May 7th, 2010
I’m reposting this info about a long awaited re-issue, that I am very excited about:
TV21 
“A THIN RED LINE” BY TV21 FINALLY RELEASED ON CD AFTER 29 YEARS
Scottish post-punk pioneers TV21’s critically acclaimed 1981 LP ‘A Thin Red Line’ is finally to be released on CD along with all of the band’s singles. The collection – named ‘Snakes And Ladders’ after TV21’s biggest UK hit – is billed as an ‘Almost Complete’ collection of the band’s recorded output from 1980 to 1982.
It is released on Cherry Red subsidiary, Rev-Ola, on 29th March and is available from X, Y and Z and on download from X, Y and Z.
During 1979/82, TV21 were regulars on the John Peel and Richard Skinner BBC Radio 1 shows and achieved significant radio play with all their singles – especially Snakes And Ladders and All Join Hands – which both charted in the top 100. TV21 reformed in 2005 for a John Peel testimonial gig and released a critically acclaimed second album Forever 22 just last year. The band is still active on the live music circuit.
When ‘A Thin Red Line’ was first released - listing Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds as its main producer - it won the Edinburgh band a front cover appearance on the Melody Maker along with a glowing review. In his review, well-respected music industry writer and commentator Paulo Hewitt, said: “Emotionally diverse, magnificently played, with touches of genius throughout it and delivered with an unnerving force, TV21’s debut is a welcome light at the end of a dark tunnel.”
‘Snakes And Ladders’ includes a lengthy booklet which tells the band’s story – from its early beginnings in Ayrshire to the point of their split up after supporting the Rolling Stones in Edinburgh in May 1982. The sleeve notes are introduced by BBC DJ Gary Crowley, who first championed TV21 in 1980 on the release of their first independent single, Playing With Fire/ Shattered By It All. He says: “They touched the lives of many of us and left in their wake a smattering of fine singles and an uplifting, soaring, under-rated debut album in A Thin Red Line which still stands up to scrutiny today. I was a big fan.”
The current TV21 line-up sees three founder members - Norman Rodger (lead vocals, guitar), Ally Palmer (guitar, backing vocals) and Neil Baldwin (bass guitar, backing vocals) - joined by Simon McGlynn on drums who, over the last 15 years, has played in several other bands with Rodger, Palmer and Baldwin. Lead singer and songwriter, Norman Rodger, says: “We’ve tried several times over the last twenty years to have this material issued on CD but every attempt so far has stalled at some stage in the process, so it’s great to finally see it coming out. The songs have been sequenced in more or less chronological order and you can really hear the band develop, from the early singles we recorded in Edinburgh, through to the more polished album material. Enjoy!”
More information is available from HYPERLINK “http://www.myspace/tv21offical” www.myspace/tv21offical
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music |
Tags: Cherry Red, Ian Broudie, Rev-Ola, Shame, The Lightning Seeds, TV21 | No Comments
February 28th, 2009
I really love the song “Lauging Eyes” from The Coral ( thecoral.co.uk/ ) and have included it
on my latest mix BTBM Volume 14. It is one of the b-sides from the “Who’s Gonna
Find Me” single released in 2007. It blends perfectly a folk influenced country
with a modern sound reminiscent of Shack or maybe a bit of The Weather Prophets.
The Coral are from the UK, somewhere near Liverpool and have released many
exceptional songs through the years and although I admit I am not a huge fan - I
always seem to find songs that I really love by them. I probably should pick up
their Singles Colection released last year which is sure to have many true gems.
The Coral record for the very cool Deltasonic Records ( deltasonic.co.uk/) in Liverpool
which is run by Alan Wills who I think played with Shack, The Wild Swans and The
Woodentops among others and have released some of Ian Broudie’s (The Original
Mirrors, Care, The Lightning Seeds) solo stuff. And speaking of Ian Broudie, he
also has produced many of the Coral’s songs, adding his production magic to their
sound, something which he has done for many bands through the years (I can’t even
begin to list them all right now).
