The Album: Peace In Our Time - Big Country

A good few years ago I was in a charity shop and came across Big Country’s fourth album Peace In Our Time on vinyl for a meagre four euro. I immediately purchased it, brought it home and because I was so taken with the wonderful cover art, I framed it and put it on the wall in the attic. Only recently while tidying the attic did I decide to remove it from the frame and put it with the rest of my collection. I was familiar with about half of the songs from this record through compilations and live albums but I’d never listened to it through. I finally did this during the week and I’m listening again now. That is why I’m now championing this much maligned album.

Big Country have long been seen as done after their first three albums, each with diminishing returns but all still quite brilliant. The Seer featured the nadir of their output in most people’s opinion in the single One Great Thing. It’s actually not that bad a song, fantastic live but the accompanying video was terrible and the drink ad derived from it is probably what most remember. This was the final straw for casual fans who abandoned them and felt justified in their opinion as the lead single from PIOT, King Of Emotion, seemed to continue the style of One Great Thing. The heavier guitars raised suspicions of catering to the American market and selling out. Lies. There are elements of PIOT that are more Scottish and Celtic sounding than anything in their previous catalogue. From Here To Eternity would be one example, Everything I Need would be another. The latter is a beautiful straightforward love song and Stuart’s vocal performance here is wonderful. There’s no arguing there are some rock guitar cliches but they work and they are balanced by incredible musicianship. The quartet are at their peak here. I love the coda of Broken Heart (13 Valleys). The title track has quite a lofty aspiration but why shouldn’t it? Also the intro to this song is one of their best, along with Tall Ships Go from Steeltown, my two favourite intros.

It’s not a perfect album, so few are, but it’s better than history has deigned it to be by dismissing it as a sell out. In This Place belies any notion of Americanisation and showcases Stuart’s slightly hoarse, yearning vocals. Of course it’s my fourth favourite Big Country album but most bands I like don’t even get to a second favourite. Did I mention the cover, it’s gorgeous. It should be in a gallery.

The Song: Earlies - The Trash Can Sinatras

I recently fell in love with this song. Odd story behind it. We were in pub years ago, I’m going to say 1993 based on the release date of the album. I’m not sure who was there but I imagine the usual assembly of football and music loving cohorts. An acquaintance came in, I don't think I could call him a friend but he's a good guy, he was at the time the editor of magazine, a kind of music and style thing of the time, very hip. Anyway he had an armful of copies of the new album from The Trash Can Sinatras and proceeded to hand them out to everyone there. The band were from Irvine in Scotland and at the time I hadn’t even heard of them but who turns down free vinyl? It lay untouched on my shelf for decades. In other words, it’s mint and was recently valued at over €100! 

The song I’m love with is the last on the album - Earlies. It is so simple in construction, it appears to be just two chords with the simplest embellishment from guitars over it. The chorus is mainly just la la la in terms of lyrics but the verses are just beauty. I adore even the way it begins, one snare hit then all swoons in together. Evoking times that were probably hard at the time but fondly remembered now and sung in the most wistful, unhurried fashion. Lines like: “Through t-shirt breezes walking home from work” and “Guinness elbows rest upon a tabletop” just paint instant pictures. There’s not really a bad line in the song so I’ll quote it below and leave a link in the title to listen to it too. 

The funny thing is when I listen to it I see myself and my friends trudging across the fields in the early morning mist on our way to work in a hot factory to sweat for the day while laughing most of the time. It seemed hard at the time...

Earlies - The Trash Can Sinatras 

Cakebrick road in summer 1981, 

We shared a house and garden 

At the height of all the bombing, 

on the run in busy, hazy London 

Through t-shirt breezes walking home from work, 

County Kilburn sun 

Weekends we’d just wash away the dirt of busy, hazy London 

The night grew cold, 

the Thames is old 

Found that manners count for nothing and it took, 

A welshman in his forties Guinness elbows rest upon a tabletop, 

The two of us on earlies 

Three feet of snow fell on the walnut road, 

Two feet trudged 

Round the corner came the sound of bad dreams 

The flame is old. 

the Thames is cold. 

Cakebrick road in summer 1981, 

we left a house and garden 

On the corner boys, best of friends? 

