Anyone for Tennis?

A completely unscheduled post this one but I feel compelled to offer a few thoughts on thsi evening’s awesome match at Wimbledon. I hate tennis because, if I get involved in watching a match, it can become so absorbing and hours of potentially productive time can just disappear.

Which is exactly what happened this evening watching Murray vs Gasquet. The modern men’s game seems to depend to a large extent on serve and confidence but what I find fascinating is the way matches ebb and flow on relatively minor incidents.

For 28 games there’s no denying that Gasquet was brilliant but when it came to the crunch he couldn’t serve out for what would have been a thoroughly deserved 3 set win. Murray never gave up though, his strength of character was remarkable given that there seemed no way he could hurt the Frenchman, and after winning the third set with a shot from almost the front row of the stands you knew the momentum was with him.

It was still an astonishing achievement to go on and win the match in 5 sets against a player who is higher rated and some of the shot making (on both sides) was extraordinary. But the Scot was simply the stronger and the more confident over the last two sets.

It was really a remarkable match. So in tribute to young Mr Murray, here ’s a couple of tracks of the same name:

Echo & the Bunnymen – Rollercoaster (from ‘Crystal Days’ box set) [Buy it] [Download it]

The Jesus & Mary Chain – Rollercoaster (from ‘Rollercoaster’ EP) [Buy it] [Download it]

The Bunnymen track was originally a B-side on ‘Lips Like Sugar’ and rather wonderful and noisy it is too. The  Mary Chain song is available on both ‘The Sound of Speed’ and ‘21 Singles’ compilations.

House of Suns

I’ve recently finished the latest Alastair Reynolds book ‘House of Suns’. Reynolds is one of my favourite authors who can always be relied on to tell a good story and HOS is no exception.

In HOS, Humanity is a long surviving species watching civilisations rise and fall. When one of the Houses, the Gentian Line, is all but wiped out in an unexpected and a unprovoked attack, the survivors’ set about trying to find why

There’s a paranoid atmosphere to much of the book (since the attack could only have happened with the assistance of someone from within the Line) and that atmosphere is always ratcheted up a notch or two when the character of Hesperus is around since his real motivations are open to question throughout.

It’s perhaps a little less gory than other Reynolds novels although there is a fairly ingenious torture sequence whereby the victim is sliced apart, whilst still remaining conscious.

The book also features another intergalactic chase and has an open ended conclusion although thankfully the main plot is resolved by the end with the plot strands tied neatly together. But you sometimes wonder if Reynolds is creating pilots for other potential series of books with the likes of HOS and ‘Pushing Ice’ (which also featured a chase and an open ending!). If you like hard sci-fi and haven’t yet cottoned on to Reynolds, then HOS is as good a book as any to start with.

The main characters in the book are actually clones so here’s a track of the same name:

Ash – Clones (from ‘Meltdown’) [Buy it] [Download it]

Ash are one of these bands that I like but I’ve never been motivated sufficiently to see live. Their debut ‘1977’ was probably their career high point mixing punk-ish energy with wonderful pop tunes and when they tried to expand their range with second LP ‘Nu-clear Sounds ‘there was a huge commercial backlash.

LP3 ‘Free All Angels’ therefore saw them scurrying back to their punk/pop heartlands and for reverting to type they were substantially rewarded as the LP was very successful. However clearly they weren’t interested in repeating themselves for a third time so with 4th LP ‘Meltdown’ they ended up making a punk/pop/metal hybrid. Inevitably deviating from the public’s idea of what Ash was about led to another LP which quite quickly stacked up in the bargain bins to the extent that they appear now to have given up on making LPs entirely.

To be fair, ‘Meltdown’ had its moments when the band’s melodic talents showed through, ‘Starcrossed’ for one was a classic Ash ballad, but for the most part any melodies are lost under the metal barrage.

The next post is back to the music and I’ll do the first of a couple of retro posts on the first half of 2008 before another retro concert recording.

The Twelve Legged Psychedelic Groove Machine

As this is my 250th post I thought I’d do something different to mark the milestone. I have a not insignificant number of live tapes piled up which require digitising and I thought it would be a good idea to share some of these in the coming months. Starting this endeavour off on my 250th anniversary seemed like not a bad place to start.

The following therefore is one of my favourite live tapes and with the news yesterday that tomorrow’s TV21 gig has been cancelled, I need a little cheering up.

