I know some people listen to the tunes then read the blog and others read the words first before listening to the music. Which ever way round you do it, enjoy!
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Debris – Faces (1971)
Ronnie Lane was born in Plaistow in East London not long after the end of the war on Saturday 1 April 1946. I read a great piece about him online which brilliantly described his music career in three distinct phases: “bass-playing mod turned psychedelic imp in the Small Faces, wine-swigging heartbeat of the jack-the-laddish Faces and bucolic gypsy minstrel with Slim Chance.” Lane’s journey began when buying himself a bass guitar in 1965. He met Steve Marriot working in the shop and they went on to form the Small Faces – so called as they were each 5’6″ in height! A little before my time, the band were very successful having major hits with Marriot/Lane compositions like Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday. Marriot left in 1969 and Lane, along with keyboard player Ian McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, formed the Faces with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart from the Jeff Beck Band. A raucous live act, they came to my 11 year old ears through the radio as a fantastic singles band. Their first big hit was Stay With Me in 1971 and, watching them on Top Of The Pops, I was completely mesmerised with their cool swagger – being in a band just looked such bloody good fun. I didn’t have the single, so I was unaware this Ronnie Lane written track was on the b-side. Some thirty years later, I found myself purchasing a Billy Bragg compilation full of songs I already owned just to get the bonus CD of rare and unreleased tracks. Bragg’s version of this Faces b-side was on the bonus disc and it was such a great song it sent me scuttling off to find the original on the Faces LP A Nod’s As Good As A Wink. It’s a beautiful, poignant ballad about Lane’s father Stanley, opening with memories of childhood visits to a Sunday market in the bomb damaged East End looking through all the old stuff for a bargain. In the second bridge after the solo, when Stewart joins him on that harmony for the heartfelt “Oh, you was my hero; Hell, you were my best friend”, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The heroism was real – Lane’s lorry-driver father had devoted his life to caring for his mother who had Multiple Sclerosis. Sadly, Ronnie Lane was to inherit this disease in later life and he died from it in 1997, aged just 51.
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) – Marvin Gaye (1971)
Sunday marked what would have been the 84th birthday of Marvin Gaye, while Saturday was the 39th anniversary of his tragic death. Gaye was shot by his father at the age of 45 as he intervened in an argument between his parents about mislaid insurance documents. With a peerless voice that led to him being dubbed the ‘Prince of Soul’, he was a towering figure in the shaping of Motown records through the 1960s and was married to label founder Berry Gordy’s sister. During that time, he recorded numerous hit records as a solo singer but often in duets with female artists. Although many of these were written by Tamla’s formidable in-house writing teams, Gaye was an accomplished writer himself and this skill came to the fore as his career developed into the 1970s. The decade began with top 10 hits in the UK with The Onion Song and his cover of Dion’s Abraham, Martin & John which I vaguely recall being on the radio at the time. Although not his songs, they gave an indication of his direction of travel towards the social and political commentary in his writing that would blossom on what is considered to be his masterpiece album in 1971, What’s Going On. Recorded with the Funk Brothers, it was the first album he wrote and produced himself and its songs were driven by Gaye’s growing concern for the social ills affecting the US at the time. With themes of drug abuse, urban poverty and the Vietnam war, it was maybe not surprising that the record sold well in the States but was not a major hit in the UK. This track was the second single from the LP and it is widely regarded as a prescient anthem for the environmental movement through its poignant depiction of humanity failing in its obligation to care for the Earth. Gaye plays piano and his vocal is multi tracked with those of The Andantes, Motown’s in-house female session singers. The strings soar and there is a memorable tenor saxophone solo from Detroit music legend Wild Bill Moore. The story goes that the word “ecology” is in the title because in 1971 Berry Gordy had never heard of the word, but he later denied this was the case. Fifty years on, the current David Attenborough Wild Britain series is setting out in depressing detail the impact that climate change is having on our ecology and our wildlife. And, having recently seen for myself a stark example of the extent of global glacier retreat in Iceland, it seemed appropriate to lift this track to mark the anniversary of Marvin’s birth and death.
