Wednesday 20 April 2016

The Fall at Glastonbury- an extract from "Feels Like Going Home"

with Glastonbury 2016 just around the corner, here's an extract from "Feels Like Going Home" about the Fall's performance of 2015...




At precisely 7.30 p.m. some sort of synthy sound blasted over the P.A. and The Fall trooped onto the stage.

“We are The Fall, from the long, long days. Not used to the countryside, they’re half asleep…group. They’re so happy to be here……in Salford of Manchester. They think they’re in such a great place.”

This was Mark E Smith, looking like Ken Barlow’s older/younger pisshead brother, dressed in what can only be described as a pair of slacks, a blazer, a fetching sky blue jumper and a white shirt. Littlewoods catalogue circa anytime between 1965 and 2015. Not sure if there actually still is anything like a Littlewoods catalogue anymore. I know this isn’t a book about fashion although some description at this point doesn’t probably go amiss.

I had no idea what Mark E. Smith was going on about. Not a clue. But it was good to see them back on stage again after all those missing years. It was strange as it was the first time that I’d seen them in the day time and outdoors instead of some ungodly hour in a (back then) tatty smoke-filled club.

Mark E Smith hadn’t lost any of his customary charm with the technical crew. He waved an arm in the direction of the missing desk.

“Thanks for turning the monitors down. On the desk. Cunt.”

Now that was certainly something that would not be broadcast by the BBC.

“Here we go,” he shouted into two microphones he was holding and they launched into “My Door Is Always Open” from the “Post Reformation TLC.” It was a great start, all driving drums and chopping and twanging guitars. Sometimes you know when you’re about to see a brilliant show, right from the very first note, something instinctively tells you it’s going to be good. This doesn’t just apply to The Fall of course. You know it when you‘ve listened to too much music and been to too many gigs.

Although Smith messed around with two microphones throughout the first song, he kept the knob twiddling to a minimum, only wandering over once to an amp and half-heartedly messing around with the settings. This was a good thing because I’ve seen Fall gigs where he’s been getting close to whipping a soldering iron out his jacket and rewiring stuff half way through a song and I believe that tendency has not diminished at all in the last few years.

There was a lot of jumping around from what was by now quite a large crowd. A large crowd comprised of what might be termed indie folks. Not indie kids but indie folks. There was a smattering of people about my age and indeed most of the crowd looked like they were well over 30, if not a lot older. A lot of long-term Fall fans forged from the white heat of 1980 and post-punk. A veritable Saga gig. Not the Canadian prog rock outfit, but the well known insurance/cruise/holiday specialists catering exclusively for the over-50’s. It wasn’t all bald old men however because there were enough kids in their early twenties to drag the average age of the crowd down to about 45. These kids were the ones who were by and large doing most of the leaping around in front of the stage. Well, you can’t really expect all us old Fall fans to be doing that sort of thing, can you? Dodgy knees and bad hips are a bit of dampener on moshing. Nodding heads is as good as it gets. I noticed a few cans getting thrown through the air. Only a few mind. A bit of a token gesture and one that took my back to the halcyon days of 1978 when you’d spent a lot of your time at gigs ducking nervously as cans of Skol would be flying hither and thither. I turned around and peered towards the back of the field. While there were a few folks wandering around on the periphery, it seemed almost as full as it had been for Spiritualized the evening before.

The Fall had recently released a new album, but you could say that at any time as they’ve done that every year for the past 35 years or so. And like a lot of Fall albums, it was critically praised as “a return to form.” For me that kinds of begs the question as to how can it always be a return to form? Every time? It’s a bit of a contradiction really. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no form to return to in respect of The Fall. Anyway, this set at Glasto was their opportunity to flog the “Sub-Lingual Tablet” album to a whole new audience, not just at the Park Stage, but across the net on the BBC and on the TV. I wasn’t wearing those rose-tinted glasses that blinded me to the fact that commercial considerations would surely enter Mark E Smith’s mind somewhere along the way.

