Dave Amitri on Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

While the rest of you have been compiling your best of 2021 and trying to avoid Last Christmas by Wham I’ve been listening to Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. My final Bowie album of the year.

Released in September 1980 just as many of his musical disciples were hitting their stride. Adam and The Ants were about to go full dressing up box with Kings of the Wild Frontier, The Associates had just released The Affectionate Punch, Visage were readying their eponymous album for release (more on them later) while Japan would release Gentlemen Take Polaroids in November 1980. All these bands and more had listened and watched and taken influence musically and visually from Bowie and now here they were releasing albums alongside him. What would Bowie come up with? His 12th album in under 10 years, 10 years of wildly varying styles and sounds that delighted, inspired, baffled and frustrated the music buying public in equal measure now competing with those he influenced.

There was a real hope that I could sign off on a 100% stone cold classic, where all the stars aligned and I could declare » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Lodger

Believe it or not I’m at month 11, the penultimate look into 12 David Bowie albums having never heard one before. I’ve arrived at Lodger the third of the much vaunted “Berlin Trilogy “ despite there being a whole two years between “Heroes” and Lodger. ( Did Bowie run for cover during punk?) . There’s Bowie prostrate on the ground on the cover like an extra from Silent Witness and just one track I recognise. Can it follow the recent high watermark of the real trilogy (regardless of where they were made) of Station To Station, Low and Heroes? Does Lodger make it a foursome? Well no it doesn’t it’s very different. Gone are the ambient, electronic sweeps of sound and glory replaced by an edgy, angular post punk sound right in the middle of the post punk era. This is not Bowie looking to the future or the past, this is Bowie slap bang in the middle of where it’s at. The first listen brought many familiar sounds from the era popping round my brain. So, much like my reimagining of Aladdin Sane as a 1973 episode of Top of the Pops this review will » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Gonna Take A Miracle by Laura Nyro and LaBelle released 17/11/1971

Laura Nyro was brought up in The Bronx. She was the product of Russian/Polish/Jewish/Italian ancestry, her father a piano tuner and musician, her mother a book-keeper. She was introverted as a child and spent long hours, alone, listening to her mother’s records, ranging from Nina Simone to Ravel. She taught herself piano, read a lot of poetry and composed her first songs at the age of eight. At Manhattan’s High School Of Music & Art, she cut a desultory figure. According to Janis Ian, a fellow pupil at the time, pale with long, dark hair, she had the air of “the full Morticia” decades before Goth was invented. However, once the school bell rang, she liked nothing better than singing joyful songs on subways and street corners harmonising with a group of other girls.

At the age of nineteen, she found herself in a studio recording her debut album. The singer/songwriter genre was in its early stages but, even so, she stood out. Her songs are full of drama and intensity, driven by the piano and featuring multiple rhythm changes and jazz motifs. They sound personal » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Heroes

Arriving at month 10 I really feel like I’m in a peak Bowie phase. His delve into experimental electronica is proving to be my favourite period. I’ve heard much about the Berlin Trilogy and while geographically it may be a Trilogy, musically I’m getting the sense that it really started with “Station To Station” which would make it a quadrilogy? The Associates theme looms large and as they are one of the most important bands of my life this 12 month project has really come to life and “Heroes” hasn’t let me down. Just to shake things up a bit there’ll be no references to other bands that I hear in this music. I’ll try and keep to a pure review format because I think I’ve exhausted those references and I want to avoid too much repetition. I’ve done a bit of reading as always and my favourite line so far is this…

 

The album was recorded sporadically from July to August 1977. The majority of the tracks were composed on the spot in the studio, the lyrics not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone

It’s impressive if true » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Low

Month 9 of 12 Bowie Albums in 12 Months. Bloody hell, how did that happen? Three quarters of the way through this dive into Bowie having never listened to one of his albums before. After the high of “Station To Station” the next album “Low” had something to live up to. I try to limit my research as I want to come to these albums as fresh as possible. Coming to this knowing he was off the drugs living in Berlin and experimenting musically was encouraging yet slightly worrying at the same time. What would clean arty Bowie cone up with? Let’s see, or hear, whatever…..

It starts with “Speed Of Life” an instrumental, not the last as I would discover later but with all the build up it’s a pretty basic straight up rock n roll number that does include some Human League style keyboards. I found myself making up lyrics that Mick Jagger might have sung as it reminded me of 80’s Rolling Stones in the style of “Under Cover Of The Night”.

