I have to admit I am a bit late in announcing the release of TV21’s album “Forever 22”, as it was released in May 2009 on the Powbeat Records label in Scotland, but somehow I missed it at the time, even though I had been anticipating their return and had heard rumours of a new album quite a while back on their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/tv21official). Suffice to say I got my copy late in 2009 and have been listening to it regularily since then, even making an extra copy to keep in the car, as well as telling everyone I could about this significant release.
Why so significant you ask? It is an amazing album and features 11 classic tunes, filled with power, passion and soul. It has one of the best album intros I have heard in a long time with “Scunnered” and then kicks in with an exceptional track “One Day In Summertime”, just the way a perfect album, should start. You hear traces of their past, but sounding fresh and current, with Norman Rodger’s voice in fine form and a band that is as tight as ever and even features three of the founding members (Norman Rodger, Ally Palmer and Neil Baldwin). “When Cole Was king” is an update of the great track from Norman’s days in Shame (which is another whole story, with links to Ottawa – more details later) and following that is one of my favourites from the album “Forever 22” and describes the search of a love that just might not exist – ahhhh to be 22 again. The next track “How Did You Get It So Wrong” could very well be the story of the band and how things went terribly wrong for a band with “a fabulous vision and the talent to fly to the future”, a band championed by the late John Peel and featured on the front page of Melody Maker, and had loads of great reviews, so why oh why are TV21 not a houshold name? – so maybe this album will turn back the clock and set a few things straight. The band doesn’t want your pity and that’s clear in “Look To Sun” when they tell us not to “shed a tear” and my favourite line “don’t send me flowers, you know I am allergic” (certainly a sign of the times), these lads are keeping their chin up and smiling as they look to the sun. In many ways this album brings back memories of The Waterboys, The Mighty Wah! and “the Big Music”, and not so much because, they sound like them, but it is the feelings they inspire. “Last Man Standing” is a rocking tune but at times bring back moments of The Comsat Angels and has a steady beat that carries you through. The intro to “In Another World” hints at a U2 or Simple Minds when they were at their peak but then reminds me of David Bowie’s “Heroes” as sung through a TV21 filter as only they could pull off, - Heroes is an all time favourite of mine, making this another highlight of the album for me. “Too Late For Me Now”, kicks in and is a really powerful track that you can sing along with and you quickly realize that it’s not too late to discover what a great band sounds like. “Through Different Eyes” is another great tune with some great guitar riffs, bringing us to an epic closing track, the return of “On The Run”, from the early days and I love how this track steadily builds to a frantic pace, but in a beautiful way, with excellent interplay between the bass, guitar and drums. What a way to cross the finish line.
Finished, you say, but it’s not over and for those who want extra value an added 8 bonus tracks are included and they are not in any way fillers, but all brilliant tracks which could easily be counted among the main tracks. These feature some powerful reworkings of some of our favourite TV21 tracks from days gone by, like “Snakes And Ladders”, “Somethings Wrong”, and “End Of A Dream” (another of my personal favourites that brings back memories of Modern English at their finest), along with several other great tracks, It’s also about time that some of these songs finally get a release as the originals are hard to find and they have been out of print for so long – it’s actually very strange that someone has not yet re-released their first album or compiled all their singles, so here’s to hoping that someone finally has some sense to do this.
Very interestingly, this second album comes “after an astounding gap of 28 years since their first LP “A Thin Red Line” was released on vinyl in1981” states the press release, and it is an amazing story, and things obviously went quite wrong (you can read part of the story on their website - http://www.powbeat.com/biog.htm ).“Forever 22”, however should help to correct a few things as they sound as exciting and as passionate as ever, with songs full of heart and soul, having aged perfectly. Hopefull this new release will introduce a new generation to TV21, who sadly have not been given, their rightful place in the music history books – they should have a chapter and not a footnote.
