Monthly Archives: April 2009

I’m All Lost in the Supermarket

Supermarket

Yesterday, I was doing a bit of shopping at my local supermarket. I’m afraid that it’s not an Irish one, but it’s the one that’s nearest to where I live and, as I don’t have a car, beggars can’t be choosers. To be frank, I only come in for the special offers. I sure don’t come in for the friendly greeting and pleasant conversation from the checkout girls. That’s why I prefer to use the automatic checkouts that they installed a few years ago. The place is open 24 hours a day and I prefer to shop there later in the night as it’s not as busy

When I popped in yesterday evening it was very busy and the place was full of clashing baskets and people running all over the place. To make matters worse, all the shelfstackers picked this moment to fill up the shelves. A phenomenon that I’ve noticed recently is that these guys must be involved in some kind of a race with each other to see who can stack up the shelves in the fastest time. These guys are quite dedicated to their work and are completely oblivious to all around them. As a result, I need to be quite vigilant as they are so focused on their task in hand that they don’t seem to be aware that there are also customers milling about. So, as I ambled around yesterday evening, one of the stackers must have seen me as an obstacle to his quest. I wasn’t for too long as he decided to go right through me. I think I’ll be doing my shopping a little later the next time

Lost in the Supermarket – The Clash

I’m in love with a girl on a certain Manchester megastore check-out desk – The Freshies

Let’s Loot the Supermarket Again – Mick Farren & the Deviants

Fairytale in the Supermarket – The Raincoats

Shoplifting – The Slits

Shoplifters of the World Unite – The Smiths

Queen of the Supermarket – Bruce Springsteen

Enjoy the Silence

The current season of Later…With Jools Holland is a month old and it continues this week with its eclectic mix of new and established acts. Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode and Lily Allen shouldn’t have too much stagefright, even though only Sonic Youth have appeared on the show before. Blues legend Taj Mahal has been going longer than anyone on the show while Priscilla Ahn and Raphael Saadiq are the newcomers on the show. Later goes out for half an hour on BBC Two at 10.00pm tonight and for an hour on Friday at 11.35pm

Sonic Youth from New York City have been around since the early eighties and are about to release their latest album, The Eternal. I’m Not There is their version of a Bob Dylan song that appears on the soundtrack to the film of the same name

I’m Not There (Bob Dylan cover) – Sonic Youth

Depeche Mode has been around since 1980 and were one of the few English new wave bands to find continued success based on a keyboard sound as opposed to a guitar one. Part of their success and reputation was due to Anton Corbijn’s promotional videos for their singles. Sounds of the Universe (2009) is their twelfth studio release. This is an acoustic version of a song that was also recorded by Johnny Cash

Personal Jesus (acoustic) – Depeche Mode

Taj Mahal formed The Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in the sixties after choosing rock ‘n’ roll over farming. Statesboro Blues was written by Blind Willie McTell and first recorded by him in 1928. Taj Mahal’s version is from their self-titled debut album from 1968

Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell cover) – Taj Mahal

Lily Allen was only born in 1985 and her second album was released earlier this year. She also contributed a track to War Child Heroes (2009), her version of Straight to Hell by The Clash, with a little help from Mick Jones

Straight to Hell (Clash cover) – Lily Allen

Priscilla Ahn is an American singer, guitarist and harmonica palyer who is a year older than Lily Allen, but has only released half as many albums as the English singer. Rain is from an ep from 2006

Rain – Priscilla Ahn

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and producer who used to be the lead singer and bassist for a band with the rather preposterous name of Tony! Toni! Toné! Let’s Take a Walk is a bluesy, soulful number from The Way I See It

Let’s Take a Walk – Raphael Saadiq

Man of the World

Sheen as Clough

I finally got to see the film version of David Peace’s The Damned Utd and it was well worth the wait. Tom Hooper’s The Damned United is a fine adaptation of its source material and is the best film that I’ve seen about football. Like the novel, the film is a fictionalised account of Brian Clough’s brief tenure in charge of Leeds United in 1974. And, like the book, episodes from 1974 are alternated with flashbacks to Clough’s previous stint in charge of Derby County