“You done me young you won’t do that twice cos,

I’m moving on at the speed of life.

I won’t » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on The Lotus Eaters

Fey

adjective

mysterious and strange, or trying to appear like this

giving an impression of vague unworldliness or mystery.

“a rather fey romantic novelist”

My love of fey 80’s synth pop duos is well documented. It’s a strong genre in my musical world from China Crisis to The Associates and Blancmange it’s music that I love. So when I saw a vinyl copy of “No Sense of Sin”, The Lotus Eaters 1984 album that contains the magical “The First Picture of You” at the local car boot sale I decided to invest a pound and take it home. Singer and co writer Peter Coyle stares dreamily from the cover. No sign of keyboard playing co writer Jeremy “Jem” Kelly though. I played it once and it sort of drifted past me. A second play and it began to seep in until now when I’m wondering if I’ve found a lost gem. On top of that using the power of Google and wondering if there was a story behind The Lotus Eaters I wasn’t left disappointed, more on that later. This is no Thompson Twins style reappraisal, I’m not quite sure what it is but I hope » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Station to Station

When I started this Odyssey, this deep dive back into Bowie’s back catalogue, 12 albums that I’d never heard before at the back of my mind was the hope that somewhere I find some inspiration. Not for me you understand but for one of my musical heroes Billy Mackenzie. I’ve mentioned this often enough so apologies but for those who aren’t aware.. From what I’ve read about Billy and the Associates they were very much inspired by Bowie but so far I’d only found scraps. I was left disappointed and disillusioned by “Young Americans” a lovely mid-80’s yuppie coffee table style album. It’s ok, jazzy and smooth but it would sit comfortably alongside Sade’s “Diamond Life” or The Style Council’s “Cafe Bleu”, not exactly what I was looking for. I must admit I was left a little flat almost to the point of giving up hope but thanks to some words of encouragement on this website I decided to carry on and give “Station to Station” a go. I’m so glad I did. I’m delighted to say it was a worthwhile experience. Finally, perhaps, (no pun intended), perhaps I have found the spark that » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters Super Ape released August 1976

Lee Perry is a true maverick, a diminutive ball of energy, stubborn and irascible, a genuine musical ‘visionary’. Max Romeo and Bob Marley wrote protest songs. Perry’s whole life has been a constant protest, resisting authority, challenging norms and generally being a total pain. His notion of breaking free from the tyranny of Babylon is to doggedly pursue his flights of fancy in a blinkered intensity that set him apart from the rest of the world. He has fallen out with almost everybody he worked for and ended up building his own studio in his back yard, Black Ark Studios, so that he could be his own boss. He is known as The Upsetter for good reason.

He started out selling records for Prince Buster, then as a singer for Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodds and moved on to being a studio jack-of-all-trades for Joe Gibbs. He burnt his bridges with all of them. For his own label, his first single, People Funny Boy, was a nasty attack on Gibbs. In a world dominated by spritely, uptempo ska it was notable for its behind-the-beat loping, a rhythm that would » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Young Americans

I’ve been looking forward to this album since I started this project back in January. I’ve often heard how it was Billy Mackenzie’s favourite Bowie album so I thought this would be full of nods to the weird and wonderful world of The Associates. I asked on “The Affectionate Bunch” The Associates Facebook fan page for opinions and hoped that Alan Rankine may share a story or two. In the end an old friend of Billy’s answered…

“I don’t know if it was a favourite but I know he took my newly bought Young Americans in King Buyers in Dundee and traded me 2 Sensational Alex Harvey Band LP’s”

Which proves something I suppose. Nothing from Alan unfortunately.  I tried really hard to find something that linked the album to Billy or The Associates. Maybe one song I’ll cover later hinted at some vocal stylisation I recognised but not much more. What I did hear was a sax heavy, smooth, jazzy album that brought to mind artists from the early / mid eighties being so heavily reliant on female backing singers and a saxophonist . On to the album….