All that said, that’s not even why this is such a significant release for me, but you will need to stay tuned for part 2 where I will explain further … - In the meantime, you can purchase a copy here - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tv21 and check it out for yourself.
Today I rec’d an exciting package from This Almighty Pop (http://www.thisalmightypop.com/) - a brilliant UK label and fanzine that I have previously raved about (http://thebeautifulmusic.com/blog/?p=98) - one that could do no wrong. So just like an excited kid with a new present, I rush to a CD player to listen to the latest goodies, although I admit one was a few months old as I missed it at the time. I also thought I better jot down a few words right away, before life catches up with me and I forget to say something, as happened with the Play People ((this almighty pop! 01) and the Phil Wilson (this almighty pop! 04) singles, which were both perfect and completely lived up to the label name. (I do however hope to get back to writing about Phil Wilson’s many releases, as he has been quite active lately, which is keeping me busy tracking down all his releases).
Being, that I like things organized I will start with earlier release by Countryside (www.myspace.com/countysideland) “Summer Is Here” / “Estuary” (this almighty pop! 06), even if it has higher serial number then the others. “Summer Is Here” is a beautiful gem of a song with a hushed female vocals over a very lush combination of sounds, from shoegaze elements to sweeping keyboards, but propelled forwards by a very tight drums and guitar weave, and a piano trickled in the mix, to create a masterpiece that will keep you coming back. The second track “Estuary” is taken from an earlier ep and is a bit more laid back and dreamy with a harder edge when the guitars kick in, also making it a thoroughly enjoyable listen. As with all the Sarah records, the liner notes add to the exquisite experience as you now are left guessing just what The Honeydew Wonders sounded like?
The second single I’m listening to now as I type is by the first Swedish band on the label, Lets Say We Did (www.myspace.com/letssaywedidmusic) with the single “Come On Honey” (this almighty pop! 07). Now I’m not sure what it is about Swedish Pop bands, but they certainly have the style and the flair and the accent just adds to the charm. “Come On Honey” starts with a wonderful guitar intro and settles into a great groove as the singer pleads for the return of his love and I love the line “Our Love Is Like A Well Made Poem” - how can she stay away after listening to this single. “Galaxies” is almost folky and would make a nice soundtrack to watching the “Galaxies Colapsing”.
I am running out of time to write all that I want to say, so I will need to return later to talk about “Streets Of Your Town” compilation single which was given away at the show and features the 3 bands White Town, The Honda Express and Kosmonaut - which would have been quite a show to see.
If you are not a fan of 14 Iced Bears, then don’t bother reading this, but then again maybe you should because everyone should be a fan of 14 Iced Bears (check out their compilation on Slumberland Records) and should definitely check out the band Easter Sun that features former singer Robert Sekula
The band also features other great musicians but I’m just picking on Robert at the moment and it’s great to hear those vocals again and the demo for “Pamela” and “Sweetest Day” is sheer brilliance! Give it a listen.
Also anyone who cites the Blue Orcids, Syd, Scott walker, Zombies and teardrop Explodes as an influence just have to be good - so keep an eye out for great things by this group and maybe they will hook up with the coolest label Edition 59 (along with many other great bands) and have Werner release the fine Pamela and Sweetest Day as a single.
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been listening to a lot of newly discovered Dub music in recent years from King Tubby to UB40 In Dub (which is still a favourite of mine), the U2 Dub tribute and now Augustus Pablo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Pablo).
Dub music is very relaxing and always very groovy and since most Dub music is instrumental with cool reverb and effects, it makes for a great listen.
I don’t know much about Augustus Pablo or Horace Swaby, but there is plenty of information on the web to fill in the story, but I do know that he is a master of his trade, often referred to as the “Dub Master”. He is also very skilled in his use and ability to play the Melodica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodica) in perfect arrangements in his dub instrumentals to make some truly beautiful music.