The film is very funny and this is due to a combination of Peter Morgan’s script, its direction and a brilliant cast. Michael Sheen is impressive as usual in the central role of Brian Howard Clough. Sheen is used to playing fictional versions of actual people, most notably his depiction of Tony Blair in The Deal and The Queen. His performance in The Damned United makes you forget his other roles as he gets Clough’s accent and delivery, his appearance and mannerisms, and his whole persona down to a tee. Clough was a larger-than-life character who would have been the centre of attention wherever he went and Sheen is exactly the same in the film. Colm Meaney also does a great job throughout the movie as Clough’s nemesis, Don Revie. Other notable performances include Timothy Spall as Clough’s sidekick, Peter Taylor, and Jim Broadbent as the Derby County chairman. The actors playing the Leed players are less effective, but this may be because their parts are merely caricatures and are not so well-written

The early seventies is captured quite well through the use of archive footage, street shots, interior decor, the use of lighting and the clothes and hairstyles on view. The film depicts a far more parochial football world than the modern one of the Premiership where the manager now has more power. The film also chronicles Clough’s love-hate relationships with two men: Don Revie and Peter Taylor. He constantly tries to emulate and ultimately outdo Revie while he finds that he needs Taylor as much as Taylor needs him. The total running time of the film comes in at under 90 minutes and I enjoyed every second of it

Leeds United – Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer‘s Leeds United appears on her solo debut album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008). Palmer is singer, pianist and lyricist with The Dresden Dolls. I’m not sure what this song has to do with Leeds Utd and the lyrics don’t provide any clues

Leed United – Luke Haines

Luke Haines‘s Leed United appears on his Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop (2006). Haines has previously been a member of The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder and has just published a book entitled Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall. Leeds United was released as a single and Haines performed the song at book signings for David Peace’s The Damned Utd

Bigmouth Strikes Again

Morrissey Symposium UL

Last night I returned home from the best part of two days spent at The Songs That Saved Your Life (Again), a symposium for an English singer named Morrissey that took place at the University of Limerick. It was not uninteresting and it got me out of the house for a couple of days. I got to hear some interesting talks about the Mancunian singer, his passionate fans and his songs. I watched a number of documentaries of variable quality and saw a Smiths tribute act of questionable quality. I also met some fans of The Smiths/Morrissey as well as some less fanatical individuals

The weekend began with the European premiere of Passions Just Like Mine by Kerri Koch. This documentary looked at the huge following that Morrissey has amongst the Hispanic community in Los Angeles. It featured interviews with many of these fans and with some of the members of a couple of Hispanic cover bands who play the music of The Smiths and Morrissey. The film was a bit too long and repetitive and some of the interviews suffered from poor sound and lighting. Additionally, a lot of it was unintentionally funny as the interviews gushed about their love of Morrissey and his music. Attempts to uncover the reasons why Morrissey is so popular amongst this community were unsuccessful

The symposium’s second film was shown later that night just before the tribute act took the stage at Dolan’s. The World Won’t Listen featured sixty minutes of Indonesian youths singing karaoke versions of Smiths’ songs. A couple of the versions stood out, but this was way too long, extremely repetitive, and quite pointless. The third and final film of the weekend, Is It Really So Strange? was shown on two small screens at a bar following the final paper on Saturday. It seemed to cover much the same ground as the first film and even featured some of the same interviewees. I tuned out after a while and drifted to the bar and chatted to some of the other less fanatical attendees

The first night closed with a performance by a Smiths covers band called These Charming Men. I must admit that I’m not a big fan of tribute acts unless they are absolutely terrible. These guys were merely adequate. The guitarist was the best of the lot, the rhythm section was poor, and the lead singer reminded me more of Johnny Rotten than Morrissey. Nevertheless, the group got progressively better with each pint I drank and some of their songs were better than others

The highlights of the weekend for me were the various papers that were presented on the second day. Some of the topics covered included representations of the working class in Morrissey’s songs, fanaticism, and the influence of other works in his songs. I particularly enjoyed two of the presentations. Kieran Cashell delivered his paper on the philosophy of suicide in relation to a number of songs by The Smiths and interviews that Morrissey has given in the past. He began by looking at suicide from a philosophical perspective and then showed how these views are present in Morrissey’s interviews and in a number of his songs. He provided an excellent analysis of a Smiths’ b-side entitled Asleep and, due to time constraints, a shorter analysis of their single, Shakespeare’s Sister. It was a well-written paper and it was delivered passionately by its author