The title track is ubiquitous » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Diamond Dogs

Month 6 of 12 Bowie albums in 12 months and it’s “Diamond Dogs”

“And in the death As the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy Thoroughfare The shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building High on Poacher’s Hill And red, mutant eyes gaze down on Hunger City No more big wheels

Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes Coverting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers Like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue Ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now legwarmers Family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald Any day now The Year of the Diamond Dogs

This ain’t Rock’n’Roll This is Genocide”

And so it begins with “Future Legend”. My ears prick, my pulse quickens, here we go. This is the time where Bowie becomes more than fancy clothes, cover versions and rehashed rock ‘n’ roll. The crazy motherfucker is going to take me on a wild ride here. Hang on to your hat Dave…… Except, the next song “Diamond Dogs” is just another Rolling Stones sound alike. I didn’t imagine when watching Bowie » Continue Reading.

Leicester Bangs on Shake The Foundations

The 49 entrants in part one are the individual tracks featured in the boxset Shake The Foundations. Please see the link for a list of the match-ups. You join us during Round One…

Dave Amitri on Fatal Mistakes

“How do I feel about “Fatal Mistakes”? I’m really not sure. If Currie and Co really do have insight into my soul then the album will be wiser, a bit battered round the edges but with a new purpose and real joy at what the future might bring. If it is expect a review soon. If it’s not, if it’s more of the same I might not listen more than once.”

Well that’s what I wrote at the end of my brain dump of all things Del Amitri recently. The fact I’m here now writing this is proof that the album is more the former than the latter. It is as always scattered with Currie couplets that cut straight through to the bone mixed with melodies and harmonies able to make your heart sing. It’s a constant fight between light and dark but overall an experience I’d rather go through than not. As I’ve explained at length Del Amitri have moved beyond a mere musical experience to something far deeper “Fatal Mistakes” is a worthy addition. So on with the review…

The first three tracks on the album seem to report on the processes » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Pin Ups

Month five of 12 Bowie albums in 12 months brings me to “Pin Ups”. Another striking piece of cover art featuring Bowie and Twiggy looking like a couple of mime artists fresh from Covent Garden their faces frozen in a mixture of melancholy and terror. It puts me in mind of an old Word Blog collection of photos depicting “Pop Stars Breaking Wind”. Twiggy is clearly the guilty guffer here and Bowie the horrified guffee. Anyway, enough of that, on to the album….

A collection of covers from various bands from the 60’s and 70’s. I knew of some of the originals others were completely new to me. When writing the other pieces in this project I’ve been able to rely heavily on influence and connections I’ve heard through Bowies music whether it was Bowie being the influencer or being influenced, guffer or guffee….. This collection of songs makes that really tough because they are all covers and for the first time all pretty much of the same style. The over riding feeling I got on the first few listens was that the style here was “Pub Rock”. Three years before the “Pub Rock” scene » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Nightclubbing by Grace Jones, released 11/05/1981

Grace Jones is one of nature’s wonders. Towering at nearly six foot tall with sharp features and an ebony skin tone, she was initially a supermodel, stalking the catwalks wearing Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo. She was Helmut Newton’s, Guy Bourdin’s and Hans Feurer’s muse and appeared on the cover of Elle, Vogue and Stern.

Musically, Grace first immersed herself in Disco. To begin with, this involved attending Studio 54 in New York completely naked. Soon, she hooked up with Tom Moulton, the man who invented the extended mix, and made three surprisingly camp albums, her purring contralto set against beautifully orchestrated music. The best track, a striking version of La Vie En Rose, pricked Chris Blackwell’s ears. The founder of Island Records heard something both terrifying and seductive in that detached monotone and thought he knew exactly what to do with it.

Blackwell’s pitch to become her producer alongside Alex Sadkin was irresistible. He appealed to her inner musician, putting her in a band setting, working in a studio, functioning as a single unit. That band, soon to be known as The Compass Point All Stars, was brilliant: Sly Dunbar and » Continue Reading.

Colin H on Horslips

I knew I had a VHS edit *somewhere* of a concert film I made in 1990, and yesterday it turned up. Which is just as well, because I found the umatic masters of the full show two weeks back and had them professionally transferred… to receive only about 20 minutes’ worth of heavily degraded fragments of footage. Strange. The VHS edit, though, looks fine.

It’s a film of Horslips (1972-80) member Johnny Fean fronting effectively his own tribute band – at that time, quite a novel idea – the Spirit of Horslips, playing at my alma mater, Queen’s University Belfast. I’d left the place the previous year but sneaked back with some hired gear and a few friends manning it – three cameras, someone on sound, me on live vision mixing with headset communications between all involved. I think I was unemployed at the time, but cobbled the necessary couple of hundred quid together. After all, it might be legendary.

