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

7 inch singles collection: Sam Brown - Mindworks

It's the daughter of 50's rock 'n' roller, Joe Brown:

SAM BROWN

A-side: Mindworks

B-Side: No Man Is An Island
(A&M 1990)

I can imagine people looking at that picture of the sleeve just there and thinking - "He only bought that for the limited edition pop-sleeve." Whilst I would maintain that that is an excellent reason for buying any record, and I would have done so for this one, if it were not for the fact that I would have bought this one even if it didn't have the pop-up sleeve. As it happens I rather liked Sam Brown's previous offering "Stop!" (more of which later), and was looking forward to hearing more of her.

I happy to report that I was not disappointed with Mindworks. It has strong framing acoustic guitar to start with an other-worldy sound, (I make notes when I'm listening to these records and it says wibbly-wobbly noise in those notes), which glides over the top of the music. If you want me to be a bit more technical I suppose theremin-like would cover it, (and, indeed, it may even be a theremin!) Sam starts singing  with a strong voice building it up into a bit of a crescendo - good dramatic power pop. There's more wibbly-wobbly noises going on discretely in the song, but that add that extra bit of distinction to it.

The b-side is called No Man Is An Island - this starts off soft and low with a pervasive jazzy bass that takes it's time to work into smooth groove. The jazz element is strong in this one, it's much more exacting and exciting vocally for Sam than the a-side, but she more than lives up to with a sultry and confidant performance. There's a cool and satisfying woodwind break in the middle. All in all it's a better song than the a-side - with two downfalls, firstly it's not as catchy, and secondly it just doesn't seem to how to end, and the finish doesn't quite work.

I expect you're all agog to know what the pop-up in the gatefold sleeve looked like - as it doesn't fit on my scanner. Well it's Sam Brown's head as seen in the above picture with a curly thing (probably a visual representation of the wibbly-wobbly noise) springing out with some of the words on it. Trust me - you're not missing much by not being able to see it.

Next time another Gloucester band from the early 90's...
(actually we can't seem to get out of 90/91 at the moment - I may have to make an intervention in my selection randomiser soon - just for the sake of variety)

7 inch singles collection: Bedazzled - Teenage Mother Superior

From the remnants of Apple Mosaic its:

BEDAZZLED

A-side: Teenage Mother Superior

B-Side: Always Never
            Missing
(Columbia 1991)

You may remember the very post in this blog was about EMF and I mentioned that the guitarist had come from much lamented Gloucester band Apple Mosaic, well the singer, the fantastically monikered Laurence Carrington-Windo, formed this band. Presumably named after the Peter Cook & Dudley Moore film (and not the Liz Hurley remake). Bedazzled were less obviously dancey than EMF, but they flirted around the periphery of the 'baggy' movement which was mainly made up of jangly indie bands, who'd gone a bit funky claiming that they'd always had an element of dance music in their sound. Bedazzled's problem with this is that this particular bandwagon had long left town and they were trailing along behind unable to catch up. Evidence of how uncool they were was that around this time I remember seeing them on whatever nonsense replaced Pebble Mill at One in the early afternoons at this time period. It was presented, if my memory doesn't let me down by Alan Titchmarsh and Judi Spiers. So, yeah, they'd missed the cool train by several stops.

Teenage Mother Superior is an energetic funky workdown full of wah-wah laden effects and a full on sneer from Laurence (he was very good at the sneering vocal I recall). I always kind of enjoyed this song in an unthinking way, but having re-listened to it for the purposes of this blog, the lyrical content has made me think a bit harder. This is a good thing, one of the purposes of this blog was to make me re-assess some of my old favourites. My problem is the the hard time being given to the titular Teenage Mother Superior in the lyrics, fair enough the narrator seems to be answering her questioning of his hedonistic life-style, but he's coming off at best boorish, and at worst bullying. They need to do some mellowing out here, and maybe just agree to disagree and respect each other's lifestyles before departing amicably. So good tunesmithery, well delivered, but the hectoring lyrics now no longer sit well with me.

A nice treat as we turn over this platter to find two b-sides therein. Aware of this kind of trickery, I check the label and find it plays and 33 1/3 rpm, an adjust the speed accordingly, (I've been caught out before.) The first track, Always Never, sounds not too dissimilar to the a-side - full of guitar effects maybe falling to the rockier side of dance than the funky side this time. A track about missing out on stuff and never being able to get the time to do things - something I think we can all appreciate. I enjoy the verses of Always Never much more than the chorus which sounds a little strained.

Missing is mellower than the other other two tracks, and I'm happy for the change. Whilst still being full of typical indie-style chimes it noticeably wanders into AOR territory, but at no particular detriment to the song. Considering it's about someone who has gone missing (all be it voluntarily) it's conspicuously jaunty in tone. It's not that memorable though, and whilst I'll always be able to summon the a-side to my mind both of the b-side tracks don't have that spark (which is why they're b-sides!)

Next time something a little bit jazzy...

7 inch singles collection: Bob Dylan - Political World

It's Dylan!

BOB DYLAN

A-side: Political World

B-Side: Ring Them Bells
(CBS 1990)

I like to think of Bob Dylan in the upper echelons of curmudgeonly old men in rock - right up there in the premier division of grumpy aging rock stars alongside Lou Reed (RIP), Neil Young and Van Morrison. What all of these people have in common is the ability to make some of the most sublime, brilliant music ever, but equally be able to make some of worst dross ever recorded. Sometimes on the same album, sometimes even within the same song.

This record is from one of Dylan's "return to form" albums - Oh! Mercy. It certainly found itself in the top 50 end-of-year round-up in both Melody Maker and NME of 1990 - and probably in plenty of other music magazines too.

Political World has a statement to make - it's a political world, and everybody has an agenda, and the decisions we make have impact small or large on other people and decisions. I imagine all the old hippies listening to this revelation were nodding their heads and saying "yeah, man, tell it like it is Bob - stick it to the man", whilst the rest of us were more probably thinking something along the lines of "yes, we know, and your point is..?". I suppose there's some people out there who are naive and innocent enough not to have realised this, however they're probably not the types to listen to Dylan, so I don't think he's going to be corrupting anyone's innocence with this. If the lyrics to Political World are all cliche and truism, so is the music - but not in a bad way It's the music that started rock itself - Blues. It has a great bluesy feel, with a strong swampy rhythm that gets you going. So one to listen to for the music rather than the words. (By the way - there are no vids on YouTube of Bob Dylan doing this number - plenty of cover versions  - so no link I'm afraid - you'll have to hunt it down yourself!)

Flipping the record over we find a piano led piece of AOR, called Ring Them Bells. Whilst I'm partial to a bit of Dylan every now and then, I could never claim to be a fan, and so this styling was a surprise for me, however unlike the a-side I found it musically bland. Maybe the lyrics are better and a bit less obvious - well yes they are. In fact I'm a little confused. It could be Dylan not be clear and being obfuscatory, or it could be me being thick (there's a 50/50 chance to be honest!) Either the bells are ringing out in celebration, saying the masses are still here, and are strong, and are surviving, or the bells are ringing out a funereal death knell for the little people as they are swamped by the political world. Could be either, maybe if I listened to this song a few more times I'd have an idea, but I can't say that the notion fills me with enthusiasm. It was a little bit too dull to make me want to go back to.

Next time some more music from the 'shire...