I must admit that I have always loved the sound of the melodica, whether it was New Order in “Love Vigilantes” and “Your Silent Face” (which was interestingly covered by Velocity Girl on an early Merge 7″ - for some totally unrelated music trivia) or The Kinks in “Sunny Afternoon”, or Gang of Four, Dif Juz or any other band incorporating it into their sound - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodica_in_music.
Augustus obviously also had much influence on bands like UB40, who dabbled often in Dub and also on most of the Ska bands of the 80’s that I was fascinated with and his laid back style can certainly be felt on songs like “Ghost Town” by The Specials. So if you have not already discovered his music, it is worth digging for his Dub.
I know I have gushed and gloated about owning release on the wonderful Pop Noise Records label in the past and I am going to continue if the calibre of their releases continues to be as good as their 16th release by Noise Annoys Simon - You Say It I’ll Know It (pop noise 016). This is pure power pop, “blistering indie pop” with lots of guitars, great hooks, and amazing melodies.
Judging from the band name, Noise Annoys Simon (www.myspace.com/noiseannoyssimon) , I would guess that they have been influenced by the Buzzcocks who released the song “Noise Annoys” or Creation Records who also released a label sampler with the same name which is all fine in my books and you could do a lot worse in the influences category. I do know that they have a sound that reminds me of Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Superstar, Ride and others (so in sound there is the Creation connection on 3 out of these 4 - they even have a song with Vapour Trails in the name which automatically makes it cool).
They have been around for a while based around East Devon UK and have already released several impressive songs on samplers and EP’s and this is their first long player. The band includes Simon Bish (who was in the John Peel favourite Thrilled Skinny who also have some re-issues worth picking up on Pop Noise Records), Rich Ward (Fat Battery), Andy Ward (who also leads the band Some Beans - http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2009/03/10/some_beans_feature.shtml - who also have some fine releases on Pop Noise and assists Fat Battery) and James Ward (The Udagawa Deal, whose few songs I have heard so far, point towards a great album).
My current favourites from this disc are “Pearldrop Sweetness” - which is a nice blend of Ride and Teenage Fanclub, “Speed Up Let’s Go” - which has a very sunny Pop disposition akin to the Mary Tyler Moore theme song “Love is All Around” when the chorus kicks in (I just love it), “Only Being Real” - very dreamy pop with beautiful harmonies, “Heart Shape Sky” and “Worse Things Happen” (listen to that guitar that kicks in halfway, ahhhhh very nice) and who I am kidding, it’s hard to pick favourites from this disc when all the songs are great. Enjoy the Noise …
The title alludes to my love of dub music (which I will likely have more to say in a future post as I just acquired an excellent Augustus Pablo CD which is amazing - more about that later), and my brief encounter with Roddy Frame (www.roddyframe.com/) many years ago at Barrymores on Wednesday September 28th, 1983 when Aztec Camera played in Ottawa and where like a real fan we got his autograph and chatted about the love of music, something we shared and of course The Blue Orchids (www.blueorchids.net/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Orchids) - more about that later.
I have been meaning to write something about Aztec Camera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_Camera) for some time now as they have been a band that have stuck with me and influenced my tastes for several decades and their music is timeless, as Perfect Pop is. They were also quite instrumental in creating and fueling my fascination with Scottish Pop music. I first discovered them in 1981 on the NME cassete C81 which had the beautiful masterpiece “We Could Send Letters”, which was also the B-side to their first single on the amazing Postcard Label in Glasgow Scotland (The Blue Orchids were also featured on that cassette with their amazing “Low Profile”). I remember searching and locating their Postcard singles and also seeing them in the NME and Smash Hits magazines back in those days.
They followed their early singles with more great singles like “Pillar To Post” and “Oblivious” with it’s wonderful Spanish guitar influence which brought them some well deserved radio airplay. An Album also came out in 1983 “High Land, Hard Rain” which we treasured and featured some of the early singles and the odd b-side. So you can just imagine how excited we were to find out that Aztec Camera were playing in Ottawa that following year.