On the corner boys, 

Both of us on earlies 

Songwriters: John Douglas / Frank Reader / Paul Livingston / Davy Hughes

Earlies lyrics © Go Discs Music

The Book: Brett Anderson’s second autobiography

Brett Anderson, the lead singer of the now legendary band Suede wrote an autobiography called Coal Black Mornings, I read and enjoyed it. It’s very well written as you’d expect from someone whose entire career has been based on creative writing, albeit up to this point mainly in the form of lyrics, but it seems that it’s not a huge leap for him to go from songs to prose and retain a lyrical flavour. I did encounter one large flaw with the book however and that was how it ended. Anderson chose to tell his story right up to the point where it became really interesting. Just as the band was about to achieve success and fame, he chose to end the story and leave us, the readers, wanting more. A classic trope I suppose but still, ultimately, frustrating. I would assume most people, including myself, had decided to read the book because of Suede’s fame and success and to truncate the story just at the point when a large proportion of the audience became aware of Anderson and his cohorts seemed almost perverse. Typical Suede, I suppose. Trying to subvert and evade your expectations.

The release of his sequel autobiography, Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn, finally allows us to see what was happening backstage as Suede began to climb the ladder of success, to hear one side of the story as they stumbled on guitarist Bernard Butler’s acrimonious departure and to witness how incredible good fortune and serendipity conspired to bring them their greatest successes. It is not a long book at 260 pages and is an easy enough read despite some flowery language reminiscent of the first book. He does gloss over his drug addicted days that coloured the recording and release of their fourth album Head Music which was carried along in the wake of the huge success of Coming Up. He barely gives mention to the fifth and final (at the time) Suede album, A New Morning and instead treats it with the derision he believes it deserves.

Naturally this is Brett’s version of events, seen through his unavoidably, prejudiced prism and although age and time have given him wisdom and perspective how can the story not been guided by his memory or version of the story. Then again, it’s his story to tell in whatever fashion he feels comfortable with. A better, probably more balanced version of the Suede legend is presented in the fantastic documentary, The Insatiable Ones, released in 2018 to deserved acclaim. Named after an early B-side and Suede’s more fervent fans, this documentary includes input from the entire band and some close associates right up to and including their graceful comeback instigated by what they believed at the time to be a one off appearance in 2010 for the teenage cancer trust charity at the Royal Albert Hall some 7 years after their last live performance. 

Maybe Anderson plans to make his autobiography into a trilogy and the final book will include this period, his solo albums, the reconciliation with Butler and the Tears album that resulted, the little anticipated but much longed for reunion and the stories behind the three albums released since. I’ll definitely read it. 

The Gig - The Stone Roses - Feile Cork 1995

Six years after the release of arguably the greatest debut album of all time, five years since their last live show in the UK, five years shrouded in mystery and rumour culminating in the eventual release of the hugely anticipated and therefore ironically titled 'The Second Coming'. It's rather lukewarm critical reception and the departure of their rhythm lynchpin, drummer Reni, could not dull the almost ravenous appetite for a live Roses show. This was further whetted by the cancellation of their headline slot at Glastonbury, set to be the scene of their triumphant UK return but cancelled due a broken collarbone to guitarist John Squire in a bicycle accident. So it came to pass that their eventual return to the local live arena came on the 5th of August of 1995, not to Manchester or London, but to Parc Ui Chaoimh, County Cork in Southern Ireland, the headline act on the final night of the three day Feile festival. Such was the demand for this gig that fans travelled from the UK and all over Europe to witness this event.

After relatively lukewarm performances from Elastica and Paul Weller, darkness descended, the neighbouring dance tent emptied out and the venue filled to capacity for the first time that weekend. Pills were popped, joints lit, tabs ingested while static filled the giant screens either side of the stage. Then the intro of 'The Second Coming'. A twenty minute mood piece featuring jungle noises and bongos building and building as did the excitement of the crowd culminating in the appearance through the static of lead singer Ian Brown, messiah-like in a simple oversized white shirt, one fist raised aloft his appearance caused a minor earth tremor. Then instead of sequeing into 'Breaking Into Heaven' as expected the mighty bass of Gary 'Mani' Mountfield began to play the opening riff from the by now legendary debut album and the crowd as one bellowed along with joy to 'I Wanna Be Adored'. This was followed as it could only be by the next two tracks from the same record. As we wondered how the fourth song would be performed, a backwards version of 'Waterfall' possible only with studio trickery the band switched to the new album and arguably it's best song 'Ten Storey Love Song'. The evening took on a magical quality, a huge love-in where we all sang along and danced in unison. A major highlight was the extended coda of 'I Am The Resurrection', it must have lasted a quarter of an hour but you wanted it to go on forever. They finished with 'Made Of Stone' and then it was over, already forming into a story to tell your children, it felt that good to have been there. Orbital took to the stage to perform the chill out phase of the night but I left soon after the Roses as I knew nothing could top them. As a strange epilogue to the night when we returned to the house we were staying in for the weekend a highlights package of Feile was being broadcast on RTE as we arrived and we could watch again what we had just witnessed. What was strange was how bad it seemed, out of tune singing and lack luster playing, it made no sense until you realised how true the old adage was of - you had to be there - ask anyone who was....