It didn’t matter to me though. The new album, whether it was a return to form or not, was a cracker and after the first song they played three songs from it; “Venice with the Girls”, Dedication Not Medication” and “First One Today”, all rattlingly good tunes (in a Fall way), and one that kept the set bouncing along at a good old pace. Smith gurned, grimaced and indeed, grinned his way through them all and the band, while for me, not hitting the heights of the Fall in the early 1980’s, were tight and solid. At least they took his limited on stage mixing with good grace. There is always for me something that sets The Fall apart from all other bands, some sort of Northern taut mysticism that‘s impossible to define or indeed quantify, but it’s always there. The essence of The Fall. Fall-ness.  

Halfway through the set and at the end of “Junger Cloth” (another new song), Smith grabbed the guitar neck of the lead guitarist and shouted down his microphone, “Dropout, dropout. Go, on you can do it. Go on! Droput!”

For a second I again hadn’t a clue what he was on about. More alcohol induced ramblings? But as the band looked at each other somewhat quizzically before the drummer kicked things off, it dawned on me that they had launched into Captain Beefheart’s “Dropout Boogie.” The Fall covering Beefheart at Glasto? Could it get any better than this? And it wasn’t even raining! The sun was out! I couldn’t stop grinning to myself!

It was a sublime, growly version of it as well and hit the mark perfectly. As it came to a crashing end a stray thought came to my mind. How much would have John Peel loved to have seen and heard it? 

A great moment tinged with a certain amount of sadness.

There wasn’t much time for an overt displays of sentimentality because they rounded off the just under an hour long set with the classic “Sparta F.C.” ( a cue for what had become a quite large crowd to go collectively bonkers) and finished off with “Auto Chip 2014-2016” (the best song from the new album and surely a future classic as well.) During the latter Smith wandered backstage with microphone in hand for a good few minutes, something that might have surprised anyone who was new to The Fall, but something which was pretty much expected for seasoned Fall watchers.

But after 54 minutes it was all done. A full set by The Fall at Glastonbury. Something I didn’t think I’d ever see. The fact that it didn’t end early or that it actually started at all was a bonus. As for the rest, all I can say is that I’m certainly not going to leave it another 15 years before I see them play live again. For purely rational reasons mainly. I’d be 68 and Mark E Smith, if he was still alive, and that is a moot point, would be in his early seventies.

In passing, I do have a sneaking suspicion that Smith plays the pisshead that can’t be stopped, the man with the bionic liver card a bit too much. I have no basis for this save that being an intelligent and quite savvy chap it’s to his advantage he gives out the impression of being an old soak and therefore somehow more or different than just a talented wordsmith with a knack for being ahead of the curve. It seems like his art comes naturally to him, it’s something natural and unforced whereas in reality, I think he works very hard at it. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Yet this is just a theory and I’ve nothing to back it up at all. Speculation and nothing more.









"Feels Like Going Home" - the fourth Glastonbury book is available here both in Kindle or paperback formats..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feels-Like-Going-Home-Glastonbury-ebook/dp/B018J1PAMY 
  


Sunday 27 March 2016

Totally Shuffled: Voodoo Ceremony from Haiti



extracted from "Totally Shuffled: A Year of Listening To Music on a Broken iPod". I can't find any YouTube clip of this; I wish I could as I'm sure you'd enjoy it. If I ever find one then I'll update the blog but for now read on...


March 27


Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti-Olympic LP, 1974






First off-just so there is a flavour of what this is all about- here is the track listing of this record:


Side One

1. Voodoo Drums (5:26)
2. Nibo Rhythms (1:19)
3. Prayer to Shango (1:56)
4. Petro Rhythms (0:47)
5. Nago Rhythms (2:40)


Side Two


1. Invocation to Papa Legba (5:59)
2. Dahomey Rhythms “The Paul’L” - Maize Rhythm - Diouba Rhythm “Cousin Zaca” (6:06)



It doesn’t really help much. Maybe the titles of the tracks should assist-but as I have no idea who Papa Legba is or who or what a Shango is, I’m stumped. It does give an indication, a feeling. You get a sense that it was recorded in a slightly threatening atmosphere. Maybe it’s just my imagination and I’m falling into a stereotypical cultural trap, but there’s a definite impression of chickens being slaughtered, bones being rattled and shrunken skulls used for percussion. I’m sure that there are goats in the mix as well. It’s a generally disquieting record and leaves a sense of unease.



