude Gonne, who just wouldn't requite the love. The poem is full of emotional static, and the line about "beauty like a tightened bow" is enough to secure her immortality. Sinead was borrowing from the greatest source.

I'm rather taken by that Twin Shadow album. A Dominican exile, raised in Florida and baptized in New York. The name is George Lewis Jr, he's mates with Grizzly Bear. 'Forget' sounds like it was incubated by Morrissey and Talk Talk, with some wonky disco accompaniment. This Eighties feedback caper is commonplace, but Twin Shadow give it some extra dazzle and heart.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 15.11.10

Bruce Springsteen - Gotta Get That Feeling (Sony)

The Gaslight Anthem - The Spirit Of Jazz (Side One Dummy)

Fabienne Delsol - Rag And Bone Man (Damaged Goods)

Billy Preston - I Want To Thank You (Apple)

Belle And Sebastian - Little Lou, Ugly Jack (Rough Trade)

Pretty Child Backfire - Twilight (white)

Tom Petty - Here Comes My Girl (Universal)

Twin Shadow - Shooting Holes (4ad)

Rumer - Take Me As I Am (Atlantic)

Beans On Toast - Left Me Heart on the M25 (Xtra Mile)

Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night (Sony)

Kab Driver - The Soup (ffwd)

The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl (Rhino)

The Boy Least Likely To - George And Andrew (Too Young To Die)

Foals - Blue Blood (Transgressive)

Bruce Springsteen - City Of Night (Sony)

Lightspeed Champion - Bye Bye Icarus (Domino)

Yvonne Lyon - The Coffee Song (white)

Jimmy Reed - Honest I Do (Vee Jay)

Twin Shadow - Tyrant Destroyed (4ad)

Chris Brokaw, Geoff Farina - Little Maggie (Damnably)

Elliot Smith - Angeles (Domino)

Paul Simon - Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes (Warner)

Warpaint - Baby (Rough Trade)

Lowly Knights - You Took Your Eyes Off It (We Collect Records)

Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street (Sony)

It is July 6, 1992 and I'm getting psyched up for my Springsteen interview. The meeting is scheduled for Wembley Stadium, London and the understanding is that myself, a guy from Melody Maker and a broadsheet writer will meet the Boss at the soundcheck and we'll shoot the breeze in an informal setting.

This is an exciting prospect. I've been a Springsteen fan since 'Born To Run in 1975, when I first became aware of an artist being hyped and primed for major success by the music industry. This led me to 'Greetings From Asbury Park' and some of the other treasures back there. I'd seen his 'Born In The USA' tour at Wembley also, so I have taken the gig seriously, staying up all night, reading the books and thinking up useful questions.

But on the morning of the meet, I get a call from his London press office. Apparently Springsteen's media people have realised that I'd reviewed his two recent albums, 'Lucky Town' and 'Human Touch'. These records told the listener of Bruce's creative block and his eventual escape from this. Neither record was great, but I felt like I had given them a fair hearing. Unfortunately, his people weren't so tolerant and so I had been vetted and deemed unsuitable. And then the lady at Sony Records asks me to find another NME writer to make the journey to the venue and to get the necessary quotes.

It's a bit of a sore point in my Springsteen relationship, and one that comes back to me when some other critic raves about the guy's status as a man of the people. Still, I will not hold grudges and on tonight's show I'll be digging into his new retrospective set, 'The Promise', an archive of the sessions that finally birthed his 1978 album 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'. Y'know, I still believe in the promised land.

Sad person that I am, I tend to find a musical analogue for things that happen in the real world. So when those Burmese citizens were getting ecstatic about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi's release for prison, I was thinking of a soundtrack.

The obvious tune would be 'Walk On' by U2, which was inspired by the leader's ordeal. It return, the Burmese government banned their album, 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'. It the context of international diplomacy and sanctions, a song may not have rocked the dictatorship, but like some of the best pop music, it helped to crystallize a notion.

Bono had been inspired by a John Boorman film from 1995, Beyond Rangoon. And while the singer can sometimes drown out the subtleties of a story with the tumult of his trade, I'd say he got the tone right with this one. When the band got the freedom of Dublin in 2000, they were jointly recognised with Aung San Suu Kyi. Her son was there to pick up the honour.

I've just checked the band's website and the news headline made me smile.

'1 Down, 2,202 To Go'.

The story has legs and the Rangoon prisons have more liberties to arrange.

The poetry of WB Yeats has made a few inroads into popular music. The usual suspects have all paid their dues - Van Morrison, Bono, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan. Meanwhile, Morrissey doffed his quiff in the lyrics to 'Cemetery Gates' and even Spandau Ballet filched the line about a "terrible beauty" in their repellent single, 'Through The Barricades'.

Now he's in the Opera House, Belfast, with a bold revue, An Appointment With Mr Yeats. The poet's work has been amplified, expanded and rejigged. The tone is sometimes reverential, but why shouldn't The Lake Isle Of Innisfree be delivered like it just fluttered out of Clarksdale, Mississippi? And surely The Second Coming ought to be deeply troubling?

It doesn't all connect, but Scott makes a great defense of the mystic in Yeats, rebuking the critics who don't get the "experiencial" dimension. Hence the swirling degrees of News For The Delphic Oracle, a great chance for fiddle supremo Steve Wickham to get blazing. Likewise with White Birds, which sets its compass defiantly towards the aether.

Coming close to Remembrance Day, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death find the ambiguity in a young man's heart. And of course there is The Stolen Child, still calling us towards the other side, away from the rational and the temporal. Finally, Mike dedicates 'Whole Of The Moon' to the writer, and we watch an amazing film of Yeats in his prime, checking out the camera, a great white Homburg on his head. What a dude.