Music On TV - Sopranos & John Cooper Clarke

More often than not these days I find myself exposed to new music through television. Many shows of course use soundtracks, some orchestral, most notably 'Lost' whose musical soundtrack was superb throughout but there are also those who rely on existing songs to accompany and enhance their imagery, Sopranos being the best of these and this the best example. Played over the closing scenes of the 79th episode 'Stage 5', noted mancunian poet John Cooper Clarke's 'Evidently Chickentown' literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. You don't have to have seen the show to watch this scene, feel the tension and realise that important decisions are being made and huge events are imminent.

The clanking and insistent staccato rhythm never lets the listener settle, it's almost uncomfortable and the ominious echoing organ constantly droning yet never building aids this effect, but it's the vocals, delivered in overlapping, spitfire style, cursing diatribe at authority and apathy in a working class town that makes this song what it is. The opening track on Cooper's fourth album 'Snap, Crackle and Bop', 'Evidently Chickentown' is quite simply brilliant and in this setting trancends brillance into that most elusive creative ambition - originality.

The scene preceding the music is possibly Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo's finest moment in the entire series.

the bloody cops are bloody keen
to bloody keep it bloody clean
the bloody chief's a bloody swine
who bloody draws a bloody line
at bloody fun and bloody games
the bloody kids he bloody blames
are nowhere to be bloody found
anywhere in chicken town

The Video - Witness (1 Hope)

The first single from his second album, Roots Manuva's Witness (1 Hope) was released in July of 2001. It didn't do much commercially, only scraping to number 45 in the UK charts but the video is a work of art. Innovative, clever and above all hilarious. Directed by Mat Kirkby (better quality version at this link) it is the story of Roots' triumphant return to his former school to take part in the annual sports day. The script is brilliant and I have to say Roots acting is excellent, it would appear the kids were not in on the joke as their responses seem all too real... enjoy.

Witness the fitness
The cruffatin liveth
One hope one quest.

The Gig - Mercury Rev - Olympia Theatre

It was the encore that made this gig memorable for me. Quite possibly the best encore I have ever witnessed personally. I didn't recognise the first song initially, the droning Theremin hypnotic in it's looping melody, I was already enjoying it before I realised I was listening to my favourite Rolling Stones song - '2000 light years from home' from their much derided Their Satanic Majesties Request album. The Stones weak riposte to The Beatles St Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Despite it's deserved poor reception it did yield this classic track upon which Brian Jones had cast a spell with his theremin and dulcimer contributions. Listening to it live affirmed my belief in it's brilliance. This would have been enough for me but they then launched into a song by one the architects of St Pepper, John Lennon.' I don't want to be a soldier', an angry anti-war diatribe from Lennon's pivotal 'Imagine' album. Delivered in a style not quite as abrasive or caustic as the original, it became more a plea in Jonathon's distinctive vocal style. None the less powerful though, it was a great song to choose to finish a great performance.

The Gig - A House - Olympia Theatre

One of the greatest tragedies of Irish music towards the end of the 20th century, A House were the nearly men of their time. Deserving of so much more than the almost universal critical acclaim they regularly garnered for their recorded output, A House were also a fantastic live act. Formed in 1987 and part of an alumni graduated from the now defunct Underground venue on Dame Street in Dublin that included Something Happens! and Stars Of Heaven, A House quickly built up a following of loyal and obsessive fans. Six albums, four Eps, twelve singles and three record companies later they decided to call it a day by playing a final farewell gig in the Olympia Theatre also on Dame Street just yards from their starting point in The Underground. Unlike many previous farewell shows and tours from other acts, most notably Status Quo, A House's integrity meant that this was the real deal. After this we would never see them or their like again, tickets sold out rapidly and the scene was set.
Suitably charged with emotion the band started with their debut single 'Kick Me Again Jesus' and began to chart a course through their career and large back catalogue. Made all the more tragic by the realization with each gem of a song/memory that we were witnessing the demise of one of the greats. Family members videotaped the performance for posterity from the beautifully ornate private boxes of the theatre, a visual memento and record to show future generations the adoration that their dad once commanded. Tears were shed openly by grown men and women as they finished with the achingly poignant 'When I Last Saw You' and that was that. Gone as a live act forever though nostalgia saw the release of a best of collection entitled 'The Good Old Days' five years later in 2005, you would do your music collection a service to add this album to it, especially the double disc version including the rarer tracks of their career. If you want to know more about this marvelous band check out this exhaustive and informative fansite. Here's one of my favourites, from their debut album, "I'll always be grateful", and I will.