My brother and I very excitedly bought our tickets and shortly afterwards attended that memorable show where they did a great cover of The Clash’s “Garageland” and afterward we hung around to get our singles signed and maybe even talk with the band if they were willing. They turned out to be very impressed and flattered that we actually had tracked down copies of their early singles and were so kind to let us hang around and chat.
We talked a lot about British and Scottish music which we were quite fascinated with at the time (and I guess still are). He told us a bit about Postcard records and Josef K and somehow I mentioned The Blue Orchids (www.blueorchids.net/) a band that I had really been enjoying and talking a lot about those days who were formed by Martin Bramah after he left The Fall. As it turns out Roddy was also a huge fan of The Blue Orchids and was telling me how he had seen them live and would travel several hours to see them , something I could relate to as we were at that time travelling a lot to Montreal and Toronto to see bands like New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen, Adam & The Ants and more. I was quite jealous as I would love to have seen The Blue Orchids, but it was very cool to find someone else who knew about them and shared our love of their music - The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) was and still is, a favourite of mine.
Anyway, fast forward several years and many more singles and albums and Aztec Camera release the very polished “Deep & Wide & Tall” single which I picked up the 12″ version, which to my excited surprise they do a wonderful cover of The Blue Orchids “Bad Education”, which was quite a contrast to the a-side and made it that much more enduring, with it’s Fall esque drawl, sing along la-la’s and a narrative in the background that sums it up very nicely. Now I don’t know if our conversations, many years earlier had any influence on Roddy recording this cover (maybe a case of me thinking too highly of our meeting, something which he probably doesn’t even recall as he would have met thousands of fans that year alone - although it was something I didn’t forget), but if nothing else it let him know that at least one Aztec Camera fan out there, shared his fascination with The Blue Orchids.
Since this track is now quite hard to find and is missing from many future Aztec Camera compilations (although it did appear on a Japanese compilation once), I thought I would include it here for everyone to hear, along with my story.
As a postscript - Martin Bramah now has a new band called Factory Star and Roddy Frame continues to release great music, although not as frequently as some would like, so it is nice to see bands like Armstrong keeping that sound alive.
There has been much discussion in the past about the musical genre, referred to as Shoegaze music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing) and whether this is even a good description or not, or if this was intended as an insult, as many of the bands tended to look at their shoes while playing (while in fact they were busy manipulationg all the effects pedals to get that unique sound), making for a less then exciting visual spectacle. Shoegaze became associated with a whole slew of great bands like Ride, Slowdive, The Cocteau Twins, JAMC, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, The Telescopes, Lush, Chapterhouse, Moose and many many more. Some of these bands, though had already been around for years, but shared a similarity in sound and thus fit in nicely.
All this aside, that’s not why I am writing this to start another debate, but rather to celebrate this style of music which created a significant body of beautiful recordings and sounds that still sound great today and continue to influence bands the world around, why even Drowned in Sound even had a Shoegaze week in April where they featured a wealth of information and some features on some new clubs/labels like Club AC30 that help keep the gaze alive (http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4136607).
Many new bands cite this genre as an influence, and many more have borrowed from the sounds created to create further masterpieces of their own. I realized this many years ago when I picked up a copy of the Italian magazine Losing today which came with a free CD that featured many new bands that were inspired by that sound. A few more recent acquisitions of mine really brought this to the fore once again, when I picked up a copy of “Half Dreaming: An Asian Shoegaze Compilation” CD (http://www.tonevendor.com/item/29698) which was relased by the fabulous folks at Quince Records (http://www.quince-records.com/) in Japan. This compilation, along with others like “Just Like A Daydream - A Dreampop, Shoegaze Comp” and all the Dale Marquez’s Filipino bands comps that feature the likes of Some Gorgeous Accident, Sonnet LVIII (www.myspace.com/sonnet58) and The Jealous Sea helped me realize that Shoegaze is alive and well in pockets all around the globe.