It’s one of the few compilation albums I have where I’ve no idea who the artists are. What else do I know about this record? It was recorded in Haiti, sometime before 1974, on less than sparkling equipment. Like many of these types of recordings, it wasn’t made in a studio, but is termed as a field recording. I don’t think it was made in gentle rolling green hills though, but in the backstreets of Port-Au-Prince, probably in the middle of the night. (The back of the sleeve states “Recorded on location”). I have a feeling that it was recorded by some bloke cowering behind a wall, holding a microphone and crapping himself. It sounds as if the tracks are being played a fair old distance away, and every so often you can hear a woman’s voice, speaking French and sounding very scary. No wonder the album is relatively short-I’ll bet that he hightailed it out of there as soon as he could.


The album was released in 1974 on Olympic, which was a French record label, and although it’s now probably available as mp3’s, this was ripped from the original album, as the references to side one and side two attest.


I did think that this was the only record I have of actual voodoo music. It is the only one on the iPod, but somewhere in the house I do have a compilation of field recordings made by Alan Lomax in the 50’s, which has a whole CD of voodoo music from Haiti. I think I’ve only listened to it once and I remember it being even scarier than this record.


I’d like to have a massive sound system in my little car. The next time some scally stops next to me at the traffic lights in his Subaru blasting out some generic r & b, I’d slap on this album, turn the volume as high as it would go, and put the fear of God into him. Unless of course, I was driving round Port-Au Prince, where this stuff is probably the equivalent of listening to Songs of Praise.









"Totally Shuffled" is available here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA



and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months)


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-iPod-/dp/149495687X



This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:


One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.


From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex).


From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse).


From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees.


From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between.



This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again.


Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated.


Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking.

There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about.


But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it.


I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.







The Full List of all the Artists

Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.

Or never want to hear again.


But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.


These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.


January
The Clash/ Half Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle
Big Star/ The Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston
William & Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords
Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor
Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis
Mbuti Pygmies of the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy
February
Holy Fuck/ Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man
Charles Wright & the 103rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The White Stripes
New Order/Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert
Kate Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong
The Hold Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass
Jelly Roll Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo
March
Karen Cooper Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay
Dee Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley
Young Marble Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him
Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops
Tinariwen/Blind Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub
Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers
A Gril Called Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp
April
Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith
The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins
Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies
Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain
Blind Willie Davis/The Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy
The Rolling Stones
May
Dracula’s Daughter/American Music Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen
Link Davis/Television/This Mortal Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles
Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars
Hambone Wille Newbern/The Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman
The Silver/Lights In A Fat City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/
The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy Waters
June
Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus
Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker
David Sylvian/The Stone Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw
Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF
Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The Nightingales/Luciole
July
Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine
The Greenhornes/Ron Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee
Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays
Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh
Louis Prima/Jonsi & Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell
August
Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara & the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies
The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts
Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”
Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan
The Grateful Dead/A Certain Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/
Booby Saffron & The Postal Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater
The Manavishnu Orchestra/Culture/Clannad 
September
Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah! Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello
The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/ Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny
The The/The Pilgrim Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder
Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright
The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis
October
Young Fresh Fellows/ the passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse
Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen
I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers
Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/
Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur Jr./Charles Brown
November
Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel
Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees
P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney
Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids
Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall
December
Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Electric Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze
The Latin Playboys/The Cherry Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy
Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley Winston/The Velvet Underground
Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon
Al Green/Talking Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/
Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The Birthday Party/Honeyboy


Saturday 27 February 2016

Totally Shuffled extract-Robert Parker



June 13th

Robert Parker-Barefootin’- Nola 7” single

It’s been a while since anything popped up from New Orleans, but here is another one on a Wednesday- whilst I’m working in Preston for the day. (Preston to New Orleans-that’s more than six degrees of separation). 

Robert Parker didn’t have any other big hits, apart from this one in 1966, but sometimes selling over a million copies is enough. It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number 7 in America and number 24 in the U.K. It is a quintessential sixties record, extolling the values of kicking off your shoes and going barefoot. The dropped g in the title alone gives it an easy-listening type vibe. It’s got that soft gentle soul ambience, that classic soul feeling, which makes it sound timeless. I could easily imagine it being recorded as a cover next week and it would still sound good. 