TV Moments - L7 on The Word

This was fun television. L7 meets The Word, two forms of entertainment that both thrived on shock value. One, a late night British television show that regularly courted controversy through it's content and the behaviour of it's guests, the other, an all girl grunge rock band from Los Angeles. It was the first time I had either seen or heard L7, they played what turned out to be the biggest hit they would ever have, 'Pretend That We're Dead', a reasonable pop song which followed the pattern previously laid down by their male counterparts in the currently popular grunge rock movement spearheaded by Nirvana. So far, so what, nothing new here. But towards the end of the song as it, rather predictably, began to break down, lead singer and guitarist Donita Sparks seemed to be struggling with her guitar. In fact she was wrestling down her own trousers and underwear. Then, much to the delight of thousands of males tuned in that evening, myself included, her guitar swung aside to give us that now infamous and hairy view. If you thought that was bad, that same year in response to heckling due to to sound problems at the Reading festival, Miss Sparks threw her used tampon into the crowd. Surprisingly this has never shown up in any rock memorabilia auction to date.

Live - Suede at the Brits

Prior to 1993 the Brit Awards was seen as a yearly tribute to long established multi million selling stars such as Annie Lennox and Phil Collins. In 1993 Suede were the British band of the moment, seen as an answer to the domination of American grunge rock acts like Nirvana. They had appeared on the cover of Melody Maker under the headline 'The Best New Band In Britain' before they had even released anything and their first two singles had been critically lauded, the second, 'Metal Mickey' made the top twenty. Many commentators at the time believed Suede should have been a foregone conclusion for best new act at the Brits but they were not even nominated. 

The NME began a campaign which eventually led to a last minute invitation for Suede to open the show at the Alexandra Palace, London on 16th of February 1993. Hosted by Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror Show and Crystal Maze fame he introduced the band almost reverently as the 'already legendary Suede'. Cue polite clapping and quite possibly the best performance by a British band ever on the Brit Awards.

It was the first time I had seen Suede or anything like this for that matter. I was hooked instantly. Quite apart from the fact that the song performed, Animal Nitrate, was and still is one of the best songs of all time, it was the performance that blew everyone away. Lead singer Brett Anderson personified androgynous sexuality with his girlish bobbed haircut and practically bare, pale torso, snarling the sexually charged lyrics with ferocious energy, literally whipping himself with the microphone. Joined at the very front of the stage by Butler and Osman it looked like they were about to launch themselves into the crowd and fight them. It was jaw dropping stuff to me at the time. Suede went on to become one of the most popular and influential English bands of their time but they would never be this good again.

Music On Film - Snatch

There are times when an average song meets an okay movie and the sum of their parts becomes something special. Never has this been more true than in the final fight scene in 'Snatch' which used Oasis' 'Fucking in the bushes' as it's backing track. The opening track on Oasis' fourth studio album 'Standing on the shoulder of giants', 'Fucking in the bushes' was an almost throwaway instrumental to open the album, featuring a few samples from Murray Lerner's 1991 documentary, 'Message to love - Isle of Wight 1970' and a nice tight guitar line it was used as a walk on track in their subsequent tour, not even bothering to play it live themselves seemed to indicate the unimportance of the song to the band as well.

When it was first released I would often skip this song on the album eventually skipping the whole record. But then I saw 'Snatch', Guy Ritchies follow up to the relativly successful 'Lock stock & two smoking barrels'. Now don't get me wrong I like 'Snatch' as a whole but this scene was awesome and in the end a pivotal moment in the film. Preceded, in fact almost introduced, by a killer line from Alan Ford's Bricktop, the music and images gel instantly with the initial rowdy jostling on the way to the ring and the swaying rhythm of the fight itself. I also like the way it fades in and out of the scene to finally return with, literally, the knockout punch and then both scene and song descend into a chaotic mess.

I love it

Room for everybody here
Yes, all are welcome
Yes indeed, I love them
Fun, Nice, Life, Youth, Beautiful
I'm all for it

The Song - Love Like Blood

Released in January 1985 the lead single from their fifth album "Nighttime' was recorded in Berlin's Hansa studios and co-produced by Killing Joke bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover and Chris Kimsey, 'Love Like Blood' was Killing Joke's biggest hit peaking at number 16 in the UK charts. They even appeared on Top of the Pops sharing the show with The Smiths who performed 'How Soon Is Now'. Now that was a show.