It was seat of the pants stuff, but great fun. One of the funniest moments was the next day, picking up the gear to return it. Walking through the Students’ Union, I’d mentioned to a » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Aladdin Sane

As I reach the 4th month of 12 Bowie albums in 12 months I find myself at “Aladdin Sane”. Another character change, some very striking iconic make up and another collection of eclectic styles and sounds for a first time listener to discover. I’ll not deny that scanning the track listing and just recognising “The Jean Genie” I felt my first pang of Bowie fatigue and to be honest the first listen left me a little nonplussed. However what I have discovered with Bowie is that there is always something in one of these albums. A hook, a sound, a hint of recognition or even an annoyance that gives me the impetus to continue. After a couple more listens I  came up with the phrase “It’s a bit David Quoie” I’m not sure it’s unique but I’m claiming it for the number of 3 chord boogie tunes that litter the album. Then there’s the piano, lots of piano, more on that later. Finally it’s a very, very 70’s album. “Of course it is Dave” I hear you cry. In fact it’s so specifically 70’s that in order to try something different to shake things up » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Month three into 12 Bowie albums in 12 months as someone who had never heard a Bowie album before and I’ve arrived at “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. It will be plain old “Ziggy Stardust….“ from now on. I definitely approached this with trepidation as it’s clearly very important to an awful lot of people. I hope my attempts to view it from a different angle are appreciated. As usual I limited my reading to a scan of Wikipedia and it immediately strikes me how ground breaking the image must have been in 1972. The Top Of the Pops “Starman” performance was obviously a turning point in Bowie’s career. I remember how people reacted to Boy George 10 years later so in 1972 the concept of a bisexual alien on the telly on a Thursday night must have  caused quite a stir. Much Blue Nun spat out into the fondue across 70’s suburbia. My mission is to see if the music lived up to the image or was it all flares and no knickers?

On the first » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Hunky Dory by David Bowie

My second dive into 12 Bowie albums in 2021 as someone who had never heard a Bowie album before now brings me to Hunky Dory

February introduced me to 1971’s Hunky Dory. It’s an album that I’ve seen referenced many times and recommended as one of the great Bowie albums so it was with real relish and anticipation that I dived in. Another brilliantly androgynous cover by the way. I’m looking at you Boy George… A quick look at the track listing and suddenly I had flashes of recognition. 3 tunes leapt out as “hits”. The ones that Radio listening Bowie  fans  would instantly recognise. I did a little bit of reading but I didn’t want to influence my view too much. A first listen and it is a hugely different album to The Man Who Sold The World with a huge reliance on piano and less of a rock album. It felt quite messy, eclectic with no definitive sound but in amongst the mess I was able to see that this was a seismic shift towards the Bowie sound. Whatever that is. And it has hits, massive, wonderful hits…

Changes is » Continue Reading.

Blue Boy on Two of the greatest artists to come out of Northern Ireland – different, but with much in common

I was born and brought up in Northern Ireland, growing up in idyllic suburbia in North Down. From our lounge window you could see across Belfast Lough to Carrickfergus Castle on the other side. We lived there until I was thirteen, returning briefly for a few months two years later, before we finally moved away and settled in England.

I was fifteen when we came to England. Happy enough, we settled in well. But I had been taken from where I grew up, and I found that my identification with Northern Ireland was all the stronger in exile than it had been when I lived there. I loved literature and I loved music, and if you were a writer or musician from Ireland – North and South – you had my attention before I had even read or heard any of your work. James Joyce, WB Yeats, Flann O’Brien, Joyce Cary. Horslips, Rory Gallagher, the Chieftains.

And above all – then, and now – Seamus Heaney and Van Morrison.

They were born either side of the Second World » Continue Reading.

Colin H on Rick Laird, Brian Auger, Glenn Hughes, John McLaughlin

The recent news that Rick Laird is seriously ill has prompted me to share some of the content from ‘Bathed in Lightning: John McLaughlin, the 60s and the Emerald Beyond’ (2014) – adapted with a little bit of new research, among which is this terrific photo / news item from ‘The Stage’ on 9 January 1964. Rick very kindly talked to me for the book about a time long before he and John McLaughlin renewed their acquaintance in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, when they were both in the Brian Auger Quintet for a residency at London’s Pigalle nightclub and also a short-lived trio.