In 1998/9 Mercury Rev were quite possibly the best live band on the planet. Mixing old favourites, mainly off debut LP ‘Yerself Is Steam’, with astonishing versions of songs on ‘comeback’ LP ‘Deserter’s Songs’ the Rev were a must see act at the time.

I was fortunate enough to catch them no less than five times in less than a year after stumbling across their incredible performance supporting Bob Mould in London I October 1998. After shows in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, the last show of the quintet was at 1999’s T in the Park. The set there was recorded by Radio 1 and the following 8 tracks comprise the full broadcast:

1. The Funny Bird
2. Tonite It Shows
3. Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp
4. Isolation
5. Holes
6. Goddess on a Hiway
7. Opus 40
8. Cortez the Killer

Unfortunately the broadcast omitted the two older tracks ‘Frittering’ and ‘Syringe Mouth’ which were played midset whilst set staples such as ‘Car Wash Hair’ weren’t played at all. But this is still a pretty good representation of the 1998/9 Mercury Rev live experience.

I do wish that there was a proper live LP to capture this period but the only official documents of the period were live versions of ‘Tonite It Shows’ (from an NME compilation CD), an acoustic version of ‘Isolation’ (from ‘Opus 40 CD ) and ‘Car Wash Hair’ (from the reissued ‘Goddess On A Hiway’ single). The latter track is presented here as a bonus on this already bumper posting:

Mercury Rev – Car Wash Hair (live) (from reissued ‘Goddess On A Hiway’ CD1)

Mercury Rev have a new LP, ‘Snowflake Midnight’ scheduled for release on 29th September and the new LP will be accompanied by a free 11 track download LP, ‘Strange Attractor’.

They play selected European festivals over the summer including Hydro Connect at Inverary Castle on Friday 29 August (which also features the Breeders, Howling Bells and We Were Promised Jetpacks). A tour covering Ireland and England inexplicably (and unforgiveably?) omits Scotland. Maybe a date will be added after Connect is over and done with.

PS If anyone has the 2 “missing” tracks from the broadcast I’d love to hear them.

The Damned United

I’ve recently completed ‘The Damned United’ by David Peace, a novelisation of Brian Clough’s 44 day stint as manager at Leeds United. Whilst the previous book I’d completed, ‘Quicksilver’, and ‘The Damned United’ are novels based to some degree on real events they are separated by the fact that the principal character in Stephenson’s book is fictional whilst Brian Clough was very real.

For Peace’s novel, Clough himself is the narrator, which of course means that there is no other perspective on the story. Now the basic football story is, in itself, pretty remarkable as he reinvented himself as a successful coach after his playing career was ended by a serious injury. But add in the thoughts of the man himself (even if fictionalised) and you have something quite different from your usual sports novel.

Despite being told from his perspective the story does Clough no favours as he is portrayed as a self centred bully who thinks about spending time with his family but instead ends up in hotel Bars with journalists. Neither is Clough’s success really explained – more it’s taken for granted by the narrator. You can imply however that strength of character and self belief were important factors in his ability to inspire a team of journeymen to the League Championship and into Europe.

His rise through the game (and a path which leads ultimately to the spell in charge of Leeds) is the backdrop to a day by day account of his brief and unsuccessful time with Leeds. Given that Clough’s implacable enemies were Leeds United (and that isn’t fiction, it’s fairly well documented) it says a lot about the hubris of the man that he took the job in the first place. But from day one he was working in a hostile working environment almost entirely created by his previous antipathy towards the Elland Road side. This is perfectly illustrated by the brilliant cover photo – look at the grim faces of the team as he leads them out at Wembley. The result was inevitable.

For anyone interested in football ‘The Damned United’ is a fascinating, although at times, uncomfortable read since it pulls no punches about the man’s personality. I know it’s been out for ages but if you are interested in football and haven’t read this, then do so.

Finally the book is being filmed but interestingly the film is not going to be as dark as the book. Since the man’s heart of darkness is central to the book, you do wonder why someone who want to film it then change the premise.

Band of Susans – In The Eye of the Beholder (for Rhys) (from ‘Here Comes Success’) [Buy the CD] [Download it]

The next post will be my 250th. I may try and do something different.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

TV21- Citrus Club, 14th June 2008

It’s funny how quickly things can change. At the tail end of last year a TV21 set relied heavily on old material. Yet in the space of just two gigs the balance has shifted dramatically in favour of new material.