the Coral - mp3
Tags: [Alan Wills] [Care] [Deltasonic Records] [Ian Broudie] [Liverpool] [Rather Records] [Shack] [The Coral] [The Lightning Seeds] [The Wild Swans] [The Woodentops] [pop] [indie] [rock]
Categories: Beautiful B-Sides, Feature 45, Great Music |
Tags: Alan Wills, Care, Deltasonic Records, Ian Broudie, Liverpool, Shack, The Coral, The Lightning Seeds, The Wild Swans, The Woodentops | No Comments
February 19th, 2009
The story of the Wild Swans is a long and winding road or more accurately a flight of Epic proportions, one that legends are made of and one that inspires amazement and respect. I am not the authority on this subject, and am not the one to tell the whole story but I am huge fan of their music and have been from the early days on Zoo Records (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_Records), so this is my story of how I discovered them and followed the ups and downs for a fantastic ride, one that still continues till today (they have a new single out soon and an album in the works - note to the Social Icons - they have not lost their feathers).
Now, back to start of my story - I first discovered Zoo Records through my fascination with Echo & The Bunnymen (who I saw in Montreal in the early days) and The Teardrop Explodes (who incidently put on a memorable show in the basement of the Beacon Arms Hotel in the early 80’s) as this was the label that released these early releases before both these bands signed to the major labels. It was a label run by musicians David Balfe (who played with the Teardrop Explodes, Lori & The Chameleons, Big In Japan and later ran the Food Record label who discovered Blur) and Bill Drummond (who also played in Big In Japan, Lori & The Chamelons, The Timelords, KLF, as solo artist on Creation, as well as much more and an accomplished author) who both have a lengthy story of their own to be told.
I loved the new sound of the emerging Liverpool scene and started collecting all the music I could find coming out of Liverpool and there was plenty, from Wah Heat and Tontrix to The Cherry Boys and Hambi and The Dance and so much more - some of the story is found here - http://music-isms.blogspot.com/ . There is a lot to discover and as you will quickly find out many links between the bands. So it begins …
The Wild Swan’s Paul Simpson was featured on at least one of the early Teardrop Explodes 7″ singles on Zoo Records as the keyboard player (It has been said that he previously collaborated with Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch in A Shallow Madness, a pre-Teardrops collective). He parted ways and formed The Wild Swans in 1980. They had high hopes and magnificent dreams.
The first single, which came out as a 12″ Ep on Zoo Records in 1982 lived up to such aspirations as a timeless classic with it’s swirling guitars and beautifully blended keyboards and vocals that reach the heights many only dream of. The drumming was also nothing to balk at, especially since they managed to recruit label mate, friend and exceptional drummer Pete de Freitas from Echo & the Bunnymen for their debut single. The A-side “Revolutionary Spirit” is beautiful and haunting and and captures perfectly their unique sound and timeless nature and is song that still holds up perfectly after all these years. Also a personal favourite “God Forbid” on the B-side starts off with a guitar riff similar to the Twilight Zone theme and then takes off for the skies and remains untouchable in stature. In the 1980’s I used to snatch up every copy I could find of this release and pass them on to friends and radio DJ’s because I loved it so much. (Interesting side note: The Bodines, another band I quite like were also big Wild Swans fans and were at the time I met them as an opening act for New Order were still looking for a copy of this EP which by that time had gotten quite rare.) This is stuff that makes Beautiful Music and what has inspired me for years.
This initial incarnation of The Wild Swans sadly never had a chance to release a full album and only years later in 1986 a 3 song EP was released as part of the Peel Session releases on Strange Fruit Records and featured another timeless track “No Bleeding”.
The Wild Swans went their seperate ways when they first split in 1982 with Paul Simpson teaming up with Ian Broudie (The Original Mirrors, The Lightning Seeds, Kingbird) to form another legendary band Care (http://www.flamingsword.co.uk/) who also sadly never released a full album but had 3 amazing singles that are well worth checking out. A full album of Care material was compiled years later as “Diamonds and Emeralds” in 1987 on the Camden label. Jeremy Kelly from the Wild Swans formed the Lotus Eaters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_Eaters_(new_wave) ) with Peter Coyle around this same time (1982) and also had several releases to their credit.
The Peel Session Ep revitalized interest in the band by fans and also by some of the former band members, thus resulting in a reformation of The Wild Swans. The Wild Swans released an album “Bringing Home The Ashes” in 1988 and 2 singles “Young Manhood” and “Bible Dreams” - they had brillaint songs but their sound had taken a bit of different direction, mainly due to a production that that too closely blended with the times and seemed to lose some of their guitar edge. All that said, I still loved the album and many songs on it still are among my favourites.