A mate of mine had this on seven inch vinyl and it was a thing of beauty, a super cool picture cover with a beautiful typeface and the lyrics printed on the back. Wonderful, mysterious words that intrigued and mystified. The opening keyboard strings are amazing but its the guitar line that makes this song for me, just 3 notes ringing out twice over the ethereal keyboard before the pounding, rhythm section kicks in. I think its the fact that they employed live instrumentation that set them apart from many of their contemporaries. 'Eighties' is the only Killing Joke album I own and it's because of this song. I know little about the rest of their back catalogue and I don't need to, this song alone, for me, cements their legend.

We must play our lives like soldiers in the field
But life is short i'm running faster all the time
Strength and beauty destined to decay
So cut the rose in full bloom

'til the fearless come and the act is done
A love like blood, a love like blood

Everyday through all frustration and despair
Love and hate fight with burning hearts
'til legends live and man is god again
(and self-preservation rules the day no more)

We must dream of promised lands and fields
That never fade in season
As we move towards no end we learn to die
Red tears are shed on grey

Live - Jay Z at Glastonbury

The 28th of June 2008 saw a radical departure from tradition at Glastonbury. Twelve months previous had seen the accepted norm in the shape of the Arctic Monkeys, four skinny white english boys in jeans with guitars and if there was an exact opposite of this it had to be the self proclaimed greatest rapper in the world - Jay Z. When first proposed as a headline act for Glastonbury the idea was dismissed as wrong for the traditionally rock festival by critics and fans alike most notably and infamously by Oasis' Noel Gallagher. I must admit I initially agreed with Noel's assertion that Jay Z was wrong for Glastonbury but then I saw this. Opening with the perfect tounge in cheek riposte to Gallaghers criticism he strode on stage with a guitar slung around his neck and a huge grin across his face and proceeded to sing (badly) Wonderwall by Oasis. Practically an anthem at this festival, the crowd soon took over vocal duties and were instantly won over by this brash American and his thick skinned good nature. Jokes over, lights down, eyeball the crowd and BOOM, exploding into '99 Problems' signaled his intent to show the world just how he could 'rock the house' - awesome.

I'll admit I soon bored of him after this, hip hop doesn't do much for me, but as an opener it's well up there. I'll bet even Gallagher grinned when he saw this.

Rolling In The Crowd

The title of this blog and a great song by a great band - Blue In Heaven. The first band I ever saw live, bottom of a bill headlined by Simple Minds in Dublin's Croke Park in 1985. They only recorded two albums, the Martin Hannett produced 'All The God's Men' released that year and the slightly more successful 'Explicit Material' released a year later which contained the closest thing thing to a hit single they ever had in 'I Just Wanna', it also featured the aforementioned 'Rolling In The Crowd'.

It was as a live act that BIH really worked. Lead singer Shane O'Neill was as charismatic as they come and as crazy a frontman as you could hope for, once even controversially appearing, pubes out, on the cover of Ireland's national music paper, Hot Press. But it was on stage that he thrived, whipping a crowd into a frenzy with ease, even in an afternoon show I saw once in the now defunct McGonagles of South Anne Street in Dublin.

A live favourite of mine and most of their following was the Stooges track 'Loose'. It was a beast of a track, visceral, gutteral and guaranteed to cause a riot. Later BIH gigs were punctuated with incessant calls for this song that wasn't even their own. It featured on their last vinyl release, fittingly titled 'Rock N' Roll RIP' and you can hear the strength of their live performances encapsulated in this recording.

They called it a day soon after this, briefly resurfacing as The Blue Angels with a single called 'Candy' and their last release was the single of their version of - oddly - 'Loose'. Perhaps acknowledging it's importance to their fan base, maybe a cynical money making ploy, it turned out to be a rather tepid affair further underlining the difference between their recorded output and their live work. Rock N' Roll RIP.

Arguments Concerning Music

Music is the most divisive topic in the world excepting perhaps politics, or love, or religion, or many things now that I think of it. Anyways music is the subject of this blog, created by - and essentially for - me. I love music in its many varied forms. I listen, write, hate, love and above all pursue music with a passion. Hearing something that is fresh to my ears is a delight. If it was released or written yesterday or 100 years ago is completely irrelevant as long as it's good, as long as it evokes a mood, triggers a memory or just lulls you to sleep I want to hear it.

Arguing about music is not something I enjoy or do. It's pointless and pretty much impossible if you think about it. Beauty is in the ear of the listener as much as it is in the eye of the beholder.

So here it is, my thoughts and opinions on the most divisive topic in my world. Stay tuned....