7 Inch Singles Collection; Suzi Quatro - Tear Me Apart

The ever-lovely leather-clad...

SUZI QUATRO

A-side: Tear Me Apart

B-Side: Same As I So

(RAK 1976)

We all love Suzi Quatro, don't we? The correct answer to that is of course "Yes, we do". Even if you're not that taken by her music she always seems fun, open, and welcoming individual. Her records do that too. You know how some records (TV programs, films and other creative endeavours too) you can tell that the people making them had fun doing so, don't it doesn't include the audience in it - and so it's like going to a party at which you are only allowed to watch and not participate. Suzi Quatro's records are the exact opposite - she has a cheeky grin, and a twinkle in her eye that says, "Come on in and join the fun".

Tear Me Apart certainly has that infectious fun element to it. It's a rocking head-down boogie that drives the beat along at a pace, you don't realise 'til it's over that your tapping you feet, and nodding your head along with it as it sweeps you in the moment. There's a smile and warmth to her voice which, in too many other female singers would be replaced by a harsher rasp. It's exactly what you expect from a Suzi Quatro single, however I was struck by something as I was listening - "you've got to tear me apart, if you want to win my heart" - what!? Surely that's not saying that some for of abuse (physical or emotional) is the best way to win over the narrator. It's certainly not the intention - the verses make it clear that it's about a strong, independent-minded woman, who doesn't fit traditional feminist stereotypes, but the chorus is slightly dodgy. I'm positive Suzi would never have sung it if it did have that interpretation, but my over-thinking of the lyrics has made me feel slightly uncomfortable with a song that I actual really rather liked - stupid brain!

Most of the Suzi Quatro a-sides at this time written by hitmakers Chinn & Chapman, they knew exactly what would get into the charts. The b-sides however were written by Quatro herself in partnership with Len Tuckey (her husband and guitarist). Often, like Same As I Do, these show a different side to Suzi Quatro. This song is much slower with hints of calypso in the melody. It doesn't have the driving bass sound that we associate with her. It's a very mellow gently swaying slow bop. Definitely more complex and musically accomplished than Tear Me Apart - but with less hooks certainly not hit material.

So there a record that I previously thought was fine, that I just may have ruined for myself. Sometimes I'm idiot. 

Next time some more later 80's guitar pop...

7 Inch Singles Collection: Ben E. King - Spanish Harlem

Something slightly beautiful:

BEN E. KING

A-side: Spanish Harlem

B-Side: First Taste Of Love

(Atlantic 1960)

I'm sure that I've mentioned previously on this blog that I'm not really into soul music. Cue gasps of astonishment and disbelief that anyone couldn't like soul music. Sorry - but that's the way it is. However there are some exceptions, mostly on labels like Atlantic and Stax - maybe it's the cookie-cutter, formulaic soul of Motown that doesn't get to me, but that's a matter to pontificate over when I reach one of my two Motown records. Back to business with Ben E. King - he was with  the Drifters for a bit, and then drifted off (that's a little bit of comedy gold for you there), into a solo career. His biggest hit was, as I'm sure you're all aware, Stand By Me - which became an even bigger hit in the 80's when it was re-released as the theme tune to a film (you can guess the title of the film). It was such a smash hit that the record company, in their infinite wisdom decided to release another one of his old hits again, which is where this records comes in.

Spanish Harlem, was that next Ben E. King re-release. Stand By Me is a good catchy tune, that for me has lost any charm it once had due to over familiarly. Spanish Harlem, however, is a record so full of charm, that I can never grow tired of hearing it. Normally a Phil Spector Wall-Of-Sound production gives song an epic feel, a biggness that can a fill a room. On this song the same production techniques are used to make a record that sounds so intimate, you almost feel like you're intruding. King's voice is perfect for this  - it is sweet and crystal clear. The whole mood is of romantic wistfulness, that never once slides into the schmaltzy or saccharine.The instrumentation is interesting and unusual, which keeps the sound fresh and new even after all the passing decades. Definitely a case of the right song, by the right singer with the right production. An almost perfect 2 and a half minutes of music.

Obviously the b-side was never going to live up the a-side, but First Taste of Love makes a decent job of it nonetheless. It immediately comes out as different to Spanish Harlem in the upbeat and uptempo mood of the song. It feels much more like a old Drifters number - it's a bit of solid stylish soul, that simply doesn't move me like the a-side. I can't criticize King's voice, and I do really rather like the do-wop backing vocals and the string accompaniment, however First Taste Of Love, cannot rise above being little more than ordinary. 

There we go then a record to love and to be loved.

Next time something in leather from the 70's...

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