The presentation that I enjoyed the most was given by an American who now lives in New York City, although he grew up in Denver, Colorado. In the Haze of a Drunken Hour by Dan Jacobsen focused on a weekly Smiths party that takes place every Sunday at a venue in New York City. Jacobsen’s description of the venue, the people who attend it and the events that occur there every week was wonderful. He described it in great detail with humour and wit and he certainly had the audience’s attention throughout. He spoke about the cynicism of many of the hipsters who attend not from a love of the music, but to take the piss out of the genuine fans who show up each week. Additionally, he traced the roots of one of The Smiths more popular songs, There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, back to an early Marvin Gaye single, Hitchhiker. He revealed that this is part of a larger project that will culminate in a book about the venue and The Smiths

All in all, it was an enjoyable and interesting few days and a nice introduction to Wednesday’s Morrissey gig in Galway. Many of the people who attended were huge Morrissey fans, but I met a good few who were, like me, simply music fans. Here’s a few songs that I wouldn’t mind hearing on Wednesday

Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths

Shakespeare’s Sister – The Smiths

Suedehead – Morrissey

Everyday is Like Sunday – Morrissey

This Charming Man

He'd charm the hind legs off a turkey

He'd charm the hind legs off a turkey

It’s going to be a busy week for Irish fans of Morrissey. This weekend The University of Limerick will hold its second symposium on the former Smiths’ lead singer. The packed schedule will feature a range of papers on the cultural impact of Morrissey and his music, the European premiere of a fan documentary and a concert by a tribute band at Dolans. Amazingly, the total cost of entry to all of these events is a recession-busting €25. For this price, you also get lunch and refreshments, although I don’t know if meat is on the menu

Morrissey is also touring Ireland next week and will be performing at venues in Killarney, Galway, Omagh and Belfast. This tour seems to have caused the University of Limerick to revert to some form of olde English as they have announced it here as “Morrissey’s Irish lege of his 2009 “Years of Refusal” tour” (my italics). I’ll be going to Galway next Wednesday to see him play at the Leisureland. I’ve seen him once before, a few years ago in Dublin, and he certainly puts on a good show. I prefer his stuff with The Smiths and feel that a lot of his solo work has been a bit inconsistent, but there’s always a few good tunes on each of his solo albums

Here are a couple of Morrissey-related cover songs. First up is his version of A Song From Under the Floorboards by fellow Mancunians, Magazine. Their original kicks off side two of their Correct Use of Soap LP from 1980. Its opening lyric should give an indication as to where the song is going: “I am angry, I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin. I don’t know what keeps me alive and kicking”. I always play it after I’ve been on a session with my friend Damien as it perfectly sums up how I feel the next day. It’s an amazing song and Morrissey’s version does it justice. It can be found on the CD single of The Youngest Was the Most Loved from his Ringleader of the Tormentors album from 2006

A Song From Under the Floorboards (Magazine cover) – Morrissey

Cemetry Gates appears on The Smiths’ best album, The Queen is Dead (1986). The song offers perfect advice to the participants at this weekend’s symposium: “Don’t plagiarise or take on loan/’Cause there’s always someone, somewhere/With a big nose, who knows/And who trips you up and laughs when you fall”. This version is from Cork’s finest, The Frank & Walters, and was recorded for a tribute album called The Smiths is Dead (1996), which features British and Irish bands covering The Queen is Dead album

Cemetry Gates (Smiths cover) – Frank & Walters

Can I Play With Madness?

