7 Inch SIngles Collection: Brenda & The Beach Balls - Yummy-Ya!

Some slighty askew pop:

BRENDA & THE BEACH BALLS

A-side: Yummy-Ya!

B-Side: Dancing Thru' The Night

(Naffi International 1987)

If you read this blog regularly then you've probably realised by now that this was bought entirely for three reasons: I liked the sleeve, it was on a label I'd never heard of, and most importantly it was very cheap. I think that of those three above reasons the sleeve art was the most important in this case. The abstract nature of the picture is appealing to me, the blue, yellow and pink shout out, but in harmony, not discord - but most importantly there are ice-creams in the picture, and ice-cream is a wonderful thing. All of which pre-amble should leave to to conclude that my knowledge of Brenda and the Beach Balls extends no further than the contents of the aforementioned sleeve.

Yummy-Ya! is exactly what you would imagine a song called Yummy-Ya! It's a bright day-glo pop sound. It's made for dancing to and not much else. It's basically the sound of a tamed B-52's. There's a good groove, which is punctuated by a bit of  nice saxophone, whilst a lass exhorts us to "do the yummy-ya!" over the top of it. It's no more or less than a piece of throwaway pop - and as such does the job it set out to do most admirably.

Dancing Thru' the Night is similar in vein. The drum machine is the most prominent sound on this track overlaid with some funky guitars, with the breathy female vocals building up through the song.It's okay I suppose - but really not my kind of thing. I suppose to connoisseurs of dance music it could well be a seminal gem, or equally it could be bag of old gravel. I can't tell it's not the kind of thing that I've ever really been into - if I'm honest I found it repetitive and boring, However I acknowledge it was probably never meant to be listened to by a middle-aged behind a computer keyboard. If I was 25 years younger and was hearing this in a club I might be moved to dance which is what it was designed to do.

Not my normal fare, for sure, and although the a-side has a certain charm it really doesn't live up to the slightly surreal and lairy cover. It's not really enough to tempt me to listen to similar stuff.

Next time one of the very finest songs ever recorded.

7 Inch Singles Collection: This Picture - Stronger Than Life Itself

Some Cheltenham rock:

THIS PICTURE

Urban side: Stronger Than Life itself

Rural Side: Blacker Than

(Dedicated 1991)

Here we go with another obscure band from Gloucestershire, and another song with no video up on YouTube. I saw This Picture live in Gloucester Park once. Seeing local bands at the park during the fortnight that the fairground came to town was something of an annual ritual. I think This Picture may well have been at the last one I went to. The image of them that still lingers is the long flowing hair of the singer, and the fact that on occasion he used one of those little microphones that are normally used for harmonicas rather than vocals. Obviously there was some sound difference that he wanted to make - I don't recall noticing any difference.

You'll see that the picture of this single labels itself as an EP - yet there are only two tracks on it - it's obviously just been scaled down from the 12" version. If they've taken the time to knock-off the other tracks from the track listing on the back cover, they could've knocked "EP" off the front too. That's just lackadaisical, and already puts me off. The other thing that set alarm bells ringing is that instead of calling them the a-side and b-side they've been labelled as Urban and Rural! Maybe some kind of concept single idea is going here, and that's set my pretentious senses tingling.

Stronger Than Life Itself is on the Urban side of the disc. It's a rock sound, with a menacing rumble from the bass which keeps things together and tight. It's big and epic with vocals so very, very earnest. They're almost clamouring to be renamed "U2 Two". Despite all of this, and against my better judgement, I actually rather liked this. This came as a surprise to me as I went in expecting it to be boring as well as pretentious. They do actually rise to the challenge of the big sound that they've laid down for themselves, and although there's no real hook or catchiness to the song, Stronger Than Life Itself out to be quite good.

Over on the Rural side of the record Blacker Than is a gentler affair. What did you expect from the Rural side - something raucous? No they've played to obvious theme and gone for the softer less rockier sound. It's wistful and yearning in sound, with an autumnal feel. The melody is piano led, and when the guitars do coming in they are obviously acoustic. It's still got that U thing going on.Talking of going on this song lasts much longer than it needs to the repeating piano/guitar motif  whilst not unpleasant to start with eventually starts to grate and get on my nerves. If it had finished a minute or a minute and a half sooner I'd come away with a more positive image, but as it is, any sympathy I felt towards it had been worn away and replaced with irritation.

