7 inch singles collection: We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - Your Loss, My Gain

Here's Fuzzbox:

WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT

A-side: Your Loss, My Gain

B-Side: Pink Sunshine (acoustic)

(WEA 1990)

When "The Boys Own Bumper Book Of Brilliant Band Names" is eventually released I'm sure that there'll be an entry for We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It. It's a fantastic name, just by virtue of being too long and slightly silly, but even better when you shorten it just Fuzzbox it sounds like it might possibly be a bit rude, especially in conjunction with  fact it the moniker of an all female band. (it's not of course - it's the name of a guitar effects pedal in case you were unaware). All of which endears me to this band. Their early output was a bit rough and ready in the indie punk vein, all wrapped up in "Can't believe we're doing this" attitude. A bit ramshackle DIY and occasionally discordant and noisy, but definitely fun.


Your Loss, My Gain was their final single, and long gone was the the slightly amateurish feel, discarded along with the multicoloured hairdos and associated trappings. Now in was was a bright clean slick sound and look. This song is so highly polished you could use it as a mirror - all of the rough edges have long gone and so has much of the charm of their earlier days. There's still a sense of fun in this record, but innocence and charm have been traded in for sophistication and glamour - which doesn't quite hit the spot for me. Your Loss, My Gain is a perfectly serviceable piece of power pop that feels more or less like the missing link between Bananarama and Transvision Vamp.

Over on the the B-side is an acoustic version of an earlier hit, Pink Sunshine. Again this was from their polished power pop era - a brash and shiny hit, showing the band at most fancy free and confident. The acoustic version of this Pink Sunshine showcases this but adds an extra layer of vulnerability, stripping away the power, but adding a great deal more warmth. 

When looking for the video to link I had a look at a lot of other Fuzzbox tracks, and found out that their guitarist, Jo, died a couple of years ago in her early 40's. This made me sadder than I expected, maybe it's because I'm a similar age, but more because I one thing I never associated with Fuzzbox is sadness. They exuded a sense of fun, and that being diminished is something that really plays with the emotions. Some bands aspire to greatness through skill and talents, some bands aspiring to nothing more than having a bit of fun, and through that achieve greatness. I know which of those I prefer.

Next time a solo offering from a guitar legend.

7 inch singles collection: Elvis Presley - The Girl Of My Best Friend

The King has entered the blog:

ELVIS PRESLEY

A-side: The Girl Of My Best Friend

B-Side: A Mess Of Blues

(RCA 1960)

The Rock 'n' Roll of the late 50's and early 60's is the first music I started to really get into, and it's the one that I always come back, the one that always feels like home, the one that I can listen to at any time, in any mood. It's my music. However I've always been a bit disdainful of Elvis - not that he didn't make some fantastic records, because he did. It's just that I always felt he had less to offer than many of his contemporaries. In my opinion, that wasn't always down to Elvis though - I think he had a management that realised that record and ticket sales could be made just as easily through pushing his charisma and sex appeal, than by encouraging the raw talent. As a result Elvis coasted from record to record, some good, others less so safe in the knowledge that they'd all sell anyway. It's a good business model, and has been employed successfully on many artists through the years - it just doesn't always lead to great records.

So what about The Girl Of My Best Friend - you may know it, it's pretty well known, maybe not as well known as some of his other hits, but it was popular and successful. This is Elvis post-army, when the die-hards say he stopped being Rock 'n' Roll. This may well be true, but it didn't necessarily mean that the less r 'n' r records weren't any good. The Girl Of My Best Friend has a swinging mambo feel to it, you almost can't help swaying along to it. Elvis's best asset was always his voice, and it's on fine form here, with the pitching and phrasing just right. This is a great track, my only reservation with it is that the ahh-ing of the Jordanaires in the background sounds a tad twee, and actually distracts from the sound, when they should be enhancing it.

A Mess Of Blues is on the flip-side. A less famous track, maybe, but a lesser song definitely not. Living up to the title, it has bluesy feel. Not, I'll admit, a rough and dirty blues - it's a little too clean cut and sanitised for that. Nonetheless Elvis is backed by great honky tonk piano sound, that boogie-woogies away throughout the song really helping to capture the atmosphere and bring the sound to life. It may have the less commercial sound, but I think A Mess Of Blues has the edge over the a-side just in terms of sound and feeling.

This is the kind of evidence that helps you believe that maybe he did really deserve to be The King.

Next time a girl group from 1990...

7 Inch Singles Collection: Steve Young - Seven Bridges Road

Going for some proper country music this time:

STEVE YOUNG

A-side: Seven Bridges Road

B-Side: Don't Think Twice

(Country Roads 1981)

Steve Young is a someone who was a pioneer of the "country rock" and "outlaw country" movements. I didn't know that - I just had to look it up on Wikipedia, and I suggest if you want to know more about him you head there too. However much of a pioneer he was he obviously wasn't someone who garnered much fame from it, or at least not to me, as I'd never heard of him outside of this record.