Madness

The third episode of Later…with Jools Holland continues some themes from the previous two. For the second week running it features a singer from Mali as well as another ska band from the Two-Tone label. The established singer-songwriter is Cat Stevens and three up-and-coming acts also appear

Growing up in the eighties, one of the bands that I heard most often on the radio was the English ska band Madness. The majority of their hits appeared in this decade and they were invariably accompanied by humorous promotional videos. The combination of these videos, the type of music, and the band’s comic image led to them being labelled The Nutty Boys. Despite this, their lyrics stood out from normal pop fare and the subject matter of their songs ranged from contraception (House of Fun) to the health service (Mrs Hutchinson) to apartheid ((Waiting For) the Ghost Train). Embarrassment was written by band member Lee Thompson and concerns pregnancy outside marriage and inter-racial relationships

Embarrassment – Madness

Yusuf Islam is the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens who was born Steven Georgiou in 1948. He was very successful throughout the sixties and seventies, but converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf in 1978. He left the music business at this time and only returned in recent years. In 1989, he appeared to support the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, but later denied this. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out is one of a number of his songs that were used to great effect in Hal Ashby’s film, Harold & Maude (1971)

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out – Cat Stevens

Bat for Lashes is Natasha Khan, an English singer-songwriter and musician who has just released her second album, Two Suns. It is the follow-up to her 2007 Mercury Prize-nominated Fur and Gold (2006). This is her rendition of one of Bruce Springsteen’s most frequently covered songs, I’m On Fire

I’m on Fire (Springsteen cover) – Bat For Lashes

Oumou Sangaré is a singer and businesswoman from Mali. She began singing at the age of five in order to support her family following the departure of her father. Eventually, she signed to the English label, World Circuit. Her business concerns include the hotel, car and agriculture industries. Seya is the title track of her new album

Seya – Oumou Sangaré

William Elliott Whitmore is a singer from Iowa who also plays guitar and banjo. Animals in the Dark (2009) is the sixth and latest album that he has released in his ten-year career. Hell or High Water features him on guitar accompanying his bluesy voice

Hell or High Water – William Elliott Whitmore

Hockey is the name of a Portland, Oregon four-piece who have just only just released their debut single in Britain. It is entitled Too Fake and will appear on their forthcoming first album, Mind Chaos. Song Away is another track that will feature on the album

Song Away – Hockey

Sweets From a Stranger

rsd-logo

Today is Record Store Day, an international day for celebrating independent record stores and for celebrating the humble vinyl record. Recent years have seen the decline of music sales at record shops all over the world, and independent record stores have felt this decline most of all. The rise of illegal downloading has been cited as the principle reason why the quantity of physical sales of music has decreased in recent years. Yesterday, the four founders of The Pirate Bay, a site that facilitates the sharing of music and other types of files, were sentenced to a year in prison as well as a fine of a few million euro for allowing their site to aid the illegal downloading of music and films. Personally, I think that there are other factors involved. These include competition from other forms of media, the high cost of cds, and the legal availability of music in cheaper forms online. Music companies were quick to take advantage of music fans when cds first came on the market, but the progress of digital technology has favoured the fans over the industry. Unfortunately, mp3s are an awful lot less collectible than records or even cds

I first got into music in the pre-digital world of the late eighties when vinyl’s only competition was from the even more humble cassette tape. Music was in no way as ubiquitous then as it is now. I grew up in a little village in the days before the internet, satellite TV, compact discs and mp3s. The stuff I heard on either of the two radio stations didn’t do anything to spark any musical interest in me, either. Rather, it was television that first piqued my interest in music, in particular music videos. And I’m not talking about MTV here, but the two Irish channels that were my only window onto some fantastic place beyond the Galtee mountains

Soon, I graduated to listening to tapes, LPs and CDs. I would buy an album by a particular band or singer and this would lead to a domino effect wherby I’d buy all of their albums. I travelled around the country visiting record shops and even got a job in the record department of an Irish retail chain in the more cosmopolitan city of Limerick. I actually enjoyed getting up and going to work. It wasn’t too busy and I got paid for listening to music all day and chatting to customers about music. I was able to play new albums as they were released and to check out older ones that I’d been reading about. I still lived in the village of Galbally where I spent a ridiculous amount of time listening to music. It was harder to find like-minded villagers who shared my musical interests, but there was a girl who worked in the grocery shop who was into Elvis Costello. Whenever I met her she would babble on and on about music; she was really cool for cats. One day, she asked me if I had heard of an English band called Squeeze. I had a few LPs, tapes and a cd of East Side Story by the group. I popped them in a plastic carrier bag and dropped them into the shop

