Slowly but surely

I went to see Holly Golightly play the other night (May 12th, to be precise). I've been meaning to get to one of her gigs for years, so I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that it was great. That at least is the fuzzy impression that I'm left with. Over the course of the evening I had rather a lot to drink and can't really remember too much about it all. (I do remember Fabienne Delsol was in the crowd. Stood right next to me for a while actually. I affected a nonchalant attitude, she seemed unmoved.)

So, I can't remember stuff like which songs got played, but I do remember being particularly pleased at two or three of the choices. And, er, Slowly But Surely may have been one of them. It's probably my most recently acquired favourite track of hers - the LP version is just immaculate (the kind of thing that might have got into the Top Ten in the eighties maybe) but I prefer the demo version on the b side of On The Fire. Both are amazing.

Anyway, I didn't know it was a cover version until about two weeks ago. Here's the original. Yet another upset for my tending to prefer whichever version you hear first theory (I may scrap that theory). I like this better. The harmonica has a more yearning quality, the vocal more forlorn.

Imitation Pixie songs

I was going through the Ike and Tina Turner clips on youtube recently (prompted by a post on Crying All The Way To The Chip Shop) and I was drawn to one entitled “Ike and Tina Do The Pixies”. I think I was probably expecting some kind of late sixties tv appearance in the vein of Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge” or something. Instead I found an insanely catchy and brilliant pastiche of the Pixies song “River Euphrates” as if performed by Tina Turner. The video’s a bit rubbish so I haven’t posted it. But it did lead to a website with more Pixies covers.

Like the Bob Dylan “Green Eggs and Ham” I’m not totally sure how I feel about this type of thing. I don’t regard myself as too serious but a little voice somewhere seems to cry out, “Fake, fake”, trying to spoil my enjoyment. On the other hand I can’t stop listening to it – which I normally take to be a sign that I think a track is brilliant.

Some of the others:

“Levitate Me”, a not very good Pixies song is, it turns out, a great Beach Boys song. The first minute or so of this is probably the most disconcertingly spot on and, if found out of this context, might have had me wondering if I should check the credit on “Come On Pilgrim”.

“Vamos” – vies with “River Euphrates” as my favourite Pixies song. This version is let down a bit by the slightly unconvincing Jimi vocals but still a good match of song to performer.

Finally Elvis and “No.13 Baby” – like “Vamos” you’re never going to be fooled for even a second that this could somehow, somewhen be the real Elvis – but it does demonstrate that it is so an Elvis song.

Peace and good vibes to all

I think that once upon a time this song was touted as a contender for the Christmas number one spot. I can't remember which evil svengali figure we were attempting to thwart that particular year. But it didn't happen. It seemed ridiculous at the time and probably even more so now. Part of me understands that but what I really think is that this is a beautiful song. And people who'd never heard of Laibach would have loved it (but hated any album of theirs that they might have bought).

Laibach: Across the Universe

From the vaults

I don't know why but this was one of the first songs I thought to transfer to MP3 when I got my magic turntable. Ultra Vivid Scene's American-ness made them slight oddities in the very English scene that they became associated with (probably on account of the fuzziness of the guitars on their biggest tune "The Mercy Seat"). I think they were a bit over rated really, "The Mercy Seat" is an okay song and everybody loves "The Kindest Cut". But this b - side is probably my favourite, on it Kurt Ralske's irritatingly wan vocals come into their own lending the song a suitable effete air.

Ultra Vivid Scene Codeine

Accentuate the positive

I decided to look into Stereo Total when I discovered that they were behind a couple of tunes that I really liked that were being used for adverts. I ended up buying a compilation called "Total Pop" which culled tracks from four of their albums (put together by Momus, of all people). Not surprisingly it's a real mixture of styles, songs and cover versions. The choice of album was a no brainer as it had both the tracks I wanted on it. "I Love You, Ono" and "Moi Je Joue". I only found out on playing it that I'd been misinformed about the second track. The version I loved was actually by Brigitte Bardot.

