The third guest blog is a debut appearance on the decks by Stuart Gillies who dives head first into the dark pool that is WeekInSound. Enjoy!

First Word

In the face of all the new age tropes, especially the one about “Just say Yes!”, my default position on most things is “Ehm….nah”. No point in agreeing to something that might just scare the horses. For some reason though I agreed to make my debut on WIS. And I’m going to make the most of this as I doubt I’ll be asked back.

One thing you’ll notice in comparison with your normal Writer and Editor in Chief is I tend to communicate on the basis that words are finite so I’ll let the music do the talking, mostly.

Time to drop the needle…

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These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra (1966)

I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t already in the WIS master playlist. This song was one of two singles that I used to play on repeat lying on the floor of my parents house with people stepping over me as I played “that bloody song again”. I’m guessing I was around 10 and this was my entry song to the record collections of my older brothers and sisters.

This comes from Nancy’s 1966 album Boots which also includes Beatles, Stones and Dylan covers. Written by Lee Hazlewood who was asked by her father Bob* to guide her career.

And the other single? The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde by Georgie Fame

*just checking if anyone’s paying attention….????

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Song For My Father – Horace Silver (1965)

One of my ‘tests’ for what makes a good jazz track is can I imagine Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon walking down a New York street with the track playing in the background.

This was written in 1964 and released on his 1965 Blue Note album of the same name.

Silver’s style is described as hard bop – an extension to bebop with added Gospel and Rhythm & Blues. Earlier in his career he played with Stan Getz, Art Blakey and Miles Davis. None of which you need to know. Just put your trilby on at a jaunty angle and strut down the street with this in your ears.

The Dan boys also liked this song too, I reckon.

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Black Man Ray (Live) – China Crisis (1995)

And speaking of Steely Dan, Walter Becker took on production duties for China Crisis’s 1985 Flaunt the Imperfection album. Their songs at the time didn’t make a huge impression on me, probably a bit too smooth, and looking back the production values were very much of the time. This was when Yamaha DX7’s were de rigueur, together with bass players who wore their guitars high up and played finger-style.

Fast forward quite a few years to 2022 and China Crisis are playing The Woodside in Aberdour.  Alan asked if I’d fancy going to see them as they were “really good live”. Reluctantly I agreed (I parked the ‘just say no’ reaction) and was completely blown away with how great they were. The two key original members Gary Daly (vocals) and Eddie Lundon (guitar) were still there, backed by an impressive lineup of fine musicians. Stripped of the 80s production values, the songs came alive under the dynamics of the live performance. If that wasn’t enough the, often self-deprecating, between-song chat from Gary is worth the admission money in its own right. I last saw them in Oran Mor in Glasgow just a few weeks ago.

I’ve chosen a version of their top twenty single Black Man Ray taken from their 1995 live album Acoustically Yours as that’s where I think they come across best – if you get the chance to see them, don’t think twice.

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Eden – Talk Talk (1988)

There’s been loads written about the partnership between Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Green in Talk Talk. For those interested I’d recommend the Mark Hollis biography A Perfect Silence by Ben Wardle.

This track is taken from the band’s 1988 album Spirit of Eden. Their previous album The Colour of Spring hinted at the direction Hollis and Friese-Green were taking and it was with Spirit of Eden that they fully stepped away from the previous pop sensibility that had given them commercial success. A new sparse sound started to come through. What I particularly love about this period is how it doesn’t attempt to please the listener. It’s very much ‘here it is – like it / don’t like it – your choice, don’t really care’.

Holed up in a converted church for a few months, they crafted the album painstakingly from fragments of music the lengthy list of session musicians gave them. One technique they employed was to not allow the musician to hear the backing track in advance and record the first take often discarding most of it and keeping a few notes that they would then ‘place’ in the recording. Not all the musicians warmed to this approach – some said it was the worst experience they’d ever had. While the recording was going on, they refused to allow their label EMI to hear any of the ‘work in progress’ tracks. When it was finally unveiled, EMI didn’t know what to do with it. “Where’s the singles, guys?”.

Putting to one side all the recording and record company angst, the album is a fragile beauty.  Hollis was always keen to use his vocal as an added texture which often means you can’t actually hear what he’s singing but his voice is there and absolutely delivers the songs. There’s a vulnerability and melancholic air across the album which contrasts with bursts of dynamic vocals and instrumentation. One for the darker nights.

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When Tomorrow Comes – The Eurythmics (1986)

1 litre of joyful pop forced into a 500ml bottle waiting to be opened. Towards the end of the party when you think things can’t get any better, push back the furniture, put the volume to 11 and get ready to dance and sing at the top of your lungs. If you’re not hoarse in the morning, you ain’t doing it right. Perfect pop. I bet the 70 year old Annie can still belt it out.

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Indian – Eg and Alice (1991)

Many things in life puzzle me, none the least of which is why the Eg and Alice album 24 Years Of Hunger released in 1991 went largely unnoticed. I’ve seen it referenced a few times in interviews by those in the know who were similarly perplexed. The fact that streaming services ignored it until very recently didn’t help either.

Eg and Alice are Francis White (Eg, of course) and Alice Temple. Q Magazine included 24 Years Of Hunger in their list of the best albums of the 20th century and referenced Steely Dan (them again) and Prince as influences with a nod to The Blue Nile. In one interview I heard on the Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast, Eg White confirmed how important Prince was to the sound. To these ears, the Prince influence isn’t that obvious. What we have is a bunch of superbly crafted and produced songs – all the more impressive for being done largely in Eg’s kitchen.

This is the one and only album they put out although Alice appears on Eg’s 2009 solo album Adventure Man, co-writing the track Pull Me Through. Neither of them has been idle since 24 Years was released. Eg has written and produced songs for various artists including Adele, Will Young, Suggs, Kylie and Lauren Pritchard. Pritchard’s 2010 album Wasted in Jackson sounds to me like a natural follow-up to 24 Years. If memory serves, I saw her in King Tut’s promoting the album. Eg has also picked up a clutch of Ivor Novella awards.

Alice’s latest output is the single Goddess released at the start of January. Prior to this she put out a solo album in 2018 The End and worked in various collaborations, including the UNKLE track Bloodstain which was a move into electronic music.

Anyway, back to Indian – it’s got soul, vulnerability (“For several years I have been/On the edge of every scene”) and Alice’s breathy vocals are exquisite. If you haven’t heard this I envy you, you’re about to take that first step.

SG

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Last Word

So, that was Stuart’s terrific choice of tunes and… ahem… notably finite commentary – next week, Michael Lynch picks some songs from the land down under. Don’t forget all the tunes from the last two years are on the Master Blog at the link below.

WeekInSoundMaster

AR

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