Judy Is A Punk – Ramones (1976)
In the final gloomy demise for this week’s blog, Sunday also saw the death of legendary New York music executive Seymour Stein of Sire Records. I was quite surprised by the extent of the media coverage given to this but I hadn’t taken into account the Madge factor. Even with her recently acquired and much derided new visage, it was Ms Ciccone’s long Insta post about Stein signing her from his hospital bed in 1982 for her debut single Everybody which fuelled the coverage. Stein had started the Sire label as an independent back in 1966 in New York, introducing progressive British bands to the American market. In the mid 70s, Stein took an interest in the growing underground club scene in New York at places like CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City. In the autumn of 1975, he was persuaded by his wife Linda and Sire’s A&R man Craig Leon to audition an unsigned band from Forest Hills, Queens called the Ramones. Leon had seen them play one of their famously short and fast sets in CBGBs that summer. Unconvinced, Stein bowed to the pressure and the band’s self-titled debut record was recorded with Leon producing and released on Sire in April 1976. While it didn’t sell well at the time, the influence of its iconic sound and cover was global. The instantly recognisable brick wall photo cost Sire $125 and has been imitated and referenced many times over the years. I probably first heard this record in the winter of 76/77 as it rattled around my group of friends at school. It was a game changer – fourteen tracks in twenty nine minutes! The simple melodies took rock music back to its late 50s roots, albeit forced through a loud, amphetamine rush of layered guitars with Joey’s unique vocal combining perfectly with those wonderful backing vocal ‘”oooohhs”. Who can resist the knowing dumbness of Beat On The Brat or the brilliant way Joey rhymes “massacre” with “me” on Chain Saw? The entire lyric of Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue is pretty much in the title! I’ve gone for the shortest song on the record which clocks in at a glorious 1:32 including the hilarious asides where Joey reminds himself (and us) of the song structure: “Second verse, same as the first” and then “Third verse, different from the first”. Despite Ramones T-shirts now being worn by oblivious fashionistas everywhere, to me they remain the coolest rock’n’roll band the world has ever seen.
Wrecking Ball – Emmylou Harris (1995)
Emmylou Harris had a birthday this week and I’m not going to dwell on her age other than to say she has had a long – and very distinguished – career in music. Born in Birmingham Alabama, she has written and recorded twenty six studio albums since her first record back in 1969. In that time she has collaborated widely and her ethereal voice has appeared on hundreds of recordings with other artists – there are five separate Wikipedia pages listing these appearances in alphabetical groups. Emmylou is an inspirational figure for women in American roots music and Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack and Sheryl Crow all performed with her at a tribute concert in 2016. I was vaguely aware of her during the 1970s seeing her albums as I was flicking through the racks in Listen Records in Paisley but I must have mentally filed her as a ‘country and western’ singer and moved on. The release of Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue album in 1982 was my ‘Road to Tarsus’ moment for what country music could be. In particular, his version of The Flying Burrito Brothers Hot Burrito #1 led me to discover Gram Parsons and his early 70s records. And there, by Gram’s side, singing those great harmony lines in her distinctive voice, was Emmylou. Their voices were made for each other but Gram lived a short, troubled life and Emmylou moved on to build her career. Her 70s records mix a few of her own songs with an eclectic mix of country and country-rock covers. By the time I discovered her in the 1980s she was writing more of the songs on her albums and getting some success in the US pop charts. In her mid-life, she challenged herself to move in new directions away from her acoustic sound and in 1995 released the Grammy winning Wrecking Ball, working with U2 and Peter Gabriel producer Daniel Lanois. With her older, more earthy voice standing out against Lanois’ restrained, reverb-drenched instrumentation, they shifted the paradigm of what a country record might sound like. Comprising all covers bar one co-write, I could have chosen her version of Steve Earle’s heart-wrenching Goodbye or her take on Gillian Welch’s beautiful Orphan Girl but I felt the playlist deserved the Neil Young penned title track. It was a close decision, but I was won over by the old growler himself doing some backing vocals.