Until quite recently I'd never taken the time to really get to know it and so it keeps surprising me. It was only when I played the very distinctive "Crazy Horse" for more than just the intro that I realised I'd actually seen them support the Strokes a few years ago. I thought the support band might have been the Moldy Peaches at the time, not sure why - possibly because they were happening then and were an off beat male female duo.

At the moment I can't get enough of their cover of "Get Down Tonight". I like the original and obviously heard it years before this - so it's an unusual upset to my preferring-whichever-version-I-hear-first rule. Anyway, this is just so loose, it sounds as though the song's collapsing the whole time.

Stereo Total: Get Down Tonight


Brigitte Bardot: Moi Je Joue

50 ways to leave your body

I regard Leonard Cohen as a bit of a genius. I started with his first album and my next exposure to his stuff was "I'm Your Fan" - a pretty good covers compilation of his songs. Despite the presence of John Cale's mighty version of Hallelujah my favourite on there was the House of Love's version of "Who by Fire". There's nothing clever about it, just Guy Chadwick's vocal and a plangent guitar played just so. I learned it was from "New Skin For The Old Ceremony" which consequently went straight to the top of the list of albums to get. However, before I found it I picked up the song on his greatest hits and was a bit disappointed. They're very similar but Cohen's version seemed the lesser on account of its slightly dramatic cheesy strings. The sad thing is it put me off buying "New Skin For The Old Ceremony" for a few years. Once again I found the simpler version more appealing, and again I'm left wondering if I always just prefer the first version I hear.

House of Love: Who By Fire


Leonard Cohen: Who By Fire

Holy Moly

As I've already said I got into the Pastels by hearing them praised by another group that I really liked. There's a very good chance that group was the Jesus and Mary Chain. There was a time when my musical diet consisted almost exclusively of the Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3. Feedback and distortion was my thing. As much as I loved the Pastels if you'd have suggested to me that they would record better versions of Mary Chain songs I'd have laughed in your face, or possibly punched you. But this is now what has come to pass.

The Mary Chain. How many times has it happened to you that you discover a band, work your way through their immaculate back catalogue and then await their next new release in a state of ecstatic apprehension? Only for the new album to be very poor indeed? "Automatic", there I've said it - let us speak no more of it. At the height of my admiration for them I was probably listening to "Psychocandy" at least once a day, and this state of affairs went on for a year or so. After "Psychocandy" was "Barbed Wire Kisses" (shocking name) - arguably their best collection of songs, but, like "Hatful of Hollow" do you count this kind of thing as a real album? And then we have "Darklands". All the songs on "Darklands" are great - "Nine Million Rainy Day" was my personal favourite - but most are let down by the production/execution, the main offender being "April Skies" on which we cop for the full horror of the Mary Chain's baffling predilection for drum machines. Generally their sound, previously so unlike anything else, becomes well and truly mired in the eighties that they had seemed destined to destroy. The Pastel's version of "About You" shows what might have been. I don't know if the Mary Chain are going to release new stuff, but before they do they should go back and record "Darklands" properly.

Lyrically though I think "Darklands" is their best album with the usual caveat that I haven't seriously listened to anything after "Honey's Dead" and with the definite exception of the line about the Christmas tree in "Fall". Oh, and the mole line in "On The Wall". Hmm, I'm not making a brilliant case here - but "Deep One Perfect Morning" and "Happy When It Rains" both display an articulate thoughtfulness which always came across in the interviews but not previously in the songs.

The Mary Chain's own record with cover versions is hit and miss. Not surprisingly their earlier attempts are the best with the very best being the legendary "Vegetable Man" (I don't get Pink Floyd's scruples on this - it's the best thing Syd Barrett ever wrote). The joy of owning the 7" of "Upside Down" is considerable in its own right, and just for this song, very necessary. Is it just me or has the version to be found on "The Power of Negative Thinking" (another crap album title by the way) been neutered somewhat? I think they've pushed the vocal right up.