Seven Bridges Road itself may be more familiar - The Eagles had an American hit with it in 1980. Steve Young was the originator of this song back in 1969 (thank you Wiki), so it looks like in 1981 he thought to capitalise on The Eagles success by sticking his own version back out there. I don't know whether this is re-recording or re-release of the original, and , frankly , I'm not sure that really matters.

Seven Bridges Road is plaintive and mournful. The melody is picked out an acoustic guitar and the song is carried by Steve Young's strong country voice. There's a sadness and almost mystical quality to the sound. Structurally it's big ballad, building and building towards epicness throughout the duration of the song. It's start s small and grows into something bigger and wider, starting to rock as we reach the outro. Although it is country rock - the country nature isn't too overt, so it's not overpowering. I was surprised that I enjoyed that as much as I did.

Don't Think Twice is a Dylan song. Just like the a-side it has some acoustic picking to start, but much more uptempo than Seven Bridges Road. When he first starts singing it does sound like he's trying to stretch his voice into dylanesque contortions, however this quickly disappears and he settles into the kind of gravel voiced sound familiar to "Outlaw Country" music. At this point the backing group becomes more full on and the overall sound is much stronger. This has a much more overt country flavour, with quite heavy emphasis on fiddles. What it doesn't do is remind me of the Dylan version, and that's a good thing.

Overall, for an obscure bit of country and western I really rather enjoyed that record. Although as I've got older I've noticed that I've had a stronger leaning to country than in my younger years, (I blame my Dad). I think it's a good thing that I'm embracing more styles as I gracefully age.

Next time there's an appearance from The King!

7 Inch Singles Collection: Rain People - Little Bit Of Time

Some more fairly anonymous indie-pop:

RAIN PEOPLE

A-side: Little Bit Of Time

B-Side: Hiding Out

(Epic 1989)

I know absolutely nothing about this band, I probably bought this record for the band name. Yes, it's not that great a name, but I've got several records with bands who have the word Rain in their name, so it amused me to add another to that collection. I know, I'm easily amused. Another great marketing ploy this group have used on the sleeve of this disc is to have the pretty, photogenic female almost front and centre of the picture. Not, of course, that I would be swayed by such cheap manipulation, and obviously my given reason for having bought this record is much more likely....

Anyway, Little Bit of Time, has a bouncy upbeat, slightly tinged with wistfulness, feel to it. It's a highly polished piece of guitar pop. In fact I think it may well be over-polished, there's not real any edge to to it, it's just pleasant enough. If I were to hear this on the radio, I might idly bob my head or tap my foot along to it, but it wouldn't distract me from anything else - I wouldn't be interested enough to listen to what its was called, or who it was by, and when it was finished I would forget about it pretty instantly. They sing "All I need is a little bit of time" in the chorus, well I gave them a little bit of time (approx. 3 mins), and I really couldn't get anymore out of it than mild inoffensiveness.

I think they made the mistake of putting the better song on the b-side. Hiding Out is stylistically similar to Little Bit of Time, but it has a bit more bite to it. The guitars twang and throb a bit more. I'm not suggesting that they're actually going as far as to rock out, it's still pleasantly poppy, it;'s just that there's a little less blandness, and a little more energy to Hiding Out. I'm not suggesting that this track is has elevated the whole record from unchallengingly nice to quite good, but it shows there was potentially more to Rain People than I first thought, but maybe not quite enough to make me want to seek out more.

It's odd - I feel a bit bad about what I have written. There's something in me that really, really wants to like this record more than I do. It might be one of those that if I gave it multiple listens, I'd really get into  - but I don't think I'm prepared to take the risk that multiple listens will make me hate it rather than feel a slightly regretful apathy.

Next time a good ole boy sings some proper country country and western - Ye haw!

7 inch Singles Collection: Marc Almond - Melancholy Rose

Some torch song type shenanigans now:


MARC ALMOND

A-side: Melancholy Rose

B-Side: Gyp the Blood
(Some Bizarre 1987)


Marc Almond  went from classic, if occasionally sleazy, electro-pop with Soft Cell, to the kind of epic, if occasionally sleazy,
melodramatic torch songs, the kind of which one normally associates with the likes of Jacques Brel or early solo Scott Walker. This is one such record.

If you clicked the link above, you'll be wondering when the actually song starts (it's about 2 minutes in) - the video comes with an admittedly pretentious, and artsy filmic pre-amble, that was entertaining enough to keep me watching until the song, but not quite entertaining enough for me to want to sit through it again! The redeeming feature, as with much of Marc Almond's solo music, is the overall impression that he firmly has his tongue in his cheek throughout the performance.

Enough of the video, what about the song? Melancholy Rose is obviously some kind of femme fatale and the song is and ode to her and her melancholic charms. Although from the lyrics, she sounds a bit like a Gothic drama queen and a bit of a harlot, so a bit high-maintenance for my tastes. Musically Marc Almond has gone for the Gallic accordion feel which give the song an hypnotic rise and fall, however he's obviously got one eye on the charts as there is a poppy feel to the over sound of this record, which gives it a contemporary (to 1987!) edge.

