A new direction for an old new wave band...
PERE UBU
A-side: I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue
B-Side: Invisible Man
(Fontana 1990)
Firstly apologies for the video which is a recent live version, couldn't find a contemporary video, and also has a long spoken intro which isn't on the record.
Pere Ubu, had something of a mystique to their name back in the day. From what I'd understood from bits and pieces in the music press, they were darlings of the American new wave, releasing challenging and difficult records, and being one of the secret delights of the underground. This made me go out and listen to some of their record for this period, and I found out that they weren't as challenging or as different as I hoped - merely a good, but not outstanding post-punk collective.
The release of I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue was their first record in a considerable time and was much anticipated. I bought it at the time in the hope that I would connect better with Pere Ubu than I had before. I was at the time disappointed, and found it dull and ordinary. One of the delights of doing this blog is being able to revise these opinions after the passage of time, and this is one of those records that is a lot better than I remember it. Listening to it now for what it actually is, rather than what I expected it to be has given me a fresh perspective. It's not a towering piece of complex noise, what it is however a superior example of alternative rock, a style that is often referred to as college rock. I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue has a bright, poppy edge to with vocals delivered in an almost laid back soft rock style. The guitar intro is strong and the tune is toe-tapping. Not entirely sure what it's about - people (aliens?) who want to be other people, maybe? There may be an anti-racism message in there, but it's not obvious. Another plus is that it mentions Yogi Bear in the lyrics.
On the other side Invisible Man still has that college rock style, but the structure of the song is a bit more varied, and more in keeping with the band's reputation. The voice is much more distinctive and growlier, and there's some odd noises in the instrumentation, which piques the interest. The rhythm is driving, and I was just starting to really get into it when it ended.
A record that I wasn't really looking forward to listening to, which turns out to be better than I thought, I make that two in row. It's possible that I have better taste than I thought.
Next time prepare to gaze at your shoes...
An ode to the joys of unemployment...
THE PARACHUTE MEN
A-side: Every Other Thursday
B-Side: Quiet Life
(Fire 1990)
I can't tell you much about The Parachute Men. I know they were one of a number of indie bands of the period that had a female singer (almost always blonde) backed by 3 blokes (probably in well-worn, creaky leather jackets) on guitar, bass and drums.
I remember seeing The Parachute Men live at the Gloucester Guildhall - for a short while there was something called the Banana Club, where, (once a month maybe - can anyone else remember?), they'd have a couple of indie bands on - one or two usually someone with an actual record deal touring the provinces, plus extra support from unsigned local entities. The Parachute Men were either a headline act, or supporting Carter - USM, (of whom more will be spoken at a later date).
The Every Other Thursday of the song title refers to the day of turning up to the job centre to sign on and get your dole money. You might expect that given this subject matter, the the song would be grim and dour, but it's not. It's an upbeat, even jaunty, piece of jangle pop. The lyrics don't dwell on the miserable side of joblessness, or even try to make political comments on the situation, but instead focuses on the relief, and pleasure that getting the fortnightly dole money brings. The vocals are strong, but unlikely many contemporaries don't get all sweet and girly, and there is a wistfulness to the voice, that brings an edgier counterpart to the upbeat feel of the tune.
Turning the record over we find Quiet Life, a song which lives up to its name. It's slower and quieter, with an almost folky acoustic sound. For me two things provide an unexpected texture to this song, and stops it from being just pleasant and lifts it into the very good category. I mentioned the singer's voice for Every Other Thursday, here there's an odd catch to it which brings you in. The second thing that elevates this song is, surprisingly, the drums. The drum patterns are unusual, and more than just keeping time.
Before I listened to this single I was expecting something pleasant but bland and unmemorable, what I got surprised me by being lighter and more textured than I could have hoped for.
Next time alternative new wave stalwarts try for the big time...
Something geeky...
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
A-side: Birdhouse In Your Soul
B-Side: Hot Cha
(Elektra 1990)
Ahh, They Might Be Giants, a couple of blokes called John, playing strange instruments, singing songs with unusual subject matters, often very witty, and yet never falling into the trap of being overtly kooky or goofy, which helps them not wear out their welcome. They've been around for years and are still going - apparently they split themselves these days between doing the music they've always done, and recording albums of songs about Maths, Physics and the like for kids.
When I'm thinking of They Might Be Giants I'm always reminded of a bus journey I took from Gloucester to Manchester with my friend Jex, around 1991/92. We were chatting, and the conversation turned, as it often did, to music. Jex asked me to guess who I thought was the band that he was most impressed with at that time. I spent ages making wrong and ill-considered guess, and he started to give me clues, citing things like their instrumentation, their clever lyricism, their propensity to short and to the point songs. Eventually I arrived at They Might Be Giants. At the time I conceded the point and admitted they were an admirable band indeed, even though I thought they weren't up to scratch compared to some of the bands I'd guessed. I get it now though - I completely understand what he was on about, and now I think they are a band worthy of high esteem.