When I got them back a few weeks later they were all intact and there was even a little something extra inside. Once I took everything out of the bag I noticed that there were a few chunks of food lodged in the bottom. On further inspection it turned out to be the remnants of a cake of some kind. I found out that the bag had been used to transport some sweet cake while it had been away. The cake even left a particular aroma on the Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti LP for a while after, which made me wonder about where these sweets from a stranger had come from

I was reminded of all this when I picked up a Squeeze cd yesterday. It wasn’t in an independently-owned record shop, but the bargain bin of a chain store. I hadn’t rooted through a bargain bin in ages and, to be frank, I didn’t expect to find anything of any worth in it. It wasn’t too busy at the time, so there wasn’t too much argy-bargy going on and I was able to root around to my heart’s content. As I piled cd boxes and dvd cases on top of each other I began to find some albums by acts I liked as well as ones that I had been meaning to check out. After about ten or fifteen minutes I had a nice stack of nine albums, four of them doubles. And all for the price of less than two new albums! One of those doubles was The Complete BBC Sessions by Squeeze for only €4. It contains over two dozen tracks that the lads performed live on BBC radio from 1977 to 1994

Here is a medley of two songs from a 1992 Live Session. Pulling Mussels From a Shell is a distant cousin of Morrissey’s Everyday Is Like Sunday as it pokes fun at the English seaside while also feeling nostalgic for it as well. Labelled With Love is a country music pastiche that actually works as a country song. It tells of an aging Englishwoman who looks back on her life from the bottom of a bottle. Both songs highlight Difford’s way with words and Tilbrook’s way with a tune and the two boys combine to wonderful effect on these versions

Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)/Labelled With Love

More Jewels from Jools

Madeline Peyroux
The second instalment of Later…with Jools Holland goes out with a taster tonight followed by the full version on Friday. This week’s episode appears to be as eclectic and as interesting as the first one. Later…Live is on BBC Two at 10.00pm tonight and the full show is on Friday at 11.35pm

The big draw on this week’s show is Doves who’ve just released their fourth album, Kingdom of Rust. Their first two albums were nominated for the Mercury Music prize, though I prefer their third, Some Cities. This is my favourite song of theirs, which was only released for one day but managed to reach #3 in the UK singles chart in 2002

There Goes the Fear – Doves

I’ve written about Marianne Faithfull previously here and here. She’s promoting her latest album, a double, of covers from old and new artists. Easy Come Easy Go features songs originally recorded by Billie Holiday, Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker, amongst others. I really like her version of The Decemberists‘ song, The Crane Wife 3. The Decemberists have a new album out as well, so hopefully they’ll make an appearance before too long

The Crane Wife 3 (Decemberists cover) – Marianne Faithfull

I’m looking forward to hearing Madeleine Peyroux (pictured above). Her earlier albums blended elements of jazz, blues and country and featured a fair smattering of cover versions. Her new one, Bare Bones, is composed of original tunes and is very much a jazzy affair. Here is the title track

Bare Bones – Madeleine Peyroux

The Noisettes are one of the newer acts appearing on the show. It seems that this track, Don’t Upset the Rhythm, was used on a TV commercial and reached #2 on the UK singles charts. All this was news to me, but I quite like its sound and I look forward to hearing it performed

Don’t Upset the Rhythm – Noisettes

The least well known act, to me anyway, to appear on the show this time is Rokia Traore, a singer-songwriter from Mali. She is well-known, however, in African music and has been performing for over a decade. She has received numerous awards in her own continent as well as recognition from the New York Times and the BBC. She is the daughter of a diplomat, which makes her foray into music quite unusual in Mali. Her most recent album, released last December, is Tchamantché. Sabali is from earlier in her career

Sabali – Rokia Traoré

Finally, the show features one of the most influential figures in hip hop, Grandmaster Flash. Apparently, he’s about to release his first solo album, having previously been associated with the Furious Five. He was born Joseph Saddler in Barbados on New Years Day, 1958. The song he is most associated with is The Message (1982) and here is a stripped-down cover of that tune by Willy Mason

The Message (Grandmaster Flash cover) – Willy Mason