Baritone saxophonist Glenn Hughes was common to both groups. Glenn and John had previously played together in Georgie Fame’s (pre-fame) Blues Flames in 1962–63 and in the Tony Meehan Combo (October 1963 – January 1964). John and Glenn would have a last musical hurrah together with a version of Brian’s quintet in August 1964, reassembled for a German residency. By that point, Rick had moved on to become house bassist at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, backing a series of American headliners at the club and on TV. » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on The Man Who Sold The World

For those who aren’t aware I am a pop loving 55 year old music civilian who before this project had never listened to a David Bowie album despite knowing all the radio playlist Bowie tunes by heart. I’ve decided to listen to a Bowie album a month during 2021 from “The Man Who Sold The World” to “Scary Monsters “ after being told they are the best run of 12 albums ever. My angle is to try and find where I have heard his influence in the music of my heroes and report it as so many of them have cited Bowie as an inspiration. Maybe some will become favourites of mine…

 Starting my Bowie odyssey with “The Man Who Sold The World” an album made 50 years ago I wasn’t  sure what to expect. Bowie the great originator at the beginning of a run of 12 great albums. My expectations were high. So I pressed play. “The Width of a Circle” began and straight away I heard that guitar swoosh intro straight from “Foxy Lady”…. Now this is no bad thing I love The Jimi Hendrix Experience but it set » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Thompson Twins

Most of us remember the Thompson Twins from their mid 80s pomp. Big hair, cartoon image, percussive excess, out of context whoops, wails and whizzes, drum machines, synths and generally everything you either love or hate about the music of that period. In the recent podcast I subconsciously picked Thompson Twins as the band I would choose as an example of just how far I would go to defend the honour of 80’s music. In that moment had I  suggested that they were indefensible such was their total eightiesness? I thought long and hard about that comment and decided to revisit, reassess and reappraise Thompson Twins (not THE Thompson Twins as I learned) this is that story….

I need to go back first, back to April 1983 when I was on a train from Staines to Ashford clutching my WH Smith’s bag and inside was the 12 inch version of “We Are Detective”. I’d chosen what I thought was an empty carriage but no, there behind a seat I heard voices of two post punk lads who I’d known but  avoided at school. They spotted me. “What’s in the bag?” they snarled. I shyly answered » Continue Reading.

Colin H on Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)

In 1999, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Arlo Guthrie (at a hotel bar in Belfast) for a ‘Mojo ‘Buried Treasure’ feature. Arlo gracefully retired last month, which prompted me to unearth it. Arlo’s ‘Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys’ album had long been a favourite – first heard on 8-track cartridge when I was 11 or 12, I think, circa 1980, and later bought on import vinyl from Caroline Music in Anne Street, Belfast, in the mid 80s. I loathed the 80s, and this record – from the music to the gatefold sleeve to the Reprise label’s sepia-tinted inner sleeve of photos from ‘old Burbank, California’ – seemed to be the gateway to a magical place in the recent, but irretrievable, past. It was fascinating to hear from Arlo, unprompted, that he too had been trying to capture, in 1973, a kind of magical, mythical place from the past at that time, when he recorded it. The album only came to CD in 1998, so that was the hook to hang this feature on. It remains a singularly brilliant album. Shortly after the interview, I sought out a (second-hand vinyl) » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Aladdin Sane by David Bowie

On the 13th of April 1973, Ziggy Stardust, battered and bruised in the middle of a long tour, morphed into Aladdin Sane.

Watch That Man isn’t a portent of doom like Five Years. It’s a kind of hell in the present, a typical rock & roll party. Earth may no longer be dying but the drugs are bad, the tables are scattered with cocaine and champagne bottles, the men are creepy, a reverend is dancing on his knees, reminiscent of the cop kneeling to kiss the feet of a priest, and the music is so loud it’s difficult to hear any conversation. Mick Ronson’s guitars assail the ears from both sides, Woody Woodmansey’s drums clatter noisily and the new Spider, Mike Garson, on piano, is constantly trying to get a word in. The mix is dark and murky because everyone is smoking and the light bulbs are dim. At least the girls are beautiful. Linda Lewis and Juanita ‘Honey’ Franklin sound so fabulous they must be wearing short skirts and thigh length boots, still fashionable in 1973. It’s a strain to make out Bowie’s vocal because, for once, he isn’t the centre » Continue Reading.