"Who Do You Love" and "Mushroom" are also both outstanding but after them we move onto the merely okay "Reverberation" and "Tower of Song" before arriving at "Little Red Rooster". My favourite band covering one of my favourite songs - how could it go so badly wrong? It did and this point probably marks my final disappointment with them. I heard about their version of "Alphabet Street" and it occurred to me that it was misguided, and when I caught up with it this was confirmed, the sureness of touch shown on "Who Do You Love" and "Mushroom" is utterly gone.

The Pastels: About You


Jesus & Mary Chain: Nine Million Rainy Days

C'est Fab

I've only just discovered Fabienne Delsol. Why so great? It's not changed my life or anything but given that she's on the same label as Holly Golightly, and knocks out retro pop with a killer French accent in the manner of April March I'm surprised it's taken me so long. Oh and she's very attractive. It sometimes bothers me, even if I love the music, that so many singers (especially females) are so good looking. But, well...there's a waste of time for you. The music borders on retrophiliac but (again) so what?

Fabienne Delsol: Hanging on A String

A fairly straight cover of the ? and the Mysterians track. But miles better than the Mysterians because they are, when all's said and done, not very good.

Fabienne Delsol: My Love Is Like A Spaceship

Another cover, this time of a song by the mythical Big Boy Pete. The original can be heard on his myspace page. I'm currently weighing up whether or not to get some of his stuff.

The first cut is the deepest (flashback)

I don’t know what’s at number one in the pop charts and I haven’t known for about twenty years, since I gave up in disgust. Despite this I thought it was a shame that the BBC scrapped Top of the Pops. I mean, how can you go wrong with that format? Anyway, when I still had the patience to watch MTV there used to be a show compered by a likeable guy with a beard, Eddy something, and on this show there was a section called “There Is No God”. Viewers wrote in with, and Eddy and his posse also came up with, tunes that they thought were amazing but that had got absolutely nowhere chart-wise.

I’ve already eulogised what would have been my entry: “Transparent Radiation” as performed by Spacemen 3 and I know I wrote a bit on Spectrum the other day. So, not wishing to become a drone rock bore, I promise this will be my final word on this particular group (probably). This is what I wanted to do on the original posting but lacked the technical capacity, however with the advent of a USB turntable, here, now, ripped from my very own personal stash:

The Red Krayola: Transparent Radiation (from The Parable of Arable Land)


The Red Krayola: Transparent Radiation (from Sonic Sounds for Subterraneans)


Spacemen 3: Transparent Radiation (from The Perfect Prescription)

The new originals

Years ago I heard Chicken Shack’s version of “I’d Rather Go Blind” on a tape given away with NME or Melody Maker. I’d never heard of them and thought they had a terrible name but I sure loved that track. So I was a bit bummed when I lost the tape. For years afterward I’d go on forlorn rummages in the attic at my parents but it never turned up, (currently doing the same for a Rolling Stones book - it's a really big book, I just don't understand where it's got to). Anyway, I found out it had been released as a single way back and so I ordered it from the back pages of Record Collector. Only it wasn’t the same version as the tape. Some time after this I remembered that it was a tape of Peel Session versions and got it from the Strange Fruit website. It had been a long wait and in the meantime, jonesing for the tune, I’d gone to the more widely available source: Etta James. I thought that she'd mop the floor with the weedy Chicken Shack but I was surprised to discover that I far preferred the Chicken Shack version. I thought it was a bloke singing and I like it when singers just sing the lyrics in songs like this without swapping the genders around. Maybe because it suggests that they're playing it on the spur of the moment and for sheer love of the song. Also, I find the Etta version overly mannered. Something that turns me off is too much "technique", the Chicken Shack version seems to come more directly from the heart, a more honest reading of the song.

Over the years I’ve noticed that the version of a song I hear first will tend to be my favourite, regardless of the relative standing of the artists involved. And in most cases I seem to go for the version with the simpler arrangement.

Chicken Shack: I'd Rather Go Blind


Etta James: I'd Rather Go Blind