Thu 26th Aug, 2010
Isn't it funny how you can hear a song as a child, and then again at irregular intervals throughout your whole life, and you think you know it but you only truly discover its brilliance 30-odd years later. It happened to me last week with Fire Brigade by seminal British psych-pop band The Move. That great black and white Top of the Pops footage of them miming to the song, all awkward and so young looking, is something I saw at a very young age. I thought the song was OK, nothing more, but I really liked the look of them. Even when I started avidly listening to '60s pop and psych in the early '90s I never really went for The Move; everything was so US-centric then with Nuggets as the holy grail. Back then I worked with a Midlands-based producer who had followed Roy Wood's career with a keen eye right from the mid 1960s. I've always remembered him telling me that in his eyes, Jeff Lynne was Satan and Roy Wood was Jesus. At that time I preferred Lynne's Idle Race, so I figured there must be something I wasn't getting. It was actually when the second Nuggets box set emerged ('60s psych from the UK and beyond) that I began re-evaluating The Move, but only recently have I started obsessively listening to them, and I was instantly struck by the pure-pop rush of Fire Brigade and it's relentless charge. It was Wood's first lead vocal on a single so his voice is a little more restrained and hesitant than on later recordings, and although he was still a fledgeling songwriter at the time (pretty much writing to order as was de rigueur for pop groups of the day) the melody has some incredible twists and the lyrics contain a few wonderfully poetic lines ("The lights across the street throw a rainbow in her hair", "Notice that my eyes have been a misty place since Saturday").
The first 3 Move albums contain many great songs, but for now just spend 2'24" in the company of a true pop genius - Roy "Jesus" Wood... { Steven }
Audioplayer from WordPress
Sun 15th Aug, 2010
For the recent Covered in Darkness... EP Steven tackled a classic hippy call-to-arms; Scott McKenzie's San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair). I picked this up on 7" (the leaves of a sunflower printed around the spindle hole) years ago, and fell straight away for the B-side, What's the Difference - a gentle, strummed sigh of a song. It sounds like an outtake from Jackson C. Frank's sole 1965 album; resigned and bold all at once. It's actually part of a trilogy; chapters two and three keep the melody but add some lush strings (found on other McKenzie B-sides of the period). The original is where it's at for me. I used to listen to it it driving around the back roads of South Yorkshire in an old brown Ford called 'Huddie'. { Jason }
Audioplayer from WordPress
Mon 9th Aug, 2010
I still get very excited when new stock arrives at RM towers - it's an almost childlike glee which shows no sign of wearing off - but last Friday's delivery from the pressing plant was extra exciting, as it contained the first new material from the Straw Bear Band in over 3 years. The Vexed Soul 7" single is the 4th in our Hobby-Horse Singles Club series which began many moons ago, and it contains 2 trad re-workings recorded at the studio of producer and multi-instrumentalist Gerry Diver. The songs (A Lyke Wake Dirge and Nottamun Town) have been staples of the band's live set over the past couple of years, and they've honed them to a fine degree during that time - I think it's fair to say that both songs have been elevated to new levels by the band; Lyke taking on a whole new dimension with a chorus and driving rhythm, and Nottamun's stark feel and eerie vibe (created mainly by Adam Lambert's portentous percussion and Diver's wild, bewitching fiddle) perhaps suit the dreamlike lyric better than any other recorded version.
So all in all it's a real winner. This weekend I'm recording some new tracks with SBB mainman Dom Cooper for a CD EP which will be included with the subscriber edition of the single - it's going to make a very fine package indeed. For non-subscribers, the single is now available to order from the webstore - the first 100 copies will come in a Hobby-Horse sleeve with a numbered postcard, and once they sell out it'll come in a plain black card sleeve. The final HHSC 7" will be an EP by The Owl Service entitled Without Accompaniment, which will show a different side to the band as they serve up some acappella vocal tunes. Expect to see that before the end of the year.
As so many new folks have joined our mailing list in the last year, we're giving you all a chance to subscribe to the singles club in time for the last 2 releases. By paying for both 7" singles now, you'll receive the extra content which only comes with the subscriber editions, and you'll also be safe in the knowledge that you're guaranteed a copy of the final single. Make haste to the webstore for full details... { Steven }
Thu 5th Aug, 2010
When Steven suggested this regular news feature I was excited. I could ramble on about music, anything I wanted. My commute would fly by. It's been a while since I put my weekly wax blog on hold, so it's good to get back in to it. The trouble is stopping me, just look at my preamble. But where to start? I chose something that I always return to. So, let me introduce The Hill by Richard Buckner. Some of you may have heard me praise it before, but it's where a lot of my musical tastes are solidified. Brevity, sonic experimentation, the voice and the power of the accapella, linking devices, storytelling, guitar picking etc. The album is one 35 minute track that consists of several songs stitched together by instrumentals. It uses words from Edgar Lee Masters' 1915 poem anthology Spoon River. Evocative lyrics from the past. Richard's playing is embellished by the guys from the band Calexico, noisy electrics, plaintive cellos, slide guitar and percussion. It rushes along at great pace, but with some amazing spaces. Especially the part when Richard sings unaccompanied 'Have you seen walking through the village, man with downcast eyes' finally reaching 'I am avenged'. This is the section featured on the YouTube video posted here. The album was released in 2000, and around the time Steve Albini said it was one of his favourites. The lomo photo I took when I saw him play in Memphis. He was solo and played without gap, again using instrumentals, looping and ebow to make one seamless set. It was amazing. Now, I must stop myself rambling on more. I hope you discover this album too. Enter the portals of dust... cheers. { Dom }
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJIwKndjIl8&feature=youtube_gdata
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