Better than I expected, but still not quite breaking out into greatness.

Next time some odd dance nonsense...

7 Inch Singles Collection: Shakin' Stevens - Oh Julie

It's Shaky!:

SHAKIN' STEVENS

A-side: Oh Julie

B-Side: I'm Knockin'

(Epic 1981)

Poor old Shaky - he's pretty much considered risible and an object or ridicule these days by so many people. He was once a very credible and important figure in the Rock 'n' Roll revival movement of the late 70's, but then he started having hits - and the old rock 'n' rollers didn't really approve of this kind of sellin' out so he was kind cut off from that movement and became a popstar instead, and nobody really takes popstars seriously, and when the hits dried up people forgot that once he was a really good entertainer. You can tell he means serious Rock 'n' Roll business by the way he forgoes the letter G from the ends of words.

Oh Julie is from his early popstar days, and considerin' it's 1981 it's a pretty odd fish to have landed at the top of the charts. It's written by Shaky himself, and so is not the standard 50's classics we were used to hearin' from him at this time. Also the lead instrument that carries the melody is not some rockin' guitar or pumpin' piano it's an accordion. An instrument that only ever normally bothered the charts whenever The Wurzels rolled into town. The result of this is that the whole record has the feel of a good ole Cajun two-step. If you've never listened to any Cajun music I'd recommend you do so now, I'll wait. Have you done that yet? Good. Enjoyable isn't it? It can get a bit samey if you listen to too much in one go though. Anyhow, the point that I'm trying to make is that like all those good Cajun tunes Oh Julie brings a smile to face, it is played with great verve and gusto, and makes you want to get up and dance. No - it's more than that it makes you feel like you can dance, even if the Number 19 bus could actually do a more graceful waltz than you. Yes, it's ephemeral fluff, but it's solidly entertaining ephemeral fluff.

On the flip-side we find another Shaky penned tuned. I'm Knockin' is much more in the classic Rock 'n' Roll mode that we would expect. It's 2 1/2 minutes of high energy rock 'n' roll fun. It's more of a Dave Edmunds 70's vibe than an Elvis 50's one - but that doesn't hurt the record at all. It bops and bounces in all the right places, and has a proper old-fashioned walkin' bass sound. The only thing that I find wrong with this record is that my copy has a slight warp in it which makes it have an occasional wobble sound, even that doesn't dispel any enjoyment.

Now I've gone and admitted an admiration for Shakin' Stevens I could be made a social pariah for life.

Next time some U2 wannabes from Cheltenham...

7 Inch Single Collection: Fishmonkeyman - Breathing

Another obscure band with a great name:

FISHMONKEYMAN

A-side: Breathing

B-Side: Chocolate Town

(Furious Fish 1991)


Fishmonkeyman - lovely name for a band, Darwin's theory of evolution summed up nicely in one portmanteau nonsense word. I like that. In fact that's probably the reason I bought this record. I say probably because this is their second single, and I do have their first - so it's possible I bought the first one because of the band name, and I may have bought this one because the first one was brilliant (or more likely fair-to middling - we'll find out when we get there). Anything else about then I cannot say - whether there was an album or further singles who knows. I could probably find out on the internet, but that sounds like too much work - I'm not being paid to write this nonsense, I just some random idiot on the internet.If you're that interested you can go and search yourself. I couldn't even find a video for this on YouTube.

So what is Breathing (the song - not the physical experience) like? Well it's as average as an early 90's indie song gets. All the stuff is there - you can pick it off a list:
Chiming guitars - check
Blokeish attitude - check
Brightly uptempo - check
Catchy with a memorable hook - check
Lyrics infused with nostalgia - check
and so on, and so on.
The story of song is basically one of I'm getting on, but I'm not dead yet. Which, for what I assume is a band of 20-somethings is a bit of a cheek. Obviously it's a commentary on the way times change and the speed of that change, and what was once hot is now cold, but it's still as good as it ever was. I could reach and be all post-modern and say the song is almost commenting upon it's own existence - but it's not quite that clever I'm afraid. Nothing soul-searching or game changing. It does the job - it's yer bog-standard bread and butter of guitar pop tunes. It'll do for now, but something better will be along soon.

