The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Desperate Journalist

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Venue:

Gullivers, Manchester

Date: 25/02/2017

Yes I know …I’m really not sure about that band name either but put that aside because ver ‘Journalist really are worthy of your attention. I’ve only heard a couple of songs on the radio and caught the very tail end of them supporting another group a while ago and vowed to catch a full set by them. At the mic is the striking Jo Bevan, who has the mic lead draped around her, powerful of voice and full of twitchy, kinetic energy. She’s flanked by two guitar blokes with eyeliner on (of course) – ace guitarist Robert switching between a none-more Johnny Marr Rickenbacker and a rather lovely 12 string, and Bassist Simon who shares my fondness for polka-dot shirts so that’s good enough for me- and at the back is Caroline on drums who brings a certain post-punk urgency a-la Wire or Joy Division. They’re a mighty force indeed. Most of the material I believe was from their forthcoming album ‘Grow Up’ which promises to be cracker. Standout track I think is ‘Resolution’ but they have plenty more where that came from. A cross between The Smiths, Savages and a bit of » Continue Reading.

Thunder…Thunder…Thundercat….Hohhhhhh!

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Top Bass-botherer and one-man Steely Dan – the great Thundercat has a new album out, and here’s the ‘single’ from it. I heard it first on the radio and found myself thinking it would be nice to hear Michael McDonald join in – so imagine my surprise when the man himself actually does pop up to take a verse…albeit not before yer actual Kenny Loggins has grabbed the Mic. I’m not always a big fan of lots of guest vocalists and ‘feat’s but…wowsers! I’ve heard better tunes from ver ‘Cat to be honest but nevertheless this is a sizeable addition to the sum of human happiness if you ask me.

Pugwash Kickstarter

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The mighty Pugwash have a Kickstarter campaign to fund their next LP. The band have a long history with the Word magazine and of course played one of the first ‘Word in your Ear’ gigs at the Lexington a few years ago. That was a very memorable night where I met quite a few of you for the first time (as well as the great Dave Gregory from XTC who played a couple of tunes with them that night).

If you’re not familiar with the band -well they’re basically kindly filling the gap in joyful pop wonderment left by The Beatles, The Kinks, The Move, Madness and XTC – if that grabs your attention go and check them out on your streaming media of choice and come back and argue the toss if yr not convinced.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1338413963/pugwash-new-album

You’re going home in a Crispy Ambulance…

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I did a bit of record shopping yesterday and couldn’t resist the (incongruously titled) 12″ Live on a Hot August Night by Crispy Ambulance on On the Factory Benelux label (apparently relegated to Factory’s overseas sub-label as Tony Wilson wasn’t keen). It’s classic Factory – beautifully packaged – a bit cold, a bit trancey and a wee bit psychedelic round the edges. It has prompted me to compile a Factory/FBN playlist and would love to hear others faves or suggestions of some of the more neglected output from 86 Palatine Road. The quality control was a bit erratic (Adventure Babies anyone) but aside from You Know Who there is much to enjoy in the catalogue and some of it has weathered very well indeed I reckon (and thanks to James at LTM/FBN a great deal of it is still ‘in print’) Give this a spin.

(I also want to toss in the suggestion of a FAC-cast as a possible future Afterword Podchat if anyone’s interested…)

Erm..I’ve made an LP!

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One of the reasons I retired from Admin duties on this site was to free up some time for my career in rock and pop..so just to let you know I’m using my spare time productively! My band are called Nightdubbing (and yes, that name was inspired by the great Leee John and co!) which is myself and my longtime DJ partner in crime Carl. The first LP is ‘Frontline’ – it’s a dancey electronic kind of thing, there’s a bit of everything in there really – bit of Britfunk, House, electro, a bit of Disco, a bit of post-punk funk industrial horn parping and even a bit of ghostly Boards of Canada style spookiness. We love it – and we’ve had a couple of great reviews including one in the new edition of Electronic Sound magazine and Piccadilly Records in Manchester have made us a Pick of the week and given us an amazing write up “A modern classic” they say..and who am I to argue. Anyway if you fancy a listen it’s up on Spotify » Continue Reading.

The Blue Aeroplanes

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Venue:

The Ruby Lounge, Manchester

Date: 12/01/2017

The Blue Aeroplanes are one of those bands I’ve always been aware of but never really investigated properly but they’ve hovered in my peripheral vision all these years since I first started paying attention to all things Indie and John Peel in the mid 80s. I had a couple of records and remember enjoying their TV appearances with the combination of spoken word vocals, Wojtek’s excellent dance moves and the multiple guitar frenzy. I got talking to a diehard fan a couple of years ago who convinced me I should definitely see them next time they came to town.

The threat of ‘Snowmageddon’ hasn’t prevented a very decent turnout and from the first bar of the (current) 7-piece line up I know this is going to be good. The imposing, perma-sunglasses wearing figure of Gerard Langley (supposedly the subject of REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’) warns that this won’t be a nostalgia trip and sure enough the set is largely drawn from their new LP ‘Welcome Stranger!’ – fortunately it’s a truly excellent record and the new tunes are just as warmly received as old classics like ‘Yr Own World’ which is » Continue Reading.