Having heard so much New Orleans music in the past couple of years though, there are those trademark NOLA licks and touches, that make it just that little bit distinctive and that little bit special. It also helps, of course, that Robert Parker was the saxophonist in Professor Longhair’s band and played on “Mardi Gras in New Orleans”, as well as records by Irma Thomas, Huey “Piano” Smith, Fats Domino and many others. Not only that, but “Barefootin’” was produced by Wardell Quezergue, the famed New Orleans producer, composer and bandleader. With a pedigree like that, how could the song not be a massive success?

Some songs are so relaxed, that just hearing them puts you in a good mood. "Barefootin’” is clearly one of those. Such songs don’t (and shouldn’t) take any special effort to listen to. There‘s no need to “listen” to them-all it takes is to hear them. They should be the obvious pop hits that you may not actively love or treasure or rave about. Nevertheless, they make you understand that sometimes all you need is a simple tune (think not of something obscure or deep or meaningful,l but the obvious, optimistic and expected). Think of songs like “Walking on Sunshine”, “Stand By Me” or “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Any number of tunes from Disney films will do the trick as well-“Be My Guest”, “Hey Ho Hey Ho It’s Off To Work We Go”, for example, just off the top of my head. I know it’s too obvious, but sometimes what’s staring you in the face is all you need to hear. 

A few years ago I did a mix CD of big tunes-largely because I was fed up of seeing crap Dad Anthem compilations advertised on the TV every Father’s Day. My big tune CD had songs on that by themselves I thought were just about alright, but when out together made a lot more sense- “The Whole Of The Moon” by The Waterboys, something by U2, Led Zeppelin, Springsteen-you get the drift. 

Maybe it’s about time that I threw together a happy mix CD- “Barefootin’” will be track one, side two. 

(See, I’ve still got that mixtape mentality).  



 "Totally Shuffled" is available here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 


and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months) 

 

This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:


One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.

From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). 

From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse). 

From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees. 

From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. 

This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again. 

Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. 

Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking. 

There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about. 

But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it. 

I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.   
 

The Full List of all the Artists


Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.

Or never want to hear again.

But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.

These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.

  
January
The Clash/ Half Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle
Big Star/ The Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston
William & Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords
Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor
Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis
Mbuti Pygmies of the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy
February
Holy Fuck/ Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man
Charles Wright & the 103rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The White Stripes
New Order/Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert
Kate Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong
The Hold Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass
Jelly Roll Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo
March
Karen Cooper Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay
Dee Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley
Young Marble Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him
Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops
Tinariwen/Blind Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub
Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers
A Gril Called Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp
April
Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith
The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins
Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies
Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain
Blind Willie Davis/The Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy
The Rolling Stones
May
Dracula’s Daughter/American Music Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen
Link Davis/Television/This Mortal Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles
Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars
Hambone Wille Newbern/The Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman
The Silver/Lights In A Fat City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/
The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy Waters
June
Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus
Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker
David Sylvian/The Stone Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw
Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF
Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The Nightingales/Luciole
July
Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine
The Greenhornes/Ron Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee
Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays
Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh
Louis Prima/Jonsi & Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell
August
Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara & the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies
The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts
Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”
Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan
The Grateful Dead/A Certain Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/
Booby Saffron & The Postal Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater
The Manavishnu Orchestra/Culture/Clannad 
September
Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah! Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello
The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/ Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny
The The/The Pilgrim Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder
Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright
The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis
October
Young Fresh Fellows/ the passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse
Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen
I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers
Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/
Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur Jr./Charles Brown
November
Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel
Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees
P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney
Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids
Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall
December
Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Electric Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze
The Latin Playboys/The Cherry Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy
Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley Winston/The Velvet Underground
Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon
Al Green/Talking Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/
Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The Birthday Party/Honeyboy

           

Sunday 21 February 2016

Phew & the long-lost Japanese import album

extracted from "Totally Shuffled-A Year of Listening to Music on a Broken iPod"

May 26th

Phew-P-Adic-Phew


This was one of those albums which I should have got hold of when I had the chance, but never did. I saw it in the import section of Probe Records in Liverpool. Even back in 1981 it cost an arm and a leg

It was a Japanese import and had those cool wrapped paper bands running vertically on the left hand side of the sleeve covered in Japanese script. It was a plain white sleeve with a single photograph of a woman on the cover (who I presumed was Phew), horizontally across the middle of the sleeve about an inch high. The only script on the cover was the word “Phew” in small typeface under the photograph. The whole thing was shrink wrapped with nothing but a sticker on the outside indicating a price of £20 or so. (I can’t remember the exact figure but I do know it was hideously expensive-even now £20 would be a fair bit to pay for an album, but back in 1981 when I was only getting £28 a week dole and rent was £14 per week, it would have been a level of extravagance that would have left me without any money for food). 