Chocolate Town is something better, a more thoughtful, darker piece than the A-side. The intro almost mines the dark velvety richness of goth, until the blokey vocals kick in. This distinguishes itself from the herd a bit more by being more about the keyboards than the guitars. The subject matter - the inherent dangers of parochialism - is a bit meatier and more left of centre than then norm too. The flaw with this approach is that there is a lack of catchiness, and no real hook. So although it's more interesting than Breathing it is ultimately less memorable.

I can do little more than shrug my shoulders, think that was OK, I suppose and cry "NEXT!"

Next time the Welsh wizard of Rock 'n' Roll...

7 Inch Single Collection: Strawberry Switchblade - Let Her Go

Outlandish fashion and pretty pop collide:

STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE

A-side: Let Her Go

B-Side: Beautiful End

(Korova 1985)

It's a bit of a shame that one of the first things that I think about when I consider Strawberry Switchblade is not their music but their appearance. That's not to say that their music was of secondary importance, because it's not - it's just that Strawberry Switchblade had such a strong, and engaging visual presence that it is hard to ignore. Especially if you were a teenage boy at the time they were plying their trade! The group was a duo of very attractive women who dressed in the most outlandish of clothes. It said we're pretty but quirky, which was and intriguing combination. It certainly worked to get them some attention, which they could then use as a springboard to unleash their music.

I almost feel like I have to apologise that this isn't Since Yesterday - I don't own the 7 inch of Since Yesterday, which was a fine a piece of pop from the mid-80's as you could wish to hear. I'm afraid that we're left with the follow-up single Let Her Go. It is a catchy enough piece of pop music. Synths tinkle and sparkle along with melody whilst Rose and Jill provide breathy girly vocals. the whole thing is light and airy and floats along quite pleasantly which is odd because lyrically it's a lot creepier than that. It's an urging for someone let their girlfriend go and be free, be free to come to the narrator. The underlying aggression is tonally at odds with music, which adds a depth of interest that would otherwise be missing. It has to be said that Let Her Go shares much in common with Since Yesterday, and so it could be an indicator of a dearth of ideas, or a savvy way of cashing in on their previous hit. Either way that similarity does some harm as it fractional diminishes the charm of this song.

Beautiful End on the other side is much softer and has swaying, almost woozy characteristics of a lullaby. It is gentle and soporific, but hang on is that another lyrical dissonance I hear before me. Yes I think so - it is as you might guess from the title - Beautiful End - about death, or at least that's how interpret it. Not a violent or bad death, but a comfortable and peaceful death. Painful to none but the loved ones left behind. So if it a lullaby it is one for the ultimate endless sleep. The melody is appropriately haunting, and whilst it may be less catchy than the a-side, it is probably the better of the two songs.

Strawberry Switchblade - a band whose outlandish appearance and stylised pop sounds belies a much darker and more thoughtful than you would expect.

Next time another obscure band with a great name from the early 90's

7 inch single collection: Roy Orbison - Drifting Away

The Big 'O' on the comeback trail:

ROY ORBISON

A-side: Drifting Away

B-Side: Under Suspicion

(Monument 1977)

Many exciting and new things were happening in the musical world in 1977 - things like disco and punk exploding, and the early sounds of hip hop starting to emerge. What wasn't happening was a chart career for Roy Orbison. An early pioneer of rock 'n' roll - yet separate from all the rockers, hellraisers, and firebrands because of his drift into the dramatic (and sometimes melodramatic) big ballad. A man with a pure angelic voice, singing big heartfelt emotional songs really wasn't on the musically agenda in 1977. He was pretty much a has-been, an echo from another generation, a voice for for the easy listening crew. They (and by they I mean the record buying public of the late 70's) simply weren't interested in the Big 'O' any more. They, of course, were wrong.