Some of the members left again and a second album “Space Flower” was recorded with the assistance of Ian Broudie and some friends from Liverpool band The Icicle Works (who have had quite a career of their own and who played Barrymores many years ago). Again some more brilliant tunes like “Melting Blue Delicious”, “Chocolate Bubblegum” (which I’m sure had some inspiration on the Smashing Pumpkins 1969) and “Tangerine Temple”. This album had stunning production by Ian Broudie and holds up very well through the ages.
The Wild Swans again went their seperate ways and Paul Simpson put his vocals on hold for his work on Skyray (http://www.skyray.co.uk/), a mainly instrumental project for Paul’s very creative output and has released numerous albums to date, “Mind Lagoons” and “Tranquilizer” being among my favourite instrumental albums of all time. Skyray also released a one song CD called “Womb” which is over 70 minutes long which must be close to one of the longest songs ever on a CD (I will need to do a seperate post for Skyray later).
Some of the original recordings by The Wild Swans are now rare, although they have been re-released by Renascent and Wounded Bird Records, which gather up many of the B-sides and rarities. Paul also was involved in The White Capsule who had a song on the Unearthed - Liverpool Cult Classics series on Viper Records (http://www.viperrecords.com/). And this is only a small part of my story, but it will have to do for now.
Wild Swans - God Forbid
Wild Swans - No Bleeding
Tags: [Bill Drummond] [David Balfe] [Echo & The Bunnymen] [Liverpool Bands] [Lori & The Chameleons] [Lotus Eaters] [mp3] [Paul Simpson] [Peel Sessions] [Renascent Records] [Skyray] [The Bodines] [Wild Swans] [The Teardrop Explodes]
Categories: Feature 45, Great Music |
Tags: Bill Drummond, Care, David Balfe, Echo & The Bunnymen, Liverpool Bands, Lori & The Chameleons, Lotus Eaters, Paul Simpson, Peel Sessions, Renascent Records, Skyray, The Bodines, The Icicle Works, The Lightning Seeds, The Teardrop Explodes, The White Capsule, Wild Swans, Wounded Bird Records, Zoo Records | No Comments
February 10th, 2009
Terry Hall just seems like an old friend, although I must admit to not knowing him outside of his music. He seems to have been involved to great extent in the soundtrack to my life throughout the years - fading in and fading out - from the early days with The Specials and classic songs like “Ghost Town” and their cover of “A Message To You Rudy” was always a favourite of mine (this song has taken on even greater meaning now, with a Rudy in the family), to his Fun Boy Three days when we all could relate to “The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Assylum” (I think they may still have control) and tunes like “Summertime”, to his Pop outfit The Colourfield and then onto a brilliant solo carreer. He has also worked with David A. Stewart (in Vegas and recording on his Anxious label), The Lightning Seeds (even recording a great version of “Sense”), Sinead O’Connor, Stephen Duffy, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, Tricky and Lily Allen (see more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Hall_(singer) ).
Terry’s solo career and albums “Home” (1994) and “Laugh” (1997) and the respective singles from these albums are ones that I seem to come back to quite often and everytime they are a real pleasure to listen to. They are Pure Pop in the finest form and to prove my point I am featuring two of the b-sides from the “Forever J” Ep from 1994. Not only is the a-side a beautiful Pop masterpiece (interestingly featuring Craig Gannon from the Bluebells, Aztec Camera, The Smiths, Blue Orchids and more), but Terry’s b-sides would easily be the stuff that would make anyone proud, and could easily be the a-side.
Terry Hall - Suburban Cemetery
Terry Hall - Guess It’s Not A Great Day To Be Me
Tags: [Terry Hall] [Craig Gannon] [The Specials] [The Bluebells] [Sinead O'Connor] [Damon Albarn] [Dub Pistols] [mp3][Gorillaz][David A. Stewart][Stephen Duffy][Forever J][The Smiths]
Categories: Beautiful B-Sides, Feature 45, Great Music |
Tags: Anxious Records, Aztec Camera, Blue Orchids, Bluebells, Craig Gannon, Damon Albarn, David Stewart, Dub Pistols, Fun Boy Three, Gorillaz, Lily Allen, Sinead O'Connor, Stephen Duffy, The Colourfield, The Lightning Seeds, The Smiths, The Specials, Tricky, Vegas | No Comments