First lets travel to Asia and hear a few tracks and later if we have time we can travel to a few more exotic places …
The above words which introduce the brilliant “Metropolis” by The Church (www.thechurchband.com/) are quite fitting to describe this band as there really is no other band quite like them. These words along with the line “It’s Only A Day Away” provided the final inspiration to write this, as I was reminded that their show at the Ottawa Bluesfest is tomorrow. I have been meaning to write a few words for a while now, but life keeps getting in the way.
I want to share my fascination with a band from Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_(band)), who has influenced many (and who the New York Times called “The best guitar band on earth” - http://theblurredcrusade.8m.com/ ) and created so much beautiful music over the years, it’s hard to know where to start. The Church has actually never left and have been releasing albums for over a quarter of a century, starting back in 1981 with “Of Skins And Heart” which provided them a hit with “The Unguarded Moment”. They never stopped after that and I’ve lost track of them several times and also rediscovered them several times. They not only released many albums as The Church but the individual members have also released many solo albums that are well worth owning.
They have been a part of my life’s soundtrack and I hope to rekindle some interest and also introduce them to a new generation, so I have been pulling out all my records and CD’s to put together a mixtape of my favourite tracks over the years and quickly realized that I have too many favourites to even fit on a CD (and I have not even got to all the solo projects), but I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the old songs and some very new songs as I purchased their latest CD “Untitled #23″ at Compact Music a few months back.
Here is my tracklist of favourites and what I have been listening to over the past few weeks:
1. The Unguarded Moment
2. Too Fast For You
3. Almost With You
4. To Be In Your Eyes
5. The Golden Dawn
6. Autumn Soon
7. It’s No Reason
8. Electric Lash
9. I Am A Rock
10. A Month Of Sundays
11. Just For You
12. Sisters
13. Metropolis
14. Under The Milky Way
15. Pangaea
16. Operetta
Bonus Track:
17. The Asteroid #4 - To Be In Your Eyes
As you can see, it features quite a selection of tracks old and new, some of the singles and quite a few album tracks, b-sides and The Church doing a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song as well as wonderful cover of a favourite Church song as performed by The Asteroid #4. I could probably speak at some length about each of these songs, but I don’t have time, so I will just mention a few elements that I particularily like, such as the wonderful spanish influenced guitar in “Almost With You”, the perfectly dreamy “To Be In Your Eyes”, the rare instrumental “The Golden Dawn” - I love instrumentals, “A Month Of Sundays” which is the perfect title for this song, the dual vocal interplay as it weaves through “Sisters”, the lush Pink Floyd meets the Beatles “Operetta”. To do any of this justice you should really hear all these songs and more but I will post a few samples on the blog.
Also don’t forget the show, this is a one not to miss, and a rare opportunity to catch a band who are amazing beyond description and have left a legacy of songs and albums for you to treasure.
The Cherry Orchard’s music is an elegant and lush Pastoral Pop with nods to The Left Bank and Burt Bacharach’s swinging sixties with French Pop sung in English, and modern references could be The Go-Betweens, The Wondermints, Tahiti 80, etc. - you het the picture.
I first heard their Song “Everybody Knows” on a March Records compilation and it is such a Groovy song that it should be playing on everyone’s stereo. If you have never heard it, or the wonderfully beautiful sounds of The Cherry Orchard then you are really missing out.
This Is Some Of The Most Beautiful Music In The World - The Soundtrack For Lovers and others.
A While back they also recorded a cover of The Go-Between’s “Streets Of Your Town” for the Firestation Records compilation “These Are The Songs We Always Wanted To Hear” , which will give you a hint of the style of Elegant Pop that they play so well.
Welcome Back!!!
Now if only I can convince them to do a Television Personalities cover, one of their love songs, that would be a real treasure.
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