The Drowners – Suede (1992)
The self-titled debut album by Suede was released 30 years ago this week and in the passing of the years, it’s easy to forget what a big deal it was at the time. Suede formed around a core of singer Brett Anderson, his girlfriend Justine Frischmann and his childhood friend Matt Osman. They famously placed an advert in the NME in late 1989 looking for a guitarist with the statement “no musos, some things are more important than ability”. Despite this, the very able Bernard Butler answered the advert. He joined and the band kicked into gear with DJ Gary Crowley championing their demo recordings. Frischmann split with Anderson and left the band but music press interest grew and Suede became a name to drop. A two single deal at Nude Records was signed but before this track was released as their first single, they were on the cover of Melody Maker under the heading “The Best New Band In Britain”. By this time, the influence of the all-powerful ‘inkie’ weekly music papers was just starting what would be its rapid decline as the tabloid press spotted a market and then the internet changed the game completely. However, if Suede were these hype machine’s last hurrah, they did a great job. Buoyed by increasing sales for the singles (this track charted at 49, Metal Mickey made 17 and Animal Nitrate hit 7), by the time the LP was released, they had already had nineteen magazine cover stories. In the days where you still had to go to a shop in a high street to buy music, the album sold over 100,000 copies in the first week and charted at No 1. Lauded by the critics, it went on to win the 1993 Mercury Music Prize, beating off New Order, Sting and PJ Harvey. So – was the hype worth it? I thought so at the time and you’ll hear all the elements of the band’s signature sound in this raucous first single. Anderson’s Bowie obsession in his theatrical vocal, Butler’s powerful riffing overlain with razor sharp lead parts and all done with a confident glam swagger from that opening drum salvo. It was an impressive start to the band’s long career.
All We Do – Oh Wonder (2015)
In our house, we’re very fond of a crime drama series on the box going back to the old days of Hill St Blues and The Sopranos, both with excellent theme tunes. Come to think of it, I can go back to the even older days of Dixon of Dock Green (“evening all”) and Z-Cars and can still whistle those theme tunes too! As streaming on demand has changed the way programmes are consumed, like many others we can draw on our crime drama series at times to suit us. We rarely find ourselves seeking anything much on ITV but cold-case drama Unforgotten became a favourite over its first four series. It’s not flashy or star-studded but the tight plots and the interaction between DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan (brilliantly played by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar) was great to watch. We began Season 5 this week to see how the wonderfully ordinary middle-aged Sunny and his shoulder bag were coping without his old gaffer who got written out in Season 4. Tuning back in, I was reminded of the haunting theme tune which is the last track on this week’s playlist. I know very little about Oh Wonder other than they are duo of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West who work alone from their home studio in London. They began in September 2014 releasing a single a month for a year through SoundCloud – these were then rolled together as a debut album in late 2015. The gentle piano and echo-filled breathy double vocal on this track seem to suit the melancholy nature of the drama based around bringing justice to nameless, voiceless forgotten victims. That being said, a quick listen to other tracks by the duo reveals a sameness to their soft synth-pop that might well wear quickly with repetition. But I’ll leave that for you to decide. A final note on Z Cars. I walked across the James Ellis Bridge on the wonderful Connswater Greenway community project in East Belfast a few years ago. It was named after the popular local actor who played Bert Lynch in a record 629 episodes of the police series, rising from PC to Inspector in the process. I was told he was the first character with a Northern Irish accent to appear in a major national TV series, which just might be true.
Last Word
So with the very kind help of @colinphoenix and @unclewald on Twitter, the blog got a real kick in viewing traffic this week – thanks again, guys. And a warm welcome aboard to any new readers of this week’s ramblings. If you enjoy them, then please ping the link on to anyone you think would enjoy them too. With more people reading it would be great to get some conversations going in the comments – if only to point out where I have got something horribly wrong!
As ever, the Master Playlist has been updated at the link below.
AR
Week In Sound 
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