I did seriously consider it though-it looked such a good record but, as I didn’t know anything about it or the artist at all; it was just a step too far. This didn’t stop me from going back into Probe a number of times over the next couple of weeks and toying with the album. I knew they’d only have this one copy and I did get extremely close to buckling under one Friday when I’d just cashed my giro.  In the end I bottled it-I went back a last time and it had gone; to be bought by someone else who clearly had money to burn or who actually knew who (or what) Phew was. That was it I thought-I’d missed the opportunity and put it all down to experience and a lack of liquid funds.

Fast forward about twenty years to the real advent of the internet, and the easier availability of obscure music. In the late 90’s although I was stuck with dial-up internet connections, the initial Napster had just arrived, and somewhere out of the depths I remembered that long elusive Phew album. 

However, I was to remain disappointed. Despite having over 25 million users (me being one of them) at its peak, Phew remained off the radar and searches provided nothing. Other torrent sites similarly found nothing. There was nothing on Google either. Not one word. Had I dreamed the whole thing up? Did it really exist?  Maybe I was destined never to hear this (possibly non-existent) album.

I never wholly gave up however,and every so often I’d look on the net for Phew, but to no avail. Shortly before the iPod stuck on being unable to resync, and therefore ended up preserved in electronic and musical amber, I found a music blog (these becoming more and more prevalent), which had posted a whole bunch of the most obscure and esoteric music that could be imagined. As I scrolled down the alphabetical sidebar listing the artists on the site (the vast majority of which I’d never heard of), I was stopped in my tracks on the letter P and the entry under Phew. Surely it couldn’t be, could it? As I clicked on the link, there it was though-plain white sleeve and small photograph- just as I’d imagined it. It was as if a quest had been completed-I felt like Frodo in Lord of The Rings.

(After all that, what’s the album like? It’s good-electronic-y, avant -garde and jazz-tinged, with Phew belting it out in Japanese. I cannot honestly say that it’s one of my favourite records of all time, but I’m glad that I managed to finally hear it).  
 

"Totally Shuffled" is available here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 

and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months) 

 

This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:


One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.

From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). 

From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse). 

From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees. 

From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. 

This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again. 

Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. 

Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking. 

There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about. 

But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it. 

I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.   
 

The Full List of all the Artists


Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.

Or never want to hear again.

But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.

These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.

  
January
The Clash/ Half Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle
Big Star/ The Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston
William & Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords
Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor
Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis
Mbuti Pygmies of the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy
February
Holy Fuck/ Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man
Charles Wright & the 103rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The White Stripes
New Order/Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert
Kate Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong
The Hold Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass
Jelly Roll Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo
March
Karen Cooper Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay
Dee Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley
Young Marble Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him
Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops
Tinariwen/Blind Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub
Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers
A Gril Called Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp
April
Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith
The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins
Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies
Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain
Blind Willie Davis/The Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy
The Rolling Stones
May
Dracula’s Daughter/American Music Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen
Link Davis/Television/This Mortal Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles
Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars
Hambone Wille Newbern/The Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman
The Silver/Lights In A Fat City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/
The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy Waters
June
Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus
Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker
David Sylvian/The Stone Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw
Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF
Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The Nightingales/Luciole
July
Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine
The Greenhornes/Ron Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee
Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays
Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh
Louis Prima/Jonsi & Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell
August
Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara & the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies
The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts
Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”
Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan
The Grateful Dead/A Certain Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/
Booby Saffron & The Postal Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater
The Manavishnu Orchestra/Culture/Clannad 
September
Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah! Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello
The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/ Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny
The The/The Pilgrim Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder
Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright
The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis
October
Young Fresh Fellows/ the passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse
Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen
I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers
Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/
Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur Jr./Charles Brown
November
Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel
Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees
P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney
Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids
Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall
December
Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Electric Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze
The Latin Playboys/The Cherry Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy
Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley Winston/The Velvet Underground
Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon
Al Green/Talking Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/
Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The Birthday Party/Honeyboy