The commerciality of sound has been abandoned for the b-side (which annoying was in 33 1/3 rpm). This is the full on torch song experience - the story of pirate captain's encounter with some kind of ghostly presence, from which the pirate comes off somewhat the worse for wear. It's full of fiddles, accordions, and bar-room style piano rolls, all ably supported by an oompah tuba. Gyp The Blood sounds like a carnival or fairground. Not the modern sort where the greatest horror is having too much candy floss before going on the Waltzers, but the Victorian sort where congenital abnormalities and physical disabilities were exploited to make the women swoon and the man balk.

Al in all I rather enjoyed this record - I think Gyp The Blood, just edges into favoured position over Melancholy Rose, simply because it's more atmospheric, but both songs are well worth listening too, when I'm in the mood for something different to my usual diet of upbeat guitar pop.

Next time some more jangly pop from the turn of the 80's 

7 Inch Singles Collection: Cracker - Teen Angst

Whatever happened to Camper van Beethoven?:

CRACKER

A-side: Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)

B-Side: Can I Take My Gun To Heaven
(Virgin America 1992)

Those of you who are terminally hip, will probably remember American alternative rock group Camper Van Beethoven (best remember for the sublime Take The Skinheads Bowling). Well Cracker was formed by CVB singer David Lowery after the demise of that group. I bought this record simply on that premise - I'd liked the CVB tracks I heard, and I so I figured I'd like this too. Funnily enough though, although I can remember buying this record, (the record sleeve is arrestingly, if not pleasantly memorable), I couldn't remember what it sounded like. I must have played it when I bought it, but I can't recollect what it sounded like.

Teen Angst seems to rally against the the pretentiousness and superficiality of much of the then current music scene, (and is applicable to now just as much. Ironically they do this by sound partly pretentious and superficial - but I'm guessing that was deliberate. Cracker seem to get lumped in with much of the grunge movement of the time, but I think they are something separate from that. Whilst being rockier their sound is much cleaner and more focused. maybe it's the attitude rather than the sound that they share most with the grungers.

Can I Take My Gun To Heaven is on the other side of the record. Now this sounded odd on my listen - slowing down and then getting back up to speed - like the record was warped. Now Teen Angst played fine, and I checked the vinyl and it wasn't warped and there was no visible damage, but that doesn't mean it wasn't, but also possible is that it was a deliberate effect - but I find it hard to believe that someone would do that. So I've decided to treat it as damage to the record and just say what I think I could discern from it. Which isn't too much to be honest - it's slower that the a-side and sounds pretty much like standard alternative rock. It's obviously not about taking a gun into Heaven, but what that's a metaphor for has been lost in the warped sound. Regardless of that it doesn't seem to have the catchy qualities of the a-side and it didn't really grab me at all.

So it turns out that I couldn't remember it because it was OK, not brilliantly catchy, but not memorably awful either. Seems age may have may have improved this record because it's stuck in my head, and am actually thinking of listening to it again.
  Next time something with a bit more melodrama...

7 Inch Single Collection: Flower Drum - The Heat Is On

Some more West Country early 90's indie dance:

FLOWER DRUM

A-side: The Heat Is On

B-Side: This Love Is Real
(WAC 1991)

So, who were Flower Drum? Well the guitarist's brother was in EMF and I went to school with the lead singer, Paul Tippins. Although, to be honest, I don't ever recall having a conversation with him during those years - so don't expect any deeper insights into this record than usual. There's no video on Youtube, and when you search For Flower Drum on the internet, what you basically get is a load of hots for the musical Flower Drum Song. I'll forgive most of you for never having heard of this one. It was independantly released on their own label to limited edition of 1000

On with the Music - my personal feeling is that they shot themselves in the foot calling this The Heat Is On. The mid-80's AOR monster of the same by Glenn Frey is just so imprinted in people's heads that even when trying to recall this song all I get is the other song. It's a shame that this is forgettable, because it's not bad at what it does, which is fairly standard early 90's indie dance fare. It throws in all the hip cliches of the genre: soundbites from films, breathy female oohs, funky wah-wah guitar the whole lot. Obviously more interested in making people dance than listen the song feels like it's mainly built up of chorus with only occasional bits of verse managing to get in.

On flipping the record over I would have been surprised if it wasn't more of the same contained therein. I wasn't surprised. This Love Is Real is slightly more memorable, possibly because the title isn't fighting a losing battle with another hit. It's got all the same ingredients down to the film samples and wah-wahs. In it's favour it has a slightly darker and more aggressive sound than the A-side. If they wanted to have been noticed above the many hundreds of similar acts at this time they should probably have gone with this track to lead off.

There we go then, something that's okay, but ultimately sinks because it is largely unmemorable.

Next time something from the periphery of Grunge