I Am Brian Wilson

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Author:Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman

This is Brian’s second attempt at an Autobiography. ‘Wouldn’t It be Nice’ released in 1996 was a rip-roaring read at the time and I remember borrowing it from the library. It was an extraordinary and gripping story – an unflinching account of his horrendous childhood, a dizzying ride to fame and equally dizzying fall from grace and recovery. This was pretty much pre-Internet and I had no reason to doubt that Dr Eugene Landy had saved Brian’s life and that Brian was now as lucid and funny as he had been in 1966 and not only did he make beautiful music he had a real knack with an anecdote. He had emerged from 20 years of sweet insanity with all his marbles intact. Basically a Californ-aye-ay Shane MacGowan but with better teeth.

During the 00s, as Brian properly re-emerged into public life it transpired that the original book was very much (ghostwriter) Todd Gold putting wordy vocabulary and flowery turns of phrase into Brian’s mouth that belied his monosyllabic interviews, using stories from his own research rather than Brian’s own recollections and including an awful lot of praise for Dr Landy and his…ahem..unique approach » Continue Reading.

Andy Partridge Klaxon

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Mr Partridge is always good value in interviews and here’s an epic two hours of Podmax with Swindon’s potato shaped pop genius. Focus is on the Skylarking box set and the interviewer seems obsessed with the (really not very good) ‘Dear God’ but it’s a great listen all the same. Worth admission for his Sting impersonation, and Todd Rundgren gets a good-natured but merciless shoeing (only fair after the rock Munster dished it out to Andy via Marc Maroon’s podcast). @Colin-h of this parish will be thrilled at Partridge’s choice of Desert Island Disc (clue…it’s not Sham 69)

http://podcast.tunetribe.com/?name=podcast_96_-_andy_partridge.mp3

That UB40 documentary….

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If you haven’t already do watch the aptly named UB40 documentary ‘Promises and Lies’ on the BBC iPlayer. If you haven’t seen it **SPOLIERS!**

It’s extraordinary viewing – unlike most other BBC4 docs it’s not really a celebration of their music. In fact what is startling is just how good the early stuff is, and just naff it gets as they get into Labour of Love series and basically make it their business to water down classic reggae hits for mass consumption. However, as the music gets slicker and more Cod-Reggae the more globally huge they become and therein lies the problem.

Both sides of the UB40 divide contribute so we hear from the ‘official’ UB40 led by Robin Campbell and then Ali’s ‘UB40’ which now includes Astro and Mickey Virtue who have defected to his side. In spite of global megastardom and years of selling out enormodomes and selling gazzilions of LPs and CDs everyone concerned is in seriously reduced circs. Nobody seems to know where the UB40 millions went and both sides of grown men in their late 50s (brothers and lifelong friends) are at each others throats very publicly over who has the right to be » Continue Reading.

Girl Band

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Venue:

Gorilla, Manchester

Date: 09/12/2016

It’s a much derided term but when I were a lad ‘Indie’ meant something. It meant operating outside the normal confines of the music industry, DIY, grass roots and the freedom to make a fearsome racket of your own making – even if only Peel and ten people in Rafters, or Northhampton Roadmenders or the Rayleigh Pink Toothbrush got to hear it. These days it’s a catch-all for any band with a guitar, some ‘vintage’ amps and an aversion to a comb. Hence, just up the road from the venue at the Manchester Enormodome the very popular Blossoms who make claims to be ‘Indie’ (and dearly want to be the next Stone Roses) are playing support to Busted and Robbie Williams at a Xmas extravaganza. You’d never catch Bogshed or Tallulah Gosh doing that would you? Or The Stone Roses for that matter.

Meanwhile, here in Gorilla this is more like it. No corporate sponsored faux-Indie bollocks in here. It’s slowly filling up with a mixture of groovy young things in skinny jeans, earnest looking students, a few old punks, middle aged gig diehards like me and the ever present Fat Alex (Manchester’s » Continue Reading.

Autechre

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Venue:

Granada Studios, Manchester

Date: 26/11/2016

I’ve always been more of a gig goer than a clubber and I’m certainly not one for going out past midnight these days – I prefer to be off the street before public transport shuts down and it goes a bit Pete Tong out there. However, I’m also a long term fan of Rochdale’s version of Kraftwerk, and in spite of the fact that they’re older than me and make fiendishly complicated music that is impossible to dance to they still insist in playing in an after hours ‘Rave’ setting rather than a regular 8-11pm gig. It’s part of their Shtick, and it’s the environment they feel most comfortable in I guess. It gets increasingly incongruous though, as the years pass and we all get older and their music moves further and further away from anything resembling ‘dance music’.

The choice of venue is intriguing though, we’re in Studio 12 at the former Granada TV Studios (future currently uncertain but next year will be the venue for the The Crystal Maze experience – “start the fans please!”) – where The Beatles played their first TV appearance, quite possibly the venue for the » Continue Reading.