Drifting Away, may not be quite as good as Pretty Woman, or Only The Lonely, but it's definitely playing in the same league.It starts with no pre-amble, and cuts straight top Roy's marvelous voice, which aches with sadness and pain. It's bound too because this is one of those timeless sad love songs about heartbreak and splitting up. The depth of sorrow is enhanced by a country-style melody and instrumentation (country does sadness better than most other genres).  Drifting Away is to be intimate and yet epic at the same time - a feat that few can accomplish with any sort of grace or style, yet here it feels effortless and natural. Furthermore there is more poignancy as you realise the lyrics act as a metaphor. Not only is Roy drifting away from his love he's also drifting away from his audience - people aren't buying his records like they used to, he's a pillar of old-fashioned steadfastness, when we are all tempted away from him by pulsing electronic repetitive beats or shouty sneering kids with attitude and discordant guitars. His voice quivers as he yearns to not be left behind, and you don't know at that point if he's talking through the narrative of the song, or directly at you the listener. This is truly powerful stuff and all I can think of to say is sorry, sorry Roy we should have listened to you more and not as a collective audience drifted  away from your wonderful songs.

Of course if he was mainly making records like Under Suspicion over on the b-side it's no wonder the audience drifted away. This song has none of the timeless charm of the a-side, in fact it's very attempt to sound contemporary is what immediately dates it. There is late 70's feel to the song, there's a whole heap of horns going off in the background, producing a smooth, if soulless, soft funk atmosphere to the tune. It's not suited to his voice, it's better suited to a soul singer. Roy Orbison was not a soul singer, he was a soulful singer, and anything less than a big song could fall flat and fizzle away. Under Suspicion is nowhere near a big song.

Fortunately Roy Orbison stopped making songs like Under Suspicion, and managed to bring himself back into the public eye, and produce the kind of songs that only he could. That he did it just before he passed away is something of a triumphant heartbreak - not unlike the greatest of his songs.

Next time a poppy duo brighten up the place...

7 inch single collection: The Nice - America

Prog Rock starts here:

THE NICE

A-side: America

B-Side: Diamond Hard Apples Of The Moon

(Immediate 1968)

It's an odd thought that what was one of the forerunners of prog rock started out life as a backing to a soul singer. The Nice were created as a backing band for the brilliant P.P.Arnold, but on the condition that they could do their own stuff too. This was apparently at the insistence of keyboard supremo Keith Emerson. Yep, that's Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame (infamy?) I know that people who love prog rock really love it, and there are those who find in interminable widdly nonsense - the truth, as always in somewhere in between, and much greatness can be found floating around endless drum solos and weirdness for weirdness sake.

The first track on here is a tearing up of America from Bernstein's West Side Story. Now, I'm quite prepared to admit that I really rather like many musicals, and of the many musicals that I like West Side Story is probably the one I like the most. America is great song too - with it's contrasting optimism for a new life in a free land, with it's sneering at the racism and less pretty aspects of 50's America. It's good stuff - The Nice drop the powerful imagery of the lyrics and replace them with a fierce thrashing of the tune that whirls like a waltzer at the fairground, dizzying and thrilling, and occasionally nauseating. Towards the end of America there's a child's voice briefly spouting of some pompous political rhetoric. I used to really like this record when I first heard it it was vibrant and alive and different take on some thing old. However I feel as that it's one of those records that suffer from the law of diminishing returns, getting more boring and more like a one-trick pony on each subsequent outing. Before listening to it for this blog I haven't heard this record for may years, and I was hoping that that temporal distance may have softened my feelings to this once loved piece. Maybe it did, I still found it a little boring and a chore to listen to, but I also could hear the skill and the passion in the music, and could completely understand what people, including my younger self, can see in this.

Maybe I'll have better luck with the b-side. Considering it goes under the preposterous name of The Diamond Hard Apples of The Moon, and that I couldn't remember how it went from last time that I listened to it I didn't have high hopes., and I'm afraid it lived down to my expectations. There are vocals on this track, but they had some odd treatment put on them. I afraid I can't really make out what they're on about - the title is dropped a few times, considering the incoherence maybe some acid was dropped at the same time. This is very generic hippie psychedelia. The song just doesn't know how to finish, and so it all falls apart in a noisy hazy puff of an ending.

I wanted to like this more - but as it stands I find to be little more than a curious relic of a very specific time and place, and out of that time and place - it's a bit boring with some annoying noisy bits. That probably makes me sound like some old fuddy-duddy - maybe that's what I've become.

Next time a voice from the 50's tries to be heard in the 70's...