Graham Parker's 'Heat Treatment' is a variation on Van Morrison's Caledonian Soul template. Roaring horns, a swinging vernacular and a tremendous burn at the back of the throat. Parker was just ahead of Elvis Costello, who furthered the tradition on songs like 'Sneaky Feelings', before getting a lot more famous. But I still have an affection for Parker and his tremendous band. In the sleevenotes for his second album reissue, the singer complains a fair bit about the fastidious production style, but I think it's pretty swell and the songs are undimmed across the ages.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 08.11.10

Graham Parker - Heat Treatment (Mercury)

The Hold Steady - Soft In The Center (Rough Trade)

The Coral - Walking In The Winter (Deltasonic)

Laura Marling - Blues Run The Game (Tri Colour)

Keith Richards -Harder They Come (Rolling Stones)

Surfer Blood - Twin Peaks (Canine)

Rumer - Am I Forgiven (Atlantic)

Slim Harpo - I'm a King Bee (Snapper)

The 1930s - I'm A Vapour (white)

Laura Marling - The Needle And The Damage Done (Tri Colour)

Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun (Creation)

Duke Spirit - If The Kids Are United (Dr Martins)

Gavin Bryars, Tom Waits - Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet (Universal)

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Polydor)

Darren Hayman - Cocoa Butter (Fortuna Pop)

Edwyn Collins - In Your Eyes (Heavenly)

Rae And Christian, Bobby Womack - Get A Life (Grand Central)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round And Round (4AD)

Nina Simone - He's Got The Whole World In His Hands (Ingido)

Eels - What I Have To Offer (E Works)

Catlin Rose - Spare Me (Names)

Spokes - We Can Make It Out (Counter)

Sandy Denny - Solo (Island)

Antony and The Johnsons - Salt Silver Oxygen (Rough Trade)

Wyatt, Atzmon, Stephen - Round Midnight (Domino)

Kraftwerk - Neon Lights (EMI)

A few days ago, I was talking to my Radio Ulster pal John Toal about the company legacy. Doc Martins were the footwear of choice for CND marchers and skinheads, for the ska revival and the messy business of punk. It was utility wear with the hint that the wearer was a bit 'handy'. The eight eyelet boot was standard. More than ten and you were showing off, although Elton John was permitted his giant pair for a performance of 'Pinball Wizard' in Ken Russell's Tommy.

John wanted to know if it was possible to age gracefully with your DMs. Absolutely, I said, thinking of Tony Benn and John Peel, and even the various Undertones (Feargal included). You stay true to your boots and it gives integrity to your roots.

"Happy families are all alike," Tolstoy reckoned, before adding, "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". After all, there's better art in the wreckage, drama in the disorder.

Mike Leigh is definitely subscribed to that idea also. His films make a great job of scoring the different upsets and neuroses of his cast. The ensemble seethes, the wine bottles are uncorked and by degrees, the pain comes spilling out.

But still, there's charm and humanity in films like 'Life Is Sweet'. So we headed out on Friday night to see 'Another Year' half-expecting to emerge with a cheerful pay-off. Actually, no.

Some of the critics have been rather sniffy about this latest release. Certainly a few of the characters seem over cooked, but elsewhere, it's a rich idea. At the heart of the film is a happy couple, but the others are screeching satellites, full of complications and wracked histories. I'd recommend it. But possibly not as a Friday night tonic.

The French Quarter of New Orleans has been tidied up since the old days, when the nights were wanton and the jazz was flaming. In nearby Storyville, there were legalised brothels (the cheap ones were the original 'cribs') until the First World War, when the authorities decided that it was bad for the health of the servicemen.

I was there on a chill February evening, but the hall was busy and the band was on it. To my right was a little old guy, maybe seventy years old. You could tell he was a jazz fanatic, and he was smiling and twitching before the music even started. His wife was happy for him, and in a few moments, the entire place caught some of his rapture. The band played to their best, the guy danced with feeling, and we were all transported.

Many famous musicians have also been paying their dues. A tribute album called 'Preservation' came out earlier this year, featuring the likes of Tom Waits, Dr John, Steve Earle, The Blind Boys Of Alabama and even Paolo Nutini. Every time I hear those enthusiastic souls playing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, I picture that little guy from years ago and now his joy has been surpassed.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 01.11.10

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom (Snapper)

The Duke And The King - No Easy Way Out (Loose)

Aaron Shanley - Today I (live session)

Aaron Shanley - I Think I Love You (live session)

Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark - Sister Marie Says (100%)

Gryff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters (Turnstyle)



Special Tribute to: Holland Dozier Holland

The Four Tops - Reach Out, I'll Be There (Motown)

The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go (Motown)

The Chairmen of the Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time (Invictus)

Lamont Dozier - Shine (Righteous)

Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hanging On (Atlantic)

War Paint - Majesty (Rough Trade)

Nick Cave - Red Right Hand (Mute)

Suede - Beautiful Ones (Nude)

The Rags- A National Light (Grand Cake)

Blind Boys Of Alabama - There Is A Light (Preservation Hall)

Ray Davies, Lucinda Williams - Long Way From Home (Universal)

Elliot Smith - Ballad Of Big Nothing (Domino)

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Hit Em Up Style (Nonesuch)

Cowboy Junkies - Stranger Here (Proper)

Deer Tick - Twenty Miles (Fargo)

Kurt Wagner, Courtney Tidwell - She Came Around Last Night (City Slang)

Robert Plant - Monkey (Decca)

Telegraph - The Stars Will Be Our Satellites Tonight (Quay)

Cathy Davey - The End Of The End (Hammer Toe)

Suede - The Next Life (Nude)