Birdhouse In Your Soul was the breakout hit for They Might Be Giants, it marked the transition from an indie label to a major, and an in-road into the charts. Of course it was ultimately their only big hit - but it did at least put them into the public consciousness. Birdhouse In Your Soul is a bouncy song with an engaging organ sound, jolly blast of horns. Lyrically it is darker than that, I think (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). It's ostensibly sung from the point of view of a night-light, looking after its charge, but is the night-light the only friend this person has, and who looks after the light when it's alone. Odd - but something to think about. Any song that can (non-gratuitously) include the word filibuster has to have something going for it!
More oddness on the flip side with Hot Cha. I'm not sure what the time signature is on Hot Cha, but it's not 4/4, the horns on this side are staccato and parping, punctuating the jazzy 40's feel of the music. There's a great piano breakdown in the middle. Then after less than two minutes it stops. I think the brevity of the song has led me to dismiss this tune before, and not really to listen to it, but I'll admit that it's grown on me. Short, and certainly sweet.
I'd encourage everyone to let a little They Might Be Giants into their soul.
Next time some indie miserablism...
Loud, shouty and very silly...
LUNACHICKS
A-side: Cookie Monster
B-Side: Complication
(Blast First 1990)
There were many all female grunge bands around in the early 90's. Many were politically motivated pushing feminist agendas, and rallying against sexism, others were proving their point, not with political diatribes, but just by simply rocking out as well as any all bloke band could. Lunachicks probably don't fit too well into the first category, and an argument could well be made for the second one, but on the limited evidence that I have I would say that their main agenda was to have fun.
Cookie Monster from Sesame Street is a character I feel a certain affinity with, a love of particular baked goods being just one shared attribute. It seemed, then, almost inevitable that I would buy this single - which was cemented into certainty by the fact that the above sleeve is actually a wrap-around fold-out poster, which I'm afraid that I'm unable to replicate in it's full glory here. (i.e. it's too big for my scanner, and I'm sure that it's family appropriate!). However to give you an impression I've included back of the sleeve showing the band.
Cookie Monster is a nursery counting song liberally coated in grunge trappings. The vocals are growling, the instruments are fast and noisy. There are actual Cookie Monster impersonations as backing vocals. Part way through is slows right down to a grindcore style, before speeding up again to breakneck speed, coming to a sudden stop. It's not big, it's not clever, but it is very silly, and for that I love it.
To be honest the b-side is more of the same - you didn't expect it to be anything else did you? It's similarly noisy stop/start hardcore, but without the Cookie Monster hook. The title - Complication - is the only lyric that is intelligible. It's got a a good driving sound, and is good for what it is, but I have no desire to listen to it again. Can't really say much more than that.
An enjoyable record overall, that I probably won't listen to very often, but nonetheless I think it's important that records like this do exist, and there is a place for silliness.
Next time something a little geekish...
Laid back and quirky, it's...
PAVEMENT
A-side: Gold Soundz
Kneeling Bus
B-Side: Strings Of Nashville
Exit Theory
(Big Cat 1994)
Pavement are often lumped in with the whole grunge movement of the early to mid 90's, but I'm not sure how grunge they really were. Sure they had loud and occasionally abrasive guitars, but their sound seemed to have it's roots less in punk and early heavy metal than other grunge archetypes. Indeed they owe as much to the laid back sounds of 70's west coast style soft rock. This is definitely a good thing, as it is something that singles them them out from the crowd. Not that standing out from the crowd was any problem for Pavement - the band they get most compared to is The Fall, not necessarily because of sonic similarities but more for the fact the they plow their own furrow on the peripheries of any scene that happens to be about. Just like the Fall, they employ a different styles and sounds to come up with their own unique Pavement-ness, that is instantly recognisable as their own.
Gold Soundz is from a 4-track EP, (haven't had one of them for bit!) The title track is mellow grunge overlaid with chiming indie guitars. The singer has a distinct nasal voice, that once you've accepted it, is not unpleasant. It's upbeat and poppy, whilst remaining perfectly relaxed. There's nothing radical on show here, but it's got enough of a something to leave you with a lasting memory of the tune. The other track on the a-side of this record is Kneeling Bus. Just like Gold Soundz this has a stop/start signature, that is recognisably Pavement. It's a spiky sounding instrumental, that is fuzzy and short - and as such there is little else to say about it.
Strings of Nashville, the first song on the b-side, instantly makes me think of later period Velvet Underground. It's got an easy vibe, that's as much about atmosphere as it is about song. The vocals and almost hidden and practically impenetrable. There is a slightly spooky feel to the sound, enhanced by the impression that the whole thing is ever so slight off-key. More atmosphere is by the instrumentation being sparse, and the addition wave sound effects during the song. Just like on the a-side, the second song here is almost a short afterthought. Exit Theory is a set of disjointed sound, there is a sudden build up to noise, which dissolves into chaos and is over in seconds.
