Week one of three guest blogs and the ball is at the feet of Southside boy and MD ANT Iain Wilson who has chosen this week’s top tunes. Enjoy!

First Word

This guest slot was originally supposed to have a theme (of sorts) around “firsts” (first album, first single, first gig etc) but as Alan often laments in WIS the rabbitholes get you! So, instead it’s ended up as a very loosely connected collection of tracks with the only real common thread being I love them all.

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Billion Dollar Babies – Alice Cooper (1973)

I’m starting with a track from the first album I ever bought, Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies. Actually it was the second album I’d bought having, earlier that same day, taken home “School’s Out” only to be ordered to return it immediately to Gloria’s Record Bar on Battlefield Road in Glasgow’s Southside after my parents, already disapproving of the eye make-up and snakes were propelled over the edge by the emergence of the paper panties inner sleeve! I still remember the embarrassment back at Gloria’s trying to explain that I’d picked the wrong album. Anyway, happy accidents and all that, it’s a great album containing the hits Elected, Hello Hooray and No More Mr Nice Guy. But I’ve gone for the title track, and fourth single from the album, not only because it’s a belter but also as it features an unlikely and slightly bizarre vocal contribution by Scotland’s very own troubadour Donovan Leitch. Apparently the collaboration was merely the result of the two recording at Morgan Studios in Willesden, North West London at the same time – Donovan was recording his comeback Cosmic Wheels album. Alas, unsurprisingly, Gloria’s Record Bar is no more and hasn’t been for a very long time but I there are a couple of great photographs floating around on social media which you can seek out.

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Laughing Stock – Grandaddy (1997)

Another Southside music institution, also sadly gone, was Salvation Sounds, originally on Pollokshaws Road before moving to the unremittingly grim Shawlands Arcade. I’m ashamed to say I no longer remember the proprietor’s name (ageing is wonderful isn’t it?) but I do remember he would give you albums to take home for a listen before making the decision whether to purchase or not. I heard quite a few bands’ music for the first time in there while browsing the racks including The Kingsbury Manx, Sparklehorse and Grandaddy. For the playlist I’ve gone with Grandaddy’s Laughing Stock taken from their 1997 debut album Under The Western Freeway. Whilst not as commercially successful (relatively) as 2000’s acclaimed Sophtware Slump and 2003’s Sumday, UTWF still contains some Jason Lytle penned gems such as A.M. 180 (an earworm and a half!) and Summer Here Kids but it’s the couple of headbanging riffs in the middle and outro that swing it for Laughing Stock. Following the release of Sumday, the band split and although there have been a couple of reunion tours in 2012 and 2017, any recorded output since has essentially been solo work by Lytle released under the Grandaddy banner.

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Railroad Man – Eels (2005)

Whilst we’re on the subject of one-man-band type singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalists I had to include Mark Oliver Everett III, the charismatic driving force behind Eels. I’m not 100% sure but I think I may have seen Eels live more than any other band and haven’t seen a duff show yet. Most recently at Glasgow Barrowlands in April this year there was a great moment when the strumming of a couple of opening chords drew whoops and hollers from one enthusiastic punter causing Mr. E to coolly stop and say “Come on…..that could be any one of about twenty of our songs!” Brilliant stuff. Given that I’m approaching 44 years working on Britain’s railways there was really only one choice which is taken from 2005’s semi autobiographic Blinking Lights And Other Revelations double album.

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Angel Words – The Blue Aeroplanes (1991)

The only down side to a recent week’s holiday in Portugal was that I missed The Blue Aeroplane’s rescheduled album launch party for their most recent record Culture Gun which has been released by Last Night From Glasgow, a not-for-profit independent label based in Finnieston, Glasgow. I’ve been a huge fan of the band since hearing their 1991 release Beatsongs and try and catch them live if I can on their all too rare forays outside of their Bristol base. Formed in 1981 by frontman Gerard Langley, drummer John Langley and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski from the ashes of the Bristol band Art Objects, the Aeroplanes have famously had what you might call a revolving lineup! Their own website lists 45 members whilst their Wikipedia entry claims that there have been over 90 members through the years! On their merch page you can still get the T-Shirt with the adapted Committee On Unamerican Activities question Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Member Of The Blue Aeroplanes? The band have flirted briefly with a breakthrough to the mainstream on a couple of occasions, once supporting REM on their 1989 Green Tour, but commercial success has eluded them probably in part to Langley’s love it or hate it spoken lyric delivery. For the playlist I’ve selected Angel Words from the above mentioned Beatsongs album. Whilst it still features Langley’s trademark spoken lyrics which as I’ve said aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, they are beautifully counterpointed by Rodney Allen’s guitar. Rodney is apparently back in the current lineup so this one may well get back on the setlists after a lengthy absence! I’ll be shouting for it anyway (again!).

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Walk On By – The Stanglers (1978)

Following on from The Blue Aeroplanes and Wojtek, The Stranglers are another band who have occasionally featured dancers on stage but the less said about that the better these days, I suspect. Back on the theme of “firsts” they were the first band I saw live at Glasgow’s late lamented Apollo Theatre (formerly Green’s Playhouse) back in October 1977. I’ve continued seeing them live regularly ever since and, despite attending the Glasgow leg of their “Farewell Tour” last year, I somehow find myself in possession of a ticket for next year’s tour! The track was originally released on the free EP that accompanied the first 75,000 copies of The Stranglers third studio album, 1978’s Black And White (possibly the first true Post Punk album – preceding Magazine’s Real Life by around three weeks). The band’s interpretation of the Burt Bacharach classic was eventually released as a single in its own right and, considering it was 6 minutes long and had already had a limited release, made it to a fairly respectable No. 21 in the UK charts. Obviously it’s a fantastic old standard but the Men In Black still manage to imbue it with their trademark dripping menace. There have always been comparisons made to The Doors based on the Dave Greenfield (Hammond) and Ray Manzarek (Vox Continental) keyboard sound which I’ve always thought were a bit lazy but there is no doubt that this arrangement with it’s extended keyboard and guitar solos provides more than just a passing nod to the album version of Light My Fire. It’s also IMHO one of the finest covers, if not the best.

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Wheels – Grand Drive (2000)

Grand Drive came to my attention via one of those free CDs issued by the NME and their like, this one from sometime around 2000. They were an Alt Country/Americana band formed in South London in the mid nineties by brothers Danny and Julian Wilson and who, having established themselves on the club circuit, were eventually picked up by the Vinyl Junkie label where they released a couple of albums before moving to Loose Records in 1999. After a couple of EP’s were issued, the band released True Love And High Adventure an ambitious collection of 11 new songs (including the playlist choice Wheels) which featured the addition of strings and brass to supplement the bands already soulful arrangements. Another couple of Grand Drive albums followed; See The Morning In in 2002 and The Lights In This Town Are Too Many To Count in 2004. During this time Danny also released a solo album The Famous Mad Mile as Danny George Wilson before the band finally split and Danny formed Danny And The Champions Of The World. I managed to catch Danny George Wilson on tour last year at the Glad Cafe in Shawlands, Glasgow which is coincidentally right next door to where Salvation Sounds was all those years ago!

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Last Word

A big thank you to Alan for letting me loose on the blog this week while he waltzes around Angkor Wat. Hopefully the choices are worthy of the master playlist at the link below and that someone somewhere may have heard something new that appealed. Only two of this week’s tracks were in my initial six which either reinforces the WIS rabbithole theory or, more likely, my chronic indecision when it comes to choosing music!

WeekInSoundMaster

IW