Lush

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Venue:

Academy 1, Manchester

Date: 25/11/2016

This gig was originally scheduled for April when Lush had just released their (excellent) new EP Blindspot and were about to embark on a victory lap around the US and European festival circuit. The wheels fell off the reunion however a few weeks ago when it was announced that debonair Bass player Phil King had decided to quit with just 3 tour dates left to go. I wasn’t sure if this gig would go ahead but they decided to call in the help of Michael Conroy (of 4AD Labelmates Modern English) and honour the Manchester gig – so by accident rather than design this has become their farewell performance.

A final, boozy shindig in a Camden venue packed to the gunwhales with ex music journalists and faded 90s hellraisers would have been more fitting. Instead Lush end their career in freezing cold barn in Manchester in far too big a venue a long way from the ‘Scene’ that once ‘Celebrated itself’. I don’t spy any former members of Chapterhouse or Th’ Faith Healers or any former NME/Sounds hacks. Miki later quips that her own daughter has skipped her Mum’s last gig in order » Continue Reading.

The anti-Britpop playlist

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It’s fair to say I was no fan of Britpop. Yes I accept it was a ‘thing’, it’s true you couldn’t go anywhere in Manchester without hearing Oasis blaring out of every shop/pub – I saw them live supporting The Boo Radleys(!) and they were very good but I soon tired of them (unlike The Boos who are due a reappraisal sometime). I’ve no great nostalgia for the mid 90s. It annoys the feck out of me every time I hear certain music hacks of the era going on about what a great time it was and how we were all coked off our noggins at the Good Mixer listening to Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, Sleeper, Mensw@ar and *nothing else* – I don’t know about you but I wasn’t listening to any of that stuff by choice. I got talking to a mate the other day about what we were listening to while studiously avoiding Powder or indeed anything Chris Evans was ‘bigging up’ and I’ve made a playlist of what I can remember circa 1994 to 1997 – so what were you listening to?

https://www.songkick.com/artists/518699-pugwash

Music Magazines – Slight Return?

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The Word Magazine (from whence we came) is an increasingly distant memory, Mojo and Uncut are chasing each other around the ever-decreasing circles of ‘canonical Rock’, the NME is reduced to a glorified advertorial freesheet for clothing brands, and yet even in the racks of my smalltown WHSmith there appear to be…loads of music magazines. Q and Mojo now fight for space with Shindig, Vive Le Rock, Classic Pop, Classic Rock, Prog, Clash, as well as diehards like Kerrang!, the revitalised Record Collector and The Wire.

I bought two newish titles recently and they’re rather good, and interestingly both are paper versions of already well established online incarnations. John Robb’s ‘Louder Than War’ is quite charming and colourful, a throwback to Select Magazine or Vox – some of the writing is a bit wobbly (the Brian Jonestown interview is incomprehensible) and past issues have seemed a bit too in thrall to meat n’ potatoes Indie, but when did you last see Dinosaur Jr on the front of a music magazine? Best of the bunch is Electronic Sound, it is a thing of beauty – boldly putting Bob Moog on the cover and a list of acts » Continue Reading.

The Railway Children

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Venue:

The Ruby Lounge, Manchester

Date: 16/07/2016

The Railway Children had a career trajectory very similar to loads of mid 80s Indie bands – like The Weather Prophets, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Bodines et al they were signed to a hip Indie label for their first releases – in the Railway Children’s case – Factory. They were swiftly acquired by a major label (Virgin), desperate to find the next Smiths , but who didn’t have a clue what to do with them – although Railway Children did actually manage to score a Top 30 hit in the shape of the (actually rather lovely) Every Beat of the Heart. They weren’t quite ‘baggy’ enough for the Madchester scene and fell apart before Britpop and Indie guitar bands went supernova and it’s fair to say, they faded into obscurity. I loved their debut single ‘Brighter’ and the Factory album ‘Reunion Wilderness’ and have a soft spot for those later singles too – and clearly the crowd around me do too, eagerly awaiting their first Manchester gig since 1992. The opener is their Factory single ‘Brighter’ and everything is perfect – Gary Newby is in fine voice and considering it’s so » Continue Reading.

The NME – how to trash a legacy

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Not that long ago I could still get a bit misty eyed about the dear old NME. I’m still subscribed to their email list and this evening the latest headlines dropped into my inbox.

– Selena Gomez (nope…me neither) overtakes Justin Bieber for most-liked Instagram photo ever

– Man Quits his job to go on a two-month Pokemon Go hunt

– Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to children’s hospital in Australia

In other words, the same vapid, clickbait that is plastered over every tabloid newspaper site, every inane showbiz Twitter feed and every other godforsaken ad-funded corner of the interweb. So what’s the point of the NME existing if it’s just going to indiscriminately peddle the same airhead fodder as everyone else? It still exists as a paper thing, it’s free and is left in massive piles in your local HMV or Fopp – inside you’ll find adverts for Trainers disguised as “interviews” with Catshit & the Bottlemen or Bastille or whatever faux-Indie band is currently in vogue and gig/album reviews shorter than the photo captions they used to print.

It’s a far cry from 10,000 word essays on The Joshua Tree, Thrills ‘Believe » Continue Reading.