After the live debuts in February of the excellent ‘Time and Again’ and ‘How Did You Get It So Wrong?’ last night’s show at the Citrus Club saw the live debuts of 3 more new tunes which meant that the majority of the set comprised new 21^st Century TV21 tunes.

So the song most certainly hasn’t remained the same, but some other things don’t change. Once again the band was tremendous, both as a unit and in terms of their individual contributions. Whether playing an old song or one of the new ones the energy and vitality of their performances remain so impressive. And with a good sound there was absolutely nothing to find fault with.

Of the trio of songs making their debut perhaps the bittersweet pop tune ‘Forever 22’ impressed the most whilst second outings for ‘TAG’ and ‘HDYGISW?’ confirmed both as big MPT favourites.

Otherwise the most notable version of any song was probably the closing ‘On The Run’. Perhaps due to the show slightly overrunning the song was given something of a boost in tempo (much closer to the single’s pacing) and it really worked extremely well. The only disappointment factor about the song was that it was ended just as Ally was really starting to cut loose in the song’s coda.

Not that these were the only highlights – I could pretty much list the remainder of the set as such.

The only real disappointment of the evening was that there were so few people to see the band. It seems that the gig might not have been terribly well publicised but it’s difficult to believe that people don’t see this band then go off and rave about them. Next chance to catch them is at Dunfermline on the 26^th (tickets here) and if you’re in the vicinity I would urge you to get along. At the moment, TV21 are something special.

The show was opened by Jay Brown. Back by a five piece band (including TV21’s Simon on drums) Jay’s Americana flavoured rock worked pretty well in a live context. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine going down well with Uncut magazine.

A live version of a song which was dropped from last night’s setlist due to time constraints:

TV21 – End of A Dream (live)

Get Dunfermline tickets here. TV21 are also playing the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool in August.

The new LP is largely recorded and will hopefully be out later in the year.

TV21 Setlist

1. One Day In Summertime 2. Last Man Standing 3. When Cole Was King 4. Best Day of the Year 5. Time and Again 6. Something’s Wrong 7. It’s Me 8. Forever 22 9. Look To The Sun 10. How Did You Get It So Wrong? 11. Tomorrow 12. On The Run

Photos from the show here .

Walking With No Shoes or Socks

Here’s another LP that I’ve come to well after the hip cognoscenti and as is often the case it’s been one that has been dominating my listening for the last 2-3 weeks.

Despite the fact that they’ve been recommended to me by several people over the last few months (including this) I knew the name Frightened Rabbit for quite a while before I actually heard them (via a 6 track live EP on emusic). Getting a hold of that though provided the impetus for me to get their second LP ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, released a couple of months back.

If there’s such a thing as the Scottish rock continuum then Frightened Rabbit sit squarely between the Twilight Sad and the more Celtic influenced Idlewild numbers , indeed ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ provokes (favourable) comparisons with American English. Lyrically they deal with not dissimilar preoccupations to former Arab Strap vocalist Aidan Moffat, principally sex.

At times they’re actually fairly anthemic although mass success may elude them whilst their choruses include the likes of ‘You’re the shit and I’m knee deep in it.” Which would be a pity since their raw, honest lyrics are one of things that makes them stand out from the crowd. But nobody’s going to get a good write up one here solely based on their words and the quality of the songwriting and the variety of their arrangements are also impressive.

In terms of the latter, the last couple of years have seen bands regularly expand on the 2 guitars, bass and drums set-up with the use of all sorts of instruments, perhaps influenced by the success of Arcade Fire. So you’ll find violins, brass, keyboards all deployed throughout, which is, let’s be honest, not exceptional in itself. But it’s the manner in which they do this that is so impressive. There’s a real vitality and range to their arrangements which is exceptional. As an example of this I’m particularly fond of ‘The Twist’ with its piano, sampled harmonies and circular keyboard riff.

My only minor gripe about the LP is that, despite the variety in the arrangements and instrumentation used, the production sounds a little homogenous throughout. It’s something that seems to be, in some ways, in vogue since R.E.M.’s ‘Accelerate’ suffered from the same problem although I suspect that the relative budgets of the 2 LPs were not exactly comparable.

However, it’s a minor gripe and ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ is all but certain to feature in the end of year MPT Top 10 LPs. If you don’t already know this then Frightened Rabbit are definitely a band to watch out for.

Frightened Rabbit – The Modern Leper (from ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’) [Buy the CD] [Download the tracks]