At the end of the day this I quite like this record, not as much as some other Pavement songs, but Gold Soundz works well as a single. The overall effect is something that is oddly feelgood.
Next time some proper noisy grunge...
Should white men play reggae?
BOOMTOWN RATS
A-side: Banana Republic
B-Side: Man At The Top
(Ensign 1980)
I alluded to my opinion that Bob Geldolf is capable of making good records in my review of the Band Aid record. As if to back up this opinion I have a number of Boomtown Rats singles, of which this is the first to come up.
For a while, back in the day, there was a bit of a reverse snobbish attitude to Boomtown Rates - many fans and critics of punk/post-punk would tend to dismiss them out of hand as not being authentic, or not quite up to being as good as other similar bands. I don't know how prevalent this attitude is today, (and, frankly, I don't care), because it's a pretty poor show. I think the problem really stems from the fact that, unlike many more critically acclaimed acts, had commerciality on their side. They knew how to make records that lots of people would buy and listen to and would get played on the radio. I'm not sure what's wrong with that.
I remember clearly first hearing/seeing Banana Republic on Saturday morning Kids TV. It caught my attention then because it felt different and lightly askew from some of the other lighter pop fare that was normally on the menu of such shows. On Banana Republic the Rats flirt with a reggae sounds - many post-punk bands were doing so at the time. Sometimes it worked, other times it was a little more ill-advised. I think that this song falls just about on the right side of that line, in that the reggae is influential rather that pervasive in the sound. (Not that pervasive reggae isn't great when performed by habitual reggae performers). Initially the record lures you in with a slow, soft lovers rock sounds, which suddenly turns dark, when the lyrics start taking about high level institutional corruption among the likes of "police and priests". The music is slightly cheesy but I believe that's there as a deliberate counterpoint to the darkness of the lyrics, mirroring how the dark underbelly of many of the regimes sung about are hiding under a garish tourist-friendly facade. I really liked this song when I first encountered it in 1980, even though I was too young to understand it, I still do like it, but the version in my head is a lot fiercer than what I just heard on the record. So much so that my first reaction on this re-listen was: "Was that it? Surely this used to be better than that". That's the passage of time for you.
Often on b-sides bands get to experiment a bit more and throw new ideas around a bit. Man At The Top feels very much like that's what Boomtown Rats are doing. It's punkier than the a-side, and has a stronger piano intro with a leading bassline. It feels choppy and mixed up - like bits of different ideas have all been put together in one song, and it's all being held together by one bassline. The lyrics feels squashed into the song - there's very little in the way of melody to catch the ear and hook the listener in.
Overall an OK record that I expected much more of.
Next time some grunge nerds...
Rocking with the Goths...
SPEAR OF DESTINY
A-side: Radio Radio
B-Side: Life Goes On
(Epic 1988)
Spear of Destiny had a little flirt with controversy. The name has some Nazi symbolism attached to it. This was enough to ruffle a few feathers, and work as space filling copy for some lazy journalists. Joy Division and New Order had the same problem (although considering they're essentially the same band it suggests that it was done deliberately; all publicity is good publicity!). However even a cursory listen to their lyrics or reading interviews with the band, it's obvious that there are no far-right connections - usually quite the opposite.
Kirk Brandon, who is essentially Spear Of Destiny, was formerly with post-punk rockers Theatre Of Hate. As far as I understand he tours as both bands these days pretty much interchangeably. Spear of Destiny started out gothier but drifted towards rock, just as Theatre of Hate started out punkier, but drifted towards rock.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this copy is a limited edition - the special thing that makes this limited is the exciting fact this has a gatefold sleeve. However there is nothing of interest on the middle of the gatefold, otherwise I'd have scanned it in to fill up some space!
Radio Radio is a proper rock song - no other way to describe it. It's got crunchy guitars, a shout of "Radio Radio" which punctuates the verses, and a rocking epic chorus. It's all delivered in a tone that's quite aggressive, macho even, but ultimately it's inoffensive. It rocks out, but is largely unmemorable. You can see what they're trying to do - songs with the word Radio in them are like catnip to DJs they can hardly help themselves when coming to play these songs on the radio. Didn't work this time...
On the other side, Life Goes On, starts on in much the same way, with a strong rocking beginning. What adds to the interest here is that the drums are much more to the forefront of the mix. This adds a flavour to the song that I can only describe as tribal, and ends up opening the song up. It feels much more expansive than Radio Radio, also Kirk Brandon's voice is much more expressive, this makes the listener feel much more invested in the experience. In the end it reminds of me of The Cult on a good day.
All in all it's not a bad record, with the b-side probably edging out slightly as the better song, but not a great record that I'd want to rave about, but you'll have to take my word for it as there isn't anything on YouTube to link to. I'm sure you can find it on Spotify or similar if you're desperate.
Next time white blokes playing around with reggae...
